Lets open our Bibles up to the Book of Hebrews 12. As we go through the story of Peter walking on the water, were talking about faith principles that we encounter along the way. Theres a storm at sea, Jesus comes by the boat, and theyre afraid-they think Hes a ghost. Peter says, If thats You, Lord, command me to come. Jesus says, Come. So Peter steped out of the boat and began to walk on the water. Then he seen the wind and the waves, heard the wind, and he became afraid and sank. He cried out to the Lord, Lord, save me. The Lord grabbed him and pulled him out of the water. They came back into the boat, and then Jesus said to Peter, Oh, you have little faith. Why did you doubt? This is going to be a teaching moment for Peter. Why did he give up? Why did he lose hope? Why did he sink? We all do, you know. In our spiritual journey, theres always a time when we see the wind, when we become discouraged, when we feel hopeless, when we despair, when we give up. Lets talk about that. The Book of Hebrews is written at a time when the church is in great conflict due to persecution. The chapter starts off saying in Hebrews 12:1, Therefore. Whenever you see the word therefore, find out what its there for. So you have to go back one chapter. Hes talking about the hall of faith and all the great patriarchs, all the great saints, and their examples of faith. Then he comes down to the very present day, and the executions that he talks about there at the end of Chapter 11 are those similar to what happened under the reign of terror of Emperor Nero. So we know that the dating of this book is about 65 AD. The church is encountering great hardship and persecution. The words of the author of the Book of Hebrews are very timely, very pertinent because of what they are enduring and what they are engaged in. He tells them to do three things. Number 1, he talks about the importance of inspiration. Secondly, he talks about the need for fixation. Thirdly, he talks about the importance of observation. Were going to talk about what each of those are today and why theyre important to prevent us from becoming weary and losing heart. Lets begin reading with Verse 1 of Chapter 12 (page 1193 of pew Bibles), Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses… By this he means the people that hes already spoken of, the believers that have gone on before us and lived lives of faith. …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 perfector 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 lose heart. Why does he say so that you will not grow weary and lose heart? because we, what? We sometimes grow weary and lose heart. The first thing he says that we are to do is to find inspiration in others; thats number one. Therefore, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses… those whove gone on before-consider their example, be inspired by their lives. Be inspired by their sacrifices, by their acts of faith, by their faithfulness. The first thing we need to do, if we are going to persevere and not lose hope, is have people in our lives and know of people who inspire us, people who have done what we want to do and who have done it successfully. We need people who are facing what we have faced before and have overcome. Rather than just trying to bear it ourselves or figure out how to invent the wheel ourselves, become a student of people who have done it, people who are alive and people who have already passed away. We can learn from them and be inspired-people that we know and people that we will never meet. There are all kinds of examples out there that will inspire you. I dont care what it is youre facing, whatever the challenge. Some of you want to lose weight today. Im not asking for a raise of hands because if some of you skinny people try to raise your hands, somebody is going to punch you, so we wont do that one. Some of you want to get in shape. You can be skinny and not be in shape. Some of you want to start a ministry. Its a challenge. Who has done it before? When I wanted to start a church, I thought, Who has done it? How did they do it? When I wanted to become a pastor, I interviewed pastors. Whats it like? How do you become one? I sought them out. Some of you want to change vocations, start a business. Whats that like? Some want to get married: talk to people who have successful marriages. And some want children: learn from those who are good parents. Raise a teenager: Ive got nothing here for you (congregation laughing). Youre on your own on that one. Overcome an addiction? Plenty of positive examples. Grieve a loss, face cancer or some other illness? Somebody has faced what you are facing. Go back to school at an old age: Somebody has done that. Feel like youre ready to give up and quit; other people have felt the same way. The list could go on and on. Somebody has faced the challenges that you have faced. Find them. Find them from history. Find them in your life. Learn from them. Be inspired by their examples. Become a student of what they did, their philosophies, their ideas, their examples, and their faith. Emulate them. So the writer is saying, Think about other people. Its important. Have you ever been by somebody that just drains you? A negative person that just drains you? Thats hard, isnt it? You hang around a person that is just negative and just drains you long enough. You leave their presence, and you feel like, Oh, man! Youre just kind of beat up! You know, like after one of my messages. You walk out of here, Oh, man! How does anybody put up with that? Oh, man! It just kind of drains you. Its important not only to have inspiration from people that have done what we want to do or have been successful at what we are facing, but its also important to find inspiration from people who are in our lives that we know, who are people we can turn to strategically when we need encouragement. Do you have people like that in your life-people who believe in you? Thats important. Its important to have people in your life who believe in what youre doing and can encourage you in that. Thats so important. If you dont have those kinds of people in your life, pray that you will have. How many of you have those kinds of people in your life? Thats wonderful. When my mom passed away, she was my biggest fan. She would come up to our church, and if you sat within a 10-foot radius of my mom, you would know I was her son. We would go into restaurants with my two sisters, who are older than I am. Wed go into the restaurants, and my mom would come up to total strangers and say, This is my son, Jeff, and hes a pastor. Shed go on and on and on. Sandy and Judy would be like, Hey, were here too, Mom. They thought it was sort of humorous. So many times, she inspired me. I would want to keep going because I knew she believed in me. I still take out the card she wrote me for my ordination back in 1982. Ill still read that from time to time and draw inspiration from it. Its important to have those kinds of people in our lives. Thats why these testimonies are important. I talked to you about the fact that were videotaping testimonies, things that have happened in your lives that other people can benefit from. If youve gone through a divorce, depression, whatever it might be, tell your story to the camera. We can say, Cut. We can edit. If you make a mistake, well start over. The first thing people think of when they hear that is oh, I could never do that! Its not about you. We learned about that in the 40 Days. Its not about you. Get out of your boat. Make that phone call, and say, You know, I have a story to tell that could help somebody My wife is a nurse, has been for 50-60 years (congregation laughing). I dont know how long, a long time anyway. This happened when she was a nurse in Rockford. Shes now an intensive care nurse at Beloit Memorial, but she was a coronary care nurse in Rockford when we lived there. Dealing with critical issues, she faces a lot of life and death situations. One time she was working on resuscitating a patient who had coded. His name was John. John was gone. He was not breathing; there was no breathing. They were working on John feverishly, and one of the nurses made a statement to this effect, Its no use. Lets give up on him. Hes not going to make it. Were wasting our time. She made that statement. Well, he surprised them. He came back. When he came back, he said to Brenda, I dont want that nurse in my room because she gave up on me. Nobody had told him that. There was no way for him to know that. He was clinically gone. When asked how he knew that, he mentioned that during this whole scene, when he was clinically dead, he was over his body watching this stuff, and not only did he hear, but he saw who it was and heard the statement that she made. He said, I dont want her in my room anymore because she gave up on me. Brendas right there, so you can ask her. Thats the way it happened, isnt it? Thats the way it happened. She gave up on me he said. That story is kind of icky, goose-bumpy, I admit that, but it illustrates the point that its important to have people in our lives who believe in us and can cheer us on. Its equally defeating to have people who dont believe in us. Try not to fill your life with those kinds of people. When possible, try not to spend great deals of time with people [who can bring you down]. Maybe you work with one or live with one, I dont know, but its a defeating thing. The second thing he talks about not only is inspiration, but he talks about the principle of fixation in verse 2. He says, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith. Fix our eyes, fixation. It means not just a casual glance, but an intense focus on something or someone. Thats what this word means in the Greek. We had our first child 22, almost 23, years ago now. Can you believe Brendas that old? Wow! We had to go through this class called Lamaze. Lamaze means breathing techniques, so you learn how to breathe, and I am the coach. Im going to give her ice cubes, but more than that, Im to help her with the breathing techniques, which Ive long forgotten. Were all nervous. The first time we practiced. With each step of labor, as it gets more intense, there are different breathing techniques. So I have to remind her about that. And I have to help her remember her focal point. Thats where you find something in the room and focus on it. Many people like to bring things in the room that are going to be pleasant to look at. Maybe it will be a picture of other children that they have. That could remind you that, Hey, theres a reward coming. Or maybe an outfit could remind you, maybe a cute outfit or cute booties to remind you that this pain is going to produce a child. Maybe a poem inspired you or a cross, some religious symbol, and you focus on that instead of your pain. Some women even use their husbands eyes, which I do not recommend. Later on in the delivery process, that can get pretty scary, You … Dont do that one. But you find a focal point, and you focus in on that. That helps you to concentrate. When the pain comes, youve got something that is drawing your attention. So I ask you the question: who or what is your focal point in life? When you encounter opposition, which you will; when you encounter hardship, which you will; who or what is your focal point? He says, Focus on Jesus. If you have the wrong focal point, youre going to get off track. I remember one time coming up from a dive and heading for the wrong dive boat. I had a focal point, all right, but it was the wrong one, and I got way off course. Oh, it was that boat. Oh, okay. If you lose sight of your focal point, its very easy to quit, isnt it? Anyone ever heard of a woman named Florence Chadwick? In 1952, she went out to sail from Catalina Island to the Coast of California. It was a foggy day, a cold day, and the water was just freezing. She got into the water; it was so foggy, she couldnt even see the boats that were in her party. It was a dangerous day. They had to use a rifle to shoot into the water to scare away the sharks. I always hate it when that happens when Im swimming. She swam 15 straight miles that day in that cold water, 15 miles! She was going to quit. Every time she looked up, she could never see the land. She said, I have to quit! I have to quit! The boatmen said, Keep going Florence! Weve got to be getting close! They couldnt see the land either. Keep going Florence! Fifteen miles! Were almost there! She couldnt see the land, and she quit! When she got into the boat, and they kept paddling, land was only a half mile away, only a half mile away! It wasnt fatigue, fear, sharks or anything else that stopped Florence. It was the fact that she couldnt see the land. She said, Im not trying to excuse myself, but I know if I could have seen it, I would have made it. If I would have seen it in sight… By the way, two months later, on a clear day, she did it. She completed the swim, and she did it in a record setting time. Thats why its so important to have a focal point. Do you have a focal point? You know, sadly, sometimes, the focal point we have is our own self. Do you realize that? When youre going through a hardship, sometimes the only person you focus on is yourself. How can I get out of this? What can I do? What am I going to do now? You start focusing on your abilities and your strengths, and theres a good chance youre the one that got yourself in that mess in the first place. Sometimes we dont want to focus on Jesus because what in the world is He going to ask me to do? Whats He going to ask me to give up or sacrifice? What demand is He going to make on me? Pastor Sean gives me feedback and tells me whats going on in our small groups as we get together and discuss this. He tells me whats going on in his own heart in life through this series. He said, You know, this series is challenging people in our church. Its challenging us. We talk about faith and stepping out of the boat. Its a little scary. He said, Its going to be 2 ½ months by the time were through. Maybe we need a break. Hes being facetious now. He says, Ive got a new idea for an upcoming series. Heres Pastor Seans idea of what well talk about If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat: Dont Rock the Boat: Living a Safe Life in Comfortable Mediocrity. Does that sound good to you? Just a little break from all this fake stuff. Courage, endurance, and lets just take a break. Some of the songs we might be able to sing are I Surrender Some, I know those hymns; Take My Life and Let Me Be; Have Mine Own Way, Lord, and Oh, How I Like Jesus, not How I Love Jesus. LCD song possibility might be Please Dont Send Me to Africa. Were afraid of what Hes going to do and expect, but the author says focus on Jesus. Observe Him; thats his next point. Observation: Verse 3, Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Consider Him. When he asks us to consider Jesus, he is speaking of considering His earthly ministry here. Thats the context. Because hes been talking in Verse 2 about the cross and for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame. What does scorning its shame mean? Scorning its shame was a comparison. What thats saying is Jesus looked at the cross, and He endured the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. His focal point was Heaven. His focal point was the union of bringing a fallen man back into a right relationship with a Holy God. His focal point was the joy of being reunited with His Father. That was His focal point. Jesus focal point was not the cross, but He looked beyond the cross. Its just like a woman in labor who looks beyond the labor to the joy that is set before when she holds that newborn in her arms. So Jesus looked beyond the cross and said, Compared to the glory that is to come, and the reward that is to come, its nothing compared to the suffering I must endure now. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul talks about his persecution, Theres nothing compared to the glory that is to be revealed. So when were going through those difficult times, make a comparison. You should be saying, You know what? This is hard, but is not what Im going to focus on. Im not going to focus on the storm. Im not going to focus on the wind. Im not going to focus on the waves. Im going to focus on Jesus. Im going to focus on His promise. Im going to focus on His example. How did he consider Jesus? How did he act? What did he do? When Jesus was here on Earth, His overriding passion was to accomplish the Mission, wasnt it? It was to do the will of the Father. If I take care of the Fathers business, Hell take care of Me. Remember Jesus, at age 12, in the Temple: they cant find Him anywhere. They go back and find Him in the Temple and they rebuke Him. They say, Weve been looking all over for You. Know ye not, I must be about My Fathers Business. Jesus knew if He took care of Gods business, the Father would take care of Him. The same thing is true with us. When we encounter storms, our focus has to stay on Jesus. As we take care of the Lords work, and the Lords business, Hes going to take care of us, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be unto you. Sometimes as we go through these crises, we become self-absorbed. We should become Christ-absorbed. Observe Him. Observe the fact that He willingly laid His life down; no miracle that Jesus ever performed was for His benefit-it was always for the benefit of others. It was always for the benefit of others. Turn in your Bibles to John 16:33 (page 1070 of pew Bibles), if you would please. In Hebrews 12, what did Jesus do when He encountered opposition? Number 1 is He expected it. Expect it. Expect opposition. Ive heard Christians say many times, Im a Christian, and God is supposed to love me. How in the world could I go through this trial, this storm? Im so discouraged, so weary. Im losing hope. Who in the world told you that the Christian life was going to be easy? Where in the world does it say in here that the Christian life is without pain and suffering and hardship? Show me an example of somebody who trusted God and did not encounter hardship. Show me one. Nobody suffered more hardship than God Himself when He took on flesh. So, lets have a realistic viewpoint of what this life is and what we might face and encounter. Jesus does. He says that in Verse 33. He says, I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. Notice, He says in Me. Jesus does not say in the world. Someone defined peace in this way: We define peace as when everything is calm. Waters are calm. There is no wind. There is no rain. There is no opposition. Really, that never happens, does it? Sometimes it seems like we go from one to the next to the next to the next. It says, Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of Christ. I thought that was a good definition for peace. Jesus goes on to say, In this world you will have trouble. Thats a promise. Thats not an exciting promise. Thats not one we pull out of our daily bread and say, Oh boy! Im going to have trouble! Yeah! But its a fact. He says very forthright, You will have trouble, but it doesnt end there. It continues, But take… courage or take …heart! I have overcome the world. The Greek language is rich and full and alive, especially the Greek verbs. Sometimes, Ill try to study the verbs and their significance because its just loaded with good stuff. This particular verb here where He talks about have overcome is whats called the perfect indicative active, the perfect tense. The perfect tense is important because it means its something in the past, something that was completed in the past, has bearing on the future, or has results in the present. Ill use an illustration from football since were kind of a football town here, a football church. Im going to give a hypothetical example to you to try to explain when Jesus says, Take courage, Ive overcome the world, what that means. Imagine with me next season that Brett Favre returns to the Packers, that not only do they have a better season, but he leads them to the Super Bowl. Again now, this is extremely hypothetical (congregation laughing loudly). Its the Super Bowl game, and you guys are all watching the Super Bowl together. Im home crying by myself. Its 4th and 1. The Packers are down by 5 points. Theres one second on the clock. They call a time out. So theyre either going to score a touch-down and win the game, or theyre going to be stopped, and its over. So they call a time-out, and everybodys trying to guess, What are they going to run? Are they going to hand it to Green to jump over the offensive line? Is Brett Favre going to do a quarterback-keeper? Is it going to be a play action? Whats going to happen? So they snap the ball, and the offensive line surges forward, and Brett Favre, again hypothetical situation, jumps over the pile and scores a touchdown. Its not even close. The booth doesnt need to review it. No penalties, no flag, its six points. The Packers are the Super Bowl Champions. The clock expires. Yippie Yah Whoo! Did you enjoy that? That was fun for most of you? Yeah! Tell us another story! So he jumps over and everybodys celebrating. You could say, The Packers have overcome and won the Super Bowl. Something that happened in the past has barring now in the present and cannot be changed. Its reality and its done. He uses what is called the indicative mood. The indicative mood for this verse means the subject is stating a fact. Thats what it means. Indicative means youre stating a fact. Youre stating reality. Jesus is not saying in this passage, But, be hopeful because theres a good chance Im going to win this thing. Hes not saying, You know what? Get your chin up. Keep praying because maybe, just maybe, Im going to concur sin and the grave. Im not saying Im gonna, but I might. Theres hope. Thats not what Hes saying. Do you see any kind of doubt or question or wonder in the statement Jesus makes? He says, Take courage. Ive overcome the world. Brett Favre jumps over that end zone line and scores a touchdown. If youre wearing a Green Bay Packer uniform, you win because of what he did. You win because of what the offensive line did. If you are on that team, you win. All the Packer fans out there in Packerland win because of what he did. When Jesus went to the cross and conquered sin and conquered death, and you are on His team, by faith, you said, Im a Christian. I want to follow You. Youve got J.C. on your back. Because of what He did, you win. Get it? You win. The outcome is certain. Its a statement of fact. Because Ive overcome, youre going to overcome. There may be some tough waters. There may be some periods of doubt and fear and so forth, but if youre on My team, youve got Christian on your jersey, youre going to prevail. Its a promise. Its reality. Thats what Jesus speaks of here. He says, Dont be hopeless. Dont lose heart. Take courage. Youre going to have problems. Youre going to have troubles. Theyre going to come, but theyre not greater than Me. Because youre with Me, because youre on My team, you are in Me, and I am in you. Youre going to overcome. Youre going to win. Nothing can change what Jesus did. Nothing can ever change the fact that in Jerusalem today, the tomb is empty. Nothing can or ever will change that reality. Its a done deal. Its a statement, a fact. Draw hope in that. The author of Hebrews says, Draw hope from inspiration. Look at the examples of those who have gone before you. Seek them out. Learn about them. Become a student of them. Put people in your life who will inspire you, who believe in you. Secondly, fixation: Make sure you have the right focal point. When youre going through pain, dont just look at the pain, look beyond the pain to see the reward. Thirdly, observation: We look at Jesus. We learn from His example. We encounter opposition; we expect it. Not only do we expect it, but we know we will be victorious through it. Thats the promise of Gods word today. Would you stand together as we close in prayer? Next week, were going to talk about patience, and I know no one can use that, right? Were going to talk about learning to wait, one of the hardest things that you and I do. Were at a stoplight for 30 seconds, and, Come on! Were in the grocery store line for a couple minutes, Come on! We just have a hard time waiting. So well be talking about learning to wait together. Then the following week, were going to wrap it up and talk about How Big is Your God? So its been an enjoyable series. Weve learned a lot. Weve been challenged. God has been faithful. You can join small groups at any time; remember that. Small groups are running through May, and you can jump on board anytime you want to. How many of you today are not going to lose heart, not going to grow weary but are going to have hope because Hes overcome today? Amen.