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Transcript

Well, good afternoon, brethren. I’m going to start by doing something that may be ill-advised. I wasn’t sure if I should do it or not, and I’m still waffling right now as you can see, but I’m going to share with you my YouTube watch history.

And so, one of the things I watch on YouTube, I won’t get into specifics except for one, but there’s lots of news obviously being working and writing for The Real Truth Magazine. So, videos about the recent hurricanes and the devastation there. Videos about new technology. There’s an interest of mine. Lots of political podcasts, both conservative and liberal. I watch them so you don’t have to. There’s probably, you’ll see some video essays about classic feature films, just an interest of mine and, of course, very important short videos about cats overreacting. But in there... oh, I saw one, my wife showed me one yesterday of, it was like twelve cats in one room and one little thing happened, and then it was just every cat was twitching and like flying around the room.

So, cats are a wonderful creature, but there’s one video that you would see if you look there, and specifically, and it’s titled this, Eight Hard Truths of Long-Term Runners. And running is one of my primary forms of exercise, so that’s why YouTube served that up to me. But Eight Truths of Long-Term Runners. So that’s different from long-distance runners. It’s people who run for a long period of time.

And you can see as a Christian, you start to think of running, okay, the Bible says a lot about running and often it will talk about kind of more races and long distance, one long continuous run, which is a way to look at Christianity and God’s way. It is, it’s a marathon. But it was interesting looking at this video and thinking about it from a different perspective. That analogy, that spiritual analogy of long-term runners, those who’ve run for a long period of time, not just one race, but over a period of time, months, years, as many of us have.

And some of the different lessons in that video, not all of them apply. Some are like, I have too many pairs of shoes, but it doesn’t apply to Christianity. But things like, that may or may not have been a confession. But things like discipline, learning discipline whether that’s getting home from work and instead of sitting on the couch, getting into your running gear and going out and making sure you run so you can start to build fitness over time, which it does take time to build fitness and see improvements.

You don’t see with running, you don’t see improvement right away, it takes a long time. You’re starting to see the spiritual parallels here, making proper choices. Seeing that’s not a good decision for me. I’m not going to make that, the physical thing, but it can also apply to spiritual long-term running as well. And so just starting to think about that and apply it. And I wanted to share that with you all as well. And there’s actually a verse that applies to what we’re talking about.

Hebrews twelve. Let’s turn over there. So, we’re thinking of Christian long-term running. So rather than just one race, something we do, and it involves everything we do in our lives. Plan your life around it, your day around it, Christian long-term running. We’re here in Hebrews twelve. It says, Paul, he talks all the time about running.

You’ll see a lot of those verses today, but this one applies to the subject and the way that we’re going to look at this analogy for Christianity and running. Hebrews twelve and verse one, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Run with patience. It takes time to build up the muscles and the endurance to get your heart in shape to be able to run on longer distances, to get that fitness, that spiritual fitness or physical fitness. It takes a long time. The same is true for us, isn’t it, brethren? Run with patience.

So that clickbait title from before, Eight Hard Truths of Long-term Runners, I’m going to use a clickbait-specific purpose statement here. So here it is. Let’s explore some hard truths of long-term Christian runners. Personally, I didn’t find any of the truths in the video to be hard truths, but it’s to get your attention. And really, they’re just lessons and things that you learn over time, and it was comforting to me. I’ve been running for a few years and to see some of those lessons that I’ve been learning and think, “Okay. Someone else gets it. Someone else gets it.”

So, lesson one, remember how far you’ve come. It’s important for us to review our progress and think back to where we are. We can get so easily caught up in what’s happening right now. It’s good to look back in the progress you’ve made because no matter how long, physically how long you’ve been running, you always there’s something more. I want to be able to go a little faster. I want to be able to hit this benchmark or do this or run this race in this time. And it can feel defeating. Like you’re not making progress. So, it’s good to look way back to the beginning.

So, I won’t talk about my own running this whole way through, but it fits here. So, I have an app called Run keeper. That’s just what the one I use. There’s many of them. But I look back to the very first run that I did, and I’ve recorded with this app. It was on November twenty-fourth, twenty-twenty. It was at six forty-one PM. And I can look at the race, where I’ve run on the campus. It maps it out on a map. I ran three point zero two miles and ten minutes, thirty-one seconds per mile, and burned three hundred and sixty calories. So, thanks, Run keeper.

But I also recorded how I felt after the run. It asked me and it said bad. And there was a frowny face. And it said I had mentioned that my knees and upper legs hurt. And there’s still aches and pains from running, but that was all the way at the beginning. And I remember what that was like. I had shoes that were too small. I didn’t know you needed to size up to have better... To have the right size of shoes. I was doing all sorts of things wrong.

So, think back to when you were first learning God’s truth and you can compare that to where you are today, brethren. And you’ve come a long way. Even those who haven’t been as long of long-term runners, maybe you’ve started to learn God’s truth recently. It still was a journey to get into sitting in your congregation and listen to God’s way. You know, fulfilling... All of those things took time and that was a journey as well. So, you’re still a long-term runner. You may be a little bit newer. Your shoes may be a little smaller than they should be, but spiritually, but look back to that. Think back to that.

It’s Feast of Tabernacles season, and you can think back to your first feast. What was that like? What were the things you didn’t know? And you may have made mistakes. It wasn’t quite my first feast, but my first feast married, my wife and I, she ended up getting mono right before the feast. So very tired and wasn’t able to pack very much. She can get up and pack a little bit for the Feast.

And then it was just for a few minutes and then she’d laid back down and then she packed a little bit more. And so, we were driving down to Pensacola, Florida. And I packed up the car and we left, and we were driving through the night and we’re going to get to... I think we stopped at Nashville on the way. And many hours into the trip, my wife quietly asked, did you bring my hanging clothes? And no. I had not.

And so, we were able to call someone, and they were able to find our extra key and get those things. But then I ended up getting to the site and I realized that I didn’t bring any dress shirts. And it was in Pensacola and there weren’t any big stores nearby. So, I went to this little, this one shop that was selling clothes and I got a polyester shirt. One white shirt and one that fit me. My polyester shirt, it’s the only one I had. Thankfully, it was polyester so I could wash it every day and then hang it up and it would be dry by the morning because it’s plastic, but that was some of my first feasts and you could think back to that, those physical mistakes you made.

And as you’re learning God’s way and you have more years under your belt, you know what to expect. You’ve put the reps in, you’ve been there before, and you make less, and you can see those improvements that happen. Same thing spiritually, where you can see those mistakes that you’ve made in the past. And you, instead of seeing those mistakes, you see that as an opportunity to grow. And you grow and you become better at your long-term running. Let’s look back at how God viewed us when we were first called. Let’s go to First Corinthians. This is what kind of shape we were in when God first called us.

First Corinthians Chapter one, and verse twenty-seven. First Corinthians one, twenty-seven. “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to compound the wise.” That’s us. “Chosen the weak things of the world to compound the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world, which are despised, has God chosen, yes, and the things that are not, to bring to naught the things that are. That no flesh should glory in his presence.” So, when we were first called, spiritually speaking, we were flabby and weak, kind of wimpy. And that’s how we started.

But then we started this long-term running program and got out there, ran, and there’s... Probably ran too hard on occasion and had got injured and all sorts of things that happened and lessons that we’ve learned over the time, but you can look back and look till now, brethren, and whatever length that journey has been, look at the improvement. See that? Don’t get caught up in the here and now. It’s like, “Oh, I’m still not perfect.” Of course, you’re not. Of course, we’re not. But looking back to that can help you to see the progress you’ve made. Recognize that you don’t have as many of those runs where you feel bad afterward, and there’s a frowny face.

But as you’re looking back and remembering how far you’ve come, there’s a warning for this. You should be encouraged by the past, but don’t let it consume your thinking and allow you to be discouraged. Let’s turn to Philippians three and verse thirteen. So, you’ve learned from those mistakes in the past. You’ve seen them and you moved past them. And here’s what Paul says, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do...” Philippians three, thirteen, “...forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ.”

Make sure that we are moving past those things. Let the past be the past. Yes, you can look back at every once in a while, and laugh at yourself and like, “Oh, remember those mistakes I made?” And see how far you’ve come, but don’t hold onto those things and let them consume you like, “I’m not good enough.” You move forward. Press toward that mark. Let’s go back to Hebrews twelve. Add a little more to this, making sure we’re moving past mistakes. Hebrews twelve. Once you get there, you may want to put a little bookmark there. We’re going to come back to this verse over and over again. It’s our home base.

Hebrews twelve back to verse one again. “Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us.” Every weight there... This is from Ellicott’s Commentary, but he said, “The Greek word for every weight was sometimes used by Greek writers to denote the excessive size and weight of the body which the athlete sought to reduce by means of training.”

So, you’re fat, and you need to get that fat off. I don’t know why he had to write it like that. The excessive size and weight of the body. But lay aside those things. Get rid of them. Don’t... and the sin which so does so easily beset us. We may be... You could also think of it like clothing. Wearing too many sets of clothes and it’s harder to run in that. You don’t have the right gear on. Whatever those things are that are holding us back, we should lay them aside.

Get rid of that extra weight. It could be something that we’re spending too much time on, and it’s not allowing us to spend our time on spiritual things. It’s crowding out Bible study and prayer. Whatever that would be, lay it aside. Get rid of it. If you’re running in crocs every day, find some new shoes. You can think of the spiritual parallel, brethren, where finding those things that are encumbering us, where it may be a little extra weight that we need to get rid of to allow us to do more in this...

Running in the first century was often done with very few clothes on. The word for gym, we talk about going to the gym, is a Greek word, and gymnos, for where gymnasium comes from, but it means naked. And when you see, lay aside every weight and the sin which does easily beset us, you can think of like, get rid of it. That’s what Paul’s saying. It’s like everything. Sorry for that mental image.

But it’s almost to the point of absurdity so we get the point. Whatever those things are that are in our way, spiritually, lay them aside. Get rid of it so that you may run and be that long-term runner, not be encumbered by whatever it would be, the cares of this life. The second lesson. Lean on others to maintain motivation. Lean on others to maintain motivation. It’s pretty easy to see from a running perspective that having others around will motivate you. That happens with anything.

You can think of any hobby. If you are crocheting, let’s say crocheting, and you find a group on Facebook that crochets too or other brethren, and you talk to them on Team Hub, that’s even better, that it’ll give you motivation to do more and to learn more and grow. The same thing with running. Having others around helps you. I know there’s many runs that I do where I want to keep... It’s called a slow run, and I’m supposed to be going slowly.

And then when I see other people out there, it makes me go a little faster because I want to do a little bit more. But seeing those examples helps you do a little bit more and run a little bit harder. Think of running clubs, teams across country, and in high school and college, where they work together and there’s a unified goal and friendly competition to do more. But those examples help us with motivation.

So, we’re in Hebrews twelve again. Let’s turn back there. Hopefully, it’s your home base. There’s another form of example and motivation we can get. Hebrews twelve one, “Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.” This Hebrews twelve comes right after Hebrews eleven, the faith chapter and it lists out many of the great figures from the Bible and the Old Testament, and their examples and the faith that they had.

And we can look at them and it’ll give you motivation to keep going. They’re able to make it, and you can learn from their mistakes, learn from the things that they did right. So, let’s do that with a few examples. Lean on them to maintain motivation. You can even think of it like that cloud of witnesses from the Old Testament. They’re cheering you on to keep and stay motivated. Let’s look at Caleb. We’ll turn to Numbers fourteen.

We don’t talk about Caleb as often, but we’ll talk about him today. He was certainly a long-term spiritual runner. Numbers fourteen. So, the context here is just Israel got to the promised land with Moses and they sent in spies. And all of the spies came back and gave an evil report, except for Joshua and Caleb. Those are the only two that gave a good report. And of course, Israel listened to the evil report and God was not happy. So, numbers fourteen and verse twenty. I’ll start in verse twenty-one.

“But as truly as I live, all earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times...” this is all of Israel, “…and have not hearkened unto my voice; surely they will not see the land which I swore unto their fathers, neither shall they any of them that provoked me see it.”

Verse thirty-two, “But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in the wilderness.” It’s all those that rejected God. They went through the Red Sea, they saw all the miracles in Egypt, and they didn’t get it.

They didn’t understand that God delivered the promised land to them. “And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bury your whoredoms, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness,” so forty years it would take. In verse thirty-eight, “But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men, went into the land, searched, lived still.” So, you can think of all that at this point, Caleb was ready to go in. Joshua was ready to go in. They didn’t do anything wrong. They were ready to take the promised land. And then forty years.

Imagine being Joshua and Caleb, we’re looking at Caleb here, but they saw all of their friends, everyone that came out of Egypt with them, they all died. And he had to run and keep moving through the ups and the downs of all those forty years in the wilderness, but he stuck with it, and he kept going. Let’s turn to Joshua fourteen. Here’s the end of the story. After those forty years. Caleb ran with patience. He knew he would be able to go into the promised land. God had promised this to him and we’ll see some specific promises, but he ran with patience and waited for God’s timing. Joshua fourteen. We’ll start in verse one.

This is Joshua divvying up the promised land to the Israelites. “And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, promised land, which Eliezer the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of Israel, distributed the inheritance to them.” Verse six, and finally it was Caleb’s turn. And he came after all of this time of continuing on and not stopping. Verse six, “The children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenezite said unto him, ‘You know the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me in Kadesh-Barnea.”

If you say it fast, it sounds right. “Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh, we’ll just call it, to spy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up, made the heart of the people to melt: but I wholly followed my God. And Moses swore on that day, surely the land where the feet have trodden shall be your inheritance, and your children forever, because you have followed me, the Lord my God.” So, Caleb heard he promised an inheritance by God and by Moses forty years previously, and he kept that with him, and it motivated him, and here he is ready to claim it. He didn’t get a bad attitude or stop going through the wilderness. He made it all the way through.

And verse ten, “Now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive. And as I said, these forty-five years later, even more than forty, even since the Lord spoke at the word of Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am eighty-five years old,” but we’ll see. Caleb, he kept at it. He kept fit physically, but also spiritually.

We’ll see the physical here, verse eleven, “And yet I am as strong as the day I was when Moses sent me: and strength was then, even so now, is my strength, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now, therefore give me this mountain, wherefore the Lord spoke in that day; and you heard.” Lean on Caleb’s example, it’s the physical promise that God gave him. Look at his example, think that through, he went all the way through the wilderness for forty years. That had to be very hard, but he kept going.

That’s one of the cloud of witnesses that keeps, can motivate us and we can think of, and our long-term Christian running. There’s another witness that we can listen to and that’s David. Let’s turn to First Samuel sixteen. First Samuel sixteen. David was also given a promise, but then he had to wait for Samuel sixteen and verse one, “And the Lord said unto Samuel, how long will you mourn Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill your horn with oil, and go, and I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.”

So, Saul had rejected God’s way and had been rejected by God, and Samuel’s here to find another king among Jesse’s sons. Verse thirteen, of course, they prayed out all of the brothers, and it ends up being David, who is a youngster at the time. Verse thirteen, “Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Rama.” So, from that point forward, David knew that he would be king, but Saul was still king. So, I want us all to just slowly page forward. So, in my Bible, the next one, David defeats Goliath.

Keep paging forward, slays the giants, befriends David, or befriends Jonathan. Saul gets very jealous of David and wants to kill him. God, of course, allows David to live. David flees, he is in the wilderness. Keep going. Samuel dies. The one that anointed him. David. You keep going. Saul comes after him again. Get to the book of Second Samuel. This promise hadn’t come yet, he kept running, he kept going. And finally, we get to Second Samuel two and verse four, Second Samuel two, four, “And the men of Judah came, and they anointed David king over the house of Judah.” Of course, this is after Saul’s death.

So that was just the king of Judah and then one of Saul’s sons was in the mix over Israel and it’s not until a few pages later, Second Samuel five and verse three, and then he’s finally anointed king over Israel. So, when we talk of long-term running, David knew what that was like. Day in, day out there was hardship, and he kept going along. There was some temptations from time to time to want to kind of cut corners or do things more quickly, but he made it he was ultimately done there. So, let’s look at an example of a little more from David. We’ll go back to First Samuel twenty-four, First Samuel.

So, this is when Saul was coming after him. But on our Christian long-term run, there’s hard times, isn’t there, and we have to rely on God, we have to make it through those moments, keep moving forward, even when that hardship comes. I will start in verse one, chapter twenty-four verse one. “And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told to him, behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi. Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all of Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet.”

A euphemism for using the restroom. “And David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.” So, Saul was in a compromised position. “And the men of David said unto him, behold the day of which the Lord said unto you, behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do unto him as is good unto you. Then David arose, and cut the skirt from Saul’s robe privately.”

You could see how David was skilled. He was a great warrior, stealthy, and able to do... capable. And here, Saul’s in his hand, he could have killed him, but he cut the robe. And after he did that, his conscious started to bother him. Verse seven, “So David stayed in the cave and his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose out of the cave, and went on his way. David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried unto Saul, saying, my Lord the king. And when Saul looked upon him, David stooped his face to the earth, and bowed himself.” And as he goes through, David put himself at Saul’s mercy and said, I shouldn’t have done this. You’re the Lord’s anointed king. I shouldn’t have done this. And ultimately, his attitude allowed for softened Saul and David was spared.

We’ll see that in verse sixteen, “And it came to pass, when David made an end of speaking these words into Saul, that Saul said, is that your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. And he said to David, you are more righteous than I: for you have rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded you evil.” It’s an example of a long-term Christian runner or runner of God’s way.

And there was a hard moment, and he could have made the wrong decision. Made a little bit of one, but didn’t kill Saul. And ultimately, God delivered him. And God will deliver us too, no matter what comes our way. But David learned to wait. And you can think of that cloud of witnesses. David’s one of those voices and he’s cheering us on. And let’s turn to Psalm twenty-seven. Here’s something that voice of David will be saying to us.

Psalm twenty-seven and verse fourteen. So, the Psalm of David. So, imagine this king of Israel saying these words. He’s someone that waited. He was patient, he kept running. Verse fourteen, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait I say...” King David’s telling us this. “...on the Lord.” Of course, there’s all of those Bible greats and we should be listening to their voices and their examples.

And that allows us to have great encouragement, but we’re all in this together, aren’t we? And make sure that our examples are encouraging one another too. Let’s first turn to First Thessalonians. So, on top of that great crowd of witnesses, there’s everyone running along with us too in the church today. First Thessalonians five, and we’ll start in verse eleven. Five eleven, “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also you do.”

I don’t like the King James version for this. When I was a kid, I learned it this way, encourage one another and build each other up. Encourage one another and build each other up. And there was a song, a kid’s song, and I won’t sing it to you. But that’s how I remember it. Encourage one another and build each other up.

Let’s encourage one another, brethren. If you see someone faltering or flagging, maybe they’re normally very cheerful, and they’re not as cheerful, notice that. Encourage them, talk to them. Even just being a good example is encouraging. Like I mentioned before, with physical running, when you have others, you see others out and about running, it makes you want to do it too. Very thankful for the other runners here on campus, they encourage me. I can look out my window into the valley, and I see people out there, and it makes me want to do more. I hope that my example does the same for them. That’s just physical running. The same is true for long-term Christian runners.

Lesson three. Run with a goal in mind. Physical runners have goals. They could be training for a five K. That’s three-point-one miles. Could be a marathon of twenty-six-point-two miles. Those people are crazy. But they have training plans to get there. And those are smaller-term goals of being a runner in general in their lifestyle. But they’re making sure that they’re following those goals. But for us, spiritually, we have a long-term goal, and it’s all the same. It’s entering the kingdom of God. And as we continue to run, make sure that that is your focus, that that’s our focus, and that’s the thing that we’re all running toward.

Brethren, that we finish strong. Whether the kingdom comes in a couple of days, or if it ends up being weeks, or somehow years, we finish strong. Always pretend like the Kingdom of God is just over the next hill, it is just around the next corner. In our minds, that’s how it should be. And no matter how tired our legs may be or how long we’ve been running in this life, keep that in mind. The Kingdom of God so that we can finish strong.

Philippians two. The sad fact of Christianity is that some people do give up. They don’t keep going. They can lose sight of that end goal. And we should make sure, as brethren... This could go on the last point, but that we’re encouraging one another. Keep that goal in mind. Philippians two. I said that, and then I didn’t turn there. We can read verse four. “Look not every man on his own things, but on the things of others.” In this Christian run, this long-term Christian running, this way of life that we are in, that we can help one another.

Verse fourteen, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in God, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, of whom you shine as lights in the world,” shining examples of moving forward toward that kingdom.

And verse sixteen, “Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.” Paul’s talking about rejoicing in that day of Christ, that he hasn’t labored in vain. We’ve come a long way, brethren. Don’t quit now. Don’t let down now. Make sure that, as Paul said here, that he hasn’t labored in vain, that we haven’t labored in vain. Where you give up, and any time that you’ve put in would be for naught.

In this, make sure we’re all relying on God’s Spirit, that pain and fatigue can set in here and there, but rely on God’s Spirit. He’s going to give you power and help you to keep moving forward. Let’s turn to Isaiah forty. So those times when you feel like you’re flagging, and it’s more difficult, examine ourselves, that we can see where we’re missing, what we’re missing, and how God can help us, can rely on him.

Isaiah forty and verse thirty-one. So, when things are hard, remember these verses, call them to mind so that you can keep that goal in mind, that you can finish strong. Isaiah forty and verse thirty-one. “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

First Corinthians nine. Add these verses to your arsenal that you can keep in mind, as we’re we continue running, or those long-term runners, it’s our way of life. These can all help us to keep our mind on that goal. First Corinthians nine twenty-four. “Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every man that strives a mastery is tempered in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so, fight I, not as one that beats the air: but I keep my body, and I bring it into subjection; lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast away.”

Let’s run that we can obtain, brethren. Second Timothy four. This is later in Paul’s life. But he has an example that can encourage us too. You can think of everything that Paul went through and spend some time to study it. He’s another one of those in the cloud of witnesses. And here’s what he said toward the end of his life. Second Timothy four and verse seven. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crowd of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me that day: not only me, but also them which love is appearing.”

And Revelation three. So that was Paul’s example. Here’s the words that we want to hear. Revelation three. So, we’re running with patience. That’s endurance. There may be a wait, there has been from almost all of us. We have to keep our mind on that goal. Revelation three and verse seven. So, this is the Church of Philadelphia. “Angel of the church of Philadelphia write; These things say, ‘He that is holy, that is true, that has the key of David, he has opened, and no man shuts; and no man opens; I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door, that no man can shut: for you have little strength, and you have kept the word of my patience.”

Let’s all keep that goal in mind, that the Kingdom of God is so close, and that we can hear those words. “You’ve kept the word of my patience, and not denied my name.” Back to Hebrews twelve for one last time. And verse one, as we read this, think of all of the meaning that we’ve packed into this verse. All of the different lessons that we’ve drawn out of it. And that you can add it to all the other ones that we had. That you can keep in mind as you keep moving forward. “Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which is so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race set before us...”

Continuing. “...looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; for the joy that was set before him, He endured the cross, He was nailed to the stake, despising the shame, and set down the right hand of the throne of God.” So, every time we come before God in prayer, the Father, Jesus Christ is there too. He endured so many things as a human being, He came down and He knows what we’re going through. We can lean on him as well and the father that can give you encouragement. Remember, He’s the author and finisher of our faith.

Brethren, long-term spiritual running is not a single burst of spiritual energy. It’s not just a sprint. It takes time. It’s lifelong consistent discipline journey. It involves patience, it involves endurance. Let’s all reflect on our progress, how far we’ve come, look back, draw motivation from the cloud of witnesses and one another. Let’s strive to remember that goal and finish strong. Brethren let’s all run with patience.