SPEAKER_01: Good morning, everybody.
SPEAKER_07: Hope you've had a good week.
SPEAKER_07: I believe I did.
SPEAKER_07: Sometimes always I don't know.
SPEAKER_07: We can get mega hectic or something.
SPEAKER_07: I don't know.
SPEAKER_07: We pay too much sometimes.
SPEAKER_07: A nice calm Sunday morning's always a good thing to have.
SPEAKER_07: If you will uh turn to page three forty nine, wow.
SPEAKER_07: Sorry.
SPEAKER_08: So I'll engage them in the world.
SPEAKER_07: Oh how he loves you.
SPEAKER_06: Oh how we loved you.
unknown: He gave you some kids.
SPEAKER_06: Oh how he lost you.
SPEAKER_06: Oh how we lost you.
SPEAKER_06: It's the force to show.
unknown: Oh how he loves you.
SPEAKER_06: Oh how he loves you when me.
SPEAKER_06: Oh how he loves you.
SPEAKER_06: Oh how he loves you and me.
unknown: He gave his life.
unknown: What what could he give?
unknown: Oh how he loves you.
unknown: Oh how he loves him.
SPEAKER_07: Oh how he loves you when we turn three.
SPEAKER_07: How about how about three thirty?
SPEAKER_06: Are you done?
SPEAKER_06: Are you watching the bird of the land?
SPEAKER_06: Are you gonna start to sleep?
SPEAKER_06: Are you watching the bird of the land?
SPEAKER_07: An accessory prayer.
SPEAKER_07: Does anybody have anything?
SPEAKER_00: Richard?
SPEAKER_00: Uh oh.
SPEAKER_00: Continue to keep all the real sisters over there in Venezuela in her prayers.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty rough.
SPEAKER_00: Back to back earthquake, so we're still all people that they can't find.
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
SPEAKER_07: It's a sad time over there for sure.
SPEAKER_07: Anybody?
SPEAKER_05: Keep mom and dad in your prayers.
SPEAKER_05: Dad's got the all going stuff, but mom, she's not been sleeping good lately, so she's not doing very well.
SPEAKER_07: Bless her heart.
SPEAKER_07: Probably a lot of worrying about dad too.
SPEAKER_07: Anybody else?
SPEAKER_07: Luke?
SPEAKER_07: All right.
SPEAKER_07: If we'll bow your heads.
SPEAKER_07: Father, we come to you once again on a beautiful Sunday morning to love and to worship you and uh to hear the words that you want us to hear today, God.
SPEAKER_07: And uh but first of all, we'd like to bring our friends, our relatives, our loved ones to you this morning, just lifting it up to you, God, to uh have you do your will for them and to uh help them and mend their mend their problems and their spirit and their their pains and everything that they're going through this morning, God.
SPEAKER_07: Just uh just spread a little bit of that love that you so freely give.
SPEAKER_07: We ask these things in your Son, our Lord and Savior's name, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.
SPEAKER_08: I'm just thankful to have little ones back there.
SPEAKER_05: We need winter back there with us, too.
SPEAKER_08: It's just so much fun.
SPEAKER_08: Has anybody got anything particular they want to mention this morning?
SPEAKER_07: Uh my wife took a little tumble yesterday.
SPEAKER_07: I wasn't even close, but I got the ball, but I just learned how to file, don't I?
SPEAKER_07: Must have done pretty good.
SPEAKER_08: It's crazy.
SPEAKER_08: I was trying to put one of those phone-up chairs in the bag, and I got my foot caught in the strap, and I was pulling my foot back first.
SPEAKER_08: I knew I was gonna go face first, and I thought I couldn't do that, and I just turned around backwards and land on my honey, and this day when one of our friends was standing there, and he said, Leave it to bat, but I didn't get hurt.
SPEAKER_08: So I said, These fifty thousand dollars and these I cannot go back and do again.
SPEAKER_08: Oh, anybody you got anything else to mention?
SPEAKER_08: Richard.
SPEAKER_03: I'm certainly thankful for rain hair with 100 degree weather going.
SPEAKER_08: I know, I was thinking about that too.
SPEAKER_08: No, it's not this humid.
SPEAKER_08: It has cost when we got out down here, the humidity was awful.
SPEAKER_08: We stepped out of a car.
SPEAKER_08: But yeah, I'm very thankful for that too.
SPEAKER_08: Very thankful.
SPEAKER_08: We needed some rain too, we did.
SPEAKER_08: Anything else?
SPEAKER_08: Yes, Lou.
SPEAKER_02: What's going on in the world?
SPEAKER_08: I know.
SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
SPEAKER_08: When you see that many earthquakes happening in just a couple of days, it's we see a lot of prophecy happening right before our eyes.
SPEAKER_08: We do.
SPEAKER_08: And just pray for those people.
SPEAKER_08: I mean, a lot so many people have been affected, and it's it's hard to watch.
SPEAKER_08: I've only seen little bits and pieces.
SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
SPEAKER_08: Philippines, two in Venezuela.
SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
SPEAKER_08: One in California, and I forget where the other one was at, but there were six of them.
SPEAKER_08: That don't wake people up.
SPEAKER_08: I don't know what will do.
SPEAKER_08: You know, it's amazing.
SPEAKER_08: Um, I'm not sure if Keith mentioned Lisa's mother, Mary Lou, passed away.
SPEAKER_08: Um yeah.
SPEAKER_08: And as hard as it was for Lisa, I think um she was ready.
SPEAKER_08: And I mean, some of y'all know that feeling, just knowing when someone is ready to leave this world for the next, and they do have some precious moments that they shared with her, and some videos of her actually when she was coherent, um, just like two days before she passed away.
SPEAKER_08: But after that, it was after that she just sort of went downhill really quick.
SPEAKER_08: There's a situation there in the family, but God's good and God will take care of it.
SPEAKER_08: I'm just thankful that Lisa is okay.
SPEAKER_08: And that um she Chris did take her away for a few days just to get her out of town, just to give her a break, because she's been there 24-7 for weeks now.
SPEAKER_08: Um anyone else got anything to mention?
SPEAKER_04: Yes, Jake.
SPEAKER_04: I'm screwed for where we live in the country we live in.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's crazy as everything is.
SPEAKER_04: It's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_04: Seeing all the media on like the World Cup and like everybody's hearing like talking about things that we take for granted on ranch straight.
SPEAKER_08: I know! That's what I was getting ready to say, Jake.
SPEAKER_08: I mean, they're like in love with ranch.
SPEAKER_04: I know how scary it is.
SPEAKER_04: We'd like me to go out and walk around like these other places that it's amazing.
SPEAKER_08: It's what I was talking to Keith about, you know, used to because some it's so important that he mentions it so many times in the Bible, breaking bread, and I don't think we realize just how precious food was.
SPEAKER_08: And it was such a commodity, and now we take it for granted because we are in one of the richest cur countries in the world, but there's places that still a bite of food is so precious, and we are we are blessed.
SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_08: And the other countries coming in and how much they do appreciate it, you know.
SPEAKER_08: That's that's amazing.
SPEAKER_08: All right, nothing else.
SPEAKER_08: We'll bow our heads.
SPEAKER_08: Our father, we just come before you this morning, uh, a very thankful heart.
SPEAKER_08: Um we can stand here for days and talk about the things that we have watched you do.
SPEAKER_08: We saw your hand on it, and we see the love in it.
SPEAKER_08: Even though it may be hard, you are always there with us as we go through the valleys and the dark times.
SPEAKER_08: And we're just very thankful for the day that's coming when we know that your son will re-enter the heaven here, and we will get to see him face to face.
SPEAKER_08: And there'll be no more suffering and no more pain for any anyone else left.
SPEAKER_08: And that uh we'll get to be joined together with you through his blood.
SPEAKER_08: I'm just thankful for my church family.
SPEAKER_08: I'm thankful for these kids and how precious they are, and just lift up this to you and your son, Jesus Christ's name, Lord.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.
SPEAKER_08: And accept the headmarine.
SPEAKER_10: Good morning.
SPEAKER_10: I'm gonna read Romans 12, 3 through 8.
SPEAKER_10: For by the grace given me I save every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you all, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
SPEAKER_10: For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
SPEAKER_10: We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us.
SPEAKER_10: If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.
SPEAKER_10: If it is serving, then serve.
SPEAKER_10: And if it is if it is teaching, then teach.
SPEAKER_10: If it is to encourage, then give encouragement.
SPEAKER_10: If it is giving, then give generously.
SPEAKER_10: If it is to lead, do it diligent diligently.
SPEAKER_10: If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
SPEAKER_10: Now we have Jenny.
SPEAKER_02: This is a piece by Anne Graham Watts, The Cross, our Statue of Liberty.
SPEAKER_02: Next month we will be celebrating our nation's 205th birthday, July the 4th, our National Day of Independence.
SPEAKER_02: All events have been planned.
SPEAKER_02: From a Grand Prix car race in Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_02: to the UFC fight at the White House, to the World Cup plays to major American cities, to fireworks, display in almost every city and town are designed to cause America to celebrate our freedom that has been found and fought for.
SPEAKER_02: While asking him to continue to bless America, there is another Statue of Liberty that also reminds us to celebrate freedom that has been found and died for.
SPEAKER_02: Although I have never seen it with my physical eyes, I have impacted my life much more than the lady in New York Harbor.
SPEAKER_02: It is the cross and the vision of every crest to move me to thank God afresh for setting me free from bondage to self, sin and the power of Satan.
SPEAKER_02: In gratitude for the cross, what will you do to live in the freedom Jesus died to give you?
SPEAKER_02: This year, celebrate that freedom by telling someone else about how they can be set free from self, sin, and Satan.
SPEAKER_02: Tell them about the cross, the God's statue of liberty seven seventy four.
SPEAKER_01: Got blind sided this past week.
SPEAKER_01: I made mention to you before my Chinese gynecologist's doctor.
SPEAKER_01: You know the story behind that.
SPEAKER_01: He's specialized in women's care whenever my doctor passed on.
SPEAKER_01: So that's who I got.
SPEAKER_01: So I just always jokingly called him my Chinese gynecologist.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I suppose went back next Tuesday.
SPEAKER_01: Have to go take blood work every quarter to make sure the arthritis medicine ain't killing the rest of me.
SPEAKER_01: So they called me about a month ago.
SPEAKER_01: Said we need to reschedule your appointment for the following week.
SPEAKER_01: I said, that's fine.
SPEAKER_01: I know.
SPEAKER_01: Well, they sent me a letter in the mail this past Tuesday said that my Chinese gynecologist was no longer working there and I needed to find myself another doctor.
SPEAKER_01: Which wouldn't, you know, I mean, I didn't like take it, I didn't lay down crying or nothing like that.
SPEAKER_01: But the state has this lovely new insurance called Aetno.
SPEAKER_01: And if uh if you ever hear of it or if you're ever presented with the opportunity to get it, you'd be better off just going to see your local veterinarian.
SPEAKER_01: But that being said, I was able to find me another medical professional.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm still on track to be healthy.
SPEAKER_01: I know y'all don't care, but I just had to get that off my chest.
SPEAKER_01: I guess all them years of me poking fun at him serves me right.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Um as we've already been uh talking a little bit about this morning, there's a lot of buzz going on in our country right now with uh the world of athletics.
SPEAKER_01: Our own Carolina Hurricanes hockey team winning the Stanley Cup, and of course, all this excitement with uh soccer games.
SPEAKER_01: I'd asked how many of y'all was uh hockey fans?
SPEAKER_01: Never really thought about it until all of a sudden a little old bunch of rednecks from Raleigh started swatting the ball pretty good, or the puck, or whatever they call it.
SPEAKER_01: I've always kind of, you know, I've looked at it through the years.
SPEAKER_01: I guess I mainly kind of enjoyed it because it's a violet.
SPEAKER_01: Most hockey players ain't got but about four teeth.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when it comes to soccer, I never was much of an interested in it, but I will say a couple weeks ago I was down at my son's and we sat there and watched one.
SPEAKER_01: Part of a game, I asked him, I said, uh, these soccer players, you know, they're supposed to be tough, you know, athletic people, and it's like the slightest little old thing.
SPEAKER_01: One guy kind of barely bumped one, and the dude fell down like he was in cardiac arrest or something.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah, Dad said there's a lot of drama in the soccer.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, anyway, I this past week in studying, I imagine that the apostle Paul must have been a pretty dedicated sports fan himself.
SPEAKER_01: Because we all can notice that in in many of his letters he uses sports metaphors.
SPEAKER_01: He likens our Christian life, our Christian walk as a race.
SPEAKER_01: If you will look with me this morning over to the book of 1 Corinthians, we're going to look at 1 Corinthians and beginning in verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: Here we have the apostle Paul writing us, do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize.
SPEAKER_01: Run in such a way as to get the prize.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.
SPEAKER_01: They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly.
SPEAKER_01: I do not fight like a boxer beat in the air.
SPEAKER_01: No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
SPEAKER_01: Father God, we thank you for your word, and as we explore it this morning, we pray you would open our hearts, open our ears, open our minds to receive the word that you have for us.
SPEAKER_01: We pray, Father, that we only hear your words that you would strengthen us and equip us for righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you and praise you in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And this short, short passage, Paul in these four verses, gives us four crucial traits of the Christian life well lived.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 24, here he challenges us to run to win.
SPEAKER_01: And he begins by emphasizing the obvious.
SPEAKER_01: Do you not know that in a race all the runners run?
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, Paul, I kind of gathered that.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the point of a race, is it not?
SPEAKER_01: Um, everybody lines up, the fella shoots a gun, and off you go.
SPEAKER_01: So, exactly what are you trying to tell me here?
SPEAKER_01: What Paul is telling us here is that each and every one of us as Christians, we're all participants in the race of life, and how well we run will determine our heavenly reward.
SPEAKER_01: Paul uses this metaphor of running a race to describe the perseverance and the discipline and the focus required in the Christian faith, emphasizing endurance, keeping our focus on the ultimate goal, and living with purpose.
SPEAKER_01: That sums up the Christian life.
SPEAKER_01: I'll eventually get this coughed up.
SPEAKER_01: He goes on to say that all the runners run, but only one gets the prize.
SPEAKER_01: Run in such a way as to get the prize.
SPEAKER_01: At first, Reed that could be somewhat confusing, confusing, as we parallel that with the Christian journey.
SPEAKER_01: Does this mean that uh somehow someone could outrun me and win my prize?
SPEAKER_01: Well, that that wouldn't hardly be fair, would it?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you line me up out here at the starting line and you put Patrick beside of me and the gun goes off, and assuming they don't shoot Patrick, who's do you think's gonna win that race?
SPEAKER_01: He's younger, he's stronger.
SPEAKER_01: So that wouldn't hardly be fair if I was paired up alongside a Olympic, you know, athlete.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not the point that Paul's making.
SPEAKER_01: Has anyone ever ran a marathon other than Jenny?
SPEAKER_01: While you're all sitting down, I'll tell you.
SPEAKER_01: A marathon is a race that stretches 26.2 miles.
SPEAKER_01: I guess maybe that's what it translated to in the Greek.
SPEAKER_01: Marathon 26.2 miles.
SPEAKER_01: 26.2 miles.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all did hear that, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's a race.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, fewer than 1% of the current global population has ever ran a marathon.
SPEAKER_01: In my brain, that's for obvious reasons.
SPEAKER_01: But of those dedicated people, and there are a lot of dedicated people who make this their life's mission to run marathons.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they never had Legos growing up.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, but the average time that it takes to complete this 26.2 mile long race is what would you guess?
SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, it may is you know, two weeks, four days.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: The average time that it takes to complete this marathon is four hours and thirty minutes.
SPEAKER_01: Four hours and thirty minutes to run 26 miles.
SPEAKER_01: I got to thinking about that this week.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, it's been a while.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I used to hike in out of gorge all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I got to thinking, no, any more.
SPEAKER_01: It'd probably take me about 20 30 minutes to get up the gumption to even start it.
SPEAKER_01: And then it'd probably take uh, you know, the first mile into it, it'd take me four or five airs and a couple of ambulance escorts.
SPEAKER_01: But for the most avid runners, those who set out to do this, who want to do this, who want to run this 26.2 miles, most avid runners, the avid runners don't necessarily expect a win to be crossing the finish line first.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: Some of these marathons we've seen them on TV, Boston Marathon.
SPEAKER_01: 20,000 people is gonna run it.
SPEAKER_01: What's the point?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just that would say, why am I gonna run against 20,000 people?
SPEAKER_01: They don't want them gonna win.
SPEAKER_01: It ain't gonna be me.
SPEAKER_01: But for most runners, a win is not finishing first.
SPEAKER_01: Most marathon runners consider a win to be finishing with a better time than they had in their previous races.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, to be constantly improving their time.
SPEAKER_01: So, hey, I might not have run through the ribbon first this go-round, but I was 20 minutes faster in this race than I was the one I ran a month ago.
SPEAKER_01: That's considered the win to most avid runners.
SPEAKER_01: It's an individual victory.
SPEAKER_01: An individual victory.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what Paul's speaking to here.
SPEAKER_01: As Christians, we are in an individual race.
SPEAKER_01: No one can race for us.
SPEAKER_01: No one can race on our behalf, no one can be Christian for us.
SPEAKER_01: We can't be enough good enough Christian to get our children into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: We can't be a good enough Christian to get our neighbor down the street into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: We have to put forth the effort for ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: And here's Paul is telling us to live out our Christianity in such a way as to receive the best possible prize in eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Because after all, that's the ultimate goal in eternity.
SPEAKER_01: He tells us in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: Paul again tells us, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
SPEAKER_01: There's coming a day in the very near future.
SPEAKER_01: And as we've already talked about this morning, with the with all the things going on, and as students of the Bible, as students of God's prophetic word, we see all the things that he's told us in his book starting to make sense, starting to come true.
SPEAKER_01: We see that.
SPEAKER_01: But in the near future, all believers, all of us will be caught up into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: We call that what?
SPEAKER_01: That's the rapture.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll all stand before our Lord at that time when all God's wrath is being poured out on the earth beneath us.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to be standing before our Lord Jesus Christ, and we're going to receive the rewards accordingly to how well we ran our race.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus tells us Himself in Revelation 22, verse 12, and behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his where's that dirty word, work.
SPEAKER_01: So many in Christianity gripe back and forth about this whole concept of work.
SPEAKER_01: And I can say we we could probably all understand there's a lot of lazy Christians.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot that don't want to work.
SPEAKER_01: And they use the reasoning when I don't have to work, I'm not going to work because my salvation ain't based on how much I do.
SPEAKER_01: You're right.
SPEAKER_01: It is not in any way.
SPEAKER_01: God didn't save near one of us because we deserved it.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't save because of what we did.
SPEAKER_01: He saved us because he loved us.
SPEAKER_01: And he saved us to work, to do what he's called us to do.
SPEAKER_01: And it's spoken of earlier.
SPEAKER_01: We were all given gifts.
SPEAKER_01: Each and every one of you, each and every one of us has a gift.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us it's just looking pretty.
SPEAKER_01: We've all been through that.
SPEAKER_01: But strong Christians, we know where to go to remedy that situation, and we bounce back.
SPEAKER_01: We're all gonna have those Eeyore moments.
SPEAKER_01: But we need to make sure that we're doing what we need to do to get back to have them win at the poo moments.
SPEAKER_01: I believe this was the same attitude that Paul had and why he wrote these instructions for us.
SPEAKER_01: Paul tells us over in Acts 20, verse 24, however, I consider my life worth nothing to me.
SPEAKER_01: Hold on, let me get back to where I'm supposed to be.
SPEAKER_01: I consider my life worth nothing to me.
SPEAKER_01: My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.
SPEAKER_01: The task of testifying to the God to the good news of God's grace.
SPEAKER_01: Think about how radically different Western Christianity would look if we all adopted that same attitude each and every day.
SPEAKER_01: As has already been mentioned, we look at the people coming into this country for these soccer games, and they're overwhelmed at the wealth, at the freedom, at the selection we have in this country.
SPEAKER_01: It's like no other nation in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Anything you could possibly desire, it's within reach in this country.
SPEAKER_01: And too many of these poor people needs other countries.
SPEAKER_01: Can't even get registered.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine how they'd feel if they ever had a thousand dollars.
SPEAKER_01: Honey mustard, huh?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 24, Paul urges us to run to win.
SPEAKER_01: To run to win.
SPEAKER_01: We go on in verse 25.
SPEAKER_01: Paul urges us to focus on the prize.
SPEAKER_01: They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
SPEAKER_01: At the time Paul wrote his letters to the Corinthians, it's believed he spent about 18 months in their presence.
SPEAKER_01: And during that time, he would have most likely witnessed the Isthmian Games.
SPEAKER_01: The Isthmian Games were a very popular athletic event that took place every other year.
SPEAKER_01: They were second in popularity only to the Olympic Games that we've all heard about.
SPEAKER_01: The Isthmian Games were held the year before the Olympics, and the year right after the Olympics.
SPEAKER_01: And these games consisted of foot races, wrestling, boxing, and chariot races.
SPEAKER_01: Sounds like a redneck's dream, don't it?
SPEAKER_01: Just throw in a couple of chili dogs and a keg of beer.
SPEAKER_01: The athletes in these Istmian games would vigorously train for up to ten months before the games began in hopes of winning.
SPEAKER_01: And for their devotion and perseverance, the winners would receive a crown.
SPEAKER_01: Originally it was made from wild celery leaves.
SPEAKER_01: Later on, I guess, I don't know, they started running low on wild celery, they started making them out of pine branches.
SPEAKER_01: They would make them a crown and they would stand up.
SPEAKER_01: They were victorious.
SPEAKER_01: And this nice crown they got, after just a few days, few weeks, well, it'd wither up and it'd blow away.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine strict, strenuous training for months.
SPEAKER_01: Only to receive a crown, a prize, that would only be yours for a short time.
SPEAKER_01: What would you have to tell their grandbabies whenever they come along?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, back in 10, 09, 10, I won the wrestling at the Isthmene games.
SPEAKER_01: Now really, Pappy, where she be proof.
SPEAKER_01: Well it rotted.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_01: But here Paul reminds us that in our Christian race, that when we train, when we persevere and endure, we'll receive a crown that.
SPEAKER_01: Will last forever.
SPEAKER_01: And I can't help but think, because y'all know I'm very twisted in my mind, but I can't help but think whenever we get to that point, all right, we're walking down the streets of glory.
SPEAKER_01: And most ladies, you can appreciate this if you're walking down a street and you pass a group of boys.
SPEAKER_01: Well no, you pass a say a group of men, aged 13 to 130.
SPEAKER_01: You walk by them and what do they automatically do?
SPEAKER_01: They walk on down there with you, don't they?
SPEAKER_01: I can't help but think about what it looked like in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Here we are walking down the street.
SPEAKER_01: Got our little crowns on.
SPEAKER_01: And here comes Billy Graham.
SPEAKER_01: We gotta make room for his crown and watch it walking on down the ground.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the running the race to win individually looks like.
SPEAKER_01: We're all gonna have that crown.
SPEAKER_01: Some's gonna be big, some's gonna be prettier than others.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people say that's fine.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to get there and have one.
SPEAKER_01: So how do we train in our Christian life?
SPEAKER_01: Well, by exercising spiritual discipline, by being attentive to what we do, by rejecting our fleshly desires, and rejecting seeking after worldly pleasures, and instead focusing on Christ-like habits, like what we're doing today.
SPEAKER_01: Coming to church, spending time in prayer and worship, Bible study, and serving our brothers and sisters in Christ, and ultimately doing what we were called to do, ministering to the lost.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews 12, verses 1 and 2, we read, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
SPEAKER_01: It is difficult as we go day in, day out, living life.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard sometimes if we we have to make it a effort to stay focused on godly living.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 26, Paul encourages us to know our game, to understand the race that we're in and why we're in it.
SPEAKER_01: If you ever ask yourself, here I am at this age, how did I end up being a Christian?
SPEAKER_01: You ever thought about that?
SPEAKER_01: We're to know our game, to understand what's before us.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly.
SPEAKER_01: I do not fight like a boxer beat in the air.
SPEAKER_01: Great athletes train with dedication and devotion to their sport.
SPEAKER_01: They don't just haphazardly hang out at the gym or the court or the field of play.
SPEAKER_01: Trust me, I've tried that.
SPEAKER_01: I got one at trade machines one time, set it right beside my recliner.
SPEAKER_01: I ain't lost a pound.
SPEAKER_01: They follow a strict regime.
SPEAKER_01: They push themselves harder and harder.
SPEAKER_01: They deny themselves temporary pleasures to achieve long-term goals.
SPEAKER_01: They endure the sore muscles and the fatigue in order to reach their maximum potential.
SPEAKER_01: They stay laser focused on our goal.
SPEAKER_01: Paul uses this analogy to describe how we as Christ followers must also be just as dedicated in our Christian journey.
SPEAKER_01: Because we're all each and every one in this race.
SPEAKER_01: We must stay focused on kingdom work and not become distracted by our worldly pursuits or our worldly trials.
SPEAKER_01: You know, for me, maybe it's happened to you too.
SPEAKER_01: There's times in life when you think, I'm doing pretty good, I'm doing pretty good, I'm reading, I'm praying, I'm I'm doing pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: And then all of a sudden, what happens?
SPEAKER_01: Wheels fall off.
SPEAKER_01: Oh no.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I can't do nothing until I get this fixed.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I can't do anything until this heals up.
SPEAKER_01: I think what he's focusing on here is that's the very time when we need to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever things are going good and all of a sudden a hiccup comes, and we gotta sit in that same doctor's office with all those long faces.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to be that long faced.
SPEAKER_01: We can be that encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever we're sitting in that line down there at the unemployment office because we've just lost our job.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to be that long faced.
SPEAKER_01: We're Christians.
SPEAKER_01: We belong to our Heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_01: He's promised us no matter what this world throws at us, lose your job, you're still gonna be fed.
SPEAKER_01: You're still gonna be taken care of.
SPEAKER_01: You get sick, well, probably you're gonna be healed.
SPEAKER_01: If not, you're ultimately gonna be healed forever.
SPEAKER_01: We need to be that encouragement to those people who have no hope.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians 3, verse 13 and 14, Paul tells us, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.
SPEAKER_01: Right there, I'll just stop just a minute to say Paul is letting us know here.
SPEAKER_01: We've all got a past, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: Each and every one of us has something that we did back then.
SPEAKER_01: The important thing is, is we leave it back then.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't define who we are today.
SPEAKER_01: Not looking back, but straining forward to what lies ahead.
SPEAKER_01: I pressed on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Far too many Christians have either never learned or have completely forgotten or just simply ignored the fact that we're all participants in this race.
SPEAKER_01: Many were moved from participating to spectating.
SPEAKER_01: People are literally spiritually watching their Christian lives from the sidelines.
SPEAKER_01: And unfortunately, there's no prize, no reward at all in heaven for spectators.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 27, Paul ends this passage with a call for all of Christ's followers, for all of us to discipline ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave.
SPEAKER_01: The word that he uses there is better translated as a strike under the eye or to give a black eye.
SPEAKER_01: Has anybody ever had a black eye?
SPEAKER_01: Has anybody ever given a black?
SPEAKER_01: Now Paul isn't literally beating himself up here.
SPEAKER_01: He's not literally punching himself in the head, but rather he's suggesting that we take charge over our bodies and bring our flesh in submission to our spirit.
SPEAKER_01: We all have an understanding of what that means.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we all try to eat right, we all try to exercise some.
SPEAKER_01: I'm speaking real liberal because I love all of these.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we try to do the best that we can do.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes a big old chocolate cake passes by in front of us, and we're weak people.
SPEAKER_01: We understand that.
SPEAKER_01: Poor finger crispy cream, don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But we make our bodies our slaves in order to carry out the purpose that God has called us to do.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible clearly tells us how we as Christians ought to live.
SPEAKER_01: We have been given the rules of the race, if you will.
SPEAKER_01: And one day when we stand before Jesus, we're going to be judged according to how well we obeyed those rules of the race.
SPEAKER_01: Paul acknowledges this and he tells us that he disciplines his body.
SPEAKER_01: He runs the race according to the rules set forth in Scripture, so that, as he goes on to say, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, what Paul's telling us is that he practices what he preaches.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing worse than to be given advice from somebody who tells you how you ought to.
SPEAKER_01: And you look at them and they don't.
SPEAKER_01: There's no worse thing in the world because nobody pays you no attention after that.
SPEAKER_01: Paul lives the life of obedience to Christ that he commands us to live.
SPEAKER_01: And here, being disqualified for the prize isn't referring to one's loss of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: As so many people argue.
SPEAKER_01: So many people will argue that if we don't do this, if we don't run to win, if we don't discipline ourselves, if we do get into heaven, it's because we've lived right.
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't get into heaven, it's because you didn't.
SPEAKER_01: We get into heaven because Jesus Christ died for us, and we understand that and we accept that.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't get exiled.
SPEAKER_01: They were still Greek citizens.
SPEAKER_01: They just didn't win the race.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's talking about here is the loss of reward that would be received in Christ's return.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus came and died for each and every one of us.
SPEAKER_01: And in doing so, he entered each and every one of us into this race of eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: And he promised us.
SPEAKER_01: He promised us a crown of glory if we run with diligence and obedience and faith.
SPEAKER_01: So I say, let's continue to run to win.
SPEAKER_01: So that whenever that day comes, whenever we stand before our Savior, we can utter the same words Paul did to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 and verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: When he says, I have fought the good fight.
SPEAKER_01: I have finished the race.
SPEAKER_01: I have kept the faith.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father God, we do thank you for your instruction.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you so much that you've included us in your family.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for all the many blessings you've given us.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for the gifts that you've equipped us with.
SPEAKER_01: We pray that you would just constantly give us a renewed spirit to use our gifts for your glory to be the light that this world needs.
SPEAKER_01: We just thank you so much for all that you've done for us.
SPEAKER_01: Pray that you'd go with us this week.
SPEAKER_01: Keep us safe.
SPEAKER_01: Bless those who we know who are troubled.
SPEAKER_01: And just pray, Father, that you would just be with us and help us in all things just to just to glorify and honor you.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you and praise you, and we ask these things in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
unknown: Yeah, but she's like it was a little bit more.
SPEAKER_08: Oh well, they're gonna say I'm gonna say.
SPEAKER_08: I mean, actually.
SPEAKER_08: You're gonna go other birds.
SPEAKER_09: So you can try to do that.
unknown: Okay, this is a yeah, it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_04: I'm trying to do that.
unknown: So yeah, but I know I can't look very well because I haven't moved yet.
unknown: Well you might smell it.
unknown: That's why we're not still having a card.
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
unknown: Yeah, I guess.
unknown: Oh we can do it.
unknown: It's fair.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's fine.
SPEAKER_09: I'm right.
SPEAKER_09: I'm gonna let my other chip on.
unknown: Oh, you can't.
SPEAKER_04: Chip chip.
SPEAKER_04: Uh get away from their voice.
SPEAKER_09: Rip to be a little bit more.
SPEAKER_06: No idea.
SPEAKER_02: And you will bring mail necessary.
unknown: Yeah, it needs to be right.
SPEAKER_08: You do! How many yeah that's fine?
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, Brandon was a good thing.
SPEAKER_08: You want it to hardly be the jar.
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, you're not too.
SPEAKER_05: You can't cut the other one.
SPEAKER_05: Be careful.
SPEAKER_03: But they might be a good idea.
SPEAKER_03: Show my trace or getting off or just a little bit.
SPEAKER_04: I think it's just that we green turn.
SPEAKER_04: Winter.
SPEAKER_08: The cookies are gone.
SPEAKER_08: Oh man, that's not good.
SPEAKER_04: Waiting here.
SPEAKER_06: Like fucking paper.
unknown: Well, he's got one.
unknown: No.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I was crazy.
unknown: Keep it over for a second.
SPEAKER_03: Everything I've ever seen is so black.
SPEAKER_03: I'm quite line.
SPEAKER_03: Wash it out.
SPEAKER_09: I guess now it's all over where it was plugged in.
SPEAKER_03: And this is just a map.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was there.
SPEAKER_04: I think that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_06: So she can see.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to do this.
SPEAKER_03: I'll try.
SPEAKER_03: I ain't got time.
SPEAKER_06: Do I have time?
SPEAKER_04: It went on all around the hug.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05: I see that smell on your face.
SPEAKER_05: Well, let me go try and get it.
SPEAKER_06: You better watch me back there.
SPEAKER_08: Come here.