Special Event – Summary Statements; 2 Timothy 4:1-8: Dr. David Fleming, 02/22/26

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[00:00:00] How many of you been watching the Olympics? Come on, be honest. Yeah. I love the Olympics. I do. It's the, you know, it's the thing like, so this is the Winter Olympics. I enjoy that. I love the Summer Olympics, and I've been following along. Uh, I, I don't. The way the schedule works out, I don't really care to sit and watch the whole thing over again.

'cause by the time it comes on here, it's already happened there and the surprise is lost. Right. But boy, have there been some very interesting things happening in this particular Olympics and And it sort of came together for me on Wednesday morning when there had been a few competitions and some outcomes.

And then the very next morning, Wednesday morning of verse of scripture came out in my daily reading. And it just lined up. And I thought, oh my goodness, what a cool coincidence. Providence, God ordered thing. Spoke a little bit only in chapel on Wednesday if you happen to be there. Thanks for hanging in here with this one.

This will be the expanded version, [00:01:00] but, uh, it, it, it came about with some summary statements that some of the athletes had made, not, not anything controversial. I don't wanna deal with that. I just wanna think about what an athlete comes off the ice or off the floor or off the arena or in our context, off the field.

Whatever you think, what's the first thing they say? And how do they respond and how do they self-assess? And so, uh, there have been some interesting ones this last week or so, for example, Quinn Hughes of the US Ben's hockey team, which, uh, either is playing or has played. Don't say it if you know, I don't wanna know.

'cause they're gonna play that game later. But we're playing Canada. Boo. His Canada, our neighbors to the north. And when Quinn Hughes made the, uh, overtime goal winning shot and moved them to the semifinals, he said, what? You would expect a guy on a team to say the whole tournament is not about me, it's about the group.

Amen. Great. Always a good reminder. Hey, when it's a team sport, say something nice about your team members and [00:02:00] teammates. And he did Quinn Hughes, uh, another one. I think. This guy, oh my goodness. Did you see this yesterday? In Norway, they say you must win a 50 K to become a man. I think I am one now. That's great.

He won his sixth medals named Johannes Cabo men's cross country skier from Norway, which by the way, they're just killing everybody as always. And by the way, America's had its best Winter Olympics ever in history. They're doing great, but they're not Norway, right? Where. They just excel obviously at winter Sports, and I thought this was fascinating.

When he took the finish line, came across one, he said, I guess I'm a man now. Now you know what the thinking in Norway is and how they are just so good at what they do. Breezy Johnson, she won the gold medal. She said, don't jump in them. I was jumping in excitement and it broke. Wait, you got a national [00:03:00] audience, an international moment, and you remind people not to jump in their gold medals 'cause they'll break and hers broke.

Funny what people will say. This one a little sadder. Good gracious. This young man can fly, can. Yes. His name is Illian Melanin. He can fly. He's a skater. Like I've like no one really has ever seen, sadly, probably they call him the quad god, which probably isn't all that. Helpful to a guy 21 years old on the national, international stage, the Olympics.

Oh my goodness. And of course, if you watched or you've read or you followed it, you know what happened? He's a favorite for the gold medal in the men's. And he fell, I think twice. And when he came off the ice conversation later, he said, oh, it was a lot. He's talking about the pressure, the weight of the moment, uh, and the fact that all my life, this is what I've done.

And it sort of all came flooding back to me. In the moment and it was a lot. I think we can [00:04:00] all connect to that statement. It was a lot. Well, I felt a lot of pressure. I weighted the world expectations, my own expectations, all the training and all I put into this in this very moment. I just felt suddenly the weight of it.

And of course I think he finished off the platform in somewhere around eighth place or so. Sad. He won a gold medal for the team. Good for him. We'll see more of him. He's amazing. He'll do great. Summary statements, the things you think about when you come off the ice or when you leave the field or when the game is over to sort of review and think back.

Now, I don't want to get this confused with famous last words, right? Because these people aren't dying. They're just moving on in their competition and training. They're not, and I don't want to think about famous last words, although that's a great topic and there are some amazing. Famous last words we could consider.

Of course, we'd have to start with the seven last words of Jesus on the cross. But now I want us to think more about, uh, from an athletic perspective, since we're finishing the Olympics today. Think about what you and I might say when we come to a place in life where we [00:05:00] find Paul in second Timothy chapter four, verse seven.

Here's what he said. I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I have kept the faith.

Any athlete on any field rink, diamond of competition would wanna be able to walk off their particular field and say that it's a triumphant statement. It really is a summary of victory. There's a lot in that. And so our roadmap today will take us into the context of that verse. We'll look a little bit broader, and then we'll go a little deeper into that statement, especially the summary statement I'm calling it, and then back to the roadmap, and then we will, well, hang on folks.

This is what happens when you rush and you saw me rushing when I came in. [00:06:00] Well, the roadmap is good. It's going to be, it's going to be the context and then Paul's summary statement, and then we're gonna talk about writing our own summary statement, writing our own. Now we're ready to jump into the context, and what we'll do is go back to chapter four verse one and read together from that passage of scripture.

In fact, I've got it right here and I'm just gonna read it for you if you don't mind. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus. And this is Paul writing to Timothy Timothy's, the young protege, his mentee, Paul expressing years and years of wisdom, a prayer for the future, and a charge for young Timothy.

Preach the word he says, be ready in season and out of season. Reprove rebuke exhort with complete patience and teaching for bit of an admonition here for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching. But having itching years, they will accumulate for themselves, teachers to suit [00:07:00] their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Ask for you, Timothy. Be sober minded. Endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. Fulfill your ministry. Not someone else's, not mine. Fulfill your ministry. Fulfill your ministry. Fulfill your ministry. Very personal from Paul to Timothy to remind him that God had a plan and a purpose for young Timothy's life.

Timothy wasn't saved, trained and equipped, mentored, and strategically positioned to do whatever in the world he wanted to do with his life. All of this. Was for a purpose. All of this was wrapped up in the purposes of God. It's a great reminder for us in the context that all of us are young. Timothys in a sense, who have [00:08:00] to prayerfully and diligently pursue God's will for our lives.

Not a collective will, not a corporate will, but a personal will. What does God want with my life? You ask yourself that question lately, what does God want from me? And, and don't, if you don't mind, don't just lay out some broad, general verse that applies to everybody. That's fine. That's good. Those are good starting places.

Oftentimes they perform, uh, become sort of the guardrails to help us be more specific about God wants from our unique life. But we shouldn't probably just lay it off in some general, go you therefore, and make disciples. Well, yeah, but that applies to all of us all the time. Everywhere.

What's required of me. You. Oh man. Do you know what it is? Love God. [00:09:00] So, so it's easy for us to say, well that applies to me. 'cause it applies to her. Yeah. But what only applies to you do, do you think that the God of the universe who made snowflakes. Different from every other snowflake and fingerprints different from every other.

Fingerprint, doesn't have the kind of minute mindset for detail, so as to prepare you. For his purposes, I charge you, Paul said, fulfill your ministry. Four. Paul now writes verse. Six. I am already being poured out. This is a charge from a Roman prison cell. By the way, preach the word and then we'll go to the screen so we can get a little closer for I'm already being poured out.

Paul says, as a drink offering, in the time of my departure has come, what's happening? Paul's in a Roman cell. [00:10:00] Paul's writing a charge of encouragement to Timothy as he's facing his own death. Death by execution that term, poured out, poured out as a drink offering is very rich. It's symbolic of sacrifice and devotion.

Paul sees himself as, as being laid on the altar, if you will, but not in a. A passive sense in an active sense. Paul chose to be here. Remember, if I'm already being poured out as a drink offering, the time of my departure has come, is a sailor's term. It means to lift the anchor and set sail. We're outta here.

Time's up. It's over. The last bell has rung. We're at zero on the game Clock. Game over. I'm ready to sail. I'm [00:11:00] gone. I have, and here's the phrase of our focus today. Fought the good fight, finished the race, kept the faith, hence forth. Verse eight says, keep it in context. There is laid up for me, the crown of righteousness.

It's not a gold medal. It's better. It's more like a wreath that a winner in the games back in Athens would've won after the race. But in Paul's sense, he's seeing it as the crown of. Righteousness. What does he win? He wins the reward of righteousness. His. Think about that. Whose righteousness do we have in Christ?

We have the righteousness of Christ. We talked about that two weeks ago. We are imputed with the righteousness of Christ. He removes our sin and shame taken upon himself on the cross, and he deposits into our bankrupt account, his righteousness so that we can stand rightly before the father. Right, because our righteousness is insufficient, so we need his, and [00:12:00] now there's this crown of righteousness.

So it's like he's finished the race and he's been filled up now with the fullness of the righteousness of Christ. And that's his reward, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day. And you see the symbolism and the imagery here. Paul's been around the games. And as he writes to Timothy, he's causing Timothy to think about things like the Olympic games and the races that they would run, or the contest that they would contest, and at the end how the winner stands.

And they all cheer and applaud and the judge declares winner and the place on his head a crown, and, and he gets the adulation and the appreciation and the affirmation of a crowd of fans. He's one. Paul says, I'm gonna have a day like that when the righteous judge awards to me that crown of righteousness.

Ah, but look at this. Not only to me, [00:13:00] but also to all, all who have loved his appearing. What's that mean? Well, all means how many folks

should I parse the Greek there for you? Do. Do you need me to get out the dictionary? All means me. Are you in all? Alright, so you qualify right with the condition that all who have loved his appearing. What does that mean? Loved his appearing. Loved. His appearing means he didn't sneak up on you. You were looking for him.

He didn't shock you and surprise you, although his coming will be. All of those things as we know. Matthew 24 is a great place to read, but. Here. What Paul is saying is, is we've been expecting you, Lord, we've been preparing for your return. We've been training for this event. Think about that. How many of these Olympic athletes show up on the first day of the games and say, [00:14:00] whew, hope this goes well.

Hadn't worked out in months. I, I, I haven't skied. When was the last time I skied? Hmm. What do they do? They are prepared. They show up on race day, game day, ready. I mean, all the science and all the nutrition and all the training, everything comes together for that moment in time for that very moment in time.

And that's what it is to love his appearing. It's to look forward to and toward the moment. The moment. Think about that. The moment we see Jesus face to face, I get goosebumps just saying it the moment, because the moment is the culmination of, in Paul's case, at least a lifetime of training and preparation and pursuit, [00:15:00] and that's what he's saying to Timothy.

Timothy, there's a moment in your future. Be ready for that moment. Love his appearing, long for his coming. Be ready on game day. When you stand before the judge, the righteous judge, and he awards that crown of righteousness, you want him to place it on your head.

So in this context, Paul says. What is somewhat a summary statement in strictly athletic terms. That's why the contest is, or the context is so good this time of, of, uh, year and every four years, I suppose in the winter, Paul's summary statement begins with, I have fought the good fight. Interesting. The word is word play on, uh, the Greek word agonism, mi.

It's, uh. A agony. I hear. [00:16:00] Do you hear agony? I have fought the good fight. What fight? What fight? Well, the Greek word that you have there below is co colon. It's the second one that you see. Uh, and it means the ideal one. It it's the right one. In the English translation, it, it means it's not a random one.

It's not just anyone. It's the one I fought. The good fight, again, the specificity of Paul. And that what he has done has not been something random or even something self-chosen. It was assigned. It was assigned. It's the one God had for him. It's the one God put him in. It's the one God prepared him for.

It's the one God sustained him through. And for every Christian, bringing in a moment of leadership here for, for all of us. We will not lack opportunities in life, even as a Christian, even in ministry, [00:17:00] we will not lack for opportunities. There are many, but we are not looking for opportunities. We are looking for assignments.

Do you see the distinction? There's a difference. Opportunities come in any number of shapes, forms, and from all various kinds of places. Assignments come from God. So can we do this Probably. Would it be a good thing? Probably. But would it be the right thing? Only if it's a God thing? I think in this context we, we wanna sort of try to understand the depth of imagery here.

What Paul is saying is that we're all athletes in a sense, and if we're going to stand on the winner's podium, the day of the race. And receive that crown of righteousness and hear those words well done. Good and faithful servant. We're going to need to have run the right race, fought the good [00:18:00] fight.

Those two go together. There's a parallelism there. There's a redundancy, if you will, or repetition of the singleness of our focus to make sure that what we do isn't something good, but something God. So I ask you again, what has God made you for?

For what reason has he recreated you in Christ Jesus? For we are His workmanship. Ephesians two verse 10. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which you ready? God has prepared beforehand for us that we should walk in them.

So this is not a corporate calling. This is not a collective. We're the church and this is what we're supposed to be doing. I wanna get really specific today. What are you doing? [00:19:00] What has God called you to do and to be? That's really, really important. I fought the good fight is to say it was a battle. It was tough.

There was opposition, there was oppression, there was persecution. Paul went through it all. You know Paul's story. I mean from being rejected as a deeply religious man, a leader among his community, a pharisee of Pharisees, of all the right pedigrees, a resume par excellence, and yet to turn from all of that and to be rejected by all of those, could be beaten, could be in prison.

I guess you could throw shipwreck in there. Not a great day Snake bit. And now facing an unjust execution. It's a battle. It really is. It's a, it's a bit of a fight, isn't it? And we don't need to understand the Christian life. We have sometimes expectations that everything [00:20:00] should be easy and simple and glorious and wonderful.

And I had somebody say to me just yesterday, pastor, I just have to tell you the truth. I get along better. With my lost neighbors than I do to people in my church. I said, what church do you go to? I didn't ask her that, but she said, it's just such a struggle sometimes. She asked me what I thought and I said, well, to be honest with you, when you're where you're supposed to be doing what you're supposed to be doing, you should be expecting some opposition just out there in that hallway, just through those doors.

One Sunday morning I preached in this room and walking down the hall to preach in the other room. I'm gonna say a fellow stopped me and said, Hey Pastor, we seem to be getting some pushback. You think this opposition means that we going in the wrong direction? And I [00:21:00] said, maybe that also might mean we're going in the right direction.

If we battle the flesh, we battle the world, we battle the devil. Why would he make it easy on you? Man, come on. If Jesus faced suffering, tribulation, persecution, the servant is not greater than his master, what would we expect? Peter said, don't be shocked when trouble comes on. You don't act like we're the only person on the course.

The only team on the field. We have enemies, we have opposition. We face an enemy who prowls about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may encourage help along the way. Make sure you get to heaven just fine. No scars, no trauma, no difficulty. Really want to cushion your ride. No, it says he seeks to devour.

Jesus said he comes to steal and to kill. [00:22:00] That's that's our opponent. So it's a fight, folks. It's a battle. And for somebody who feels a little discouraged because they feel a little battle weary, let, let me twist that and turn that and encourage you with that to say at least the devil knows where you are.

At least you're in the struggle, in the battle. In fact, if anything, if Christians are having a very easy way, it may be because they're going. The wrong way, or they're so far out of the way that the devil in his crowd doesn't need to worry about you, bother with you. Ah, he's not gonna hurt anybody letting go.

In fact, he's doing more harm for the kingdom than he's doing. Good. Encourage that guy. But for the rest of you that wanna walk in God's way and do God's will, just go ahead and expect you're gonna need to get your gloves on. Train a little. [00:23:00] Condition, prepare resource, fight the good fight with the knowledge that at the end of the day, we're only working out the victory God has already worked in, right?

We go to the cross. What was Jesus doing? Battling and winning and overcoming so that when that dynamic spiritual transaction happens, our sin goes, his righteousness comes. What comes with it. Victory, victory power, the ability to overcome, to win on game day, that all comes in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling presence of the very person of God who on the cross overcame all opposition.

He's a winner. And if he's resident in you, guess what you are. You're a winner. Doesn't mean you win every battle. It doesn't mean every skirmish don't get a little bit on you, but [00:24:00] listen, at the end of the day, you're fighting for victory or you're fighting from victory, which sounds easier. I hope I win or hang on a minute, I'm a winner.

Why am I acting like a loser? Why am I getting beat around like some loser? I'm a winner. I've already got a gold medal. I've already got the crown of righteousness in Christ. It's an already not yet, but I wanna get the not yet a little closer to the already, if you know what I mean, and live out and work out and walk out the victory that God has worked in through Christ to us.

Paul says, I fought the good fight of finish the race, finished it not any race, not a walk in the park on a Sunday afternoon, though today it'd be a beautiful day for a walk in the park. No, no, I finished the race, the specificity, purposeful ministry, the journey that God had set before him. The [00:25:00] race. What race?

I didn't know there was a race.

Some people think the Christian life's just an easy stroll, but in reality, if we have something to do in somewhere to be with some sense of urgency because time is not on this side of the veil. Eternal clocks tick it down. And we've got to engage and run the race that's set before us. What's God called us to?

What? What has he prepared us for? What has he put before us? Again? I wanna be very specific and ask you to be very specific in your understanding of why you're still here. I don't know how old you are. I can guess.

But here's one thing. I know if you're still here, there's probably a reason. What is it? It's a scary question, but I dare you to ask God, why am I still here? [00:26:00] And hope he doesn't say, oh yeah,

why are you still there? I meant for you to be up here years ago. Come on up here. That'd be okay. Just go ahead and get your affairs in order before you ask, but short of that, just ask the sovereign, omnipotent, God, why am I on this planet now, not 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, not yesterday, today?

God, why am I on this planet today? I mean, surely the sovereign God of the universe can orchestrate events and circumstances to put me where he needs me and wants me to be, to do what He's called me to do. Now today, why am I here, Lord? What race am I supposed to be running? By the way, it's clearly in the language that, that this is a long race.

This is a marathon. This is not a sprint. This isn't a flash and finish. [00:27:00] Tied up in this language is endurance, perseverance, patience, hardship, difficulties. Trust me, it's hard. I trained for a marathon once.

That's all I'll say about that. It's hard. Do you know, to run a marathon, you should be able to run about 18 or 19 miles at a one time before the marathon training. 'cause it's, it's not accidental to go out on race day and run a 26 mile race. Most people can't do that.

So you have to run about 17, 18, 19 miles or so for a marathon training run. Why was having a hard time with double digits?[00:28:00]

And I walk around 10 and that's about it. 'cause it's just too hard. It takes too long. Hurts too bad. So I trained for a marathon. Others run marathons. Others can tell you about the second wind, which I like to think of as the Holy Spirit coming on when your legs are given and giving you just what you need to get across the finish line.

But listen, I just wanna tell you, a lot of people start fast. And they look great off the starting line. Have the right clothes, you got the right joggers, shoes, everything's just, they look like a winner. But you go out too fast, you, you're not trained, you don't have endurance, you can't persevere through hardship.[00:29:00]

Your legs start to scream. Your lungs start to scream and well, there you go. But in a marathon, you gotta pace yourself. You gotta be prepared for difficulties to endure and to persevere and to keep going. Even when everything in you says, why are you doing this? Give it up. Give it up. Hall said, I never gave up.

I finished the race. It was tough. It was hard. It was difficult. There were lots of times where I had the opportunity to turn back. I might even have wanted to, but it never did. Because it was more important to me to stand on the finish line than it was to fall by the wayside or cheat along the way. I finished, got to the finish line.

Powerful story. One of the most powerful moments of the games was yesterday happened to catch this 50 kilometers. That's 30 miles of. [00:30:00] Skiing up and down hills and around and all that cross country skiing. Norway's the undisputed king of it, right? And this guy, number one, is wearing number one for a reason.

Cla Bo's, his name after 50 kilometers, almost 31 miles, two plus hours. This guy at the end kicked it. I mean, it had been the three of them all from Norway and then the two of them, both from Norway and in the last kilometer. It was like somebody else came down and got in his skis, somebody who had not skied 30 plus miles over the last two hours, fresh as he could be with energy, like lightning, and he surged up a hill and put, I don't know, probably 30, 40 yards on the guy behind him, maybe 50, look back one time, and it was over crossed the finish line.

There's his victory pose, and as soon as he crossed, you know what he did? He did a [00:31:00] jig. He did a dance. He jumped up and down. He ran up and hugged all his family. No, no, no, no, no. He went down, straight down as if he had nothing left to give demonstrating. I think that he'd left it all on the course that he wasn't holding anything back.

He didn't save any energy or resource or power for the celebration he had given it all in the race. He'd put it all on the line, as we say in Summer Olympics. He left it all in the pool. He'd finished the race. What a great image for us Christians, that the closer we get to the finish line, the more important it is to stay on the course and to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Until we cross the finish line. Great story. And then Paul says in his summary statement, I've kept the faith [00:32:00] probably the most important of the statement. Almost a summary statement of the summary statement. Because if you fight the good fight and finish the race, but let go of your faith at the last minute, well, what have you won?

So Paul says, I've kept the faith. You know that word piston? The Greek word faith means to believe I, I've kept believing. It signifies Paul's guarding of the truth of the gospel and maintaining personal loyalty to Jesus Christ and staying true to God's word, despite obstacles, despite opposition, despite all the difficulties, even persecution, even opportunities to turn back and not suffer what he's about to suffer at the hands of Rome.

Paul said, I've kept the faith. I've kept the faith. It makes us wonder a little bit. Will I keep the faith? Is it possible that Paul might not have kept the faith and broken faith? Lost faith? Rejected faith, [00:33:00] I suppose, but he didn't. And isn't that the point? And you won't, isn't that the point? I think if we think about it, all the things that Paul might have been tempted by.

Or of all the opposition of persecution that might've turned him away from the faith. He stuck to it. He worked through it,

and so will you. 'cause I've got good news for you. Good news. Point number one, the grace that saves is the grace that sustains.

And good news, good news. Point number two. If you start to feel like you're loosening your grip on him, just remember he's not losing his grip on you.

So failure's not an option. [00:34:00] Quitting is not on the table finishing, and it's keeping the faith that's strong and abiding, faith and belief and trust, and a dog, a desire to finish. That is the expression of our faith and trusting in Jesus and what he's done for us on the cross is what'll bring us to the finish line.

So I want us to take a few minutes. We have left 10 or so. Okay. 15. And talk about planning our own summary statement. Can I help you with that a little bit. Been talking to you about it, been asking you to, do you have one? Have you been thinking about? What will you say when you step off the pitch off the field, off the ice?

Number one, can I suggest by the way that we are all getting closer to the finish line?

You say, oh, I'm young. Yeah, but you are older than you were yesterday and tomorrow [00:35:00] you'll be older than you are today, which means you'll be one step closer to the finish line. So we wanna think about this, keep this in mind. Maybe start to plan and think a little bit about what that day looks like so it doesn't sneak up on us.

Shock us and surprise us and catch us unprepared or unaware. Oops. So first I recommend, I wanna say for me, and I'll encourage you to think about it too. Nurture your personal relationship to Jesus. Notice I include the words personal and relationship. Be careful of box checking and things tend to become old hat or comfortable or routine, and we just sort of check boxes.

Of course, I go to church, of course, I'm in a small group. Of course, this course, that course. But be careful to nurture the personal nature and aspect of your. Individual relationship to Jesus. [00:36:00] Don't just go through the motions, not just for the sake of religion or even for my church, but just like you came to Jesus, not because you came to a church or because you embrace some religion, or you agreed to start checking some boxes or follow some sort of moralistic code.

No, you came. In a personal relationship with Jesus, you met him. You wanna finish like you started, and the way to finish, like you started is stay the course every day. So listen to me. Focus on your relationship to Jesus, not do you know him? That's a good upstarting question. The better question now for most of us is how well do you know him?

Focus on your relationship. Secondly, stay in the word and in prayer. That's our [00:37:00] lifeline. Stay in the word and in prayer. Read the Bible. Say I've read it before. Read it again. I've read it a lot of times. Read it again. I promise you, you hadn't got to the bottom of it yet. There's more to discover there.

There really is lots more. Don't just read about the Bible. That's helpful. That's good. Read the Bible. And pray through the Bible and ask the Lord to speak to you through his word.

But you know, reading the Bible and praying, one of those things you probably can do until the day you die. Number three, stay outta sin

and say, you really have to say that. Yeah, say it young and old. Sin is still serious. Doesn't matter how long you've been saved, right? And sin becomes the weight in the Hebrews athletic illustration that so easily [00:38:00] besets us. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily. Beset means it gets us off course.

It's like dragging a boat anchor on a marathon. Who does that? Do you ever seen these people buy these leaded vests to run in? What? I got enough lead. I don't need a vest. Right. Why do people do that? Put weights around their ankles to do aerobics and jazzercize and stuff. I don't need that. You see my ankles.

I don't need that. I got enough weight to carry. I'm trying to lose weight, not add weight. Well, sin is a weight that weights us down. And, and you wanna be careful because you know, when you're of a certain age and and stage of life, sin looks like something. That other people do that, you go, I don't do that anymore.

I've outgrown that. I don't have a need for that. Oh, but you've got some at your aging stage they ain't found yet. [00:39:00] You know, you may not be going out bar hopping in, whatever else you wanna throw into that category. You call sin. But how's your attitude? How's your love? How's your forgiveness? Do you know unforgiveness is a sin?

Did you know that? Yes. Do you know hating somebody in your heart and mind is a sin? Do you remember that? Do you know worshiping idols is a sin? You don't have to go out on Saturday night to do those things. You can do that right at home in your recliner. You can be right there as comfortable as you could be.

Sin in all the way. Stay away from sin really. We got no room for it on board.

It's still serious. Look at the cross if you wanna know how serious sin is, so stay outta sin. And fourthly, stay in church and in Christian fellowship, turn to your neighbor and [00:40:00] say, you got this one right. No, really. Go ahead. Say to your neighbor. Good job. You check the box you're in. Church. Well done. It is as important, y'all.

I mean, you know the old adage, if you want to catch a cold, what do you do? Get around somebody who's got a cold. You wanna catch the flu? Get around somebody that's got the flu. You wanna catch a bad attitude? Get around. Hank. No, I mean, I I didn't mean that, I didn't mean that. I I didn't mean that. I hear you wanna catch a bad attitude.

Get around somebody with a bad attitude. You wanna catch a good attitude. Get around Hank. Does that make up for it? It's the power of association. It's a powerful, powerful power of association because we become like who we hang around with. So if you don't like the people you're hanging around with, look in the mirror.

If you've been there just long enough, you might be just like 'em, and that's what you don't like about 'em. Swap 'em out. [00:41:00] Get around Charles Mickey. He'll encourage you. Get around people that give you life, not suck the life out of, get around people who think spiritual thoughts and say spiritual things.

Those are the kind of people who want. That's why church is so important. And the older we get, the more likely it is perhaps that we say, I've been there, done that. No, you hadn't. At least not done yet. So stay in church and stay in fellowship and have the right friends around you if you wanna finish.

Well, here's what it looks like. Same race yesterday, same winner. Flying in formation, baby, encouraging each other. Do you think they're like quacking or barking or, or is it just the power of presence that I got you back. I'm here. We're in the flow. We're in the envelope. We got aerodynamics. We got.

[00:42:00] Teamwork. We've got encouragement. These are probably training buddies. They've probably done this forever. And if you're a believer and you wanna get to the finish line and you want to finish, well, it's likely you will not do it alone. You will not get there on your own. So go somebody. Go with somebody.

And finally. Keep your flexibility. I could almost hear the bones breaking when Brent was talking about relocating, changing hours coming in the back entrance instead of the side entrance. You know why it's called rigor mortis? I don't even know how to spell it. I'm probably not pronouncing it right, but you know what I'm talking about Stiffness.

And you know, if we aren't careful, stiffness will set in before our heart stops beating. Right. We become inflexible, we become rigid. [00:43:00] So sometimes I think Pastor b Brent ought to stand up here and just reverse the whole side of the room. Turn everybody that way just to mess with you, to keep you flexible, pliable, changeable.

You know why? Because without change, growth doesn't happen. And I don't mean change locations or hours. Obviously that's a necessary change. Go with it. It. I'm too old for that. No, you're not. Or else you're too old. So here's how we stay flexible. We serve, we give back, we do something. We keep going. We, we stretch.

We get out of our comfort zone. We embrace change and new things because it gives us new energy and new life, even if it's frustrating. But listen, don't become a spectator toward the end.

Don't sit back in that easy chair and say, I've been there, done that, paid my price. It's somebody else's turn. Let 'em run. 'cause listen, dear friend, you [00:44:00] will not make it to the finish line in your recliner.

So serve. By the way, Jart didn't ask me to do this. Pastor Jart did not ask me. He does not know I'm about to say this. I wonder if next. That Brent was talking about those cards and the commitment that's coming and the work that needs to be done and the good things that are happening might be some of our opportunity once again to step out of our comfort zone and to stretch and to use our muscles by faith.

Dear friend, don't, don't pass this off to somebody else. Don't, don't assume somebody else is gonna do your part. You don't have to do their part. You don't have to do my part. You just have to do your part and remember that status quo resists motion. So everything in you will say, yeah, don't do that. Just listen to the spirit within you.

And by faith, say, yes Lord. [00:45:00] That's serving and giving and going because it keeps us in the race. Don't give up. Don't quit.

Last story from the Olympics. Maybe you know this one. Amber Glenn, bless her heart, trained since she was, I think, six years old, five years old, 26 now. Gold medal contender expected to win it. American skater, brilliant skater, clearly dedicated, clearly paid the price. Clearly ready for the moment. But as you know.

Toward the end of her event, toward the end of her event, she missed a jump. She didn't fall, she didn't go splayed out all over the ice. In fact, if, if you didn't hear the commentator saying, oh, she dismissed a jump, [00:46:00] you might not even have known, I wouldn't have known. And she skated right through to the end, and then she collapsed on the ice in tears because she'd missed the jump and that's all it took.

To take her outta medical contention all the way down to the middle, to the bottom of the pack, and it was a tragic moment. It was so sad to see. I felt so bad for her, but she was brave enough and courageous enough when she stepped off the ice to answer a question. And you know the question. Can you tell us what happened?

Remember what she said? I lost focus.

I'm pretty honest. And what's interesting is you could overhear what she said when she came off the ice to her coach. She said, I had it. I had it. I think she meant I was right. There was almost through.[00:47:00]

And then she said, I lost focus.

Folks, we have come so far, haven't we? You think back over your Christian life and your journey, your discipleship, your following. Jesus you're serving, your giving, your going, the time you spent in the word of God, the time you spent in prayer, the time you spent on your knees and desperation, the battles you face, the knocks you took, the scars you bear.

Good gracious, we've come so far. But listen to me. This is it.

This is your moment. You are in it.[00:48:00]

Father help us to stay focused.

There's a lot of distractions and some of those distractions are our own success or our own prior achievements or our own sin. Or laziness or complacency,

I suppose, Lord, in the end, it'll be true that the potential exists, that we might be our own worst enemy. So, Lord, help us to discipline ourselves and to run the race that's set before us so that we too can say, we've made it. We fought the good fight. We finished the race. We've kept the [00:49:00] faith. Thank you.

In the name of God, in the name of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, for the grace that sustains us, not just to start but to finish. Help us to stay focused. And before I say amen, would you just say that from your perspective to the Lord? Would you just pray for focus?

In Jesus' name, amen.