You. so so so so so I love you. Well, good morning. Good to see you here. This is pretty well filled out, but maybe instead of me sending this out to remind you, I'll just send it around. You can look at it. Oh, yeah, I said I'd bring whatever. So I don't know. I think I sent out an email telling that Susie's sister passed away. And so I don't know if that will affect her being able to be here this next week. But she had signed up. So I don't know if somebody else wants to jump in there and add to that in case it doesn't work out. But otherwise, we've got something else. We've got a new, trying to put a new church directory, which is a guarantee. As soon as we get this in your box, somebody's going to move. Right. Okay. So, yeah. Anyway, could you look through here? It should take you more than about 30 seconds. So, look, find your name. Let's make sure we got your name, address, phone number. Blood type, Social Security number. No. Yeah, but if something's not right, try to write in, allegedly, whatever's supposed to be there. So. Okay. All right, next Sunday we'll have our communion along with Mother's Day message. We have the breakfast next Sunday. And so that's, we'll give you an extra 15 minutes. I know that probably doesn't help a lot if you're cooking something for an hour, but 9.30, give you 45 minutes to come in, eat, and then you come upstairs. So that's where we're at next Sunday. I'm never quite sure what to say on the radio, because you don't know if 100 people are going to show up for breakfast. So we're doing something special for Mother. So all right, good enough, I think. So we're going to show you a video presentation of Camp Fairwood. I trust you'll take time to look at the display, look at some of those pictures, see if you find people that you know in there, and some other things there. And you'll hear more about that here shortly. A couple songs here to sing here to begin with. And as we asked people how many had been to camp as a young person, a lot of hands went up. I didn't ask how many got trusted Christ as Savior at camp, but often that happens. And that's a great thing. And so there's a Redeemer. We're gonna sing that first one. 206, 206. Good morning, everyone. Nice to see all these smiling faces. And if you wouldn't mind turning to 206. For those of you who don't know, it's right after 205. We'll sing all three verses, please. Please rise and we'll sing. There is a Redeemer, Jesus, God's own Son, Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One. Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and healing your spirit till the work on earth is done. Jesus, my Redeemer, named above all names. Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, hope for sinners slain. Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and healing your spirit till the work on earth is done. When I stand in glory, I will see His face. There I'll serve my free forever in that holy place. Thank you, O my Father, And if you'd like to pull ahead to hymn number 452, and we'll sing all three of those verses also, make me a blessing. Out in the highways and byways of life, they are waiting in silence. Carry the sunshine, darkness is right, making us our own big family. May a blessing out of my life, may Jesus shine. Make me a blessing, O Savior, who I pray. Make me a blessing to someone today. Temple will be safe for you, for this end is nigh. Thou lavest hard to forgive. Others will trust in, only you prove, through every moment you live. Make me a blessing, Make me a blessing, Out of my body, Jesus shall be. Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray, He to the helpless a helper indeed, Unto your mission be true. Make me a blessing, make me a blessing out of my life. May Jesus shine. Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray. Can all the God's people sit? You may be seated. Reading that last line there, gift was given to you and in your need, reminded me as a young person, and as it relates to camp, my mom and dad I didn't have much extra for funds, but there was a couple in our church that didn't have any kids of their own, and I guess I was their not-adopted son. But they decided, they picked me out of the bunch and paid my way to camp for a number of years. And that might be something you consider doing sometime, sending a young person to camp, especially Well, I guess it's good for saved and unsaved, but you get an unsaved kid to camp, I mean, to some extent, they're a little bit out of their element. But yet, they're there for five days with Christian counselors, speakers, good Christian music, people seeking to lead them to Christ, and many have come to know Christ while they're at camp. And so, something you might might to consider. Maybe I should have mentioned this before, but during the morning service There's going to be a video presentation of camp. So some of those that might normally be going to junior church, if you want to stay up and watch that, feel free to do so. And I'm not quite sure running the race, what all's involved there, but there'll be a few things that you might want to see take place there. All right. The chorus here, the steadfast, oh wait a minute, is that the one? There we go, okay. He who began a good work in you. How long has God worked in our lives? All the way through, doesn't he? He starts a good work. Lots of times people think, get the idea, well he started a good work when I got saved. But in reality, it was before that. The Holy Spirit had been working on your heart and life Before that, to help you to see your sin and need of a savior, come trust Christ and you're just getting started. That's kind of like a baby just starting to walk. There's a whole lot of growing that needs to take place after that. And so he starts a good work and he's gonna keep on doing it till it takes us home. Then he's gonna finish it, all right? All right, let's sing this together. Do we ever work it out? Do we ever work it out? All right, one more. We'll let you stand, get that stretch, okay? Let's sing that one more time. All right, we're not gonna hide this thing here today, because we're gonna show some more stuff, but you can greet one another and Thank you. Thank you. It was? It took them an hour to get it off. I should have said a brief greeting. I know, you haven't seen each other for a week. Got to catch up on the news. All right. Okay, again, we're glad to have Brad and Marcella come down here from Westfield. They were out doing bike riding, raising funds for camp with Rendezvous rubber legs rendezvous. I didn't your legs rubber today There is a stool over here that I use sometimes Okay, yeah But, well, I'll let you share what funds are promised to come in for that. But we're happy to have Brad Marcella with us. Again, look over the display out there, the literature out there. We've had the camp brochures out there, but if you haven't picked up one yet. And share it with your kids, your grandkids. There might be some others that you could help get them to camp and it might be a life-changing experience for them. All right, Brad, you come and share with us at this point. Again, thank you, Pastor John, for allowing us to come and to share a little bit about camp and the ministry of what God's been doing there at Camp Fairwood. And then also to have the privilege to open the Word of God and to share it with you. And I hope that it'll be and both will be an encouragement to you sharing the ministry of camp and the time in the Word. And so good. I'm thankful that you're here. We spoke this morning on walking by faith and not by sight. And the Lord encouraged us from his word to really walk by faith, just as you have received the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, so walk in him in our daily life. And the overall theme of the Sunday school hour was this. If we can receive and trust in Christ with our eternal soul by faith, Why can't we trust him in our daily lives to live by faith in all the incidentals and trials and struggles of life? So that in one sentence was what this morning was about. We're going to be talking about running this morning, and we'll see how the Lord will use that. But before we do that, I want to share a little bit about camp. Could I see how many have been to Camp Fairwood? Raise your hand if you've been to Camp Fairwood. Okay. Um, not quite half. So, uh, I will assume that, uh, those many of you have not been there and we're going to kind of take you there by way of video and share about our summer program, our retreats, kind of what we do. We are a year round ministry that started in 1966. It was a baseball camp owned by Earl Torgeson, a first baseman for the Detroit Tigers. He also played for the Chicago White Sox. And he would bring in his buddies, his professional baseball players, and they would train minor leaguers and little leaguers how to play baseball. So it was a baseball camp. There was the barn. There was the area underneath the barn, which they used for eating. They had four dormitories for the men to sleep in. And they had an old 130-year-old farmhouse. And that's all that was there. And since 1966, the Lord has allowed us to build about 22 more buildings and to grow this property into a Bible camp to be used for two purposes mainly. And those two purposes are what the purpose of this church is. Evangelism, helping people come to know Christ, and discipleship. Our mission as a camp is this. Camp Fairwood exists to provide an excellent Christian camping ministry in which campers may come to know Christ as their savior and grow in him through God's word and a godly staff. That's why we exist. And so we are not trying to replace the local church, but we are an arm, a help of the local church to help you in that way, about evangelism and discipleship. Last summer, there were 18 young people that came to camp knowing, or at least realizing while they were at camp, that they were lost and they needed a Savior. And 18 young people trusted in Christ as their Savior at camp. That is tremendous, that is awesome, that work that God does in lives. but our whole focus is also discipleship. Our theme this summer is life support, relying on God through prayer. And again, these brochures are in the back on the display. I would encourage you to pick one up. It shares not only about our summer theme, but all about retreats throughout the year as well. But our theme is life support. So all of our speakers will be speaking on prayer this summer. That's our focus. Our program, the games and the activities will revolve around that kind of a theme, life support. We're doing kind of a medical health theme this summer, how we can be healthy in Christ and rely on God through prayer. We have 230 acres, as I mentioned, and in this property, the Lord has provided two lakes, one swimming lake, one fishing lake. Prairie area, we have four and a half miles of walking trails that we have groomed over the years. Yesterday for the Rubber Legs Rendezvous, we had some walkers that walked those trails for four hours. But at camp, we have such a beautiful piece of property to use, to have kids come away from their normal setting, away from the TV, away from their cell phone, away from the distractions of life, and to enjoy a concentrated time in scripture, in Christian fellowship, in worship, and just having a lot, a lot of fun. We have horseback riding, paintball, giant swing, hiking, fishing, swimming, crafts. We have a beautiful craft building where kids can come in the afternoon and build and make crafts for an hour or two hours. We have archery, and riflery, and soccer, and volleyball, and softball, and on the list goes of what we can do and enjoy. The kids can come and enjoy things to do at camp. So, it's a great experience. A typical day at camp looks like this. Campers will get up about 7, 7.30. They will first clean their cabins for a cabin cleanup competition. Okay? And they're all inspected every day by the health supervisor, and they get points for how clean their cabin is. And so we have six guy counselors and six girl counselors. A brother and sister counselor are teamed up together to form a team. And that team, they all six compete against each other all week long, and they earn points for their team. The winning team on Friday gets rewarded, gets an encouraging party together, the brother and sister team. and just a lot of fun things. And so you gain points for cleaning your cabin, you gain points for games, you gain points for scripture memory, gaining points for a lot of different things as you work together as a cabin. So cleaning your cabin in the morning, and then there's breakfast at eight o'clock. And then after breakfast, there's personal devotions. We encourage the campers to have personal time with the Lord. And so they'll have that devotional time. And then we have a big group session where it's our first Bible session of the day. After that, we have what's called skill time or activity time, where they go online before they ever come to camp and they sign up for eight to 12 activities. And it could be riflery, archery, crafts, outdoor survival skills, hiking, basketball, fishing, and so on. And so we have that activity time for about an hour. After that activity time, the campers go with their cabin group and their counselor, and they have a session, another Bible session. So this summer the speakers will speak on prayer, He'll speak on that, and then the counselors will dig deeper with just their cabin group and have a second morning Bible session. Most camps will only do one session a day. We still believe in three sessions a day, and personal devotions, and scripture memory, and just making God's Word a very, very important part of our program, of our purpose. So after that cabin Bible time, then it's lunchtime at 12 o'clock. We serve great food at camp. We are known for the excellent, excellent food that we serve. We were blessed to have Dawn Nichols as our head cook for 23 years, and she did a fabulous job. She retired, and she and her husband retired up north in Phillips, Wisconsin, and we've been blessed to have Seth for the last two years, Seth Peterson. Some of you may know Clarence Peterson, who was a chef at Shepherd's for decades, but Seth, has come and has done a tremendous job cooking for us for the last two years. However, He is probably being called, the church is voting today, they're in Atlanta, Georgia, and they are voting today whether or not to call him to be their worship leader at that church in Atlanta, Georgia. So we are losing Seth probably in the next two and a half, three weeks. So here's a prayer request for you. Please pray that God would provide a head cook for us for the summer. And as I mentioned in Sunday school, I wish our theme would have been instead of prayer, I wish it would have been on fasting. So, but no, food is a very big deal at camp. We serve tremendous food. You know, we just don't cut corners. We spent over $110,000 in food last year. So we make food a priority. Kids want to come to camp and eat good food, healthy food, delicious food. So that's lunch. After lunch, we have a rest time. The state took that away. They said, no, you no longer need to do rest time. And we tried it for one year. We thought, well, good, if we're not mandated, we don't do it. So we didn't have rest time. That was a mistake. Okay. And we put it back into our schedule because it was so valuable. The kids are running all day long. They're focusing. And so they're exhausted. So we give about a 40-minute rest time after lunch for all the counselors and staff and the campers. They're quiet. They're on their bunks. Most of them read or memorize scripture or pray. Many of them fall asleep because they're tired. After rest time, we do another big group game as a camp. We meet at the sports field. or down at the lake, and we do a big group game. And that game runs for about an hour. Kids get all hot and sweaty and run the energy out, and then it's free time, where crafts are open, and swimming, and horseback riding, and paintball, and hiking, and fishing, and other things. Crafts. And so the afternoon is about two hours of free time where there are scheduled activities that the campers can enjoy. And then at 530 there's supper. After supper there is a lifeguard-led group game. So they're already running right after supper. And then after the group game we do our evening chapel. That's our main big chapel service in the evening where we bring all the camp back together. and our main speaker speaks on our theme, again, this summer prayer. And then after chapel, the camp store and snack shop are open. And yes, we do try to limit the sugar intake, but they can enjoy something from the snack shop. And then after that, we do a night game just before bed. So about a half an hour, 40 minutes of a night game, and then they go to bed. And that's a typical day at camp. And they get up Tuesday and do it all over again. They go five days, there's 15 meals, five nights, and sometimes campers will come and they're tearful that they're homesick, they're away from camp, or they're away from home. But on Saturday, when the campers leave, there's more tears because they don't want to leave. They have had the time of their life. And it is amazing to see what God does in a life during a week of camp. I think of one girl that came to registration. This was not last summer, but the summer before. And she said her name to Marcella, who was doing the registration. And she says, but I identify as a boy. And it was like, uh-oh, what are we going to do with this? And Marcella said, well, what is your biological sex? Well, I was born a girl, but I identify as a boy now. Well, we're going to put you in a girl's cabin. And so we put her in a girl's cabin where she belonged. And by Wednesday night, God had so gotten a hold of her heart that she announced publicly, you know, I was confused. I was, oh, I was just angst about my life and who I am. But now I know in Christ, that I am a girl, but I am born again in Jesus Christ and I am free in him. And I am proud to say and pleased to say that I am a girl as God made me. And it's like, thank you, Lord, for doing a work that only you can do. And I could go on and on and share cool stories like that about how the truth will set you what? Free. That's right. It'll set us free. And we have seen God do that, not just with gender, but with premarital sex, with drugs, with alcohol, with teens that have thought seriously about committing suicide, and then saying, you know, in Christ, I am free. In Christ, I am loved. And I have hope for the future. And it's cool to see God's word make a difference in people's life. So camp, camp is a great place. The Lord used camp in my life. It was called Camp Manitoumi. Still going, still a great ministry in Illinois. And my youth pastor said, Brad, now that you've received Christ, you got to go to camp. And I said, camp? Oh, the only camps I've heard of are concentration camps. And I don't want anything to do with that. And he says, no, no, no, no. This camp has good Bible preaching, good food, sports, and good looking girls. And I said, sign me up. So I'm going to go to camp. So I went to camp as a junior in high school. And I just was a thirsty sponge. I couldn't get enough. I was just eating it up. God's word was just alive to me and I just couldn't get enough. And it was thrilling as a new believer in Christ. And he said, OK, you've got to go back to your senior year. And I went back my senior year and stayed in touch with those guys that I was in the cabin with through that year and had another great, great year. And then my youth pastor said to me, Brad, you love camp so much, you've got to go to Bible college. And I said, what? No, no, no, no, no. I'm not going to go to Bible college. No way. He says, yes, it's a lot like camp, only full time. And I said, sign me up, sign me up. So I went to Faith Baptist Bible College and under the guise of this was going to be a lot like camp. And I realized, oh, this is a lot of work. This is a lot of studying. And I hadn't done this before, you know? A student? Oh, I thought this was camp. And so for, no kidding, for three months I was homesick as a college student. And I'd call home every week and say, I'm coming home. And mom and dad would say, no, stay. Stay at college. Stay at college. We love you, but stay at college. So I would struggle another week just laboring over papers, what's this, writing research papers and memorizing all this scripture and, you know, you remember this, and all this homework. You had to read these big books that were like this thick, you know? And I thought, oh, OK. Well, then by the fourth month, I learned how to study for the first time in my life. I learned how to read, seriously reading for knowledge. I learned how to memorize and how to take tests. I never took tests very well before college. And I loved it. And again, I was like a thirsty sponge, just soaking it up. I couldn't get enough of God's word. And Bible college is a great place for that, to learn God's word. And then I sensed God's call on my life to just serve him with all my life, full time, with all my energies, all my time. And so I dedicated my life to do that. And then my senior year, Marcella and I met. And it was a tremendous experience where six months we grew so close together and then we broke up. The engagement, the engagement. And then after three months of being apart, we got back together and then got married again in three months. And this summer we will celebrate 40 years together. So we're thankful, thankful for that. So, yeah, praise the Lord for that. She's put up with me a long time. No, we're both recovered perfectionists, all right? Not really, but, I mean, I am, but she's not. Not really. So camp, camp has been a meaningful ministry in our life and we have enjoyed it just to see kids come and to be changed by the Lord. You know, usually you think of camp as impacting the campers, but what I have come to realize over the years is that God impacts the staff too. not only us as full-time staff, but the 45 people that we hire every summer that come for a week or two or all summer long. And many of our staff are all summer long. And it impacts you. I can't tell you how many of the college students have said, I am a better parent today because of what I learned as a counselor here this summer. And God changes lives that way too, our staff lives. Well, we do want to give you an opportunity to see the video and take you to Camp Fairwood. We're located two hours to the north and a little bit west, just north of Madison, about an hour and ten minutes. Just north of the little town of Westfield, if you've been up I-39. That's kind of where we're located, out in the middle of nowhere. But there again, God has carved out a beautiful place to have a Bible camp. So at this time, we're going to show the video and take you to that ministry. On 230 acres of pristine land lies a Christian youth and family camping experience unlike any other. This is Camp Fairway. Since 1966, Camp Fairwood has existed to provide an excellent Christian camping program in which campers may come to know Christ as Savior and grow in Him through God's Word and a godly staff. Life at Camp Fairwood revolves around the Word of God. Whether through summer camps or retreats, biblical truth will be taught and celebrated through the songs, chapel sessions, and themes that are chosen. The counselors are instrumental in the campers' lives because they genuinely care for them. Through their ministry, many campers come to know and make personal decisions for Jesus Christ each year. The dedicated support staff is always friendly and helpful. This team works faithfully behind the scenes to give campers the high-quality experience that Fairwood is known for. Speaking of quality, if you ask anyone what their favorite things at camp are, you are guaranteed to hear about the food. Whether it be for summer camps or retreats, the kitchen at Fairwood is dedicated to cleanliness and excellence in their work. Each summer, camp hosts four youth camps and three family camps. Here's a snapshot of the summer programs at Camp Fairwood. you you Outside of the summer program, there are many other events that keep Camp Eric busy year-round. Here's a snapshot of just a few of them. you Throughout the seasons, the stunning natural beauty of Camp Fairwood continued to draw campers in. For over 50 years, the ministry has set the standard for Christian camping in Wisconsin. Come and experience it for yourself here at Camp Fairwood. Hopefully you feel like you have been to the camp now and have a little bit better feel of the ministry of the camp. You saw on there a little bit about the retreats. We do many, many retreats, about 40 retreats throughout the year. That would be ladies retreats, men's retreat, college age retreats, teen retreats. We have three teen retreats, one in the fall, one in the winter, one in the spring. We'll do family camps, church families that come. We have several churches that bring their whole church, or any that can, in the church, and they'll rent out the whole camp, and we provide the meals, they do the speaker, we provide all the activities and the facilities, and it works out great. Camp is doing well financially. In other words, we're not in debt and all of our bills are paid and the Lord has given even some surplus. So we're thankful for that and we just continually try to, as the Lord prospers and blesses, to upgrade and improve the ministry of the camp. One exciting thing was yesterday we had our Rubber Legs Rendezvous. It's our one event fundraiser that we do. And we asked people to come and to bike or hike for four hours and seek sponsors to give. And the sponsors yesterday, gave to those participants a total of $25,000. Isn't that a praise? I know, praise the Lord for that. And so those monies are going towards building two new pavilions so that counselor groups can take their cabin group and have their Bible studies out. Even if it's raining, they can go to one of the pavilions and they can have their sessions. One will also serve down by the lake for kids and campers and staff to get out of the hot sun and enjoy being there. Also a place to have devotions and Bible studies. So we're building two of those. And then we're also replacing rotten windows around the camp in different areas, like our bathhouse. It's a beautiful building. But the original windows are starting to show age, a lot of wear and tear. So we'll be replacing windows with that. One exciting thing, last year's Rubber Legs Rendezvous was about 26,000 that came in, and sidewalks we've been able to put in from the dining hall to the bathhouse and around the bathhouse. So it's a much, much better experience for the campers to walk on the sidewalk. Through the winter, we can plow that, and in the summer, they won't track in the dirt into those cabins or into the dining hall. So it's kind of neat to see how God has used that. We are so thankful for you as a church, how you pray for us at camp, how you give financially. There are 22 churches that monthly support the camp financially, and that makes up about $38,000 a year. And so we are so thankful for that, for that 38,000 that comes in through those 22 churches. And that's important. So we are so grateful to you for your involvement in praying and giving and then sending campers our way as well. We will have time for question and answers afterwards. We'll be around for a little while. We'll be back in the back. We'll be at the display. And so feel free to ask us any questions that you have. So that's Camp Fairwood in a nutshell. If you think of us, continue to pray that the Lord would use this ministry for His honor, for His glory. Okay, let's go to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Yes, that's it. I've been personally studying the book of Hebrews for several months now and have thoroughly enjoyed that time. Just getting to know, I don't know who the author of Hebrews is, but what a book, what a deep book with rich truths for us, from the Old Testament to the New. Okay, when you and I receive Christ as our Savior, And we are made aware by the Holy Spirit that we are sinful, that we are lost, that we need a Savior. Because every one of us will live somewhere forever because we're eternal souls. We have eternal souls. So that place is the importance, either with our Savior or in hell. All right? And so when the Lord makes us aware of our sin and places faith within us to receive Christ as our Savior, it's a life changer. Literally, it's a game changer. It's from eternal damnation to eternal life with our Father. And that is very, very exciting. Well, he not only wants to save us so that we could be with him forever, but friends, he wants us to fellowship with him here and now. He wants us to walk with him. He wants us to fellowship with him, to abide in him, to walk in the Spirit with him. And this, the Christian life is, it's a walk of faith. But there are metaphors given in the scripture that talk about the Christian life. Here's a metaphor of the Christian life. Paul gives this in many places, Ephesians 6, 10-17, and 2 Timothy 2-3. He says that we are soldiers in a warfare. Now, you may not consider yourself a soldier, but spiritually, you are in a battle, you're in an army, and you are hopefully in the Lord's army. And he is the commander-in-chief, and we obey him. And we serve for him in the army. And so that's one metaphor for the Christian life. We are soldiers. Here's another one. You and I are boxers. And you say, oh, no, no, no, I could never throw a punch. Well, you and I are boxers. Paul says this, he says, I box in such a way, not as beating the air kind of wildly, but no, I intentionally plan those punches. And you and I are in a boxing match. And our enemy is Satan. And so we must avail ourselves of the armor of God as a soldier, but as a boxer, as an athlete. But also we are a slave. In many epistles of Paul, he says that we are slaves of Jesus Christ. We are bond slaves of Jesus Christ. And so we willingly submit to our master because of the work that he's done in our life. Here's another metaphor for the Christian life, is you and I are farmers. In 2 Timothy 2.6, it says, the hardworking farmer ought to be the first to share in the blessings of the crop, sharers of the crop. We are in a occupation spiritually as a farmer. And a farmer is known for hard work. A farmer is known for doing the hard work and just trusting the Lord to provide the increase. We can plant, we can cultivate, and we can water artificially from the well water. But God causes the increase. And so we are a farmer. Well, this morning in Hebrews 12, the writer gives us another metaphor, and it is this. You and I are runners. We are athletes. Do we have any runners in the crowd? Maybe in the past or currently, any runners of the past? I used to run some, a few of you. Runners, most of you? No. It's a lot of work, and it's a lot of hurt, it's a lot of torture. Well, yeah, it is, it is. But we are runners. Let's go to our text. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1. says, therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives." In those six verses, Paul gives the metaphor, the analogy of us running in a race, running in a race. This morning, I want to briefly share five motivations or directives to encouragements in running the race well for the father. Okay, I want these five motivators or directives, encouragements to help you. And here's the first one. The first one is run with... Am I supposed to click this? Run with encouragement. I would encourage you to take notes, too, on the back of your bulletin or somewhere. But run with encouragement. You see in the verse here, it says, "'Since therefore we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance.'" So I am encouraged by this analogy of the race that you and I are running for the Savior. And he says, run with encouragement. The encouragement found in verse 1 are the cloud of witnesses. Now, in the context, which I think is crucial here, as it always is, the context is chapter 11. And what is the writer talking about in chapter 11? Faith. Faith. And he lists for us men and women of faith. like Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Sarah, and Jacob, and Joseph, and Moses, and he goes on to say, and Rahab. And if I had enough time, the writer says, I would tell you of Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, and David, and Samuel, and the other prophets. So I believe in chapter 1 of verse 12, the cloud of witnesses are those people of the Old Testament mentioned in chapter 11 who were men and women of faith. And friends, you and I are to look to the cloud of witnesses to gain encouragement as we run well for the Savior. I think of men like David, and now looking back, Paul and Peter, and Joshua and Sarah and Ruth, men and women of faith who are there to encourage us in our race. But I also think of human examples that I've lived with, and that would be my Bible college professors. They were part of the cloud of witnesses that encouraged me to run well. I think of my grandpa, who we called Papa. I didn't know his first name until I was in high school. We always called him Papa. And Papa ran the race well. He was a cloud of witness for me. He loved the Lord Jesus. He served him faithfully. He was part of the cloud of witness. I think of John Whittington. As I got saved, John Whittington was a part of the cloud of witnesses. And you know what, friends? You are a part of a cloud of witnesses. We're all witnesses. but whether we're encouraging others to live for Christ or discouraging others to live for him. So we gain encouragement from the cloud of witnesses. We run well because we can see others have ran well, and we can gain encouragement in that way. Number two, we run without encumbrances. We run without encumbrances. It says in verse 1, and let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us or ensnares us. Now, I have to ask myself, what is the encumbrance here that the writer is talking about? Because he uses the singular word. And then he says, and the sin. I would have thought he would have used the word sins. But he says, lay aside, get rid of the encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us. Well, again, I think context is key here. Context is key. What's the writer talking about? Faith, in chapter 11. I believe behind every sin that you and I commit against the Father, is because of a lack of faith. Maybe you haven't thought of it that way before. But every time we disobey or sin, there is something you and I are not believing correctly about God, of who he is, or his word. And the writer here is saying, in running for me, get rid of doubt. Get rid of unbelief and trust me. Walk and run by faith. Run by faith. These encumbrances slow us down. They trip us up. They keep us from running well. Now, I ran track in high school, and on the day of a track meet, I would wear ankle weights. Anyone know what these ankle weights are? They are like bags of sand. that would velcro to the bottom of your legs, on your ankles, and I would wear them all day long. I saved for months to buy these ankle weights. I was so proud of them. And I would wear them the day of a track meet, and then just before the track meet would start, I would take off my ankle weights. I never once ran a race with ankle weights on. Why not? Well, they would entangle me. They would ensnare me. That's the word here. They would weigh me down. Earlier, I was on a swim team, and these guys would get so fanatical about swimming, gliding through the water, that they would shave their entire body. Head, face, underarms, they would shave their legs. Guys would do this. And they would glide through the water, so they thought. But they were getting rid of every weight, of every entanglement that would slow them down. And friends, the same is true for you and me. We get rid of anything and everything in our walk, in our run with the Savior, that slows us down, that entangles us and weighs us down. We run light so that we run well. We get rid of encumbrances. So I think the word sin there, or the word encumbrance, is unbelief, is doubt, is not trusting the Lord. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. So we run by faith. We walk by faith. Number three. We run with endurance. It says here, and so let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. You friends, we are not in a sprint. We are in a marathon. And so God is training us to run the marathon of the Christian life. It's not a sprint. It's a marathon. And to run marathons, you have to condition yourself. Now, last weekend, our son, Benjamin, who is an amazing runner and marathoner and climber and hiker, he ran 36 miles last Saturday. And there were two others still in the race at 105, I think it was, miles, still going. Can you imagine running 105 miles? Well, our son has been in those ultramarathon races and has done that. And it's amazing. And you don't just get off the couch one day and say, I'm going to run a marathon. No, it doesn't work that way. You train, and you exercise, and then you can endure. I remember on the track team, I was a sprinter, and my favorite was the 100-yard dash. That's what they called it back then. Now it's something else. My coach came to me and said, Brad, the 100-yard dash is before the 880. The 880 yards is two laps around the track. It's a half a mile. And I said, well, I don't run the half a mile. I'm a sprinter. He said, yeah, I know, but our half miler is sick. And so I'm going to put you in there and do the best you can and maybe we'll place. And I thought, sounds like a good idea. So I did the hundred yard dash and did well and I had a little bit of time to rest and then they called for the 880, the half milers, and so I grabbed my starting block and I'm there on the front line there hammering in my starting block and I see all the other runners just ready to start like this. And I realized, oh no. So I couldn't look foolish so I nailed in my starting block like I was, you know, hundred yard dasher and I get into my starting block position and they're all snickering at me laughing you know and I the gun goes off and I shot out of there and I ran as fast as I could like a scared jackrabbit and my first lap around I look over and I see the runners over there and I'm thinking I'm gonna set a world record you know a school record for sure and And I think this was like a quad meet, so there were four schools involved, lots of people running. And I see the coaches just going frantic in the middle, and I'm trying to run with all I got. So I'm way ahead of everyone, and I'm thinking, this is amazing. The coach should have put me in long ago. And then the second lap hit. It was the last 440. And it was like I had drank concrete. and I could hardly move my muscles. I could hardly move. I was striving, struggling, and I couldn't go. And all of a sudden, people were passing me, and I'm getting further and further behind, and people are running much better. And why, friends? Because I hadn't built up the endurance. And you know what? God is building up endurance for you and me in the trials of life. so that we can run well, so that we can trust him more, so that we can be obedient to him when he says to do something. And so he's training you. That's why he says, none of us like discipline. In the chapter of chapter 11, a lot of it is on discipline. And God is disciplining you and me so that we run better, so that we run faster, that we run lighter. And he says, look at all these people that are here in the race with you. Be encouraged. But he says, get rid of the encumbrances, the doubt, the unbelief, and anything that would slow you down, and then look at these disciplines, these trials, look at them correctly. I'm working in your life to make you what I want you to be, a good runner. Oh, I don't want to run. You're in the race. You don't have a choice. You've been drafted. So we're runners, and we are to run with endurance. the race that is set before us. So these trials are all given to shape us and to help us endure in the race. Fourthly, we are to run with an example. He says here, verse two, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter, some translations say, finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Friends, you and I, as we run, were to look to Jesus. He ran the race well. In fact, perfectly. As only he could do. You and I will not. But he understands our frame. He made us. Run well. Run. Run here with the example, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. If you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, who developed that faith in you? Well, the Lord gave it to you. He's the author and perfecter of faith. And so he's going to bring about things in your life, my life, so that we get stronger in faith and to trust him more. So we look unto Jesus. It says here, the joy that was set before him. Did Jesus have joy in going to the cross? Well, in the garden of Gethsemane, he said, Father, if it all be possible, let this cup of suffering pass away from me. I don't want to go through this. Please, no! I know what's ahead. The suffering, the pain, the agony. In his humanity, he did not want to do it. But he knew. And he had an abiding joy. Is it possible to have joy in the midst of pain? Go like this. Yes! The joy that was set before him, Jesus knew that through his suffering he would secure your salvation and mine for all eternity. So the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. despising the shame. He didn't like it that people were ridiculing him, thrusting that crown of thorns on his brow and blood running down his face, slapping him, beating him, the spear in his side. He didn't like that. But he took it for you and me. And friends, you and I are to look to Jesus as our example. Look to him and gain encouragement. Look to Jesus. He who began a good work in you, we sang it as a chorus, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1.6. So God is at work in your life. Just as he saved you, now he is equipping you to run the race well. And then lastly, run with the end in mind. Run with the end in mind. It says here, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Jesus kept the end goal in mind. And what is the end goal for you and me in this race of life? It is to be more like Jesus. It is to develop within us. And I love these verses here. In chapter 12, here is the whole goal of parents with their children and disciplining them. Here it is. It says, I'm sorry, verse, at the end of chapter, oh, where is it here? Chapter, verse 10, chapter 12, verse 10. They, meaning the parents, discipline us for a short time as that seemed best to them. But God, he disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness. There's the one. Here's the second thing, God, that worked in your life and my life. All the discipline for the moment doesn't seem to be joyful, but sorrowful. I grew up in the era where my mom and dad would say, Brad, you've disobeyed. Go out and get a switch. And I'm not talking about a light switch. Some of you know what I'm talking about. And we had a weeping willow tree in our backyard. And I now know why they were called weeping willows. And if we didn't pick a switch that was worthy of our cause, of our discipline, they would say, go back out there and get another one. And they would make us get a switch. They would bring it in, I'd give it to my dad or to my mom, and they would switch us. In other words, it was like a spanking. It was like a spanking. At the time, I never looked at them and said, oh, mom and dad, that feels so good, do it some more. No! It's painful! It hurts! But afterwards... And they didn't abuse us. I knew my mom and dad loved us. They did it for our good that we might be sharers in his holiness. And in verse 11 it says here, "...afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." Friends, those are the two things that God is after in your life and mine. And he will do whatever it takes in his good, sovereign plan to accomplish that. But you know what? It hurts. And sometimes we say, God, stop it. I don't like that. But God says, no, I'm going to discipline you because I love you. Because you are my son, my child, my daughter. And we say, OK, yes, Lord, yes. I will yield holiness and the peaceful fruit of righteousness because I know you love me and you care for me and you want to accomplish in me something so much better than I even want for myself. And so I run with the end in mind. The end goal is God is fitting us for eternal life. You know, for some, it might be a real shock to go to heaven and see how holy it is, how holy God is. It shouldn't be that way. No, God wants us to experience his holiness now. He wants us to live that holiness here and now and to walk in the Spirit. Well, let me close with this analogy or this example. On May 6th, 1954, The first time in recorded human history, a man ran a four minute mile. That we know of, it had never been accomplished before. But Roger Bannister ran a mile in four minutes. It was like three minutes and 59 seconds. Well, then the race came of the century, some called it the miracle mile race, Bannister and Landy. Landy had also just broken the four-minute mile after Bannister. And so two humans that have first broke a four-minute mile. That's a fast race, friends. That's huge. That's amazing. So they were running for the first time together. And they ran the race, and for most of the race, Bannister, the first one to do the four minute mile, was behind and Landy was ahead until the very end something very unique happened. Landy was running and he looks over his left shoulder to see where Roger Bannister was. Roger Bannister was passing on the right and just before The four minutes, it was three minutes and 57 seconds. Roger Bannister passed Landy on the right and set a new world record. It's interesting that Landy said, you know, I've known Lot's wife to look back and be turned into a pillar of salt, but I look back and I was turned into a bronze statue. Because he was second place rather than gold first place. Four-minute mile. Never look back, friends. Never look back. Keep your focus on the goal, the Lord Jesus Christ, peaceful fruit of righteousness, holiness, and God's at work. Run well the race that is set before you. In Hebrews chapter 12, one through six is the encouragement you and I need to run well that race. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that you give us encouragement from scripture, that your spirit is within doing a work. And Lord, we just praise you for taking these lives that you've created and making them new. We bless you and praise you in Jesus name, amen. How about we turn to 106? 106? Praise Him, praise Him. Thank you, Brother Brad, through Sunday school and morning service. We got to see about camp, but we also got encouraged and find some good Bible teaching there. We appreciate that. OK, what did I say? 106? Yeah. I'll get there. It's right before 107, right? Let's stand at 106. 106, first and last. Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! Sing over His wonderful love proclaim! Hail Him! Hail Him! Christ, our future's glory, strength and honor, give to His holy name. I am a shepherd, Jesus, so proud of His children. In His arms He carries them all day long. Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His exceptional greatness! Praise Him! Praise Him! Hear our great joyful song! Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer, heavenly Lord, all powerful, set us free! Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever! Bow Him! Bow Him! Proudly we praise the King! Christ is coming! Over the world victorious, power and glory, and to the Lord be joy. Praise Him, praise Him, death of His desolate countenance. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. And we've got a beautiful day. I hope you can get out there and enjoy some of that. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness to us. We thank you for Brad and Marcel being able to be with us from the challenge from your word and keeping our eyes on Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray you continue to meet the needs there at camp. Think of a need for a head cook. We do pray that you bring just that right person along here soon, that they can be prepared when the camping season starts. Pray you give them safety as they travel back home here later today. And Lord, we pray that you might use us to be a blessing in the hearts and lives of those around us, whether it's in our neighborhood, or in the workplace, or at school. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Lord bless you, and thanks for coming. You.