Services | A Winning Strategy

Bulletin

Hymn # 33 “To God Be the Glory”

SCRIPTURE READING – 1 Corinthians 10:31

Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate

Praise and Worship
“Hallelujah for Every Broken Heart”
“Mighty to Save”
“10,000 Reason (Bless the Lord)”

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“A Winning Strategy”

PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection

“Love Is War”
Praise You Anywhere”


Sermon Notes
Hebrews 12:1 – 3 Keep eyes on Jesus and drop the weights
1 Corinthians 9:24 – 27 Compete to win, exercise self-control, run with an aim, and discipline your body
Philippians 3:13 & 14 Forget the past, reach forward to the future and press on to win the prize

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

I have a question for you, but before you answer it immediately because there's going to be a two part to the question. The first part is, do you like to win? But the second part is, are you hate losing more? Most people probably hate losing more than they like to win. The reason for that is that they rarely do what is necessary to win consistently. To have the dedication and the commitment that's necessary to win. When it comes to spiritual matters, most people don't even think about winning. They just think about, well, they're either going to heaven or they're not, or there is no heaven or there's not. But Christians rarely think about winning when it comes to spiritual matters. The scriptures talk about winning the race. But there's a strategy that's a part of that and you really win unless you have a strategy. Whether it's the war or a board game or athletic competition, you need a strategy. The scriptures give us a strategy for winning in spiritual matters.

There's nothing we can do by our works to add to our salvation. There's nothing that we can do to subtract by our works from our salvation. Our salvation is secured by Jesus's works on the cross and his resurrection.

However, the scriptures do teach things and they use examples, metaphors, similes, allegories, to use human events to try to teach spiritual matters. So Jesus would talk about agriculture because it was an agricultural society. So we talk about seeds and sheep and those types of things. He'd also talk about the culture and slaves and masters and to use those examples to teach spiritual matters. The writer of Hebrews and Paul also uses athletic competition to teach some spiritual matters, which is interesting because we seem to kind of ignore that. We are, we baptist elites are so that we are saved by grace through faith that we tend to sit and wait for him to come and take us to heaven.

And that's not what the scriptures tell us to do. And so he's going to use an athletic example.

Now, people are different.

Some people really, really, really like winning.

And it doesn't matter whether it's an athletic competition or a board game or amassing the most amount of money or whatever it is, they like winning. Other people say they like winning, but in reality, what they do is they hate losing more.

And so they do whatever they do to avoid losing. But if you want to be a winner, there are certain things that are required of a winner. That is dedication, that is commitment, that is concentration and sacrifice.

Using again, athletic competition. For instance, there are those, for instance, like basketball players who will shoot baskets before practice, have practice and then shoot 100 baskets after practice because they want to win and they are committed to their

profession of basketball. There are those, for instance, in football who use draft schemes and strategies to defeat the other team because the other team may be weak in the pass or the run and you develop strategies for that. And even in racing, whether it's human racing or horse racing, you'll hear about strategies about whether you should jump out and lead the pack or whether because of your particular abilities that you should hang back and then kick harder at the end and whatever. And sometimes the race is won or lost by the strategy that you implore.

And so, for instance, you might jump out ahead thinking, OK, but then the race is much faster than you anticipate and then you run out of gas at the end. So strategy is important.

But most people don't think about strategies. They have goals and they'll set goals. And sometimes they do nothing other than to set goals because some self-help books tell you to set goals. And so they'll set goals. But they institute no strategy to achieve those goals and to win.

And in spiritual matters, again, we tend to not thinking about winning or losing because whether we get to heaven by the skin of our teeth or not, that's good enough because heaven is like real estate. It's location, location, location. Just the fact that you're there is good enough. But the scriptures do not teach that it's just good enough to get there.

And so I want us to take a look at the scriptures about this and develop a winning strategy in our spiritual lives. So if you have your Bibles and you should turn to Hebrews, chapter 12, we'll start with verse one. Now, while you're doing that, basically, chapter 11 talks about the Hall of Fame of Faith and it gives the various people, Abraham and Sarah and all kinds of people and what they did to merit being in the honor roll of faith. Now, what is awesome about the honor roll of faith is that when you look at all the people that are mentioned in the honor roll of faith, they are not perfect.

Even Abraham, who Jesus says to be a believer is to be the seed of Abraham. So you think, OK, he's no, no. He laughed when God told some things, see whatever. So there are these things he told kings that Sarah was his his sister and whatever so that he would avoid certain things. So he was not perfect. And so when we look at the honor roll of faith, we're not looking at perfect people.

Therefore, all of us can, and I hope after this message, try to attempt to be in that honor roll of faith.

And so the writer of Hebrews says this, therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us.

Now, a lot of people look at this is because there's a whole bunch of people who are mentioned in chapter 11 that what they're saying is this, there's like this stadium and all these people who have gone on before are watching us compete. I don't believe that's what it means.

What I believe it means is because there have been other people who have lived before and have said, you can do this because I did. They are witnesses that it can be done. So kind of it's the kind of the same thing as a successful and well known quarterback, as they're using a lot of younger people. Younger people today like to use the number 15 because he's well known, he's successful and he has great ability as a quarterback. And so everybody wants to emulate being number 15. Well, not that many people can emulate 15, but they want to.

My grandkids have number 58, which probably means nothing to you, but they understand a history of Kansas City Chiefs. And so that's. This isn't about the Kansas City Chiefs, so that's as far as I'll go, but but they make these statements of the number because they want to reflect that.

So this is what it sounds is that it has been done before there is a great cloud of witnesses who say, run, get in the race. So it says so because of that, let us also lay aside every encumbrance.

So the first part of our strategy is to lay aside in conferences, which means we don't need to be carrying around stuff.

When you are.

Preparing and and training for some athletic competition, for instance, you may put weights around your legs so that when you run, it strengthens the legs and the muscles and you do these things. But when you're in the actual race, you don't have encumbrances. You don't have weights because they take away from you. And so the writer of Hebrews saying, because you're not training, this is the race.

You're not life is not a.

Practice for life, it is life.

We are involved in the race. So I said, so lay aside these encumbrances. So whatever sent or whatever shame or guilt or difficulty or fear, he goes, drop it.

It's hard enough to win a race when you just have yourself. Why do you need to carry extra weight?

So the first thing we need to do to have a winning strategy is dump all the excess baggage.

Number two, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us.

So I want you to get kind of this image of a rope or a wire or a string, whatever kind of wrapped around you. When you're trying to run that hinders you. You cannot make the full stride because you've got this. Because you've got this. And it's funny, even the slightest little entanglement can. If you don't have your shoe tied, you could trip over your shoelaces and fall down or at least stumble. So he's saying sin is that kind of thing that is going to cause you to not hit your stride because you're going to have it entangle you. So you're going to be shortened or it's going to cause you to strip and fall and then be bruised and battered and bloodied. And you're thinking about the owee rather than the race. So he goes, get rid of those entanglements. So get rid of the encumbrances and lay aside sin because it easily entangles us.

And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

So I want to go to the last part of the story. Notice the race that is set before us. Like it or not, you're in the race.

You can choose to kind of hang out at the starting gate or you can run to the finish line.

But you're in the race.

And that unfortunately is why people think, well, I've been saved by grace.

Therefore, I just hang out at the starting gate. No, no, the scriptures tell us we have a race that has been set before us. Your race may be a little different than my race, but we're both in the race.

So I want you to again, beware of that, that you're in this race. Yes, we are saved by grace. But God is expecting something from us, not to add to or subtract from our salvation, but to take what he has given us and to use it to the maximum of the fit. So he goes, so that we are to run with endurance.

Too many people want to give up when it's difficult.

Using the race as an example, you'll hear people who run marathons and whatever, or if you're not as have as much endurance after you run a mile, there is a sense of all of a sudden your body is crying out and they're saying, stop, and your lungs are, and because your lungs are expanding, your diaphragm is pushing against you, and your ribs are hurting and whatever. And everything in your body is saying, quit, quit.

This is when you need to basically mind over matter and say, no, I'm going to run with endurance, I'm going to keep one step after the next step after the next step. And there is in the racial racism, sounds like I'm talking about racism, sounds like I'm talking about racism.

In the midst of the race, there is what you call a second wind. All of a sudden, there is this burst of energy that once you've fought through the initial pain and difficulty, all of a sudden there is that second one and you keep going. And so many people, when they experience that difficulty initially, they want to either slow down or stop.

The writer of Hebrews say, no, no, run with endurance, go through because there's going to be that second wind. You're going to be able to keep going.

So as much as the physical aspect is necessary, so is the mental. You need to say, I am going to run and I'm going to keep running even if it kills me.

And so you just do it and you run with that endurance.

And again, because of the race that is set before me, I don't look over to you and say, well, how far are you? Am I ahead of you? That's your race is different than mine. So whether I'm ahead of you or behind you doesn't matter because I'm not involved in your race. I'm involved in my race.

So don't compare where you are with different people.

The race that is set before you. And again, there is a race set before you.

So then he gives us another and fixing our eyes on Jesus.

When we are running.

A lot of times when you get tired, what happens is you drop your head.

And when you drop your head, you you're not looking at where you're going

and therefore it is much easier to start wandering rather than running the straight line, which is the quickest way to the end. So he's saying, don't drop your head. Keep looking at Jesus.

Now, I want to again, I will give you a personal example. It's not about.

I say, but it's the same kind of concept.

My son in the summer before he went in the eighth grade, we decided that he would go into the state junior lifeguards in order to be in the state junior lifeguard, you had to meet certain physical tests. So there were various things. And one of the tests was that you had to swim a certain distance within a certain amount of time. And if you didn't do that, then you didn't qualify.

So my my son was was an athlete. He played football and basketball and baseball. He knew how to swim, but he wasn't a swimmer. OK, and he also and as you know, he's very determined and and he does whatever. So he was swimming to do this.

And all of a sudden, because he wasn't a swimmer and we didn't have a pool, he started to he was battling through. But he was starting to get tired. And so he started to wonder and in the pool, there wasn't the demarcations of of lines to tell you where whether you were on track or not. So I saw it and he started to wonder. So I started calling his name.

He heard my voice and he started swimming to my voice.

And as a result, he started swimming more straight and he got there in time and the distance.

It's the same thing with Jesus.

We need to hear his voice.

We need to know his voice. We need to fix our eyes on him and not get distracted or even when we're tired, start to wonder right to the left. But because you're not going to win the race, if you're running more distance, then you need to.

It's like the.

I'm an old guy, so it used to be the 100 yard dash. Now it's the 100 meters or whatever. And I have no idea what a meter is. So and so the times are different. But there was a certain time and you would run to to cross the finish line and you could judge the competition by how quickly you ran the 100 yards, 100 meters versus other people and there would be world class running and whatever. But it didn't matter if you ran 110 yards or meters, they counted 100. And if you ran 10 extra meters, that probably meant you were a lot slower because you were running different. And so again, in the spiritual matter, we need to be fixing our eyes on Jesus and running straight to him.

Not deviating.

So fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.

We run in faith because he's the author and completer and perfecter of faith. So we run to him because he's the example.

Who for the joy set before him endured the cross.

Now, if there was every what are you talking about moment in the scripture? This is it.

The cross.

Was not only a cross of shame.

It was a cross of pain.

Is a cross of being despised.

Is a cross of death. And yet it says that he.

Because of the joy set before him.

Endured the cross.

So if Jesus endured the cross.

Because of what the joy set before him. Is despising the same and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Then we need to look at Jesus as the author and perfecter to run straight to him. And no matter what the pain is, no matter what the sacrifice is, no matter what the shame is, we need to run to him in joy.

Not in, oh Lord, why me?

He did it in joy.

And we should run the race that is set before us in joy.

Because he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And on a moment, we're going to talk about successes here.

Or consider him who has durred such hostility by sinners against himself.

So we're to think about Jesus.

What he did.

The sacrifice that he made. The King of kings and Lord of lords.

Who subjected himself to the cross, not for his benefit, but for ours.

So that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Again, running with endurance and saying, it just doesn't matter the opposition. It just doesn't matter how much I'm hurting. It doesn't matter how much people hate me. I am going to endure it because Jesus did. And I'm not going to grow weary. Yeah, my body may scream stop, but I'm going to keep on. My heart may say,

you're not a good runner. You've got to just give up. We don't lose heart because of the example that Jesus gave us. Just as we emulate famous athletes, we should emulate all the more Christ.

This quarterback doesn't know me.

Doesn't care that I know him.

But God knows me.

And I am grateful that he does.

Now, this is what's going to surprise you, even though it's in the scriptures in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 9, verse 24. It says this. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run? You have been put in a race that has been set for you before you.

All the runners of the race run.

You may stumble, but you are to run.

But only one receives the prize.

There is a gold medal. There is a winner.

There are those who

love winning so much, they say coming in second only means you're the first loser.

OK, there is this attitude that I want to win because I want to win. And we should have this attitude, not so much about whether it's football or basketball or whatever, but we are to have this attitude that we want to win this spiritual race.

So it says run in such a way that you may win.

Well, wait a minute, I thought it was all

kumbaya and all good feelings. No, we are to run this race to win.

It's not good enough to just be in it. Not good enough to, quote unquote, get into heaven by the skin of our team. We need to be running to win.

And unfortunately, the church today is filled with people who are just satisfied, quote unquote, being in the race, even though they don't even know they're in a race.

There was a there was he still a pastor.

And he told this story. There was a true story.

About his niece and she was a swimmer and they would go to swim meets

and she would talk to everybody and just have a good old time. And she lost every single swim.

So on the last.

Day of the meet.

Her mother goes to her and she goes.

Try to win.

The daughter goes, it's a race.

I thought it was a meet. I thought it was here to meet people.

And that's kind of that's kind of how people when it comes to Christianity. Oh, we're all in the family of God and it's all wonderful and whatever. I just thought it was a meet. No, no, it's a race.

The advantage of being a church is that we should be encouraging each other in our races to run faster and harder and be winners.

But it's not a meet.

It's a race.

So, again, the strategy is to have the attitude to win.

Everyone who competes in a game exercise itself, control and all things.

When you are in competition, if it's a runner, then you want to try to have a runner's body and you eat the proper foods for a runner and you strengthen the muscle that you need to do to run. If you are playing football, then you need to have a football body. You need to lift the weights and the screen and eat the proper things and to train.

During the off season so that your body is ready to go. You are committed to winning.

And again, so many athletes,

they only start training when training camp starts.

Whereas you will see those who are committed to winning, who will have their diets all year long.

They will run all year long. They will do speed drills. They will strengthen their bodies because they know the off season is not an off season.

There used to be this commercial that talked about that, well, no matter how hard your training, if you take the day off, there's somebody else who did it.

So, again, there are in this race, no days off.

There's no, well, I'm going to take a me day.

No, no, it's always Jesus's day.

So they they do self control in all things.

They then do it to receive a perishable wreath.

During the Olympic Games back

in the day,

the winner would receive a wreath and this wreath wasn't of gold, wasn't of silver, wasn't of bronze.

It was a tree leaf. It was a vine.

Which meant you could you could say it wasn't like the Super Bowl where you hold this trophy up, the leaves would die.

The the ranch would crumble. So you couldn't even say to your grandkids, I was the fastest person ever, see, oh, it's it's dust now. You see, they're doing they're doing all of this to win a race. To get a prize that won't last that long.

But we an imperishable.

When we run this race to win it, we receive a imperishable wreath, one that God himself will give us.

Therefore, I run in such a way as not without aim.

Because I am running straight to Jesus. I'm running the race that is set before me. I am running this not without aim.

I'm doing this to accomplish something, not a Super Bowl, not a but a imperishable wreath that Jesus himself will give me.

How sad would it be?

If when Kevin comes in there passing out these imperishable wreaths, if we were like that little girl said,

it was a race, I thought it was a me.

And, you know, if I'd known it was a race, maybe I could have won.

So I run in such a way not without aim. I'm aiming to win the prize. I box in such a way as not beating the air. He's going, I'm not I'm not just punching the air.

He says this, but I discipline my body and make it my slave.

When you are a boxer,

and I have never been and don't ever want to be, but part of the training to be a boxer as a somebody beat on you.

And if they don't beat on you, they take medicine balls and they throw it at your body because your body learns to take a punch.

And you're and that's why a lot of times in football in the first few weeks of the season, many players will get hurt because their body isn't properly trained to take the hits.

And Paul is going, I'm training my body to take the hits,

which means I deny myself things.

I discipline my body.

And again, all too often people say, well, there's the spiritual and there's the physical. There are a lot more together than you think.

You don't you don't sin with the body and then the spirit is unaffected.

Paul said, I am training my body. I'm taking the punches so that I can endure so I can take a punch.

So that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

I'm going to run the race in such a way that is within.

The rules.

Again, running this race within the rules is understanding who we're running to. And why we're in the race at all.

And then in Philippians chapter three,

this was kind of statement, verse 18 and 19, that was after

a message I brought before.

He says this, brethren,

I do not regard myself as having laid a hold of it yet.

All those that say I won the race yet.

One of the most sad things in a football game, and I've seen this in pros and I've seen it in kids and whatever, is the run for the goal line, for the touchdown. And then they'll drop the ball before they get

to the end zone.

You don't score a touchdown unless the ball is actually in your control. In the end zone.

And because they're so convinced they've won, they drop the ball too soon and then the other team recovers and you never scored. Paul is saying, I'm not going to drop the ball before I cross the race. I'm not going to stop running until I have crossed the finish line. I'm not going to run a 99 meter race.

I'm going to run a 100 meter race or a 26 point whatever mile race. I'm going to race the race that is set before me and I'm not going to stop thinking I won until I see Jesus handing me the prize.

So, so, brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid a hold of it yet. But one thing I do.

Here's again, part of the strategy. Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.

All says, whatever failures, whatever stumbles.

Whatever.

Aches or pains that I suffered, I forget about it. I keep going forward.

Again, using current and I use football a lot because

I think football is an excellent way of teaching life.

One of the things we have to tell players that it doesn't matter whether they're the first year or they're in the pros.

And this is especially true of corners and safeties, but it's true of every position.

If you blew the last play, forget it. Because if you don't, it's going to cause you to mess up the next one.

And if you had great success on the last play, forget it, because while you're claiming victory on the last play, they're going to beat you on this one.

Paul saying the same thing. Don't let your past affect your future.

Oh, how could God love me because I am who I am? Because he does. He's not me. He's God.

And he loves us with an everlasting love because he did so because he gave his son.

So we don't think of the past. So again,

it's amazing how physical things can translate into spiritual matters.

So so many people. This is one of the things that causes them to be effective in the race.

I blew it. I messed up.

Yeah, you did. Get in the game. Get in the race.

And reaching forward to what lies ahead.

I press on towards the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Again, Paul keeps saying, yes, be in the race. Yes, run it. Don't get disqualified. But he keeps saying we are to run it, to win it, to get the prize.

Oh, church.

I've used the analogy.

Of that nobody is ever satisfied with their home, no matter how big a mansion they have, they always want a bigger one.

Wealthy people get mansions and then they buy other mansions or they sell those and get bigger mansions. Because everybody wants to show how wealthy they are and whatever. And I always say, well, if you're not satisfied here,

why should you just want a one bedroom studio apartment in heaven?

Get the mansions. Live in Malibu.

And in the same way,

saying.

Run to win.

As the movie once said, run for us, run.

We may not be all that smart.

It may be all that athletic,

but he said us in our race.

You may have given other people more gifts than you,

not telling you to run their race.

Telling you to run the race of the gifts that he's given you.

He's told you to love the way he has loved you. Told you to run the race the way he has forgiven you. Told you to run the race.

Even if no one else cares.

And everybody is against you.

If that's what he did.

To your benefit.

And if he so loved us.

And one way we can show how much we love him.

To run and run to win.

And all God's people said.