Our leader is Jesus Christ. He is to inspire us. And he is to him we should give the totality of our devotion. So, by way of introduction, I've taken us a little bit back to look at the people who set as examples. And to point us to whom we should put our faith, our devotion, our high zone, which is Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. So if we look into the verse I just read now, Hebrews 12 one, it says that we have cloud of witnesses. It says that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. The reading here shows that there is a race. It said that there's a race set before us, and we have a great cloud of witnesses. So, the writer is talking about the runner might be motivated. by this cloud of witnesses. And what are this cloud of witnesses, what are they for? It's not that they are seated at the stands like an Olympic stadium and they are watching us and trying to look and be careful, maybe we would disappoint or not, no. What the word witness is there is the same root word for the word matters in Greek. These people are people who sacrificially lived their lives for God. They are not people who just watched other did it. They also sacrificially lived their life for God. So, These are the cloud of witnesses that this scripture is talking about. And with this cloud of witness, if you call someone a witness, that oh, there's a case, you witness it, that means he has evidence. He has an experiential knowledge of what happened. He saw it, or maybe perhaps he heard about it. or maybe perhaps he or she participated in it, that is the person you can call a witness in a legal context. And in the law, when you have witnesses in cases, sometimes you also bring exhibits. Exhibits, evidences to show about what you witnessed. If we talk about Hebel, the evidence was that his faith cost him his life. If we look about Noah, the evidence was that Noah had to build an ark and had to build a boat for a hundred years, believing and trusting God and following God. Even when other people are asking him, what are you talking about? You mean that there'll be flood? Stop joking, stop wasting your time. Go and do something else. So these were evidences. These were exhibits. If we look into the life of Abraham in today's context, the baby shoes of Isaac will be evidences that he waited for 25 years, believe in God, and there will be exhibits. The staff whom Jacob lean upon will be evidence of faith. And he told his children and the sons when they were in Egypt that don't put my dead body here when you guys are going back. Take my dead body back to where God has promised us. Show that he believed and he had faith in it. The basket. to win Moses' parents, had to put him at the sea, will be an evidence of their faith in God. The scarlet that Rehab had to put on the wall as a promise to the people, that you people promised us, you promised me that when you come back for the destruction of this land, you will preserve my family, will be an evidence of our faith in God. If we look into the life of David, his sling to fight a very big Goliath will be an evidence and an exhibit that he believes in God. Why do we go through some of these things? It's to make it plain to us sometimes that the Bible is no fiction. It is real. People live this life. These are stories that existed. These are things that happened. So the work of faith and their exhibits and their evidence, it's available, if not for time, for us to see. So, we will look at the matters and we'll look at the sacred and the quiet match in which some of them contemplated, in which they are to endure pains, in which they are to go through the agonies of living such peril of their fate at their own time. But, In the midst of all this, one path strikes, Hebrews 11, 39. And all these though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised. Since God has provided something better for us, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect. So therefore, Since we are surrounded by this sole cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight. Let us lay aside every scene which easily entangles us. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. So we have these witnesses. We have the evidence and the exhibits. We have the showings to show that these people walk with God, not in pleasure. They are their own pains. They are their own contemplations. They are their own agonizing moments also. So the writer of Hebrews here is telling us, let us lay aside every wait and see, and let us run. If you've ever watched the Olympics or any race, just like I was showing the children, you'll be aware that when they want to run, they don't want to run with anything bulky. They don't want to run with anything heavy. They don't want anything that will restrict their movement. They want to run as light as possible. That is precisely what the writer is talking about here. He's saying that we should run the race that is set before us. And when we run it, let's run it as light as possible. Let's take away the weights that will not allow us to run easily. Let's take away the scene that will not allow us to run, just as the people ahead of us has run. And if you notice in that scripture, there are two things that are mentioned. Wait and what? Sing. Wait and sing. When we talk about wait, you should understand the point of the writer. You have to throw up things that will hinder you, things that are holding you back. Things that would not allow you come to midweek service, if they are not genuine. There are ways. Being on the social media from one reuse to another reuse, and you cannot study your Bible. There are ways. From one TikTok to one Instagram, to one social media. And when we ask you, my brother, When last did you study the Bible? It was the one we opened last on Sunday, and next Sunday again, I'll open it again. There are ways you can run the race with such ways. Such ways could be friends who take you away from God, who give you wrong thinking, wrong mentality, who drives you to places that you know that will not be godly. There are ways. He's saying that if we want to run the race of faith, if we want to run our Christian race, we should lay aside this weight. So you know your weight. I know mine. The weight that easily entangles you. That makes things more important to you than the things of God. They will not allow you to run the race. They will not allow you to build up your faith in God. Some ways I see personally around is the social media. And we need to talk about it. Thank God I'm speaking to a church that have a lot of young people. The social media, it's where most people receive the direction for their lives. They receive the encouragement for their lives on social media. Their motivation to live, to be depressed, oppressed, or to be happy is from the social media. The social media is where they take their counsels from. Even though these things are good, don't look at me as anti-social media, I use them also. But there could be ways, and there have been ways that are obvious. I've seen, do you know that people go through Social media pressure, do you know that? People scroll, wow, see his new car, I'm in trouble. You're putting yourself under undue pressure. See his soft life, and I'm living an hard life. TikTok. People have special cameras for the effects. And they don't do their TikTok in the bush or in poverty houses. They look for good hotel rooms or good, nice lightnings. And you are putting pressure on your life. But in as much as the social media is good, it's a blessing. We can't deny that technology is a blessing. But we can't also deny that they've become weights to the 21st century Christians, especially people of our generation. People are abusing social media. And in fact, social media is abusing people. They are weights. You can't read your Bible. You can't study. The English premiership could be a weight. I know some brothers are looking left or right now. Say, what's this guy talking about? Don't go there. Just stay where you are. There are not sins, but there are things that take you away from God. Eating could be a weight. You eat like a gluten. And that's why the Bible warns us about alcohol. Because when it's uncontrolled, it leads to what? Drunkenness. I know there's this argument, should we drink or we should not drink? I will not open that this morning. And I will not go there. But the one that will make you drink and you cannot see anyone, and you forget about the problems of today and tomorrow, and you think as if you are flying in the air. So, these things are sins that can entangle you. They are weight that could entangle you. They are weight that would beset you. They are weight that would stop you. And we are encouraged this morning that if we will run the race, if we will run the race, looking up to Jesus, we should do away with this weight. And as we go on, we will look at Jesus himself as our example. So, certainly, will look at the sins that easily beset us. And if you look at the context of this scripture, we are talking about faith here. The main context here of the sin that will easily beset you is unbelief. Unbelief that God can take care of you. Unbelief that God is in charge of your life. Unbelief that God is in charge of the whole world. He knows today, yesterday, and he knows the future. And you think you are in charge. And you think you want to help yourself. And you fall into sin. I wouldn't stand here and say Cyprus is not hard. And never have I seen any country that is heaven where there's no hardship. But will you walk in faith and believe that God is able to take care of you and not in unbelief? I've seen people come to this land, walk with their hands. They may not have all, but God meets their needs day by day. So many people sit here. Don't believe and take in that unbelieving lie of the devil that you need to steal to survive on this land. It's a lie. Don't walk in that unbelief. God is in charge and God will take care of you. I won't stand here and tell you it's easy. And I won't stand there and tell you it's going to be so smooth. But what he has promised you is that he will never leave you nor forsake you. So, We should do away with unbelief and have faith in God. Do away with the sins that easily beset you. Do away with stealing. He said, let ye that steal, steal no more. Steal no more. Do away with pleasures. that you get for today and robs you about a way from God's presence, a way from God's people. So this morning, the writer of Ibu is encouraging us to take away our weight, to do away with our sins while we run our race. And it says that, let us run this race with endurance. That's what is written there. If that race was easy, there wouldn't be reason, there wouldn't be notice for what? Endurance. The race is not going to be an easy one. It's a race that we have to run with endurance. The root word for endurance there is It could be a race with harmony. It is a marathon. It is a hard race. But it is our race. It is your race. I speak to you this morning. You didn't choose how you would be born. You didn't choose Who would give back to you or where you will be born? You didn't choose how your life will be from the beginning. You have no say about that. But something is in front of you. You've been born. Luckily, either one agent lied to you or deceived you, you are here. A race is set before you. Your race is set before you. I have my own race set before me also. Each of us seated here this morning have a race set before us. And the writer of Hebrew is saying, be focused on your race. Run that race with endurance. Your race may not be pleasant, but it is your race. So throw the things that will hinder you and entangle you and run your race. I know we like to be told that it's going to be smooth, smooth, and smooth. I don't think I'm a pessimist person. Or this guy has zero level of optimism. No. This is scriptures telling us the truth. It says that there is a race set before us. And that race, we need endurance. So we have a cloud of witness, we have someone we're looking up to, which is Jesus, looking up to Jesus, the founder and the perfecter of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, he despised the shame, he seated at the right hand of a throne of God. So if we will run our race, and we choose to look and run our race like Noah. Someone will ask, do you mean that I should get drunk and pass out in my tent? Or if I should run my race like Jacob, will I end up being a cheat, a supplanter, and a liar? Or if I choose to run my race and follow David, We don't mean that I will have an affair and kill the woman's husband. That is why those in chapter 11 can only motivate us. But there's only one perfect example. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the founder and the perfecter of our faith. He is the leader of our faith. He pioneered the trail. Others showed us glimpses of it, but he did it well and he did it perfectly. He perfectly accomplished it. He did it better than anyone. So obviously that there's only one example to end them all. We are motivated by those in chapter 11. But we emulate and we follow the one written in chapter 12, which is Jesus, the author, the founder, and the perfecter of our faith. So how did Jesus run the race? Which is written there. How did he run the race? The Bible says that he endured the cross. The cross is a symbol of suffocation, is a symbol of punishment to anyone who will rebel against the empires at that time. And so Jesus was given the worst punishment that could be meted out to anyone at that time because they saw him as someone who was not standing in line and wasn't following the right thing which the empire or the Roman Empire would want to do. So they gave him the worst punishment. The cross was Rome's way of crushing rebellion. I've heard Pastor Phil said it many times and I had to put it to my ears. The church and the world will never be in the same line. If you would follow The church, if you would follow God, your ways will be rebellion against the dictates of this world. And Jesus told us that if you would follow me, Matthew 16, 24, if you would follow me, you would carry your cross and do what? And follow me. So, if anyone preaches the gospel that says, believe God and you will not suffer again. Come on. I believe God and I've suffered. So, but what God is telling us is that, in the midst of it, lift up your cross. And what? Lift up your cross and follow me. I don't know what cross you have. I don't know what cross you have. You know it, I know mine. But we are encouraged to lift up our cross and follow. To so many young people, financial needs are means to build their cross. And just for a while, you will overcome it. But, and to so many people, it's their health. I come from a place in Africa where, because people have health challenges, medics are not enough, people have resorted to supernatural healers who lie and rip them of their money every time. and they become richer and richer day by day. And we see the people poorer day by day. But what is it telling us? Carry that cross and follow me. Scripture says that while Jesus was carrying that cross, it wasn't easy. In Psalm 22 verse one, he had to cry in anguish. He said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It was repeated also in the gospels. So we are familiar that it wasn't an easy cross. If it was an easy one, he wouldn't be praying in the garden of Gethsemane, that if possible, oh God, let this cup pass. But scripture told us that here that he endured the cross. And if there's anything I'm saying this morning to encourage you, endure the cross. Lift up your cross. Lift up your cross and follow him daily. And for Jesus, it wasn't just a physical pain. It was about spiritual judgment from God. This was someone who is part of the Godhead. One, enjoyed relationship with the Father all through eternity. But as at that time, because he was carrying the sin of many. And we know that God the Father is holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. He can't be owed that unrighteousness. So, Jesus had to cry out, why have you forsaken me? So the cross wasn't an easy thing. but he endured the cross. So if you are a believer, here is something to thank God for. He endured the cross. So everything that is hard about this sin cost life, Jesus bore. There has never been a race so difficult as he is. You are carrying your sin, he carried the sins of many. And thankful again, We can't have the righteousness of God because he has come for everyone who believes in him to take away our sins. So firstly, he endured the cross. Secondly, he despised the shame. He despised the shame. He was faced with crucifixion. Even when they dared him to come down, he could come down. When they dared him to come down, he could, but he despised the shame. Imagine while you're running your difficult race, everyone around you was begging you to quit. How much harder would it have been? And that was the case of Jesus. They were telling him to quit, they were telling him to come down. Jesus determined to stay on the cross. He would have bowed out. He could have come down. He could have caught 10,000 angels, but he chose to run the race. The Bible says, he despised the shame. To despise the shame means to think lowly about it. Never said the shame didn't exist. The shame existed. But it tinged low, it was tinging low about it. It doesn't mean that he ate up the shame. It means that he didn't think the shame was any big deal to him. I won't sit here and say that you are not going through one shame or the other in your life. But if we would run the race, please despise the shame. Despise the shame. Despise the shame. And one of the things that don't make us despise the shame is that we don't think that we deserve such hardship. We don't think that we deserve such ridicule in our lives. Jesus didn't let either of these things bother him. He taught little of them, and that is our encouragement from him this morning. Think little of that shame, despise the shame. Jesus faced the hardest challenge any man has ever, and he handled it perfectly. So we should look unto him. We should look unto him. We should despise the shame. And what was his motivation? He had a motivation for it. Carried the cross, endured it. He despised the shame because of there's a motivation. For the joy that was set before him. He saw the cross as an opportunity to save sinners. He saw the cross as an opportunity to glorify God the Father and to glorify his name. Jesus looked past the pain and the shame of the cross to the joy that was set before him. He kept an eye on eternity. And that is why he couldn't be distracted. He was not sidetracked. Brothers and sisters, let's look up. Let's look up to eternity. Let's look up the joy that is set before us. Then our distractions will be little. We'll be able to despise the shame. Jesus had offers like you had offers too. The crowd offered him the throne. When they saw him did miracles, they brought him forth and said, come and be our king. He refused it. Peter even offered him a way of escape. When they came to take him, to crucify him, Peter brought out the sword, cut out the hair, let's fight. If possible, you call the angels from heaven. Pilate offered him a pardon. So we will not sit here and say that there are not options. There are options. Scripture says that broad is the way, but narrow is the way that leads to heaven. So there are options at the broad way, but the narrow way is what we are asked to be this morning and to set our eyes on the race that is set before us. Looking up to Jesus. the perfecter, the founder and perfecter of our faith. So it was focused. It is tremendous perspective that we can look past the present pain to see the future results. Jesus wasn't trying to have the best of his life now. And that's one of the problem we have as Christians. We want to have the best of our lives now. and have it anyhow, especially the wrong gospels that go around that tells us that we've been promised prosperity to stupor. And that's when we have pains, when we have issues, when we have shame in our lives to deal with, we are not able to know. that we can endure it, we can pick up our cross and despise the shame and follow God. Jesus wasn't trying to find comfort. Jesus wasn't looking for earthly fame. He wasn't Instagram likes. Jesus was running the race that was set and was assigned to him. You have your own race that is set before you. You have your own race that is assigned to you. but there's someone who is at the end who had run that race. And that is the one you are caught up to this morning. Look up to him. Look at him as an example. Look at the way he ran his race. Look at his motivation. Look at the endurance he went through. Let him be your guide. Let him shape your focus. And what is the result? He's sitting now at the right hand of the Father. He's sitting down at the throne of God. We can't make promises to ourselves this morning about how our lives will be, or how it will turn out. But one promise, which is eternal, which is sure, is that as those, as many as those would call upon the name of the Lord, will be saved. I don't know if you're here this morning, You don't have a savior. You don't have a relationship with God. You are sure about just this minute and not the next minute. You don't know about what eternity we talk about. The best men will live on this earth, no matter how much science help us. And we prolong our lives. Unlimited. But there's a place called eternity. And there's a place called heaven. Jesus is sitting at the right hand. That is the result of what he went through. And that is the result for us as believers. That is the result for us, which he told us. He said, in my father's house, there are many mansions there. If it were not so, I wouldn't have told you. There's a place called heaven. And that's the place where he prepares us to be. So Jesus ran the most difficult race ever attempted. He threw off the things that hindered and ran with endurance. He faced those hardship because he was looking to the reward. And as a result, he was greatly rewarded. Can I ask you this question? Is there anything more important in your life than pleasing God? Is there anything more important in your life that will give you a reward more than this reward of eternity? If there are pleasures, they'll pass by, and they're not eternal. If there are riches, they'll pass by. Mort and wrath will happen to them. There are all sorts of things we do in this life. But most of them, honestly, are not important as living a life that will please God. So the idea that if anything in life is keeping you from obeying God, then obviously it has to be tossed aside. It will be like a sprinter who spends a ton of his time planning his wardrobe, fixing his hair, making his traveling plan to get to the truck, but would never prepare himself for the race. Don't lose sight of what is the most important thing. He placed me here to run my leg of the race as faithfully as possible. Regardless of my leg of the race, I'm asked to look up to him. He placed you here also to run the leg of your race. I don't know what you are facing. I don't know what you will face. But I do know you are appointed for this race. Run it. Run it like Jesus ran it. That is the issue that was facing the Hebrews. They were being maligned. Their property were being stolen. They were going through hardship. They were going through prison. Some of them perhaps may have been going through luck. The solution to a better life was an easy to pull out, was to get rid of Jesus. But the writer here says no. Jesus did not give up on you. Don't give up on Jesus. I don't know what you face, but I know that you are appointed to face it. It is your race, so run it. Through all the things that are keeping you from Christ, through all the sin of unbelief that cause you to be stagnant, step up to the line and run your race. And the whole time you run, keep your eyes, focus on Jesus, who is your chief example. As we end this morning, I want to reiterate with that scripture again. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Amen. Let's bow our heads for some time. Let's meditate on God's word and think about it for some time.