What is a champion?

DAY 1 -
What is a champion?  A champion is someone who is able to keep keeping on.  A champion is someone who is able to struggle through the quitting point.  A champion is someone who is able to press on whatever the situation is.  A champion is someone with a spirit that never gives up, always perseveres and always endures.

Life in this generation is very hard, there are many trials and temptations that come our way.  Our life style is becoming more and more complex and the pressure that an individual has to face, a family has to face is increasing from day to day.  How can we persevere through these struggles and come out as a champion?

In Hebrew 12: 1-3, the Lord has provided the way for us to run with perseverance?.  Life is illustrated as an athletic race.  Maybe the writer of Hebrew is a sport fan, that he used ?an athletic race? to illustrate our Christian life.  We are on the RACE, on are on the FIELD, and the game has begun.  How can we finish the race, run with perseverance and come out as a champion?

For today, let us just meditate on Hebrew 12: 1-3.  Tomorrow we will study each verse.
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 endures such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.?

 

DAY 2 -

The Making of a Champion - Rule #1
CHOOSE your ROLE MODELS wisely.
Now, let us look at the FIRST rule in the making of a champion.  Hebrew 12:1a, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses ... "  This verse says that we (Christians) are a surrounded by MANY (a great cloud of) Christians that have gone before us (witnesses).   These witnesses have set examples for us and they can be used for our role model.  The first rule in being a champion is to "CHOOSE OUR ROLE MODEL".

Where can we find our role model?  (I)  There are many characters in the Bible that through their lives we can learn to lead our lives.  We can use Daniel as a role model.  Since he was young he had never defile himself.  He had lead a holy and godly life.  We can also learn from Samson.  He fell into sin, a great sin with Delilah, yet he came back and return to the Lord and the Lord gave him a second chance.  Lives in the Bible are true lives and they are filled with good times and bad times, successes and failures.  The Bible is provided so that Christians can learn from those that have gone before them.  (II)  There are many other godly characters in our daily lives.  It can be from the life of a missionary, the life of our Sunday school teacher, the life of our parents, etc.  There are many other Christians that we can use as our role model.

Why is it important to choose our role model correctly?  Well we can see from the last significant experience that Americans are going through. The shooting in Columbine High, CO resulted from teenagers that set Hitler as their role model.  Many other kids these days choose their role models unwisely.  Most of them chooses celebrities (movies, music, sport) to be their role model.  Many of these celebrities have a life of adultery, drugs, ungodliness, etc.  We as parents have to teach our kids in finding the correct role model.  We ourselves should be able to be used by our kids to be their role model.  Yes, our lives should reflect God's love and our obedience to Him.  Maybe one reason why our kids do not find the right role model is because we ourselves do not teach them about the importance of finding the right role model and by the way, who is your role model?

 

 

DAY 3 -

The Making of  a Champion - Rule # 2A

Rule #2A:   Let us continue our discussion by reading the rest of verse 1 of Hebrew 12.  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, LET US THROW OFF EVERYTHING THAT HINDERS.  We are called to throw off everything that hinders.

A champion knows his mission very well and he is after his mission.  If we want to be a champion, then we have to know the mission of our lives.  Before we know the mission of our lives, then we do not know what kind of RACE we are in and what kind of battle FIELD we are in.  Therefore, the second rule for the making of a champion is CLARIFY YOUR MISSION.

There are two important parts in clarifying your mission.  The first one is throw off everything that hinders.  Every athlete want to be lean.  Nobody wants to carry the access baggage, because access baggage will slow them down.  Access baggage will not stop the athlete, but surely it will slow them down.  In our Christians lives, we may carry many access baggage, those are just simply the fatty stuff of our lives.  They are not the necessary ones.  These extra things are not bad things, they are good things, but they maybe extra, unnecessary things that may slow down the RACE that we are trying to finish.

Many times in this area, we have to choose not between GOOD and BAD, but between GOOD and BEST.  That's what the writer of Hebrew said by throw off everything that hinders.  Yes, we can examine our lives and see what kind of things we carry in our Christian lives, that hinders us from finishing and completing our mission.

 

 

DAY 4 - The Making of a Champion - Rule # 2B

Rule #2B:   CLARIFY YOUR MISSION:
Throw off everything that hinders us from finishing the race
Throw off the sin that entangles
Let us continue reading the first verse from Hebrew 12.  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and THE SIN THAT SO ENTANGLES, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Yesterday we are told to throw off everything that hinders (i.e., the extra baggage that slows us down in the race), today we read that we are to throw off the sin that entangles.   Sin does not slow us down, but it stops us from continuing the RACE.  Sin entangles.  Therefore, if we want to finish the RACE (go through life as a champion), then we have to throw off any sinful behavior that we have.   Sin makes Christians looses their effectiveness in completing their missions.

Several years ago, in an Olympic game, there was one Marathon runner that tried to finish the race by passing over the finishing line.  He almost could not make it.  He fell, he crawled, he got up and he fell again and he crawled.  He tried everything to complete the race.  Then, from the crowd, a man came down, picked him up and shoulder to shoulder lead him to the finishing line.  The man that helped him was the runner's father.  Yes, we have a father like that too.  He will come and pick us up so that we can finish the race.  We don't have to be afraid, our father is always there to protect and guide us.

 

DAY 5 - The Making of a Chamption - Rule # 3
Rule # 1:  CHOOSE your ROLE MODELS wisely
Rule #2:   CLARIFY YOUR MISSION:
(iii) throw off everything that hinders us from finishing the race
(iv) throw off the sin that entangles
Rule #3:   CONCENTRATE on your MASTER (Jesus)

Let us continue by reading the second verse from Hebrew 12.  "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, ..."  While we are on the race, we are going to face quitting points.  There are times in our lives where we just want to quit, we may get discourage, we may get hurt.  But the Bible said, "concentrate on Jesus, fix your eyes on Jesus."  Why should we concentrate on Jesus?  There is one simple reason and it is simply stated in Hebrew 12 verse 2B and 3, "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 endures such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Yes, while we are going through some painful experiences in life, while we are going through trials, we are called to concentrate on Jesus, because:
1. Jesus understand the prize of winning the race.  Verse 2B:  " for the JOY set before him"  There is joy that is so great as the prize of being the champion of a race.
2. Jesus has ENDURED more trials and temptations that is even more than any of us. Verse 2B, "Jesus ENDUREd the cross".  Verse 3 continues by saying remember him "who ENDURES such opposition from sinful men, so that you WILL NOT GROW WEARY AND LOSE HEART."

One of the most effective way of ENDURING trials is to learn from those that have gone through it.  For example if you loose a son or a daughter, then you can learn most effectively from those that have been through loosing a beloved child.  Remember the price that Jesus has to pay:  the has to suffer pain, be yelled at, died on the cross, which is a slow and painful death.  If we remember his trials and sufferings, then we will see that our trials and sufferings are common to man.

We can also learn from some of the characters of the Bible.  Paul and Silas were put into prison for preaching the gospel.  Instead of being discouraged, they started to praise the Lord in the prison jail.  The end of the story was great, they were released and the jailer's whole household were saved.  Stephen, the great servant.   Up to the end of his life, he is still defending the Lord.  He died as a martyr, being killed by stone.  Yet, he said that he saw the Lord.  That is true, my friend.  Our Lord, is waiting on the finishing line for each one of his people.  He is going to take us into his arm.  Let us encourage each other to be a CHAMPION and finish the RACE.

 

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Disclaimer
This material is a summary of the message that was preached by Pastor Jack Graham at Prestonwood Baptist Church.  The writer of this EBS (Electronic Bible Study) made some changes and added some personal notes that is necessary to customize this material into an electronic media, a daily reading material and to better fit the audience.