Skip to content Your Race Counts: You're Not Running Alone Apr 29 · 25 min ...more
Your Race Counts: You're Not Running Alone
April 29, 2025 · 25 min
Drawing from Hebrews 12, Pastor John Mark Caton emphasizes the importance of running life’s spiritual race with a supportive community rather than alone.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton April 29, 2025 · 25 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
Drawing from Hebrews 12, Pastor John Mark Caton emphasizes the importance of running life’s spiritual race with a supportive community rather than alone. ...more Show the full description Show less Drawing from Hebrews 12, Pastor John Mark Caton emphasizes the importance of running life’s spiritual race with a supportive community rather than alone.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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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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Running the Race Together 0:00 Welcome to you and those of us who are online. We continue a series we started last week, entitled Your Race Counts. And it does. Not only the fact that you're in the race, and hopefully you're in the race by faith,0:11 we're gonna talk more and more about that, but it's also not only do you start the race, it's it's how you run the race and ultimately how you finish the race. And so we start a brand new series. If you want a shirt, I'm0:21 wearing a shirt, you can get it. And we want to finish our course. And as we started talking about this last week on Easter weekend, that every sermon, every song, every Bible study, every devotion you ever do will0:33 lead you all all the way back to an empty tomb. It's where Jesus was willing to die for your sins and my sin. He's buried again and rose again that third day so that whoever believes0:45 in him by faith can have forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. And so we don't ever want to forget that, but then we also need to understand that once I am saved,0:58 that's when the race starts. And today, I want to talk to you on this idea as you never run your race alone. I don't know if, how many of you knew there was an NFL draft this1:10 weekend? Right? And and a lot of funny things happen. We're always kinda wondering what are the Cowboys gonna do. And and you always look at these draft prospects. Some have a tendency to rise and they are1:22 drafted way before, they thought they were gonna be drafted. And then others begin to fall way past where they thought they were gonna fall. In particular, there was a quarterback,1:34 you would know him and you would know his dad, who was supposed to be picked in the top 10. Fell through the first round, second round, third round, and beyond. Kind of even as,1:45 whether you like him or not, your heart goes out for him. And sure enough, the Cleveland Browns ended up drafting him. They had already drafted several other quarterbacks. Well, now they have 4 quarterbacks.1:57 And the statement was made by 1 of the commentators, is you know the best time to draft a quarterback is when you don't need a quarterback. You know what I'm saying? Because once you need a quarterback,2:09 then you have to reach, then you're in a panic mode. So here's the deal, when we talk today about you don't want to run your race alone, the time to gather your team, the time to get in church,2:22 the time to have a group, the time to develop the daily disciplines of your spiritual journey walk is when you don't need it. Because there is going to come a time in this life2:35 that we are going to need it. You say, pastor, we have a race analogy, a running analogy, why do we always do that? Can I tell you, there are lots of sports analogies? Just in the New2:47 Testament, here's a list I made. We're told in Hebrews chapter 12 that we're talking about, we have to run our race. First Timothy chapter 6, we need to fight the good fight. First Corinthians chapter 9,2:59 we need to learn to box well and hit hard. Ephesians chapter 6 says, we need to we need to see our our spiritual journey as like a wrestling match that we're hand to hand combat with satan and we go3:10 forth. Then first Corinthians chapter 9 again, train and discipline yourself for the journey, the race, the battle, the competition that is ahead. Striving. Philippians chapter3:22 3 verse 14. We have to strive to do what? To win the prize, to run our race so well that we will run the prize. We want to compete, it says, according to the rules. We want to know the rules,3:34 compete. We need to have endurance, James, the brother of Jesus says. Listen, there are going to be times in our race when we're exhausted. And so as you think today about make sure you don't run your race alone, you3:45 gotta know who you're surrounded with. But but but the time to develop your team, to run your race, is not when you're in crisis. It's right now. Some of you3:57 are in crisis and we want to be your team. We want to be an incredible encouragement to you along the way. So let's read our verses that we're going to be looking at, not just this week, the next couple of weeks. Here it4:06 is, we started looking at these last week. Therefore, since we, everybody say we. Remember, you don't run your race alone. Now, you can go through here and the writer of the book of Hebrews could have4:18 said, hey, you're surrounded by a great cloud of witness. You need to lay down your sin that so easily entangles. You need to do this. But but the writer of the book of Hebrews is just reminding us that this Christian4:30 walk, this Christian race is not meant to be run alone. So he says, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, that word witness means those who are faithful, those who4:42 are martyrs, those who have even lost their life. He says, let us, there's that plural again, throw off everything that hinders, in the original language there's another us, hinders us, and the sin that so easily4:53 entangles us. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Anybody get this idea? He's not saying this alone. This is not an isolated race. It's not5:05 just about you running your race all by yourself and hopefully you will win your race. The writer of the book of Hebrews said, listen, if you're gonna win your race, it won't be done alone. That you need to have5:17 others that are on your team that are cheering for you. Look at verse 2. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, that's an us, who is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, can't wait to get there. Who for the joy5:28 set before him, what did he do? He endured the cross, scorned its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Why? To pave the way for your salvation, your forgiveness of sins, your eternal life. Here's5:40 verse 3. Therefore we need to consider or ponder him who endured so much opposition from sinners, the hands of sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and you will not5:52 lose heart. Now, now the warning is there, is that you and I can't start well, but we can lose heart. We can run well. As a matter of fact, if you go look at the the book of Galatians, Paul tells6:04 them over and over in the book of Galatians, he says, you started off running so well. Who tripped you up? Who who told you to go back? So, there are times that churches start running6:16 well, but even the whole church can begin to get distracted or they can fall or they can fade, all the way in the Old Testament. Not a church, a guy named Elijah. If you go to First Kings chapter 18, you'll know this6:28 story. The children of Israel are in 1 of their normal spaces where, they were walking away from God, they were starting to follow the bells and Jezebel was the queen at the time and Jezebel6:40 had 4 50 prophets of Baal that everybody had to follow what they said. And these prophets, these preachers were going all over Israel, tearing down God's altars and building up Baal's6:51 altars. And Elijah finally, this man that was called of God, Elijah finally said, listen, I've had enough of this. We're gonna go meet. We're gonna meet on a mountain, a mountain called Mount Carmel. And he says, bring7:02 all 450 prophets of Baal up here. We're gonna see if your God is God, then we're gonna see it and we're gonna serve him. But if my God is God, we're gonna see it and we're gonna serve him. And so, man, here you7:14 have Elijah, all this boldness, all this courage goes up to Mount Carmel. He lets the Baals, the prophets of Baal, he says, you go first. And all day it says, they prayed and they cried7:26 out, they called out to Baal and then Elijah, Elijah had a little moxie, he had a little game to him. If you go read the story, he starts mocking them a little bit. He goes, maybe he's on a journey. Maybe your God's7:38 asleep. You can go read the original language. Maybe your God's in the bathroom right now. And he's just mocking them. He's smack talking them all day and then all of a sudden, they7:50 kinda get worn out and he goes, alright, here's what we're going to do, because I believe my God is God here. Not only are we going to have this altar, dump a bunch of water on it. And it says Elijah prayed out, God8:01 showed up, prayed out loud and God showed up, fire fell, burned up the altar, and the children of Israel had this incredible repentance, first Kings chapter 18. They destroyed and killed the prophets of8:13 Baal and they said we're going to serve him, the 1 true God, and him alone. Go 1 chapter over. Well, Jezebel's not happy. The queen is not happy.8:25 Her 450 prophets of Baal have now been killed, been mocked, laughed. So, she issues an edict that she is going to kill Elijah. Now, you would think if Elijah just remembered, well listen,8:37 if God can, cause a wet altar to burn, surely he can protect me. That's what would happen. But that's not what Elijah does. He hears that she wants to kill him and he begins8:49 to run. And remember this idea that you are not supposed to run alone. What we see in first Kings chapter 19 is that Elijah leaves his people,9:01 leaves the people, and begins to run all by himself, a day's journey. And he runs into a cave all by himself. And then God shows up and God asks him9:13 a question. Elijah, what are you doing here? Maybe there's some here in this room that,9:25 that are perhaps online that God is asking you the same question. Why have you pulled away from the faith? Why are you here? Why are you running9:37 alone? Why are you in a cave of your own choosing? God is saying, I don't want that for you. So notice what happens, first Kings chapter 19 verse 10. So Elijah responds,9:48 God says, why are you here? Notice Elijah's response. He said, listen, I'm here. He goes, you can almost hear the whining. Alright? I I've been very zealous for the Lord. The Lord God Almighty. The Israelites rejected10:00 your covenant. They tore down your altars and put your prophets to death. That's all true, by the way. With the sword, none of that I alone am left and now they're trying to kill me10:12 too. 1 chapter, 1 journey alone, 1 cave of his own10:24 choosing, isolated alone and his mind can just take off. And guess what God does, he shows up to him again. He says10:35 Elijah, why are you here? This is not what I've called you to. I haven't called you to retreat, I haven't called you to be isolated, I haven't called10:47 you to be alone, I have called you for better things. So God may be asking some in this room or some online the exact same question, why are you where you are? Why have10:59 you backed off in your faith? Why have you isolated yourselves from others? Because God wants to bless you, not just you, but also bless you through others because you don't run your race alone. So God11:10 says, Elijah, I I didn't ask if you had been faithful, I ask why you're here. So, jump down, verse 13. He's run off into this cave of his own choosing. So God asked him again, why are you here?11:22 Notice, and the Lord God said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah? Second time. Notice Elijah's response. It's the same response as before. He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord, the Lord God Almighty.11:34 The Israelites have rejected your covenant. They've torn down your altars. They've put your prophets to death with the sword. That's all true. But then he says, and I, he starts throwing a little pity party in his own11:46 cave, no 1 shows up. He says, I alone am the only 1 left. And now they're trying to kill me too. Now, let me tell you what, the threat is real. Jezebel11:58 was gonna kill him out that she caught him. Queen Jezebel wasn't playing around. She absolutely was gonna kill him. So the threat was real. And maybe there's some in here, that you're in a cave,12:10 you're isolated, you're alone, and maybe it's because things are happening in your life that are real. They're not fake, they're not imagined, you're not imagined. It's really going on that that if we aren't careful,12:21 maybe maybe it's a job or a financial crisis or it's a health crisis or it's a relationship crisis, and all of a sudden, this crisis, this threat, this hurt, this heartache, it's real. And instead of12:32 understanding and having built that team that are gonna help you run through the difficulty and the hardship, you have a tendency to isolate yourself. And you start thinking exactly what Elijah thought about himself. I12:44 am the only 1 going through this. How many of you ever been there? I have. I have. And the threat was real, the difficulty, the hardship was real,12:56 but Elijah needed to remember, God tells him, listen, you're not supposed to run your race alone. So here, notice God's response. Verse 15, so the Lord said13:08 to him, when he said I alone am left, God says go back the way you came. And by the way, I've got 7000 more just like13:20 you. Notice what Elijah thought. He was the only 1 left. God says, I've got 7000 more faithful prophets just like you. That's what happens when we13:31 isolate ourselves, when we make us alone, we begin to lie to ourselves, we begin to think things that aren't true, that aren't really true, and as you think about your journey, man, don't separate yourself.13:44 You want to run with others who can encourage you in some seasons, and you you can encourage them in other seasons. Why? Because God did not build us to run along. If a prophet of13:56 the magnitude of Elijah can in 1 chapter, after running away from people, isolating themselves, finding a cave, if that prophet, if you read the rest of14:08 it, he says, listen, I'm ready to die. If that prophet can get to that place, so can you. So can I? So the14:20 encouragement as we start this series today, as really a journey in this series, is don't ever try to run your race alone. So let me give you a couple thoughts how you can know and be14:32 encouraged that you're not run along. You need to know that you're surrounded by encouragers from the past. Other saints who have run before you. That that they're called in this passage a cloud of14:43 witnesses that are cheering us on. Look at verse 1. Therefore, since we, there that word we is, us, are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. That that word14:55 witnesses really means faithful. Those who are faithful, those who are martyred, those who have lost their life. They gave it all for the gospel. But he also uses the word cloud. I want you to know, you look at15:07 this word cloud, it's not 1 isolated cloud. That's not the word there. It's cloud upon cloud upon cloud upon cloud upon cloud. They're deep, they're thick, they're everywhere. In other15:18 words, it's the analogy, sports analogy, that we're in this stadium called life. And we have saints all over the stadium.15:30 Kind of like the ring of honor, right? You ever gone out to, AT and T Stadium, you just kind of stop and you look, oh I remember that player, remember that player, remember That's what he's saying. There is a ring of15:41 honor for those who are faithful to the finish, but I want you to understand, none of them were perfect. If you go look, and he's talking really, the first word of Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 is therefore,15:53 that therefore connects us to what came before it, which was Hebrews chapter 11, that's the hall of faith. And he just starts listing people in Hebrews chapter 11, You'll see all kinds of people16:05 in Hebrews chapter 11. You'll see some that you knew would be there and some you say, I didn't think they were going to make it. If you look in Hebrews chapter 11, there are kind of 4 categories of faith that you see16:15 people. Some people there in Hebrews chapter 11, they had a faith when it made no sense. God just told them to do something and you're like, it makes no sense.16:28 Pretty quickly on as you look in the list of names, you'll see a guy named Noah. Alright, it hadn't even reigned. God says, hey Noah, I want you to build an ark. So, what's an ark, God? It's a big boat.16:40 Like, like right here? Should I find an ocean? No, God says you're gonna build it right here. So, why are you gonna build it right here? Because there's gonna be a big flood. Says for a hundred years he16:52 built this ark. Can you imagine going out to work the next day, he said, we sure about this God? I mean, sometimes you're going to have to have a faith even when it makes17:04 no sense. What about a guy named Abram? God shows up to Abram, who eventually becomes Abraham. He says, Abraham, here's what I want you to do. I want you to take your family, I want you to take your wife, I want to pack17:14 up all your goods, and I want you to leave everybody because I'm going to take you to a new land. Abraham says, where is this new land? God says, I'll show you. How long is it going to take me to get there? I'll tell17:26 you later. It made no sense, but God had called him to do it. There were other people that they had faith not when it didn't just make sense, they had faith to do the impossible.17:39 I mean stick with Abraham and Sarah. Remember they were supposed to have an offspring, a child, but they got well beyond child bearing days, so much so that Sarah at 1 point laughed at God in his face.17:52 I can't have a child. Then they ended up having a child. What about the children of Israel at the Red Sea? Man, here they've been led out of slavery, they're standing there, they've got the18:05 the enemies behind them, they've got the sea in front of them, it says Moses by faith raised his hand, God allowed them to walk through and drag around. That makes no sense. The children of Israel eventually get into the18:14 promised land. God says hey, we need to take down Jericho. Jericho was a fortified city, a powerful city. The children of Israel weren't ready to do it, and God says, here's what I want you to do, I just want you to go18:25 march around it. Kind of made no sense. You also look in there though, there were a lot of people that endured a lot of stuff. It says18:36 some were tortured, some were mocked, some were flogged, others were put in prison and others were killed, they were martyred for their faith. So it's18:48 not all peaches and cream when you look at Hebrews chapter 11. You also see groups of people in Hebrews chapter 11 that are called, faithful people of our past. They had some19:00 obedience but they weren't perfect. Lady named Rahab's in that list. She ended up being obedient but she wasn't perfect. She was a prostitute.19:13 And so maybe there's some that you're here that you're saying, yeah, but if everybody in this church knew or if you knew, man, would God still love me? Can God still love me? Absolutely. This prostitute ended up in the19:24 hall of faith. What about a guy named Gideon? He eventually obeyed God, but what was Gideon doing? If you look, the children of Israel were being ransacked over and over again by their enemies and so19:36 what he did is he took what grain he had and he went and threshed it in the winepress. Why, because he was fearful it would be stolen. The angel of the Lord came to him and said, mighty man of valor. And Gideon19:48 went, who? Angel of the Lord said, no, you're a mighty man of valor. And Gideon says, I don't know if you've noticed this, I'm kind of threshing the wheat in the wine press.20:01 And I'm not ready to fight anybody and then he says, no, you're gonna fight them, you're gonna win. And remember Gideon? He didn't have great faith. He says, alright, I got an idea. I'm not sure that I'm20:13 buying into this whole God thing. So I'm gonna have this fleece and if you can put water on 1 side and water, no water on the other side, then I'll believe. Sure enough, that's exactly what God does. Angel Lord comes20:23 back, says you ready to go now? He goes, hey let me do this, let's switch it tonight. See, there are a lot of people in there. They're not perfect. There might be some of you in20:35 here that man, you you failed miserably, you've struggled with sin in your life or you've struggled with doubting in in your life, but I want you to know you don't have to be perfect to be used by God.20:48 There's also a fifth category of people. You read Hebrews chapter 11, it says there were many who had faith but never saw the promise come true.21:00 Did you get that? There are times, what do we want? We want to have a little faith and then see the promise. Go read Hebrews chapter 11, it says they had faith but they actually never21:12 saw it. But who did see it? Their kids and their grandkids and their friends. And so some of21:24 you moms and dads, you are running with a faith you may or might not see the ultimate fulfillment, but your kids will. Those who follow you will. Look at Hebrews21:36 chapter 11 verse 1, it kind of gives us a definition of what faith is. Here it is, it says, now faith, what is it? It's the confidence in what we, notice that word we again, there it is, it's about us, hoped21:48 for in the assurance about what we do not see. Don't ever think your Christian journey, your Christian walk is a solo act. We are never supposed to run long. Look at verse 2. This is what the22:00 ancients were commended for by faith, it says over and over and over again. By faith, by faith, by faith. See, faith is what allows you to see what God's doing when22:12 others don't. See, your eyes, physical eyes, allow you to see physical invisible things. Faith is what allows you to see invisible things that God might be working in a space in22:23 an area that others don't see it, but you believe it and God opens your eyes so you can see it. See, faith, faith is not just thanking God for something he did. That's called gratitude. You don't need faith to22:35 thank God for what he's already done. Faith is not believing God can do something in the future. That's called hope. Faith is literally in difficult seasons22:47 and difficult situations. Faith is believing God is doing something even when others can't see it. Does that make sense? See, that's what faith is. And I will tell you, my faith as a pastor is that22:59 I believe that God is working in people's hearts and lives through his word, through our church, in person and online. I believe God is doing things, I don't see it, I don't see it23:11 all. But I strongly believe there are some people here that God is moving in your heart and speaking in your life and he is saying, listen, all you have to do is get out of the cave of your own choosing,23:23 find a team, start running your race well, and the cloud of witnesses is gonna cheer us all on. And that's the beauty of the gospel. That's the beauty of God's grace. Look, look at this23:35 next passage as we look at it. Romans chapter 15 verse 4. He says, for everything that was written, talking about God's word, in the past was written to do what? To teach us. Why did the23:47 writers of scripture in the Old Testament and New Testament, why did they write all these stories down and tell us the truth, even even the dirty, ugly details about some of the things that the children of Israel did and23:57 people did? It says, for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through the endurance that was taught in scriptures, that's the example of people24:09 who were faithful, the events that took place, and the encouragement they provide, we might have hope. I want to just think along24:21 these lines. Heaven isn't a solo act. It is a24:32 family finish line that we all get to run to together. The cloud of witnesses celebrating and clapping us on, cheering us on, those that you have chosen to run with, they're gonna24:44 cross the line with you. You know what has been said others have said, you know, if you want to run fast, run long. Run alone. But if you want to go a long way, you better run with a group. And child of God, as we24:56 journey forward, I want to encourage you, don't run your race alone. God calls us as a church, as a people of25:08 God, to run together.In this video 0:00 Running the Race Together
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