Skip to content Your Race Counts: A Faith That Finishes May 13 · 36 min ...more
Your Race Counts: A Faith That Finishes
May 13, 2025 · 36 min
John Mark encouraged everyone to develop a faith that perseveres through life's challenges, highlighting how we can run with the right support system and let go of burdens that weigh us down.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton May 13, 2025 · 36 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
John Mark encouraged everyone to develop a faith that perseveres through life's challenges, highlighting how we can run with the right support system and let go of burdens that weigh us down. ...more Show the full description Show less John Mark encouraged everyone to develop a faith that perseveres through life's challenges, highlighting how we can run with the right support system and let go of burdens that weigh us down.
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A Faith That Finishes 0:00 Man, it has already been a, full day and a wonderful day as well. And so we welcome those of you who are in person, also online. We started a series a couple of weeks ago, entitled, Your Race0:12 Counts. And as we think about it, as we come to today, not only does our race count to our family, to God, to our church, but moms as we think about on this Mother's Day, probably no one's race0:23 counts more than you. We could spend a whole Sunday or a month of Sundays honoring moms and we wouldn't even touch or start to do it justice. And so moms, we are glad that you are here. We0:35 wanna honor you and love you, and your race counts more than most. You know, as I just think about it, as I thought about, the moms who might be in this room or perhaps the moms, that different types of moms that might0:47 be watching in online. There are a lot of different people out there. My guess is there are some in this room, that you are expecting. You are with child at some stage and man you're excited for0:59 next Mother's Day is gonna be your first mother or there are new moms, we had so many in both all of our services today, coming up. There are new moms, some of them it's a third child, some it's a first child.1:11 But there's no doubt. There are probably some ladies in this room and perhaps even online that, this is a hard day for you. Maybe you're like my mom who lost a son1:23 and others who maybe you've walked through a miscarry and, just like Gina, and we know this might be a season, a tough day for you. Might be someone here1:36 that you desperately want a child, but y'all haven't been able to conceive and have that child yet, and it's just a longing desire that God would move in your1:48 life and allow you to have children. Maybe there's some people in the room, maybe there's some single moms in this room, that this is your first Mother's Day to2:00 be what is referred to as a single mom. Maybe you're struggling, maybe you say I didn't want this, I didn't desire this. Maybe there's some step moms in the room. Maybe there's some moms that as you rolled2:12 in today that you just feel an overwhelming sense of failure. That it seems like boy, the last couple of weeks or months or maybe even the last year, things just haven't turned out well. Can I tell2:23 you this and encourage you with this, your race counts? And it truly matters. And so as we started this series a couple of weeks ago, your race counts, today I want to bring you2:35 a message entitled we want to learn to develop a faith that finishes. 1 that as we go through those hard miles and those hard seasons and those difficult times, that we'd have2:47 perseverance to the finish. Let's go back and read Hebrews chapter 12. Hopefully you have your app open, your Bible open. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 to 3. Here's what the writer of the book of Hebrews said. Therefore,2:58 since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, he's come right out of Hebrews chapter 11 where he's listed all the men and women of the faith. He says, let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin3:10 that so easily entangles us and let us run with perseverance the race that is marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Who for the joy set before him3:22 endured the cross, scorned its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Look at verse 3. So let's ponder him, let's consider him who endured such opposition from sinners3:34 so that we, so that us, when we look at Christ, we would not grow weary and not lose heart. That we want to have a faith that finishes. And my guess is, moms,3:46 there are seasons in your life that you feel like you're a great mom and I'm supermom and at other times you feel like, man, I'm just trying to make it through the day. And then sometimes you're like, I'm so proud of my3:57 kids and then other days you're like, I wish somebody would take my kids. Right? That's just kinda the way parenting goes. But hopefully on this day in this church, in this place, in your family, we would all4:09 take this verse to heart. Proverbs chapter 31 verse 28 says moms, her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her.4:22 You know, I don't know what stage of momhood that you were in. Gina just a couple of weeks ago entered that grandma stage. Right? That grandma stage, it's kind4:33 of, it's our understanding, we're looking forward to it. It's payback stage. Right? It's also where your kids begin to realize that what Gina told them 20 years ago was4:45 actually true. Right? But remember those stages of moms, that that you had that newborn and Gina was that that rookie mom, didn't really know much what to do. You're sitting there holding Jace or4:57 1 of our girls and they just kind of look over at you and the the baby's kind of side eye you. You know what I'm saying? It's just kind of And they're like, you really don't know what you're doing, do you? Nope, we got5:07 no clue. And it was in that time and she had read all the books and she was sanitizing everything. How many remember that? I think there were times that she would pull the pacifier out of our5:19 son's mouth, sanitize it before she put it back in. I'm like, that was the last place it was. Right? And we would get ready to go and she would pack this diaper bag that seemed to have everything5:31 in the kitchen sink. I wasn't sure when she had packed that diaper bag, if we were going out for a day trip or if she was fleeing the country. Right? I mean, you'd look at that and you're like, really? I mean, I I don't5:41 know what we're going. Then she moves into that toddler phase or toddler wrangler phase where now you got 4 kids, they can all walk, they can all get away from you. You're just 1, 2, 3, 4, and she's just trying to5:52 wrangle them. Here's what we notice, I don't know if you have any of these kids. You let a kid get in a quiet room and a marker, they can paint that wall more6:03 quicker than you possibly can imagine. You walk in, you go, I don't know how that happened. Well, you're looking right there. He's how it happened. That's how it happened right there. And then you move from that toddler6:14 phase to to more you manage the chaos. You're the chauffeur and and moms, y'all do such a great job and you're managing the chaos and we had 4 kids like y'all, many of y'all, and they were all in6:26 multiple sports and they were going here and going there and she always seemed to have it together. And we'd come to the end of a game and someone else needed to be at their game or at their cheer competition and she6:36 would oftentimes just look at me, maybe I was coaching, she would go, alright, you've got Jerrett and Jensen. And I would give her this. And I'd be driving to the next event and I'd get a call from her and she goes, do6:47 you have Jensen? I don't know. She ever done this, dad? She glance in the rear view mirror and start counting. And then I go, I don't. I'll6:59 turn around and go get her. And what would happen? Usually it was another mom to the rescue. How many of you know what I'm talking about? Well so and so's just gonna take her home, go get that game taken care of, we'll7:09 swing back by and pick that. So moms, y'all are the super moms for sure. Then our kids go off to college and your work's not done. Then Gina became the7:21 24 hour online therapist. How many of you know? Right? You ever, You ever been laying in bed as a mom and you have 1 of your kids, mom and dad, about the time you lay your head down on the pillow of bed and then all of a7:32 sudden that text ding goes off about midnight or 12 15 in the morning, what's the first thing that happens? Your heart stops. You're in full blown panic7:44 mode. What's going on? Oh no and this and that and Gina picks up the phone and we're both like just anticipating, well well well. And it's usually something small and she says, well just remember get7:55 some sleep, get some rest, do your devotion in the morning, man, you know, eat well and you'll be fine, right? Or you get that call at all hours of night, same thing. I remember,8:08 when our oldest Jace went off to college, he was always a really smart kid, didn't necessarily like school, but he didn't need to study. And so she goes up for mom's weekend. How many of you have ever been to a mom's8:19 weekend? Goes up for mom's weekend with him and he rolls around, he goes, you know, alright, here's the football stadium, here's where we practice lacrosse, here's where we do this, here's where we do that. And Gina8:29 after talking, she goes, well where's the library? I am not kidding. Halfway through his first semester, he says, I don't think we have a library.8:41 She looks at him with the side eye he looked at her with years ago and goes, pretty sure the University of Arkansas has a library? Alright. Now I could have followed him on where he was. He could find out every little8:53 pond to drop his kayak in so he could fish, but he was halfway through the semester and didn't know they had a library. Right? And so you become that online and now she's moved into, like we say, the grandparents9:04 stage. That grandma, it is payback, it is see what I told you is true. You know, we're honoring moms today and hopefully you're gonna honor moms today, but if9:16 you go back to Jesus, 1 of the last things Jesus did from the cross was honor moms. We just moved through Easter and we always have a Good Friday service and our Good9:28 Friday service, we always have different speakers that talk about those 7 last cries from the cross that Jesus delivered. But if you look in John Chapter 19 Verse 26, 1 of those had to do with his9:40 mom and the love he had for his mom. And so let's pick it up, let me just read it to you in John chapter 19 verse 26. It says when Jesus saw his mother there and the disciples who loved9:52 him standing nearby, all the other disciples had gone. John is clearly standing there, his mom showed up. That is the 1 thing we know about moms. When the world leaves, your momma's gonna be there.10:04 Your momma's gonna show up. And he said to her, woman, here is your son. Jesus was saying, not me, it's John. And to the disciples he said to the disciples he said, here's your mother. From that time on, the10:16 disciple he loved, John, took her into his home. And so as we think about honoring moms today and making sure you don't lose heart, and10:28 we as men, dads, fathers, brothers, we just get to listen in to the encouragement and challenge of mind, how do we develop a faith that finishes? Thought number 1 is this, we have to make sure we're running with the10:39 right team. We have to make sure we're running with the right team. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about that cloud of witnesses, but there's not only people that we run for, but there are also people we run with. And10:50 so notice what he says, Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1. He says, therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, those are people who have gone before us. Those family, people of faith,11:01 all those in Hebrews chapter 11 that are looking down on us. But not only are they our examples, but there are others that we want to run with. If you go into the old testaments, there's amazing story11:13 of, of Ruth and Naomi. And the aligned allegiance that they ultimately had for each other. That Naomi and her husband and her 2 sons, because there was11:25 a famine in Bethlehem, left Bethlehem and went to a place called Moab. And when they went over to Moab, they found these 2 daughter in laws and 1 of them was a girl named Ruth. And so as they journeyed through, some11:37 tragedy happened that were within a matter of months. Naomi lost her husband and both of her sons and Ruth lost her father-in-law and her husband.11:50 And at that point, they could have divided and gone different ways. Naomi did actually try to say to Ruth, Ruth I am clearly not blessed. I'm gonna be a burden on people the rest of my life. I12:02 need to run my race alone. And Naomi looks at Ruth and says, I'm gonna go back to Bethlehem, I'm gonna be with my people, you need to go back to your people. And I love these words of Ruth. She says, no, I'm choosing12:14 to run with you. Moms, who are you running with right now? Because I'll promise you, who you're running with will probably determine where you end up.12:26 And I love what happened that Ruth said, listen, I'm not gonna go back to my family. She said, Naomi Naomi I know you're burdened. I know you've been through tragedy. Naomi had12:38 changed her name from Naomi to bitterness, but Ruth said I choose to run with you. And I love these words. Your people will be my people and12:50 your God will be my God. Man, that is a choice. That is determining who you're gonna run the race with. Sure enough, so here you have these 2 widows,13:02 one's a daughter-in-law widow, one's the mom widow, that they are making their way back to Bethlehem with nothing but each other and a choice to run with each other13:14 and with their God. And so they come back and they're wondering what are they gonna do? Neither 1 of them really have a have the ability to, to grow a crop or buy a field or or even buy13:26 food and Naomi looks at Ruth. Ruth said, what can I do to get some money? And Naomi says, listen, the way God set it up in his kingdom is if there is a wealthy land owner or a wealthy farmer out13:38 there, he that farmer, when he gleans the field, when he gleans the grain of the field, he's not supposed to touch the corners. He can have all the profit and all the grain from the middle part of the field, but he's13:49 supposed to leave the corners for the widows and orphans. So Naomi says, you might just go down and start walking down the path and see if someone has followed God's word and created some margins for14:01 those who are less well off. And that's exactly what Ruth finds out. She goes and starts cleaning in the field, she gathers food and she comes home and cooks for her mother-in-law, gathers food, comes home and cooks for14:12 her mother-in-law. All of a sudden a guy named Boaz, the wealthy landowner, takes notice of her. He says, who is that? She's got nothing. But she chose to run with the right people and14:24 serve the right God. Boaz, you know the rest of the story, he takes notice of her, calls her in, ultimately ends up making her his wife. She has a child. That child has a14:36 child, that child has a son named David, who's a king and now all of a sudden this woman, because she chose to run with the right people, finds14:48 herself in the line, in the lineage of the Messiah. You say alright pastor, I've been through some stuff. How do I choose to run with the right people? Let me give you a couple15:00 thoughts, right? Couple thoughts. Number 1, find yourself a God centered community. A church that preaches God's word but it's beyond that. Find15:11 yourself in a life group, ladies, men, find yourself in a life group of other people that are pursuing the right things, that are chasing the right things, that are saying listen, I want to be your people, you're gonna15:22 be my people, but we're ultimately gonna serve God. Find your way to our women's ministry and some of our women's Bible studies. So find your way first and foremost, if you are going to run with the right people, find15:32 yourself in a God centered community. Here's number 2, surround yourself with some faith filled voices, some mentors who will speak truth into your life, some15:44 people that have have been going down a path, they're a little further down the way than you are and they can speak to you and say listen, I've been there. It's hard. But if you keep running with the right people and you15:56 keep running in the right direction, you're gonna end up ultimately running to the right place. And so we want to find ourselves with people, the faith that are speaking into our lives. And then second, then thirdly, I16:07 want to encourage you, celebrate the wins. See the last loss you had, it's not what defines you. You need to start looking for new16:19 wins and say God I want you to bless me, teach me how to cope with the new situation I'm in, the new space and the place I am. That was a beautiful thing about Ruth and Naomi. They'd lost all16:31 the relationships in their family that really they thought mattered. But they found something far greater because they just trusted God and they spent time in his place. That's the impact that ladies can16:42 have. She ended up in the line and lineage of Jesus. Fast forward to the new testament. Paul is talking to young Timothy. And he's saying Timothy, you have an amazing faith, but he also says, I know16:54 why you have an amazing faith. And it wasn't your father. We don't know much about Timothy's father, but he clearly wasn't a person of faith. But what we do know is that Timothy had a godly grandmother and a godly17:05 mother. Look at it in second Timothy chapter 1 verse 5 as you, just pick it up. Here's what it says. Paul says, Timothy, I'm reminded of the sincere faith that you have. But I'm also reminded that17:17 it first lived in your grandmother Lois and then in your mother Eunice, that is a spiritual legacy that is being created by ladies. And so ladies, I wanna encourage you. If your husband doesn't come17:29 to church or he's not part of carrying the spiritual banner, you do your part. You do your thing. Because God's gonna honor that and I love this. Not only does God honor their spiritual legacy,17:41 Paul remembers it. That it was your grandmother and it was your mother that paved the way and he goes I'm persuaded that that faith now lives in you. Ladies, if you are the only17:53 ones carrying the spiritual mantle for your children or for your family, I want to encourage you to keep running. Keep praying for your husband. Keep praying for that man in your life, that he'll show up.18:05 But also understand it's been that way for a long time, but God will still choose to use you with or without him. You go back to the Old Testament book of Judges, in Judges chapter 4 and 5.18:16 What happened when the children of Israel went into the promised land? They didn't have a king yet. And so when the enemies would attack them, God would raise up a judge and that judge, would then lead the children18:28 of Israel to rally the troops and fend off the enemy. And if you go to Judges chapter 4, early in the book of Judges, there is a judge, the most powerful person, most honest judge in the nation was a was a lady18:40 named Deborah. And their enemy attacked them and their king's name was Sisera. And as he attacks them, Deborah looks at the leader of the military, the soldiers, his name was18:52 Barak. She looks at Barak, said do your job. We're being slaughtered, we're being annihilated. They're taking our crops. She looks at him and says, do your19:04 job. And he says, I'm only willing to do my job if you will come with me. So Barak and all the other men in Israel had failed and19:16 Barak finally says Deborah, if you'll come with me, if you'll lead the charge, I'll follow you. And she pauses and she looks at him and says, I'm gonna lead the charge, we're gonna get the victory. But the victory's not19:27 gonna go to you, it's gonna go to ladies around you. If you go read Judges chapter 4 and 5, it's an incredible story, really vivid story. Deborah leads Barak, Barak ultimately they19:38 overthrow Cicero's Cicero's army. Cicero the king has to get off his horse and just flees and runs. And he runs to a lady's tent. If you want to read an incredibly vivid story,19:50 a lady's tent named Jael. Jael's just out there and all of a sudden the enemy king shows up at her place and he looks at her and thinks he can boss her around. Says, listen, I want you to feed me. Give me a place to20:01 rest. I'm exhausted from being on the run. And so what did Jael do? Oh, okay. Here's some milk and here's some food, here's some things. Go right over there and lay down. Well, he goes over and lays down. She takes a20:12 tent peg and drives it through his skull while he's asleep. So guys, little warning, don't mouth off to your wife around bedtime.20:24 Right? Do not let the sun go down on your anger, or the sun might not come up. But guess who got this, got all the glory in that story? It was Deborah and it was Jael, it wasn't20:36 Barak. So men, I want to tell you, the thing for us not to do to say they've got this, the thing for us to do is for us to show up. But ladies, I know there's a lot of you. You're in here20:47 in your place and if we aren't careful, we can have a tendency to want to compare ourselves. Compare our kids. Let me just remind you of what Paul saw said in Galatians chapter20:59 6. Paul says each of you should just test your own actions. Just look at yourself. Don't compare yourself. Then you can take pride in themselves alone21:11 without comparing themselves to someone else, for each 1 should carry their own load. Moms, I think that there are times out there that we can look around and we can say well they seem to be doing so21:23 much of a better job or their kids are this or their kids come to church and when they come to church all the boys have suits on, the girls have dresses. When they come to you don't know if your kids have clothes on,21:32 right? And And we always want to compare. Moms, don't compare yourself to someone else. Man, you be who God created you to be. Test your own action. There are, there are certainly some single moms in here21:44 that a year ago you weren't a single mom, and it wasn't your fault. Don't sit here and compare your marriage or your singleness to other people's marriedness. Man, God's got a21:56 path and a plan for you. So thought number 1 is run with the right people. Thought number 2 is lay down those unhelpful weights. Whatever it is in your life that is just a burden,22:08 maybe it's a past shame, it's guilt, it's, it's something else. It can be a lot of things. Notice what the writer of the book of Hebrews says, let us throw off, we've got to make a choice to throw off anything that's a22:19 distraction, anything that is sin or guilt. Throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us. You say, but pastor, you have no idea. I'm single and22:31 it was my fault. Or I haven't been a good mom and it's my fault. Pastor, you have no idea the shame and the guilt and that you're asking me to take away and lay off. Can I tell you? There's a22:42 story in the New Testament that Jesus had an encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. You can go read it in John chapter 4. You want to talk about some weight? She had some weight.22:54 When Jesus shows up and encounters this woman at the well, he could have gone, he was going from Jerusalem up to Galilee. He could have gone around Samaria, but he chose to go right through it. He stops at a well because23:06 he's gonna get some water and all of a sudden this Samaritan woman rolls out at noon and that's a key part of the story. When she begins to talk to Jesus, she look He looks at her and Jesus23:18 acknowledges her immorality. She had some weight. She goes, listen, I'm really not very good at this marriage thing. And Jesus goes, I know you've had 5 husbands23:30 and the dude you're living with right now, he's not even your husband. She had some weight. She had some moral failure. But Jesus offered her grace and23:42 offered her love. Not only that, she was a social reject. Remember, at noon she went out for water. If you go look historically at, ancient times, ladies would go out in groups to the water in the morning and the23:54 evening. By her going out at noon meant 1 of a couple of things. Either the rest of the ladies in the village, the Samaritan village, had rejected her, or24:06 she was in so much guilt and so much shame for what she had done and with the life that she had lived, that she chose to avoid people. Who knows, maybe she had been there the day before or24:18 a couple of days before and as she's just getting water, she hears the other ladies talking about that that's the 1. Wonder how this relationship is gonna work out.24:30 But for some reason, she is a reject, she's rejected, she isolated, she's alone, she's an outcast, she's avoiding people somehow, but Jesus has a conversation with her.24:42 She was a Samaritan. Jews didn't talk to Samaritans, they didn't like Samaritans. Not only that, if you go and read the encounter in John chapter 4, she had a lot of doubt in her24:54 life. I mean she wasn't tapped in religiously, she wasn't tapped in spiritually, she was kind of confused. She starts looking at Jesus and said, I know there's supposed to be a messiah and this and that. And then25:06 she goes, but I don't know where to worship. I don't know how to worship. She goes, your people say, well, we should worship on that mountain and my people say we should worship on this mountain. Which 1 is it? So think25:16 about this lady, all the entanglements. Moral failure, sin, divorce, everything. She was a Samaritan, she was isolated, she was rejected by others. And now she's got spiritual25:27 confusion, doubt, struggle. And Jesus has a conversation with her. You know what Jesus reminded her? No label is too great25:40 for God's grace not to overwhelm it. Maybe there's some ladies in here, there's some people online perhaps even, that you've got some labels from your past failures. Or maybe some25:51 labels in your current failures, and you feel a bit like an outcast. Don't ever doubt that God's grace is greater than any label that you can26:03 wear right now. So Jesus has a conversation with this Samaritan woman, she never saw it coming, but Jesus showed up. Go read the story, you know what the result was?26:16 Once she felt the favor and the grace of God, she went back to the village and became the village evangelist. She says I have met the Messiah, I know him, and she brings them all out. So26:28 this lady who could have said I'm done, I have so much sin, so many entanglements, so many failures in my past, instead embraces God's grace and God's love and she leads the ability a26:40 village to faith. And maybe there are some of you here that you're in that season of your life and you wonder what you've done or what you've been through or how life has treated you. You wonder if God26:51 can use you. Can I tell you absolutely in a powerful and a real way? I love what Paul says talking about getting rid of the sin and the weight and she changes her life. Paul said in Galatians chapter27:03 5 verse 1, he says it is for freedom that Christ set you free. So you might just kind of think, okay, that's kind of a cool thought. But there's really 227:15 things communicated there. It was for freedom that Christ set you free. Alright, the first kind of freedom that you and I have is forgiveness of sins. I love God's word, it says27:27 if we are faithful to confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of all of our sins. So certainly that freedom and free has to do first and foremost with forgiveness.27:39 But it also has to do with freedom as I journey forward. Yes, I have a past. This woman at the well has a past. Everybody in here has a past. But remember, it was for freedom that Christ set us free. You say, well how27:51 am I truly set free? Let me give you a couple thoughts. Thought number 1, acknowledge your sin. Identify your problems. Man,28:03 if you look back on your life and you say man, I've got to own this, this was my fault, I can't blame someone else, this is my fault. Acknowledge it. That this was a sin and maybe it's a label28:15 that, that will technically never go away. Maybe it's a divorce or it's this or that. Hey, that's just a label. And just be honest about it. Here's the second thing that you need to do, confess28:27 it. Man, just say God, you know, I blew this marriage up or I did this or I destroyed that or I struggle with this. Man, just confess your sin and accept28:39 forgiveness. Then build some barriers so you won't go back to that sin. So you won't go back to that trough and sin again. So I identify28:50 it, I confess it, then I build some barriers so I can't go backwards. Then man, I'm gonna say I'm gonna get away from this label, but I'm gonna do this by what? Here's the next idea. Start29:02 creating new godly stories. Did you get it? Start creating new godly stories. You say, what does that mean? Well, we want to create a story starting29:14 today so as I journey the next week or month or year or decade or whatever, that I am creating new godly stories. That somewhere down the line, we might look back and say, man, someone might29:26 say, you ever been through a divorce? Yep. But I've created godly stories today. In my marriage, with my kids, with my family. Maybe there's someone29:38 here today that you're struggling with some sort of addiction or something like that. Man, identify it, confess it, build barriers to going back, and start creating new stories. See, can you imagine, we don't follow it29:49 past John chapter 4. What about this woman at the well? If you looked at her past, the story wasn't gonna end well. Then all of a sudden, the whole village comes out and follows30:01 Christ. She becomes a village evangelist. What was the new story? You know that girl that we used to not talk to, that we all, the ladies didn't even spend time at the water well with, that she had 5 different husbands30:12 and the guy she lived with? She is now so pure and so righteous and she is encouraging others. She shows up at the water well encouraging others that are30:26 breathing, and if I'm still breathing, we still have an opportunity to rewrite history. But part of that is that we have to lay down those things that hinder30:38 us. Here's number 3 and this is where we're gonna stop, because and I want to get here, I know we're a little long, but you have to endure some hard miles.30:49 Folks, sometimes we just have to endure some hard miles. How many of you know what I'm talking about? If you've ever lost a child or walking through a miscarriage, you've been through a31:01 divorce or you've been through this or something else has happened or you've lost your spouse. I'm not going to kid you as your pastor, those are hard miles. Part of31:13 allow, what allows us to have a faith that finishes when we go through those hard miles, jump back in and notice what it says, Hebrews, and let us run with perseverance the race that is marked out for us. Marked31:25 out for us kind of also says everybody has a different race. Whatever you do, don't compare your course with someone else's course. Don't compare your race with someone else's race. We're never at31:37 the same place, we're never at the same, running at the same pace or at the place, man, we are just running our own way. Endure those hard miles. If you go back to31:49 first Samuel, there was a guy who was a righteous man. His name was Elkanah. He married his first wife and her name was Hannah. Hannah, we are told,32:00 prayed and worshiped and loved God, and prayed and worshiped and loved God, prayed and worshiped and loved God, but she was barren for years. Now we don't know why, we're not told in this story,32:12 but perhaps it was because she was barren, Elkanah went out and married a second wife, Peninnah. And guess what? Peninnah immediately starts having kids.32:25 Especially in those days, if you didn't have children, others would use it against you just like the woman at the well. And so Peninnah would would pick on Hannah. Hannah would just faithfully go32:36 down and pray and she would cry out to God, she would beg God, and she would say God, give me children. She'd come back and Pen and I would show off her kids and show off the portrait, and she would go clearly,32:49 God loves me more than you. Okay, let me stop before I finish telling you this story. Don't ever confuse blessings in your life with God's favor in your life. Does that33:01 make sense? Because let me tell you what, if you read this story, Hannah was enduring a hard mile.33:13 And this other lady was chastising her and and attacking her and criticizing her as not being 1 who is loved by God. Child of God, ladies, don't you ever33:26 question God's goodness and love in the middle of those hard miles, and if you are blessed, don't ever use your blessing to spite others. All Hannah could do was33:38 continue to go down and pray and worship, and pray and worship. And she cried out to the Lord for a child and eventually God gave her a child. Let33:50 me give you a character sketch of these 2 ladies. Peninnai, you never hear anything more from her after first Samuel chapter 1. We're34:02 never told she prayed, we're never told she worshiped, we're never told that she thanked God for the gifts that she had. All she wanted to do is look down on other people. Hannah had a son34:13 named Samuel that became 1 of the greatest spiritual leaders in Israel's history, but it came after the hard mile. Does that make sense?34:26 And some of you are in the middle of a hard mile and I want to encourage you when you are running, you are running alone, you're running through something hard, just understand. Say God, I don't know what you're gonna34:36 do, but here's what I'm not gonna do, God. In the middle of this hard mile, just like Hannah, I'm not gonna stop worshiping, I'm not gonna stop praying, I am not gonna stop showing up to God's house,34:48 because I believe when I get through this hard mile, God's going to use me to be a blessing to other people. So child of God, when we leave here today, we leave determined to35:00 have a faith that finishes. We need to choose who we run with and choose it well. We need to lay aside all the shame, all the guilt, all the bitterness, all everything, and then thirdly,35:12 we have to endure the hard mile, because it's after the hard mile that the blessing comes. Let's pray. God, thank you so much for just an opportunity to look at some of the women in Scripture who35:24 showed us so much. God, thank you so much for the women, the ladies that are in this room, the ladies that are online. God, I pray that this would be a day that our35:36 children, for moms, rise up and call her blessed, her husband also. God, my prayer in my heart goes out to those lonely moms today, that they would know of35:48 Your grace and Your love. God, for that mom that is walking through the walls right now, that that that lady who who longs to have a child but hasn't yet, this is her hard35:59 mile. But God, whatever it is, pray that moms know that they are honored by You, by Cottonwood Creek. In Jesus' name we pray,36:11 Amen and Amen.In this video 0:00 A Faith That Finishes101K followers
John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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