WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.759 --> 00:00:06.000 Hello, everybody, This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. 2 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:08.960 If you're joining us for the first time or you've 3 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:12.359 been listening every day for ten years, we just want 4 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:15.000 to say welcome, We love you, and we pray for 5 00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:18.760 you every day. So we're continuing with this series called 6 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:21.960 Daring Faith the Key to Miracles. And in this series 7 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:25.600 you're learning how to have a bold, unshakable faith that 8 00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:28.800 gives you courage to impact the world around you. And 9 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:31.199 if you're like me, you'd really like to be more 10 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:33.479 bold and have more courage. 11 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.000 To share your faith in Christ. 12 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:38.039 All right, well, right now, let's join Pastor Rick with 13 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:41.359 part one of a message called Daring to give God 14 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:42.159 my best. 15 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:46.759 I said in a previous message that the greatest tragedy 16 00:00:46.759 --> 00:00:48.920 in life is not death, but. 17 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:49.960 A wasted life. 18 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:54.159 And as your pastor, I am committed to helping you 19 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:55.439 be all God wants. 20 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:55.520 You to be. 21 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:58.119 I don't want you to settle for second place. I 22 00:00:58.119 --> 00:01:01.679 don't want you to settle for also ran, I want 23 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:04.400 you to win the race that God has given to you. 24 00:01:04.599 --> 00:01:06.439 I want you to be the best that you can be. 25 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:09.000 And so I want us to look at these three 26 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.400 analogies of a soldier and an athlete and a farmer 27 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:15.079 from the Bible, and it starts off The Bible starts 28 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:17.799 off by saying, look at the military. He says, you 29 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:20.799 can learn a lot about faith and about being the 30 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:22.680 best you can be in the military. Do you remember 31 00:01:22.680 --> 00:01:25.200 that old army ad be all you can be. 32 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:28.799 In the army? Remember that? How do I do that? 33 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:33.120 What can we learn from effective soldiers that we would 34 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:36.840 apply to our spiritual life. Well, there's a lot we 35 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:39.719 can learn about being the best from the military. 36 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:41.120 You know. It reminds me of a story. 37 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:46.920 Admiral Heymann Rickover was the father of America's naval, a 38 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:51.280 nuclear navy, the nuclear subs, and the nuclear Navy, and 39 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:53.439 he was a genius. And I remember reading the story 40 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:57.920 one time that he was recruiting young graduates from Naval 41 00:01:57.959 --> 00:02:01.560 Academy cadets who just graduated to have the privilege of 42 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:05.040 serving on a nuclear submarine. And there was one young 43 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:07.719 man who came in and sat down. He wrote this 44 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:11.520 story later became a very famous story, and he said, 45 00:02:12.039 --> 00:02:14.240 the Admiral just let me talk for two hours. So 46 00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:16.159 he said, I talked about anything I wanted to talk 47 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:18.319 about for two hours, and I was really trying to 48 00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:21.400 show off all my intelligence, and he said. Then the 49 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:25.080 Admiral began to ask a series of questions which slowly 50 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:27.439 dawned on me that I knew nothing about what I 51 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:31.199 just talked about. And he says, very humbling, and he said, 52 00:02:31.240 --> 00:02:35.120 right before I left a two hour conversation, Admiral Rickover 53 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.759 asked me a very poignant question. It was this, when 54 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:41.120 you were in school and in all your previous life 55 00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:44.159 up to this date, did you always do your best? 56 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:49.000 And this young man said, well, I started to say yeah, 57 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:51.159 and then he said I realized that's not truthful. No, 58 00:02:51.400 --> 00:02:54.240 And he said I thought, no, I didn't. He said 59 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:56.120 I was honest. I said no, I didn't do my 60 00:02:56.199 --> 00:02:57.759 best all the time. 61 00:02:58.360 --> 00:02:58.960 And he said. 62 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:01.719 Admiral ricover looked at me with piercing eyes and said 63 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:08.280 why not? And then just sat there. Why not? Why 64 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:12.840 not the best? And he said that question began to 65 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:16.159 burn in my heart. It began to be the turning 66 00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:20.000 point in my life. The man who is that young 67 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:22.919 cadet later became the thirty ninth President of the United States. 68 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:26.560 His name was Jimmy Carter, and when he wrote his 69 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:29.719 biography it was called why not the Best? And he said, 70 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:33.520 It still haunts me that question am I doing? Am 71 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:38.319 I truly giving my best? Am I truly giving my best? Well, 72 00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:40.560 there are three things if I want to give my 73 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:44.080 best to God that I must do. That every soldier understands. 74 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:47.879 You might write these down. Number one. First, I must 75 00:03:47.879 --> 00:03:53.919 define what I'd die for. I must define what I'd 76 00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:56.960 die for. You say, well, that's a strange place to start. 77 00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:58.039 I'm giving your best to God. 78 00:03:58.159 --> 00:03:58.719 No, it's not. 79 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:03.879 Until you know what you're willing to die for. You're 80 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:09.039 not ready to live. You're not ready to live until 81 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:11.840 you know what you die for. And you're not ready 82 00:04:11.879 --> 00:04:13.280 to love until you. 83 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:17.439 Know who you die for. If you've never. 84 00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:20.160 Clarified what's worth dying for in your life, you really 85 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:25.639 are just not fully alive. Soldiers know there are some 86 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:30.720 things worth dying for. Freedom is worth dying for. Family 87 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:34.399 is worth dying for. Faith is worth dying for. There 88 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:38.759 are some things more valuable even than my own life. 89 00:04:38.920 --> 00:04:39.959 And they understand that. 90 00:04:40.519 --> 00:04:44.279 And even Jesus talks about this, and about how that 91 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:48.160 love is best expressed in the willingness to die for 92 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:48.959 somebody else. 93 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:51.680 Look at this verse John fifteen, verse thirteen. 94 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:55.639 Jesus said the greatest love, the highest form of love, 95 00:04:56.439 --> 00:04:59.639 is shown when a person lays down his life for 96 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:05.040 is friends. The soldiers understand this. They realize that sometimes 97 00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:08.079 it's a matter of life or death, and they put 98 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:11.680 their life on the line practically every day. Jesus says, 99 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:15.360 the greatest measure of love is the willingness to sacrifice 100 00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:18.439 your life for somebody else. Of course, that's what Jesus 101 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:21.759 did for us. The greatest expression of love is Jesus. 102 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:22.839 Dying on the cross. 103 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:27.680 You measure love not by what people tell you, not 104 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:31.279 by what your boyfriend says to you. You measure love 105 00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:35.040 by the willingness to sacrifice. And the greater the sacrifice, 106 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:40.439 the deeper the love. The second thing we learn from 107 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:42.720 soldiers and infect the soldiers. To be the best I 108 00:05:42.759 --> 00:05:47.800 can be, I must sacrifice my comfort. I must sacrifice 109 00:05:48.439 --> 00:05:51.920 my comfort. And of course soldiers do this all the time. 110 00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:55.439 Think of all the comforts of soldiers give up in 111 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:57.199 others in order to serve others. 112 00:05:57.839 --> 00:05:59.920 They give up comfort. They go out and they. 113 00:06:00.279 --> 00:06:03.040 Serving the heat, and they serve in the cold. They 114 00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:05.360 give up their free schedule because they're not free to 115 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:07.160 do anything they want to do. The commanding officer says, 116 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:08.399 I want you to do this, and I want you 117 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:11.959 to do that. They give up their freedom in order 118 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:15.000 to preserve the freedom of other people. Soldiers give up 119 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.399 their wealth. Nobody gets wealthy becoming a soldier, and so 120 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:22.240 they give up a lot of things. They sacrifice their 121 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:25.959 own comfort and the hardships that they choose to put 122 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:28.959 up with. This is true in any air of life. 123 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:34.279 You don't become great without sacrificing. You don't become great 124 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:37.800 by five easy steps. You don't become great. You don't 125 00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:41.839 become a great woman. You don't become a great man 126 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:46.240 by doing what's easy, by doing what's comfortable. You'd become 127 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:49.879 great by committing yourself to something greater than yourself and 128 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:53.079 then being willing to sacrifice for that. And the greater 129 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:57.600 your sacrifice in life, the greater your character in life is. 130 00:06:59.639 --> 00:07:02.360 The Bible says this and two Timothy two verse three. 131 00:07:03.160 --> 00:07:08.360 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 132 00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:11.959 He's using this metaphor, this analogy of the military, and 133 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:16.319 he says, just like a soldier puts up with hardship 134 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:19.000 for a greater cause, you need to put up with 135 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:20.600 hardship for a greater cause. 136 00:07:20.839 --> 00:07:22.319 What is the hardship in your life? 137 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:27.800 What is following Christ making difficult for you? Well, it 138 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:32.759 could be your criticized some that could be a hardship, ostracized, 139 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:36.600 made fun of. Maybe that's a hardship. Anytime you do 140 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:40.560 what's right, it's never easy. If doing what's right was easy, 141 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:45.879 everybody would do it. It's much easier to do what's wrong. 142 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:49.279 Always easier to do what's wrong than to do what's right. 143 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:53.639 And that's why it's harder to tell the truth. That's 144 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:57.839 why it's harder to forgive instead of getting, even it's 145 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:02.040 harder to let go instead of getting. It's harder to 146 00:08:02.120 --> 00:08:07.000 be kind. It's harder to be unselfish than selfish. These 147 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:12.399 are hardships in following Christ. It's not easy. But the path, 148 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:15.040 the greatness, and the path that being the best you 149 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:17.680 can possibly be as a man, or the best you 150 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:21.120 can possibly be as a woman, comes from first defining 151 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:24.800 what you die for and then second sacrificing your comfort. 152 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:28.800 You see, it's a battle to do what's right. It's 153 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:33.279 not easy, and we are in a spiritual battle. And nothing, 154 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:37.399 as I mentioned earlier, has ever done great without sacrifice. 155 00:08:38.279 --> 00:08:41.559 The Bible says this in Ephesians five two. Live a 156 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:47.399 life of sacrificial love, just as Christ loved us and 157 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:52.799 gave himself as an offering and a sacrifice for us. 158 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:55.440 So he's saying, okay, if you want to be like 159 00:08:55.559 --> 00:08:58.519 Jesus Christ, and that's the goal, If you want to 160 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:01.279 be like Jesus Christ, you need to learn sacrificial love, 161 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:05.879 because Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice his own life, 162 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:09.279 and he offered himself as an offering for others. Question, 163 00:09:09.799 --> 00:09:11.919 you want to be like Jesus, who are you offering 164 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:12.600 your life for? 165 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:15.159 Right now? 166 00:09:15.480 --> 00:09:18.200 Who are you sacrificing your life for? Who are you 167 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:21.600 putting up with hardships for? Besides yourself? A lot of 168 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:24.039 people will put up with hardships in order to get ahead, 169 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:27.559 in order to succeed for personal goals. Are you involving 170 00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:30.600 yourself in any things that are hard to do for 171 00:09:30.679 --> 00:09:34.279 the benefit of other people? And sometimes you lose sleep 172 00:09:34.519 --> 00:09:37.639 because you're helping other people? And sometimes you spend some 173 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:40.720 of your money because you're helping other people. And sometimes 174 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:43.919 you lose your privacy because you're helping somebody else. These 175 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:48.960 are hardships. I must sacrifice my comfort. If you want 176 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:51.360 to be like Jesus, we have to live a life 177 00:09:51.559 --> 00:09:58.360 of sacrificial love. You know, I can't think of sacrifice 178 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:00.919 and nothing's great I've ever done that su sacrifice without 179 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:04.360 thinking of One of my favorite stories that really touched 180 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:06.919 me as a young man the story of Jim Elliott 181 00:10:07.879 --> 00:10:11.279 and five missionaries. Jim Elliott and four of his best 182 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:15.679 friends heard about a tribe in the deep jungles of 183 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:19.480 the Amazon in Ecuador who had never heard the name 184 00:10:19.480 --> 00:10:23.759 of Jesus Christ. Very primitive tribe, no Bible, no believer, 185 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.960 no church. And so these five guys said, we're going 186 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:29.919 to give ourselves to go missionaries to reach this tribe 187 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:32.840 that nobody's ever shared the good news with. And they 188 00:10:32.919 --> 00:10:36.360 knew they just couldn't walk in. There's a pretty violent tribe. 189 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:40.200 And so they start dropping gifts overhead from planes as 190 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:42.120 they'd fly over the jungle, and they were trying to 191 00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:46.120 soften them up. And finally, after about six months of preparation, 192 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:50.360 they decided to make first contact with this tribe and 193 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:54.000 they found a little sand barge on the river on 194 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:56.679 the Amazon River where they could actually land a plane, 195 00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:02.000 and they flew in in the first landing. They landed 196 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:03.919 to get out to meet the Indians for the very 197 00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:07.840 first time. When those five missionaries were martyred in their 198 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:11.840 very first attempt to share the good news with those Indians, the. 199 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:12.879 World was rocked. 200 00:11:13.320 --> 00:11:17.200 It was on the cover of every magazine, and many 201 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:21.159 people said, what a waste, What a waste. Those people 202 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:23.440 went to tell them the good news and they didn't 203 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:26.919 even get to share it, and they gave their lives. 204 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:31.600 But that wasn't the end of the story. 205 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:34.120 In the closing words, when Jim Elliot looks up at 206 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:37.440 min Kayani, the tribal chief who was killing him at 207 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:41.039 that moment, and offers words of forgiveness, something sticks in 208 00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:41.759 his heart. 209 00:11:43.159 --> 00:11:44.279 And he begins to soften. 210 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:48.120 And the rest of the story is is that some 211 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:50.879 of the wives of those missionaries said, we're going to 212 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:56.519 go in now. And Elizabeth Elliott, Jim Eliot's wife, took 213 00:11:56.519 --> 00:11:59.679 her young daughter and Rachel Saint, a sister of one 214 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:04.480 of the other missionaries. Those brave, courageous, daring faith women 215 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:10.360 moved to that tribe and moved in with them, and 216 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:13.200 they began to share the good news. And the people 217 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:15.320 were so shocked that the wives would come after they 218 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:18.720 had killed the husbands, and they began to share the 219 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:24.360 good news, and the tribe converted to christ. Min Kayani, 220 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:29.080 that man who was the leader and who killed Jim Eliot, 221 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:33.639 he later had Nate Saint, who was the son of 222 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:36.279 one of the men killed, came and lived in him, 223 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:40.080 and Nate Saint adopted him as his father. The man 224 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:45.320 who killed his own dad Mi and Kayani became a 225 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:49.600 devout Christian and then became a preacher and began to 226 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:54.240 travel the world telling people about the good news of forgiveness. 227 00:12:55.720 --> 00:12:59.879 And in two thousand and six that Indian Min Kayani 228 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:04.240 stood on the stage of Saddleback Church and preached to 229 00:13:04.279 --> 00:13:09.360 this crowd. Gave me these beads to represent their peace 230 00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:12.360 beads to represent the effect of the peace plan around 231 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:17.679 the world. And they found the old plane that had 232 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:18.799 laid buried. 233 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:19.399 In that sandbar. 234 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:21.639 They took it apart, they brought it and we put 235 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:25.720 it here on the stage on the anniversary of that 236 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:27.960 the death of those men. In fact, I think we've 237 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.399 got a picture of the Yeah, there's men Kayani, there's 238 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:37.240 Pastor Tom at a much younger age, and and there's 239 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:40.440 men Kayani just beaming with the love of Jesus Christ, 240 00:13:40.679 --> 00:13:43.759 no longer a hater, no longer filled with rage and jealousy, 241 00:13:44.279 --> 00:13:47.720 but a lover and a preacher of the good news 242 00:13:47.720 --> 00:13:50.840 of the Gospel. How did that man come to Christ 243 00:13:51.559 --> 00:13:54.720 because somebody was willing to sacrifice? There are some things 244 00:13:54.759 --> 00:13:55.440 worth dying for. 245 00:13:57.240 --> 00:13:57.399 Now. 246 00:13:57.440 --> 00:13:59.480 I doubt that you will be asked to give your 247 00:13:59.480 --> 00:14:00.559 life for Gesus Christ. 248 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:02.159 But would you be willing. 249 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:07.000 Or are you just a casual Christian not a committed Christian? 250 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:11.559 And are you willing to sacrifice your own comfort for 251 00:14:11.639 --> 00:14:14.440 the greater good of other people? That's what it means 252 00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:18.639 to be like Jesus. There is one other thing. Third 253 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:21.519 thing we learned from a soldier is that I must 254 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:24.799 eliminate distractions. If I want to be the best that 255 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:26.639 I could possibly be, if I want to be the 256 00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:28.120 best man I can be, if I want to be 257 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:31.679 the best woman I can be, I've got to eliminate distractions. 258 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:35.799 And the next verse in this passage says this, As 259 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:40.240 Christ's soldier, do not let yourself become entangled in the 260 00:14:40.279 --> 00:14:45.000 affairs of this life, wasting time, for then you can't 261 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:49.159 please your commanding officer who enlisted you into his army. 262 00:14:49.559 --> 00:14:50.519 If there's one thing. 263 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:54.360 A soldier must have is he must have the freedom 264 00:14:54.440 --> 00:15:00.240 to respond with flexibility when his commanding officer says, go no, soldiers, sorry, 265 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:07.480 I'm busy right now, I'm watching say yes to the dress. Okay, 266 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:10.679 I'm sorry, I'm busy. I can't go serve right now. 267 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:12.799 I've got my I'm going out for a game of 268 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:16.320 golf right now. I'm sorry. I can't help because I'm 269 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:18.919 I'm gonna play my hobby and I'm gonna I'm gonna 270 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:21.120 go read this, I'm gonna go watch a game. And no, 271 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:24.240 no soldiers say they can't get a fair involved in 272 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:26.600 the affairs of this life in civilian life, because they 273 00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:29.399 have to be ready in a moment's notice to do 274 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:32.320 what their commanding officer tells them to do. You have 275 00:15:32.360 --> 00:15:35.919 to eliminate distractions. Now, the Bible has a lot to 276 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:40.080 say about doing without things that really don't matter. How 277 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:43.720 much of your time is invested in things that aren't 278 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:47.720 gonna matter five years from today, much less in eternity. 279 00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:50.360 How much of your energy. 280 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:53.240 Is invested in things that aren't gonna matter five years 281 00:15:53.240 --> 00:15:57.600 from today, much less for eternity. How much of your 282 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:00.799 money are you investing in things that aren't going to 283 00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:06.039 matter five years from today, much less for eternity. If 284 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:08.879 you want to be great, if you want to be 285 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:11.799 the best, you must start spending more of your time, 286 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:14.120 more of your money, and more of your energy on 287 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:16.639 things that are going to last forever, and less of 288 00:16:16.759 --> 00:16:19.679 on it on things that don't really matter. I mean, 289 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.399 do you really need to know how many times a 290 00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:27.639 Hollywood celebrity has been married? Is that the most important 291 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:29.159 thing you need to fill your mind with? 292 00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:29.799 No? 293 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:32.879 Then, why are you reading all of those magazines about 294 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:36.480 those stories of people you don't even care about. It's 295 00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:38.919 a waste of time, It's a waste of brain space. 296 00:16:40.120 --> 00:16:42.360 What could you give up? I want to challenge you 297 00:16:42.360 --> 00:16:44.799 to think about this week? What could you give up 298 00:16:46.279 --> 00:16:49.879 an hour of TV a week? What could you give 299 00:16:49.960 --> 00:16:53.159 up in order to make more time for the things 300 00:16:53.159 --> 00:16:57.639 that matter in life? To love, to serve, to know God, 301 00:16:57.799 --> 00:17:02.440 to worship. These are the things we learn from effective soldiers. 302 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:03.399 Define what I can. 303 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:06.079 Die for, sacrifice my comfort. 304 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:07.000 And eliminate distractions. 305 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:11.480 Next, Paul moves to the second example, second metaphor, and 306 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:14.039 he says, you know what, you can learn some things 307 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:17.319 from sports too, If you really want to learn you 308 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:20.160 can learn some things for your spiritual life from sports. 309 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:22.519 And he says, let's look at the. 310 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:25.640 Serious athlete, the competitive athlete, not the casual one, but 311 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:29.319 the serious one. And the second most used analogy for 312 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:31.559 the Christian life in the Bible is an athlete. And 313 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:34.640 the Bible compares your life to a race. You are 314 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:37.640 running a race in life, and it's not a fifty 315 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:40.519 yard dash, it's a marathon. And my job as your 316 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:43.000 pastor is to help you get across the finish line 317 00:17:43.880 --> 00:17:45.440 because you're in a race, and I don't want you 318 00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:47.759 to get sidelined. I don't want you to get run 319 00:17:47.799 --> 00:17:49.400 off in the ditch. I want you to make it 320 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:52.279 to the finish line and win the prize. And here's 321 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:55.039 what the Bible says, first Corinthians nine twenty four to 322 00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:59.680 twenty seven. In a race, everyone runs. In other words, 323 00:17:59.720 --> 00:18:03.240 everybod life is living their life, but only one person 324 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:10.440 wins the prize. So run your race to win, run 325 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:13.720 your ways to win. To win the contest, you must 326 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:15.799 deny yourselves many things that would keep you. 327 00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:17.920 From doing your best. There's that phrase again. 328 00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:21.559 An athlete goes to all this trouble just to win 329 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:24.279 a ribbon or a medal that won't last, but we 330 00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:27.759 do it for an eternal reward that will last forever. 331 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:31.720 So I run straight toward the goal with purpose. In 332 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:35.599 every step. I fight to win. I'm not just shadow 333 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:40.880 boxinger playing around Like an athlete. I discipline my body. 334 00:18:40.920 --> 00:18:46.000 I discipline myself, making sacrifices and training my body to 335 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:49.240 do what it should, not what it wants to do. 336 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:55.160 Otherwise I fear that I might be disqualified from the race. Now, 337 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:57.480 just like the soldier has three things to teach us, 338 00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:00.880 the athlete has three things to teach us about being 339 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:01.680 the best we can be. 340 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:02.960 You might write these down. 341 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:05.000 The first thing we learned from the athlete is this, 342 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:09.480 I must intend to win. If I'm going to win 343 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:11.839 in life, it's got to be intentional. It's not going 344 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:14.680 to happen by accident. It's not going to happen without effort. 345 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:16.720 It's not going to happen unless they have a goal. 346 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:20.160 You will not become great by accident. You will not 347 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:22.640 become the best woman you could possibly be, are the 348 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:26.839 best man you could possibly be, just casually. It'll only 349 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:29.640 happen if you intend to become the best you can be, 350 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:33.319 If you intend to have a great soul, intend to 351 00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:36.400 have a goal. This is the difference between being a 352 00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:41.759 casual Christian and a competitive or a committed Christian. Is 353 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:44.640 there a difference between a competitive golfer and a casual golfer? 354 00:19:45.799 --> 00:19:46.000 Oh? 355 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:51.240 Yeah, the casual the committed golfer takes it serious. They're 356 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:54.240 playing to win, and they're very They get stressed out 357 00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:56.440 about it if they don't win. If you're a casual offery, 358 00:19:56.480 --> 00:19:58.680 you're just hitting the ball around and having fun, smelling 359 00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:01.599 the roses, you know, looking at the gophers. You know, 360 00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:05.599 you're just looking for some time off. The difference is 361 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:10.960 the degree of seriousness question, how serious are you about 362 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:14.279 being what God made you to be? Well, I'd kind 363 00:20:14.279 --> 00:20:16.319 of like to do it in my spare time, it isn't 364 00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:20.480 gonna happen. How serious are you about being the best 365 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:24.119 you could possibly be? The Bible said there in verse 366 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:27.319 twenty four. In a race, everyone runs, but only one 367 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:32.880 person wins the prize. So run your race to win. 368 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:35.839 Circle that run your race to win. You should be 369 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:39.240 living your life in a way that you're running to win. 370 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:42.279 God wants you to win. God doesn't want you to 371 00:20:42.279 --> 00:20:44.079 be a loser. God wants you to be a winner. 372 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:47.279 He wants you to run the race to rent win, 373 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.279 and you've got to do this intentionally. 374 00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:51.960 Now. 375 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:54.839 The truth is, there's some people that are listening to 376 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:58.720 me right now that you're never going to be a 377 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:02.759 great person. You're never going to be the person God intended. 378 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:05.440 You're never going to be the best man or the 379 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:05.920 best woman. 380 00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:06.400 You're going to be. 381 00:21:06.440 --> 00:21:09.559 Why because you never intended to be. You're not willing 382 00:21:09.559 --> 00:21:12.519 to pay the price. You're just not willing to pay 383 00:21:12.519 --> 00:21:15.799 the price. You don't want it badly enough. You don't 384 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:18.319 want it deeply enough. How deeply do you want to 385 00:21:18.359 --> 00:21:20.720 win the prize that God has for you in life? 386 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:23.000 He said, well, what's the prize? 387 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:27.880 Look at the next verse, reward and responsibility and eternity. 388 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:31.720 The Bible says one Timothy six to twelve. Run your best, 389 00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:35.640 run your best in the race of faith. And that's 390 00:21:35.640 --> 00:21:38.839 what we're talking about, daring faith and win eternal life. 391 00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:41.759 That's what you win, eternal life for yourself, for this 392 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:45.599 is the life that God called you to. When you 393 00:21:45.640 --> 00:21:48.480 profess your faith before many witnesses, What does it mean 394 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:50.759 when you profess your faith before many witnesses. Let's talking 395 00:21:50.759 --> 00:21:54.519 about your baptism When you're baptized, you are professing your 396 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:57.839 faith in front of many witnesses. If you haven't been baptized, 397 00:21:57.960 --> 00:21:58.519 that's what you. 398 00:21:58.519 --> 00:21:59.319 Need to do next. 399 00:22:00.200 --> 00:22:02.279 You need to profess your faith out in front of 400 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:06.000 many witnesses. Baptism is the way you do that. Then 401 00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:08.599