Running the race of life

God, that you've given us to leave this church and

to bring your word. Father, Your word is living, is

sharper than any two edged sword. Beer sing even to

that division of soul and spirit. So Father, help us

to prepare her Holy Spirit.

You are in the room.

We are asking you to help us here with the

hearing here and to receive. Let everybody be delivered, Let

every need be met through this word that you prepared

for us through Pastor Dave. If you're sick, he's here

to heal. If you're bound, he's here to lose you.

If you're lost, he's here to find you. And if

you are kind of lost, your way still is gonna

get you because you will leave the ninety nine and

come for you. Father, thank you for our pastor. Bless him,

Bless the word. We are ready to eat it.

Jesus, Thank you, Juliet. Morning Church. I'm going to move

to the center just to correct problems for the technical team.

You're gonna have to refocus the cameras. I'm not a gardener, Julia,

and my wife will tell you. I'm not a gardener.

I need instructions about what to do. I'm not allowed

to just pull up anything in the garden because I'll

pull up the plants and leave the weeds. But I

will say this scripture talks about seeds being planted, and

for some people this morning I sensed there's some stuff

that's going to get in the way of seeds being planted.

So before we even get into any of the word,

I'm just going to ask you to close your eyes.

Those at home as well those in the room, those

listening later, just close your eyes, and I'd like you

to imagine what's the thing that fills your worlds right now.

Please don't give me the scripture answer. It might be Jesus,

but it might be exams, students taking examsy it might

be an essay you've got this week. It might be

a conversation you've got. There might be a meeting or something.

It might be what you're cooking for dinner this evening.

But what fills your mind right now? Because if something

fills your mind and it's not Christ centered, I'm just

gonna ask you to stand there's nothing wrong with it.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. I just

want to pray that we can put it down because

sometimes it fills our mind because we're captivated by it.

It fills our mind because it's important. And I'm not

saying any of these things aren't important, but if your

world is captivated by something else right now, I'm just

going to ask for you to stand. I'm not going

to call you to the front or anything. I'm just

gonna ask you to stand where there's something that's filling

your mind, filling your heart, feeling your thoughts. And you

almost say, there isn't room for me to hear from

God this morning. There is room church, there is room

for those listening at home. And so Father, I pray

that Lord, you'd prepare the ground. Lord you'd pull up

the weeds. Lord you'd move aside some of the stones.

Lord you drive some away, some of the birds and

the hot air that will come and take away the

seed that will be sowing this morning. For Father, we're

believing thirty sixty one hundredfold for your word in our lives.

And so, Father, is your word is true, Your word

is good, And I'm doing the best that I can do. Father,

we pray that that word would, that seed would land,

would take roots, bear fruits thirty sixty one hundredfold in

Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, so you can take your seats.

That's brilliant. We're in a series of looking at back

to basics or foundations, and today I want to talk

about running a race. Not back to basics, because basics

are something that we just need to do once in

a while, but because basics are what we build things on.

Sometimes we can make our own world very complicated. So

let's start with a simple scripture Hebrews, chapter verses one

and two. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a

great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that

hinders That's just what I did as we prayed, just

in a moment, and the sin that so easily entangles,

and let us run with perseverance the race marked out

for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and

perfector of our faith, for the joy set before him.

He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down

at the right hand of the throne of God. The

writer of Hebrews could quite easily have said a banquet

a battle, but he said a race. Guys, We're in

a race. We're in a race, and I want you

to notice that the race is marked out for you.

It's not just a random race. We don't just run.

When the London Marathon happened, you didn't just run anywhere.

You ran a cause. And for those who finished, they

got a prize. And for some people the prize was

just completing the race. Some people want to do it

in a certain time, some certain want to do it

in a certain way. But you know, I want to

say this. I want to say we didn't stumble into

Christian faith. God has a plan for us. He's marked

out a cause for each of us personally. This is

not a cause for somebody else sitting on your right

or on your left. It's a course for you. That's encouraging,

isn't it that God has a plan for you? Jeremiah

twenty nine to eleven. God has a plan for you.

And that's not you, that body language, that's not you.

Everybody in the room, it's God has a plan for

And the finger comes out and points at you. God

has a plan for you. One Corinthian Is nine twenty

four and twenty five. Do you not know that in

a race, all the runners run. There's no point in

turning up to a race and sitting and watching it.

You're a spectator, you're not a runner. You're not in

the race. But only one gets the prize. Run in

such a way as to get the prize. What is

Paul saying here? He says, run like it matters, Run

like it matters, Run with intention. There is a prize,

there is a race, and it's yours. You're not drifting

through life. You're not pointless, you're not a mistake. You

are called. So let us throw everything off that hinders

and the sin that so easily entangles. What kind of

things get in our way when we try and run

a race, Well, one of them is sin. Anything that

grieves the heart of God. Wrong attitudes, wrong words. Anybody

said a wrong word this week? My hand's up, anybody else?

Quite a lot of hands? Thank you for being honest.

I'm not going to point you out. That's not the point.

I just sometimes we need to be real with ourselves,

and sin entangles. Have you ever got your Have you

ever walked on a beach and there's some old fishing net,

or you know, the kind of things that really cause

the environment problems. Fishing that's a real challenge in the

place we go to regularly lou Dan and Cornwall. There

is a great big container that says, if you find

any plastic fishing twine, please put it in here. Don't

leave it on the beach, because it tangles up with

everything else. It just doesn't tangle up with you or

a crab or a lobster or something else. It then

tangles up with some seaweed, and then it tangles up

with something else, and suddenly you've got a great mass

of stuff the so easily in snares. How can we

deal with sin. Let's bring it into the light. Let's

confess to God, maybe to one another. Let's not carry

what Jesus has already carried for us. When we run

in a race, we don't run in our winter coat.

We don't run in our working boots. We run. Most runners,

not me, run in running shoes with those extra and

people actually shave their legs. I've heard this. They wax

their legs so that they can run just a little

bit faster. Cyclists do the same thing, just for a

few seconds more. If you look at the men and

women who run one hundred meters race, they've shaved their legs.

They wear these funny sleeves on their arms and just

so they can just shave a microsecond off their time,

you know. And there are things that can get in

the way. Things that we carry, there's nothing wrong with them,

but we carry them because we feel we ought to

carry them. I wonder if I asked you to pack light.

Let's go for a trip on a couple of days,

and I said pack light, I wonder how many would

still have a fairly big suitcase. We took a group

of leaders away to a conference just a few weeks ago,

and because there were going to be five of us

in the car, we said, please pack light. Interesting. No

more comment than that, no more comment than that. Not

everything we carry needs to be carried by us. Some

things we carry should be carried by somebody else. Sometimes

we just need to let some things go. Part of

growth and change is handing things on. I'm sticking with

the theory of relay races, of racing. Relay races, sometimes

you know you cannot win the relay race by the

first runner run all the way around the four hundred meters.

You will be disqualified because you have not passed the

baton on to somebody else. There are some races that

we're running where we need to hand the baton on

to somebody else. And that's not that we're not doing

a good job. It's time to hand it on. And

I think that's a timely word for one or two

people today. What are you carrying? You don't need to carry.

Let me encourage you, dear friends, church, those listing online,

travel light put things down if you can, and then

I want to encourage you to run with perseverance. If

Zozo was here, she might correct my pronunciation, but let

me have a go hippomone. Hippomone means what it means, perseverance, patience, endurance,

not a grim, gritted teeth, ah, not that kind of perseverance,

but a steady I am going to finish this. Some

of you who are writing essays this week, you are

sitting and thinking, Oh, I just wish this was over.

Time for perseverance. You're going to finish and finish well. Please.

When I talk about a race, don't picture one hundred meters.

Don't picture Hussein bolt. It's over in less than ten seconds.

These days, picture a marathon twenty six miles and a

little bit extra, and maybe even picture a marathon obstacle race,

because that's often what life feels like. It feels like

it's stretching on uphill. Has anybody ever walked from the

statue in the Great Park to Windsor Castle. It's down

what's called the long walk. I don't know whether you've

ever done it, but I'd recommend you try it one day,

because about halfway down you'll go, You'll look up and

you'll think, how far have I walked? Feels like I've

been walking forever and the castle doesn't seem to be

any closer. That's when perseverance needs to kick in. That's

when we need to press it. In those times when

perseverance is missing, that's the place we often give up.

It's often when we decide, okay, one more time, just

one more extra bit, just I'm in the finishing straight.

I can hear the crowd, and what does the Lord

say to us? The Lord says, keep on going, church, people,

keep on going. Just put one foot in front of another.

If you just put one foot in front of another.

There are a number of people in this room who've

probably run races, and halfway round the race, you've got

a stitch or something, or a pain start to come

and you've stopped but you've not stopped. You've stopped, and

you start walking because you keep on going. I'm going

for the goal. I'm still going to finish right now.

I'm just taking a different pace and instead of running,

I'm going to walk. And then maybe the stitch goes,

and then off you go again. Because the Lord says,

faithfulness is rarely about the spectacular. It's about quiet, gentle regular.

Yes Lord, Yes Lord, yes Lord, Yes Lord, I'll pray today.

Yes Lord, I'll forgive again. Yes Lord, I will trust

you with this, and maybe even yes Lord, I'll trust

you with this again. Perseverance is not a glamorous thing,

but it is glorious. In Galatians chapter five, it says this,

you were running a good race. Who cut in on you?

Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying

the truth. You're running well, You're looking good. People are

taking pictures of you. You're in your lane, you're breathing well,

everything functioning well. There is a rhythm, and there is

It just feels good. Your stride is not broken, you're

not stumbling, you've not been stopped. You're not running in

somebody else's direction. You're running as God leads you. But

here's the reality. Something happens suddenly, a disruption, an upset,

somebody steps on your toes. We're going to watch a

video right at the end of the of the service,

a sermon today, which just thinks illustrates a bit of this.

Sometimes bitterness comes in, you know, we hear a little

voice speaking in our heads. We have a little disappointment

that kicks in, and then we allow that to take hold.

A route of bitterness takes hold. Maybe it's a subtle lie,

and before we know it, we're out of the race.

We're not running well. Suddenly things have just distracted us.

Paul asks who cut who or what cut in on you?

Sometimes another person well meaning, but they've knocked you off course.

Sometimes the enemy. It's not naive to say that, but

the reality is he prowls around like a roaring lion.

Just imagine you're running a race and suddenly from the

right hand side comes I'd at least be going, oh,

what was that? Off track? And sometimes, if we're honest,

our own pride gets in the way, our own fear,

old patterns, they get in the way. Who cut in

on who or what cut in on you? Paul answers

this really simply. He doesn't say you should be ashamed

of yourself, it's terrible. He reminds us of grace. It

was for freedom that Christ has set us free. So

get back in your lane, get back to the gospel,

get back to Jesus. The race is not over yet.

What's your speech. Think about those you influence, those who

look to you, and the models and the things that

you do. I remember my dad's when I was a

small boy, once say to me, don't do what I do.

Do what I say. You know, we live in a

world now where we see a lot of stuff going

on and sometimes we say, well it's okay. Everybody else

is doing it, so it's okay. Scripture says there is

a narrow way. There is a narrow way, and it's

a harder way to choose. If you do nothing else

this morning, I want to say to this, you will

not run your race by looking at yourself all the time.

If I just run the race looking at myself, looking

maybe looking at my look at my great trainers that

I've got got some new I haven't got some Just

imagine I've got some new trainers and I'm ranking, Oh,

look at my I'm looking good. I'm probably going to

run into somebody. I'm probably going to fall over. Something's

going to happen. We will not run a good race

by spending all our time looking at the runners around us.

We will only run a race well when we keep

our eyes fixed on Jesus. If I asked you this

morning to walk a straight line, I just said, close

your eyes and walk a straight line. Some of us

would really struggle. But you know what, when we get

our eyes fixed on something, it's much easier to walk

in a straight line. And the straight line is the

quickest route from A to B. It's the quickest route

from where you are to where you need to be.

And Paul talks about being a pioneer. A pioneer someone

who's gone before, someone who's a trail braiser, someone who

already gone the course and the perfector of our faith.

We don't have to abandon what we think. We just

need to follow him. For the joy set before him

and endured the cross scorning its shame. There was joy

set before Jesus. I also want to say, you are

not running a race alone, surrounded by such a cloud

of witnesses. I could have brought lots of videos to

show you this. There are many videos of people running

marathons and literally running themselves into the ground, and they

are all over the place. As they run into the stadium,

they don't even know what direction they're running in. And

then they hear the roar of the crowd and suddenly

it's okay, I'm nearly there. I'm in the stadium. I mean,

the last four hundred meters. All I've got to do

is finish. And suddenly something captivates them again, surrounded by

such a great cloud of witnesseses. This is why we

need to encourage one another. We need to encourage one

another because sometimes people are in the last four hundred

meters and we're part of the cloud of witnesses. Good job,

well done. We don't say thank you often enough, we

don't celebrate often enough. We need to get better at

doing it individually as a church as well. And not

only the cloud of witnesses, but also you're sitting next

to people this morning who are running their own race,

whether young or old, tall or short, wide or thin,

We're all running a race, the Christian race. The Christian

journey was never meant to be a solo event. It

was always about running together, but running our race, encourage

one another, pray for one another. If someone stumbles, pick

them up, got touch and go look at you, bend

down and pick them up. Get them across the finish

line too. And when someone's ahead of you, don't start thinking, oh,

they're ahead of me, Go well done. Do you know

if there's one thing that I'm believing for, I'm believing

for new leaders who've become part of our c the

effort help us to go to the next level will

go way beyond anything that I do. You'll do it better,

You'll do it with greater passion. You'll do things that

I could never even dream of, And I want to

celebrate that. I'm not frightened by that, and not frightened

about people doing stuff better than me, because that's the

next generation rising up. And so there are six basics

that I want to give you. I think I put

them on a slide. There is a race and it's yours.

So travel light. Judy will tell you. I have a

bag at home that I was given in Papun, New Guinea,

and it's a I should have brought it. Actually it's

a string bag, but you wear it some of you

would be very familiar with this around your head and

it hangs down your back. And I learned to travel

in Papun, New Guinea with a toothbrush, a razor, and

a wrap around skirt. That's what I learned to travel

light with. That's all I needed. Maybe a box of

matches was another useful thing as well. So travel light,

run with perseverance, Watch out for whoever or whatever might

cut in on you. Fix your eyes on Jesus, and

then please be encouraged. You are not running alone. So

my kind of final scripture is this, and then we're

going to watch a bit of a video. And I've

got a couple of points I want to make to

Timothy four verses seven and eight says this, I have

fought the good fights. Notice it's good again. Good race,

good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept

the faith. Now there is a store for me, the

crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge will

award to me on that day, and not only to me,

but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

There is a price. I remember listening to a recording

of Billy Graham saying when somebody asked him, what are

you looking for when you get to heaven? He said,

I'm looking for a well done, good and faithful servant,

he said, if I deserve it. And I listened to

that and think a man who led thousands to Christ,

who preached to millions, and he's wondering whether he's going

to get a well done. I'm thinking, Okay, Dave, you

need to up your game. And I'm not comparing. I'm

not comparing. It's what we do with what God's given

us to do. If we are faithful with up us,

then that is good. So hopefully this video is going

to work. It's a video of a young lady, a

college runner, running a six hundred meters rice. Some of

you may have seen it before, but I want you

as a moment when she falls in the race, and

I want you to at that moment, think about what

would I have done? Then let's just watch it. Remember door,

but Minnesota finished second eighty four And it.

Is probably going to be your picking because she actually

won the NHS that you do.

That on six and that eight hundred, but she only

won one Big Ten championships in the two years. Three

laps this.

Event six hundred meters three times around.

The two hundred meter track here at the field house.

What a bold move by Barn. She's looking very confident

and the Penn State runner is just running amazing today.

She did win her yet in the four hundred, but

ended up taking fourth overall.

That's von Door moving into the leader, the sophomore from

Penn State.

Dorn has been running second. Dorney last year scored twenty

three points for the Golden Golfers in their Big Ten

Championships third. Really relying on getting a lot of points

from her this weekend. And she's just coming by Fondor

now in the home stretch, hiding into the bell line,

stay down Orderden falling down, gets up quickly, but that's

gonna cost her Lucky she wasn't injured. Her teammate just

went to the front though, so they may be able

to recover from that. And Dordan is flying down the

backstret hitching up. She is gonna catch fon Door and

she may catch the leader.

Wow, she's got fine.

This it's a gutsy up by Dormervan. Pinchy pull it off.

She's king the third. Dorn coming down this top for

the outsider. You've Garnedd coming out Strond who unbelievable. That

is amazing to fall into six hundred. I mean this

is basically a sprint. I mean this is an extended

four hundred. Basically, if they took fall with two hundred

meters ago and get up and win, that is unbelievable.

I'm yeah, unbelievable. I don't know what you would have done.

Two thirds of the way through the race, falls flat

on her face. Some of us would have just laid

on the floor and gone outch that hurt, and then

others of us would have looked at the race and said,

there's no point in getting up anymore because I'm not

going to finish. Some of us may say, well, I'm

going to finish, so I'm just going to limp around

just show that I'm hurt. But I wonder how many

of us would have got up, and so I'm going

to give it all. I'm going to give it all

because this isn't about running. It's about running the race

that God's caught us to run. And some of us

have fallen like this. I don't know whether you noticed.

If I had have kept the video playing, they suggest

she tripped over her own feet. So it wasn't even

somebody else stepping on her toes who she cut it

on herself. She tripped herself up. But you know what, Church,

I want every one of you, and those listening at

home and those listening later, I want every one of

you to finish your race. I don't only want your

to finish your race. I want you to finish it well.

I want you to get the prize that you deserve.

And I'll be there going, yeah, yeah, I'm believing for

it because do you know what, Church, it's great when

people win. How many people have had prayer answered this week?

Just hold your hands up high? Okay, look around the church.

Keep your hand up. Just want you to look around.

How many hands are That means God's moved. That means

something's happened in your race, something you stood and prayed for.

There are testimonies. There are plenty of testimonies in church

going on at the moment. So I'm just going to

ask you this simple question. Who cut in on you?

Who cut in on you? Who or what cut in

on you? And so I'm going to ask us to

close our eyes. You might expect me to pray about this.

Of course, I will. Of course I'm going to and

I just want to use stand up those at home,

those listening later, those in the room. If something's cut

into your race, maybe you've stopped. Maybe you're standing thinking

do I want to run again? Maybe you fell flat

on your face, just like this young lady in this

race here. Maybe you trip yourself up, maybe somebody else

tripped you up, maybe something tripped you up, and you

are at a place where you are deciding whether you

want to run again. You're at a place where you're deciding, well,

I'm not even sure if I can finish. I'm going

to ask you to make a simple choice today to

stand and say, yes, I'm going to finish this. I'm

going to finish what God started in me. If that's you,

would you stand? If that's you, would you stand? And

some of you will be standing saying, do you know what.

I don't know how to restart again. I don't know

how to restart again, but I want to restart. So

you make a faith statement by standing right now. You say, look,

I've stopped running and I don't even know how I'm

going to get going again. But I'm going to choose.

I'm choosing today to stand and finish the race. Well,

finish my race. Well you have run the race, you

have fought the fight. It's a good fight. It's a

good race. And so, Father God, I thank you for

everybody standing, everybody in this room, everybody's standing later, everybody's

standing at home. I thank you for them. I thank

you that they've recognized they're in a race. And Father,

we choose individually, but we choose to stand again and

say I'm going to finish. I don't have the strength,

I don't have the resources, I don't have the funds, whatever,

I don't have the capacity. I've still got stitch, Lord,

but I'm still going to choose to give it a go.

And we're going to look to Jesus, the author and

perfector of our face. We're going to look to God

who is going to carry us through the tough times.

And we're not going to be fearful of running through

the valley of the Shadow of Death, because it is

just a valley and it's just a shadow. And so,

Father God, I pray that you'd fill by your Holy

spirit everyone who's low. Would you fill them up, that

they would be lifted up again, fill them up with

passion with purpose, with your calling, Lord, god Father, I

pray that there'd be a calling upon each one afresh. Lord.

For those who had a call and maybe they put

it down, Father, I pray you'd refresh that call, You'd

renew that call. Father. For those who have literally had

the carpet pulled from under them, Father, I pray that

you'd lay down the red carpet for them to finish

the race. Not because they're special, but because they carry

your word and your ways. And so Father, we pray

for a breakthrough in Jesus' name. We pray for a

liberty and a freedom in Jesus name. We pray for

an impartation in the name of Jesus. And everybody said, amen,

thank you, Church, thank you. Just before I hand back

to Juliet, I just I just feel a couple of