Women's Bible Study - October 4th, 2023
First B Jackson
2023-10-04

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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We're the the going to

be

storm. Get so in often the weeds sometimes in our relationship with you. We But when we come back to what you did on the cross that we couldn't earn it, we couldn't deserve But you paid it all for us before we even chose you. It's so overwhelming that you went through that for us because of your great love for us. You laid your life down for us, and so we lay our life down for you.

We give it to you. We surrender everything to you. Forgive us this morning for things that we've picked up,

Good morning, ladies. Just a quick announcement before we hop into the teaching. If you could keep our dear small group leader, Susie Baldock, in your prayers. Her daddy passed and we need to divide up her group today. So Anna May, woo, Anna May, Diane Brown, Janet Kravinsky, Julie Young, and Sue Reichel.

You will be in fellowship hall with Sammy. Sammy, can you stand up? This is Sammy. Elise Birch, Shelley Olsen, Dancey Tolleson, M. E.

Weber, and Cindy Collier will be with Natalie Downstairs. K. Only announcement today. Miss Natalie, come on up here. Oh, are you you can't come up?

I think turn off your mic. Turn it on. Yeah. There we go. Okay.

Okay. It might be me that's causing all this whiffling. Sorry. It's a little there we go. I'm good now.

Now that I'm in front of the the tech oh, oh, sorry. We might be okay now. I was just I was on in the back. That's why it was all

Let's try. Okay. Very good. I'm so excited for you all this morning because Natalie is a phenomenal teacher. You're gonna be seeing a lot more of her, God willing.

I she's a busy girl. She has two little ones. She works pretty much full time, and she volunteers a lot, teaching our youth in the valley. So, I know the Lord's gonna lighten up that schedule so you can be blessed more by her, but today, I would just like to say a quick prayer for her before we jump into the teaching. Come here, cutie.

Lord, thank you for this beautiful soul that you brought to our valley. Thank you for her love for you and her love for your word. And I just we're so blessed to have her. And we just pray that you will anoint her words today, and may we just connect with you in a very, very special way. Thank you, Jesus, for this time.

Thank you for these ladies. In your name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. Oh, okay. So three years ago, stress that. Three years ago, I ran my first half marathon.

And I know in a room full of women in a town like Jackson, that's not very remarkable because they're probably all endurance athletes. I'm gonna turn myself down just a little bit. Hold on a second. K. Here we go.

Thanks for tech. Okay. How's that? A little better? Okay.

And so I I say that not to brag because for a lot of you, like, half marathon's like that's I did that, like, 30 times already. But for me, it was remarkable because before 2020, I'd never run more than, like, probably three miles at a time in my life. In fact, I hated running. Running was boring. My my natural instinct is comfort and not enduring pain of any kind.

And so I was never really a runner, but something happened in 2020, which I know you all know. It's it's COVID. COVID happened in 2020. So that means the gyms were shut down, preschool closed, and at the time I had a two and a three year old who are precious. But I was I went from being with them a few days a week to being with them all the time, and not even having the gym to go work out, you know, my frustrations or anything, and so I just started running.

And running became my outlet. And first it was two or three miles, then it was three or four, then it was four or five, and then pretty soon I started craving running, which was so ironic because prior to that time, I couldn't have imagined running even four or five miles and now I'm craving like waking up every day like I can't wait for the time of day that I get to run. So one day, felt so good that I ended up running like seven miles, and I say this also full on it. It was like my escape. Right?

My escape from everything just for a little while. Was a mental reset for me, and so I came to crave it. And I figured if I could run seven miles, I could probably run half marathon. I'm already halfway there. No big deal.

Right? So I sign up for the Jackson Hole half marathon in September, and at this point, it's probably June or July. And I'm like, no problem. I have this little app on my phone from Nike. I'm gonna just, like, you know, follow this program, and I'm sure I'm gonna be able to finish it.

Not a problem. I'll just run from, like, my house to the village, that distance. It'll be good. But in in reality, like I told you, my my natural bent is towards comfort and not doing hard things and painful things. So the day that I was supposed to run 10 miles, I got to, like, eight and a half, and I'm like, that's probably good.

Right? And I just kinda, like, walk the rest of the way home, maybe jog a little bit, and then jogging. So I never actually made it to my peak mileage. It was supposed to be 11 miles. You're supposed to train up to like 11 miles when you're running 13.

And then there were some days that I like didn't really feel like it or the kids didn't sleep on. I'm like, I'll just skip today. It's not that big of a deal. So I was cutting corners because I love comfort. And so what happens is September rolls around and it's race day, and I hope this is gonna work.

Oh, my slide. Listen, will you go pop up there and show my slide? Okay. To have my visual, I thought this was gonna work, but so I wanted to show you a picture. So race day comes and I'm all jazzed for it, and I run like the first seven or eight miles and I'm flying.

And I'm like, man, I'm gonna crush this half marathon. No big deal. But at Mile 10, what happens is you should just click forward one. I think it's already set up that little those little pictures. At Mile 10, I bonk.

And if any of you are have ever done, like, the grand or, like, anything big, like, you know what it's like to bonk. Like, your blood sugar bottoms out, your heart rate spikes. You feel like you're gonna pass out, throw up. I'm like, am I having a heart attack? Am I gonna make it to the end?

And it's because I hadn't conditioned my body. I'd never run more than 10 miles. I hadn't even run 10 miles. So this is the first time I'm running 10 miles, and I'm doing it at race pace, I'm not prepared. So this is a picture of these are my two kids at the time.

This is literally at like mile 12. Okay? Heading into the village to the finish line. Jack and Abby are ringing their little cowbells cheering for me, and that picture of me, I am like, I've probably never felt so terrible in my life is in that picture. I thought I was surely gonna keel over.

It's leading sideways, like a 20 mile an hour headwind, that crosswind. You know that final mile stretch to the village. And then I get to the village, and it's like finish line this way, but it was still almost a half mile, like, uphill to get to the base of where the chairlifts are at the village. And I'm like, there's no way I'm gonna make it. So I basically collapsed at the finish line, and there I am at the finish line.

Point being, I still got the medal. K? I still finished. I still got the picture. I got still got to celebrate with my family at the finish line.

I did it. But here's what happened. I swore I'd never run again. I'm like, that was the worst thing I've ever done. Congrats to me.

I ran a half marathon. Check it off my list. But then I looked at my time, and I looked at how I stacked up in the field, and I was like, actually not that bad of a runner. I wonder if I actually trained this time. What if I actually do the full program and I don't cut corners?

I wonder how I could run then because my pace for the first, like, nine and a half miles was actually pretty solid. I just lost it all in those last three. So this time, I decide enough time has passed just like child labor. You forget how painful it was. A couple of months later, I'm like, you know what?

I'm gonna sign up to do next year, the June half marathon, and this time, I'm getting a running coach. So you as some of you might know, Terry from Orange Theory and Pursuit. So Terry does this spring running program, and a friend invited me. She's like, I did this awesome running program last year with Terry. You've gotta come join.

Like, he makes cupcakes. Like, at the end of long runs, he's this incredible, like, baker, and he makes all these goodies, and it's gonna be great. So I was nervous to commit to that because I was like, that's like I gotta show up if I sign up. And then what if, like, when what about when you get to, miles ten and eleven? Like, I'm gonna actually have to run it.

So I was really intimidated, really nervous, but you know what happened? I start running with Terry. I start running with this crew, and I got in the best shape. And I had the most fun because I was doing it with a coach who is actually helping me along the way, teaching me everything he knew, and I did it with friends. I did it with the community so that I had accountability.

So I showed up for the 11 miles, and it turns out when you run 11 miles next to a friend, those miles melt away pretty quick pretty quickly. When I ran those miles solo, it seemed like eternity. So I'm like, man, this is great. So race day comes, and I drop eight minutes because I ran with the team, I ran with the coach, I committed to the process, and I finished the program. I trained as I should.

I had endurance because I conditioned myself properly for the race. What was different about my training this time around? I've told you a couple of things. One, I made sacrifices. So when you're going to budget that time, it has to come from somewhere.

So I deliberately rearranged my schedule to accommodate this running program. Also, I love wine and I love margaritas, but when I had to get up early to run, it did not feel so good after a glass of wine. It made me groggy, I didn't wanna get out of bed, I didn't have energy, so I gave up alcohol, which is also for me a big sacrifice. And then I also, I would say I just it hurt. Okay?

Like, sometimes it just hurt, and I would wake up and I was in pain the next day because of the long run that I had had. So I really had to push myself. Number two, I trained with a coach, and Terry is a professional runner. He's run tons of marathons. He taught me things I didn't know about my stride.

He taught me things about pacing. He taught me things about how to hydrate on race day because in this race, you know what I figured? The fastest way to the finish line is not to stop. Blow past those aid stations. Don't stop at the porta potty.

I've never had to go to bathroom so bad in my life. Studies actually show, according to Terry, if you walk the aid station and you drink a little Gatorade, it's gonna help boost you by the aid. You'll actually run faster if you stop at those aid stations. I didn't know that. I was a novice.

So I ran with a coach who knew, and I benefited from his wisdom. And then number three is I ran with community. I ran with a crew. I did not run solo. I did not run solo.

We weren't supposed to lone ranger running. We weren't supposed to lone ranger life, and it made a difference with community because it provided accountability. And when it was really really hard, people were there cheering me on, pulling me along when I didn't have the energy and their strength. So what does this have to do with resolve? So resolve is to decide firmly on a course of action.

This was from our study. Resolve is to decide firmly on a course of action. It's a commitment that requires an action to follow through, and to stand firm in your faith requires commitment, discipline, and endurance. See, my resolve came from the perspective I had of I tried something, I got to a certain place, I think I could do it better with a little training and the willingness to get out of my comfort zone. I've heard this said before, when you're a believer, you need to get comfortable being uncomfortable, and I found that for the same for running.

It it took me getting out of my comfort zone, like, anyone can jog a few miles. No. I had to push way past that, way past to the point of pain, way past the point of I don't wanna get out of bed and do this in order to finish the race well. Today, we're gonna start or we're gonna focus on a scripture, unless I feel flip, and then you can back to your seat. Thank you so much.

So first Corinthians nine twenty four twenty seven. We're gonna tie this all into scripture because I can give you my experience and these little anecdotes and we can tie that back to Bible study and use, but at the end of the day, we're up to counsel from the word of God and so I wanted to find I knew there was there's so much great scripture about race, endurance, commitment, discipline, but this is the one I'm honing in on today. It's first Corinthians nine, and it's right at the top of your study guide, so you don't have to write this. But do you not know that in a race, all runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run-in such a way as to get the prize.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will last, not or that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, do not like run like somebody running aimlessly. Do not fight like a boxer beating at the air. Do not decide one day that you're just gonna sign up for a half marathon.

Nope. I strike a blow to my body and I make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. So Paul's using the physical race as a metaphor, but what's he really talking about? He's talking about the discipline that's required to endure life blamelessly while sharing the good news with others, sharing the gospel. And the prize is eternity.

It's heaven forever with him. So thank you so much, Lisa. Appreciate it. So what's the purpose of the race? The race is a metaphor for our lives.

What's the purpose? We are ambassadors. It's so important to have this frame of mind. Life is not about us. Though Jesus created us uniquely, loves us uniquely, but it's not about us.

We are ambassadors to for heaven in a foreign land. We've talked about this concept before too. This is not our home. Heaven is our home, and we are to be ambassadors to the king, to the one who sent us. Just as if we were American ambassadors in a foreign embassy in an African country.

We wanna be a good representation of The United States Of America. So it is with us. We are ambassadors to heaven. We are God's tangible physical presence on earth so that other people might know him. There's only two things that will last forever.

One is the word of God, and two is the souls of men and women. And you know there's one thing that we can't do in heaven, and that's save more souls because they'll all be there with us. So the time is now. God's plan for our lives is one, to conform us into the image of Jesus, That's Romans eight twenty nine. And then two, to do the good works that he planned in advance for us to do.

That's Ephesians two ten. So that, three, the watching world will see and glorify our father in heaven. That's Matthew five sixteen. We have the distinct honor and great responsibility as living in as ambassadors, and it's our job to do the best representation that we can of our king. We are his hands and feet.

We are to always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks the reason for the hope that you have. That's first Peter three fifteen. But here's the thing. If you don't have a deeply rooted faith, if you don't have conviction about what you believe, I don't think you're going to be able to share that well with others. And I know that from experience because growing up, I was raised in church, I would claim to be a Christian, but here's what would happen.

Something would something terrible would happen in someone's life, and all my sorority sisters who are, like, on fire for Christ would come around and be like, oh my gosh. Let's pray for you right now. We're gonna pray. We're gonna pray over this person. Pray in this moment.

We're and I'm like, thoughts and prayers. Thoughts and prayers. I couldn't pray over somebody. I didn't and if you're not to that place yet, no shame. It was a process, but I couldn't articulate.

I couldn't pray for somebody. I even felt weird saying, I'll pray for you. I lived in Dallas for ten years. I'll pray for you. Pray for you.

But it became real. Once I once I figured out what this really meant, that became genuine. Like, no. I'm actually gonna pray for no. Let's sit right here right now, and I'm gonna pray for you.

And I don't say this like I've matured to this point in my faith. I say this because it's a process and a progression that God intends for all of us as believers because we're supposed to be his ambassadors. We're supposed to be able to sit with someone and pray over them, pray his truth and his words because we're filled with his spirit. And if we don't have conviction and a faith, how can we give an answer? I just had a conversation with a family member a few days ago who's like, yes.

Yes. I believe all this, believe all that, But also, my friend is Buddhist, and she believes in God, and she's going to heaven for sure too. For sure. For sure. And we had to unpack that.

And the more we started pulling out the threads, the more it became obvious, but it's you still have to hold this tension of like, but she believes in a God and she is a very good person, but like but we know through scripture that there is one way. And that's through the recognition, and this is guys, this is offensive. This is why Christianity is hard because you have to tell somebody that they're not good enough and that they're never gonna be good enough. I am never gonna be good enough to get into heaven. That's what Jesus was for.

And if you have some belief that you can work your way into heaven or work your way into greater glory with God, then it negates the cross, and then that sacrifice was all for naught. Can you imagine? Some of you have probably lost children. When I but my son I had a traumatic birth and I was like, can't believe for weeks and weeks. I was like, I can't believe he's here and I'm here and we're all alive.

It was so deeply spiritual, and I that wrecked me. I'm like, my son, that's what God did, his son. I'll never know how much it costs to see my sin on that cross. When that actually sinks in and when you get to the place I understand, you can't help but share that with people. You can't help but tell people what that was, who that was that gave you that new life.

Okay? So that's a purpose. We're ambassadors. And importantly, okay, we're the church. Remember, the church is not a building with a steeple, it's a people.

You are the church. We collectively are the church, and the church is God's plan a. Go to the book of acts. That's how he's going to save the world is through his people, through the church. What happens if we're all on the sidelines sitting in comfort is that we're not out being the hands and feet.

And so I think that that's gonna be a limited effect. Right? I don't I think that if we're not willing to be uncomfortable having those conversations or praying for someone or telling someone about Jesus, it's gonna squelch like the speed at which we can spread and and and save the world. Right? The gospel is fastest growing in countries like China, in Iran, in the underground church where people are being persecuted for their faith.

Can you imagine? Can you imagine if right now we were underground because it was too dangerous to meet, that if we had the secret text thread, that if it's word-of-mouth that we're meeting in the middle of the night in someone's basement, because if a police officer drove by, we could all be imprisoned and leave our fam our lives or risk being jailed. We can do this. We can do this. We're the church.

We're a plan a. This takes me to a second point. What's our goal then? What is our goal in this race? The goal is resolve.

It's to stand firm. When I ran without a plan and a goal, I skipped the hard things that I've already described. So I'm not naturally wired for discipline. I am not a morning person. My husband, exact opposite.

He could have been like a navy seal. He's so disciplined and wakes up at 04:45 every day and can't understand, like, the luxury of keeping your head on the pillow until 06:45. And so I learned a lot of discipline from him, but also I learned that I have to have purpose, otherwise my plans would fail. And we talked about this, I think in week two, what is your why? So if heaven's the finish line, our goal is to stand firm in faith while we wait for it.

And Matthew twenty four thirteen says, the one who endures to the end will be saved. But why is it that God talks so much about the need for standing firm Like, this is going to be hard. He's warning us. He's like, there's one thing for certain. It's gonna be hard.

You can read that all throughout scripture. There's nothing that says, once you put your faith in Christ, it's gonna be smooth sailing till the end. It's actually the opposite. We see over and over and again in the Bible, 11 of the 12 disciples brutally martyred. So when this stuff gets hard, don't be fooled.

Oh, this must not be God's plan because it's really uncomfortable and really hard. Actually, it's the opposite. I'm gonna tell you why in just a minute. Because we can expect our faith to be tested through trials. James one says, the testing of our faith produces perseverance or steadfast fastness, and the full effect of perseverance will be that we are perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Romans five, we glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. And first Peter one says, in this you greatly rejoice. You've been grieved by various trials, but the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, maybe found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Okay. Goldsmiths were a thing in 8050, '80, a hundred.

So this would have been a pretty captivating illustration for the church. So to remove impurities for gold from gold, you have to heat gold or in a crucible in a furnace up to 2,000 degrees, and it becomes liquefied, And then the impurities in the gold will rise to the top. It's called dross. And so the goldsmith would pull it out of the fire, and that dross, as it began to harden, once it cooled, he'd be able to wipe that dross away. And then he'd put it back into the fire and heat it up again.

Heat is uncomfortable. Forging metal sounds a little painful. This is the illustration he's using for our faith. So how do you know? How would the goldsmith know when he's done refining the metal?

So when he'd pull it out and wipe off the last bit of dross, and that gold was so shiny and smooth that he could see the reflection of his image, then he knew he was done because suffering shapes us into his image. Your trials and sufferings are certain, and I know for a fact there's suffering in this room right now. I know because I know some of your stories. There's health issues. There's things that we're praying for our children.

There's loss of a loved one. I know that you guys are in the trenches right now. Some of you in deeper than others. But know that God has purpose for your pain. Now some some pain that we experience could be self inflicted.

It could be a result of our own sinfulness. That's part of my story. For a decade, I was caught in it. But sometimes, it's just because the world is broken, and we can't explain it, and we won't know the why, not on this side of heaven. Sometimes we can't see the huge mural that he's painting.

So one of these, I don't know which one, my son painted in art class with Tony McDaniel, but no one knew what they were painting until it all was put together. And then you can see the Tetons in color and in black and white. And that so it is with our lives and with suffering and with circumstances that sometimes we have such a narrow focus that I can't understand why God, why this, why this, why me, why now? And he's like, oh, you have no idea. This, you're gonna be once you see the big picture, it's all gonna make sense, and you're gonna say, yes.

Like, I I I'm I know that I suffered for that rightly because I know I know now what you are doing, but for now it's just gonna take trust. It's gonna take trust. I don't wanna minimize what you've suffered or what's to come, but I do want you to have this goal in mind and this purpose and this view as ambassadors for the kingdom in this common goal of standing firm to heaven to receive the eternal crown of glory. Because if you reframe the pain that you're endure that you endure and you have a why, you're gonna have the resolve to lean in and to show up and to keep getting out of bed and to get out of bed early for an 11 mile run with your running club when it's hard, even when you're sore and tired and you don't have anything left because heaven's the finish line and the crown is the prize if you've trusted in God and his gift of mercy and grace through his son. But you're gonna need to train to build endurance for the race.

So then, how are we to train? This is another bullet for you. You have to start somewhere, and it's not gonna be comfortable at first. Gotta get comfortable being uncomfortable. So the benefits of running, as I mentioned, they soon outweighed my desire for comfort and this lack of discipline.

I began to crave running in the endorphins and the alone time on the pavement. It became therapeutic. So it is I found with quiet time. I'm not naturally wired, as I said, to wake up early and just crack open my Bible, but the more I do it, the more I come to crave it. It's all about the spiritual disciplines that we talked about in week three, two.

Sorry. I haven't been here the last two weeks, so they're all blending together. Okay. So how are we to train? Number one, we're to train not aimlessly, but with a goal just as it says in first Corinthians nine.

We discipline ourselves to condition for the race. It's going to be hard, but we have to have a goal in mind so we're not like a boxer beating the air aimlessly. We have direction and purpose. Number two, we're to do it in community with other believers, and let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not meeting up not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. Hebrews ten twenty four and twenty five.

We're not supposed to lone ranger Christianity. For some reason, the house I grew up in, faith was a private matter. Like, remember being a little girl asking my dad like, well, do you believe in God? And he's like, that's between me and God. Well, dad, do you pray to God?

Yeah. I pray that's between me and God. I never heard my dad pray aloud. I never heard him say, yes. I am for sure going to heaven on the fast train and here's why.

I never knew. It's a private matter. It's like you shouldn't talk about it like finances or something like it was rude to ask. But there's no such thing as lone ranger Christianity in the Bible. It's always in the context of community, and that's why we gather here and we train together.

Right? We have a coach. We're being taught, but then we break out into these small groups. And then even further, may you you might be getting coffee with one of the ladies in your group one on one. Jesus spoke to crowds, but he he poured into his disciples one by one.

And he would go speak to crowds, and then he would do miracles. He would see one person, and he'd stop what he was doing. He was on a mission. He's gonna go teach. He's busy, and someone would tug at his robe, and he'd stop, and he'd get on their level.

And he did it one by one. So we're supposed to do life together. And number three, point is you have to be rooted in truth. So Terry, my coach, he taught me all the fundamentals of running, key to hydration, optimal optimal way to condition. There is knowledge I needed in order to properly train my body, so it is with our conditioning and our training.

You have to be rooted in truth. Ephesians six says, therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be ready to stand your ground. That word is so important, and the more you read it, the more you'll come to know it, and those words will roll off your tongue. I had a pastor in Dallas that would actually give his entire sermon. He would never crack a book or reference notes, but he literally spoke in scripture, like sentence upon sentence, and I would be like, oh, wow.

Scribble that down. And then I would go look it up, and it was actually just straight scripture pulled out of the Bible. He would just weave together like a 100 pieces of scripture to make a sermon. It was remarkable, and all of that was stored right here. He didn't have to reference it.

He just knew it. And I remember thinking, there's no way I could ever know that much scripture. But once you marinated in it for years and years, you start to hear the same verses and phrases and songs and in sermons and in your Bible study over and over again, and it becomes that breastplate of righteousness, and the belt of truth that he's talking about when you're armoring up for battle. We prayed earlier before y'all got here, and one of the ladies prayed, we are, these are our soldiers. God, we're ready for battle.

It's gonna be hard, and we've got to bind together to do it. And the fourth way we're to train is in prayer. Ephesians six also says, pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for the Lord's people. Prayer is so important.

I I confess that my prayer life in early in my faith and before maybe even I was saved, my prayer life was kind of God was my genie in the bottle. Like when things got bad or someone was dying or it was just like a really dire situation, then I prayed. But I didn't wanna bother God with my petty little requests or, you know, one off. But God's like, no. I want prayer is the way for you to talk to me.

That's how we have a relationship and build trust with one another. But most importantly, prayer aligns our heart with God, and it allows us to participate in what he's doing. So for instance, say you leave here and someone's car breaks down and you pull over and you help them, and then all of a sudden, you're like, well, I was coming from Bible study, and they're like, Bible study. I need Bible study. I'm gonna come with you next week, and they rude, and all of a sudden, you're like, oh my gosh.

Look. Some this woman just joined our little army, and it's because I helped her on the side of the road. God was gonna do that regardless, but imagine a slightly different narrative. You leave here, and in small group, you've been praying, God use me today. God, I pray you put one person in my path today that needs to hear your truth.

And then you leave here, and then someone's car breaks down, and then you share that truth and they respond, you'll be like, that's an answered prayer. See how the same situation occurred and God was going to do it either way, but in one instance, he was answering your prayer and building your trust, and in the other instance, you hadn't actually planned that, right, with God. And so he can work in either situation, and he's going to. Like, our prayers aren't gonna change what happens in a they might, but it allows us to participate in what he's already doing, and that helps build trust. And God's like, if we're gonna build trust, you need to give me some reps.

I know some of the most faithful women in this room, you consider them the prayer warriors. Well, it's true that the prayer of a righteous man or woman is powerful, says scripture. But, also, I happen to think they pray all the time without ceasing. And so it's no surprise that they're gonna see tons of answered prayer when all they do is walk around praying about everything all day long. So I think it's true.

I think when you're attuned to God that way, he's like, we're working as one. You're my walkie talkie and I'm working through you to get to the people I need to reach. Spiritual disciplines. So when do we train? This is my last point.

So if someone invited me the half marathon just happened two weeks ago. So if one of you is like, hey, I been training. Like, let's go run the half marathon. I would have had a decline because I'm not in a running shape this year. I probably could have finished.

It probably would have looked like the picture up there, just painful. But the problem is my ankles and my knee, like all the tendons and ligaments haven't been conditioned. And my feet, I don't have the calluses right now, so I would have had, like, monster blisters from just off the couch running 13 miles. My husband not yeah. He can probably just do it.

Probably a lot of your husbands. Just off the couch. 13 miles. No problem. But for me, I was like, nope.

I don't think I could do that. And even on a week's notice, I wouldn't be ready. I wouldn't be ready for the half marathon in a week. It takes time. It's a twelve week training program to prepare your tendons and ligaments and condition your heart and lungs and build up the calluses on your feet in order to run.

So we can't wait until the race. We can't wait until we're in the thick of it. We can't wait until we get terrible news about our health or something happens to one of our kids or spouse. God will use that, and that might be the thing that pulls you back in. But wouldn't it be different if you were prepared and you've been training for that moment?

It would hurt a little less. You'd have some calluses built up. You'd be prepared for that moment when it came. So we start now before times get tough, before we have a specific mission in mind and we train early and often, and we're gonna fall out of rhythm. It's not possible to sustain that level of training forever and ever.

You're gonna go through cycles like this, but that's okay. Just hop right back in. And if you see that your friend is falling behind, come on. Come on. I'll slow down.

I'll run this next mile with you. We can do it together. Many of you know I'm my my big struggle in life was I'm recovering from an eating disorder. I'm, like, ten years in now. But what keeps me going, because this is my this is the thing where the enemy gets me, and I know something's not right when I start focusing so much on my body.

And so what happens is if I I if I see that I'm falling back into that pattern, I know that the enemy is trying to take me out of the game. Because I know focusing on myself will prevent me from focusing on everything else and having the energy to do what I need. Because if if I'm restricting calories, if I'm obsessing over what fits the certain way or not, and if I'm not feeling great about myself, I'm not gonna love my husband well. I'm not gonna have the energy. I'm gonna snap at my kids.

I'm gonna show up here half heartedly. I'm gonna be tired. I'm not gonna have the mental clarity and focus if I'm so hungry. I know that about myself. And so when I see that happening, that's my motivation.

I'm like, oh, no. He's trying to take me out of the game again. I can say no to that so easily now because I have that perspective, and I know that that's gonna be my stumbling block. So spiritual maturity, it's a lifelong process. It can stagnate.

It can reverse even. Busyness, lack of conviction, consuming too much culture. So give yourself grace, but recognize why. If you're not training right now or if your training has stagnated, just recognize why that is. There's space in here.

If you are not sure, maybe you're not training because you don't have conviction yet, and you are welcome here. We're so glad that you're here. No judgment. No shame. We were all there at a certain time.

Accepting this gift is the only way. I want to be very clear. Training and running real fast is not gonna necessarily get you to heaven any faster. Okay? There's one way, and that's just admitting that I am not a very good runner apart from Jesus.

K? But in all of the miracles that Jesus did, save one, he would heal, and then he would say go. He would the the lame man walked, and now he said, get up and go. Tell. The blind man saw and he said, go tell.

The Samaritan woman experienced his word, and he said, go tell. So faith does require action. In biblical times, they didn't jog for fun. They didn't have Nikes and AirPods. They didn't have running clubs.

Running in biblical times referred to either running into a battle or running to escape danger. It was a source of protection. Okay? The race we're preparing for, it's not a competition. It's a matter of eternity.

So when you look around and you see well conditioned women, don't envy that. Go run with them because it's not a competition. Don't compare yourself. You find the one that is running fastest and you start training with them. If you don't know what your goal is, if you don't fully comprehend the need for this endurance, if you don't know that heaven is your home, let's work it out.

That might be the next step for you to figure out your why. Work out your beliefs where there's time and space. Don't wait until you're in that moment, that life defining moment because I've seen it. I've seen faith fall away because they can't comprehend. I've had friends that have lost children.

I've been prayed alongside for healing from brain cancer for our sweet seven year old friend, and God didn't answer that prayer. And you have to ask why, like why? I just still don't understand. And it's testing her faith because she's not in community right now. And she doesn't have a coach right now.

And she's fighting that out alone, and it's been a year. And I don't know if her faith is gonna stand. I pray that it does, but that's why it's so important to train now. So that it won't waver. It will refine you, those moments.

Marathoners, if you aren't already coaching, now's the time. Alright? If you and and I'm preaching to the choir because I know there's a lot of amazing, strong faithful women in this room, but sprinters, hey, if you're there and then you're not and they're not, it's time to build some endurance, and you do that with your team. If you're just like a power walker, casual jogger, find a coach, start training. That's why we have small groups.

And if you're just observing, feeling this out, grab one of us. Let's wrestle through it together over and over again. Did you know they called Jacob Israel? God renamed Jacob Israel after he went to the mat with God. He wants you to do that.

He's like test your faith. Figure it out. What do you believe? What do you believe?