And so we'll be in first john for just a minute this morning. We'll be spending a lot of time in there, but
what I wanted to talk about this morning is just kind of uh, you know the christian life and
And uh one thing in particular that's important if we're going to live a successful christian life a victorious christian life
A life that is not static or moving backward because that is the intent of the christian life
The christian life is not a life that's meant to be lived standing still, you know static just as
You know staying in one place
Uh, and it's certainly not to be a life
That's where we are backsliding or moving backward or farther away from the things of god
We're always supposed to be moving closer to christ, uh doing greater works than we did before and that's a great, uh, you know
It's a philosophy that we need to have as individuals and even as a church, you know
A church needs to have that attitude and that mindset of we're always trying to do more for christ
I mean the fact is god has laid upon us a very uh,
High calling to say go and preach the gospel to every creature, you know
I was thinking about that how great that is that god gave us that charge
Some people would look at that charge and say that's overwhelming
And that's not to say to make light of it. That's not to say that that isn't a monumental task to accomplish
But what that does is it keeps us busy, doesn't it?
It keeps us always striving to do better always striving to do more works
We think about our church in particular, you know faithful word baptist church
It'd be real easy for this church to sit back and rest on its laurels and say boy. Well, we've done a lot
You know, we can say what do we really need to finish knocking the rest of the nabajo nation?
I mean after all we've knocked, uh nearly every door on every other reservation in the state of arizona
We can just take our time getting to that
But here's the thing we need to knock all those doors then we need to go knock them again
And then we need to knock the doors in new mexico. We need to knock the doors in colorado
We need to knock the doors in utah, you know, there's there's an abundance of work to do
So it only makes sense that the christian life is one who are always to be moving forward always trying to level up
Uh, you know our our christian life always trying to do more
It's not static. It's not just hitting a plateau and saying this is good enough. It's definitely not moving backward
It's a life that's intended to be lived. It's a life of upward progress
And really when you think about it if we look there in first john three
Well, we see ultimately as that the perfection or excuse me. The goal is perfection. That is the goal of the christian life
I'm not saying we're going to attain that in this life
I'm, not saying that we're ever going to reach a point in our lives on this earth that we're going to be perfect in every way
And the inward man the outward man that that we're without sin, but if we look here in first john
chapter 3
In verse 1 it says behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us
That we should be called the sons of god therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not
Beloved now we are the sons of god and it doth not appear what we shall be
But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him
For we shall see him as he is the bible says that when christ comes we shall be like him
And that's when we reach perfection. That's when we are given that new body in christ
That's when we have the fullness of the mind of christ
Where sin isn't even going to be a thing for us anymore. Praise god
But that's the goal, you know, that's what we should strive for along the way
We should strive to do these things because scripture tells if we do these things we shall never fall now
Are we going to fall of course and elsewhere in first john? We could read that great verse in chapter one, you know
If we sin, you know, if we confess our sins
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and we need to take advantage of that along the way
But let's always remember that the goal is perfection
That's where we're headed that is the destination
And it says there in verse three and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself
Even as he is pure
So we see here in first john that that is the to be as he is that is the pre
Destined predetermined destination. That's where we're headed
The bible says in ephesians 4 till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god
Under a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of christ
That's the goal we're aiming for the measure of the stature of christ. That's a lofty goal
That's something you have to really strive to attain for
but you know
it's good to have those type of goals in life to have big goals goals that are going to
Bring us out of our comfort zone that are going to motivate us and push us to to push through and and endure hardship
Because we're trying to reach a very high goal
And we know, you know, we don't want to be discouraged by this fact, but we know that we're not going to reach it
But we're going to try to reach it. We're going to try we're going to reach it not in this life
We're going to reach it when christ comes then we shall be as he is
We're all going to be conformed to the image of the son of god one day
We might as well just start working on it right now. We might as well just go ahead and start conforming right now
We might as well go ahead and just start reading the things of god understanding the things of god
And doing the things of god now because ultimately that's where we're going to end up
Now if you would turn over to hebrews chapter 12 hebrews chapter 12
The bible says in romans 8
For whom he did for know he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son again. That's the goal
That's the predetermined destination
Showing us that the christian life is not a static one. It's not one where we just
Let it pass by until we get there. No, we should be striving. We should be trying to attain under that goal
If the christian life is likened on a race which paul often likened it onto he'd like it under a war
He'd like it under a race
If if the christian life is a race if we look at it the way this being conformed to christ would be the finish line
Being uh coming into the fullness of the stature of christ that would be when we reached when we cross the ribbon
That would be when our foot comes over that finish line. That would be the end of the race
And if that's the case if that
If if reach if being conformed to the image of his son is the finish line that would make this life the track, wouldn't it?
That would make us
running this race
Uh until we come to the knowledge of the son of the fullness of the stature of christ
That would make this life that we're living a sort of race track. Does that make sense?
So here's the thing if this life is like a race that we're running like paul likened it onto in hebrews 12 over c
We must learn to run
At the proper pace we have to we have to we have to run in such a way
Is that we're going to finish and finish well
And of course one of the things we see here in hebrews 12 is that we must learn to run at the proper pace
You have to pace yourselves
Let me get over to hebrews 12 with you
What he says there in hebrews 12 is that we must learn to run with patience. He's looking unto jesus the author and finish of our faith
Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of god
He said let us therefore run with patience
You know where the hebrews 12 if I quit talking i'll probably find it faster
In hebrews chapter 12
He says beginning of verse 1
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses
Let us lay every side the weight and the sin which doth easily so beset us and let us run with patience the race
That is set before us. So paul here is saying look the life you're living is a race
And here's some things about it that you need to
He's showing some things that we need to practice in our lives and able to run that race. Well
And one of the things he said is to lay aside every weight, you know
We could talk we could talk about every one of these points every one of them could be a sermon in and of itself
Laying away the weight that so easily besets us and we often think of sin, right?
But it says let laying aside every weight and the sin meaning this that not every weight in your life is necessarily a sin
Some of those things that are holding us back and not allowing us to run the race as we should those aren't necessarily sinful things
It might just be you know, i've i've preached in the past
You know, I think a lot of people struggle with is a guilty conscience
a guilty conscience, you know of of not
Realizing that all those things that you've done or been are in the past
That christ has forgiven you that god's forgotten about him
He's forgiven us we might as well just forgive ourselves and lay aside that weight and run the patience that's set before us
And the sin, you know, maybe there is some sin in our life that we need to let go of
And get rid of it's holding us back. It's keeping us from being the christians
We ought to be they just so easily beset us and he says and let us run with what with patience
You have to pace yourself
You know, we've got a big job to do. We've got the christian life is is is uh,
Is not always easy it has its ups and downs it has its struggles and sometimes it can become very difficult
And uh, and that's the way it is but you know, that's why it's important to pace yourself
And not feel like you have to uh, you're you're not necessarily racing everybody else in the christian life
You know, we don't want to and I think it's good to challenge one another
I think it's good to be inspired by another person's zeal
But we should never and i'm kind of getting my head to self here, but we should never feel like we have to
We're trying to outrace somebody else
You know, you're you're you're racing the track, you know, you're you're running at your own pace
The important thing is that you run with patience, but that's really not what I want to focus in here or focus in on here
But you know just as important as the pace at which you're running
Is where you set your gaze and that's really what I want to talk about this morning is where you're looking while you run
And if you look there in verse two, he says
Looking unto jesus
the author and finish of our faith
So he says look if you're going to run well, you got to lay aside the weights
You got to lay aside the sins. He said if you're going to run well, you have to do it with patience
But there in verse two he tells you
You have to look unto jesus
See just as important as all these other things is is where you're looking as you run this race
So
If we're going to reach the end
With our arms raised because you know i'm again getting my health my head as myself already a little bit
You know every illustration falls apart at some point, but we're all going to reach the end of the race and just some of us
You know
Might finish last, you know, some of us might get drug kicking and screaming across the finish line
But if we're going to run this race well, and we're going to cross, you know, like a victor with our arms raised
You know, we're going to have to run
With our eyes forward looking ahead
Right, and that's that's the title of the message this morning eyes forward just as important as everything else that's mentioned here in hebrews 12
Running with patience laying aside the sins laying aside the weights is where you're looking you need to be looking forward
You need to be watching where you're going and if you would turn over to proverbs chapter 4
Proverbs chapter 4 you need to run with your eyes forward. You see running
With our eyes forward is going to do several things for us to help us run this race
And prevent us from making mistakes
See if we run with our eyes forward several things are going to happen one
We're not going to be distracted by our surroundings
If we're looking where we're supposed to be looking and running that race and keeping our eyes where they belong
We're not going to get distracted by
The things around us and that's you know, that's such a such an important thing to keep mine, especially in this day and age
Now i've been thinking about this lately is is the difference, you know
Between the time I grew up in and the time kids are going up in now
There wasn't as nearly as much to distract you as a kid when when I when I was a kid as there is today
You know, they're not to say we our life didn't have its distractions
But I mean, it's just even as adults now, we're just constantly bombarded all the time by media
I mean the the smartphones are our double-edged sword in my opinion
You can do a lot of great things and it's a very useful tool, but it can also be a huge
Distraction in our lives. Can it it can be a major waste of time in fact
And uh, you know, we need to learn to keep our eyes fixed on where they belong and keep our eyes fixed on where we're headed
If we're going to run this race and not get distracted by our surroundings
You know when they would hook up uh horses, you know often I think i'm getting this right anyway
You know, they they put a horse in a carriage. They put those blinders on that horse
Why would they put the blinders on there because they want that horse to focus on the trail?
They don't want him, you know seeing the radishes over here and going i'm going to go have a snack
You know and that's you know, I think I there's a law that's still in the books and some towns
I think where I came from that you were not allowed to put radishes and or any kind of garden produce along the side of
The road because it would distract horses. It was actually that's still on the books
So if you ever want to break the law, you know
Just just put some produce out there in the curb and see the cops notice but uh, but what was the point of that?
You know, they don't want that horse getting distracted. That's why they put those blinders on you know, we need to do that to our
To ourselves of course spiritually speaking, you know, don't show up here tonight or there's some service
We know these blinders on but you know
A blind or just two holes poked in it
You know if there's spiritually speaking we need to keep those blinders on if there maybe there's something in our life
It's not even necessarily sinful
But we find ourselves just always going, you know, always getting distracted by it
Always getting distracted, you know just recently I I uh, I was reading about this and and this is just kind of a small example
But uh, I was reading about how we're always distracted by by social media
So I said i'm gonna try something I got really excited about this and I said, you know, I'm gonna try something
I got rid of my facebook app
You know, I got rid of facebook and I disabled youtube. I don't have any social media on my phone
You know what? I found myself doing is i'd i'd be doing something else on my phone, you know an email i'd be looking at a
Text message or something and then just instinctively i'd gotten so used to doing i'd hit the home button flip it up and look for facebook
Without even thinking about it was it was habitual. Maybe that says more about me than anything. But you know, well you I had some issues, right?
But I mean I wonder if maybe some of us if we did the same thing we might find our our thumbs just
Reflexively looking for that social media app, you know the the twitter gram or the whatever it is, right?
I don't i'm i'm the old i'm old guy in the room, right? So we the old guys we only use facebook right anyway
I had I think I had snapchat for like three minutes
I got on that. I was like that's not for me
I don't need to be putting puppy barriers or anything like that, you know, no filter, right? So anyway
But the point being you know, sometimes we need to we need to put the blinders on spiritually not just you know
In the realm of social media, but maybe there's just something in our life. There's a relationship. There's
A circumstance there's just something in our life that keeps getting us distracted
From running the race. We're always looking we're not watching where our feet are falling. We're not looking at the track ahead of us
You know, jesus said no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven
He said if you're going to plow if you're going to work for me if you're going to put your hand the plow
You need to keep your eyes
Forward you need to be looking ahead
Because what happens and I know i've used this illustration in the past is if you start to plow and you're looking back
Your furrows end up all over the place. It's inefficient
Are you still going to be able to make a furrow? Yeah, but your cornrow is going to look like this, right?
It's not going to be that nice straight lines
You're not going to make the best use of the land that you have
It's going to be inefficient. So we need to learn to not get distracted to keep our eyes
forward look there in proverbs chapter 4
Look at verse 25 where it says
Let's back up to verse 23
Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life
Put away from the a forward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee
Let thine eyes look right on and then eyelids eyelids look straight before thee
Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established turn not to the right hand nor to the left
Remove thy foot from evil
so notice here in this passage first thing when he before he even gets to where the ah how the eyes are to be, uh,
You know looking right on and then eyelids looking straight before notice that he deals first of all with protecting your heart
Because these things are interlinked these things are
One affects the other your eyes will affect your heart and your heart will affect where you're where you look
It says the lamentations will read to you mine eye
affecteth mine heart
Mine eye affecteth mine heart, you know the things that we look at affect our hearts
And you know in the in the same way
Our hearts will affect our eyes
That's why jesus said set your affections upon things which are above not things upon the earth
For where your treasure is there will your heart be also?
So where we put our hearts is really going to determine where we're looking in life, isn't it?
If we're striving to live for christ if we're striving to run this race, then you know what we're going to stay focused
We're going to keep our eyes in the word of god
You know, we're going to get our face out of facebook and get our face in god's book
and we're going to get uh, we're going to get serious about the things of christ and we're going to continue to look forward and and
And uh live the christian life like we ought to because what you look at
Affects your gaze and what you desire also affects your gaze as well
So go ahead and turn over to uh, keep something there in proverbs
We're going to come back to that keep something there in proverbs, but if you would turn over to philippians chapter three
philippians chapter three
You see running with your what are we talking about this morning running the race of the christian life?
And there's a lot of different elements that are involved here
But one of the most important is where you're looking
Are you keeping your eyes forward
Philippians chapter three
Go ahead and just keep something there
So, you know, first of all running with your eyes forward is going to keep you from being distracted by your surroundings
And and uh, you know running with your eyes forward will mean
You're not distracted by your past, you know, and I kind of alluded to this earlier
But I think this is something that that people struggle with
Especially those that have gotten saved later on in life
You know, we've already we've already had maybe made some mistakes or we've we've we haven't let uh lived
Maybe we've got just some things in our past, you know, we let those things weigh us down
Why because we're always looking back at them. We're always looking to the past
Look at philippians chapter 3 look at verse 13
Paul said brethren I count myself to have apprehended now. What is he saying there?
He said look i'm i'm not claiming to have finished this race. I haven't apprehended
I haven't arrived
paul knew that
But this one thing I do
Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth under those things which are before
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of god in christ. Jesus
So he's saying here look i'm not looking back
I'm, not looking back on what could have been or what might have been or what has been
He's saying i'm looking forward. You know, that's how i'm going to press toward the mark is with my eyes
Forward, you know a great illustration of this that I heard years ago, you know
If you're going to press toward the mark, you know, you have to put some effort into it
And if you know don't try this if you were to come up behind me after church and just shove me
You could probably knock me over
You know the you could pick out some you know, some young girl could probably do it
You know if she got enough momentum behind her and blindsided me
She might be able to knock me around the ground and you know, i'm pretty big guy
And uh, but here's the thing, you know
If I were down in a three-point stance
You know like a like alignment in football I would get down but I know that i'd be able to get back out of it
And show you right
If I were to do that, you know get down and hunker down and get my hand on the ground
Put one leg on my knee and brace for impact
I don't care who it is. You're going to have a much harder time knocking me over
In fact, i'm going to have a much easier time of knocking you over
I'm going to be able to press toward the mark if I start out from that kind of a position where i'm focused where my eyes
Are forward where i'm looking at what's ahead of me?
But if we're just you know meandering through life kind of looking around and worst of all if we're not even facing the direction
We're supposed to be going
How far do we really expect to make it?
So we need to not allow ourselves we need to keep our eyes forward so we don't allow ourselves to get distracted
We need to keep our eyes forward so that we can
Focus on the things that are ahead of us and not the things which are behind us
Forget those things which are behind, you know, those things are over. Those things are gone. You can't change any of that
You know and it's easy to say that I understand but this and this is something that we have to begin to practice it in
Our lives and catch ourselves. We need to take every thought captive to the obedience of christ
And if we're beating ourselves up about the past or some intrusive thought keeps coming back in, you know
We just need to take that captive for christ. We need to meditate upon the god word of god
Don't make don't leave any room for these things to creep back in into your thought life
And uh, we keep running the race by looking forward. That's what we need to do. Keep our eyes forward
I mean just imagine the illustration of trying to actually run a race backwards
Now, can you run a race backwards?
Yes
In fact, somebody's probably even done it right this day and age. It's it's so odd
Somebody's probably gone ahead and done that
But here's the thing
You might even finish the race, you know, and you could run that whole race. It's going to take a lot longer
You know, I would try to demonstrate but for i'm not going to for fear of falling over
You know, well here's the thing even if you finished would you take first would you take second would you place it all?
You know, you probably wouldn't
And here's the thing if you try to run a race back by looking backwards and not where you're going
In all likelihood you're going to stumble and fall
You know, we're all going to stumble and fall. We understand that none of us is perfect
But let's not do it unnecessarily but because we're too busy looking in the past because we're too bad
Busy thinking and gazing on things that are behind us let's stay focused on the things that are ahead of us
So that we don't need to so we won't stumble unnecessarily
and in fact
You know if that happens enough if you run this race of life by always looking back and not work looking forward
Not keeping your eyes forward you are going to stumble unnecessarily
And you might stumble so much that you you give up that you just quit and you say you know what this is so frustrating
It's not even worth it. I quit
I I can't even finish this race
Well, here's the thing as I said earlier you're gonna finish this race one way or another
You know because remember what's the end of the race?
Being conformed to the image of christ. When does that happen when you die?
Right or when the lord comes whichever happens first
But here so, you know that you're you're gonna run this race whether you like it or not
And there really is no quitting and the lord will drag you across that finish line kicking and screaming and you'll get to heaven
And we'll take one look at you and say what in the world happened to you
I ran a race
Well, why are you covered in in you know in uh in raspberries?
You know you guys that wipe the guys that wipe out on their bikes and skinned knees and everything
gravel in your face and
What happened? Oh, I quit running
I had to get drugged through life. Is that really how we want to live life? Just getting drug along
Till we reach glory. Oh, we want to run the race. We want to look forward
Let's not let's not look backward because what happens you look backward you try to run this race
You're going to fall so many times you might get so discouraged that you try and quit
And then life just becomes even more of a struggle than it needs to be
And some people, you know, they they get in the christian life
And then I think they you know, they decide well this isn't for me anymore
I'm, just going to quit the race, but let me tell you something. The bleachers are off limits
If you got saved you don't get to go back to the unsaved world
You know, we we read that in first john, you know
We've uh, we become his child, you know
Behold what manner of love the father have bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of god
That's a permanent relationship that never changes once you're born again. That's it. You're in the family whether you like it or not
And now the bleachers at that race they're not for you. You can't just go back to life. Just being a spectator
Just looking from the outside in going. Oh, I wonder what the christian life is about you're in it now
And if you want to quit, you know, you're going to get drug across that finish line one way or another
But one thing's for certain. There's no
You know, you can't you can't run to the gate and climb out, you know
You can't climb the fence and and and quit the and quit being a christian. That's that fence goes all the way to heaven
You're gonna you're not gonna you're not gonna climb over it
So
Let's keep our eyes forward. Let's not get distracted by the things that are around us
Let's not get distracted by the things that are behind us
Let's keep our eyes forward
And let's not get distracted by those things let's also not get distracted if you would turn back to proverbs chapter 4
Let's not get distracted by other people
Whether it's in the church whether it's outside of the church, whatever it might be. Let's not get distracted by others
It's real easy to get distracted by things
That's one thing we get distracted about. It's really easy to get distracted by our thoughts by you know
Thinking about a past life or way things could have been or were or should have been
But you know another thing that distracts people is they get distracted by other people in whatever arena of life it is
Look there in proverbs chapter 4
Verses 25 and 26 where he says let thine eyes look right on and let thine eyelids
Straight before they ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established
You know, he's saying you should just be concerned with yourself
You should be more concerned about the race you're running about where your feet are falling than where somebody else's is
Don't worry so much about others now again, keep something in proverbs. Let's turn over to second corinthians second corinthians
Second corinthians chapter 10
We don't want to get distracted by other people
In whatever way they can distract us some people allow that to happen
It's kind of reminds me of in uh, and uh, you ever play thumbs up seven up who played thumbs up seven up
Okay, I got a few people this is going to make sense to
A very small portion of the room, but you guys are they still playing it in school these days. Okay, great
Yeah, all right
Well, I think it's been a while for me
But uh last I remembered you had to uh, everyone would put their heads down on their desk with their eyes closed
And they'd have their thumbs up
You remember this and ringing some bells?
Right, and then the teacher would come by and they would she would do that just to one student, right?
She would she put their thumbs down and then everyone was allowed to look up and we had to guess which
Is this how it goes then you had to guess which student?
Got their thumb down
And then uh, but whenever that happened, you know
Maybe that's not maybe I got some of the rules wrong. The point is this
When you weren't supposed to be looking you always have that one kid who would say so-and-so was peeking
And they would give themselves away
Well, how do you know they're peaking?
I remember the teacher. I remember this is like a this was like a light bulb moment for me as a child
Like how did how did the teacher know they were?
The teacher said well, how do you know he was peeking? I was like, oh because he was peeking
Right. I mean how how do you know where somebody else is looking unless you're busy looking at them?
If you yourself are busy peeking, you know your eyes are supposed to be where they're supposed to be
Well, you're busy looking around and then you're going to start tattling on other people
Oh, he's peeking. He's not looking where he said. She's looking over there. She's not you know
And here's the thing. We we need to keep our eyes focused on where they belong when it comes to ourselves
Bible says in second carinthians chapter 10
Let's go ahead and look there
in verse 12 the bible says
For we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves
I love that. We don't compare ourselves with them that commend themselves
People like to commend themselves today, don't they?
Especially on social media and that keeps coming up, right?
But there's even even in our attitudes and the way we behave sometimes
We're just commending ourselves
And if you get too distracted by a person like that and you start to compare yourself with somebody who commends themselves
It's really a waste of time
Because who's commending that person that you're comparing yourself to?
that person
Right, they might be commending themselves. That doesn't necessarily mean they're worthy of those
accommodations, right
They're putting a little gold star on their chest saying look you
And you think oh I should get that gold star. I really want to have that gold star, too
I wish someone would put that on me. Oh, it's real easy. Just go buy one and put it on yourself
That's what that guy did and that's what she did
It's real easy to do
So let's not compare ourselves, especially under them that commend themselves
And he goes on and says but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise
Don't get distracted in running the christian life by comparing yourself to everybody around you
Because everybody's at a different pace
Everyone's running at a different pace. Other people are way ahead much further along in the race. Some people are just starting out
Some people stumbled off the blocks
Some people had a false start, you know
All kind of people are all different places in the race
And so, you know, that's not I mean just imagine that an olympic runner trying to run a race and constantly looking back and making sure
You know see where everybody else is is placing
You know, where's where is that? We're so and so are they in 10th place 11th place?
What place am I in?
Always looking around and trying to figure out and compare ourselves to where everybody else is
Now if you would turn over I should have had you keep something in hebrews, but let's go back to hebrews real quick
So
Don't compare yourself to others don't compare yourselves to those that are in the race with you
It's a distraction
You're looking around wondering where everybody else says keep your eyes where they belong keep your eyes forward in the christian life
Look where you're headed watch where you're running
The bible says here in hebrews chapter 12
So we know we don't only want to not get distracted by those around us that are in the race
But let's not get distracted by others that aren't even in the race
Don't even get distracted by those
We're just on the sidelines
Because this happens too the jeering crowd
Right the jeering crowd that's out there. That's
That jeered jesus that that mocked him
The bible said, you know that didn't stop jesus from bearing his cross
They didn't stop him from moving forward and doing what he needed to do keeping his eyes where they belong
And doing what needed to be done
It says there in hebrews chapter 12
uh
in verse three
I'm, sorry verse two looking unto jesus the author and finish of our faith
Who for the joy that was set before him did what endured the cross?
Endured the cross and what else did he do?
despising the shame
There was a lot of shame that came with bearing that cross
It wasn't just the physical torture that he had to suffer. It was the mockery. It was the shame of being hung on that cross
That was not a that was a public shaming that he endured
But that he didn't let that distract him from the goal and we know that's the same way in our christian life
We need to keep our eyes forward and look at where we need to go and not get distracted by the crowd around us
Whether it's the world trying to allure you
to the riches of this world to the to the
You know the pleasures of this life
That the bible that jesus said would choke the word that would become unfruitful. Don't let those things creep in
Don't look at that don't let that distract you
But also don't let the naysayers don't let those that are going to jeer and mock and scorn and ridicule distract you
You know, I saw a perfect example of this on the reservation this last weekend
We were knocking on this door. Uh, I mean the place was was was very poor
It was mainly there was no siding just old bra osb
Several children living in this home
There was they didn't even have plumbing. I don't think they were using an outhouse and was it was very
You know
Of course people always have it worse, you know, and there was a time everybody lived like that
But you think in modern day america, you wouldn't be living
In such poor conditions, but these people were
And of course grandma came out with the two guys were trying to give the gospel and grandma came out and started yelling chasing them off
So, uh, I mean ran the kids off
She didn't see the one guy around the corner. So me and the other guy did like the real slow like, okay, we're leaving
But we weren't really so
But then sure enough these two other young guys showed up in the car and the other grandsons
But they were older probably in their 20s
and the one one of the soul winners he goes over and he starts to talk to the one in the car and he says
Uh, and the guy in the back seat says well, i'm a child of the devil just says that to him
I'm on the devil's son and he's saying in a mocking way. He was a he was a punk
And uh his but his buddy had gotten out of the car. So he goes over to him
And this guy starts listening
This guy starts to listen and this guy eventually got saved
But the whole time that you know so-called son of the devil whether he was or not
He self-proclaimed had gotten out of the car after about five ten minutes because he was getting tired of waiting around
And was standing there just making oh mocking things telling the other kids don't listen to this guy
Being a total mocker being a sitting in the seat of the scornful a scorner
Now what if that guy hadn't kept his eyes where they needed to be on the word of god listening?
To the word of god being preached and what if he just let that guy distract him
He wouldn't been saved today. He would have walked away unsaved
And who knows what would have happened after that? Maybe if he'd never gotten saved again
And it's the same, you know that of course would
Apply to his particular case, but even for ourselves
We can get distracted to christian life. We can stop running the race as well as we should if we start
You know, we get off course we start running in the wrong lane. We start
You know, you're trying to run the race
And you see the guy selling popcorn in the stands
And you think oh i'd like some of that
You know, i'm a little parched right now. Then we go get a coke and sit down and take a break
Well, you know that you can go ahead and do that, but you're not going to finish
Well, you're not going to place where you should you're not going to get everything done that you need to get done
So we need to run with our eyes forward why so we don't get distracted
We don't get distracted by the others that are around us
We don't get distracted by the things of the world we don't get distracted by the things in our past
and
We need to run with our eyes focused or our eyes forward because that's what's going to keep us focused on what lies ahead
It's not just enough. It's not just so that we don't get distracted so we can see the obstacles that are coming
And trip over them and fall turn over to uh, psalms 119. We'll end here psalm 119
We need to keep our eyes forward now, how do you do this practically speaking what would
You know, what would be something that you could actually do to help you keep your eyes forward?
You know one would be reading your bible
You know read your bible
Get in the bible every day and read it see what it says and then practice it then put these things into practice
Come to church. Listen to preaching the word of god and then start to practice it
You know putting that's the practical application of this sermon
It's not just a literal keeping your eyes forward don't don't walk out of here like
Some kind of an owl where you got to turn your whole head, you know
To see what's going around
Keep your eyes forward, you know, spiritually speaking means to stay focused on the things that you need to be doing as a christian
these fundamentals of the christian faith
Bible reading prayer soul winning church attendance. These are the things that make or break people in the christian life
And it's when these things start these basic simple things that start to slip that's when people start to veer off course
Where they start to fall back in the race where they start to run a little less
Maybe they maybe they slow down to a jog and you know what sometimes in christian life. We need to slow down a little bit
Maybe we've been pushing a little too hard
Maybe we need to just ease up
Say man, you know i've been reading, you know
20 pages a day
It's a little intense, you know, here's the thing don't quit if you're getting burned out don't quit reading
Just read 10
Maybe just back up a little bit pace yourself run with patience
Well, you intend gets to be too hard. Well, how about you read five?
You know what if life gets so crazy and hectic and busy as it can for some of us
Where you don't even think you can fit that much time and maybe just read a proverb
I would make that a permanent practice. But you know something sometimes in life
That's what we need to do is just run that race with patience
But we don't want to burn out but we also don't want to just backslide to the place where we're not even running anymore
The bible says you're there in psalm 119 look at verse 105
The bible says the thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path what's going to illuminate the path in front of you? It's god's word
How are you going to keep your eyes focused? How are you going to keep your eyes forward?
And the direction that you're headed is by getting in the word
By allowing this to illuminate and guide you where you need to go to show you where the path goes
And
Each step of our christian life has to be taken in the light of scripture each step of your life
It has to be taken in the light of scripture
God shows us the goal. God shows us. Hey, this is the finish line being conformed to the image of christ
And we should keep our eyes there. That's where we're headed. That's our reference point
But along the way, you know, god illuminates the path one step at a time
Salvation baptism these are just steps that we take
Bible reading soul winning church. These are just steps that we're taking along the path
And god lights those steps one step at a time
You see so often in life. This is something I remember being told early on I always thought about it
Is that we want everything lit up the whole way?
We want to know exactly where every twist and turn is every obstacle that it doesn't work like that. That's not life
And we talked a little bit about this a few weeks ago that life comes at you
Unexpectedly it throws curveballs at us, doesn't it?
And we want to know every pitch that's coming before the pitcher ever throws it
But that wouldn't be a fair game and that's not how life works
And god lights the path one step at a time through his word
So, you know whether we find ourselves, you know, we we run this race, you know, there's different types of races, aren't there?
There's races that might be you know, a nice scenic straightaway, you know
We just run along some beautiful lakeshore in life so to speak
Where everything's nice and flat and smooth
You know that that the course might have several different phases. Maybe that's where you're at. Everything's pretty smooth sailing right now
But you keep your eyes forward because there might be an obstacle course
You know, you could end up in one of those, you know
weekend warrior events where you got to climb over the the log poles and through the mud pits and through the little tunnels and do the
Rope swing and you know every i've never done one. So
You know all those things that they they have in those obstacle courses keep your eyes open
You might you might go from that nice scenic straightaway to you know, an obstacle course in your life
And you got to keep your eyes forward to finish this race
Because if you're we are going to finish it, like I said, you're going to finish it one way or another
Whether it's just a question of whether or not you're going to go get drug across kicking and screaming
Or whether or not you're going to finish your course with joy
How are you going to do that by keeping your eyes forward by not getting distracted?
By the things around you not getting distracted by the things that are behind you by keeping your eyes forward and focused
On the way in which god is leading you let's go ahead and pray