It's the Climb

All right, good morning. It's good to see you guys. I'm really glad you're here. I want to welcome you all. Welcome to everybody watching online. I want to invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Lord God, we just thank you for the day. We just thank you for another opportunity to be in your house, Lord God, to sing praises to your holy name, Lord, and to spend some time in your word, Lord. And we just ask that you bless this time, Lord, and just prepare our hearts this morning, Lord, to receive from you. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name.

Amen. You guys can go and have a seat if you like. I just want to take a moment to just offer you just a simple praise, Lord, a simple thank you for just how good you are to us, how good you are to me, Lord. Despite all my sin, my disobedience, Lord Jesus, you are still good and you are still faithful. I just want to give you praise and just say thank you, Lord, for that while I was still

in my sin. Lord, you never fail in my days. I've been held in your hand. Wake up until I lay my hands on God.

Your goodness, oh God, I will sing of your goodness, oh God. And all my life and so, so goodness, oh God, I will sing your goodness, oh God. Can you guys go ahead and stand with me for the last one?

Blessed assurance, Jesus is. He's been my fourth man in the fire, time after time. What he did for me. How faithful you are to us, Lord Jesus. In spite of all of our sin and disobedience, Lord God, you are still faithful. I promise you will never fail to keep it. You are so good to us, and we just can't help it. Praise you, Lord. We have so many reasons to praise you this morning. So Lord, as Pastor Ryan comes,

I just pray that you would overflow him with your Holy Spirit, Lord. Give him the words to speak, and give us ears to hear and hearts to receive it. But more than that, Lord, give us hearts to do your word, to act upon it. Jesus, we love you, and we praise you in your precious and holy name. All God's people said, amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

Good morning. You could begin to locate your seats. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that all of you have joined us this morning. A handful of things I would like for you to take note of in your bulletin. As always, over on the left-hand side, places to get plugged into so that you can fellowship and continue to grow in your walk. In the middle section, just a reminder that we have a baptism and family picnic coming up

August the 3rd. So if you have never been baptized before and you are interested in doing so, I don't believe baptism is necessary for salvation. I do believe it's a necessary step of obedience for those who are saved. So if you've never been baptized before, I'd like for you to come talk to me afterwards. If you can't come find me, there's a sign-up sheet out in the lobby. Just

put your name on that and your phone number, and I'll get a hold of you, and we can kind of visit a little bit about what baptism is, and we'll talk over that. But also, for that picnic, we will have a little cover dish together from 5.30 to 7 at the picnic shelter right across the street from the pool. And then at 7 o'clock is when the baptism will begin, and we can swim after that. So the thing that's not in your bulletin is that there's no men's breakfast again this month. We're going

to take one more month off. We'll come back together for men's breakfast in August. But then I also want to point out the memory verse to you. I've jumped back on the wagon here, and it's Acts 20, 24. I only say the reference. I know you can read. I say the reference because the online people are like, hey, can you say the reference? So, because they don't have a bulletin in front of

them. So take note of that. I will test you all on that next week, and we'll see how you do. So, and then if you want to follow along with us in our daily reading, that's on the back flap there as well. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 103.

Psalm 103. We'll be looking at the New American Standard for this part. Then you can go back to reading if you brought a different translation. That's fine. If you need a copy of the New American Standard, there should be one in a row around you. If there's not, it's time to make friends. Quietly, but make friends. And as you are turning to Psalm 103, if you are able, please stand

in the honor of the reading of God's Word. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 103, a psalm of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Forget none of his benefits. Who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases. Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion.

Who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. The Lord performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the sons of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his loving kindness towards those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far he has removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. As for man, his days are like grass, as the flower of the field, so he flourishes.

When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer. But the loving kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children. To those who keep his covenant and remember his precepts to do them. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his sovereignty rules over all.

Bless the Lord, you his angels, mighty in strength, who perform his word, obeying the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all you his hosts, you who serve him, doing his will. Bless the Lord, all your works of his, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And Father, we come to you now, and Lord, I just praise you so much that you have given us your word like this song, Lord, that just turns our hearts and our minds back to you.

And so Father, as we spend time in your word this morning, I just ask that you would minister to our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit. That you would take the truth of your word and the message that you've given me, and Lord, may you, by the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord, move in the hearts of each person that's not only here, but watching online, Lord. We just thank you and praise you, in Jesus' name. Amen.

You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Acts, chapter 20. Acts, chapter 20. Well, this is my first Sunday back. I'm going to stay back from being gone for a couple of weeks, and so that gives me permission to go off-script, okay? So I'm going to go off-script just a little bit this morning. We'll get back to 1 Timothy next week.

But we spent a great week in Colorado and just had a great time as a family out there. But one of the things that we did is that my daughter and I climbed a mountain while we were out there. And I'm just here to tell you right now, the entire time that we were climbing that mountain, the words to a great song were going through my head. You don't know what those words were?

There's always going to be another mountain. I'm always going to want to make it move. There's always going to be another battle. And sometimes I'm going to have to lose. It's not about how fast I get there. It's not about what's waiting on the other side. It's the climb. And as those words to the Miley Cyrus song went through my head, it's not a party in the USA,

but it did come in just like a wrecking ball, okay? So I named the message this morning, it's the climb. Because these are kind of some lessons that God taught me. along the way that kind of have to do with life. It's kind of fascinating. You get out into nature and that becomes just a real open field, if you will, for lack of better terms, for a sermon writer.

But you throw a little bit of adversity in there, like climbing a mountain. And that's just fertile soil for those of us that like to write sermons. And so truthfully, the main points of this sermon all came to me that night after I climbed the mountain while I was staring at the ceiling because I couldn't go to sleep, partly because my body hurt. And so God gave me the points of this sermon.

But as we get into it, before I left for my trip, I was in my office and I thought, man, Colorado feels like the right place to read a book. I'm going to grab a book to read on my way out. I wonder what I should grab. And so I'm looking through my office, through my stack of ones that I haven't read yet. And I saw this one. It's by a guy named Don McClure. It's called None of These Things Move Me.

And I had just read a book by his wife called The Trunk. And I thought, hey, this will be fascinating to read his perspective on something. And I read some things as well. So I picked up this book by Don McClure called None of These Things Move Me. Now, as a sidebar, I found this kind of interesting. His wife's book had about 200 pages. His book had 50 pages.

I don't know if that's a commentary on men and women, but it feels like a commentary on men and women to me. He could say it in a lot fewer words. Anyway, I just need to hear it in there. So I grabbed this book. And so we get there. And I don't ever sleep very well on vacation. That's one of the blessings of being in my 40s, I guess. And so I always wake up really, really early when I'm on vacation.

And so right behind our cabin was this campfire area with some benches set up. And it actually overlooked this mountain right here. This is Horn Peak. And it overlooked that mountain. And so I'd go there, and I'd sit, and I'd read. And after I got done reading my Bible, I'm like, let's just pull that book out. So I start reading. And the fascinating thing was I just plowed through this thing because it was just a great little read.

It's all based upon his life verse, which is Acts 20, 24. So I'm going to read that to you now. It says, That verse was written by Paul while he was on his way to Jerusalem. And on his way to Jerusalem, he knew that he was going to face imprisonment. He knew he was going to face trials. He knew that he was going to face shipwrecks, death threats. And all of the other things that were going on.

And he had been warned about this in every city that he'd gone to. As a matter of fact, right before this verse, someone had given a prophecy over his life and said, You're going to face adversity like you've never seen before. And so as he realized that, as he had been warned, he said, But it's okay. I don't consider my life as dear to myself so that I can finish my course in the ministry that I've received from the Lord.

I put that into a condensed version for myself. He said, I don't care about my comfort. I care about finishing my race. And that was his goal. And Don McClure said, this was my life verse. He said, this verse took me from being a nominal Christian to being a serious Christian. He said, but what really happened is that when my life started to be tested, I started questioning whether this verse really meant what it said.

As he chronicled things like the loss of a child, as he chronicled things like the loss of his vision, as he went through the difficulties that he went through in his life, and he said, I had to learn in my life that what God had taught me in the light, I still had to believe in the shadow. And I thought that was a fantastic line because that's the way our lives are, right? Like we can have a life verse like this and say it doesn't matter what my comfort level is. What matters is that I finish my race.

But when our comfort level is taken away and now all we can do is finish our race, we have to decide are these things going to move me? And so after a couple of mornings of reading this, I finished the book. Again, it sounds like I was a fantastically fast reader. But again, it's only a handful of pages. So I was able to plow through it fairly quickly. But it really ministered to me and my soul.

So at the end of the day Tuesday, or sometime during the day Tuesday, we all decided to go down into Westcliff to our favorite little coffee shop down there, Peregrine Coffee. And we're all sitting around talking. We're talking about the fact that we're going to climb this mountain. Now, Violet and I failed to climb this mountain four years ago. There was a very good reason why.

There was a storm rolling in, and that's the main reason why. The other reason is because we didn't want to keep climbing the mountain because it wasn't very much fun to do. But we used that storm as a really good reason to not finish climbing the mountain. We made it to treeline and came back. Well, this year we were determined. We're going to climb this mountain.

We're going to own this thing, right? And so we're all sitting around talking to some folks that think that they want to climb the mountain. And we're like, let's head to the hiking store to make sure we've got what we need. So we go to the hiking store, and there's this guy that works there. And he is everything that you can imagine working in a Colorado hiking store.

He's probably like 55 years old, like stringy blonde. It looked like Tom Petty was running this store, okay? That's all I can say, right? I was just looking for the rest of the heartbreakers. Because that's who's running this store. And he was like, y'all going to climb the mountain tomorrow? And we're like, yeah, we're thinking about it. He's like, it's a tough one.

I've climbed some 14ers before, and while that's not a 14er, probably the toughest one I've ever climbed. And we were like, yeah, we're excited. Let's do it. So we get what we need at the hiking store, and armed with a great deal of motivation and a little bit of fear, we decide we're going to climb this mountain. So we wake up at 5.30 in the morning, and we are able to take the mountain.

It was great. Well, the whole way that I was going up the mountain, it's like God was just ministering to me along the way. And, you know, just with things going on in life and then having read that book and just learning to deal with difficulty in life, it's like God's Spirit was just being poured out on me the whole time I was climbing that mountain. And I will never choose to climb that particular mountain again, but God taught me a lot on it.

And so what I'm about to give you are the six lessons that God taught me while I was climbing this mountain. So, number one. If you're going to climb the mountain, it requires commitment. It requires commitment. Everyone's excited in the beginning of a mountain climb. You just need to know that. I don't care if you've climbed a bunch of them. You know how hard it is.

You're still kind of excited in the beginning. There's an anticipation. There's an excitement. And it starts off on this trail. We start off at 5.30 in the morning. That's when we arrived at the trailhead. So we arrived at the trailhead at 5.30. Everybody's kind of geeked up. Matter of fact, there's this other counselor that joins us. There's a group of about six of us, and she's only going as far as the Dry Lakes, which is about a half mile in.

And so we have jovial conversation with her. We're laughing. We're talking. I'm even thinking of that song from the Salty play, which none of you have ever heard of. We're going camping now. We're on our way. We're going to climb up a mountain and run and hip hurray. That's what was going through my head in the beginning of this. Miley Cyrus eventually took over.

But in the beginning, it was Salty the songbook. And so everything's exciting, and everything's fun. And we get right to the edge of where we're about to really start climbing. And he goes, okay, everybody should eat a little snack. There's this one young man that's with us that's climbed the mountain for the ultimate goal. This is the 11th time when he was with us, and he's only 21 years old.

Not an overly bright kid, but incredibly good at climbing mountains. And so we get ready to climb this. We get ready for the part of the climb, and everybody's excited until you hit the middle of the first set of stairs. They call them stairs, and I'm not really sure why because there's nothing about stairs other than the fact that you're going straight up.

What it is is a bunch of rocks that have decided they no longer want to be on top of a mountain. And they have all flowed down this path, and they have formed some form of what they call stairs. But they're not stairs at all. They're just moving rocks that if you step wrong, you will fall. You know how I know that? You don't want to know. Anyway, so you hit the middle of the first set of stairs, and nobody's laughing anymore.

Nobody's jovial anymore. It's just a climb. And you have a decision you have to make at that point in time. Are you going to keep climbing the mountain, or are you going to give up? Because it just got hard. And you have to make that decision. Did your commitment that you made yesterday in the light hold strong when you were in the midst of the shadow? Because it required commitment.

Well, you know what? Our walks with Jesus Christ are no different. I want you to go with me to a place in Scripture. And we're going to do this a bunch today. So hang with me. All right? Get those fingers nimble. Stretch them out. We've got places to go. Go to the book of Romans, chapter 12. Romans, chapter 12. Nothing makes a pastor happier than to hear the sound of pages.

There it is. That's what I like to hear. Romans, chapter 12. I want you to look at verses 1 and 2. As we come to Romans 12, Paul has laid out all of the doctrine of sin. He's laid out all of the doctrine of salvation. He's laid out the doctrine of sanctification. And he's laid out the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. And now it's time to get past the doctrine into the nitty-gritty of life.

And so this is what he tells the Roman believers that they need to know. He says,

There's one word in there I'd really like for you to pay attention to. It's the word present. He says, So I want to point that out to you for two reasons. Number one, this has a very Old Testament connotation to it because it's a transliteration of the Hebrew word that was used for the priest presenting the sacrifice. In particular, the whole burnt offering.

What they would do is they would take this animal and they would consecrate the entire animal to the Lord. It was actually called an offering of consecration or a whole burnt offering. And it was a picture of a life completely dedicated to the Lord. Lord, I'm recommitting my life to you. And that's what Paul tells these Roman believers that they need to do is that they need to,

like a whole burnt offering, present their lives to God, holy and acceptable, which is their spiritual service of worship. Let me put it to you another way. What he says is, I must teach you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you would commit yourselves to the Lord. That word present in the Greek actually means a once for all presentation. In other words, a once for all commitment to Jesus Christ.

Sometimes we paint salvation as just getting a better life, right? Come to Jesus, ask him into your heart, and you'll have a better life. I'm here to tell you right now that is not what the gospel is. The gospel is coming to Jesus to have your life saved, but it is now a commitment to a Savior that you will live out for the rest of your life. Those of you that have just started walking with the Lord, you're probably very excited

in the beginning of your walk. You're excited because you've been set free from sin for the first time. You know, maybe joy and peace for the first time. You've experienced the love of God that is unconditional for the very first time, and you're very excited. But for those of us that have walked with Jesus Christ for a long time, we know that there comes a point in time when you're no longer on the rainbow trail

that takes you at the base of the mountain. It's now time to hit the stairs. And when you hit the stairs, you start to climb. And you're going, this is not what I had in mind. This isn't what I had in mind for walking with Jesus. I thought walking with Jesus was world peace. I thought walking with Jesus meant that I was going to have everything I wanted to.

I didn't know that the struggle part was going to be part of it. I want to tell you the struggle part is part of it. It's a part of it that's worth it, but it's a part of it. And when that happens, you have to realize that your commitment is the one thing that carries you. Your commitment to Jesus Christ is the thing that keeps you pushing forward even when the walk gets tough, even when the life is difficult,

because that commitment is the thing that we must have. Make to the Lord to say, no matter what happens, I'm going to keep pursuing you. Even when you hit the stairs, even when it's hard, even when your muscles are burning, we keep pursuing Jesus Christ. That's what we had to do throughout that entire time is we had to say, nope, I already told him I'm going to make it to the top of the mountain.

I already said this is what I'm going to do. I can't turn back now because I'm going to keep going, realizing that at the top of the mountain is where the victory is. And it requires that commitment to the Lord. A once-for-all presentation. How's your commitment right now? Is it starting to wane? Is it starting to falter? Because that happens. Sometimes it gets difficult and you go, maybe this wasn't worth it.

Sometimes you face some temptation and you go, well, maybe this isn't what I wanted to do with my life. In that moment, you have to remember you've been set free. Maintain the commitment. So number one, it requires commitment. Number two, stay hydrated. Stay hydrated. The camp that we were at, it sits just above Westcliff. It sits just a little over 9,000 feet.

So the air is pretty thin up there. Not as thin as at the top of the mountain, but it's pretty thin. So one of the things that they tell you in your little introductory meeting is they say, hey, listen, there's not very much air up here. There's less atmosphere. You have to drink a lot of water. As a matter of fact, you cannot drink enough water. It's impossible to drink enough water up here

because it's drier than where you're from and there's less altitude than where you're from. And so you're going to have issues. And if you don't drink enough water, there's going to create problems for you. And they say, and if you're going to climb the mountain, you need to take as much water as you physically can carry with you because you're going to need a lot of water.

You know why? Because if you don't drink enough water, you get this thing called altitude sickness. Two main issues come about with altitude sickness. You get a really terrible headache and you start throwing up. I've watched it happen. And it's because they don't drink enough water. Well, as we think about this, as I was thinking about this, I thought, man,

staying hydrated is clearly one of the most important things that you can do. What does that mean for us? And so as I was thinking about it, I thought, well, you know, there's two things that are referred to when it comes to water in Scripture. The first is the Word of God. In the book of Ephesians, we're told that we are to be washed with the water of the Word.

But that water is for cleansing. So I don't think when we stay hydrated, we're necessarily talking about the Word of God, although I think that's incredibly important because I feel like I've painted that picture about as well as I possibly can in this congregation. But there's a second thing that water is. It's symbolized as in Scripture, and that's the Holy Spirit.

As a matter of fact, go over to the Gospel of John, chapter 7. John, chapter 7. While you're turning there, keep turning. I'm going to give you a little background on John, chapter 7. John, chapter 7, Jesus has gone to Jerusalem to celebrate what's called the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, at the Feast of Tabernacles, what they did is they celebrated the fact that God had carried the children of Israel all the way through the wilderness

back in the book of Exodus through Numbers. And so they celebrate this time, and one of the things that they do is they celebrate the fact that God had always provided water for them in the middle of a wilderness, in the middle of a desert. He provided it through a rock, sometimes He provided it through other miraculous means, but He always provided water for them. So on the last day of the Feast, they would literally come with buckets and buckets and buckets of water, and they would take that water and they would pour it on the temple stairs, and it would flow down the temple stairs.

This was on the last day of the Feast. With that in mind, I want you to notice what it says. Starting in verse 37 of John chapter 7, it says, Now, on the last day, the great day of the Feast, Jesus stood, and He cried out, saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.

But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive. For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. So what does water also refer to? It also refers to the Holy Spirit. While the water of the Word is for cleansing, the water of the Spirit is for living. And if you want to live the fullest life, if you want to live in the fullness of what God has for you,

if you want to not get the altitude sickness that comes about with all of the things that we deal with in life, if you want to maintain a clear head, then you need a constant filling of water. Sometimes there's not enough of an emphasis on the Holy Spirit. Sometimes there's too much of an emphasis on the Holy Spirit. But I think we need to have the Goldilocks of the Holy Spirit where it's just right, right?

Where we need that constant filling of the Holy Spirit. You know why sometimes you feel dry in your life? Because you need a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. You know why sometimes you lack power over temptation in your life? Because you need a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. You know why sometimes you don't understand what God's Word has to say in your life?

Because you need a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. of the Holy Spirit. You know why Jesus sometimes isn't as clear to you as you would like for him to be in your life? Because you need a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. You know why? Because we are promised that the Holy Spirit is the power for our life. We're promised that the Holy Spirit is the victory of our life.

We're promised that the Holy Spirit is the teacher and the revealer of Jesus Christ. Therefore, you need a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit constantly. And just like the guy told us at the camp, you can't get enough water, you can't get enough of the Holy Spirit. What I would say is that you need to spend your life saying, Father, pour more into me. And you know what happens when you start asking God

to pour out more of his Holy Spirit on you? The first thing that he'll do is he'll reveal to you what's cutting off the flow. Why is the Holy Spirit not being poured into your life? Well, there's either a lid of sin or something is quenching it. Something is keeping that from happening. He'll reveal those things to you. And as you begin to confess what's cutting off the flow,

he will begin to pour rivers of living water into you as you come to Jesus. And as you come to him, he will be pouring that into your life and you need more and more and more and more of it. Because he's the only source we have for life. He's the only source we have for joy. He's the only source we have for peace. And we need that in our lives. I've been reading a book again here recently

called Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. Read it back in college. Read it some, every few years I read it. And in the preface, he talks about the fact that too many of us are content with Bible studies, that have no spirit. We've turned God into a learning process and not into a spiritual process. Because as important as I think this is, this won't mean anything without the power

of the Holy Spirit in your life. Apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit, these are just words on a page. But one of the things A.W. Tozer says in his book, he says, but there are some who like Moses find themselves wandering off to a lonely place crying, Father, show me your glory. And God is always obliged to answer that prayer. Brothers and sisters, if you want to climb,

if you want to climb the mountain of life, stay hydrated. Number three, you need to go your pace. You need to go your pace. There was about six of us on this climb that were in our group. And we were all at different ages and different stages of life. I say that, I was the oldest guy there, okay? The rest of them were all under the age of 22. At some point in time, I was like,

dude, it's just me and a bunch of kids. Why is it always just me and a bunch of kids, right? I mean, I like that, don't get me wrong, but it's like, this is my life. It's just me and a bunch of kids. Three of those kids I held when they were babies, if that tells you anything. One of those three I raised, right? And so I'm like, dude, I'm the old guy in this group.

But we were all at different ages and we were all at different stages. There was one young man who's about 15 years old and he's a basketball player in incredible shape, very athletic, long kid, and he could keep up with the kid that climbed it 11 times. That guy's 21 and a little bit crazy, right? And he could keep up with him. That was their pace. And then there was a couple kind of in the middle

who just kind of did the best that they could. She'd never climbed a mountain before. He had climbed the mountain before, early 20s. And so they kind of maintained a moderate pace. And then Violet and I were always kind of towards the back because I'm old and she just overcame a knee injury within the last year. And so she was a little bit nervous because of the climb

and took the rocks and stuff like that a little bit slower. I think she probably could have outpaced me if she'd wanted to, but she kind of kept it a little bit slower. I think she was a little bit slower because of it. We all walked a different pace and we all hiked a different pace. And you know what you learn? That's okay. If I would have tried to keep up

with the 21-year-old kid at the front, I would have gassed out before I ever got to the tree line because I could not maintain his pace because I'm just a lot older than him. Maybe at his age I could have, but not now. I'm at a different stage in my life now. I'm at a different age now, and that's okay. And one of the things that you learn is my job is not to keep up with him.

My job is to hike my pace. I need to know my body and I need to know what my pace is. Well, the Bible says the same thing about us. As a matter of fact, go over to Hebrews 12, verse one. Hebrews 12, and I want you to look at verse one. And this is what the writer to the book of Hebrews has to say. By the way, chapter 11 is the hall of faith. It tells the stories of all the great men and women of old

who had walked their lives by faith in Jesus Christ. And with that as a backdrop, the writer to the Hebrews says this. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author, and the perfecter of our faith. The phrase I would like to point out to you there that I would like to zero in on is where it says the race that is set before us.

Because there's an indication there, according to the way that that's written, there's an indication that it speaks of a specific race for each individual. That you have a race that is just for you. And you have a pace that is just for you. It's something that only you can do. And it's something that is specifically set out by God for you. The problem that we have in the world,

and the problem that we have in the church, is that we think somebody else's race needs to be ours. And we start comparing ourselves to other people. And we say, look what they do. I wish I could do what they do. And because of that, we're never content. We're not content with what God has for us. Instead, we only want what God had for them. The problem is, A, you don't want to go through

what it took them to get where they are right now. B, you have a different race than they do. And that's okay. I believe it was Theodore Roosevelt that said, comparison is the thief of joy. But that's what we do. We compare ourselves to each other. We think, well, I wish I had their race. And I wish I had their race. And meantime, we don't pay attention to our own race.

It reminds me of the end of the book of John. Or yeah, the end of the Gospel of John, when Jesus is talking to Peter. And after he restores Peter, he tells them that, listen, when you were younger, you went wherever you wanted to. But when you're older, you will be stretched out in a way that you don't want to be. And he knew that that spoke of the death by which he was going to die.

And Peter looks at John and he goes, Jesus, but what about him? And Jesus says, don't worry about John. If I want him to live forever, what's that to you? You follow me. And that's the way we are sometimes. It's sometimes we're like Peter looking at John going, but what about him? But what about his race? I'd rather have his race. That looks more fun. That looks more exciting.

He's doing more cool things. He doesn't have all the difficulties that I have. And Jesus says, no, no. Don't worry about him. You just follow me. You run the race that I have laid out for you. You follow the pace that's set out for you. And just be content with it. Because listen, the only thing that you have control over is how you respond to God's work in your own life.

Stop comparing yourself to everyone else. Stop comparing yourself to other people and start being who God has called you to be. Because we don't need a bunch of them. We need one of you. And I don't know who that's for in here today. I felt the same way during first service. And I thought I'm not going to say that again because I want to make sure it's genuine from the Holy Spirit.

Well, it's genuine from the Holy Spirit because he just said to say it again. I don't know who needs to hear this this morning, but you need to stop comparing yourself to other people. You need to stop it right now because it is ruining your life and it's killing your joy. You be who you are. You be who God has called for you to be. Because if you can do that,

if you can obey God in those, you will have done everything God has in mind for you. Amen? So number one, it requires commitment. Number two, you have to stay hydrated. Number three, you have to go your pace. Number four, you need buddies. You need buddies. So as we were on our way up the mountain, Violet and I sort of mutually encouraged each other. When we first started on those stairs, like I said,

Violet was a little bit nervous because of past knee injury as well as ankle injuries that she still kind of deals with. And so on those stairs with those really loose rocks, she found that the thing that was the most helpful for her, she grabbed onto the straps of my backpack, like right down here where they connect, because that stabilized her. And it didn't really harm me too much, but it made her feel better to hold onto those straps. And so in that way, I was there for her to be her stabilizing force.

And as we walked up the mountain, and so in that way, I was her buddy on the way up the mountain. Well, every new little spot that we reached, I would look at her and I would say, do you want to keep going? We got to the top of all the stairs and we hit where all the switchbacks were. And I said, you want to keep going? And she kept saying the same thing. I didn't get up at five o'clock to quit now.

I didn't get up this early to quit now. And then we got to the top of the tree line, which by the way, this is, I don't know if I said this or not, that is the mountain we climbed. We got to the top of that tree line. And when you get to the top of the tree line, there's no more trail. You just have to walk straight up on grass and rocks. And then you get to the top of that false peak

and it's just rocks, all the rest of the whole way up. And so each of those new places we'd get to, I'd say, you want to keep going? And deep down on the inside, I was like, please say no, please say no, please say no. Every time she'd be like, I didn't get up this early to quit now. I'm like, fine. So she was going to be my excuse. But ultimately, I'm so glad she did.

But in that way, we mutually encouraged each other. I was her stabilizing force. She was my motivation that wouldn't let me quit. And in the process of all that, other people had gone before us because there was an entire group of people that started at 3.30 in the morning so that they could get up and back in time for lunch and all that, because it's a 12-mile hike all the way around.

It's a pretty long hike. And so they'd started early so that they could get back in time for lunch. And this one young lady whose name also was Violet, very athletic young lady. She's from what I affectionately refer to as the athletic family in the camp. And they don't know that I call them that. I feel pretty confident they're not watching online. But if so, I mean that in the best way possible.

So she's coming down the mountain and Violet looks at us and she goes, you guys are doing so great. We're just above tree line, about halfway up that false peak. And she goes, you guys are doing so great. You hit the false peak and it gets easier from there. And we were like, yay, that wasn't true. But the fact of the matter is, the fact of the matter is she was encouraging to us

because that encouraging word kept us going. And then I think halfway up the rest of the peak, seeing the eight-year-old girl coming down, made us go, okay, we can do this thing, right? And so whether it's mutually encouraging each other by being each other's stability or being each other's motivation or the cloud of witnesses of people that have gone before us, we needed those buddies in our lives to keep us going. Well, it's the same in our walk with Jesus Christ.

Go to your left, go over to Hebrews chapter 10. And I want you to look at verse 24. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 says this. And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and to good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. You know why we gather as the body of Christ?

It's not because we wanna have a great cool building that we can gather in. It's not so that we can say that we're a church. It's not so that we can have some little identifying marker and all those kinds of things. We gather as a church for the mutual encouragement of each other. We gather as a church to stimulate each other towards love and to good deeds and to encourage each other as we see the day draw near.

If some of you are here this morning and you need a stabilizing force in your life and you need to grab onto the straps of the backpack of the person in front of you because you just need a little stabilizing because you're nervous, because you've been hurt before, because you've been injured before, because you've fallen before. So you need to know that you're safe. You need to know that you're stable and you need to be able to grab onto the backpack straps of the person in front of you because that gives stability. And some of you that are the stability for other people, you need to hear from somebody else, just keep going, you're gonna be able to make it, even though sometimes you wanna quit because you're the stabilizing force

for everybody else around you. And you need to be told, don't stop because you're gonna make it to the end. We didn't get this far to quit now. And you need that motivation. And sometimes we come to church because we need to hear about the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, who can say, we've already made it to the top. You're gonna make it, it's gonna get easier.

It's not gonna get easier, but it's gonna get easier and you're gonna be able to make it. And we need that great cloud of witnesses. Listen, you don't come to church just to be poured into, although that's a really important reason to come to church. You come to church to pour into the people that are around you. That's why we don't forsake the assembly together

of the brethren, is because we are to stimulate each other. We are to encourage each other in this life that we live. Some of y'all have come into this place this morning with some hurt in your life. Some of y'all have come into this place this morning and you don't even know why you showed up at this church. Somebody drug you here. You didn't even wanna be here this morning.

Quite frankly, you'd rather sleep in. But you ended up here anyway and I'm here to tell you right now, you're here so that we can encourage you. You're here so that you can be drawn closer to Jesus. You're here to be reminded that you didn't make it this far to quit now. It's time to keep going. It's time to keep pursuing and it's time to stay focused on Jesus

because in this life, you need buddies and I praise God for the buddies that God has given me in my life. That's what this last week was for me. Going on vacation was just being with my buddies to where we can belly laugh at the dumbest things in the world that our wives look at us and go, right? Guys, you've all gotten that look from your wife. Just because we need that mutual encouragement,

just because we need to be stimulated towards growth and good works. In this life, you need buddies. Number five, the closer you get to the top, the narrower the trail. The closer you get to the top, the narrower the trail. It was fascinating to watch this. You start on this rainbow trail which takes you kind of around the base of the mountain and totes over to some dry lakes.

I don't know why you have a dry lake but that's neither here nor there. But this rainbow trail and it's super wide. I mean, I saw four-wheeler tracks on it if that tells you anything. That's how wide this thing is and real wide. Then you get to the stairs, they stay pretty wide but it's fascinating to watch it. The closer you got to the top, all of a sudden the trail starts getting like this, right?

To where there's just enough room for you to walk until you hit the top of tree line and there's no more trail and you're just kind of on your own. As a matter of fact, that's what the 21-year-old kid that climbed it 11 times told us. He goes, well guys, top of tree line, there's no more trail. You're on your own, good luck. And he just kept walking and we're like, so what?

He's like, got it straight up. And the fascinating thing was the narrower the trail got, the slower the progression got, right? Because you have to be a lot more thoughtful. You have to be a lot more discerning. You have to pay a lot closer attention because the trail gets a little bit more treacherous. A lot of it's a lot more rocks that you can slip on. There's places where you go, well, I better stay on this side

because on that side is the edge of the mountain and that's a bummer, right? Like there's just less trail and you have to use a lot more discernment, a lot more thought and it's a lot slower of a walk. And that's just the way that it is because the closer you get to the top, the harder it gets. And it's kind of funny because when I was talking to my dad, when I got home, I was telling him this part and he said, you're right, you're right.

The closer you get to the top, the harder it gets because he's experiencing that right now. Well, go over to Matthew, Matthew chapter seven.

And I want you to look at verses 13 and 14. This is Jesus talking to his disciples. It's called the Sermon on the Mount. I didn't plan it. It's just the way it is. It's called the Sermon on the, hey, this is kind of like the Sermon on the Mount, only the Ryan version of it. So it's a little more confused. So verses 13 to 14 of Matthew chapter seven, it says this.

Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it. You know why the trail gets narrower, the closer to the top, because there's a lot fewer people on it. There's a lot fewer people on it.

It's amazing how much smaller your crowd usually gets the closer to the top. Ours actually stayed together the whole time, but a lot of people give up as they're going because, because it's hard. So the closer you get to the top, the narrower the trail is because fewer people have taken it. So it requires a lot more thought, requires a lot more effort, requires a lot more discernment.

And walk with Jesus Christ as you walk with Jesus Christ. is the same way. Your walk with Jesus Christ requires a great deal of discernment, and listen, you don't need to be in a hurry, because every step needs to be calculated, because God has a path He wants you to be on, and that path of obedience is a narrow path. There's not room for a lot of extra things. There's not room for a lot of missteps. You have to just put one foot in front

of the other. At some point in time, you just put your head down, and you walk, but that narrow path is so important in our lives, because that narrow path is what ultimately leads to victory. Well, now we come to the last one. So, if you're going to climb a mountain, whether a real one or life, number one, it requires commitment. Number two, you have to stay hydrated. Number three, you have to go your pace. Number four, you need buddies. Number five,

the closer you get, the narrower the trail, and then number six, it won't get easy until you're finished. It won't get easy until you're finished. I'll be here with these words of hope all day, by the way. As we were walking up the trail, this kid that was with us kept trying to say, well, you know, you get a little further here, and it gets a little bit easier, and somebody in our group just kept saying, so is it going to get easier now?

And finally, he realized that it really isn't going to get easier, and he gave us the real truth, and he said, truthfully, it doesn't get easy until you're finished. And I was like, ah, now that's what I'm talking about. And I thought, isn't that one of the greatest commentaries on life? It doesn't get easy until you're finished. There were still more stairs to climb. There were still more switchbacks to climb.

And the entire way up, it was like, well, what's next? Well, now there's another peak you got to climb. And I'm telling you right now, you get to the top of that false peak, and it's the most discouraging thing in the world. It's encouraging because you're like, yay, look how far we made it. Then you turn around, you're like, oh, because you have so much farther to go, right?

And then you just keep climbing, and there's just more to go because it doesn't get easy until you're finished. Now listen, we need to understand something. On this mountain path, there were places that leveled off a little bit. Sometimes you'd climb for a long time, and then you'd finally hit just a little bit of a level spot until you came to the next place. And in that level spot,

your legs got to go, ah, for just a second because you're basically doing lunges for 12 miles, right? And so your legs get to relax a little bit. You usually stop for just a second. You eat a little something. You drink some water and stay hydrated, but you know that that's short-lived because you know you're about to start climbing again. And that's what God gives us sometimes is he gives us those

little places of rest. He gives us those little plateaus where you can take just a little bit of a break so that you can get hydrated, so that you can eat some food, so that you can start to climb again. But listen, we have to understand something. It won't get easy on this side of eternity. All of humanity since the fall of man has been looking for a way to create

paradise on earth. We've been looking for a way to create the perfect place, the perfect land where everything will be great, where there'll never be any sickness, where there'll never be any problems, and we're always trying to create it on this side of eternity. I'm watching this happen now with people talking about their diets. I see everybody post this all the time. You know,

if you just eat these things, you'll be the old man power lifting when he's 95 years old. It's like, maybe, but genetics really does come into play on those things. Well, you know, if you'll just do this, everything will be perfect. You can create this perfect snake. You can create this perfect world, and I expect that from the people of the world. I expect people of the world who are

not saved to try to create a paradise on this side of eternity, because the reality is, if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, this world is as good as it's ever going to get for you. I hope you realize that. But for those of us that are believers in Jesus Christ, those of us that have surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ, this is the worst it's ever going to get, because all we have to do is look forward to something so much better than this. And we need to stop trying to create paradise on this side of eternity. That's where the health,

wealth, and prosperity message came from, is that you can have your best life now. You can have everything right now. You can have the best house. You can have the best car. You can have the best health. All of those things, you just have to claim it in Jesus's name. Listen, I don't see that anywhere in Scripture. Nowhere in Scripture do I see that. As a matter of fact, one of the

things Don McClure points out in his book is he says,

that we would not have to go through the difficulties and the hardship that all of the saints throughout all of Scripture had to go through would be a slap in the face of Jesus Christ who experienced hardship and experienced suffering, and a slap in the face of every saint that walked with Jesus Christ that's given to us in all of Scripture. As a matter of fact, when God first gave me these points, I started thinking about, well, what Scripture talks about suffering? And I was like, all of the Bible. I can't really narrow that one down now, can I?

Because on the other hand, I can't really narrow that one down now, can I? I can't really narrow that one down now, can I? I can't really narrow that one down now, can I? On this side of eternity, we're always going to face struggles. There's always going to be more mountains we have to climb. Sorry, Miley Cyrus is running through my head again. I can't help it

right now. Maybe yours too. I don't know. We'll cleanse it later. But that's what's going on right now because there's always another mountain that you got to climb, and that's okay. If you know that going into it, then you can experience a little bit of peace because you'll know you're going the right direction, right? If I know that the mountain's going to be hard to climb from the

very beginning, then when it's hard along the way, I'm not surprised by it. I'm like, that's okay. I expected this. I expected it to be hard. I expected this difficulty to be here. Do you know, Jesus, in the midst of all of these things, gives us a reminder. Go over to John chapter 16.

John chapter 16, and I want you to look at verse 33 just to create the background and the context for you. Jesus is in the last 24 hours of his life before his crucifixion. He has gone through the entire upper room discourse. He's washed the disciples' feet. He's taught them about the abiding life, and he's on his way to the Garden of Gethsemane where he will make that great prayer

of surrender of his life where he will ultimately win the battle of the cross in the Garden of Gethsemane. And the last advice that he gives them before he makes a high priestly prayer in chapter 17 is he tells them about the persecution that's waiting for them as believers in Jesus Christ. So I want you to notice what he says in chapter 16, verse 33. He says, He says, Listen, in this world you will have tribulation. You know what that word tribulation means in the

Greek? That word tribulation means a pressure or a pressing together. I think we can say we experience that in this world. Can't you? Don't you think that we've experienced a little bit of pressing together? Don't you think in the, our culture, we're experiencing some pressure right now? And Jesus says don't be surprised by that. That's why James told us, the brother of Jesus, by the way, that you shouldn't be

surprised by the fiery trial that you face, knowing that these things are for the furthering of your faith. They're for the perfecting of your faith. We shouldn't be surprised by these things. But in the midst of them, we can rest in a truth. And the truth that we can rest in is that while we may face tribulation in the world, Jesus has overcome the world. Jesus has overcome the world. He has already gone before us. Whatever you're going to face,

he's already been there. Whatever you're going to face, he's already seen it. Whatever you're going to face, he's already there waiting for you because he has already overcome the world. And the hope that we have goes so much farther than the world that we live in today because the hope that we have stretches into eternity. And we have to keep our eyes focused on eternity. We have

to keep our eyes focused on the prize. You know what you have to do the entire time you're on your way up, knowing the difficulty that you have to face? That's where I'm going. You have to keep your eye focused on the top of the mountain. You can't keep looking back behind you to see how far you've come. You got to look forward to see what's ahead of you because that's

your goal, because that's your purpose. So that when you finish, you go, I did it because Jesus has already overcome the world. Brothers and sisters, we can be of good cheer because in the midst of the hardship, we have a God who has already gone before us and has already won the battle for us. And so as we face the mountains, we can be of good cheer because in the midst of the hardship, we can be of good cheer because in the midst of the hardship, we can be of good cheer.

I will remind you of the words that we started with out of Acts chapter 20, verse 24. It says, but I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself so that I may finish my course in the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now.

And Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you that you prepare us for the difficulties. But not only, Lord, do you prepare us for the difficulties, you give us the victory that we need in the midst of them. And so, Lord, as we face the challenges of life, as we look to climb the mountain that you have in front of us, I just ask that you would move in our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit.

Father, I want to lift up every person that's in here this morning. And Lord, I'm not sure where everyone sits with the situations in their lives, Lord. But I know that people brought things into this room this morning that they need to give to you. I know that there are some who, Lord, they're struggling, Lord, with contentment because they're always comparing themselves to someone else.

And they need to learn to rest in what you have for them. Lord, there are some whose lives have become so dry, so dry because they've neglected your word and they've neglected that power of your Holy Spirit and they've been trying to do it on their own. Lord, they just need to cry out like Moses. Father, show me. Lord, pour out your spirit again. And so, Father, I just pray that you would pour out

a fresh flowing of your Holy Spirit into their lives. Father, there are some who are overwhelmed with the fact that it's not getting easier. And Lord, they need to know that you have overcome the world, that their victory lies in you. And so I just ask that you would move in each heart by the power of your Holy Spirit. And Lord, I just want to stretch out my hands over this entire congregation

and everybody that's watching online. And Lord, I just pray for a fresh baptism of your Holy Spirit. Father, that we would know that power, that we would know that joy, that we would know that peace, that we would see Jesus more clearly as we go throughout our lives, as we go throughout our week. And so, Lord, move, I pray, through this congregation. In Jesus' name, amen.

Be blessed. I love you guys. Are you hurting and broken again? Oh, the well of your sin. Jesus is called.

Have you come to the end of yourself? Do you thirst for a drink from the well? Jesus is called.

Father, Lord God, we just give you praise this morning, God. We thank you for your word. Because we've chosen to follow you, Lord, we know that there will be trials. There will be tribulations. There will be challenges, Lord. But, Lord, we know that in you, you, God, you've overcome all those challenges. You overcome every one of them. We know that in you, Lord, there is victory and that there is a finish line. So, Lord, help us to run our race

well, Lord Jesus, and help us to just to focus and fix our eyes upon you. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.