It's the Climb

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

Father, we just thank you for the day. Lord, we thank you for another opportunity to be in your house, Lord Jesus. I just want to ask your blessing upon this time, Lord. Help us to focus on you and to give you all honor and glory, Lord Jesus. And as your word goes out this morning, I ask that you would give us hearts to receive it, Lord Jesus. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Excuse me. I'm sorry, guys. You've got to sing over all this. Here we go. Let's take it from the top, shall we? I just want to take a moment, God, and just lift praise to you, Lord Jesus. Without the music, without the instruments, God, there's no one else that could have done what you did. Lord, everything in your word points to you. Everything in the Old Testament, Lord, is a shadow of what was to come.

And everything in the New Testament, Lord, just is all about you and what you've done for us, Lord, for what you've done for us on the cross, for the new life that we have in you, Lord. Lord, we just thank you and we praise you, Lord. We thank you, Lord, that you are our firm foundation, Lord. Christ is my firm foundation, which I stand. And everything around me.

God, I just thank you for how good you are to us. Lord, there is none like you. Lord, all of our lives, you've been so kind and so faithful, Lord.

Would you guys stand with me for this last one?

Blessed assurance.

Washed in peace.

We just thank you for the day. Thank you for just allowing us another opportunity, Lord, to stand in your house, to be in your presence, Lord, and to offer up praises to you. And may they be a sweet song in your ear this morning as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, I just pray that you would speak mightily through him, Lord, Lord, use him for your glory, God, and just speak mightily to our hearts and Lord, give us ears to hear and hearts to receive it, but Lord, more than that, give us a heart to do your word. Father, we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. Take some time and greet one another.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seat. Grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A few things to take note of, as always, the things on the left-hand side of the bulletin. But over in the middle section, we have a baptism coming up the first Sunday in August, August the 3rd. So if you are born again and you have never been baptized. Once you come talk to me afterwards, there's also a sign-up sheet.

If you don't have a chance to get to me, put your name and number on that sign-up sheet and I'll give you a call, but I love baptisms. They're such a special time of being able to proclaim our faith in that public sort of way. It'll also be a family picnic time. So we will meet at the shelter across from Paris Park pool, that's actually at Paris Park there, at 5.30.

And then at 7.00, we'll head over to Calvary Chapel. We'll head over to the pool and we'll baptize and then we can swim for the rest of the time that we're there. So make plans to join us, but also if you haven't been baptized, please come talk to me. The other thing is that there's no men's breakfast again this month. So we're going to take the month of July off as well.

We'll kick back off in August for that. And then we do have, I jumped back in on the memory verse thing again this week, and it's Acts 20, 24. It's right there in your bulletin if you're interested in taking note of that. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that you're mobile. If your mobile device is silenced, and for our responsive reading this morning, we are

going to be in Psalm 103, Psalm 103, looking at the New American Standard for this part. And then after that, you can go back to using the translation that you brought with you. If you don't have a copy of the New American Standard, should be one around you in a row. And as you're 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, and forget not 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. He will always stand before you, his holy name will always reign forever. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear

him. For he himself knows our frame, he is mindful that we are but dust. As for man, his days are like grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more. In its place acknowledges man, I am a man. I am a man. 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 you works of his in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord,

oh my soul. Father, I just praise you for passages of scripture like this to just put our hearts and minds back on you and just the power and majesty that you have and the love that you have for those of us who are nothing but dust. Lord, we just praise you for who you are and praise you that you see fit to make us your own. And so, Father, be with us now as we spend time in your word, as we spend time, Lord, looking more clearly at you and who you are and what you have for us. And so, Father, speak to our hearts, we pray 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, come back from vacation, you get to go off script for a week. So, you go out into nature and it's just, it's fertile soil for a sermon writer, right? It's just, it's fertile soil for those of us who really like to put sermons together. And you add a little bit of adversity,

which is what I'm going to talk about this morning. You add a little bit of adversity to that and it just creates the most perfect situation to be able to write a sermon. As a matter of fact, what I'm going to give to you this morning, I actually was able, put together as I was falling asleep the night that my daughter and I climbed the mountain. So, all of this came about because we climbed this mountain. And in the entire time that we were

hiking up Horn Peak, which is actually what that's a picture of right there, is Horn Peak. As we were climbing up Horn Peak, the words to this masterful song were going through my head, okay? You want to know the words to the song? It says this, 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, but 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. Thank you, Miley Cyrus, for the words to that song. It was not, in fact, a party in the USA, but it was a climb. So, before we left to go on the trip, so that's why the title is called, It's the Climb. That's the title of the message this morning. So, before we left on the trip,

I was a great place to read a book. I should take a book with me. So, I kind of looked through my library of some things that I haven't read yet, and I came across this tiny little book that was given to me a year or two ago. It's called, None of These Things Move Me. It's by Don McClure. And I thought, you know, I just finished reading a book by his wife called, The Trunk. I should grab

his book, which, by the way, I don't know what this says about men and women, but her book was about 200 pages. His book was about 50 pages. So, I think that that somehow speaks to the difference between men and women. I don't know. At any rate, I grabbed this little book. It's called, None of These Things Move Me, and it was a great read. It's actually based on his life

verse, Acts chapter 20, verse 24. So, I'd like to read that to us really quickly. It says this, 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 grace of God. That verse was written as Paul was heading towards Jerusalem for the last time, as he was heading towards Jerusalem before he would stand trial, be arrested, face death threats, face beatings and shipwrecks, and all of the difficulties that were about to face him. That's when he made this statement while he was

with one of the churches that he was visiting along the way. And someone had just given a prophecy of him. They said, when you go back to Jerusalem, you're going to face difficulties like you've never seen before, and you need to be prepared for that. And so, Paul said, I'm going to face difficulties like you've never seen before. And so, Paul, knowing that, said, but I don't

consider my life as dear to myself, that I may finish my race. I've worded it a couple of different ways. I said, I don't consider my life as dear to myself because I want to finish, or I don't care about my comfort. The only thing I care about is finishing. And so, Don McClure's talked about how important this verse was in his life, and that when he first became a believer in Jesus Christ,

he came across this verse, and this verse took him from being a nominal believer in Jesus Christ to being a serious believer in Jesus. And he said, as a serious believer in Jesus Christ, I never really put these words to the test until, and he starts naming some of the different trials that he went through, and he had to decide, am I going to believe what I've learned of God, or am I going to fall prey to the difficulties that I face in my life? He said, I had to learn that I had to believe in the shadows what God had taught me in the light. And he said, because I had to learn that none of these things would move me.

So, the first two mornings that I was out there, I never sleep very well on vacation. I just don't sleep very well being away from home. It's one of those fun things about getting into your 40s. And so, I would always just wake up really, really early. And so, right behind our cabin was this campfire area. And so, I'd take a little chair out there with me, and I could see this mountain.

That's what the view was as I would sit there and read. So, I'd do my Bible reading, and I just read this book. And I've got to be honest, a lot of tears flowed because of the things I'm going through in my life right now. And so, I read this book in about two days, which makes me sound like I'm a really fast reader. But again, it's a really short book. So, don't start thinking that guy can read. No,

I can't. It's just a really short book. But it was so good, and it gave me so much motivation. I was so motivated to know that facing the difficulties of life is just what we have to do. It's what we're called to do as believers. And quite frankly, whether we're called to it or not, it's what we will do as believers is face the difficulties of life. Well, before we had gone out,

my daughter and I had failed to climb this mountain a few years ago, partly because a storm was rolling in, and we were a little bit nervous about lightning. But that was just a really good excuse for us to not finish climbing this mountain. And so, this year, we were like, we're doing this thing. And then the last time that we went, she had a destroyed ankle, which then led to an ACL surgery. And so, we weren't able to do it last time. So, we're like, you know

what? This is our year. We're going to climb this thing. We're going to make this thing happen. And so, we got there, and I read this book the first couple of days, and we decided Wednesday that we were going to climb the mountain. Well, so, Tuesday afternoon, I'm feeling really motivated, and we go into town. There's our favorite little coffee shop in there called

Peregrine Coffee. And a group of us go into town, and we're drinking coffee. And we decide, let's head to the hiking store and make sure that we've got what we need. And so, we go into the hiking store, and the guy said, you guys, like, seriously, picture like a guy living in the mountains with the long hair, only sounds like maybe he just smoked the wacky weed for just a little while before he talked to us. And this is the guy in the hiking store.

Right? And so, he's talking to us, and he's like, you guys going to climb the mountain tomorrow? We're like, yeah, we're thinking about it. He's like, ooh, that's a tough one, man. I've climbed a lot of 14ers, and that's harder than anyone I've ever climbed. And so, we're like, awesome, sweet. So, we got what we needed in the hiking store, and the next morning, armed with a great deal of motivation and a little bit of fear,

we decided it was time to climb the mountain. And so, as we went with that sobering reality, we made it up to the top of the mountain. Long story short, we made it to the top of the mountain. Well, that's it. Let's pray. No. And so, while we were climbing the mountain, though, God just starts pouring things into me. Based on a little bit of that book, based on the thought

that none of these things can move me because I can't count my comfort as more important than my desire to finish the race, God starts giving me some illustrations. And so, literally, we come back that night, and I'm exhausted from the climb, but I can't sleep. And so, I'm just laying there, staring at the ceiling, and God just says, I can't sleep. I can't sleep. I can't sleep. I can't sleep.

I can't sleep. I can't sleep. I can't sleep. I can't sleep. I can't sleep. I can't sleep. I can't sleep. He starts giving me this message. So, hopefully, it's as good for you as it is for me. But what God gave me is he gave me six life lessons that came from the climb. So, life lesson number one from the climb, it requires commitment. It requires commitment. We had to make a decision,

and nobody was overly thrilled about this decision. I'm just going to be really honest with you about that. The group that I went with, there was one, two, three, four, five, there were six of us all together. And none of us was overly thrilled. I think Violet and I were the most determined to go, but everybody else was kind of like, yeah, I'll go. And we went with

one kid who had done this. He did it for his 11th time when we were with him. He was 21 and not that smart. So, I mean, at some point in time, you climb the same mountain 11 times. We have to question your sanity. I'm just saying, right? And so, all of us are just kind of like, I mean, yeah, I guess we'll do this thing. But at the end of the day, we had to make a commitment.

We had to decide that we're going to get up stupidly early in the morning, because we were at the trailhead at 5.30. We probably should have been there a little bit earlier, but that's neither here nor there. We had to make a decision that no matter how hard it was, no matter what it was going to take, we had to make a decision, we're going to climb this mountain. And I'm here to tell you right now, in the beginning, everybody was pretty excited. Once we'd made the decision,

once we'd made the commitment, we're pretty excited. You start off on this thing called Rainbow Trail, and it's pretty flat. There's just, you know, a little bit of this going on, it's pretty flat, because you're basically walking at the of the real serious climb until you get to what they call Hornpeak Trail, right? And so we're walking, we're laughing, we're walking for a mile or so, and he goes, okay, we should probably eat a little something, because now it's going to get serious. So we had a little snack,

and we started up the mountain. And everybody was pretty happy until we hit the first set of stairs. And stairs is really a loose translation of what they actually were. They were just a bunch of rocks, and it all decided they didn't want to stay up on top of the mountain, they wanted to roll down the mountain, and they formed almost this natural staircase-ish, right? Most of them

were loose, you had to make sure that you weren't going to end up tripping on something or something along those lines. But in the middle of that first set of stairs is when you had to decide, am I going to climb this mountain or not? Because this is what it's going to be like the rest of the way, because it's going to take a commitment. Everybody was excited in the beginning when it was pretty flat. Everybody was excited in the beginning when we were pretty energetic. Everyone

was excited in the beginning when it didn't get hard. But eventually, the climb got hard, and we had to make a decision. Are we going to continue climbing, or are we going to give up? And if you hadn't made the commitment in the beginning, it was a whole lot easier to say, no, we're just going to quit. As a matter of fact, multiple times we had to say, nope, we decided we're going to go to the top this time,

we're going to the top this time. As a matter of fact, we had told everybody we're making it to the peak this time. We are going to summit this mountain. And that commitment is what kept us going the entire time. Because as a 40, almost 5-year-old man at that point in time, I didn't want to do lunges for 12 hours straight or however long we were on this mountain. But that's exactly what

we did. And it required commitment. But you know what? Our lives in Christ are a lot like that. They require commitment. Go with me another place in Scripture. We're going to do this a lot this morning, by the way. So get your fingers nimble. Get ready to start turning. I like to hear pages turn. I don't like the scroll of the phone. I like to hear the pages, but I'm old school. Go to

Romans chapter 12. I want you to look at verses 1 and 2. Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. It's a familiar passage of Scripture. After Paul has laid out the doctrine of salvation, the doctrine of sanctification, and the doctrine of the sovereignty of God, he gets down to the nitty-gritty of walking with Jesus. And I want you to notice what he says. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. There's an interesting word that's used in there when Paul says, I urge you by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. And I want you to notice what he says. I urge you to

present your bodies as a living sacrifice. It's a very Old Testament sort of word, actually. It's actually a transliteration of a Hebrew word that's used for sacrifice. In particular, the whole burnt offering, which is a sacrifice of consecration, a complete giving over of the sacrifice to the Lord. Because it being called a whole burnt offering means that the entire animal

was given to God and offered by fire to the Lord. And that's the word that's used there. What it literally means, according to Kenneth Wiest, is a once-for-all presentation. A once-for-all presentation of yourself to the Lord. Can we just substitute another word in there? I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you make a commitment to Jesus Christ.

Because listen, in the beginning of your walk, you probably remember this. In the beginning of your walk, it was all exciting, right? Like you're learning all kinds of new things. You felt set free from sin for the very first time. You felt freedom in your life for the very first time. But eventually, life starts to get hard as a believer, and you're going, but wait, I thought if I was a believer in Jesus, I would be a believer in Jesus.

I thought if I was a believer in Jesus Christ, all of my issues were going to be taken care of. I thought if I was a believer in Jesus Christ, there was going to be all this peace, there was going to be all this joy, there was going to be all this love. Why am I facing the stairs? Why am I facing this challenge? Why am I facing this trial? Why did it just get hard?

Why is there temptation that sometimes is more than I can overcome? I don't understand. I thought it was supposed to be great, and quite frankly, it's the hardest thing I've ever done. And in that moment, you have to make a decision. Have you made a commitment? Or was it just something convenient in the moment? Because if you're going to keep walking with Jesus,

it's going to require commitment. And there are days where it'll be the easiest thing you've ever done because the Holy Spirit's flowing, life is going like it's supposed to, and you're not facing any hardship. And then there's the other 364 days of the year where you will face the hardship, where it will be hard, and you have to decide, have I presented myself to Jesus Christ or not? It's always exciting in the beginning.

But eventually, it's a commitment to walk with him. And so, brothers and sisters, we have to understand something. If you're going to climb the mountain, and if you're going to walk with Jesus, number one, it requires commitment. Number two, you have to stay hydrated. You have to stay hydrated. The camp that we stayed at, the family camp that we stayed at, sits just over 9,000 feet.

So the air's a little thin up there already. It was funny because we climbed the mountain, and we're on the mountain on Wednesday. Saturday was the day that we left, and we walked from the dining hall to our cabin, which is an uphill, only one way, not both ways. It's just uphill going back to our cabin. And I thought, I have climbed a stinking mountain out here, and I still get winded going

from the dining hall to my cabin. How is it? Because there's just not enough air. We got back to Kansas, and I'm like, son of a gun, I can see the air, right? It is available. There's more than I can imagine here. And there's a lot of moisture in it too, right? And so, one of the things that they tell you, the first thing they tell you is, I'm going to climb the mountain, and I'm going to

tell you, when you're in a little parent meeting, is like, you got to drink a lot of water while you're here. They're like, because you can get dehydrated really easily. Not only are we at a really high altitude, but it's very dry here. There's not a lot of moisture in the air. And so, you can get dehydrated really, really easily here. So, you have to drink a lot of water. They're like,

it's impossible to drink too much water. You can just drink it all day long. And so, it's even more so when you climb a mountain, because the higher that you go, believe it or not, the less air that you have, and the drier that it gets. And so, as you're climbing the mountain, the biggest thing they tell you to take is, lots and lots and lots of water, because you have to keep drinking a lot of water. As a matter of

fact, if you don't drink enough water in the mountains, or while climbing a mountain, you can get this thing called altitude sickness. And altitude sickness, two main things happen. One, you'll get a really, really, really bad headache. Number two, you will want to throw up or start throwing up, because it will make you sick. And so, you have to stay hydrated if you're going to

do this. And so, the biggest thing that you put in your backpack is as much water as your body can carry. Because you need to stay hydrated in life. So, it's interesting, because our lives are a lot like that. Our lives in Christ are so important, because we have to stay hydrated. Now, there's two main things in Scripture that are referred to as water. One is God's Word. In the book of Ephesians,

we're told that we are to be washed by the water of God's Word. But God's Word, when being referred to as water, has more of a cleansing effect. And while that's important, that's not really the point that I want to make here. Because there's something else that's referred to as water in Scripture that I think is actually important for the hydration of our lives. Go over to John

chapter 7. John chapter 7. And I want you to look at verses 37 through 39. Just to set the scene, Jesus is going to be speaking, and he's at a feast called the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths. But Tabernacles is often what we call it. And at the Feast of Tabernacles, they celebrated the time when the children of Israel were wandering about the land. And they were wondering,

through the wilderness. And one of the things that they would do is they would celebrate the fact that God provided water for them as they walked through the wilderness. Oftentimes from a rock, sometimes just by allowing water to be there. But God always provided water for them. And so on the last night of the feast, they would just take buckets and buckets and buckets of water

and pour these buckets of water down the stairs of the temple so that it would just flow down into the street. And everybody would celebrate the fact that God had provided water. I want you to, with that as a backdrop, this is the night when this is taking place. Look at John chapter 7, verse 37. It says, Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying,

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke of, pay attention here, the Spirit, speaking of the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive. For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. See, the

other thing, the main thing that's spoken of throughout scripture as water, especially living water, is the Holy Spirit. And so what we learn here is that if you really want cleansing, you'll read the Word. But if you want life, it's the Holy Spirit that you need. Because while the Word is incredibly important, I think I've made that incredibly clear in my teaching, the thing that gives the Word life is the Holy Spirit that's in our lives. And so if we want life, we need to

live life. If we want to stay hydrated, it requires a continual filling with the Holy Spirit. And I'm going to be honest, I think sometimes this is what's missing in the church today, is a true filling of the Holy Spirit, especially in the conservative church today. We put all of the emphasis on God's Word, and we should. I absolutely think we should put the emphasis on God's Word.

But we must not leave out the importance of the Holy Spirit. We must not leave out the importance of that continual filling of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is what gives us life. The Holy Spirit is what gives us strength. The Holy Spirit is what gives us everything that we need for living. I've started reading a book that I had picked up a really long time ago. I actually

had to read it in Bible college as a book report book. And I read it every few years just because it's a really good reminder. It's a good reset for me. It's called Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. And in his preface, A.W. Tozer points out the fact that there are so many people who are content to simply hear God's Word without the moving of the Holy Spirit in their life. They don't

seek after that life of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes I do get concerned that we put so much emphasis on God's Word that I fail to put the emphasis on the Holy Spirit. So I want to do that this morning. I want to tell you that if you want to live a life, if you want to climb the mountain of life, then you need that continual filling of the Holy Spirit. You need that life of the Holy

Spirit to continue to come upon you. And sometimes he'll express himself through gifts and sign gifts and things like that. But the way he'll really express himself in your life is through love. Your love for God and your love for other people. The real way he'll express himself in your life is by revealing Jesus to you, because we're told that's what his ministry is. And sometimes

he uses gifts to do that. Sometimes he uses his Word to do that. But no matter what, it's the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And you should be seeking after that Holy Spirit. All it requires is you going to the Father and saying, Father, pour out your Spirit on me. And the first thing he'll do is he'll reveal what's cutting off the spigot in your life.

He'll reveal where the lid is so that that can be popped off so that he can pour his Holy Spirit into you. But that's what's so necessary in our lives right now. Everybody talks about revival, but we don't want it through the Holy Spirit. Or we want it through some weird, wacko revival that some people say, well, this is revival. Like, no, that's chaos. Revival is when the Holy Spirit gets

a hold of someone's heart, pours himself in, and reveals Jesus. The love of Jesus, the grace of Jesus, the kindness of Jesus, the truth of Jesus. And that's what he'll do. He'll reveal where the truth of Jesus, that's what he does in our lives. But brothers and sisters, if you want to climb the mountain, you have to stay hydrated. You need the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. And just

like they told us at camp, you can't get enough. You cannot get enough. It's a continual daily filling. As a matter of fact, Paul in the book of Ephesians said, be being filled by the Holy Spirit. Number three, you have to go your pace. You have to go your pace. I wrote this, and I started to question even when I wrote. Everyone was at different ages and different stages of life. It was actually just me and a bunch of kids, okay? It was me and a bunch

of kids under the age of 22. That's what it was. That was the two different ages and stages of life, right? But genuinely, though, we were all at different ages. There was me, who's not 22. There were a bunch of kids, and there was a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old. The 15-year-old's a basketball player, and he just, he stays in incredibly good shape. The 16-year-old is my daughter, who's really strong but doesn't like to run and also just

overcame a knee injury within the last year, and so she's very timid in the way that she climbs mountains. One was a young lady who'd never climbed a mountain before in her entire life. The other one was a young man who'd climbed this mountain a few times, and then there was the crazy guy who'd climbed the mountain 11 times. And we were all at different ages, and we were all at different stages of life, and all had different mentalities about what we were doing. And what we

were doing was, that's okay, because we're not all going to go at the same pace. You do the best you can to stay together, but at the end of the day, especially when you get past tree line, you just have to let people do what they're going to do, because we're all going to climb at a different pace. Violet and I stuck together quite a bit, because I'm old and she's overcoming an injury, right? And so we kind of stuck together quite a bit. And so we knew that it was okay that some

of them were going to be way ahead of us, and we knew that potentially there was going to be moments where we were going to be ahead of some people, too, because it's okay. Everybody's different pace. And life is a lot like that, especially our lives with Jesus Christ. Go over to Hebrews chapter 12. I told you we were doing a lot of this today. Hebrews chapter 12. I want

you to look at verse 1. I think I wrote 1 and 2, but mainly 1's what I need to be. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1, says this.

The part that I want to point out to you, although we could just do an entire study on these two verses, the part that I want to point out to you is that it says the race that is set before us. There's an indication that the way that this is written is that each individual person has a race that they run. Each individual person has a race that is just yours and yours only, and you have to run your race. As a matter of fact, you have to go through the process of going your pace. You can't start comparing yourself with all of the other people around

you. Listen, if I start looking at the 21-year-old kid up there that's done this all this time, and I'm going, well, I can't keep up with him, then I'm going to get discouraged, and I'm just going to give up, because I can't go as fast as he can. Maybe at his age I could have, but I can't anymore. And so I could easily get discouraged and go, that's not my pace. I must not be made to do

this. That's not my pace. I probably can't do this. That's not my pace. I'm going to give up. Instead, you have to realize, that's not my pace. That's okay. I'm going to walk my pace. I'm going to do what I can do. And sometimes in our Christian walks, we can do that. We see some people, and we see the life that they're living, and we think, I can't do what they're doing. I can't run their race. And that's

okay. You're not supposed to run their race. You're not supposed to do what they do, because you know what? God didn't intend for you to go through the things that they've gone through to get where they are today. And that's the other thing, is you don't know what they've gone through to get where they are today. They've gone through something. There's a race that wants to break in with you. Your race looks

different. You need to stay focused on Jesus and what he wants for you. We live in a world of comparison. And I don't remember who said it. Was it Theodore Roosevelt? It's a great quote. It says that, Comparison is the thief of joy. And, and that's what we do with each other in the churches. We constantly compare ourselves to each other. And we say, well, I'm I doing good as this person?

How am I doing it as good as this person? Listen, there's only one person wanna compare yourself to, and that's Jesus. How am I doing with what he wants for you? How am I doing with what he wants me to do? How am I doing with what he's called for me to do? Because sometimes we look at, well, that person's called to this. Maybe I'm called to that too. No, you focus on what Jesus has told you to do.

It reminds me of the very end of the book of John. You don't have to turn there. At the very end of the book of John, and Jesus is talking to Peter, and he tells Peter, you have gone wherever you wanted to your whole life, but eventually someone is going to stretch out your hands and take you somewhere where you don't want to go, indicating, according to John, the way in which Peter would die. And Peter looks back at John, and he goes, but what about him?

What do you have to say to him? And Jesus says, if I want him to live forever, what's that to you? You go and follow me, right? And that's what we do. We find the John in our lives, and we say, but what about him? And Jesus goes, I'm not worried about him. You focus on you. You focus on what God has called for you to do, and don't compare yourself with somebody else's walk.

And I don't know who that's a word for in here this morning, but I feel like that's a word for someone in here this morning, because that's what you've been doing. You've been comparing yourself to everybody else, including people in the Bible, and you're going, I can't measure up. I think I'm just going to give up. And you need to stop doing that today. You need to do what God has called for you to do

and stop comparing yourself with everybody else. You have to go your pace. Number four, you need buddies. You need buddies. You need buddies. You need buddies. So as we were walking up there, Violet was nervous about her knee, and she still deals with ankle issues. Now that she does all of this tumbling stuff, we have to really kind of be careful with her. Matter of fact, we KT taped one ankle and didn't do the other one.

Guess which one she twisted? I'll give you a hint. It wasn't the one with the KT tape on it. And so she was very nervous in all of the loose rock and things like that. And so as we were on our way up, I found that what she would do is she would walk behind me, and she would grab on to the straps of my backpack to steady herself. And so we would walk up, and she needed that.

She needed that for me. She needed that stability for me. And as her father, I have no problem with that until we got to a point where I was like, okay, now you're going to pull me down the mountain. You have to climb on your own. That's just real talk for Ryan, right? But she had to hold on for stability, and that was the way that I supported her up the mountain

is for most of the trail she held on. Not because I necessarily did that much for her, but she just needed that stability. She needed that little bit of security. And sometimes that's what we need in our lives. We need that little bit of security. Well, we would hit the next kind of plateau, and I would look at her, and I'm trying to base things off of her because she'd actually gotten sick right when we first started,

not because of altitude sickness, but she ate too much because, and it's a long story. Anyway, so I kept saying, okay, are you sure you want to keep going? And so we hit tree line, and I said, okay. And you can tell from tree line up, dude, that's straight up, and there's no more trail. I'll get to that in just a minute. There's no more trail. It's just straight up.

And it gets real serious. And we hit tree line. And I said, okay, it's up to you. Do you want to keep going? And in the back of my head, I was like, please say no, please say no, please say no, right? I was tired, man. I was real tired. And you know what she said? Even though she'd been holding on to my backpack for support this whole time, you know what she said?

No, Dad, I didn't get up at 5 o'clock in the morning to quit now. Let's do it. And I did the same thing when we got to that little false peak right there. I said, okay, you still want to keep going? And she said, yeah, Dad, I didn't get up at 5 o'clock in the morning. I didn't get up at 5 o'clock in the morning to quit now. And so while I supported her at points in time going up the mountain,

her desire to finish is what kept me motivated to keep going up the mountain. And then on top of that, there were other people from our camp, because a lot of people end up climbing this mountain. There were other people from our camp that literally have no brain cells because they left at 3.30 in the morning and climbed the mountain. And so they were actually coming down the mountain as we were heading up.

And one young lady in particular, her name is Violet as well. She's a part of what I often refer to. It's the athletic family. And I mean that completely as a compliment. They're the most athletic human beings I've ever seen in my life. They don't know that I call them that. I feel confident they're not watching online right now. But that's absolutely what I call them.

I feel like that's a compliment, though. All of them have to be doing something in college. I can't imagine they wouldn't be. Anyway, her name is Violet. She's coming down the mountain, and she goes, guys, you're doing so good. You're almost there. We weren't, but that's what she told us anyway. And she was encouraging. And sometimes you just need those words of encouragement

from somebody else who's already been hired. Somebody else who's always done more than you. Somebody else who's always done more than you. And so I encouraged Violet by being her support. She encouraged me by being my motivation. And then we were encouraged to know that you can do it because we were surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Because on the climb of life, you need buddies.

Go with me another place in Hebrews. Go over to Hebrews chapter 10, just to your left. And I want you to look at verses 24 and 25.

It says this. Consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day draw near. I love those two verses because I feel like they convey perfectly what I just said, is that you need to consider how to stimulate one another towards love and good works. And we should not forsake the assembling together of each other.

Why? Is it because we need to have a building? Is it because you need to have a pastor? No. None of those things. You need each other. You need each other because you need buddies. Sometimes you need a buddy to stabilize you because you're a little nervous. You're a little fearful because you've had injuries in the past, because you've had failures in the past.

And quite frankly, as you're climbing the mountain, as you're walking with Jesus Christ, those injuries rear their ugly head, and you think, Am I going to end up like this? Am I going to end up getting hurt again? Am I going to end up falling into this again? Am I going to end up back where I was? And so, sometimes you've got to hold on to the backpack of the person in front of you,

because they give you that stability. They give you what you need to keep you going. And then sometimes the person that's giving you the stability, they need to be encouraged. They need to be told, It's okay. We're going to make it. We haven't come this far to quit now. We haven't come this far to stop now. Let's just keep going. And then sometimes you need those people who are either ahead of you,

in their walk, or you need some of those people who are the great cloud of witnesses, who are telling you, You can do it. I made it. I know what it's like. You're going to be able to make it. It gets easier from here. It doesn't get easier from here. But that's what they tell you, right? And we need that cloud of witnesses around us. We need buddies. And listen, in the world that we live in now,

we want to forsake the assembling of the brethren, right? We live in a world where we want to isolate ourselves. I'm just going to pull back from everybody. I was actually having a conversation with a guy at camp, who's a kid's counselor. Meaning, not like a counselor at the camp, but like that's his job. He's a licensed counselor. And he works with kids. He says, You know what we figured out about kids?

A lot of them don't like to get their driver's licenses anymore. He lives down in the Dallas area. I said, I've noticed that too. Why is that? He said, Well, they don't need to connect in person. They connect online so much. And they have this thought, I'll text someone or I will Snapchat someone or whatever all the things that they do now. And so there's so many online connections

that they don't feel the need to go make that personal connection. Now, that's not every kid. But it's something that he sees quite a bit down in the Dallas area. And I thought that that was kind of interesting. And I think sometimes an issue with our culture today is that we think we can have all of these online connections and feel like that's the same as an in-person connection.

And it's not. We need that in-person connection. Because we need buddies. You need people who are going to support you. You need people who are going to hold you accountable. You need people who are going to motivate you. And quite frankly, you need to be motivating someone else and supporting someone else. Don't just rely on everybody else to do that for you.

You be that for somebody else too. Because on the climb of 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. This actually really, really hit me while we were walking along. When you first start, you can put three or four people across the trail. Maybe two or three people across the trail.

It's wide. It's no problem. We can all kind of go as a big gang. And then as you go, the trail starts to do this. Like I said, until you hit tree line. And at tree line, there's nothing. There's no trail anymore. It's like, well, good luck. Matter of fact, that's what the kid that climbed it 11 times told us. He said, here's the tree line. You're on your own.

See you guys at the bottom. Those were his words exactly. Because there's no more trail. There's actually a big stake in the middle of between the tree line and the false peak. I said, what's that stake there for? And somebody said, it's so that you know you're on the right track. I'm like, well, that's not a trail. That's not exciting at all. Because the trail gets really narrow.

And then you get past that false peak, and it's just nothing but rock. And there's literally zero trail. At points in time, you're on your hands, and knees, because it's just nothing but a rock. And sometimes you're having to hoist yourself up. And it's almost like rock climbing at points in time. It's a pretty tough trail. And I thought, isn't that wild that when you get to the top,

the trail gets narrower. Why? Well, the terrain gets a lot more difficult for one thing. But do you know why it really gets narrower? There's a lot fewer people that get that far. There's a lot fewer people on the trail at that point in time. And so when you get there, it's a slower, more deliberate climb. As a matter of fact, it requires a lot more thought, and it requires a lot more discernment.

Because you have to decide, is this an OK place to step? Is this an OK place to be? Is this ultimately going to make it harder on me? So it gets a lot slower. Most of your climb is actually that last little bit right there, the last couple of miles. Because you have to think a lot more about where you're stepping. We'll go over to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7.

This is the Sermon on the Mount. I want you to look at verses 13 and 14. This is Jesus. Speaking with his disciples, ironically, on a mountain. And this is what he tells them. He says,

That's always been a really important verse for me for a really long time now. Because it's been one of those motivating verses from my life that we have to understand that the way of following Jesus is a narrow path. That the way of following him is a really narrow way. And it's not just narrow because Jesus says, this is the only way. But it's narrow because there's not very many people on it.

And actually, one of the best ways to know that you're on the right path is if it's the really narrow path. Lots of people can find the way to destruction. That's a well-paved path. That's a path that a lot of people have taken. You can put 10 people across, as many people as you want to. But it leads to destruction. But the way that leads to Jesus is always going to be

a little bit narrow. And just like on the mountain path, it's a slower, more deliberate walk. And it requires a lot more thought. And it requires a lot more discernment. Because you have to determine if you're going the right way. You have to determine if you're following the right path. Brothers and sisters, in our lives with Jesus Christ, we have to understand, slow and steady wins the race.

We want everything to be done now. We want everything to be done now. We want everything to be done today. And we want to hurry up and get along the path. And Jesus says, we'll take as much time as we need. Because it's a narrow path. And it's a slow walk. And it requires thought. And it requires discernment. And that's okay. Because that path of following Jesus is not the easy path.

But it is the path that will eventually lead you to the top. Amen? Number six. This is my favorite one. It won't get easy until you're finished. It won't get easy. I'll be here with words of hope like this all day. It won't get easy until you're finished. When we hit that first set of stairs, this crazy kid that was leading us up there, he's like, yeah, this is one of the really hard parts.

Then it gets a little bit easier. And then there's another hard part. And then pretty much smooth sailing. It's kind of what he acted like the whole time. And finally somebody said, so does it get easier after this? And he looks and he goes, it won't get easier until you're finished. And I was like, that's the right answer right there. It won't get easier until you're finished.

And I thought, and what a perfect picture of life. And quite frankly, it gets harder as you go up. Right? And the part towards the end is the absolute hardest. It's funny because I was talking about this when I got home. And in one of my dad's moments where he could understand things and make some sense because that's just kind of where he is right now, I told him that little part.

I said, you know, it seems like the closer you get to the end, the harder it gets. And he said, that's true. Because it's just all there is to it. Listen, it won't get easier until you're finished. And sometimes on the mountain trail, you're looking for, man, I just wish it would get easy. I just wish there would be like, I wish there was a flat path that led up the mountain.

But listen, there can either be one or the other. There can either be a flat path or there can be one that leads up the mountain, but there can't be both. They are mutually exclusive things. And that's the way it is in our lives, brothers and sisters. Matter of fact, no, don't go there yet. I want to get there at the end. As a matter of fact, this reality is what our lives live according to.

For some reason, as human beings, we have bought into an idea that we can have paradise on this side of eternity, that we can somehow have this easy life on this side of eternity. And it seems like that's what everybody's looking for, especially right now. The world has been looking for it all along. The world has been looking for this since the beginning of time.

Since man fell into sin, we have been looking for paradise on earth again. That's why the Tower of Babel was built. That's why all of the different idols were created. It's because they're looking for paradise on this side of eternity. They're looking for paradise on this earth. They're looking for a place where it's going to get easy on this side of where God intended for us to be.

And it's one thing when the world, I expect the world to do that. Because listen, if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, you have to understand this world is as good as it gets. You'd better find paradise here because you're not going to find it on the other side of eternity. But for us as believers in Jesus Christ, this world is as hard as it's ever going to get.

But the problem is the church right now is looking for paradise on this side of eternity. That's where the health and wealth prosperity came from, prosperity gospel came from, right? Because you can have your best life now. You can have everything that you want now. If you'll just name it and claim it, you can have it. Because we want our best life on this side of eternity.

And quite frankly, according to Don McClure in his book, if we think that we can make it through this life as believers in Jesus Christ without challenges, if we think that we can have perfection and paradise on this side of eternity, it is a slap in the face of every saint in the Bible. Currently, I'm in the book of Job because I'm a little behind everybody right now. And I found it fascinating that as I'm in Colorado climbing a mountain, reading a book called None of These Things Move Me, I also start the book of Job. And I was like, oh, Lord.

Right? You know, those moments where you're just like, oh, this is going to get more awesome. Like, what's next? Well, that was just the way that it is. And I was like, man, we do have to understand that it won't get easy until it's finished. Listen, I don't want to create like a just doomsday moment. Sometimes there are moments. On the trail, there were moments where it would level off for just a minute,

and you would just be like, thank you, Jesus. My legs can stop burning for a moment. But they were short-lived. And it was just enough to give you the motivation that you needed to start climbing again. It gave your legs just enough rest. And usually in that moment, right before you started to climb again, you'd stop, maybe eat a little snack, get a little bit of water,

and then you start to climb again. But it gave you everything that you needed to keep going. And God provides those for us in life. That's what a vacation is. That's what last week was for me. It was my level ground for just a minute, to get my head back on straight, to get a little snack, to drink a little water, to get ready to climb again. Because I knew coming back to Kansas,

even though I was coming back to the Flatlands, I knew I was coming back to climb some mountains again. And God provides that for us. But we have to remember, that's a plateau until we start to climb again. Don't give up. And I don't care how old you are. I don't care how long you've walked with Jesus. It's not going to get easy until it's finished. But you know what?

In the midst of that, Jesus made us a promise. Go over to John chapter 16. And I want you to look down at verse 33. Jesus has had the upper room discourse. He has taught them about abiding, and he has given them warnings of persecution to come and promised them that prayers would be answered. He's just about to go into his high priestly prayer in 17. Which will then lead into his prayer in the garden

and ultimately his crucifixion. And this is what he tells his disciples on the way to the garden. He says, verse 33 of John chapter 16. These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage. I have overcome the world. I want to just make one statement to you again. In the world, you will have tribulation.

You know what the word tribulation means? It means a pressing together or a pressure. That means that in this world, you're gonna deal with the pressures of life. And it won't get easier on this side of eternity. It won't get easier until you've finished. But listen, be of good cheer because I have overcome the world. In the midst of the trouble that we face,

in the midst of the difficulty that we face, we are reminded that while this world is hard and while the challenges that we face are hard, Jesus has already been there. Jesus has already dealt with it. Jesus has already overcome it. We need to walk. We need to climb. We need to hike in the victory that he's already given to us. Because we can be of good cheer

because he has overcome the world. That means in the midst of the hardship, there can be joy. In the midst of the difficulties, there can be peace. In the midst of this world that we live in, we can find a rest in the fact that Jesus has already overcome. That last song, second to last song, the song where Jared coughed, where it said, I'm fighting my battle,

but you've already won. And we can rest in that. We can rest in the truth of who Jesus is. We can rest in the truth of what Jesus has done. And I'll take you back to the very first verse that we started with. But none of these things move me that I may finish my race. That I may run my course. Brothers and sisters, don't put the comforts of this life ahead of finishing the race

that God has given to you. There's always gonna be an uphill battle. But it's not about the battle. It's about the fact that Jesus has won. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I thank you for what your word has to say to us. Lord, I thank you that the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen in nature. And the invisible truths

of who you are and what it means to walk with you are often seen as we get out into nature. So Father, I just praise you. And Lord, I wanna lift up everybody that's in the middle of the climb right now, which is all of us. Lord, I wanna lift up those who are struggling with the climb. Whether it be the comparison game or they just need a little dose of your Holy Spirit right now.

Or whether they just need to lock up and know that it's okay that it's not easy. That means I'm on the right path. Lord, whatever it is, wavering in commitment, Lord, you know. And so Lord, I wanna lift them to you right now. I just wanna pray, Lord, for a fresh filling of your Holy Spirit on this place. Lord, I just, I just pray over everybody in this congregation right now.

Lord, I pray over everybody that's watching online. And God, I just pray that you would baptize them afresh with your Holy Spirit. Father, that you would, that you would pour out afresh your Holy Spirit on them for living. God, that as you do so, that we would be open to what your Holy Spirit wants to do, Lord. That you would reveal yourself more clearly. That they would see the power in their life.

That they would see the true life that comes from that filling of your Holy Spirit. And Father, that it would be something that they seek continually. Lord, that they, like Moses, would find themselves going off and saying, Father, show me your glory. And Lord, may you answer with that overwhelming presence of your Holy Spirit. Father, we just thank you and praise you.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. Are you hurting and broken within? Jesus is calling. Come to the earth for a drink from the well. Jesus is calling. I would just thank you for the day. Thank you for your word, Lord. Thank you for your word of encouragement this morning, Lord. But we also know, believers, Lord, we will face trials. We will face tribulations.

We will face challenges, Lord. But Lord, we know that, Lord, you've already overcome. You've already overcome every one of those challenges. You've already overcome the world, Lord. And we know that in you, Lord, there is victory. We just praise you, Lord, and we thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.