WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:05.440 So we've been making our way through the book of Hebrews, and we are in Hebrews chapter 12. 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:09.279 We're going to look at verses 1 and 2 and unpack those this morning. 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:10.880 So here we go. 00:00:11.199 --> 00:00:37.600 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which cling so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:39.119 So maybe you've heard these verses before. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:40.640 I would call these t-shirt verses, right? 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:46.399 You've heard them before if you've been around Christian faith or church, but we want to talk about what do they mean. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:50.079 And the more we look at it, the more we study, the better it gets for us. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:52.000 So the chapter begins with this word, therefore. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:53.679 So the old Bible study cliche. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:58.479 Every time you see the word therefore, you should ask, what is it therefore? 00:00:58.640 --> 00:00:58.799 Great. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:00:59.600 So you've been around. 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:04.560 So we had to look at the previous text, which would be chapter 11, which we looked at in the past two sermons. 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:07.439 To sum that up, there's a whole bunch of people having a tough time. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:16.640 And it is because they converted from Judaism, a legal religion in the Roman Empire, to Christianity, which was an illegal religion in the Roman Empire. 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:19.120 And so they were receiving persecution. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:21.680 They were having a rough go at it. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:33.599 And the writer is saying to the rest of these people who have converted over to Christianity to be Jesus' followers, and us to us also, is you have people like that ahead of you. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:39.439 And those people are for you as you persevere in the faith walk. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:44.239 Monday night our little family was eating dinner at the kitchen bar. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:56.640 So the three girls were around the kitchen bar, and then Christian and I were standing up around them, and it was our littlest daughter's birthday this week, and so she had gotten a birthday card in the mail, which mail is huge to any of us. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:58.480 We all love like personal mail, right? 00:01:58.560 --> 00:01:59.840 Like, especially if you're a kid. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:06.159 And so she was reading this birthday card to us, and she was just glowing that she received this card. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:12.479 And so I then asked the proverbial Seinfeld question from season six, episode three, to be exact. 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:17.439 How long do you have to hold the card before you throw the card away, right? 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:20.719 Like, is it one day, is it three days, is it five days, how long? 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:27.680 All three, all three of them look at me like this is the most insane question possible. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:43.840 They head down the hallway to their bedrooms and they come back with these packets, which I didn't even know existed, and they're just packets of all the cards that they've ever received, which meant a couple things. 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:48.000 First, it meant I'm incredibly cold hearted and throw away cards. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:50.000 That's the first thing it means, certainly. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:03:00.960 And then, second, and this came after one of my daughters said, Yeah, um, whenever I feel sad, I like to read all these cards. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:03.280 And you're like, oh, that's so sweet, right? 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:05.039 But that's also Hebrews 12. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:18.719 It's the idea that like when we're having to persevere through something, it can be incredibly encouraging and helpful just to remember that you have a cloud of witnesses around you that are for you. 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:20.960 And that's what Hebrews 12 is telling us. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:24.479 Point number one is this we are not alone in our suffering. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:27.439 We have a family of faith that's for us. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:33.280 And now some of that family of faith is alive, but some of that family of faith has passed on. 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:38.000 We have a legacy of faith in this family of faith that's for us. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:41.680 Can you imagine lining up in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium? 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:59.759 Say they put a track in there 400 yards around, and you're lined up, and you are running one lap around, and you are taking that last turn, coming down the last hundred yards, and you've been busting it, full out sprint that whole way, and your lungs are aching, your heart's pounding, your legs are barely kicking, you're not sure if your legs are gonna make it. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.400 And 75,000 people, this is the imagery here of Hebrews 12. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:06.159 75,000 people. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:08.319 No judgment on you. 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:11.759 They're just for you, they're just cheering for you. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:16.560 They're not gonna Monday quarterback you and say how you could have done this and you could have. 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:18.399 No, no, no, they're just for you. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:20.959 That's the image we have here for us. 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:27.680 So, like, I yeah, I know you have your best friend and you have your mama, and you have your aunt that you can call when things are rough. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:39.120 Like, we have those people, and we also have a history of faith, a legacy that we can also use for our encouragement when we're going through tough times. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:44.240 So, let's break apart the last part of verse one, first part of verse two. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:50.720 Let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:58.639 And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:04.800 So the text asks us to contemplate what we are running toward? 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:07.199 What are you for? 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:23.360 In your limited amount of days, your limited amount of days that you have with little children before they become big children, your limited amount of days in your marriage, your limited amount of days in the job you have and the purpose you have and the relationships, the friendships, the family, what are you running toward in those things? 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:27.839 Are you running toward just more performance and pretending escaping? 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:28.959 Right? 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:33.839 Hindered and hurting by sin that so easily entangles, right? 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:39.040 And that's that feeling like our hearts are just being suffocated slowly. 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:42.720 Or are you running toward Jesus? 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:52.720 The lavish, always welcome of God, and a life in response to it, which is being deemed free and also becoming more free. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:06:05.680 Just to fill you in, it's Super Bowl Sunday, so I'm obligated to give a sermon illustration with a Super Bowl, which is easy this year because we have Tom Brady, which is kind of like Jesus, in the Super Bowl. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:07.120 Right? 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:09.120 Uh I asked two people this week. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:10.560 I said, Oh, there he is. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:12.800 I mean, and he's beautiful also. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:13.439 I mean, right? 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:14.639 I mean, just like, come on. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:15.600 I mean, this is ridiculous. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:19.920 Six Super Bowl championships, and he's beautiful, and he married a supermodel, okay? 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:22.240 So that's what he, and a house in Costa Rica, by the way. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:23.600 I Google stalked that this week. 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:30.240 That's fun for about an hour to do that, and then you feel bad about your entire life after you Google stalk him for a little bit. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:34.560 I asked two people this week, I said, who are you who are you rooting for in the Super Bowl? 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:37.839 But neither person said, like, Buccaneers are chiefs. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:39.920 It was just like Brady or not Brady. 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:41.519 Like that's what's going on tonight. 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:44.079 It's like either I'm for Brady or I'm not for Brady. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:44.959 And I'm for Brady. 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:47.600 I'll just go ahead and let you know I'm pro-Brady. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:51.439 I'm quoting him around the house specifically because my wife can't stand Tom Brady. 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:55.920 So we basically want to quote him more, you know, and act like he's Jesus even more. 00:06:56.399 --> 00:07:00.480 So 20 years with the Patriots, just to fill you in, but some of you don't know this storyline. 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:01.759 He comes out of Michigan. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:06.240 He's like, he's drafted like 199th or something, he's like six rounds, something crazy. 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:14.639 And he's the backup quarterback for New England, and then he fights to become the starting quarterback, and then he goes on in these 20 years and he wins six Super Bowls. 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:20.399 Then he's 43 years old, and you think it's over, the dynasty's over. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:22.800 No, he goes to Tampa Bay. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:32.720 Like they were seven and nine last year, and a COVID year, he comes in, he gets limited practice with any of his receivers, and he leads him to the Super Bowl. 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:34.319 Like it's unbelievable. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:37.279 This guy is a machine of endurance. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:41.920 He eats perfectly, annoyingly, perfectly. 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:44.319 He works out perfectly. 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:49.360 He lays aside everything that could entangle him. 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:53.040 Which we go, oh, what a that's a great sermon illustration. 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:55.199 Like, that's a really good sermon illustration on Super Bowl. 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:56.879 Like this was handed to me. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:00.959 There's one big, big, really big problem with this. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:04.319 And that is Tom Brady's all self-empowered discipline. 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:06.480 Like it's really impressive. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:11.839 Like it'll just condemn and exhaust most of us because most of us can't even come close to it, right? 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.879 But it's really impressive and it works really well. 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:19.759 Like with your job and sports and academics, like it's it's actually needed. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:24.560 But with matters of your heart and faith, it's very dangerous. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:36.480 Because if all we use is self-effort and faith, like looking inward to your effort by which you're going to uh appease God or get that smile from God or you're gonna show other people how faithful you are. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:41.679 If that's all that that's the way in which your faith walk is fueled, eventually here's what happens. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:43.840 You're just becoming more self-dependent. 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:52.320 You'll become smug, judgmental towards anybody who's struggling, because why can't they get their act together? 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:54.960 Eventually you'll be exhausted. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:57.679 A few questions have helped me over the years. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:05.919 If you've been around here, you've you've heard a few of these questions, and this would be to help us distinguish between the difference between God dependency and self-dependency. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:10.559 Looking to Jesus or looking inward to my own self-effort? 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.960 Do I feel anxious day to day about where I stand with God? 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:19.120 Specifically about your standing with God? 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:25.200 Do I have ongoing concerns about my worth or forgiveness? 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:29.840 Do I live in apathy toward God on a routine basis? 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:35.360 Am I able to accept and love others, even those who are different from me? 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:45.279 Is my starting point trying to get a smile on God's face or living from the smile that is already on his face toward me? 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:48.960 Which brings us into point number two. 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:55.120 Jesus is both our doorway into relationship with God and our way forward in growth. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:58.320 Or we can say our way forward in discipleship. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:08.799 This is why author and Pastor Tim Keller, he's so renowned for saying the gospel is not just the ABCs of the Christian life, but the A to Z of the Christian life. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:12.159 It's all of it, this good news of who we are in Jesus. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:17.840 We don't move on from the gift of Jesus, we move deeper into our identity in Jesus. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:23.840 Our sin put upon him on the cross, his righteousness given to us, so we're fully beloved in God. 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:33.440 The work of discipleship and growth and grace is for the Holy Spirit to be working in us to comfort and convict us to grow deeper in the identity we already have in Him. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:35.440 Brings us to point three. 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:42.399 In our secure position with Christ, we repent quicker of sin that hurts and hinders. 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:47.200 Growth and grace doesn't mean that we sin less and less and less. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:54.240 It actually means you're just becoming more aware of sins going on inside of you, like motives and heart stuff. 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:58.639 And you're becoming quicker to repent, to fall back into the grace of Jesus. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:10:59.840 Ah, there I am again. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:01.440 God, I'm so sorry. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:02.639 Thank you for your love. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:04.000 Help me, help me. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:07.919 The text says the sin clings so closely. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:10.879 Now, this speaks of sin that entangles us. 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:18.000 The definition there would be impedes movement, hindering any progress in faith. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:20.559 So back to the race imagery, right? 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:26.720 So it's like you're in that Mercedes-Benz Stadium, you're at the starting line, everybody's lining up, and you go, oh, hold on, hold on, guys, hold on one second. 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:36.799 And you walk over, you pick up a backpack full of bricks because you love those bricks so much, you just love them, and you just put that thing on because you're gonna run with that backpack of bricks on. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:38.480 Right? 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:42.240 It would entangle you, it would impede you, it would weigh you down. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:49.200 That's how sin entangles us, hinders us, hurts us. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:53.039 And the way out of it is to look to a greater love. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:54.480 It gives us this answer. 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:55.279 How do we do this? 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:56.080 How do we do that? 00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:58.080 How do we let go of that bag of bricks? 00:11:58.240 --> 00:11:58.799 Verse 2. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:11.120 Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:19.440 When I'm at home and I have uh lunch at home during the week, this is what stares me in the face when I open the fridge. 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:25.679 It's either a Coke, which I love, I'll be honest, or a Izzy, which I also love. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:29.759 Now, I'm from the South. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:34.159 And Coca-Cola is the answer for everything. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:38.960 If you have a headache, drink a Coke. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:41.759 If you're sad, drink a Coke. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:44.320 If you have a stomachache, drink a Coke. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:51.840 Even though the stomachache was probably caused by the Coke you had that morning, the way you're gonna solve the stomach ache midday is a Coke, right? 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:53.919 And I love Coke. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:59.120 I would drink three a day, one with every meal, if that was what was good for me. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:03.039 And it's not good for me because it's filled with refined sugar. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:06.320 And this other, this is a lot better option for me, the Izzy. 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:08.960 And I love it also, like it's a fruity, sparkly drink, right? 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:11.519 And it I love it also, I'll be very honest. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:17.679 But if I'm if I'm gazing upon the Coca-Cola, it's just very hard for me to choose this. 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:19.759 It's like somebody saying, don't press the red button. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:22.799 It's like, well, as soon as you look away, I'm pressing the red button. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:26.000 If I don't press it, like at least I want to press it, right? 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:27.840 That's the way that the law works. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:33.120 Even if something is healthy for me not to do, as soon as I focus upon it. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:35.600 As soon as I gaze upon it. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:40.879 It's so hard for me to make the right choice, the good choice, the holy choice. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:47.120 We have to shift our gaze, to gaze upon that which is good for us. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:58.480 The great 19th-century British preacher Charles Spurgeon, he said this about this text, not necessarily about Coca-Cola and Izzy's, but it could apply to that as well. 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:00.799 But specifically Hebrews 12. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:05.440 You are to look from all beside to Jesus. 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:08.879 Fix not thy gaze upon the cloud of witnesses. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:13.759 They will hinder thee if they take away thine eye from Jesus. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:17.519 Look not on the weights and the besating sin. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:19.840 These thou hast laid aside. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:21.440 Look away from them. 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:29.919 Do not even look upon the race course or the competitors, but look to Jesus and so start in the race. 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:33.519 See, the passage has a lot going on for us. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:40.320 A lot of encouragement, some stuff for us to do, stuff to be aware of, but it's carrying us to that which fuels all of that. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:44.080 Looking to Jesus, founder and perfecter. 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:47.759 And that's where we get there at the beginning of verse 2. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.480 And we get gospel implications for our faith race. 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:51.440 Two implications. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:58.559 Number one is this Jesus as founder means I am not the founder. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:01.279 I'm a follower. 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:06.639 Jesus as the founder of your faith means you are not the founder of your faith. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:08.720 You can relieve yourself of that burden. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:11.039 You're the follower of the founder. 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:18.399 And my extended family of siblings and cousins, there are four founders of businesses. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:18.879 Four. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:23.360 It's an overachieving bunch that you get around and you just feel a little bit lesser than. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:24.799 And I've watched them. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:27.759 Like they have great success in the world. 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:28.240 Right? 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.120 It's easy to look at people who've like founded a company, it's grown. 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:37.679 Maybe they started out in that closet or that garage and then it became like eight employees or 20 or 80 or something. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:41.120 And you look and you go, like, oh man, look at the flexibility they have. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:43.600 I mean, look at the cash flow they have going. 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:44.000 Wow. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:45.440 Like, and that's gonna last for a while. 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:46.639 Man, that's a stream of revenue. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:47.279 That's incredible. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:49.039 Look at that, what kind of recognition they have. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:51.440 And you look at all that, oh, that's amazing. 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:54.879 And there's also a burden to the founder. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:16:01.120 Like, founders feel the burden of upholding that which they created. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:08.639 Like when times aren't good, they're feeling the burden of the families of all the employees that work for them. 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:13.440 So if you're a founder, you feel that. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:14.320 Guess what? 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:16.559 In faith, you don't have to feel that. 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:18.639 That's not an emotion for us. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:23.360 We don't have to feel that because Jesus is the founder of our faith. 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:25.120 That's what happened at the cross. 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:30.080 It's the gift of faith to us, his faithfulness to us that we find ourselves in. 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:33.039 Founder is the word Archagos. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:35.279 It means this: the author. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:37.120 So Jesus is the author, not us. 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:39.360 The chief leader, Jesus, not us. 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:42.559 The trailblazer who goes before you. 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:58.480 So Jesus blazed into your sin and your guilt and your shame, your woundedness, declares you healed, saved, and also puts us on a path of becoming even more healed and even freer in the grace of God. 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:05.440 My spiritual practice, your spiritual practice is a response to grace breaking through in our lives. 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:10.640 Our spiritual disciplines, whether that be for you, you're gonna sit down, you're gonna study the Bible for an hour because that's your thing. 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:16.640 You can go for a walk and prayer walk, you're gonna read a devotion, and then you're gonna hop in your car, you're gonna drive to work and put on worship music. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:24.000 Whatever your spiritual discipline is, it's a practice of knowing deeper that which has already been deemed upon you. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:27.519 So you're free in becoming more free. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:37.680 Implication number two is this Jesus as perfecter means I am not the perfecter, but the recipient of the perfecting. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:52.000 Which to any of us that are perfectionists, and we carry it into faith, and we're just trying to get ourselves a little bit better, a little bit better, a little bit better, so we can appease God and get that smile from God, or appease all these other people in the church world. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:53.920 Like you're free from that. 00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:58.160 The perfecting of your faith is done by Jesus for us. 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:04.480 You're already deemed perfect, even while you're working out your faith in Him. 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:08.559 This week I received a phone call, it was midweek. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:10.160 It was just like a ho-hum day. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:11.680 You know, you have great days, you have low days. 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:13.519 It's just one of those kind of in-between days. 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:16.160 And it was in the afternoon, and my friend called me. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:24.240 He said, Hey, I just wanted to let you know I was thinking about you, and I was praying for you because I was thinking about this and this and this for you. 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:28.559 And I just wanted to let you know I was thinking about you and praying for you. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:30.880 My whole day changed. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:34.000 He didn't say anything else, he didn't solve any of my problems. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:36.160 He didn't like send me a gift in the mail. 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:41.599 Like, I mean, just hey, I'm thinking about you, I'm praying for you. 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:43.759 Changed my whole day. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:46.720 Just knowing someone was for me. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:47.359 Right? 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:50.079 This is this is how love changes everything. 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:55.440 Just to know someone loves you and is for you all the way through the process. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:59.599 And listen, this is the good news of Hebrews 12, 1 and 2. 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:04.640 We look to Jesus not to cause him to look at us. 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:11.759 We look to Jesus because he has always been looking out for us. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:13.839 Let's pray together. 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:19.279 God, thank you for the good news that you are for us long before we begin to be for you. 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:24.799 God, thank you that you want us to be with you before we do for you. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:29.440 Help us to find our faith and your faithfulness to us. 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:35.599 Help us to walk out our faith walk and faith race only by looking unto you. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:46.799 Forgive us for all the ways that we live in self-dependency, smugness, judgmentalism, self-righteousness. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:54.880 Forgive us for trusting in all of our self-effort rather than falling back into your great grace for us, which we need, our hearts need. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:07.759 Help us to just constantly, continually look upon you and to be shorter and shorter in our time in between sin and repentance, to look back upon you again. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:14.799 Thank you that you are always for us, looking upon us just as you look upon your Son, Jesus. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:16.319 Amen.