September 1st – The Opening Ceremony




Today I want you to imagine that you are exploring the labyrinth corridors cut into an ancient mountain. They have become ‘changing rooms’ for athletes at the original Olympic games. The walls of these corridors are lined with memorial tablets, even portraits, and occasionally statues of the greatest competitors who have used these chambers before you and have run their race. Some of the tablets contain inscriptions packed with the records of the achievements of the previous competitors and they are all world famous names.
That’s how I see the wonderful picture which begins to unfold in the Letter to the Hebrews, Chapters 11 and 12. It’s as if everyone that has gone before has centred down on this one place, where we now find ourselves. All the tortuous history of faith in God has been waiting for this, and now its time has come: Christ’s coming, being the climax of all history. And, by God’s grace, we are a part of it.
As we pass through the shadowy corridor of the history of faith, lined as it is with memorial tablets to the great heroes and heroines of living trust in God, we become aware of four things:
ONE:-All history has been waiting for this hour. It has all been leading up to this. This is the acceptable time of the Lord.
TWO:-The late, great dead had not until now received their reward. They had lived and died trusting in the living God, and now, because of the Jesus Event, their time, as well as ours, had come.
THREE -They have been waiting, as it were, in the grandstand, and as we step out into the sunlit arena they are all around us, like great banks of clouds, but willing us on.
FOUR:-It’s now our turn to go for gold. We’re on!
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. Hebrews 12:1Hebrews 12:1
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV

12 1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,  

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So now it is our turn to run in the Christian Olympics.
Let’s follow this theme for the next few days, seeing how best to ‘go for gold’.
A prayer:
For all the saints who from their labours rest Who Thee by faith before the world confessed Thy Name O Jesus, be for ever blessed. Hallelujah.
Now read Mark 11:1-11Mark 11:1-11
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV

11 1 And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, 2 And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him. 3 And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither. 4 And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him. 5 And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? 6 And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go. 7 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him. 8 And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: 10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest. 11 And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.  

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Thought 4 The Day

It is not great men who change the world, but weak men in the hands of a great God. (The Heavenly Man)

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