Did God Tell You To Stop Running?
Mark 10:17-31
17 ¶ And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
26 And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?
27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.
28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.
29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
In our opening text this morning we have a rich young ruler who came running and kneeled to Jesus.
This rich young ruler is not asking for physical help but he is asking for spiritual help.
The rich young ruler asked Jesus a question, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life.
The first thing that we need to understand is that we can not inherit eternal life it is a free gift which comes from accepting Jesus as your personal Savior.
Romans 10:9-11
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Jesus in Mark 10:19 says to this man, 19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
Jesus drawls this young man to the Word of God both in a positive and negative sense.
Positive because the Word alone holds the answer; and negative because it will show him a mirror to where he is wrong.
The rich young ruler now says to Jesus, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
This man had head knowledge of what the Word said to, but yet there was still something lacking.
Mark 10:21
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Jesus loved this man despite the fact that he had not really kept the commandments.
Jesus knew what was really in the mans heart.
Jesus told the man who had come running up to Him that in order to run this race and be a winner to give all of his wealth up sell it and give it to the poor.
Jesus is pointing at the one thing that was coming between the rich young ruler and Himself.
He was rich and trusted in what He already had, this man had head knowledge and a mouth relationship, but there was no heart relationship.
Jesus wanted him to sell what was coming between them and give to the poor and pick up our cross and follow after Him.
This man would not do it.
Sometimes I think that we have head knowledge and think that we are exempt to the scriptures.
Does are money come between us and God?
Do we give to God what is already His?
Do we pay God His tithe some think that it is an option but that’s not what the Word of God teaches?
Tithe is 10 percent not 5 or even 3 percent if we want to be blessed by God then we need to participate in what all of the Word teaches.
Did God tell you to stop running?
We know that as a Christian that we are all running a race that we can all win, so why are we settling for second and why are some of us settling for 3rd when we all run and are able to receive the prize.
I’ve entitled this today:
Did God tell you to stop running and here is the reason why:
1-17-2001
I dreamed that I was at the church and I felt the Holy Spirit come upon me. I started running; people from work must have been watching me. I quit running. I literally heard the Lord say, “Did I tell you to quit running?” Some lady got up to play the organ. I took off running. I saw people as I ran. The next thing I knew was Gods power came upon me.
Interpretation
The rich young ruler quit running when he met Jesus, when he should have listened and applied the saying of the Master.
I was at the church and the Holy Spirit came upon me and I started to run in the Spirit.
People from work were watching me and I quit running.
When I say the Lord spoke He did through this dream and He asked me a question, “did I tell you to stop running?’
Did God tell you to quit running your race of life?
There has been way to many people who have quit running and maybe there just jogging or maybe walking.
If God says to run then we need to be obedient to what the Master is speaking and run our race of life and win!
There have been many times over the years that I have felt like giving up, but God said to run and not quit.
God’s power came upon me and in a sense that is what has happened His power has at times overshadowed me and He has taken me higher than I ever felt that I would go.
How many people do we know who has quit running for the Lord when we know that God has placed a high call upon their lives?
God never told them to stop running the walk of faith but things has happened and it has influenced what they do.
It is time that we as Christians reach out to these people and we reveal what God has brought us out of and let them know that God will do the same for them.
Satan is walking into these people lives and he is putting stuff between them and God.
It is time that we become this well oiled machine that we are supposed to be and start telling people if they want to be an over comer then get back on the path of life and start living for the Lord one more time.
Let them know that they can win the race and that there is no weapon that Satan has that can bring them down.
A lot of times the problem with people is the fact that there is something in there lives that they do not want to give up.
The rich young ruler was his money, is their something in your live that God has spoken and you are still trying to hold on to it?
Heb 12:1 ¶ Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
If you have weights and sin that is so easily coming against us lay them down.
We are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
The witnesses are found in the Word of God.
There were over comer after over comer that is recorded and talked about there example is for us.
Ps 19:5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
Are you strong in the Lord?
2 Timothy 1:12
12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. {believed: or, trusted}
Do you know who you have believed in and are you persuaded that He is able to keep that which you have committed unto Him?
Paul suffered many hard aches in this life but he ran the race of life and he was a winner.
Have you been and are you a winner today?
Paul trusted in the Lord and he believed what the Lord said and he was going to continue to push on.
It did not matter if he had been beat, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked.
It did not matter what the enemy through at him he knew that God was in control of his life and where God led he was going to follow and it did not matter the consequence.
Paul was going to persevere in his life.
At times in this church I have felt like I was going to get tired of running, but God always seems to give me what I need in order to keep on running.
The one thing that I always go back to is this, When God spoke to me and He asked me “did I tell you to quit running?’
Has He told you to quit running? I know that He hasn’t.
So if you seem to be getting weary in your race of live then what you need is something real that you can get a hold of.
God is real and you can fill and fill His touch and you can see the results that He is working in your lives.
Closing
The rich young ruler did not want to give his whole live to Jesus,
In a sense he came running but then he stopped moving when Jesus spoke.
Are we listening and applying the whole massage of Jesus today?
If you have not given it all today don’t you think it is about time that you do?
Tonight I want you to come up and kneel around the alters and give whatever the Lord is speaking to you to Him.
If you are interested in seeing some God given dreams by people in our church go to:
http://www.ourchurch.com/member/w/windoffaithdrea/
Go to the new text page for the dreams.
