Running Our Race: Making The Transition

Questions? I've got one for you today. What do people call a race event that is comprised of a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and then concluded with a 26.2 mile run? I'm hearing some answers that are close. I'm not sure if it's accurate or not, because I think they're called crazy. They're called insane. They're called ridiculous. If you're going to sign up for this, but I did hear some right answers. If you said triathlon, technically you are correct.

If you said Ironman triathlon, then you're the winner of today's chicken dinner. For those not familiar with the Ironman triathlon, again, it's a race comprised of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and it's finished up with a 26.2 mile run. It's a full marathon at the end of completing those other two events.

These are just numbers, right? These are just big numbers. We can all imagine driving 112 miles and things. But let me bring it in. I like to have visual aids for myself, or mental aids. So let me bring this down to maybe a little bit closer to home for us. So if we all agreed to sign up for this crazy race today, and it was going to take place in the parking lot, the swim portion would take us from the parking lot here down to, I believe it's Pearson Road, the McDonald's and Pearson Road.

So if you made a ride out here, made another ride, went all the way down to Pearson Road, the McDonald's right there at 75, that's 2.4 miles. So if you imagine, we all swam that distance to start this race out.

And then if your bikes were waiting for us at McDonald's, and we decided to jump on the bikes and start riding, we could ride all the way down to Spartan Stadium there in East Lansing. That would get us about 50 miles into the 112th. We would then have to go on the track that they have right next to the stadium, bike around that 40 times, because that would add another 10 miles to our race, and then come all the way back to the McDonald's.

So that would be our bike portion of the race. And then if we switched in McDonald's parking lot again, switched into our running shoes and headed out, and we started running up I-75, we would get almost all the way to downtown Saginaw before we would complete our race. Right where you exit off of 75 to then take 4 miles into downtown Saginaw, that would be where the race would end, right there at the interchange there.

That would compromise our whole race of the day. So you guys ready? We're going to do this after church. Well, no, we can't do it after church. The Sabbath is an over, right? But everybody would be ready to do this, right? The history of the Iron Man Triathlon is an interesting one. As with many great adventures like this, it starts off with a bunch of men with way too much testosterone standing around trying to figure out who's the most fit athlete. That's a true story. The idea arose during the awards ceremony for the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Relay.

Among the participants were representatives of both the Mid-Pacific Roadrunners, so this is a running club, and the Waikiki Swim Club, of course, the Swimmers, whose members had long debated which athletes were more fit. Runners or Swimmers? On this occasion, U.S. Navy Commander John Collins pointed out that a recent Sports Illustrated magazine had declared that Eddie Merckx, the great Belgian cyclist, had the highest recorded oxygen uptake of any athlete ever measured. So he, throughout the idea, perhaps cyclists, were more fit than anyone. Collins and his wife Judy were both familiar with the triathlon idea.

They were early stages in the 70s of this event called a triathlon. They had ran a few in California, much smaller length than is about to be proposed here. But so they had an idea. So when they proposed this idea of determining who was the fittest by creating this monstrosity of a race, the others in the room there were familiar with this concept. Collins suggested that the debate should be settled through a race combining three existing long distance competitions already on the island.

First being the Waikiki Rough Water Swim. This was an open ocean water swim comprised of the 2.4 mile swim. Then he said, then we'll follow that up with the Around Oahu Bike Race, which at the time was 115 miles, so a little bit longer. But they did that in two days previously. Then he said, we'll finish this up with the Honolulu Marathon, which is of course a 26.2 mile run.

All these events had already been previously held on the island there. He was now going to combine them all together for one event. So Mr. Collins starts to put this idea together. He gets the permission that he needs from the local authorities, the police, the Coast Guard, those who would need to be aware that they were going to be doing this, and there's people going to be signed up.

He created a flyer, he handed it out, and with the details of the event and everything else. On the last page of this registration sheet, he had his handwritten note that said, quote, swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, run 26.2 miles, brag for the rest of your life. And it's now a registered trademark for the Iron Man Triathlon.

With a non-till local runner who was notorious for his demanding workouts, Collins said, whoever finishes first will call him the Iron Man. So that's how it got the name Iron Man. Each of the racers had their own support crew and to supply water, food, and encouragement during the event, and of 15 men to start off in the early morning of February 18, 1978, 12 completed the race. Gordon Haylor, a U.S. Navy communications specialist, was the first to earn the Iron Man title by completing the course with a time of 11 hours, 46 minutes, and 58 seconds. I just can't imagine that. The runner-up was John Dunbar, a U.S.

Navy SEAL, and he led after the second transition and had a chance to win, and I like this part, but ran out of water on the Marathon course. His support crew resorted to giving him beer instead.

You gotta do what you gotta do, I guess, right? So this is the partial history of the Iron Man triathlon, and this first one was ran and continues to this day to be one of the premier events that many feel is the pinnacle of the triathlon races. This Iron Man race. But there's another aspect of the triathlon that many have not thought much about, but it's a critical part of the race. We've covered the technical aspects, some of them, anyway, of this race, but there's part that I haven't talked about.

As with most types of races, when you decide you're gonna run a race or you decide you're gonna bike in a race, it's comprised of primarily one type of event. You're gonna go out and you're gonna swim and you get to the finish line, your day's done.

Or you get on your bike and you do your bike race. You get to the end of the finish line, once again you're done, or the same thing with running. You get to the end, you're finished. But when someone completes in a triathlon, they must transition from one stage of the race to the next until the race is complete.

And it's at these transition points that athletes face some unique obstacles. Even though the athletes have trained for long periods of time for the endurance needed and for that race, they rarely train or not as heavily for the transition portion themselves. Transitions consist of stowing away gear, of changing your mindset, of trying to retrain your body to finish the next part of this race.

So if you started off with your swim portion, you've got your swim goggles, you've got your swim cap, and the gun goes off and you dive into the water and you swim your 2.4 miles. Then if you're coming out of that, you're transitioning into the bike stage, where you'll stow that equipment, you'll get your bike helmet, you lace up your bike shoes, and then you grab your bike and you head out on the course.

Then when you're finished with that, once again, you stow some of your equipment, you're transitioning now to the run portion, where you need your running shoes and you don't need your bike helmet anymore, so that goes. It's these transitions. That's what these transitions consist of. But what I understand is one of the hardest aspects of the transition is with the athlete's body itself.

Because each stage of the race, swim, bike, run, you're using certain muscle groups, certain sets of muscles. And when you're running and experiencing this in an endurance fashion, your body builds up a muscle memory. It gets used to running in a certain cadence. It gets used to the swim action. And as I had a friend that ran an Iron Man triathlon, and he was telling me afterwards, he goes, your body gets used to doing the flutter kick because you're swimming for 2.4 miles, and you come out and you start walking over to get your bike. And then your legs start doing, as you're biking, a circular motion. And you're doing that for 112 miles. That's a long time for your body to get used to that motion and those muscles to work in a certain way, and they're fatiguing in a certain way.

And then he says, then you transition to the run portion, and you're thinking, well, this can't be that big of a difference. My legs were just going in a circular motion. Now all they're doing is I'm running in them. But we can all imagine the cadence is different. The strides are different. The impact is different. And he said, it's kind of hilarious seeing all these people come out or stow their bikes. They're used to pedaling, and all of a sudden they start running, and they're all kind of running with these really short cadences, almost like little kids learning to run for the first time or something.

All these athletes, because their muscles are still trying to go in a circular motion like they were on a bike, and now they've got to stretch out their stride. They've got to retrain those muscles, remind those muscles. You've got to work in another way now, and it's tough. From what I understand, this is one of the hardest aspects, one of the hardest mental aspects of it as well, because your body's saying, this isn't how I work, and you're trying to say, I need you to work this way, and it's tough.

And so they're trying to, then again, change their mentality. Successfully executing these transitions is critical for athletes and continuing their race. It's this aspect of making the transition that I'd like to look at today. Specifically, I'd like us to consider, how are we making the transition in our lives after returning home from the Feast of Tabernacles? How are we making the transition as we've all returned home? Just over a couple weeks ago, we were all sitting in chairs at our feast sites, or listening to messages that were balanced and focused on the Feast of Tabernacles and the kingdom that is coming in the future.

I'd like you to think back to a few days prior to the end of the feast, to that opening night, or that first message that you were able to attend. Was there an excitement in your heart for those messages? Was there an excitement to sing as a group, praises to God, with a thundering group, hopefully where you were at?

Were you looking forward to the messages, the variety of messages, the spiritual aspect, the way that God had encouraged and put His Spirit on all those messages, and you knew that, and so you knew it was going to be one, back to back to back to back? Were you excited about the people you would get to meet, the ways that you would get to enjoy it with your family or with the other extended family? It's a wonderful time of the year. There's much excitement built around it, but it's a time that has to come to an end every single year until next year. So here we are. We've returned home, and most of us have started getting back to our normal lives. We are getting back into the swing of our daily work, school, different things, college, taking care of the kids, whatever it is, being a mom, being a dad, we've all had to transition back into that stage of life. And we've been here a couple weeks. You've already been in that transition. You may feel like your transition is complete, but I'd like us to just consider how are we doing in our transition phase? We are in a transition period of the year where we have just completed the Fall Holy Days, and entering a period of time 152 days until Passover. Think about that. It's about five months from now, a little over if I remember right, until Passover in the days of Unleavened Bread. 152 days.

As we enter and exited the Fall Holy Days season, we are now transitioning back to a normal spiritual race that we each are running. In Hebrews 12, Paul uses the analogy of a race when describing the work and the effort that each of us are experiencing as we struggle against the pools of this world and against our own human nature. Let's dive into Hebrews 12. Verse 1.

Hebrews 12 and verse 1.

Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which shall easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Paul uses this great analogy here as a runner who runs his race. It sets aside the weights, the training weights, which to us are sin and runs his race.

Athletes who run triathlons prepare, and they train with a purpose and a focus to deliver results on race day. They don't wake up one day and just say, that was a nice sleep I got. That was the most refreshing sleep I've had in quite a while. I think I'm ready to take on a triathlon. Now, I'm going to take on the Iron Man triathlon today. Now, there are a few cases, because somebody's going to correct me on this, there's a couple people that have done something this crazy. They've just, on a wild hare, have gone out and run these races, and somehow they finished them. But it's not the norm, trust me. Normally, many people have to put tons and tons of hours, not only just for one component of the race, but all three. They have to train their bodies. They have to plan, how am I going to fuel my body during this? What's my body going to react as I do this? If I run too low on water, of course, I'm going to start cramping, things like this. So, they put a lot of thought, a lot of effort. They log many miles training and preparing their bodies for the event ahead of them. And an aspect of their training is not just the individual components, the swimming, the biking, or the running, but they also focus and plan on the transitions that they will need to make to complete the race. As with an athlete who runs a triathlon, we must also run our spiritual race with a purpose and with a focus on the end results that we desire to achieve. We run with a purpose.

Think about the four-minute we run with a purpose. Let's read about this purpose in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24. Think about it for a moment. What is your purpose for running this race, this spiritual race that you are running today?

Think about that as we read through 1 Corinthians 9 chapter 24.

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it, and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate.

Another use of the word temperate could mean to exercise self-restraint, but they are temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus, and this is Paul speaking, giving his purpose for why he runs and the way that he runs. Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty, thus I fight, not as one who beats the air. I like that analogy because I can picture that. I can picture this strong muscular train boxer who is just swinging and beating the air and tiring himself out, getting no place, getting nothing accomplished, but exhausting himself because the air doesn't provide a resistance.

But he's doing this, and so he says here, Paul says, thus I fight not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. He's recognizing that he can have all the best training material. He can tell you how to train perfectly, but even if he doesn't follow his own, that own message, that own teaching, he could find himself disqualified as any of us could.

It's running with a purpose that allows us to make the transition into the next portion of our year.

Can it be tough at times to make the transition? It can. It can be very tough because we're busy at work, we're busy at school, we're busy getting unpacked from the feast and getting back into the flow of life. We're dealing with things in life again. Maybe it's medical issues that have popped up since the feast. Maybe it's medical issues that continued on through. Maybe it's a finance issue that you're continuing to have to deal with. Whatever type of things are on your plate can make it difficult to transition after we return home. These things can cause this transition difficulties, but the professional athlete expects the unexpected because this is not their first rodeo. This is not their first race that they've ran, and as I talk to a group of people, a group of God's people that have returned home for many of you multiple times, this isn't your first rodeo, you've made this transition in the past. You've gone to God's commanded feast site, and you've returned home ready with excitement, with zeal, but also recognizing you've got to get back to life as we know it. This physical world all around us. We have our jobs, we have school, we have our responsibilities. We must, as we make this transition, we must use experience from our past or from others past to aid us today in making our transition back in a successful way. We must remain focused on the spiritual aspects that we learned about the feast. We must maintain a spiritual focus on the things that are important and mean so much to our lives. As we run our race with a purpose, we must transition with a purpose. It's also during this transition phase that the runner would take time to refuel his or her body. Hopefully, while we were at the feast, we took that time to listen to the messages, to be encouraged, to have our spiritual gas tanks filled.

As some have said before, this is not my original idea, but if we took in all the messages that we had opportunity here at the feast, if we listened to every sermon, sermonette, the bible study, we took every opportunity, we would have someplace around 20 hours of spiritual messages we would have heard. Inspired messages from God's Word. So about 20 hours. And if you do the math, which I'm not a math major, definitely not a math major, so please forgive me if some of this is wrong, but if you did the math and we added up all the Sabbath services that we have, the holy days throughout the year, this 20 hours that we had at the feast would make up about 15 percent of our spiritual lessons, the focus lessons that you would hear from a pastor, from an elder, from a bible study, things like that through the year, about 15 percent. And when you think about it, 15 percent, you're probably thinking, oh, this has got to be a bigger number, but think about 15 percent for a minute. Who would not like a 15 percent raise if you could get one today? Who would not like 15 percent off their taxes? I'd take that in a heartbeat. What about 15 percent off your tuition for school? Or your next car that you purchased, 15 percent off? That's a good chunk of change.

It's quite a bit. So when you think about it from that standpoint, we have had an opportunity to take in a large portion, a good chunk portion, of our spiritual messages and our spiritual food for the year at the Feast of Tabernacles that we just came back from. The spiritual refueling we received at the feast is what will give us that boost that we need to start the next phase of our race. The long, cold winter months can be a time of the year that just seem to drag on. I can only imagine what it's like to come to the transition of running this Iron Man triathlon. You finish the swim portion. The bike portion is now done. But ahead of me, a full marathon. I think through that sometimes. I've never done something anywhere near like this, but imagine getting to that second transition where you've got a full marathon now in front of you. It's got to feel heavy. It's got to feel daunting to realize you have this portion still ahead. God has positioned the Feast of Tabernacles perfectly in the year to provide a wonderful opportunity for us to be refueled and to receive a boost now. We have just come out of this time. He knows how much time there is until the spring hallway days. Now, as part of the plan, part of the wisdom that he built in, runners many times use energy gels or they use chews along with water and energy drinks to replenish their energy that was expended on the previous portions. And it's at these transitions that they refuel themselves and they prepare their bodies for the remainder of their race. Our refueling is so vital to our spiritual health. And so, if you had the best feast ever, which I hope you did, that's wonderful. That means your spiritual fuel tank should be filled to the brim and you are ready to take on the rest of your year using the race analogy once again. Let's imagine you are running your race and if you're not in first place, you're close to it. You are running a wonderful, powerful race. Your body feels good. It's working just as you've trained it to. Everything, the equipment's holding out. Everything is feeling really great. And you may be thinking, bring on the next challenge. I've got this one. This one's mine. I encourage you today, if this is your mentality coming home from the feast, to keep it up. Keep up the spiritual performance through this time of transition and into the next part of your spiritual year. If you developed a new study or prayer habit during the feast, then keep it up as you come through this transition as well. If you worked on overcoming a sin or a weakness during this time of the year, then continue overcoming as you transition back to your lives. By doing these things, you are running a successful race. But maybe your feast didn't go as well as it should have spiritually. Maybe the physical aspects of the feast took more of a front seat than the spiritual. You may have some regrets now. Maybe you're not feeling that full spiritual tank that you were hoping you would feel when you came back home.

Back to the race analogy again. Maybe you're further back in the pack than you wanted to be. You visualized yourself being much further ahead, but truth be told, you're kind of in the middle of the pack. And you're running your race, and you're not feeling 100% right now. You're cramping up, and there's a sore spot on the bottom of your foot that just kind of is lingering. It's kind of just bothering you right now. You might be wishing at this point you had a do-over for your feast.

But like the athletes running the race, there shouldn't be a mindset of quitting the race.

And just like the rest of the athletes, there's not a mindset of a do-over either.

You can't contact the race coordinators and say, hey, I'd like to come back in a couple months when I've trained better. I realize now that I haven't trained effectively. I didn't take the time I should have. And the organizers that are racing, they're going to say, that's not an option. You can't have all these people also come back and run it again. This is the opportunity. Once you start a race, you can't midway change your mind and decide not to run. Once you start a race, the only option you have is to either finish or to quit. But we don't have an option to quit. In Luke 9 verse 62, Jesus said to him, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. So there is no opportunity to quit. It's moments like these that God, through the power of His Holy Spirit, can talk to us and make us rethink about an experience that we had that wasn't the way that we really feel in our heart of hearts, should have been that way.

Maybe we're reconsidering our decisions that we made. God can reach into our hearts through the Holy Spirit and He can cause us to pause for a moment and consider our performance. And you know what? That's actually okay. It's okay because it's moments like these that can have a fundamental impact on how we go forward and how we handle future Feast of Tabernacles. These are those hard life lessons that we've each had to learn but then resolve to handle differently going forward. You may need to go before God and ask for repentance for maybe some of the decisions you made and the way that you handled your feast, but then you can refocus and you can redeem the race that is still in front of you. And maybe there's a third category that you fell into this year as you hit this transition period that we're in right now. For some of you, this could have been a strange or weird feast. Maybe a surreal feast that you had and you've never experienced before.

You did everything that was in your power to have the best feast ever. You were focused, you were working, and everything from that standpoint seemed great and seemed fine. But then something in life came out of nowhere. Something in life came out and dramatically impacted your feast.

Things that were completely out of your control but just couldn't be ignored or put on the back burner completely. It could be something like a death in the family. It could be dealing with your own health emergency or a child or a loved one that's dealing with their health emergency. It could be something physical like a car problem or a house problem. Something happened that maybe back home that you just couldn't ignore. It was impossible to ignore. I know this year I had a friend from Canada who was down in Florida and prior to the feast he cut his thumb in a table saw accident.

I didn't know if I should say table saw and thumb because those two words usually don't go well together. He'd seen a doctor and had the stitches and thought it was healing up fine, but while he was at the feast it became very infected. It swelled almost twice as large as his other thumb. So he had to take time and go to an urgent care, not what any of us want to do during our feast. And then they gave him some antibiotics and it looked like it was getting better and then it took a turn for the worse again. Something else still wasn't right. And he tried to keep his attitude and his focus where it should be on God, on the sermons. He was trying to do everything he could, but how do you ignore an accident, an issue with your own body that that's severe? Especially when you're from Canada and you get free health care and here in the United States, no such thing. So he's spending money that he didn't plan to spend, things like that. He's got his family and he's got his loved ones there. So that's the point I'm trying to make. Something that was out of your control. You've done everything you could. You did everything that could help you, but it's just something else happened. If you've been in the church long enough, not long enough, then most likely you're going to experience a feast of this sort at some time in your life. It can be frustrating, it can be disappointing, or difficult to even understand why has this happened. It may be difficult to even put into words exactly what you're feeling because you're confused, you're frustrated, and at times we can even kind of get down on ourselves and say, why me? This isn't fair. This is what I asked for. I'm doing everything else, right? But that attitude has to also switch because that attitude's not going to be helpful because it's not going to just dramatically and overnight fix the issues.

But what we can do is say, okay, what is it that I can learn from this? Because this is going to be a weird feast. It's going to be one of those strange ones. I'm not going to be able to come back and say when somebody says, how was your feast? Say, it was great. You might have to come back and say, you know what? I had a trial during the feast. I had a struggle that I had to battle through.

But see, it's that attitude of battling through that we can use. We can say that, God, show me what it is that you want me to learn from this. Help me to see the path you want me to take with this. And with that attitude, and that's a much better attitude than the woe is me or this isn't fair because I don't know if anybody... God didn't promise me a fair life. I don't know if He promised anybody here a fair life. But He did promise a hope. He promised a joy that would never be taken away. It would never fail. But we have to sometimes remember those promises and claim those promises and say, God, help me to find the hope that I need. Help me to find that joy that can't waver as I go through this because this one's beyond me. This one I can't control. If you've ever been through this type of a feast, you can gain insight going through it. It's not always easy, but this maintaining of a good attitude can sure help. And the lesson learned can be a powerful byproduct that you will take with you for the rest of your life. Maybe in future years you'll be able to encourage someone differently or comfort someone who's had a similar feast, a struggle, a problem in their feast. As Dr. Comet mentioned, that comforting aspect that you learn from your own life experience, then you can pass on and share with someone else. Regardless of how you are making the transition this year from the feast back to your normal life, the important thing to keep in mind is that you are moving forward in your spiritual race and that you still have a great opportunity to run a very powerful race with God's assistance and with his help.

Another aspect of making the transition I'd like to look at today is as we have returned home, we are transitioning back into a world that is not God's. That's no surprise to anyone, but we are transitioning continually back into a world that is not God's. As Jesus Christ was being questioned by Pilate before his death in John 18 verse 36, Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now my kingdom is not from here.

We've just experienced a taste of what the kingdom of God will look like as we observe the Feast of Tabernacles. Just a taste, just a small portion of everything that God is going to bring as Christ returns. And while we partake in this taste, we can already see the stark contrast between this world and what will be established on the earth when Christ returns with the kingdom of God in his hands. We see clearly that this world is not God's at this time. This is not God's world.

In 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4, we can begin turning there. Just one chapter forward, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4, Paul describes who is at fault and who is the cause of deception, the lies that permeate our society, and why people can't see, why people are blinded, why they have very little hope in this world. Here in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4, I'm going to read the verse from the New Living Translation. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4 says, Satan, who is the God of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the good news. They don't understand the message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. Right here, Paul explains part of the problem, the big part of the problem. People are blinded. They can't see. Satan has deceived the world. While we were at the Feast of Tabernacles, we were presented with an opportunity to step away from the world for a bit, to step away from our normal life, to step away from the news, the media. This is always one aspect I always try to enjoy and look forward to. For one week, we can turn off the news. We don't have to turn it on. Nobody's forcing us to.

We can turn it off. And what a welcome relief that is. I remember one year coming back from the Feast.

It was a Sunday. I think the Feast finished up. It was Sabbath to Sabbath. It was a Sunday we were driving back, and I wanted to listen to the Bengals game. I know, poor me. Hopeless Bengals.

And so I found their local station, which was an AM station that extended out, and I found it, and I'm kind of excited to listen to the game. And they're going through local news. What's been going on since I've been gone? You know what? My heart hurt. Because for one week, I've been able to turn that off and ignore the reality of Satan's world to a large extent. But then you hear about the crime. You hear about the tragedies. You hear about the way that man just is not loving and caring for themselves. So for one week, we can turn off the news. We can have that peace in our heart. For one week, we can focus on the hope that is before us. The promises that God has in store for us. The hope that can't be diminished when a world that is desiring some place to lay their hope, and they can't find that, you and I have a place for our hope to lay. It's a beautiful blessing that we have. We can focus on the hope. For one week, we can rejoice, and we can fellowship with those of like mind. That power to sing together, to worship together, to share food, and to focus on the aspects of the kingdom of God, and how important to remind ourselves and to spend that time together. For one week, we got day after day after day of time together to do that. For one week, we got to partake in an abundance of wonderful spiritual food. No other time of the year do we get message day after day after day. This is the one time of the year that we go away or that we listen online if we have to stay home to messages every single day of the feast. To have our spiritual tanks full, hopefully at the end. To look at things may be a little bit different. To give God an opportunity to inspire multiple messages with a similar theme. That's always one of the fun parts is what themes popped out this year at the feast. I think every single feast I've ever been to has had a theme that's popped out. And usually the sights might even be a little bit different, but that's one of the things fun to talk about. What themes have popped out during your feast?

It is an absolutely wonderful time of the year, but it's also a time of the year that we can see so clearly the contrast between God's ways and Satan's ways. We are making the transition back into a world that is ruled and governed by Satan and his wicked influence. There's not a corner of this world that has not felt his influence. Through the Feast of Tabernacles, we were reminded that we must become less and less like this world that we are part of. As technology and knowledge has spread without limits, the world has moved away from God at a similar pace. At this transition point, we must ask ourselves, are we slipping down on the slippery slope along with the world, or are we running our race against the world's tide? How are we doing in our race? Are we becoming more tolerant of sin, whether that's in our lives or whether that's tolerant of sin in the world?

Are we becoming more tolerant of sin? Are we apologetic of our Christian beliefs? Do we make excuses to people where we were at the last week? Do we sugarcoat things that God says as sin? Is our conscience becoming seared or desensitized to the ways that the world are contrary to God's ways? Are we building a callous? Is it not affecting us like it used to? Mankind has become desensitized to the things of the world that couldn't be stomached only a few short years ago, things that used to be viewed as indescribable violence or crimes against humanity. Sadly, we are becoming commonplace, it seems. Just before the feast, and it seems like many years has happened. I don't know why. Well, I don't know why. Satan's on his rampage course, and he's trying to do as much damage as he can. But so many times, right before the feast, it seems like something happens, something that grabs our attention. It's a contrast to what we are going to celebrate. But this year, what happened in Las Vegas? And you turned on the news. I saw it. I was shocked at first. But I have to admit, I have to ask myself these same questions.

Am I becoming desensitized? Because you know what? Eventually, I have to turn it off, and we moved on with our travels down to the feast. But something that horrific. Are we becoming desensitized to these things? Because they are so prevalent. Because they happen in our lives. We have to ask ourselves these questions. Are we becoming more tolerant of sin?

Are we apologetic of our Christian beliefs? Are we becoming desensitized?

As we make our transition, we must be very careful that we don't transition back into a world that is against Godly values and against His teachings. There is a passage in 2 Timothy, chapter 3, that we often turn to when we consider the state of our society, the state of what we are part of here as physical human beings, with the knowledge that we have to see that contrast. This is in 2 Timothy, chapter 3.

So, this we have turned too often, and we use this as a barometer of sorts.

We can read through this list quickly and miss the point of each of these words, but I'm going to slow it down a little bit. This is 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 1.

Think through this as we read through this. Does this describe our world?

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanders, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power.

Paul finishes up here saying, and from such people turn away. What does God expect of us?

He expects that we become more like him. We see another section here, just one chapter earlier, in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1. Let's read that now. This is 2 Timothy 2 verse 1.

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also, if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. And then in verse 11, this is a faithful saying, for if we died with him, we shall also live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful. He cannot deny himself.

And there's another list. If we go one chapter, one book forward to Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 and verse 1.

Think through this list. How does this list apply to you?

How does this list contrast to what we experience in day-to-day life today?

Titus 2 verse 1.

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine, that the older men may be sober, relevant, temperate, sound in faith, in love, and in patience.

The older women, likewise, that they may be referent in behavior, not slanders, not given to too much wine, teachers of good things, that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things, showing yourself to be a pattern of good works, in doctrine, showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed. Think about that a minute. Somebody who's competing against you in this world, that when they see your character and they see the things you stand up for, it actually makes them ashamed, because they're not living that type of a life.

Continuing on here in verse 8, having nothing evil to say of you. Isn't that what we all desire?

To be that solid example, to be that light to the world, for people to say, you know what, my life isn't living up to the standard it should. To see you and to say, I've got nothing to say bad about this person. I can't even make up something because nobody will believe it if I did.

That's the way that we are to live our life today, this contrast. And if we look in verse 11, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. Zealous for good works.

The feast days we just finished observing, just a couple weeks ago, represent radical change for this earth and all who live in it. Radical change must also be occurring in our lives today, so if you were able to develop a new habit during the feast, keep it up. Keep it up. Keep up any positive change that you made in overcoming sin. Keep up any progress that you made in an area of life that didn't measure up previously to the measure of Jesus Christ. Whatever it was, keep it up. Making it to a transition point in a race doesn't mean we have already arrived at the finish line. It means that there is still more race in front of us. It means we must keep up the pace we have been running so far in this race. We must keep up everything that we have been doing to continue the race that we started. This also doesn't mean the last part of the race will be the easy part. It doesn't mean that it's going to be simple. I've seen people hit the transition point of this race only to encounter difficulty. They come out of the swim portion and they jump on their bike and just a couple miles down the road they get a flat. That wasn't in their plans. They didn't train to get a flat, but yet here they found themselves. Or they transition from the bike portion to the run and they start cramping up. All those miles they ran previously to this. Maybe even previous races. They never cramped up at this point, but now they've got a cramp in their leg. It's changing their cadence. Their mind can't get off of this cramp.

But what do they do? They keep it up. They keep it up. They fix that flat that they got on their bike and then they get back on it and they keep it up. They work through the cramps and they keep going. Our race doesn't have a finish line until God says our finish line has come.

So through difficulties that may occur over the next few weeks or even months, we must continue to run our race. As we make the transition back into our lives, we must remember that our race is also being ran through the power of God in our lives with His Holy Spirit.

It's through this power that we have all the support that we need.

When we are weak, when we are struggling in our race, we can rely on Him, and then we are made strong by His strength.

The Iron Man Triathlon World Championship is held every year in Kona, Hawaii. As I mentioned, this is the premier triathlon event that they would run in different parts of the world.

Men and women would run. Maybe my friend ran in Ohio near Cleveland. If the times are good enough, you can qualify for the World Championship, which is held back in Hawaii in the spirit of where it was originally started. These are men and women who have done tremendously well at running other Iron Man-length triathlons. They've now qualified, and they said, I want to run this one. I want to see if I'm the best of the best. A couple years back, I watched a documentary on this race, the World Championship, held in Kona, Hawaii. The top finishers of this race completed in a little over eight hours now. I remember originally I said 11 hours was the original. These people are pros. They train. They have jobs or not jobs. They have, what did you call that, endorsements, sponsors. Thank you. They have sponsors that help pay for their way so that they can spend a lot of time training. But still, to do this type of a race in a little over eight hours, but to be counted as finishing the race, each participant must complete it in within 17 hours. They have a cap. They can't just let this go on and on for days because somebody's not finishing this race. So, these are just the people who, this is the first time showing up again. These are people who've already completed other Iron Man-length triathlons. They've done it in times that qualify them for the World Championship, and now here they are running it. And you think, well, why is there a cap? This should be easy. If people are completing an eight, well, the worst ones are probably, what, 10 hours?

Well, they have to have a cap because of something that happens to a lot of people. I noticed something extraordinary at the end of this race, in this portion that I want to remind everybody of. And it happens around the 15th or the 16th hours of this race. So, the race starts at 7 a.m. It's one of these races that starts way too early. Because of the length, though, they need to. 7 a.m. So, when it's 15 or 16 hours later, the course is dark. There are no more lights out. The sun is set, and when you're running through 26 miles, it's not always lit up. You're off on some just back roads that have no lights. And it's dark, and the few people who are still out on the course, these professionals who have already done great races previously, they're struggling.

They're really, really struggling. But there are people, average people like you or me, who come out on the race for one purpose. That's to encourage these lone, struggling runners.

It's dark. They come out with their flashlights. They see them. They know where the course takes all the runners, and they run alongside with them, encouraging them. They're not part of the race, but that's the only reason they're there. When the runners stop running, they stop running with them, and they keep that flashlight lit ahead of them, and they encourage them to get back to running. Don't quit. You didn't come this far just to quit. And they encourage them, and then they start running again, and they run alongside of them, lighting their path, encouraging them to keep running, and then they stop again, and they stop with them, and they encourage them. Keep running. Don't quit. Don't quit. You've got a time limit. Come on, let's get going again. That's the whole purpose of these people. It's just their focus. It's what they want to do to help these runners, these professional runners who are struggling. And you have to remember, most everyone else has already completed the race. Most of the other professionals, they didn't have issues. So the few left that are struggling, and they're completely alone. They're alone in their pain.

They're alone in their weakness. They're alone in their thoughts. How many times can you imagine doing something difficult, and you're struggling with it, and your thoughts are just like, what is going on? Why am I hurting? Why am I struggling? Why am I continuing to just bang my toe? What is going on? And here are these runners that are questioning, should I even come? What happened? Where have I failed today? But here are these people, alongside of them, encouraging them, lighting their path, saying don't quit. Keep going. They're just trying to help an alone and an exhausted athlete make it to the finish line before the 17th hour.

We have a savior that gave his own life, the author of our faith, who is running alongside us in our race. He gives us encouragement through his word. He gives us bread and water that feeds and inureshes us our entire lives. He will not leave us. He will not forsake us when we feel like our legs are giving out and we can't continue on. Let's look at Hebrews 13 verse 5.

One chapter forward, or a couple chapters forward in Hebrews 13.

In verse 5.

Breaking into the thought, he says, for he himself, speaking of Jesus Christ, has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you, so we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper.

I will not fear. What can man do to me? What can my trials do to me? What can my weaknesses do to me? What can my failures do to me? If we don't quit our race, there's nothing that they can do to us. Because we can boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. Is our race hard?

Oh yeah, it's hard. It's not easy. But our God is great and his Son is our Lord and Savior and soon coming King. There is no one greater, no one more powerful. And this is who we have on our side cheering us on and encouraging every one of us. Christ is not only alongside of us, he's also in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. He is that inner peace we feel when we're on the road alone, racing in the dark, when we reach out to him in prayer. He is that extra boost of energy we need when we are tired and we are ready to quit. He comforts us when we hurt and when we have the scrapes and bruises from the obstacle course of life. Let's turn to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43 in verse 1. Isaiah 43 verse 1. But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through the rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up. The flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Does this describe some of our lives? Have we walked through deep waters at times?

Have we suffered through fiery trials? Have we had to wade across those rivers of difficulty?

We all have. It's part of our race. It's part of that course that we've been asked to run. But this is who we have on our side. We have the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior, my Savior. This is who we have to help us when we are battling difficulties and battling trials in our race. This is who we have on our side. This is the author and the finisher of our faith. We are committed to running our race. There is no question. Each and every one of us sitting here, we're committed. We wouldn't be here if we weren't. We are committed to running our race. There is a finish line ahead. There's one for me and there's one for you. Can you see it?

It's out there, but we have to run until God says we can stop. We have a shared vision of reaching the end of our triathlon, a picture in our mind of what that race will look like.

It's a race that we thought was too crazy to start running at the beginning, didn't we?

How many of us were ready to go out and run that Iron Man triathlon right now? No, it's crazy. How many of us decided to walk this walk? And people looked at us like we were crazy.

So we have a race that we thought was too crazy to start when we first considered running it.

And many others have determined that this race was too difficult to run, and they're not here for one reason or another. Yet here we are in the midst of our race, and we are running it.

We are running our race. Don't ever forget that. Don't ever take that lightly. Don't ever just think, oh, this is just life and I'm working at it. Don't ever take that lightly because you are running your race. This year, we're going to have a continuance of our race ahead of us. I've got one for me, and you have your race ahead of us. I do look forward to running this segment with you. It's not a part of this race I got to run before, not with this group of believers up here. But my race is before me, just as yours is. And as we run alongside this race together, our elder brother, Jesus Christ, runs it with us. He's the one who encourages us every day to keep running, keep doing what we need to be doing. So I leave you with these words. I hope this message has touched you in a way as it is a reminder to me as well to make this transition and to keep running. I saw the people that run the ultra marathons. There was one that I read about called the Western States Trail Run. It's 100 miles long, and you run through the desert, then you run 18,000 miles. 18,000 feet in elevation. You go from desert to snow up in the passes, and all through these trails, 100 miles, and the winners will do it in under 24 hours. That's nuts, too.

Please take your hymnals. Turn to page 11 and rise. We will end our song service today by singing the heavens, God's glory do declare. Page 11. Following this hymn, please stay standing. We'll be led in the closing prayer today by Mr. Tom Stutzman. Page 11, the heavens, God's glory do declare.

We ride through others' doors with joy. The mountain is rising, is listening to the wind's winds. Where there is nothing wrong, it's meaning, but nothing is hidden there.

Please remain standing for the closing prayer.

Father in heaven, we bow our heads once again before you at the close of this service, for giving thanks for this Sabbath day. We thank you for our incredible calling that you've called us to. Thank you so much for the messages that you delivered through your servants today for us. Father, those that run triathlons are incredible athletes, but they do run for a perishable crown, one that will pass away after time. Father, the race that we run is for an imperishable crown, a crown that lasts forever in your coming kingdom. We do pray, Father, that you would give us all the strength to complete that race, to be there, not to give up. And we do also ask, Father, that you would give us the comfort of your love, the love that you pour out upon us, and take that love that you reflect and reflect it upon others, comfort them as well, and help them to get there as well. We thank you, Father, once again for all that you do, and we do thank you now for the fellowship time that we have now, and the food that we can enjoy. We ask for your blessing upon that food. And also, Father, that you would deliver us safely back to our homes and see us through this coming week, and all of these things we do ask through Jesus' holy and righteous name. Amen.