Keion Henderson - The Marathon Continues

I want to talk to you on this subject today: the marathon continues. Let’s talk about that for a moment. The marathon continues! Thank God for His Holy Spirit. Without having to get into a whole bunch of introduction—because we’re already past that—I’m already in your house, I’m already in your living room, or on your cell phone, so we can just talk, and I won’t be long today. It’s Bible study, and I want you to get back to having family time. However, I do want to share something with you that I believe God has shared with me, which may give you enough energy to continue doing what you’re doing.

I played a lot of sports: I played basketball, I played football, and I even tried baseball, but I was terrible at two out of the three. One thing I never did was run track. There was something psychological about it for me. I never got tired with a basketball in my hand, but if you took that basketball away and told me to run a mile, I would complain. I could run up and down the court enough times to equal three miles without feeling it, but when you take the object away and just tell me to run, I struggle to do it. I never ran track, and if I had, I always said I would stick to the short-distance events, like the 200 or 400 meters. The 800 and 1600 meters? Out of the question.

One thing I’ve never considered doing is running a marathon. The reason I never considered it is that I already didn’t have an affinity for running, but to run for long distances? Have you ever watched a marathon? It’s astonishing to see people run for hours upon hours. You can see the cramps set in due to a lack of oxygen and hydration, and the immense stress it places on the joints: the knees, the spine, the shins. Sometimes you can see the expression on a person’s face as they approach the finish line, as if they’re about to faint, to give up. It’s one thing to run; it’s another to run for long distances.

Let me tell you, the race is not given to the swift nor the strong, but to the one who endures to the end. It seems that I’m going to be in a marathon, not only in the natural but also in the spiritual. God doesn’t give victory to those who arrive quickly; Scripture says He gives victory to those who endure to the end. Can I tell you that life is a marathon and not a sprint? When a man meets a woman and the two become one flesh, the Bible informs us that in Hebrew, the word «become» means a process. This means that two people don’t become one the day they meet; they are becoming one over time.

Even marriage is a marathon. You can give birth to a child without knowing their gifts and talents, and you can raise them in the way they should go, hoping that when they are old, they won’t depart from it. But parenting is still a marathon because you don’t know what the child will do at fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen years old. It’s a marathon. If you’ve opened a business recently, chances are you probably won’t be profitable right away. It may take three, four, or five years to turn a profit. Why? Because even starting a business is a marathon.

We started this church with just a few people, and we never imagined that in ten years we would be in four or five different places, asking God where He wants us next, because even ministry is a marathon. I want to warn you against the desire to reach the end too quickly. You must reach a place where you despise not the days of small beginnings. That proverb reminds us that wealth is built little by little, so even becoming rich is a marathon. God works little by little—moment by moment, section by section, opportunity by opportunity, conversation by conversation—because these things take time.

So, why am I talking about that? Because there is a ministry we need to pay attention to: the Church of Laodicea. The Church of Laodicea, along with the other seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation, captures our attention. You can see this in Revelation chapters 2, 3, and 4. This particular church has grabbed our attention since it is one of those verses that even if you aren’t a heavy Bible reader, it’s still one of those scriptures you memorize, like John 3:16. Revelations 3:16 states, «Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of My mouth.» Most Christians know this verse, but to understand it, you must grasp its context, as this suggests you need to understand its origins.