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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.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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101K followers
John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
101K followers
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 want to honor you and love you, and your race counts more than most. You know, as I just think about, as I thought about, the moms who might be in this room or perhaps the moms, that different types of moms that might be0:47 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, they're 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 rolled2:11 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 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: therefore2:59 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 sin3:09 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 before3:21 him 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 opposition3:33 from sinners 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.3:45 And my guess is, moms, there are seasons in your life that you feel like you're a a great mom and I'm super mom and at other times you feel like man, I'm just trying to make it through the day. And then sometimes you're3:56 like I'm so proud of my kids and then other days you're like I wish somebody would take my kids, right? That's just kind of the way parenting goes. But hopefully on this day in this church, in this place, in your family,4:09 we would all take this verse to heart. Proverbs chapter 31 verse 28 says moms, her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises4:20 her. 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 that grandma4:32 stage, it's kind 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 them4:44 20 years ago was actually true, Right? But remember those stages of moms, that that you had that newborn and and Gina was that that rookie mom, didn't really know much what to do, you're4:56 sitting there holding Jace or 1 of our girls and they just kinda look over at you and the the babies kinda side eye you, you know what I'm saying? They're just kind of And they're like, you really don't know what you're5:06 doing, do you? Nope, we got no clue. And 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 pac5:18 fire out of our 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 to5:29 have everything 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? I5:41 mean, I I don't 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 just5:51 trying to 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 wall6:03 more quicker than you possibly can imagine. You walk in, you know, 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 that6:14 toddler 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 all6:25 in 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 do you6:47 have Jensen? I don't know. She 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 up. 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 down on the pillow bed and then all of7:32 a 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 panic7:43 mode. What's going on? Oh no and this and that and Gina picks up the phone and we're both like just anticipate, well well well. And it's usually something small and she says well just remember7:55 get some sleep, get some rest, do your devotion in the morning, man you know you eat well and and you'll be fine, right? Or you get that call at all hours of night, same thing. I remember8:08 when our oldest Jace went off to college, he was always a really smart kid, didn't necessarily like school but he he he didn't need to study. And so she goes up for mom's weekend. How many how many of you ever been to a8:18 mom's weekend? Goes up for mom's weekend with him and he rolls around, he goes you know, alright here here's the football stadium, here's where we practice lacrosse, here's where we do this, here's where we do that. And8:29 Gina 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 grandparents'9:04 age. The grandma, it is payback, it is see what I told you is true. You know we're we're honoring moms today and hopefully you're gonna honor moms today, but if you9:16 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 Good Friday9:28 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 his mom9:41 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 loved him standing nearby, all the9:53 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 mom is gonna be there. Your mom is gonna10:05 show up. And he said to her, woman, here is your son. Jesus is 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, the disciple he10:16 loved, John, took her into his home. And so as we think about honoring moms today and making sure you don't lose heart and we as10:28 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 the right10:39 team. We have to make sure we're running with the right team. 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. And so10:50 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, all those11:02 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 an amazing story of11:14 of Ruth and Naomi and the aligned allegiance that they ultimately had for for each other. That Naomi and her husband and her 2 sons, because there was a famine in11:26 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, some tragedy happened11:38 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, nope, 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 this 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 even13:25 buy 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 wealthy13:37 farmer out 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,13:49 but he's 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 margins14:00 for those who are less well off. And that's exactly what Ruth finds out. She goes and starts cleaning in the fields, she gathers food and she comes home and cooks for her mother-in-law, gathers food, comes home and cooks14:12 for her mother-in-law. All of a sudden a guy named Boaz, the wealthy land owner, takes notice of her. He says who is that? She's got nothing. But she's 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. Find yourself15:12 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 gonna be my15:22 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, find yourself15:33 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, some people that15:44 have have been going down a path, they've 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 you keep15:56 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 I want to16:07 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 the beautiful thing about Ruth and Naomi. They'd lost all16:30 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 godly mother.17:05 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 that it first17:17 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 want to encourage you, if your husband doesn't come to church or17:29 he's not part of 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, Paul17:41 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 only ones17:53 carrying the spiritual mantle for your children or for your family, I wanna encourage you to keep running. Keep praying for your husband, keep praying for that man in your life that he'll show up. But18:05 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. What18:17 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 children of18:28 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,18:42 enemy attacked them and their king's name was Sisera. And as he attacks them, Deborah looks at, the leader of the the military, the soldiers, his name was Barak. She looks at Brock, said do18:54 your job. We're being slaughtered, we're being annihilated, they're taking our grain, they're taking our crops. She looks at him and says do your job. And he19:06 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 and Barak finally says Deborah if you'll come with me,19:18 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 not gonna go to you, it's gonna go to ladies19:30 around you. If you go read Judges chapter 4 and 5, it's an incredible story, really vivid story. Deborah leads Barak, Barak ultimately they overthrow Cicero's arm Cicero's army. Cicero the king19:42 has to get off his horse and just flees and runs. And he runs to a ladies tent, if you want to read a incredibly vivid story, a lady's tent named J. L. J. L. Is19:54 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, get me a place to rest, I'm exhausted from being on the20:03 run. And so what did JL 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 a tent a tent peg and drives it through20:15 his skull while he's asleep. So guys, little warning, don't mouth off your wife around bedtime, right? Do not let the sun go down on20:27 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 JL, it wasn't Barak. So men, I want to tell you,20:38 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 here in your place and if we aren't careful,20:51 we can have a tendency to want to compare ourselves, compare our kids. Let me just remind you of what Paul said in Galatians chapter 6. Paul says each of you should21:03 just test your own actions. Just look at yourself, don't compare yourself. Then you can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to someone else, for each 121:15 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 so much of a better job or their kids are this or their kids come to church and21:27 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, right? And we always want to compare. Moms don't compare yourself to someone21:37 else. Man, you be who God created you to be. Test your own action. There are there are certainly some single moms in here that a year ago you weren't a single mom and it wasn't your21:48 fault. Don't sit here and compare your marriage or your singleness to other people's marriedness, And God's got a path and a plan for you. So thought number 1 is run with the right people. Thought22:00 number 2 is lay down those unhelpful weights. Whatever it is in your life that is just a burden, maybe it's a past shame, it's guilt, it's, it's something else. It can be a lot of22:12 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 a distraction, anything that is sin or guilt. Throw off everything that hinders us and22:23 the sin that so easily entangles us. You say but pastor, you have no idea. I'm single and it was my fault. Or I haven't been a good mom and it's my fault.22:35 Pastor, you have no idea the shame and the guilt and that that you're asking me to take away and lay off, can I tell you? There's a story in the New Testament that Jesus had an encounter with the Samaritan woman22:47 at the well. You can go read it in John chapter 4. You want to talk about some weight? She had some weight. When Jesus shows up and and encounters this woman at the well, he could've gone he was going from22:59 Jerusalem up to Galilee. He could've gone around Samaria, but he chose to go right through it. He stops at a well because he's gonna get some water and all of a sudden this Samaritan woman rolls out at noon23:11 and that's a key part of the story. When she begins to talk to Jesus, she look he looks at her and Jesus acknowledges her immorality. She had some weight.23:23 She goes, listen I I'm really not very good at this marriage thing and Jesus goes, I know you've had 5 husbands and the dude you're living with right now, he's not even your husband.23:36 She had some weight, she had some moral failure, but Jesus offered her grace and offered her love. Not only that, she was a social reject. Remember, at noon she went out for water. If you go look23:48 historically in ancient times, ladies would go out in groups to the water in the morning and the evening. By her going out at noon meant 1 of a couple of things.24:00 Either the rest of the ladies in the village, the Samaritan village, had rejected her or she was in so much guilt and so much shame for what she had done and with the life that she had lived that she24:12 chose to avoid people. Who knows maybe she had been there the day before or a couple of days before and as she's just getting water, she hears the other ladies talking about that24:23 that's the 1. Wonder how this relationship is gonna work out. But for some reason she is a reject, she's rejected, she isolated, she's alone, she's24:35 an outcast, she's avoiding people somehow, but Jesus has a conversation with her. She was a Samaritan. Jews didn't talk to Samaritans, they didn't24:47 like Samaritans. Not only that, if you go and read the encounter in John chapter 4, she had a lot of doubt in her life. I mean she wasn't tapped in religiously, she wasn't tapped in spiritually,24:59 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 then she goes, but I don't know where to worship. I don't know how to worship. She goes, your25:10 people say, well, we should worship on that mountain. And my people say we should worship on this mountain. Which 1 is it? So think about this lady, all the entanglements. Moral failure, sin, divorce,25:22 every She was a Samaritan, she was isolated, she was rejected by others. And now she's got spiritual confusion, doubt, struggle, and Jesus has a conversation with her.25:35 You know what Jesus reminded her? No label is too great for God's grace not to overwhelm it. Maybe there's some ladies in here, there's some people online perhaps25:46 even, that you've got some labels from your past failures, or maybe some labels in your current failures and you feel a bit like an outcast.25:58 Don't ever doubt that God's grace is greater than any label that you can wear right now. So Jesus has a conversation with this Samaritan woman, she never saw it26:10 coming, but Jesus showed up. Go read the story, you know what the result was? Once she felt the favor and the grace of God, she went back to the village and became the village26:22 evangelist. She says I have met the messiah, I know him and she brings them all out. So this lady who could have said I'm done, I have so much sin, so many entanglements,26:34 so many failures in my past, instead ability a village to faith. And maybe there's some of you here that you're in that season of your life26:46 and you wonder what you've done or what you've been through or how life has treated you, you wonder if God can use you, can I tell you absolutely in a powerful and a real way? I love what26:58 Paul says talking about getting rid of the sin and the weight and she changes her life. Paul said in Galatians chapter 5 verse 1, he says it is for freedom that Christ set you free.27:10 So you might just kind of think, okay that's kind of a cool thought. But there's really 2 things communicated there. It was for freedom that Christ set you free. Alright, the first kind of27:22 freedom that you and I have is forgiveness of sins. I love God's word, it says if we are faithful to confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of all of our sins.27:34 So certainly that freedom and free has to do first and foremost with forgiveness, but it also has to do with freedom as I journey forward. Yes, I have a past, this woman at the well has a27:46 past, everybody in here has a past. But remember it was for freedom that Christ set us free. You say, well how am I truly set free? Let me give you a couple thoughts. Thought number 1,27:58 acknowledge your sin. Identify your problems. Man, 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.28:10 Acknowledge it, that this was a sin and maybe it's a label that that that will technically never go away, maybe it's a divorce or it's this or that. Hey, that's just a label.28:23 And just be honest about it. Here's the second thing that you need to do, confess it. Man, just say God you know I blew this marriage up or or I did this or I I destroyed that or28:35 I struggle with this. Man, just confess your sin and accept forgiveness. Then build some barriers so you won't go back to that sin, so you won't go back to28:47 that trough and sin again. So I identify 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 by28:59 what? Here's the next idea, start creating new godly stories. Did you get it? Start creating new godly stories. You say what29:11 does that mean? Well, we want us to create a story starting today so as I journey the next week or month or year or decade or whatever, that I am creating new godly stories.29:22 That somewhere down the line, we might look back and say man, someone might say, you ever been through a divorce? Yep. But I've created godly stories today,29:34 in my marriage, with my kids, with my family. Maybe there's someone here today that that you're struggling with some sort of addiction or something like that. Man, identify it, confess it, build barriers to going back29:45 and start creating new stories. See, can you imagine, we don't follow it past John chapter 4. What about this woman at the well? If you looked at her past, the story wasn't gonna end well.29:57 Then all of a sudden, the whole village comes out and follows 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 spend30:09 time at the water well with, that she had 5 different husbands 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 are30:20 going through some stuff, that's what I mean. Create some new godly stories. See if you're still breathing and if I'm still breathing, we still have an opportunity to rewrite history.30:33 But part of that is that we have to lay down those things that hinder 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,30:45 but you have to endure some hard miles. Folks, sometimes we just have to endure some hard miles. How many of you know what I'm talking about?30:57 If you've ever lost a child or walking through a miscarriage, you've been through a divorce, or you've been through this, or something else has happened, or you've lost your spouse. I'm not going to kid31:09 you as your path those are hard miles. The part of 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 run31:21 with perseverance the race that is marked out for us. Marked out for us? Kind of also says everybody has a different race. Whatever you do, don't compare your course with someone31:32 else's course. Don't compare your race with someone else's race. We're never at the same place, we're never at the same running at the same pace or at the place, man we are just running our own31:44 way. Endure those hard miles. If you go back to first Samuel, there was a guy who was a righteous man. His name was Elkanah. He married his31:56 first wife and her name was Hannah. Hannah, we are told, prayed and worshiped and loved God and prayed and worshiped and loved God, prayed and worshiped and loved God, but she was barren for32:08 years. Now we don't know why, we're not told in this story, but perhaps it was because she was barren, Elkanah went out and married a second wife, Peninnah.32:20 And guess what, Peninnah immediately starts having kids. 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 Penn and I would would32:32 pick on Hannah. Hannah would just faithfully go down and pray and she would cry out to God, she would beg God, she would say God give me children, she'd come back and Pen and I would32:44 show off her kids and show off the portrait and she would go clearly, God loves me more than you. Now let me stop before I finish telling you this story. Don't ever32:56 confuse blessings in your life with God's favor in your life. Does that make sense? Because let me tell you what, if you read this story, Hannah33:08 was enduring a hard mile. And this other lady was chastising her and and attacking her and criticizing her is not33:20 being 1 who is loved by God. Child of God, ladies, don't you ever question God's goodness and love in the middle of those hard miles and if you are blessed, don't ever use your33:32 blessing to spite others. All Hannah could do was continue to go down and pray and worship, and pray and worship. And she cried out33:44 to the lord for a child and eventually God gave her a child. Let me give you a character sketch of these 2 ladies. Peninnai,33:56 you never hear anything more from her after first Samuel chapter 1. We're 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 she34:08 wanted to do is look down on other people. Hannah had a son named Samuel that became 1 of the greatest spiritual leaders in Israel's history.34:21 But it came after the hard mile, does that make sense? 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,34:33 just understand. Say God, I don't know what you're gonna 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 stop34:45 praying, I am not gonna stop showing up to God's house because I believe when I get through this hard mile, God's gonna use me to be a blessing to other people.34:57 So child of God, when we leave here today, we leave determined to 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,35:09 all the bitterness, all everything. And then thirdly, 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 much35:21 for just an opportunity to look at some of the women in Scripture who 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 pray35:33 that this would be a day that our children, for moms, rise up and call her blessed, her husband also. God, my prayer and my heart goes out to those lonely moms35:45 today, that they would know of Your grace and Your love. God, for that mom that is walking through the walls right now, that that that lady who longs to have a child35:57 but hasn't yet, this is her hard mile. But God whatever it is, pray that moms know that they are honored by You, by Cottonwood Creek.36:09 In Jesus' name we pray, Amen and Amen.In this video 0:00 A Faith That FinishesComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
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