How Do I Sustain Spiritual Momentum?

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us
strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress.
And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our
eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful
death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the
place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven.” Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT)

How Do I Sustain Spiritual Momentum?

1. I will find strength from those who have ________________

“Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us.” Romans 15:4a
(Msg)

What person of faith and godliness can strengthen my walk?

__________________________

2. I will put off that which _____________________________

 Let go of the ___________________________

 Let go of the ___________________________

“Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets
involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commanding officer.” 2 Tim. 2:3-4 (NIV)

In order to finish well, I need to let go of _____________________

3. I will _______________________ until I cross the finish line.

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to
the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
1 Cor. 15:58 (NIV)

Coming out of 40 Days of Purpose, I know God wants me to keep

on ___________________________
THE AMAZING RACE
Your Spiritual Journey - Part 2 of 2

4. I will keep a _______________________ focus.

“What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may
gain Christ.” Phil. 3:8 (NIV)

In order to stay single-minded through the Christmas season, I will

____________________________________________________

5. I will endure the suffering to see the _____________________

“I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus,
is calling us up to heaven.” Phil. 3:14 (NLT)

I am able to endure the present because I know someday

____________________________________________________

“So keep your mind on Jesus, who put up with many insults from sinners. Then you won't get
discouraged and give up.” Heb. 12:3 (CEV)

2 - ii
 THE AMAZING RACE
Your Spiritual Journey
Part 2 of 2
November 23-24, 2002
Pastor Lance Witt

If you could have been with Jesus for any event in His life what event would you choose? If
we’d survey the room this morning there would be some who would say, “I would have loved to
have been at Bethlehem when God became flesh, in the form of a child.” Maybe someone else
would say, “I would have really liked to have been there when Jesus stood outside the tomb of
His friend Lazarus and called him back to life.” Or others would say, “I would have loved to
have been there early on that Easter Sunday morning when Jesus burst forth from the tomb and
conquered death to prove He was God.”

Those are all great answers and all possible candidates although I know this crowd well enough
to know that there are some of you who in your mind are going “I really would have liked to
have been there when He turned water into wine. That would have been cool!”

Or I have another candidate in mind: I would have loved personally to have tagged along with
Jesus and Peter and James and John on a particular day described in Matthew 17 when they
hiked up to the top of the mountain. The Bible says when they got to the top of the mountain
that Jesus was transfigured. If you trace back the meaning and root of that word you’d find that
it’s actually the word “metamorphosis.” It means a change in form. The Bible describes that in
that moment when Jesus was transfigured it says that His face shown like the sun and His clothes
were as bright as the light. For one fleeting, brief moment the glory of God which had been
veiled in the flesh of Jesus leaped out.

What an incredible experience for Peter and the others to be there that day. And as if that were
not enough the Bible says that in that moment out of heaven appeared Elijah and Moses standing
next to Jesus engaging Him in conversation. Then out of a cloud the Bible says a voice thunders
and says, “This is My Son, whom I love. In Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”

What a moment! Here is Jesus radiating with indescribable light and Peter and James and John
are getting to witness this. Have you ever been in those kinds of moments when you see
something so majestic you’re awestruck and speechless and you just kind of have to take it in.
This is one of those moments. But Peter is the kind of personality that he always has to say
something. So as he looks on this scene you know what he says in his profound eloquence?
“It’s good to be here.” No kidding, Peter? Talk about a spiritual high. It doesn’t get any more
spectacular than this. In that moment Peter turns to Jesus and he says, “Could we just stay here?
Could we just stay right here on the mountaintop? I’ll make a makeshift shelter for the three of
you and let’s just stay here. It’s good!”

I think that becomes for us a great picture of how many of us feel now coming out of 40 Days of
Purpose. God has showed up and done some significant things. Over the last 40 days we’ve
walked in some special times in the life of our church. Maybe we don’t really fully understand
or grasp how spiritually significant these days have been. Our natural response is just to say,
“Let’s stay here. It’s good having this spiritual high.”
THE AMAZING RACE
Your Spiritual Journey - Part 2 of 2

But the reality is you don’t live on the mountaintop. Life is down below. It’s great to go there
and the experience is wonderful. But when Peter asked Jesus the question – Let’s just stay here.
Can we stay here? – Jesus doesn’t even really respond. In fact in the very next verse it just
simply says, “They went back down the mountain.”

We’ve had a great mountaintop experience. Now we’re coming down, going on to a new
transition and stage in our lives. There’s a danger that we need to be honest about this morning.
That danger is that for some people their commitment only lasts as long as their emotional
experience. When the feelings begin to fade so does their interest. For others when following
gets hard and the feelings subside or a crisis hits or some circumstance comes that challenges
their faith they will choose just to take a seat on the sidelines.

Let me take a moment to help us get a picture of what I want us to do this morning. I want you
to imagine as you look around this entire room every person in the room this morning wearing
running shorts. You know, those little bitty nylon shorts. It’s not a pretty picture is it? But I
want you to imagine all of us gathered at the starting line of a marathon and the gun goes off and
all together we take off in a sprint. Your legs are churning. You’re going as fast as you can.
Life is good. You’re with your friends. You’re off in this race. But at some point you’re going
to get tired, exhausted. For most of us that’s about a hundred yards into the race. Your legs are
going to feel like lead and your side’s going to hurt and you’re going to notice that people have
already dropped out of the race and you are now going to be confronted with the decision, will
you go on and will you finish?

That is the point that I want us to address this morning. During 40 Days a lot of us got off to a
fast and wonderful start in our Christian life. But as a person who has personally walked with
the Lord for now more than 30 years I can tell you that the Christian life is not a 100-meter dash.
It is a marathon. It is a long journey. This weekend what we want to explore is how do we
sustain what God started in us over 40 Days. How do we keep going and endure so that we live
a life that is pleasing to Him and that we finish well?

To do that I want us to go back and look at a group of people in the Scripture who faced a very
similar situation. They were a group of people in the first century who came out of Judaism and
who had now embraced Christ. They had got off to a great start. In fact, listen to the words of
the writer in Hebrews 10 “Don’t ever forget those early days when you first learned about
Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.” They got
off to a great start. They’d embraced Christ. But now they’d hit a crisis point and here’s the
problem. They were in danger now of turning back. They had been pressured to go back to
Judaism and things had gotten hard in their walk. They’re considering throwing in the towel.

So the writer of Hebrews writes to plead with them to stay in the race. In fact, it’s probably hard
for us to really grasp the kind of urging and pleading that we read in these verses that we’re
going to examine this morning. Hebrews 12:1-2. Listen beyond the words to the kind of
pleading that are in these words “Therefore since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of
witnesses to the life of faith let us strip off every weight that slows us down especially the sin that
so easily hinders our progress and let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was
willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy that He knew would be His
afterwards. Now He is seated in the place of highest honor beside God’s throne in heaven.”
2 - 2
THE AMAZING RACE
Your Spiritual Journey - Part 2 of 2

This passage has become for me sort of the template of how we can persevere and how we can
finish well. From the passage I want to share with you five steps that we can take to make sure
that we run a good race and that we finish well.

If I’m going to run a good race…

1. I will find strength from those who have gone before me.

The Bible is not simply a history book. It is not simply a record of past events or moral sayings.
The Bible is meant for us – for our instruction and for our growth. In fact Romans 15:4 even if it
was written in scripture long ago you can be sure that it’s written for us. These words of
encouragement to persevere were not only written for first century Christians. They are written
for us this morning. He says “Therefore we are surrounded by this huge crowd of witnesses to
the life of faith.” He says as you think about your own race realize there are other people who
have gone before and there’s something that you can learn from them.

In order to grasp what he’s getting to we need to go back for just a moment and rewind to
chapter 11. In chapter 11 of Hebrews there is this long listing of what is effectively an all star
team of Christianity. It contains a long list of some people who you would know very well from
stories in the Bible like Moses and Abraham. But also in this list are people that we know very
little about. But they all have one thing in common. They have an unswerving faith and belief
in God that they were not willing to let go of. They would never quit or walk away from their
trust in God. Sometimes they were ridiculed for their faith. Sometimes they were mistreated.
Sometimes God called them to leave their families and go to foreign lands. Some of them even
paid the ultimate price of giving their life for their faith. It says of them in chapter 11 that they
were still living by faith when they died. When their race was over they were still pressing on.

Just because they followed God didn’t mean that they lived a comfortable life. In fact,
sometimes it was quite the contrary. Often their life of faith meant sacrifice and hardship. But
when God looks at that list in Hebrews 11 God thinks so highly of these people that He says of
them “The world was not worthy of them.” Wow! They lived a life of such incredible character
and faith that God says that the world didn’t even deserve for them to be here. As he writes
about our race He says They serve as an example and as an encouragement. They are witnesses
of perseverance.

Several years ago when I was working on my doctorate a friend of mine in the Dallas area owned
a hotel. He called me up one day and said, “I know you’re working on your doctorate and it’s
hard to do that at the church or your home. Why don’t you come to Dallas? I’ll put you up in a
room for a few days in the hotel and you can just work nonstop on your doctorate. So I did that.
One afternoon my friend Kent called me up and said, “I’m on the Board of Directors for Tony
Evans who is a well known African American pastor. He’s hosting his annual pastor’s
conference at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Dallas. I want you to go and be my guest.” I
knew of Tony. I knew of the event. I knew it was kind of a dress up event. So I said, “I don’t
have anything to wear.” He said, “Come up to my office.” I went up to his office, a very
spacious office in the penthouse of this hotel. He opens his closet door and said, “Here’s a bunch
of suits. Just pick any one you want. It’s yours. It’s a gift.” Very expensive suits. I start
looking through. I find one that is a Hart, Shafner and Marx suit. Very expensive. I said, “I’ll
take this one!” I discovered that if you put a Hart, Shafner and Marx suit on a WalMart body it
2 - 3
THE AMAZING RACE
Your Spiritual Journey - Part 2 of 2

still doesn’t do much good. But I still took it anyway. He and I went to the conference that
night. We had a great time.

He said, “Why don’t you invite your wife Connie to come down. I’ll arrange for you guys to get
in tomorrow night and you can be my guests.” Great. So I called her up, she came down. We
had dinner together. We went to the conference. Several hundred other pastors and their wives
were there. Connie and I were the only white people in the entire place. When the music started
it was awesome. It was loud. The singing was expressive. There was swaying and clapping and
everyone was moving. And I was getting into it. I was swaying and clapping along, singing
with all that was in me until finally I felt this sharp pain in my side. It was my wife’s elbow. I
said, “What?” She said, “Don’t clap!” I said, “Why?” She said, “Everyone’s looking at you!”
It was then that we discovered that I have this disease called White Boy Rhythm Deficiency. I
was a half a beat off. Thankfully it was not much longer until the music ended and we were able
to set down.

As Tony began to speak he began to do something that is fairly common in the African
American culture. He began and as the intensity of his message grew he would stop and he
would look at the crowd and say, “Can I get a witness?” They all knew what he meant. What he
was asking was simply, “Is there anybody here that can testify that what I’m saying is true? Is
there anybody in the room that knows what I’m talking about?” People would raise their hands
and nod their heads. They shout back to them. It was their way of saying, “You’re right! I can
tell you that’s true. It’s been true in my life.”

I sort of had this picture of Hebrews 12, of the author of Hebrews sitting with a congregation
much like ours and he’s telling them to persevere and to stay with it and to finish and he says,
“Can I get a witness?” And Noah raises his hand and says, “I can testify. For 120 years I kept
building the ark. No converts. Just waiting. But it was worth it.” And Abraham raises his hand.
“I can testify. I can tell you that even when God calls you to do something hard it’s worth it to
follow God. Persevere. Hang in there.”

Every one of those people in Hebrews 11 are witnesses to the life of faith and perseverance. But
I also want you to know that not all people of faith are listed in Hebrews 11. Some of them are
here this morning. If you want to grow in faith and you want to persevere in the race of life you
need to hang around men and women who have a passion for God.

Think about this for just a moment. Who is it that you know, what name comes to your mind,
that when you’re around them you’re faith soars? Or when you’re with them you feel drawn to
be more like Jesus Christ? Coming out of 40 Days of Purpose if you want to stay on fire for God
one of the things that you need to do is hang around other people who are on fire for God. So
what person of faith and godliness can strengthen my walk? Write in the name. Somebody that
you knew. If I want to grow and I want to persevere, I want to keep being around that person.

2. The second thing we learn if we want to finish well is that I need to put off that which trips
me up.

He says we’re surrounded by this great crowd of witnesses who tell us to keep going on. But in
the race of life if you’re going to run well you’ve got to shed some of the baggage that you’re
carrying with you.
2 - 4
THE AMAZING RACE
Your Spiritual Journey - Part 2 of 2

Earlier this year in a London marathon there was a guy by the name of Lloyd Scott who ran the
world’s slowest marathon. He did as a fundraiser the marathon in a diver’s suit with the full
metal helmet. He finished the 26.2 miles in five days 8 hours, 29 minutes and 46 seconds.

He reminds me of a lot of Christians. We’re in the race but we’re carrying a lot of stuff that’s
slowing us down. He talks about two different kinds of weight that trips us up. They are two
things that he says we need to let go of.

The first one is we need to let go of that which is ungodly. Let go of sin. One of the things
that happens in my life when I read the Bible is that God brings me face to face with myself.
Sometimes it’s not pleasant. The Bible becomes to me like a mirror to my soul. Sometimes
when I look inside my life there is ugliness and darkness and God often uses those times to shine
the spotlight of His Spirit in conviction on my life to say, “Those are things you need to get rid
of.”

Some of you now having come through 40 Days of Purpose maybe through your daily readings
or your small group lesson or the weekend message God has not only used that time to help grow
you but He has pointed out some things in your life that you need to let go of. In fact, I suspect
that for some of us right now that area is coming to mind. We know it’s wrong. We know what
God thinks about it. We know that it will hinder our relationship with Christ. And we still
haven’t let go. Maybe it’s an addiction. Maybe it’s some kind of deceitful business practice.
Maybe it’s just a heart that’s grown cold. Maybe it’s a flirtatious relationship. You know it’s
wrong. You know it’s got to stop. But you’re still holding on. And God doesn’t say, Let go,
because He wants to steal life’s fun from you. He says Let go because He knows that ultimately
it will destroy you. Get rid of the baggage.

The second thing he says is not only let go of the ungodly but let go of the unnecessary.
This one is a little more subtle because it’s not necessarily sin. It’s not necessarily moral
compromise. But it’s just the unnecessary things that keep you weighted down in the race. It
could be that your life is simply so full you don’t have time to pursue a relationship with Christ.
It could be that you’ve got your kids in so many extra curricular activities there is no time for
spiritual instruction and reflection in your family. It could be something as simple as hours
wasted in front of TV. Unless you’re watching something very spiritually enlightening like The
Bachelor. Just kidding!

But Pastor Rick taught us during the campaign that when you live a purpose driven life you now
live for God’s agenda and not your own. So you get rid of those things that distract you or keep
you from living a purpose driven life.

Look at 2 Timothy 2 “Endure hardship with us like a soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as
a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs.” Civilian affairs aren’t immoral, they’re not sin,
they’re not wrong. They’re just distracting when you’re trying to be a good soldier. So the same
is true for us.

Fill in the next statement: In order to finish well, I need to let go of... what? Something that’s
maybe wrong. Something that’s maybe unnecessary.

2 - 5
THE AMAZING RACE
Your Spiritual Journey - Part 2 of 2

3. The third thing we learn in this passage about running a race and finishing well is that I will
have to choose to persevere until I cross the finish line.

The writer says, “Let us run with endurance this race that was set before us.” The word “race”
is the word from which we get our word “agony.” It has more to do with a marathon that it does
a sprint. Down through the ages greatness has often been defined by people’s ability to
overcome obstacles and failures in their past and persevere in the present.

There’s a lot of historical examples of this. For example there was a memo that came out from
MGM Grand studios shortly after Fred Astair’s first screen test: “Can’t act. Slightly bald. Can
dance a little.”

Enrico Caruso’s parents believed his teacher who said, “No voice at all. He simply cannot
sing.”

Walt Disney who was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas.

Or, Henry Ford who failed and went broke five times before he ever succeeded.

Or Beethoven who even had trouble handling the violin. His teacher finally said, “He has
no hope as a composer.”

Or Albert Einstein who did so poorly in school accept for his mathematics scores that his
teachers actually counseled his parents to pull him out of school because he would never make
anything of himself.

In the race of life God is always more interested in how you finish than how fast you start.

I love this statement I’ve held on to for a number of years from Fredrick Nietche. He says “The
essential thing in heaven and earth is this that there is a long obedience in the same direction.”
Everything in our culture and everything in us revolts against that because we want quick and
convenient and instant and efficient. We like it now. Our battle cry is “Let’s get on with it!”

Eugene Peterson has said, “There is a great market for religious experience in our world but
there is little enthusiasm for the slow and patient acquisition of character and virtue.” He’s right.

When I began to think but this message and who in my life has modeled perseverance for me
someone quickly came to my mind. She was a little short lady who was my grandmother. When
my dad was three years old, they were out here working the harvest in California and my dad’s
dad suddenly died of a heart attack. With no means, no resources her only recourse was to call
her brother in law back in New Mexico. He came out and took her and those four little boys
back to New Mexico where as a single mom and as a widow she raised them. The primary
means of support she had was she worked in the public school system cooking lunches. And on
that income she supported four boys, lived in a house in a poor part of Albuquerque in a rough
neighborhood.

Shortly after going back to New Mexico she joined a little church. A little Baptist church called
Fruit Avenue Baptist church. Virtually every Sunday without fail, rain or shine, feeling good or
2 - 6
THE AMAZING RACE
Your Spiritual Journey - Part 2 of 2

not, virtually every weekend until just shortly before her death now almost ten years ago she
went to that church and performed her ministry.

A couple of years before she died in her 80s her health had gotten so bad and her arthritis so
severe that she was not physically able to keep on doing the ministry she had done at that church.
So to sort of celebrate her faithfulness the church decided to throw a party. They sent out
invitations to people. Some came from far away out of town who had been ministered to by my
grandmother. They had those people get up and talk about her. They celebrated the fact that for
40 years this little lady worked in the nursery and the children’s ministry of that church. For 40
years Sunday after Sunday after Sunday she held those little babies and sang to them the songs
about Jesus. She opened her Bible and told stories of the gospel. Never stood behind a pulpit,
never got up on the platform but for 40 years she just kept showing up and serving and being
faithful.

She has become for me the embodiment of the next verse: Paul says “My dear brothers, stand
firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself to the work of the Lord because you know that
your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” So no matter how difficult it gets or how the hardship
comes, no matter how dark and scary things become, no matter how the waves batter against
your life, stay faithful.

Can I get a witness? Paul says I can testify. In fact he does in 2 Corinthians 11 he says, “I’ve
been imprisoned. I’ve been flogged. I’ve been exposed to death time and again. I’ve been
beaten with 39 lashes five times. I’ve been beaten with rods three times. I was stoned once. I
was shipwrecked three times. I’ve been without sleep. I’ve been without food. I’ve been cold
and I’ve been naked. Every place I’ve gone I’ve been in danger and on top of all that I’ve had
the daily pressure of caring for the churches.” But Paul says, I never gave up. I never quit.”

Nothing in life could dissuade him from his commitment. Nothing in life could quench his
passion for Jesus. It was because Paul had once and for all settled ahead of time that he was
going to be steadfast and immovable. He had made up his mind that no matter where life took
him, he was going to keep showing up and he was going to keep serving and he was going to
keep preaching and he was going to keep going as long as God gave him breath.

So when you think about coming out of 40 Days of Purpose look at this next statement: What
does God want you to keep on doing? Where do you need to keep persevering? Maybe it’s in
that daily time with Him. Maybe it’s continuing to participate in a small group. Maybe it’s in
your prayer life. Where is an area that you know you’ve got to keep persevering if you want to
finish well?

4. The fourth thing that we learn from the passage if we want to finish well is that I need to keep
a single-minded focus.

He says we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus. Before we go any further, notice what he
doesn’t say. He doesn’t say keep your eyes on your small group. Or on other Christians or on
your pastor or even on Saddleback church. Because all of those things and all of those people
will somewhere long the way disappoint you. It is only when you keep your eyes on Christ and
Him alone that you will find the strength to endure this marathon called the Christian life. If this

2 - 7
THE AMAZING RACE
Your Spiritual Journey - Part 2 of 2

40 Days of Purpose you did not fall more in love with Jesus and you did not feel more drawn to
be with Him and to be like Him then we failed. Because that was its intent.

It sounds real spiritual to say, Keep your eyes on Jesus but how do I do that? What does that
look like practically in my life? In my everyday practical existence what would that look like?

There’s a lot of angles we could take on that but I want to drill down on that question for just few
moments because we’ve just come through this 40 Days of Purpose. It’s been an intense season
for a lot of us. But the pace is not going to let up because now we’re headed into the Christmas
season. How do you find the ability in season that supposedly is dedicated to focusing on Jesus,
how do you really find the ability to pull that off?

This much I know. It won’t happen by accident. In fact, implicit in the word “focus” is the idea
of concentration and intention. I also know this and have learned it the hard way, speed and
focus do not make good partners. While life is a race, you cannot, you cannot develop spiritual
intimacy on the run. So it’s hard. We live in a world where the pace of life continues to
accelerate. A lot of us are addicted to speed. We cram every hour full. We try to do everything
we can and do it quicker.

I was reading recently this little quip by Stephen Right. He says, “I put instant coffee in my
microwave and almost went back in time.” Some of you will get that in a few moments! We
live in a world possessed by hurry sickness. Did you know that in almost all the elevators in the
United States that the Door Close button absolutely does nothing? It has no function. It is
simply put there to distract riders who think that ten seconds is an eternity. We’re in such a
hurry.

There’s a restaurant in Tokyo that does not charge for the food you eat. They charge for how
long you have the table. It’s even invaded now the construction business. We now pride
ourselves on being able to multitask, do several things at once and do them quicker. We build
homes in the spirit of multitasking, we now put phones right next to commodes. I ask you: is
that a room where we really need to multitask?

I confess to you, I am a hurrier. I wish I had a dollar for every time my kids in an irritated tone
heard me say, “Hurry up!” Or the number of times I’ve been walking with my wife and I’ve
walked off and left her behind. Can I get a witness, guys?

Worst than my hurried step is my hurried spirit. It keeps me from focusing on Jesus. Speed and
hurry and busyness and life will drain your soul. It may well be that the pace of life in our world
is doing more to shatter our souls than any other temptation that you face. But it’s interesting to
me that when you examine the life of Jesus He’s never in a hurry. He never says, “Come on
guys! We’ve got to hurry up and get there!” Jesus always took time and He took His time.

One of the things that He regularly took time for was time alone with His Father. In fact He
carefully guarded those moments when He would get up early before everyone else and sneak
out of the house just to go and be alone with His father. Or He would get away on the mountain
or get alone in the boat all by Himself because those moments with His father replenished His
soul.

2 - 8
THE AMAZING RACE
Your Spiritual Journey - Part 2 of 2

How important is that? Philippians 3 “What’s more I consider everything a loss compared to the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus for whose sake I have lost all things.” Paul says
there is not anything in life more important than knowing Christ. Being is more important than
doing.

I want to ask you to take out the little calendar that’s in your worship guide this morning. Here’s
what we want to do with that. We call this your soul survival calendar. It lists the days between
today and the end of the year. What I want for you to do is look at this calendar and say, “It’s
just prior to Thanksgiving now. Looking ahead I’m going to mark off and block off some time
to really focus on Christ during the season. I’m going to take a Saturday morning or my family’s
going to do something on a Thursday night or I’m going to block off an hour a week just to
concentrate on Him so that no matter what invitation comes my way, no matter what Christmas
obligation I have, this is going to take priority.” It is those moments that will help you and help
your soul to survive.

Some of you are very sharp and you’re going to look down and you’re going to notice that
Christmas Eve is missing from this calendar. You can just write that in somewhere. Put it
wherever you want! We’d still love you to look to Jesus even on Christmas Eve. We think that
would be a great idea.

What will you do to keep your eyes on Him? Let’s get to the last one.

5. If I’m going to finish well I’m going to have to be willing to endure the suffering to see the
smile.

In this passage in Hebrews it says speaking about Christ that “He was willing to die a shameful
death on the cross because of the joy that He knew would be His afterwards.” In other words in
the race of life He looked past the suffering of the cross to the finish line where He would be
reunited with His Father. The author seems to be saying that in the Christian life if you want to
finish well occasionally you’ve got to look up and look to the finish line because at the finish line
is something that every child wants to see. That is his dad smiling and cheering him on. So
when the race gets hard look up and look ahead. See the smile of your Father who says “Keep
going, Hang in there. Persevere. It will be worth it.”

When you are committed to living a Purpose Driven Life you can endure difficulty because you
know that this life is not all there is. There is a finish line and there is life after the finish line. 2
Corinthians 4 Paul says “These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will
make our troubles seem like nothing.” What awaits us on the other side of the finish line makes
everything in this life pale in comparison. Some of you are here this weekend and you’re going
through a difficult time. Life is hard right now and you wonder where is God in all of this.
Hebrews encourages you and we encourage you don’t give up. Stay at it. Keep one eye on
heaven. Paul says “I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God
through Christ Jesus is calling us up to heaven.” Paul says part of what motivates me is
knowing what lies ahead.

Would you feel out that statement: I am able to endure the present because I know someday…
what? That I’ll be healed? That the relationship will be restored? I’ll be reunited with my loved

2 - 9
THE AMAZING RACE
Your Spiritual Journey - Part 2 of 2

one? I’ll get to be in the presence of my heavenly Father? What is it that you would say, “I can
take it right now because someday this will be mine.”

As we conclude I want to leave you with one final thought. It comes from the gospel of John in
the New Testament. In this particular story there is a passage that is repeated in all four of the
gospels. It’s a story that you probably know. It’s a story of Jesus feeding the multitudes. In this
story the Bible says there are 5000 men not counting women and children. Jesus takes one little
boy’s lunch, five little barley loves of bread, two fish, He blesses it, gives it to the disciples.
They begin to pass it out. And the Bible says that the miracle was not only that everyone ate but
that everyone ate as much as they wanted.

The next day that crowd gets in some boats, go across the lake. They track Jesus down and they
come to Him and say, “Would You do another miracle for us?” The Bible says that Jesus knew
what was in their heart and Jesus said to them “The only reason you came and found Me today
was because I fed you yesterday. Life is more than food.” He went on to teach them about life
and about why He came. At the end of His teaching those people who were gathered around
Him said, “This is a hard teaching.”

Then the very next verse I think is one of the most tragic verses in the Bible. It says in v. 66 of
John 6 “From this time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.”

I have this picture in my mind Jesus delivering with passion the message that there is more than
just this life and when He gets done, people say, “No thanks,” and they turn and they begin to
walk away. Back to their lives of living for the here and now. And Jesus turns to the twelve
disciples that He had called and He says, “What about it? Are you going to leave Me too?”

I sort of imagine there’s this pause. Finally Peter breaks the silence. I love his response. He just
says “Where else would we go? You alone have the words of life and we know and believe that
You are the Holy One of God. Where else would we go?” I believe with all that is in me there
has to come a point in the journey and race of every single Christian who is a follower of Jesus
where you drive a stake in the ground and you cast your lot and you stand up and say, “With the
one and only life that God has given me I will persevere. No matter where it leads me, no matter
where the journey takes me, no matter what circumstances come in my life I have cast my lot. I
will follow Jesus for the rest of my days. I will not follow Him because He feeds me, because
He blesses me. I will not follow Him because I think in Him as the formula for a better life. I
will follow Him because He is who He says He is. And where else would I go?” Like Peter we
could say “We believe and know that You are the holy one of God. You alone have the words of
life.”

So when the race gets hard and it will, and when God seems distant and sometimes He will, and
when you can’t explain life and sometimes you won’t be able to you will go back and say, I’m in
this for the long haul. No matter who else drops out I want to finish well. Because the words
that we live for are the words that come to us when we get on the other side of this life and God
looks at us and He says, “Well done. You did a good job.” In that moment there will not be one
ounce of regret that we decided to finish the race well. Whatever sacrifice we made will pale in
comparison to the joy that will be ours in that moment. Stay the course.

2 - 10
THE AMAZING RACE
Your Spiritual Journey - Part 2 of 2

Prayer:

Lord, I pray on behalf of all of us including me. Help us to finish well. Help us to
persevere. When life gets hard, when the race gets tiring, help us not to give up. You alone
have the words of life. We believe and know that You’re the Holy One of God. Lord, we’re
weak so would You give us the ability and the courage to stay with the race until we finish.
We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

2 - 11