The Importance Of Staying On Course Series

JThe importance of staying on course

The lessons of Israel for today.

Psalm 119:1-8 MSG 0Save

1 You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God.

2 You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him.

3 That's right - you don't go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set.

4 You, God, prescribed the right way to live; now you expect us to live it.

5 Oh, that my steps might be steady, keeping to the course you set;

6 Then I'd never have any regrets in comparing my life with your counsel.

7 I thank you for speaking straight from your heart; I learn the pattern of your righteous ways.

8 I'm going to do what you tell me to do; don't ever walk off and leave me.

Summary: This sermon deals the need to live out the Christian life with effectiveness.

Tanzania’s most inspirational athlete

2016-05-11

In 1968, four athletes were sent on the long journey from East Africa to Mexico City in pursuit of Tanzania’s first-ever Olympic medal. While none returned with gold, silver or bronze, the name of one man – John Stephen Akhwari – endures to this day as a source of inspiration to countless athletes and fans in his country and around the world.

Akhwari was on the back foot from an early stage and began suffering from cramp as a result of the high altitude. Determined to improve his position, he was then involved in a pile-up with other athletes nearing the halfway point of the race, causing him to suffer a badly gashed and dislocated right knee, as well as a bruised shoulder.

After receiving some treatment and a bandage for his knee from trackside medics, the Tanzanian elected to continue, and finish what he had started.

“A voice calls from within to go on — and so he goes on,” said an Olympic commentator.

When asked why he persevered in such punishing circumstances, Akhwari uttered one of the most memorable and inspirational lines in the history of the Games: “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race,” he said. “They sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.”

In the reading this morning of Jeremiah chapter 2 we find that Israel starts well in the reading but looking forward as the nation runs God’srace it fails terribly indeed the last words of chapter 2 say - 32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry,

a bride her wedding ornaments?

Yet my people have forgotten me,

days without number.

33 How skilled you are at pursuing love!

Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.

34 On your clothes is found

the lifeblood of the innocent poor,

though you did not catch them breaking in.

Yet in spite of all this

35 you say, ‘I am innocent;

he is not angry with me.’

But I will pass judgment on you

If we get nothing else from this passage of Jeremiah it is the thought that we must cross the finish line well. Powering on for God as we cross the line.

1st keep the finishing line in sight.

Jesus does this – So does Elijah who could possibly forget the moment in 1 Kings when the great Prophet leaves on the chariots of Israel with his successor hanging onto his shirttail for a double blessing?

What Jeremiah was criticising in Israel was for living in the now!

But it seems to me that we as Christians have the possibility of finishing this Christian race well.

Great New Zealand runner Nick Willis who produced a late burst to win bronze in the 1500m final.

He , flashed home over the final 50m to finish third behind US winner Matt Centrowitz

The key to any great Christian life is staying on course and I believe in the reading this morning there are vital clues on just how to do this.

When living the Christian life it is really important to remind yourself just how God has blessed you in the past.

4 Hear the word of the LORD, you descendants of Jacob,

all you clans of Israel.

5 This is what the LORD says:

“What fault did your ancestors find in me,

that they strayed so far from me?

They followed worthless idols

and became worthless themselves.

6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD,

who brought us up out of Egypt

and led us through the barren wilderness,

through a land of deserts and ravines,

a land of drought and utter darkness,

a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

7 I brought you into a fertile land

to eat its fruit and rich produce.

But you came and defiled my land