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Basic Training: Endurance part 2
Recap endurance part 1: Run Your Race, Hebrews chapter 12
* Run YOUR race with endurance! The one God has set before YOU!
– We are all running at the same time, but we are not running the same race. (Race, metaphor life)
– YOU ARE EITHER DOING YOUR BEST, OR YOU’RE NOT!
– YOU know, and GOD knows if you are really giving it you best, or just giving “100% of the minimum”.
Tonight, Endurance part 2: “Basic Training”
– Have you ever had someone pick a fight with you? You try to talk them out of it but they are determined to fight YOU!
– Life is like that sometimes. You didn’t choose it, but it obviously wants a piece of you.
– If you are in a fight that you can’t get out of, wouldn’t you at least want some fight training?
– That will be a lesson you’ll wish you paid attention to!
– They teach you how to fight at boot camp. That is a good time to pay attention!
– Example: Boxing with Dallas, 225lbs Navy vet, It was all I could do to NOT get knocked out!
– I made sure I kept my “chin down and hands up”! I lost that fight but did not get hurt because I did what I was taught.
– I’m not much of a fighter but I know how to keep my “chin down and hands up” because I have experienced it. (It works spiritually too, “Butcher style”!)
– Sometimes you have to go through a little pain right now, so you can be ready for the “life experiences” that the future holds.
– You will need this discipline and basic training. Embrace the grind!
– When the “fight of your life” comes looking for you, you will be ready!
– “Basic Training” is just the beginning. It is the firm foundation for your success.
– Spiritually, God’s word, God’s discipline, and God’s love are our firm foundation.
– By putting these things into practice in our lives we will grow in our faith, gain in experience, and be ready to handle whatever this world throws at us.
Read Hebrews 12:5-13
- These are encouraging words!
– The author of Hebrews is quoting from Proverbs chapter 3 here:
– Don’t give up when the Lord corrects you. It’s a good thing!
– The Lord disciplines those that he loves! He loves you!
– Example: The coach always yells at you, because he likes you and wants you to succeed. If he didn’t like you, he would just ignore you.
– “Discipline”, this Greek word meaning to instruct, train, or correct. The teaching and molding of a student according to a behavioral standard. It can mean formal training, but often refers to a parent guiding, disciplining, and correcting his child.
– Other scriptures where this Greek word appears in the same context:
– 1 Cor. 11:32, Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
– 2 Tim. 3:16, All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
– Revelation 3:19, I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.
– God’s discipline is clearly for our benefit and spiritual growth.
– Verse 7, “As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children.”
– God cares about you because you are his children. He is invested in your spiritual growth.
– Example: Mom used to say, “I don’t care what everybody else’s kids are doing!”
– Verse 8, “If God doesn’t discipline you… you are illegitimate, and not really his child…”
– God’s discipline brings with it a standard of behavior, and expectation of obedience. If you are not accepting and displaying that standard; Are you really his dear children?
– Example: Dan visiting me in Georgia, Usmc base, Gsgt Burkhart was yelling at him for being out of “regs” because he thought Dan was me! I walked up to them and he immediately stopped, and walked away. (He didn’t even apologize.)
– I was a Marine, and Gunny had every right and authority to correct me on my haircut and clothes. Dan was a civilian, and not his “child”, so he had no interest in correcting him.
– Verse 9, “Since we respect our earthly fathers who discipline us, shouldn’t we submit even more…” to our Spiritual Father?
– Like the USMC, God has a standard, and you must willing choose to submit to it!
- No one likes being disciplined!
– Verse 11, “No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening- it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.”
– The point of discipline is not the “painful” part. It’s the “trained” part.
– My D.I. used to say, “You will either become smart Marines, or strong Marines. You will chose which one.” (Meaning that exercise will be the punishment for failure. The faster you learn, the less punishing exercise you will be required to do.)
– Discipline is there for your correction, to become well trained, grow in your faith, and eventually see the “fruitful harvest” that comes from that.
– You will need more than the basic course to have endurance until the victory.
– During basic training you learn, skills, guidelines, and procedures… but never use them.
– On the job is where the real learning happens. There is no substitute for experience!
– You must take what God has taught you through his word, and through his discipline, and put it into practice in your life. Then you will grow in spiritual maturity.
– Hebrews 5:12-14, You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic thingsabout God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. 13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. 14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.
– Example: Me and CPR, learned as a 16 yr old lifeguard, but didn’t actually use till 28 yrs old.
– 1st CPR, froze in doorway, didn’t know where to start. 2nd CPR, dove in, but didn’t need to.
– 12 CPRs in my 1st year as a FF. I learn more in 1 year of actually doing it, than in 12 years of talking about it.
– Training is the foundation, but using your skills will lead to the peaceful harvest.
– It takes more than just reading from a book, or watching a video on it. It takes real life experience and constant review and training. Why would your spiritual life be any different?
– I have a fire chief who says, “Are you familiar, or are you competent?”
– Familiar, means you have heard of it, and can probably figure it out when the time comes.
– Competent, means you know how it works without question, and can teach someone else.
– We must be more than familiar with God’s word and his discipline, in order to live out the calling He has for our lives. We must become “Competent Christians”.
- It’s time to get YOUR 2nd wind!
– Verse 12, “So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.”
– This is a message to those who are emotionally and spiritually exhausted, to adjust their grip and endure, because their efforts are not in vane!
– Hebrews references the words that the Prophet Isaiah gave the Israelites when they were struggling and ready to give up, that hope and restoration are coming soon!
– Isaiah 35:3-4, With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. 4 Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.”
– They can renew their strength in the promises of God. He is faithful!
– Example: Final “hump” at the end of Boot Camp. “Mount Mother F (puppy)”. Straight up, full gear, the pace slowed, when I looked up platoon was marching away.
– Had to “dig deep” and catch the D.I. who never gets weary. If I pace him I will succeed!
– Isaiah 40:28-31, Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. 29 He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. 30 Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. 31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
– Trust in Jesus and YOU will find new strength, and “run your race” and not grow weary!
– Your strength and endurance will come from faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone!
Conclusion
– Life is a fight that comes looking for YOU. Be ready, by being trained to handle it.
- God disciplines his kids because he loves them. Don’t avoid it, embrace it. You will need it.
- Discipline is painful, but rewarding. It will transform you into what God is calling you to be!
- Adjust your grip, and hold on tight! The “peaceful harvest” is coming!
– Like the “hands”, the work may be hard, but your strength is renewed by staying connected to the body, and Jesus Christ.
– Hebrews 10:36, Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.
-prayer –