Running for Glory

little paragraph here, verses 24 to 27. And here we'll see Paul speak to the disciplined zeal with which we all ought to run the race of life that God has set before us. Let's go ahead and get a text in front of us will begin with verse 27 and read through verse, or sorry, verse 24, and read through verse 27. And this is the word of the living God. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we in imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control. Less after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. Thus ends the reading of God's Holy Word. May he write it on our hearts by faith. And let's pray. Father, we confess that we are so often a half-hearted people, Lord, that so often we are distracted by the things of earth, that so often we're distracted by our own selfishness and self-centeredness and fail to run the race with zeal and discipline. Father, we thank you for the example of your servant, Paul, and we pray that we

with zeal and discipline. Father, we thank you for the example of your servant, Paul, and we pray that we would imitate him now, that you would give us a spirit of zeal, that we might all the days of our lives be poured out for your glory and for the people that you've given us to serve. Lord, we pray that you would do this by grace and through faith in Jesus' name. Amen. Corinth was at the center of some games called the Ismian Games. It's kind of like the Olympics, but a little bit different. And it was a sporting event that took place every two years. It was a very, very big deal in Rome. And at the time of Paul's writing, it was already a very ancient event. It was founded in the 500s, 580s, BC. So it's like nearly 600 years old when Paul writes. The games were held in honor of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and they were one of four games that were we called today the Pan-Hellenic games, and they featured very popular sports in the Greek and Roman world, boxing, get together and just see who could beat each other up. There was one called Pancration, which was like, basically, I looked into it, it was basically our MMA, but with far less safety measures, believe it or not. Wrestling, chariot racing, they had running, There would even be events for women where they would have poetry readings and various history readings and things like that. That was very, very big cultural celebration in their day.

There would even be events for women where they would have poetry readings and various history readings and things like that. That was very, very big cultural celebration in their day. In the ancient time, when it was first founded, the winners would receive a wreath of dry celery, which doesn't sound that impressive to me, but apparently, you know, the glory that came with it was enough. Later, that became a crown of pine. So during Paul's Day, it would have been a pine wreath. Plato is actually said to have competed in the Ismian game. And they took place right by Corinth, just right close to where the Corinthian church would have been. So it would have been a very regular occurrence for the Corinthians to see men, particularly, training for these events in the streets. If you recall, the Acro Corinth is this 2,000 foot tall, highest point in the city where they had the temple on top. Men would be training. I mean, you guys today who, you know, especially if Tate's training you, he's constantly forcing you to do hill climbs. That's why I don't train with him. I don't have to run up hills, just stay on the level ground like the Lord intended. You know, you just picture these hill sprints up this 2,000 foot tall hill. And the events came with massive prestige and renown, not unlike our professional sports today. You would have men who competed in these events who were somewhat of celebrities. People would know their name and be told even long after they were dead, their memory would be recorded. There was one man, Clytomacos, who,

You would have men who competed in these events who were somewhat of celebrities. People would know their name and be told even long after they were dead, their memory would be recorded. There was one man, Clytomacos, who, he won the wrestling, the boxing, and that pancreation. I don't know how to say it. It was that MMA sport. He won all three of those events in one day, and only one other athlete ever did that in the whole history of the games. And, you know, century after century. And so people would talk about Clitomacos and his glory. Many years after his life, the Roman author Ileon praised Clytomachus for his self-control. And he described his life. And one of the things that he would just kind of like slack-jawed point at. He was like Clytomachus was so devoted to his sport that he was celibate. He said, nope, I'm not wasting any energy on anything else. Kids, ask your parents. I'm not wasting any energy on anything else. I'm going to embrace total celibate. He was like a monk. A monk who would beat you up. That was Clytomacos. Devoted everything to his sport. So you see, you see why Paul chose this line of analogy here at the end of chapter nine to instruct the Corinthians. It's fairly obvious as you read the book that Paul was not very impressed with the Corinthians overall. They were squabbling. They were fighting. They were giving way to the sins of the

trophy, but for the prize. You know there in verse 24. He talks about how everybody runs but only one receives the prize. He wants to get them out of this mindset of just, you know, kind of, you know, you get in a group project situation and you're like, someone else will kind of handle this. We'll all win at the end. Paul says, no, I want every single one of you running like you want to win the crown, and there's only one. That's the way that I want you to run. Paul says of himself at the end, so I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one. the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control. Less after preaching to others, I myself, should be disqualified. Paul's not talking about losing his salvation here in this analogy. That's not what he's talking about. It'd be contrary to his whole gospel to speak that way. What is he talking about? Well, it's something that he actually speaks about several times in 1st Corinthians. It's something the Lord Jesus speaks about. The Bible in general speaks about quite frequently, and it's a reward. It's the price. that a believer might win, even in addition to his salvation, not barely scraping into the kingdom of heaven, but crossing the finish line of life, having been poured out, having run your race, and receiving the well-done, good and faithful servant, receiving a crown to throw

into the kingdom of heaven, but crossing the finish line of life, having been poured out, having run your race, and receiving the well-done, good and faithful servant, receiving a crown to throw before the feet of Jesus and say, it was, I did it all with resources, strength, faith that you gave me, Lord, gifts you gave me, but nonetheless, there is such thing as the servants of Christ, who is saved as one barely passing through the flames, where all of his works turn out to be woodhay and stubble. You remember that? And there are those whose works will prove to be precious and enduring, and they will last. Jesus speaks in Matthew 6 of storing up treasure in heaven by living for the Lord. A chapter earlier in Matthew 5, he speaks of the great reward in heaven for those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. In Matthew 16, Jesus urges his disciples to take up their cross and follow after him, promising that when the son of man returns in his glory, he would repay each person according to the works he has done. It's a common theme. You remember in chapter three, where Paul said that the servants of God in 1 Corinthians will each receive his wages according to his labor in God's field. Finally, in Revelation 2212, Jesus says, Behold, I'm coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repeat pay each one for what he has done. There is judgment and there is reward, even beyond the

2212, Jesus says, Behold, I'm coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repeat pay each one for what he has done. There is judgment and there is reward, even beyond the division of the sheep and the goats. Now, of course, like I said, no Christian will stand before the Lord and say, Lord, weren't you just impressed with me? Wow, I was a real one out there. You'll be, everyone's going to fall in their face and say, everything I did, it was with your resources, the days you gave me, the strength you gave me, the faith you gave me. It was all to your glory. And yet, it just seems to be that there is such thing as reward, there is such thing as the crowning of a victor, there is such thing even as greater or lesser judgment in the economy of God's salvation. And so the question that this passage would pose us is very plain. It would be something like Saints of Refuge Church, are you running your race like that is what is at stake? The approval and reward of your Lord? Or have you grown soft? Have you grown apathetic? Are you coasting? Are you phoning it in? Did you have maybe a season some time ago where you were very zealous and you sprinted a good ways down towards the finish line? But then you sort of flagged and you started jogging

sprinted a good ways down towards the finish line? But then you sort of flagged and you started jogging and then you started walking and then maybe you took a nap. Maybe you walked back away. And you said, I don't know about this race thing anymore. This is kind of hard. I don't know if I need to do that. What's the minimum required effort for this thing? What's the least that I could get by with doing? Here's what I would like. I would like a system where I get a massive reward for doing absolutely nothing. How about that? Is there a job? Is there a job opening for that in the kingdom of God? And here's the crazy thing within all this metaphor is that all of our salvation is like that? Where we were actively doing harm and rebelling against God. And then the Lord Jesus died for us, gives us his righteousness, calls us saints, calls us into his kingdom and glory, puts his spirit in us, gives us a new heart. And yet after that, should a saint who's been saved by that massive amount of grace sit down and say, thank you, Lord, how can I phone it in as much as possible? What a worthless servant that would be. What a useless man. And this is so tremendously easy to do. So if that's you, that's you, if you're like, yep, that's me, then this sermon is for you. And if you can't tell, here's the big idea from our brother Paul that I want us all to take away from this sermon. It's something like

Think about it like this. The Lord could have saved you and then just translated you right to heaven. Why not? If he didn't have anything for you to do, why didn't he just save you? Oh, people were getting raptured one by one all the time. Tim Leahy is super excited. You're just all of a sudden in heaven. Because if there was nothing else for you to do, why wouldn't he do that? But that's not what he did. What did God desire in his saints? He desired to demonstrate his glory in them by transforming them from dead in their sins to fell sharp weapons set against Satan and all of his works. did not die on the cross from your sins, rise from the dead, ascend to the throne on high, and put his spirit in you so that you could coast through a few decades of life with no urgency. Run, box, fight, suffer. That's what Paul would say. And in our text, Paul gives us four exhortations to this end, four exhortations to help us do that in this race ahead. Number one, he would exhort us like this, you would be a fool to run this race in a lackadaisical, unfocused, lazy kind of way. Just with that in mind, listen to the passage again. He says, do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete

all the runners run, but only one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we in imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline. my body and keep it under control less after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. It's like Paul's thinking, if pagan Clytomacos could focus every single waking moment of his life to being the best at beating people up to win a crown made of sticks. And that's what he did. Then how much more can you run with zeal for an infinitely valuable eternal crown? There is nothing lack of days. about Paul's words here. You would be absolutely stupid to put it in autopilot and coast through your life. It's like Paul wants us to think about this. Do you understand how valuable a single day that God has put in your hand is? Do you ever think about that? You will on average have something like 25 or 30,000 days in your life if you don't get hit by a bus. Ader, and that could happen. You could get hit by a bus tomorrow. But generally speaking, eight or 900 months, maybe 4,000 weeks if you're

hit by a bus tomorrow. But generally speaking, eight or 900 months, maybe 4,000 weeks if you're really blessed. One of them began today, one ended yesterday, and that's how it's going to be. It's not too many. It's not very many at all. You know, I've said this before, but, you know, if you imagine that your life was like an iPhone battery and you're, you know, I'm 34, which on average for a male, shockingly, is like, my battery is at like 55%. I'm a battery nurseer. That's when I plug in. I'm like, no. My wife, she lives on the 1%. She lives on the edge. She plugs in. This is how she describes it. She says, I need to plug in for a minute to get enough juice for the thing I was going to do. like look at a recipe to me it's absolute psychopathy it's insane right it's it's it's absolutely crazy i live a different way and sometimes i think like i'm at 55 percent and there's no charger there's there's like i could work out more but there's no like maybe slow it down but but 55 percent is 55 percent it's hurtling towards 52 percent and 49 percent like how valuable is a day what what are you going to do with with those days with what spirit are you going to approach them maybe maybe forget about what are you going to do what great things are you going to accomplish but with what spirit are you going to take up every single day that is a

are you going to approach them maybe maybe forget about what are you going to do what great things are you going to accomplish but with what spirit are you going to take up every single day that is a gift like that and use it think about all the ways you could waste them you could wake up every day and think how can i today just be really hard to get along with how could i do that how could i be as grumpy as humanly possible and easily offended as possible is there a way that i could just make my wife's day as terrible as i possibly could or my husband how could i just get really frustrated with everybody around me for not doing enough for me you could wake up and say how could i make this about me today you know like the meme they're looking in the mirror you wake up you make this about you maybe you've seen that you could spend your days like that just total self-centeredness and you could be a christian and you could struggle with that kind of sinfulness and just sort of every day thinking that way or you could spend your days walking around just sort of loathing no goal no urgency no plan what am i doing i don't know just frittering your days away on worthless things things that serve absolutely no or very little good for anybody earthly or heavenly or you could wake up like this you could say today i will thank god for the incredible gift of another day i will assume that my job

immediate ditch to avoid here isn't there because zeal without aim is useless and sometimes worse than useless i have a son i won't say who i have several of them so you know it's kind of obfuscated here i told him i told the one last night i'm going to talk about you in the sermon tomorrow and he was like let's go and i said it's going to be this example he was like oh okay okay dang it no i i love this this this boy of mine he's he's got zeal for days and but the thing i often say to him is buddy ready fire aim ready fire aim that's the wrong order ready aim fire fire not like i'm ready boom and then stuff's happening and it's like it's just the zeal is cranked to 11 but the planning is at zero yeah paul also has an exhortation in this direction here number two you may not run this race without taking precise aim zeal is not enough zeal is not enough you may not run this race without taking precise aim or to pick up paul's other metaphor in this section your life is a fight that will require you to land blows on the right target lest you fall he says i don't box as one beating the air he's trying to land blows on his opponent that's how paul is approaching this fight zeal without aim is often not only useless it's often actively harmful if you focus on the wrong thing or aim for the wrong thing even if you are very disciplined in getting it it won't win you this prize

aim is often not only useless it's often actively harmful if you focus on the wrong thing or aim for the wrong thing even if you are very disciplined in getting it it won't win you this prize at least not the one that paul is talking about you might win lots of prizes that way but they won't be the infinitely valuable one that paul is talking about it's worthless to succeed in something worthless you could be the most zealous man in this church and still fail to hold the crown so you have to think what is my life aimed at and not hypothetically not hypothetically how do you tell if someone's a third of the way through a race what they're aimed at well what is the trajectory where where have their steps actually taken them what is it pointed at so what are you what are you aimed at i mean do an inventory of how you spend your days and strength and see what your life is actually aimed at would somebody be able to look at my life and say this is what this man is aiming at this is what this woman is aiming at men are you aware of what you're trying to accomplish in this life do you have an idea of what you're aiming for in the short and the medium and the long term have you thought this through have you thought about the mission that god has entrusted you and how it relates to your wife and your children and your work and your

medium and the long term have you thought this through have you thought about the mission that god has entrusted you and how it relates to your wife and your children and your work and your generations and your worship and all the rest and if not this is deaf on one you need to figure this out it is absolutely essential that you get busy in figuring this out think about it like this um your wife was given to you to be your helper the biblical language not a random helper doing random things but a helper in the mission that god has entrusted your household that's why you have a wife that's one of the reasons that god gave you a wife was so that that she could be a helper to you in accomplishing the mission that god entrusted you and your household and so what is that well there will be things that all of us share in this like killing your sin growing in the fruits of the spirit providing for your house serving the church like every athlete across multiple disciplines is going to have a shared foundation you know a wrestler and a boxer are both going to want to be stronger both going to want to be disciplined in what they eat and how they sleep and how they recover they're going to they're going to have things shared across disciplines but there will also be things particularly to you to your gifts and your wiring and your circumstances in god's providence and your capacities you should be doing an inventory of your gifts and resources the things god put

to you to your gifts and your wiring and your circumstances in god's providence and your capacities you should be doing an inventory of your gifts and resources the things god put in your hands and thinking how can i go harder today and this month and this year and this decade with these things than i have been and maybe you you spend way too much time fussing like but there's not a lot i'm not that gifted oh this person over here he's way more gifted he does that shut up be quiet but are you questioning the lord to give you what he gave you was he not wise did he not know are you wiser than him he gave you what he gave you figure out what it is and then figure out how can i go harder with these things not with the things i imagine and wish i had useless if you're five foot four you're not going to be a long jumper i'm sorry you're just not if you're five foot four you're not going to be an NFL linebacker it's not going to happen it's not in the cards don't waste your time trying to be figure out what you are what gifts did god actually give you think how can i go harder with these things that charlie kirk's murder again i think a lot of us have had this thought makes you think how can i go harder than i have been going how can i double down on all of the things how can i double down on them how can i double down on

probably going to say yep i remember that all of us got one-shoted by chain claiborne and like the radical thing what what is every christian man supposed to do i'm going to kenya and it was somehow always kenya it was like i'm going to kenya why do you speak the language no do you have are you going to be of any use to kenyans absolutely not but i'm going to kenya what well because i have to do something big we have to change the world like we're a world-changing generation and you know millennials probably remember this the zoomers got here and they were like well we just have to survive the world at this point that's pretty much that's the task i i don't mean like that god god did not ask all of us to change the world most of us that wasn't the job that he gave us most of us are not equipped to do it yes one in a million one in 10 million will rise up and they will you know shake the halls of power and rewrite history good for them god god call some to that but most of us won't for most of us the kind of zeal that i'm talking about is zeal and unflagging faithfulness in very ordinary very constant acts of service and faithfulness to 10,000 small good works that god has put in front of us there's a way of screwing this up by trying to save it all up for something huge if i could just do this massive big good work that everyone will see what are you really trying to do you try to have

there's a way of screwing this up by trying to save it all up for something huge if i could just do this massive big good work that everyone will see what are you really trying to do you try to have everybody see you trying to serve the lord it's 10,000 small good works even the one in 10 million that changes the world that's also by the way often how it happens doesn't mean that you won't win the crown i think we'll be surprised in eternity when we find out some that are exalted by the lord and put board and say you show a screen what is it a slide show a slideshow of their life and you're looking and it's like a widow with that was poor and she put two little last pennies in the offering box and you remember the Lord Jesus looked at her and said she's given more than everybody it can be like that this is for poor widows who put their last two pennies in the box in faith it's for the mothers diligently tending sick children in the watches of the night with cheerfulness and with zeal and with genuine affection and love from the Lord for those children it's for parents continually being faithful loving and disciplining their children in faith praying for the lessons to take root as you rise up and as you lay down and and hoping that lord just please let these take root there's crowns for that it's for men who go to work every day and they serve their neighbor relentlessly they go to five

rise up and as you lay down and and hoping that lord just please let these take root there's crowns for that it's for men who go to work every day and they serve their neighbor relentlessly they go to five or seven or 12 houses in a day and they fix their leaking plumbing and they do it excellently and they're zealous in their work and they say this is what the lord has given me this is how i provide for my family and i'm going to make sure that if anybody finds out that i belong to christ it'll be like yep his lord is great because that's the best plumber i've ever seen most honest most helpful goes above and beyond the absolute king of a man as a plumber this is the kind of thing that paul is talking about the pastor who preaches faithfully for a few decades never makes headlines or attention for rhetorical prowess it's it's generally speaking on the average a crown for ordinary saints being faithful to ordinary callings but with zeal and discipline that's what we're talking about so aim zeal aim and then number three you may not run this race effectively without focused self-discipline and self-control in all things this one hurts paul says in verse 25 that every athlete exercises self-control in all things and then he goes

paul says in verse 25 that every athlete exercises self-control in all things and then he goes goes on to say that he disciplines he disciplines his body to keep it under control it's all things it's it's not just one thing or another thing it's not just a spiritual thing or just my mind or just my heart it's body soul spirit emotions sexual discipline it's discipline all the way up and all the way down every part of what it means to be human and we should expect this because that is what the lord is saving and transforming every part of what it means to be human and so this race must be run with discipline in all of those things and some of you the problem is that you are very undisciplined and that's your actual problem that's your actual problem it's not that god didn't give you the requisite gifts that you need to glorify it it's not that you haven't been given the opportunities to win glory or love your god it's not that everyone else is failing to set you up for it it's that you aren't self-controlled you aren't taming your tongue you aren't disciplining your emotions you're getting dragged around by them you aren't killing your sins you're letting them kill you and the only thing that's going to fix it is you repenting you taking think about repentance repentance repentance is i i see a sin i name it i agree with god that yep it's a sin this is the name of it it it's you know whatever

body is a tremendous servant of good if you will rule over it that even the appetites that god gave you are all good they may be corrupted by sin but in their recreational state they are good sexual desire is good desire for food is good desire to speak is good desire to laugh is good it's good it's all it's good desires it's when sin points out the wrong object or goes about them wrongly that they become enslaving rather than good and then it's all inverted instead of me ruling over my appetites the appetites of my body the appetites of my body the appetites of my body are ruling over me and that will lead to devastation are you disciplined with food are you disciplined with sexual desire are you disciplined with words are you disciplined with your emotions if you want this crown you must rule your spirit and make it obey christ and this it turns out is a fruit of the spirit which means it's evidence of god working in you so get specific where do you need discipline today is it your tongue is it your feelings ladies are you believing your every fear and amplifying them to 11 and then living like they're all true are you running around your hair on fire all the time and your husband and everyone else is like could you please calm down you please calm down ladies don't this is in and for

are you running around your hair on fire all the time and your husband and everyone else is like could you please calm down you please calm down ladies don't this is in and for peter three this is why sarah is praised for fearing no fearful thing she called her husband lord and she she didn't live in fear it's because this is a tendency and a temptation common to women men do it too it's a temptation common to women are you following your every emotion does your tongue follow your anxieties are you emotionally frothing all the time men are you disciplined in serving your people before yourself are you thinking how can i be of service to my wife and my kids my church my brothers are you self-serving and undisciplined and a fool this is this is a temptation common to us it's to it's just sort of we do one thing really hard i go work i work really really hard and then i'm like that's it i'm good i'm good and now it's the rest of time that was about the work thing and now the rest of it turns out is about me well no it's actually not about you are you disciplined in serving and loving and nourishing and cherishing your wife your children the vocation that god has given you in all of this number four know that talking about the race isn't enough words are not enough verse 27 teaches us this paul says but i

your wife your children the vocation that god has given you in all of this number four know that talking about the race isn't enough words are not enough verse 27 teaches us this paul says but i discipline my body and keep it under control less after preaching to others i myself should be disqualified it's possible to preach to others things that you fail to actually obtain in other words it's possible to say a lot of things and do none of them or to say a lot of things and for a time do them and then flag and fail and fall short it's possible to speak and have my deeds be at odds with my words think of king solomon he writes the proverbs and then what does he do he proceeds to do not the proverbs all of them he's like i wrote the proverbs and i'm going to do the opposite of all of them until you know like we talked about last week i think he wrote the book of ecclesiastes in repentance it's possible to do that it's possible to do that how many men have started well but not finished well the answer is scores many how many men have talked a big game and not followed through how many of you have made big promises and commitments and not done

game and not followed through how many of you have made big promises and commitments and not done done them and not finished the work how many of you have said i'll have that done and then not gotten it done when the time arrives to show forth whoops i guess i didn't do it my bad and people over time just develop they just know he'll say this but he won't do it he's not a trustworthy man he won't show through he won't actually put forth the effort he's he's he's he's full of talk he's full of words and words can be very empty things that's not how you win the crown words are not enough we must act what sins are you aware of don't just think about killing them don't just talk about killing them kill them what goals do you have things that you think would please the lord you do the inventory you say i have these gifts i have these opportunities this providence and and this is what i think the lord might give me to achieve this might be my task this might be my little corner of the garden of wilderness to turn into a garden here in the world that god made okay will you do it or will you sketch out elaborate plans that you never fulfill one plan fulfilled is worth more than a thousand elaborate plans not followed through with when the time

you think that get behind me not for the devil not for his friends nothing could turn him from performing that which the father said in front of him whose image do we bear the image of the lord as paul says in his second letter to the corinthians second corinthian 318 we all with unveiled faces beholding the glory of the lord are being transformed from one degree to another into the same image meaning the image of christ we behold is the image we are to bear it's not just fancy theological speak it's saying that we are to walk in the deeds that christ walked in not to become uncreated gods that's not what i'm talking about but the lord the god man the perfect man we are going to bear his image so walk after him let me leave you with this good news um this is like a ra ra ra sermon kind of thing i told lexie said yesterday what are we you preaching about today you know tomorrow and i said it's first chrnyns nine it's paul's last paragraph there and it's kind of like a raw raw go get it it's a sermon that's that's supposed to make you like look at a cinderblock wall and want to run through it don't do that but it's supposed to make metaphorically that's the kind of thing that paul is trying to stir up in us stir up love and good works like that say where is your zeal that's what he's trying to do but we need to understand this it's that god knows our frames he knows us all the way

trying to stir up in us stir up love and good works like that say where is your zeal that's what he's trying to do but we need to understand this it's that god knows our frames he knows us all the way all the way down to the bottom all of us all the way down and so he knows that we are half hearted that we are prone to talk bigger than we act he knows that we so often flag and fail and wander off the wrong way for a time and generally make a mess of things with alarming frequency this is why these kinds of passages are in scripture because the lord knows our frames he knows our sins he knows our follies he knows our weaknesses he knows our temptations and so here's the good news the lord loves you nonetheless and he gave you this instruction because he loves you and so if that's you if you say yeah i started strong i've been flagging for a year or two or three or five or ten god is for you that's why he's telling you this he's forgiven your sins you confess them we kneel we confess our sin we say lord forgive us and he does he already has in christ taken all of our sin away from us and what that should do in us is make us receive these kinds of exhortations with all the more zeal because the

should do in us is make us receive these kinds of exhortations with all the more zeal because the lord did not save you in order to leave you in your half-heartedness that's not the good news the good news isn't he forgave you and then whatever happens happens the good news is he forgave you as a part of his salvation which takes you from dead in your trespasses to immortal and sinless glory and that's the path that we are on if you will but take up the cross he will show you the way to resurrection if you will trust him if you will come and present yourself to him as a living sacrifice even you say i don't really know where to start he will use you for glories far beyond what you ought to have been capable of so far beyond that it's frankly absurd and so hear this in conclusion come and welcome to jesus christ amen let's pray father we do confess that we are so often prone to flagging in our zeal with sprints and then stops and then wanderings and all of the rest and so father we thank you for your great patience and mercy towards us as a father with his small children corrects and turns and corrects again in

and mercy towards us as a father with his small children corrects and turns and corrects again in turns and embraces and corrects and turns we thank you that you have this spirit towards us that you are slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love that you did give your son jesus christ to die for our sins and so father we pray that you would urge us onward towards zeal in the lives that you've given us lord with the days that you've given us help us not to waste them we do pray that you would cause the enemy to have to take counsel because of the people of refuge church and that you would yet frustrate them more that you would guard us by your angels and that you would produce in us such fruit and zeal that we would be of great service to ogden city in the state of utah and to our families and to our friends and to the lost and we pray all of this praying as the lord jesus instructed in his word our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name