RUN THE RACE AS GENUINE WINNERS

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Bishop Hermie C. Malabanan

INTRODUCTION

• 1 Corinthians 9:24—Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win.

• 1 Corinthians 9:25—All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.

• 1 Corinthians 9:26—So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches.

• 1 Corinthians 9:27—I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

INTRODUCTION

• If anyone was ever considered a winner in the Christian Life and in the Church, Paul would undoubtedly qualify.

INTRODUCTION

• And so in these short four verses Paul personally models the characteristics of a Genuine Winner.

INTRODUCTION

• 1 Corinthians 9:24—Run in such a way as to get the prize.

• 1 Corinthians 9:24—You also must

run in such a way that you will win.

I. WINNERS ARE CONTENDERS

• CONTENDER means a person who tries to win something in a contest.

• If ever a word described the Apostle Paul, it would be Contender.

I. WINNERS ARE CONTENDERS

• 1 In Acts 14, Paul was preaching to a crowd in Lystra.

• Some of his enemies were able to turn the crowd against him, and they stoned him, dragged him outside the city and left him for dead.

• As soon as Paul came to life again, the Bible says "...he got up and went back into the city.”

I. WINNERS ARE CONTENDERS

• 2 Timothy 4:7—I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

 

I. WINNERS ARE CONTENDERS

• PRETENDER means someone who claims to have the right to a particular title or position when others do not agree.

• CONTENDER means a person who tries to win something in a contest.

I. WINNERS ARE CONTENDERS

• PRETENDER—Concerned about Image and Impressions.

• CONTENDER—Concerned about

Authenticity and Integrity

I. WINNERS ARE CONTENDERS

• PRETENDER—Settles for Mediocrity • CONTENDER—Strives for Excellence • PRETENDER—Quits in Difficulty • CONTENDER—Grows Through

Difficulty

I. WINNERS ARE CONTENDERS

• What Paul was trying to say is that if you really want to “win” in the Christian Life and in the Church, then you must be a contender!

I. WINNERS ARE CONTENDERS

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

• 1 Corinthians 9:25 —And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

• 1 Corinthians 9:26 —Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.

• One of the principles of running well and winning is Training.

• In every area of life, we accept the fact that we must train in order to do something well and in order to win.

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

• Paul, in this passage, uses the example of an athlete in training for the Olympics, because of the intense commitment that athletes need in order to win.

• They give themselves completely to their sports, training their minds and bodies for excellence.

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

• Lance Armstrong’s autobiography, entitled "It’s Not About the Bike".

• Lance Armstrong is a phenomenal

cyclist who has won the Tour De France for the last four years running.

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

• One of the things that comes across very clearly in the book is Lance’s single-minded devotion to training; his willingness to suffer physically, to push his mind and body to their absolute limit, in the pursuit of athletic victory.

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

• Lance Armstrong: "I went back to training. I rode, and I rode, and I rode. I rode like I had never ridden, punishing my body up and down every hill I could find. . . .

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

• I remember one day in particular, May 3, a raw European spring day, biting cold. I steered my bike into the Alps, with Johan following in a car.

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

• By now it was sleeting and 32 degrees.

• I didn’t care. • We stood at the roadside and looked

at the view and the weather, and Johan suggested that we skip it.

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

• I said, "No. Let’s do it."

• I rode for seven straight hours, alone.

• To win the Tour I had to be willing to ride when no one else would ride." – It’s Not About the Bike

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

• Hebrews 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…

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

• 1 Corinthians 9:25 —“They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

• 1 Timothy 4:7 —…and exercise yourself toward godliness.

• 1 Timothy 4:8 —For bodily exercise profits a little: but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

• 1 Corinthians 9:26 —Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.

II. WINNERS ARE ALWAYSIN TRAINING

III. WINNERS PERSEVERE

• Running the race and winning requires perseverance.

• We have to keep going, no matter what.

• In 1996, Lance Armstrong found that he had cancer.

• By the time it was diagnosed, it had already spread to his brain and his lungs.

• The doctors told him the odds were low that he would even live, much less race again.

III. WINNERS PERSEVERE

• Hebrews 12:1 —"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.

III. WINNERS PERSEVERE

• Hebrews 12:2 —Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter 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.”

III. WINNERS PERSEVERE

• Why do we need perseverance? • Because the race of life is hard. • It’s difficult. • We’re hit with setbacks, and

disappointments, and failures. • We make mistakes. • We do foolish things. • We sin.

III. WINNERS PERSEVERE

• How do we resist that temptation? • How do we gain the strength to

continue? • By looking away from our

circumstances and fixing our gaze on Christ.

• By remembering what he did for us, and fixing our hope on what he has promised to do for us.

III. WINNERS PERSEVERE

• And by relying, not on our strength, but on the Lord’s.

• Because Christ is both the author and the perfecter of our faith.

III. WINNERS PERSEVERE

IV. WINNERS HAVE AGOOD SUPPORT SYSTEM

• Winners requires a good support system.

• You and I need a support system. • God never intended for us to function

alone. • That’s why the church is so

important to our spiritual health. • We need each other.

• Ecclesiastes 4:9 —“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up.

• Ecclesiastes 4:10 —But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

IV. WINNERS HAVE AGOOD SUPPORT SYSTEM

• Ecclesiastes 4:12 —Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

IV. WINNERS HAVE AGOOD SUPPORT SYSTEM

• Galatians 6:2 —“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” 

IV. WINNERS HAVE AGOOD SUPPORT SYSTEM

• 1 Peter 4:8 —“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. . . .

• 1 Peter 4:10 —Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

IV. WINNERS HAVE AGOOD SUPPORT SYSTEM

• 1 Thessalonians 5:11 —“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

IV. WINNERS HAVE AGOOD SUPPORT SYSTEM

V. WINNERS KEEPTHE GOAL IN MIND

• Winning requires that we keep the goal in mind.

• When Lance Armstrong went out to race that morning, he was focused on one thing, and one thing only: winning the Tour De France.

• Hebrews 12:2 —"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter 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.”

V. WINNERS KEEPTHE GOAL IN MIND

• Philippians 3:13 —"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

V. WINNERS KEEPTHE GOAL IN MIND

• Philippians 3:14 —I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

V. WINNERS KEEPTHE GOAL IN MIND

• Are you focused on that goal?

• Are you pursuing that goal with single-minded purpose?

• Or are you being distracted from your devotion to Christ by other things?

V. WINNERS KEEPTHE GOAL IN MIND

CONCLUSION

• One day we will stand on podium - not for gold medal, but we will receive the prize.

• May we then with Paul say:

• 2 Timothy 4:7—"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

CONCLUSION

TO THE FCC Family,Happy 9th Year Anniversary!

Glory to God!