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How to Strengthen Your Faith, Even When You re Exhausted · Voice of Rick warren

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  Speaker 1: You can't be looking at the fact that you haven't
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  Speaker 1: had a job in a year or that your marriage
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  Speaker 1: is falling apart. You cannot simply look at the situation.
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  Speaker 1: You've got to look at the Savior. You can't look
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  Speaker 1: at the, as a victim, you've got to look at
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  Speaker 1: the victor. You can't look at the problem. You've got
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  Speaker 1: to look at the problem solver. You must keep your
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  Speaker 1: eye on Jesus. One of the important lessons of life
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  Speaker 1: is just three words. It's always something. You just need
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  Speaker 1: to know that. It's always something. You're either coming out
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  Speaker 1: of a problem or you're in the middle of a
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  Speaker 1: big problem or you're getting ready.
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  Speaker 2: To go into the next one.
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  Speaker 1: Because life is simply a series of problems, one after another.
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  Speaker 1: And because of that, you often get tired, you get fatigued,
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  Speaker 1: and you feel like giving up.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what we're gonna look at this weekend.
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  Speaker 1: Now this letter is old, but it's just as true
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  Speaker 1: today as it was when I got it. Dear Pastor Rick,
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  Speaker 1: If I could sum up my life in a single word,
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  Speaker 1: it would be the word conflict. It seems I have
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  Speaker 1: to fight for everything.
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  Speaker 2: Everything's a battle.
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  Speaker 1: A battle with my kids, a battle with my husband,
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  Speaker 1: a battle with my job, even my walk with the
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  Speaker 1: Lord is a battle. And we struggle in our home.
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  Speaker 1: We struggle with our money. We struggle with our intimate life.
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  Speaker 1: We struggle even just to understand each other. Plus I
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  Speaker 1: got all my internal battles, all my internal fears and
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  Speaker 1: the wars going on inside me. I can't seem to
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  Speaker 1: stick with stuff even when I know it's the right
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  Speaker 1: thing to do. Why is life so tough? Will the
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  Speaker 1: battle ever end? I hope so because sometimes I just
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  Speaker 1: feel like.
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  Speaker 2: Walking away from it all. It's a good question. Why
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  Speaker 2: is life so tough? Because it is, it is tough.
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  Speaker 1: You see, we're not in paradise anymore. John Milton wrote
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  Speaker 1: a poem about that, Paradise Lost. When Adam and Eve
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  Speaker 1: decided to disobey God, to rebel, when Adam and Eve decided,
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  Speaker 1: you know what, God, we think we know what will
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  Speaker 1: make us happier than you do.
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  Speaker 2: More than you do.
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  Speaker 1: And so we're gonna make our plan for our life,
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  Speaker 1: rather than your plan, sin entered the world and we
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  Speaker 1: lost paradise. And everything was broken by sin in the world.
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  Speaker 1: We've talked about this many times. We live in a
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  Speaker 1: fallen world. Nothing works perfectly on this planet. That's why
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  Speaker 1: we pray, thy will be done on earth as it
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  Speaker 1: is in heaven. Because God's will is done perfectly in heaven.
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  Speaker 1: It is never done perfectly on earth. Everything is broken.
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  Speaker 1: The weather is broken. That's why we have all of
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  Speaker 1: these cataclysmic freak accidents and tornadoes and hurricanes and stuff like,
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  Speaker 1: because the weather is broken. The economy is broken. Your
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  Speaker 1: body is broken. It doesn't work right. It's not a
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  Speaker 1: perfect body. It has problems with it. Every relationship is broken.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody has a perfect marriage. Nobody has perfect children. Nobody
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  Speaker 1: has perfect parents. Every family is broken. Nothing on this
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  Speaker 1: planet works perfectly except God's word, his truth.
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  Speaker 2: Now, that's enough to discourage you.
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  Speaker 1: But in addition to that, there is a cosmic battle
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  Speaker 1: going on in your life. It is an unseen war.
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  Speaker 1: There are forces that are meant to destroy your soul.
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  Speaker 1: The Bible calls these three enemies of your soul, the world,
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  Speaker 1: the flesh, and the devil. The first is the battle
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  Speaker 1: going on inside you, and that's the biggest one of all.
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  Speaker 1: It's the war inside you, because when you're at war
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  Speaker 1: with God, you're at war with yourself. And the war
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  Speaker 1: inside you is you have an old nature, a sinful
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  Speaker 1: nature that doesn't always want to do the right things.
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  Speaker 1: Do you ever do things that you know aren't good
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  Speaker 1: for you but you do them anyway?
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  Speaker 2: Yes. Have you ever done things.
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  Speaker 1: That were self-defeating that still you went ahead and did it?
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  Speaker 2: Yes. Have you ever made bad decisions? Yes.
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  Speaker 1: Have you ever done the thing that made the problem
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  Speaker 1: worse rather than better?
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: Are there habits in your life that you cannot seem
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  Speaker 1: to break free from? Yes, that's the battle within. The
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  Speaker 1: Bible calls it your flesh. It calls it your old nature.
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  Speaker 1: It wants to do the wrong thing. It's like don't
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  Speaker 1: touch the hot stove or don't touch the wet paint.
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  Speaker 2: What do you want to do? Touch it. Just to
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  Speaker 2: see what it's like. And that is the battle within.
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  Speaker 1: Then there's the battle around you and that is the world,
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  Speaker 1: that is our culture. Everything in our culture tears you down.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't build you up. The culture says if you're
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  Speaker 1: not the most beautiful or the most talented or the
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  Speaker 1: most perfect or the smartest person, you ain't worth squat.
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  Speaker 1: And if you're not the valedictorian, you're just an also-ran
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  Speaker 1: and really your life doesn't matter. And we glorify and
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  Speaker 1: idolize the top and forget 99.9999 of everybody else. And
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  Speaker 1: the world wants to pull you down and you have
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  Speaker 1: peer pressure at work, at school, from friends, from relatives
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  Speaker 1: to pull you in all kinds of directions that many
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  Speaker 1: times you don't even want to go those directions. And
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  Speaker 1: that's the battle around you. And then there's the battle
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  Speaker 1: against you. Satan is real. There is a real devil.
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  Speaker 1: Now he is not equal to God. He was created
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  Speaker 1: by God and he rebelled and God is in control.
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  Speaker 1: But Satan wants to destroy your life. Now Satan cannot
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  Speaker 1: hurt God. So the best way he can think of
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  Speaker 1: is to hurt God's children. And he wants to destroy
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  Speaker 1: your life. He wants to mess it up. He wants,
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  Speaker 1: he is committed to your failure in life. Now you
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  Speaker 1: don't have to be afraid of Satan if you know
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  Speaker 1: the right tools, you know the right defense, you know
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  Speaker 1: the right ammo to use. And that's why this summer
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  Speaker 1: we're gonna start a major series that I'm calling The
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  Speaker 1: Invisible War. It's an encouraging series that you really need
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  Speaker 1: this because everything is a battle and you need to
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  Speaker 1: know how to overcome the battles of life. Now the
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  Speaker 1: people in the Bible who won their battles, who finished
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  Speaker 1: the race well, who finished well in life are called
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  Speaker 1: God's Hall of Fame. And God's Hall of Fame is
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  Speaker 1: found in one chapter of the Bible. The book of
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  Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter 11. If you have your message notes, go
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  Speaker 1: ahead and take it out. In Hebrews chapter 11, it
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  Speaker 1: talks about all these great men and great women who
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  Speaker 1: made it through the battles of life. They fought the
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  Speaker 1: war and they won. They were victorious. They succeeded with
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  Speaker 1: their lives. Now it's a list of people that you've
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  Speaker 1: heard of many, many times. People like Noah and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
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  Speaker 1: Moses is mentioned, Joshua is mentioned. The Bible talks about
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  Speaker 1: David and Gideon and Samson and all of the prophets.
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  Speaker 1: And it just, there's a list in Hebrews 11 of
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  Speaker 1: the people who won the battles in their life. But
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  Speaker 1: at the end of Hebrews 11, at the beginning of
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  Speaker 1: chapter 12, it gives a passage for your encouragement. And
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  Speaker 1: it says, you know, just because you're living a life
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  Speaker 1: of faith doesn't mean you're gonna have a happy ending
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  Speaker 1: in every area of life. Just because you are doing
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  Speaker 1: the right thing and God is pleased with you, you're
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  Speaker 1: still gonna have some suffering. You're still gonna have some pain.
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  Speaker 1: You're still gonna feel like giving up. And it starts
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  Speaker 1: by talking about a group of other people who didn't
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  Speaker 1: see their prayers answered, who saw the promises that God
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  Speaker 1: had made to them delayed or unrealized, and who experienced
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  Speaker 1: great pain. In verse 35 of Hebrews 11, it says this.
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  Speaker 1: But others, talking besides the Abraham and Joseph and Moses,
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  Speaker 1: all these people, but others trusted God and they were tortured.
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  Speaker 1: preferring rather to die than to turn from God and
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  Speaker 1: be free. Did you know that more people died this
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  Speaker 1: last year? 14 million people were killed because of their
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  Speaker 1: faith in Jesus Christ around the world. People don't talk
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  Speaker 1: about that much. More people have died for their faith
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  Speaker 1: in the last 100 years than all previous 2,000 years combined.
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  Speaker 1: So torture is still going on of Christians today all
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  Speaker 1: around the world. It says, preferring to die rather than
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  Speaker 1: turn from God and be free. They placed their hope
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  Speaker 1: in the resurrection to a better life. They weren't just
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  Speaker 1: living for here and now. And then it goes on
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  Speaker 1: and tells us some of the things that people of
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  Speaker 1: faith have had to go through. Some were mocked and
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  Speaker 1: their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained
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  Speaker 1: in dungeons and some died by stoning and some were
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  Speaker 1: sawed in half and others were killed by the sword.
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  Speaker 1: Some went about in skins of sheep and goats, hungry
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  Speaker 1: and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world.
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  Speaker 1: I want God to be able to say that about you,
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  Speaker 1: that you were too good for this world. They wandered
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  Speaker 1: over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in
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  Speaker 1: the ground. And all of these people we've mentioned, they
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  Speaker 1: received God's approval. God was pleased with them because of
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  Speaker 1: their faith. Yet none of them received all that God
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  Speaker 1: had promised. For God had far better things in mind.
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  Speaker 1: God had far better things in mind. For us, that's
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  Speaker 1: us he's talking to right now, that would also benefit them.
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  Speaker 1: For they can't receive the prize at the end of
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  Speaker 1: the race until we.
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  Speaker 2: Finish the race. Whoa, now this is a heavy passage.
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  Speaker 1: I could spend the entire morning just on this, but
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  Speaker 1: I wanna get to the practical section in the next
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  Speaker 1: few verses. But I do wanna point out three important
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  Speaker 1: things that.
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  Speaker 2: This passage teaches us.
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  Speaker 1: First, it teaches us that faith does not spare me
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  Speaker 1: from pain. The health and wealth gospel that says if
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  Speaker 1: I just have enough faith, I'll never be sick. If
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  Speaker 1: I just have enough faith, I'll never have any debt.
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  Speaker 1: If I just have enough faith, I'll never have any problems.
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  Speaker 1: is a total bogus lie. The Bible does not teach that.
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  Speaker 1: The Bible teaches that some of the greatest tests of
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  Speaker 1: faith are when you are sick, when you are in debt,
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  Speaker 1: when you are in pain. That's when it's hard to
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  Speaker 1: trust God. It's easy to trust God when everything's going
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  Speaker 1: your way. The second thing it teaches is that some
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  Speaker 1: of God's promises will be fulfilled in eternity. Now we
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  Speaker 1: think all of God's promises have to be fulfilled here
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  Speaker 1: and now, because you're only thinking about the 80 or
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  Speaker 1: 90 or 100 years you're gonna live on this planet.
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  Speaker 2: But you were made to last forever.
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  Speaker 1: And God has all of eternity to fulfill his promises
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  Speaker 1: to you. And some of the promises that God has
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  Speaker 1: made in his word, he is going to fulfill them
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  Speaker 1: to you and to everyone else in all of eternity.
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  Speaker 1: He's got all of eternity to do it. He doesn't
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  Speaker 1: have to fulfill them all right now before you die.
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  Speaker 1: The third thing that we see from this passage is
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  Speaker 1: that we are runners in a far bigger grand historical
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  Speaker 1: relay race. Notice it says, they can't receive the prize
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the race until we finish the race.
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  Speaker 1: Now imagine this, your life is just one cog in
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  Speaker 1: a giant wheel. God has a plan to create a
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  Speaker 1: family that's gonna live with him forever. And he's been
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  Speaker 1: building this family for thousands of years. And the previous
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  Speaker 1: generation ran with the baton and handed it off to
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  Speaker 1: our generation. And now we are running with the baton
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  Speaker 1: the race that God has for us and we will
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  Speaker 1: hand it off to the next generation. And they will
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  Speaker 1: run the race God has for them until they hand
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  Speaker 1: it off to the next generation until God's timing is
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  Speaker 1: finished for history on this planet. Now, how absurd would
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  Speaker 1: it be if you're at the Olympics and you're watching the.
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  Speaker 2: 800 meter relay.
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  Speaker 1: And the guy who finishes the first 200 meters stops
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  Speaker 1: and says, may I have my gold medal now? And
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  Speaker 1: you say, time out, the race isn't finished. Well, I
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  Speaker 1: finished my part. Well, yes, you may have finished your part,
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  Speaker 1: but you're part of a relay. And you don't get
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  Speaker 1: the reward until everybody finishes. And then when you win
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  Speaker 1: at the end, your team wins, then you get the gold.
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  Speaker 1: Some of the rewards that God has planned for you,
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  Speaker 1: you're not going to get in this lifetime.
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  Speaker 2: They're going to come when the race is finished.
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  Speaker 1: And it says that the people who were before us,
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  Speaker 1: these Abrahams and Moses and Davids and Josephs and Joshua's
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  Speaker 1: and all these people, they can't receive the prize at
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  Speaker 1: the end of the race until we finish the race. So,
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  Speaker 1: how do we make sure that we finish the race.
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  Speaker 1: More specifically, how do we make sure you finish the
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  Speaker 1: race God has planned.
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  Speaker 2: For you so that you get the reward?
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  Speaker 1: That you don't give up 50 yards in because life
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  Speaker 1: isn't a 50-yard dash, it's a marathon. How do you
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  Speaker 1: make it to the end where God says, good job,
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  Speaker 1: that's my boy. Good job, that's my girl. Well, in
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  Speaker 1: the next passage, Hebrews chapter 12, it gives us six
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  Speaker 1: powerful keys to handling discouragement. What to do when you
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  Speaker 1: feel like giving up. Let's read it. It says in
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  Speaker 1: verse one, therefore, since we are surrounded, now remember, I
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  Speaker 1: always tell you, whenever you see a therefore in the Bible,
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  Speaker 1: you wanna find out what it's?
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  Speaker 2: Therefore, right.
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  Speaker 1: You can say, in light of what I've just said
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  Speaker 1: about Abraham and Moses and David and Joshua and Noah
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  Speaker 1: and all of these great people of the Bible, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: because of all these people, since we are surrounded by
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  Speaker 1: such a huge crowd of witnesses, these people are witnessing
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  Speaker 1: what's going on, to the life of faith, the one
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  Speaker 1: that we're living, let us strip off every weight that
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  Speaker 1: slows us down especially the sin that so easily hinders
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  Speaker 1: our progress, and let us run with endurance the race
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  Speaker 1: that God has set before us.
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  Speaker 2: Now we do this.
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  Speaker 1: By keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith
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  Speaker 1: depends from start to finish. He was willing to die
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  Speaker 1: a shameful death on the cross because of the joy
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  Speaker 1: he knew would be his Afterwards, he's looking past the
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  Speaker 1: cross to the joy in heaven. Now he's seated in
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  Speaker 1: the place of highest honor besides God's throne in heaven.
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  Speaker 1: Now think about all he, Jesus, endured when sinful people
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  Speaker 1: did such terrible things to him so you don't become
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  Speaker 1: weary and give up. When you feel like giving up,
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  Speaker 1: think about what he endured. After all, you have not
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  Speaker 1: yet given your lives in your struggle against sin. He says,
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  Speaker 1: I don't see you being a martyr. You haven't shed
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  Speaker 1: any blood for the faith. Now this is a very
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  Speaker 1: powerful passage with six key truths on what to do.
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  Speaker 2: When you feel like giving up.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what's been discouraging you. Maybe something, maybe
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  Speaker 1: you're out of work. Maybe something in a marriage or
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  Speaker 1: with your kids or a health issue. But whatever it is,
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  Speaker 1: you picked a good Sunday to come to church because
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  Speaker 1: we're gonna look at these very helpful steps.
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  Speaker 2: Now let's get right into it.
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  Speaker 1: Number one, the first thing God teaches us in Hebrews
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  Speaker 1: 12 is that when I feel like giving up, I
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  Speaker 1: need to remember heaven is watching me. Remember that heaven
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  Speaker 1: is watching me. Now I don't want to spend a
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  Speaker 1: whole lot of time on this, but you have an
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  Speaker 1: audience in heaven watching your life, not just God. Now
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  Speaker 1: we know that God is watching your life. We know
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  Speaker 1: the Bible says in Job 31 four, he sees everything
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  Speaker 1: I do and every step I take. God has never
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  Speaker 1: missed anything in your life. God saw you being formed
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  Speaker 1: in your mother's womb. He saw you take your first breath.
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  Speaker 1: He saw you take your first step. He has seen
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  Speaker 1: everything and heard every thought you've ever had. He knows
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  Speaker 1: the good and the bad and the ugly and he
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  Speaker 1: still loves you. The Bible says he has every hair
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  Speaker 1: on your head counted. The Bible says the eyes of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
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  Speaker 1: that in him, before him, all things are naked and unseen.
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  Speaker 1: And the Bible tells us that God is aware of
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  Speaker 1: everything in your life, so obviously God's watching, but more
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  Speaker 1: than that, Verse one says this, therefore, in light of Abraham, Moses,
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  Speaker 1: all these guys, since we are surrounded by such a
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  Speaker 1: huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith. Now
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  Speaker 1: that's a pretty heavy thought to think of the fact
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  Speaker 1: that Abraham may be watching your life. And Moses may
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  Speaker 1: be watching your life. Or Joshua may be watching your life.
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  Speaker 1: and seeing how you're doing in your battles. And I'm
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  Speaker 1: sure Noah's going, you think you had a tough one?
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  Speaker 2: I had to build an ark.
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  Speaker 1: And Moses going, you think what you're going through right
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  Speaker 1: now is tough? I had to lead a million complaining
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  Speaker 1: spiritual babies out of slavery. And Abraham said, you think
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  Speaker 1: you're going through stuff? I had to leave my home
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  Speaker 1: at age 80 and pack up my entire family and
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  Speaker 1: move to a country I had never seen and been
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  Speaker 1: to and start over at 80. You think you're going
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  Speaker 1: through a tough time? This is the cloud of witnesses.
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  Speaker 1: But they're not there to judge you. They're there to
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  Speaker 1: encourage you. They want you to succeed. They want you
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  Speaker 1: to win. You have an audience. What am I saying?
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  Speaker 1: Nothing you do in your life is really private. Nothing
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  Speaker 1: you do in your life is personal. Nothing you do
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  Speaker 1: in your life is a secret. Heaven is watching. Since
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  Speaker 1: we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses
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  Speaker 1: to this life of faith, we need to not give
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  Speaker 1: up because we know people who've already been there, done that,
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  Speaker 1: gone through it, and some of them much, much worse
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  Speaker 1: than things we've gone through, and they made it, and
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  Speaker 1: they're pulling for us. The Bible tells us that in heaven,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is praying for you.
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  Speaker 2: Did you know that? Jesus is praying for you to
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  Speaker 2: make it. Now, number two.
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  Speaker 1: The second thing we need to do when we feel
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  Speaker 1: like giving up is we need to eliminate what doesn't matter.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: If I'm gonna make it to the end of the race,
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: I need to.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Take off any extra clothing, any extra heavy things, any
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: responsibilities that are holding me back and eliminate what doesn't matter. Now,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: the Bible says in the second part of verse one,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: because we're surrounded by this crowd of witnesses, let us
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: strip off.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: Every weight that slows us down.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. Now
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: circle weight and circle sin because these are the two
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: things that hold you back, sins and weights. These are
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: the two things that discourage you, sins and weights. These
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: are the two things that keep you from completing the race,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: sins and weights.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Now what's a weight?
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: A weight obviously is not a sin because it's different.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: A weight could be a good thing.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: A weight is anything that slows me down. You might
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: write that down.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: A weight is anything in my life that slows me
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: down in God's race for me. It can be a
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: good thing. It could be a relationship. It could be
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: a job. It could be an activity. It could be
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: a sport that you're spending too much time with and
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: it's slowing you down.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: From what you were put on this planet to do.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: It's a good thing.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Have you realized, have you learned that some things are
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: not necessarily wrong, they're just not necessary? Have you learned
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: that you don't have time to do every good thing
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: in life? That just because it's a good thing doesn't
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: mean you should do it? It's like money, just because
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: you can afford it doesn't mean you should buy it.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: You need to learn the discipline of saying no. That's
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: a strong thing for growing up spiritually. That just because
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: I can afford it doesn't mean I'm gonna buy it.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: And just because it's a good thing doesn't mean I
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: should do it. You can drown in good things. You
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: can be overwhelmed by good things. You can get discouraged
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: by too many things in your life that are a
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: good thing to do, but you're.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: Trying to do too much. If you are burning the
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: candle at both ends, you're not as bright as you
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: think you are.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: And you've filled your schedule and you've packed it, would
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: you agree it's easier to fill a schedule than to
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: fulfill it?
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: How many would agree with that? Yeah.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: And so, you must learn to say no to good things.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Some things aren't bad, they're just, you can't do every
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: good thing. You might write this down. To grow, I
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: must say no. To grow, I must say no. You've
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: gotta learn the two letters in the middle of the alphabet, N-O.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: And that's gonna free up a lot of time. You've
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: gotta lay aside the weights, the things that hold you back. Now,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: a weight could be a memory. Some of you are
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: stuck in the past, and it's either a positive memory,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: and you don't wanna get out of it, or it's
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: a negative memory, and you wanna hold onto it. And
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: you can't get on with your life, because you're stuck
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: in the past.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: That's a weight. A memory. A tradition can be a weight.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: We've always done it this way in our family, but
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: families change. And so you may have to do it
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: in a new way. A tradition can be a weight.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: It's not a bad thing, it's just a tradition. An
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: unrealistic expectation can be a weight. What you're expecting of
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: yourself is totally unrealistic. Or maybe it's an unrealistic expectation
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: put on you by your parents. or by your partner,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: or by peers, or by professionals, and the people around you,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: and you're living for the approval of other people. Peer pressure,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: you need to declutter your life. You need to lay
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: aside every weight. When something is not going right, when
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: you start to get discouraged, when you feel like you've
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: stopped making progress, it's time for a little personal evaluation.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: And you do a little spring cleaning and you clean
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: out the clutter spiritually in your life or whatever you
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: need to do. Now you know that insanity is doing
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: the same thing over and over and over and expecting
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: different results. That's the definition of insanity, doing the same
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: thing over and over and expecting it to be different.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Now it says you also want to lay aside the sins.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Now what's a sin? A sin is.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Knowing what to do and not doing it. You may
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: write that down. A sin is knowing what to do
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: and not doing it. It's not like you don't know
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: what to do. You know the right things to do
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: in your life. You just don't do it. You know
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: what the Bible says about money. You know what the
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Bible says about time. You know what this Bible says
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: about eating and sex and every other thing in your life.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: You just don't do it. And as a result, we
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: get further and further in trouble.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Then number three, I must run God's race for me,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: not other people's race for me. I must run God's
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: race for me, not others' race. You see, God loves you,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: and everybody else has a wonderful plan for your life.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: And they would love for you to run their race.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: The only thing is, God doesn't give you energy to
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: run other people's races. He only gives you the energy
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: to do what he put you on earth to do. Now,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: the third part of verse one says this. Let us
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: strip off every weight and all the things that hinder us,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the sin, and let us run with endurance the race
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: that God has set before us. Circle the phrase God
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: has set before us. God hasn't promised to bless your
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: plan for your life. He's promised to bless his plan
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: for your life, what he put you on this planet
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: to do. Now, let me just tell you, if you
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: try to run somebody else's race, you're gonna fail. You're
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: going to lose. You're not gonna make it to the
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: finish line. You're gonna tire and give up. Because God
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: doesn't give you the strength to run other people's race.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: You are to run the race God meant for you
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: to run. And you gotta stop caring so much about
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: the approval of others and living for their approval. And
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: you've gotta be who God made you to be. You say, well, Rick,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: that's great. How do I know the race that's my race?
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: How do I know the one that I'm supposed to run?
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: It's real simple. Look at your shape, look at your shape.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Spiritual gifts, S, H, your heart, A, your abilities, P,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: your personality, E, your experiences, good, bad, and ugly. God
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: doesn't expect rabbits to fly. And God doesn't expect eagles
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: to swim. And God doesn't expect fish to run. They're
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: shaped to do what they are meant to do, and
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: you're shaped to do what you're meant to do, and
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: when people try to get you to run your race,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: it's like a fish.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Trying to fly.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: It isn't gonna work, and you're gonna get discouraged, and
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: you're gonna get tired. Number four, I must focus on Jesus,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: not my circumstances. If I'm gonna make it to the
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: end of the race, if I want to, Make it
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: to the end. I want to be all that God
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: wants me to be, and I don't want to get discouraged,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: give up in the middle of the race. I need
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: to focus on Jesus, not my circumstances. We are to
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: run with endurance the race God set before us. And
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: how do we run it? It says, next verse, we
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, not the road,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: on Jesus, not the crowd, on Jesus. on Jesus, not
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: the critics, on Jesus, in whom our faith depends from
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: start to finish. You know, when they're teaching a dog
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: at obedience school, they'll put a dog at one end
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: of the room, and they'll put the master at the
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: other end of the room, and between the puppy and
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: the master, they put a bowl of food. And then
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: the master is to call the puppy. If the puppy
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: spies the food, he's a goner. He's going straight to
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: the food because he's distracted by it.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: He's tempted.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: And so in obedience school, they teach dog to keep their.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: Eyes on the master.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: That's what you gotta do. You can't be looking at
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: your bank book balance. You can't be looking at the
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: fact that you haven't had a job in a year
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: or that your marriage is falling apart. You cannot simply
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: look at the situation. You've got to look at the Savior.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: You can't look at the, as a victim, you've got
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: to look at the victor. You can't look at the problem.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: You've got to look at the problem solver. You must
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: keep your.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: Eye on Jesus. You say, Rick, you don't know what
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: I'm going through. What I'm going through right now is unendurable.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Friend, the only way you will be able to endure
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: the unendurable is to keep your eye on the invisible.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: If you look at, Corrie Ten Boom said it like this.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Corrie and her sister Betsy were incarcerated in Auschwitz because
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: they were Christians in Holland. and she wrote a book
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: about this, The Hiding Place, and they hid Jews in
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: their home to protect the Jews during World War II
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: from the Nazis. And one day they found the Jews
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: and they not only took the people they were hiding,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: but they took Corrie and her entire family and took
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: them to Auschwitz too. Betsy died there in the death camp.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Corrie later wrote, if you look at the world, you'll
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: you look at Christ, you'll be at rest. It all
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: depends on what you've got your eyes on. It's all
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: a matter of perspective. You can only do the impossible
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: if you see the invisible. We keep our eyes on Jesus.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: What does that mean? It means I remember God's goodness
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: to me in the past. I remember God's closeness to
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: me in the present. I remember God's promise of power
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: for me in the future. And I get my mind
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: off my discouraging circumstances. I can either worry or I
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: can worship. I can panic or I can pray. One
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: of my favorite verses is Jonah 2.7. You know the
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: story of Jonah. God said, Jonah, I want you to
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: go to Nineveh. which was over in Syria, and he said,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: I want you to preach there.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: And Jonah didn't want to.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Do that, because he hated it. He was racially prejudiced
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: against them. So he gets on board a boat going
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: as far the opposite direction, east as possible, and goes
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: to a seaport on the coast of Spain. And you
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: know the story that God planned a little Mediterranean.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: Cruise for Jonah.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: The sailors throw him overboard, and it says a great
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: fish swallows him up. Now, by the way, it doesn't
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: say in the Bible whale. It does not use that term.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: It says a great fish. If God wanted to create
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: a one-in-a-lifetime fish with an apartment building in it, God
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: could do that. I don't have a problem with a
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: God who, if he can create the universe, he can
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: create anything he wants.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: Okay, really, if you believe.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: God can create a universe, you don't have a problem
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: God creating anything he wants to create for as long
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: as he wants to create it. But while Jonah is
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: at the bottom of the ocean and he's helpless and
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: he's hopeless, in Jonah chapter two he repents and he
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: cries out to God and in Jonah 2.7 he says this.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: When I had lost all hope, I once again turned
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: my thoughts to the Lord. That's a verse to memorize.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Jonah 2.7. When I had lost all hope, I once
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: again turned my thoughts to the Lord.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: To the Lord.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Now, the fifth point is one that Rob perfectly models,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: and it's this. If I want to overcome my discouragement,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: I must minimize the pain and maximize the profit.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: I must minimize the.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Pain and maximize the profit, the future reward, the benefit
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: of keeping on keeping on. Everything that's worth doing has
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: some pain to it. Getting in shape has some pain
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: to it. Getting in spiritual shape has some pain to it.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Getting out of debt has some pain to it. Getting
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: an education has some pain to it. Anything worthwhile has
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: some temporary pain in order for there to be long-term benefit, reward,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: or payoff. The Bible says this about Jesus dying on
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: the cross. Verse two, the second part. He was willing
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: to die a shameful death on the cross because of
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: the joy he knew would be his afterwards.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Circle the word afterward.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: He's looking past the pain to the payoff. And what
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: would that payoff be? Your salvation. You could have your
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: sins forgiven. I could have my sins forgiven. We could
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: go to heaven because of what Jesus would do on
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: the cross for us. He knew he could handle the
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: death because of the joy that would be his afterwards.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: And now he is seated in the place of highest
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: joy and highest honor besides God's throne in heaven. You
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: minimize the pain. In fact, write this down. You want
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: to play it down and pray it up. The pain,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: you play it down and you pray it up. You say,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: this is not that big a deal. People have gone
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: through worse problems than I'm going through right now. I
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: could give you, let me just take you on a
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: trip around the world. Most people would love to have
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: your problems. So play it down, it's not that big
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: a deal. It's not the end of the world, I'm
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: still alive. My mind still is here, I'm still free.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: Play it down and pray it up. Let me give
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: you a biblical example of this. In the book of
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: 2 Corinthians, in chapter 11, Paul lists all the pain
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: he went through in order to do his race, to
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: follow the plan God has for his life. And it's
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: not a happy list. Listen to this, 2 Corinthians 11.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: Paul says, I've worked hard. I've been put in jail
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: more often. I've been whipped times without number. I've faced
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: death again and again and again. Five times I was
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: given 39 lashes. Imagine that, if you've been whipped 39
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: times and five, five times 39 would be the number
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: of lash marks on your back. Can you imagine the
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: scars on his back? Five times I was given 39 lashes,
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: three times I was shipwrecked, once I spent a whole
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: night and a day adrift at sea, I've traveled many
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: weary miles. I've faced dangers from flooded rivers and from
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: robbers and I've faced dangers for my own people as
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: well as the Gentiles. I've faced dangers in the cities
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: and in the deserts and on stormy seas. I've faced
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: dangers from men who claim to be Christians but aren't.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: I've lived with weariness. I've lived with.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: Pain and I've lived with sleepless nights. I've often been
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: hungry and thirsty and gone without food, and I've often
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: shivered without cold, without enough clothing to.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: Keep me warm.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Paul said, I went through all of this in order
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: to be a missionary to the entire Roman Empire.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: Now, that's what he went through.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Then you go back in the same book, and in
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: chapter four, you can read, this is what he says
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: about it, his perspective on it. In light of all this,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: we do not lose heart.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: We don't give up.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Though outwardly we're wasting away, yet inwardly we're being renewed
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: Now he calls all that he went through light and
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: momentary troubles.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: Would you call that light and momentary troubles? Yes. I'd
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: call that life a disaster.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: If I'd been in prison that many times, been beaten
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: that many times, whipped that many times, shipwrecked, cold, thirsty, hungry, robbed,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: beaten up, bruised, stoned. And he goes, now, these light
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: and momentary afflictions.
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: What? That is a matter of perspective.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: He said, this stuff is small potatoes compared to the
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: reward I'm gonna get in heaven. Play it down and
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: pray it up. Minimize the pain of doing the right thing. Yes,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: staying in that marriage and getting counseling will cause you
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: some pain. But it's much more rewarding to resolve a
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: relationship than to dissolve a relationship.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: Stay in it. Don't give up.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: And he says, I'm gonna have these rewards forever. You
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: maximize the reward. What's the reward? Oh, just eternal life.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: And by the way, how long does that one last?
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: Forever. And what's it worth? Priceless.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: Priceless, and nobody can take it away from you once
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: you've got it, your salvation. So in light of this,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: let's all read Galatians 6 verse nine together, and let's
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: read it slowly aloud. Let us not become weary in
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: doing good, for at the proper time we will reap
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: a harvest if we do not give up. Now, circle
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: the phrase proper time. God says we will reap a
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: harvest at the proper time if we do not give up.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: But what I've learned is that the proper time is
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: not my time. Because my time is I always want
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: the harvest now, today, instantly. I want a microwave harvest.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: The law of the harvest is real simple. You plant
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: in one season and you eat the fruit in another season.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: You do not plant one day and then eat the
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: fruit the very next day. That has never happened. You
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: plant one day and then you go through the seasons. Winter, spring, summer,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: or fall, all you gotta do is call.
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: He'll be there.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Now, you plant in one season, you reap in another.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: If you plant good things in your life, you will
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: reap the harvest from that good works later on, but
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: not instantly. If you start planting the seeds of a
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: daily quiet time, you're going to reap the benefit of
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: it in your life, but it's gonna be in another season.
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: If you start tithing.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: Your income, you're going to reap the benefit from it,
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: but it's gonna be in another season. If you start
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: disciplining the way you eat, you're gonna reap the benefit
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: from it in another season. If you do anything good,
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: you share the good news with a friend at work,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: you're gonna reap the benefit from it for eternity. Now
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: some of you are not in the planting season. You're
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: in summer and the heat's on. And you're burning up.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: And you're thinking, I'm dying.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: I wanna give up.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: And some of you have gotten into the fall and
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: you're in the fall season, and all the leaves have
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: fallen off, and you look pretty barren. And you go,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: nothing's going on in my life right now. I feel
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: dead inside. And some of you, even though it's summer,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: you're in a spiritual winter. And in the spiritual winter,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: it's frozen, and it's cold, and it's gloomy, and it's stormy,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: and it's.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: Windy, and there's nothing, no fruit on your branches. But
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: you're putting down roots. You can't see it, but you're
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: putting down roots. Hang on.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Spring's coming again. In 1981, I was depressed the entire year.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: I was overwhelmed with the responsibilities of this church. It
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: was the second year of Saddleback. I was still quite young.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: And I just thought, I'm not confident enough to handle this.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: And really, it scared me. And I was overwhelmed by
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: the responsibility of this church. And for an entire year,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: I went through a period of depression and God had
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: to teach me some things in that darkness that would
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: prepare me to handle enormous amounts of stress later on.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: You don't just get this overnight. And God had to
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: take me through a year, the dark year, in order
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: to prepare me for other good, better years.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: And I remember on.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: Saturday, each Saturday, I'd like to drive down to Laguna Beach.
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: And I would sit at the beach, kind of calming
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: my mind and clearing my mind and getting ready for
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: the message on Sunday. And I would just watch the ocean.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: And one of the great truths that I learned that
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: year was this. The tide goes out, but it always
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: comes back in. The tide goes out, but it always
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: comes back in. And when the tide goes out, the
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: beach is ugly. And you can see driftwood and exposed
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: rocks and junk and all kinds of things. It doesn't
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: look that very good, but it's coming back in. The
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: tide may be out in your life right now, You
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: may have been out of work for a long, long time.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: Are you going to trust God? You say, you know,
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: I've been waiting so long. I've been waiting to get married.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: I've been waiting to have a baby. I've been waiting
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: to feel better.
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: I've been waiting.
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: I've been waiting on and on and on and on.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: The tide goes out, but it always comes back in.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: Will you trust God? This is the sixth thing you
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: need to do. and that is remember what Jesus did
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: for me. Remember the suffering he went through when I'm suffering.
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: Remember what he endured, not for his own sake, but
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: what he endured for my sake. on the cross, and
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: he says when you are enduring a tough time, you
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: need to think about the attacks and the criticisms Jesus experienced.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: Think about the abuse and the cruelty Jesus went through.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: Think about the meanness and the torture and the painful
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: death he went through, not for his benefit, but for you.
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: Verses three and four.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: Think about all he endured when sinful people did such
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: terrible things to him.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: That's what you think about.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: What he endured so that you don't become weary and
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: give up. After all, you have not yet given your
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: lives in your struggle against sin. You need to think
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: about what Jesus has done for you when you're going
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: through a tough time. Now, I don't know what you're
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: going through, but I do know this. It's a test
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: of faith. It's a test of faith. It's a test
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: of faith. God, as I said, it's easy to trust
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: God when things are going great. It's when life doesn't
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: go great that faith is proven. And so my question is,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: will you endure? Will you finish the race? Will you
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: finish well? My question is this, what have you started
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: that you need to finish? What is it that you've
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: started that you need to finish and not give up
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: in the middle of it? You know, a year before
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: Paul wrote the book to the Corinthian church, the Corinthian
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: church did basically like a decade of destiny offering where.
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: They did an offering.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: They said, we're gonna take up an offering for the
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: church at Jerusalem. Now in those days, no church was
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: going through good times. It was all tough times. But
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: they said, we're gonna take up an offering to help
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: the church at Jerusalem. And a year later, they had
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: made the commitment, but they still hadn't given it. And
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: Paul wrote this to them. 2 Corinthians 8, finish what
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: you started a year ago. What did you start a
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: year ago? For you were first to begin doing something
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: about it, now you should carry this project to completion
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: just as enthusiastically as you began it. Give whatever you
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: can according to what you have. So I ask you again,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: what commitments have you made that you need to complete?
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I really don't know what it is
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: in your life that you need to finish what you start,
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: but God does.
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: So I want us to bow our heads right now.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: And with your head bowed, I want you to ask
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: God what you need to complete.
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: Say, God, I don't want to be a loser. I
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: don't want to be a quitter. I don't want to
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: stop in the middle of the race.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: I want to finish what what I started and if
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: he tells you something or tells you a couple of things,
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: I want you to write it down on.
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: Your outline right now because if.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: You don't write it down, you'll forget it and even
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: after we've talked about it, you won't do anything. Write
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: down one or two things that you need to finish,
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: that you made a commitment to do that you haven't
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: been faithful in doing. Now follow me in this prayer.
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: Dear God, help me to remember that heaven is watching me,
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: that there is a crowd of witnesses observing my life.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: Help me to declutter my life, to eliminate what doesn't matter,
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: to focus on what matters most. Help me to lay
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: aside the weights and the sins that are slowing me down,
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: holding me back, and causing me to want to feel
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: like giving up. I want to run your race for me,
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: not somebody else's race. I want to be exactly what
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: you intend for me to be, not what other people
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: expect me to be. Help me to focus, Jesus, on you,
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: not my problems, not my debts, not my circumstances, not
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: my pain, Help me to focus on you, Jesus, keeping
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: our eyes on him whom our faith depends from start
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: to finish. I want to minimize the pain and maximize
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: the profit. Help me to play it down and pray
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: it up. To not become weary in doing good, but
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: to wait for the right season when I see the harvest. Jesus,
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: most of all, I want to thank you for what
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: you do did for me, how you suffered and what
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: you endured so that I could be forgiven and I
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: could be saved and I could go to heaven and
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: I could.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: Be in your family.
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: If you've never invited Jesus Christ into your life, say,
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, come into my life right now. I want
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: to love you and trust you and serve you. I
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: want to get to know you from this day forward.
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: In your name I pray, amen.