ICEBREAKER:
If you had a time machine, where would you go?
Our answers were pretty...diverse, to say the least. Jam with Bob Marley, go to the dinosaur age, fix errors in your life, disco age (get the groove on!), 1940's, Germany for hippotherapy origins, go back to being a toddler, 1990's (cause they were the best!), Beetle's concert, be alive when Martian Luther King, Jr. was, and going back to Monday so that you could attend the class you missed. As I said, pretty diverse :)
LESSON:
"Going Forward in Time" was the title of our lesson and our opening question was this: What sins in this day and time stop you from running with the perseverance that Jesus did?
Some of our answers were: laziness, not being able to back up what we say, anxiety, loosing something important to you, lack of zeal, consistence, and determination, lack of faith, fear of failure, pride, and selfishness.
Our scripture came from Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lost heart.
We can't just throw off some of the things that hinder us, we need to throw it all off! Also, we don't need to compromise personal convictions.
What does it mean to run with perseverance?
It means to drive yourself for God. Keep trying even when you fail. We must abandon everything and be immersed in God. We must keep going, even when it gets hard.
Webster's definition of perseverance is this: the action or condition or an instance of persevering; steadfastness. We must run with perseverance and nothing else. The question is, do we?
The most common answer, and probably the most true, is sometimes. Sometimes we are just spiritual sprinters and get burned out after a very quick run. We must strive to be like Christ and just like all things in life, no matter how good we get at it, there will always be room to improve and get better.
Christ is the goal. We are not perfect so that is why we must persevere to be more like Christ. What does it mean to fix our eyes on Christ?
It's like tunnel vision...we must know what our goal is and go for it all we can. Jesus is the destination and example of how we should like on this earth. So, we know what happens when we focus on Jesus. But what happens when we don't go to Christ?
Quite simply, we give up. We feel like the entire world is on our shoulders. These things hinder us and we must throw them off.
Here is an encouraging scripture from Hebrews 10:35-36 NIV:
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
We need to persevere and when we do, the reward is great.
Hope you enjoyed the lesson and thanks for bearing with me on the late postings. I'll try not to let it happen again :)
