Keith Battle - The Blueprint (Easter Edition)

I’m going to use as a subject today the blueprint. As you’re just going to your seats and sitting down, just tell somebody, «We got the blueprint!» Yeah, we got the blueprint; we got the blueprint. One of my wife Vicki’s new hobbies is roller skating. I don’t know where it came from, but when she was a child, she used to go skating where she lived in New York. I had never seen her skate, and so all those years have gone by. A few months ago, she got this urge to go roller skating, so she wanted to go roller skating and asked me if I would go with her one night to the skating rink in Temple Hills, Maryland. She had the place where we were going, and like any great husband that I am, I fussed and complained and pouted all the way to the skating rink. When we got to the skating rink, the truth is we spent more time on the floor than standing up. I mean, I couldn’t even stand up in the skates; I couldn’t even stand! In fact, this is a true story: we never even made it to the rink floor. We were falling down in the little walkway and just over by the tables, trying to practice on the side. We just couldn’t stand up. We were helping each other, and people kept coming over to pick us up off the floor. I got a revelation — hey, I got a revelation from God when I kept falling like that — to the One who was able to keep me from falling. The revelation I received was this: «This ain’t for you.» It was a clear word to me; it was not cloudy at all, it was a very clear, demonstrative word: «This is not for you.» But she didn’t get that revelation, and now twice a week, she goes roller skating, and I go with her. I don’t skate; I go. They make me pay to go in, and I still don’t understand that. I don’t skate; I just sit around and watch them skate when I go every week to support her and be a chaperone, a chauffeur, and spend time with her watching her do what she does. She has gone from not even being able to stand up on skates to skating for over an hour, going around without falling! One of the things I notice about this environment, it’s a community. In this environment, people will periodically come by and encourage her, giving her tips and tools on how to skate. What they’re showing her is the blueprint. Yeah, they’re giving her the resources, the motions, and the rhythm that she needs in order to skate successfully and to go to the next level. One of the reasons I say that is because whenever somebody takes the time to show you how to do anything, you ought to be grateful for it because they could just sit there and let you struggle. The first thing you ought to be is grateful for somebody who would give you a blueprint to help you do anything in this life that is of significance. But then the second part of it is that it’s not enough just to hear instructions or see the model; you must mimic it. It’s not just on the teacher for the student to be successful. The teacher gives instruction, but the student must follow the instructions, remember them, and apply them to their lives. When Jesus Christ did what he did in this passage, it was our blueprint. He is trying to show us how to not quit because one of the problems in the body of Christ today is that people just so easily quit. Paul — but it’s not Paul. I should not hesitate; I’m always tempted to say Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. We don’t know who wrote the book of Hebrews. Whoever wrote the book of Hebrews uses a vivid analogy here, a metaphor of a race. Just like Jesus had a race that included a cross, a grave, a resurrection, suffering, and obedience to God, we all have a race. In that race, he says there are people gathered around in the crowd who represent individuals in chapter 11, by the way, who have already run their race and been an example of faith for us to follow. Even though they serve as great mentors and models, the quintessential model and mentor is Jesus. That’s the one we need to keep our eyes on while we’re in this race. The goal of this passage is really simple: don’t quit! Don’t quit! Don’t quit! Not now. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Don’t give out. Don’t quit. There are several things I want to say. I will not exhaust this passage; I want to point out some things in verses one and two in particular. I’ll say a few things about verses three and four, and then we’ll be done. In verse one, let me go to my — they took my whiteboard and flip chart! After 22 years, they just took my little stuff from me and are making me be a little more… but I want to give you three words to frame verse one. The three words I want to give you to frame verse one are example, then the word is «then, ” and then „eliminate.“ How do you like that, huh? Go ahead and touch your neighbor!