Hebrews

We're going to have 2 Bible readings.

The first is gonna be from Hebrews 12, and we're gonna read Hebrews 12. Verse 1 to 13. And then after that, we are going to turn back to Philipp 3, and we'll read from verse 7. So Hebrew is first. Hebrew is 12.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer, and the perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross scawning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of god. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, my son do not make light of the lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the lord disciplines the 1 he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?

If you are not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the father of spirits and live? They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but god disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.

Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet. So that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. And if you'd like to, either turn back in your bibles to Philippines 3 or follow along, We're gonna pick up Paul's words in Philippians 3 verse 7.

Whatever gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my lord. For whose sake, I have lost all things. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ and be found in him. Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

I want to know Christ. Yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But 1 thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead.

I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which god has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. Well, let me add my welcome. I'm Pete Woodcock, 1 of the passes of the church. We're going through this wonderful book of Hebrews. It's so alive.

And part of our job as Christians is is to actually care for each other. Part of our job is to minister. It's not we we're all pastors, if we're Christians to each other, to encouraging the word, to pray with each other, to, you know, watch out for each other, to warn each other. We're all part of that. It's not just, you know, paid pastor's job.

We're part of the body. And I want to look at 4 scenarios, but we're gonna pray first. Father help us, please, to be listening to your word that we may be able to encourage others but also that it may encourage us as well as we run the race towards the goal of Jesus, and we pray in his name, amen. So I'm gonna give you 4 scenarios, and I want you to think about how you would pastor, how you would deal with these people? What what are you actually gonna say to them?

First of all, let's go to a couple called Ezra and Rachel. Ezra and Rachel, they're from a Jewish background. They started following Jesus about 20 years ago, and they're founder members of their of the church that they belong to. And they've really put up with a lot over those 20 years of their faith. Both of their families, have really rejected them.

Have not really liked, that they've been converted to Jesus. And, they would say you've turned away from your upbringing. You've turned away from your family. You've turned away from the Jewish faith. You've dishonored your family, you've dishonored us, and you're a dishonored to the god of the Jewish faith.

But, Ezra and Rachel, they've taken the that opposition very well. They've been kind and gracious. They've known the purpose and joy, through those oppositions. But now, Ezra's just lost his job, and Rachel has been diagnosed with a serious life changing, met medical issues. Ezra, his parents have come to him and said in no uncertain terms that it's because they're not following the Jewish traditions and the Jewish god.

That's why they're suffering. And, there's a new church up the road as well. And they're preaching a message that says that Christians should never be ill or go through hard times. They only do that if they have a lack of faith in god. And so now, Rachel and Ezra are are in a really discouraged state.

Has god rejected them? Does god hear their prayers? She's not healed. He hasn't found a job. Does god love them?

Do they just not have enough faith in god? Is it their problem? Has god forsaken them? All these years following Jesus. What would you say to them?

How are you gonna pass to them? Let's go to Iran. Let's meet Ahmed and Yasmin. And they've suffered all kinds of prejudices for being Christians under an Islamic regime in Iran. And they've prayed for a long time.

For peace and freedom, to be able to live god's way and to share the gospel without fear. Now the bombs have started falling, and many of the leaders of the Islamic state have been killed. And they're beginning to think, maybe this is an answer to their prayers, but the last bomb last night killed 3 of their Christian friends. Has god forsaken Iranian Christians? Is it worth following Jesus in this world?

What would you say to them? How are you gonna pass to them? Or let's go to China, Minghow, and Shulan, They met when they were young in a house church, unregistered church, in a little village in China. They grew up in that village, and they grew up knowing that there was great suspicion of them because they went to this house church, and because they were never enthusiastic about the communist party events that were put on, they tried to avoid them where possible. Then they go to university, and the suspicion on them is grown.

They see their friends getting government jobs that are well paid, and they're not offered them. And they know that if they just follow Jesus in their heart and not openly Jesus as lord, then they'll probably get those jobs as well. And surely their reasoning, god wants them to have money, to be able to give to the church, and good jobs to be able to, you know, have positions of responsibility that they might be able to influence, So surely god would want them to compromise a little. What are you gonna say to them? How are you gonna pass to them?

Or last couple UK, we're here. So let's come here. Andy and Wendy. They actually say of themselves that they're coasting as Christians, but in actual fact, they're drifting. They're drifting away from him.

They've recently moved area, And they haven't really settled in a local church. They found it quite, quite hard to do that. Because actually, they've been more interested in getting involved in doing up their house and getting the garden. A way that they want it. And they're also really into sport, and so training takes up their time.

And the time that they have left at weekends, they sort of like to go and see old university friends. What are you gonna say to them? What would you say? How are you gonna pastor, Ezra, and Rachel, and Omed, and Yasmin, and Minghow, and Shulan? How are you gonna pastor Andy and Wendy?

What are you gonna say? Well, the book of Hebrews tells us. Here's what the writer of Hebrews says. Look at verse 1 of chapter 12. Therefore, since we are surrounded, just listen to his pastoring here.

Since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of god. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners. So that you may not grow weary and lose heart. That's his advice.

That's his is advice to those people. So let's have a think about that. First of all, he says, consider the saints now, saints on sort of religious people that you see in in various churches. It really means past believers. Consider past believers.

That's a great cloud of witnesses. Consider them. Look at verse 1 again. Therefore, since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. There are 3 little pictures here that the writer gives us, actually, 1 of the Olympic games.

1 of a courtroom and 1 of a martyr. And you just see it in these verses. And the first 1 is the Olympic Games. There's this massive stadium, and it's crowded with people, and there are races being run, And again, and again, athletes come onto the track, and they're surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses. Now today, in our Olympic Games, people wear skin tight lycra suits for aero efficiency, don't they?

I mean, they're they're sort of almost sprayed on. But back then, in the first century, they didn't have that, so they ran naked. It's very hard to run-in in a Roman toga, you know, you get will tangle it up and fall over. They take their belt off. They took everything off so that it could be aerodynamic.

Race after race is taking place. And each race is a different length, but every race calls for endurance and perseverance and sweat and pain and running through the wall and sticking at it. Now with what we gotta get is, in this game, the prize isn't given to those who come first or second or third. The prize is given to all those that finish the race. And each 1 that finishes the race leaves the track and joins the stadium, joins the grandstand, joins the people that have finished the race, which leads me on to my second point.

That's the first illustration, the second picture. Therefore, since we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, the word witness comes from the courtroom. Someone who's called to the witness box to give evidence for the truth, do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? And so call the great cloud of witnesses, he's saying. It's like a stadium, but now they're they're like in a a courtroom.

Call a great cloud, a stadium full of witnesses. 1 after the other after the other, thousands upon thousands of them, all telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. But what are they witnessing? Well, not so much us running, although I think that may well be true, they're not there really to watch us. They're there to witness to us.

They're there to shout out the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We know the end from the beginning. We've run the race. We know how hard it is, but we've done it. And it's true.

They're witnessing, not so much us running, and certainly not judging us, they're witnessing to the preserving love of god. God loved us all away. Now we can look back and see it. They're witnessing to the goodness of god. God was always good, even in those hard times.

Now you see it. They're witnessing that the children of god go through hard times, sad times, broken times. But actually, it's the father god training us because he loves us. They're witnessing. These people, they run the race.

They're there. They haven't done it perfectly as we saw last week. They, they've stumbled, but they've got up and not quitted. Some have endured unspeakable pain. Some of them endured terrible suffering, but they still run, and now they're seated in the grandstands.

They are proof positive of the reality of the goodness of god that wants us to get to the end. Where there's glory. And we see that in Hebrews 11. Now I have no time to go through all of Hebrews 11, and we have done a series, I think, on it. Did did we do every person in Hebrews 11 or most of them anyway?

And I'd recommend perhaps this week if you're running the race that you listened to that series of this great cloud of witnesses. There's all sorts. There's men, there's women, there's old, there's young, there's famous, there's unknown, there's named people, there's unnamed people, Some of them live a very, very long time. Some of them have very short lives. Some of them go through times of confusion and and discouragement.

And but when they look back, they see that god was always with them. God has honored their faith. Gotta sustain them and kept them and used them and blessed them and matured them. They're all witnesses, and they're all saying it's worth it. Go for it.

Keep running. God is your father. He knows what you're doing. You are not facing anything in the Christian life that these witnesses haven't already been through and run through. And experienced.

They stand as an encouragement. They stand as a challenge to the rest of us that are on the track because if you're a Christian, you're on the track. But there's a there's a third little tiny illustration here. There's the Olympic Games of illustration. There's the the courtroom illustration, but the very word witness actually means martyr.

They're martyrs. They've so witnessed to the faith. They've died for the faith. They're martyrs. They're saying this is so true.

This is worth dying for. See, when you think about it, you're gonna die anyway. So you might as well live for something that's worth dying for rather than live for something that isn't worth dying for. And this is worth dying for, so they're martyrs to what they're witnessed it to. So here they are.

This great cloud of witnesses. They're cheering us on. God is good. He is true. Run.

It's worth the pain. Run the race. There's nothing more important in your life. Whatever you're going through. Run the race.

And when you've finished, you'll be able to look back at your sea god at every point in your life. All the worries, all the pains, all the issues that you're going through that seem so big now, you'll be able to look back and say they were just part of the course that got me here. So that leads me now to their witness, because their witness becomes even clearer in this second point. So consider the saints, the Christians that have gone before, and the believers that have gone before. Here's the second point, consider the savior then, fix your eyes on him, consider him.

Now in the last verses of Hebrews 11, we're told this in verse 39 of Hebrews 11. It's quite a sort of funny little connecting between this hall of faith and then verse, chapter 12. It says this, these were all commended for their faith, and there's this whole list that that you can look at in Hebrews 11. Yet none of them received what had been promised. So they're running, looking forward to the thing that was promised.

Then it says, since god has planned something better for us, this is now the Christians and the Old Testament saints, so that only together with us would they be made perfect? Now there's all kinds of things we could talk about that verse, but I think there, the promise has to be Jesus. Is talking about Jesus. So they were running the list in in Hebrews 11. They were running looking forward to the promise.

They hadn't got Jesus yet. They had all kinds of pictures and illustrations that he was coming, but they hadn't seen him yet. But we're now running looking back. We have the privileged position to look back at the promised 1 who did come, and he ran the race so verse 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus. The pioneer and perfecter of faith.

For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of god. Consider him. Fix your eyes on Jesus, consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. That's my second point then. Consider him.

Consider the savior. Notice his pioneer. And perfector of the faith. Now, okay, really tune in here because I think this is quite an important point. We heard last week, the definition or a definition of faith is Hebrew's 11 to, hebrews chapter 11 verse 1.

This is what it says. Faith is confidence in what we hope for. You haven't got it yet. Faith is confidence in what we hope for, and assurance about what we do not see. We don't see it.

We haven't got it, but faith is believing the word of god that we will get it. And we're assured that we get him. Now hold it. Jesus then we're told is the pioneer and perfecter of that faith. Some translations, and you've probably got it in yours, is it says, instead of, pioneer and perfecter, it says, author and finisher, author and finisher of the faith.

Now we've seen in Hebrews, and you can look at Hebrews 2 verse 10 if you want to, but you we've seen in Hebrews that what that means is that Jesus was the perfectly obedient son of god. We were Adam was a son of god, and he was not obedient. But Jesus is the perfect obedient son of god. And you see the sort of culmination of his obedience in, in gethsemane when he's praying just before the cross. And you see just how obedient he is.

He says, not my will, but yours be done. That's the obedient son. So jesus I mean, Adam said not your will, but mine be done. And we've all said that. But Jesus is the obedient faithful, 1, the 1 of man of faith.

Not my will, but yours be done. And he prayed that just before he went to the cross. So Jesus then, we're being told is the author and finisher of faith. He's the perfect man of faith for us. He's the beginning and the end.

He's the alpha and the amiga. He's the first and the last. He blazed a trail for us as a pioneer, and he run the race. And as a as a forerunner, as a pioneer, he's now opened the heavenly sanctuary we're told in Hebrews chapter 6. He's opened the way to heaven.

We're told that he's opened a new and living way for us to come to god in Hebrews 10. He's there in heaven, interceding, praying for us to help us along the finishing line. He's the author and finisher of faith, and he's the man of faith for us. That's why you wanna be in Jesus. I don't know whether any of you have seen any of the, Power winter Olympic Games.

Has anybody seen them? Seems some of it? Yeah. The the little bit I saw was just amazing. There's visually impaired.

I mean, seriously visually impaired people. Skiing, it's unbelievable. And they're going at 70, 80, 90 miles an hour downhill through these slaloms and jumping. And they can't really see where they're going. It's extraordinary.

How do they do that? How do you get from the beginning when they're on this ridiculous, you know, steep hill of slippery snow and go down and then go round and round and jump and round and get to a finishing line. How how does anyone do that if you're visually impaired? They have a friend who's not visually impaired? Who's dressed in orange?

Who goes just before them? Just before them? And they keep their eye on him. They are highly skilled, but they keep their eye on him who's gone before them. And every turn, they follow.

And every jump, they follow. He's with them at the beginning. He's with them during their run. He's with them at the end. That's Jesus.

He's the orange man. Yeah. The future is orange. He's the some of you will remember that. He's the orange man.

He's the 1 that's gone before. Keep your eyes on him. Fix your eyes on him. However, poor sighted you are. You can't quite see where the where the jump is or where the corner is.

You're not sure how slippery that is. Keep your eyes on him? He's the author and perfector. He's the beginning and the end. He's the 1 who's with you.

He himself endured the race for the joy set before him, he we're told. He was inspired to endure the cross because of the joy set before him, which was to sit at the father's right hand and bring we're told in Hebrews chapter 2, many sons to glory. He endured the cross. Consider him. Consider his route to joy.

It's always a crown of thorns before it's a crown of victory. Always. Last Sunday night, Tom Smith, showed us in Matthews's gospel. And told us that all the recorded prayers of Jesus have Jesus praying to god as father. It's always father.

Every recorded prayer of Jesus is spoke spoken to god as father except for 1 where he felt alone and where he called god just god. It was when Jesus was sent to stage in that desperate, desolate moment, When he was a lone figure mocked on every single side, even by others dying around him, even by people at his feet where he's drawing breath and in agony on a cross, They're gambling for his for his clothes. They so disregard him. There's a lonely figure on a cross. It truly is a scene of abomination of desolation, as it's called.

Now if you were watching that scene, if you were there and you weren't a mocha, and you weren't someone just, having a go at him, what would you say to a lonely man where everyone's mocking him? Where he's on his own. If you had an ounce of humanity in you, you'd probably shout out, mate. No 1 can help you. Cannot help yourself.

Call out to your god. Only your god could help you. And then you hear him. My god. Yes.

That's the thing to do. My god. I'm abandoned. I'm forsaken. Why?

Why have you forsaken me? You hear those haunting words. The very horror, if you know the story which Jesus record coiled from, in the garden of gethsemane and said, not my will, but your will be done. When he prayed to the father, not my will, your will be done. Now what do we see?

We see the god man forsaken by god. The son of god himself experiencing the full effects of human sin upon him. He's experiencing the full effect of god forsaken this. And all he can do is to cry out god, and he feels like his prayers are not answered because why have you forsaken me god? Are you my father?

Have you ever been in a situation like that where you've wondered that you've never been heard? No one's hearing you. Has god forsaken you? Is he really your father? Is that a lack of your faith?

What's going on? But at that very point, at that very point, he turns his prayer into father. Take my spirit. Father into your hands. I commit my spirit.

At the point of the sense of god forsaken this, he prays to the father. And what happens? The curtain that separates man from god is ripped open in the temple. There's a way to the father. At the point of suffering, at the point of God forsaken this.

The way is open to the father. Father into your hands. I commit my spirit. It's at that very point. And he's a witness to that.

He's a witness. He's a martyr. He's a witness that in pain and suffering, the only hope is god's father. And it's at that point you feel the tenderness of the father. For the joy, set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne.

Of god. Consider him. When you feel forsaken, consider how he turned forsaken this into farther into your hands. I commit my spirit into the curtain ripening to so man could come to god. Notice it says scorning its shame.

He shamed the shame of everybody mocking him on the cross. And the shame of the cross. He turned the shame of the cross into the place of father into my hands. I commit my spirit. Into victory.

And when you are at that point, when you're low and you feel forsaken, but you carry on and turn to god as father. Then the author and finisher of your faith has been obviously working in you with great power. So that in confidence, we hope for an assurance about what we do not see. He turns suffering to bring us to the point of the only real hope there is in the universe. That god is our father.

So when you're weary and you're losing heart, fix your eyes on Jesus. Consider him. That's my second point. I hope that meant something to you. Here's the third point.

Consider the race. Consider the race. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. Now as I said, if you've got a Roman toga on, you know, it's stupid to run-in that unit and fall over. If you've got heavy belts on, you you take everything off.

You're gonna go naked. You gotta run. And so if there's anything in your life that causes you to stumble, look, just get rid of it. It's simple. It's not that difficult, really.

Now the Greek word for hinders means ambushes you. Is there anything while you're running the race, it's gonna ambush you. It's gonna hinder you. It's gonna make you fall. Jesus says this, and we in this country need to hear this.

When he's talking about the parable of the soils, or the parable of the sower, it's often caught, he says this. The seed falling among thorns refers to someone who hears the word, But the worries of this life, and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word making it unfruitful. There's deceitfulness in wealth. There's worries that we keep to ourselves in this life. Throw off anything that hinders.

It's not necessarily sins that hinder. These things have not necessarily they may be good things. But if they're hindering you, throw them off, nothing wrong with a toga, it covers up a load of blemishes, doesn't it? But if it's gonna stop you running the race, then get off and reveal your blemishes. And run.

So these hindering things are not necessarily wrong things. Money isn't wrong, but there's a deceitfulness in wealth that will choke you. Worries of life will they happen, but be careful. They don't grow into a weed that will choke the word. We need to throw them off.

We need to set our eyes on Jesus. We need to give them to the lord Jesus Christ in prayer. What is it in your life that you'd be better off without to help you run the race? What is it that's stopping you run the race? What is it that's ambushing you?

Every time you wanna go for Jesus, this ambushes you. It may be emotional weight that hinders you. Gotta learn to bring that to the lord Jesus. Stripe it off. Listen to port.

Just go back to those words of Philipp 3 if you have got them. For Lipians 3. Here's Paul. It's a fantastic passage, and I have no time to really open it up. But he's really talking about resurrection power.

He has the power of of resurrection. Now most people take that a lot of people rather take that wrong. They say resurrection power means I can walk through life is resurrection, life and power, and nothing will hinder me. What he's saying is, I need the power when I feel forsaken, when I feel the difficulties of life, when I feel the burdens against me when there's anything that's hindering me that I need to throw off, even though I may love it, and even though it may be sort of a good thing in itself, it's not doing me good. So I need to throw it off, I need none other than the power of the resurrection of the lord Jesus Christ to help me run this race.

That's why we bring it to Jesus. Look what he says in verse 12 of chapter 3. Not that I've already obtained this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on. To take hold of that wit for which Christ Jesus took hold of me, he's the author and perfecter of faith. Verse 13, brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but 1 thing I do forgetting what is behind me.

You know, sometimes it's the burdens of past life and past sin that drag us down. Forget them, bring them to the cross. Forgetting what's behind me and straining forward, towards what is ahead. I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. I'm gonna follow Christ.

I'm gonna follow the orange man. I'm gonna go for it when he twists right. I twist right. When he jumps the little hill, I jump the little hill. When he twists left, I twist left.

I'm going for it. I'm going for the prize. I'm following the orange man. I'm looking forward. I'm pressing on.

I'm persevering on the race. That's marked out for me. Christian Life is not a stroll. It does take effort, and we and indeed endurance and patience, which leads me to my fourth point. Consider yourself as sons.

Consider yourself as sons when you're suffering when you feel forsaken. Look at verses 4 to 12 of Hebrews 12. Not really gonna open these out, but the answers in them. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. Jesus did.

And you haven't yet. And have you for completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? Here's a word of encouragement when you're suffering. It says, my son, do not make light of the lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the lord disciplines the ones he loves and chastens everyone who accepts. He accepts as his son in dual hardship as discipline.

God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? We know what it's like to live in a nation when there's no fathers there discipline in children. It's a disaster. Spoilt little children.

If you are not disciplined, and everyone undergoes discipline, then you're not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all, moreover. We have all had human fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the father of spirits and live? They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but god disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in his holiness. That's what he's about.

He wants to make us like Jesus, his perfect son, who suffered. No discipline seems pleasant at the time. No. It doesn't look painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Hardhips, and pain and difficulty and sufferings and going into the worries. They're all part of god's love for you. It's the opposite of the false teachers who are in the grandstand shouting out. You must be completely healed. You must have a perfect life.

You must have everything you want in this world. You have heaven on earth. They are liars. Don't listen to them. You know you're a son.

You know you're a child when you go through these difficulties because you're following the orange man. You're going to a cross a crown before the victory. You go through the ups and downs and the lefts and rights and the jumps before you get to the finishing line. He's maturing you. He loves you.

He's taking you to a point where it may so hurt in this world. You see this world isn't the answer, and you cry out god into my into your hands. I commit my spirit. When you feel forsaken in suffering, Remember, it's exactly that that shows you, you are a son of god. Followed the orange man.

Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms. Verse 12, and weak knees and make level paths for your feet so that the lane may not be disabled, rather healed. Don't listen to the false teaching. Hey, listen. We need to mature in our prayer on this as well.

We can pray about anything and bring anything to god. We can bring everything to god. We're told that. And why not? We can pray about anything, but there are things we should pray about.

So we often really resort quickly to lord heal this person. Lord take this person from the difficulty that they're going through. And that's in okay. We can pray about that, but we should pray, on top of that, lord, may they look to you, may they endure? And when you go through suffering, we know that we feel alone and sometimes forsaken.

And lord, we pray that they'd be able to say in their, what, feeling of forsakenness farther into my, into your hands. I commit my spirit. There are times in life where you have to do that. I I remember when I was having an operation, and I was going under general anesthetic. And what do you do?

You're not in control. Yeah? You just have to say lord into your hands, I commit my spirit. I don't know whether I'm gonna wake up. I've got no idea what they're gonna do.

In fact, the woman asked me just before the Unifit has asked me just before I was going out, she said, You're a you're a you're a vicar or something she called me. I can't remember what she called me out. Oh, yes, you're the fa father. You're a father. What are you gonna do when you're asleep?

And all I could say was tell you about Jesus, and I was gone. Like that. And the the funny thing is she woke me up early. So I don't know what I was saying, but I woke up and heard them sawing my leg. But anyway, that's that's awful.

But there was something pleasant about it anyway, but there we go. But what can you do in life? You come to a point where you realize you're not in control. That's the best place to be. You realize that everything is hopeless.

When you're hopeless, the hope is in god. Therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Last point then nearly finished. What are you gonna say? We're all pastors here for Christians.

What are you gonna say to Ezra and Rachel? Remember the Jewish couple? What are you gonna say to Ahmed and Yasmin? Remember, Iranian couple? What are you gonna say to Ming, Minghow and Shulan?

Remember the Chinese couple? What are you gonna say? What are you gonna say to Andy and Wendy? When do you say this? Consider the cloud of witnesses.

Listen to them. Listen to Moses who chose to be ill treated along with the people of god rather than enjoy the free pleasures of sin. Listen to them. Listen to those who've got there. Consider Jesus.

For you to bring you to the father. The pioneer, the author, and finisher, the orange man. Consider him. Consider the race. What is there to throw off?

Are there things hindering you? This is the most important race you'll ever be in? You'll have a nice garden for a few years, but not in eternity. You won't care about the garden in 50 years time. Consider the race, strengthen your knees.

What is it you need to strengthen in your life? So you can run and consider your sonship. When you go through difficulties, God is working on you to make you like the orange man who's gone before you, who knew what it was to be forsaken for you so that he could bring you into the father's had the, presence. When I was a young Christian, there were 2 songs written by not, you know, not not not praise songs, but 2 songs written by a man who had professed to be converted at the same time I was a Christian, and they helped me, and they've helped me through my whole life. Because they were like an autobiography to me.

At the time I became a Christian, friends did desert me, and it was quite lonely. And this was a song that really helped me. They ask me how I feel, and if my love is real, and how I know I'll make it through. And they, they look at me and frown. They'd like to drive me from this town.

They don't want me around. Because I believe in you. They show me to the door. They say, don't come back no more. That actually happened to me.

Cause I don't be like they'd like me to. And I walk out on my own 1000 miles from home, but I don't feel alone because I believe in you. I believe in you, even through the tears and the laughter. I believe in you, even though we be a part. I believe in you, even on the morning after.

Oh, the dawn is nearing. Oh, the night is disappearing. Oh, this feeling is still here in my heart. Don't let me drift too far. Keep me where you are.

Where I'll always be renewed. And that which you've given me today is worth more than I could pay. No matter what they say. I believe in you. I believe in you when the winter turns to summer, I believe in you.

When the white turns to black, I believe in you, even though I'd be outnumbered. Oh, the earth may shake me. Oh, my friends forsake me. Oh, even that couldn't make me go back. Don't let me change my heart.

Keep me set apart. From all the plans they do pursue, and I I don't mind the pain. I don't mind the driving rain. I know I will sustain. Because I believe in you.

That's what he's saying in Hebrews. The other song is called pressing on. I'm pressing on. Yes. I'm pressing on.

I'm pressing on to the higher calling of my lord. Many tried to stop me, shake me up in my mind. I'm pressing on. Yes, I'm pressing on. I'm pressing on to the higher calling of my lord.

Shake the dust off your feet. Don't look back. Nothing can hold you down. Nothing that you lack. I'm pressing on.

I'm pressing on. I'm pressing on to the higher calling of my lord. That's what you need to say to Ezra and Rachel, to Omid and Yasmin, to Minghow and Shulan, to Andy and Wendy, and to you. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are indeed our rock and our redeemer.

You are the greatest treasure of our souls. You are the rest that we need, and we pray that you would help us please to fix our eyes upon you. When things are going well, but also when enemies surround, and when tides of sorrow rise and when trials are abounding, help us to look to you, help us to hear the witness of the saints who fallen asleep in previous generations, help them to help us to hear their voices. Cheering us on that we may continue fix it to fix our eyes on the savior, and we pray in his name. Oh, man.

Now may the god of peace who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead, our lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever? Our men.