We Only Have One Race | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church

So we've been walking through Hebrews, and two

weeks ago I preached a message, we are not of

those who shrink back, right? Let's just say

that again, we are not of those who shrink back,

right? So we began that in Hebrews 10. We walked

through Hebrews 11, the ancients, right? The

great men and women of faith. And we landed in

Hebrews chapter 10. Oh, I pulled up the wrong

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

sermon here. Sorry. I pulled up that sermon.

We're in chapter 12, yes. Now I have to find

the sermon. See, this is why printing your sermons

is better. I might have to have Nick run me up

the sermon from back there. Oh, there it is.

I got it. I got it. Okay. Hebrews 12 is where

we landed in that sermon. So if you were not

here for that, I want to encourage you to get

online and listen to it because it's setting

us up for Hebrews 12. Now, my goal had been to...

take us further into Hebrews 12 and talking about

the correction of the Lord. I know this is so

exciting, the correction of the Lord. We will

be there in two weeks. But I wanted us to come

back to where we finished two weeks ago to set

us up for that, because it's actually a very

exciting and empowering thing in our lives. And

so in Hebrews 12, verse 3, We sang it this morning.

Hebrews 12:3

For consider him who endured such hostility from

sinners against himself, lest you become weary

and discouraged in your souls. How many of you

have ever been weary and discouraged in your

soul? Right? There's that deep weariness that

can come on us. And it's interesting that it

is in the context of faith, being great men and

women of faith that don't shrink back, that he

talks about the weariness and the discouragement

of the soul. But we are not of those that shrink

back, right? We have a great cloud of witnesses

that have gone before us. And so let's read from

the beginning of Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 1,

Hebrews 12:1

the context. Therefore, we also, we love this

passage, since we are surrounded by so great

a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every

weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us,

and let us run with endurance the race that is

set before us. Looking 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 has sat down at the right hand

of the throne of God. Every one of you has a

race that belongs to you. Some of you are just

starting on your race. You've just put on your

tennis shoes when you received Jesus and set

out onto the course. Some of you have been running

this race for 50 years. Every part of this journey

is wonderful. The beginning, the middle, the

end. We're all on a race. We are all on this

journey, and how we run it is important. Now,

we've talked about this, that I'm not a runner,

right? We know Darren was a runner. They don't

just decide to sign up for cross -country, throw

them on the team, and that's it. They're very

intentional. Any team, you're intentional in

your training. You're intentional in learning

how to do it the best way that you can. You're

intentional even about the clothing that you

wear. Sometimes you watch them and you're like,

maybe they need a little more clothes. What are

they doing? They're putting off anything that's

hindering them in their racing, right? Yes, I

saw Darren in little shorty shorts. Yes, you

did. Yes, you did. You'll never see that again,

but when he's running, we're going for it, right?

I know. Darren is just my primary fodder for

sermons. So let's talk for a moment about your

race. Because in this passage, he's down here

groaning still. Oh, and by the way, if anybody

thinks you can do the announcements better than

Darren, you can see me after church and I will

get you up here. All right? I'm not kidding.

Sign up today with me. Okay. I'm getting distracted

in my race with this sermon. Okay. Let's see

what this writer is saying. Let us lay aside

every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares.

Key one in running your race. Lay it aside. Get

rid of anything that is in the way of the running.

We get sin. We know, how many of you know there

are things you shouldn't be doing? Right? We

know we shouldn't do that. So the sin that so

easily entangles, we get that. I think the first

part of this, though, for many of us is interesting.

Laying aside every weight. Anything that you

are carrying that is hindering. Every weight.

This can be good things. It doesn't have to be

some sin that has you captive, although that

might be it. But anything that is a weight that

is pulling you back in your race. There are many

things I would love to do in life or be in life

that I laid aside when I answered the call of

God. Because they would be weights to me in the

race he has set for me. And for some of us in

this place, there are things that aren't necessarily

bad that can be good. When I was reading this,

I was thinking of the Netflix show, Tidying Up,

Marie Kondo. Anybody know Marie Kondo? Yes, my

kids are raising their hands because I forced

them to Marie Kondo their laundry. Marie comes

in, she's from Japan, and she teaches you how

to tidy up your house. It is great. I re -watch

it every January for inspiration as I struggle

to do that. But she has this thing, and when

you're tidying up your home and organizing it,

she makes you touch every piece of it. And she

wants to know, does it spark joy for you? I'm

about to make Darren go through his closet. Does

this flannel spark joy? What about this flannel?

We've got 10 flannels in here. Are they all sparking

joy? Do we need all of them? There's some I haven't

seen you wear. I bought him a Christmas one.

I don't think it's sparking joy it's been sitting

there. Every couple years, Linda makes Dennis.

Oh, he finally, it's not sparking joy. It's taking

up closet space that could be used for other

things, right? So why is this important? Because

there are things in your life That are not joy

sparkers. And when I say this, I'm applying this

to the things that God wants in your life. Because

the truly joyful things that spark in our life

are things that God wants in our life. Not the

things we necessarily want. Our flesh might like

them. They might spark joy for our flesh. But

they're not sparking joy for our spirit man.

And we cannot run our races weighted down with

things that are only sparking joy for our flesh

man and not our spirit man. This is why I'm so

excited. If you saw at the beginning our Lent

graphic that Nick just put out, this Wednesday

we begin our celebration of Lent, my favorite

season of the year. The season Lent, which means

springtime, which means that we are setting aside

the 40 days representing the temptation of Christ,

of getting rid of all the winter clutter. I was

just looking in my yard thinking there's so much

winter clutter that needs to be gone. Lent for

us is the season of laying aside the weights,

the things that ensnare us, of saying, Holy Spirit,

come and walk through the garden of my soul,

of my life. And so as you leave today, our Lent

resource table, I want to encourage you to stop

there and take advantage of it, that you would

lean into Lent, lean in to the season of fasting,

of giving up. I've been drinking coffee like

nobody's business this week because I know Wednesday

is coming and I won't be drinking coffee for

40 days. Whatever, you don't even drink it. Let's

give up Thorntons for 40 days. They all know

the things you should be giving up, don't they,

Darren? That's right. You shouldn't be eating

them anyway. We have one time on this race. It

is a one race. We're not getting another chance

at our race. This is a one and done. We start

the race and we finish the race. And so anything

that gets in the way of the race, we must become

ruthless in elimination. Sometimes tolerance,

we tolerate. Well, it's not really an entangling

sin. And so we will tolerate some of these weights.

It can be something good. It could be an unforgiveness,

an offense with somebody. That is a weight that

will hinder you in your race. It can be unforgiveness

toward God. You're offended with God because

something didn't go right for you. It's a weight.

We've only got one race. There's got to be this

sense of ruthlessness in us that says my eyes

are on the prize. And when we see the prize,

because listen, the second key in running our

race, according to this passage, is to run with

endurance. The race that is set before us. It's

interesting, isn't it, that he says to run this

race will require, what? The one thing he says

is required, endurance. Endurance. I was just

watching last night, Alexandra showed me the

opening of the Olympics. With Mr. Bean. Did anybody

see that with Mr. Bean? Oh my goodness. They

have the full orchestra playing Chariots of Fire,

and he's just sitting there doing the one note

on the keyboard, being Mr. Bean. So he finally

gets bored playing his one note while the whole

orchestra is playing, and he falls asleep and

begins to dream of the scene from the movie when

they're running on the beach, right? So he's

got the Olympic team, and he's trying to beat

the Olympic runners on the beach, and he realizes

he can't, and so he cheats. He gets into a car

that drives him around to the front to get out

and win the race. Listen, there is no cheating

on our race. There is no, like, shortcut to the

end. We need endurance to run in this life the

race of which he's called us, what is set before

us. Endurance, which is what? Patience. There's

not one person I've ever met that says I have

the gift of patience. Never. And as a homeschooling

mom, I would get so irritated when they would

say, oh, well, I don't just have the patience

to do that. I'm like, like, I do? I don't either.

There were days I wanted to bang my head on the

table, right? Patience is not usually something

that is just naturally given to people. And yet

here it is required for the race, the descent.

Not having patience is not an excuse. Because

we have the Holy Spirit. And what is the fruit

of the Holy Spirit? I like Linda's word, long

-suffering. You got to be able to suffer long

on this race. That is what endurance is. And

it's interesting that in the definition of endurance,

it says cheerfully. Oh, yeah. Cheerfully suffer

long. Do you know why it says cheerfully? Because

it says hopefully. You can suffer long when you

have hope. You can suffer long cheerfully. When

you have hope. How many of you have ever seen

Fiddler on the Roof? Yeah? If you haven't, you

should watch it. It is a wonderful musical. And

Tevye says this. He's a poor milkman. Jewish

man. And he says, I know, I know. If you want

to see Darren really dance, you just put on Fiddler

on the Roof. If I were a rich man and he'll really

start dancing. Tevye says, I know, I know. We

are your chosen people. But once in a while,

can't you choose someone else? Has anybody ever

felt that way? Come on, God. If we're really

honest, can't you choose someone else? Would

it be so bad if I were a little richer? How often,

though, do we despise our race? We despise the

race that we're on. And it's in that moment that

we choose, we have the choice of running our

race. Of enduring in our race. And there's not

one of us that can run this race in our own strength

and ability. There's only one way that we have

the power to run this race. And it's in verse

2. Looking unto Jesus, who is the author of your

race. And the finisher of your race. Who set

the example for us on his own race. Who for the

joy set before him. That's you and I. You were

the joy set before Jesus. That enabled him to

run his own race of enduring the cross. And so

we look to Jesus as we're running our race, who

is our author, who is our finisher. And here's

where we get into trouble when we think we are

the ones that are the authors of our race. We

get into trouble when we think we're the finishers.

We get in trouble when we think we're the ones

that get to set the course. No, Jesus. Jesus

is in charge of our race. And so we look to him

as the author and the finisher. He endured the

cross. He despised the shame of it and has sat

down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He finished well. He crossed his finish line

well. And you know that this word here, as the

author of our faith, really means the captain.

That's what that word means, captain. Any of

you ever a team captain on your sports teams?

Every team usually has a captain. We are not

our own captains. Your best friend is not your

captain. Social media is not your captain. You

have one captain, Jesus. And so how do we run

a race? By looking to our captain. Looking to

our captain. Who died as a man. When Jesus endured

the cross, he did it as a man. He did it as...

you and I would have done it. And so how did

Jesus, in his humanness, how did he endure and

run the race for the joy set before him? And

so when I think about our races, I think about

the joy that is set before us. That we are running

after our prize. who is Jesus. There will come

the day when we are face to face with him, when

we have completed our race. And in that moment,

everything will fade. The struggles we had here

on earth will be some distant memory in light

of knowing him in fullness. There is no better

prize. And when we have that prize before us,

it's like, I was never a ballerina, but I know

enough to know that when they are spinning around,

what do they do? They fix their eyes on an object,

and it keeps them centered, right? And so...

Here's where I think we start spinning out of

control. We start all of the things in life,

our family, our jobs, our finances, all of the

chaos of life has us spinning. And we begin to

spin out of control when we've lost our fixed

gaze. When we've lost the object that keeps us

centered and spinning is when things spin out

of control. We've got to lock ourselves. We've

got to lock our eyes on Jesus, our prize, the

one that we are running the race towards. When

we cross the finish line, he's waiting. He's

just waiting. He's at the end saying, come on.

Come on, don't give up. Come on, you're almost

there. Come on, I'm waiting for you. Come on,

let's do this. Come on, keep going. Come on,

I'm worth it. Come on, I'm worth it. My joy being

with me is worth it. Come on. We've lost it.

We've lost, we've taken our eyes off of the prize.

We read it back in Hebrews 10 a couple of weeks

ago. Verse 35, do not cast away your confidence

which has great reward for you have need of endurance

so that after you have done the will of God you

may receive the promise. Listen, he's not going

to snatch the promise away. He's going to give

you his promise. For yet a little while, and

he who is coming will come and will not tarry.

We got to keep our eyes on the prize, my friends.

We talked about the great cloud of witnesses

that are cheering us, right? They've gone before.

However, there is one who is above every other

who has gone before. There is one who is above

every other, and he's already gone before. Consider

him who endured. He's not calling you to do anything

that he has not done himself. Consider him who

endured such hostility. from sinners against

himself, lest you become weary and discouraged.

I would say this, running a race is tiring. Running

a race is exhausting. And there are seasons of

weariness and discouragement that probably if

you just got back to taking Sabbath rest, That

that would cure. However, there is a weariness

and a discouragement that arises out of something

much deeper than can be solved by just taking

rest. And that is we've gotten our eyes off of

Jesus. The moment we cease to look upon him,

the moment we cease to consider him, is the moment

we open ourselves to weariness and discouragement.

It's the fruit of losing sight of Jesus. And

so today I want to call us back. I want to call

us to come back. to the place of being centered

in Christ, to keeping our eyes fixed upon him.

I love the passage in 1 Kings 19. Elijah had

done all of this amazing stuff, right? He had

called down fire against the prophets of Baal,

done amazing things. We've talked about him quite

a bit, because to me, he's kind of a hero. So

after all of his great encounters in verse 4

of chapter 1 Kings 19, he says, but he himself

went a day's journey into the wilderness. And

what it is, is he came and sat under a tree.

And he prayed that he would die. Can you imagine?

All the great spiritual victories. And now we

find him, after being chased by Jezebel, Wanting

his life to be ended. God, it's enough. Take

my life. This is the level of weariness and discouragement

in which we find him. I just want to die. He

wanted his race to end. He was saying, it's time,

Lord. I want the finish line now. I'm tired of

running this race. I'm done. And he fell asleep

and an angel came along and touched him. And

said to him, what? Go and pray some more? Go

and fast some more? No, he said, arise and eat.

And he looked and there provided by heaven was

a cake. Baked on coals and a jar of water. And

it says, so he ate and drank and lay down again.

And the angel of the Lord came back a second

time and touched him. And said, arise and eat.

For the journey is too great for you. So he arose

and he ate and drank and went in the strength

of that food. He was traveling for 40 days and

40 nights to the mountain of God. Listen. He

was partaking and eating of food that could not

be provided by any man. It came from heaven.

And it was this. food that sustained him to continue

his race. Listen, he went on to anoint a couple

of more kings. He went on to raise up the prophet

Elisha that would replace him. What if he had

died? What if he had taken matters in his own

hands and said, I'm done. I'm done on this race.

Two kings. And a prophet. Because of his life.

Two kings and a prophet. Because he finished

his race. He partook of the food. Listen. There's

one source of strength. And in a few moments

here, we're going to finish with communion. Because

it's not enough to run this race in our own strength.

We have to partake. of the bread of life. We

have to partake of the living water. And if you're

finding yourself discouraged, if you're finding

yourself weary, I would just offer this solution.

Consider him who endured. Look to Jesus. Partake

of the bread of life that he has offered in his

body. Partake of the living waters that he gives

to us of salvation. Maybe, just maybe, need a

a fresh drink and a fresh substance of him. And

so this morning I'm going to ask if the worship

team will come and our ushers prepare for communion.

This is simple, but this is so important. Because

you have an enemy that would seek to discourage

you. You have an enemy that would seek to wear

you down and take you out of your race. And you

just don't know what the future holds. Like Elijah,

he had a couple of kings and a prophet to take

care of business with. You just don't know. what

God has on your race ahead of you. You don't

know. We can't see it always. You can't see beyond

that hill, that mountain you've got to climb.

That's faith, right? That's the place of faith.

But you have an enemy that wants to get you off

of your race. He's trying to take you out. He

does not want you finishing your race. And he

will do everything he can to go against you,

to say, I'm done. I quit. This is too hard. If

you want to just be a Sunday Christian, show

up and you did your business and now you're going

to go live however you want, that's fine. He'll

leave you alone. But if you want to fulfill the

race that he has set for you, You've got an enemy

that's going to come against you, to take you

out. Don't worry about him. Don't get your eyes

on him. You just say, my eyes are fixed. My eyes

are fixed on Jesus. I'm considering him who endured.

I'm looking to the author and the finisher. Can't

let our eyes wander. We can get so easily distracted.

I get so annoyed at restaurants by televisions

that are up. I'm like, why do you have to have

televisions up? I always try to seat myself so

Darren can't see the television because I want

sole attention on me, right? It's so easy for

our eyes to wander. to be distracted. And we

begin to look at other things and we begin to

look at other people. We begin to think that

other people have a better race than what we

have. We begin to think, well, how come they're

running so well? Why is their race seems so easy?

They don't have all the obstacles. They don't

have all the stuff in their path that I have.

Our eyes have wandered. We got to get our eyes

fixed back on Jesus. We're not the authors, Jesus

is. And so in this moment of communion, as you

take the communion, I want you to do an exchange.

I want you, first of all, if you have sin that

has been easily entangling you, listen, this

is the table of the Lord. This is the place of

victory. As you take... the blood, the cup, and

the bread. I want you in exchange to let go of

the sin. I want you to let go of the weights

that you've been giving yourself to. As you take

up the elements, I want you to look at it, and

I want you to get your wandering gaze back on

Jesus today, fixing your eyes on him. And so

in a moment, the team is going to lead us. But

I just want us, the ushers can begin to distribute

the elements. And I want us just for a moment,

I don't want us to worship yet. As you receive

the elements from them, I want you to do an exchange

in your heart. And I want you to refix your gaze.