Father, we just thank thee for this lovely
hymn that we could pray from the depth
of our heart.
And we pray, Lord, thou would answer that
prayer.
In all of our lives, we praise thee,
Lord, that this morning we can bow before
thee, while millions and millions and millions which
serve the powers of darkness, we bow before
God.
We separate our lives from this world to
be with God's people and to bow before
the living God and worship him and serve
him and seek.
He is enabling to be able to go
back into that world and walk in light
and holiness.
And so, God, we ask thee to bless
this time.
Come and minister to us in mercy by
the Holy Spirit through thy word.
In Jesus Christ's name.
There's two portions of scripture that have come
in my heart this morning.
The one you all know very well.
In Hebrews 12, verse 1, Wherefore, seeing we
also are compassed about, we are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses, and
because of that, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us.
And let us run with patience.
I like that word.
Let us run with patience.
The race, the race that is set before
us.
And then 1 Peter, chapter 5.
A book I love to preach on.
I hope one day I'll be able to
preach on these books to you.
They've burned in my heart.
I just love all these letters in the
New Testament and to bring them as they
stand.
But 1 Peter 5.
The elders which are among you I exhort,
who am also an elder and a witness
of the sufferings of Christ and also a
partaker of the glory that shall be revealed,
feed the flock.
He's speaking to the elders here.
Feed the flock.
The Amplified says, Tend, nurture, guard, guide, and
protect the fold, the flock God has given.
That is the younger generation and your responsibility.
So elders, feed the flock which are among
you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint
but willingly.
Not for filthy lucre, but of a ready
mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage,
but being examples to the flock, being examples
to the flock.
When the chief shepherds shall appear, ye shall
receive a crown of glory that fadeth not
away, you elders.
Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves to the elder,
submit yourselves unto the elder.
May all of you be subject one to
another, be clothed with humility.
For God resists the proud and giveth grace
to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of
God, that he may exalt you in due
time, some way along the road, when you're
ready for it.
Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves to the elder,
submit yourselves to the elder.
And so we have this verse, again, that
I just want to bring briefly.
Let us run with patience the race that
is set before us.
Looking to Jesus.
I love that.
Looking to Jesus, the author, the finisher, the
one who started it, the one who finished
it, of our faith.
Looking to Jesus when you're running with patience
this race that is set before you by
God to run.
And he says, you run for me.
Looking to Jesus as you run, in case
you grow weary, in case you grow confused
about how to run, looking to Jesus all
the way along, running for Jesus.
I was telling you about my sons last
night, three sons that God gave me.
We wanted daughters too.
It wasn't God's will.
We wouldn't change these three for a million
daughters now that we've got them.
Oh, we love them.
There's Noel, Joy, and then along came the
surprise, what we call a laat lamaki.
In the Afrikaans, in South Africa, that means
a late little lamb, a flock.
He just came along, this little last addition
to the family.
What a joy he's been, little Samuel.
He's in the meeting, by the way, somewhere
with his mummy.
Well, Samuel is the joy of our home.
I hope you don't mind me saying that
in front of him.
I do say it to him, you know,
he doesn't seem to really know what I'm
saying.
But he is, to his brothers and his
mummy and to me.
Samuel went to a preschool.
Back in Cape Town, there's a particular preschool
that if you can get into, you're so
fortunate.
It has something of a tremendous foundation for
little boys and girls.
And it's before schooling, but they take things
seriously in this preschool.
You'd think it was a university sometimes.
My word, everything is so incredibly earnest in
that preschool before they were even reaching school.
Samuel just loved to go to.
He loved, he was off with his little,
he wanted to be like his brothers, you
know, with statues and schoolcases.
I want a statue.
Anyway, at preschool, this particular preschool, very exclusive
little school, they even have a sports day.
So earnest that you'd think it was one
of the real high schools, inter-schools.
There were all the children sitting along with
all the ribbons and the flags and down
the field.
And all these little fellows, little girls, little
boys, all sitting down to make classes with
their teacher.
They're all cordoned off.
All the mommies and daddies all crowded around
the field.
And, of course, some of these little fellows
and girls, they were so small, they didn't
quite know whether they were running the right
direction.
One was running the wrong direction.
But they still cheered him.
Anyway, then came the mommies race.
That was quite something for Jenny to run
in.
But she had to.
And then the closing race, the final big
event, the climax of the whole day, after
all the screaming, the applauding, all the excitement,
was the daddies race.
And that was something.
Because this was my little art lumberjee, my
little baby.
I had big boys.
Now all the other men, this was their
first little...
They were younger fellows, you know, all these
young men.
They just had these young babies.
I had big boys.
This was our little last one.
I was much older than them.
And I felt it.
And I tried to get out of it.
I reluctantly, I said, Jenny, I can't.
Please, I'm not up to it today.
And I looked at these young fellows.
How am I going to run against these
fellows?
And Jenny says, You can't not run.
Look at Samuel.
There's Samuel.
Come on, Daddy.
Run for me.
Come, Daddy.
You're going to win.
Win, Daddy.
Oh.
So I went and stood there, and I
saw these young fellows who looked like they
all spent their day in the gym.
There they were, getting ready, getting their breasts,
you know.
I said, Oh, my word.
What am I going to do?
And I looked over again at Samuel and
all the children screaming for their daddies, and
Samuel caught my eye, and he said, Win,
Daddy.
So I looked at him, and I thought
in my heart, Oh, God.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if I did win?
Just for Samuel.
Look at him.
Oh, my.
There he is, expecting me to win.
And he's watching me now.
Well, they told us some ridiculous things about
this race.
You couldn't believe it.
It wasn't just running.
It was push-ups and all sorts of
things that you had to do.
Once you ran over there, push-ups, on
your face, all back and this sort of
things, all these incredible...
These days, you know, when we were younger,
it was just a race.
These days, you've got to be able to
swim and ride bicycles and everything to run
in a race.
Well, they had some sort of idea incorporating
a lot of things to win.
So I listened carefully, and I looked over
again at Samuel, and bang, the gun went,
and I just ran.
Oh, I poured myself as I ran against
the wind.
Did all these silly things, ran back, and
all the push-ups, and I stood up,
and I looked around, and there was no
one there, and I said, what have I
done wrong?
And I looked across the field, and there
they were all running still, and some fellow
caught up, and he started, and I looked
at him, and he's trying to give two
push-ups he didn't quite get past to,
and I said, oh my word.
And I looked at the principal, and I
looked at the teacher, Samuel's teacher, who was
standing right by.
I said, what have I left out?
What have I done wrong?
What am I doing wrong?
And this teacher said, you've won, don't worry,
you've won.
Oh.
Well, you know, the first thing I did,
there was no applause, there was just like
this stunned silence all around.
The first thing I did was look for
Samuel, and there he was, all he knew
is that he had won, and I ran
over to him, you know, I didn't look
at the crowd, I didn't want the crowd,
I didn't think of it, I just thought
of Sam, and I looked at the joy
in that little boy's face, he was just
overwhelmed, and he just, yeah.
You won, and I said, daddy ran for
you, I ran just for you.
You know, then the crowd started applauding, and
there was something different about the way they
applauded, because they saw who I'd run for,
why I'd run like that.
They realized there was something of a consciousness
suddenly, of the joy that had brought Samuel,
and that's all I wanted, to see his
face, to see his joy, the way I
ran.
The way they applauded, there was something so
different, it's so different when you run out
of love for someone else, and when you're
running just for yourself, you know, you run
so differently, there's something so totally different, everyone's
aware of it, everyone's aware of it, especially
the one you ran for, the joy it
gave him, when he knows it was for
him.
I hope you're running this race for Jesus,
I hope it's giving him joy, you're not
running for yourself, just because you're right here
amongst the runners, I hope it's not a
heavy thing for you to run in this
race that's set before you, if you run
with one purpose, one intent, oh, I didn't
look at the crowd, I didn't look for
any other face, when I knew I'd won,
I'd look for one face, one face, the
one I'd run for, to see what it
meant to him, to see his smile, that's
all you're running for, looking on to Jesus,
the one who set you out in this
race, looking on to Jesus, the author and
finisher of the faith, well, I was at
school, I loved to run, I loved sport,
every sport, Jenny was the same, she was
in everything, you know, nothing that she wanted
to miss, every sport there was, she arrived,
and I loved sport too, oh, especially athletics,
and it was always the two of us,
right from boarding, right through schooling, that were
the fastest runners in the school, and I
used to know, this is our little boy,
I'm running against him, sometimes I beat him,
sometimes he beat me, but it was always
the two of us, we ran, knowing it
was just the two of us we had
to run against, yeah, we respected each other,
we didn't come much nearer than each other
than that, right through schooling, but suddenly at
high school, this fellow and I had to
run together, now that's different, in a relay
race, now a relay race is where you
run as a team, and our high school
decided that they would put the fastest runners,
of course they choose all the fastest runners,
and there were about four or five of
us who had to run, representing the school
and the inter-schools, sports, athletics day, where
they come from all over the country, the
best runners, and all the, those who could
get to the stadium, filling thousands and thousands
from all over to just cheer on their
school, in the event they were chosen, having
been selected, running against all the different schools,
now to run the best, and here we
were, selected, and this fellow was going to
run, just before me, and the other faster
runners, but he was the one, second last,
to run, with the baton, and we had
to place the baton, in each other's hands,
the next runner, I was to be the
last runner, the one who would take the
baton to the finishing line, and we learned
a lot of things about the relay race,
you don't wait until the baton's in your
hand, you start running, before it's in your
hand, you build up speed, and you've got
to put that baton in your hand, carefully,
you pass the baton on, the runner has
to run now, the last lap, and you
don't look back, while he's going to pass
it on, you just run, you've got to
put it in your hand, and you're running,
as you're putting it in your hand, where
are we so trained, now I don't know
what happened that day, but they realized the
record, the South African record, was going to
be smashed, beyond all belief, by this little
school of mine, they excelled, and I was
the last one, and I realized something wonderful
was happening, they were just cheering, screaming, from
everybody by this time, not only our school,
and this fellow comes along, and I was
running, waiting for the baton, but I don't
know what happened to him, I never ever
asked him, something made him, not put the
baton carefully in my hand, something made him
throw the baton, he just threw it, I
didn't wonder what was going on, and I
turned back, he threw it, and the baton
went right past me, fell on the ground,
bounced up, bouncing right off the field, you
know it so shook me, I fell, I
fell, and somehow I got up off the
ground, in agony, crowds just, there was this
amazed cry of despair, across the whole stadium,
of what happened, the baton dropped, the winning
team dropped the baton, by the time I
got the baton, the other fellow had passed,
another school, and he ran, oh he ran,
I picked up the baton, I began to
run, I was gaining ground, and gaining ground,
and gaining ground, but he went over the
finish line, you know nobody cheered, not one
of the thousands cheered, because the team that
should have won, lost, because the last lap,
the baton fell, the one who was to
carry the baton the last lap, let me
tell you, the grief that caused, to my
school, there was a silence in our school,
no one ever spoke to me about that,
no one ever came and talked to me,
not even my sports master, he wouldn't look
at me, for a long, long time, he
just couldn't speak, there was a grief, we
lost, when we should have won, one generation
brings a standard, to the next generation in
the church, he carefully passes the doctrine, this
uncompromised standard, to the next generation, the next
generation takes it, and as they, the older
they hold it out to the next generation,
the younger, let me tell you something, in
case you're not aware of it, you're running
the last lap, don't doubt it, this is
the last lap, the baton, the doctrine, the
holiness standard, has been held out to you,
and you be careful now, we must be
careful now, as elders, in our weariness perhaps,
and in the state of the world, not
to just throw the baton, and it falls,
we've got to put it so carefully into
the hands, of all the younger generation, that
have to run the last race, the last
lap, we've got to place it so carefully,
all the doctrines, the standards, so carefully, you
don't lose it, you don't lose a grip
of it, you're running, but we've got to
put it so in your hands, you've got
to be careful not to do, what so
many missions, so many churches, so many movements
across the world, that held the standard right
through, and suddenly this generation, this generation, they've
thrown it away, they dropped it, to take
up a more acceptable standard, a more acceptable
message, we mustn't, don't lose, when you're running
so ahead, be careful now, I want you
to listen to these scriptures, that God held
out, look at the groan, of the elders,
Psalm 71 17, O God, thou hast taught
me, from my youth, and hitherto, have I
declared thy wondrous works, now also when I'm
old, and grey-headed, O God, forsake me
not, until I have sold thy strength, unto
this generation, thy power, to everyone that's to
come, O, 2 Timothy 1 13, Paul
says, hold fast, and follow the pattern, and
wholesome, and sound preaching, which you have heard
from me, the old Paul now, talking to
the young Timothy, hold fast, and follow the
pattern, and wholesome, and sound teaching, which you
have heard from me, in all faith and
love, which are for us in Christ, God,
and keep with the greatest care, the precious,
and excellently adapted truth, which has been entrusted
to you, by me, Timothy, O God, keep
it with the greatest care, the precious, and
excellently adapted truth, which has been entrusted to
you, the Amplified says, 2 Timothy 2 2,
instructions you've heard from me, along with many
other witnesses, transmit and entrust, entrust as a
deposit, to reliable and faithful men, who will
be competent, and qualified to teach others also,
we've got to entrust it, as a deposit,
to reliable and faithful men, who will keep
that standard, that's what we're doing, as elders,
O, the old Paul cries out to the
young Timothy, I have fought the good fight,
Timothy, I finished my race, I finished the
race, I've kept firmly held, the faith, is
made up of victor's crown, for me, but
Timothy, I entrust this to you now, keep
it, guard it, what you've learned of me,
you've learned of me, O, keep and guard,
remember them, which have the rule over you,
Hebrews 13 verse 7, the Amplified says, remember
your leaders, and superiors in authority, observe attentively,
and consider their manner of living, the outcome
of their well spent lives, imitate their faith,
their leaning, their, on the entire human personality
of God, absolute confidence, and his power, and
wisdom, and goodness, listen to what, God says
about the elders, who pass the baton on
to me, I can give you names of
men, when I say their names, I say
it with reverence, at the memory of their
lives, thank God for their example, but listen
to their, what God says, Psalm 92 verse
12 in the Amplified, the uncompromisingly righteous, shall
flourish like a palm tree, they shall be
long lived, safely, all that was them, when
I think of them, upright, useful, and fruitful,
they shall grow like a cedar, in Lebanon,
majestic, stable, durable, incorruptible, they shall still bring
forth fruit in old age, verse 15, their
living memorial, to show the younger generation, of
the Lord's faithfulness, to his promises, living memorial,
that the elders are, to show the younger
generation, in their faithfulness, their uprightness, their godliness,
their uncompromisingly righteous life, Hebrews 13, 17, obey
your spiritual leaders, submit to them, continually recognizing
their authority over you, for they are constantly
keeping watch over your soul, and guarding your
spiritual welfare, as men who will have to
render account of their trust to God, do
your part, to let them do this with
gladness, not with sighing and groaning, for that
would not be profitable to you either, Hebrews
13, 17, oh, now I want the elders,
to look carefully right now at the younger,
in the way that God looks at them,
this is something very precious to me, the
elders must be very careful, to look at
the younger, in the way God looks at
them, not in the human level, they're going
to make great mistakes, in this race that
God, has set before them also, He chooses
so differently from what we did, what we
look for, you don't remember when we were
boys, choosing teams in the park, and we
were going to play our games, it was
a terrible thing, to not be the real
sporting type, they always chose the outwardly, the
ones that were tough, you know, so one
person was the team leader, the captain of
whatever team, we were going to play with
his football, the horrifying thing is you choose,
oh, this one first, so the next fellow
chooses that one, terrible when you're the last
one chosen, you know, that's because you're not
very sporting, you know, when Jesse was sent
by God, to choose the king, the person
who God had chosen, he goes, sorry Samuel,
he goes to Jesse's family, and he looks
at all these strapping sons of Jesse, and
he says, this must be him, look at
this, to lead Israel, to be the future
leader, the king, this is who God surely
has chosen, no, God says, not this one,
or the next one comes, this must be
him, in the end, the one they overlooked,
even bring, he says, is there no one
else, oh yes, there's David, bring him, near
God bypasses the outward, what we would choose,
these strapping, wonderful looking fellows, with all their
abilities, they could fight a soldier, here was
a little fellow, tending the seat, he comes
in, God says, this is him, God doesn't
look on the outward, as men do, this
is the one I've chosen, and this was
the right one, we mustn't look on the
outward, look, we see outwardly at the first,
happening, God so different in choosing, those who
will now run to win, who are going
to be the ones who win, I remember
my son Roy, you've heard about Samuel now,
Roy, we had a problem with, he was
so thin, he's not anymore, thank goodness, but
he was so thin, that we got into
trouble, you can't believe how thin Roy was,
I said, what on earth is wrong with
him, just bones, you know, there was no
flesh even, hardly any flesh, just bones, and
I said, what are we doing wrong, we
try to feed him, we said, more, eat
more, well, the principal of the school, even
called and said, you know, the teachers are
actually talking, we're worried here, do you feed
this child, and then he was so embarrassed,
he said, well, we really do feed him,
well, then he took him to the hospital
one day, the nurse said, I don't know
whether to report this, you're neglecting this child,
and he said, we're not, we took him
to the doctor, the doctor said, listen, don't
worry, he's healthy, that's all you've got to
worry about, he's fine, don't force him to
eat now, well, he was really thin, poor
little Roy, some mop of hair, you know,
white hair, with a couple of crowns, we
didn't quite know what to do, to keep
it down, I used to have one crown,
but he had crowns all over, look for
Roy, just look for those white, pitch white
hair and crowns, poor little Roy, oh, he
really looked out of place in life, even
his poor principal kept a watchful eye over
him, fearing he was so brittle, one day,
Roy stunned us, he had a cross country,
now a cross country is when you don't
just run around a track, they really sit
quite a few kilometers, and of course at
school, they were going to have this cross
country around a golf course, it's a very
large golf course in South Africa, you just
go on and on, we were all sitting
up on the stands, all the teachers and
all the parents, all around in the cars,
even sitting looking at our children, there they
all start running, hundreds of boys in the
cross country, and of course Roy, of course
runs too, and he loved to talk, he
wasn't too interested in his run, you know,
there I watched him talking, just talking, oh
my, but he was running, and then eventually
some, and so we were all watching, when
suddenly he decided to run, and he just
saw this little fellow flying past everybody, and
I couldn't believe it, I said, is that
Roy?
and I saw as he was just flying,
but the way he floated, it wasn't like
he was floating, I stood up and looked
at this boy, the principal looked back at
me, good Roy, but he didn't win, he
would have by miles if he had started
like that, and the next day at the
school, I was gone to fetch him at
the school, and the sports master was coming
towards me, now everything I had to speak
about to teachers, was pretty fearful when we
had to speak about Roy at school, we
didn't know what was going to be coming,
and this fellow came up, and you know
I almost felt something nice was going to
be said about Roy, by the sports master,
so I looked at him coming towards me,
and he said, Mr. Denham, did you see
the way Roy ran yesterday?
I said yes, and it surprised me, you've
got a world champion in your hands here,
and I laughed, he said, oh don't you
laugh at me sir, don't you laugh at
me, he said, I'm telling you something sir,
don't push him, to break him, he's not
mature enough, don't push him to break him
now that we see something's there, show all
the patience, he's just confident, don't criticise him,
that's all he's wanting now, he's got it,
world champion, runners are born, look at the
great runners in South Africa, they're all just
thin fellows running along, look at this fellow,
he's a born runner, he's just a runner,
that's all he is, but don't push him
now, we've got to just teach him, carefully,
teach him how to run, give him good
starts, good hints, when he's ready, when he's
ready for it, he's ready by our training,
to run to win, and he's going to
win, he's going to win, now be careful,
how we look, elders, at the young ones
that seem, to put the spear in our
hearts, and think what's going to become of
this fellow spiritually, what hope is there for
this fellow, look at him, God sees differently,
and I tell you in the long run,
the ones that win, in the spiritual race
for Christ, are the ones we didn't expect,
many times, most times, forgive me for saying,
the ones with all their gifts and talents,
to somehow disappear, many times, not always, but
the ones that we thought were helpless, hopeless,
not going to make much, they just strolled
ahead, listen to what Paul cries out, to
the young Timothy, let no man despise thy
youth, be thou an example to the believers,
let no one despise or think less of
you, because of your young, be an example,
a pattern of the believers, in speech, in
conduct, in love, in faith, in purity, till
I come, devote yourself to reading, to exhorting,
preaching, to teaching, instilling doctrine in your heart,
don't neglect the gift that's in you, you're
young, that special enduement that's been given to
you, practice, cultivate, pour yourself wholly into the
ministry you have, so that your progress may
eventually be seen by everyone, The Amplified says
that Paul was crying out to the young
Timothy, oh we must be careful in our
dealing with the runner God has chosen, if
they fail at first, if they even cause
disaster, if they fall badly, God says something
wonderful here, you that are spiritual, I love
that word, you that are spiritual, you'll soon
see who's spiritual when you see who falls,
those that are not spiritual will condemn him,
will wipe his hands of him, will not
give him a chance, those that are spiritual
will fight for him, they see just the
hope, they see what will come, you can
notice a spiritual man by what happens when
someone falls, the carnal will judge him, and
wipe his hands of him and want him
out, don't you doubt that, I was once
at the Bible school, theological seminar where I
went, we had a day we combined with
another theological seminar, very high standard, this place
also in Cape Town, these two Bible schools
have been gone on for a hundred years,
they train thousands of the best workers, the
greatest of workers on the mission field across
our continent, oh they revered these two Bible
colleges, and we have once a term coming
together, and having a time of fellowship, time
of fun also, laughter, we're young, laughing isn't
sin when you're young, don't be old before
your time, so long as it's sanctified laughter,
it doesn't grieve God or man, there's a
thin line, and if you're right with God,
you'll never grieve anyone, or hurt anybody, no
fool is jesting, there's something about laughter, there's
something about youth, don't lose, but we had
laughter, and we had little games, two colleges
together, in the hall we put socks together,
and passed this thing around, to get it
to the other side, lots of laughter, these
grown up young fellows, 18, 19, 20, 21,
here we were all playing against the other
Bible college, and while we were playing, and
running around, we got a bit rough sometimes,
and this one girl, who was at Bible
college with us, pretending to be a missionary,
she fell, she somehow fell, but she fell
so hard, it was just a gasp, in
silence, right onto her face, and I stood
there, and I looked, and I looked suddenly,
within seconds, the reaction of every single person
in that room, they all reacted differently, when
someone fell, you can't believe some of the
reactions, there was some there, that obviously didn't
have much time to her, they started laughing,
she lay in agony, some shaking their heads,
clicking their tongues, the Bible school, if
you don't have much time to them, clicking
your tongue, shaking your head when someone falls,
there was some standing there, shocked, at the
fall, but unable to help, incapable, nothing in
them that would help, just look, they just
look when someone falls, in shock, they don't
do a thing, and when I saw this
reaction, and I saw no one was going
to do a thing, but laugh, click their
tongues, and look, I ran, and I lifted
her up, I lifted her up, and I
was the only one, that had the privilege
of seeing, the gratitude in those eyes, she
was more hurt, than what people had seen,
she was so embarrassed, and physical hurt, someone
had lifted her up, and I said to
her, I'm not going to let you go,
so you can look me in the eyes,
and say oh good, I'm right, are you
alright, you're not going to fall, and you
stand, I won't let you go, don't worry,
and the gratitude in those eyes, to the
one that helped, her up when she fell,
no one else saw those eyes, no one
else saw that gratitude, in
the week four, God said, he that is
spiritual, he that is spiritual, you go lift
him up, taking care of yourself, but you
the ones I looked to, to lift him
up, are you spiritual, when someone falls in
the spiritual world, he that is spiritual, you'll
be known by that you know, be careful,
in this race when someone falls, when someone
falls, the other way also, we must remember
this please, if we see someone who's been
in the race a long time, not just
someone who's, the elders looking down, or those
on the road looking down, at someone falling
in the young, and saying oh, no good
here, be careful, it works the other way
too, and it's going to happen in your
life, I guarantee you, it's going to happen
in your church, I guarantee you, I don't
say it, that I want it to happen,
but I've seen something in all missions, in
all movements, we see someone who's been in
the race a long time, fall, they're nearing
the end of their race, it's possible they
can fall you know, what do you do?
Excommunicate them, somehow, in the weariness of life,
it happens that those who've ran the race
for a long, long time, they must be
careful, not to judge, not to throw them
out, but to encourage them to get up,
not to condemn them, it could happen to
you, and what you do to others, I
guarantee, comes on you one day, so be
careful, I've seen it, it's a circle, I've
seen it on people, I've watched them, how
they've done it, I saw coming back on
them, and everybody did just to them what
they did, but it happened to others, be
careful, it could happen to you, someone in
the race a long time for, don't you
as young people, even if they cause despair,
encourage them, with compassion, not to give up,
but to get up, the greatest race in
South Africa, it's a world renowned race, people,
the best runners of the world, go to
South Africa for this race, now it's become
so esteemed across the world, it's called the
Commerce Marathon, it's the most grueling race, in
Africa, there's no doubt of that, one of
the most grueling races in the world, when
I was a boy, daddy took us to
see this race, he knew all the runners,
my uncles were the race, some of them
won, we as children would be taken by
daddy, who loved to see this race, oh,
he encouraged them, he drove alongside of them,
come on, it's not far, he watered out
to them when they needed it, in the
early days, before all these points were set
up, when everything became so professional, there was
daddy, when we were boys, they were running,
well, we knew most of them, they were
coming in our homes, the winners, daddy loved
the sport of running, and I'll never forget
this one year, how we were going along
with daddy, we used to go the whole
way with the car, get out the car
and run sometimes with him, stand there cheering,
but it was the finishing, of this particular
year, that struck me, it always ended in
Peter Maritzburg, or back to Durban, vice versa,
each year it changed, but in Peter Maritzburg
from Durban, some 70, 80 kilometers, oh, sorry,
miles, those days, well, there was a big
sports stadium, where the crowd would all go
at the end, and there would be this
ribbon, making a passage, around the field, right
down to the center, where the winner would
run, all the end of this race along
the road, all up the mountains, down the
hills, through the valleys, up and down, up
and down, until this gruesome, almost mountain, before
you get up to Maritzburg, the city, where
it all ended, and there we drove in,
we were waiting, for the winner to run
in, and along he came, this strapping fellow,
Oberheimer, and he ran, like the wind, right
at the end, where did this strength come
from, after all those miles, it's unbelievable, that
last strength, to run, he ran, and the
crowd cheered, and I cheered as a little
boy, looking at this fellow coming in, until
the ribbon was gone, and then the second,
last fellow came in, the one who was
second, to win, here he came in, but
this fellow was tired, he was ahead of
others, there were, oh a few thousand set
off, by the way, I think something like
ten thousand, start these days, very few finish,
but here was this fellow, the second, to
come in, but he wasn't running, like that
first fellow, but he was way ahead of
the most, and here he was, tired, oh,
he was finished, he was exhausted, he was
pulling himself, as he got in the field,
the crowd cheered, oh they cheered, come on,
as he was coming, in his weariness at
the end, it had been so hard for
him, that right, suddenly he fell, he began
to crawl, he began to crawl, the
crowd was just saying, go on, get up,
he got up, he started running the wrong
direction, he started running, he went back, he
was stupefied in his tiredness, he started going
back, the crowd, I never forget the crowd,
my daddy just burst into tears, looked around,
there wasn't anyone, there wasn't weeping, no one
was condemning, everyone was just in agony, crying,
you're going the wrong way, you're going the
wrong way, turn around, please, listen, turn around,
like he didn't hear, till eventually he got
through, he turned, and he faced the right
way again, and he started, not with strength,
but God, cries of the crowd encouraging him,
go on, go on, until he came through
to the end of the race, you know
that man got more applause than the winner,
and he deserved it, the farm wasn't the
winner, he made it, so he crawled, so
he fell, so he went the wrong direction,
he went the wrong way sometimes, we don't
stand condemning them when it happens, you just
cry in compassion and love, get up, don't
give anyone up, in this race, oh brother,
how much time have I got left, 15,
well I'm amazed, I didn't think I'd get
through this today, I'm so glad I can
end with this, because this meant a lot
to me as a boy, I remember the
National Geographic, I loved the National Geographic magazine,
and I particularly went after a young fellow,
in Australia, who shook the whole world, when
I was a young fellow, this young teenage
boy decided he was going to go across
the whole world, in a single sailing boat,
with no engine, no radio control, no special
equipment and food that could be stored in
there, and safety devices you know, Sir Francis
Chichester of England was the only man who'd
ever done that, on one single sailing boat,
but he had engines in case things went
wrong, he had radio controls, he had all
things poured in of the best equipment, the
best little stuff to feed, to help with
every sickness, here this little fellow's taking no
equipment, going to go across the whole world
by one single sail, and Chichester said, don't
let him do it, he'll die, he'll never
make it, you can't do it, but this
fellow did, he set off from Australia, in
this little yacht of his, single sail, and
off he goes, now the National Geographic, started
looking when he actually made it to the
next continent, he made it, nobody following him,
he was there, they came to him and
said, look we're going to take photographs, we
want you to take photographs, we want to
put it right across every step you take,
seeing as you're so serious about this, so
it's issue, I used to wait you know,
how far is this fellow now, has he
got any further, has he finished, has he
drowned, has he given up, no one was
really taking it too seriously you know, but
the National Geographic made it become something, now
that people were aware of everywhere, well this
fellow just went on, comes to my country,
across the great Atlantic Ocean, as he was
a, oh I don't know, a few hundred
kilometres out in the sea still, the storms
there are the most ferocious in the world
I believe, the Cape of Storms, this little
fellow, was in storms where the sail was
smashed, the boat began to fill up with
water, and then the storm subsided and the
sun came on him, the food was gone,
the water was gone, no land, he just
lay there, ready to die, faulting, the heat
of the sun burning through him, sunstroke, somehow
the boat drifted up right through to where
Jenny and I live, Cape Town, just out
of Cape Town in the Heart Bay area,
there's fishing, taller going along and they see
this little thing, fill of water, drew alongside
near the body, smashed, boat smashed, no sail,
no mast, they took his body, got a
saw, got him to hospital, pumped all, somehow,
miraculously, he regained strength, they saved him, they
had to put him into a mental home,
his mind had gone, the sun, they had
to do all treatments, try and bring him
back to a way where he could function
again in life, then he did something, one
day when the newspaper reporters, were talking about
this terrible thing he'd endured, when he finally
got out of that institution, he said, I'm
going on, and his father flew, from Australia
and said, you're not going on, no, I'm
putting my foot down, I'm going on, and
nothing is going to stop what I set
out to do, now the whole world suddenly,
the front page of the newspaper, this boy's
going on, National Geographic, the main article, front
page is right through, half way, pictures, everything,
stories, suddenly the world was looking at someone
who wouldn't give up, wouldn't give up, off
he set, eventually restoring his little boat himself,
working on it, no help, so it's ready
to go, off he goes, in absolute silence,
weeks and weeks and weeks, weeks and weeks,
then he was sighted, gone right around the
world, back to Australia, and when it was
realised who they reported was being sighted, out
there, things started happening, royalty from England came,
the Prime Minister of Australia came, his hometown
came in masses, orchestras, brass bands, flags, thousands,
stands, he didn't know what was waiting by
the by, here he comes, oblivious to what
was coming, all he knew was he was
baking, then suddenly all the boats in their
thousands coming out, flowing with hoghorns, all the
boats available come out to meet him, he
looked at all this lot coming and he
suddenly realises, the helicopters hovering, photographing him, it
was for him, they're all welcoming him, as
he comes in the harbour, he has the
band, the orchestra, he sees all the crowds
and the applause, and he stood up, tears
are coming, he realises it's for him, it's
for him, they were photographing him, then they
got hold of him and they asked him
this question, that was the end of the
articles of him, the last words in the
National Geographic, as they showed his photograph of
the tears, he looked at the crowds welcoming
him, screaming one, he said what went on
in your mind, when you saw and realised
that welcome was to you, they were cheering
you, what did you think, he said I
thought to myself, to think I nearly gave
up, to think I nearly gave up, think
how I came to nearly giving up, I
would have missed this, then I thought but
that doesn't matter, it doesn't matter that I
nearly gave up, it doesn't matter that I
lay dying, all that matters is that I
didn't give up, all that matters to me
is I didn't give up, I made it,
that's what I was thinking, beloved, it doesn't
matter if sometimes you crawl in the race,
it doesn't matter if you went back with
the wrong direction at times, until you heard
and the compassion of those that loved you,
you went back as they cried you back
on the right path, it doesn't matter if
you nearly gave up time and time again,
all that matters is that one day you
will, look at the welcome God gives you
and the crowds of witnesses, and you see
the face of Jesus, the one you ran
for, and the joy you gave him, though
you once crawled, can
I end with these words, will you listen
carefully, in case the baton, is on the
ground, in many of your lives, fallen from
your hands, it isn't carefully in your hands
yet or in your heart, the standard, the
doctrine, in case you haven't submitted your heart,
to the elders message and standard and truth,
because you've got it firmly gripped in your
hands, in life and heart, and you know
you're not going to let loose of it,
you're going to run with it, you're going
to keep it, and win this race that
they ran and passed on to you, the
standard, right to the end you're going to
carry it, you've got such a firm grip,
in case you rebel against this message, of
separation, from worldliness, and a high standard of
holiness in this world, no matter how unholy,
the rest of the world becomes, you become
holy and stay more holy, in case you're
rebelling against, the message God wants you to
take up in your heart, in case you
as an elder, are tired and weary, through
the generations, you're with, exhausted at the end,
of your course, and you haven't, with carefulness,
and sense of urgent responsibility, to be sure
the younger get that baton through you, in
case you're criticizing them, and have no patience
with them in this generation, and you haven't
accepted all of them as God's choice, you
fail to hand to them patiently, knowing that
who God chooses, will win, if you just
pass the baton carefully and train them, till
they grasp it, I need to ask God
today, just in case, I haven't got this
baton, in case my heart hasn't embraced it
so firmly, the standard the generation of elders,
I need to ask God, a fresh consecration,
I need to dedicate myself here, freshly, to
this great call of God, that I need
to dedicate, afresh right now, as never before
in my life, to run with patience, the
race that is set before me by God,
the standard I have to run, the baton
I have to carry, right to the finishing
post, in case you need to dedicate your
lives, to this which has been held out
to you, before you leave this place, as
you used to go on and run, in
case you need to dedicate to what you
dedicate, and God consecrates, you need to let
God consecrate you afresh, you need to dedicate
yourself to this race afresh, because it hasn't
been firmly, Oh God, I'm going to take
everything, and I'm going to hold on, as
an elder, I'm going to look at them
differently, I'm never going to disturb anyone, or
look upon them as useless or worthless, they're
the ones you chose, that's why they're here,
God, I'm going to, I'm going to dedicate
myself as an elder, afresh to this race
I'm in, to do my part as an
elder, to do my part as a youngster,
to make it easy for the elders to
take it, to take it without any fight,
without any grief to them, all of you
who need to dedicate yourself, in absolute sincerity,
to God at this point of your life,
afresh, and you know you do, so that
you'll make it through, without having lost the
baton, the standard, will you please rise, those
of you that really need to do that
to God, can
we bow our heads in prayer please, Father,
take this people, every one of them, as
they dedicate their lives to the afresh, consecrate
them, in the race that Thou has set
before us, help each one, though they feel
very unworthy, and very weak, and unable to
be meaningful, to realize God has put them
in the race, and who knows they can
run to win, they'll take the message, they'll
take the standard, take every one here Lord,
as they dedicate themselves afresh, to the standard
God has held out to this church, consecrate
their lives right now, God has vowed, to
see them dedicating themselves in their hearts, submitting
to the elders, carefully, carefully, nurturing and watching
over the younger, living out in the race,
the things they've heard today, right to the
end, even if there's times they've crawled, and
will crawl, or fall backwards, it's not the
end, help us all to do, what we
have to, to make sure everyone reaches the
finishing post Lord, we dedicate ourselves to God,
afresh, perhaps for the first time, utter dedication,
consecrate us Lord, right now by the blood
of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, fill us
now God, everyone, take complete control of us,
yielded vessels, fill us with the Holy Spirit,
take us through to the finishing post please,
we look for one thing God, for thy
faith, for it's for thee we run, right
to the end, in Jesus Christ's name, Amen.
I wonder if the leader of the meeting
could come up, with any announcements.