Sunday Service (October 7, 2012)
April Jade Bonoan

How to Keep the Faith and Finish and Finish the Race.

The Book of Hebrews is known for Its Hall of the Fame – the list is long in chapter 11 of the book of names of people of old who because of their faith made their way into God’s honor roll of the faithful. Reading the entire chapter, it made me wonder how they kept the faith. Today we are going to study the twelfth chapter of Hebrews.

First thing we have to do is

I. Have a Proper Start
How we start determines how we end. Before we run the race, we have to let go of certain things. A lot Christians instead of having a proper start found themselves running yet stopping in the middle of the race. And once they stopped it was so hard to regain the track. Paul encourages his readers to lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares. To finish the race is another way of saying that we have kept the faith. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. “ – 2 Timothy 4:7
A. Dead Works - The weight that Paul was referring to here that we should lay aside, is not a sin. These are what we call the dead works. The bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:23 that all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial. These are things that we could live better without. Just like in a race, the athletes have a choice what kind of clothing they would wear, but if they wanted to win, they must choose the light fabric. There are certain things in our lives that are not really sins, say for example our lack of commitment, it’s not really a sin, but it hinders us from growing and from being a blessing to God’s people. Another example is being late and entering a legitimate relationship while still in school.
What are the things in your life which you know are not sins but are hindering you from running the Christian race