Run your race

First two installments in the series:

1. Remember, to have hope.

2. Released, to find freedom.
   

Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV) 

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

• The author is not describing a marathon, he’s describing a relay race.

• If you are a follower of Jesus there is a call of God on your life and a race for you to run. Here’s what I mean by that…

  • God is doing something in the Earth.

  • Anyone who says yes…

• There is something God wants you to do in line with what he’s doing in the world.

1. You have a race to run

   1. David’s call began early in his life – Take care of the sheep.

   2. In the beginning, the call may seem insignificant.

   3. One of the most important lessons to learn in running your race is that great  faith is built on a mountain of little yes’s.

   4. If the thing God is calling me to can be small enough for me to miss it, how do I know God is calling me to it?

Get Close

1 Kings 19:11-13

11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

• “Perhaps God’s native tongue is a whisper.”

  • Q: How do you hear someone if they’re whispering?
    A: Get close.

  • Your first and foremost calling is to intimacy with God.

• Seek Wise Counsel

  • One to One

• Look for the uncomfortable good

  • Moses: Most of his race was leading a stubborn people through an inhospitable desert for 40 years of spiritual formation.

  • By the end of it, he said he would rather be in the desert with God than in the promised land without him.

• 2. Run with Endurance

  • David was ready to give up

  • I want to speak to the person listening today who is afraid to step into their calling or has walked away from their calling because they’re held back by the sin and their guilt.

  • I’ve been there too.

  • There is no such thing in the kingdom of God as broken beyond use.

  • Your scars and your limp become your testimony, and someone else is going to be able to endure because they saw how God worked with you despite your limp.