Good morning and welcome in everyone. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
I have been sailing since I was in high school. It was an opportunity that was presented to me when I was very young. Sailing is something that I never planned to learn or to do, it resulted because one of my relatives won a sailboat in a sweepstakes, and had nowhere to keep his boat, so he stored it at my parents house. We grew up on a lake, so the boat got a lot of use. During a few summers, after much trial and error, I eventually learned how to sail. Ever since, I’ve tried to hand down the knowledge that I have learned to Andrew. We picked up a couple of old catamarans that we have fixed up and repaired over the years. As we sail, Andrew will hang out on the trapeze to provide us with the extra counterweight that we need to go faster. In the wind, the boat wants to naturally tip over, but we have to counteract the force of the wind to keep to the boat level and get quickly across the lake.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
As we walk through this world, it’s very much like sailing. To be successful when you’re sailing, you must have the right amount of counterweight. It needs to keep the vessel going in the right direction without tipping over. As we walk through this world, we too must counteract the teachings of this place. If we want our vessel to reach all the way to the other side, eventually obtaining heaven. We must overcome and counteract the power of the wind. The best way to counteract the winds of the world, is to fight them, through the teachings of Holy Scripture.
1 Timothy 6:12 “ Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”
One time I was sailing on our old catamaran, and my wife took a video of me. I was all alone on the boat, but the first time she saw the boat tip up to a 45° angle, she was shocked, and concerned about what was going on. She didn’t understand that this was a part of sailing, something that I have dealt with since I was 12 years old. It is normal. It is something that regularly happens to those who sail a boat. No matter how much power the wind applies to the boat, we must be capable of counteracting it to get across a lake. In the Christian Life you will have to endure the winds of this world. You will have to endure persecutions and suffering that people put you through, and keep your vessel level through whatever storms may come to pass all this world.
Hebrews 12:1-3 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, ² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
To withstand means to fight against something, just like we fight against the wind on our sailboat. Many people don’t understand, but on a sailboat you fight against the wind. Andrew might look across the lake and see a dark patch of wind approaching the boat and you have a few moments to prepare for the ensuing struggle. It’s no different than the persecutions and the sufferings that we have to deal with while here upon the Earth. Many people will try to prevent or frustrate the work of the Gospel, but we need to resist them, and counter any winds that may try to thwart our effort. The Christian Life is a battle, just like the wind on the catamaran, but you have to show the wind who’s in control. For a Christian, it’s the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 6:10-17 ¹⁰ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹² For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
¹³ Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; ¹⁵ And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Just as we battle wind when we go sailing, we must enter a spiritual battle in the world by using the Word of God. It is the counterweight that we need to defend ourselves from any rough seas that we might encounter.
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Sometimes the wind can get really vicious on the lake, just like people in this world. It’s caused by their hatred of the truth. It’s caused by impenitence. It’s caused because they love sin more than God. It’s caused because they choose to believe fables rather than God’s Word. Each of us are the same in the eyes of God. Neither one of us is better than the other. We are all sinners. The only thing that sets us apart is waking up to this truth. The only thing that sets us apart is repentance towards God. As I have said for 20 years, there are only two classes of people on the face of the Earth. Sinners,…. and repentant sinners. Sadly the ones we most often have to strive against, are the ones that Jesus came to save. If they simply would believe the truth, they could be redeemed too, but until that point we must earnestly contend for the truth of the Christian faith.
Jude 1:3 “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”
At times there can be a lot of wind when you’re sailing across the lake, but there are a lot of contrary winds that we need to fight against while here on the Earth. It’s not always going to be smooth sailing. At times you’ll need to hang out on the trapeze and allow God’s Word to provide……
……The Counterweight
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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