The document discusses what can hinder a Christian's spiritual race or journey. It identifies five potential hindrances: (1) compromise, by gradually moving from biblical truth to less authoritative positions; (2) a lack of conviction, where preaching truth is seen as "foolish"; (3) considering the high cost of faith; (4) allowing circumstances to replace faith; and (5) taking personal responsibility ("the who is you") rather than blaming others. The conclusion exhorts readers to persevere through difficulties with endurance and by focusing on Jesus.

1. What Hinders your
Race?
Introduction: 2Tim 4:7
2Tim 4:7
The summer of 1992, in Barcelona, the Olympic
400m semi-final race was about to start.
Derek Redmond was at the starting line, fully
confident, as one of the favorites for gold.
In 1985, he broke the British record for the
400meter race.
In 1986, he won the gold medal at the
4×400-meter relay, twice. And the awards
kept on coming.
In Barcelona- ‘92, he was at the peak of his
career.
When the race started, he sprinted forward,
focused on the gold.
Then something unforeseen happened: he tore
his hamstring, mid-track.

2. He fell to the ground, in agony, with a torn
hamstring. He struggled to his feet and with the
help of his father he finished the race.
First place is great, but a runner’s job is to make
it to the finish line.
If you are willing you too can reach the finish
line with the help of the heavenly Father.
2Tim 4:7
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course, I have kept the faith:
There is nothing easy about finishing the course
God has in mind for you; most quit rather than
depend on God, to get them to the end of the
course while in pain.
Gal 3:1
1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,
that ye should not obey the truth, before whose
eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth,
crucified among you?
Someone has cast a spell over the Galatians.
We now find the Galatians hypnotized into doing
something they wouldn’t have done otherwise-
NOT OBEY THE TRUTH.

3. Their eyes had been so fixed on Christ crucified
for them, that their way of life had become
Consistent Obedience to the truth.
Who could benefit from you NOT OBEYING THE
TRUTH?
John 8:44
44 …the devil…He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he
is a liar, and the father of it.
Gal 5:7
7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye
should not obey the truth?
The finish line is not achieved by imaginations of
grandeur, but in each step forward.
These foolish time-outs along the way are not
benign breaks, but costly betrayals of the
crucified Christ.
Rom 2:8-9

4. 8 But unto them that are contentious, and do
not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness,
 indignation and
 wrath,
 9
Tribulation and
 anguish,
upon every soul of man that doeth evil [Do not
obey the truth], of the Jew first, and also of the
Gentile;
As a Christian the deck is stacked against the
devil.
1John 4:4
4 Ye are of God, little children, and have
overcome them: because greater is he that is in
you, than he that is in the world.
The devil has to devise an ingenious trap to
conquer an overcomer.
What hinders your Race?
I. Compromise- 2Pet 2:18
2Pet 2:18
18 For when they speak great swelling words
[great- size, good or bad]
of vanity [puffing your pride or their own],

5. they allure [the trap is set] through
 the lusts of the flesh, [convenience & comfort]
 through much wantonness, [Hagel’s dialect
theory]
-A gradual movement from a firmly held position
to another.
Thesis vs Antithesis to create Synthesis
Step one
Truth (Thesis) vs obvious error (Antithesis) to
create a common ground (Synthesis) less than
authoritative truth.
Step two
The newly formed Synthesis is now the Thesis that
needs a new Synthesis.
The new authority is “Reason” born out of
contradiction.
…those that were clean escaped from them who live
in error.
What hinders your Race?
II. Conviction- 1Cor 1:23-24
1Cor 1:23-24

6. 23 But we preach [Preaching has become a bad
word these days]
Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock,
and unto the Greeks foolishness; [conviction from
preaching is called “foolishness” by fools]
24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of
God.
The only way to improve- is to discover error and
submit to instruction and commit to change.
If not for the boney finger of Nathan the prophet
in the face of king David declaring “thou art the
man”; what would have become of David?
He had already rationalized adultery and murder,
I wonder where the next step would have led?
What hinders your Race?
III. Cost- 2Cor 11:3, 7
2Cor 11:3-4, 7
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds

7. should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ.
4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus,
whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another
spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel,
which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with
him.
7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself
that ye might be exalted, because I have preached
to you the gospel of God freely?
Mark 4:18-19
18 And these are they which are sown among
thorns; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the
deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other
things entering in, choke the word, and it
becometh unfruitful.
Christianity is based on- great cost; your time,
money, effort, and reputation.
In Mark we learn it is your responsibility to pull
the “thorns” from your life… if you are to lazy to
purge out the little leaven that often appears you
will be come UNFRUITFUL, and not even the
WORD of GOD can change it.

8. What hinders your Race?
IV. Circumstances- Mat 11:3
Peter learned he could walk on the water as
directed by Jesus, until he let circumstances
replace faith with “reason”.
Matt 11:3
3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should
come, or do we look for another?
John 3:31 He that cometh from above is above
all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and
speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from
heaven is above all.
John 3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath
given all things into his hand.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him.
Who did hinder you?
V. The Who, is- You- Heb 12:1-2

9. There exists no convenient delivery service that
will deliver your guilt to someone else’s door
step.
Heb 12:1-2
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.
Conclusion: Heb 12:12-13
Heb 12:12-13
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down,
and the feeble knees; (Isa 35:3; Ezek 7:17; Ezek
21:7)
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that
which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it
rather be healed.

10. What Hinders your Race?
Introduction: Gal 3:1, 5:7
I. Compromise- 2Pet 2:18
II. Conviction- 1Cor 1:23-24
III. Cost- 2Cor 11:3, 7
IV. Circumstances- Mat 11:3
V. The Who, is- You- Heb 12:1-2
Conclusion: Heb 12:12-13