Hebrews Chapter 12 Verse 1

•Who are the witnesses? In the context of the text, the witnesses are the heroes of faith! Those that resolved that God is good and in that resolution found Him to be constantly faithful! Always on the clock delivering upon His Word. We often quote this in the context of the local church or the fellowship of believers around us and that is good but contextually, very interesting here, the connection is to those that have gone before us and in that I find a mysterious connection, a sight line as it were, between heaven and earth.

•People ask, “Can my grandmother see me?” “Can my sister see me from heaven?” I can’t entirely answer that question to the affirmative, but I also can’t entirely answer that question to the negative. In Luke 15:7 Jesus says, “There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents…” That indicates some sort of sight connection as well. So I can’t entirely dismiss, although it’s not given to us clearly in the Word of God, that our loved ones that have gone on before us are today not able to see us. Know where we are, how we are…and I like that. It comforts me…

•What I can say very clearly from the scriptures is that they don’t communicate with us…we cannot speak to them and they cannot speak to us…that is clear in the Bible as well as the fact that our ancestors cannot intercede on our behalf with God…or that the saints of old, they cannot make intercession for us, hear our prayers and take them to God, that is clearly taught as false in the Bible as we read in 1 Timothy 2:5, “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” And so praying or relying upon saint this or saint that or Mary is actually and clearly anti-biblical…but an awesome thing to consider here in our text today, we are somehow compassed about by them…

•I like that translation of this Greek word because it speaks of common direction and guidance and suggests the truthful thought that just like all of the heroes of faith in Chapter 11, we have the same God, the same Spirit, the same calling and the same Savior! So therefore…shed the weight and run! Sin is like a weight tied around our ankles…like 45 lb plates glued to the bottoms of our shoes and we may think that we’re getting away with it…but know this…just because you’re not caught by man doesn’t mean you’re not caught by Satan!

•What could God do through you if you were all out for Him!? THAT is your loss. Loss isn’t the product of being caught. Loss is the product of being in sin. You just don’t see it because it’s much harder to see the “what could be” then “what is.” For some, the weight is sin…for others, the weight is unbelief and fear. Here’s the question for you today. What would you go and do today if you KNEW you would not fail?!

•College degree, working at a Suncom retail store, toughest job market in a decade, my buddy called me up and said, “Hey lets go up to this open house at this huge Aerospace and Defense Company.” After looking at it I told my friend no way because it was an open house for engineers and I have a business degree. He said, “Let’s just go anyway, I’ll buy you lunch.” I sat across the table from that interviewer, he reviewed my resume and looked at me and said, “Son, what are you doing here?” I decided to be raw-fully truthful, nothing to lose. “Sir,” I said, “I’m just taking a shot. I will work hard, be on time, do all that is asked of me and more. I just need a shot.” Two interviews later I was hired and going on 13 years later I’m still there…

•Moving out here to Colorado wasn’t entirely scary. Job was here, they moved me, paid for everything…right into a job I knew that I would thrive in because frankly it was a step back for me. No risk, little fear. But starting a church? Not everyone was supportive. Some folks were down right not supportive. But I heard God’s calling. What if no one came? What if I couldn’t put together Bible studies? What if I failed…all those who told me I couldn’t do it would be proven right…huge risk, huge fear, huge weight…lay that aside, God told April and I…run!

•What do you need to lay aside today? Sin? Think you don’t need to? That God will use you in that sin? Think about who you’d be without it! How much faster, how much more passionate, how much more desperate for God would you be when He was your source for pleasure, entertainment even…instead of those games or that sin…how much more fervent in spirit you’d be…oh man…if you could see you without that snare…you’d tear it off and toss it!

•What do you need to lay aside today? Fear? Fear of failure or rejection? Fear is an interesting thing…it’s not tangible, you can’t tear it off, but you sure can swallow it and mock it and go anyway! Overcoming fear is to not always remove it but to go anyway! I’m just do it anyway! Here’s some help…Look at verse 2…

Hebrews Chapter 12 Verse 2

•That’s how you do it! That’s how you overcome fear and sin for that matter…looking unto Jesus! And endurance surges! Consider the great cloud of witnesses in Chapter 11. Abraham failed as much as he succeeded. Sarah laughed in disbelief and yet moved forward. Noah built while the people mocked him. Joseph wept in prison for two years after his brothers sold him to gypsies and yet he pressed through that horrific rejection to become the hero of his family! Jacob served Laban for 7 years and was rejected so what did he do? He served another 7 in utter strength of humility, not willing to give up!

•Moses was gone for 40 years after being found out in Egypt and at the age of 80 returned for his people at the call of God! Consider this…a certain man was fired from a newspaper for lacking imagination and having no original ideas…his name was Walt Disney! A certain man lost his wife, lost his business…it failed, had an issue with nervous breakdowns and lost 8 elections…his name was Abraham Lincoln! A certain man wasn’t able to speak until he was almost 4 years old and his teachers said he would, “never amount to much.” His name was Albert Einstein!

•What on earth has you snared? Lay it aside! Kick the weights off and run! Run with endurance, patience and hope and the way you do it is by fixing your eyes upon Jesus! The author and finisher, in other words, HE IS the maturer of your faith…the power provider of His people!

•But all that we have covered in Hebrews works together to this point. That Jesus Christ is THE Way to the Father. He is THE Truth of every situation. He is THE life that deep down you’re looking for.

•And so by leaving behind everything else…all that you can do or have whether it be religious self righteousness or sin indulgence, both ends of the spectrum, leaving that behind you by faith grab onto the substance of things hoped for and your life, not theirs, not the stories, not the sermons, your life begins to be the evidence of a homeland elsewhere. Better, higher, powerful and perfect!

•That is what Jesus Christ secured for mankind on the cross. That is what He calls you to today…to be HIS proof text…but you’re not there yet and neither am I…some days, but not many days…so we are to train…watch this…

Hebrews Chapter 12 Verses 3 – 11

•Are you in training? I remember training when I was a young man for wrestling and lacrosse in High School and then rugby in college…training then is the same as training now…always pushing a little bit harder. Getting stronger. Getter faster. Getter better. Becoming more and more fierce as a competitor…Is that your walk…or are you training God? Explaining always why you are the way you are…always doing things the way you think best? Listen, heres where you’re headed…conflict, struggling, suffering and strife that yields the fruit of unrighteousness…which is what…waste. Regret. Loss…

•But if you allow yourself to be trained by the Lord and His Word then you will be filled with hope man…you will be the real deal…profitable to yourself, the kingdom and all around you…and your life will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness! That word peaceable used only twice in the Bible in that Greek form and the other place it’s used is James 3:17 speaking of pure wisdom and power from above!!! Proof text. YOU. That’s you if you allow Jesus Christ to be your King, your Lord, your Savior, your God! Laying everything else aside and becoming a witness among so great a cloud of witnesses of truth and strength.