Jason Dohm's sermon 'The Ordinary Means of Grace' emphasizes the Christian life as a marathon requiring endurance, contrasting it with a sprint. The sermon highlights the significance of 'ordinary means of grace' - the Bible, prayer, church fellowship, preaching, and the Lord's Supper - as essential nourishment for the Christian journey. Dohm argues that while God can sustain miraculously, reliance on miracles without engaging with these means is sinful pride. The Bible is depicted as a fixed revelation that nourishes the soul, while private prayer offers a personal communion with God. Church life involves mutual edification through relationships. Preaching, though ordinary, is a divine channel for truth, and the Lord's Supper serves as a reminder of Christ's sacrifice. These practices are not magical but require faith-filled engagement to be effective, ensuring spiritual growth and sustenance for the endurance race of faith.

The Christian walk or the Christian race is a marathon and not a hundred yard dash. A marathon is 26 miles of people train for months and months and months in order to be able to run that at one time. So that is why the author of Hebrews says, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. And that is why Paul says, and let us not grow weary in doing good for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." One of the great tricks, it's not really a trick, but you know what I mean by that, one of the great tricks to the Christian race is to keep going. There are so many times you feel like, I can't keep going.

I don't have enough grace for the next 100 days. Well, you don't need grace for 100 days, you need grace for today. And God's faithful to give that. So one of the things you learn as you're running this marathon is that grace for today is enough because God will be there again with grace for the day again tomorrow and the hundredth day and the thousandth day and the ten thousandth day. He is a faithful God.

He doesn't always make you feel like you've got grace now for the next hundred days, but all you need is enough for today and He'll meet you again tomorrow morning. His mercies are new every morning. Praise God for that. So here's an implication of the fact that the Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint. We must have the kind of nourishment that can carry us over the long run.

Oh, I love soda and candy. All the children are saying Amen in their hearts. I love soda and candy, but I'm not going to fill up on that and then start a marathon. You fill up on soda and candy and then you embark on a 26 mile run, you're going to be about two miles into that thing and you are going to be completely out of gas and then the race is going to be over at that point. So you have to have, you're going to run a marathon, you have to have the kind of nourishment that will sustain you for a long run and soda and candy isn't it.

But actually, to bring this over into the analogy of the Christian walk, God has actually given us nourishment that is made for the long run. It's made for the marathon. Now, Who is God? He is the almighty, all-knowing, present everywhere at once, one true God. And therefore, He can sustain me miraculously by miracles without any difficulty.

He's never diminished by miraculously sustaining me, but That's his business. When and if he sustains me miraculously is his business. For me to try to insist that he sustain me miraculously while I ignore the things he teaches me to give attention to and his word is sinful pride. This might be the most important sentence of the sermon, so I'm going to repeat it. God is almighty and can sustain me miraculously on an ongoing basis if he wanted to or if he wants to.

So that's no problem for him, but that's his business. For me to try to insist that he sustain me miraculously by miracle after miracle after miracle while all the while I ignore the things he teaches me to give attention to in his word is sinful pride. That's presuming on the goodness of God. That is inviting discipline into my life. That's inviting discipline into your life to insist that he sustain you by miracle, while you ignore the patterns that he's given as nourishment for a long run.

In his word, God has given us patterns of life that he has designed for our goods. I'm calling them in this message, the ordinary means of grace. What is means? Means is a pathway to a destination. It's what God puts into effect to take us to the finish line, to the objective.

And so to ignore the pathway to the destination but somehow want to get to the destination anyway is sinful pride. God calls us to have a steady diet of those things, these means of grace, these patterns of life that he set forth in his word that we ought to give attention to. Because he has established those things to sustain us throughout the whole course of the marathon. It's marathon food, so to speak. This is what we call the ordinary means of grace.

God has established them as channels through which he normally, through which he ordinarily helps us by his grace. So Think of all of these things, these patterns of life that God is calling us to, as channels. He sends the nourishment for a marathon through the channels into our lives. He's designed it to work that way. He desires to work it that way.

He doesn't need any of them. He could just sustain us by miracles. But he hasn't desired to do that. He's desired to establish these patterns in our life and feed us, nourish us for the marathon through them. Let's ask God to help us.

God, I thank you for your tender care for us. When we look at the cross, we can't do anything but to conclude that you are for us and that you who have begun a good work in us will will will will bring it to a completion without fail. So God as we come to this topic we start there. You are for your people. We are a blood-bought people paid for by the highest price.

We have no reason in the world to doubt your care for us. And now I pray that you would help us to understand how you normally care for us and to give attention to these things. I pray in Jesus name, Amen. Well, I'm confident I don't have a comprehensive list, but hopefully I do have a list of five things here where you would find it difficult to bump any of them for something that would be more important. It's possible that you could, but I hope it would be difficult for you to make a case.

So let me set forward these five ordinary means of grace, these five channels through which God sends help in our lives, so that we can run this marathon. Means of Grace number one. Your Bible. Means of Grace number one. Your Bible.

The Bible is the fixed revelation of truth from God to mankind. Why do I call it the fixed revelation of truth? Because all of it was true in eternity past. It was true at the time God inspired the human author to write it. It's all true today.

It will all be true on the day that Jesus comes back to lay claim to His bride. It is fixed revelation of truth. There are not new things that are true that weren't true in eternity past. The Bible has always been true and will always be true and it is a treasure for us. I turn in your Bibles to Psalm chapter 1.

I'll admit that all our texts that we'll be going to today are really well-worn paths. I make no apology for that. To remind us of these core texts of Scripture, which ground us in fundamental things, is something we should do often anyway. So Psalm 1 verses 1-3. It's part of the answer to the question, what does the Bible say of itself?

What does the Bible claim to be? Well, the Bible claims to be something wonderful here. Psalm chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper." This actually tells us how to walk in the blessing of God. You stay out of certain paths. So the first word of verse 1 is blessed. So we've been put on notice, we're being told how to walk in this path of blessings.

Like, stay away from the counsel of the ungodly, and the path of sinners, and the seat of scorners. But Delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night. So what do you like if you delight yourself in the law of the Lord? You say, this is sweet as honey in the honeycomb. And You meditate in it day and night.

So you don't just pay it lip service. I like this book. You actually act like you like the book by meditating on it day and night. You give yourself to saturating yourself in this word. What do you like?

You're like a tree whose roots are planted on the banks of a mighty river, a river that never goes dry. The roots go down into the water. It's planted on the banks and so no matter how hot it gets, it has what it's need. It doesn't wither when it's 95 degrees outside and 4, 000 degrees inside. And It doesn't matter how long it's been since it's rained.

It doesn't need the other methods of getting water because the roots are down into the river that never runs dry. So its leaf never withers up. It never withers up. The person who delights in the law of God and meditates on it day and night never withers up no matter all the things that are swirling around in life, the pressures, the challenges, the sorrows, the discouragement. Don't make the leaves wither and don't deprive this tree of fruit.

It always is bringing forth fruit. Oh brothers and sisters, the Bible is such a treasure. When we're confused by falsehoods, and we're often confused by falsehoods, it raises our thoughts to God's truth. When we're overcome by fears, and we're often overcome by fears, it drives away fears by reconnecting us with the God who is above all fears, with the God who controls all the things that we're tempted to fear. His thoughts are above our thoughts as the heavens are above the earth.

His ways are above our ways as far as the heavens are above the earth. And so he's given us his word to pull us up to his thoughts in his ways. It really is a treasure. The word of God nourishes our souls for the marathon. It's a gift from God to you.

Please don't let this be a neglected gift of God to you. It is nourishment for an endurance race. It has been given us for that purpose. Now, Is reading your Bible a miracle? Does it feel like a miracle?

I would say this, it is supernatural. So don't diminish it and say, it's not a miracle, it's this natural thing. No, no, it's not a natural thing. When the indwelling Holy Spirit who lives in the believer comes to throw light and bring these words to life, a supernatural thing is happening. But it's not a miracle to read your Bible.

It's not like walking on water or calling forth the dead from the grave. It feels like a very ordinary thing, but it's supernatural. God enters into that as a channel for strength and grace and help into your life. So, means number one is your Bible. Means of grace number two is your prayer closet.

Is your prayer closet. So prayer, yes, but a subset of prayer, a private prayer, secret prayer, is a means of grace. And the other kinds of corporate prayer would be a means of grace too, but that's not what I'm talking about now. I'm talking about your prayer closet. Too cramped for another person.

You and the Lord who doesn't need space there are meeting together and having fellowship there. Turn to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6, Jesus begins talking about people who love corporate prayer in order to be heard. They use it as a tool to be praised and thought well of.

And Jesus says, yeah, they get their reward. They wanted to be praised, they wanted to be thought well of, and so they're praised and thought well of, and it all ends there. And then Jesus calls his disciples to something else in Matthew 6 verses 6 and 7. Matthew chapter 6 verses 6 and 7. Jesus says, But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, Pray to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

When you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. So, pagans have mantras that they say over and over and over again, and they might be prepared prayers, and they say them thinking that they have some sort of a magical effect, some sort of a magical connection with God. Jesus says, don't be like that, dispense with all of that, go talk to me. Yourself. Talk to me yourself.

In secret. God will meet with you in secret and God will reward you openly. This is about real authentic fellowship with the God who is, the God who has revealed himself, the God who can be known. We can actually meet with Him. God calls us to meet with Him in secret prayer.

You've heard me say this many times. There is union with Christ and there is communion with Christ. Every believer has union with Christ by definition, by faith, being brought into oneness with Christ and so things are made right between a sinner and God because of Jesus and all that He is and does. But communion is a privilege that comes out of union and you can be in union with Christ and neglect your privileges. And it happens all the time to our shame.

Meaning, there are privileges that Jesus has bought for his people with his blood that are ignored and underutilized by his people. So we don't get the joy of it and we don't get the benefit of it. Private prayer is one of those things. A neglecting private prayer doesn't make you not a Christian, it makes you an impoverished Christian. Why would you be an impoverished Christian when the blood of Jesus Christ has brought you this joy and this privilege?

When we're sitting in a church service, it doesn't seem to make much sense. When we're in the middle of a busy life, and we have all the things that make us dole to spiritual things in our lives, it's less clear. It would be less clear midweek than it is to you right now. Union with Christ has bought us communion with Christ, and we can know it to a greater or lesser extent. We've talked about boots on and boots off time.

You put your boots on for work and war. You wouldn't go to work without your boots on. You wouldn't go to war without your boots on. So there are times in prayer when we're working and waging war. Yes, all completely appropriate, but we need boots off time too, where we take off the work equipment and the war equipment and we put our feet up and we make a cup of coffee or tea and we go and we just enjoy the pleasure of meeting with God.

I hope when I say this you know something about that. I hope Christianity is more than just work and war to you. And then many of us can think back to the days of our first love, and it was so sweet, and we couldn't wait to take the boots off, and put our feet up, and Sit there with a cup of coffee or tea and just enjoy drawing near to God. We need that. Our prayer closet, one of the things, it gives us boots on time and boots off time.

Both are part of being in the prayer closet. Listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter 5 verses 6 and 7. 1 Peter 5 verses 6 and 7. Peter says, Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care on him, for he cares for you." Peter was a man who knew that the Lord invited the casting of all the cares of life onto him. We're not made to carry those burdens across the course of a marathon.

Strap on a pack for the marathon. What, are you nuts? To strap on a pack for a marathon? You'll have all you can do as lightly as you can go. And Jesus invites us to come and unburden ourselves, to cast all of our cares, our challenges, our discouragements, Our sins on Him.

Why? Because He loves us. He cares for us. And He is built to carry them all. We're not built for that.

He is perfectly built for that. And he wants to carry them and invites us to cast our cares on him. One of the ways that we do that is prayer. I need this so much. Don't you need this so much to have a place where you can come and unburden yourself.

They're piling up every day. New ones are attaching themselves, new cares, new burdens are attaching themselves to you every day. You know this is true. So we need to come every day to this place where we've been invited to come and unburden ourselves and do it. This is nourishment for an endurance race.

To be with the Lord, to enjoy fellowship with him, to unburden ourselves, to pray about the things that we need. Now is private prayer a miracle? No, it's not a miracle. It is supernatural. Don't call private prayer just natural.

Why? Because God meets you there. So that by definition is supernatural. If God meets you there, this is not a quote-unquote natural thing happening. But it's not a miracle.

It's ordinary. We can do it every day. We can initiate it whenever we want. The throne of grace is open. You can come with boldness and confidence.

Means of grace number three. Your church. Means of grace number three. Your church is a means of grace. God wants to grow you by putting you in close quarters with other believers, with all the joys and problems that causes.

And it's both. If you were to need to make a list of joys of being part of a local church over the long period of time, then you could do it. It wouldn't be hard to make a list of the joys or the problems if we tasked you To make a list of difficulties that arise out of living in close quarters with with other people getting past the Superficial and the way we annoy each other and the way we offend each other don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about All right, we got an amen One thing gets amen to the sermon and that's it that is so depressing. You have annoyed and offended me. God uses the joys to help us and he uses the problems to help us.

You are the center of the universe in your own mind often and God is trying to break us of that and so he sends brethren to annoy us. You buy that proposition? He sends brethren to offend us. That is true. Have you ever studied the one another?

There's something like 44 one another's in the Old Testament. Let me give you examples. Love one another. Pray for one another. Confess Pray for one another.

Confess your sins to one another. Be devoted to one another. Accept one another. Instruct one another. Think of how it nourishes your soul for an endurance race to be over the long haul, over a long period of time, one decade, two decades, more than two decades with the same people that you're getting to know at a deeper and deeper level and you have two-way love.

You love one another. It's not always you loving them or not always them loving you, but it's mutual or praying for one another over those decades or confessing your sins to one another over those decades. And as you confess your sins one to another, the depth of relationship is going deeper and deeper. And being devoted to one another, not for a week or a month or a year, but for a decade, for two decades, accepting one another through sins and annoyances and offenses, instructing one another. Listen to Hebrews 10 verses 24 and 25.

We get two one another's in this one, Hebrews 10 verses 24 and 25. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching." The author of Hebrews has something in mind, a giving of ourselves to assembling together. As we consider one another and stir up one another to love and good works. The idea is that as we live in close quarters together and we keep assembling around the Lord and the things that he's given us to do when we assemble, we're actually stirring each other up to love more, to grow in love, and to good works, to grow in good works, to do more good works to the glory of God, and to exhort one another, to make progress. Friends, by and large these are two-way actions undertaken with people you're close with and close to.

The one and others don't make sense with acquaintances. These are not things you do with acquaintances. These are things that you do to people you have a commitment to, and they've committed to you, and so you dig in and do these things. We're called to dig in and do these things. Local church is designed for that.

Now, who's in a local church? People more mature than me? Some of them. Why do I need that? People who are where I'm trying to get in the faith.

People who have grown in the areas that I need to grow and so that they can reach down and grab my hand and help pull me up to those things. Who else? People about the same maturity as me. Comrades in arms! And they're in the same fights right now that I'm in right now and so we can get shoulder to shoulder and we can have so much compassion for each other and really exhort each other because These are the things that are happening in my life right now, and they're happening in your life right now.

We're trying to make progress in the same things. Wow, do I need that. And people less mature than me. I've been walking in the faith for four decades now. I hope there are people less mature than me.

And it's not just one way me receiving good from other people that God's design and intent is that we help each other. So there are people that I'm actually now where they're trying to get as they grow in the Lord. So I ought to be reaching down and grabbing them by the hand and saying come up here to a greater level of maturity and helping them. Because God has helped me understand things that I didn't understand, and those are the things they don't understand, and I can help them, because God taught me. Often, using people more mature than me.

You see the cycle here. You're familiar with the vicious cycle that just swirls down endlessly. This is actually a virtuous cycle that swirls up. God brings people to maturity to help bring people to maturity. To help bring people to maturity.

To help bring people to maturity. Endlessly. God is wise. Now, is being a meaningful part of a local church a miracle? No, it's not a miracle.

It's ordinary. God enters into this thing that he has established as a pathway to the destination. He's treading that pathway. If you're in that pathway you're going to get help from God. He established it and he meets people who are on that pathway to the destination.

Means of Grace number four. Preaching. You knew the preacher was going to say that. Preaching is a means of grace. Please turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3.

You've heard me complain about this chapter break before. I shall complain about it again right now. It is to my knowledge the most uninspired chapter break in the whole Bible. Meaning, how dare they break the thought there. The end of chapter 3 belongs together with the beginning of chapter 4 without a number there.

I resent that number. So we're going to plow right through it. I'm not even going to say it. I'm going to read the end of 2 Timothy chapter 3 starting at verse 16 and then I'll read right over the top of the chapter break through verse 5. 2 Timothy 3 starting in 16.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God is God breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God, that is not a gender specific word, that the person of God, would be a fine translation there, that the person of God may be complete Thoroughly equipped for every good work. I Charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead it is appearing and his kingdom preach the word Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn away their ears from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." So the Word of God is profitable for all these different things to make the child of God complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So Paul is using this comprehensive language. Complete is a comprehensive term. Thoroughly equipped is a comprehensive term. Every good work is a comprehensive term. He's saying the Bible is all we need.

And then he says it ought to be preached In order to convince, in order to rebuke, in order to exhort people who are working to make progress in the faith, they need to be fortified by the preaching of the Word of God. As a believer, you need the inspired Word of God preached to you boldly, passionately, faithfully, accurately, regularly. Think about this. In his kingdom, God raises up believers to maturity in life and doctrine so that they can preach the Word of God to you boldly, passionately, faithfully, accurately, regularly, as nourishment for your soul in the endurance race. So that you're getting this steady injection of the nourishment of the Word of God, truth proclaimed to you, truth that you need proclaimed to you, to keep you going in this endurance race, in the marathon that you're running.

Do you need to be convinced of the truth sometimes? Of course you do. Then we need preaching. Do you need to be rebuked sometimes? Of course you do.

Then we need preaching. You need to be exhorted sometimes? Of course you do. Then We need preaching. Now is preaching a miracle?

No, it's ordinary. But God has established it as a pathway to the destination. He's walking that pathway and He's helping those people who are also walking that pathway. Paul calls preaching foolishness in 1 Corinthians 1, 21. Then why do we do it?

Ah, because God can come and enter into the foolishness of preaching and supply everything that preaching isn't. The words of a man can't do what's needed, but when God meets the preacher there and the hearer there, then this foolish thing becomes nourishment for the soul of a distance runner. Means of Grace number five, the Lord's Supper. Brothers and sisters, the reformers in their theological offspring saw two views of the Lord's Supper and said, wrong, there's something better than both of these wrong views of the Lord's Supper. One was the view of the Catholic Church.

It's magic. Just come put yourself under it, and no matter how you engage it, by faith or not by faith, it's the practice that brings the good. So just come partake of the practice and you'll just, of a matter of course, receive benefit and good from it. Even saving benefit from it. The reformers said, no that's not true.

But there were some who had swung away from that knowing that it was error that thought it was only a symbol. And the reformers in their theological offspring said, no, it is a symbol, but it's not only a symbol, it's more than a symbol, it is a means of grace. It is something that God has commanded of His people and when they obey, they can expect that God will come and supernaturally bless their obedience. When they engage it by faith. So you cannot engage it mechanically, faithlessly, in a sterile way and expect to get benefit.

But if you do it in obedience to the Lord, by faith, engaging it by faith, you can expect that God will come and bless that. God will meet you there and impart strength and help to you there. They're right. I turn to 1 Corinthians 11. That will be the last place we'll go.

1 Corinthians 11 begins in verse 1 where Paul says, Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. So Paul is walking after Christ and inviting the disciples of Jesus to follow him as he follows Christ, but he was also given explicit instruction by Christ. And so that's where we pick up in verse 23. 1 Corinthians 11, 23 through 26, Paul writes, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said, take eat this is my body which is broken for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes." So what does Paul say participating in the Lord's Supper does? Jesus said do this in remembrance of me.

It causes us to remember Jesus. When we take the bread in hand and we take the cup in hand, it causes us to remember Jesus, especially His death for sinners. That sounds like a good thing for a sinner to do. To remember that Jesus' death is sufficient to part me from my sins and make me right with God. That sounds like nourishment for a long distance race to me.

To Be brought to that truth again and again. Jesus' death is sufficient. I'm a great sinner, but Jesus' sacrifice overwhelms even my sins. Remember Jesus' death for sinners. It's a good thing for sinners to do.

It's nourishment for a long distance race. Look at verse 26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. It is a gospel preaching that happens until Jesus comes back. It is a declaration of the death of Jesus for sinners until he comes.

Look at verse 28. I'm reading that for the first time now, but look at verse 28, but let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup in the shadow of having examined himself. Verses 31 and 32, for if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged, but when we are judged we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. This thought of examining ourselves, judging ourselves as we come to the Lord's Supper, can be considered the first step of church discipline.

Meaning, the church doesn't need to get involved if when you come to the Lord's Supper regularly you're examining yourself asking the Lord to put his finger on sins that you need to turn away from and then turning away from them on the spot and using that time to judge yourself So the church doesn't have to involve in your escalating sins because you're cultivating a life of repentance. Not a moment of repentance or Periodic repentance, but a life of repentance. So many benefits to the Lord's Supper. Now, is the Lord's Supper a miracle? No, it's ordinary.

But God meets us there. When we obey the Lord's command to do this, He said, do this. If you strip away all the other words and just get it down to the imperative, to the command, he says, do it. Take the Lord's Supper, because there are all these benefits. God meets us there to impart these benefits to the believer and it nourishes the soul of an endurance runner.

Applications I'll give you two. Never view any of these as magic. The Bible is not magic. Prayer is not magic. Your church is not magic.

Preaching is not magic. The Lord's Supper is not magic. They must all be done by faith. We must do them trusting that God who has given us these patterns of life will use them as a channel to send help and strength into our lives. Each of these can be done without benefit.

Have you ever read your Bible without benefit? I have. Have you ever been in your prayer closet without benefit? I have. I'm not blaming God, I'm blaming me.

I've engaged it faithlessly and got out of it just what I put into it. Have you ever met with the church without benefit? Have you ever engaged the Lord's Supper or preaching without benefit? It can be done. These things all can be done mechanically, lifelessly.

May God save us from such a sad, powerless life. He didn't give us these things to leave us powerless. And we need to engage them in trust, By faith. That was number one. Never view any of these things as magic.

You engage them by faith. Number two. Brethren, I urge you to give yourselves to the ordinary means of grace. If you don't expect to grow much. If you do, expect to grow a lot.

Will God miraculously uphold you? Here's the answer. Yes. Yes He will if He needs to. He is faithful even when we're faithless.

Thank God for that. Thank God that ultimately our getting to the finish line is not on our effort or engaging any of these in any kind of way. It's God's faithfulness And there are times when we're so far from what we ought to be and he comes and gets us anyway. Has that ever happened to you? That's happened to me a thousand times in the last 40 years.

I was in sinful pride neglecting all of these things or most of these things and he came and got me anyway. But you have no reason to live on a constant expectation of that. He's given us these things to engage and obey. That's what we should do. We'll find ourselves growing.

God will bless it. If you Give yourself to your Bible, to your prayer closet, to your church, to preaching, to the Lord's Supper. God will bless it. You'll grow. You'll grow more.

The more you throw yourselves into these things. It's not because you're trying harder, it's because God blesses it. God enters into these things because they're His things. He established them to nourish the souls of endurance runners. God thank you that you have given us these things to nourish the souls of endurance runners.

All of us who have been in the faith for any period of time know that when we try to sprint to the finish line that it just doesn't work but that we are running an endurance race, a long race and we need nourishment that can sustain us for that. I thank you that you've given us these practices and I pray that you would help us to engage them by faith in Jesus name, amen.