Happy Monday!
"WHAT?!", all you people in blog world gasp! "What are you talking about?! Monday is not happy for me!".
Yeah, I feel all of y'all's pain! I really do! :) But Monday is a happy day for me, because Monday starts my 3 day weekend! Everytime I get off work and get home, I am always in a giddy mood! It irritates my wife! LOL! Because she has to go to work on Monday after having the weekend off! :)
Anywho....
How as y'all's Sunday? Church was really good! It was Graduation Sunday at church! I sat in the balcony as always! It was so much fun seeing all the graduates in different colored gowns (red, black, etc...) receiving water bottles with "Run" imprinted on them.
"Run" was the theme of the sermon today preached by Pastor Andrew J. It was a really good sermon! He preached running the race for Christ with endurance. I like to go over some points from the sermon!
So how does one run with preseverance?
First, you have throw off weight! You have to throw off anything that henders! The people that we hang out with can be a hinderance to our race! Also, we may be holding on to some sin that we think we are okay in carrying. You might be able to hold on to that sin for a little while and still run the race okay, but you won't be able to run the race as well as if you would just let go of that sin! Sin can entangle us in our race for God!
Read 1 Timothy 6:11 (NLT) and Hebrews 12:4 (NIV) for reference.
Second, you can presevere through difficulty. Difficulties (trials) can produce perseverance in the person's walk with Christ. That is the ultimate goal for trials is that you produce fruit that eventually produces preseverance.
Take a lesson from 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. If you win a race, you must do strict training. How does a runner train? He trains everyday. Sometimes he even runs with a back pack with 10lbs worth of weight in it. After the training, when the race begins, the racer takes off the weights (that would hinder him) and runs the race.
Third, to run the race with perseverance, you have to fix your eyes on Jesus, Jesus is the captain of the race. Jesus ran the race better than anyone else, since He ran the race without sin.
One final point. If you have joy in your heart, it will be easier to win the race. You can't win the race without joy. There is a difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is a temporary feeling. It can change on a dime. There are some situations in life that will make you sad, really sad. But during those times, you have to depend on joy---the joy that God provides. Joy comes from deep within your soul. You can have joy during hard times because you know that you are saved by Jesus and one day you will get to Heaven.
Oh come on, to the people who hate Mondays! lol Mondays usually are the start of a new school or work week! Yay! lol! Our pastor at our old church preached a similar sermon, it was really good! It was about running, staying in your own lane, and not looking in the rear view mirror. Nice encouraging message you had at the end!
ReplyDelete-Zach
Your church is automatically cool for having a balcony! haha I actually opened up my Bible and looked up all the verses you put up! :D I remember hearing something like that before, it's a really good lesson especially for people going out into the real world. I noticed that you mentioned NIV and NLT, are the versions way different from each other? Or is it just the way that they word it?
ReplyDeleteI honestly didn't know the difference between joy and just plain happiness. What you said was really helpful and does make a lot of sense! I'm often happy, well, I think I am by nature, but sometimes it just comes and goes and I thought I was bipolar at first lol but it all depends on what happens in life. Whenever I'm sad about something, I feel it real deep and it starts to show in what I do. I like how you always give me something to think about! haha.