Friday PM Worship - Hebrews 12

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faithful practices, youth ministry

Message given by Kenda

wellsley tunnel of screams - bston marathon
hebrews 12:1-2, 14 (cloud of witnesses)
will it look like this as we run into that final stretch on the way into heaven? the cheering of the crowd is contagious. at the penn relays, the more elite runners didn't collapse, exhausted; they came back into the crowd and encouraged the rest on.

witness from greek martyria, witnesses in court. only sharing what had happened to them. early christians pick up the word.

evangelism came as natural to the early church as, hey, come to dinner; hey, go ahead, pet my puppy. it was organic and natural.
"one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread"

paul in hebrews uses witness not as a legal term but as a sports metaphor...those who have gone ahead come back to cheer on those yet to come. (clip from superbowl a few years ago, crowd in airport gradually begins applauding for a group of soldiers as they walk off the plane.)

since we're surrounding by such a crowd, we better strip down and get on with it. discipline, perseverance, self-denial. disciple, of course, comes from discipline. in the ancient world the runners ran naked; before the race they were rubbed down and massaged with oil. for practicality, aesthetics, and sheer joy for being able to run the race.

400m race in Barcelona, runner w/ torn hamstring helped to finish line by father.

suffer=allow to be overcome by love to give for another.

real purpose of cloud of witness is neither perserverance or perspiration, but closer to eric little's desc. in chariot of fire: race is being run on sunday, and this was against his understanding of sabbath. the OC allowed him to switch to a dff't race on a diff't day and won gold. but the OC didn't realize this wasn't the real "race" eric was running. (god made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when i run, i feel his pleasure).

what if what god really needs for us to finish the race is god's pleasure? what is it about my ministry that allows me to feel god delight in me? if you haven't had room in your ministry to engage in this, make some room for it.

clear the path for the long distance runners so no one will trip and fall...b/c god wants you to feel god's delight in you.