Stay The Course Series

Stay the Course

If you have your Bible, please open it to Hebrews Chapter 12. A man died and went to heaven. St. Peter asked him, “Why should I let you into heaven?” The guy said, “Well, I tried to help other people.” “Can you give me an example?” “Sure. Once I was in a roadside diner and a group of Hell’s Angels were in there bothering a little old lady. They had knives and guns and were scaring everyone in the place. So, I stepped up to the leader and spun him around and punched him in the face and said, ‘Hey! Why don’t you leave that little lady alone? And while you are at it, you and your filthy friends clear out of here and get on your bikes and ride away.” Peter was astonished and said “Wow, that was pretty brave, when did that happen?” The man looked at him and said, “About five minutes ago!”

As I mentioned earlier, we will be in Hebrews Chapter 12 today. When praying over what to preach this week, this is a passage of scripture that God laid on my heart. Two weeks ago, we talked about the need for us and for the church to return to the Lord. Last week, we talked about our 2-minute drill that we need to run with the time that we have left. Today is part 3 and we will look at the need to endure until the end. That is where the title “Stay the Course” comes from. In our Christian walk, we must stay the course. Let us look at Hebrews Chapter 12 starting in verse 1.

READ HEBREWS 12:1-4

Here, we see three things that we are to do.

1. Run Without the Encumbrance

Look at verse 1.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely”

We are to run without encumbrance. Encumbrance can be defined as this:

“A burden or impediment.”

We are to run without burden. We are to run without the burden of our sin. Y`all know that I am a football coach, but I am also a track coach. Before you get any ideas, I coach the field events. Things like shot put, javelin, and disk. All the throwing events. I do not fool with the running part. I tell them all the time that if they see me running, they better run too. In track meets, all the runners have tight clothes and shoes. Anything extra like bracelets, necklaces, watches, or anything else comes off. Why? Because they do not want anything to weigh them down as they run. Yes, those things are light, but y`all do not know how much it could matter during the race. In a state championship race, I have seen someone win the championship by a thousandth of a second. The runners do not want anything to weigh them down. In the race that we must run, we do not need to be holding onto stuff that weighs us down either. The more stuff and the more bondage that you hold on to, the harder it will be to run the race. Isaiah 43:18-19 says this:

“Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.”

Here, God is telling Isaiah to forget the things of the past and start looking to what God is doing now and what God is planning to do in the future. We must do the same thing. How can you focus on what God is telling you to do if you are so caught up in your past mistakes and regrets? You cannot. Philippians 3:13-14 says this:

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

In a track meet, the runner has their eyes aimed at the finish line. They are focused on doing everything they can to be the first one to cross it. Michele Cox said this about Philippians 3:13-14:

“When I forget about those things that are behind me, then I can reach forward to the prize God has waiting. It would be such a shame to miss that.

It’s time to quit wallowing in what’s over and done and to look ahead to what I can do for Him in the future. And I suspect it sure will help that spiritual crick in my neck if I’ll just keep looking forward.”