Hope Isn't Just a Nice Feeling | Crossroads Church

We'll see you in a moment, God bless you, God bless you. Well, welcome back to our final week, week five of our Real Encounters journey. Can't believe we are here already, and I hope that God has done some incredible things, and I know that I've certainly enjoyed just seeing the entire journey of Paul kind of top to bottom and seeing how God really transformed him, and it kind of all comes down to how we are headed to Ephesus to really talk about this, and I know that Ephesus is a powerhouse city, so we're talking about a power concept of hope in a powerhouse city. Give us the context and the background, and why don't we go to Ephesus, Bob? Yeah, I mean, Ephesus is really one of the great cities of the Roman Empire, third largest city in the empire, and it was an economic powerhouse because it was a port city that shipped goods east and west, but it was really known especially for its pagan pilgrimage because the temple of Artemis, this great temple, was one of the seven wonders of the world and people came from all over the empire to participate in the pagan worship of this goddess, and so it made Ephesus a very wealthy and powerful city, also a very kind of religious city in a very twisted kind of way, and so we see Paul coming to Ephesus at the end of his third missionary journey, and he ends up spending three years there.

It's the longest he's spent in any one place, and it's really where we see the movement of Jesus and the ministry of Paul come to the fullest fruition because it's kind of like he's just hitting on all cylinders. Now, Paul would have arrived to Ephesus by ship, and when we visit Ephesus, we'll walk down the Arcadian Way that leads up to this great theater, and we'll see exactly really what he saw when he entered the city, and so it's amazing to see that with our own eyes, and so as the gospel took root, as people's lives were changed, it really started to change the city, which is amazing to have an impact on the third biggest city in the empire is incredible, and of course, this being the week of hope, it is really encouraging to see how through ordinary men and women who are learning to follow the way of Jesus, the kingdom of God comes, the power of the spirit flows, and it's transformational, transforms lives. It could transform a whole city. Wow, well, that's exciting because I know that as you talk about hope, I hear you saying that it really just spread from this space, and so Nerula, I'd love to hear kind of what's your hope of hope spreading in your context and for your local church? Yeah, as Ephesus is in Turkey. That's right.

Yeah, I hope and the hope of the Turkish church is definitely for this hope to be again, like, you know, seen and accepted by the people, and when I think of hope, I unfortunately first think about our youth because they are nowadays so hopeless, the whole situation in Turkey, and so most of them, even the believers, the young believers at our churches wanna flee Turkey, maybe, you know, go to the US or to Europe for better life conditions, right? But what is really exciting and what enhances our hope in Jesus is that we Christians are not called to flee, even from this world, right? We are promised the kingdom of God coming to earth, you know, and so that means that all these things that are making us hopeless or that are maybe making us, that are discouraging us, right, will get better and will be fixed, and so we're looking forward to that day, right? And also the resurrection of Jesus, right? One of the fundamental questions that humans have, right, is about what is gonna happen after we die, you know? What is gonna happen to me? What is gonna happen, for example, to those who we love after they die? And the resurrection of Jesus gives us the assurance that we're not gonna perish, and we can have eternal life with Him,

and it starts right here, right now, when we accept Him, right? And so I think that kind of hope and that kind of assurance is so life-changing and so transformative, as you said, so I'm hoping that many more people in my country come to see that and come to accept that. That's amazing. Well, let's get into it because I can't believe that we've had such an amazing journey here, and so as we talk about hope, we gotta go right to Ephesus. This place is enormous. They've been excavating it for 120 years, and as you can tell, They're not even close to done. Now, when Paul walked into this city for the very first time, he was met with one of the biggest, craziest displays of wealth and power in the entire world. He came down this exact street, the famed Arcadian Way, lined with marble, shops on either side, a street wider than Paul had ever seen in his entire life, statues of the most powerful people in the city on the sides, shops selling stuff, expensive things, and not just expensive things, articles of power, amulets that promised wealth and prosperity. They were fortune tellers on the sides of the street. This entire place was built with one clear message in mind. We are more powerful than you. We are more wealthy than you.

We're bigger than you. And so when you're in our city, you better be on your best behavior. You better play by our rules. You better fall in our lines. That's the message Paul heard. And Paul, being Paul, completely ignored it. He was like, not interested. Because when Paul walks in here, it's a new Paul. This is prime Paul. This is apex Paul at the height of his powers, or more accurately, the height of God's powers. And it's not like he got no resistance when he came here. I mean, the typical stuff happened to him. He got resistance. But when he came here, he was prepared for it, ready for it. One example, he showed up here with community, with people in his court. His old pals from Corinth, Priscilla and Aquila, who he had the leather shop with, he brings him here, sets up a shop. He's got him in his corner. And so when he goes to the synagogue and he preaches for three months, and they throw him out, like typically happens, they reject the message. Paul's not upset. Paul doesn't push back. He's not hardheaded. He just goes, no problem.

And instead goes and rents a nearby lecture hall, the Hall of Tyrannus, sets up shop there for a couple of years, sharing the gospel. And people are moved. People are responding so well that Paul set up shop here for three years. Interestingly, this is also where the metaphor we base this entire journey on, the metaphor of running the race, solidifies in Paul's mind. Just like in Corinth, this is a city that's obsessed with sports. There's athletic clubs everywhere. There's a hippodrome not too far away. That's where they would run chariot races and also foot races. Everybody did sports. They were a little bit different, just FYI. You would get naked, oil your body up and you'd wrestle. We don't have that anymore. Not judging them. That's just what they did in their time. Maybe Paul goes and plays sports. Maybe Paul goes to a race. And one day it clicks in his brain. He's like, wait a minute, what's happening there? Those runners running the race? That's what it's like to try to fulfill your ministry. That's what my life feels like. Like there's a race.

And like God's call on my life is to run it as if there's one prize and I'm going to get it. It's from this city that Paul writes back to his friends in Corinth, the words we based the whole thing on, 1 Corinthians 9, which says this. Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. And the response of the people to Paul running his race? Overwhelming. It's not hyperbole at all to say that from this city, Paul changed the entire world. Listen to what it says in Acts 19. And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Let that sink in for a second. It says all of the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, all of them. Now Asia doesn't mean what it means now, but it was a large part of the Roman empire and the gospel was spreading there

because of what Paul was doing here. And it wasn't just the words he was using. The power that flowed through this man was insane. There were miracles literally dripping off of him. Listen to this part of the story from Acts 19. It says, came out of them. How in the world was that happening? How are miracles dripping off of this guy? Well, it's because Paul had run his race well. Paul had learned the secret, the journey that we've been on, that his suffering doesn't have to go to waste. It could actually produce an otherworldly level of endurance, that that endurance, if he stuck it out, would produce in him the character of Christ, the unheard of, unmatched, found nowhere else, power of grace and truth and love and humility. That kind of character was bubbling up into Paul. And all of that was now overflowing into an insanely powerful level of hope in him. All the miracles that Paul experienced in his life, the ones that God did in and through him, the most powerful miracle of all, it was what happened to Paul himself. See, the old Paul, that bitter, angry, self-righteous guy, he was dead. And a new Paul that stood in his place in this city, a Paul who was full of hope and power

and love and grace and truth. See, there's a reason people wanted to be around Paul. It's not because they just really loved the way that he would phrase stuff. It's not that. It's because Paul was full of hope. Paul was the most joyful person they had ever met. When they got around Paul, they felt like a million bucks. And it wasn't like this flimsy hope. It wasn't the kind of hope that we think of, a hope that lacks power. That's wishful thinking. I wish upon a star. It wasn't that. It was a hope firmly anchored in the power of God's truth. And the evidence of it, the proof of it was overwhelming. In the letter that Paul wrote to his friends here in Ephesus, he wrote these words about hope and power. See, the power wasn't Paul. It wasn't in the person of Paul. It was in the person of Jesus. And he was having a massive effect, not just on Asia as a whole, but this city specifically. Such a massive effect that it was started to impact the city sense of itself. The Ephesians, more than anything, they prided themselves on being the keepers of the Temple of Artemis. Temple of Artemis was one of the largest buildings in the entire world.

In fact, it was actually one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. Not too far from where we're standing right now. And it was massive. Columns, six and a half feet wide, 65 feet tall. It's huge. The size of three football fields. It wasn't just a thing that was nearby that they kind of enjoyed. This was like who they were. At this point in history, your sense of identity wasn't your nation and then maybe your state and your city, like it might be in the U.S. right now. It started with your city and your city had a symbol, had something to rally around. And here, that was Artemis. They didn't just love Artemis. They loved the money that came from being the keepers of the Temple of Artemis. Big business, shops, restaurants, souvenirs. And because Paul was turning so many people away from the old religion of Artemis to God, they were losing money. It was hitting their bottom line and they did not like it. There was one guy, Demetrius, he was a silversmith and he hated the fact that this was happening. And so he's an organizer. He gets people together and he makes a plan to try to stop it.

Demetrius says these words to the people in Acts 19. Do you notice Demetrius' hope in his God? It was kind of tiny to like non-existent. I mean, he basically goes, hey, look everybody, let's just be honest for a second. We all know this. If this guy Paul keeps going, he might depose our great goddess Artemis. Like what kind of God can be deposed or overthrown by one little guy? Not a very good one. Not one you put a lot of hope in. He basically goes, it's hopeless unless we take action. I'm curious, who is your hope more like? Is it like Demetrius? You're hoping your God. Is it like Demetrius is hoping his God? Is it small? Is it fragile? Does it feel like lots of things could threaten it? Does it feel like if the wrong thing happens, you would lose hope? Does it feel like you've got to take matters into your own hands? Or is it more like Paul's, who walks into Ephesus with an unshakable hope, who walks in and goes, I don't care what your grand displays of power are trying to intimidate me into doing. I'm not paying attention because my God is bigger and mightier and stronger, and I follow Him. Demetrius makes this speech to the people and a riot breaks out. They run into the theater, which Acts 19 records. When they heard this, they were enraged and were crying out, great is Artemis of the Ephesians.

So the city was filled with a confusion and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Artikaios, Macedonians who are Paul's companions in travel. But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. Now, some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion and most of them did not know why they'd come together. Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. But when they recognized that he was a Jew for about two hours, they all cried out with one voice, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. The theater all the people rushed into, this one right here. It has capacity for up to 25,000 people, which means it wasn't just a couple dozen shouting, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. It was like the Bible says, the whole city for two straight hours. Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. And so it's worth asking with 2,000 years of hindsight, exactly how great is Artemis of the Ephesians? Not very great. I mean, this is it. This is all that's left of the whole place. Just that one kind of sad column. It's the Franken column, not even real pieces that fit together,

not even as tall as it was. And there's a bird nest on top. That's it. The three years he spends here, there's all kinds of lessons you could pull from him. But the main one I see is this lesson of hope. What do you put your hope in? Do you put your hope in the thing that can crumble and turn into nothing? Or do you put your hope in the God who has the kingdom, who says it's coming ever increasingly on earth as it is in heaven? Who do you put your hope in? Paul put his hope in Jesus. Firmly, only, exclusively. No room to hope in anything else. And that's exactly what he taught the people here to do. And one of the last scenes we have of Paul interacting with the people in Ephesus is when he pulls the leaders together to give them one final goodbye and says these words to them about his race. Paul goes, It's crossing the finish line. And as I cross the finish line, it's looking over my shoulder and going, do you all have hope that I put it in you? Is it growing? And Paul could say, yes, it is. He could look at all those Ephesians in the eyes and say, you're doing exactly what you should be doing. The hope that was in him, the power that was in him, he knew would continue to grow. And it did. The question for you today is, will it grow in you?

Will it grow? Do you have the kind of hope in your life that produces power? Do you have the kind of hope in your life that gives you unshakable consequences in the face of anything that might come your way? Do you wake up in the morning and think, God has my life and I trust Him wholly, completely, has good and perfect plans for me? Do you believe that? That's exactly what we're digging into today. Well, hey, I'm Chuck if we've not met and welcome to Ephesus and the imposing Arcadian way. This was the Broadway, the Times Square, if you will, of the city of Ephesus. And it was meant to evoke fear and awe. And yet Paul, as we just heard, had his race come. right to this city. A race that caused him to start a church. A church that literally changed a region and ultimately went on to change the entire world. And over the last five weeks at Crossroads, we've been doing the run journey, believing that all of us have a race to run. There is a race that you were created to run. A God-given purpose for being on this planet. And over the last five weeks, people have been in small groups and engaging in personal work to say, what is that race? What is the place where God is calling us to run? And I pray that you've been excavating, that you've been uncovering some things about what God is calling you to and the race that he has for you. And while our races are different, we all have a common course map. This is a scripture we've been coming back to every week. Romans chapter 5, verse 3 says, not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings. We talked about that. Like, there's a suffering that's involved in running a race. We don't get to avoid suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. So friends, I've got good news for you today, because today is about the payoff. We get to talk about hope today. We get to talk about hope. Some of you want to go back to suffering week. Okay, that's fine, but we're going to talk about hope today. We're going to talk about hope. Absolutely. And if you're brand new today, you haven't been doing the run journey,

you are not behind, because today I want to talk about the spiritual fuel we all need to cross our finish line, which is hope. You know, in business, it's often said that hope is not a strategy. And if by hope, someone means wishful thinking, then they're right. But that's not how we're defining hope today. Hope we're talking about today is biblical hope, rooted in the reality that God is writing our story, and God finishes everything that He starts. And that kind of hope is not wishful thinking, and it's not a weak strategy. Friends, that kind of hope is a weapon. And that's what we're talking about today. Hope as a weapon. La esperanza es un arma. That's the hope we're talking about today. And we've been talking about the metaphor of a race, and it made me think about my experience running a marathon. I ran the Flying Pig Marathon some years ago, 26.2 miles, even though no one was chasing me. I did that even though no one was chasing me. So, but I remember the day that I picked up my race bib. You know, you've been thinking about running a race, you've been talking about running a race, but when you go to the expo, for me it was down at the Cincinnati Convention Center, and you pick up your race, I mean your bib, now it gets real. Because this bib identifies you. You have a number, your name is on the roll, and the race is starting tomorrow. When you pick up your bib, you're in the one percent of humans who ever show up at the starting line of a marathon. And I know that when I picked up that bib, it was real for me. You know, picking up that bib is a lot like that Romans 5 journey, because by the time I picked up my bib, I had embraced a lot of suffering. I had an IT band injury that for the last month of my training had me doing pigeon poses every morning just so I could actually get out and run that race. Almost everyone I knew was showing up at the starting line of the Flying Pig with an injury. Anybody with me? Anybody with me? Like that's just true if you're running a race, like you're hurt by the time you get to the starting line. But you know what else? It also indicated endurance. When I picked up my bib, by that time I had trained over 300 miles. The average training for a marathon, you run 300 miles before you get to your 26.2 miles, so it's about endurance. And it was also for me about transformation. I was a different Chuck when I picked up this bib. I was physically stronger. I was mentally stronger. I was a different person. And today we want to talk about that is what hope does for all of us. Why was it that Paul was able to go into a city that was imposing and do the impossible? It's because he was fueled by the weapon of hope. Again in Acts 19.8, it says that he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly. That word boldly is to speak with the clarity and a confidence that's been forged by hope. Paul was very clear when he got to Ephesus

on what his hope was anchored in. He knew that his hope was anchored in the power of Jesus, the resurrection power of Jesus, and the coming kingdom of God. Such to the point that from one place he impacted an entire region. We have a map here of Asia Minor in Paul's time, and Ephesus is over here. And in this area, Paul spent three years. 25% of his whole mission was spent here, but from this place he was able to impact an entire region. I wonder what in your life feels imposing? What in your life feels impossible? What feels like you've been grinding it out in Ephesus year after year after year, even though the vision that you have is greater than that? When you are fueled by the kind of hope we're talking about today, you can run your race and finish your race because you realize that nothing is impossible with God. Nothing is impossible. Paul understood that. We have to grasp that today. And so Paul did that by helping people understand. in the kingdom of God. Because the Arcadian way was meant to tell anybody coming into Ephesus, you will lose and we will win. But Paul said, no, Jesus wins. Jesus wins. He was fueled by the reality that Jesus wins. He was fueled by the reality that he had been to Jerusalem and they still to this day haven't found the body of the risen Jesus. That's what fueled Paul. He knew that Jesus wins. He saw over and over again, the power of Jesus heal and transform. So Paul was fired up about this thing called the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? I think about the kingdom of God this way. When Jesus rose from the dead, we're gonna celebrate that in a couple of weeks in Easter. When he rose from the dead,

he ushered in an entire new reality that's breaking into this broken fallen reality and everyone everywhere is invited to be a part of that. And it is growing and it is spreading. The Arcadian way, the temple of Artemis as we found are just rubble, but the kingdom of God is not rubble. The kingdom of God is alive and active in the lives of people like you and like me. I love this song that says, if the story isn't good, the story isn't over. That's what hope is, the kind of hope we're talking about today. So if your story isn't good, good news, your story isn't over. And there is a hope that you need to run your race. This kind of hope therefore is not a feeling, it's an anchor. This kind of hope is an anchor. I love going to the movies and there's a scene in a movie that I am a sucker for every time. Maybe you feel the same way. I love me a good training montage in a movie. I mean, I just love a good training montage, right? I think about Karate Kid, wax on, wax off, left circle, right circle. Like I just love it. You're the best, all right. Like I just love that, man. It just does something for me. I love a good training montage.

I'm a Philly kid. So of course I think about Rocky, right? Running up the art museum steps. If I ever get to take you to Philly, I'm gonna do two things. I'm gonna get you a real cheese steak and we're gonna run up the Rocky steps. We're gonna do both of those things. Like I just love that training montage, but my favorite is probably the training montage from Creed 2. Anybody seen that movie? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I could go through the whole thing, I'm not. I'm just gonna talk about this one part that blows me away. Rocky Balboa puts a tire in the middle of a boxing ring and tells Michael B. Jordan to step into the tire. And then another guy, twice his size, puts his foot in the tire too. And Rocky Balboa says, hey, when you're fighting this Russian guy, it's gonna be toe to toe. And so literally you see Michael B. in this tire with this guy twice his size beating the crap out of him. I mean, hitting him on the side, hitting him in his, all that stuff, right? But over time, Michael B. is getting stronger to the point where Michael B. is in the tire with the guy twice his size and the guy, he's beating him so bad, the guy gets out of the tire.

Michael B. Jordan's like, let's go, let's go. Man, I love it. He's doing these, there's a point where he's doing these freaking neck lifts. He's like lifting weight with his head. It's insane. I love me a good fight scene. I'm telling you, I love me a good training montage. I can watch it right now. I mean, it just gets me so excited. But here's what I hate about training montages. Here's what I hate. They compress time. So they make you and I think five minutes in a good song is all we need to run our race. I don't know about you, but that's not how my life works. No, what you're called to and why you need an anchor of hope is whatever your race is, you are called to a long obedience in the same direction. That's what we're called to is a long obedience in the same direction. Paul's ministry was a long obedience in the same direction. 12 years is all we have of Paul's ministry in the Bible. So you talk about for the time he met Jesus on the Damascus road, for the time that we hear the last of Paul, believe that he was killed in Rome, 12 years, 12 years time. And he spent three of those years in Ephesus, 25%. There were lots of other places he wanted to go, but he spent 25% of his time in Ephesus.

And I believe when he was in Ephesus, he was faithful. We know he was fruitful, but we know he also faced resistance. So there's this scene in the amphitheater where the entire city is gathered and yelling, great is Artemis, goddess of the Ephesians, because they are opposing Paul. Can you imagine, can you imagine being in an amphitheater this size and everybody there is chanting your name? Chuck is great, Chuck is great, Chuck is great. Hey, even that would get uncomfortable after a while, but now flip the script and imagine they're not chanting your name. They're opposing you. They're coming against you. This is what Paul experienced. This is the kind of resistance he experienced. Well, what was going on here? See, what we need to understand is to the Ephesians, Artemis was everything. Artemis was where they thought their wealth came from, their prosperity came from. It was a fertility guide. They thought all of their hope was wrapped up in Artemis. What they didn't realize was that Artemis. This is a little God. And guess what? We have our little gods, too. We have our little gods that we go to for hope, things that we think are going to deliver what only God can deliver for us.

There's a verse in the Old Testament of the Bible that is deeply challenging to me. Jeremiah 2.13, God's writing through the prophet Jeremiah, and he says this to his people. He says, My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. I love you enough to tell you you have little gods in your life that cannot hold water. You're putting your hope in places that will not hold water. Some of us, we worship the little God of control and believe that if we can control outcomes and control the situation and bend things to our will, somehow that's going to work. I want to tell you the little God of control cannot hold water. For others of us, it's the little God of wealth. If I can just get a little more, if I can just make a little more, if I can just accumulate a little more, I'm going to be insulated from the challenges of life. And I want to tell you the little God of wealth cannot hold water. For others of us, it's hedonism and pleasure. We'll take pleasure at any cost, whether that's drugs, sex, alcohol, whatever it may be. And I'm here to tell you, you know this yourself, that little God cannot hold water. For others of us, it's the little God of not trusting anyone. I can do it on my own. All I need is me. And I'm telling you that little God will not hold water. For others of us, it's numbing and escaping. Whatever your little God is, I'm here to tell you, your little God will fail you. It is failing you. It has always failed you. Why put your hope in a little God when you can serve a God who never fails? That's the invitation that we have. I love how it says it in Hebrews 6.19. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

And that's why biblical hope is not a wish. It's a weapon. Biblical hope is a weapon. I don't know if you realize this or not. The world has problems. I don't know if you realize that or not. And that means that our hope is assaulted all the time. Don't believe me? Just open your newsfeed. Don't believe me? Try to repair a broken relationship. Don't believe me? Try to outrun the voices in your head that tell you you're not enough, that you'll never be better than where you are. You know this. Inherently, you know that there are forces that are conspiring for your demise. And biblical hope is the resistance you need to stand against that despair. There's a leader who said this about hope, and these words just keep sticking with me. They said, Hope is not a saccharine optimism that refuses to see, face, or grapple with the wretchedness of reality. You can't have hope without despair because hope is a response. Hope is the act of conviction that despair will never get the last word. Can I get an amen, somebody? Despair doesn't get the last word. Loss doesn't get the last word. Fear doesn't get the last word. Division doesn't get the last word. Anger doesn't get the last word. Failure doesn't get the last word. Says that that despair does not get the last word. This is the hope that we have, and that God who gives that kind of hope wants to meet you. Yes, our world is broken, but our God is more powerful than the world is broken. And that's the God that wants to meet you and equip you and empower you to run the race that is set before you. I told you I ran a marathon, and anybody who's done that knows that a marathon is really two races in one. There's the marathon, and there's the wall.

Because at some point running a marathon, you're going to hit a wall. I don't care how much you train. I don't care how much you think about it. You are going to hit a wall. Maybe it's a physical wall because you are chafing in your nether regions like nobody's business. You did something wrong in your gear, and you're feeling it every step of the way. Anybody been there? Anybody been there? Pain, pain. You want to know what pain is? That's pain, right? Yeah, or you've got blisters on your feet. You thought your sneakers were great. You thought you broke them in well, but now you've got blisters at mile 15. You've got a long way to run with blisters on your feet. You get a hamstring that pulls. You get an IT band that's affecting you. It may be a physical wall. It may be a mental and emotional wall. For me, I hit the wall at mile 20, and I hit it solidly. I mean, I knew I'd hit the wall. Part of the reason I hit the wall is because I had some things that I knew were going to be a part of helping me get across the finish line. I had trained with a group, Bob Ronkers. Anybody know that? I had trained with the Bob Ronkers running group, and because of my pace, it was me and a bunch of ladies. We had trained together. And we were going to cross this finish line together, right? And let me tell you, within five minutes of the race, I lost all of them. I don't know where they went. Lost them all.

The other thing is I had an iPod back then, and I had set my playlist of my iPod to match the miles that I was in. So, for instance, when I got to Eden Park Hill, for anybody who knows it, I was playing James Brown Big Payback, because I had almost failed on that before, so I was like, I'm playing Big Payback when I get on it. Well, within 10 miles, my iPod died on me, so I have no music, I have no community, and I'm supposed to finish this race. I hit mile 20, and I was struggling. I was hitting the wall. And there are a couple things that help me get over the wall. One is community. Let me tell you, for whatever your race is, do not run alone. I have an amazing wife, and my wife had stationed friends and family at different mile markers, and when I got to mile 20, I knew that if I could just get to mile 25, my best friend, Michael, and his wife, Larissa, were gonna be there, and Michael was gonna run me in. I knew that if I could just get to Michael at mile 25, I would be okay. I get to mile 23, I get to mile 24, struggling. I get to mile 25, I look to the left, Michael is there, his wife is there. He's like, man, you're doing great. You want me to run you in? I'm like, yes, I couldn't even breathe. I'm like.

So he gets out, and he runs with me, because you need community to get over your wall. But then the next thing that happened is something I couldn't have imagined the power of it. Not only do you need community, you need to have a vision of why you're running. And when I got to 25.9, maybe 26, I could see in the distance my wife and my younger son. My son was three years old at the time. He's actually my oldest son, but he was like three or four at the time. And when I got to mile 25.9, Maria let Nathan run around the barrier and come to me, grab my hand, and I got to run across the finish line of my first marathon with my son. It was amazing. Because you need to have a vision that's beyond the race that you're running. You need to understand why you're running the race. And this is what I love about Paul. What I love about Paul is Paul understood that his race was not just for this life, but his race was for the life that is to come. Friends, heaven is real and hell is real too. And you got to answer the question, where are you running to? Where are you running to? I have a mentor and he says this, and I've never forgotten this. He says, never underestimate the eternal consequences

of the seemingly inconsequential. There are things you're doing in your life right now that seem inconsequential. It seems inconsequential that you're just staying faithful in a relationship. And I'm telling you that has eternal consequences. It may seem inconsequential that you're working the same job with the same people, but you showing up with hope and joy is making an eternal difference. I know there's parents in here who are gonna wake up in the middle of the night because your baby barfed and you got to change them in the middle of the night. And when you're changing diapers in the middle of the night, it seems inconsequential, but you're raising a future leader. You're raising a future teacher. You're raising a future influencer. Never underestimate the eternal consequences of the seemingly inconsequential. And Paul knew, and we need to know, that we are running for a city that is yet to come. We're running for a city that will come. This kingdom of God is going to take over this earth, this planet. And Jesus says, behold, I'm making all things new. And part of your run, part of your race is not about just this world, but it's about the world to come.

You and I have probably been, even if you never read the Bible, you're familiar with the streets of gold. We don't know how good heaven is. We don't know how beautiful it is. I don't know. Maybe there are literal streets of gold in heaven. Maybe, John's the one who we get that from, maybe John failed with words to communicate the beauty of what he saw. And so the best that he could do is say, can you imagine a place where the streets are paved with gold? I'm telling you, heaven is worth it. The race to run to meet Jesus is worth it. That's what you're running for. Paul knew it. And so I love at the end of his race, Paul is now in prison in Rome. This is years after starting the church in Ephesus. He's actually writing to his protege, Timothy, who was pastoring the church he started in Ephesus. And Paul says these words. He says, Friends, let me tell you, if you are in relationship with Jesus, you have a crown waiting for you on the other side. And if you don't follow Jesus, follow him because there is a life you can live beyond this present reality.

It starts now and it'll never end. Joy that will never end. Peace that will never end. Creativity that will never end. See, because the Bible doesn't say, I mean, we think about this. We think about heaven as this place with like disembodied angels playing harps. That is not what the Bible describes as heaven. The Bible's hope is not in life after death. It is in life after life after death. We're gonna get new bodies and be on this planet. Complete, whole, secure as God intended in the garden of Eden. I'm telling you, that's what you're running for. That's heaven. That's heaven. And so Paul talks about that. And so I was like, man, it would have been awesome if we had thought ahead and could give a bib to all of you as a symbol of the race that you're running. And then I realized, oh no, we actually have done that. Because this week, if you've got the guide, if you've been doing the personal work, you're going to complete your run manifesto this week. It's an opportunity for you to declare the race that you're running, to declare why you're running it, and to declare that your hope for running it is in Jesus. And as you do this this week, I know how it is. You get to your group, you forget to do the personal work, you sit in your car for 15 minutes, you do a little bit of reading. This is not a week to do that.

Trust me when I tell you, you're going to want to carve out at least 30 minutes to prayerfully complete this manifesto, that then you're going to communicate with your group, and I believe is going to be impactful for you in the days, in the months, and even the years to come. So let me give you one final encouragement from Scripture as we come down the home stretch, not to the end of our journey, but to a new starting line. This is from Hebrews 12. And it says, You have a race, and I want you to run it, looking to Jesus, the founder and the perfecter of our faith. I want you to close your eyes, and I want you to understand this reality. Right now, all of heaven is cheering for you. Have you thought about that? You can open your eyes. All of heaven is cheering for you. There are already people who have crossed the finish line, and they are cheering for you. They are celebrating you. I want you to lean in and listen. Moses, and David, and Elijah, and Lydia, and Mary, and Paul, and Peter, and Jesus himself, the author and perfecter of your faith, are in heaven cheering for you. I wish you could hear it. I wish you could hear the encouragement they have for you. I wish you could hear them saying that the run you're on is worth it. I wish you could hear them saying that you can keep going. I wish you could hear them saying that at the end of all of this, you're going to be so glad you ran with Jesus, because all of heaven is cheering for you.

I've got to make this personal. I've got to make this personal. I know that I have a cloud of witnesses in heaven cheering for me. People like Mary Magdalene James. That is my grandmother's full name. A grandmother who walked with Jesus such to the point that as she was dying, her last words were, do you see how beautiful heaven is? Do you hear the music of heaven? Those were her last words as she was crossing over into the cloud of witnesses. So I know my grandmother is in heaven cheering for me right now. Charles Edward Mingo, that's my father. Many of you got a chance to meet him. My father died a couple years ago, had dementia. But I know right now my dad is clothed in his right mind, and he is in heaven cheering for me. I've got a cloud of witnesses. You have a cloud of witnesses. Doris R. Williams, Eugene Graves, these are my aunts and my cousins who are pastors that formed me as a child, taught me the gospel. And I'm telling you, some of the preaching you're getting from me is what I got from them. They're my cloud of witnesses in heaven cheering me on. Kathy Beecham, who is a spiritual mother to me and many of us, is right now in heaven saying, you got it, babe. If you knew Kathy, you know she'd call you babe. You got it, babe. You can run this race. She's in heaven cheering me on. All of heaven is cheering you on. So I want you to take your bib, and I want you to run your race.

For some of us, running the race is saying yes to Jesus. I mean it when I tell you, heaven and hell are real, and you don't have to go to hell. You can live fully, richly with Jesus. Maybe for you, picking up the bib is saying, I'm going to trust him. I'm going to give Jesus my whole life. If that's you, you can pray that prayer right now. You can pray it right after this service. Just come up. There are people who will pray for you at every site and online. If this is the day for you to receive Jesus, I want you to know all of heaven is cheering for you. For some of us, it's just about not quitting because life is hard, and you're in that season of suffering right now. Maybe for you, the bib is you simply wake up tomorrow and say, I'm going to do the best I can with Jesus, and I'm not going to give up on this race. I don't know what your race is, but it's time to pick up your bib, and it's time to run your race. I want you to stand up right now at all of our sites, wherever you are. I want you to stand on your feet. I want to bless you. I want to bless you as we come to the end of this journey. And I want you to put your hand on your heart. Only if you are committing to take your bib and run your race, put your hand on your heart, almost like you're receiving an invisible bib. And I just want to bless you. I just want to commission you, because I know that the race you're running matters. It matters to you. It matters to the community. It matters to the world. It matters in heaven. And so I just wanna bless you right now.

Jesus, you see these people. You see every person at every site, whether they're online in their living room, whether they're in a room, you see them, God. You see them. And I'm praying you would bless them as they run their race. God, I'm praying that you would give them a hope that overflows, that can be an anchor and a weapon against the despair that comes at them. God, I pray that you would fill them with joy, that you would fill them with love, that they would run this race with joyful love for everyone around them. God, I pray that you would empower them by your Holy Spirit and you would give them insight and wisdom that they've never learned in school, things that they need for the race ahead of them, God, because your spirit is infused in them. God, I pray that you would give them courage and resilience for when the obstacles come and when resistance comes, that they would not look to the left or to the right, but they would run their race to completion. And God, as they do that, I pray that they would long for the day and hear the day when they cross their finish line, when they finish their fight, and they would hear, you're well done. I pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

and all the runners said, amen, and amen, and amen. You guys go and run your race.