Hebrews 12:12-17 Keep Running the Race

The speaker discusses the idea of discipline in the book of Hebrews and how it is not just punishment, but also a form of instruction and protection. They compare discipline to a long-distance race and emphasize the importance of finishing the race and improving with each attempt. They use examples of marathon runners and the goal of finishing better than before to illustrate this concept. The speaker also mentions a personal situation involving their son and in-law being sued, highlighting the challenges faced in life's race. I have a question to ask both of you about a particular verse in Revelation. Oh really? Revelation? There are so many really good programs doing Revelation now. I wonder why? I know, I know. This must be the end times. Well, this is a wonderful time to study about the end times. And the book of Hebrews as well. So let me pray and I'll start. Dear Lord, thank you so much for this wonderful study in Hebrews. Thank you that you remind us of Hebrews 4.12 that the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It divides to the soul and the spirit, joints and marrow. It's the discerner of the motives and intents of the heart. So dear Lord, help us to, with our hearts, study your word. Help us to glean from your word, from this study, that how do we keep on running the race to finish well. And help us to learn and to do that which you chose, help us to and purpose to choose for us to do. And that's to be more and more conformed to your image. Thank you for your word. Thank you for Jesus. We pray these things to Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. Alright. David. Yes, sir? Good. Are you ready? I guess so. Okay, do you need some help? You can sit up there. Yeah, I'll be okay. I think I'm good. Alright. Alright, so two weeks ago we had Run the Race of Faith. Last week we had Embrace the Lord's Discipline. And we go back to Run the Race of Faith. That's just the way the author set it up. That's all there is to it. So, going back to the Therefore, if we could go back for just a minute and see what it's there for, right? So, I'm going to have Hebrews 12 open there for a second. Let's look at verses, what would it have been? From last week, 6 through 5? 4 through 11, yeah, 4 through 11. Do you want me to read it? Yeah, go ahead. Okay. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as children? It says, My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline. Do not lose heart when He rebukes you. Because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His child. Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as children. For while children are not disciplined by their fathers, if you are not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are not legitimate children at all. Moreover, we have all had parents who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of Spirit and live? Our parents disciplined us for a little while as they thought best. But God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your able arms and weak knees. Therefore. Right. So there's the therefore. So, after the discipline, and remember we discussed the discipline last week. It's not all punishment. Right? In our minds, we think, here we're disciplined. I mainly think of the, as I said last week, the enforcer or whatever you want to call it. Right? The uh... The woodshed. The woodshed. Yeah. Right. The paddle that I got in the 8th grade, because I got a B in Conduct. In one class. And the coach wouldn't, you know, I mean, he didn't care. He didn't have any grace. He didn't have... Nah. No. No. Hey, this is my... I've been waiting to give Ingram a swat. Now's my chance. Let me see if I can get him off the ground. Yeah. He came off the ground, that's for sure. Did you go to Catholic school? No, I did not go to Catholic school. I went to Central Junior High. Did you really? Yeah. What was your Conduct grade the next? Oh, I never got another B in Conduct. I got you. But the only reason I got... Remember I told you the story last week. I got a B because everybody else in the class was talking. And, you know, the teacher... It was an honors math class. Everybody... The teacher had left the class in classroom. And it had been 10 minutes. She'd been gone 10 minutes. And we're sitting there going, what do we do now? You know, so we're just talking. And she walks in. I don't know what she expected. We're eighth graders for crying out loud. You can't leave a room full of adults for 10 minutes of mental talk. Yeah. But she did. Boy, everybody in the class got a B. Wow. That was unjust. It just wasn't right. That wasn't acceptable to your father, though, was it? It didn't make any difference. It didn't make any difference. I had one of those too. Yeah. So anyway, the discipline was not just punishment, right? Discipline could also do a couple other things. Remember what it could do? It could give instruction, right? And it's there to protect as well, right? So protection, instruction, punishment, or correction. See? Correction, instruction, protection. There we go. Training and right. If you're not careful, it could make you bitter. It can. It can. I'm not bitter, by the way. I was just thinking you need to forgive him. He's probably dead and gone by now. Oh, I know he is. I have fun with it. I have fun with it. At the time, it wasn't much fun, but I had fun with it. Anyway, so therefore, since God's involved in helping you run this race, right? That's what he's saying. That's what he's saying. Since God is keenly interested in, number one, that you finish the race, and number two, how you run the race. He's keenly interested in that. So, there's going to come a point in time, as we talked about two weeks ago, when we talked about running the race, we talked about the fact that these marathon, he's not a sprinter marathon, and these marathon runners, about halfway through the 26 miles, they hit what's called the wall. And when they hit the wall, things change. They've got to fight through the wall. Because if they don't fight through the wall, they drop out of the race. So, the first sign of a runner approaching exhaustion and hitting that wall, is the first thing that happens is the hands drop. They drop. You don't understand how significant your arms and hand movement are in running. But if you don't have this going, you're running, you're trying to run like this, you're just not going to do very well at it. Your balance is off. You're not able to drive through your strides. It's amazing what you get by having your arms up and using them to run with. First thing that happens is your arms droop, your hands fall. The second thing that happens is your knees wobble. I call it rubber legs. Have y'all ever been to the point of exhaustion with, and all of a sudden you feel like your legs are just wanting to collapse, they're just rubbery, right? That's what we're talking about. So, again, the author's coming back to that illustration or that visual of a long-distance runner, a marathoner, and he's saying strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble. We're all going to hit the wall at some point, and we need help when we hit the wall. When Tom and I were talking, and Ron and I were talking about this Monday morning, it brought to mind a couple of things over the Olympics over the years, right? So one thing that I thought about was that runner that won the Olympics, remember the runner that fell and his dad comes out of the stands? I mean, you talk about a tearjerker, right? You're sitting there watching this dad pick up his son, come on, son, we're going to finish. We're going to finish. And they did. In essence, the dad picked up his arms and strengthened his arms and strengthened his wobbly knees and got up under him, and they walked together the remainder of that race, and they got to it, and he crossed the finish line. That's what this is talking about. What's interesting is, if you don't have help, you're more likely to fall out of the race than you are to finish. I'm not saying that's always the case. But you're more likely to fall out of the race than you are to finish. But the way that you can overcome this physical exhaustion, and the way these marathon runners do it, is they keep in mind what the goal is. They don't ever let side of the goal. What's the goal? Finish the race, right? And most of them, and I don't know how much you know about track runners and runners, only a few marathon runners enter a marathon knowing they're going to be contenders for the championship. Right? I mean, the Boston Marathon, you think about that, that's the one that comes to mind, right? Every year, when they publish who's going to be, they don't publish everybody. They say, but here's who's going to be contending. Right? And they'll have a handful of females and a handful of males. These are the ones to watch. They're the ones that when the end comes, they're going to be the ones that are going to be vying for that championship. Right? But how many runners are in the marathon? Hundreds. Hundreds. So what are they thinking about? Finishing. But there's something else they're thinking about. Better than they did last time. Personal bets. Personal bets. They're thinking, man, I did this in 2 hours and 26 minutes last time. I'm doing it in 2 hours and 25 minutes this time. I don't care what happens. I'm going to do it in 2 hours and 25 minutes. I'm going to do it. And they've got that in their mind that's driving them, because they have a goal. Their goal is to finish the race, but not just finish the race, but finish it better than they did last time. The same thing holds true in this race of life of ours, this race of faith. Right? We get knocked around quite often on the course, don't we? I don't know if I've told y'all, but I'll just tell you. My oldest son and our in-law have just been through the ringer on something that wasn't their fault. But they were sued. And, you know, my prayer from the beginning was that God would exonerate them. It's a big deal. My prayer from the beginning was that God would exonerate them. It's been almost a year. And it's been a trying year. I don't know if you've ever been through that process before. I know Ron and Joyce have, and I have before as well. But it's not any fun. All right? But today, they had mediation. And today, they came away and it's over. And I got a text just as I'm making copies downstairs while I go. I got the text. Tiffany telling me it's over. You could hear the relief in her voice on the text. You know? You could hear it. That was a tough phase of life they just went through. I mean, it was not fun. It had a significant impact on them. But what I watched is I watched God work. Okay? Multiple times, Tiffany was a guest in my house during that stretch. She needed respite. She needed to have someone that would come alongside and encourage her. And I don't think they mind me telling this part of it. You know, she struggled. And you can imagine. And I'll never forget the times that I put on YouTube. And we go to Christian Music. And we just start singing. And we just start singing. And we sing, and we sing, and we sing. We do it for two hours. And by the time the singing's over, her countenance has changed. Her spirit's been lifted. She's been encouraged. What I did, and what Terry did, during that stretch of time, is we came along our side, not just our daughter-in-law, our sister in Christ. And we lifted up those hands that were wobbling, or weak and falling. And we strengthened those knees that were wobbling. And we helped her to continue on. Are you getting the picture? I'm telling you. We need help, don't we? This race is not fun. Very few times can you call this fun. I mean, we have fun on Wednesday night and Sunday morning. But sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's a challenge, isn't it? We need help. So, we focus on the goal. That's how the runner overcomes the physical exhaustion. When we become spiritually exhausted, what do we need to do to stay in the race? Look at Hebrews 12. We're going to fix our eyes on who? Jesus. Why? Why do you fix your eyes on Jesus? But why? Right. Author meaning he was the one that showed the way? Right? He's the one that showed the way. Here's how you run this race of faith. And he's the one that completed it. He says, not only here's how you run it. Here's how you complete it. Yes, sir. Yes. Yes. That's exactly right. That's right. That's right. Thank you. That's a good word there. Yes. I was the gold star. I'll get a gold star for that. I didn't bring them tonight. I haven't brought my gold stars in here yet. I've got some. I'll get them up here. We'll start handing them out. Fix your eyes on Jesus. The author refers to the hands which are weak and knees which are feeble. Now, here's the point. You see, I've put the apostrophes around the word the. He doesn't say strengthen your hands that are weak and your knees that are feeble. He says strengthen the hands that are weak and the hands that are feeble. And what's that referring to? Someone else? Anyone. Right? Anyone in the race. That you're running the race with. The sudden you, like I just said about Tiffany, right? The first time. The first time. I'll never forget it. The first time they come in and they tell us about the lawsuit. And Brian's with her and they explain what they know about it and what's going on. And then Brian has to go back home. And I'm thinking, well, Tiffany's going. No, she doesn't go back home. If it's okay, can Tiffany stay? Sure, she can stay. And it wasn't long until I realized why she needed to stay. Her hands were weak. Her knees were wobbling. And that's what I'm just saying. See, it's whoever's struggling. That's who needs the help. Brothers and sisters. Yes, ma'am. Brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters. So. In giving this exhortation, he alludes to Isaiah 35, 1-4. So let's look at Isaiah 35, 1-4. It's on your handout. And whoever would like to read that, please do so. The wilderness and the desert will be glad. And the arava will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Encourage the exhausted and strengthen the feeble. Save you those who have an anxious heart. Take courage. Fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance. The recompense of God will come. But he will save you. That's a good word, isn't it? That's a good word. So, it just so happened that God had spoken to me about a specific... I might have told you all this already. But you all remember when Jacob is on his way back to the promised land with his entourage, with his family. And he comes to that point where he's concerned about Esau and what he's going to do. And he's sending out, you know, one party after another with gifts trying to prepare the way. And then the night time comes and he sends the family across the brook. And one of them goes one way and one goes the other. And he goes and he gets to that same spot where he, remember, he had the encounter of the latter, right? He gets to that same spot. Remember, he had titled that Beth-El, the house of God. That time though, this time, he encounters what most people think or a lot of people think is a pre-incarnate Christ. It's a pre-incarnate Christ. It's an encounter with Jesus himself. And Jacob starts wrestling him. And Jacob says, I'm not letting go. I'm not letting go. And Jacob blessed him. God has blessed me. God has given that to me. I told Tiffany, let me tell you what God's given me. I said, I want you to know something. The prayer of this old boy is going to the Father in your behalf. And I'm not letting go. And I haven't let go. And I will not let go. Why? Because I need to strengthen my sister. Y'all get the picture. Encouragement. That encouraged her. She said, you've got to share that with Brian. I said, well, I will. Then Brian came in a couple nights later and I shared it with him. And in several correspondence, by text or phone or in person, she said, I'm not letting go. I said, no, we're not letting go. God's got this. And that's what the author is saying. That's what God's saying through Isaiah. I got this. I got this. You can count on me. I got this. That's a good word. And when you're struggling in your race, a faith, you need someone to call, come alongside you and remind you God's got this. And not only that, I'm in it with you. And we're going to grab ahold of him and we're not going to let go. I don't know about y'all. You can't tell I'm excited about this. I mean, I've just lived it. It's so fresh to me. So fresh. So what's one of the best ways to be encouraged? Hebrews 10, 25. Andrew. So when you come alongside someone and you give encouragement to them, what does it do for you? It builds you up too. Go, go. 1, 3 through 5. Amen. Amen. That encouragement. Absolutely. Everything that we've been through, we can see. I know for myself, I can often see what people might be going through because I've seen it on my face. Oh, it's 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 3 through 5. And it just, like you said, just coming beside someone and telling them you will not let go. That's because you've been somewhere like that. And it's easy for you to do something like that. I hope it ties in. It's perfect. It just always comes to mind. I think that's one of the reasons it's important to be in a church fellowship on Sunday. Oh, yeah. Because we build up each other. Yeah. Just in us greeting each other, loving on each other, and singing in the worship service together, and hear God's Word taught, hear God's Word preached, it lifts and encourages everybody and builds everybody up. But it also draws the family of Christ together to where we're of one mind. And so it's harder for the enemy to attack without somebody seeing the attack take place. And when, maybe I'm struggling at the time. And I'm at church on Sunday. And God's given you a word. It's like you've seen the attack coming and God has warned you to warn your brother. And we build each other up and encourage each other and love on each other. And it gets us ready to go out on Monday into a world that hates God and loves themselves. Yeah. Good. Thank you, Noel. All right. I think we're getting this. I think we're getting it. To make straight paths for your feet refers to a runner staying in his lane. Now what happens when a runner gets out of his lane? DQ. DQ. DQ. But what else does it do? Knock somebody else off. There you go. So my example is this back to Olympics. And this is on the winter Olympics side of things. I don't know if you've ever watched speed skating. They're getting after it, aren't they? Yes. Right? But they are required in some of those races they're in the outer lane for a lap. Then they switch and they go to the inner lane for a lap. And every time they switch they've got to go in front or behind each other. And you know if one of them waits too late to make the move or he makes the move too early it's a disaster. It's a disaster. You I've seen them wipe out. You know. So yeah if you get out of your lane you DQ yourself and you affect others that are running. The word pass refers to tracks left behind by the wheels of a car which will be followed by others. So what should we make sure about the tracks that we leave behind? They're straight. They're on solid ground. They're on solid ground and are doing what? They're leading to what? Well leading to the goal. Right? Leading to the end of the race. They're not going to be a diversion away from running. They're going to be an encouragement to run. Right? So the limb that is lame could refer to wayward Christians. This is the part that's kind of tricky. It could refer to wayward Christians or it could refer to those who profess but yet to receive God's gift of salvation. So again there's parties on both sides of that. Either way the manner in which believers run the race of faith can have a positive or negative influence upon them. What would be a negative influence on the corresponding result? Running casually or recklessly. Yep. You're going to get off course. Yep. Get off course. Getting out of your lane. And someone that's following you you might affect their life too. That's the whole point we're making here. If you don't stay consistently in your lane and continue to consistently run the race you know I don't know about you're getting watched. Somebody's watching you. And they're watching how you run. And they're watching are you running or not. Right? Especially if you're in a leadership position. Leadership makes my knees knock. I'm just saying. The way I run and the fact that I am running is significant because if someone is watching me and I stop running or someone's watching me and I change lanes when I shouldn't or I change the goal or the direction anything like that I'm going to have an impact on others. Right? And what about on the positive side? Let's look at the positive side. What would be a positive influence in the corresponding result? We've already been talking about it. Right? Encouragement. Encouragement. Yeah. Care for one another. Yeah. Yeah. Staying in the race and staying in my lane is the track that they need to run on. Right? That encourages them to stay there. Stay the course. Stay in the lane. Stay running. And... You're more likely to continue if you have someone to help run beside you. There you go. There you go. Which brings to mind another illustration. So, I've never understood this either but in the way I should probably. But, but in the cycling races right? Remember? You've got teams. And there's always one member of the team that's designated to be the one that crosses the finish line first. Everybody else in the team has got a goal or an objective. One of them goes out and leads for a while and the next one goes out and leads for a while and they're paving the way for ultimately the guy that's got all the chops. The sprinter. The sprinter. Right? He's just biding his time just waiting for an opportunity and when it comes down close to the end all of a sudden there he goes. In the meantime the team has just prepared their way for him. They don't get the glory. They don't get the glory. Right? But when they have the team meeting later they get the glory because they did what they were supposed to do to help the team win. So, we're not talking about cowboys though. Yes? Jeremy was doing a half marathon earlier this year and he doesn't run marathons. He does run distance but he doesn't try and do marathons normally and he was getting close to the end and he was hitting the wall and there was a girl that was running behind him and she he didn't know her but she began to tell him you know put your shoulders back you know and encourage him and coach him all the way in and she finished right after he did and he was like third or something she was like fourth but she was the first female runner but she was training for the Olympics. So, she was an experienced trained runner and he's just like you know a recreational hey I'll enter this race runner with with no coaching or anything but she coached him you know on across the finish line and and you know we don't know we don't have to know that person it doesn't have to be somebody we're personally acquainted with that we can come alongside and encourage them when we feel like we see an opportunity. Yes. Yes. And just just speaking a good word about what God's done makes a big difference. Makes a big difference doesn't it? Just giving a personal testimony let me tell you how God helped me makes a big difference. And praying for somebody. And praying for somebody is a big difference. You have opportunities just like I went to a grocery store and the lady was telling me about this problem she's having with her arms and so I've never met this I've never seen this cashier I didn't know her at all but there was nobody in line behind me and so I thought you know why don't I just pray for her so I said would you like for me to pray with you about your arms you know right now and she was like sure and so I went to see her again and I don't know the result of that but you know if God puts somebody who's willing to tell you about a need I mean I don't know what she believes but you know she could have said no I don't believe in prayer but she said sure so I prayed for her in Jesus name and by the time I didn't pray for her she was gone and I don't know what God had in mind for that but we don't I think we come across people all the time that if we're sensitive God is giving us opportunities to share his love and his truth and his grace and back to Sunday when you get have an opportunity to pray for someone and to encourage someone and what that will mean to them so yeah being sensitive that's good Susan thank you and I go to Mission Arlington on Mondays and I always ask permission for the patient to pray and to engage and this patient accepted the Lord he received this patient received the Lord and he was willing to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior so that was the beginning of a prayer so it began with a prayer so thank you for sharing yeah he always challenges me like that you know like Dr. Yam's yeah life verse strengthen the knees that are feeble and make straight pads for their feet I mean that's you right so the limb which is lame may not be out of joint but rather healed yeah yeah yeah well thank you for giving me another verse I know it worked for me yeah yeah so when we have a positive influence whoever we're encouraging has to be helped and there's a good chance they're going to be healed right so keep running the race with the right encouragement dash be an encourager be an encourager what am I doing to encourage others and myself let's be encouragers keep running the race with the right priorities pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord what is true about unbelievers Isaiah 57 21 and Isaiah 64 6 first of all Isaiah 57 21 says what somebody say it read it there's no peace when you look at a lost person there is no peace there's no peace in the attitude there's no peace in the words they speak there's no peace in perspective there's no peace in their countenance there's no peace now the other thing that's true about Isaiah 64 6 so we're going to look at somebody read that yeah so so the lost person relies on the things he does to try to appease God or to make himself right with God whoever God is to him right but all of our deeds are like what filthy rags filthy rags there's not one thing we can do that makes us right before God not one thing and I don't know that this battle against sin is a daily battle yes it is amen and the big the big problem with most of us maturing believers is this thing that sits between the top of my mouth and the bottom of my mouth right it's a muscle that gets exercised in the wrong way way too many times would you all agree yeah my biggest problem is the tongue right but the tongue doesn't speak but the mind hasn't already talked that's true so I would say the mind is my biggest problem the mind or the heart right whatever it is but it manifests in the tongue right but it can manifest in just the mind right so when I go to confession I'll just confess for a second when I go to confession I ask him to forgive me and of my wayward thoughts and of my tongue if it said anything it shouldn't have said right I'm just saying we still struggle but thanks be to God our righteousness isn't dependent upon how I do with my tongue it's a good thing isn't it good yeah isn't it good my goodness if it was I'm a dead man right so but the lost doesn't get that but what's true about believers practically that's the lost what about believers I'm sorry positionally what's true about believers positionally they are the lost are not they don't have what peace the saved have what peace we have peace with God guys y'all understand that right we are at peace with God not because of our righteousness but because of His not because of our efforts but because of His sacrifice right we're at peace with God and also when He looks upon me He doesn't look at my righteousness He sees who His Son His Son I have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ so when He looks upon me He sees the Son Himself the righteousness of the Son so positionally that's us alright but what's true about believers believers practically well we're still human we're still human we're in the process of becoming who we already are positionally right that word is sanctification we are being sanctified and if you're like me you'll have to confess and say with me I've still got work to do right not there yet still got ways to go you're still in the race I'm still in the race so why is it important that our practice matches our position let's go back to the verse pursue peace with all men and the sanctification the effort I'm making to allow God to conform me to the image of His Son right the humility of humbling myself before Him of presenting myself to Him and saying here I am have your way with me make me more like you right that that ongoing process is important it says right here because without which no one will see the Lord right so it's important so that unbelievers are influenced to become believers if they look upon me and I'm no different than Joe and Joe next door what do I need what David's got for now I'll tell you a sad story freshman in college popped luck on the roommate he was a sophomore I drew the exact opposite of me I mean in every respect of the word every vice known to man on one side of the room a man trying to become who God wants him to be on the other side of the room on multiple occasions being asked to loan him money no sir I'm not going to loan you money so you can go gamble it away and never repay me not going to do that sorry right and I'm talking about him not me alright so that goes on for the first semester on more than one occasion he comes in drunk on more than one occasion he goes down the hall to another guy's room who had an extra bed because he goes in and throws up in our sink it was not a pleasant first semester you know welcome to Texas Tech ok I don't imagine it's any different anywhere else probably it was not a fun semester about half way through the spring semester one night things finally got serious I don't know how it happened but it turned into a conversation he says to me Dave you're not going to believe this but last year I was a Jesus freak I said Tom you're right I don't believe it he said well it's true I said well Tom what happened well the girl that led me to the Lord alright I caught her coming out of Fat Dogs now you can imagine what Fat Dogs is Fat Dogs is a bar no Fat Dogs is a bar he's driving down the street and here she comes out of Fat Dogs in his mind he's thinking well she's no different than anybody else and there he flushes it down the toilet says that's enough of that now you don't know what she was doing in Fat Dogs she could have been witnessing for all we know right we don't know but in his mind that was enough I said well Tom I said if you look at me long enough you're going to see that I'm not going to measure up alright your goal isn't to compare yourself to David your goal is to compare yourself to Jesus he's the one that you need to be looking to and he's the one that you need to be looking for and this is at an 18 year old I'm sitting here cheering like this and I'm going Lord give me words to say because that sure didn't come out of my mouth right but that's a fact that's what happened now the good side of the story fast forward about 10 years I'm on a jet plane flying back from Los Angeles to Dallas I look up in front of me about a dozen rows there is a back of a head I'm going he was a carrot top it was easy to see he was bald in his crown back here had curly hair always had curly hair down at the bottom I mean it was that's got to be Tom so I go up and I sit down there was a seat next to him I went up there renewed the friendship the relationship oh by the way after the freshman year we parted ways it was incompatible but he wanted to get off campus and I stayed on campus so that was that so now I haven't seen him in a dozen years there he is and I started catching up with him he's married he works for Parker & Gamble he's got the Walmart account of all things I mean he's living really good right now right and then he says to me David you're not going to believe this probably he said a couple of years after we parted ways he said I went back to the Lord he's made a big difference in my life now I don't know that my running the race in front of him made any difference or not it did hurt but it didn't hurt and later on in life I looked him up on what do you call that Facebook or no LinkedIn I think it was LinkedIn anyway found out get this he was an elder at a Presbyterian church up in Spring what's not Springdale what's up there Springdale up in Arkansas where Walmart is Springdale yeah Springdale that's where Walmart is right up there yeah Bentonville Bentonville ok but up there he was an elder at a Presbyterian church I'm going man isn't that good isn't that good what a great story but boy that freshman year in college the challenge for me to stay consistent in my race was significant I hoped that I was a positive influence I tried to be a positive influence that's what this is talking about here why is it important that your practice matches your position because you never know you never know right you never know who's watching and what kind of influence you're going to have put the page I think the priority of peace what is required for peace to be a reality between us and others James 3 13 through 18 Ron this is your this is your time now oh man one of my favorites yeah who among you is wise and understanding I want you to say it all don't cut anything out say it all I'll have to not plagiarize that no you can plagiarize let him show by his good behavior and his deeds and the gentleness of wisdom but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart do not be arrogant so be so wide against the truth this wisdom is not that which comes down from above but is earthly natural demonic for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there is disorder and every evil thing but the wisdom from above is first of all pure and peaceable considered submissive full of mercy full of good fruit impartial and sincere but this rendering is superior peaceable gentle reasonable full of mercy full of good fruit unwavering and without hypocrisy and the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace right wow that's a good verse so what so the question is what's required for peace to be a reality between us and others based on that it says what good behavior right you see good behavior in there how about deeds and gentle wisdom you see the gentle wisdom how about no jealousy no selfish ambition don't be arrogant and no arrogance arrogance when you're arrogant you especially I'll say mine a shop full of men if you claim to be a Christian and you're arrogant yeah you will complete you will completely lose your testimony you know if in a shop full of men they'll just tell you that in an office full of women they'll talk about it behind your back but if you'll just you don't have to be some great speaker you don't have to be some perfect godly man if you if you will take a stand like I won't go to this place to eat or I won't talk that way or I won't mistreat a customer then they will recognize that there's something different about you and sometime some where you'll get an opportunity to show Christ but if you don't if you claim to be a Christian and you run up a list of cuss words when you hit your hand like they do they wouldn't think anything about Joe on the other side of him that parties with him on Friday night but if you claim to be a Christian and you do the same thing you it would be hard pressed for you to get the opportunity again yep yep I agree what's our responsibility Romans 12 18? if possible right? as far as it depends on who? you you be at peace with all people be at peace with all people you're supposed to be a peacemaker you're supposed to be a peacemaker Jesus said what? blessed is the peacemaker right? they shouldn't hear it at the earth so now the reality is you can do everything you can and it still might not bring peace that's why the Holy Spirit inspired author of Romans who is Paul says as far as it depends on you you do everything you can to bring peace that doesn't mean that there's going to be peace that means you do everything you can to bring peace I guarantee you if you don't there's not going to be peace peace in you peace in you exactly peace in you and there won't be peace between the two of you either so peace is a priority secondly the priority of sanctification if we truly love God who do we want to be like? Jesus Jesus Jesus what is required for us to become more like Jesus everyday? surrender surrender I said know and live his what? word know and live his word right? stay separate from the what? world and it's influence don't let the world in at all Romans 12 one says don't let the world do what? squeeze you into his mold according to J.B. Phelps right? don't let the world squeeze you into his mold the priority of sanctification the priority of witness what's the result of living a peaceful holy life out of love for others and God look at John 13 35 this is another one of Ryan's favorites by this all men will know what Ryan? you are my disciples if you have this kind of adoptive love foot-washing love you are my disciples foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love foot-washing love David, I was trying to... in mine here, to make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy and to be holy and to be holy yep so I guess the unbeliever could try to be peace play peace with everybody but he Paul says you've got to do that and you have to be holy too right he didn't just stop there at the I don't know that's not reading it correctly or not no you're reading it without which no one will be holy so how can you influence someone to experience the peace of God if you're not being holy yourself right they go hand in hand remember back a semester or two ago remember I stumbled across that verse I think Psalm 85 righteousness and peace have kissed y'all remember that verse righteousness and peace have kissed I work with several Hindu folks they're very peaceful right in the hospital yeah they're not holy they're not holy no no ok so the priority witness am I a peacemaker am I a peacemaker am I becoming more like Jesus each day am I a living witness of the grace of God that's what we've got to be finally with the right oversight with the right oversight so again we're keeping running the race we keep running the race with the right encouragement with the right priorities with the right oversight see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it may be defiled that there be no moral godless person like Esau Esau's own birthright for a single meal for you know that even afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought for it with tears now this this word see to it is the same word that we get from which we get the word I believe it's episkopos which means overseer overseer so see to it means be an overseer now if you're an overseer you have the responsibility to make sure that the flock right is safe so that's what this is referring to when we're running the race if you see someone that's entered into the race for the purpose of causing you to get derailed or causing your your brother or sister to get derailed you need to come to their aid and protect them that's what this is referring to be an overseer be an overseer so and the big thing is this this root of bitterness thing so we're going to get to that we all have the responsibility to look out for each other and help each other we also have the responsibility to look out for and help those we know who have yet to receive Jesus as Savior there are three purposes given for this oversight first is win the loss how well I said ask the question by living a life that expresses God's love in and through us by witnessing to what God has done in and for us every chance I get I say look what God's done because again the older I get the more I realize it was Him and wasn't me you know it was Him and wasn't me look what God's done and finally by sharing the good news of the gospel that's how you win the loss you live the life you witness and you share second priority or purpose is to fight against bitterness why? look at Ephesians 4 31 bitterness is trouble isn't it? yes let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice when I was studying I read a sermon by Adrian what was his name the one up in Tennessee Rodgers Rodgers Adrian Rodgers he did a sermon on this on this verse and the entire sermon was focused on bitterness and he came from that verse I just gave you and he shows the progression what he called the progression of bitterness now it starts with unforgiveness now this passage in Philippians ends with forgiveness right? the antidote to bitterness is be kind to one another tender hearted what? forgiving one another just as God in Christ has forgiven you but these are all attitudes that we choose to have it's not attitudes that you made me mad you made me have malice you made me have wrath no I chose to have wrath I chose to have anger it's an attitude that we because of Christ should choose not to take that attitude right but now I'm sure this has never happened to you ok? no he's the perfect ok I'm sure you've never been offended I have and I've done the wrong thing in every single one ok alright so you know again I'll go back to my own you know I work in a Christian environment and you would think everyone in the Christian environment would be Christian Christian right? so I'm sitting in a in a we call it a VP meeting it's the president and the VPs alright so now I'm sitting there with this meeting and one of the other VPs looks at me and looks at the president and accuses us of I forget how you put it being less than honest he didn't say we were it had to do with it had to do with a financial issue and he was all he saw was one little sliver of the truth of the of the context and he made a judgment based on that and he questioned our integrity that's what it was he questioned our integrity in front of all the VPs based upon just a little piece that he could see not understanding the full context of why he was seeing what he was seeing and I've got to tell you this old boy wasn't a happy camper okay I mean I'm not saying I don't make the mistakes I do but boy I do my best to not ever you know do anything that would compromise my integrity right so there it is it happens oh man I it wasn't a it wasn't a did you turn the other cheek I did that one time I I won't say what I I didn't say anything inappropriate other than to say you haven't sat in this chair yet and he took offense at that before you go accusing me come sit in this chair and see what I have to deal with okay he said well you're being condescending I said well I guess maybe so but again you're making an accusation when you don't have full context so so what happened well I here we go yeah I'm not letting him get away this is confession time right meeting's over I go to my office next thing you know the president comes in and closes the door and I said what are we going to do with this he's just he's a pastor by you know he's a he said well we'll see we'll what we'll see we'll see we'll just see how it goes and I never fully understood he never did anything right so I'm sitting there scratching my head thinking man you're letting him get away with this you know this isn't right okay so fast forward a week or two and I'm going oh my goodness one day it hits me I'm starting to get better and my attitude towards this guy is not good and I'm and I'm I'm having trouble even going to work and seeing him but you know having him within my sight and I'm going this has got to change this isn't right this isn't right so you know I drive down Greenbelt from Trinity Boulevard over to Green Oaks every time I turn on the Greenbelt to go down to Green Oaks I start praying because nobody's there normally you know I don't have to worry about traffic so I'm sitting there and I'm praying now my eyes are open my eyes are open so I start praying about halfway down Greenbelt it hit me I said Lord I said Lord I don't know understand this but I know I've got to forgive him help me to forgive him and help me to love him like you love him and so I right there at that moment in time I dealt with my bitterness now watch this I get to the office that morning and he calls me into his office about another issue I had to go into his office to talk about another issue and I walked in and I said how are you today? he said well got a little problem with my son and he shared a little point with his problem with his son I said well let me pray for that and right then and there I prayed in behalf of him and his wife and his son which you couldn't have if you had been harboring that bitterness there's no way you could have no way I could have you'd have been thinking well you deserve it yeah so so so that right there from that moment forward the whole attitude between both of us was changed yeah yes sir you know years ago I didn't get a promotion I probably should have gotten I was bitter about this person but years later and I'm around years later I guess somehow the Lord must have trusted me or something he said well pray for that guy and how can I pray for in fact when I'm bitter so when you're bitter against somebody start praying for that person and it's a miraculous thing how God really may not change your relationship but certainly changes your bitterness it does your heart you can't pray for that person it does to be good yeah so that's my story about bitterness I'm sure y'all haven't had one like that except well we have two of us here to confess alright right I mean it's not easy I mean not hard to get to get in a position where you've been hurt in some way shape or form and you're holding it against and you know you gotta let it go but if you don't let's just see what the progression looks like it's not pretty right here's the progression bitterness goes to wrath wrath goes to anger anger goes to clamor and Tom asked about what's clamor at our meeting Monday morning clamor's a lot of noise Tom you start making a lot of noise in other words everybody knows about it alright then slander when you start making noise you're starting to cut down the offending party and finally malice you want to get your pound of flesh you want your you want to get your to get to get to get even that's what it looks like and finally malice malice malice malice malice malice malice that's what it looks like and then you're completely focused on yourself oh yeah and you've lost you're not listening to the Holy Spirit you're not sharing your faith you're unhappy you're bitter it tears you all completely and dare I say you've gotten out of your lane and you've stopped running the race yeah right it's like you've heard it said you know unforgiveness is like drinking poison and dying yeah you're poisoning yourself yeah yeah so y'all see how this fits in the race because we're going to have those moments and we better deal with them otherwise it's going to get us now it's not just being an overseer of your own self it's an overseer of all the others in the race so if you notice someone is struggling you need to come alongside them help them try to reason with them help them to in love deal with it with the understanding that they don't it's going to get ugly for them and for everybody else so the main source of course is unforgiveness and like I said that's obvious and the very next verse says to be kind to one another tender heart and forgiving one another this is God in Christ has forgiven you so fight against self-centered and moral godlessness now if there's anyone in the church who has been given the chance to be saved and live for Jesus then they have to go through the process in this church that's called church discipline and on more than one occasion not often but every couple years something rears its ugly head and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we have to go through the process and we 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