Run Your Race With Endurance | Crossroads Church

I'm running on stage because it's the run journey. That felt appropriate. I don't know how your group went this past week. Anybody finish the week two board in your group? Get all the way. Wow. Good job by you. It is tough. Every time we pick the wrong question and we go back eight miles. I'm like, what? And then we all share for the golden question. We only get five. Who made this game? What? Unbelievable. By the way, if you're brand new, welcome to the run journey. I'll give you a quick catch up. Basic premise is that no matter who you are, you have a race to run, a God given race, territory that he wants you to take. And he wants you to not just run, but win. And the only way to do that is to learn to run it God's way. The model that we're following and how to do that is Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament and is the only one who ever said, follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. And so that's what we're doing. One of our key pieces of scripture is what he wrote in Romans chapter five. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. There's a progression that God wants in your life to make a better, more hopeful, stronger, filled with his power, you. That's what we're after in this thing. Last week, Allie Patterson talked about suffering. An amazing, amazing message. Amazing. Literally one of the most powerful messages I think I've ever heard. If you missed it, do yourself a favor.

Go back and watch it at Crossroads.net or it's in our app, which you can find for free in the app store Catch Up. Today is about endurance. The point of suffering isn't just to suffer. The point of suffering is to produce endurance. So we're talking about that today. I have endured in many ways in my life. One is a parent. I have three children and I have endured. Are there any first time parents in here? You're here. Actually, you don't have to raise your hand. We can identify you because you've got like three diaper bags. You know, your trunk is stuffed with nine kinds of strollers. Once you have like more than a couple of kids, you sell the strollers. In fact, if you have three or four kids, I know that you're a parent because you don't have a diaper bag. In fact, you don't have any diapers. If your kid makes a mess in their pants, you just like take it off, shake it out and put it right back on. It's not even supposed to be reusable, right? You're just like, you're fine. You're fine. If God ever blesses you so mightily as to only have one child for the evening, you call it date night and you praise him. You're like, this is great. Easy with one. Why is that? It's because God increases your capacity. Endurance leads to character.

Endurance leads to increased capacity. You literally hold kid number two and three with stronger arms because you've endured raising kid number one. That's what we're talking about today. Each week of this journey, we've been visiting a new place in Paul's race. And today we're going to the city of Athens. It's the place that maybe most models endurance in Paul's race. And in part, because it happens smack dab in the middle. There's 17 years from Paul's conversion to when he steps foot in Athens. And then 16 years from Athens until his death in Rome. He goes to 37 cities and regions before Athens and 35 after. So it's right in the middle. Just like every week today, we're going to start with a virtual pilgrimage. Let's go to Athens. Welcome back to Real Encounters Season five, the run journey. We are here again in Turkey and in Greece, really just uncovering in this third week the life of Paul even more. We've been to Tarsus and to Philippi so far. And this week is good news because we talked about suffering last week. And on the other side of suffering is honestly a gift, the reward of having endurance. And we see Paul have that in a space called Athens. Hit us with what's what's going on in Athens that would kind of take Paul there that would really make him a guy who could endure there. Sure. Yeah. I mean, Athens is amazing. It's so famous. And it was obviously in the ancient world because Athens was really the birthplace of all the things that Greek culture has brought to us. You know, democracy, for instance, you know, architecture, mathematics, philosophy, all the things that Western culture and civilization is built on. We're kind of born in Athens.

So Athens was incredibly important in ancient Greece. It was one of the three great cities of ancient Greece. And and it's just famous as it was in Paul's time. It had the the greatest building in ancient Greece was the Parthenon, which sits up on the Acropolis overlooking Athens. And this is. This is the city to which Paul came. But what's great for us is that when we go there today, we see what the archaeologists have uncovered and preserved. And again, we get the context of Paul's time there. I'm interested, Nerula, in your context, what does endurance look like for you as you kind of keep pressing towards and using what you have from learning from suffering? What does that look like? Yeah, and when I think of all of that, actually, I think the world we live in today is like Athens, right, with all the world views around us. And especially with the content that I produce online, I'm bombarded with questions and comments from atheists, agnostics, and Muslims. And so I am not only to respond to all these things, but also to stand firm in my faith and sometimes to endure those offensive ones as well, because not all of those people who are making those comments are very nice. Sometimes they're very aggressive. Some people are very shocked. They're like, how are you able to respond with such patience and such soft way?

And of course, I do not claim any credit for myself, because as a fallen human being, I would not be able to do that by myself. But it is all through the power, strength, and endurance that I receive from Jesus, right? That is the life of Paul. That's what he does. He endures well. And so we're going to head to Athens to learn what he has to say about our lives and what it might mean for our own journey. Welcome to Athens. One of the most influential cities in the world for 3,000 years and counting. This is the birthplace of democracy. This is where the Olympics were created. This is where we get our Western ideals of culture and philosophy in art. To call this place historic falls far short. It's like calling a Leonardo painting a Leonardo painting. It's like calling a painting a Leonardo painting. It's like calling a Leonardo painting a Leonardo painting. It's like calling a Leonardo painting a Leonardo painting. It's not historic. This place is a living legend. And the crown jewel of the entire place is this building right here. This is the Parthenon, perched on the Acropolis, the tallest rock in the city.

It sits like a king on the mountain overlooking the entire city. It was constructed in the 5th century BC, and it has seen some things. Alexander the Great, maybe you heard of him. He defeated the Persian army and decided to celebrate by hanging his shields on the side of the Parthenon. You can still see the holes and the circles from those shields 2,300 years later. By the time Paul walked into the city, this place was already ancient and legendary. Now also up on the Acropolis are other temples around. We have the Temple to the Goddess Nike, for instance, one that may have influenced Paul's writings, that Goddess Nike is often depicted in sculptures holding a victor's wreath, ready to place it on the head of the winner of the race. Now, in those days, the victor's wreath was made of laurel leaves. Nowadays in the city, you can buy lots of souvenirs. They're made of gold or more likely plastic and metal painted. Sorry, Gracie, I bought you one. It's not real gold. Now you know. But back in those days, they wilted very quickly because they were natural. Maybe this is where Paul got the idea that he put forward in 1 Corinthians 9 about the wreath that doesn't fade.

Paul wrote these words. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Is that what happened? I don't know. What I do know is that for millions of people, for thousands of years, coming to this city has been on their bucket list. And so what did Paul feel when he finally walked into the city of legends? Well, all indications are, meh. Seriously, there's no writings he ever says where he wants to come to Athens. He only stays here for a few weeks and there's nothing to say he ever came back. Coming here as beautiful and as magnificent as it is was not on his radar, but it was on God's map for Paul's race. And so when he got here, Paul was ready. Before coming to Athens, Paul had been in Berea and Thessalonica and gotten run out of town both times. He had left behind his buddies, Silas and Timothy to finish unfinished business there and came here to Athens to wait for them. This is basically a long layover in a really cool place. Now, Paul wouldn't have known it, but this was smack in the middle of his missionary journey.

And the middle is significant because the middle is the time in the race where most of us start to change our pace just a little. We start to slow down, stop pushing us hard, stop grinding. The disciplines and the habits that got us here start to have cracks. But for Paul, he decided to walk around the city. He could have, by the way, kicked his feet up. That would have made all the sense in the world. No one here was expecting anything from him. He could have gone on vacation, stuck in the metaphorical airpods, put on his shades and just gone and hung out at the beach. Would have been great. But instead, Paul decides to dive head first into the city. He came here to this place, the Agora, the center place of the city, the heart of the city, where business and shops and restaurants, government buildings, meeting places were all right here. And another thing, as he walked around, he noticed that there were also idols and altars everywhere. Behind me is actually an altar to the god Zeus. Now, in its prime, there would have been a giant statue of Zeus on this altar, steps that led up and places for people to make offerings to him. Paul saw this altar and he also mentions another one that he saw, an altar to an unknown god with no statue because they didn't know who he was. And Paul, that bothered him deeply, so deeply he decided to take action.

Here's how the story goes in Acts 17. Now, while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. When Paul sees all the idols in the city, the scripture says that he's provoked. That word means sharply poked, like in the ribs with a sword or a spear or something. This is significant because the middle of the race is when most of us start to get desensitized to the needs of people around us, to the problems and leadings of God in our life. But not Paul. Rather than become more self dependent, Paul becomes more God dependent, more sensitive to his leading, more understanding that when he gives me a poke and he gives me a prompt, I need to lean in and pay attention. Paul does this because he trusts the race. He trusts the path that God's laid out for him, the one he describes in Romans 5. The first time I heard that verse, I heard the translation that said persevere. And I just thought, oh, OK, so you suffer and then you just have to like suffer more. Because when I think of perseverance, perseverance is like grit your teeth and get through it.

Just hold on tight and hope that it's over soon. But that's not the word. The word is actually cheerful, hopeful endurance. It's a reward that you get. The definition I would give to endurance is it's the capacity to persevere. And it's a capacity that God promises to increase in your life as you move through suffering. This is the gospel story that from death comes life. From suffering becomes a capacity and a strength that you did not used to have. This is the journey and it leads to breakthrough. There is no such thing as spiritual breakthrough unless you stay the heck with it. Endurance is an absolute essential. When Jesus talked about praying, for example, He said, you know, when you pray, just keep going. Don't stop. The reason you're not seeing more breakthrough in your prayer is because you're quitting too early. Keep on going, keep knocking, keep asking, and then you'll see breakthrough. This is what Paul does. At a time when most people would have kicked their feet up and gone into vacation mode, Paul goes on the offensive. Endurance, playing defense. Endurance, playing offense. Paul came here to the middle of the city. We're on a street in the middle of the Agora between two stoas, these large covered porches,

where the Stoics, hence the name Stoa, would sit and have conversations. There's actually a rebuilt one over my shoulder in the distance. You can see the long colonnade and the beautiful tile roof. Gives you a flavor. for what this would have looked like in Paul's time. Paul walks in here, and he starts to have conversations with people. And unfortunately, but probably not surprisingly to Paul by this point in his race, not everyone's a fan of what he has to say. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him, and some said, what does this babbler wish to say? Babbler means ragpicker, or alludes to the idea of a ragpicker. Back in the day, there were scraps of rags around, and there were people who would grab the scraps, and they'd try to sew them together into some kind of a blanket abomination thing. And so the people are saying, well, this is you, Paul. You're grabbing these little scraps of ideas. This is interesting. You're just picking them up, and you're assembling them into an absolute mess. This is basically a smart person way of saying, you're really stupid, with just a lot more words, which doesn't really sound that smart to me. But anyway, that's what they say. And Paul is not put off. This is actually a point in our race that many of us are going to have to learn to endure. Can you endure criticism? Can you handle pushback? When people come against the ideas that you have, or the calling on your life, or the race that you feel like God has for you to run, can you endure the judgment that might come your way? Can you endure being misunderstood? This is a critical part of the race.

And for Paul, he had the capacity to push through it and keep going. Here's how the story continues. Their tone wasn't, oh, Paul, that's so interesting. We have a book club that meets up on the hill. Do you want to come with us and share some of your interesting philosophy? We can drink rosé, eat some charcuterie. It'll be great. That's not what's happening here. This is a serious accusation. You are preaching foreign gods. We must know more. And they take them up to this place where we are right now. This is the famed Areopagus, also known as Mars Hill. It's the place where the archons of the city would retire to. What's an archon? Well, the archons were the general ruling class in Greece. There were nine of them. And though by Paul's time, they weren't the absolute rollers in the city, they did hold some measure of power, particularly over the courts and over law. And when the archons would retire, they'd be automatically added as part of the Areopagus. Something like a court that held something like trials against people who had these accusations brought against them. We know that they heard cases around homicide, arson, and religious cases. In fact, if you rewind the clock 400 years, there's a famous case that matters greatly for this moment that Paul finds himself in. It's the trial of Socrates in 399 BC. Socrates is brought in front of the same body, the Areopagus, under the same allegations, preaching foreign gods. And in Socrates' case, they find him guilty and order him to be executed. They force him to drink hemlock poison and he dies. Now for Paul, growing up in Tarsus, the Athens of the East,

home of philosophy, being well-educated, he knew of that case. He understood from the moment they said, preaching foreign gods, let's go to the Areopagus, that this could turn out very, very poorly for him. And yet Paul chooses to endure. Paul does not back down. What he does next is proceed to give the absolute master class on how you share the gospel in a language that someone else can actually understand. Here's the start of his message in Acts 17. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Paul is brilliant here. He finds common ground and a way to even encourage them and affirm them. He goes, I notice that you're very religious. In fact, I actually found when I was down in the Agora, an altar to an unknown God, one you already worship. I'm not preaching about foreign gods. I'm preaching about one. of your gods, all I want to do is tell you about the God you already worship." Brilliance. He breaks down their objections. He opens ears and he proceeds to share the gospel, the message of Jesus in a language that these Greek people could actually understand. It's amazing. If you've ever come to Crossroads and enjoyed a message, you've ever had a moment where you were like, it felt like you were talking to me. It felt like you understood me. Well, the foundation of how we preach and how we

communicate, you can trace to exactly this moment on this hill, Paul in front of the Areopagus sharing the gospel. Brilliant. Now, not surprisingly, but unfortunately, Paul's taken heat for this. There are theologians over the centuries who've taken shots at him and said, he must've been out of his mind this moment, or this isn't the real message that he gave. Luke must've edited the words and acts and left some stuff out because surely he wouldn't have watered down the gospel. We didn't water it down. He made it refreshing in a way that they wanted to pick up and actually drink. Because Paul in this moment, he's successful. His endurance pays off. It's not that everyone claps their hands or asks how to be saved, but there are definitely people who at the end of his speech say, I want to know more. See, in a moment when most others would have kicked back and relaxed, would have leaned out, Paul leaned in. In a moment where many others would have decided to put down their arms, Paul takes them up and says, today, I have good news for you. Paul has a secret that you and I have to have if we're going to follow Jesus, we're going to win

our race. The Jesus mindset of running with endurance. Hebrews 12 puts it this way. Therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and 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. This week, we're talking about endurance. This is the next step for us to understand. If we want to win our race, if we want to run the way that Jesus wants us to run, we have to increase our capacity to endure. We go from Athens as it looks today to Athens as it looked back then. This is actually the same building that we just saw, the Parthenon, as it originally looked. It was painted, had sculptures everywhere, gold and iron and ivory. It was incredible. This building is a picture of what we're talking about, a picture of endurance. It stood in the same place for 2,400 years. You might think, well, it must be like in a lucky place, right? Maybe no earthquakes.

No, actually, it's the opposite. Lots of earthquakes. This thing has endured hundreds of them. It's seen the rise and the fall of the empire that built it, the Greeks. It's seen the rise and the fall of the one that came next, the Romans. It's even been shot out and blown up. In the year 1657, the Ottomans controlled this area and they needed a place to store their gunpowder. And so they decided that'll work. And they used it as a storage locker. The Venetians came by to attack Athens. They couldn't land on the ground. They had ships in the harbor. And so one guy said, what if we shot a cannon at that, hit the gunpowder and blew out the side and the roof? They've literally been repairing it ever since. In fact, when we were there, it was the first time in 200 years there were no scaffolding on the outside of the building. They took it down about a week before we got there. They put it up just after we left. Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. Now, it's a picture of endurance, not because it's old. It's a picture of endurance because it's suffered greatly and it's still standing. I think when Paul came to this city, he resonated

with that structure. He could see his own story in it. As you heard in that video, when Paul got here, he didn't just go sightseeing. He didn't stay on the top of the hill and admire the beautiful building. Instead, he went down to the marketplace. He got to know the people and their culture and their ideas. He decided to endure in his race. But what he learned there started to bother him, bother him so greatly that he started talking about it. And what that did is it ended him up in the middle of a storm, took him to the top of the hill where he was in front of the Areopagus on trial for his life, a storm that he did not ask for, maybe didn't deserve, but it was there anyway. See, on a sunny day, you don't need endurance, you just need patience. You just wait. But when the storm comes, when the rain starts, the call becomes to endure. And what you and I have to understand from the beginning is that God's not so interested in changing the weather, He's interested in changing us. As a human, I think we have two main reactions when there's a storm that we need to endure.

One reaction is anger. It's defy the storm and you're, well, why are you here and shout at it? In my life, I've never shouted away a storm. Maybe that's worked for you, doesn't work for me. Knee jerk reaction number two is not just anger, it's fear, it's, oh no, this is horrible. I got to run, run, leave the storm. But if we do that, we'll miss out on what enduring the storm will produce in our life, the character that God wants to build in us. Storms can be hurricanes, maybe you're in one right now in your race and there's something that feels like an overwhelming hurricane. It's just wanting to batter you to your knees. It can also feel like a drip a day, you know, just drip, drip, another diaper, and another diaper, boop. Maybe you're in school, it's homework, it feels like all your teachers get together at the start of the day, and they're like, how can we absolutely crush him? How can we make her evening awful? You know, they're like, why am I even doing geometry? It's not because you're gonna ever need to find the cosine of anything, I promise. But it's that the work of enduring changes you. Maybe you're in business, and it's rising costs and it's staffing issues.

Maybe that's what you're enduring. Whatever it is, the point is, God doesn't want to change the weather, He wants to change you. And we have to understand that if we're gonna get to the place of endurance that produces character. Character is what God's after. You know, every storm I've ever been in in my life, it humbles me. It grabs my weaknesses, all the places where I don't know what to do, and it shoves them in front of my face. And guess what? That's what God wants. That's exactly what He wants. Endurance produces character. Back to first step, I got four steps to endurance for you today. First step is to admit your weaknesses. So it's happened to me over the last couple of weeks. My job is to lead our staff and lead our church, and you might know that our church is going through some things right now, some difficulties, and that has taken my weaknesses and my shortcomings, and it's shoved them in front of my face. People ask me, you know, how are you doing? And the most honest answer is I feel like an empty cup. I feel like a jar that was full,

but man, the wind just like knocked it over. And all the water, all the water, it's gone. It poured into the sand, the sun came out. It's all gone. And people keep coming up to me wanting a drink. And I'm like, I got nothing, I got nothing. The verse that God's used to sharpen me in this, to develop my character in this is this one. Second Corinthians four, verse seven. It says, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the all surpassing power is from God and not from us. We're hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. We're perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not abandoned. Struck down, but not destroyed. Now I love the endurance that's in that second part. Hard pressed, but not crushed. Awesome, love that part. Does not happen unless you and I admit the first part. God, I'm a jar of clay. You're a jar of clay. God, I have cracks, I have chips. I can be empty. I can be broken. I could fall and I could break, God. If you're not willing to admit your weakness, there is no path to endurance in your life. And this fights against everything you've ever been taught probably in your whole life.

Don't show your weaknesses. Why would you do that at work? That's a stupid thing. Don't admit your failures and your flaws. Why would you do that? Hide them, protect them. When the pressure comes, just tell everybody you're Iron Man. That's not what scripture says. No, no, no. A friend of mine, as a means of encouraging me, I think, he pointed out to me a verse from, or section from one of Paul's letters, 2 Corinthians chapter 11. It's like this list where Paul goes like, hey, what have you endured in your life? And then he goes, hold my beer. And he goes, I've been shipwrecked, I've been starved, I've been in trouble from robbers and danger, and I've been naked, and I've been afraid, I've been, he goes, I've been beaten with rods, I've been beaten with whips, all this stuff, and then at the end of it, to cap it off, he says this, 2 Corinthians 11, 28, and apart from all the other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. He goes, do you know what's worse than all that stuff? Church leadership. This is worse. And I'm like, Paul, I feel zean, I feel so zean, yes and amen, Paul, I feel zean. Listen to what he says next, here's his very next words, who is weak, and I am not weak. Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness, weakness, see the way to endure is not the fake strength, the way to endure is to admit your weakness, why?

Because God doesn't trade power for pride, because God doesn't exchange power for an awesome report card, God trades power for a show of weakness, period. Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 12, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness, therefore I'll boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. This is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Paul got to the point in his race where he's not just like, I'll survive it, he goes, I delight in it, I'm happy to talk about my weakness, I'm happy to take your insults, because when I'm weak, then I am strong. The last one if you want to endure is to admit your weakness, say, God, I'm a jar of clay, that means I need filled and I need reformed. Step two is to ask Him to do that, ask Him to refill you and ask Him to reform you. The other day we were in Numbers 21, and there was this story that jumped off the page, this is the part of the story where the nation of Israel has left Egypt, they're in the exodus, and this is what happens, Numbers 21. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there's no food and there's no water and we loathe this worthless food. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many people of Israel died. I'm like, I feel so much better when I get mad at my kids when they complain about dinner, you know? I've never been like, here, hold this python. But God did, He's like, hey, here's snakes. And I read that and I was like, wait a minute, I think there's a story somewhere that Jesus talks about like, if you ask God for food, He won't give you a snake. And then I found it, there sure is, Matthew 7. Jesus said, which one of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?

If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? It's like, wait, hold on a second. Isn't that what you did? Like, isn't there a story where you do that exact same thing? And then I looked at it closely and something jumped off the page at me. Do you know what they didn't do back in Numbers in the Exodus? They never asked. They just complained. God, there's no food, God, I don't have what I need, God, it's your fault. What's happening to me? By the way, complaining to God's okay. You can absolutely complain to God. Psalms is full of laments. There's actually a whole book called Lamentations. It's okay to complain, but don't stop at complaining. Ask God to fill you and to reform you. See, God loves you. He loves you so much. God loves you exactly as you are. And he doesn't want you to stay that way. That's what I'm talking about. God's produces character. He has more for you. You can ask God to fill you and to reform you. And that's what he's after. The you tomorrow will be better than the you today if you do that. In fact, the worst you that will ever exist again is the you right now if, if you follow God's path of endurance that leads to character. A more hopeful you is coming, a more joyful you is coming, a more powerful you is coming,

a more faithful, holy, righteous you is coming. It's amazing. If, if, if you will endure. If. I think us adults we can believe that we've stopped growing and that's okay. It's saying horizontally, you might grow horizontally on accident, but no, no. God wants you to grow. It never, it never ever stops. He's calling. constantly renewing your character, the inner you. Here's what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4. He says, we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self, our character, is being renewed day by day. Ask him to refill you. Ask him to reform you. Third step to endurance. Act. Act. Yes, admit. Yes, act. Or yes, admit. Yes, ask. But you also act. Do something. In our groups this week, our golden question, we have one every week that everyone's gonna answer. The golden question this week involves reflecting on this scripture.

From the section where Paul talks about all runners run, only one gets the prize. From that section, he says this, 1 Corinthians 9.25. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. Strict training. Now I think that we hear that word strict and we're like, okay, strict. That must mean like one-arm pushups, you know? That must mean like a marathon. I need to run a marathon. I need to memorize whole books of the Bible. Maybe, maybe, but probably not. Strict doesn't mean extreme. Strict means every day. That's what it means. It doesn't mean a marathon. It means a mile. It doesn't mean one-arm pushups. It means 20 every morning. See, what I find in my life when I get unhealthy, I'm not unhealthy because I don't know what to do. Physically unhealthy, right? I know what to do, diet and exercise. Diet and, every time. You do too. You're not confused about what to do. But we still, we buy all these books and we watch all these videos and we're looking for the shortcut and the secret

and for anybody to tell us anything different. No, diet and exercise. You already know. I already know, just not doing it. And I think the same comes with the strict training. Maybe, maybe, maybe there's something God wants you to do involved in strict training, to endure that you don't know about. But I'm gonna guess that you already know what it is. You're just not doing it. Maybe in your race, in order to endure, you feel this distance between you and God and you know you need to close that gap. If so, I'd recommend praying every day. Just set a timer for 10 minutes every morning. Just do that day after day after day. After 30 days, I promise, you won't feel that gap anymore. Maybe you're in a spot in your race where to endure, you need wisdom, you need discernment, you need to understand what does God even say about this. If that's where you're at, I develop a habit of reading the Bible. You can join us in the app. I've already given the cheat code. Listen to it on 2X speed, it's fine. Just get it, just start doing it. Just start doing it. Maybe what you lack in your race in order to endure, you have a gap called wise counsel in my life. People who know me and love me and know and love Jesus

and can speak truth into my life. If that's you, start making plans for how your group might continue past the run journey. You need those people in your life. Maybe in your race, it's literal physical energy is what you lack. Awesome, diet and exercise, do something. You know what to do, pick one. Maybe in your life, it's financial health that's holding you back. Awesome, sign up for a class, get some wise counsel, get healthy, get paying the debt down. It can happen, it can, but you need to act, act. Why do all this by the way? Why admit? Why ask, why act? It's because it's worth it, it's worth it. See, when you endure, God will make a better you, a stronger you. The hero for me when it comes to endurance right now is my son, my oldest son, Ben. He's a freshman in high school and he has endured and I've seen it change his character. About a year ago at school, he started getting bullied for no particular reason, just being him. And we had lots of conversations about it, about the high and holy calling of following Jesus, where we love our enemies, where we pray for those who persecute us, and where we also tell the truth even when it's hard,

even when it feels unsafe. He endured and his character changed. A month ago at school, he started getting picked on again because our church was in the headlines. Kids telling him, oh, your church is fake and everybody's awful and everything you've ever learned, it doesn't count, it was all wrong. So we had conversations about being a jar of clay. Said, hey buddy, every leader in your life, me included, is a jar of clay. Have I ever done something that upsets you? Have I ever gotten too angry at you? He goes, yeah. I go, that's the jar of clay. That's because I got cracks and I got chips and I ain't perfect, man. I'm not. Have I ever done something to bless you and helped you? Yeah. Well, that was the power of God inside of me. It's completely real. His character changed, he endured. This past Monday. day at school, again, our church is back in the headlines. And again, he gets picked on. Your church is awful and your opinions are revolving, all this stuff. And so again, we had another conversation about how sometimes the hardest, but the holiest thing is to stay silent, like Jesus.

Scripture says when he was accused, he was like a sheep before its shearers. He was silent. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is just to keep your mouth shut. He endured and his character changed. A year ago, he would have been crushed by anybody coming against him, anybody picking on him. And that's not where he is now. Not only that, his character has changed to where his race is now helping other people. Sarah and I got this incredible email from his school on Wednesday. I'd love to share it with you. Comment, Ben knows how to be a good friend. A classmate was clearly having a very difficult day. Ben was compassionate and went out of his way to help them. He ensured that they were supported and not alone. By the way, that kid was getting bullied. See, when you endure, God will change your character. Can I just tell you as that kid's father, I begged God to stop the storm. I begged God to change the weather. God changed the weather. He doesn't deserve this. This isn't justified, change the weather. He didn't. But you know what he did do? He changed my son's character.

I'm telling you, he wants to do the same for you. He wants to do the same for you. He does, one day the storm will end. It will, it will. You know, me, the storm I'm in right now, the pressure that we're facing, that I'm facing, I'm making a choice. It's to stay in the storm. It's to say, God, if there's anything you want to change in me, would you change it? God, I don't know how to do this, but would you fill me? Would you reform me? If there's anything different you want me to do, just show me what it is. Just show me. I don't know what happens next. I don't have the answers, but guess what? I worship a God named the truth. He's the truth. He knows the path he has for you. Do you trust him? Told you I've been empty, a poured out cup this week. There's also been a miracle that happens. Every time someone's walked up to me and wanted a drink of water, the craziest thing has happened. I think I'm empty and I ask God to fill me and I tip myself over for the person in front of me and fresh water pours out for them, crazy. So I look at this verse and I can say this,

2 Corinthians 4, but I have this treasure in this jar of clay to show that the all surpassing power is from God, not from me. I'm hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. I'm perplexed. I'm not in despair. Feel persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. Not destroyed. See, I have no idea when blue skies might come again in your life. I have no idea when it might feel like blue skies here again. I have no idea, but guess what? I know they're coming. I know they're coming. I know the best for our church is the days yet to come. I know that last week and last month and last year, the mission was reach the lost with the message of Jesus in a language they can understand. And it'll be the same next week and next month and next year. I know that there are the least of these that need lifted up. I know there are girls on the other side of the world that need protected and rescued. I know there's an awakening that God wants to birth and He will, He will, if you and I endure. It's not time to quit. It's time to say, God, I'm weak.

Would you fill me and reshape me? Is there anything you want me to do? Is there anything you want me to do in my life? Paul said this in Philippians 1.6. He said, I am sure of this. I'm sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. I'm sure of it. Friends, I'm sure of it. I'm sure of it. Maybe you're in a place where you go, that's awesome for you, but I'm not sure of it in my own life. I can't see the blue sky at the end of this storm. I don't know if I can keep enduring. I don't know if I can make it. That's okay. Fourth and maybe most important step to endurance is ask God to show you. Ask God to show you His love for you. Ask God to show you His arms around you. Ask God to show you Him filling you with His power. Ask God to show you the blue skies that are coming. Ask God to give you a picture of hope on the other side of the storm. Ask God to show you what it means to trust Him. with your whole life. ♪ I see barren ground, you see gardens. I see wasted years, you see promise.

I see scattered pieces, you see what could be whole. ♪ I see falling short, you see worthy. I see not enough, you see mercy. Oh, to have your vision go beyond what I know. Oh. Show me what it looks like to give you all of my life and lean on the logic of heaven and follow the path of your presence. Even if the whole world is saying that it won't work, oh, I'll stake it all on your kingdom and I won't let go till I see it. Wisdom far above my own perspective. Hope that grows up when I least expect it. Give me faith that wakes me from my sleep. Oh, I need it. Oh, I need it. Show me what it looks like to give you all of my life and lean on the logic of heaven and follow the path of your presence. And even if the whole world is saying that it won't work, oh, I'll stake it all on your kingdom and I won't let go, I won't let go, I won't let go till I see it. No, I won't let go till I see it. Oh. What seems impossible is possible for you. Oh. What seems unbreakable is where you'll break it through, Lord. Nothing is over till you say it's over.

There's not a mountain on the earth that you can't move. So show me what it looks like to give you all of my life and lean on the logic of heaven and follow the path of your presence. Even if the whole world is saying that it won't work, oh, I'll stake it all on your kingdom and I won't let go, I won't let go, I won't let go till I see it. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Let me pray a blessing over you. God, I bless you that you're the God of endurance. I bless you that you're the God who doesn't ask us to fake it, but the God who says admit your weaknesses and I will give you power, I will give you strength. God, would you do that this week? Would you give us the courage to admit it? Would you give us the faith and the trust in you to ask you to fill us and to reshape us? God, would you give us the strength to act? If there's anything you want us to do, would you whisper it in our ears? Holy Spirit, I invite you into every quiet moment we spend with this on our own. I invite you to cover every group and every conversation

you lead, you steer. Give us the ears to hear, the eyes to see, and the feet to follow you in our race. You're good, God, and we love you. Amen.