SERVANTS & SHOES HEBREWS 12:1-2 ASE July 9, 2006


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. The Message

Have you ever considered yourself to be an athlete? If you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, God says that you are a spiritual athlete. You are already running, whether you realize or not. (Turn to the person next to you and tell them, ?¨You??re in a race?Æ.) We need to remind each other. The issue is not IF we are running but HOW we are running that race of Faith. The race is OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE ?± and the crowd of witnesses is not just the saints above, but those on Earth, the people of Asheville who are asking, ?¨What is this Christian gonna do when he/she runs through the hurdles of life? What is the Gospel according to YOU??Æ That??s what people are looking at as you run your life & bear the name of Jesus. I can??t run that race for you-your next pastor can??t share the Gospel with people that only YOU would meet. But we can point you to the Lord of heaven and earth who will give you strength and joy to run that race. You have to figure out ?¨what am I going to do when I leave on Sundays??Æ Cuz You are the sermon beyond these walls.

Today God offers us two spiritual truths, 2 training tips that will help us RUN our race stronger, wiser, and closer to Jesus. It??s all about letting the Gospel of salvation shape you to run FREE and run FOCUSED?ñ

RUN FREE- Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily entangles us.
God says Lighten the load, throw off everything that hinders you living for Christ. What??s he talking about? In ancient days runners actually ran without any clothes at all! I know that sounds silly but they did it so that they wouldn??t trip or get caught on their clothing. God wants us to throw off the sin and selfish habits that can TRIP us up and keep us from living our Baptismal vows and being the Servants He created us to be.

Satan can so easily distract us: we??re running along and doing our thing, and satan says, ?¨Hey look at this, look at that girl in the stands waiving at ya, ooh yeah! Hey, look at that nice new car you can buy and put your family in debt. Look at this nice padded track I have, we serve cappuccinos all day.?Æ Satan is such a good deceiver, and his best Trick is for you to NOT know you are no longer running for God and the path He set out for you. Satan wants you to live for yourself, not for others.

Strip OFF everything that hinders you from living for Christ. The enemy??s job is to make you hold on to SIN. He wants you to forget that Jesus died for your sins and took away your punishment. And yet we are so bad at Running Free because we hold on to grudges and past mistakes. And Jesus says, ?¨I don??t understand this, I paid for those sins, why are you holding on to ALL THAT BAGGAGE??Æ
>>> There is a terrible story about a man who went out to play golf early one Saturday morning. His wife became concerned when he had not returned home by dinner time. It wasn??t until about midnight when he came through the front door, exhausted. ?¨Where have you been??Æ she demanded. ?¨I??ve been playing golf?Æ he replied. ?¨But that was 18 hours ago. What happened??Æ ?¨I was having the best game of my life. I was two under par when on the seventh hole Harry had a heart attack and died.?Æ His wife still didn??t understand. ?¨After that it was hit the ball, drag Harry - hit the ball drag Harry . . .?Æ We get so distracted with the wrong kind of goals and we burden ourselves with things God never wanted in our life.

Is there something or someone slowing you down in your spiritual race? Are you buying things you shouldn??t buy, are you loving things you shouldn??t love? Get rid of it! Jesus took the weight of our sins and nothing can hold you back. You can RUN FREE in the Gospel life set before you.

RUN FOCUSED- You gotta run for someone/something: 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.

Do you realize it is all about Jesus. Before you were born, it was about Jesus, before the world was created IWAJ. When you die--- it better be about Jesus as the focus of your whole forgiven life.

If you focus on the things that hinder you, you??re gonna fall. Remember Peter walking on the water headed towards Jesus. What happened? He took his eyes off the Lord and focused on the storm and then things only got worse from there. Whenever we give into our own worries and seek our own goals, we??re running for all the wrong reasons. We also have to Stay Away from the wrong influences: Mom always said about my choice of friends: ?¨If you sleep with the dogs, you wake up with fleas.?Æ

Many of you don??t know my home life. . . I was on same drugs that Pr. Nieting was probably on. . .I was ?¨drug?Æ to church/S.S./confirmation class--not on steroids, or cocaine, just high on God??s Word.
I want to thank each of you as a part of my extended church family for all the coaching you brought into my life though Servant Event! As a spiritual village, you help raise this child of God very well and gave me a love and a heart for my Savior by teaching me to wash feet like Jesus. That was the Focus I needed! Thank you for that opportunity and your support of our youth who continue to strengthen their faith here in Appalachia.

Something I learned from Pastor Don and Pastor John was the amazing God we have. Did you know that if Chris Fairbairn were the only sinner in all of history (all of you were perfect) John3:16 would still be true. Would Jesus still have gone to the cross IF ONLY for Christopher Fairbairn? [YES!]

Emmanuel has been running with the Gospel so faithfully, over 100 years??we in the pews today fill in the Shoes of those servants who have run before us. This family=great place to train in God??s Word, learning how to Run Free & Run Focused.

I don't know where you are in the race of life today. Maybe you are dangerously off course or close to quitting. Let me give some good news. Jesus says, ?¨ I offer you my forgiveness and new beginnings: you can run by the grace of God, forget about the past, I have! No matter how often you stumble I will be there with you. I will be the Ancient of Days, the One who wins the race for you and shares the Crown of Life.?Æ You picking up what I??m putting down?

You can not be content to just sit there and know you are saved. We are not people of the PEW, we are people of the Book, we are the seed of Abraham, we are the kids of the kingdom washed in the waters of baptism. The results are in-- You??ve won the ?¨Gospel Lottery?Æ and salvation is yours today. By God??s Grace there is still work to be done, and the outcome was well expressed in a letter from PD to the Servant Event when he wrote: ?¨Rest well in the knowledge that all of your work and time has helped?ñyoung people as well as people in [NC], to see their world, their God, their faith and themselves in some exciting new ways.?Æ

We can not just know that and sit there, God wants us to KEEP Running, Keep Serving and proclaiming that Sin & death are conquered! The Gospel of my Risen Lord Jesus changes me so that I am not only healed of my sins and declared NOT GUILTY before God, I am now a new creation ?± my past is forgotten and my future is Certain. And when you decide to show the Joy of your salvation beyond these walls, God will be Glorified, Jesus will be Magnified, and the devil will be plain terrified. Enuf said. Amen!