Run With Endurance - Run With Endurance

Hello everyone, I'm Dr.

Steve Holt.

I want to welcome you to the Road Church Podcast.

Each week we go into God's Word.

We teach chapter by chapter and verse by verse.

And we are here to build a Kingdom of God revolution through empowering people to change the world.

So we pray this will minister to you at your heart level and change your life.

Today, be encouraged by our guest speaker.

Good morning.

My name is Joey Fallon.

I'm the youth pastor here at the road.

Have the honor of bringing the message this morning.

I wanted to thank you.

I wanted to title this morning's message, uh, What I've Learned This Summer, but I didn't because it's not a good title, but it is true.

Um so our passage this morning is out of Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

So if you have your Bible with you, you can turn uh with me this morning to Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

We'll be in the first couple of verses.

And our passage this morning is one that the Lord has continued to bring up uh multiple times for me just the past couple of months, and in pretty unique ways.

Uh the first was towards the end of May, a friend of mine invited me to go to a CrossFit class with him at like 5 30 in the morning on a Thursday.

And normally that would be an easy no.

Like, um, it's not my thing, no, thank you.

But for some reason, I went.

Um, and this was a is a Christian um gym.

So they begin each workout with a little devo.

And so the devo that morning, of course, was Hebrews 12, 1 and 2.

And there wasn't much to it.

The the trainer read it, and then we started working out.

But I was thinking about it as I was working out.

And then the good thing about working out at 5 30 a.m.

is when I got home, my whole family was still sleeping.

Um, that sounds negative, I didn't mean like that.

But uh the good thing was I had more time to press in to Hebrews chapter 12 and eat breakfast while they were still sleeping.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

And so I continued to to um chew on it and read it, and and it really ministered to me.

Um it was the week before VBS, you know, I was trying to get pumped about VBS, and it's a lot of work, those of you that help with VBS, but it's great.

And and so it was very, very inspiring for me in that season of my life.

And then a few weeks later, my family and I went to uh Michigan, where we go every summer, this great family uh Bible camp that's on this beautiful lake in central Michigan, and uh it's a Christian camp, so there's a speaker for the adults, there's there's things for the kids, and there's this one thing uh for the kids called BBBSB, which stands for Brown Bag Bible Study Bonanza, but you already knew that, of course.

Um and so the BBBSB is something you do with your family in the cabins each morning.

And we go with my wife Allie, her her extended family all comes there, all live in the Midwest, and so uh her cousins and their kids, there's like nine kids in the house uh from the ages of like one and a half to like 13.

And so, for whatever reason, I get to be the one who leads them through the BBBSB.

And so the first morning, it comes, it's literally in a brown bag.

So it's in a brown bag, you pull out the Devo, and and the memory verse for the week for the kids is Hebrews 12, 1 and 2.

And I don't know if they got anything out of it, but boy did I, right?

It was it was awesome and super encouraging, challenging and inspiring for me.

So I hope the same is true for you this morning as we walk through it.

So I'm gonna pray and then let's read through uh Hebrews 12, 1 and 2.

So if you're not there yet, you can turn there with me.

God, thank you for your word.

Lord, as we read your word this morning, as we open your word together, would you speak to us in a unique way?

Would you lead us and guide us in Jesus' name?

Amen.

So Hebrews 12, verse 1 says this.

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, we also, 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.

For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become wary and discouraged in your souls.

So I did not read these verses for the first time this summer.

In fact, this is a passage I was pretty familiar with, had memorized since I was a kid.

And maybe the same is true for you this morning.

Maybe you've heard these verses hundreds of times, maybe it's for the first time.

Regardless, I believe God can use passages that we're familiar with and passages we aren't to speak new revelations to us.

And that's really cool.

And the reason that happens is because this book is living and active.

This book is living and active.

This is how God speaks to us, right?

You could read the same passage for the thousandth time, and the Lord will speak something new to you from that passage.

And that's why we read the word of God, right?

We want to hear from God.

You want to hear from God?

Read his word, right?

He will speak to you.

So, quick context of Hebrews, since we're in Hebrews this morning.

The author of Hebrews is unknown.

We don't know who wrote it.

There's various views and opinions on that.

But it was written primarily to Jewish believers at the time, probably some Gentile believers as well.

But these particular verses for me remind me of the Apostle Paul.

I'm not claiming he wrote it.

I'm not that smart.

I'm just saying it sounds like Paul because he's talking about running a race.

And Paul wrote that way a lot in his letters.

He used the analogy of the Christian walk to running a race.

And even 2 Timothy, we just finished our study of 1st and 2 Timothy, Pastor Al brought the word a couple weeks ago from chapter 4 of 2 Timothy, and Paul says, I've fought the good fight, I've finished the race, I've kept the faith.

So he used that terminology a lot.

And as a kid growing up reading the Bible, like those were my favorite verses.

The verses that talked about athletics and sports in the Bible.

Those are my favorite, right?

Jacob wrestling God.

But it but a lot of the verses that Paul used about running, I could relate to because I was an athlete, I liked to run, I used to run competitively.

So any of those verses are the ones that were always my favorites in I'll actually onto, including this one.

So I'm gonna talk about running a little bit, and I'm gonna start with one uh story this morning about a race I remember running while I was in high school, and I'll make it relate to the message, I promise.

But when uh when I was about a freshman in high school, I ran this race at Monument Valley Park.

And those of you that have been to Monument Valley Park, you know it's uh Fountain Creek runs alongside of it.

It's kind of in between, Fountain Creek's in between the park and the highway.

And this particular race, I don't remember, I think it was four or five miles, but they made you run about a mile of it in the creek.

Um, like you had to go down and you had to run in the creek.

For whatever reason, they the city actually dumped extra water into the creek for the race so that the water level is higher.

Now, that's what I remember being told.

I'm looking at Jerry Ford digs.

I don't know if that's a real thing, if like the city would actually do that.

That seems weird to me.

Maybe someone was messing with me, but I that's what I was told.

So the water level was pretty high.

It was like knee deep for me uh running through Fountain Creek.

And so you it's early on in the race, you trail goes right, you go down rocks and get in the creek, and you run in the creek for a mile.

I don't know whose idea was that.

It was terrible, but it was even more terrible because the first step that I took into the creek, I slipped, landed on my butt, and I was soaking wet the rest of the race.

And this was like early on in the race, and so I was soaked up to like here.

Nobody else was.

My dad ran the race, he was fine, but I fell in, and so I was wet.

Made it a lot more challenging.

Okay, we'll get back to that, I promise.

It relates.

But I have five points for you this morning from Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

They're more so actions, five things that we should do from this passage.

These verses are very applicable, they talk about doing things, actions that we should take.

So I have five simple actions uh for you this morning from Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

They're all pretty simple.

So the first one is surrounded.

And that comes from verse 1.

It says, Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.

But back up, before we get to the word surrounded, the first word of that verse is therefore.

Whenever we find a therefore, we have to look back at what came previously, right?

It's bringing back to what's in chapter 11.

So if you have to flip back, flip back with me to chapter 11.

Chapter 11 is another really famous chapter from the Bible.

It's it's known by different things.

Some people call it the hall of faith.

Uh, it's got the heroes of the faith in it.

Um, it also defines what faith is.

So read uh Hebrews 11:1 with me.

Hebrews 11:1

It says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

That's what faith is.

Faith is where our hope is.

And it's the evidence of faith is the unseen work of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews chapter 6, earlier in the same book, talks about hope as an anchor for our soul, right?

Hebrews 6 · chapter mention

I think hope is the primary thing that separates believers in Jesus Christ who have their faith in him from non-believers of Jesus Christ.

Everybody's got their hope in something.

Our hope is in something eternal, someone eternal, right?

And so hope, faith is where our hope is.

Faith is also the evidence of it, is the unseen work of Jesus Christ, the things that Jesus Christ is doing in our lives, the way he heals us, the way he speaks to us, the way he brings breakthrough in our lives, provision, right?

Jesus is working and moving in our lives.

That's the evidence of our faith in him.

When we pray for something and that prayer is answered, that's the evidence of faith.

So after defining faith, the author of Hebrews goes into this giant list of some of the heroes of the faith, people that uh from the Old Testament.

I want to look through this list.

So if you follow along with me in Hebrews 11, look at verse 4.

The first person he mentioned is Abel.

By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.

In verse 5, Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death.

In verse 7, Noah's mentioned, being divinely warned of things of not seen uh not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, love that godly fear.

We'll see that uh phrase again in chapter twelve.

Abraham in verse eight obeyed when he was called to go out to the place where he would receive as an inheritance.

His wife Sarah is mentioned at 11, also received strength to conceive seed that she bore a child when she was past the age.

Abraham again in verse 17, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises, offered up his only begotten son.

You can imagine how much uh faith that would have taken for for Abraham.

By in verse 20, his son Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

Verse 21, by faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

In verse 22, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel.

Twenty-three, Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents because he saw he was a beautiful child.

They were not afraid of the king's command.

Takes faith.

Verse 24, Moses again, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction.

In verse 29, the Israelites, by faith, they passed through the Red Sea as dry land, whereas the Egyptians attempting to do so were drowned.

Verse 30, the Israelites again, by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.

Verse 31, Rahab, by faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe.

And then follow along with 32 here.

I want to read through this list of things these people have accomplished.

And what more shall I say?

For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, and also of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked 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, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the enemies of aliens, women received their dead, raised to life again.

Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they 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 mountains and dens and caves of the earth.

And all of these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.

God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

What a list, right?

What a list of men and women from the Old Testament, heroes of the faith, people who've gone before us with the same faith and hope and in God and in Jesus who went before us and accomplished amazing things.

And I love that it goes through a list of what the specific people accomplished, and then a general list of what they accomplished, things like quenching fire and stopping the mouths of lions.

All of that took faith, right?

For these people to accomplish those things, took faith.

But there's also a paragraph there about difficulties, too, that took faith to overcome, right?

Suffering and challenges and hardships.

And that also requires faith.

So faith, it takes faith for us to do incredible things for God.

It also takes faith in God for us to overcome incredible hardships and difficult things as well.

And in our middle school ministry flagship, we're going through a series called Heroes of the Old Testament for the summer.

And we're going through a lot of these stories, right, of these people, David and Daniel.

And one thing I've noticed through that series and through my study in this passage is these are normal people who had incredible faith, right?

Normal people who had extreme faith.

And when I look around this room this morning, I see the same thing.

I see normal people who have extreme faith.

And that's, you know, normal can be a bad word.

That's not meant as an insult, right?

You guys are awesome.

And you have extreme faith.

And so it's not about us being incredible or us being capable or us being extraordinary.

It's about who our faith is in.

Right?

It's not about us, it's about he who is in us.

Normal people have faith.

And when we do that, when we bring faith, God shows up and allows us to do things we didn't think were possible, overcome things that we didn't think we could, not because of our own strength, but because of his strength.

So these verses are meant as an encouragement to you.

They're meant as an encouragement.

These people can do it, so can you.

This verse is also a reminder that we're not alone.

We're not alone.

Because when it says, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, the cloud of witnesses that's mentioned there in 12.1 is the list from chapter 11, right?

All of these people, David and uh Abraham and Sarah, and this whole list, that is the cloud of witnesses.

These people who have gone before us, who had fear of the Lord and not fear of man.

I think of David, Pastor, you were just talking about David.

I think of David standing there in front of Goliath.

Why?

Not because he was stronger than Goliath, not because he was capable of taking him down, but because he had fear of the Lord, and his fear of the Lord was greater than fear of man, even a nine-foot-tall man.

Right?

He understood who his faith was in.

So we have this cloud of witnesses.

So this verse is an encouragement.

It's also a reminder that you're not alone.

And maybe you feel alone as a believer.

Maybe you're the only believer in your workplace.

Maybe you're the only believer in your family, your school.

Maybe you do feel alone.

My encouragement to you this morning, if you're not feeling surrounded, would be to read Hebrews 11.

You're in good company.

There's countless people who've gone before you with the same faith and the same God.

My other encouragement would be to look around this room.

Again, you're not alone.

You're surrounded, you're in good company.

So be encouraged, follow their example, and have faith.

So that's number one.

Number one is surrounded.

Number two is lay aside.

Lay aside.

So verse one says, since we are surrounded.

So that means we got to do something, right?

So since you are surrounded, what should we do?

Well, let's look at the next part of verse one.

Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which so easily ensnares us.

Lay aside.

Other translations say throw off.

Throw off.

I like both of them.

I like both of them.

And I'm going to use both of them.

And I think it's important to use both of them because there's a distinction here made between two different things that the author is talking about.

First, he says every weight, but then he also says sin, which so easily ensnares.

Both of these things can slow us down and ensnare us in our Christian life, and they can add weight.

Weight, right?

I like to hike with my kids.

I have three boys, six, three, and one and a half, and we hiked pulpit rock the other day, and I put our one and a half year old in a hiking backpack.

He's a hefty one and a half year old, say it that way.

So that extra weight makes a difference, right?

You feel it.

It slows you down, it affects the way that you're walking, the way you're moving.

Um you feel that extra weight.

The same is true of our own lives.

If we're carrying extra burdens, if we're carrying things we're not supposed to, if we're we're holding on to distractions, it's going to weigh us down.

And so the author's talking about sin, but not just sin, right?

The first thing he says is every weight.

Might be referring to sin, might not be.

But he does talk about the sin which easily ensnares.

And that's exactly what sin does.

It ensnares us.

And the Greek word that's used here for easily ensnares can be translated a couple of different ways, about four different ways.

It can be translated as easily avoided, admired, ensnaring, and dangerous.

And I think that list describes sin pretty well.

Does it not?

Sin can be easily avoided, but oftentimes we don't.

Sin is often admirable, sin is ensnaring, and sin is dangerous because it leads to death and destruction.

So if sin is the problem this morning, you're looking at, is it extra weight?

Is it sin?

If there's sin that's that's entangling you this morning, if sin is the problem in your life, then I like the term throw off.

Right?

We have lay aside, we like throw off.

I like throw off, right?

If there's sin that's entangling you, throw it off.

And I would encourage you to come up this morning during ministry time.

We want to pray for a breakthrough for you in the name of Jesus.

We want to get you accountability to be able to throw off that sin that's ensnaring you in your own life.

But it might not be sin.

You might be weighed down this morning by something that isn't sinful, something that's holding you back, slowing you down, or distracting you.

And maybe the Lord's asking you to lay it aside this morning.

Maybe just for a season.

Might not be a bad thing at all, but it might be something that's taking away your time, your focus, distracting you in your life, and the Lord's saying, Hey, would you lay this aside so that you can realign your focus?

Maybe it's because of the season you're in.

Maybe you're running through a creek right now and it's difficult, right?

And you're wet and you're being weighed down, and the Lord's saying, Hey, get rid of this burden so that you can run.

Don't carry extra weight if you don't have to.

Is there a burden that you're carrying this morning that's not yours to carry?

So I'm gonna ask you to close your eyes real quick this morning.

Would you close your eyes?

And I want to ask you a few questions.

Is there something that you're carrying this morning that's holding you back?

Is there something that's slowing you down?

Is there something that's distracting you from focusing on Jesus?

Is it a sin in your life?

Is it an unnecessary weight?

You can open your eyes.

If something came to mind and you're taking notes, I'd encourage you to write that thing down.

And I'd also encourage you again, please come up during ministry time at the end of service.

We would love to partner with you and pray for you.

Because whatever it is, it's slowing you down and you're better off without it.

So lay it aside, throw it off, give it to Jesus.

So that's number two, lay aside.

And that brings us to number three, which is run.

So why are we getting rid of extra weight and sin so that we can run.

Now that the weights, the distractions, the snares are gone, we can run.

We can run with endurance, the race that is set before us.

This is the end of verse one here.

It says, run with endurance the race that is set before us.

With any race, there's portions of it that are more difficult than others.

Right?

The race that I described earlier, running through the creek was much more difficult than running through the grass at the end of the race, right?

Especially soaking wet.

Running up a hill is much more difficult than running down a hill.

The same is true in our own lives.

There are portions of life that are more challenging than others.

And sometimes those difficult stretches last a long time.

Sometimes they're brief, a week or two.

Sometimes they could last years.

Maybe you're in a difficult stretch of life right now and it's going on for years.

You're running straight up a hill and it's tough and it stinks, and you're wondering when you're ever gonna get to the top of it.

Sometimes we encounter ups and downs and hills and bumps in the same day.

And just like running a race requires endurance and perseverance, so does life.

Running through life requires endurance and perseverance.

And the more you do it, the more endurance and perseverance you get.

And the Greek word that's used here for endurance isn't talking about patiently waiting for something to end.

It doesn't mean sit there and endure it.

It's an action, it's determination to press on and keep going.

It's a refusal to be defeated.

That's what the word endure here means, a refusal to be defeated.

I think back to another race that I ran in middle school of 5K in Woodland Park, and at the beginning of the race, I saw this kid who I recognized from wrestling season a few weeks a few months earlier, and he had beat me in a match in overtime.

And you don't forget that, or what they look like.

So I saw him and I was like, Man, that kid beat me a few months ago.

And so I was like, Oh, we're about to run a race against each other.

I have a chance to beat him.

And the race starts, and he is in front of me, and I was like, Oh well, there goes that.

But at the End of the race, there was this huge hill towards the end, and I was catching up to him and I saw him halfway up the hill, and I said, This is my chance to beat him.

I'm tired, it's the end of the race, and it required endurance and perseverance.

And I was able to pass him and I finished ahead of him.

And so that's this the idea of this refusal to be defeated.

That's the endurance that's required here in our Christian life.

The endurance that's being asked of us here is not passive sitting, it's an action.

Go after it, run harder, don't be defeated.

So we are called to run with endurance.

What are we called to run?

The race that is set before us.

Your race.

You are called to run a specific race.

I'm not supposed to run somebody else's race, they're not supposed to run mine.

We can run with each other, but we have our own race to run.

And so God has set out and marked a race for you and a race for me, and He wants you to run it well, and He wants you to finish it the right way.

So you are called to run your race and you're called to do it excellently.

So do it the best that you can, even if you're running up a hill and it's really difficult, and you're not sure why you're in the season of life that you're in or how you got there or what's going on.

Keep running.

Keep running.

Because God is with you and He's given you gifts and talents and abilities, and He knows what you're in, and He knows how He created you, and He created you to run your race, and He knows you can do it, and He's with you.

So keep running.

Keep running.

And I know that might be a hard message to hear this morning because of the race that you're currently running.

Because of the season that you're in.

And you might be looking over to someone else, and you're like, man, their race seems a lot easier than my race, Lord, that's not fair.

Or even the flip side of that is like, hey, their race is a lot harder than mine.

Why are they going through it, Lord?

That's not fair.

And we can do that, right?

We have a tendency to look around at the other people running around us.

And I did that in my race when I'm soaking wet and everyone else is dry.

I'm looking around, you know.

And we can do that.

We have that tendency to compare.

Look around and compare.

And comparison is distracting.

And maybe it can be motivating, but I think oftentimes it's distracting.

I remember being in 10th grade biology, and science wasn't really my thing, and probably because I sat in the back corner with my friend Zach and we didn't learn very much.

And every time a test was returned to us, and the grade is at the top, I would spend the next five minutes walking around class trying to find at least one person who did worse on the test than me.

Not because that comparison motivated me to be a better student.

It never did, it just made me feel better about how I did on the test.

Sometimes I never found anybody.

Usually it was my friend Zach.

But uh and we were around St.

Ballpark usually.

So comparison is distracting, and I believe comparison robs us of seeing the bigger picture.

Because if we're focused in on that test, that specific thing that day, and we're looking at other people and we're we're comparing my situation to their situation and that person's situation, we're not seeing God's bigger picture.

That comparison is robbing us from seeing the whole thing.

We can't see his purpose and his plan.

And the reason God has given us each our own unique race to run is because each of us are created differently.

No two people were created the same way.

Each of you has a unique set of gifts and abilities and talents and desires and goals and dreams and difficulties and challenges.

And no one is made the same way as you.

So if I'm running my race and I'm looking over there to that person and I'm trying to compare, it's never gonna be a fair comparison because we weren't created the same way and our races aren't exactly the same.

So it's never going to be a fair comparison.

So don't let comparison rob you from seeing God's bigger picture.

And the other reason why we shouldn't be looking sideways or looking around as we're running, because if I'm looking over here or I'm looking over there, then where am I not looking?

And that brings us to number four.

Look at verse 2.

It says, 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, looking unto Jesus.

Other translations say, fixing our eyes on Jesus.

Stop looking around, looking to the left or right, and look up.

When I slipped in that creek during that race, I don't remember where I was looking, but I obviously wasn't focusing on the right thing.

My focus was off.

I shouldn't be running my race with my head sideways, looking at someone or something over there, right?

Our three-year-old's really good about this.

He's always walking with his head sideways and runs into things, right?

His focus is off.

Our focus is off.

Isaiah 26, 3 says, You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you.

Because he trusts in you.

Will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you.

Where is your focus this morning?

Where are you looking?

Because that's how we find success in the race of life.

That's how we accomplish difficult things and overcome challenges when we're focused on the right thing.

Because as the verse says, Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.

The author and finisher of our faith.

Other translations say he's the pioneer of our faith.

I love that term.

I was a history major, taught history for a little while, and loved reading about westward expansion in the United States, the pioneers moving west, and it blows my mind.

Every time I drive to Denver, that's what I pick, like that stretch between Monument and Castle Rock.

I just imagine like wagon trains, which nobody else probably does.

But that's what I always picture, like pioneers moving through that nothingness, uh going west.

And and it somebody had to be first.

Eventually there's trails and there's towns and there's supplies and stuff, but somebody had to be first.

Somebody had to be that first pioneer to pave the way.

And for us, that's Jesus.

For us, that's Jesus.

He has gone before us.

He went first.

He ran an earthly race.

He walked around on this earth.

He dealt with life, the ups and the downs and the valleys and the difficult things and the sadness and crying.

He did all of that.

He ran an earthly race.

And what's more than that, he endured the cross, your earthly race.

He endured your earthly race as well.

He bore shame, he suffered, he felt every terrible thing that you have felt, and then he overcame it.

He conquered it, and now he's seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

So I don't know about you, but if I'm looking anywhere while I'm running, I want to be looking at him.

I want to be following that guy because he did it first and he did it the best.

And that is who our faith is in.

So I want to run like Jesus, I want to run after Jesus, the man who understands what I'm going through.

Have you ever noticed that we tend to bond or connect with people who have gone through similar experiences as us?

Good and bad, right?

I would say especially bad.

If you walk through something difficult with someone, you have a deep connection with them.

And I think about my time wrestling, and I got to wrestle with some of the guys on my team who were the same from like second grade all the way through high school.

And so we went through a lot together.

And I remember a few years after high school, I saw a guy who had been on my wrestling team.

He wasn't really a close friend, but like he had been on my wrestling team from second grade through 12th grade.

And I was in a parking lot, I was holding a bunch of stuff, and I hear Joey, and I look over and I see this guy, probably 20, 30 feet away, and just instinctively I dropped everything and I sprinted and I jumped into his arms and gave him a huge hug.

And then I was like, that was really weird.

Why did I do that?

I don't even know this guy.

But it's because of that shared experience, that bond from difficult wrestling practices for 10 years, sweat and blood, and traveling to the middle of nowhere in Colorado for wrestling tournaments at 4 a.m.

on a Saturday, and all of those shared experiences that nobody else understands because I went through it with him.

And that's a deep bond and connection.

How much more is true about our connection with Jesus?

The man who was on the cross feeling everything that you felt, your pain, your difficulties, your sin, your shame, he bore it all on himself on the cross.

He can relate to you.

He knows what you're going through, he knows what it feels like.

That's a deep connection that we have with our God, with our Father who felt pain.

And because of that, because he went first, because he understands, I want to follow Jesus as I run my race.

I want my focus, my gaze to be squarely on him.

I want to follow his example as I run my race.

Verse 3 says, For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

Weary and discouraged.

Other translations say weary or faint-hearted.

How many of you feel weary, faint-hearted, discouraged when you go for a run?

Right?

You don't have to raise your hand.

I feel that way sometimes.

The same is true of life.

Running the race of life can make us feel weary, faint-hearted, and discouraged.

So as you're looking to Jesus, as you're fixing your eyes on him, consider the cross.

Consider the race that Jesus ran.

When you can't fathom the road ahead, when it's so difficult, when everything stinks, look to Jesus.

Fix your eyes on him and consider the cross.

Our last point this morning is the word serve.

And I want to skip to the end of Hebrews chapter 12 and read the last two verses, 28 and 29.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

It says, Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

Serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.

We belong to an unshakable kingdom with an unshakable God.

Life can shake us up.

Life can feel uncertain.

The race can feel difficult and unsteady.

But our God is steady.

Our God is unshakable.

Therefore, in the midst of whatever portion of your race you are currently running, whether it's up a steep hill, down a hill, in or in a creek, on the grass, wherever you are in your race, wherever you're running, would you serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear?

Continuing to run with endurance in serving Him.

For our God is a consuming fire.

I pray that that gives you comfort and peace this morning.

Thank you for listening to the Road Church Podcast.

We pray today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.

For more information about the Road Church and to find more content like this, go to theroad.org.

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