(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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