When He was on the cross and He was dying He had concern for His mother and made sure she was provided for. That's a valiant man. When Jesus died He didn't have His life taken away, He gave up His life that you and I could be free. That is a valiant man. When you look at the life of Jesus Christ you'll never find anyone like Him who's such a valiant man and this is what Jesus said. This is a very great thing. This is amazing scripture. The Bible says to every person who received Him, made Him welcome, embraced Him into their life, receiving someone releases what they have to give to you. When you reject someone or find fault with them, you can't receive what they have to give to you. There were some places Jesus went where people couldn't receive what He had. There were some places He went He could do no mighty miracles because of disrespect and familiarity and they would not receive Him, but those who received Him He gives power, those who believed or put their trust in Him He gave power to become a valiant man.
The Bible's very clear. When you receive Christ, when you put your trust in Him and commit your life to Him, you have the ability to be like Him, to be a valiant man. It's interesting, I was talking to Bryden about the trees and the grafting of the trees and I said you have a lot of different tree roots but once you graft it in it just takes on the nature of that thing you've grafted in. We get grafted to Jesus. We come connected to Him to take on His life, so let me challenge you to think about your life. Do you see yourself as a valiant man? We're talking to men and women today. God sees you as a valiant man, a valiant woman. God sees you as a person who is called and has a mission, something you're called to accomplish with your life in the community, something you're called to do that no one else can do and if you will do that and see it through, you will be a valiant person. You're not called to copy me, you're not called to copy the person next to you. You're called to discover what God called you to do and if you'll do that and won't quit, you're a valiant person.
So you could be a valiant husband, a valiant wife. You could be a valiant person but you've got to link with God first and connect with His purpose for you, then determine no matter what happens you'll never quit. When I saw that video I was so inspired. I thought that is what a valiant man looks like. He came last in the race, so it's not what his performance was like. But he came last in a great way. He refused to quit. He had a valiant spirit and I think that could be true and it could be said of you, but the problem is your race isn't over yet. You're still in the middle of it, so where are you at in your race in life right now? Are you connected to Jesus Christ? How are you walking with Him? Do you know what you're called to do? Are you still going strong or has something caused you to quit and give up?
Are you still engaged in serving Him, building His house, advancing His kingdom, or has something gone out and you've found a reason why you could stop the race? One of the greatest tragedies I've seen over many years is many Christians for whatever reason just stop running their race and there's hundreds of reasons people can find but they won't count when you get to heaven, because just as that crowd was watching you know the thing I found was interesting? They stood and they cheered when the valiant man came in, long after the winner had taken his gold the greatest shout came to the valiant man who finished in spite of adversity.