It's nice to have a group of men to pray with before you get up to preach. You know, I heard a story one time, Charles Spurgeon had, I may not have all the details correct, but Charles Spurgeon saw some young men passing by his church one day and he invited them. He said, you guys want to see the heating room of our church? And they were kind of bewildered. They thought, well, why do I want to see the heating room of your church? And so he brought him in, and they anticipated what they had saw was not what he anticipated. He led him through the church, and then he opened a door. I believe it was in their basement, and it was dozens of men that were praying for Charles Spurgeon. He said, that's our heating room. Prayer will get stuff done. I want to share some thoughts with you tonight in Luke 14, if you have your Bibles. And just want to relay something that's been on my heart as a burden for a while. In Luke chapter number 14, and in honor of God's Word, if you wouldn't mind to stand as we read. In Luke chapter number 14 and verse number 28 The Bible says for which of you intending to build a tower said it's not down first and counteth the cost Whether he have sufficient to finish it lest happily after he hath laid the foundation is not able to finish it and All that behold it began to mock him saying this man began to build and was not able to finish and I just want to Preach till you're denied on finished. And Brother Brad, if you wouldn't mind to open us up in a word of prayer, please. Amen. You may be seated. Now across many areas today, it's in human nature, and some of us are better than others at coming up with ideas for things. As independent Baptists, we're really particularly good with coming up with ideas, maybe lacking in other areas such as steadfastness and seeing things through to the finish. And in my particular career field, it's basically being thrown into a den of wolves, and you either make it out or you don't. And there's a lot of turnover in my job. And a lot of times, that's true across many career fields. With my particular job, I always say that we usually have to hire 10 people. If you get one out of 10, you've done well. They just don't, they can't finish what they start. And in my professional life and folks that I've worked with, I've seen some guys come into my job that set the world on fire, if you will, and they do really well for a very short period of time. Then as soon as adversity or something that comes in that's difficult for them or maybe things don't go their way They get off track and and then soon they're out the door Why what was their problem? They couldn't finish what they started You know as Christians were pretty bad for that, too You know, we're real good about starting things, but maybe not so good about finishing what we start. I You know, in this passage here, apparently this guy was an amateur builder. If you've ever started to build something, you know that you have to sit down and consider the cost of what you're going to build. I'm bad for that. I like to plan things out and structure them, and I like to have a plan. And undoubtedly, if you ever go to build something, you always get halfway through, and then you realize that you forgot something. Every time. As evidenced by my running into Mike twice in the last week. He had a handful of stuff and I had a handful of stuff and we both were doing the same thing. We were in lows because we started a job and we thought, oh, I forgot something. You know, so when you sit down to build something, somebody that's had some experience in building something realizes that it's going to take some extra things to finish the job. You know, it doesn't catch them off guard. Now, this guy was an amateur builder. Now, one of the devil's greatest weapons is Christians that start really well, and then something comes along their way and gets them off the track, and then next thing you know, they're back in the world, hanging around the same people that they used to. As evidenced in the passage, he said, saying, they mocked him. This man began to build and was not able to finish. You know what a lost man looks at a Christian like? They say, well, if your God wasn't able to see you through your problems, your God's no good to me at all. You know what's powerful to a lost man is when they look into the Christian that's suffering and gone through some things, and then they can't answer why that you're able to handle some of the things that you handle. Why is it that some Christians begin so well, and yet they don't finish what they started? You know, young people should consider the finish line. A lot of young people, they get excited, and they have some zeal, and that's wonderful, and that's good, but a lot of times, in my experience as a Christian, being saved 14 years now, I've seen young people come into church, be faithful for a period of time, and then something comes along that's enticing to them, and next thing you know, they're not in church any longer. Why? Because they didn't consider the finish line. You know, as a young person, you ought to consider how you're going to finish. The push today for young people is just do what feels good now. Don't worry about tomorrow. And don't worry about the finish line. You know, I would guarantee you that if you could ask many old people that if they could do it over again, would they live the life of wickedness before they got saved because of the consequences that it played on their body and the pain that they suffer from today. I guarantee you that if they could do it over, that they would do it differently. and maybe they would honor God and maybe have not made some bad choices. Those of you that are younger ought to consider and draw from that wisdom and say, hey, I want to finish well, not just start well, but I want to finish well in the Christian life. Older people should consider how they finish. A lot of older folks, they act as if they're just holding on, just holding on. Well, the Lord has left us here for a purpose, folks. You know, COVID-19 was not a surprise to God Almighty. God is not done saving souls, and God's not done working in His people's hearts, and if He were, He would just call us out of here. And we got to get out of this bunker mentality that we just got to hold on and run from the government. Listen, we need to focus on the finish line, folks. Jesus Christ is coming back soon, and we've got a lot of work to do. You know what I've seen? I'm not a runner. I enjoy running. Danielle's the runner. But a lot of times, I've went running after my kids, and we make it fun. We'll go run to the van or something like that. Try not to do it in a parking lot because cars come, you know. But we'll run to the van and we'll make it fun, make it a race. Like if mom and dad are in a hurry, you know, sometimes you tell them, I go to the van and they lollygag, you know. But if you make it a race and you say, all right, I'm going to race you to the van, right, it gets the job done quicker. And you know what I've seen is other times when we're running and they're a little bit ahead of me, sometimes I'll look back and they'll kind of run like this and go off course, right? And when you start looking back and you're not thinking of the finish line, you're going to get off track. You know, as a Christian, we ought to always be mindful of how we're going to finish. You know, I don't know what kind of Christian he is, but I read a quote from Mariano Rivera, a baseball player, the best closer of all time. Now, I don't know what doctrinally he believes, but he claims to be a born-again Christian. And Mariano Rivera had finished 952 games, and he had finished with 652 saves. Many more than even the nearest man in history. And Mariano Rivera said, everything starts with God in my career and it will finish with God. You know, I like that. You know, he gave us, he had the finish line. If there's somebody who knew how to finish something in regards to worldly things in baseball, it was Mariano Rivera. The greatest closer that's ever played in the game. You know, as a Christian, we ought to be considerate of our finish. How are you gonna finish? And so I just wanna share a few thoughts with you tonight, and first I wanna go over to Colossians chapter number four. Colossians chapter number four. And hold your place in Colossians four, and also grab 2 Timothy 4 10. Colossians chapter number four. We're gonna read 14. Paul's writing his ending of his epistle here, and he mentions Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. Now, at this time in AD 64, Demas was with Paul. He was serving him, and Paul even commended him in the word of God. Look in 2 Timothy chapter number four. In verse number nine, he says, do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica, Cretans to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. You say, what happened? You had Demas that apparently had started well, ran with the Apostle Paul, was by his side through many things, but between AD 64 and AD 66, two years of time, Demas had fled service with Paul. Now, right here in the passage, it would imply that he had a heart problem. It says, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. You know one thing that will keep her from finishing is that you're gonna get your affections in the wrong place along the line. You get your affections in the wrong place. You know, Demas here is, he was with Paul for a period of time and then he left. And 14 years of salvation, I've seen folks come and go. Some have stayed faithful the whole time. Some of you have stayed faithful longer than I've been here. But you know, I've also seen some that were faithful for a period of time, and where are they now? You say, well, maybe some of them went to another church. Well, yeah. Some of them might be faithful in another place. but there are many that just fell off the wayside because they love this present world. Their affections got out of line. You see, God, Jesus Christ said, the first and great commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength. In other words, your affections. He wants your affections. If you were to examine, if God took an x-ray machine of your insides, or maybe a CT scan, and examined your heart, where do your affections lie? You know, I've dealt with a lot of folks, and I've seen folks, I could point them out, something's not right there. Something's not right there. And what I found is a lot of times before they leave the church and they don't come back, they don't finish the way that they should, things start slipping. They start slipping. And you know, before it ever gets to walking out the door of the church, it starts in here. And it shows. And it shows. You know, something that'll keep you from finishing the way you should is your affections getting the wrong place. your heart gets cold. You know, I think about Saul where, you know, Saul was so anxious to be the prophet, priest, and king. You know, Saul didn't wait on God. You know, Saul had a pride problem. You know, Saul, everybody loved David, and yet Saul had all the outward things that a man could want. He was tall in stature. He was head and shoulders above everybody. People literally looked up to Saul. And still yet, something little like David taking out Goliath, Saul couldn't rejoice in the fact that David won the battle for the nation, but he was rather jealous because David was getting all the notoriety. You know what that did is that exposed his affections that they were in the wrong place. Listen, be careful about doing the right thing with the wrong motives behind it. You know, the Bible in reference to the judgment seat of Christ said that, take heed how you build thereupon. You know, God's maybe not so concerned about how much you do as to the quality of the work that you're putting in. You know, that's hard to do. You know, the Bible says that our heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above Joe Biden, above Kamala Harris, above the news media that you distrust, right? And you know what? Your own heart is more deceitful than any of that. And you gotta look yourself in the mirror and do some self-examination. You know, it's easy for you and I to get frustrated with evil government and things that are not right and things that you know you're being lied to about. And still yet, the Bible says that your own heart is more deceitful than all of those things. And you gotta look yourself in the mirror every day. That's some hard self-examination, folks. You know, you gotta remind yourself, we gotta bathe ourselves in the word of God. You know, you gotta stop, and I find myself getting frustrated. Sometimes I just try my best to just cut off the news media and not listen to that stuff, and I still do it sometimes, but I just don't wanna listen to it. I just wanna keep my eyes on the finish line and just keep my eyes on Jesus Christ. You know, sometimes you just gotta open your Bible and read it and let God's word just cleanse your mind and think the way that you ought to think. Listen, when your heart's in the wrong place, it may take two years, but listen, you're gonna be out the door if your heart's in the wrong place, if you don't get it right. You know, maybe God's giving you an opportunity tonight. You know, maybe God would give you an opportunity Examine your own heart and say that there's some things that are going on inside of me that I don't understand it But I know it's not right by God you know there were many times as a young Christian where I would just Weep for God, and I didn't even understand I didn't know the Word of God well enough to understand what was going on But I knew the struggle was on the inside and You know, you might have a suit and a tie, but listen, the devil's after your mind, he's after your heart. You know, if you don't get those things right, you know, maybe God's just being long-suffering with you. You know, maybe he's giving you a little bit of rope. You know, tonight maybe he is just trying to pull you back in because your affections are in the wrong place. Look in Jeremiah chapter 20. Jeremiah chapter number 20 and verse number nine. Jeremiah here says, then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay. You know what, something that'll help you to finish is the word of God. You know, here Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet because he loved his people, and he gave them the message that God had given him to deliver to them, and still yet they would ignore the message, and Jeremiah, being broken-hearted about that, came to a point where he literally said, I'm quitting. He said, I'm not going to make mention of his name anymore, nor speak anymore in his name. As a Christian, sometimes you can come to that point. Maybe you witness at work and you talk to co-workers and then they just shut you out and you eventually just say, okay, I'm just, I won't say anything anymore. You know, maybe family members, maybe folks that you've tried to witness to before that have just tuned you out and you just cut, you just quit talking about it. You know, Jeremiah got to that point. You know, Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, God's man, got to a point where he just said, I'm not going to speak anymore in his name. But he says, but his word was in my heart. You know what'll help you to finish is the Word of God. You know, God's Word, that it's your fuel in the Christian life. This book is the bread that will sustain you. When the attacks of the devil come, and you have this book that the sword of the Spirit, every time that Satan came to tempt Jesus Christ, he quoted the Word of God. You know, I don't think he had a King James Bible running around, I just think he had memorized it. I mean, He was the Word of God, right? And Jesus went through that to give us an example of what we should do when that temptation comes. It's the Word of God that's going to sustain you to be able to finish when there are temptations to want to quit. And listen, if you don't get this word in you, you're not gonna have that fuel. Listen, Jeremiah said his word was in my bones. It was on the inside of him. How did it get in there? Because Jeremiah had probably labored night and day in the word of God and he put it in himself so that when that time of desperation came where he needed God the most, he had the words of God that he could cling to. And if there's ever a time where God's people need to, Quit worrying about all the noise and focus on God. It's today. And you need to get a hold of this book and get it in you so that when that temptation comes to quit, that you'll keep going. You need to be focused on the finish line. Look in 1 Kings 13. I'm not going to read the whole passage for the sake of time, but in 1 Kings 13, we'll pick up in verse 11, Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the works the man of God had done that day in Bethel, the works which they had spoken unto the king. Then them they told their father. And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen the way the man of God went, which came from Judah. And he said unto his sons, Saddle me an ass. And they saddled him the ass, and he rode thereon. And verse number 14, and went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said unto him, art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am. Then he said unto him, come home with me and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with thee nor go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place. For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor return again to go by the way that thou camest. Now verse number 23 says, And it came to pass after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass to wit for the prophet whom he had brought back. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way and slew him, and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it. The lion also stood by the carcass. Now here's the opposite. Here's a young man that was delivered the word of God, and very clearly understood the Word of God. And God tells him very distinctly, you do not go and eat with anybody. And then in comes an old prophet in the passage. And he says, I too am a prophet. And here comes how he says that, if you look in verse number 18, he says, and he said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art, an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied to him. But he lied to him. Here's this old young man that's delivered the word of God. He knew the King James Bible is the word of God. He knew it was inspired and he knew how to study to show thyself approved unto God. And he very clearly understood the words of God. He was raised in an independent Baptist church that stood on these words. And God had delivered it to him to where he knew for sure what his instructions were to do. And he goes on down the way and here comes an old prophet. Earlier in the passage, he says, I can't eat with you, but in comes an old prophet. And he tells him, well, God spoke to me too. And he told me it's okay. And he lied to him. And the young man believed the words of this man that lied to him over the very words of God. Now listen, a lot of young people, somewhere along the way, somewhere along the way, if you've been raised in this church, you've been delivered the words of God, and you know the words of God, and you know what's right to do. And then somebody convinces you that they know more about God's word than you do. And they know more about a situation than you do. You know, colleges are bad for that. You know, a lot of young people, they grow up in a King James Bible-believing church, then they go off to school, and then somebody convinces them that they can't trust the words of God. Why is that? Listen, you can be a Bible believer and not believe the Bible enough to live it. You know, you could be in this church to hold to a King James Bible, but as soon as somebody comes and tries to convince you otherwise, you'll fall. Listen, you gotta keep the finish line in mind. You know, I hate seeing young people getting out of the way, somebody that could be used by God, somebody that's got every opportunity, somebody that's been raised right, somebody that's been taught right, somebody that's been taught the King James Bible's the word of God, and then they get out of the way. Somebody convinces them otherwise. You know, there's some things I wanna finish with. Look in Acts chapter 20. I'm not only concerned about finishing, but I want to finish with some things. Acts chapter 20 and verse number 24, the Apostle Paul says, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. Listen, Paul is writing this in AD 60, and Paul ended up dying somewhere around AD 68. Paul had died somewhere around eight years later, You know, one thing I noticed about the passage is that though the Apostle Paul was surrendered completely to God, his attitude wasn't one of presumption that he would finish for God. He said that I might, that I count my life dear, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. Listen, he said, I don't want to count my own life dear. Jesus said, if any man love his life, he shall lose it. And you know what the last year and a half has been, is constant berating of death, of death, and fear, and life, and your death, and you're gonna die, and you're gonna die, and you're gonna, and you know what? A lot of Christians, we've fought, so what if you die? Listen, I don't want anybody to die, but if I die, it's a graduation ceremony. I'm going to heaven when I die. I'm not looking to go. I enjoy my life. But listen, as a Christian, you shouldn't fear death. As a Christian, you shouldn't fear anything but God Almighty. And nobody's looking to die. But if you're not careful, you'll start getting consumed with, I'm going to catch COVID, now I'm going to die. And the devil just handcuffs you spiritually. And you're useless for the work of God. Listen, you need to get sold out to God and get as Paul did, he said, neither can I my life dear unto myself. Why? Because his life has already been surrendered to Jesus Christ. Paul, why did you go through what you did? Why did you go through the shipwreck? Why didn't you quit after the first one? He went through two. Why did you keep going after you were beaten and dragged outside the city and left for dead? Why? Because he didn't count his life. Listen, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. And we're just consumed with our life and our plan. And it's in our sinful nature to be that way. And the news media just feeds that thing. Listen, surrender your life to God. What is your life but a vapor? You know, as a Christian, we shouldn't be so concerned about our life. We ought to be concerned more about how we're going to finish for Jesus Christ. And listen, I've got, by God's grace, years ahead of me if He tarries, and I want my life to count something for God. I don't want to be consumed with just the here and now. Something I want to finish with, I want to finish with joy. I want to finish with joy. You know, I don't want to just hold on to the end. I want to finish with joy. It's the inner part. I've got some joy that I can't sell you. I've got some joy that I can't give you as much as I'd like to. If I could write you a check with joy, I'd do it right now, and I can't do it. I have some joy in my heart that only God gives, folks, only God gives. Do you have that joy? Why don't you, if you don't? Listen, Paul didn't assume how he would finish. He had the finish line in mind. He wanted to keep going. He's writing, I think it's interesting of note that he's writing to the Ephesians here in roughly AD 60, and later on in AD roughly, I believe it was 90, somewhere in that ballpark, some 20, 30 years later, the Apostle John writes to the Ephesians and he commends them for some things. So the Ephesian church that he's writing, he's talking to here, had kept going and he encouraged them, he said, that they had, well, I'll just read it, it's in Revelation 2. He says, I know thy works and thy labor. And he says, in verse number three, and has borne and has patience for my namesake, has labored and has not fainted. Why? Why? They were finishing. He says, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love. You know, I want to finish with joy. And Paul had commended the Ephesians for their continued service some 36 years after Paul had originally wrote to the Ephesians here and talked to them that John had wrote them 36 years later. Maybe some of you have been a Christian for 36 years. I'll tell you, I know that as a member of this church, many of you have been faithful a long time, and praise God for that. But listen, he commends them for not fainting. And I realize that this is a Sunday night crowd, this is the cream of the crop, this is the heart of the church, the folks that are active in the ministries and give. and concerned about missionaries, and concerned about keeping the lights on, and concerned about souls. I understand that, but Paul had wrote the Ephesians that they kept going, and those are good things, but he had also rebuked them because their heart was cold. And as a Christian, if you're not careful, you'll find yourself just as those Ephesians. Listen, I don't want to lose my first love. You know, I like being around new Christians because they got a lot of zeal. You know, they may make a mess of things, but man, they got some zeal. I remember the night my son got saved. I'll never forget it. Nicole and I had been praying and had dealt with Micah for a period of time, and we were praying for his soul. We could tell that the Lord was working on him. And one night when It was our youth revival, and Brother Frazee came and preached for us. And Brother Frazee came and preached a good message, and we went home. It was a Thursday night in November. And I explained to him, I said, now when God knocks on your heart's door, you come tell me. And he comes in, he goes, Daddy, I'm ready. I'm ready. God's knocking on my heart. And I went downstairs. My wife's a lot more tender-hearted than I am, and I wanted to make sure that, you know, I don't want this just to be what Daddy wants. I want, is this the Lord? And so we could discern that God was dealing with him. And he had prayed and asked the Lord to save him. You know, up until that point, a week prior, God, the Lord had, he had said he wasn't ready to meet the Lord. for the Lord to come back. That night, we went out to Dairy Queen to get some ice cream or something like that, and I asked him if he wanted to pray for the dessert. And in his prayer, he said, thank you, Lord, for saving me from hell. And when he got done praying, he said, I can't wait to meet the Lord. You know that? I remember Nicole looked over, she said, that's shouting grounds. That's something from my wife. Man, I wanted to jump outside of that van and run her all the way around the Dairy Queen parking lot until the walls fell down. You know, the Lord did something there. But listen, when it comes to this thing of the Christian life, folks, you know, you maybe have gone through some events in your life, but don't let your heart get cold. When's the last time you've shed tears for folks? Do you ever cry anymore? Jeremiah is a weeping prophet. Does your sin ever bother you anymore? Listen, I'm gonna finish here in John chapter 19. John chapter 19 and verse number 30. I'm gonna finish right here, John 19 verse 30. You know the passage, Jesus is on the cross. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. You know, Jesus Christ had gave us the example of how to finish something. You know, we don't often think about it, but what if he didn't finish? What if Jesus Christ had took off when things didn't go his way the way a lot of Christians do? What if he let being alone discourage him and cause him to quit? What if he quit after the first nail that was driven into his hands? You know, maybe he would have said, that's enough, that hurts. But he didn't. What if he had quit after the crown of thorns were jammed on his head? What if he quit because rather than a kingdom, he had to humble himself and submit to sacrifice? You know, a lot of times, Christians, we just don't finish because our heart's in the wrong place. We let the lust of the world and the lust of the flesh, just as Mike had preached on, creep in and affect your heart. Listen, your Savior finished what he started. One time in John 17, Jesus said, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Listen, Jesus Christ, your Savior, set the example on finishing something. And as a Christian, folks, this isn't our time to lay down. This isn't our time to quit. This isn't our time to make excuses because circumstances in the world is going crazy. What else do you expect? You know, it's not going to get better. You know, as a Christian, you have the greatest message that you can deliver to the lost world If there's ever a time that you and I should get busy trying to finish for God, it's right now. You know what I found? I found, generally speaking, that when you can talk to somebody over the last year and a half, two years, what's happened, people are a little bit more receptive lately than they were. Why? Because they're thinking about dying. They're thinking about dying. And here you and I are, folks, we need to be considerate of how we're gonna finish. Not just how you start, but how do you finish? And I wanna encourage you, stand strong on the Lord. Stay in his word so that you finish the way you should. Let's all stand and we'll turn it over to Pastor.