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[MUSIC] ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Said I'll do ♪ ♪ What he wants me to do ♪

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♪ Whatever he wants me ♪ ♪ Whenever he wants me to ♪ ♪ I'll try to do my best ♪ ♪ I'll try to do my best ♪

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♪ I'll try to stand my test ♪ ♪ I'll try to stand my test ♪ ♪ I'll let my little light shine ♪ ♪ I'll let my little light shine ♪

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♪ Some lost sheep try to find ♪ ♪ Some lost sheep try to find ♪ ♪ Go through the storm and rain ♪ ♪ Go through the storm and rain ♪

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♪ I'll try hard not to complain ♪ ♪ I'll do His will ♪ ♪ I'll do His will ♪ ♪ I'll do His will ♪

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♪ I'll do His will ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Said I'll do ♪ ♪ I'll do what he wants me to do ♪

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♪ Whenever he wants me ♪ ♪ Whenever he wants me to ♪ ♪ I'll try to do my best ♪ ♪ I'll try to do my best ♪

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♪ I'll try to stand my test ♪ ♪ I'll try to stand my test ♪ ♪ I'll let my little light shine ♪ ♪ I'll let my little light shine ♪

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Some lost sheep try to find, go through the storm and rain. I'll try hard not to complain. I'll do His will. I'll do His will.

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I'll do His will. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ It's my desire ♪

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♪ To do your will ♪ ♪ Bear my cross ♪ ♪ Up the rugged hill ♪ ♪ And it's my desire ♪

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♪ To give you my life ♪ ♪ So when it's all over one day ♪ ♪ You'll let me be by your side ♪ ♪ Oh, and that's why I'll do ♪

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♪ Whenever he wants me to ♪ ♪ I'll try to do my best ♪ ♪ I'll try to stand my test ♪ ♪ I'll let my little light shine ♪

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♪ Some lost sheep try to find some ♪ ♪ I'll go through the storm and rain ♪ ♪ I'll try hard not to complain ♪ ♪ I'll do his will ♪

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♪ Oh, I'll do his will ♪ ♪ To do His will ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Said one more time, it's my desire ♪

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♪ Oh, to do God's will ♪ ♪ To bear my cross ♪ ♪ Up the rugged hill ♪ ♪ And oh, it's my desire ♪

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♪ To give you all of my life ♪ ♪ So when it's all over ♪ ♪ You'll let me sit by your side ♪ ♪ And oh, said I'll do ♪

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♪ Do what you want me to do ♪ Our passage of scripture is recorded in I Corinthians 9, 24-27, verses 1-3. The English Bible paraphrased. In a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize.

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So run your race to win. To win the contest, you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. An athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup, but we

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do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I fight to win. I'm not just shadow boxing or playing around like an athlete.

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I punish my body, treating it roughly, training it to do what it should, not what it wants to do. Otherwise, I fear that after enlisting others for the race, I myself might be declared unfit and ordered to step aside.

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the subject, "A Disciplined Life of Faith." Today, in addition to being the birthday of our church, is also a time when we celebrate Valentine and we focus on love. This is a time when we celebrate in some way that which which is called by Henry Drummond, "The Greatest Thing in the World, Love."

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Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. as it is recorded in St. John the 15th chapter and the 13th verse. These words were written on a memorial tablet on the wall of a home. The home was without an earthly father, and this verse told the reason why.

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With his wife and children, the father had been sailing on a lake. One of the children fell overboard, and the father leaped to his rescue. The child was saved, the father was lost. There was nothing exceptional about the sacrifice.

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another has risked the same for one who was not his child but a stranger. Yet the father gave all that he had for the child, his life. Now the child coming to manhood looks upon the tablet in the home and every day is reminded how his father laid down his life for his sake.

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love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." So the son ought to be better and more honorable because he realizes that his being spared to live costs the life of another. Every time we come, we in some way celebrate the love of God.

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Love, that kind of love described by Paul in 1 Corinthians, requires a well-disciplined life, a life that is ordered by God, that follows his commands, as well as the dynamic of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. My mind runs back to that day, 125 years ago, when our ancestors in the shadows of slavery

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together and conceived of this church. Meagre means they didn't have much. They were not even privileged to earn as much as they were entitled to. But with what they had, they sacrificed and put it together and started the Ebenezer Baptist And they had a vision, they gave it a name, Stone of Health.

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Think about that, Stone of Health. Stone that is lasting. Stone of Health, dependable. So as a part of that rock, it's a piece of the rock, piece of the stone.

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one of us should examine ourselves and see the extent to which we are meaningful contributors to this stone as it seeks to carry out its ministry in this city, in this state, nation, and the world. Now this passage of Scripture around which our message is woven is concerned with a well-disciplined

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life. In the earlier passage connected with this particular chapter, the Apostle Paul defends his apostolic credentials. He's not a fly-by-night, he's not some neophyte as an apostle.

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He compares his life with that of an athlete who engages in rigorous training. is a well-disciplined faith. Now, there are those who have a fly-by-night faith. It emerges in dawn's early light and disappears with the appearance of the shadows of the night. as a faith which does not endure, which does not withstand the test of time.

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Now Paul uses the metaphor of an athlete in making a comparison of disciplined faith. The Christian is in a race, a race from here to eternity. It's not just a morning jog. It's not just going through motions such as we do in morning exercises that we may take

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in our living room on the floor. This is a race. From start to finish, we must discipline ourselves. If we intend to complete this race, we've got to discipline ourselves, have to plan,

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carry out the plan. When I was in high school, I decided, well, after leaving high school, I was in college, first year in college I decided that I would go out for track that I could possibly run. And the first day I was supposed to go and run the hills I forgot I was going to run

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that day and I ate a real heavy meal. And as I started on those heels and started running, I could feel the effects of that kneel. And I could feel my legs giving away and my stomach giving away and all things seemed

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to have been given away as I was trying to run those red heels in Marshall, Texas. So you need to discipline yourself, Paul says, if you're going to run this race, this is not a party, this is a race, and it requires us to use everything that we have. It involves stress and strain.

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So it's a race from start to finish. It's a race to win. We're not in this race to lose it. And we don't have a great deal of time to run this race.

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The man at the beginning of the race, he has the gun and he fires it. You've got to take off if you're in that race. not before he fires it, but after the gun is fired you to take off. So and then we've got to learn how to pace ourselves. You know some people join and they want

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to go right to the top right away. They're like that seed that was planted in the thin soil, you know, just sprang up real quickly, and when the sun beat down upon it, it withered away just as quickly as it sprang up. So we must pace ourselves for the race, not for the short race.

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And we are expected to pace ourselves in such a way that we can observe our closest rival. So it's important for the runner to pace himself, not to start too fast, and expend most of his energy at the outset and not have anything for the finish, you see, he may give out in the middle of the race.

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Give out. Pace yourself for the race. And this is not a race to make a fast showing and then drop out. Drop out.

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This is a race, as I say again, for the long run. This is not a fast sprint. And then you drop out. This race is for runners prepared to go all the way.

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As the song say, "All the way with Christ my Lord, all the way." To be ready for the long race requires discipline. That is essential. So it was in Paul's day when they had the Olympic Games, Paul refers to it how the participants

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were to conduct themselves, to follow a certain discipline, they were preparing to be winners to receive a blue ribbon or a silver cup. That was the way the city was honored. They ran representing their city, whether it was Corinth or some other city, when they

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They won the race, they received this blue ribbon to the glory of Corinth, a silver cup to the glory of Corinth. And we are running a race to the glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now Paul says here, as he looks at himself, he says in his message here to the Corinthians,

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He says, "I run straight toward the goal." Now, there's the goal of straight--now, if you're going to get to the goal, he says, "I run straight to the goal. I'm not running over here, running over here and seeing what the people over there who

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are spectators who are in the crowd see what they're saying and all of that. I run, I keep my eyes on the goal and I run straight toward the goal. I don't waver, I run straight to the goal. I don't need to belabor, you know, this whole point about what it means when you're running

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off here and there to the sidelines and not running straight to the goal. This is not a game in which the participants run all over the field. This is not a game. Now you may see some who may seem to succeed in that.

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Deion Saunders may be able to run all back behind and get them all coming this way and then he cuts this way and run on for a touchdown. But that's not usually the way it's done. you make more progress when you have your eyes on the goal and you run straight. That's

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what Paul says. He said, "There's no time to lose. There's no energy to waste. Run straight for the goal." Every successful athlete must submit to rigorous discipline. He said, "I to rigorous discipline. Now you see, training, the kind of training I'm talking about, is constant and continuous. constant, you know.

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- This is a fight for your life and my life. It's a struggle. - Yes. - It's not easy.

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And it is a struggle that is a disciplined life, disciplined life of faith. I don't know how many of you all run. Maybe you like I am.

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I ran for a while. And then I got where I thought I had reached the end of that running stage. And they said that walking is a lifetime sport. You can do that forever.

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But running, it's rather strenuous. And you--you know, when you really run, you'll get to the point where you get tired. And they say that it is when you get tired and you start hurting

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that it really is helping you. If you can push on beyond that, then you are really developing. But don't stop just because you get the first little hurt and get tired.

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you have learned to be a good runner. But when it begins to hurt, and you keep on running, and you keep on running, and you keep on, and you keep on, and then after a while, you forget about all that hurt

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that you thought about back there, and you just keep running. And you get so addicted to running that you have to just keep on running.

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That's what Paul is talking about. Discipline faith. Discipline. He says, "I'm not just shadowboxing. I'm not just going

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through the motions. I'm not just doing something that has no meaning. I'm not just putting on a show, coming so people can see I'm serious. I fight to win. This is not just playing around. This is a serious contest. It's a matter of life and death. You know how much different students would be if they really understood the seriousness

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of life. I remember when I was taking my, what they call the IQ test, the teacher told us, said now go around this, you take this, and you put down the answers to the questions you know first.

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Keep going on. No, just stop there if you don't know the question, stay there too long, go put the answers down, then come back and then deal with those that you didn't know the answer to right away when you were doing it. Well, I did just the opposite.

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I made a good mark, but I could have made a much better mark if I had obeyed what the teacher said. And I'm sure that most of our young people don't realize how serious the TOS test is. You know, some of these names called, they follow you the rest of your life. Whatever you get ready to do, they come back and they say, "Well, when he was back in high school, he was this, and he failed this, and he..."

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Follow you all your life! So make the best of it! That's what Paul is saying. Make the best of the opportunity. Make the best of the challenge.

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Fight to win, to win, to win, win a well-disciplined life. That's what Paul is urging us to do. Now, Pilate makes his decisions based on information that he's learned in his training.

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None of us would want to get on a plane and have a pilot up there that he wasn't sure of what he was going to do. We would not even get on the plane. It's nothing about getting off the plane.

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We wouldn't even get on. We want to be sure that this is a man who did well in all of those courses that contribute to being a good pilot, so that he can get you safely where you plan to go. So a disciplined life, you trust in your life in the hands of the pilot.

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You step in that plane, buckle up, you're in the hands of the pilot. what Paul is saying, we're putting our hands in the hands of God. In Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord, we trust Him. And we believe that He is able to get us where we're going

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safely, Jesus Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith. And when he decides to go, we can rest assured that he will make the journey safely. The scripture says, "And Jesus set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem." No matter who's in the way, no matter how much opposition may crop up along the way,

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He set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. He did not go part of the way. He didn't stop with the proceedings of Pilate. He did not stop there at Pilate's judgment hall.

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He went further than that. He went all of the way. He did not just stop at the crucifixion when they drove nails in his hands and wounds in his side. He didn't stop there. He kept on dying.

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When they put him in the grave, he didn't stop there. He stayed there, but he got up early. Early that Sunday morning, he got up. He went all the way, and he said that,

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"All power in heaven and in earth is in my hand." So a good athlete practices until it hurts, and then they're empowered to go beyond the hurts, they keep on. So, if you're a runner or if you're a walker, keep on.

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Don't give up when fatigue sets in and when pain appears, but keep on keeping on. Like an athlete, Paul says, "I punish my body." Listen to that. I punish my body.

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I punish my body. You know, most people want to be sure that they don't have any pain. But here's the man who said, who's talking about the Christian life, he says, "I punish my body." So he, this is the testimony of a disciplined faith.

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How many times have we seen people drop out because they have a little something that they don't like? Here's a man who says I punish my body. I submit my body to rough treatment in order to glorify Jesus Christ

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You can you imagine a football player Without their playing the game and he gets tackled And he wants to run off and come back to the bench to the coach and start crying because that man But that's the part of it for his body to be ready to take some punishment some rough treatment some rough

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Falls, that's the nature of the game And so when we talk about a cross, we're not talking about a pillar. We're talking about a cross must There's a cross for me.

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I punish my body. So one thing Paul says, he says here, "I punish my body. I'm in the game to win, and we ought to have a disciplined faith. And we have that disciplined faith when we give ourselves to the author and finisher

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of our faith, who is Jesus Christ. Oh, thank God for that small band of pilgrims who 125 years ago had the courage to step out and start this church. It was a dark day.

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You go back and read the history of that period following slavery. were burning churches, destroying our farms and the like, giving us a hard way to go. By faith--by my faith, He has led us from one degree of grace to another. Thanks be to God. My

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faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary. So as we come now to the hymn of invitation. We extend the privilege of the church to invite you to come. Unite with this family. [BLANK_AUDIO]

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