It was a typical Saturday morning, January 16, 2016 in Elmont, Alabama. When
Ludovin went for his morning stroll, and Ludovin was walking through the town,
town normally of about 400 people, when all of a sudden there was this crowd
gathered. And this crowd was gathered, and it was interesting so he was meeting
new people, was talking to them, just enjoying the Saturday morning. When all of
a sudden a gunshot went off. And it was a starting gun. What Ludevan didn't
realize is that he had stumbled his way into the starting line of a half
marathon. And so when the shot went off, everyone started running and when
everyone started running, he started running. Hadn't trained for it, haven't
signed up for it, wasn't prepared for it. Next thing you know, Ludovin is
running a 13.1 mile race. And he continues to run and run so hard, so fast, with
no training that he actually finishes the race, finishes the race in 7th place.
Pretty incredible, right? No, I don't know about you, but that feels like it's
not even human to not train, not come ready, not wearing race clothes, show up
and finish 7th place in a half marathon. Seems crazy, right? Doesn't seem human.
Well, it doesn't seem human because he wasn't human. You see, Ludovin was a
bloodhound. Led out by his owner, April Hamlin, to use the restroom, escaped out
the backyard fence, ended up at the starting line, and when everyone started
running, he started running. So you can actually see the dog running alongside.
Here's another photo of the dog running and completed the 13 mile race. And so
they were so excited, it was so cute that this dog ran the entire race that they
actually gave him a medal at the end. So there. Next thing you know, he's on the
news everywhere around the country for the Bloodhound that finished 7th place in
a half marathon. Why do I share this? Well, this morning's message is entitled
The Meaning of Life. And sometimes it can feel like we're in a race that we
didn't sign up for, right? And it, and I don't know where you are in your race
of life, and maybe it's just beginning and maybe it's getting close to the end.
But as we study Acts chapter 20 today, Paul is finishing his race. It's at the
end of his 3rd missionary journey. He knows he's at some point he's gonna end up
in Rome. He's gonna be challenged on his faith, and before he goes, he gives a
farewell speech to the elders of the church of Ephesus. Now, a lot of Paul's
speeches in Acts, uh, in Acts are geared towards Christians and non-Christians.
But in this case, in his final speech, he speaks directly to Christian leaders,
and he teaches them and shares with them what it means to finish your race well.
So if you're taking notes, I encourage you to write this down, that what you
chase determines how you finish. What you chase determines how you finish. We
live in a world that is chasing a lot of things. Right? They're chasing
influence, they're chasing popularity, they're chasing money, they're chasing
the next thing, they're chasing power. But the problem is when you chase those
things, you always feel like you're behind, or even when you get what you think
you need, you realize that it doesn't satisfy the cravings of your soul. So we
want you to not only run the right race, To chase after God. But to run it well
and to finish well. And so here in the final words of Paul to the leaders of
Ephesus, they're not the final words of Paul, but it's the final words to a
group of people that he cares for deeply. You see, he spent about 3 years in
Ephesus, starting this church. And as, as Dan, Pastor Dan passionately shared
last week, that when you started the church, he shared with them that you need
both biblically correct information, but also God honoring courageous obedience
and action. And that you have to understand what God is teaching you and telling
you, but then actually obey what it says. And so as he's planting this church,
developing these leaders, it stirs up all this persecution and challenges and so
he's forced to leave. And so he leaves Ephesus. He goes on and he's going to
several different places. In fact, there's kind of a, a crazy story where he's
preaching so long that this child falls asleep. So if you've ever fallen asleep
in church, you can read the beginning of Acts chapter 20 be encouraged by that.
But in this case, this child, this teenager was, uh, fell asleep at the window
and actually falls out the window. It's in, it's you can read it. It's crazy. So
everyone's like, oh my gosh, uh, Paul's preaching killed this child. And so like
he goes and then an actual miracle goes and this kid, he prays and this kid
comes back up to life, and then, uh, and then he goes back up and keeps
preaching. Now, imagine being that child like you fell asleep, you died, you
come back and the guy's still going. So, and so he's preaching, and so he goes
on to this ministry. He knows he's gonna end up in Rome. And so he's in this
port city of Militus. Militus is about 20 miles south of uh of Ephesus, and
while he can't go to Ephesus because of all the rioting and he might die kind of
thing, uh, he goes and so he summons the leaders of the Ephesian church to come
to him. And so here's the setting that we're in. And so he's in these final
words, he knows he's not gonna see them again. And if you, if you know that this
is gonna be the last time you see somebody, you're gonna share the good stuff,
you're gonna share the meaningful stuff. And so in Athens, that's the home of
the Olympic Games. And then after Corinth, that's the home of the Isthmian
games. And so two races that are known around the world, he with this in the
backdrop of the setting, he gathers the leaders together and he encourages them
how to finish the race well. And so in his speech to them, he also encourages us
today as believers. And so what we're gonna see today is that we're gonna see 4
keys to finishing well. As we understand that what you chase determines how you
finish. As you chase after God, how can you finish well? Well, the first
component to finishing well is really this, is that you have to lead with
humility. You have to lead with humility. Humility defined is not thinking less
of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. CS Lewis and some other pastors have
said this quote, but the idea here is that meekness is not weakness. It it's not
walking around with your head down and like, woe is me. It's not being a doormat
that everybody tramples over, but rather this quiet controlled strength. This
idea that you don't have to. This idea of putting others before yourself. And
Paul, who had reason The command authority. Just coming back from 3 different
missionary journeys, all the churches that he started, all the crazy miracles
that he's experienced, and yet he makes it about the struggle with other people.
Let's pick it up here in verse 17. Now, from Millius, he sent to Ephesus and
called the elders of the church to come to him in verse 18. And when they came
to him, he said to them, you yourselves know how I lived among you. The whole
time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all
humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of
the Jews. And so we have this picture here saying like, look, you know that I've
been with you. That I wasn't just a preacher on the stage. But a fellow brother
in Christ, alongside with you. We wept together. We experienced trials together.
Other passages like Acts 20:31 and Acts 1910, talk about how he was with them
for 2, even 3 years, that he toiled with him, that he struggled. But it wasn't
just a message of words, it was a message of heart and of life. Another example
of this is that when Paul was writing to the Thessalonians, he says this in 1
Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 8. He says, so being affectionately desirous of
you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our
own selves because you had become very dear to us. Very dear to us. I love this
here because Paul doesn't view people as projects. It's very easy to do, isn't
it? Right? You think, oh, this person needs to work on that. This person, if you
ever thought, man, I wish so and so was here to hear this sermon. You know,
it's, it's easy to think of a co-worker as a project. Or a student, or a player,
or a child or a spouse, right? Like, and and it doesn't go well, does it? If you
think about somebody as a project instead of a person, it, it gets into why?
Because it's easy to just dismiss somebody or to set an expectation that when
they don't meet it, it leads to frustration. But Paul didn't view people as
projects. He viewed projects. He viewed them as ministry, as men and women, as
children of God. So the application question we get from this passage is this,
that, are you living to impress people or to influence people? Because he can't
do both. Right, we live in an age where we're told to go and impress others.
Right. Wear the right clothes, buy the right things, own the right car or the
house, or go on the right trips and and post as, as we call them influencers.
And really, they're just impressors. Right. Anyone felt pretty good about their
life until they went on social media? Right? I wish they could expand the views,
right? And then just, uh, you know, they have those, those videos where like, my
typical morning. I woke up at 4 a.m. and, and created a cucumber and hummus
breakfast from my own garden. And then when and like you zoom out and there's
this laundry everywhere and there's like children screaming and like, you know,
like, we, you can frame your life however you want. But it's exhausting trying
to live in a way that's trying to impress people. Through humility, Paul offers
a better way that instead of trying to impress people, instead influence people,
because that really is leadership. It's not a title, it's not a position. It's,
it's an attitude, it's a lifestyle of influence. Here's the difference. Someone
who's trying to impress others walks into the room and goes, here I am. You're
welcome, world. And you walk into every room and you try to get something from
people, affirmations, compliments, right? Follow-ups of like, you want people to
just give you acknowledgement of your greatness. Right. I do that every time I
load the dishwasher at home. Any spouse do that, right? You do any type of task,
you're like, you're like a little extra noisy. Oh, I'm just doing this, you
know, like, why? Because we love validation. We do. I, I, I do. Right. But
instead of trying to impress someone, instead of walking and going, here I am,
what if we tried to influence people, which means you walk into the room with
humility thinking, there you are. Right. The difference is when you go out walk
in, say, here I am, you're trying to get something from people, applause,
affirmation, power, prestige, money. But when you walk into the room with a
humble posture of influence, you walk in saying, how are you? How can I help
you? What's going on in your life today? How are you feeling? What can I do to
help? And you're no longer trying to get something from someone, instead you're
trying to give life to that person. Why? Because you've already received life
from the one who made you and saved you. The first key to finishing well is to
lead with humility. And before we think that we have some gumption or or earn
the right to walk in with pride, Jesus Christ Himself. As it says in Philippians
to humbled himself to the point of death, that he came to this world as it says
in Mark 10:45, not to be served but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for
many. So as Jesus leaves the example, as Paul leaves the example, that people
are not projects, they are children of God, that we are called and have the
blessing and opportunity to bless when we lead and we live with humility. Amen.
So the first key to finishing well. Lead with humility. The second key that we
see from Paul is that you have to invest in people. You have to invest in people
and specifically. Invest in people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you talk
about investment, you, a lot of times you talk about the, the ROI, the return of
investment, right? And like, what, what are you gonna get out of it when what
you put into it? Well, the reality is, if you invest the gospel, You are now
shaping. Eternal legacies and generations and nations to come. It says in here
in First Peter, at the end of First Peter, he writes that the grass, uh, and the
flowers of the field will fade and wither, but the word of God lasts forever.
Right? And so if we know that the gospel leads to life, that the gospel leads to
heart change, that we should do everything in our power to pass that along and
encourage people in every situation with eternal life that comes from knowing
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Eternal life doesn't start the moment you die.
It starts the moment you put your faith and your trust in him. He says these
words here in verse 2. And 21, he says, how I did not shrink back from declaring
to you anything that was profitable. And teaching you in public and from house
to house, testifying both Jews and to Greeks of repentance towards God and faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to notice in these two verses, the theology
of both. Here's what I mean. It encompasses everything. It encompasses
everything in here. It's, it's so incredible that there's this picture of, of
who God is. He says, I do not shrink back, but rather, I'm fully coming at,
fully coming in and and just sharing it with everybody. He says, I will share
with you anything that was profitable, not just the parts we like of scripture.
But even the parts we don't like or even disagree with, we submit ourselves to
the entirety of the gospel. It says preaching and teaching in public and from
house to house. So, yes, in the synagogue, yes, in a church service, yes, we're
gonna sing songs, but also in the personal conversations around the dinner table
and in the and in in our day, the car ride in the walks. In every phase and
facet of life, bringing light with you and the wholeness and the goodness of the
gospel. He says, I'm gonna be testifying both to Jews and to Greeks, in other
words, to everybody, I mean, is there a group? Is there a, is there a group of
people that you are hesitant to share the good news of the gospel with? He said,
no, in all things, and I'm gonna share with you also of the repentance of sin
and the faith you have in Christ Jesus. As Pastor Dan shared last week, that you
need the wholeness of Scripture. To understand how God can change your entire
life. When you think about repentance of sin and faith in Christ, both are so
valuable, right? So in similar ways, you think about the grace of God and the
truth of God, that you need both. Which is most important? Or heard a pastor say
this recently, he said, well, last time you got on a plane, which was your
favorite wing? You need both, right? And we get it that we live in a culture
where some people are left wing and some people are white, right wing, and Some
of you're getting because thinking politics, but hey, in reality, you need both
wings of the plane. In the same breath, you need the fullness of the gospel. You
need grace and you need truth. You need repentance and you need faith. There's
public ministry and there's private and personal ministry. Whether we preach it
from the stage or whether you talk about it around the dinner table or in one on
one conversation, you need it in every facet of life and that you are called to
invest in people with the goodness of the gospel. You know, I have the joy of
preaching the word most weeks here and I love it, but you have to understand
that so much of what we do here goes unseen. I think about all the servants from
the set up team to hospitality to making coffee, to checking in the kids, to
cleaning the rooms, to setting up the chairs, to getting the technology correct.
So much goes on that nobody ever sees, but it's done for the glory of God. It's
not about you. But you can make a difference in the life of others. You know, I
was reminded Uh, when I was in high school and I was playing in the big game. We
were ranked 2nd in the state. The other team, our rivals were ranked 4th in the
state. It was in Ohio, like, if you think, if you've seen the movie Hoosiers, it
was like one of those type of gyms, like the wood floors, wood bleachers. It's
got like a distinct smell to it, you know what I'm talking about? Like for those
from the Midwest, right? And so it was packed out, uh, you know, the gym and
then cornfields and everything else, and everyone was in town and for the game
and it came down to the end, tied ball game 3 seconds, 2 seconds. They passed
the ball to me in the corner 1 2nd, release it for the conference championship.
The ball goes up slow motion. I can start hearing the song playing one shining
moment, and everyone's like. And I go and I watched the ball goes in. Clank, I
missed the shot. Thought about changing the story, but no, I missed the shot.
Uh, we went into overtime and sadly, we lost the game. And I remember I was just
defeated. I was so just sad. I was bummed. I was just like, I wasn't nice to
anybody the next day, you know. And I remember going to the next school day and
going into a PE class and being a smaller school you had overlap from elementary
to high school and so you had uh high school helping with some of the elementary
kids and so I was like a a teacher's aide for the PE class for this elementary
group and there's this little kid in the class whose name was John. I called him
Big John. Uh, he called me Little John because I was here and he was here and um
and, and little and, and Big John had a cerebral palsy. And, and he could barely
move. Everything was shaking and, and so every day we would just pass the ball
right back and forth and, and so he would, he couldn't even really catch it, but
he would like bounce it to me just kind of like that, and then I would catch it
and then I would do some silly and hand it back to him. And that's how we'd
spend our PE class. Well, this day was no different except I just wasn't having
it. And so I walked in, I was depressed. I wasn't looking at anybody. My head
was down. I was just kind of like uh and he came and he was like, John. Ready to
play? And at first I'm like, no. And then I look up and I see him. And I'm like,
yeah, Right? And I was reminded in that moment, like, No, no matter how much I
wanted something. Like life is so much bigger than a game, you know. Like here,
I was focused on a game. And he had all the joy in the world just simply to pass
the ball. And so he, he helped bring, he ministered to me that morning and
brought me back that there's so much, so many things bigger than life. And that
it's about people and relationships and our faith and loving and serving others
well, because when we have the power of the gospel in our lives, it changes
everything. That church in Corinth, that was kind of crazy, the Las Vegas type
church. When he writes a letter later, Paul writes these words in 2 Corinthians
chapter 3 verse 12. He says, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. And
it's not on the screen, but the very next words he says there, cause we are
bold, unlike Moses. Wait, what? You mean Moses like took on Pharaoh, got the 10
Commandments, Moses? Yeah. So because you have the power of the living God
living inside of you. The same power that spoke the world into existence, the
same power that had miracle after miracle after miracle, the same power that
took Jesus Christ on the cross as he died and then rose again, defeated death
itself is now. Available to you and to me. And so that's why we can enter life
every trial, every valley, every tribulation through tears, through
difficulties, through every difficult season, and we can enter in with boldness.
Why? Because we have the power of the living God inside of us. He's in prison,
and he writes this to the church in Philippi, and Philippians chapter 1 verse 20
and 21, he says, As it is for my eager expectation and hope that I will not be
at all ashamed. But that will be full, uh, with full courage. Now that as always
Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by death. And he says this
great verse in verse 21, this is my personal life verse, my favorite verse in
all the Bible. Philippians 1:21. Says for to me is to live as Christ and to die
as gain. This was the very verse actually that sparked the faith of a young
preacher who would become a preacher named DL Moody. We would launched an
incredible revival across this country over 100 years ago. But the only way this
verse is true to live as Christ and to die as gain is if the first part is true.
To live as Christ. So if you try to fill that first part of that verse with
anything other than Jesus, you can't say to die his game. To live is to make
money, to die is to lose it all. To live is to be popular, to die is to be
forgotten. To live is to be surrounded, like, with, with things, to die, is to
take none of it with you. But if you chase after God, with all that you are, if
you follow Jesus, as Jesus called and told his first disciples to do, if you
follow God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, if you do that, to live
is Christ and to die is gain. If you don't believe in Jesus, this is the closest
thing to heaven you ever get. And that doesn't work, does it? Why? Because this
world is broken and fallen. But if you believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior, this is the closest thing to hell you'll ever get. And that one day you
will enter and you will have no more mourning, no more cancer, no more sickness,
no more betrayal, and you will be standing face to face with the God who loves
you. And that's why Paul can boldly preach. Because what are you gonna do to me?
Through every season, through every valley, through every trial, tribulation,
battle, sickness, persecution. I have Jesus. So let me ask you, Is your faith
confined? Or is it courageous? Here's what I mean. Do you limit your faith to a
Sunday morning one hour service? Do you limit your faith? So a couple of times a
year. Do you limit your faith maybe within family and some personal friends, but
not at work? Not at school? Not in your community? Or instead of confining your
faith, do you go and you actually live courageously. In every situation, knowing
that to live as Christ and to die as gain, that he's with you every step of the
way. What you chase determines how you finish. And if you're chasing after
Christ and you want to finish well, Paul tells us to do 4 things. Number 1, he
tells us to lead with humility. Number 2, he tells us to invest in people,
specifically with the gospel. And number 3, he tells us to follow the spirit. To
follow the Spirit, meaning the Holy Spirit. He says these words in verse 22 and
23. He says, and now behold, I'm going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit,
not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies
to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. See, somewhere
along the lines we've switched. Our faith into the thinking that believe in
Jesus and nothing bad will ever happen to you. Uh, a couple of weeks ago, I was
having a conversation with a, a guy who pastors in Armenian church, um, here in
the valley. He said, you and he had a very heavy accent. He's like, you
Americans define. Christianity by prosperity. But we lost half of my ethnic
group in World War II. And have been scattered around the world ever since. And
so we defined salvation through suffering. And it's so true. That the gospel
works in every situation. And so when the spirit moves, the spirit saves.
There's a story of a gentleman named about 50 years ago, a high diver, Olympic
high diver named Charles Murray. He was an atheist. He was begging, uh, people
challenged him. To put his faith in Jesus. I just don't trust it. I just don't
think God. God is real. You know, and he listed some hardships that he had in
his life, said, well, because this happened, God can't be real. And so he was
training for the Olympics. And so he would go in off hours because he didn't
like crowds. I get it. I'd do the same. So he went one night late to the pool,
didn't even turn on the lights because he's done it 1000 times. Goes up to the
high dive, but that night it was a full moon. And so as he stood there on the
edge, ready to jump, he put his arms out, ready to make his jump. And the
silhouette of the moon came through past his body and it portrayed a cross on
the far wall. And it was in that moment that the Holy Spirit. pricked his heart,
and he realized, wow, God really is real. He said, God, I asked for a sign, you
gave it. So he knelt down there on the diving board. And prayed to receive
Christ. Right at that moment, the janitor walked in, flipped on the lights,
turned out they had drained the pool for maintenance. God moved in big ways. The
spirit moves how the spirit wants. You know, the spirit moved me to start the
church back in the day. And at one point, it was crazy, feeling like, man, I
left a steady job. We had a month of savings and a mortgage and 3 kids, but we
felt this prompting the Holy Spirit. So God moves in big ways. But can I tell
you? Not only does God move in big ways, but also in little ways. Like in 20
years of being a pastor. 35+ years of being a Christian, 40 years of life. I've
only had those like crazy audible type moments maybe half dozen times in my
entire life. But what I found more often than not, that God works in just those
little tiny moments. The little nudge They'll tap on the shoulder. Well prompt
in the heart. Right, a little whisper in the ear. Hey, you need to, you need to
come to me with that little conviction of sin, a little prompting to go talk to
somebody. To help somebody. Now I need to go back and open that door. No, I need
to ask that person a question. No, you know what I should go in and help here.
And he leads us. In the way of everlasting. Paul writes this in Galatians 5:16
and 17, he says, but I say walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the
desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and
the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For those who are opposed to
each other, to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. And a few
verses later in verse 25, it says, but if we live by the Spirit, let us also
keep in step with the Spirit. In other words, when you receive Jesus into your
life, you also receive the Holy Spirit into your life. Who will guide you
through daily living. Sometimes it's not pretty, sometimes it's into difficult
situations. The Spirit of God and Luke 4 actually led Jesus into the wilderness.
The Spirit of God in Acts 20 is leading Paul into trials and challenges here in
Rome. But if he didn't go to those challenges in Rome, we wouldn't have much of
the New Testament that we have today. So understand that God is going to call
you into difficult seasons. But he's gonna be with you in those seasons. So let
me ask you, is your faith limited or limitless? Is it limited or limitless?
Author and pastor Mark Patterson. I wrote about a time he took his family out on
safari. And he saw the animals uh there in Africa and it was, it was just
majestic to see them in the fields. And he said, and while he felt so inspired
by watching these animals in the wild, this thought came to him is that I wonder
if churches do to Christians, what zoos do to animals. Right? Yes, I look, I
love zoos. I love, you know, they protect, they help animals, whatnot. But if
you think about the setting of an animal, they're caged within a wall, they're
just fed what they need. They're never challenged, they never developed their
own strength and their own power. And some people approach Christianity the same
way. You come into a church setting, you go to a Bible study, you go somewhere
and you're just, OK, feed me. When you've been called to do so much more. And
life in faith is so much more adventurous in the wild. So come, come to church,
not simply what can you get, but what can you give? Who can you bless? Who can
you come alongside and serve and connect and make a difference and encourage?
Maybe God's given you a word to share with others that we need each other in
this wild thing we call life. Because life is too short, but you can chase after
God and you can finish well. Whereas #1, if you lead with humility, #2, if you
invest in people with the gospel. Number 3, if you follow the promptings of the
Holy Spirit, and number 4 is if you can just simply embrace the goal. Embrace
the goal. Paul's being led by the Holy Spirit into ultimately a situations that
will take his life. But in those final moments, he says these words here in Acts
chapter 20 verse 24. He says, but I do not count my life of any value or
precious to myself, if only I may finish my course in the ministry that I
received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And
for the first time in the New Testament, you have this imagery of finishing the
race. Right? In Acts 17, he preached in Athens, the home of the Olympic Games,
and then in in Corinth, the home of the Isthmian Games. Here he's there in 18
and 19 in Ephesus, he's planning these churches. So these people understand this
imagery of a race, and he says this here in 1 Corinthians 9:23 says, I do do it
all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do
you not know that in a race, all runners run, but only one receives the prize?
Run in a way that obtains the prize. Every athlete exercises self-control in all
things, and they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an unperishable
wreath. If you think about how far people go to win an earthly prize, how far
should we be willing to go to live out and receive our prize, which is Christ
Himself. You know, he gets to the end of his life and then 2 Timothy chapter 4,
verse 7, writing to Timothy, the pastor of the Church of Ephesus, he writes
these words. He says, I have fought the fight, I have finished the race, I have
kept the faith. He said, my race is done. But how are you gonna run your race?
How are you gonna run your race? The writer in Psalms put it this way in Psalm
633, he says, your steadfast love is better than life. See that right there is
the difference. So many people come to church and try to put their faith in
Jesus, just waiting for Christ to make their life better. But the reason you
should put your faith in Jesus is not to make your life better, but because
Jesus is better than life. Jesus is better. Than a marriage, better than a
promotion, better than any material possession or relationship you could have.
It is eternal, it is valuable, it is love, it is perfect peace and joy and
meaning in your life that Jesus is greater than all things. That's why in the
highs and lows in life, you can embrace it in your life because it makes all the
difference. So let me ask you this question. Are you running with the end in
mind? Are you running with the end in mind? Every single person in this room. At
the end of their life will be defined simply by a dash. Born this date, die at
this date. And the reality of the brevity of life should all the more inspire us
to put our faith in a God who is bigger than life, who is better than life, and
who offers eternal life and abundant life now and forevermore. Amen. Because
what you chase determines how you finish. And so the 4 keys to finishing well is
to lead with humility, invest in people, follow the spirit and embrace the goal.
And if you notice, that spells life. If you want to make a difference, lead with
humility. Invest in the people around you with the good news of the gospel.
Follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit in the big moments and in the small,
and invest in embracing the goal. That is Jesus Christ. When this morning with
this uh in preparation for a message talking about racing, uh, I ran into my
friends, uh, Matt and Gillian at the school drop off at elementary school, and
Matt and Gillian, they were sitting here 1st, 1st row, uh, last service, and
they're, they're crazy. You know, people that are just like crazy when it comes
to working out. Like I say they're crazy because like their fun trip as a couple
was they hiked the Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim in one day. They recently ran
a 50K. I felt sore walking from my bed to grab coffee this morning. And they ran
a 50K for fun. And so I talked to Matt and I was like, Matt, how, how do you
even like, help me understand like, how, how does your mind even get around
that? He said, well, if you get into trail running, you know it's gonna hurt.
But you gotta focus on what you put in your body. You gotta focus on who's
around you. Like, man, that's all sounds like church to me. It's like, yeah. Is
it part, but the most important thing? I said, yeah, how, how, how do you even
get to run 1K, let alone 50k? How, how do you go from running 1 mile to 30 miles
and beyond? Like how do you even get there? And he said, well, the biggest thing
is your mindset. That whether it's mile 1, mile 5, mile 20, you have to run the
mile that you're in. So just focusing on the present, just run the mile that
you're in. Next one comes up, you run the mile that you're in. So that's my
encouragement to you today. Some of you are coming in and your your faith
journey is just beginning. And it feels overwhelming. Look, run the mile that
you're in. Some of you are are coming. To some of the later lapse in life. But
you know that God's not done yet. My favorite worshiper in the room is Val,
right here. Have you ever seen him? My man here is just worshiping God. And and
everything you can and I love it. He's got more passion than all of us. I love
it. So wherever you are in your journey, whatever high mountain top or valley,
low, whatever success or failure that you've walked through, understand this,
that what you chase determines how you finish. And let's chase after God
together. And wherever you are in this journey, know that God is with you, God
is for you, and God is calling you to run this mile for him. Amen. Let's pray
together.