Running the Race: Insights from Philippians 3

Amen. Amen. Good stuff. Philippians Chapter three tonight. Philippians Chapter three. Is this a tired bunch tonight? I sense it.

Long as I don't hear it, we'll be all right. See, because if I hear it, then I'll think that I'm the one who put you to sleep. And so then I'll have to wake you up. I used to do that a lot.

I have since stopped doing that. What are you talking about, wake up? That's what I used to do. I don't do that anymore. But it wakes them up, doesn't it? Wakes everybody up.

When babies started crying in the nursery, I figured I'd better quit that. Philippians, Chapter three. If you're there, say amen. I'm just going to read a couple of verses. Verse 12 through 14.

The word of God says, Not as though I had already attained either, were already perfect. But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.

But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God, Christ Jesus.

One of the most inspiring things to watch is someone who refuses to give up, someone who just won't quit. Now, you've all seen him. We've all seen the runner, the marathon runner on wobbly rubber band like legs. We've all seen those.

And they're, you know, as they're nearing the end of the race, the finish line is in sight, but their entire body is screaming at them, stop. Just rest for a minute. Walk. No more running. Just give me a minute. But they know that if they stop, it'll all be over. And so they persevere.

They press on. Sometimes they do fall, but I've seen them continue to crawl.

Now, we've seen when people come behind them and pick them up and carry them, that's not near as good as when they're crawling, knees bleeding, across the finish line. It's inspiring. It's not near as inspiring. When somebody picks them up, then you want to cheer the people who picked them up for being so nice, right?

But I'd rather see somebody crawl across that finish line determined not to quit, not to give up. That's inspiring. But what about Paul? What about the apostle Paul? Philippians, chapter three. This is an amazing book. I know.

Pastor said many times it's his favorite book. And there's a lot of reasons Why, I can see why that's. So Paul, obviously you've heard this. He wrote it while he was in Rome, in prison.

He wasn't near the end of his life yet he still had. This book was written about 60, between 62, I think between 62, 63, 64 A.D. somewhere in there. And I believe Paul was. I believe Paul.

Well, second Timothy was written about 67, 68. So that was pretty close to the end of his life. So he had several years in prison.

So at this point in, in his prison sentence, he probably thought that he was actually going to have his cause heard, his sentence heard. He probably felt he was going to be able to go before the tribunal, the Roman tribunal, but he never did.

You know, he was beheaded before he was ever. Before his trial ever came, before his trial was ever tried. But at this point in the letter, the whole letter just speaks of joy.

I mean, a Roman prison at first, you know, in the other times, you could almost envision, okay, well, it's not that bad. He was under house arrest. He was able to have friends come and go, and he had liberty at times. You know, it wasn't.

But when he got to Rome, they weren't playing around. He got put in prison. And I've never been to a Roman prison. I don't guess I've ever.

I mean, just what I've seen, you've seen on television, and it's not a pretty sight. But it was more severe at this point. But Paul, look at chapter two. I'm sorry, look at chapter one. I'm not gonna dwell on this. My message is not.

It's not on the book of Philippians. But I just want us to get an idea of the circumstances that Paul was going through and the things that he was having endure.

And yet he had a spirit that was just unquenchable, just would not quit. He just wasn't going to stop. But he said in verse 12 of chapter one, I would.

You should understand, brethren, the things which have happened unto me have fallen out rather under the furtherance of the Gospel. So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places.

Paul looked at his circumstances through Christ instead of looking at Christ through his circumstances. What an amazing thing. This book is an amazing book because he was telling them to rejoice. We've read where he said, you think you got something to.

I have been beaten this many times, shipwreck in the deep and, you know, under persecution by those without and by my own countrymen. We got that whole List of things that he went over and over and over. And yet we see him write a book where he says, rejoice.

I mean, here's a man who's just not going to let anything stop him from serving God. There's nothing that's going to stop him from giving God his best. Even prison. Not just prison, but Roman prison. Here's a man who probably.

I mean, he's not eradicated to the human nature. So inside, there's that fleshly Paul, there's that fleshly Saul, there's that carnal man still in there saying, paul, just give up. Paul, just quit.

Look at this. It's a hopeless case. Look at all that you've done. And this is where it got you. Why do you keep on? But yet he does.

You ever felt like just giving up on anything? You ever want to just throw in the towel maybe on a relationship? You ever want to just throw in the towel on your job? You ever just want to walk out?

You ever just want to give your boss a few choice words? That's the flesh. I've been there. You ever want to quit Christianity? You ever want to just turn your back on God and walk away from it all?

Oh, Pastor, Brother Stone, that doesn't happen to Christians every day. Only every day. There's a lot of reasons for it, too. A lot of reasons. A lot of times. And I was talking to somebody about this just the other day.

I see people come to church week after week after week after week after week, solo. A spouse who has to leave their spouse at home. They don't have to, but their spouse won't come to church with them.

And yet they keep coming and they keep coming and they keep coming and they keep coming and they keep coming and they keep coming and they keep coming. And at some point they're like, what's the point? I give up. Think that doesn't happen. It does happen. I will say this before I get any further.

That is very discouraging. And I've seen it on both sides, husband and wife. I've seen it in my own church.

I saw a lady come in and she showed up every Sunday morning for Sunday school, dragging her. I can't remember. Three or four kids now with it. Four. Four kids. Three girls and a boy.

Dragging them with her, bringing them with her every single time. Sunday morning for Sunday school, Sunday morning service, Sunday night service, Wednesday night service, Saturday, soul winning.

And anytime the doors were open, revival, mission, conference, anything, she brought those kids with her by herself for years. Years. And one day I got a phone call, and I said, hello, Miss Kenny? She said, yeah, Pastor, my husband wants to talk to you. Okay. Yeah.

Patrick, Can I help you? Yeah, I want to get saved. This was like three and a half, four years down the road, five years maybe. He said, I want to get saved.

I said, all right, I'm on my way to the house. Meet me at my house. Sweetest thing you've ever seen.

Came in, bowed his head and trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior at my kitchen table, and then just got faithful and then just started coming to church. It's amazing. It's amazing what happens when you just don't quit, when you just keep on keeping on. But I understand. I've seen it.

I've seen people quit because there's a conflict of spirit. There's a conflict in their spirit because what they're having to go through and live and endure all day long.

And then they only get respite a couple times a week when they come to church on Sunday, and maybe if they can make it on Wednesday, a little bit of a respite, a little bit of a shot in the arm, a little bit of a spiritual encouragement. And then the rest of the week, it's just barrage. Just. Just constantly barraged with the worldliness. Sometimes it's teenagers who, you know, they.

It's a battle at school and peer pressure, and they're trying to do right, and it's just tough. Do you ever become so burdened and encumbered with the cares of this life that you just want to quit? Just quit.

Just quit going to church, Quit serving God altogether? I want you to look with me. We're going to. This isn't the message either, but I want you to look over with me@psalm73. This is such a good psalm.

I go to it many times. I should have it memorized by now. As often as I've read it. As many times. And here's the thing.

As many times as I've had to read it, I have to read it. I need this for myself. Psalm 73, are you there? Okay, I still hear a few pages. I'll wait. Psalm 73. All right, I'll read a few verses.

Look at verse three. Actually, let's begin at verse one. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as of a clean heart.

But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death, but their strength. Is firm.

They're not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain. Violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness.

They have more than heart could wish. They're corrupt, and they speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily.

They set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore his people return hither, and waters of a full cup are rung out to them. And they say, how doth God know?

Is there any knowledge in the most High? Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. And then look what he says. Verily, I've cleansed my heart in vain.

I washed my hands in innocency. All the day long have I been plagued and chastened. Every morning he goes, man, I'm trying to do right. I'm the one doing right.

I'm following the word of God. I'm trying to do right. And nothing seems to be coming together for me. And I look at everybody else, and they don't care about God.

They don't go to church. They don't read the Bible. They're wicked. They're partying. They're living it up. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die. That's their motto.

And look at them, man. They seem to be prospering. It's killing me. Sometimes I ask myself, is it even worth it?

He says in verse 13, verily, I've cleansed my hands, my heart in vain, and I wash my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning.

If I say I'm going to speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. Now look at verse 16. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end.

Boy, that's enough to keep you right.

When you understand the end of the wicked, the end of the ungodly, the end of the unrighteous, that's enough to keep you straight if you'll hang in there.

But in our passage in Philippians, the apostle Paul gives us four biblical principles to apply to our lives that will give us the incentives that we need to keep running until our race is over. And it is a race. I mean, you know, the Bible likens this Christian life to many things, and a race is one of them. We're like an athlete.

And so what Paul says, and I got to get to the message, all this introduction. I got to get to the message here. To keep running until our race is over, we must possess four things.

Number one, a discontentment with our present level of spiritual maturity. A discontentment. Look at verse 12 back in our text. He said, not as though I had already attained either. Were already perfect.

But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. That's a mouthful, I know, and I'm going to try to break it down.

There are a few things that the Bible tells us that we are to be content with, but our spirituality isn't one of them. We should never be content with our level of spiritual maturity. We should never be content with our spiritual development.

Paul is saying, I want to fulfill God's purpose for my life. He basically said in this verse right here that I just read. Not as though, let's see, brethren, verse 13. I'll count. Not myself to have apprehended.

I'm sorry, back up. 12. Not as though I had already attained either. Were already perfect. I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended.

So basically, what he's saying is God saved me. When God saved me, he gave me a purpose, and I want to fulfill that purpose for which he saved me. He apprehended me for a reason.

I want to apprehend that reason that he saved me for, and I haven't done it yet. That's exactly what Paul is saying. I want to fulfill God's purpose for my life. He wasn't striving in this verse to get to heaven.

Instead, he was striving to become like Christ. Striving to become like Christ. He was trying to keep his focus on the purpose that God gave him in this life.

Being in ministry and counseling and for years. There's a couple of things that I've realized. Well, I've realized that there's a couple of things. Three things particularly, that people need.

They need to know they're loved and to love and to be loved. They need to have. They need to have significance, to know that they make a difference in the world. And then thirdly, to have a purpose.

I want to know that my life means something, to have purpose. And that's exactly. Paul didn't. He thought he had purpose. You read his bio. You read his bio. He said, man, I have all these degrees.

I got all these accolades, but they were nothing. Once I got saved, I realized they were nothing. I was just going to go to hell with a bunch of accolades.

But when Jesus Christ saved me, I all of a sudden realized those were meaningless. And Christ is everything. And he gave me a purpose for living and my purpose for living.

And your purpose for living is to live this life in such a way that people can see Jesus Christ in us. To be Christlike, to be conformed to the image of Christ in everything that we do, everything that we say, the clothes that we wear.

I've got a book that says your clothes say it for you. And it does. And I'm not preaching about clothes. I'm just saying everything about us speaks. It speaks something to everybody.

If we would be honest with ourselves, we would readily admit that we have a long way to go in the area of our spiritual growth and Christlikeness. If you're married, all you have to do is just look over at your spouse and say, have I arrived yet? And they'll be real honest with you and say, no.

And so we've got plenty of room for growth in our spiritual maturity. Notice the phrase, what he says here, But I follow after. I follow after. You see what he said there? I follow after. That's in verse 12.

You know what that says to me? Intentionality. How do we become. If you're in my Sunday school class or if you're in bridge recovery, go ahead and help me finish this.

To become a good Christian, we must do it now. You make me feel like I'm a really bad teacher. If my wife was sitting there, she just shouted it on purpose. On purpose.

Nobody becomes a mature Christian on accident. You don't just. We don't drift into spiritual maturity. We don't wake up 10 years down the road and all of a sudden we're a mature spiritual Christian.

It is intentional. Intentional. We must do it. He said, I follow after. I follow after. Paul said, he's constantly chasing that goal.

It is ever out of reach and we'll always be behind in the area of Christlikeness. It's like that carrot on the stick. Amen. It's got to be. It needs to be. That's something we need to always be chasing is Christ likeness.

And we'll never reach where we can be. But really where I want to be, I'll never really reach that this side of eternity. So Paul said, he's constantly chasing that goal.

So don't ever get to the place where you think to yourself regarding your spiritual growth, I'm good. I'm good. Don't ever get to the place. Look, I had somebody who Came to this church for a little while.

They didn't come very long, but they came to me and literally said these words to me. And I still love the. I still love the brother. I. I do. But this just spoke of pride. This brother said to me, I don't need Wednesday night service.

I mean, come on. I mean, can we. To say it is one. I mean, to say it. To say it. How much pride did it take to say that? I don't need. Win. I don't need. I'm.

I'm far enough along in my Christianity, in my spiritual maturity. I don't need this midweek service. I'm good. Please, folks, I'm talking to the. I'm talking to the cream of the crop. Let us please don't ever.

You're here because you said I need to go to Wednesday night service. Let's don't ever forget that. We need the midweek service. I need that shot in the arm. I need to be surrounded by my brothers and sisters.

We've been out in the world all week, and I'm fortunate I get to work here. But some of these folks, I'm telling you. No, I'm just kidding. But you guys have to work out in the world all week.

And I know when I was, you know, pastoring, I was bi vocational. And I remember I'm not lost to.

Makes for a rough week when you don't get to do this at some point during the week, sing the songs of Zion and get happy and be on fire and worship God together with your brothers and sisters. And let the screen go blank and everybody go, Esme. Wave, Esme. With victory. There he comes, Right? It's fun. It's great.

You can't do that sitting at home. This is why I think it's important that the child of God should make every effort to come to church, every opportunity he gets.

Now, granted, life happens. I understand that life happens. We have to work and things come up that are beyond our control.

But don't be guilty of choosing to neglect your spiritual growth. Thank God for the Internet and live streaming, and I'm glad it's there for folks who cannot get to church.

But I can say with a conviction that it is not God's will, that it be a substitute for assembling ourselves together with other believers to hear and study the word of God. It is not. It is a poor substitute. It's not a substitute at all. It's not the Lord's will.

If we can be here, we ought to be here at least one amen somewhere. Thank you. Amen. Psalm 122. What did the psalmist say? I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.

Do you know that little song? And I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Amen. That's a good little tune. It's just a verse, but it's catchy.

Do you ever come to church and see somebody who looks down and dragging and just been beat up and take the opportunity to go over there and say, hey, brother, punch him in the arm. How's it going? Good to see you, man. I'm glad you're here. Give him a big old hug. Hey, you encouraged me. I'm glad to see you here.

It's a good thing to do. Good idea being encouragement to somebody. Never be content where you are spiritually. If we grow content, we stop growing.

And if we stop growing, we've stopped running. And the race isn't over until we get to heaven. Maintain a holy discontent until we get there. Let me give you the second thing.

To keep running until our race is over, we must possess not only a discontentment with our present level of spiritual maturity, but a determination to win. A determination to win. He said in verse 13. Again, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. You know what?

There are a few athletes who excel and succeed in many sports. But most succeed because they specialize in or one thing. And they give their life to that one thing. And they hone those skills of that one thing.

And it's. They sleep it, they eat it, they drink it, they work it, they practice it, they read about it, they dream about it.

That one thing, specialization, they focus. That's the key to their success. And when you have that one thing clearly in focus, it gives you the ability to say no to other things.

I said this the other day. When you say yes to something, you say no to something else. And when you say no to something, you say yes to something else.

And we just have to choose what we say yes and no to. And it's easy to say too many yeses, right? Sometimes people don't know how to say no. My wife has that trouble sometimes. I'll say that for her.

Sometimes my wife has problems saying no there's some other folks I know who are like that. You just take it on and take it on and take it on and take it on and God bless you. That can work for you or against you.

For Paul, the one thing in life was to become like Christ in his affections, in his actions and in his attitude. That's what he strove for, that's what he lived for, that's what he spent his time and his energy on. Now he made tents when it was necessary.

And God doesn't call everybody into full time paid ministry. But we are all called to be holy. We are all called to be holy. We're all called to live a life that is becoming of the gospel.

It doesn't matter what you do, it doesn't matter if you manage a Walmart, it doesn't matter if you take pictures for a living. It doesn't matter if you're a construction crew, it doesn't matter if you work at Lockheed.

It doesn't matter what you do in life if you, you can be holy while you do it. And that's what God expects. And let's don't ever get tired of trying our best to be Jesus Christ on the job. Ephesians 4:1.

Paul said, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. Now that can work both ways. The vocation he's talking about is the Christ location life.

But that also means that we should be Christlike in the vocation that you've chosen. We only get one opportunity at life to prepare for eternity.

That's why Paul said in Colossians chapter three, verse one, if you then be risen with Christ. Are you risen with Christ? You are if you've entered into his death and resurrection through salvation through faith.

He says if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth. On the right hand, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Let us focus on the right thing. Be determined to win.

Be determined to be the best Christian that I can be. You ought to be the best Christian that your family or your people around you have ever known.

At least try to be the best Christian at home that your family's ever known. Be the best Christian.

So if God hasn't called you to a life of full time ministry within the church, then train for a career or just do what you like for a living, but use it as a means to glorify God and pray for your co workers Pray for your partners or your employees. Look for opportunities in their lives to offer prayer many things.

If you're a business owner with employees, begin the day with a brief devotion and pray with them. Glorify God with your income.

Determined to win at all things in Christlikeness, to keep running our race until it's over, we must possess a discontentment with our present level of spiritual maturity, a determination to win. But then we also must possess a disregard for the past. A disregard for the past.

Again in 13 in B, he said, this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. A disregard for the things of the past, Our past failures. Our past failures.

He says, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. You know, Paul had to continually battle with guilt over the past sins, including Think about his sins. I mean, I don't know what your sins are.

I know what mine are. I have to deal with my own. I got my own head that I can't get out of sometimes. Sometimes I spend way too much time there. Can I get an amen there?

Are y' all there too? Do y' all end up. Do you get in your head sometimes and you just can't get out?

Do you ever find yourself staying in there so long you end up depressed and discouraged and in despondency? That'll happen when you stay in your own head too long, dealing with things you've done in the past and things you can't change.

And Paul had to deal with his sins, including persecuting and murdering Christians. By all standards. If you look at Paul's life before he got saved, he was a religious zealot who murdered Christians. He was a terrorist.

By all standards of today. He was a terrorist. Those Christians called him a terrorist. He had to deal with that after he got saved. He had to live with that.

And don't think just because he's the great Apostle Paul, that didn't come to his heart and mind every now and then, he had to deal with that. All of us have failures that continue to haunt us, but we should not become distracted by the past.

There are some people, maybe even some of you in this room. You won't go forward in the Christian life because you're thinking to yourself, man, I ain't worthy to do that. I could never.

Man, there's no way I could teach a class. Not because you don't have the ability to do it, or the. Not because you're too. You're not intelligent enough to do it.

You're letting the past hold you back. Oh, if they only knew what I've done. They only knew what I've been through. If they could only see my real. The real me.

Well, you don't want to see the real me either. Look outside of the Holy Spirit of God, you wouldn't even want to hang out with me. I'm abs. None of you. As sweet as you look on the outside.

Without Jesus Christ, you're a miserable wretch. No one would be on want to be.

There's not a Christian in this room would want to be around any other Christian if you weren't saved and you just gave yourself over to the flesh. Because we can be plumb wicked without Jesus Christ.

But to forget our past failures means to deal with them decisively by receiving God's grace and forgiveness so that we are free to move forward in our lives for Jesus Christ. Our core principle in Bridge to Recovery, Core principle number nine says, my past does not need to determine my future.

It's based on Philippians 3, 13, and 14. My past does not. How do you think people get past the life that they were living? By one. We have 12 core principles.

They're all strongly rooted in the word of God. And this number nine is this one. It's a strong one. My past does not need to determine my future. We can't let our past determine our future.

We have to forget what happened in the past. Forget it. Somebody came up to me the other day. I can't remember if it was here, if it was at the conference. I don't remember where it was.

It might have been here. But somebody came up to me and said, what do you think about pastors who have been divorced and remarried and they're pastoring?

Well, I'll tell you what I think about that. I don't. Because it's none of my business, because that's between them and God. Do I want to. Do you want to hear me say what the Bible says about it?

And I told them what I think the Bible says that God says if you're married more than once, you're disqualified from being a pastor. And I don't see a statute of limitations on that.

But at the same time, I know pastors right now who are amazing men, and God is using them, at least it seems to be so in an amazing way. And they're married and they're remarried, they've been divorced and they're remarried. And that's not for me to say.

So I'm not Talking about stuff like that. I'm not. That's. If it's in the Bible, it's in the Bible. But what I am saying is, don't let things that you've done in the past hold you back.

You know, there's so much more that could be done through this church. If some of us in this church would just quit saying if they only knew, Forget about it. God's the only one who knows. He's the only one needs to know.

Not only our past failures, but our past accomplishments. Our past accomplishments. We can't ride our lees. Amen. We have to get off of our lees and move forward. We can't ride victories of yesterday.

No athlete wins a game by reliving last week's victory. He said this. Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before looking back.

While running ahead is potentially dangerous and positively unproductive. So to keep running the race until it's over, we must possess a discontentment, a determination, a disregard. And then finally, number four.

A discipline to begin and the perseverance to finish strong. My soul. My soul. All you got to do is walk down the hallways. Caleb's been here, obviously grew up here.

But there are some of you who've been here a long time, and they change out the pictures pretty good. But before, you know, all it takes is to look at some of those pictures and you can think about somebody who. Oh, man, where'd they go?

Oh, they're not here anymore. They started good, but they didn't finish well. It breaks my heart. I went to Bible college with some amazing guys, man.

We had some wonderful times together. And we could shout amen with the best of them. We'd have Baptistal chapel services, man, it was great.

But, you know, some of those guys found themselves on the wrong end of a knife in a bar fight after we graduated Bible College. They're in the cemetery today. Some of those guys just. It's just. It just blows me away. How many of them you can just pick.

I've got pictures in my phone that guys have sent me over the years of the whole graduating class. Actually, the whole class. It wasn't that big at the time. And I could pick out no longer in ministry. No longer in ministry. No longer.

They started out great, but they didn't finish strong. And it's not just ministers, it's church members. But you're here today, but can I give you a warning?

You might get sideways with somebody in the church. Maybe you think they're Funny looking.

I don't know, maybe they said something that you took it out of context and you got super mad over it and you just left without even talking about it. And you let that bitterness eat you up from the inside out. You know, that can happen. I've seen it happen. It almost happened to me.

It did happen to me. It happened to me and it cost me three years of backslidden life that I'll have to answer for it one day.

Picture a runner straining every nerve and muscle as he keeps on running with all of his might towards the goal, hands stretched out as if to grasp it. Picture that. Ah, you've seen those ones. I think it's funny, those ones who celebrate too soon. I laugh at them. I'm like, ah, that's what you get.

Somebody passes them up and they come in second place when they had a clear shot at winning and then they celebrated too soon. Or how about those guys that spike the ball before they ever get in the end zone? I say, ah, you deserve that.

But you know, nobody deserves to live a life for Jesus Christ and then blow it at the end. Discipline to begin and the perseverance to finish strong. Whatever's in your past, it's not too late to begin running the race.

It's not too late to get in there. Courage is the desire to begin, but perseverance and discipline is the determination to continue.

Regardless of the adversity, the criticism, the personal failures that Paul experienced. He could not be distracted nor deterred from his goal of following Jesus Christ. Let me finish up by saying this.

If you're saved tonight, you are in the race. You're in the race if you're saved. If you're not saved, you're not even. You're not even on the track. You're not in the race.

You're not even going to cross the finish line. And so you need to make sure you're at least on the track. You need to get in the race. Get in the race by becoming a child of God today.

But perhaps you're in the race and you've stopped on the track. But if you're living and saved, you're still in the race. And you're letting your past keep you from moving forward.

Do you keep dwelling on the past failures or the past successes? Is there anyone in this room who hasn't experienced personal failure? That's like saying, let him who's without sin cast the first stone. Okay?

Let him who has not failed in some area of life stand up here and point fingers at Everybody else can't do it. The measure of a person isn't whether or not he's failed, but whether or not he gets up, learns from the failure and tries again. Amen.

You know what we tell a guy? You know what I say? And it's true for everybody. And I've said this to our guys, and I think. I don't know if I've said it here. You want to know why?

The reason. If there's anybody in here who's got a measure of success. Success.

If there's anybody in here with a measure of spiritual maturity, we'll say even Brother Hale. I think Brother Hale, to me, I'm seeing Brother Hale is a man of God. He's a godly man. I admire him so much wisdom.

And he doesn't talk a lot, and that means he's twice as wise. But when you look at Brother Hale, you want to know why he's sitting in here this evening? Because he got up a lot. What do you mean?

I mean he fell a lot and he got up a lot. He didn't just fall one time. Learn everything there is to learn and then never fall down again. It doesn't work that way.

The reason we're here, if we've experienced any measure of success, any measure of maturity in our life, it's because we got back up. And we keep getting up. And we got up a lot. I don't know about you, I lost count. I'm not even.

I'm too embarrassed to even keep count how many times I've had to get up. But just keep getting up. Just keep getting up. Paul and Barnabas got into a heated argument over Barnabas nephew John Mark. Barnabas.

Barnabas wanted to bring him along on the second missionary journey, but Paul strongly disagreed because John Mark had left them during the first mission journey. And the disagreement was so heated that Paul and Barnabas, they split ways. And Paul took Silas with him and Barnabas went ahead and took John Mark.

But later in Paul's life, we read in 2nd Timothy 4:11 that Paul asked for John Mark, saying that he was profitable for him in the ministry. So whatever happened to John Mark that made him fall or leave the ministry? He got back up and he kept serving Jesus.

And he ended up being very profitable to the Apostle Paul. Even if we experience momentary defeat, as long as we're still struggling and straining and reaching for the goal, we're still in the race.

Paul asked those Galatians in chapter five. He says, you did run well. What hinders you? Actually, he Says who hindered you? But I want to say, what hindered you? What hindered you?

That you should not obey the truth. And then of course, in Galatians 6, 9, let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.

Keep running until the race is finished. Keep running till the race is finished. Paul said in second Timothy four, seven, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course.

I have kept the faith. During World War II, Desmond Doss, a young American soldier, he refused to carry a weapon because of his Christian convictions.

And many mocked him and called him a coward. But Doss would not quit on his faith or on his duty. When his battalion was attacked on Hacksaw Ridge, hundreds of men fell under heavy fire.

And while others retreated, Doss, he kept running back into the battle again and again, unarmed to rescue the wounded. And all through the night he prayed. Lord, please help me get just one more. By morning he had single handedly rescued 75 men.

He was later awarded the Medal of Honor. He was the first conscientious objector ever to receive it. Don't quit. Just keep on running until the race is over.

It's not over till we get to heaven. A lot of reasons to quit. The devil will give you a lot of reasons. Life will give you a lot of reasons. Your flesh will make up a lot of reasons.

But just keep on keeping on. Don't quit. Just don't quit. This is my last opportunity to preach to you on a Wednesday night and I wanted to leave you with that. Don't quit.

I see too many just quitting. I want to quit sometimes, but I'm glad the Holy Spirit won't let me. My wife won't let me. Praise the Lord. Alright, let's stand together.

I went over time, but it's not 8 o' clock yet. Y'. All, let's stand together and we'll have a verse of invitation and then we'll receive the offering and have some prayer. Let's pray.

Father, we love youe and we thank youk again for your Word. And Lord, I know this wasn't a shouting type sermon tonight, not animated, but Lord, I pray that you would take the truths that were spoken.

And I pray that you would help us to apply them to our heart. And Holy Spirit, do please what only you can do in our hearts through your word. Help us to stay by the stuff.

Help us to stay on the track, to keep on running till the race is over. I pray it in Jesus name just for a moment. Or two heads bowed as the music plays. Brother Caleb's going to sing through a verse or two of invitation.

If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you tonight, if you want to take a moment to pray, please do it right now.