2. The struggling Christian is surrounded by those who have been victorious We can look to them and learn the lessons of their struggles Maturity should bring a better perspective

3. The Ancient Greeks laid aside anything that would slow them Whatever makes this race more difficult must be laid aside! We must have an accurate value system

4. “entangle” – skillfully surround “…reminds us of the ring of wild beasts in the jungle that encircle the camp-fire at night each ready to pounce upon a careless victim” (Robertson’s) We must not love that which would entangle us 1John 2:15-17

5. The Christian life is a marathon not a sprint Endurance – constantly, perseveringly (Strong’s) This race is not part of our lives it is our lives

6. We must learn to focus on the things which we can affect rather than those which we cannot It is not for us to lay out the course, merely to run the race The difficulty of the course is why we must remove all hindrances

7. The marathoner must have extreme focus throughout the race “looking” – “to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something” (Mounce)

8. “the author” of faith – the source or originator of faith Jesus authored faith through his atoning work “the finisher of faith” – completer, perfecter Jesus perfected faith through His Priestly work as well as taking His throne

9. All that Jesus did He did looking forward to the completion of His goal “despising” – literally to think little or nothing of something Jesus was so focused on the result that the suffering was as nothing to Him