100 Year Dash: Week 4 Notes

BUILT FOR THE COURSE

• Do you know what the most important part of marathon running is?
• It isn't the race itself. It's the training that happens before the race.
• The actual race is, in many ways, the victory lap. It's where the preparation is put to the test.
• Transition: Rope and The Blue Dash

The length of our dash is limited, but the way we live it has eternal significance.

• And here's what I want us to understand today: God hasn't just given us a dash to fill with days. He's given us a course to run with purpose.
• Every one of us is running a race. Our courses may look different. The distance may be different. The terrain may be different. But we're all responsible for how we run the course God has set before us.
• And if we're going to run that course well, we can't just show up at the starting line and hope we're ready for whatever comes our way.
• How we run the race is directly connected to how we've prepared for it.

1. TRAIN

• 1 Timothy 4:7–8 (ESV)
• 7: "But have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;"
• 8: "for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."

KEY STATEMENT: "Training doesn't eliminate the hills. It prepares you to face them."
The strength you need to run the race is developed through the discipline you practice before the difficulty arrives.

• Spiritual disciplines aren't just religious routines.
• They prepare us to navigate life's challenges.
• Example: David's Preparation
  • David's life demonstrates how God can use one season to prepare us for the next.
• The lion and the bear
• Goliath
• Saul
• Long Obedience in the same Direction-TRAINING IS A LONG GAME

• 1 Corinthians 9:24–27 (ESV)
  • 24: "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."
  • Verse 25: "Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable."
  • Verse 26: "So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air."
  • Verse 27: "But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."
• The Prize here is a Race run well- thats who wins
• The point isn’t to just finish, but to finish well- and that only happens with TRAINING

2. TRUST GOD THROUGH THE TERRAIN
Illustration: 10K Course

• I had an idea of what the course would be like.
• I started the race and felt pretty good.-There were a lot of small hills. No big deal.
• But then I got to a steep, long hill and started climbing.
• run uphill, you know everything changes.-breathing - legs start burning.
  • If you're not intentional, your pace slows down
• I was almost to the peak of the hill, and all I could see was another big hill.
• From where I was, I couldn't see everything between me and that next climb.
• All I could think was: "I've got to do THAT again?"

Spiritual Application: We Can't See the Whole Course

• And isn't that how life feels sometimes?
• We can see what's hard- the pressure- the thing we're worried about.
• We can see the next hill and think:
  • "Jesus, I don't know if I can do that."
• But we can't see the whole course.
  • We don't know what's around the next turn- next place to catch our breath
• "Have you ever looked at something ahead of you and thought
  • 'There is no way I can do that'?"
• There was a  Recovery I Couldn't See
  • But once I got to the very top, I could see that the course had a short —a downhill stretch, before the next hill
  • And that descent was exactly what I needed.
  • My breathing settled down-hamstrings got a break.
  • I could regroup. I could recover.
• And by the time I reached the next hill, I was more prepared for the climb.
• Here's what I've been thinking about ever since:
  •  "I couldn't see that downhill stretch from where I was climbing. But it was there the entire time."
  • I couldn't see the place where I would recover, but that didn't mean it didn't exist.
  • And sometimes we're looking at a challenge in our lives, wondering how we're ever going to make it through.
• KEY STATEMENT: "Our limited view of the course doesn't limit God's ability to lead us through it."
• Psalm 23 begins with five words that give us HOPE on this course:
• Psalm 23:1-"The LORD is my shepherd."
  The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.
  He leads me in paths of righteousness[b] for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,[c]  I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff,they comfort me.
• David doesn't say, "I know where I'm going."
  • He says:"I know who I'm following. AND I TRUST HIM."
• Notice something: The same Shepherd who leads us into places of restoration is the Shepherd who walks with us through places of difficulty.

• The hill- or hard seasons or challenges in life- isn't just an obstacle between you and where you're going.-The hill is part of the training.
• When you're running uphill:
• Your body has to work harder.- heart rate increases-Your muscles work differently.
• while you're struggling: YOU'RE GETTING STRONGER.
• Some things can only be developed through resistance.
• You can read -study endurance-listen to someone teach about endurance.
• But eventually, endurance has to be practiced.
  • James 1:2–4 (CSB)
    • Verse 2: "Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials,"
    • Verse 3: "because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance."
    • Verse 4: "And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing."

Spiritual Application

• Don't assume that every difficult season means something has gone wrong.
• Sometimes God is doing a work in you that could not have been accomplished through comfort alone.
• Hills and hard things aren't necessarily meaningless resistance.
• God can use even the difficult terrain to develop endurance.
• We usually pray: "God, get me off this hill."
• But sometimes God is saying: "I'm going to use this hill to build something in you."

KEY DECLARATION-DON'T WASTE THE HILL. CHARGE THE HILL!
3. LEAVE IT ALL ON THE COURSE

• We aren't called to run someone else's race or even to be the fastest.
• We're called to run faithfully, giving ourselves fully to what God has entrusted to us.

A. RUN THE RACE MARKED OUT FOR YOU

• Hebrews 12:1–2 (CSB) "Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
• Application: Stop Comparing Your Course
  • Some of us are so busy watching how someone else is running that we're neglecting the course God has given us.
• Our progress
• Our calling
• Our opportunities
• Even our difficulties
• But you can't run your course faithfully while constantly looking over your shoulder at someone else's.

KEY STATEMENT: "God won't measure your faithfulness by someone else's assignment."B.

LAY ASIDE WHAT SLOWS YOU DOWN

• Hebrews 12 tells us to lay aside both:
  • The things that hinder us.
  • The sin that so easily entangles us
• Some things are clearly sinful.
• other things may not be sinful BUT consu our time, attention, - keeping us from what God has called us to do.
• Questions for Reflection
• "What are you carrying into this race that God never intended for you to carry?"
• KEY STATEMENT: "You can't run well while holding tightly to everything that weighs you down."

C. DON'T POSTPONE OBEDIENCE UNTIL ANOTHER MILE

• We don't know how much of our dash remains.
• And sometimes we live as though we have an unlimited number of miles ahead of us.
• We say:
  • We'll serve God more faithfully when life slows down.
  • We'll pursue what He's called us to do when the timing is better.
  • We'll forgive when we're ready.
  • We'll share our faith when we're more comfortable.
• But what if the most important mile of your race is the one you're running right now?
• Today’s opportunity
• We have a tendency to think that the most significant moments of our lives are still somewhere ahead of us.
  • That we'll have another opportunity
  • That there will be another seasonp or Another mile.
• But every mile we run is part of our dash. And every day we have an opportunity to live with purpose, to walk in obedience, and to make an eternal difference.
• Dont we  want to finish knowing we were  faithful with what God entrusted to us along the way.
• And that's what makes the words of the Apostle Paul so powerful.
• Paul knew what it was to face difficult terrain. He experienced opposition, persecution, hardship, and seasons when continuing to follow Christ came at a tremendous cost.
  • But when he looked back over his life, he wasn't measuring his success by how easy the course had been or how quickly he had run it.
  • He was measuring it by his faithfulness to Christ.

KEY STATEMENT: "Don't reach the end of your dash with a lifetime of intentions and a shortage of obedience."
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:7 (CSB) "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

CONCLUSION: HOW WILL YOU RUN YOUR DASH?

• One day, every one of us will reach the end of our course.
• Our blue dash will be complete.
• We won't get to go back and run another mile.
• We won't get to revisit the opportunities we passed or reclaim the moments we wasted.

BUT TODAY...

• You still have an opportunity to train.
• You still have an opportunity to trust God through whatever terrain you're facing.
• You still have an opportunity to surrender what you've been holding back.
• But I know how I want to run what's left of it.
• I want to be able to say what Paul said:
  • "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith."
    • Not because I ran perfectly.
    • Not because I never stumbled.
    • Not because the course was easy.
    • But because I kept my eyes on Jesus.
      • I kept trusting Him.
      • I kept following Him.

FINAL CHALLENGE-"You don't choose the length of your dash. But you do choose how you run it."
So-

• TRAIN 
• TRUST GOD THROUGH THE TERRAIN.
• LEAVE IT ALL ON THE COURSE.

Run with endurance the race set before us, looking unto Jesus.