Sherwood Baptist Church has one of the most dynamic media ministries of any church in America. They have produced Facing the Giants, arguably the best feature-length movie ever made by a local church. It’s a God-glorifying, excellently created sports film in the tradition of Hoosiers, Remember the Titans, and Friday Night Lights. Facing the Giants is being released by Sony/Goodwyn and will be in theaters on September 29th.
Accompanying the movie are numerous sermons by such leaders at Johnny Hunt of Woodstock Baptist Church, Michael Catt, Pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church, and Dr. Jay Strack of the Student Leadership Network. You may copy and paste the following links to access these sermons:
1. Evidence of Christian Growth (Johnny Hunt)
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94258&ContributorID=15171
2. Overcoming The Grasshopper Syndrome (Dr. Jay Strack)
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94257&ContributorID=15170
3. Faith to Face Your Impossibilities (Michael Catt)
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94256&ContributorID=15169
4. Hearing God When You’re Hurting (Michael Catt)
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94255&ContributorID=15169
5. It’s Always Too Soon to Quit (Michael Catt) URL:
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94254&ContributorID=15169
6. What Does It Mean to Live By Faith? (Ron Dunn)
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94253&ContributorID=15167
7. Will a Man Serve God for Nothing? (Ron Dunn)
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94252&ContributorID=15167
Also, a study curriculum that accompanies the movie may be downloaded at:
http://www.facingthegiants.com/resources.php
It’s Always Too Soon to Quit
Hebrews 12:1-14
Michael Catt
(Facing the Giants—the death crawl scene)
I’m afraid that the sad testimony in America today is that anything and everything causes us to quit; yet in the Book of Hebrews, nothing could stop them. People hit a little problem or anxiety, and they’re ready to bail out on their faith and bail out on Jesus.
These Hebrews Christians were undergoing severe persecution, and Paul took them back and reminded them of those Christians before who had survived their lives because of their faith.
Therefore, since we have so great a 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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; (Hebrews 12:1-4, NASB)
In this passage, Paul painted a picture of a marathon race on the backdrop of the great Colosseum in Rome. This cloud of witnesses is not men and women of the faith who have gone before us or our parents or grandparents. These witnesses were the ones Paul wrote about in Hebrews 11, who remind us historically and biblically that we are not alone in this race.
It is important that Paul used the word therefore in 12:1. The phrase fixing our eyes on Jesus literally means “looking away to Jesus.” Paul didn’t want the Hebrews, or us, to fix their eyes on the great cloud of witnesses. I’ve heard preachers say that we have a great cloud of witnesses watching us and cheering us on; that’s good, but it’s not enough. In a time of pressure and persecution, even that won’t be enough. We must look beyond the witnesses and look away to the Word made flesh.
Those men and women of faith listed in Hebrews 11 are an inspiration and example to us, but Jesus is our empowerment.
THREE KEYS TO RUNNING THE RACE:
1. YOU NEED TO BE FIT.
Sometimes the Christian life is referred to as a walk. But, this metaphor of running is used in 1 Corinthians 9, Galatians 2 and 2 Timothy 2. You have to be fit to run. Paul is telling us, “Don’t loiter or linger; don’t quit.” It’s not just about running because I see Christians running everywhere. We must run with purpose and intensity. It’s not enough just to be busy for God because you may be busy doing the wrong things. We are in a race for life—it’s competition mode.
a) Lay aside every encumbrance or weight.
The word encumbrance may also be translated as “restriction” or “impediment.” Anything that hinders you from running your race at full speed and to your best ability, lay it aside. An encumbrance is not a sin. An encumbrance is something that, in and of itself, may not be a problem, but for you it is one. It is that which hinders your walk personally, takes your eyes off Jesus and causes you to lose your focus, purpose and tenacity for God. It may take away your passion or the priority of the Word of God and prayer in your life.
Whatever hinders you in the development of your faith should be laid aside. In reference to being a second-mile minister or a second-mile church, Ronnie Floyd once said, “Nobody who starts his day at eight o’clock builds anything that’s great for God.” The average guy starts his day at eight, and average doesn’t build greatness. You’ve got to do more than other people do. If you were to run a race, you wouldn’t carry dumbbells in your hands or strap weights around your ankles. You would lay all that aside so that you could run quickly without any hindrance.
b) Lay aside the sin which easily entangles.
This refers to the sin that’s just standing around, lurking in the shadow. The first picture here is that of a garment wrapped around someone that is hard to take off. The second picture is of a vine that grows up a tree and eventually takes over and squeezes the life out of the tree. For those of you in the south, just think of kudzu. Paul is describing that sin that hangs around, waiting to get its grip in us.
I’ve heard some translate this to mean that sin that always trips you up, and that is a possible interpretation. However, in light of the context of the passage, the best interpretation is the sin of unbelief. We’re just afraid to believe God and trust Him. We get uptight and edgy, and the sin of unbelief begins to take over—and it’s contagious. Just ask the children of Israel. It only took ten men with the sin of unbelief to kill the whole movement of God in that nation. It doesn’t take many people in a church with the sin of unbelief to kill whatever a church is trying to do. It is easy to get out of shape spiritually when unbelief enters in.
2. YOU NEED TO HAVE FORTITUDE.
“run with endurance the race that is set before us”
I may not be able to run your race, and you may not be able to run my race; but I can run my race, and you can run your race. I may not have what it takes to go through what you go through, but you do. I have watched people go through times of suffering and hurt and pain and run the race with endurance, while I have stepped back and thought, “I’m not sure I could have done that.” When I run the race that is set before me, then God gives me the grace to go through whatever I have to go through. God knows what you can endure. In 1 Corinthians 10, He says that He’s not going to bring anything into your life that you can’t deal with. God gives you grace and His strength in those moments, but it comes in proportion to your faith.
Paul’s use of the word endurance does not imply running the race while gritting our teeth or begrudging the assignment or resigning in defeat. The word means to run with a sense of purpose because you know God has the outcome determined on the other end. We do not run in order to become victorious; we run because Christ in us has already made us victorious. The persecution Paul described is strikingly similar to the persecution that is beginning to build in America. If God delays His coming, your children and grandchildren may have to decide to give their lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ. America is not friendly to the things of God anymore. The church is becoming so polluted that God may take His hand of protection off of us.
What does God want us to understand?
a) It could be worse. (vv. 3,4)
Have you ever started complaining about something, and someone else in the room has more problems than you, and you wish you had never opened your mouth? I’ve walked into hospital rooms before where someone bemoans their ingrown toenail, while the person next door has six weeks to live.
Listen to Paul’s words out of the Message translation:
In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. (vv. 4, 5a, MSG)
Or to God’s words to Jeremiah:
So, Jeremiah, if you’re worn out in this footrace with men, what makes you think you can race against horses? And if you can’t keep your wits during times of calm, what’s going to happen when troubles break loose like the Jordan in flood? (MSG)
b) If God didn’t love you, He wouldn’t discipline you. (vv. 5-10)
When I was growing up, there were times my father showed harsh judgment and times when he showed great grace. Either way, he disciplined based on what seemed best to him—but it wasn’t perfect discipline. God’s discipline of us is what is best for us, even when it doesn’t seem like it or feel like it. He is never wrong in the measuring out or the extent of His discipline. When God allows something to come into your path, there is a reason for it, and He is disciplining you because you are His child. God does not discipline illegitimate children.
c) You could miss the whole point.
There have been times when I’ve looked back on things in my life and realized I missed the whole point of what God was trying to do with me. I thought I knew, but I was wrong. I missed the point because I fixed my eyes on the problem instead of on Jesus. When you and I walk by faith, we need to get our eyes off the problems and obstacles and fix our focus on God. Don’t focus on the mountain; the mountain will hide God from you.
- Don’t be guilty of a belittling spirit.
“don’t regard lightly the discipline of the Lord”
Don’t chalk things up to a lucky break or a bad bounce. If you live that way, you will live forever shallow in your faith. In every circumstance say, “Lord, what are you trying to teach me.”
- Don’t be guilty of an attitude of alarm.
“nor faint when you are reproved”
God’s unconditional love is not without requirements; we walk within the boundaries of His love and grace. Don’t be shocked when you’re reproved by God.
- Don’t be guilty of a bitter spirit.
“later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness”
Some people can go through trials and never learn because they spend their whole time griping and complaining about the trial. They can’t seek God because they are so sour about their situation.
3. YOU NEED TO HAVE FOCUS.
Look at how Jesus dealt with persecution and problems when He walked this earth. Look at the stories recorded in the gospels and see how God in man can live a life to the glory of God on this earth.
a) Jesus is the pioneer of faith.
The word author in verse two literally means “a pioneer or one who forges the way or leads a procession.” If you don’t know how to walk this walk, look to Jesus. He’s the pioneer; he blazed the trail.
b) Jesus is the perfecter of faith.
He made faith perfect and complete. His life was the very embodiment of faith.
c) Jesus is the pattern of faith.
To grow weary and lose heart is to not finish the race. How do you keep from growing weary? Consider Christ and how he dealt with opposition and persecution. Quit being absorbed with your problems and become totally absorbed with Jesus.
d) Faith in Jesus makes us adequate for every situation.
- We need a correct attitude. When I’m running my race properly, I can come alongside someone else when I see him or her stumble and encourage that person to keep running.
- We need a right spirit. “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;” (v. 15).
Two things will cause a Christian to fall short.
1) Bitterness—It will kill you. Bitterness will kill your faith, your hope and your witness. Somewhere along the line, you must dig up the root of bitterness and lay it to the side. If Jesus can endure all that He did on our behalf on the cross, then we can certainly let go of that which makes us bitter.
2) Superficiality—taking the things of God lightly. Paul referred to this in verses 16 and 17 when he wrote about Esau. The promises of God meant nothing to Esau, but when he tried to get his father to change his mind, it was too late. Keep short accounts because when you carry sin around, you carry a lot of baggage that keeps you from running your race.
There is a purpose to our problems. God shakes things up to get our attention, to drive us to our knees where we trust Him alone.
“Fire will destroy what it cannot purify, but it purifies what it cannot destroy.” - Ray Steadman
