1968 Olympics, which were hosted in Mexico City. There was a runner from Tanzania named John Steven Akari and he was a long distance runner representing his country. And the problem was when he started his race, uh he got injured early on, he took a fall and most thought he was gonna pull out of the race because it's a long distance race. So ho ho how and why would you keep going? But he, after receiving medical treatment, John got up and said, no, I'm gonna finish this race and while he hobbled along and, and couldn't run at this uh pace that he had trained at, he, he was determined to finish the race. And so literally over an hour after most finishers finished the race. In fact, they already held the medal ceremony when everyone had cleared pretty much the stadium, he kept going and he crossed the finish line and in an incredible story of perseverance, they asked him, why did he keep going? Why didn't he quit? And he responded with this quote, he said, my country did not send me 5000 miles to start the race. They sent me 5000 miles to finish the race. And so here we are half century later and still inspired by his story at the Olympics of perseverance to finish the race. I love that they didn't send me to start the race. They sent me to finish the race. Today's message is entitled how to finish. Well, as we approach the end of our study of Second Timothy, we're studying the very last words of Paul to his protege Timothy. And we're gonna study the words of someone who did finish well. Now I can only speak for my profession here in vocational ministry. But actually, when I was in school, what I learned were was actually staggering. They said that statistics prove that 85% of seminary graduates leave the ministry within the first five years out of seminary. And that actually when I was in college taking Bible classes, they said actually only one in 20 Bible study or theology majors actually finished their career in ministry. Oh, encouraging. Right. One in 25%. And it's not just a study from college, but actually, uh on the other side of COVID, Barnas National study research showed that across the board. Pastors right after COVID were emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally drained. And in fact, 38 almost 40% of pastors considered quitting the year after COVID. Now, I don't know about you, but I wanna finish well and you might not be in vocational ministry, but I'm guessing that whatever industry you're in, you wanna finish well, or in your relationships or in your family or in your friendships you want to finish? Well, nobody wakes up and says, you know what? I really hope I get bitter and burned out today. You know, I wanna start strong and then just trail off into nothingness. S I wanna, I wanna have a blow up fight, burn all the bridges and, like, run away from all of my commitments. No, nobody says those things but yet they're so common today, aren't they? Well, if we're gonna learn to finish, well, let's learn from somebody who did finish. Well. We're gonna take a look at his final words. But before we get into the final words, let's review how we got here. There's four chapters in second Timothy. And we've been walking through a chapter a week in chapter one, we learned that when it comes to fear and faith, the fire that grows is the fire you feed, right? And Paul encouraged Timothy to fan into flame, the gift of God that he had received, that God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self control. And so if you think of two campfires, you have your fear, you have your faith, which one grows on a daily basis. We have to ask ourselves, which one are we feeding? Are we feeding with our fears? Anxieties and worries and sinful habits or are we feeding our faith, fire with power, love and self control. Then in week two, we studied uh second Timothy chapter two. And we, we learned that success comes through consistent sacrifice over time that we have to have a spiritual persistence and grit. And we studied the images of a soldier, an athlete and a farmer that we have to have perseverance over time. And that as Christians, we are called not simply to be overwhelmed, but to actually overcome because Jesus overcame. And then last week in chapter three, we studied that. Ultimately, God's word teaches us to live God's way to reach God's world. And our theme verse from last week was really second Timothy chapter three verses 16 to 17. It says all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof and for correction and for training and for righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Now, we didn't have time to go through some additional verses. But we see this value of scripture throughout the New Testament in the beginning of the church. In acts chapter two verse 42 it says they devoted themselves to each other, but they devoted themselves also to the teachings of the apostles. It says in Hebrews 412 that the word of God is living and active, living and active. And in Colossians chapter three verse 16, it says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another and all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts to God. And so that's what we try to do on a weekly basis when we try to plant the gospel into the lives of our church family is that we are teaching, speaking the word of God over one another and then singing the word of God through songs and hymns and doing so with a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude. And so through the power of scripture, it leads into chapter four where Paul in a sense on his deathbed, he might have a little bit of time left. In fact, he's gonna ask Timothy to come to him. But these are the last written words we know of Paul's ministry. And so what would you say to a loved one? What would you say if you knew this could be the last conversation that you have? What would you say if you knew this could be the last few moments I have with my child, with my spouse, with my friend. What words would you leave to encourage and inspire them to move on? What we have from Paul. And today's scripture is this. And if you have, if you're taking notes, write this down that at the end of the day, we're called to preach and to practice the way of Jesus, all of us are called to preach and to practice the way of Jesus. Now to break down the chapter, we might not get to everything today. But I want you to see how it's structured. The first couple of verses, he gives the final charge to Timothy, the final play call. If you will, don't forget, do this, right? And then he reflects on his own life and his own example, right? As many of us would do in our final days, we'd reflect back on the life that we lived. And then there's a little bit of ministry details and tidying up in some checklist things that is also interesting. We might not get to it. But I, I always wondered why God included these checklists at the end because it seems kind of mundane, but we'll get to that in just a minute. So let's jump into it here in the first section. Paul's charge to Timothy here in verse one of chapter four, we'll kind of stop along the way. Verse one, he says, I charge you in the presence of God of Christ. Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom now notice here that he's not even claiming by my own strength. He's claiming four things for the reason he's giving the command to Timothy. The first reason is for God God himself because we believe in God. But then secondly, because of Jesus Christ. So he's equating Jesus to the level of God. The second part of the Trinity because he not only conquered death, he also conquered, sin itself, offers forgiveness to us. But the reason He has the ability to offer forgiveness to you. And to I is because He is the judge over the living and the dead. So we see God, we see Jesus and then it says that he's going to appear again. So he's coming back. That's the third reason for this charge. And then the last reason for the charge is the very kingdom of God, that God is gonna come back and reign and rule over everything. This is why we pray for God's kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are not praying for earth to make it up to heaven. We are praying for heaven to come down to earth. And so because of God, the creator of the world, because of Jesus, the savior of the world, because of the fact that He is returning and that He will reign and rule His kingdom forever. Because of these reasons, I charge you, I urge you I plead with you and we pick it up here in verse two to preach the word be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke exhort with complete patience and teaching. Let's let's break this down here to preach. There's this word to preach the Caruso which means to Herald or proclaim publicly. Now, we think of it as preaching the word of God. But back in that culture, Caesar and the early kings would have Heralds that would go throughout the kingdom and go to the town square so to speak and make a public proclamation on behalf of the king and the word of the Herald carried with it, the the authority of the king. And so when we preach, what we're doing is that we are making a proclamation with the authority of the king. And it's not my words that carry the authority. I want you to hear me. I don't have the authority. God's word has the authority. But because we are proclaiming and preaching God's word, right? Preaching God's word is that it's a proclamation. And so the difference is that when you preach, you are not preaching for information, you're preaching for transformation. It is not simply a Ted talk, which does that make sense? Like we're not just saying like I get that I alliterate everything and we have three points or five points, all that is done to try to help you remember? But we're not just saying that giving a Ted talk, which I like Ted talks don't get me wrong. And we should maybe we could have a little red circle up here, right? But preaching is not a Ted talk because a Ted talk is not a, a public proclamation with the authority from the king of the universe. We're declaring truth. But notice it says to be ready in season and out of season, I think he's referring to the fact that here in Arizona we have two seasons. Not four. Right. We have hot and really hot. Right? Ok. Just kidding. Not really on that. No, what he's saying here is be ready for any moment. Right. 1st, 1st Peter 315 says to be ready to share or to give an answer for the hope that lies within you. Well, if you have to give an answer, what has to happen before you give an answer, someone has to ask the question, right? And so let me ask you the question before the question. Does your life beg the question? In other words, are you living in a way that is so different than the world that someone will even ask you? Why do you have the hope that you have be ready to preach the word in season and out of season? But then he says to reprove rebuke and exhort complete teaching with patience and um complete with patience and teaching. We're gonna come back to that in just a second. So there's different ways to communicate the word. So he continues on here. Now in verse three, it says for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, that word sound that same root word is also the root word where we get our word hygiene. So kind of interesting what he's saying here, right? There will come a time when people will not listen to hygienic teaching and preaching that it's good for you, right? But have itching ears that they will accumulate for themselves. Teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wandering off into myths. But as for you always be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist and fulfill your ministry. He says the time is coming when people will not listen to the truth, but we will make up their own. Does that sound like any culture that you know of hint? It's today, it's like right now we're in it. See what happened is that people exchange truth for tolerance, no tolerance by definition. We shared about this a little bit la The last couple of weeks there is as Christians, we are called to be loving to one another, right? To be tolerant and accepting of a person, even if you completely disagree with a person, you just love them. I mean, Jesus in his last day here on earth, washed the feet of the person who betrayed him, right? So Jesus gives us the picture of what it means. But what we've done is we've substituted truth for what we call your truth or my truth, which is exactly what this verse is saying here is that people have settled for itching ears and they will listen to the people who speak exactly like them, right? They will listen to people who will say what they wanna hear and affirm their truth. But truth doesn't work in any other setting, like a, as a relative statement or a relative context. Now, there's an opinion and there's also subjective experience. Now I can accept that. Right? Somebody's ex experience of a situation or reality might be different than somebody else's experience of the same situation. A reality. But we have to connect truth to reality. Otherwise it is not truth. It does not apply in any other situation, does it? I, I wish we could be relative when I was in school. Right? You're taking a test? Hey, two plus two is four. For you. It's four for me. It's whatever my answer was. Right. Oh, you get your paper back. Oh, you gotta see. Mm. See your truth is I got ac, but my truth is I got an A plus. Thank you. No, it doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way in our bank accounts or our bills. Does it? I wish it was. Oh, you gave me this bill? Oh, that's your truth. Mortgage company, right? My truth is that my house is paid for and actually you owe me. Ok, don't we wish it doesn't work that way. It has to correspond. Like I can't come up here and just say, you know what? I just don't believe in gravity at this point. Who's with me. Right? Like it doesn't work that way. The truth has to correspond with reality, but there's a way to preach it. And Paul tells Timothy in there those words, another way of putting it is that Paul tells Timothy to preach with courage, with clarity and with compassion, preach with courage, preach with boldness. The truth of the gospel preach with clarity of Jesus Christ is the truth. But then he says to preach with patience in other words, with compassion, sometimes people say, oh, I'm just standing for the truth. I'm like, no, you're just being a jerk. You know, like, you know where the jerks of the Bible, the religious leaders, right? The the closer we get to Jesus, the more humble and loving we should get not the more self righteous. If you look at the gospels, the people that God got mad at the most were actually religious leaders, right? We should reflect the humility and gentleness and love that comes from knowing the truth and knowing that Paul himself gets to the end. He goes, look, I'm the worst of sinners. I messed up. And that encourages me because if Paul messed up, if Peter messed up, you and I are going to mess up and that's ok because it's not about perfection, right? There's compassion in the truth. What is the truth? What is preaching? What is the message that we're proclaiming with the authority of the king? Actually says this in first Corinthians 15, Paul writes, he says, no, I would remind you brothers of the gospel, I preach to you which you received in which you stand and by which you were being saved. If you hold fast to the word that I preach to you, unless you believed in vain says for I delivered to you as of first importance. What I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. Notice the time of the word, it is though that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. And he continues on what we preach is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that Jesus as Lord and Savior. And he continues on and we see this understanding of truth, not your truth, not my truth, but the truth. And is there there's a progression in the gospels. It's beautiful. Actually, if you study it, let me just highlight a few passages. So you can see this progression. John chapter one verse 14, he says in the word again, the value of scripture is referring to Jesus. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory of the only son from the father full of grace and truth. Randy Elkhorn put it this way. He said grace and truth are like two wings of a bird that you need both to fly. Some of y'all are in here with one wing, right? Some of you love truth. And you're looking like this, right? Felt like I was doing the hokey pokey just now, you know. Um, no, I'm not, we're not gonna do the hokey pokey. Although it could be fun church activity and this would be the last time some of you would attend. Um, some of you love truth. Ok. Some of you love truth, but you're missing the grace piece. Then some of you look, you love grace. Oh, love is love is love. But you look like this. OK? I actually used to be addicted to the hokey pokey, you know, but I've turned myself around. It's an old joke but thought of it on the spot. Excited for that one. OK? OK. Some of you will love one side or the other. Jesus was full of both, right? I joked with Jose in between service and maybe I could like fly, but that wouldn't work. But see Jesus was full of grace and love and care and compassion and he never sacrificed truth in the process, right? He approached anybody and everyone in gentleness and respect, right? With the woman at the well with Nicodemus, right? With, with the fishermen themselves. These disciples woman caught in adultery, the demonic spirit filled man, the educated, the uneducated, he came to them full of grace and truth. Few chapters later. And John chapter eight verse 31 and 32 it says Jesus said to the Jews who had believed if you abide in my word, see that connection there that you are truly my disciples, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Then four verses later in verse 36 it says, so if the son sets you free, that you will be free indeed. So know the truth and you will be set free and then know the sun and the sun will set you free. So what that means is that the sun is the truth. You can know truth because truth is the person of Jesus. Because in John 14 6, he says, I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me. That same chapter just a few verses later verse 16 and 17. After he tells them he's going away, he says, and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him and you know Him for he dwells with you and will be in you see the prophets in the Old Testament had experiences where the spirit of God was on them, right? You get to the New Testament and you see the disciples were with Jesus. It's pretty cool, right? But then Jesus says, you're actually gonna do greater things than I and you're gonna have expanded ministry and you're gonna reach the world with the good news of the gospel because the spirit of God will be in you. So it was on people, Jesus was with people. But then when you believe in Jesus, now it says the Holy Spirit will dwell in you. And that spirit is the spirit of truth. And then in his final hours there in the garden, right before he got arrested, he's praying, he's praying for his disciples. He's praying for all believers to come. And he says this phrase in John 1717, he asked God the father to sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. So Jesus enters the scene full of grace and truth tells believers that know the truth and you will be set free and if the sun sets you free, you will be free. Indeed. He says, I am the way the truth and the life. And then I'm gonna send the spirit who's known as the spirit of truth in your life. And then you will be sanctified by the truth in his word. That is why we are called to preach it. And then he continues on and then he gives four other commands. He says to preach the word, but then he says to be sober minded, to endure suffering, to do the work of an evangelist and then to fulfill your ministry calling. And so what he's saying here is that at the end of the day God's truth. God's truth should fill your head, your heart and your hands. To be sober minded is to let the word of God sit within your mind to be transformed through the renewal of your mind. And we think of sobriety, when we think of sobriety, we think of who God is and what God has done. And we think of sobriety through lack of drinking or drug, but you can actually be drunk on a lot of things right. There are some people in this room are watching online who are drunk to lust. There are some people who are drunk to material possessions, to the pursuit of money, to the pursuit of things or popularity or fame that when you are drunk, what happens is that your body loses control and something else controls you. So the question is, are you being controlled by the power? Are you being controlled by something in your life? By pornography, by lust, by greed, by drink, by drug, by possessions, by pride? I said, don't, don't be drunk, don't be controlled by something of this world, but be sober minded. Let the truth renew your mind. But then secondly, it says to endure suffering, it's gonna be hard, it's gonna be difficult. And so when you think about the difficulty of life, which what you have to understand is that you need God's truth in your heart to take courage, to have strength, to be, to love, to be secured. And then when it fills your heart, then that gives you the courage, then to then live it out. He says to do the work of an evangelist. Now, what I love here is that when, when we understand preaching as the communication of God's word for the purpose of transformation, that is a public proclamation of the authority of the king. This means that all of us in one way, shape or form have been called to preach. All of us have been called to share the good news of Jesus. And that when we preach, when we live this out, when we share with people, OK, it can transform lives. No, I I've heard the phrase like share the gospel, you know, when needed use words, that sounds cool, right? But the reality is share the gospel with words and your life, right? It doesn't work in other things, right? Like have a to have a great marriage, you know, have a great marriage when needed use words, right? You you gotta communicate, you gotta speak, you gotta share there is power in the word of God. So don't be shy in preaching in word. But then let's also live out. It says to fulfill your calling. Timothy's calling was to lead the church at Ephesus and to lead and train leaders up and raise them up and continue to serve as missionaries around the world. And for what we understand is that Timothy actually finished his race Well. And so the question we have to ask ourselves, is that what is it that God has called me to do? What is your person? What is your skill set? What is God placed in your hands? What is the opportunity that God has given you that you can go and fulfill in accounting, in music and teaching and serving, and cleaning and communication, in making food, in health care, in business. Like a any any field that you're in has the opportunity for you to preach the word of God to the lives of people around you that you were created on purpose with a purpose. And we, we experience that purpose when we allow the truth of God to infiltrate our head, our hearts and our hands and we actually live this out. So Paul gives this challenge to preach and practice the way of Jesus to Timothy. And then the next couple of verses, he reflects on his own journey. And so we, we continue reading here verse 6 to 8. He says for I am already being poured out as a drink offering. And the time of my departure has come. Now, I really like this word departure. I didn't like it until I started studying it. But I guess this word in original context is used in a couple of different ways. So one, Paul knew that his time was coming to leave. But the same word in other places is used to hoist the anchor and set sail. I love that. It's time to go. Another time they use. This word is to take down the tent, which is an interesting picture of this word departure because he actually refers to himself living in the tent of his body. Right. Second Corinthians chapter five. Right. And I don't know if you guys love camping, but camping is temporary. Ok. Right. Camping is temporary. Side note. Look, I don't get an argument with your spouse in a tent because there's not a cool way to leave. Right? Like what are you gonna do? Like you walk out of a room and you shouldn't slam the door. But there's like this moment, right? But what are you gonna do in a tent? I need some space and then the zipper gets stuck. You know, it's like, what do you like? Zip it up real quick? I don't know. Anyway, he's saying, look, it's time for me to go. It's time to take down the tent. My time is coming. Another time. They use the word departure here in the Greek word is to loosen the prisoner to release him. See, in the Romans mind, Paul was getting executed in Paul's mind. He was getting promoted, right? He's getting let go. He's been released. That's why in Philippians 121 he can say for me to live as Christ and to die is gain. He continues on the last one here and this is my favorite one. They use the same word to describe when you unyoke an ox because his work is done. I love that picture. He's saying I'm being poured out like a drink offering. My life is about to end the yokes getting taken off of me. My job is done. But then he continues on here in verse seven. He says I have fought the good fight that I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. See in first Timothy 612, he encourages Timothy to fight the good fight to agonize the good agony, right? And then in this last letter, he says, I, I have done that. I love that. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race, right? I didn't just start the race. I finished it and I kept the faith. And then in verse eight, he says, henceforth, there is laid up for me, a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day. And not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. You see in his final hour, in these three verses, what we see is that Paul looks around, he sees his surroundings, he looks back on his life, he sees what he accomplished and then he looks forward to the greater crown of heaven. And that's my prayer for all of us. You see before you can leave a legacy, you first have to live a legacy. This is the message of this entire series is that if we want to live a legacy, if, if we can live and lead like Jesus, what we see is that it changes everything live in a way that looks around at your current circumstances, but then looks back into all that God's done and what you've done and then looks forward to what God is going to do. Paul was literally at his moment of his execution, but he didn't view it as that. He viewed it as a promotion. See, my race is done. And in my final words, I give to you and we don't have time. Like I thought we kind of run out of here. So just to highlight a little bit and he, then he goes on the next like 13 verses there and he starts us talking through the details of ministry and I say details because he lists out 17 names, some of them good, some of them bad like you don't wanna be deus hi if there's somebody named Demi in the room, but that represents somebody who left the faith for the pursuit of the world. Maybe go buy like Demi or something, I don't know, change the name. It also mentions Luke how much Luke meant to him, mentions Mark how valuable Mark is, which is really cool because Mark and him had a big argument early on in ministry says I'm done with Mark and they actually get reconciled together. But then he starts listing like really random specific things like he says, hey, Timothy, can you bring my jacket? It's cold. If you've ever been called and asked someone to get you a blanket or a jacket. There's a verse for you in here. Look it up. It is and, and hey, bring my books and my parchment. You see, Paul never retired. He's at the end of his life actually says I'm about to end. Hey, but bring me my writing. I'm not done. I wanna read, I wanna write, I wanna reflect, I wanna share my jacket. I got work to do and come to me quickly because he valued relationships and I love that. And I'm like, why is this in the word of God? If this is inspired? Why is this in the word? I think it reminds us that God's in the details and that God loves us that if you're cold, if you got a job or whatever it is, God's with you in it because at the end of the day were called to preach and to practice the way of Jesus in a moment, we're gonna have some baptism and we're gonna celebrate. And what I love is that what these people are about to do is gonna preach better than anything. I just spoke because it's gonna show and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ that when they go under the water, it is a symbol of dying to self being buried with Christ and raised to walk in the newness of life. And so they are going to live a legacy that could change generations to come by proclaiming their faith in Jesus baptism doesn't save them, but because they are saved, they're gonna preach to us today. We had three last hour, we have a couple this hour and super excited for that. So will you join me in prayer? And then we'll get in a position to celebrate these baptisms together. Dear Emily, father. Thank you for the example of Paul who finished. Well, God, thank you also for Timothy. For as we know, believe to finish well too. Yeah, for those that are gonna preach to us today. The good news, the public proclamation with the authority of the king that you died on the cross and that you rose again from the grave, providing for us eternal life and forgiveness of sins and purpose and meaning and love and joy for God. You so love the world that you gave your only son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. God. This is what we preach, this is what we proclaim, this is what we practice. And so we celebrate with you today and we celebrate with those who are taking the step of faith. And it says, let me pray. Amen.