It's wonderful to see all these children. I always think it's a little harder on the speaker when half the audience leaves. But anyway, it is an awesome thing to see these little lives. And one of the most important things is happening down there, right?
And for our teachers. And so I was, I've been talking to my wife, obviously, off and on most of the days. And so you want me to make sure and say hi. And this is, as I've said many times, this is really home for us.
And I think it will be until we're home with the Lord. So this is like coming home. So thank you so much for all your kindness, not only today, but over the years, and allowing us to enjoy this as our home. So our hearts are here in many, many ways.
So we just thank the Lord. I was just thanking the Lord for the privilege to have been a part of this over the years. And thank you for your continued kindness to us. Well, let's just ask God to help us.
I was thinking if the music just kept going, we could just not have a message. But I think, I guess I have to do something. So anyway, we'll just ask the Lord to do something. That's the most critical.
Father, we're here. And we just thank you so much. You are so wonderful to us. I know that all of us have different situations.
And every situation is not fun and easier, delightful. But if we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we have life that goes far beyond the moment here in time. But we want to prepare for beyond this moment in time. And we just ask that you will help us as we're journeying through that we will live out life as you designed it for us.
And we know that even in our moments right now, we desperately need your spirit to work. So we just want to submit ourselves to you, humble ourselves before you, and ask that you'll do a great work in each of our hearts. Guide my words, may they be guided by your spirit to accomplish your purpose. We entrust this time to you.
In Jesus' name, amen. I have a dear friend. He's a co-elder back in Peterborough. Long before I knew him, when he was 30, he's a little younger than I am, but not a lot.
When he was 30, he had a massive heart attack. And the younger you are when you have a heart attack, the more critical it often is. And actually, they said to him at that time that at best he would only have five years after that to live. And he's outlived them, quite, which I'm exceedingly thankful for.
The last couple of years, he and his wife and family have gone through an awful lot. They've, he's lost brothers to cancer. She's lost family members recently. And one of our big prayer requests last year was their grandson, who probably from his, the genetic makeup of his grandfather, he was born and they realized he had a major heart problem.
And he's had open heart surgery, and he'll have more surgeries to come. They just been through so much. And just two weeks ago, the company that was in our community closed the doors. And so he's now looking for a job.
I've watched him and his wife. And I've been so impressed with how God has worked in them. And their attitude, their tone, and they're keeping on, keeping on for the Lord. You know, it's easy.
And none of us are exempt, are we? None of us are exempt from hard times. It looks different in each of our lives, but none of us are exempt. We're on journey.
Now, if you have come to trust Christ as your personal Savior, which I desperately hope you have, if you haven't, today's a great day to do that, to realize that he died on the cross, he paid for your sin, and he rose, and he can be your Savior if you'll put your faith in hell. It's the most awesome gift going. It's the biggest deal out there. If you've trusted Christ, you not only are journeying through life, but now you're in a race.
It's referred to that. We're in a race in the sense that God wants us to keep going on, going on with him for him, so that. And we talked about this last week, so that. And you say, well, what's the biggest, well, so that.
If you already say God has even more for that, because he wants, we talked about a great reward. God has, God has, he loves you so much. He not only wants the best for you. Now, he knows we live in a rugged world.
It's a rugged world because sin is invaded the world. So just to be a Christian doesn't mean, well, you know what, it's all roses, right? We know that. It's not.
But God wants us to keep going, keep going with him for him, because he's got some wonderful ahead for us. Now, all of us, whatever we got going, God will reward you in the zone you're at, if you're faithful to do what he wants you to do it, in his strength, the way he wants you to do it. That's an amazing thing. You know, it says, whatever you do to your cardiness for the Lord, rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance.
You knew that that was said to? That was said to slaves. They had no, well, I'm gonna get up in the morning and become a millionaire today. I'm gonna be famous.
No, they were slaves, but whatever you do, do you are cardiness for the Lord, whether it's doing some slave labor somewhere, or just some big job, some outstanding, you know, where everybody notices, if you do it as under the Lord, you know what? The Lord's got something great for you. But our challenge, our challenge, all of us, all of us, myself included, all of us, we're going through life and we hit the snags, we hit the problems, we hit the sad things, and we become weary and we wanna drop out of the race. As a Christian, that's the challenge we all face.
In our enemy, the evil one, he definitely, if he can't keep you from getting saved, he definitely wants you from running the race well. He's our enemy and the world structure is designed against us. So God has given us in his book, Encouragement to Run with Endurance Through Faith. And let's go to Hebrews, chapter 12.
We were in Hebrews, we talked a little bit of 10, a little bit in 11, let's talk a little bit in 12. This is a wonderful, wonderful passage for us. Hebrews 12, one, therefore, he's reflecting back to the things that have been said. Therefore, since we have so great cloud of witnesses, surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us.
And I'll stop there for the moment. Run with endurance, but you know what? We need to know some stuff. Therefore, reflecting back, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses, what is reflecting back?
Therefore, when you're reading your Bible and you come to therefore, it reflects something that's gone before. So chapter 11 talks about the, we sometimes call chapter 11 in Hebrews the chapter of the heroes of faith. And it goes through men and women who live by faith and some of them in the most difficult challenges. And we look at that and it's like, if we were at a, let's say we walked into a stadium and we walked into the middle place, say football stadium and say, and you're looking around and in all the seats, there's not so much that they're looking at us in this case, but they have a sign up.
Abraham, and over here, Sarah, and then we're looking at them and how they live the Christian, how they live life for the Lord, by faith. Now some of them, they had rocky roads, that was an ice cream, but it was a rocky road at times. Some of them mess up. Some of them I got it later.
Anyway, anyway, so, maybe we should just stop. Okay, okay. We're looking and they've got the signs up. They said, I made it and I had to go through this.
And another one we look up on there and they, I made it and I went through this. And you know why they're saying that? Why God has those signs up for us to encourage us? Because it wasn't easy for them.
It's probably not gonna be easy for us, but they made it by faith. And God calls us, He's inviting us, He's challenging us, He's encouraging us to keep on, keeping on, looking at the signs, looking at their testimonies. Now we look at their testimonies, they surround us. And Hebrews 11 is a great passage just to meditate on.
But notice it talks about these witnesses. And then it says, as we look at this passage, we think about it, let us also. Now we're looking at these witnesses. And we're thinking about them, what they've done, what they've lived through.
And then it says, let us, let us also. This is one thing they had to do. And we have to do. And it says, lay aside every encumbrance.
I was thinking, now that's in my verse, I thought, how many times in a conversation do you have the words? Hey, how's your encumbrance going, right? You know, what is encumbrance? Well, let's just put this way.
Wait, wait. Something that makes it hard to stay in the race. That makes it hard to keep going. I remember, this is one of my dreaded memories, you know.
You can remember the things you don't want to remember. And this is in high school, basketball. We had the most absolute worst team in the world. I mean, if you would get a prize, we got the prize for the bottom of the bucket, right?
But anyway, I remember after one game, we almost won. After one game. Our coach was so ticked. He was so ticked off.
He was so mad at us. We came back to practice, you know, probably a Friday night game came on Monday to practice. And he had us all strap on ankle weights. And you know, if you've ever been crazy enough, you've seen those things.
You know, they wrap around your ankles. And he made us run the bleachers. You ever run on slippery bleachers? It was a death wish on his part for us.
He was hoping the whole team would crash and burn, right? But anyway, we're running up the bleachers. Oh man, you cannot. It's like, I think I'm going to die.
And then you hope you will die. And then you're running the bleachers, you know? And then he got down and so we started scrimmaging with ankle weights. Oh man.
But you know what? In our spiritual lives, in our normal, in our walk-through life, sometimes we have put on ankle weights. We have put on weight, needless weight, things that are dragging us down. Now they're not necessarily always sinful things, because he's going to talk about that just in a moment.
These things, the cumbersome. Now just think, what might be a cumbersome? What might be a cumbersome person is not necessarily a cumbersome person. But so we have to be honest with ourselves, look in and think, OK, what might be holding me back?
You know, sometimes it's a habit. You know, a lot of habits start, just start, right? Maybe when you're little. Maybe it's not necessarily a sinful thing.
But if you look at it and you think, you know what? I don't think that's helping me out much. I just keep redoing, redoing, redoing the same old thing. And it's not really helping.
Or maybe it's my priorities. Maybe I've got things, and I put the things way on the top of my list. And then I look at it. I'm really honest about it.
And I realize that's not near as important as I thought it was. And so God's saying, think about your priorities. Look at your priorities. What do you need to adjust?
And so there's all kinds of things that we need to take an honest look at and say, is this dragging me down? You know, one of the things is, we all struggle with you and how to use our money. The world says spin, spin, spin. Buy me and you'll be happy.
It's lying to us, right? Most of the time. When we have to buy stuff, we thank the Lord and we have something to buy stuff with, we thank the Lord. But maybe we need to adjust that.
But God says, OK, what's dragging you down? We need to be honest with the things that are maybe slowing us in the race. Maybe it's what we watch on TV, whatever you think. Just be honest with yourself.
And you know, in this area, it's probably good. Just you and the Lord, you know, having your quiet time say, God, is there something in my life that you want to adjust it? OK? Just ask him.
We're not sharing testimony, right? Not on this. We're saying, God. Now, now then we move from the things that are weight, like those ankle weights, hopefully we can take some of those off.
And then we go on to the next one. Now notice, this gets in to the stuff that's definitely sinful. Notice, lay aside, we must also lay aside every encumber and the sin, now we get into that, the mucky mud, the sin, which so easily entangles us, the sin. Now this, I mean, it may be a specific sin that we're struggling with.
But remember this, even as a Christian. And sometimes I think a new Christian gets tripped up by this. Is that we forget, just because you're forgiven of your sin, doesn't mean your sin capacity has just taken a hike. It's not your sin capacity.
It's not on vacation. Even as a Christian, you have this capacity to sin. Isn't it amazing sometimes a thought that goes through your mind? You're like, whoa, where did that come from?
Well, we have this capacity for sin. And we need to be very careful. We need to learn how to deal with it. It's a wonderful thing.
When the Lord Jesus died for us on the cross, He paid for our sins. And if you trust Him as your Savior, you trust Him to save you from your sins and you're saved. But also when He died on the cross, He judged our sin nature. Now He didn't erase it.
He didn't take it. When we get to heaven, that's one of the things we won't have. Have golden streets and no signature. That's going to be awesome.
You can run around and have water for it and not get in trouble. But you have, we are here, we have this sin thing. And because Christ died on the cross, He not only paid for the sins, the plural sins, but He made it possible for us to say no to sin, the capacity. We don't have to give into it when it screams at us.
And believe me, sin will scream at you. But it doesn't, God has made it possible where we don't have to give into the yelling and the pout, the tantrum of our sin nature. But it will yell, it will say, you can't beat me. And you know what?
God says, that's not true. That's not true. And I was talking again and we were talking about passage in Romans 7. And Romans 6, I should go there first.
But Romans 6, Romans 7 talks about our battle. But Romans 6 is the preparation to realize how to win the battle. And it says, even so wrecking yourselves to be dead to sin, alive to God in Christ Jesus. That's our response that we're to make.
And it's based on the truth that we have been crucified with Christ in Romans 6. It talks about that. And what that means, when Christ was judgment across, our sin nature was judged. So therefore, it hasn't been erased.
It's with us still. But we don't have to give into it. We don't have to be, it says we don't have to be slaves to sin. Who wants to be a slave?
You don't have to be a slave to sin. But you have to learn what that passage teaches. And I was thinking, a good little commentary, I imagine there's one right in here. It's not wearing wears.
It has a nice commentary on Romans. So it's not long. It's not exceedingly long. It's really helpful in just understanding the truth of Romans.
But Romans 6. So learn how to say no. Don't let say lie to you saying you can't beat me. Because in Christ, now it's a growing process.
That's one of the things, sometimes we also forget as young Christians, is that it's growing in the Lord. And as we grow in the Lord, we more and more effectively can say no. But see, come back to our passage. We have this sin thing.
We're not to allow sin to ring and rule over us. Notice what it says. This is the word that is in my translation. It says sin was so easily entangled us.
Now when I think of that passage, I'm reminded of my days on the farm. And we had cattle that we were in the Midwest, in the wrong country, but in the Midwest. And we ran cattle and we had horses. And so I've always enjoyed horses unless they kicked me.
And then they were on the bad side. But when I had the horse that I had, the main horse I had as I grew a little older, was a buckskin. He was always getting into trouble. He had perpetually into trouble.
Well, one day I realized that P had got barbed wire. He'd been biting in a fence somehow. And he got barbed wire wrapped around right above his hook. Now barbed wire, if you know what, obviously you probably all have a vision of that.
But the barbs in that wire, obviously it's designed to keep cattle from getting out of a pasture. That's the design of it. But if it wraps around a horse's leg, that can be exceedingly dangerous for the horse. Especially if they start fighting that.
And then they pull at that. And then the barbs just going deeper and deeper. And so I was really concerned because he had been in this wire. And the wire had cut deep into right above the hook.
And the danger is to cut into the tent. And then it cuts deep enough. You run your horse, right? Your horse can't go.
You can't run. And so I was really concerned. But thankfully it didn't cut into, it didn't cut that deep. But it sure made a mess of that horse for a little while, right?
Now that's what sin in a picturesque way does to us. It entangles. We allow sin to wrap itself around us. It's like barbed wire.
And it cuts. And the more we fight it. And then the less we deal with it properly, it cuts in. And the barbs cut in.
You know, sin at first. It's always fun, right? That's what we start. It's fun.
The problem is it's really barbed wire. It's disastrous. And the more we get involved, the more wire wraps around us. And then we become just, we're so endangered.
And sometimes we're just stopped. We're just cut up in our Christian life. And that happens to dear Christians. Christians that we love.
People that are really saved, but they don't look very saved. Because they've allowed sin to mess them. That's a lot. And we say, oh, God, protect us.
Protect us. Well, as we learn how what God has provided in Romans 6 and in Colossians 3 and Ephesians, we learn we can begin to say no. And the sin that entangles us, we can begin to say no. I'm not going back there.
I'm not going to look on that site again. I'm not going to have this attitude. I'm going to forgive that person. I mean, it could be a number of things, right?
But we have to deal with it. Why? Because if we're not dealing with a sin, then problems come along. Then what do we do?
We bail. We bail in the Christian life. Because we're not spiritually healthy. And then the problems come.
And in the Hebrews case, it was persecution. Now, God has been very gracious to us in this land to minimize persecution. But our dear brothers and sisters around the world, so many of them are suffering. But for us, it may just be mocking of a coworker.
And then we think, oh, man, I can't handle this. None of us want to be rejected. And so if we're not healthy spiritually, we begin to wane. And we begin to derail.
And we start not running well in the race. Now it's not you lose your salvation. We're not talking about that. But you're going to lose.
What are you going to lose? You're going to lose great reward. And plus you're going to mess your life. Your joy is going to drink out even though you're a Christian.
So God says, he loves us. That's why he's telling us this stuff. Don't let it entangle you. So eat, notice.
So easily entangles us. You ever wonder why we get in a mess so fast? And I'm not pointing my bogey finger at you. All of us are vulnerable.
And it doesn't matter. You know, you can be a young person. A young person is sometimes more vulnerable. But you can be an old dude like me, right?
And you can get your life all messed up. I know some old dudes that are not walking with the Lord. And so we say, God, God protect me for the whole journey. Help me be wise for the whole race.
And so don't allow sin to entangle us. Take it off. Get it off. Now, sometimes I get in trouble for my illustrations.
But sometimes I get in trouble because I don't have an illustration. And so I can't win. I can't win. But I brought an illustration.
And I'll lose anyway. OK, here it is. OK. Now, you can see somebody thinks I'm the bad man, right?
OK. Now, I don't know if I should tell who these belong to, because they might never talk to me again. But aren't those the coolest things? Wow, these boots.
Are they hunting, asking my friend in the back? Are they hunting boots? Or what are they? Yeah, they're just boots, OK?
OK, now, let's say I got my boots. Don't you like? OK, these shoes are so boring. These boots are really cool.
OK, now. OK, these are great boots. I might just take them home, except they're so heavy. I'd have to pay double fare getting back.
OK, now just look at my boots. Isn't that look cool? Now, let's say, now, in the good old days, the farming days, I'm so glad they're good and gone. But anyway, we used to irrigate.
And you would have to move pipes. And you had water. And obviously, you're trying to water a field. And so you would get out.
And I know I've shared this for some of you. I get out and you would start. And you'd get back around. And you'd get mud.
You'd take my foot and then your foot's going out here. And your boots staying back there. And you'd think, oh, mama, come home and help me. OK, now.
But let's say, I'm a marathon runner, which is you'll have to really have a good imagination for this. But anyway, I'm a marathon runner. And I put my boots on. And I'm ready to go, baby.
Right, yes! I can do this. I can do this. I got my boots on, right?
You say you the most airhead you're sitting at anyway. But don't say that out loud. But anyway, what? Wouldn't that be stupid?
Wouldn't it be stupid if I put these kind of boots on to run a marathon? I know you did so many laps. We did this. OK, now, OK.
Now think about this. How many of us have this kind of attire on spiritually? And it's messing up our race. It's messing up our race.
And so what God says, get those boots off. Get those boots off. You need to get free. So what God, maybe he's tapping you on the shoulder by his spirit conviction.
I say, you know what? I got to deal with this. It may not be a sinful issue, but it's hindering you. Or maybe it is a sinful issue.
And God says, I love you. Don't allow that thing to mess up your life. And so the word loves us. That's what he's trying to say to us.
Put my shoes back on a little bit more formal here. OK. Now listen, that's the negative part. Set aside this stuff that's dragging you down.
Now the positive part. One thing you notice about this is a little, but no, God has to deal with sin before he really gets into the real progress. So we deal with that. Now look at this last part.
OK, this is the positive upbeat swing. Verse two, fixing your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross. Now I'm just going to stop there for the moment. Fixing your eyes on Jesus.
Fixing your eyes. Looking away, don't be distracted. Look to him. Now I'm sure this has never happened or anybody's ever done this in this room.
But the other day I was driving down one of our main roads in our community. And I was following this lady. Now she's probably the only one that has ever done it on the planet. But she's looking at her phone and she's driving.
And she's, you know what, am I here in this terrible? So I'm not going to accept that. OK. So you're driving along, driving along, right?
She's driving along. And I'm seeing. Oh man, you're not talking to her. I don't know who she's talking to.
But anyway, she's driving along. I'd like to make a citizen's arrest. But anyway, I've either got to get way in front of this woman or way behind this woman. And because of the traffic, because the car was swaying in the wind, I decided to stay way behind because there's no way I can get her in front of her, because she has not a clue where she's at, because she's so distracted with her phone.
How many of us are not looking to the Lord Jesus and are so distracted by what's going around us? I mean, the world is designed to keep your eyes off Christ. It's designed that way. So don't be surprised that you're drawn.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with phone, right? Let's put it on airplane mode. But anyway, there's nothing wrong with that. But when it becomes everything, and I only look to it, or something else, there's consuming money.
Lord Jesus said, look to me, look to me. Fixing her eyes on Jesus. Not being distracted by the stuff. Fixing mine.
Now how do I do that? Well, it's not some mystical thing. We set our eyes on him by setting our eyes on him, his word. Colossians 3.16, led the word of Christ, dwelling you richly, the word of Christ, the word of Christ.
That's why we need to be time in his God's book to get to know Jesus. It talks about Jesus in so many different ways, so many different facets. But I need to know what he's like, because he's in me. He loves me.
He is all my, I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. I need to know him. And so keep my eyes, keep my eyes through the word on the Lord Jesus. Seeking, fixing, getting to know him.
That's why we need time in the Word. And see, what is the world doing? The world is going to distract you. The world is saying you're too busy.
The world, and I know a lot of your jobs, I understand that. They're so demanding. I understand that. But don't let the world steal your focus away from Christ.
Now, this is one reason to focus on him. And think of our passage. This is the very, on Jesus, who is the author and perfecter of faith. Now, that's the way my version reads.
And I just want, this is the way I understand this passage. The Lord Jesus lived by faith. And he lived it out perfectly. Now, Jesus is God.
He's always been God. But he took on, when he came to the world, he took on humanity. And he became a real man. So in order to live life on this planet, he himself lived by faith in his father.
He set the tone, he set the pace. He showed us how to do it, right? And he said, well, what did he, you know, he's God. I mean, what did he have to deal with?
What was his problem? Well, we talked about this earlier today. His problem is the cross. He had to go to the cross.
Have you ever had to do that? Not just not the pain. I mean, I know some of you are in pain physically, but he went to the cross. He was in physical pain and spiritual pain because he was separated from his father for a time.
He suffered for your sin, my sin. There was no more pain. There was no more agony than Jesus on the cross. But he remembered the promises of his father.
And he was holding the promises by faith. Now listen to her, look at our passage. So we understand the context of for who, for the joy set before him, for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. The joy set before him.
And the passage goes on. He's going to be at the father's right hand. And you know what? He was also thinking about you.
He was going to save you. And you're going to go to heaven forever. And he's thinking the joy set before him is going to be at the father's right hand. And you're going to be in heaven with him.
And the joy set before him endured cause him to help him endure the cross because he believed the father's promise. You're going to be setting with me. You're going to win this thing for the world. The savior of the world.
He made salvation available to the world. Now, if you don't receive him as your savior, you're not saved. But it's available to you. And so the Lord Jesus looked at this.
The most agonizing, the most painful, the most difficult, the most anguish of all time. He went through that. And he's our example. And not only our example, he's our power.
It's not enough just to have example. We look to him. We grow as we understand truth. We understand our faith grows, our faith grows.
But also, it says in St. Corinthians 3 18, but we all with Unveil face. Behold his enemy or the glory of the Lord. Our transform from glory to glory, even it's by the spirit of the Lord.
So you know what it says? As we plug it into this passage, as we look to Jesus, and we see who he is and how he went through the cross. And we see his faith enduring the cross because of the joy set before him. His faith was legitimate.
It was real. It was powerful. And our faith grows. We're become more like Jesus in our faith in this realm.
And there is this well love and joy and peace and faith. But as we look to him, our life is being transformed. Our faith is growing. Our endurance is strengthening.
Isn't wonderful? Look at our passage. Just endured the cross, despised in the shame. You know, think of people that make fun of you because you're a Christian.
Christ went through a lot heavier than we've ever thought. As despised in the shame, he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And then it says again, for considering him, who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself. Why?
So that. So that. You may not grow weary and lose heart. Now let me ask you.
Are you growing weary? And we all have seasons. We all have seasons. We all have times when we think, man, I don't think I can do this anymore.
We grow weary and we begin to lose heart. We begin to say, you know what? I don't think I'm going to go to church anymore. You know, I'm not going to read my Bible much.
You know what? I'm not going to ask anybody to pray for me. I mean, I'm disconnected. You know, I remember.
This is years and years ago. I remember. And I had my office, when I had an office here, I had an young man came in. Young man came in.
I'd known him for quite some time. And he sat across the desk. He said, I'm out of here. I'm out here.
And he was. He left. That was heartbreaking. Now, let me just share one last illustration.
Remember my friend who's went through all this, just lost his job, family sat all kinds of crisis. One of the other crisis I didn't mention is this one. He's got a wonderful son-in-law. Marriage and daughter.
They got a beautiful little boy. He's hyper. I think he drinks those cold drinks, right? He keep you going, right?
But he's a neat little kid. And his dad's a great dad. I have a really lovely young guy. But you know what?
Last year or a year and a half ago, he was diagnosed with this young man diagnosed with an operable brain tumor. And he still gets treatment, trying to control the growth of his tumor. But they can't get it out because it's just too delicate. And you know, he and his sweet little wife and his little boy and his granddaddy, they don't know how long he has.
But you know what? I'm so impressed with this young man. He and I were driving together. And he was just telling me how I just want to keep going on for the Lord until this thing's all wrapped up.
I thought, oh God. May I be like that? I just, oh. You see, God wants the best for us.
He wants to run with endurance through faith. But that means we got to set aside. We got to set aside the stuff that's holding us back or tripping us up. And we got to keep looking unto Jesus, the author and finish your faith.
May God help us do that. May He help us do that. I want to pray for each one of us, each one of us, because we all need His help, right? We all need it.
Let's just pray. God, I thank you for everyone in this building. Oh, what a joy it is to be here with these people. I pray for anyone in this building.
I think of the little ones in Sunday school. I pray for each one who does not know the Lord Jesus is their Savior. That maybe even today they'll trust in Him and have life, eternal life. Because we know there's none.
There's none apart from Him. But Father, for the rest of us who are already on the race, who have already received Christ as our Savior, we know that it's not an easy run. It's not always fun. Sometimes it's great that some days are dark.
Some days our hearts are so heavy. God, I pray for each one of us that we will set aside the things that you're tapping on our shoulder about right now. We'll begin by your grace through the power of your spirit and our provision in Christ to begin to say no to those things. We'll begin.
Help us grow in that. And then we'll look unto Jesus. We'll look unto Jesus through your word more and more so that we'll grow in Him. We'll become like Him and we'll run this race until we're finished.
And all of us, God, this is our request. All of us will receive a great reward when we stand before you. God, that's what we ask. That's what we ask from you by your grace through the power of your spirit, all because of your Son in His name.
Amen. Amen.