[Steve Myers] Have you been keeping up with the Olympics? They've been going on for the last week or so, and it has been amazing watching some of the highlights. I haven't gotten up in the middle of the night to watch any of them, but watch some of the highlights. And some of the competitions have been just absolutely amazing. The skill that these athletes exhibit, the gymnastic efforts, the swimmers, and their amazing times that they've been turning in have been just really phenomenal. In fact, there's been a couple of new events, you may have heard that, that have been added this time around with the Olympics. One of those is surfing. So surfing is one of those new events that were added, as well as skateboarding. So skateboarding is now an Olympic event. But actually, one of my favorites is just kind of getting going in the last day or so, and that's the track and field events. They are amazing. And when you consider the Olympics themselves and the athletic competition that is a result of that, it really has been a source of inspiration, not just for those of us who watch today, but really down through the ages. Athletics have been a source of inspiration and motivation I think partly because of the amazing potential, the thrill of challenging yourself to even better and better results all the time.

And so it's no wonder that the Bible uses many athletic metaphors. And one individual who loved to use those analogies was the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul often described our spiritual challenges, our spiritual calling in terms of athletics. And there's quite a few examples in the Bible. One I'd like to focus on is in the book of 1 Corinthians this afternoon. And when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he wanted to teach them something very important, something that was critical, and by extension, he's teaching us as well because God wanted spiritual truth to sink in deeply into their minds and into their hearts, into their thinking. And so God inspired the apostle Paul to speak to them in terms that they could really identify with, things that could really capture their attention and their interest. And so Paul spoke to them in the language of sports.

Now, to get a little background to this, let's turn over to Acts 18. In the book of Acts, as we get into the later chapters, it describes the apostle Paul on his various journeys as he travels through the Roman Empire to preach, to teach, and to make disciples. So he has taken God's commission to heart, and he's preaching and teaching the Word of God. And in Acts 18, he goes to Corinth. So in verse 1 of chapter 18, we see after going to Athens, he ends up in the City of Corinth. And in verse 2 of Acts 18, it says he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy, and his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome, and he came to them.

And so here we have Paul on his second journey, they normally call this, and he stops in Corinth. Then you wonder, "Well, why would you go to Corinth? What's the point? Why choose that city? Is it just that you just happened to go there, or did he choose to go there?" Well, it seems that he went there for a number of specific reasons. One of those was because of where Corinth was located, not because it was near Athens. That doesn't seem to be the reason. But Corinth was a great shipping port. It was a harbor city. It was the major east-west maritime trade route on all products that would be heading either direction, from Rome or to Rome. And so Corinth was critical. In fact, it wasn't just the city of trade routes, but it was also the land. Because of all the trade that was coming in, it was also a strategic area for north-south roads, so those material goods could be shipped throughout the empire, and so it was a strategic location. And so Paul must have had that in mind as he thought about going to Corinth.

We even get a little glimpse of perhaps another reason why he would go to Corinth. We see that he found Aquila and Priscilla there. Well, he was a Jew. There were Jews in Corinth, which meant there were God-fearing people that perhaps the gospel could have some impact with those who understood the true God. And so that seems to be part of the reasons Paul would go there as well, that there was a Jewish community in Corinth, and it might be a door to preach the gospel. And yet, that's not the only reasons that he would have went here. There was something else that ties in with this whole concept of how Paul preached. This was the home of the nearby Isthmian Games. Now, I don't have a lisp, but that's the way that it said, the Isthmian Games. They were held, and it seems if you do the timeline, right during this time that Paul would have been visiting Corinth. And the Isthmian Games would have had people attending from all over the empire, not only from Greece, from that area, but from everywhere, coming to participate, and to be spectators for the games. And in this area of the world, the games were really important.

In fact, it wasn't just the Isthmian Games. They had four ancient festivals of games, and, of course, the most well-known is the one that's happening right now, the Olympic Games. These four different festivals were known as the Panhellenic Games. Sometimes it was called the circuit or the Periodos because they would happen throughout the years. The Olympics every four years, still happens today, every four years. And the Olympics were dedicated at Olympia, honoring the Greek god Zeus, the god of the heavens, the father of all the Greek gods, and so they honored Zeus in the Olympic Games. But there were other games as well. There were the Pythian Games. The Pythian Games honored Apollo and they happened at Delphi. And Apollo, the Greek god of the sun and light and music and poetry and virtue, and he was supposed to be honored at Delphi with the Pythian Games. And then there were the Nemean Games, also honoring the god Zeus. And then the games that Paul refers to, the Isthmian Games, which happened near Corinth. And Paul refers to these games as he writes to Corinth.

So if you hold your place here in Acts 18, let's turn over to 1 Corinthians 9, 1 Corinthians 9:24. We'll see Paul referencing the Isthmian Games in chapter 9 of 1 Corinthians. So he had visited Corinth. Now looking back, he's writing to God's people at Corinth. He's writing to us as well by inspiration as well. And verse 24 of chapter 9, we'll see this athletic metaphor being used here. And Paul says this, "Don't you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it." And this is definitely a reference to the games. And the Isthmian Games were interesting because they weren't like the Olympics. Olympics is held every four years. The Isthmian Games were held every two years, every two years. So every other spring, these games would be held, so held twice as often as the Olympics. And those Corinthians, they loved sports. They loved it. They identified it. They were very proud of this amazing festival that was held every other year.

And by the time of the apostle Paul, by the time he gets to Corinth, do you know how long these games had gone on? They had been happening for more than 500 years. Now, the Olympics were the oldest, but the Isthmian Games not very far behind. So they'd been happening for 500 years. And instead of honoring Zeus, they were held in honor of Poseidon. Poseidon. You may be more familiar with the Roman counterpart to Poseidon is Neptune. Neptune, the great god of the sea, and, of course, that makes sense. Corinth, a sea harbor, a great port, honors Poseidon, the god of the sea. And so those games were held in his honor. And they had many different events that took place, and whether it was races like track and field, the foot races, they were kind of one of the big events of the day. But they also had wrestling, and they had boxing and discus and javelin, and some of those things that you might imagine, a long jump, and, of course, they had the chariot races, which was also a big draw. But did you know they also had singing? Can you imagine singing as an Olympic event? Looking at skateboarding this year, and we've got surfing. Singing? Yeah, it was. In fact, it seems that Nero actually forced himself into the games at one point before the death of Paul and participated in the singing event. Of course, you can imagine who might have won in the singing event if the Caesars… yeah. Okay.

But one interesting thing about the Isthmian Games as well, it wasn't like the Olympics, they allowed women to compete as well. So they found inscriptions digging up, you know, archeological finds. They found that women were winners of some of the races as well. So, anyone could compete in that regard. And so when we consider what Paul's writing about, he is getting to the heart of the people and things that they were interested in in order to make a point about how to live a Christian life, how to be true followers of Jesus Christ, how to honor God, the Father.

So if you've still got your marker in Acts 18, go back for just a moment because it gives us a little bit more information of why Paul went to Corinth and the impact of these games and the spread of the gospel as well. So if you look back at Acts 18, he found Aquila and Priscilla. And in verse 3, it says, "He was of the same trade." Aquila was of the same trade as Paul. So Paul stays with them, for by occupation it says, they were tentmakers. Okay. What's that? Just a little bit of extra trivia there, something that doesn't really matter that much? No, it's actually very important in connection to the whole scenario of what's happening here. So being a tentmaker, he identifies with others who are tentmakers, leather workers. And then he goes to those Jews to begin to preach the gospel.

Verse 4, it says, "He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, persuaded both Jews and Greeks, and some people became believers." Verse 8, it says, "Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized." Now imagine the scene with all these visitors to Corinth, being this maritime port, and then the games going on. People listened and heard, and he had a unique connection with them as well. It's interesting. Verse 9, it says, "The Lord spoke to Paul in the night vision, 'Don't be afraid, but speak, don’t keep silent.'" Of course, in some of the other towns that Paul visited, he got ridden out of town on a rail, and they didn't want to hear it. But God inspires Paul and says, "Keep preaching. I'm with you." Verse 10, He says, "No one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city."

In verse 11, it says, "He continued there," not just a day, or two, or a week, or two, but it says, "He continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." And, of course, having this wonderful opportunity to preach and to teach came partly because of the games and partly because of Paul's occupation. He was a tentmaker.

Well, where did people stay when they came to participate in the Isthmian Games? Well, it wasn't like the Olympics today. You know, in Tokyo, they had to build all these housing units, and you've got dormitories for all the athletes, and they stay together. Not in ancient times. Where did they stay? They stayed in areas surrounding the fields of competition. And what did they stay in? Tents. Tents. You think they might need a tentmaker? Do you think they might need their tents repaired? Do you think any of the competitors might need some leather like if you're competing in the chariot races, or you might need a saddle? You need a bridle. You need some reins. You need a gourd for water or wine. You need sandals or a shield. Paul would have an automatic in and a road to preach the truth as he served people. I mean, what an opportunity to share the gospel? And if we read over it too quickly, we miss this amazing opportunity that Paul took to preach and teach God's Word at a level where people could identify with it. They could relate to what he was saying. So no wonder he uses these athletic metaphors to really make a point with those that were coming for the games and that those who lived in Corinth as well. And so as Paul uses that analogy in the book of 1 Corinthians, he really gets to the heart of who we are, and what we do, and why we do it as God's called-out people.

So if you turn back to 1 Corinthians 9, if you held your place there, we take a look at verse 24 again, and we begin to see Paul initially starts to discuss why. Why do we run? Why are we in this race? Why are we called to the spiritual, what, competition you might say? Why? Why do we run? Let's take a look at 1 Corinthians 9 a little bit more closely and see exactly what it has to say and teach us about running this great spiritual race. Of course, Paul says, "Those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?” Of course, the Corinthians would know exactly what he was talking about because this is where they live. This is what they live and they breathe.

Now, of course, we understand with what Paul wrote here. He's not talking about certain things here. He's not saying you can earn your salvation. That is not what he's saying. That only comes by the grace of God. God gives us eternal life. We can't earn it. So he's definitely not talking about that. And he's not talking about you and I competing against each other. Christians aren't competing against each other to win the spiritual race. That's not the case at all. It doesn't mean that only one Christian is going to win, and everybody else is going to lose. That's not what he's saying here. But what he's getting at is our motivation. He's getting at the intensity that we ought to have that moves us to love God and to have a relationship with God and to run this spiritual race, applying it in our everyday life.

And so the Corinthians would be the first to recognize a couple of things about this very statement. Was it good enough just to be in the race? I'm just happy to be a part of things. Maybe you've watched some of the Olympic interviews where an athlete might say, "An athlete in Isthmia would never say that. I'm just happy to be here." "No, I'm here to win," is what an Isthmian participant would have said. So, Paul is pointing that out. We're not here just to enter the race. No one in Isthmia entered a race without the commitment to obtain the prize, to absolutely be committed to winning. That's what they were about. Every athlete-focused and were committed to receiving that prize. In fact, it was the only thing on their mind. That was everything. And so they really were the epitome of winning isn't everything, it's the only thing. That's the Isthmian Games. And they were so committed that they did a number of things to express that commitment to the competition. They even vowed in that regard. They swore that that was their perspective. The athletes that came to Isthmia took an oath, an oath, in order to participate in the games.

And so it's interesting, if you were to go to ancient Isthmia, you would see a temple, probably the biggest building there, that was dedicated to Poseidon, Neptune, because that's whose honor the games were held. You'd also see the competition facilities, the stadium, and the theater. Yeah, theater for singing and performing. And the hippodrome where they'd have the chariot races, the horse races there, all the fields of competition. But there is also a smaller structure. They called it the Palaemon, which was also dedicated to another phony Greek god, and it was situated right near the Poseidon temple. And do you know what took place there? That was where the athletes took a vow. They swore allegiance to Zeus, and they swore and vowed that they had prepared for these games and that they were dedicated to these games, and that they had disciplined themselves to follow the rules and compete with honor. And if they broke those rules, they could be disqualified, and being disqualified would probably be the best thing that could happen to them. A lot of worse things could happen to them as well. And so they were totally committed and showed by an oath by swearing that they were to compete with honor and dignity and follow the rules and swore allegiance to their god.

Now, it is interesting even today. Most don't realize it, but even the Olympic athletes today kind of take an oath. They kind of do it by extension these days, and it's often overlooked. A few representatives during the initial opening ceremonies, usually those of the host country, on behalf of all the competitors with usually a judge and a coach in the competitions would take the Olympic oath. And that's very interesting too because it harkens back to what happened in ancient times in Greece. Today, those representative athletes say, and this is what they say, "We promise to take part in these Olympic Games, respecting, and abiding by the rules in the spirit of fair play, inclusion, and equality. Together we stand and commit ourselves to sport without doping, without cheating, without any form of discrimination. And we do this for the honor of our teams in respect for the fundamental principles of Olympism and make the world a better place through sports." I don't know that that's happening. It doesn't seem to be having an effect in that regard. But I think it does emphasize the commitment that those athletes have, and it does bring us back to those ancient times that focused on vowing, vowing to the race, vowing to the competition. And, of course, you begin to relate that to what Paul wrote. Paul wrote to God's people in Corinth because they were in this great spiritual race.

And you think about the oath. Had they taken an oath? Absolutely. Not the athletic oath, but an oath like you have taken. Have you taken an oath and vowed before God? At baptism, we do that. We vow before God, and we say, "Yes, I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. He is my Lord and my Master. I have a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. And I am fully committed to follow them no matter what." And so we took a vow at baptism. And Paul's reminding Corinth, he's reminding us, we're to personally run the spiritual race with the motivation of an athlete who is totally committed to win, totally committed to win. We're not to run half-hearted. We're not to run so-so, or uncommitted, or take it, or leave it, or I think I'll show up once in a while to serve. No, be all in. And we verbalize that commitment just like those ancient athletes did, but our dedication is to the true God, the only true God, not some phony Zeus or Poseidon or anybody like that.

And so Paul says “Run. You're in the spiritual race. Get moving in such a way that you might obtain it. You might obtain it.” And so, that's not the gold, that's not the silver, that's not the bronze. In fact, in Isthmia, it wasn't like that at all. It's like you don't win the silver medal, you lose the gold. You lose the gold. And in ancient games, there was one, one winner. Only the winner received the crown of victory. There was no second place. There was no backup. There was no third. Winning was everything, and so they competed with the goal to win the event, not to second place or third. Second place was the first loser. That's facts in ancient times. And oftentimes, they would motivate those in the competition. Sometimes in the foot races at the finish line, they would have a little pillar with that victory crown on top of that pillar so as the athletes ran that race, they could see that victory crown straight ahead and not lose focus because that's what it was all about. It was all about winning. And so no wonder Paul puts it in those terms that winning is everything.

So look at verse 25. 1 Corinthians 9:25, "Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown." Yeah, that's what we're competing for, something that doesn't fade, something that doesn't wear out. I mean, their victory, their reward, well, they'd have this victory crown, but that wasn't like a king wears. That wasn't like a diadem and diamonds and jewels and all of that. Now, that wasn't it at all. It was a crown. Originally, in ancient times, it was a crown made out of something like celery or parsley. Celery was what they were made out of for the Isthmian Games. Later on, during Roman times, they made that crown out of pine boughs. You know, so you've got needles that you get to wear because you're the great victor. So that was the prize, this victor's crown. And the pine bough became the iconic symbol of the Isthmian Games.

Now, there'd be some monetary rewards as well. Some accounts say they could live tax-free for the rest of their life, which would be… yeah, that's pretty good deal. Some accounts say they would have a payment that would be like getting paid for three years' salary today, which wouldn't be too bad. But the other thing that came with this was hero-like status. They were treated like royalty. They were the winners. There were times that they would actually build statues to the winners of the games. Sometimes they would have their names inscribed on a wall and bronzed on that wall. You would see their name and the competition that they won. And others even had songs written about them. And so if you won the games, you were pretty well set for life. You were set for life. But Paul says that's all fading away. That's all nothing. This idea of perishable means it's not going to last. The honor that went along with it isn't going to last. And I think it's a perfect representation with Paul, pointing to this victory crown because oftentimes in the Isthmian Games, they would wait till the end of the games to give out the prizes, to give out that victory crown. What do you think happened to the celery by the end of the week? It was already wilting by the time they won it and got to put it on. And so here Paul says that's not what we're after. We have something much greater, and he says, "Run to obtain it. Run to obtain it." That word obtain doesn't mean we'll just try to get it. No, it means to seize it, to grab onto it, to really make it your own. Make it your possession. Catch it. And so you see this as an active thing. This is not anything that's passive and ho-hum, but you have to go after this. Our Christian life is to go after the prize, and, of course, it's not just a crown of celery or pine boughs. It's not just a statue. Paul talks a lot about the prize and why we run.

If you hold your place here and turn over to 1 Timothy 6:11. Paul uses another sporting analogy here. If refers to the athleticism in connection to this great spiritual calling that we have. And as he talks to this young minister Timothy and teaches him how to be a good minister notice the wording that he uses as he describes the prize— the ultimate victory that we as God’s people can have. 1 Timothy 6:11, the apostle Paul says to Timothy “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue…” hey, that’s running! Be a spiritual track star, in other words, be a spiritual track star. You get away from everything that’s bad, that’s evil… he went through a whole list of things just before this. And now what will you go after, what will you obtain, what will you lay hold on? He says “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life,” and sure enough, that lay hold, the same word, the same word we read in 1 Corinthians 9, obtain it. Lay hold of it. Grab it. Make it your own. Make it your possession. Catch this. Do you have that vision? He says, "Lay hold on eternal life to which you are also called and confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." And so that's our focus. We have a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ, and it is so close that we're going to do everything we can not to jeopardize that relationship and run to that finish line. Our focus is not some pine bough, but that focus is eternal life and everything that's represented by this imperishable crown. And so we're told to run in such a way to obtain everything that God wants to give us. And so Paul encourages us. He encouraged the Corinthians in that way as well. But that wasn't all. He not only talked about why we run, but he also talked about how we run.

How do we run this great spiritual race? We've been called by God to His way of life. How do we do it? How do we run? Well, if you go back to 1 Corinthians 9. Let's go back to verse 24, and we'll go on from there once again. Now, if you're reading in the New King James or the King James Version, it might be a little different. I have the New Living I'd like to read for just a moment in 1 Corinthians 9:24. It says it just a little bit differently but notice the emphasis here. 1 Corinthians 9:24 New Living says, "Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!” Run to win. Verse 25, "All athletes are disciplined in their training." That's temperate in all things in the New King James Version. "All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize, an eternal prize." And the imagery that would come to mind for Corinthians must have been overwhelming as they considered what Paul was writing about. Because athletes, they would well know, had to give everything they had to train for the Isthmian Games, for the races. And they would become temperate. They would become disciplined. They would become determined. And they would restrain themselves. They would practice self-control. Being temperate means self-control.

They would be controlled in all things. So anything that might slow them down, anything that would get in the way, anything that would trip them up, they would avoid it. And they would train and discipline themselves. In fact, that vow they took, that involved vowing to the fact that they had trained for months or maybe even years of strict discipline training, even just to be able to compete in the games. And that was repetitive training over and over and over again. And you've probably seen that today with athletes that are on that level. Repetitive training over and over again really helps them to gain the strength and the perspective that they need to compete in the various events.

And so Paul is saying that's the kind of discipline that we need as Christians. That's the kind of discipline we need in order to run this Christian race. And these great athletes suffered and put that effort and that training first and foremost so that they could obtain this perishable crown, but that's not what we're after. That's not what God has called us to. I mean, is it true? Sometimes we lose that zeal. Sometimes we lose that consideration and that perspective of having that dedication and commitment, and all too often, we are not like competitors in the games. Too often, we're like the spectators. We're sitting in the stands. We're watching things happen before us, "Oh, go everybody. Yeah. That's great." We're cheering on those that are in the races, those that are truly committed, but we've lost that zeal. We've lost that commitment. And then you get done watching for a while then you go back to life as usual. But Paul's getting to the point, we cannot be like that. We cannot be like that. We've got to put God's way into practice, and we've got to have that zeal and enthusiasm for running this race and repetitively training for the competition because life is a competition, whether we like to recognize that or not, Paul is putting it in those terms.

In fact, if you hold your place here in chapter 9. Go to 1 Timothy 4:7. We'll go back to another athletic metaphor that Paul uses to really drive home this point of how we run, how we run the spiritual race. We have to be competitors. We can't be spectators, not in the Christian walk. You can't be a spectator. 1 Timothy 4:7. Paul says, "Reject profane and old wives fables. Don't fall for the ways of this world for their kind of thinking." Be spiritually minded in other words is what he's saying here. And what else? "Exercise yourself toward godliness. Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that of which is to come." And, of course, Timothy, boom, would have seen this beautiful illustration come to mind because guess who was at Corinth with Paul, may have even went to some of the games. Timothy was there too. So Timothy would have recognized this wording. Exercise yourself. Yeah, bodily exercise. Oh, you might win the crown, but it's not going to last. That's going to fade away. We look forward to what's to come. And so what does Paul say? Exercise. And this is the Greek word, gymnazo. We get our word gymnasium from that very word. Gymnasium, exercise, spiritual conditioning, that leads to godliness. So what's your spiritual shape? It's like the guy that went to the doctor, and he was heavily overweight. And the doctor told him, "You've got to get into shape." The guy said, "Doctor, I am. Round is a shape." Wrong shape. Spiritual conditioning is what Paul is getting at, and he's reminding Corinth, he's reminding us. And that comes with exercise, spiritual exercise, and that's repetitive training exercises, repetitive like Bible study, "Oh, I get bored reading the Bible over and… What am I supposed to read now? I don't get it." You better be repetitive in reading the Bible. It's God's Word. It's His revelation to us. We don't have that repetitive training, we're not really in the race.

When it comes to prayer, if we're not praying and close to God, we're not in the race. We're not doing that continually, repetitively, petitioning God for our needs, for others' needs, for the work of His church. If we're not doing those things, we're not in spiritual shape. If we're not fasting, we're not in spiritual shape. We're not showing love if we don't have the fruit that he's talking about here, you know, whether it's, you know, the godliness that is patience, and kindness, and goodness, and gentleness, self-control. All of those things are evidence of the fact we are in spiritual shape. And that's going to take effort, that's going to take commitment, and that's going to take the challenge because sometimes it's just not easy. But we need that muscle memory. Great athletes have the muscle memory that then they get into trouble, their body just reacts because they've done it so many times, over and over and over again. It's like it comes naturally.

And we have to fight our natural tendencies, our human nature, and allow the spiritual benefits to take over. That's the way it's got to be. But if we don't have that repetitive training behind us, it's not going to come, and our human nature, our natural tendencies are going to come out instead. And it's interesting in all of this. The connections to athletes point to the sacrifice of training. Do you know the word athlete in the Greek comes from a base word that means suffer, suffer? And so athlesis exercise means to struggle with suffering. To struggle to endure. And so we are spiritual athletes. Paul even told Timothy, just a couple of chapters later, 2 Timothy 2:5. He told Timothy, "If you compete in athletics, you have to compete according to the rules. If you're going to suffer and endure and take on the challenge of training spiritually, yeah, you took the vow. You've got the rule book. Compete according to the rules." And so in Isthmia, athletes were known for their severe discipline. They would endure suffering, and they would work through the pain.

You've heard them say, no pain, no gain. Yeah, it applies spiritually according to what Paul says, but they did it in order to be the best that was possible. And if you read some of the historical accounts, the historians will say suffering hardly even touches on how difficult, how brutal it really was because it was a battle, a brutal battleground between fierce rivals in some of those events with honor and national pride on the balance. And the stakes couldn't have been higher with all the glory and stardom and near fame on the line. And so they were going to do everything they possibly could in order to achieve that victory because losing meant scorn. It meant being denounced. It might even have meant a sentence where they could face injury or death. And so Paul uses this amazing analogy to show the discipline, the spiritual discipline that we need, the self-sacrifice that we need, how we've got to get away from the morals of this world and tune into God's wavelength when it comes to living His way and train in that regard.

And so no wonder, if you flip back to 1 Corinthians 9, notice verse 26. In verse 26, he certainly reminds us of the importance of being a spiritual athlete, spiritual athlete, and he mentions this in verse 26 of 1 Corinthians 9. He says, "Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty." Not with uncertainty because he's trained himself. He has that muscle memory. He knows exactly what he's doing, exactly where he's going. And that's why some translations say, "I run every step with purpose." Every step. I don't get out of step because I'm attuned with God. Verse 27, "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection,” we are disciples of Jesus Christ. We are disciplined Christians who bring our bodies into subjection. Paul says, “lest, when I preach to others, I myself should become disqualified." And so he refers to that spiritual conditioning that involves that repetitive training, that exercise of Bible study, and prayer, and meditation, and fasting, and love, and concern, this extreme commitment to do the will of God. And so Paul's saying it's time to quit taking it easy. It is time to get into the spiritual gym and work those spiritual muscles so we can be victorious, so God can give us the victory. And so Paul says, "Now is the time to do this, determine to make your calling that much more sure. Take your calling seriously. Demonstrate your reverence to God. Demonstrate your gratitude.

Demonstrate your commitment to God. Demonstrate that you have a relationship with Him and show it in the way that you live your life." And so Paul says, "Have that kind of determination, the kind that a world-class athlete would have and exhibit in running a race in the games."

And, of course, he inspires us because he gives us the rule book. He tells us, "Here's how you do it." We've got the rule book right before us. He's given us the manual how to win the race. And so it's more than just knowing what the rules are, knowing the rule book. Paul says we better follow that rule book, which means we've got to read it, and know it, and study it, and most importantly, apply it. Apply it in our lives. And yet as we consider those athletes in ancient times, it was up to them to take that prize. Unfortunately, for us, it's not all dependent on us. It's not all dependent on me, or all dependent on you. We're not left only to our own power.

Reminded of this over in Ephesians 3:20. Let's take note of this because it's a powerful truth that we have to keep in mind as well that we're not left all on our own. God's called us to this amazing spiritual race and given us the power of His Holy Spirit so that we can win. And Ephesians 3 is certainly a reminder of that very fact. We're not left to our own power. We have a great God who's on our side and wants us to win. So Ephesians 3:20 is a reminder of that. Paul writes, "Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us." And that little snippet reminds us that power working in us is the power of God's Holy Spirit. God has given us His Spirit so that we can overcome, so that we can train, so that we can be committed, so that we can have an attitude of seriousness and zeal that is ready to stay in this race and turn up the jets so that we can finish this race in the right attitude and with the right fervency. And so Paul reminds us, let's have that kind of an attitude. Let's have the kind of heart that sets our mind to follow God wholeheartedly, and have that kind of devotion that sacrifices self because that's what our great God deserves. He's not some crazy made-up pagan idol, but He is the Creator of the universe. He is the God that deserves all glory and all honor, and our life should reflect that. And so that kind of devotion is what we need, and so we can ask God and pray about that.

And we never want to forget that, yes, we are in a race. We're not just spectators, and that continual self-sacrificing, self-denial, discipline on our part is something that God is going to help us to achieve. And so these athletic metaphors are such tremendous reminders that we have to give our all. Be all in and be committed to follow God no matter what just like that world-class athlete would do in order to win the games. And so we can pray about it. If I don't have it, ask God for it. Ask God to give you the zeal. Ask God to give you the desire. Ask God to cement that commitment in you to stay in that race and turn on and have that finish line right before you, and he uses that metaphor once again in 2 Timothy 4. Notice verse 7, a familiar passage, but it seems to me that he probably had the Isthmian Games in mind when he wrote these words to Timothy. 2 Timothy 4:7. Here Paul is at the end of his life. He's imprisoned once again in Rome, and he knows he's not getting out this time. His execution is just ahead, and so he wrote 2 Timothy 4:7. He writes, "I've fought the good fight, I’ve finished the race, I've kept the faith. Finally, there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

The Isthmian Games were probably on his mind. And, in fact, archaeologists who have excavated Isthmia look at this passage and they describe Paul's words. One archaeologist said this, "The words in Paul's Greek here have a more distinct athletic flavor." To bring out this passage, it might be rendered, "I have completed the good athletic games. I've finished the foot race. I've kept the athletic oath to compete honestly. What remains to me is to receive the crown of righteousness, which will be awarded to me by the Lord, the just Umpire on that day," alluding to the boards at the games when the prizes were handed out on the last day. And so imagine Paul facing his death with that perspective. It's interesting to put it in a time sequence. Before Paul was imprisoned in Rome, he was on one final journey, one that's not recorded in the book of Acts. You have to put events together in Timothy and Titus to sort that out. But it seems before being imprisoned, there's a distinct possibility that Paul stopped in Corinth one last time, and it would have been 66 AD when this happened. And do you know what was going on in the spring of 66 AD? The Isthmian Games, the Isthmian Games. And I can't help but wonder, would Paul have stopped in Corinth at that time before he was once again imprisoned in Rome?

I could imagine him stopping by the games. Maybe he stopped by the agatitha, the housing for where what we might call the president of the games would have been. And in that building on the floor was a mosaic that they've excavated. Did he look at that mosaic that was on the floor? In that mosaic was an athlete who had competed in the games, and he was standing with that victor's crown on his head and a palm branch in his hand. And he was giving thanks to Eutychia, the Greek goddess of good fortune. I mean, did Paul look at that mosaic? I can imagine him looking at that and kind of wryly smiling, recognizing that's nothing. And as Paul wrote to Timothy, maybe he had that in mind, knowing it's not some phony false Greek goddess that's going to give him a crown, but ultimately, His Savior Jesus Christ would give him the ultimate crown of victory. And so here's Paul at the end of his life. The discipline, the struggles, the suffering had paid off, and he had reached his goal. And he died. He died winning the race.

Now, he used these metaphors to help us because while Paul's race is over, and there is this great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, our race is still on. Our race is still in the time that we are in that lap that we have to finish this race. And it's a contest. It's still a contest between good and evil, right and wrong. And God wants us to win this spiritual contest, and He's made every way possible, given us every provision for success. But as Paul wrote, we have to be willing to undergo discipline, spiritual discipline, and we have to set ourselves to the rigors of spiritual training if we're to receive that prize. God set the course. We follow His will. Death is the finish line, and ultimately eternal life, the ultimate prize.

So where are you in the race? Where are you in the race? Are you at the starting blocks? Are you in the middle of the race? Well, perhaps you're rounding the last curve, staring at the finish line, or maybe you're in the bleachers just watching others run the race. God's Word reminds us, take the challenge. Take the challenge. Get in the race. Stay in that race and run it with everything you've got. And God promises to help us so that we can be determined to cross that finish line victorious. So remember, God's going to enable us. God's going to equip us. God's going to be our spiritual trainer. But let's be dedicated to do our part. And remember why we run, and remember how we run, and take this great spiritual calling seriously and really listen, listen to our great spiritual coach, and run.

[Steve Myers] She was crouched in the starting blocks, ready to spring forward at the sound of the shot. She stared ahead at all the barriers that were blocking her way with anticipation. She was sick to her stomach. Yes, she had practiced. She'd stretched before the race, warmed up, ready to take on every obstacle ahead. That finish line was just ahead, waiting, seemed within reach. But all these obstructions were right there standing in the way. The gun fired. She's off. And it seemed there was no stopping her. Yeah, she was a hurdler. She's my wife. She's told me many times what that was like. And it was more than just jumping over the obstacles that were set before you. Yeah, they make up a critical part of the race, but those hurdles don't define you. They're a part of the race, but what is more important is how you run the race. Those few moments, yeah, they might feel like forever as you're negotiating every barrier, but momentarily you'll be done. And at the finish line, you can look back and see every one of those things that you'd overcome. And yeah, even though she knew what to expect, seemed like every race was different. Every one was slightly different, even though she knew what to expect. And in the end, I guess that race was finished with a leap of faith.

Of course, as you consider that, hurdles are kind of like life. Any of you ever run hurdles? Okay, a few of you have. Most of us, I'm putting my hand down. No, I hopped once in a while, as my wife would try to coach me. I was uncoachable though when it came to that. And you don't hop over hurdles, you know, you glide over them. And there are connections to running the hurdles and the obstacles that we face really in every facet of life. And sometimes I think it's easy to let the setbacks, easy to let those hurdles that we knock over define us but they don't have to. They don't have to. And we can learn from them. And so what is our response to the obstacles that we face in life? How do we deal with them? And how do we overcome them? Sometimes there's simple little obstacles. Sometimes it's the spilled milk at the dinner table. Yeah, and sometimes it's the broken water heater that won't fix itself. Or maybe it's an argument with a co-worker or disagreement with our mate. And it's those obstacles that we face every single day. And there are those that are more tragic, those that are more life-threatening: an illness, the loss of someone we love.

And whether it's a tiny thing or a tremendous challenge, we are surrounded by those obstacles and broken relationships, illness, hardships, financial problems. Those are all reminders that this world at times seems out of our control. And it also reminds us that's not the way God wants it. That's not the way that it should be. Because there are those things that oftentimes seem totally out of our control, completely out of our control. How do you control a hurricane or tornado, an accident? You can't control those things. And then at other times, there are these obstacles that are inside, they're internal, and we may have more control. And yet as we run this race of life, we do stumble and we do fall, and it causes us to step back and recognize yes, some of these things are our fault. Some of these things may be sinful or pride or greed. And other things seem out of our control. And as we consider that, we're like a hurdler. And God has provided a lane not just for the obstacles, but He's provided a path to the finish line. He's provided a path to victory, not to trip us up but to help deal with those obstacles that life presents.

And the good news is we can get over those obstacles, and we can fly by them with streaming, wonderful, victorious colors. But it's not going to be easy sometimes because we have a lot to say about the race that we face in life and ultimately how that race will turn out. And as you consider God's Word, He gives us many ways to help us in facing those obstacles, how to overcome that race of life, so that we can achieve and win the race. God just doesn't place us in this race and say, "Good luck." He knows what life is like. And He gives us a way to order our steps so that we can overcome and face that challenge that's before us and achieve, ultimately, the goal He has in mind so that we can win the race. In fact, there's a short section of Scripture that gives us several guidelines so that we can overcome. And it starts in Hebrews chapter 12. If you want to turn over there with me. We'll come back and forth to Hebrews chapter 12 several times this afternoon. But God outlines some practical steps in this lifelong race so that we can win. We don't have to flounder, we don't have to trip over everything that's lying before us, but that we can achieve and we can have the victory. And Hebrews chapter 12 gives us several outlines, several guidelines so that we can face the race and face those barriers and even more than just face them, that we can overcome.

So take a look at Hebrews chapter 12, we'll begin right at the very beginning of that chapter. Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore we also, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let's lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Now, in those short, little passages, there are some monumental truths that outline some practical steps as we face the barriers hurdling through our life.

Notice the first step that's outlined here in Hebrews chapter 12. It says, "We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." The apostle Paul tells us, "Step back from the race for a minute, step back from the rat race, that oftentimes seems to be our life." And he says, "Think about the winners. Think about the winners, this great cloud of witnesses; they've gone before us. Think about those who have finished this race. We are surrounded by them." In fact, if you notice, what chapter does Hebrews chapter 12 follow? Okay, obvious question, Hebrews chapter 11.

What is Hebrews chapter 11? That's the faith chapter. Sometimes called the faith hall of fame. Paul's talking about that great cloud of witnesses, those who have gone before us, the ones who are faithful, the ones who have already hurdled through their lives and with God's help have overcome. And that tells us something that's so vital, that oftentimes we forget. Are we in this race alone? Has anybody ever won the race? Sometimes it seems like, who could win this race of life? There's so many challenges, so many difficulties, so many trials, so many obstacles – can it be possible to win this spiritual race we've been called to? And God answers that question and says, "Yes, undoubtedly." There are a cloud of witnesses that tells us, first and foremost, there are a lot of winners who have gone before us, and like them, we can win this race. God hasn't called us to some impossible task just to trip us up over the hurdles of life. That is not the case at all. In fact, we look back to chapter 11. Look at verse 4, this list begins of this cloud of witnesses that have gone before us. Abel, he obeyed God's instructions. And verse 4 tells us he worshiped God. He worshiped God in the right way.

And the list goes on. Verse 5, Enoch. Enoch ran life's race and he wanted to please God, Enoch pleased God. He finished his race. Verse 7, Noah. Noah followed the track that God placed him on and he ran in that track, and it was to build a boat. And he took the directions that God gave him. Boy, that's seemingly something you couldn't possibly do. How in the world am I supposed to build a boat that's supposed to house all these animals? No way. I can't jump that hurdle. But Noah obeyed. He prepared. He prepared himself, it says, and he followed the course and obeyed God. And in fact, Abraham verse 8, Abraham obeyed. And that's a tough one because he couldn't even see the lane he was supposed to stay in. God said, "Get out of your country. I'll take you where you need to go." He's like, "I don't see the lines God. How am I supposed to stay in the track? I don't see it." "I'll tell you where you're supposed to go. Get up and go." And what are we told? Abraham went. He went. He followed God's lead. And even though the future was unclear, he was unsure, couldn't even see the obstacles, God said He was going to be with him. And He was going to help him all along the way. And in fact, if you follow chapter 11 down, verse 16, you get toward the end of the race, we see there's the finish line. There's the Kingdom of God right there, a better place, a better city, a Kingdom that God has prepared for not only them but for all of us.

And so in chapter 12, we're reminded of them. They went before us and showed it's possible. In fact, it's not only possible, with God helping us, it is something we can achieve. These people did it, these men and these women lived godly, obedient lives, and they set an example that we can follow. In a way, they were the pace car that shined the way to show we can accomplish great things with God on our side. In fact, in a way, it's like running that race and you're surrounded by the grandstand. And all the crowd is screaming and yelling and cheering us on. It's kind of the picture that's painted here in chapter 12. This great crowd of witnesses in the grandstands. And we know that's not the case – they're dead and buried and waiting the resurrection – but the idea is just that. And in fact, we all together can cheer each other on so that we can overcome. It is doable. And so, we're told a practical step for recognizing the fact that we can win the race: look at those who went before. Really think about it. They're not that much different than you and I. They're like us. They're real people who, with God's help, finished the race. We can, too. We can, too. And it's not just one or two; it is a great cloud of witnesses, and they set the tone.

In fact, hold your place here. Turn to Philippians chapter 3, Philippians chapter 3, verse 17. This was not something that was just happenstance that occurred in the past. This wasn't just some great spiritual leaders of the past were able to accomplish the task of life and overcome the hurdles and the difficulties, and nobody else is going to be able to do that. That's not the case at all. And the apostle Paul makes this very evident. Philippians 3:17. He reminds us of this very fact. He says, "Brethren, join in following my example." Now, did he run the race? Now, we all know Paul. Paul, he had it easy. He didn't have any problems in it… He had some tough life, didn't he? I mean, how many of us have been beaten with rods? How many of us have been scourged? How many of us have been left for dead and stoned? How many of us have been shipwrecked? Yeah, he had some pretty high hurdles in his life. And yet, like that great cloud of witnesses, he followed the race that God had laid out for him. And it wasn't just Paul.

He even says here in verse 17, Philippians 3, "Note those who also walk, as you have us for a pattern.” We have others that are running the race, and they're setting the tone as well. And we can help each other and cheer each other on, and we can look to those who have been successful and recognize the fact if we really take the time. And I think that's what Paul is saying here in Hebrews chapter 12 – think about this, consider it, meditate on the victors, meditate on those who have really achieved and overcome, and God used them to do great things, and they accomplish the purpose that God set them to. He'll do that with us. He promises to do that with us as well. So Paul says, "Think about the winners. Think about those that have gone before."

Now he doesn't stop there. If you go back to Hebrews chapter 12, he says there's something else we need to think about, another aspect of this race of life that we are running. Hebrews chapter 12, if you've held your place there, you're quicker than I am. Still in verse 1. Notice what else we're told. Not only do we have this great cloud that has gone before us, he also says, verse 1, "Lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us."

And, of course, if we shift our thinking on a race for just a moment. Instead of hurdles, it may be an endurance race, and you've got to run, you know, 5000 meters. You've got to run cross country. You've got to run a marathon. If you're going to do those things, what do you put on? How do you run that race? You get on your backpack, you get on your boots, you get on your overcoat, and you start running. You don't do any of that. You get all that stuff off. Those races are tough races. We've watched the Olympics. What do those track stars do when they get ready for a race? They take things off. In fact, some of it is kind of embarrassing to see what they're running in. They're running hardly in anything. Because they know any extra weight is going to slow them down. And in those sprints, every little minute part of a second counts between being the victor or being the first loser. Just the littlest thing matters. And so it would be impossible to run with a backpack. You don't carry around all the extra stuff. You've got to get rid of it. And when you're a competitive, especially long-distance runner, you got to get rid of every little thing that might slow you down, and you only have what's absolutely necessary.

And so I think Paul's making this point here – we've got to lay that aside. We've got to get rid of it. And it's obvious we're going to be weighed down by sin. That's an obvious thing. We can't carry sin around and expect to reach the Kingdom of God. We've got to get rid of that. And so he tells us to do that very thing. In fact, Paul loved this metaphor of the race, and he spoke about it often. Hold your place here in Hebrews. Go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians 9:24, as Paul writes to God's church in Corinth, He certainly keeps in mind where the Corinthians were just by geography, you know. They're Greeks, and they were very close to the games that were held, and not so much the Olympic Games, but they held the Isthmian Games right near Corinth. And so they knew what it was like to compete. They understood that analogy. And so Paul uses that to burn that image into their mind to help them to recognize, there's a spiritual thing going on here. There's spiritual lessons we can learn from running, from this race that God has called us to, this spiritual race.

And so in verse 24 of 1 Corinthians 9, he says, "Don't you know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize." “Well, I might as well give up because I'm not that good,” but that's not what he says. He says, "Run that you may obtain it. Run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable crown, a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” So don't just run anywhere, don't run aimlessly but discipline yourself, discipline your body. And Paul says he had to do that as well. Now, in order to do that, you've got to lay aside anything that would get in the way. You've got to be focused, you've got to have the goal in mind. And so for us, what are we wearing? What are we carrying with us? What are the sins that are bogging us down? What are the frames of mind that are holding us back? What is our self-image? How do we view ourselves as a runner? We're told every weight. And it's interesting when you consider that, that speaks to more than just sin. Sin is critical. We’ve got to get rid of it. No doubt, we've got to get rid of it. But I think in some sense, Paul's pointing to other things that could weigh us down as well. You know, our perspective, what we think about the challenges, the hurdles, our own way of thinking.

Like I was reminded of this way back when, when I read a book called "Mysterious Island," if anyone's ever read this. It was written by Jules Verne, kind of the master of science fiction back in the day. And he wrote this novel, and you may be familiar with the story, but it was about five men. And it was the time of the Civil War, and they had been taken captive. So they were Civil War prisoners. And they were trying to escape the prisoner of war camp. So they came up with this idea they were going to hijack a hot air balloon. And so they did. They grabbed this balloon and at night, they get it off and they escaped. They float right out of this prisoner war camp. Now, the problem was this camp was right on the shores of the ocean, and they floated out to sea. And of course, the other problem was, there was no way to keep hot air in the hot air balloon. It started out just fine, floating away, "Wow, we've escaped," they were just cheering and excited about the possibilities. "But we're going the wrong way and we’ve got no control." And if you can't keep hot air in a hot air balloon, what's going to happen? It's going to start coming back down. And that's exactly what happened. It started coming back down.

So it's like, "Oh, no, what are we going to do?" They had to cast off the weight. And so they started throwing their coat overboard, and it started to help. And the balloon started going back up again. But that wasn't a long-term solution. So they started drifting back down and that water was starting to get closer. And then there goes the shoes, "We’ve got to throw our shoes overboard." Started going up and then back down all over again. "Well, what are we going to do?" Finally came down to, "We've got to throw our guns overboard. But we're in a war! How can we throw our guns overboard?" They had to because they couldn't swim very well, and there was no hope if they went down in that water. So the guns, the ammunition had to go overboard. In fact, they got right down to it. Food had to go. The food had to go. How were they going to survive? Well, if they were going to survive for the moment, they had to get rid of the food. And so for a moment, it seemed like they were going to be all right. But that balloon kept drifting down. Pretty soon, now there's nothing left. What else are we going to do? So you know what they did, they untied the basket, retied the ropes, and stood on the ropes of the balloon so that they could get a little bit more up in the air. But of course, that didn't last either. And pretty soon they're drifting right down.

And so when they're facing their moment of truth, it was right then, one of the men yelled out, "Land ahoy!" and there was this mysterious island. Now, I'm not going to tell you the rest of the story. You'll have to read the book. But that's how it all begins. And it's such an amazing lesson. Because when they first started out, they needed everything. "We got to have our guns, we've got to have our coats, we've got to have our food." But the whole story then begins to reveal, what is really necessary? What is really necessary? Because, in that final moment of despair, you really come down to the fact of what really is important and what's not. The necessities that they once thought they couldn't live without suddenly became the very weight that almost cost them their life. Could it be that way with us? Could it be that way with us? That we're carrying around things that we don't really... we may think we need them, we can't let go of them. But when it comes right down to it, we need to cast off that weight. We need to get rid of that weight. And I think periodically all of us have to ask ourselves, "Is this something in my life that really picks up the pace, that helps me win this race, that helps me get on with it? Or is this something that's dragging me down? Is this holding me back? Is this infecting my mind so I really can't get on with what life has to bring?" I think we have to really consider those things.

That's why Paul says consider this weight we're carrying. Really think about it. And of course, all too often we get sucked into the American dream that we've got to have this, we've got to have this thing, we've got to have this bigger house, this bigger car, this lifestyle. And it drags us down. And we come so close to that watery grave that's out there that we've got to throw off the weight. And so Paul says, "Think about this. Is this slowing us down and tripping us up?" And I think that's what we've got to ask ourselves – am I buying into the values of society? Am I buying into the good old American way? Is this something that's really holding me back, because it wraps us up and ties our heart into knots, and it distracts us so our attention isn't focused on what's most important, and it depletes us. And we run out of energy and we run out of will, and it could ultimately take us right out of this spiritual race. And so Paul's telling us identify those weights, identify those challenges and resolve to do whatever it takes to lay them aside.

It doesn't help to play the blame game, doesn't help to say, "Oh, it's their fault. It's not my fault." That doesn't help. It doesn't help to say, "Well, it's just my circumstances, my circumstances brought me or they caused this." Ultimately, that really doesn't help. Because oftentimes you could take it to the next level, you could begin to blame God. Well, it's God's fault I'm in this mess because He was supposed to be helping me. What happened? What happened? You see, we've got to remember when we stumble in this race that we've been called to, yeah, and we will. It's not if we'll stumble. It's when. When we fall short, when we trip over the hurdles of life, that should help us to recognize there's some weight I've got to get rid of. I've got to get refocused because in the hurdles, it's not just that first one. What's after that first hurdle? There's another one. And what's after that second hurdle? There's another one. And it continues that way all around the track. There continues to be hurdle after hurdle. And life is like that. That's life.

And so this concept of laying aside the weights, laying aside the sins, it's not a one-time thing, is it? It's a skill. It's a skill that we acquire because we need to constantly do this. It's something that we have to continue to practice. So when we mess it up, we can't get so down and discouraged, we just got to recognize, "Okay, we haven't mastered the track yet, and it's going to take our life to do just that." We don't give up, we don't give up, we keep at it. We have this cloud of witnesses that shows us, boy, they messed up. We read through any one of their stories, and they all messed up, some of them big time. And yet God helped pick them up and get on with the race. And so we don't give up, and we get on with it and we keep at it and we continue to set aside the weight. And we continue to do it again and again and again. Because sometimes we're not the best judge in identifying those weights and those challenges and those sins. And like any runner, they're not in it alone. You think those people make the Olympics and they just decided one day, "Well, I think I'll be a runner," and they go for the gold? Doesn't happen like that. They've got coaches, every one of them have a coach. And those coaches help them. They help guide them and teach them so they can learn how to do it even better.

And when you think of that aspect of Hebrews chapter 12, we have the ultimate coach. God is coaching us and helping us to throw off the weight, and we can help each other as well. Boy, there's so many examples of people who needed coaching in the Bible. One of the biggest ones I think is King David. Did King David have it all together? No, he tripped over a lot of hurdles, a lot of hurdles, and he wrote about it. There's a powerful Psalm, Psalm 37 that David writes about. And oftentimes David would ponder about the challenges. He would ponder about the cloud of witnesses that went before him. He would really identify and meditate on the challenges and the difficulties. He not only thought about those who were the winners, but even more than that, he looked inward at times. Oftentimes he got pretty discouraged when he looked inward. And you can read about those in so many of his Psalms. But he was able to see beyond that. He was able to see that he had a Coach who was going to help him through that. And in Psalm 37, notice verse 23, Psalm 37:23, this is David writing. He says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." God brought us into this race. We probably didn't ask to be a part of this spiritual contest. God called us. He placed us in this race. He's guided us. He's ordered our life in that sense, but He's the coach. And we recognize when He's coaching us, this is a Coach that knows every in and out. He knows what's best. And so, David says, "He delights in His way,” and as the hurdlers in this life, we need to follow His directions.

So David says, verse 24, "Though he fall,” though we trip over those hurdles, it says, "He shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with His hand." You see, even though we trip, even though we fall, and boy, if you've ever fallen when you're hurdling, that's not good. Because oftentimes you fall literally flat on your face, and so it's not unusual for a hurdler when they're first learning the trade, they're scuffed up and their face even shows it. And when we fall on our face, he says, "We're not utterly cast out. That's not the end of the race. God's going to help us." It says, "The Lord upholds him with His hand." God's going to reach out and pick us up. He's watching over this race, He knows what's going on. "He's ordering," it says, "every step," not just the oversight of the race, but He's there all along the way. And when we trip, and when we stumble, we have an Advocate. We have an Advocate. And He takes us by the hand. And He steadies our step. And He guides us. And He reaches out to us, and He's going to catch us by the hand so we don't fall flat on our face and we're down and out, and He brings us up.

In fact, look at verse 28, we can finish this race. The Kingdom of God is just ahead. He says in verse 28, "The Lord loves justice and doesn't forsake His saints. They are preserved forever." So God doesn't leave us down and out. He doesn't say, "Boy, did you mess up," and leave us flat on our face? No, He takes us by the hand and He leads us that way. He doesn't forsake us and it says, "They're preserved forever." So we rely on that ultimate Father to help us.

In fact, thinking about these passages reminded me of a man named Derek Redmond. Ever heard of Derek Redmond? He was a sprinter. He ran the 400 meter. And in his day he was a famous British record holder. He held the European Championships, 4 by 4-meter relay, the 400, world champion sprinter, an amazing talent. He had his opportunity to prove it at the 1992 Olympic Games. As he dashed out of the starting blocks in the 400 meter, he felt a pop. And that's not a good thing for a sprinter. It was his hamstring. And it wasn't just, you know, a tweak, wasn't just a pull, he tore his hamstring. And he stumbled and started to fall and could hardly hold himself up. But somehow he didn't crumble to the ground. He continued to hobble along, and seemingly any moment, he was about to fall flat on his face, and then something amazing happened.

His father was watching from the grandstands. And he pushed his way through security. He wasn't going to let security hold him up, and he pushed his way down to the track and he joined his son and he grabbed him. And he picked him up and together not only did they finish the race, they hobbled around a whole track, the whole track until they could finish that race together and he made it. He finished the race. He didn't finish that race alone. You think about that, spiritually. We have a Father that's not going to let us crumble to the ground. He's not going to leave us torn and broken. He is going to help us. He's going to help us to finish the race. He's promised that. In fact, He tells us in 2 Peter 1:3, you don't have to turn there, “His divine power has given to us all things.” You see, it's with God's help. “He's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” So when we think about that, when we meditate on this very fact that God has given us so much, He's given us those that have gone before us. He's given us the examples to show us that we're not in it alone and we can look within ourselves and recognize, when we trust God, when we rely on Him, even though we might miss the hurdle, He's there to pick us up. He's there to help us finish the race, and He's not going to leave us behind.

In fact, in chapter 12 there's even more we're told to really dwell on, to really think about. So let me go back to Hebrews chapter 12 for a moment. He gives us another aspect to really meditate about, to really think about. Notice what Hebrews chapter 12, notice what it says once again. We haven't quite gotten past verse 1 yet, but when you notice what Hebrews chapter 12 has to tell us, there is a strategy that we can overcome and we can finish the race. And so he says, yes, there's a cloud of witnesses that shows there are winners and you can be one too. You can lay aside the weight. He says, also, "Let's run with endurance the race that's set before us.” Run with endurance the race. In other words, think about this contest. Think about life. Think about the race that’s set before us. Consider the race itself. What's your race like? Some of us are hurdlers, some of us long distance, some of us are sprinters. Everybody's race is a little bit different.

I think when we think about that race, I think about oftentimes, especially the sprints, you're assigned a lane. You have to stay in that lane. Those little white lines, they're your guide. This is where you have to run. And I can't be worried about what somebody else is doing. I can't be worried about their race. I've got to focus on what's before me. And I'm expected to stay in that lane the entire length of the race.

And in many ways, our race of life is like that. Except it's a little different than the Olympics. It's not that I have to outpace the guy next to me, especially when I'm in a short race. And boy, it might seem like I'm winning until I make that first turn, and then, boy, here's everybody else right here with me. In life it's not like that, in the spiritual race we're placed in it's not about who I'm running against. That's not it at all. The analogy breaks down pretty fast if we think about it like that. We're not running against anybody else. We're running our race. So God tells us, "Think about the race you're running. This is your race. Doesn't matter what anyone else does. This is where you're placed. This is your race.” So the goal is not worrying about somebody else. It's about what God has in store for me.

Now we do have to outrun some things. There's no doubt about that. 1 Timothy 6, verse 11 reminds us of that. There are definitely some things we’d better run and outrun, we’d better run away from these things, we’d better run past these things, we’d better run around these things because there are some things that we've got to keep pace on. And Paul reminded Timothy of some of those very things. Notice what he told Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6. In fact, he begins by talking about the things that we better outpace. We look at some of these things, we see very clearly, verse 4. He talks about disputes and arguments and envy and strife and reviling and evil, talks about all kinds of things that we’d better outrun. We can't let those things catch us. So we are runners, we are runners in the race of life, and we’d better outpace these things. Verse 5, useless wranglings of men, corrupt minds, those that don't have the truth, all of those. Yeah, those sins and those weights, we’d better outpace them. We've got to outrun them. We’d better flee from those things. And then when we get to verse 11, 1 Timothy 6:11 says, "You, O man of God, flee those,” yeah, run away from those. But then he also says, that's not all there is. Think about this race you're in. Think about the contest. Think about the spiritual journey we're on, says not only are we running away from something – we're running away from the evil, we're running away from those ungodly traits in our own life – he says pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.

You see, it's a reminder we're not just running away from things, we're running toward godly character. We're running toward who our Savior is, His character. We're running toward all of these traits. So it's not just what we're running away from, it's what we're running toward. What are we focused on? What's the goal? That since we’ve outrun the evil influences, but we run and pursue what's good and what's right. And that becomes more of who we are. And that means we've got to ignore the surroundings. And it can be pretty tough. That can be really tough. You read about some of the challenges, especially for long-distance runners, there's amazing challenges that they've got to overlook and they've got to ignore in order to keep focused and run toward the goal.

I was reading a few examples of this on a website called runnersworld.com. And it lists several different individuals that, in their racing experience, and this is long distance running, some of the challenges that they face. Now, one individual named Heather Irvine. She wrote about the New York Marathon and she wrote this, "At mile 8 of the New York City Marathon, I ran over a $20 bill." Well, I know what I'd do if I ran over $20 bill. Okay, I'm not much of a runner. What are you going to do? You're running a marathon. What about the extra weight? You want to pick that up? You're going to pause for a minute? You know, every second is going to count depending on your placing. I mean, so what did she do? She stepped on it. She said, "I kept running. I kept running." That's pretty amazing when you think about that, talk about a distraction. That could definitely throw any of us off. I have a hard time not picking up a penny, right?

There was another lady named Caitlin Giddings. This is pretty bizarre. So she's running and she wrote, "I saw a guy in a Darth Vader costume." Okay, that wasn't the distraction. She said, "I saw a guy in a Darth Vader costume playing the bagpipes." And if that wasn't enough distraction, he was on a unicycle. Darth Vader playing the bagpipes on a unicycle. Yeah, that would throw you off, wouldn't it? Focus. We have to have focus. You start looking at Darth Vader playing a bagpipe on a unicycle, you're going to run into a post or something. You’ve got to be focused on, "Where am I running? What's the purpose? Where's my direction? What's the outcome going to be? I've got to focus on the finish line." And so spiritually speaking the same thing holds true. I can't be concerned about who's ahead of me and who's not or where I am and all. I've got to be focused on the goal. I've got to be focused on the purpose.

And so, what a reminder. God hasn't called me to run anybody else's race, He's called me to run my race. He's called you to run your race. And Paul reiterated that to the Philippians. Take a look at... Hold your place in Hebrews, Philippians chapter 2, verse 12. Philippians chapter 2, verse 12. It's certainly a reminder of that. It’s certainly a reminder of the focus that we need to have. Because sometimes we get running this race and we think it's all up to me. I'm the only one that's going to make sure that I can make it. But that's just not the case. And Paul reminded Philippi about that very thing. Philippians 2:12, he says, "Therefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." And certainly, we've got a responsibility to put one foot ahead of the next foot and keep going. Don't stop. Don't pick up the $20 bill. Don't focus on Darth Vader playing the bagpipes on a unicycle. We can't get distracted with those things of our life. And oftentimes we do, but instead yes, we put our foot one in front of another, but there's more. We have help. Verse 13, "It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."

He set us in this race. Has He set us in this race to fail? Has He set us in this race to trip and fall and lay bleeding on the pavement? That's not the case at all. He put us in this race, and He wants us to finish. In fact, He's made a way so that we will finish and we can finish and we can succeed and we can lay hold of eternal life. He's given us the help that we need. In fact, Hebrews 12 is a reminder of that. If you turn back to Hebrews chapter 12. He gives us one more step in this strategy, one more aspect, one more step that we can recognize in order to succeed, in order to be sure that we do win the race. And Hebrews chapter 12 is a wonderful reminder of that. In fact, we finally get to get out of verse 1 and we can go to verse 2. Hebrews 12:2. He says, "Run the race with endurance." The end of verse 1, "Run that race that’s set before us." In verse 2 says, "Keep focused, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." As we run this race of life, we keep our eyes focused on Christ. You may say, "Well, why? Why would that be the case?"

Well, a few chapters earlier Paul talked about this. If we turn back to Hebrews chapter 3, the beginning of chapter 3 of Hebrews, he adds to this concept of keeping our focus, keeping our eyes set on the ultimate goal, because Christ was one of those in that great cloud of witnesses. He was our forerunner. He was the one that has gone before us. He lived this life. He knows the hurdles. And so Paul writes about that in chapter 3. Notice verse 1. He says, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling," that's this race that we've been placed in. He says, "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession." Not just make that a passing thought, not just, "Oh yeah, I remember I'm supposed to follow." No, meditate about this, really think deeply about our Savior. “Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.” Verse 2, "He was faithful to Him who appointed Him." He was faithful to the Father. And then he cites Moses as well.

In fact, verse 3, he says, "This one, Christ, has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house." In fact, verse 6 he says, "Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope, firm to the end." And so, we see very clearly, we have a Savior who paved the way, the One who ultimately showed we can succeed, we can grasp hold of eternal life. We have the One that helps us to see. You know, if we look to circumstances, circumstances are going to disappoint us. It's going to let us down. And if we're not careful at times, circumstances can devastate us. We look to people? People are going to let us down. We're human, we fall short. We fall short of expectations. We don't measure up the way that we should. And if we look to people, that's looking in the wrong way. They can help at times, but ultimately we have to look beyond. We have to look to God, we have to look to our Savior Jesus Christ. And we certainly can't look to our own feelings because feelings are going to come and go, but the Father, our Savior Jesus Christ, they're always going to be there. They're always there for us. They're always there saying, "You can do this. With My help, you can live this life. You can finish this race. You will finish this race. I'm here. I'm with you. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to help you. Let's do this together." That's what God's telling us. And the apostle Paul wrote about that very thing, and it helped motivate him to win and run this race of life. Because he said, “To me, to live is Christ.” Because we can achieve eternal life because of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

And so, consider these things. Think on these things. Our Savior was the greatest winner of all time. And He set the pace, but did He experience rejection? Absolutely. Did He experience the deepest of sorrow? No doubt, He was a man of sorrow. Did He know what intense loneliness was all about? He bitterly wept blood. He experienced every human emotion, and He knows what it's like. He set the pace, and now He's been exalted to the right hand of God Himself. He knows what it's like, and we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. He is the Righteous One. And He is our Advocate.

And so, as we face life this week, let's really think about these steps that we can take to really think and consider how we can finish this race, how we can stay in it. And really take time to consider the winners, those that have gone before us. And really take time to meditate about our part in this race, that we have been called and set in this race, and God wants us to win, as we just imagine what this race is like and what my personal race is all about. I can really think about that this week. And recognize as well, we have an advocate. We have someone that went before us. We have a forerunner. We have Jesus Christ our Savior who runs with us and before us and showed us the way of how to win this race of life. And how we can keep focused, how we must keep focused on Him, because ultimately He will see us through. And ultimately, when we do these things, we can have a confidence, we can have an assurance, we can have an absolute sense of faith that we have fought the good fight, that we have finished the race and ultimately we can say, "I have kept the faith." Christ has shown no doubt – we can win the race.