Praise the Lord for this last Friday
of January. Praise the Lord for the new month. In America the beautiful, in
two days it will be is Super Bowl Sunday. This year, for our friends around the
globe, the Super Bowl is to be held in New York . This is one of the biggest
sports events of the year. We are planning to watch it with our nephews and
nieces this Sunday afternoon. The Winter Olympics will start in a few days.
This evening I am sharing from Mark 1 on our weekly TV outreach on Time Warner
Cable channel 4 at 7 PM. On Saturday we will be having an "Almost Spring"
celebration at Wesley, starting at 5 PM. It will be a great time of food and
fellowship. Sunday is the Day of celebration in worship, witness, and
Fellowship. Plan to be in the Lord's house to worship the King of kings and the
Lord of lords.
Paul frequently illustrated the
Christian life with references to first-century athletic events. He talked
about "fighting the good fight." He referred to himself as one who had a "run
the race" and described himself as close to finishing the course. He lived in
the world of chariot racing, boxing matches, even gladiatorial fights. He knew
what was involved in the Olympic Games. He was familiar with the long-distance
run of the marathon. He never used the image of the race to tell people how to
be saved. Instead, he used the athletic analogy to encourage Christians as to
how to live the Christian life. In order to be a contestant in the Greek games,
one had to be a citizen before he could compete. Citizenship in heaven is
obtained through our faith in Jesus Christ, so we are set on our course, and we
run to win the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. We are not running in order to be saved. We run because we are
already saved.
Paul's analogy is not only that of the
long-distance marathon, but it is also referring to the shorter races within the
arena, in which each runner was to stay in his assigned lane.
Paul was urging the Galatians
to run the race of faith as did those veterans of the faith listed throughout
the Old Testament Scriptures and so beautifully portrayed for us in
Hebrews
11. The words of
Hebrews
12:1-3 give encouragement
and inspiration to us: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud
of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so
easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the
joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from
sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/HcnfT4arZtI
If you can meet with Triumph and
Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same…
If
you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of
distance run –
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in
it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!
-
Rudyard Kipling,
“Every morning in Africa, an
antelope wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion, or it will be
killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster
than the slowest antelope, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re
the lion or an antelope – when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” –
African Proverb
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