Drop the Weight of Sin

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Thank you. Brother. That was good, wasn’t it? Oh, give him a hand.

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Well it’s good to see you here on a Sunday morning. The first Sunday morning of September. Can I just get a shout out to the Lord? It’s cooler weather. Amen I thank God. Oh. Those that are, those that are tuning in watching on Facebook. They may not understand why we’re clapping for cooler weather, but if had been in Texas the last three months, they had to understand, wouldn’t they?

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We got folks that watch from all over and, or I’m telling you, it’s been it’s been hot here. So I’m hope I you. But I’m glad that it’s hopefully going to be cooling down for a long time. Let me give you a few things before we get into the sermon today. I’m going to be in Hebrews chapter 12 if you want to turn there.

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But a couple of things I want to share with you real quick. First of all, I know Quentin may have mentioned something a little bit about it. Today. We have bull riding at 5:00. 5:00 is our bull riding today, but also next Sunday. Next Sunday we’re going to go to 230 back to our fall, winter spring schedule.

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Like we’ve been in a summer schedule, because of the heat. But the beginning next Sunday, we’ll go back to 230. So all of y’all that are here for that and listening, just mark that down. And then tomorrow, because it’s Labor Day, there’ll be no bull rider. Bible study will resume that the next week. This Wednesday we have Bible study here at the church at 630.

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We’ve been having a great time learning the word together. It’s a lot, less formal than a church service like this. We sit around together, we visit, and we share the word together. We learn, we grow, and we’re in the book of Ephesians. I hope you can join us for that. Also. Most of you know how I help, or how we do our, our bull riding on Sundays.

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But this coming Saturday, we’re beginning, to help the c y b artists, Clay Johnson. And it’s cowboys youth bull riders. It’ll be in Decatur at the church and I call it Sheriff Potter Graham. Last county fairgrounds. And it’s at 5:00. A number of our young guys will be riding there. We’re going to be hauling bulls there.

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We have an opportunity to go as a team and shared the word there, at the beginning and during intermission, some stuff like that. So, it’s an outreach for us. When Clay asked me about it, I’m like, man, we’ll be happy to help out. But here’s what we want to do. We want to be able to share the gospel.

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And Clay’s a wonderful Christian man, and he he obviously welcomed that. And, so we have an opportunity over the next three months, twice a month, to be part of that. And, that’ll be on Saturday night. So the first one is this Saturday night at 5:00. Hope you can come out and make it. And then I want to share something else with you.

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I have been working, especially this week, to build a platform, on social media. I’ve got some really good people that have spoke to me concerning it and what I need to do. Some other preachers that have done that and spoken to me how to do it. If if you know me, you know what side of the political aisle I stand on, right?

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I stand on the biblical side, all right? I’m not wing, I’m not left wing. I’m for the whole bird. And I’m going to stand on the biblical side, and I don’t care if they’re Republicans or Democrats. Snake. I’m going to call him out when the Bible says it. All right, y’all, y’all know me well enough to know that.

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And I do believe that this coming election, I believe it’s very important. I let me say this. I am an American and I am a pastor. That means I have a right to stand in this pulpit and declare what God says and call out politicians when they’re wrong, and when this culture’s wrong. That’s my calling. But I need your help in building a platform.

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I’ve got quite a few followers. Years ago I had a Facebook page, and I’m not very technically savvy, and I lost my password and couldn’t get back into it. Had to create another one. So here’s what I want to ask you to do if you’re not following me already. And by the way, I put some things out there each week or each day, this week that, really stirs the pot.

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And I do that intentionally. Okay, I, I wasn’t called to be a pacifier. I wasn’t called to give people a pacifier. I was called to stir the pot. All right. In this week, I talked about, you know, some things about going to church. You know, something. And you go to my Facebook page, you can find it. But Jeff Tackett, and if you will send me a friend request, I don’t know how to do it any other way, but I also want to ask you to do something else.

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By the way, there’s two Jeff tablets about them for me, but the one that I can get into has a picture of me on a bottle. All right, that’s the one I want you to send me, your friend request. Secondly, if you’re not following Wise County Cowboy Church, and you’re not sharing our sermons, I want to ask you to do that.

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Matter of fact, you can do it right now. You can go to Wyatt County Cowboy Church Facebook page and share the sermons during the week and and, share the page. Join the page if you’re not on there. And then our other ministry is eight seconds the glory bull riding ministry. If you’re not on there, please follow us on that and share a lot of things I share on my personal page to share over to that page, because it’s an outreach.

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Everything I’m doing is trying to be an outreach and preach and share the gospel with other people. And so I ask you to help me with that, and then I ask you to pray for me. I had a really depressing evening yesterday. It started out good and the whole day was really good. We got rain. I was out in Germany, in Texas picking up hay and it was great.

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And then I sat down to watch TV. Matter of fact, Quinn and I watched the movie, and then I saw a commercial that just wrecked me and has depressed me. And some of y’all going to understand this in a moment. It was a commercial inviting people to join this organization. And man, it is. They have all kinds of great deals for seniors.

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It’s called AARP. And then it says if you’re 50 or older, you can join at a discount. When I saw that, I’m like, I am so depressed because I now turn 51 and I’m old enough for our AARP. So pray for me. I’m struggling about that. All right, some of y’all are excited about AARP, but when I saw that, I thought, man, I am now in the old folks club.

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Pray for me. All right, I got you. Oh, come take take your Bible. Go to Hebrews 12. Oh, I got to dismiss the kids. I got to dismiss the kids. Go ahead. Parents. Lee, we’ve got a lot of kids. Look at all them kids getting up. We got a lot of kids. Jessica has. I was like, what?

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I say? Oh, I saw my wife running at me. That she and Jessica worked through the week getting our room ready back there, and, we appreciate them. By the way, next Sunday, I’ll be announced. Matter of fact, this Sunday, if you would be interested, ladies, in helping back there. I need someone 18 or older. You know, adults are going to have adults back there to some degree.

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So if you’re willing to help back there, we want to assemble a team to help back there where we can rotate teachers out. We have a curriculum available and, we will, let you in on it, let you help with that. Appreciate you being willing to do that. Matter of fact, this week we got a room back here.

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We’ve got a lot of chairs, and we got to get those chairs out. We’ve got a new storage container out here this week, and we need to get chairs put in there, because we have last Sunday, there were three families locked in here with baby carriers. We need a nursery. We have good problems. All right. It’s good. These are good problems.

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Mention good things to have. By the way, we had two young men saved in the service last week, and we baptized them in the horse trough at the run. And so, look, if you haven’t come to our bull ride ministry, I know today being 5:00, you might not be able to make it back, but I hope you’ll come back maybe next week at to 230 when we go to 230, because, we’re seeing God do some amazing things there and hope you come back.

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Especially just pray for pray for that ministry. We got a lot of ministry opportunities. We got a veterans event coming up here in September. We’ve got the C lobby, our party, we’ve got our weekly bull riding, and, we’ve got a lot of demands, a lot of things. We need more bulls. We need more bulls. I say that every week.

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You don’t know how serious I am about that. You can go back there and talk for Red man, the most famous bull back here, and he’ll tell you, man, I’m working three, four times a week and I’m tired. Some of the others are going five and six times. And they’re good. We take care of them, we feed them.

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We love them. They’re God’s creation. He blessed us with them. But we need more. Our ministry is growing, and we’re about to enter the busy season for that ministry. See you. You just pray and by the way, if you don’t think it’s working, just look around this building for just a minute. You’ll be hard pressed to find a church our size on a Sunday morning with this many teenage young men sitting here, and I love them and I’m glad you guys are here.

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I appreciate you guys. Every one of you. And by the way, come up there on a Sunday afternoon and see how many young men and young ladies are up there. You’ll be hard pressed anywhere on a Sunday evening to find that many teenagers in one place who are there to to ride bulls, and we teach them about the Lord.

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We share the Bible with them. We’re mentoring. We got a number of good men and women here in our church on this team that love these kids and are mentoring them. They love them, they speak good things into their life and we’re seeing good results. All right, take your Bibles, Hebrews chapter 12. I’m going to try to hurry this morning.

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I know it’s already 12 1130. And, we got to get the launch. Hebrews 12 verse one. By the way, before I read that verse. But let’s just start Hebrews 12, verse one. It says, therefore, let me just stop right there. Anytime you see therefore in the Bible, you should pause, just like we’re doing right now, and ask yourself, what is it?

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Therefore? In other words, what does that word mean? Or because, therefore then you instantly want to back up and consider the verses or the chapter before it, because it means that God has said something important, and therefore he’s going to say something else to back up what he’s already said. And so it kind of goes together. So when you read Hebrews chapter 11 and we won’t read it this morning, but I hope you go home sometime this week and it’ll be a it’s a great book of the Bible to read.

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It’s called the Hall of Faith. In other words, God chose to record some great men and women of history who trusted him by faith. And your records, their names, and what brought them along their way, in their journey, in life and in records, these men and women as great examples of people who had bold faith in God. That’s what Hebrews 11 is about.

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So whenever you read Hebrews 11, I mean, you get a list of a lot of believers through the history who trusted God, believe God, and by the way, believe God in the face of insurmountable odds. Like it. It looked like they were outnumbered. It looked like they were outdone. It looked like they were certainly going to lose. And by the way, that’s the perfect recipe for a miracle in your life.

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By the way, if you’re if you’re one of those folks this morning says, I need a miracle, I can tell you, the folks who need miracles the most is the ones that they’ve already just about given up. Everybody else is counted out, and it looks like they’re about to be outdone or overdone. Because if God doesn’t show up, they’re in big trouble.

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But that’s a great place to be in. If you’re in that place today, you’re in a place of expectancy of the miracles of God. You’re in the place that God wants you if you’re there this morning, because that’s the place where God can show up and show out in your life in a really powerful way. So in the Bible says Hebrews 12 verse one, therefore, because of what we read in Hebrews 11, because of the example of these great men and women of faith, he says, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us

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run with endurance the race. Say that with me the race. You may not realize this, but every person in here has a race. He every person under the sound of my voice. You are running the race called life. And the older you get, the more you will understand it is a race. The older you get, the faster it goes, the older you get, the more you realize, man, I’m getting closer to the end and I was the beginning.

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And you learn that it begins to speed up and you may even begin to take it more seriously. I hope so, but everybody under the sound of my voice, from the time you’re born to the time you die, whether you realize it or not, you are in a race. It’s a race of life. It’s a race of time.

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And like I said, the older you get, the faster it goes, he says. But I want you to remember something. You’re you’re running a race and it’s a race that is set before you. Verse two looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has set down at the right hand of God a right hand of the throne of God.

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Now let me stop right there. And we’re just going to read those two verses. If we can go further, we will, but I doubt it. And you read in verse number one, the Bible tells us first of all, because in light of what we read in Hebrews 11, all these men and women of history that God chose to record in another way, this ain’t all of them.

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These are just the ones that made God’s call of faith. And these are the men and women, and he uses as an example to us. He writes about them, he gives them the Holy Spirit, reminds us of their life through through Scripture, that these were people that honored God by faith, that believe God by faith, that expected great things of God by faith.

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And they saw great things in their life by faith. And so he says, listen because of them. I want you to remember, we are surrounded by so great of a cloud of witnesses. In other words, there’s many that have gone on before you that have run the same race you’re running on. Don’t misunderstand me. I know that everybody’s race is unique and different in its own aspect, but you also have to remember every one of us running the race called life.

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We are still running a race. No different than everybody else is before us has had to run. No matter of fact, you know that the many thousands of years of human history there’s not a whole lot, theoretically, that you and I can go through that others before us haven’t gone through before. Also, we when you think about the struggles that we have, you think about the problems that we face.

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You think about the issues that come up in our daily lives. I want you to think that it is only unique to you. There have been people on this planet, in my opinion, over 6000 years, and as a result of it, there’s not much you’re going to go through that somebody else hasn’t already been through. I know that from Scripture because Ecclesiastes, he, Solomon told us, he said, listen, there’s nothing new under the sun.

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In other words, you what you experience, what I experience, I guarantee you somebody has been through similar experiences in their lives before. And he said, so listen, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, where are those witnesses today? Where are those people of Hebrews 11 today? They’re in heaven. They’re they’re in the presence of God.

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And do I do I believe that in heaven? I mean, let me clarify something for you. Do I believe that in heaven people spend their every waking moment in heaven looking down on us? I doubt that they got out of this world. They don’t want nothing else to do with this world. I think there may be times that God may give them a glimpse over eternity, and they get to look back over and see what’s happening on this earth.

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I don’t know that for sure. I’ve never been there, but when I get there, I’m going to find out. But what I do know is this great cloud of witnesses that that Paul is talking about here in Hebrews. He’s saying that there’s been a lot of people come before us, and there’s a lot of people that have experienced some of the same things we have, and God gave them faith to overcome whatever issues, whatever problems, whatever things they were facing.

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And he’s saying they were able to run their race. Well, they were able to get through this race called life in a way that honored God. And please, God in the long run. But notice something else. He says, since we’re surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us.

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Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. So here’s what I want to give you. I want to give you a few thoughts this morning about the race that you’ve got to run, the race that you’ve got to run, the things you’ve got to do, the things I’ve got to do and some thoughts concerning it that I hope will help you.

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If you’re weary in that race today, it’ll give you strength. If you’re discouraged in that race today, it’ll encourage you. If you’re if you’re thinking of quitting in that race, hope it will encourage you not to quit, but rather to trust God because there’s some things he wants to say to you today. So look with me first of all, in verse one, whenever he says, we’re surrounded by this great cloud of witness, but let us lay aside every weight and every sin that so easily ensnares us.

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So here’s what I want you to understand. First of all one. Remember there’s others that’s gone before you. Yet number two, you and I need to get rid of anything hindering us in that race. Man, praise God for the rain, y’all. Just hang on. Yeah. How do I listen closely? It’s going to get loud. How in the world do I or you run a race and do it effectively?

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And what is he talking about when he’s saying let lay aside every weight that that hinders it. Now, let me be real clear. I have been an athlete most of my life. Like I wrote books. All right, you got to be an athlete to do that. When I was young, I was a young guy in high school.

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I tried out for football, and I was obviously the littlest guy. Like, I’m as big as I’ve ever been in my life. Right here at 51 years old. Like I put on something I can’t get rid of and I don’t know what it is, but I was always a little guy. And I remember my freshman year I was going to try out for football, and I went to practices, and I don’t think the coaches knew where to put me.

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I mean, I weighed 100 and 1,715 pounds soaking wet at that time. And so they put me up for a wide receiver. I didn’t even know what a wide receiver was. I never played football in my life, you know, I wasn’t into that. So but I wanted to do it because it seemed like that’s what all the cool guys at school were doing.

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They threw me a football. Amen. I’d run out there and I caught it. I looked back and, oh, I mean, I was, I mean, I was, I was headed to the touchdown and I did, I did, I ran them all and they did it 2 or 3 times. The coach pulls me over, he goes, Typekit you sure are a little bit man.

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You can run. He said, I never seen somebody run like that. He goes, how in the world being so little short legged as you are, how do you run that fast? I said, sir, if you look behind me and see all the big guys chasing me, you’d run fast to I’m in it. I got. So then he give me the ultimatum.

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You’re like, okay, you’re going to choose bull riding or football because you’re going to get hurt. And I can’t have you doing this, you know, and and of course I chose Bull Run. So, I, I now say to people, if you see me running, you better start running. Two. Something’s chasing me. Like, I’m pretty sure in the story of the prodigal son, you know, the father ran to meet his son.

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And that was a really big deal, because in the Bible, old men didn’t run because it was undignified. I still ascribed it. I believe that if you see me run and run to. But in reality, in truth, we all have race in life to run, and there are some things that will hinder us.

00:22:23:23 – 00:22:45:02
Rarely do you go to an arena like ours up there and see a bullfighter walk out there and cowboy boots. No, they’re cowboys, but they normally get some tennis shoes on because boots are kind of slowing you down. If you’re running in a bull run arena, especially if you’re a bullfighter or you see an athlete, you know, you don’t see them out there.

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You know, some guy at the Olympics running and running a 400 meter. You don’t see him in mud boots. You see him in some running shoes, right? That in matter of fact, they’re wearing shorts and and maybe a tank top. They really got some clothes on. They they don’t have a lot of heavy stuff on. They want to be able to get and go and run.

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The same is true in life. There are some things that can set us back, and those are weights of sin. And the Bible says, be careful not to carry those weights with you. Here’s here’s some of the weights that you can carry. You can carry the weight of guilt. You can carry the weight of shame. You can carry the weight of discouragement.

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You can you can carry the weight of depression. But then you can also carry sin in your life. And those sins will trip you up along your race. Those those sins will keep you from getting where you’re supposed to go. What God’s purpose in his will is for your life. I’ve known a lot of guys. I’ve known a lot of women who start off into life really well, and maybe even in ministry or in public life or or just as a family or as a husband or wife.

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And somewhere along the way, sin trips them up and it stops them or keeps them from running the race that God called them to do. But I also want to say to you, don’t let those moments of your life define your your race. Can I just be honest with you? Most people, while running a race are going to fail at some point when it’s raining.

00:24:24:20 – 00:24:56:02
Thank God somewhere along life’s way you’re going to stumble and fall somewhere in your life along life’s race. You’re going to have a moment that you bust your nose. When I was about five years old, I was in kindergarten. My mama remember this, and I had one of those Tonka trucks, and I had it at school. How many of y’all remember the old real tanker trucks?

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They were made of solid metal, and I was pushing that thing like this around the track of the school. But I was wearing tennis shoes that day, and somehow my shoe string come undone and it wrapped in the wheel, and I fell forward face first on that pavement, that asphalt. And I mean, it scared me up, busted my nose.

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I was crying and they had to call a mom. And I think about life that way. Sometimes you’re running life’s race and something trips you up. It’s a sin. It’s something Satan put in your way to hinder you, to hurt you. And Paul is saying, listen, put all that aside. You gotta lay that aside because it’ll keep you from what you want to do.

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I brought this knucklehead. I’m gonna pull this best off right here. I brought this buckle today for a reason. For reason? I’m not addressing record. We ain’t going there. Not today. In 1989, I got hurt real bad. Most of you know my testimony. You’ve seen my pictures. Get my face stepped on. It was in Asal, Texas, and it almost killed me.

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I was eight days. There’s a lot of support, mom, that rent is bad in 1993. And by the way, I after that happened, I made a vow to my mom and dad. They remember not people. They would come into the hospital room like you ever going to ride bulls? Give him a mouth wide. Shut that right. You bet I am.

00:26:27:20 – 00:26:54:15
I’m going to be a professional, and I did. I later became that and. But the reason I love this book when I there was a time that I quit wearing this buckle. But let me tell you the story behind this buckle. It’s a pro youth rodeo that I was riding in in 1993 and had a bull step on my right leg, and I go to the rodeo in Azle, where I had got stepped on four years ago in the face and almost killed me.

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And I show up there on crutches. I had in those days what was called an MTO, a medical turnout, and my mom saw me get a truck to go. But like a good bull rider, I always had my gear with me. In other words, I never left home without my bull run gear. But I’m on crutches. They got this.

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This leg wrapped in a cast steel. They put it on, and I was supposed to go back to the doctor that week. They were going to see if they put a permanent cast them. Well, I get there. I’m already entered, mama’s already signed all that stuff. And I get there and I find out I got a bull. Then I had wounded all year long.

00:27:29:16 – 00:27:43:02
And if I could ride him, I knew I could win the bull run. And so I began to connive and scheme. And then I realized, wait a minute, I’m at the same arena. I got hurt it. I ended up cutting the cast off my leg. The thing I got my buddies to help me over when they run my bull in.

00:27:43:02 – 00:27:58:06
It was in the very chute that the bull that I’d come out of four years ago, and the bull almost killed me. So all that’s going through my mind, I’m thinking my mom is going to win. I could get killed here. I almost got killed here. And when I get home, my mama finds out what I’m doing. She’s going to kill me.

00:27:58:08 – 00:28:24:11
But all I could think about was winning this battle. And I got on the bull. I wrote him, and I won this battle. And. And that day, for me, a lot of bull riding changed because I was able to overcome a lot of fear. But it also did something in me where I decided at that moment I would pursue, I would pursue a career bull riding, I would pursue being a world champion.

00:28:24:11 – 00:28:47:28
That’s what I wanted to be, and I would pursue every buckle I could get my hands on. I’ve got a trophy case over at my house and I it’s full of them. But also in 1993, I heard a lady by the name of Elsie Frost Lane Frost. Mama speak right here in Decatur. They were releasing the movie eight seconds.

00:28:48:00 – 00:29:09:26
I left there that day and God began to call me to preach. And there came a time in my life that God had set in course a new race for me. It was a race he had for me all along. But I had to realize that. And this buckle became an idol to me. This became what I live for.

00:29:10:02 – 00:29:28:10
And there came a day that I had to choose. Do I love that more or do I love God more? I’m not. Listen to me guys. I’m not saying bull riding is not. I’m not saying buckles that are not and I’m not saying any of that. I’m just saying for me, there came a day that those buckles were an idol to me.

00:29:28:13 – 00:29:58:21
Anything that you put before God and his will for your life, any person you put before God and His will for your life, any purpose or passion you put before God is an idol to you. And that was an idol to me. And there came a day I had to put those buckles away. There was a time that I wouldn’t even look at them.

00:29:58:23 – 00:30:16:00
There was a time in my life I didn’t want to talk about that. I went on a road bulls. I had a long career doing it, but there was a time that it became an idol to me, and I had to set it aside until I got my priorities right, because I realized I had a race to run.

00:30:16:03 – 00:30:39:25
And so that’s what Paul is saying. He said, let let’s consider. And then that great cloud of witnesses and let’s set aside the things that are easily besetting us and tripping us up. Let’s, let’s put aside the sin. And then he says, let us run with endurance. It brings me my third point is this.

00:30:39:27 – 00:31:00:02
My third point is it’s not really how you start the race, but it’s how you finish the race. You know, everybody’s got to start, but not everybody finishes. Or at least they don’t finish. Well.

00:31:00:04 – 00:31:21:20
Don’t be mistaken. There’s going to be times in your race that you’re going to fall. There will be some moments of your life that you fail. There will be some moments of your life that you get tripped up and you bust your nose. There will be some moments in your life that you have to reprioritize and say, you know what?

00:31:21:22 – 00:31:46:25
This is most important to me. God is most important. His son, Jesus is most. The leadership and direction of the Holy Spirit is most important to me, that I don’t have to become a priority. And if it doesn’t, then then you’re just going to continue tripping and and you might not finish well. But can I just tell you that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish?

00:31:46:27 – 00:32:17:29
He says, run with endurance. One thing I know, I never really got into running races and marathons and all that stuff. Like, you know, my father running our. He told you. But I do know people who do do that and do it really well. And they’re not always trying to be the first one out of the gate. I, I didn’t run, I never ran races, but I did run race horses for a time for Terry Bradshaw.

00:32:18:01 – 00:32:36:08
And I never will forget when I got it, when we’d get in, it wasn’t. He was first out of the gate as we would gallop those ponies around the track. It was about setting a pace and knowing when to give that horse his head and let him go. And if you’ve ever watched a horse race back then, you might.

00:32:36:10 – 00:33:00:04
It’s not always the one in the lead at the beginning that’s going to win. It’s the one who has the endurance and knows when to kick it in and go on and finish the race right and well. I learned that as a as a young horse jockey is too small to, you know, I was too small to play football, too short to play basketball, too slow to play baseball.

00:33:00:07 – 00:33:24:08
Showed up at Terry Bradshaw house one time and he’s I didn’t know who he was. He’s like some big ball hit again. I found out he was a famous ball hit a guy, but he’s like, hey boy, how much you weigh? I said, well, 115 to 116 depends on many awesome burritos I eat. He said you’d be just right for a horse jockey and like, well, okay, offered me some money.

00:33:24:08 – 00:33:53:04
Next day, I’m over there. Rodney’s these ponies for fastest horse ever rode. But what I’m trying to tell you is. It’s not really how you start. It’s how you finished. It matters. Talk to old people like me and older people than me that are in here. People that have followed Jesus a long time. And you want to know one common thing.

00:33:53:04 – 00:34:18:25
You’re going to hear from all of us. We’ve all fallen. We’ve all messed up. We’ve all had to get back up and go again. And we’ve all learned. We’ve all learned. It ain’t how we started the race. It’s how we’re going to finish it. We’re going to stick to it. We’re not going to give up. We’re going to set a pace and we’re going to keep going.

00:34:18:27 – 00:34:41:16
And we’re not going to let discouragement or depression or any of that side realize, because that’s what the devil wants to do. He’ll throw everything in the world that you and by the way, when you do fall, you know what he normally does. He comes along and he just riddles you with guilt because you fail. Let me tell you something about sin real quick.

00:34:41:19 – 00:35:11:29
God hates sin. Sin when it is finished. The Bible says brings forth death. So don’t, don’t, don’t dare think I’m the little center. Or are you no acting like sins, no big deal. No sin is a big deal. Jesus had to die for it, for our sin. But here’s what I want you to know about sin. Satan’s purpose in sin is not just a momentary failure that happens, but it is the the after after effect.

00:35:12:01 – 00:35:43:08
It’s the guilt and the condemnation that he heaps on you for that momentary failure, because that’s the weight he puts on you to keep you from running that race effectively. So when God says, set aside every weight and sin that besets you, he’s saying, put it off. And remember it’s not how you start the race, but how you finish it.

00:35:43:10 – 00:36:13:27
What I like most about this passage, I like the whole passage, but you read on with me too. Verse two. Because this is where it gets really good. He says, running with endurance. The race that is set before us looking unto Jesus. Stop right there. It’s easy in life to begin looking to the critics. Older people on my right.

00:36:14:00 – 00:36:37:26
There will always be somebody to come along side you, or stand at a distance and criticize your race and criticize how you’re running the race. But can I just tell you those don’t in doing that or standing still, that’s the only way they can stand still and criticize you. They’re not doing a very good job running their race.

00:36:37:28 – 00:36:55:20
Jesus said it this way. He said, look, before you go pointing out sin and everybody else’s eye or a splinter in your brother’s eye, be sharing it. The point out of your own eye. In other words, hey, I know you’re going to fail. I’m going to fail. I’m not going to put you on a pedestal. Don’t put me on a pedestal.

00:36:55:27 – 00:37:15:11
I’m going to pray for you and be encouraging to you as you run your race. And I pray you do the same for me. And by the way, if you fall, I’m not here to kick you. Matter of fact, I’m sure not here to kick you. I’m a pastor. Do you know what the first four letters of the word pastor are?

00:37:15:14 – 00:37:40:23
P a s t. What’s that? Spell class pass. My job is to help you get past your past. Amen. That’s my job as a pastor. Get past your past. You fail. All right? Get this happen in your life, I understand. Let’s pray together. Let’s get. But the Holy Spirit’s going to give you victory over that so you can get back up, move on to run the race God gave you to run.

00:37:41:00 – 00:38:05:09
So don’t look to the critics. There’ll always be critics. There’s always going to be naysayers. And those are normally the ones that are falling and won’t get back up. They’re kind of like a drunk on a Saturday night. Fallen. And I can’t get back up. You’ve seen them? People just keep on going. They fall in two. Don’t worry about your critics.

00:38:05:11 – 00:38:33:14
Don’t look to the critics. Who’s it say to look to? Looking unto who? Jesus. Looking unto Jesus. Look to him as your example. That’s what he’s saying. And I’ve got a closer look at this, he says, looking unto Jesus is more like the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

00:38:33:17 – 00:38:37:20
This is my last point. You’re ready.

00:38:37:23 – 00:39:00:06
It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Don’t worry about the critics. Get rid of what’s hindering you. Remember, there’s a lot of people that have gone before. You never run this race. But I’m going to give you the final point is this. When you can’t run no more, look to Jesus. Did you think Jesus, who knew no sin?

00:39:00:08 – 00:39:23:18
He was perfect and he came to this earth, and he lived 33.5 years as a human being on this earth. And the Bible tells us he never sinned. So I want to be clear about that. But when when the time came and by the way, there were always people wanting him to reveal who he was, and he would say, even to his own mother when he turned to water, and when he said, my, my time, my hour has not yet come.

00:39:23:18 – 00:39:53:04
In other words, he knew he had a race to run on this earth. The purpose and will of his father. And it would culminate with him going to the cross, laying down his life as a sacrifice for our sins. That that’s what his mission was. That was his race. Okay, ain’t my race, but that was his race. But he when he says, looking unto Jesus, he was the example for us who went through shame and rejection.

00:39:53:04 – 00:40:12:28
I mean, think about this. All the people that he did miracles for, where were they when he got to the cross? And yet he knew all that was coming. Did he have moments that he was burdened down? Just read your Bible. When he’s in the garden, he says, father, if this cup of suffering can pass from me, would you let it?

00:40:12:28 – 00:40:54:21
If there’s another way, let that way. But not my will, but your will be done, father. And he goes to the cross. He lays down his life. He endured the cross, the shame, everything. Why? For the joy that was set before him. He knew that at the end of his race, what he was doing and accomplishing was the will of the father, which was to redeem you and I from our sin to calls us to when we come to faith in Jesus, that we pass from death until life, from lost until saved, that we have instead of eternal damnation, we would have eternal life.

00:40:54:24 – 00:41:05:14
And Jesus knew that, and he didn’t lose sight of it. I’m going to close with this.

00:41:05:17 – 00:41:33:02
In 1992, I told you, I’ve never run races or marathons, but I and I really don’t care watching the Olympics. But there is one Olympic moment I know very well watch it. And, in my opinion, it’s one of the greatest Olympic moments in history. It’s in 1992. Barcelona 400 meter dash. And it was Olympic runner by the name of Derek Redmond.

00:41:33:05 – 00:41:53:14
Don’t do it now, but you can Google what I’m telling you later and you can YouTube. The video is really pretty cool. And he’s running and he’s, he’s a, he’s he’s in the lead. He looks like he has a great chance of winning the race. And I’m not sure which meter along the way it happened. But he pulls a hamstring and he goes to the ground.

00:41:53:17 – 00:42:22:13
I don’t know if you’ve ever pulled a hamstring, but I did yesterday. He put my underwear on is terrible. Terrible catch. You know I just got it right there. Didn’t. I pull a hamstring before too. Okay. Here. But it’s terrible. But he goes down and all the other Olympic runners go by him. And he’s obviously wasn’t able to finish the race.

00:42:22:15 – 00:42:54:18
And he looks up into the stands or toward the stands. You can see it on the video and he and as he does, you see a man run down onto the field and that man grabs him, puts his arm around him, get him up. And together they limp across the finish line. By now he’s already disqualified, and the fact that he had to have help to get across the finish line, he’s already just qualified from that race.

00:42:54:20 – 00:43:23:05
But the crowd watching that day erupted as if he had won the race. And the reason for it was because the man, Derek Redmond, who had pulled his hamstring and unable to finish the race, the man who came down to help him was Jim Redmond. His dad, his father, his father came out of the stands, grabs him and helps him finish the race.

00:43:23:08 – 00:43:54:07
Here’s what I want to tell you. In that great cloud of witnesses that I talked earlier, the Hebrews talks about the war and watching most and the one where to look onto is Jesus. And we have a heavenly father that says, if you fallen, come on, son, come on daughter, get up. It ain’t over when you read that part where it says, Jesus Christ is the author and the finisher of our faith.

00:43:54:09 – 00:44:19:10
An author writes a story in my right. So it wasn’t it, I didn’t. I’m not even writing my own story now. But I didn’t begin my story. My story began in the heart, in the mind of God. So did yours. By the way, God doesn’t make mistakes. God doesn’t create anybody by accident. He is the author of your life.

00:44:19:13 – 00:44:45:19
And by the way, it is him who will write the finishing line or chapter of your life. It’s God who will write that because he’s your heavenly father and he’s saying, today you may have fallen job. But just like Garrett, Redmond’s father came on to that that field and picked him up. You got a Heavenly Father that loves you.

00:44:45:21 – 00:45:16:03
Then you pick you up and help you across that finish line. Don’t quit. Don’t throw in the towel. Don’t. Don’t let your failures define your race. It’s not over. There’s still a heavenly Father in heaven. He’s writing. He’s writing the end. He’s writing it. And he ain’t got there yet. And it’s going to be good if you trust him.

00:45:16:05 – 00:45:39:17
You don’t believe me. Go read Hebrews 11. Do you think those men and women of God thought their life was for? No, no. What they did is they trusted God to be the author and the finisher of their faith, of their life. Would you bang your head with me, Bill? Would you come again this morning?

00:45:39:19 – 00:45:53:05
Before we leave today? I’m going to ask Bill to sing one song. Just close our place. Something. Bill, whatever. Little bit on your table.

00:45:53:07 – 00:46:23:16
From a speech to two different types of people here today. Number one, I want to speak to those of you here who may not know Jesus as your Savior. I’m glad you’re here today. I’m glad you’re listening today. If you don’t have peace in your heart today that you know Jesus not knew about him. Not a Jew or religious or you got a Bible assignment.

00:46:23:19 – 00:46:51:08
I’m not asking you. Listen. I’m asking. You really know Jesus. Does he know you? Do you have a relationship with him? Hear me carefully. I’m not, I’m not. I’m not asking you if you’re religious. I’m asking you. Do you have a relationship with Jesus? If you don’t today, you can call upon the name of the Lord Jesus to be your savior.

00:46:51:10 – 00:47:19:26
And it’s simple. If you believe that you’re a sinner and if you get what you deserve, it will be hell. Literally. But God so loves you that he sent his only son, Jesus, to die on the cross in your place for your sins. I don’t have to convince you you’re a sinner. Your conscience is telling you right now that you’re a sinner.

00:47:19:28 – 00:47:46:05
What you need to do is believe that Jesus took your place and your sin on the cross. And if you believe that today in your heart, not only that, but that he died on the cross, they buried him. And three days later the Bible says he rose from the dead. And Romans, the book of Romans. In the Bible, it tells us that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in their heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

00:47:46:05 – 00:48:15:23
For it says, for with the mouth confession, for with the heart man believes, and to righteousness with the mouth, confession is made it to salvation. Would you do this today? If you don’t have a relationship with him, would you say, Jesus, I confess you today as my Lord. I believe you died for me. I believe you died in my place on the cross today.

00:48:15:26 – 00:48:24:17
I ask you to forgive me, change me and save me.

00:48:24:19 – 00:48:45:27
If you. If you pray something like that from your heart to God’s heart, then today you can have eternal life through Jesus. Maybe you’re here today and you say, I’m not sure I’m a Christian. I know it’s a holiday weekend. And I look across the audience and I know many of you are are believers and regulars here. You already have a walk with Jesus.

00:48:45:27 – 00:49:20:29
And I’m I’m grateful you do. Maybe you’re in the place you’re going. Me and I stumbled in my race. I’m struggling in my race. I’m discouraged in my race. The next message was for you. The Holy Spirit wants me to tell you right now. This morning. Quit looking at everything around you. Quit looking behind you. Look up to Jesus.

00:49:20:29 – 00:49:51:27
Look up, look up. He wants you to finish strong. He wants you to finish well. It’s not over till he says it’s whatever sin, whatever snare, whatever thing has come along to slow you down, to keep you from what God wants you to be. Why don’t you set that aside today? Why don’t you lay that at the feet of Jesus today?

00:49:51:29 – 00:50:27:25
And then get back up and write. You have a Heavenly Father that’s come out on the track today, and he’s putting his arms around you right now. And he’s saying, get up, son, get up, daughter, I’ll help you go. But you gotta trust him. You got to trust him. Cody, would you come, Gator? Come on, buddy. Gwen. Rick, these these four are going to be right up here at the altar this morning.

00:50:27:27 – 00:50:48:00
I’m going to dismiss in a moment. But if you need prayer, these folks, all four right here, you have got others. You need prayer. Why don’t you get up and come right now? If God speaking to you now, you say, I need somebody. Pray me. Just come on. Come on. Here. You don’t God speaking to you. Come on.

00:50:48:02 – 00:50:55:08
In there. Come on.

00:50:55:11 – 00:53:52:13
You need prayer. All of these here are at the front. They’re going to pray with you. I call upon these. These men. Women because I know they love you. They’ll pray with you. Whatever your struggle, whatever it is, maybe you need it. Maybe you need to trust Jesus as your Savior today. Come on. There’s plenty time to.

00:53:52:15 – 00:53:58:26
Church, I want you just to look for just a moment.

00:53:58:29 – 00:54:08:23
I want you to look these young people down here at the altar being prayed for.

00:54:08:25 – 00:54:37:16
I preached in a lot of places. Preached across this country for a long time. When I was younger, as an evangelist, spent a lot of places. You see that many young, young men, young, young teenagers, young adults, that passionate about seeking God, that’s a rare thing. That’s a very, very rare thing today.

00:54:37:18 – 00:54:57:21
If you don’t think God’s being good at this church at all, you need a way to open your eyes because he is. He is.

00:54:57:24 – 00:55:16:09
We’re going to let these continue to pray up here. There’s several. Just need a prayer. And I’ll just miss you here in a second. But, hey, I want you to get behind see Bill Baker today. Let him know that you appreciate you being here. They know how much we love him. He’ll be back next month. Right. Amen.

00:55:16:12 – 00:55:35:07
All right. I love every time he come. Boy, he’s a blessing. I always say we we want to give him a good offering. If you have a gift you want to give to him this morning, you feel free to go by. I call it when those old time Baptist handshake where you just shake his hand and put a little cash in his hand.

00:55:35:10 – 00:55:50:02
Blessing, blessing. Or if you want to give an offering toward him, just let us know. But, we don’t pass an offering plate here. But if you want to give an offering to the Lord today, we have a meal kit in the back. And you can give you tithes and offerings that way. Or you can look at your bulletin.

00:55:50:02 – 00:56:06:26
There’s a QR code there. Some people like to give online, and you’re welcome to do it that way I love you. Thank you for being here. Good to see each and every one of you. Some of you we’ve been praying for you and praying that you get well and able to come back. And we’re glad you’re here.

00:56:06:28 – 00:56:29:15
So, be sure and get a bulletin before you leave. A lot of upcoming events. Come to our church. We’re grateful for all the things God’s doing here. Don’t forget Wednesday night, this Wednesday night at 630, Bible study here. Church. You don’t want to miss it. It’s exciting. It’s great. We’re growing in the Lord together. Don’t forget boat riding at 5:00 today.

00:56:29:18 – 00:56:54:29
Cody, come on up here. Pray a blessing over him. And when he’s through praying, you’re dismissed. We love you and appreciate you being here this morning. Father God, we come to you this afternoon. Lord, just thanking you for everything you do for us. Father God. Father, right now I ask that you just use us as a conduit throughout the week, father God, to help somebody in need or pray over somebody that’s in desperate need for the God of that race.

00:56:55:01 – 00:57:22:23
That it’s not how you start it, but it’s how you finish that race. That somewhere through the race, we start to struggle. We start to get burdened and bound down. But I just pray right now that there’s an angel within the room, that there’s an angel within the building that could help someone in that time of need, rather just be a hug or, give them a smile, whatever the case may be, Father God, but you just use us as a living vessel to help one another.

00:57:22:23 – 00:57:39:05
Father God, and as you put a hedge of protection around this congregation, put a hedge of protection around the leadership of this church, father God, that no enemy formed against us shall prosper. This in Jesus mighty name I pray. Amen, Amen and amen.