Stretch it out
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Remember last week we introduced this new series
God wants to give you the desires of your heart but not later - now! Now is the time to start
We don’t always know the ending at the beginning, right?
God will do even more than we can imagine with our desires!
God wants to do things right now with those desires!
When I was 7, my parents fostered a little boy named Jose. I immediately decided he was my baby. I sang him to sleep every night and woke him with a song every morning.
Then when I was 16, I met the most dreamy boy in my life - where I worked at a daycare
Mason - almost 2, neglected and sad
Would hold him for hours
Now, these seem like obvious now that God was doing something with that desire - but I didn’t see it then, as you may not either - but I promise it is there and it is time to get your running shoes laced up and start running your race
Before you go sprinting a mile tho, it would probably be smart to stretch, right?
We are going to talk about stretching tonight!
Body
Let’s look at our scripture:
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
Let’s observe what is going on here:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses...
What does this mean?
Therefore - what does that mean?
What’s it there for? This word means that what is about to be said is a response or effect of what was said before.
So we look back at Hebrews 11 and see what it is there for.
My Bible’s title for this chapter is “Faith in Action”
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
And there is so much more:
By faith Abel
By faith Enoch
By faith Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the Israelites, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jepthah, David, Samuel, the prophets
Read Hebrews 11:32-37 .
What did they all have in common? Faith
Their faith stretched them out to do incredible things!
What a great cloud of witnesses to look to
Application
How does this apply to me?
We need to look up to others and their faith to do great things to encourage us or stretch our Faith
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
We are surrounded by witnesses with great Faith
We need to learn about them - read about them - think about them
This is not an automatic thing - it takes time and effort - to learn about the past - read the Bible - see the faith of others and what God was able to do thru them - in order to STRETCH our Faith
Going to church/reading the Bible/hearing testimonies from others is not just about checking a list to say you did it just like running without stretching is stupid - people get hurt that way!!!
Prayer