The Race - Greg Gay 4/22/07

my, what a wonderful audience we have this afternoon, as we Come

together again on the Lord's day.

And, and also, to the final service of this gospel meeting

seems like, we just got started and now it's time to stop.

So, now, you know, Preachers Wives are just special special

women and they have to have a great deal of courage.

And they have to have courage to tell the preacher, what he needs

to hear. When others, Probably would not

and Cassie knows that. It's not unusual for preachers

to get a lot of praise and compliments along the way.

And and so she has to Humble me a little bit.

Here's what she reminded me of, just a little bit ago.

She said, no one Minds, a short sermon, the last Sunday night of

the meeting. Not a single one of you had the

courage to come up and tell me that.

So you can thank Cassie for that.

After the, after the service is over.

And while nobody came up and asked for a short sermon, nobody

came up and asked for a long one either.

So I guess, I guess that's alright.

You know, the very final verses that I read in this morning's

sermon, were Hebrews chapter 12 and this afternoon, I want to go

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

to Hebrews chapter 12 and look at some things there that are in

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

those first few verses of Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

These are these are very special words that I think can apply to

us. And can helpful, hopefully help

us and encourage us in our Christian walk.

Now, the concept of Hebrews chapter 12 prepares us for a

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

race and that's mentioned in the latter part of verse 1.

There's a race that is set before us racing is something we

forget to do. As we get older.

It's something that our children just naturally do when they are

playing as youngsters. I doubt that any of us,

seriously. I remember the first time we

said, ready, get set go or somebody did and we had a little

race of one kind or another. Those are fun things that we do

but as we get older, we forget about these things.

But actually we are in a race. You might say we're in the race

of life and we have a lot of things to accomplish.

We have a lot of goals that we want to that.

We want to fulfill. If we are blessed with life, Now

this life can get so cluttered with all of the things that we

have going on and if we stop and think for just a moment about

all the things that we have to do in the coming days, that can

be a pretty overwhelming, pretty overwhelming list.

Now, having raised that topic, I know that's what you're dwelling

on. You know, when somebody says

don't think about an orange, I can't do that.

I don't think I'm alone. So if I say you know if we just

stop for a second and think about all of the things that we

have to do, all of a sudden is like a flood gate has been

lifted in. Our mind is just filled with all

of those things. Just kind of makes you tired,

doesn't it? Now.

There are some folks that put more on their plate than others

and most things that we have on our plate of life to get done

are self-inflicted. Okay, I'll acknowledge that.

But it's very, very easy to get lives.

So full of this or that or the other That we end up neglecting

those things that are most important.

Now when I was meddling the other night about finances,

personal finances, I said, it's so easy to get into dead and to

have this, and that, and this, and that, that we pay for that.

We neglect, the Lord that we neglect.

Our ability to give, we abuse our ability to give when we do

that. It's also so easy to get our

lives. So filled with things that we

are caught up in, in doing that. We forget the things that are

most important to us. Those things that are most

important to us, are those things of a spiritual nature.

Those things that will enable us to have a home in heaven, are

absolutely the most important things that we could ever

consider in our life. But sometimes we lose sight of

that. Sometimes we take that for

granted now, we're told work out your own salvation with fear and

trembling. So that means we start with me,

you start with you, it has to be very personal if we're going to

have a right relationship with God.

That means I need to pay attention to this myself and

make this a priority. You need to do that for you.

Your spouse cannot do that for you.

Your in-laws cannot do that for you.

Your parents cannot do that for you.

Children cannot do that for you. You're in this first by

yourself. Every one of us shall give an

account before God of the life that we individually and

personally have lived. And so, we're going to have to

stand there with, no one beside us to hold our hand of our

family. and we're going to have to face God as we are and for

who we have been We cannot depend upon someone else to be

there in our place. And so that means things of God

become very, very important, don't they?

Things of a spiritual and eternal nature become very, very

important. But now having said that, yes, I

want to be saved myself, but, you know, when we, when we are

privileged to be married, when we are honored to be married and

we pledge our life to a spouse. Remember First Corinthians 7

talks about our service to God. And in that respect, it relates

being married to a care of the world, not in a wrong sense, but

that our service to God first go sideways.

It is how we serve our spouse that determines how God sees

that we serve him and so husbands are to serve their

wives. And in that way, they are two

together than to serve God, wives are to serve their

husbands. And in that way, they together

are to serve the Lord. And so when we are married, our

service, go sideways first. Before it ascends to the throne

of God, you might say, And so it is, if we are saved and in a

right relationship with God, who do we want to be in that?

Same save relationship with us more than anyone else in the

world? Of course our spouse.

We want them to be saved as well.

Now, they may choose not to, but we want them to with all of our

heart and if we're blessed with children, then, of course, we

want them to be saved as well. And as I've learned the last 11

years, when your breasts with grandchildren, You want them to

be saved too and so it is what I think of heaven and who's going

to be there. I'll be the first to admit, I

don't know. Now here's what I do know.

God has guaranteed happiness. Remember, there's no sorrow in

heaven. None.

So what about that old question of?

Well, what if my mother is not there?

What if my dad he's not there? What if my wife or my husband,

or my children or my grandchildren of they're not

there? It's not that we won't care, but

God has taken that knowledge and no longer allowed us to be

sorrowful if he allows To know that because he's guaranteed no

sorrow in heaven, none. Well, that makes Heaven an

amazing place, doesn't it? I can't imagine Heaven from this

side of Eternity without my wife there, too.

I can't imagine that. I don't want to.

I cannot imagine heaven without my three children there.

I just can't. I cannot imagine heaven without

my for soon to be five grandchildren there I just can't

and I don't want to. and now, I can't imagine heaven without all

of you there, either. You see.

Terry showed us some video of when Galen and Paul went back to

Africa, 50 years after they went for the first time.

And we got to see some of those Brethren there, and where they

worshipped and our brothers and sisters in Africa.

I've never met them. But I hope to spend eternity

with them and Heaven couldn't understand a thing.

They were saying but you know, we'll be able to converse just

fine. All they love to saying?

We've got that in common, we couldn't keep up with them in

their singing, they couldn't slow down, the handle ours.

We just shouldn't try to imagine heaven without them.

But we have to start here. We have to start with ourselves

and heaven, and its destination has to mean more to us than

anything else in this life and that then is the race along the

way, who are we? Well, we're a spouse were, we're

a child of our parents? We're a grandparent, we're a

grandchild, were a worker where a student, where a neighbor.

We're citizen on. And on you go with roles that we

have to fulfill. All of those can be wonderful

roles. But God has to be first.

We can't. You lose sight of God being

first. Now, Hebrews chapter 12, says

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

wherefore seeing. We also are compassed about with

so great. A cloud of witnesses.

Let us lay aside every weight and the sin, which doth so

easily beset us, and let us run with patience.

The race that is set before us, the witnesses that are referred

to in verse 1. Are actually those anxious from

that chapter regarding the Hall of Fame of Faith from Hebrews

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11. It's saying here that these

individuals are there to witness this race this race and Hebrews.

Hebrews 12:1

12 verse 1 is likened unto a race that's about to be held in

a stadium and all of us are they're getting ready to run and

as we stretch and as we find our starting blocks.

And as we find our Lane, Then which we're going to run.

We are able to look around at the stands and they're just full

of folks. They're just full of all kinds

of people who are these. Folks, they're the ones named

in. Hebrews chapter 11 they are the

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Ancients or the elders those that lived long long, long ago

in the ensuing Generations after Adam, they are those Those of

the generation of able who's also named and Enoch who's also

named as an individual, that was translated so that he should not

see death, Hebrews 11 and verse 5.

Also, those stadiums are filled with the likes of Noah and those

of his family who were faithful to God and preserved by him in

the ark. Also, we have pictured in this

Stadium stands a Ham that wonderful man.

That was a friend of God and his son of Promise Isaac and his

son, Jacob who was named Israel from whom the tribes of Israel,

come and also Joseph, and also Moses, and Moses parents and all

of the Israelites and Rahab The Prostitute and all of those

individuals who did so many things plus verse 32 of Hebrews,

11 mentions Gideon and Brew. Iraq and Sampson of jeptha of

David and Samuel in the prophets who through faith subdued

kingdoms wrought. Righteousness obtained promises

stopped, the mouths of lions, quenched, the violence of fire

escaped, the edge of the sword out of weakness were made.

Strong waxed Valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of

the aliens. Women received their dead raised

to life again and others were tortured.

Not accepting Deliverance that they might obtain a better.

Resurrection. And others had trial of cruel,

mockings, and scourgings. A moreover of bonds and

imprisonments. They were stoned.

They were sawn. Sunday were tempted, were slain

with the sword. They wandered about in

sheepskins and goatskins being destitute Afflicted, tormented

of whom the world was not worthy.

They wandered in deserts and in mountains and dens and caves of

the earth and these all having obtained, a good report through

faith received, not the promise God having provided some better

thing for us that they, without us should not be made perfect.

These individuals are that cloud of witnesses that surround us in

this race we are about to run, figuratively.

Speaking of course, Course. What a great crowd.

Now as you know, a race can be run without any Watchers but,

you know, you always perform just a little bit better when

there are folks there to cheer you on.

Now we're these individuals in the stands Victorious because

they all live long healthy lives.

Not really, as we read many of them died, horrible deaths.

But in their death, their faith was intact.

Can you see that is the point that even though they had all

kinds of adversity, their faith in God was still intact.

Even if their faith in God meant, they had to give up their

life. It says there in verse 35 that

they did not accept Deliverance. Even in the face of torture,

individuals were tortured to give up their faith in God, and

they would not why, for the promise of a better

Resurrection. Section for the promise of being

saved. If you've ever watched a boxing

match of any kind, usually, there will be introductions of

previous Champions before the boxing match actually begins and

they will let her Deuce this. This person that may or may not

still be agile at all, and they will come up and they will, they

won't walk underneath the ropes and they'll go around the the

ring and they'll everybody will see them.

They'll praise them and cheer for them for just a moment.

And that is a reminder to the combatants.

This can be one, you can win. You Can Be A Champion.

You too. Can be victorious in this battle

that you're about to have this race that you're about to have.

Now if you've ever spent the time to watch like a Miss

America Pageant or something like that, I don't advise that.

I'm just saying if you have you Probably noticed that along the

way they start about the time of the Civil War saying this was

Miss America, 9 1864, and they start with everyone that has

ever won that contest in one fashion or another to say you

too. Can be a winner.

That's an encouragement to all of the contestants we can do

this. Well in this race, this

spiritual race to get from this life to heaven.

We want in those stands is encouraging us to say, we can do

this, we can do this. It is as though they are

shouting. Don't ever give up, give it your

best, you can, you can make it. You see, After All In This

Crowd, there's not a single person who's against us.

Every one of them are on our side.

Now, that is a great crowd. Have you ever been in a sporting

An event where the opposing team was introduced and you stood up

with everybody else and said be, that's not going to happen in

this Stadium. They're all.

They're all on your side, they're all on our side.

I remember believe it or not playing basketball in high

school. Now, I went to a very small

school We're mediocre Talent, could be on the varsity team,

that was me. I got to play varsity

basketball, and I still remember when my name was announced and I

ran out to the appropriate line and the basketball court, and

the crowd cheered for me. I'll have to tell you That felt

good. It still does just remembering

it and that's been. Hmm, 37 years.

We like it, when somebody's cheering us on it, feels great.

When somebody says you can do this, you can do this, you can

make this happen. Well that's what that crowd of

Witnesses are saying to us, you can do this.

But you know, in our congregations, we need

individuals who will be encouragers as well.

We need individuals who will have the strength and courage of

their convictions to be able to look beyond their own life and

look to others to be encouraging to them to lift them up.

When they may be fallen to help them understand how important

they are to the body of Christ. You see, because we need each

other in every possible way. And when Paul discussed our

part, each of our part in the body of Christ, he talked about

comely parts and uncomely parts. You know, that beauty pageant

would never be anything, I would be invited to as a contestant.

I understand that that would just never happen.

But you know, we need everyone in the Lord's Church, who will

come together and be serious about doing his will.

We need everyone who will give it the old College, try, who

will be willing to not only work out their own salvation with

fear and trembling. But also be Ready and willing to

help someone else to also be faithful to God.

Jesus said in John 13, verse 35, by this shall all men.

John 13:35

Know that ye are my disciples. If you have love one to another,

that is who we are to be individuals.

That love one another enough to do because Allah of only of

words doesn't get very far that love of words must be backed by

the actions that we are willing. To make it's fine for us to say

that we love the Lord and we should be ready and willing to

say that but our feet should walk where our word say were

trying to go. And we need to put action to our

words. So that all may know beyond a

shadow of a doubt that we are doing our best to serve the

Lord. So we stand there today, in the

presence of these Witnesses and we are about to run a race.

And we are as verse 1 says, to lay aside every Every wait.

Now this is not about dieting, let's but we can talk about that

for just a my happen to notice. I have a spoon and a knife still

in my pocket. So I've only got one utensil

down and I've got to go go. Oh what a wonderful meal we had

today and all of you who contributed to that in any way,

what a wonderful example of service that is to be willing to

share your talent, your god-given talents, and preparing

food or in Making money with which to purchase food so that

you might share with everyone. What a wonderful wonderful thing

it is. Now if we, if we are going to

have extra weight as far as life's burdens are concerned,

then we're going to have trouble running a spiritual race.

We're going to have a lot of trouble with a spiritual race

and so if we're in this Stadium, getting ready to run.

And we see somebody come up to the starting line with heavy

heavy boots, heavy clothing a big Overcoat carrying something

in each hand, what would we think about them?

Well ever might say we might think that there are fire person

you know but but really we wouldn't think they're going to

be able to run very fast. Would we?

They're just not going to be able to run very well, a lot of

times and you know, in our spiritual lives, if we're not

careful, we will have a lot of stuff on us that just Weighs us

down, it is possible to be so hindered by our own selves that

we just really can't get started in this spiritual race.

Sometimes our lives are filled with our own problems to the

point that we are unable to look beyond our own issues.

And I know that could happen and I think that that can be

appropriate for a little while and whenever something happens

to overwhelm me and my life, I expect my brothers and sisters.

To Rally around a lift me up but I also expect me to be one that

needs to go to where they are sometime when they're surrounded

by problems to Rally around them to lift them up.

But you know when individuals are only caught up in their own

life's problems then they are just weighed down by that and

they're not able to help anybody else.

So we need to do our best to to be able to look Beyond ourselves

and to help others. We hinder our Selves, when we do

not trust in God. God says, trust me, believe in

me. That's what walking by faith is

all about. There's a lot of problems in

this life. We cannot handle a lot of

issues. We cannot solve.

What do we do? We turn those over to God.

That's one of the one of the reasons we pray so that we can

just say, Lord here is my life bless me as you will within your

will. And we turn those things over to

God, we hinder ourselves when we don't trust God, you know, we

need to trust God to keep his word because he always have, we

met Not be able to always keep our word, but God always has, he

promises to save us? If we will obey him, he will

save us. He promises.

If we will obey the gospel, he will forgive us of our sins.

And if we step back and say, well, I just don't know about

God, God can't help us. He cannot help us if we will not

trust in him. But there's ample evidence

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are all written, so that we might

believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living,

God, all of those things are there.

Clearly written easy to understand.

And if we end up reading through all of that, and we say, I just

don't know about God. Well, we can understand, we can

understand individuals who can get through any degree of school

individuals, who can drive a car individuals, who can manage the

financing to rent or own, a home individuals who can manage to

pick out clothing and where it etcetera, Etc individuals, who

can recognize the difference between right and wrong and

rules and laws have everything. They need to be able to believe

in almighty God. And you see what God does is

say, I'm here, it's up to you. He gives us all the evidence

anybody needs and we hinder ourselves when we don't trust

God, we also hinder ourselves. When we're not, able to forgive

others and to work with them as best we can, we hinder

ourselves. When we do not use the talents,

God has blessed with, with blessed us.

With, in his service, we hinder ourselves.

When we attempt to bring worldly practices into our lives and

justify them as being part of Christianity, we Or ourselves

when we attempt to justify sin in our own life by pointing out

problems that other people happen to have.

We can hinder ourselves really, really well.

Can't we we can really slow ourselves down.

We really can ever have any slugs in your yard and he slugs

and snails. You know, they just kind of Eco

long, they leave a trail everywhere they go.

They're not really attempting to contribute much, are they?

And you know, we can really hinder ourselves if we're not

careful. The verse also says, we're to

lay aside. The sin that doth so easily,

beset us, or is one translation says the Sin that so easily

entangles us. You know, it is not hard to get

entangled to end up falling to just lose our sense of balance,

our sense of purpose and end up falling down.

Now, some years ago, I was working on a little crown

molding project in a living room and you'll be glad to know that

I didn't continue throughout the rest of the house.

I was working away, and I'm not very good.

No, I am not at all good at stuff like this.

I'm really not, but I knew I could do it, and I was bound and

determined to get it. On.

And at one particular point, we have this ladder that, you know,

you step up onto kind of a platform and I was working away

up there and I just forgot I was on a ladder.

And I stepped back. just as Cassie happened to be walking by

all of those things were not a good combination.

They really weren't. I hit the couch.

Thankfully, the couch is okay, you were worried about the couch

first, weren't you You know, that was really, really a shock

to me to fall. It really was, I'll tell you

about one more of Mine Falls before I tell you about one of

Cassie's. Now I have told you earlier in

the week that I retired from golf and I meant that sincerely

but I have played quite a bit of golf through the years.

Never, well, in fact always horribly.

We had lost one of the balls that I had hit predictably and

so I was with another fellow in a Art.

And I'm the passenger because I was never trusted to drive on

the golf course because I couldn't play.

Why would they trust me to dry? And so we're looking for my ball

and I am going like this peering peering out in the tall

bulrushes to see if we could find my ball and just as I went

like this, the driver went like this.

I found myself floating and didn't last too long and that

really Hurt me. We are in Walmart, just a few

weeks ago. And as I went to the restrooms

before, I'd let Cassie out, went to the restrooms.

And along the way, as I was walking there, I looked over by

one of the registers and there was a chicken bone.

Well, that's kind of bad. I went, I went on and then I

went and found Cassie and she said well, why don't you take

the basket? And I'm going to run to the

restroom for a minute. She was gone forever forever.

She finally came back and she said, you'll never believe this.

I Fell on a chicken bone. It was bad.

Now I will say my dear sweet wife can fall when there's

nothing and has proven that through the years, but every one

of us can physically fall. Can't we what?

About spiritually falling? Can we do that?

The Apostle Peter long ago said. I'll never do that.

That's an apostle. He said, I will never, I will

never leave you. I will never forsake you, I will

never deny you, Jesus. Jesus said, yes, you will and

even when Jesus told him, Peter said I will not And before very

many hours were passed Peter had denied him again and again and

again and was even willing to take Oaths that he didn't know

him. If we look at our lives and we

say, well, I'm never going to be bothered by sin.

Never is a pride filled dangerous, word, we are all

capable of falling, we're all capable of falling hard.

We're all capable of falling when we least expect it.

And we need to be humble. And always watchful those who

are the leaders of the congregations are to watch for

The Souls of the flock. That implies a Sleepless group

who are willing to lose sleep. So that the flock might be

protected, any kind of a doctrinal attack that might come

to a congregation. The leaders are ready to say

that is not the direction. We're going to go anything that

threatens a family. The leaders of that family in

the leaders of the congregation need to be ready.

And willing to say, we just can't allow that to get started

because of where it might end up and it's just not going to be a

good thing because it could cause us to fall.

And a lot of times we stand back and say, well who are you to

tell me? I should be careful with this or

that of the other. That's kind of what the Apostle

Peter did said, you don't know what you're talking about.

Jesus, Jesus says, you're going to have trouble and he did, you

know, if we Arch saying we're never going to have trouble.

We've already got trouble. We've already got trouble in our

lives and so if we are blessed to live as long as Methuselah

we're still going to be dealing with temptation in that 960

ninth year and we're not going to be blessed with that long, a

life. But we do need to know that we

can fall. And so if something is going to

entangle us, we need to be on guard against whatever it might

be. B and we need to be ready to

help others to get up and we need to always be willing to

reach out a hand. So somebody can help us up too

because we all need everybody's help and none of us can do this

alone. And we're also told that we are

to run with patience that's hard for us.

You know, it's hard for us to be patient with others.

It's hard for us to be patient with ourselves and being patient

with some He doesn't mean we take the holy book, and we just

want it up and throw it away. Being patient, means, we always

look for a direction of righteousness.

Yes, someone may fall. But when they get up, are they

more in the direction of righteousness than they were the

day before? That's what we always want in

ourselves when we attain Perfection immediately.

When we but obey the gospel. No, it's a daily struggle.

It's a daily race. It's a date.

Early time of putting one foot in front of the other to run.

As the verse says that race that is set before us, you see, we

don't choose the course God does.

God says, here's who I want you to be as you work your way

through life. And so we are, if we are

Christians, we are on this course that the Lord has set and

we are to do our very best. To remember the encouragement of

the crowd of witnesses of Faith. But then we also are to look

unto Jesus. The author and finisher of our

faith. Who for the joy that was set

before him. Endured the cross despising, the

shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God,

for consider him. That endured such contradiction

of Sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your

minds. Are we going to get weary in

this Christian Walk of Life. Oh yes.

Are we going to get faint in our minds?

We're we're just weak sometimes. Yes, we are.

But all together we can look to Jesus and we can consider what

he has done and we can be encouraged by others around us

and encouragers of faith of old to keep doing exactly what we

know the Lord wants us to do tonight.

If you're not a Christian, then you're just kind of looking on

from the sides. Not yet in that race where all

of the people who have had faith in God and been willing to die

for it, are ready to encourage you on, but you can do that, you

can obey the gospel on this side of Eternity, if you know the

gospel well, enough to understand it to know what it

means. When I say those steps of

Salvation, our faith and repentance confession and

baptism, if you understand the gospel, well enough to know what

those things mean, then you can also make up your mind whether

or not you're ready to do them. And If you are all we'd love to

assist you to become a child of God if you are a child of God

and your life is not right, why don't you make?

Now the time when you asked for the prayers of the Brethren that

you might be acceptable in your life in the sight of God,

there's one to obey the gospel order.

Repent of wrong. Won't you please come forward

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