Finish The Race

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RaceFinishthe Race

2 Tm 4:7

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IN TONIGHT’S TEXT, PAUL

WILL NOT TAKE A DNF!

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IN TONIGHT’S TEXT, PAUL

WILL NOT TAKE A DNF!

In fact, Paul says that he has finished his race.

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Race• “I have fought the good fight, I have finished

the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tm 4:7, ESV).

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• Christianity is often compared to a race.

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– “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly” (1 Cor 9:24-26, ESV).

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– “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb 12:1, ESV).

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Race• Tonight, we want to examine this race that

we might run more effectively.

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– We‟ll use the acronym GAME.

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– We‟ll use the acronym GAME.

– We‟ll speak of the Groove, the Ambition, the Momentum, & the Enthusiasm.

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THE GROOVE

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Race• Each of us has our own groove.

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– The kingdom of heaven “will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability” (Mt 25:14-15, ESV).

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• The Master gave his servants different talents.

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• The Master gave his servants different talents.

• He knew that they each had different strengths, different grooves.

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– Mt 25:14-15.

– “As in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them” (Rm 12:4-6, ESV).

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– Mt 25:14-15.

– “As in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them” (Rm 12:4-6, ESV). We have different grooves, different abilities according to the grace given to us.

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IN ORDER TO RUN

EFFECTIVELY, WE NEED TO

FIND OUR GROOVE.

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Race• Parable of the Talents: Had the servant with

only one talent used it, he could have found his groove.

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– Instead, he buried his talent.

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– Instead, he buried his talent.

– “You wicked and slothful servant! Cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt 25:26, 30, ESV).

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Race• Paul found his groove.

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– He was uniquely qualified to be an apostle.

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• He had an excellent education.

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• His persecution of Christians gave him a zeal to endure persecution himself.

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• His tent-making gave him the ability to preach the Gospel where he otherwise couldn‟t.

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– Paul was quite the mentor.

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– Paul was quite the mentor. You see how he prepared Timothy & Titus for their ministries.

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HAVE WE FOUND OUR

GROOVE?

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THE AMBITION

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Race• Ambition refers to desire.

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Race• You‟re not going to finish a race without

ambition.

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ambition.

• Paul certainly had an ambition to finish.

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ambition.


– “Behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:22-24, ESV).

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ambition.


– “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Phil 3:8-9, ESV).

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HOW IS OUR AMBITION?

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Race• “Seek first the kingdom of God and his

righteousness” (Mt 6:33, ESV).

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Race• “Seek first the kingdom of God and his

righteousness” (Mt 6:33, ESV).

• “He said to him, „You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment” (Mt 22:37-38, ESV).

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DO WE HAVE THE PROPER

AMBITION TO FINISH OUR

RACE?

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THE MOMENTUM

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Race• In athletics, we know the importance of

getting momentum on our side.

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• Non-athletic example: Nazi Germany.

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– Only FIVE percent of Germans supported the “final solution.”

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– Only FIVE percent of Germans supported the “final solution.”

– But, because they were able to gather steam, they were able to get others to go along with their plan.

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WE NEED TO GET

MOMENTUM ON OUR SIDE.

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WE NEED TO GET

MOMENTUM ON OUR SIDE.

It’s easy to lose momentum.

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Race• “I have this against you, that you have

abandoned the love you had at first” (Rv 2:4, ESV).

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• The Hebrew Christians were in serious danger of losing momentum.

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– “Lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather healed” (Heb 12:12-13, ESV).

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– “Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised” (Heb 10:35-36, ESV).

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HOW DO WE GET & HOW DO

WE KEEP MOMENTUM?

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Race• We draw encouragement from each other.

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Race• We draw encouragement from each other:

“Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb 10:24-25, ESV).

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• We remember Jesus.

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• We remember Jesus: “Let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God” (Heb 12:1-2, ESV).

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IF JESUS KEPT HIS

MOMENTUM IN TRYING

TIMES, HOW CAN WE GIVE

UP?

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DO WE HAVE MOMENTUM TO

FINISH THE RACE?

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ENTHUSIASM

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Race• We live in a world that has lost its

enthusiasm.

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enthusiasm.

• We must be a people of passion.

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enthusiasm.


– Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Eccl 9:10, ESV).

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enthusiasm.


– Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Eccl 9:10, ESV).

– “Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them” (2 Cor 9:1-2, ESV).

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Race• Paul was enthusiastic to do the right thing.

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– “Be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears” (Acts 20:31, ESV).

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– “Be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears” (Acts 20:31, ESV).

– “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:12-14, ESV).

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HOW IS OUR ENTHUSIASM?

Spiritual

Finish The Race