Sabbath 03-20-2021 Seventh Day Baptist Edgewater Pastor Keith “Finish the Race”

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Sabbath 03-20-2021 Seventh Day Baptist Edgewater Pastor Keith “Finish the Race” Hebrews 12;1-3

 

Everyone gets knocked down but the key to success is getting back up. To follow Jesus, realize that there will be discouraging times. Put your hand to the plow and don’t look back. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the one who had the Faith. In our scripture, the Christian life is compared to a race, a marathon. You endure, you keep the pace and you finish the race. To run the race of life faithfully, there are three things remember:

 

1)     We Are Surrounded By A Great Cloud of Witnesses:

Chapter 11 lists all the witnesses in the past who had faith in God. Noah had faith to wait 120 years to build the ark. He kept on building and didn’t listen to the scoffers. Abraham had faith in God to wait a long time for a son and then had faith to offer him as a sacrifice. We need to follow God and be true to His will.

Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and then thrown into prison for a crime he did not commit. He remained faithful to God. When Joseph was at the bottom, he stayed faithful. There are a great cloud of witnesses reminding us to stay faithful and don’t quit. Keep the faith and keep on keeping on.

 

2)     We Need To Be Prepared For Struggles: 

Throw off everything that will hinder you, slow you down and weigh you down. Discern what is really needed and what is not. Get rid of things that pull us away from our walk with the Lord. Throw off anything that distracts you from following the Lord. Get rid of relationships with people or things that remind us of sins. Get rid of sinful things and sinful ways.

Sin is like an octopus with long tentacles. We think we can have just a taste, just a little sinful thought and then we are suddenly entangled in the tentacles of the octopus of sin. Our Hebrews text tells us to run the race. We should not run out our energy and hit the wall. Instead we should run the race with persistence, don’t quit but endure the race.

 

3)     We Must Focus Our Attention On Jesus:

Consider all that Jesus went through for us. Consider how He stayed the course, ran the race and endured the cross. Now Jesus is sitting on the right hand of God in Heaven. Jesus is the author of our Faith and we need to focus on Jesus because He made it and we can too. We can finish the race in Jesus’s name. The battle goes to the committed and not to the dramatic. Fix our eyes on Jesus as we run the race. Consider all the opposition Jesus faced and He finished the race. Jesus gave His life so our sins can washed away with His blood.

 

AMEN