Special Guest: Dr. Timothy Warren

I've got a few words of announcements.

We have a congregational meeting, not tomorrow, the next Sunday at 7 PM here. We're going to be talking about electing a new elder and deacon as well as financial secretary and treasurer. We also approve the budget at that meeting.

If you're a member, please come. If you're not a member, please come also so you can be a part of what's going on and see how that goes. Pastor John, come on up. I'm doing the announcements. I don't have them all written down.

So I've done congregational meeting, and we'll ask Pastor John to come in and finish those.

He was deep in fellowship.

I was going to do as much as I could for my head.

Hi guys. Where's Jeff? Jeff loves it when I'm not that Jeff, Jeff Spires. Congregational meeting, and did you mention that we are required to identify the slate two weeks in advance? We don't do it by paper anymore.

It's on Jeff's Pastogram. So look at Jeff's Pastogram, and you'll see the slate for the elders and the deacons as we're going to be having them. Also, the congregational meeting will include the budget approval, giving you a chance to see the budget, to ask questions about the budget today and next Sunday after service.

The guys will be in one of the classrooms. So if you want to see the details of the budget, we're going to do a budget read today. Love Life, our ministry to the women who are considering a very, very bad decision.

We have a prayer walk on Saturday mornings. It's shifted from the second Saturday to the third Saturday. So it's not this weekend, but the following weekend we do have Love Life. Gentlemen, set your clocks tomorrow morning early.

We have our men's prayer breakfast. We have a great group of guys, a group of great guys, whichever way that belongs. But we do get together at six o 'clock here in the building for some time of fellowship, considering God, how he would teach us.

I think there's bagels and there's juice and coffee, I think. Monday night. This is amazing. I asked the numbers during the first service. The men have the apologetics training class, and they had, I think they're up to 28 gentlemen are here being trained on the depths of a relationship through apologetics.

At the same time, the women are here, and I understand they're close to 30 also, and they're doing precepts study. That's over 50 people. If you consider six and a half years ago, Jeff had just preached for the first time here at this church.

We were without a senior pastor. After the children would leave, the children that were here at the time, we were down to 40 people in the sanctuary, one service. And now we have over 50 adult men and women going into the depths of growing in the Lord.

This is an awesome thing. God is blessing us as the light is lit, as Pastor Jeff preaches truth here from the pulpit. But people are growing in depth. If you are not involved with these, with a small group, with one of the apologetics, the women's precepts, I really, really encourage you to do that.

We're going to be exhorted today to finish strong. That's a tease. And how do you do that? Well, a relationship with God. That's another tease.

I'm done.

I won't go there. I'm done. I'm done. Isaiah 52, verse 1. Awake, awake. Put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. This is our call every day, all day. Don't get dull in your thoughts.

Don't get put and lulled into sleep. Satan has got all kinds of tactics. Stay, stay focused on God. Let's pray. Father God, we do thank you that we are here together. We do thank you that we are here because we are your children, drawn by you, by your grace.

We're here because your Holy Spirit encourages us and teaches us. We're here because your Son obediently went to the cross. Unworthy as we are, our sins are cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. Father, we do pray for our church as we consider things that are going on.

Right now, we have a meeting coming up to identify the new board and approve the budget. We ask for your wisdom. This is your work. This is your kingdom. We are but shepherds. We pray for your wisdom.

And also, Lord, as we continue to consider the land on Phillips Road, we surrender to you. Lord, we pray for the people in Ukraine who are under the oppression of evil right now. Lord, you can change the heart of Vladimir Putin in an instant.

Lord, we ask for your hand to protect the people. Give us wisdom on how we should be either in prayer or support. And that, Lord, we pray for our country and for our leaders. We pray for our president, our vice president, our senators, and our congressmen, our governors.

Lord, those that don't know you, that are ruling out of the world's understanding, we pray, Father, that you would draw them to you and that they would rule out of truth. Father, for our missionaries in the field, spreading the word that our lamps in dark places protect them, protect the word they have.

Protect, Lord, their families. Keep them safe. Keep them healthy and encouraged, Lord. We do pray for the souls of the people in those countries. This morning, Lord, as we're together, as we worship in song, as we anticipate hearing your word, that your Holy Spirit would work in our hearts, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.

Pictures of kindness he lavished on us. His blood was the payment. His life was the cost. We stood neath the death we could never afford. His mercy is more. Praise the Lord.

Mercy is.

They are many.

His mercy is.

Praise the Lord. They are many. His mercy is.

Lord, we are so, so grateful that our sins, although they are many, your mercy is more. We know that it's by your deep love for us that you stretched out your arms on that cross to take our pain on yourself, the pain of being lost forever.

We can have hope if we put our faith in you. We are so grateful and humble before you, Lord.

How deep the Father's love for us, beyond all measure, that he should give his only son his treasure. How great the pain of searing loss. The Father turns his face away. Which mar the chosen ones to glory, the man on his shoulder.

Shame is my sin. Though it was accomplished, his die is done. I show an amazing song as we focus in on community this morning, where the cross is where we need.

To focus our eyes. It wasn't anything that we've done, but his blood that was shed for us. Sometimes we need to put our focus right back in and not lose sight of that place, the sight that his mercy, his grace was shown on a hill of Calvary.

Israel’s Judgment and the Hope of the Cup of Wrath Removed

The nation Israel was created by God to mediate blessing to the world.

They were God's chosen people. And yet, as we come to the book of Isaiah, we see that the surrounding nations are enclosing upon them. First, the Assyrians and then the Babylonians. They are being destroyed by surrounding empires.

The reason for that is that they were not obeying the Ten Commandments or the covenant given to Moses. They were disobedient children. The wrath of God was on them, and it was described this way in Isaiah 51, verses 18 to 20.

There is none to guide her among all the sons she has born. There is none to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up. These two things have happened to you. Who will console you? Devastation and destruction, famine and sword, who will comfort you?

Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net. They are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God. Therefore, hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk, but not with wine.

Isaiah 51 describes people being judged by God, and it even describes it as drinking a bowl of wrath. God has a bowl of anger, a bowl of judgment and wrath that the people of Israel must drink. Because of their sin, and that's terrible news.

In fact, it corresponds to our sin as well. Because of our sin, we deserve to drink the bowl of God's wrath. But here in Isaiah 51, verse 22, is wonderful news. Gospel hope. It says, thus says the Lord, your Lord, your God who pleads the cause of his people.

Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more. The gospel promise there is that God pleads our case. He interposes and takes that bowl of wrath that we deserve to drink.

Now we know that those who must drink that judgment on their own will suffer eternal.

Hell.

That's what hell is. It's the wrath of God for all eternity. Against lawbreakers. But here we learn that he takes from our hand the cup of staggering, the bowl of his wrath, that we would not drink it anymore.

So what comes of that wrath? I want you to picture Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. And he prays, Father, if there's any other way, yet let your will be done. He says, take this cup from me if there's any other way, yet let your will be done.

Submitting himself to the will of the Father, he takes the cup of wrath, the bowl of judgment that was owed to us sinners, and he drinks that bowl in full on the cross of Calvary. He takes God's wrath upon his own shoulders and dies the death that we deserve.

He stands in for us and drinks the cup of God's wrath. And in exchange, he offers us the cup of forgiveness. He takes our cup and drinks it and then gives us the cup of forgiveness in his blood. Isn't that a beautiful thing?

And that's what this table represents. His body broken for us, his blood poured out on the cross, and offering us forgiveness of sin. It's accomplished in his cross and we remember it in the table. So ushers, if you would come forward.

The ushers are going to distribute the bread and as you take a piece of bread broken, hold it in your hand and think about the meaning of the bread. Confess your sin. Take a moment to examine your heart and say, God, is there any impure way in me?

Examine me. And in that moment, confess your sin to God. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. If you'll please distribute the cup. And as you take the cup and hold that in your hand and look at the redness of the juice, remember his blood shed for you and rejoice that your sin debt is paid in full by his blood.

He has drunk the cup of judgment and in exchange has given you the cup of his righteousness, forgiveness of sin in his blood. So take a moment as you hold that cup to pray and give thanks for the forgiveness of sin.

Jesus, thank you so much for shedding your blood for our sin. Thank you for drinking the cup of our judgment and providing the cup of forgiveness. Your name we pray.

Amen.

In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

Amen.

Thank the Lord for his forgiveness of sin remembered in the Lord's table. Brothers and sisters, we have a special treat this morning. Dr. Timothy Warren is the senior professor of pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary.

He leads. All right, we got to cheer for Dr. Warren. He leads the Friday morning men's Bible study at Cooper Aerobic Center. He is also the president and guide for preaching camp ministries. And church, some of our young people who are here, who are looking at potentially going into the ministry, others who are elders, some other pastors from other local churches, will be joining us here on Monday and Tuesday.

And Pastor Warren is going to be working with us on our preaching. So we're so thankful we'll have him here the next couple of days. He provides continued training and encouragement for preachers serving in local churches.

Timothy earned a Master of Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary. That's also my alma mater. And a Doctor of Philosophy at Ohio State University. He pastored Grace Bible Church in Kanawha, Winchester, Ohio from 1978 to 1984.

He and Beverly have been married for 52 years. And they have three adult children and six grandchildren. And before you come, Dr. Warren, just on a personal note, I want to share with the folks that when my wife and I, we were missionaries in inner city Philadelphia for 12 years.

And Dr. Warren, among all the professors at Dallas, was the one who would write us encouraging notes very often. So Dr. Warren, we appreciate that. We love you, brother. Thank you for that. And we invite you to come and share the word of the Lord.

God's people.

All right.

Thank you, brother.

Beverly and I were married 52 years ago on Valentine's Day in Toledo, Ohio. Is there anybody here today who was there for our wedding? You were there? Were you there in Toledo, Ohio that night? Okay. I see one person who was here.

Raise your hand again. My best man, Gus Lottman. Joe and Gus Lottman's son, who grew up next door to me in Michigan. So we've known each other for, I can't even count that high, of many years. Probably over 65 years.

I don't know. Nice to see Gus and always a pleasure to visit with him when I come to New Jersey. I say that people who have never been to New Jersey do not know what a great state the Garden State is.

I know there may be some issues, but it is a great state. And I have always enjoyed coming and visiting and always found a great welcome here. And it's a privilege to be here today. And I'm glad to bring this message.

And this message is not just another sermon on another Sunday morning. This message is for every one of us in this room today. Because God has us all on a journey and he wants us to finish that journey.

And finish that journey well. It was May, the first Saturday in May of 1973, that a big red horse set off on a quest to do something that had not been done in 25 years. And that is to win the triple crown of racing.

The place was Louisville, Kentucky. The Kentucky Derby. And the last horse out of the gate that day was Secretariat. Behind everybody else, Secretariat ran a fast first quarter mile. Faster yet the second quarter mile.

Faster yet the third quarter mile. Still faster the fourth quarter mile. And coming home on the last quarter mile split, Secretariat ran the fastest of all of five quarter miles to win the race by two and a half lengths.

Set a course record, one minute, 59 and two-thirds second. A record that still stands. People who watched Secretariat go from last to first, faster and faster all the way, said, that horse knows how to finish.

Now they all wondered, because it had been a long time since there had been a triple crown winner, can he keep it up? And so they were on to Pimlico. And in Pimlico, Secretariat was the last horse out of a gate.

But won, again, by two and a half lengths, setting a track record that still stands today. Now Belmont is a quarter mile longer. And everybody thought this horse knows how to finish on a mile and a quarter, but can he do it if you add another quarter mile?

Can he win the triple crown? Out of the gate, Secretariat was the first and ran and ran and ran ahead of every other horse, finishing 31 lengths ahead of the second place horse, setting a track record that stands today.

People all across the nation, sports writers were asking the question, how is it that a horse can finish so well, can run the race and finish like that? Well, they found out a few years later. In 1989, when Secretariat died, they rushed his body to the University of Kentucky in Lexington, and Dr. Thomas Swierczak did the autopsy on the horse.

People were waiting to see not only what had killed him, but everything else that they could find out about the horse. Swierczak came out and spoke to the media. He said, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

I've done thousands of necropsies on horses, but this was amazing. Every vital organ was healthy and well. And there was only one exception to the normal, and that was the heart. The heart of an average thoroughbred weighs about nine pounds, he said.

This heart weighed half again as much. And was a third as big. Everything about that heart was perfect. It was just bigger. Now, he said, we know how. He was able to run and finish well. The conclusion of that was this.

Horses with big heart finish well. And Christians with a big heart of devotion to the Lord finish well. And that is God's desire for everyone in this room today. To have a big heart of devotion that allows you to finish this life race well.

That doesn't mean that it's always smooth and easy. We face problems, don't we? There are hurdles, there are detours, there are discouragements. You don't have to watch the news for five minutes to get discouraged.

So many people feel hopeless when persecution of Christians and biblical values are constantly being attacked. And when you may yourself receive personal attacks for being a person of the true faith once for all delivered to the saints.

It becomes a challenge that may make you want to step back and step away and just live life and survive. All of the discouragement, all of the hopelessness, all of the difficulty. And it may be a health issue.

It may be a relational issue. It may be an issue of debt. Do y 'all realize how much money you owe every one of you because our government is in debt? It's incredible the burden that comes upon us and some people just throw up their hands and give up the race and say it's not worth it anymore.

Through all of this, I believe that there is a way that we can run the race God has for every one of us. We can be faithful, we can finish well. How do we do that? That's the question I want to answer today.

Finishing the Race with a Big Heart of Devotion

In order to answer that question, I want us to turn first of all to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. It's a classic text. The author of Hebrews has been writing to, guess what?

Hebrew people. Jewish people who are Christians. They have believed that Jesus is the eternal God. He is the Lord of creation and he is the Lamb of redemption. The promised Messiah. And they placed their faith in Jesus as their Messiah who paid the debt for them on the cross and they became true believers.

But as a result of that, they were facing persecution. Their family members rejected them. Their employers fired them. Their communities ostracized them. And they were thinking, you know, if I just step back from my Christian faith a little.

If I just silence my voice about my faith a little. If I just go back and practice the old ways of doing church, maybe I won't be persecuted. Maybe life won't be so difficult anymore. I think I'll just step back.

And they were in danger of their hearts shrinking. And so the author writes to these Hebrew believers to encourage them that the sacrifice that was made was a once for all sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross who was resurrected and ascended into heaven.

And that there was no way to turn back. All they could do was press forward and finish and finish well. And in chapter 11, you remember how he says, it's possible with all of the difficulties that you may be facing today.

It is possible to run and finish well. And he goes through a list of people who had faith enough to pursue God in the midst of difficulty. And so he begins chapter 12 with these words. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, people who have run and finished well, let us lay aside every encumbrance, our doubt, our discouragement, our hopelessness, and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down in glory at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus faced persecution.

He faced rejection. He was betrayed. He was falsely accused and tried and crucified, but he went joyfully. And what was the result? He's now glorified. At the throne of God. What a great hope. What a great witness he gives us of God's plan for us.

The joy set before us, enduring whatever comes our way for the glory that is to follow. So watch verse three. Consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart is a literal way of translating this.

Look to Jesus so that you do not lose heart. God doesn't want your heart to shrink because of discouragement or persecution. He wants your heart of devotion to grow into a big heart that will finish well.

And guess what? We're not alone in this. We have a great host of people who have lived that way. Witnesses who will say it's possible. They're sitting in the stands saying, press on, press on. Right across the page from Hebrews 12 in my Bible.

Chapter 11, verse 30. There's a key verse that makes a key reference to an Old Testament individual. And I'm going to have a quiz here for Pastor Jeff to see if he gets to stay here and keep trying to lead you people.

I don't want you to shout out a name until I ask you to. But I want you to look at chapter 11, verse 30. It's one of those many witnesses who by faith saw the walls of Jericho fall down after they had encircled it for seven days.

Now on the count of three to see if he keeps his job. I want you to shout out the name of the individual that comes to mind. One, two, three. Whoa, he's doing well, isn't he? He's doing well. The writer of Hebrews who wants people not to lose heart says, look to Joshua.

Joshua is one of those witnesses. Joshua is a person who lived in such a way as to finish well and provide you an example to follow. So I want to look back in the Old Testament at the life of Joshua and try to see if we can uncover the secret strategy that allowed him to run and to finish well.

You know, in Numbers chapter 32, verse 12, when God himself sums up the life of Joshua, he says, and Joshua followed the Lord wholeheartedly. Joshua had a big heart of devotion for the Lord. When he comes to the end of his life in chapter 24 of the book of Joshua, he's on the last lap and he says to the people who follow, he says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord till the end of my days.

So I want to look at two principles, two strategies from Joshua that will help us to develop a big heart of devotion to the Lord so that we might finish well and enter into glory with joy. Because at the end of the race, when you finish, there's joy, there's glory.

I want you to look first at Joshua chapter 5. Joshua chapter 5, we're going to begin at verse 13. Moses has died. Joshua has taken over the leadership of the nation of Israel. They've been in slavery in Egypt for 400 years.

They've wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and now Joshua is taking over and he has led the people across the Jordan River. He has called them to repentance and revival in the beginning of chapter 5.

But now the next obstacle to taking the land and the plan of God is the fortified city of Jericho. Jericho sits there at the entrance. They're a huge fort city to protect the land of Canaan. And Joshua's going, I don't know how to take this city.

And so while the people are camping in the wilderness, Joshua walks off to have a little bit of time to himself to try to figure out a plan so that they can go forward on the race that God has given them.

So look with me at verse 13. Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold a man standing opposite him with a sword drawn in his hand and Joshua went to him and said to him, are you for us or for our adversaries?

This is a bold moment. Joshua's in the middle of a crisis. He's got to take the city. He doesn't know how. He's out in the wilderness all alone. He's behind enemy lines. And he sees a man standing there with a sword drawn.

I know what Timothy would do. I would turn and run. But what does he do? He confronts the man and he says, are you for us or are you for our adversaries? That's bold. That's courageous. Well, remember God has told him be bold and courageous.

And so he's showing that. Notice the answer. Verse 14. The man said, no, rather indeed I come now as captain of the host of the Lord. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and bowed down and said, what has my Lord to say to his servant?

And the captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, remove your sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua did so in the great moment of crisis behind enemy lines, wondering how am I going to take this fortified city?

This man shows up and he says, I'm from the Lord of hosts. And he falls down on his face to do reverence and fear before this individual. This is the kind of thing that would be a natural response to an angel.

By the way, if you ever have an angel appear, you know, just take a pause, be silent, you know, listen, be afraid. Maybe get down on your knees. That's what Joshua did. But, you know, throughout the scripture, we learn that when human beings are confronted by an angel from heaven and they fall down on their faces before the angel, we know this because of Daniel.

We know this because of John and Revelation. The angel, the messenger from heaven says, no, no, no, stand up, stand up. We worship the same God. We bow down to the same God in heaven. You don't bow down to an angel.

But this individual not only didn't say, get up, get up. He said, oh, Joshua, get your sandals off your feet because you are on holy ground. You are in the presence of the Lord of heaven. And Joshua did so.

Now, what does this tell us? This tells us that this person was the eternal God, the creator, was the lamb of God, the redeemer, who before he became incarnate in the person of Jesus from time to time in the Old Testament would appear as the angel of the Lord.

This was the second person of the Godhead come in human form in a moment of crisis to give instruction to Joshua on how to accomplish God's plan. When Joshua most needed God to show up, God was there in the person of the second person of the Godhead before he became the incarnate Jesus.

Joshua knew God personally. He knew him personally. That's part of the secret of how you can finish well. You need to know God personally. That's what the author of Hebrews was saying to these people.

You know God personally. You have placed your faith in him, the once and for all sacrifice for sin, the promise of glory. Know God personally. And the only way to have a relationship with God the Father, the only way to experience sins forgiven, the only way to have the hope of heaven and the bowl of grace rather than the bowl of God's judgment is to place faith in this person, the one that Joshua knew.

But the fact that he showed up in this moment of crisis should not surprise us. Keep your finger there on Joshua, but turn back to chapter 33 of Exodus. This is part of the story of Joshua's journey. This is the Old Testament showing us the witness of Joshua's life, of how he was able to accomplish the mission, the race God had him on.

And in Exodus chapter 33, Moses is still in charge. The people are wandering in the wilderness. The instructions for the tabernacle have been given. They're building the tabernacle, but they also built a tent, another little tabernacle that they called the tent of meeting, and they set it outside the camp, like about over there among the trees out there, and there was a tent of meeting.

And that's where Moses got instructions from the Lord on how to lead the people of Israel. You remember, Moses didn't have a Bible. Can you think of that? What did he do for devotions?

Who did he read?

You know, no Bible. So how does he know what to do? He goes out to the tent of meeting, and he gets instruction from the Lord. Now, I want you to watch what's going on here, because this whole story is my favorite, one of my favorite stories.

Chapter 33 of Exodus, verse 7. Now, Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

And it came about, whenever Moses went into the tent, that all of the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and they would gaze after Moses until he entered the tent. Moses walks out to the tent of meeting, and word goes through the camp, Moses going out to the tent of meeting, and everybody would run to their own tent.

And they would get behind the flap of their tent, and they would watch what's happening, because they remembered what happened on Sinai. When God met with Moses on the mountain, there's thunder, there's lightning, this big cloud of darkness comes down.

It was a scary thing. The people trembled, and they knew it was about to happen again. God was going to meet with Moses, this time in the tent. Look at verse 9. Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses, and when the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance, the tent flap of their own tent, waiting in anticipation and fear.

And thus, the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. Can you imagine that? Here's Moses, goes to the tent of meeting, the cloud comes down, and God shows up in person, and he's talking to him, like I'm just talking with Jeff right now, and he's like Moses.

I'm like God, he's like Moses. He's just sitting there going, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yeah. But look, it's face to face, man to man, and God showed up in person and spoke to Moses and gave him instructions.

Isn't that amazing? Watch the rest of the verse. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. What does that tell you? Tells you, number one, that Joshua was there when God showed up and spoke mano to mano with Moses, and that when Moses left the tent to come back to the people, Joshua stayed.

Here's the second part of that first principle. He not only knew God personally, he nurtured a personal relationship with God. It wasn't that out of the blue, God showed up in that moment of crisis. It was that Joshua was developing all along the journey a big heart of devotion for the Lord.

Wouldn't it be something to overhear the conversation between God and Moses? That'd be in Hebrew, so we wouldn't understand it, but if we could, that would have been something. But here's Joshua now having the same kind of devotional development of nurturing his relationship with the Lord, and this is what the author of Hebrews wants us to be aware.

Of.

That if we want to run the race and finish well looking unto Jesus, we not only need to know him personally, we need to nurture our relationship with him. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

That's good. That's great. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. That's good. But for many people, it stops there. They go, I'm good. Sin's forgiven. I'll go to heaven when I die.

That's it. Notice I'm not talking to you today. I'm talking to all the people who aren't here. Okay, so you're here. You are continuing to develop that big heart of devotion to the Lord. It's also, and he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own.

And the joy we share as we tarry there, I don't think any other person has ever known. Because something is going on there, and in the nurturing of that relationship, in the devotion, through attending the coming together of the fellowship, in Bible study, in personal devotion, in giving, in service, on mission, nurturing that relationship with the God of eternity.

If you want to run and finish well, not only do you know God personally, but you nurture a personal relationship with him. When I was a teenager, I went to a church camp, and the speaker at the end of the church camp around the fire, you know, when they try to force you into making some decision, told this story.

He said in 1519 when Hernando Cortez, the Spanish conquistador, landed in the harbor at Veracruz, he unloaded all of his ships and all of their supplies, and then he sent back a small contingent to burn all of the ships but one that was immediately sent back to Spain for reinforcements.

And he turned to his men, and he said, you can either stay here on the beach without any supplies and die, or you can go with me into the tangled jungle where there's snakes and all kinds of things going on so that we can get to Montezuma and his gold and come back in glory.

You decide. Do you stay here, which is not to make a decision, or do you decide to go on? And the speaker said, and so you need to make a once-for-all decision. Either you'll follow Christ or you won't.

And I thought later, what a lousy picture of the Christian life. You don't make a once-for-all decision. You make a day-by-day, sometimes hour-by-hour decision that not only do you know him, but you trust him and you fellowship with him.

That's how you will finish well in spite of health, in spite of financial, in spite of relational, in spite of persecution problems. Nurture a personal relationship with God. But there's more, one more principle for you, and that is that you anticipate God's supernatural intervention.