How to Finish Well — Part 2

SPEAKER 02 : 0:02

Welcome to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. We are so glad that you’re here with us. You know, in this world, we all go through trials and experience losses, but the good news is that God is always with you and you can never lose his love. Please stay tuned as Rick brings his new series, The Key to Hope, to a close. Okay, let’s join Rick as he shares the final part of a message called How to Finish Well.

SPEAKER 03 : 0:30

Now, you know what the big enemy of humility is? It’s image. And that’s sad because in Orange County, image is everything. Life never looked so good. It doesn’t say it is good, it says it looks good. And as long as you look good, then it’s okay. And today we even have image consultants to help us know how to look great and walk great and talk great and smell great and dress great. And obviously I’ve never hired one of them. But these image consultants are out there to kind of give you, don’t worry about your image. Worry about your character. Your image is not going to last. Your character you’re taking into eternity with you. That’s what’s gonna last. Now image is what other people think you are. And character is what you really are. And so the Bible says, clothe yourselves with humility. You want to dress for success? In the morning you get up and the first thing you put on is a humble spirit. I know I’m just a human being. The world does not depend on me. And I’m going to focus on God and other people. And you’ll be humble. Now rate yourself on this. OK or NW? Needs work. Give yourself a rating.

SPEAKER 01 : 1:46

There’s a third secret to lasting life. Number three on the back of your outline is renew your spirit daily. Gotta renew your spirit daily. Running the race that God planned for you is a daily effort. And because of that, you get tired and you’re gonna give up unless you can find a way to draw new strength every day. The Apostle Paul, who’s our example in finishing well, he was amazing in his resilience. It is an ability to just keep on keeping on no matter what. Look at what he has to say in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 8 and 9. Paul wrote, We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don’t know what to do, we never give up. In times of trouble, God is with us. And when we are knocked down, we get up again. He wouldn’t let anything keep him down. Now what is the secret of that kind of life? The ability to bounce back no matter what. He tells us just a little bit later in that same chapter, 2 Corinthians 4, 16. Would you read this verse with me? This is why we are not discouraged. Though outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are renewed day by day. The secret is daily spiritual renewal. Because as he says in that verse, outwardly we are wearing out. Anybody want to give a testimony on that? I guess you don’t have to. Just, I mean, look down the row. You can see this. I mean, I don’t care how much you nip it and tuck it and paint it and try and stretch it. You’re wearing out. That’s the way it is. You want some great news? Even though you’re wearing out on the outside, it doesn’t make a bit of difference, Paul says, on the inside. Inwardly, you can still be renewed day by day and find the strength and energy to live and finish well in life. Because it doesn’t come from the outside, it comes from the inside. That’s where the energy to finish well comes from. And so Paul writes, I’m being renewed day by day. Now how do you do that? How do you stay fresh on the inside? How do you renew yourself daily? Well, there are two major ways that you renew yourself spiritually daily. The first one is through God’s Word. God has given us this book so we can be renewed. There are over 7,000 promises from God in this book to renew us on a daily basis. That’s enough for the rest of your life. But you have to find a way to get it into your life. As the Bible says in Psalm 119, verse 114, you, God, are my place of quiet retreat. I wait for your word to renew me. How do you wait for God’s Word? How do you let it get into your life? Well, for years, Christians have talked about five specific ways, using the five fingers on your hand, that you get God’s Word into your life. You do it by hearing it, what we’re doing right now. We’re talking about God’s Word. You hear it through your ear. You do it by reading it. That’s when during the week you pick it up and read some Bible verses. Third way that you get it into your life is by studying it, asking some questions, talking about the Bible with other people. A fourth way is by memorizing the Bible, by just taking a few minutes to memorize a verse so it’s with you wherever you are. Put it into your mind. And a fifth way is by meditating or reflecting on the Bible. Asking yourself, how do I do this? Now when it comes to getting a grip on God’s word, one of the problems we often have is we don’t use enough of these five ways to get it into our lives. It takes all of them really to get a good grip on God’s word. A lot of times you try to use only one way. Many of us, you come to church on the weekend and you hear God’s word and you think, that’s enough, I got a good grip on it. But that’s like trying to hold this book with just my little finger. It just, it won’t stay. You ever notice how sometimes you come to church and you try to get a grip on a truth and it slips out right away? You come to church and you hear a message on anger, and on the way out, somebody cuts you off in the parking lot, and it slips out. And all of a sudden, it’s gone. Why does that happen? Why can’t I hold on to it? Because you don’t have multiple ways of getting a grip on God’s Word. You have to hear it, but then also you read it during the week. But even that’s not enough. A lot of people feel tired trying to do what God tells us to do. It feels wearying. If it ever feels that way to you, I’d encourage you, find some more ways to get God’s Word into your life. Because once you start to hear it and read it and then study it with other people, memorize a few verses, think about what it means for your life, you’ve got a firm grip on it. You got a grip that nothing can steal that truth from your life. It’s a joyful truth then. That’s how you find the energy to last, through God’s word. There’s a second way to find the energy to last, and that is through fellowship with other believers, through relationships with other believers. Look at this verse up on the screen from Hebrews 10 verse 25. The Bible says, let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another. That’s the key to daily renewal. I would love to say that my keeping on keeping on in the Christian life, my growth in the Christian life is because of my intelligence or my spirituality and my own personal dedication. But the truth of the matter is any growth that’s happened in my life, I know beyond a shadow of doubt It’s because I’ve been privileged to hang around other people that are growing in the Christian life. It rubs off. That’s not just true for me. It’s true for all of us, the Bible says. God’s designed us that way. We need other people to grow in the Christian life. The point is, don’t try to do it alone. Because when you do, you’re not going to make it. I heard this last week that when it comes to our New Year’s resolutions, all these great ideas we have for what we’re going to do and be in the new year, that 90% of them are broken by January 10th. Why? Yearly resolutions don’t cut it. They don’t last. It’s daily renewal that makes the difference based on God’s word and based on relationships with others. So how are you doing on this one? Is it an okay or is it an NW, a needs work? How are you doing on being consistent in the habits that renew you on a daily basis?

SPEAKER 03 : 7:19

The fourth secret is to remain focused on eternity. If you’re gonna finish well, you refuse to compromise your integrity, you resolve to live with humility, You renew your spirit daily and you remain focused on eternity. Now anybody who’s ever run a marathon or any long distance run knows the importance of mental focus. Because on a long run, if you let your mind start to wander and you don’t keep it focused, all kinds of bad things are gonna happen. You’re gonna start thinking about how tired you are. You’re gonna start thinking about how much your muscles ache. You’re gonna start thinking about how much further you still have to go. You’re going to start thinking about where are the other runners in this race and you start comparing yourself. And all of those are fatal flaws that will sidetrack you or trip you up and cause you to fall out of the race or lose behind. You need to stay focused, focused on eternity. Now last week, we talked about three things you need to forget if you’re gonna make it in the race of life. But this week, there’s some things you need to focus on, you need to not forget, you need to remember. And the Bible says this in 2 Corinthians 4, 17 and 18. For our present troubles, are quite small and won’t last very long. I mean, no matter what you go through, even if it lasted your entire life, it’s only going to last your life. That’s nothing compared to eternity. Our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long, yet they will produce for us an immeasurable glory in heaven that will last forever. He’s saying every problem in your life has a purpose, and the purpose and the result and the reward of it is going to last forever, while the pain is simply now and here and isn’t going to last long. So he says, the next verse, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. He said, you look around and everything you see, none of it’s going to last. So the fourth secret of finishing well in life is focus. The more you focus your life, the more effective you’re going to be. Light diffused has no power at all. Light focused through a magnifying glass can burn a piece of grass or a rock, or not a rock, it can burn paper. You focus light even more and it turns into a laser and it can cut through steel. The more focused your life is, the more effective you’re gonna be. Now what do you focus on? You don’t focus on your career. You don’t focus on how much money you’re making, your income. You don’t focus on your reputation. You don’t focus on your successes. You don’t even focus on your problems. Why? Because none of those are going to last. They’re all temporary. That’s here and now stuff. He says you focus on the future. Living in light of eternity to receive the reward one day when you finish well and hear God say, well done. Amen. What are we to focus on instead of our success and all these other things? Well, two things. First, you focus on Jesus Christ and how he lived. He’s our example. How did Jesus run the race? And you read the Bible and you focus on that. How did he live a life that’s pleasing to God? And second, you focus on the inevitable rewards that come when you cross the finish line, move, go into heaven, and God is there. You see, the key to persistence is perspective. It’s all in the way you look at life. Why always determines how long. When you figure out why you do what you do, then you’ll have the motivation to keep on doing it. Now the reason why so many Christians start great and then just kind of flame out and don’t end the race well is they forget why they’re doing it. Why am I reading the Bible? Why am I going to church? Why am I getting involved in a small group? Why do I serve in ministry? Because we’re being set up for eternity. And these are habits that help me grow spiritually. When I forget that I’m living for eternity, I start to live for now. The budgets and the bills and baseball and all the other stuff in life comes in and clutters, gets me distracted and I get off track. I have to stay focused. You see, the most powerful motivation in life is not internal and it’s not external, it’s eternal motivation. For the last 23 years, you wanna know how many times I’ve wanted to quit as the pastor of this church? Just every Monday morning. I go, oh God, surely there’s gotta be somebody who could do a better job than I’m doing. And I feel discouraged and I think, you know, I’m not smart enough to lead a church this big. I don’t think anybody is. And so I go, okay, God, what do you want? But you know why I keep on keeping on? Not because of me. And not even really because of you. I do it because of him. For Jesus’ sake. Because one day I want to finish well. And so I’m living in light of eternity. Now for two weeks we’ve looked at this verses, Hebrews 12, 1 and 2. I want us to look at it on the screen again and read it aloud together. Let’s read it. Let’s strip off every weight that slows us down and let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He says the secret of finishing well is focus. Keep your eyes on God. Keep your eyes on eternity. Keep your eyes on ending well. Keep your eyes on the reward. You know, there’s a great example of the power of focus in helping you endure in the movie Rudy. Have any of you seen this movie? Yeah, you know this movie. It’s a true story. Rudy Rudecker had only one focus in life. he wanted to play football at Notre Dame University. But he had a number of obstacles. First, he was a terrible student and he didn’t have any money. So there was no way he was gonna get in and accepted at Notre Dame. And second, even if he did get in Notre Dame, he was a very short, small man and he was not equipped to play football and he had no athletic ability. But he wanted to play football at Notre Dame. And the movie is the story of how Rudy endures, persists, and keeps on focusing on what he wants to do, in spite of everybody telling him, it’s no chance, not a chance, no way, you’re not gonna make it. But he eventually does, after many years, make it into Notre Dame. But he’s not gonna get on the team, he’s got no ability. But finally, he kind of signs up as a walk-on and they don’t even let him suit up for most of the year. And he’s just kind of a punching bag and everybody’s making fun of him. But slowly over the years, over the season, he earns the grudging respect of all these much bigger, more athletic football players. And in 1975, in the last game of the year against Georgia Tech, in the last play of the game, the team members on the sideline start chanting his name. Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. And by now, this young little man’s power of endurance has become well known, and the entire stadium takes it up. Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. And so the coach, against his better judgment, decides to let the kid in the game for one play. In the history of Notre Dame, the only player to ever be carried off the field by his teammates was little Rudy. The place went wild, clapping, shouting, cheering, calling out his name, Rudy, Rudy. But friends, That is nothing compared to the reception you are going to receive one day when you finish your race and you cross the line into heaven to the applause of heaven. And God will be there and they will be cheering your name. And there will be loved ones there who say, you did it. You did it. You finished the race. Now let’s celebrate for eternity. Congratulations. You ought to be living for the applause of heaven because that’s what’s going to matter for eternity. The thrill of standing before God one day, your creator, and have him look at you and say, good job. You made it to the end. You finished the race. You didn’t get sidelined or sidetracked or drop out. You lived for me for your life. Well done. Let’s celebrate for eternity. Paul anticipated that reward. In this verse, 2 Timothy 4, he says this. I have done my best in the race, and I have run the full distance, and I have kept the faith, and now there is waiting for me the victory prize. of being put right with God, which the Lord will give me on that day. You say, well, shoot, yeah, I mean, that’s Paul. I mean, the guy’s a saint. Of course, he’s going to get a big welcome into heaven. I mean, this is the guy who, like, wrote the Bible, okay? Oh, yeah, okay, big, big, big greeting for this guy. But that’s not all. Let me read you the rest of the verse. It’s here on the screen. Look at the screen. And not only to me, but to all those who wait with love for him to appear. That’s you. That’s you. And that’s me. The applause of heaven will be deafening. You know, Satan’s favorite tool against Christians is discouragement. If he can just get you discouraged about anything, you’re sidetracked, sidelined, and out of the race. D.L. Moody once said, I have never known God to use a discouraged man or woman. Now what does it take to discourage you? Some of you started in the Christian race, and you started so good, and you gave your life to the Lord, and your heart was open and full of love, and you say, I wanna grow, I wanna learn, I wanna serve, I wanna be what God wants me to be, but you have drifted into mediocrity, and you’ve gotten sidelined. Somehow, you got wounded, maybe in another church, maybe here. or you got hurt, or you got distracted by something that really doesn’t count, making more money, or whatever, and you got discouraged, and you are out of the race. Or you still come to church, and you sit there as a spectator, and you listen, but you haven’t been in the race for months or maybe even years. It goes in and it goes out. And you’ve been tripped up, sidelined, and you’ve dropped out of the race. And you’re not going to finish well unless you do something about it. And that’s why God brought you here today, because he said, don’t you dare waste another year. Let’s bow our heads. What are you gonna do with the rest of your life? Whatever it is, you better get on with it right now because you’re not even guaranteed next week. You don’t know when the finish line is in your life. Do you even intend to finish well? If you do, then you need to start applying Paul’s strategy that we’ve looked at this morning. Pray this in your mind. Dear God, I don’t wanna sit on the sidelines for the rest of my life. I wanna finish the race that you put me on earth for and I want to finish it well. I’m sorry for the times I’ve let my worries and my wounds and my wrongs trip me up and get me distracted and off track. I wanna live a life of integrity. And I want to live a life of humility and energy. Help me to spend time with you every day and some time with other believers in a small group because I know I need these things to stay strong in the race. Help me to keep focused on eternity and the rewards that lie ahead because they matter so much more than anything here. Help me to realize that none of this is gonna last. It’s all temporary. I wanna live for your eternal purposes and make the rest of my life the best of my life. And I want to finish well. Now to some of you, I need to say this. You can’t finish your race and receive your reward until first you enter the race. Some of you have been warming up for years. You’re still in the parking lot. You’re not even in the stadium. You’ve been saying, one of these days I’m going to give my life to Christ. One of these days I’m going to get serious about God. Well, today’s your day. The good news is that Jesus Christ has paid your entrance fee, and now you’re eligible to run. So why don’t you pray this? Jesus, I want to get to know you. I want to learn to love you. I want to serve the purposes that you put me on earth to do. I want to learn to trust you and live for you. In your name I pray. Amen.

SPEAKER 02 : 23:04

If you just prayed to receive Jesus, congratulations. We would love to send you some free materials to help you along on your spiritual journey. Just email rick at pastorrick.com. That’s rick at pastorrick.com. And now here’s Rick to tell you about today’s offer.

SPEAKER 03 : 23:23

One of the things that God wants us to do, and he says it over and over in scripture, is to practice gratitude. Did you know that gratitude is good for us? The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5, 18, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. You wanna know what God’s will is for you right now? It is that you learn gratitude in all circumstances. There’s always something you can be thankful for. In fact, I’ve discovered and I’ve read many reports that experts have told us that gratitude is the healthiest human emotion. Did you know that gratitude makes you more resistant to stress? Did you know that gratitude makes you less susceptible to illness? Did you know that gratitude increases your overall happiness and satisfaction? That gratitude gives your life more meaning and significance? I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed that the more grateful a person is, the happier they are. That’s the power of gratitude. So I want you to live with the attitude of gratitude, the attitude of thankfulness. Now I’ve put together a brand new Bible study called The Power of Gratitude. And in it, you’ll find scriptures and teaching and exercises that’ll help you develop the habit, cultivate the habit of gratitude. You’ll discover how to stay in God’s will, how to defeat discouragement, how to conquer complaining, how to reduce stress, and how to experience God’s blessing through gratitude. Friends, I wanna help you develop a deep and a profound attitude of gratitude. The world is craving people like this, and you will be able to experience all that God has for you. So today, When you partner with me by giving a gift, a financial gift to Daily Hope to help us take the certain hope of Jesus to people all around the world, I’m gonna have my team send you the Power of Gratitude Bible Study. I just wanna say thanks to you. I wanna be grateful for you. You know, your support is essential for us taking the Daily Hope message of Jesus all around the world.

SPEAKER 02 : 25:42

Just go to PastorRick.com to get your copy of this great resource. That’s PastorRick.com or you can just text the word HOPE to 70309. Again, that’s the word HOPE to 70309. And thank you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people everywhere. Be sure to join us next time. as we look into God’s Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope and your generous financial support.