Stay the Course
6/1/08
(The following was used with
a PowerPoint presentation, the asterisks indicate slide changes.)
*Stay the Course
*Heb.
6:9 (Message Bible) Don’t drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed
faith and then get everything promised to them.
Pray
*Ja.
5:9-10 (Message Bible) Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with
anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring
God. What a gift life is to those who
stay the course! You’ve heard,
*of
course, of Job’s staying power, and you know how God brought it all together
for him at the end. That’s because God cares, cares right down to the last
detail.
*Christianity is not a sprint
it’s a marathon!
It amazes me how there is a
mentality in Christianity that starting is what’s important, finishing is
optional.
As
long as you have prayed a prayer and accepted Jesus that’s really all that
matters.
The apostle Paul would
adamantly dispute that!
*1 Cor. 9:24 Do you not know
that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a
way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes
into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do
it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run
like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.
*27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so
that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the
prize.
No,
Paul did not literally “beat” his body, but he brought his flesh into
subjection to his spirit!
*(Blank)
The church has also
propagated another lie.
“Believing
is what’s important, serving is optional.”
We say “It’s imperative that
you believe, and we strongly encourage you to serve.”
The truth is, if you don’t
serve what makes you think you have really believed?
Jesus told us a very
interesting parable that we usually never talk about…
*Lk. 17:7 “Suppose one
of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the
servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8Would
he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while
I eat and drink; after that you may
*eat and drink’? 9Would
he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10So you
also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are
unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
The apostle Paul definitely
understood how imperative it was to “Stay the Course.”
*Acts 20:22 “And now,
compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen
to me there. 23I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns
me that prison and hardships are facing me.
*24However,
I consider my life worth nothing to me, if
only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has
given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.
The devil and all his angels
could not deter Jesus from His mission on this earth!
*Lk. 9:51 As the time
approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely (determinedly;
doggedly; decisively; stubbornly) set out for Jerusalem.
Again we see…
*Jo. 4:31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi,
eat something.” 32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you
know nothing about.” 33Then his disciples said to each other, “Could
someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to
finish his work.
Not
all those who start the race stay the course, many defect from the place God
intended them to be.
At the close of Paul’s letter
to the Colossians he writes…
The
date is somewhere between 60-64 A.D.
*Col. 4:14 Our dear friend
Luke, the doctor, and Demas
send greetings.
At the close of Paul’s small
letter to Philemon he writes…
The
date is as above, somewhere between 60-64 A.D.
*Philemon 1:23
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. 24And
so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and
Luke, my fellow workers.
Now in Paul’s final remarks
to Timothy in his second letter to him we read…
The
date is between 65-67 A.D.
*2 Tim. 4:9 Do your best to
come to me quickly, 10 for Demas,
because he loved this world, has
deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.
When Paul wrote the Galatians
he rebuked them for not staying the course.
*Gal. 5:7 You were running a
good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?
Putting your eyes where they
shouldn’t be and questioning God will damage your ability to stay the course.
In Psalms 73, the psalmist
makes an honest confession…
*Ps. 73:1 Surely God
is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. 3
For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4
They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. 5 They
are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.
Again in Psalms we read these
words…
*Ps. 119:33 (Message Bible) God, teach me lessons for
living
so I can
stay the course.
What keeps you from burning
out?
*Rom. 12:11 (Message Bible) Don’t
burn out; keep yourselves fueled and
aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder.
The Word of God keeps fuel in
your spiritual tank…
*Rom. 15:4 For everything that was written in the past
was written to teach us, so that through
endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5May
the God who gives endurance and
*encouragement
give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,
6so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Impatience makes you want to
quit! Wait for the harvest.
*Gal. 6:9 (Message Bible) So let’s not allow ourselves
to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we
don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let
us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the
community of faith.
Paul didn’t loose hope or
endurance because he saw the big picture.
If we loose sight of the big picture we will want to quit.
*2 Tim.
4:6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has
come for my departure. 7 I
have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8Now there is in store for me the crown of
*righteousness, which
the Lord, the righteous Judge, will
award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have
longed for his appearing.
The writer of Hebrews saw the
big picture and that inspired the desire to cast off anything that would hinder
running the race!
*Heb. 12:1 Therefore,
since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders
and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,
*who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning
its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider
him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow
weary and lose heart.
So, let’s “Stay the Course!”
*Pr. 15:21 Folly delights a man who lacks judgment, but
a man of understanding keeps a
straight course.