Skip to content Put On Your Running Shoes - Part B Jan 26 · 26 min ...more
Put On Your Running Shoes - Part B
January 26, 2026 · 26 min
Why do believers need each other? Pastor Skip explains that just as runners run better together—community is God’s plan for helping you grow stronger in your faith.
Series Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast January 26, 2026 · 26 min · Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast
Why do believers need each other? Pastor Skip explains that just as runners run better together—community is God’s plan for helping you grow stronger in your faith. ...more Show the full description Show less Why do believers need each other? Pastor Skip explains that just as runners run better together—community is God’s plan for helping you grow stronger in your faith.
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Skip Heitzig ministers to over 15,000 people as senior pastor of Calvary Church in Albuquerque. He reaches out to thousands across the nation and throughout the
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0:01 This is connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at connect with Skip, our mission is to help you know God's word and apply it to your life through clear, practical bible teaching and real0:13 encouragement every day. And if you'd like to keep growing in your walk with Jesus, sign up for pastor Skip's free weekly devotional. You'll receive biblical insight, teaching highlights, and exclusive0:24 resource offers straight to your inbox. Everything designed to help you stay strong in your faith. It only takes a minute to sign up. Go to connect with skip dot com and join the list today. That's0:36 connect with skip dot com. Now let's dive into today's teaching from pastor Skip Heitzig.0:43 Winners become winners because they concentrate on 1 thing, 1 thing. They narrow their focus on 1 thing.0:56 I've discovered something in watching athletes over the years. Those who are professional athletes, very proficient, they typically are proficient at only 1 thing. Rarely1:08 do you find athletes that can do as well in multiple sports. Example, when you hear the name Charles Barkley, what sport do you think of? Basketball. Great1:20 basketball. He's good at that 1 thing. Have you ever seen his golf swing? So don't do it now, please. But go home and Google Charles Barkley golf swing and watch it. You'll get the point. You go, oh, my1:31 goodness. Yeah, this is why he's not in the golf circuit. But he is great at what he did. That 1 thing he excels at. Michael Jordan, same thing,1:43 excellent. But he decided after he retired basketball that he was going to try his hand at baseball. Can I just put it this way? A less than impressive record. Few athletes are1:55 good at multiple sports, and it's best they have discovered if they concentrate on 1 thing. Nehemiah in the Old Testament understood this principle. When he came to Jerusalem, he came to do2:07 1 thing, to build the wall. There was a lot of other things that required his attention, but he didn't care. He focused on 1 thing. He was2:19 tempted to meet with different people who wanted to voice their concerns, meet with enemies who wanted to have private meetings with him. And here is his response. I am doing a great work. I cannot stop2:31 to come down and meet with you. To which they probably thought, how rude. I need to meet with Nehemiah. I need to talk to Nehemiah. And Nehemiah said, no, I'm about 1 thing, and2:43 that is building this wall. 1 of the greatest problems we all have in life is that we tend to spread ourselves so thin, and we fail to be effective2:54 at 1 thing. E. Stanley Jones, the great missionary and theologian, said, your capacity to say no will determine your capacity to say3:06 yes to greater things. I've discovered that no is a holy word. Skip, can you do this? No. Why not? Because I'm doing that 13:18 thing. So picture this. College class in a business college. The professor wants to teach time management3:30 to his students. So he goes up to the lectern on a class day, he says, class, we're going to have a quiz. He reaches down, gets a gallon3:41 largemouth Mason jar, sets it on the lectern. Then he takes about a dozen fist sized rocks and places them inside the gallon3:53 mason jar, filling it all the way up to the top. The students watch him. The professor then said, students, is this jar full? And they said, yes. He said,4:05 really? He reached down, took a little bucket of pebbles, and began to pour the gravel, the gravel pebbles, over the rocks. The4:16 pebbles found the spaces between the large rocks. And he did that, filled it all the way up to the top. And then he asked them again, is the jar full? Well, were catching on4:28 by now. They said, no. He said, good. He reached down again. This time he took sand and poured the sand over the pebbles and over the large rocks all the way up to4:39 the brim, and it held quite a bit. And he asked again, he goes, class, is the jar full? And they all in unison said, no. And he said, good. This time he reached down, took4:51 some water in a pitcher, and poured the water till it went all the way up to the top. Now, he said, do you understand what my point is in this little analogy?5:03 And 1 very energetic student said, yes, that no matter how full your schedule is, you can always fit more in. He said, no, that is not the point of this exercise.5:16 The point is this if you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all. He was teaching them time management5:28 and the priority of putting first things first. So for Paul the Apostle, Jesus Christ and his will for his life, those were the big rocks. That came first.5:40 I'm going to place those first. Everything else takes a back seat. So my question is, what things do you need to say no to so that you can say yes to what he has for you?5:53 Because the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. So a winner needs dissatisfaction. A winner needs concentration. A third6:04 essential is that a winner needs direction. Back again to verse 13, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, 1 thing and here it is forgetting6:16 those things which are behind and reaching where? Forward. Moving forward to those things which are ahead. Over the years,6:28 you've heard me quote a book called Along Obedience in the Same Direction. It's become a Christian classic. I've just loved the title. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. I thought that just epitomizes the Christian6:40 life. However, I might add by saying, you need not just a long obedience in the same direction, you need a long obedience in the right direction.6:52 Because you can go a long distance in the wrong direction. A few years ago in 20 13, January, a 67 year old Belgian woman by the name of7:04 Sabine Moreau drove to Brussels, Belgium, 90 miles away to pick up her friend. She entered the GPS coordinates in her little unit, and then7:16 she drove and drove and drove all the way to Croatia, 1000 miles away, crossing 5 international borders,7:28 stopping for gas, stopping to rest, stopping for gas. And she drove and drove. Then she got to Zagreb, Croatia, the capital. And she thought, you know, I think I should turn around.7:40 She'd been going a long time in the wrong direction. You need to make sure you're traveling on the right road in the right direction. So Paul is reaching7:52 forward or reaching ahead to what he calls later on the upward call or the heavenward call. Now, to do that effectively, notice what he says, forgetting8:04 those things which are behind. To run effectively into the future, you need to let go of your past. You need to let go of it. Can you8:16 imagine a runner trying to go forward 1 direction while looking that way the whole time? What's going to happen? Fall flat. You can't run the Christian race always thinking8:28 about your past. And so he says forgetting those things. Now, in the Bible, forget doesn't mean to lose your memory.8:40 It doesn't mean a failure to recall. It actually means don't let it influence you. When it says forget about it, forget about it, it means don't let that8:52 past influence your present. Here's an example. God says in the Bible, their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more. That does not9:03 mean that God has a bad memory, that is he a memory lapse. It simply means that he no longer is influenced by their past in dealing with them in the present. He doesn't hold9:15 their sins against them any longer. So your past is your past. All the king's horses and all the king's men can't put your past back together again.9:27 You've fallen. You've blown it. You made mistakes. Okay, leave it. Learn from it and go forward, forgetting those things which are behind. If there's 1 person in the Bible9:39 that epitomizes this better than anybody else, it's Joseph. Joseph had been maltreated by his brothers. They were jealous. They sold him to the Midianites. The Midianites took him to Egypt. He was falsely accused. He9:51 spent time in jail. You know the story. Eventually, he becomes the second most powerful man in Egypt. And the day comes when his brothers meet him face to face,10:02 the day when Joseph could have looked at them and thought, you guys have been waiting for a long time through this day, and now you're going to get yours.10:15 No, Joseph had forgotten the past. And he said to them, but as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about10:27 as it is this day to save many people alive. If you want to be miserable, live your life looking back over your shoulder.10:40 If you want to live well, look forward, reach forward, forget the past. So you need dissatisfaction, concentration. You need direction.10:52 A fourth essential is dedication. Verse 12, you'll notice what he says. Not that I've already attained nor am already perfected, but I notice the word I what?11:04 I press. I press on. I press on that I may lay hold of Christ, or that which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me. Verse 14, I11:16 press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. The idea of press means I exert11:28 myself. I work up a sweat. So think of the Olympics when the camera zooms into the face of the runner, sweat pouring down his or her face. A grueling look.11:40 Am I doing all right? Is that grueling enough? You can see they're pressing, man. They're working hard. They're exerting themselves every fiber of their body, every bit of their strength.11:52 But there's something else I want you to see how this fits. The word he uses for press twice, I press, I press is the same word he uses back in verse12:04 6. So look at verse 6 for a moment. He's describing his previous life. He's going through the little litany of his pedigree. And in verse 6, he says, concerning12:15 zeal, persecuting the church. You see that? The word persecuting is the exact same word as I press. I press.12:27 It's the word dioco or diocon. And so here it's translated, I persecuted the church. Now he's saying, I press.12:37 You're listening to connect with Skip Heitzig. Every day, your generosity helps reach more people with God's word, changing lives through clear, practical bible teaching. And this month, as you grow12:49 in your own faith and leadership, we wanna thank you with a powerful new resource, the making of a biblical leader, a practical guide to leading others by Robert l Furrow. This13:01 inspiring book featuring chapters from Skip and Lenya Heitzig, Gary Hamrick, Daniel Fusco, and others shows how to lead with integrity, humility, and a servant's heart following13:12 Christ's example. Request your copy when you give 50 dollars or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 8 0 0 9 2 2 1 8 8 8 or visit connectwithskip13:24 dot com slash offer. Now let's return to today's teaching.13:29 What he is saying is this. The same energy that I once put into ruining the church, I now put into running the church. The same level of energy I had13:41 before I was an unbeliever at all the stuff I was into, I expand now in the right direction. No 1 becomes a winning athlete by attending lectures from the13:53 coach or looking at YouTube videos. At some point, you've got to actually get on the track and train and exert and press to be a winning14:05 athlete. I wonder if our lives would be different, if we put as much dedication into our spiritual life as we put into14:16 golfing, fishing, shopping, social media. I wonder if it would be any different at all. Oh, no, it'd be the same. Paul's saying, all of the energy I once put into that, I now14:28 put into this. I press. I press. And what does he press for? He says, the prize verse 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus.14:41 Now, in the amazing race, they got 1000000 dollars for the prize. In the Olympics 2000 years ago, you know what they got for winning the race? They got a plant stuck on their head. Now,14:53 got a piece of ivy, an ivy branch made into a little crown. It was a little laurel wreathed crown. They put the crown on the head, and everybody went Awesome. Good job. See you.15:05 Bye. You got a plant. Go home. What kind of a prize do we get? A twofold prize. The prize of knowing our life purpose, verse 12.15:17 He says, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. I'm pursuing, says Paul, the reason for which Christ once15:28 pursued me. I want to know why I was saved on the Damascus road and fully realize in my life the reason that I'm on this earth. That's the idea. I want to lay hold of that for which he's15:40 laid hold of me. So it's been said the 2 greatest days of your life are the day you were born and the day you discovered what you were born for. There's a real prize into knowing why15:52 I exist on this earth. What is God's plan for my life? The second prize is the prize of knowing eternal joy. Verse 14, he calls it the16:03 upward call or the heavenward call in Christ Jesus. He's called to glory. 1 day, you're going to cross the ultimate finish line, by death or16:15 by rapture. And you're going to be met there by your coach, Jesus, who will receive you into his eternal home. That's a good prize. The prize of knowing why I'm here16:27 on the earth and the prize of eternal joy in heaven. So you need dissatisfaction, concentration, direction, dedication.16:39 Finally, you need collaboration, collaboration. Look at verse 15. Therefore, let us I'm going to emphasize a few words here. As many are as16:51 mature, have this mind. And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the17:02 same rule. Let us be of the same mind. So he's writing to the Philippians, including them in the running now. Us, we, us,17:14 us. Now, we don't exactly know what Paul was referring to when he says, look, there's people who think otherwise, but God will reveal this to him. It could be that he was talking to17:26 them about Judaizers, perfectionists, who said, you can, by your own works, become morally perfect. Or on the other hand, some commentators think there were Christians who had grown apathetic.17:38 They'd sort of gotten off the race track. They're in the bleachers. They said, I've fallen enough times. I'm just going to let go and let God. I'm not going to exert any energy. I'm just going to mosey my life through,17:48 maybe attend church from time to time, and hope I go to heaven. So Paul says, if they think otherwise, I trust that God is big enough to reveal that to them.18:01 But the point I want to make is the usage of the word us and we, us and us. And here's the truth. Runners do better with other runners.18:14 You can run alone and you can train alone, but you will always do better. You will up your game, so to speak, when you have other runners who are there to inspire you, encourage you, train you by the way they run, hold18:26 you accountable. Come on, pick it up. You can do a little bit better than that. You'll always do better with other runners. Now, believers have gotten off the track18:37 altogether. They're thinking, you know what? I've tried it. I'm not good at the Christian life. I've stumbled. I've fallen. So now I'm just going to be a spectator from the side of the track watching you guys run.18:49 And not only will I watch you guys run, but if you don't run very well, I'll criticize the way you run. Because I'm really good at observing how people ought to live. I can't do that myself, and I won't. But19:01 I'll make sure you know that you didn't do it right. So that's how Americans do sports, by the way. 1 sports fan said, sports like baseball, football, basketball, and hockey develop your19:13 muscles. That's why Americans have the strongest eyes in the world. We're good at watching. We're good at being a spectator. And we're the dude who says, if that guy strikes out, you're19:24 a loser, while we eat our popcorn and the batter gets struck out. Well, he's on the field, buckaroo. You're not. So put on your running19:36 shoes, get in the race, or for some of you, get back on the track and stay on track. And just keep19:48 going. Oh, but I've fallen. It's Okay. Just keep going. Oh, but I'm disqualified. Just get up and keep going. I want to close with the most fascinating illustration, and by the way, a20:00 true story. Did you know that the world's longest and toughest race is an ultra marathon that is 543.7 miles?20:14 Running 543.7 miles. It's the ultra marathon that begins in Sydney, Australia, and ends in Melbourne, Australia. So in 19 83,20:27 150 world class athletes converge on Sydney to begin this race. They're in shape, man. They got the gear on. You can look at them, but these guys are super20:39 fit. Up walks, into the crowd walks, a 61 year old toothless potato farmer,20:50 shepherd potato farmer, 61 years old, no teeth, overalls, galoshes over his work boots. And he comes walking21:02 up, and people thought, Okay, he's a local guy to watch the race. Oh, no, no, no, no. He wants to run the race. He walks up to the table, demands a number. And they looked at him like, you've got to be kidding, right?21:14 I mean, you won't make it a mile. They give him number 64, and the gun goes off. Now, his name was Cliff Young. Cliff Young21:26 here's the backstory grew up on a farm, 2000 acre farm, and was in charge as a young guy of watching out and keeping in check 200021:37 sheep on 2000 acres. On that farm, they did not have 4 wheel drive vehicles. They didn't even have horses. When storms came in, Cliff would go out there and21:49 run to herd those sheep. It sometimes took him 2 to 3 days of running around out there to get them all where they need to be. So the race22:00 begins. Cliff Young starts the race. Gun goes off. Now, when he begins, everybody starts laughing because this is how they described22:12 it. He looked like he had this leisurely odd shuffle. That's how he was running. This is Cliff Young running 500 miles in22:23 galoshes over work boots. This leisurely odd shuffle. That's how they described it. Okay. 5 days, 15 hours, 4 minutes later, Cliff22:35 Young shuffled across the finish line in first place. He won the race. Now, he didn't win it by a few seconds.22:47 He didn't win it by a few minutes. The nearest runner behind him was 9 hours and 56 minutes behind him, almost 10 hours behind him.22:59 Pray tell, how did he win this race? Well, to run this ultra marathon, the runners had been conditioned to run 18 hours,23:11 18 hours. Some of us can't run 18 minutes. They would run 18 straight hours and then go to sleep for 6 hours. Do that for 5 days. Eighteen:six,23:23 eighteen:six, eighteen:six. That's how they trained. Well, nobody told Cliff Young. So he ran straight without sleeping for 5 days, 1523:34 hours, and 4 minutes, and crossed the finish line in first place, became a national hero. Interestingly, professional runners began to study and experiment with23:46 Cliff Shuffle. How did he do that? That's like the weirdest thing ever. And he won doing that. And so they started studying it. Many long distance runners23:58 now have adopted it for its aerodynamic and energy efficiency. Go figure. What's my point? Victory comes by24:10 endurance. Hebrews chapter 12, let us lay aside every weight and sin that easily besets us, and let's run with endurance the race that is set before us. The Christian24:22 life is not 100 yard dash. It's not even a marathon, baby. It's an ultra marathon. And if all you got is this, that's Okay. Just keep doing that. I mean, you don't have to impress24:34 us with Nike and all this kind of cool stuff. Just just do that. Just keep going. Just keep going. Thanks24:44 for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember that your generosity helps share God's word around the world, bringing truth and hope to people who need Jesus. And this24:56 month, we'll send you the making of a biblical leader, a practical guide to leading others by Robert L. Furrow as our thanks for your gift. With chapters from Skip and Lenya Heitzig and other trusted25:08 pastors, this book will equip you to lead with integrity and purpose in 20 26 and beyond. Give now at connect with skip dot com slash offer or call 809 225:19 2 18 88. Thanks for spending time with us today, and we'll see you next time on connect with skip Heitzig.25:49 Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
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