First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sunday Sermon Notes (January 26, 2020)
Rev. Dr. Mouris A. Yousef, Pastor  

​The New Testament writers love to use a race, or a marathon, as a picture of the Christian life.  The image of a long-distance race was as popular in the first century Roman Empire as it is today.  If you know anything about long distance running, you will know runners talk about reaching “the wall”  or the “finish line”; it is that point in the race when every cell in your body is telling you to give up; the point at which “youths grow tired and weary, and young people stumble and fall” as the Prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 40:30.
 
The writer to the Hebrews chapter 12 compares the Christian life to a race, and in Hebrews 12:12-13, the author acknowledges the tensity of this race as he says, “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.”
 
At that point in a race, when you feel that your arms have become feeble and your knees have gotten weak, the runner must resolve to keep going.  He or she must fix their eyes on the finishing line and persevere.  The message to the Hebrew Christians was the message of the Prophet Isaiah too for those running a spiritual race.  When you feel faint and weary, then you must resolve to keep on going, to fix your eyes on the finishing line. “Fix your eyes on Jesus” says the author to Hebrews 12:2. “Lift your eyes and look to the heavens,” Isaiah says in chapter 40:26.
 
Since the beginning of January 2020, we have been talking about running our own spiritual race, the race that is set before us, and together, we are trying to analyze some key factors for running a good Christian race; some channels of strength that cause us to run and not grow tired and weary.  Last week we talked about the importance of running with a team.
 
First: We Run with a Team
One of the great motivations of running the Christian race is we run with a team.  God didn’t intend that we run the race on our own.  We must always remember that we are part of a family that cheers us on.  There is so great a cloud of witnesses that encourages us to keep running.  The opening phrase of Hebrews 12:1 refers back to Hebrews chapter 11.  All of the Old Testament saints, who endured all sorts of trials by faith, should encourage us to keep running when we feel like quitting. 
 
One great channel of God’s strength and grace is this family, your church family, those who have gone to be with the Lord and those who are present.  On one hand, the saints who have gone before us are calling out to us by their examples of faith, “Keep going, I made it and you can, too!  I know it’s hard, but the reward is worth it!  Don’t quit!  The finish line is not too far ahead!”  We look out into the so great a cloud of witnesses and realize that every one of them finished the race, and we are reminded, “It can be done. It can be done.” 
 
On the other hand, we can lean on those who are still around.  The first group of saints are the Church Triumphant; the second group is the Church Militant or the Church Suffering.  As we run the race with the Church Suffering, we can lean on their wisdom, their love, their support, and their encouragement.  In His good please, our Lord pleased to have us run with a team.  The Church Suffering inspires us to keep going.
 
Second: We are Called to Renew our Strength
One of the ingredients of running well is to renew your strength.  The Prophet Isaiah calls us to renew our strength, to soar on wings like eagles.  He says in Isaiah 40:31, “But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
 
Isaiah tells us that our strength is renewed when we wait, when we hope for the Lord.  But what does it mean to wait?  In Hebrew, the word “qavah” means “to bind together like a cord.”  It doesn’t mean to tie a cord around a bundle of sticks to keep them together.  Instead, it’s the process of making a rope by twisting or weaving small strings together to form the rope.  The more strands that are twisted or woven together in a rope, the greater its strength would be.  The more we are woven to God, the stronger we get.
 
In order to understand how to wait upon the Lord accurately, Isaiah uses the image of an eagle renewing their strength.  It’s a fascinating story.  Legend says that an Eagle at the age of 40-50, flies to a high place and there it endures a harsh trial of endurance and change. It can’t fly because its feathers are overgrown.  Therefore, it plucks all the feathers from its body.  It plucks its talons from its feet because the talons have grown curled and useless.  Its beak has grown too long and curled.  It breaks its beak against a rock.  Defenseless, it cries out and waits for the time of renewal.  Other eagles hear its cry and come to aid.  They fly overhead, scaring off predators, and they bring food to their incapacitated friend.
 
Like it happens to eagles, God makes us to go through harsh trials of endurance and change.  This is necessary to shape our Christian character and faith.  In such time we need to unite with the Lord like strands of a rope by waiting upon Him.  This unity renews our strength.  
 
In 2 Chronicles 20:12, Jehoshaphat prayed “Our eyes are set upon you, O God.”  God is our only hope.  In Psalm 25:15, King David prayed, “My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare.”
 
Friends, God is calling us today to renew our strength; to rise on wings like eagles.  The good news is: God is able to make it happen.  Our part is to wait for the Lord, to hope and trust in Him.  This may be a painful process.  As you pluck those overgrown feathers, pluck those curly talons and beak, God will enable you to endure this change.  He will comfort you through His presence and through His Body here on earth, the Church.  “The Lord gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.  Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” Isaiah 40:29-31.  Amen.

First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sunday Sermon Notes (January 19th, 2020)
Rev. Dr. Mouris A. Yousef, Pastor  

​Many years ago, the Lord sent my way a young man whose life was a mess, to say the least; literally, this young man’s life was falling apart.  We met regularly and he called me frequently.  I felt so bad for the young man and wanted to help him.  Though he professed to believe in Christ, and said that he wanted to follow Jesus, he had no idea of what that meant.  On one occasion, I described in detail what a daily walk with Christ looks like.  I explained what a daily time in God’s Word and prayer was like, what obedience to the Bible means, and how to think and live like a Christian.
 
When I was done, I asked him, “Have you ever done anything close to what I’ve just described?”  He said, “Yeah, I did that once for two weeks, but, Pastor, it didn’t work.”  He thought that he had given it a fair try in two weeks!  I explained to him that the Christian faith isn’t a two-week sprint; rather, it’s a lifelong marathon.  The Christian life is a lifelong, exhausting race that entails some long hills to climb and some swampy marshes to plod through.  To make it to the end, we need to consider some very important factors.
 
No one gets to win a marathon by chance.  There must be self-discipline, commitment, and dedication behind finishing well in any race, including our spiritual race.  We have been talking about those ingredients, those motivations, of running the Christian race.
 
Focusing on the Wrong Object
Last Sunday we talked about the danger of focusing on the wrong object; the danger of looking at the wrong direction.  Our attention can be so focused on the challenges surrounding us that we fail to see the available resources that are so vital to our spiritual well-being.  Last week we looked at the story of the Prophet Elisha and Ben-hadad, the King of Syria, from 2 Kings chapter 6.
 
Ben-hadad wanted to get ride of Elisha because Elisha spoiled all Ben-hadad plans against Israel.  The Syrian King wanted to capture the Prophet Elisha, so he sent a detachment of soldiers by night to take the man of God captive.  One morning, the servant of Elisha got up and went out early and he saw an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city.  The town was completely surrounded by the enemy.  To Elisha’s helper, the situation seemed hopeless.  He cried out, “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” 
 
Elisha answered, “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  In 2 Kings 6:17, we read that Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.”  Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”  “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world,” 1 John 4:4.
 
Two short observations this morning as we revisit Hebrews chapter 12.  “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”
First: God Sets the Course of our Race
If you’re running a marathon, you can’t make up your own course.  If you stray from the course, you’ll be disqualified.  I like the words of Hebrews 12:1, “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”  “The race that is set before us” ~ God is the Sovereign One who sets the course for each of us, just as He set the course of the cross for Jesus.
 
To finish the Christian marathon, it’s important to keep in mind at all times that the Sovereign God sets the course.  Nothing can happen without God’s permission.  Nothing happens out of God’s good will toward His children.  You may not like parts of the course. You may be prone to grumble, “Why did the course have to go over this hill, or through this swamp?”  The answer is, “Because the Sovereign God planned it this way.”  You won’t be able to run by faith unless you submit your will to God’s will.
 
Second: We Run with a Team
One of the great motivations of running the Christian race is we run with a team.  We must always remember that we are part of a family that cheers for us.  There is so great a cloud of witnesses encourages us to keep running.  The opening phrase of Hebrews 12:1 refers back to Hebrews chapter 11.  All of the Old Testament saints, who endured all sorts of trials by faith, should encourage us to keep running when we feel like quitting.  The word cloud was a classical Greek metaphor for a large multitude. 
 
What the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews is simply saying here is that the saints who have gone before us are calling out to us by their examples of faith, “Keep going, I made it and you can, too!  I know it’s hard, but the reward is worth it!  Don’t quit!  The finish line is not too far ahead!”
 
We look out into the so great a cloud of witnesses and realize that every one of them finished the race, and we are reminded, “It can be done. It can be done.”  Those saints are witnesses to God’s deeds, witnesses of Jesus’ power, and witnesses of the faith which only the Holy Spirit can inspire and sustain.
 
We can look at them and see examples of faith and perseverance under every imaginable circumstance: there's David who committed adultery and murder, and he finished; there's John Mark the quitter, who ran when Jesus was arrested, and he finished; there’s Mary the prostitute, and she finished; there’s Job who suffered so much, and he finished; there’s Stephen who was hated and stoned, and he finished.
 
Perhaps you could name some other witnesses that have inspired you.  Maybe you can picture them now.  You witnessed how they ran.  You saw how they finished.  You know that they have received their reward.  And so we can look at them and say “Well, by the power, faith, and grace that got them through, I’m going to finish too!” 
 
Friends, Hebrews 12:1 is a wake-up call to see our life as a race and to run it with passion and zeal, with energy and discipline.  The author of Hebrews wants us to get serious about the race again, to test ourselves to see if we are running or lounging on the couch. I am not saying that running is an easy work.  The race can be long.  The journey can be difficult.  The road can be treacherous.  So how can we finish successfully?  Here is the secret: Look back to the witnesses; Look forward to the joy; and Look up to Jesus.  Amen.

First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sunday Sermon Notes (January 12th, 2020)
Rev. Dr. Mouris A. Yousef, Pastor  

​2 Kings 6:8-23; Hebrews 12:1-3
 
“Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,” says the author of the Letter to the Hebrews 12:1.  In Hebrews 12, the Christian life is compared to a race.  It’s a marathon.  That name, marathon, comes from the decisive 490 BC Battle of Marathon, where the Greeks fought the Persians.  If the Persians had conquered, the glory that was Greece never would have been known.  Against fearful odds, the Greeks won the battle.  A Greek soldier ran all the way, day and night, to Athens with the good news. He ran straight to the magistrates and gasped, “Rejoice, we have conquered!” Then he dropped dead.  He had completed his mission and done his work.[1]
 
It is significant that when Paul wrote his final letter to Timothy, he did not report on how many he had won to Christ, how many churches he had planted, or how many evangelistic campaigns he had conducted. He said simply in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”  He fought and he finished—he endured!  If you want to join his ranks, take time often to consider Jesus.
 
Fixing our Eyes on Jesus
Every year I try to set a theme, a broader topic, for my teaching and preaching delivered from this pulpit every Sunday.  The theme I chose for 2020 is “Fixing our Eyes on Jesus.”  This is a theme that runs through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and it is so central to Biblical Christianity.  This year, we will be exploring some key Scripture passages that address this topic, then drawing some important implications for our life, our ministry, and our spiritual journey.  Last Sunday, we just scratched the surface of this topic as I shared with you some introductory observations.
 
Last week we asked the question: Why fixing our eyes and thoughts on Jesus is an important topic?  Because we live in a very distracted culture.  We are so distracted.  There’s so much going on in our lives.  We get pulled or pushed in a hundred directions, therefore, fixing our eyes and thoughts on Jesus is crucial.
 
But there is another reason for focusing on this topic this year.  It’s our all-time temptation.  We are tempted to rely on other things than Jesus; to fix our eyes and thoughts, to build our lives on the shifting sands of this world.  In the case of the Hebrew Christians, they relied on their religious heritage.  Yes, they converted to Christianity, but they also carried with them too much Judaism, too much rituals.  In other words, they focused on the wrong object.
 
Focusing on the Wrong Object
Do you ever have trouble locating something that is right in front of you?  Sometimes I have that problem when I am searching for a particular item in the pantry at our house.  My wife, Margaret, will assure me that the can of soup I am looking for is there.  I scan the shelves, move things around, and check the shelves again and again.  Finally, I call to Margaret, “I don’t think it is here . . .”  Typically, she will walk to the shelf and put her hand right on that can of soup!  My response is usually something along the lines of, “Oh, there it is!”  I simply had not focused on the right object, even though it was plainly visible.
 
The same problem can occur when it comes to our spiritual lives.  Our attention can be so focused on the challenges surrounding us that we fail to see the available resources that are so vital to our spiritual well-being. 
 
We find an example of that in an account found in 2 Kings 6.  The country of Syria was at war with Israel.  However, each time Ben-hadad, the King of Syria, planned a raid or an ambush, God revealed the king’s plans to Elisha the prophet.  And then Elisha gave that military information to the King of Israel.  This thwarted the King of Syria’s plans—not once or twice, but multiple times.  Eventually, Ben-hadad figured there must be a spy in his midst who was relaying information from his war council straight to the enemy, and he demanded to know who the guilty party was.  One of his servants responded that none of them were betraying his trust, but that the prophet Elisha was telling Israel’s King of Ben-hadad’s plans, even those that were discussed secretly.
 
In 2 Kings 6:13, Ben-hadad commanded, “Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him.”  He was told that Elisha was in Dothan, so he sent a band of soldiers there with horses and chariots to capture the prophet.  Since God was revealing military information to Elisha, wouldn’t Elisha be aware of Ben-hadad’s intention to capture him, just as he was aware of the king’s military moves?  But that did not seem to occur to Ben-hadad, so he sent a detachment of soldiers by night to take the man of God captive.
 
2 Kings 6:15 states, “When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city.”  The town was completely surrounded by the enemy.  To this young man, the situation seemed hopeless.  He cried out, “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?”  While the prophet understood his servant’s concern, he answered, “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  What a classic response of trust and confidence in God!  Then in 2 Kings 6:17, we read that Elisha prayed, and said, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.”  Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
 
Has the Lord ever helped you get your focus directed to the right place?  Perhaps you faced a time when you were surrounded by “enemy soldiers”—problems and trials that seemed threatening in the extreme.  Then, just when it seemed there was no hope, the Lord came down and opened your spiritual understanding.  In a moment you no longer focused on the problems. Instead, you saw the “horses and chariots of fire” that were surrounding you, and you realized that God was in control!
 
This morning, we also ordained, installed, and commissioned our Church Officers, the Elders, Deacons, and Trustees who will be carrying out the mission and vision of this congregation.  As your Pastor, I am praying for you today Elisha’s prayer, “Open their eyes, Lord, so that they may see.”  May God open your eyes to see not the challenges, by the opportunities, not the power of our enemies, but the strength and might of our Lord.  Amen.
 


[1] William Barclay, The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon (Louisville: Westminster Knox Press, 1957), 210-211.

First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sunday Sermon Notes (January 5th, 2020)
Rev. Dr. Mouris A. Yousef, Pastor  

​Focus has become more and more an important to me this year.  There are somethings that need to be just the right distance for my eyes to read.  You see – demonstration holding the bulletin.  Some of you who may be older than me know what I am talking about; some of you who are younger than me may say, “What do you mean?”  I thought if your eyes work, they always work.  Right?  No.  Focus is not always easy.  Just imagine you’re at a concert or attending a worship service at a church and you’ve got one program or bulletin that you’re sharing with the person next to you whom you love very much.  What happens is that person needs the program a certain distance to be able to read it, but you need the program a certain other distance to be able to read it.  I feel we need the help of a team from the Hubble Telescope to run the calculations and find where these things can intersect.  Focus can be a great challenge.
 
Every year I try to set a theme, a broader topic, for my teaching and preaching delivered from this pulpit every Sunday.  “Going Deep” and making roots was the theme for 2019.  It was a need that I felt not only for those of us who are new to the Christian faith, but also for those who have been Christians for a long time.  Whether you belong to this group or that group, God is calling us to go deep and experience the Lord in fresh and new ways.
 
The theme I chose for 2020 is “Fixing our Eyes on Jesus.”  This is a theme that runs through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and it is so central to Biblical Christianity.  This year, we will be exploring some key Scripture passages that address this topic, then drawing some important implications for our life, our ministry, and our spiritual journey.  Today I want to just scratch the surface of this topic as I share with you some introductory observations.
 
First: Why Fixing our Eyes on Jesus?
Why fixing our eyes and thoughts on Jesus is an important topic?  Because we live in a very distracted culture.  Let me ask you a simple question?  What is on your mind today as you sit here in church?  As much as I’d like to think that your mind is totally focused on hearing God’s Word and singing God’s praises, I know better, because I know my mind isn’t always totally focused on these things when I sit in church. Distractions around that seem to abound.  
 
There’s so much going on in our lives.  Busy days.  Crazy schedules.  Everything going on in the lives of our children.  Bills that need to get paid.  Health issues.  Things we need to do around the house.  Deadlines we face at work or the frustration of being without work.  What are we going to do this afternoon or evening?  What are we going to have for lunch or dinner?  We are so distracted, and we are torn apart by many things.  We get pulled or pushed in a hundred directions, therefore, fixing our eyes and thoughts on Jesus is crucial.
 
Second: The Temptation to Rely on other Things than Jesus
I believe humanity’s all-time temptation is to rely on other things than Jesus; to fix our eyes and thoughts, to build our lives on the shifting sands of this world.  Twice in the Letter to the Hebrews, the writer exhorts Christians from a Jewish background to fix their eyes on Jesus.  In Hebrews 3:1 we read, “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.”  Also, in Hebrews 12:1-2 we read, “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
 
This exhortation carried a special significance to the Hebrew Christians back then.  Yes, they converted to Christianity, but they also carried with them too much Judaism.  Yes, they accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, but they had a hard time trying to get rid of the rituals and the shadows of the Old Covenant.  
 
This year, we are challenged to fix our eyes and thoughts on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.  The word “fix” comes from a Greek word “katanoeô” that has the idea of concentrating your gaze.  It means to look away from other things so that you can focus all your attention on one object.  It is the picture of a lost child walking alone down a carnival midway, enthralled by the lights and sounds and smells.  The child’s eyes flit this way and that.  The child doesn’t even realize that he or she is in danger.  Suddenly through the din, the child hears his or her mother’s voice.  Looking up, the child sees the mother calling for him or her to come.  With the child’s eyes now fixed on the mother, he or she walks straight ahead, ignoring everything else.  Soon the child is safe by the mom’s side. 
 
In the same way a coach will tell the runners, “When the gun sounds, start running as hard as you can. Don’t look back.  Don’t look around.  Keep your eyes on the finish line and keep on running.”  What fills your gaze? Is it Jesus or something else?
 
As you think about your life at the beginning of a year, that’s a good way to begin fixing your eyes and thoughts on Jesus.  This would be a time for you to begin to pull in the loose ends. 
The twentieth-century British Pastor D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) said, “If we only spent more of our time in looking at Christ, we should soon forget ourselves.” Fixing our eyes on Christ is the first step and the entire path of the Christian life. We don’t look to Christ in faith to be saved and then look to ourselves to persevere. We trust Christ alone as our Savior and look to Christ alone and follow Him as our Lord.
 
Friends, we’re called neither to fix our eyes on ourselves nor to fix our eyes on our own sins that entangle themselves around our ankles.  We’re called to run with endurance by looking to Jesus, who is the author and perfecter of our faith.  We are united to Christ and are made able and willing to turn our eyes upon Jesus — away from ourselves — so that by looking to Him, we are motivated to joyful, cross-bearing obedience as we “walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him.
When we take our eyes off our Lord and set our eyes on ourselves, the Christian life becomes not only miserable but impossible.  Our greatest need before conversion is Jesus, and our greatest need after conversion is the same Jesus.  The secret for a God-honoring Christian life is a heart that is centered on Christ.  Amen.