All right, well, it's good to be in church, amen. I'm glad to be in church. I'm glad I'm not at the hospital. I'm glad I'm not at the funeral home. I'm glad I'm not at home home. Amen. There's a time to go home, and I'm glad to go home when it's time to go home, but then there's a time to be in church, amen. And I'm glad to be in church. So I appreciate the Lord allowing us another Wednesday night. Don't ever take it for granted the times you can be in church. Amen. I grew up in a pastor's home, and man, when I was a kid, every morning on Wednesday morning, I was trying to start, before I went to school, to figure out a way that I could miss church on Wednesday nights. I did. I think Randy was a better child than I was, but I was trying to figure out a way how I could get sick or something. not have to go to church as a kid, you know. But, but my daddy, you couldn't my daddy, it didn't matter what he said. I mean, what I said it was it was, you know, you know, I remember, I remember I talked crying to mom about getting a haircut. And telling her, you know, Mama, Daddy always makes us get a real short haircut and kids in school make fun of me. I shouldn't have done that. It didn't work out well for me. But anyway, he, you know, my dad was a rough man whenever he was growing up and he had to overcome a lot of things. He was a drunkard and all that stuff, and he lived a rough life. And I didn't know it until this past year, because I came along late. But the testimony of my brothers, and my dad would spend time a couple of weeks away from home, and I didn't know that. And I really didn't want to know that. Because it changed some things in my heart. But I still love my dad. He was my dad. But what I knew of him, I appreciate and love, but there were times when my mom would have to move, and evidently they didn't have money to take care of things because my dad was out doing what he did for weeks at a time, and my mom was trying to raise four, five, six kids at the time by herself. But I've always said, even before I knew that, I've always said that when my daddy got saved, he really got saved. And, you know, that's what God will do. Was he perfect? Absolutely not. Did he still mess up? Absolutely. Do you? Amen. Don't we all? Amen. You know, the Bible puts a list in there and the list of the flesh, the things of the flesh, did you know murder is in the same list as lying? But see, we put them in categories of this is worse than this, and this is worse than that, and all that stuff, and I get that. I think there's levels to hell. I think there's different levels to hell. The Bible speaks about the lowest hell, and I get that. But when it comes to sin, which sin's the worst? It's like a chain. Which link of the chain has to break before it gets broke? Right? I mean, if you're hanging from a chain right here, and down here's, you know, man-eating alligators, and you're hanging from that chain, which link do you want to break? Exactly. You want the bottom one, the middle one, or the top one? You don't want any of them to break. And that's the way sin is in our life. Sin is sin, no matter if it's here, here, or here. It doesn't matter, it's still sin. And that's why we need a Savior. And thank God we got a Savior. As Job said, he said, if there was a daisman, you know, thank God we got one. We got one. And man, he was reaching up to God with that hand and reaching down here with the other hand and connecting us. Amen. And what more could we ask for? Amen. But anyway, I certainly appreciate the opportunity to preach, and I think about that sometimes. And David wanted to build a house for God, and he tells Nathan, the prophet, and he says, you know, I got it in my mind to do this and this and this. And Nathan said, well, whatever the Lord's put on your heart, whatever you feel like you need to do, go ahead and do it. Well then the Lord talks to Nathan and says, Nathan, tell David, no, you don't need to build me a house. And gives him the reasons why, which is, you know, God's always right. But then what God says is, how about if I build you a house, David? He just told him he was a bloody man and he was a man of war, you can't build me a house. And then God turns around and says, but I'll build you one. And what do you do with that? And then David says, why would you look at a dog like me? Amen. Why would you even think on me? Right? And that's where all of us are at. That's where all of us are at. I mean, I think about that and I think about... You know, there's Gideon. I mean, you know the story of Gideon. Man, he's up there in the threshing floor, and man, he's doing his deal and working, and then the angel of the Lord comes to him. God basically comes to him and says, hey, I want you to take care of this battle over here. And Gideon's standing back here going, look, who am I? You know, I'm a nobody. I'm nothing. But God showed him what he could do with nothing. I mean, he had 30,000 men down to 10,000, and then they went and got a drink of water, and now they're down to 300. Amen. Be careful where you drink, amen. Amen. I'm telling you, it's just something what God can do. Amen. So anyway, I'm glad He's my God. I'm glad he's my God and I don't want to fail him, but unfortunately we do. But I'm thankful that he already knows and he's already shed his blood and he can't take that back. Amen. I preach for Brother Jonathan Roanhorse. out there in Arizona, the Indian Reservation, and he's there at Winslow. Y'all remember Winslow, don't you? Tom and Bonnie, y'all remember that, don't you? adventurous but I preached for him a few years ago when I was out there and so he gave me a pistol, he gave me a .45, a gun. And man, that thing's nice. It's sweet, man. That thing shoots so good. And so anyway, a few months later, I was asking him, I said, are y'all going to come down? That was wintertime. And so I asked him, are y'all going to come down in the summer? What are y'all going to do? And he was like, I don't know, brother. I said, well, if you come down, I said, maybe I'll let you shoot that gun that you let me, you give to me. And I said, but if you start shooting it, you may want it back. He goes, no, no. He said, I can't take it back. He said, I'm not an Indian giver. He did. I laughed. He's funny. He's dry funny. Amen. Amen. That's like, that's like a collage. Amen. A wooden Indian standing over by the door. Amen. I can remember all those crazy songs. But anyway, they're funny. They're good folks, though. We love them. But tonight, if you will, I'm going to go to 2 Timothy chapter 4, a very familiar passage of Scripture. And we're going to look at some things here about Paul and what Paul said. By the way, if you don't mind, put my sister on your prayer list, Becky Jones. She's back in the hospital. They found a spot on her lungs and they did a biopsy today and they'll come back with something, but I don't know what that'll be. You know, she's had a really tough time the last few years. and got better and was doing well and got over cancer and now she's, I don't know if it's cancer, they don't know, but y'all just pray for her. Lift her and her husband, Kerry Jones, Becky and Kerry Jones, lift them up in prayer if you will. Alright, here in chapter 4 of 2 Timothy, every second book in your New Testament deals, in some fashion, deals with the last days. And you can mark that down, you'll find things about the last days in every second book of the New Testament. It deals with some of that in some fashion, maybe not the whole book, but in some of the passages and chapters it will deal with the last days. And we certainly see that in this chapter 4. But what should we be doing in the last days? Paul was facing not only teaching about the last days and what was going to come in the last days, but he was facing his last days. This is some of the writings of a man that's in prison fixing to die. Amen? And he wasn't going to die because he had cancer or any of that stuff. He was going to die because they were going to cut his head off. that was going to get rid of him. But you know what? They really didn't get rid of him. I mean, we got him in 27 books right here, amen? We got him in a bunch of these books, of the 39 books of the New Testament. We got him in several. I mean, you know, we've got his life, we've got his testimony, we've got his preaching, teaching, his doctrine. I mean, it's everything about Paul, pretty much that we need to know, anything that we need to know about Paul, we've got his testimony. And so they didn't really get rid of Paul, amen. And so, but as we look at this thing tonight, I want you to notice what the Bible tells us here. And I'm gonna look down here in verse number... in verse number 5 and let's read a couple of verses and we'll just take some time and just see what it says. But watch thou in all things and do afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. Which is really interesting what he tells us there, how to watch, that means to be sober and look around, don't be ignorant of the things and the devices of the devil, but he says there to endure afflictions. Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions. And what he's trying to tell Timothy is, is you're gonna have trouble, amen? As a Christian, you're gonna have trouble. And you know something, I know what our enemy is and who our enemy is, but you know, sometimes the enemy comes in unexpected avenues. in unexpected ways, amen? Sometimes the enemy will come dressed as a churchgoer, amen? Sometimes the enemy will be dressed as a Christian and things like that. And we have to be on the watchful side, as he says there in the verse. See, the thing of it is, is I'm not concerned about people riding them down the road because they're not close to me. Amen? The ones that can get to you are the ones that are closest to you. And so you have to be... I mean, it doesn't say that you have to separate yourself from all of them or anything like that, but who was it that crucified Christ? It was His own people. Amen? So I'm not saying your own people is going to crucify you, but most of the fighting in a Christian life comes from within the church. I hate to say that, but I've been in church my whole life, and I've seen some things, amen? And I've seen how things work. And most of the disappointments that you have in the realm of Christianity comes from people that are supposed to be churchgoers, supposed to be Christian. And I'm not saying they're not, but that's where you're going to have most of your problems in the Christian side of things. So he says, endure afflictions, struggles, and things like that. Do the work of an evangelist. Some people think that it's easy preaching. Some people think that, you know, hey, I can do that. Or they think it's easy to be the evangelist and do the things that they do. I used to sit and I used to listen, and I still do to some extent. preachers and think, you know, man, I wish I could remember stuff like that. I wish I had the ability to say things, to be able to keep the attention of people and different things like that. And I didn't realize as I was saying that and wishing for that, that it comes with experience. And some of those experiences are not good. They're not fun. You don't want to have to go through some of those things. But the Bible says to endure afflictions and do the work of an evangelist. And it takes work, amen. It takes study. It takes prayer. It takes those things. Make full proof of thy ministry. Full proof. And of course, we'll talk about that here in a minute, about how that this is a full proof, how Paul made full proof. and things of that nature. But verse 6, "...for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand." He's ready to be offered. He's ready to go. Amen. And as he is ready to go, he makes that comment, "...the time of my departure is at hand." He didn't say, "...the time for me to die." He didn't say, "...the time for me to be buried." He didn't say, "...the time for me to finish," or in the sense of, "...I'm done and it's over." He didn't say that. He said, "...the time of my departure." And, you know, I've flown on a lot of airplanes over the years and, you know, and when you get to the airport, you'll find a big board up there that says arrivals and departures. Well on the departure side you find your flight and what plane it is and you'll find what time it boards and you'll find where it says time of arrival wherever your departure is going to. So what that meant was, as Paul said there, he said the time of departure is at hand. In other words, he knew he was going somewhere else. He knew that he still was going to live, but it wasn't going to be where he was at. Amen. Aren't you glad you're not always going to live where you're at? Amen. And so I'm glad of that. I mean, boy, I am glad. We're not going to be stuck down here. We're not going to be in this forever. And I'm glad that there's gonna be another place, our departure. And I believe that our departure is close. I really do. I believe that our departure, I can almost see the departure board, amen? I can almost see, amen. There's just a little fuzzy part right there where it talks about the day and the time, but the rest of it, man, I am sure we're gonna depart here and we're gonna get over yonder, amen. I know that's gonna happen. So what does he say? He says in verse 7, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Then he says, henceforth there is a letter for me, a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous just, should give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing. So who gets the crown of righteousness? Those that love His appearing, those that serve Him, those that live for Him, those that have surrendered to the Lord after they've been saved. Amen. That's who gets the crown of righteousness, and that's the reason why he could say in verse 7 that he has kept the faith so he knows he's going to get that crown of righteousness. But let's look at these three things in verse number 7. You've heard messages, you've heard teaching, you've heard a lot of stuff on this verse here, but I just wanna pick a few things here. As I was laying in bed the other night, and I woke up, I don't know, two o'clock in the morning, and I was just laying there, and the thought come to me, and it started, you know, the Lord, I guess, was just giving some things to me as I was laying there in the bed, and I was praying, Lord, don't let me forget it. And it was on this verse. In 2 Timothy 4.7, it was on this verse about, I have fought a good fight, and he says, I have finished my course and I have kept the faith. And so as I started studying on it and looking at it, I want to look at this thing. The first thing he says there, he says, I have fought a good fight. I want you to notice in this thing, it's not the fight that's important. It's the fighting. He says, I have fought a good fight. You see, all of us have a fight. Right? All of us have a battle. All of us have something. I mean, you know, that's not uncommon to have a battle. I mean, we all face a battle every day, right? I mean, we all do this thing. But the important part is, is that you're fighting. Because if you're not fighting, you're getting whipped. You're getting defeated. And the important part is, is man, we're in the battle. You know, I think about the football games and we'll sit and we'll watch a football game and everything. And as we're watching the football game, I mean, we're sitting there and we're looking and we're saying, hey, why didn't you do this? Or why didn't you do that? Man, you should have this or you should have that. And then you hear the commentaries, and they're doing their little squigglies here, and their lines up here. Well, this is what he's doing here, and this is what he's doing here. And that's all fine and dandy, but you know, the ones that are on the field are the ones that are making it happen. Right? It's not the commentaries, it's not us, or what they call it, armchair quarterbacks or whatever. It's the ones that are in the game. It's the ones that are in the battle. It's the ones that are doing the fighting. Amen? That's the important part. I've known Christians to just get out. Amen. I've known Christians to quit fighting. I've known Christians, and I could mention names, and I know these folks right here could mention names as well. Over 20 years ago, going to church with people and couples that prayed for kids and prayed for kids, And then finally, you know, the Lord let them have some kids, and the Lord let them have two precious daughters, and later on they get out of church and decide to go their own way, and start chasing the dollar, and education, and all this stuff. And now their kids are grown that they prayed for, that God give them as a gift, amen? that have gone the different lifestyles and living with this one and living with that one. And why? Because somewhere down the line, mom and dad got out of the battle. They got out of the fight. And who's suffering? The kids. You know, the ones we prayed for. The ones that we couldn't have and just begged God for. And now they're living the lifestyle of the world and doing those things. And it's like, you know, they got out of the fight. What happened? 1 Peter 5, 8. That's what happened. The adversary, amen, he walketh about seeking whom he may devour, amen. So if you're not in the battle and you're not fighting, guess who's coming? Amen, the adversary's coming, he's coming after you. And man, I'm telling you, he's getting stronger and stronger the every day that we live. If you turn back into 1 Corinthians 9, 1 Corinthians 9, look what Paul says here, back here in the verses. 1 Corinthians 9, you got that, say amen. Alright, look at the latter part of the chapter, look in verse 25. 1 Corinthians, y'all must have lied, I hear pages turning here. Somebody wasn't ready. 1 Corinthians 9, look in verse 25, and every man that striveth for the Master is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we are incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as one uncertainly, so fight I. not as one that beat at the air." In other words, he's connecting the fight with a race and connecting the fight with a battle. If you look there, he says, "...therefore so run." And he's connecting it with a for sure a for sure path, a for sure battle, a for sure of landing some punches. When he says that thing, not as one that beat at the air, he's talking about one that when he's in a boxing match or in a wrestling match or fight, that when he throws a punch, it's going to hit. He's not just beating the air, amen? And there's a lot of folks that'll stand back and they're just beating the air. They have a persona of they can do this and they can do that, but they're just beating the air. They're just wasting energy. Amen? And they don't know their direction. They're not certain of where they're going. Paul says that thing, look in verse 27, he says, But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest there be any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. You see the first part of verse 27? But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection. You know what he's fighting? He's fighting his flesh. And that's what we're all fighting. And so that's part of the battle. For somebody to go out here and live the alternative lifestyle, the sodomites and all the LG bacon, lettuce and tomato people, all these folks living that way, you know what they're doing? They've gotten out of the battle. And they're not fighting their flesh anymore. They're doing what they want to do, what feels good. And I'm telling you, the Bible says in Hebrews 11 over there where Moses said that he'd rather suffer the afflictions with his people, amen, suffer those afflictions than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Man, this is just for a season. The people in Sodom and Gomorrah, it was just a season, amen. Just a season. And this world is just a season. This country is just a season. And I'm telling you, the battle that Paul was saying, he said, I keep under my body. He had a problem with some things in his body, just like you, just like me. And he was in that fight, he was in that race, amen. He sits there and looking, you go to 1 Timothy. 1st Timothy. Does this make sense? 1st Timothy chapter 6. Notice what he says in 1st Timothy chapter 6 and down here in about verse number 12. Well, look in verse 11. He says this, but thou, O man of God, flee these things. And if you want to know what that is, you just look at a few verses up above that. He says, flee these things. He says, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, And he says meekness. And then he says this in verse 12, "...fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." Fight the good fight of faith? Look what he said there in verse 11. He said, flee these things. Flee what things? The love of money? He says in verse 9, he talks about the... foolish and hurtful lust, and then he talks about, up in there, that verse 6, Godliness with contentment is great gain, and he's saying that we need to fight some of those things, but then he gets down here and he says in verse number 11, but thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness. And Godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness, and then he goes on in verse 12 and says, fight the good fight of faith. Listen, it is a battle to be able to have the goodliness, godliness, and the faith, and the love, and righteousness, and meekness. I mean, how many of you just woke up this morning and had the righteousness in your life, and godliness, and everything? You woke up this morning all godly. Amen? You just woke up, poof, I'm godly. I got it made. I'm good. How many of you had love in your heart when you first heard the alarm go off this morning before daylight? Amen? I mean, it's a battle, isn't it? And he said there, we need to fight this good fight. Amen? We need to fight this good fight of faith. Why? Because it's worth fighting for. It's worth fighting. I tell you, make sure the fight is a good fight. Make sure the fight's the good fight. I try to tell my folks up there at work, and they come in and they have this and this going on and this and that going on, and the thing of it is, and the real deal is, is it's none of their business about what they're aggravated about anyway. I mean, it really is not. If they just do their job, they wouldn't see or be concerned with anything anybody else is doing. Amen. Just leave that alone. So I try to tell them, look, pick your battles. Must pick your battles. That's what Paul is saying here. He says fight the good fight of faith. Pick your battles. Don't fight the bad fight of faith. Fight the good fight of faith. There's some battles that we can get involved in, it's just to no avail. It's to no good. We're wasting our energy, we're wasting our time, and it's got nothing to do with what God wants you to do. Does that make sense? I mean, we're spending our time over here and spending our wills trying to do this and this and this and this, and it's like God's like, hey, I appreciate it, but that's not what I want you to do. The Bible says that obedience is better than sacrifice. Amen. We may sacrifice a lot of our time and a lot of our effort, you know, trying to take care of this, and trying to take care of that, and trying to do this, and trying to do that, and the whole time God's up there saying, hey, appreciate it, but, you know, I want you to do this. Amen. And so we get caught up in that thing. What did Paul say? He said, man, fight the good fight of faith. Be careful of your battles. Pick your battles. Don't get involved in some of the childish and some of the kid stuff, amen? Some of the, you know, things that, you know, some people get tore up over tradition and get tore up over all this stuff, amen? Ask the Lord before you go into a battle. Ask the Lord. You say, well, why do you do that? Well, that's what they did in the Old Testament. Turn to 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 30. Before you take off and say, I'm going to do something about this or I'm going to do this or that or this or that, just ask the Lord, Lord, do you want me to do this? Do you want me to go to battle for this thing? 1 Samuel chapter 30. Here's at the end of the reign of Saul and David is over there in Ziklag and David goes out and he goes to battle with the Amalekites and while he's gone into battle with the Amalekites, Ziklag gets invaded and men, they come in and they get the people, they get their wives, they get their stuff. And they burn the thing and here it is, here's David and the men that are with David are fussing at him like they did Moses and Aaron and saying, hey, you know, David says, man, they're ready to stone me. But you find here in chapter 30, You'll find here in chapter 30, in about verse number, look at this thing. Let's look at this thing. He says in verse number 6, And David was greatly distressed, for the people spake of stoning him. Because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself, and the Lord his God. And David said to Abathiar, he said to the priest, Ahimelech, son, I pray thee, bring me here to the ephod. And Abathiar brought thither the ephod to David. And David, look, inquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them? What was David doing? He was saying, Hey, Lord, do I need to fight this battle? Do I need to go and battle with these people? And of course, the Lord said, Yeah, pursue, go get them. Maybe whenever we think that we need to be taking care of something, maybe we just need to ask Lord, Lord, do I need to pursue this? Do I need to go into battle for this thing? I mean, you know, you've got to count the cost. You've got to count the cost. Here was David, he probably knew, he was ready to go, but he still needed God's approval. He knew the right thing, but he still needed God's approval. Amen. Y'all okay? So he fought. He said, I have finished, he said, I have fought a good fight. I have fought a good fight. The big deal was that he fought. Amen. He was a fighter. Amen. He fought. And that's the big deal in your life and my life is that we get in a battle. We get in a battle. We fight. You know, the church is supposed to be a mighty army. It's supposed to be soldiers for the Lord. Amen. That's what we're supposed to be. It's soldiers for the Lord. And in our Laodicean church age we're living in right now, you're hard-pressed to find a good soldier. I mean, you get up and you preach and you yell too loud, you're going to offend somebody. If you stand up for the truth of something, you know, you're just going to offend somebody. I mean, I've heard them. I've heard preachers. I've heard Sunday school teachers. Not here, thank God. But I've heard them say, there ain't no need in all that screaming and yelling. There ain't no need in the face turning red and all that stuff. Well, sure it is. People are asleep. Amen. Well, I mean, people are just Anyway, anyway. I mean, it's like, it's crazy. It's crazy. But anyway, so what do you do? Man, you pray. You ask God, Lord, is this a battle I need to be in? And then pray and pray until God gives you an answer. Amen. Go to the book. Say, God, David did this. Listen, do that. Do that. Point it out in the Bible. There's nothing wrong with that. Point it out in the Bible and say, Lord, right here is what Your Word says. And Lord, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to pray just like David. And Lord, I need an answer. And that's nothing wrong with that, in the right heart and in the right manner. I mean, you're not demanding God, but you're calling God according to His Word. And you're saying, God, this is Your Word. Help me with this. I'm struggling with this. And then, Lord, if you don't want me to pursue this, help me not to pursue this. Because sometimes we get to can't help it. Amen? Sometimes we have diarrhea of the mouth and shouldn't be saying things that we say, right? God help this. Amen? None of y'all have that problem, I'm sure. Amen? But he fought, and that's what we've got to do. We've got to fight. And then look at the second thing. And I'm hurrying a little bit. I have fought a good fight, but then he says this, I have finished my course. I'll say again, it's not necessarily the course, but it's that he finished. Just like the battle is not so much in the subject as it is that he fought. So he finished his course, so the big deal of this thing is, it's not necessarily the course, but it's that he finished. Don't you want to finish? I remember when Lauren was in college and she was struggling. I mean, she was struggling with some stuff and, man, she was...it was in a bad place in her life. And I understand and I know some of the things that she was up against and some of the ungodly mess that they teach in college and even in the public school system. But even in a private college, the crazy, the nasty, the filth, the stuff, they don't need to be teaching. And she was having to deal with some of that and she was in tears wanting to quit, wanting to just quit. And I told her, I said, baby, I said, you know, you may not get something or get anything out of this course or get anything out of that. I said, but let me tell you something, baby. I said, the important thing is, is that you finish. You go into it. She done had, it was only, she only had like six months to go. I mean, she done had three and a half years, you know, into the thing, and it was like, look baby, you done gone this far, don't quit. Finish! And guess what? She finished, she graduated, she got her degree, and God's been blessing her ever since. And it ain't because of me, but it's because of her. She finished. It wasn't necessarily the course, it was that she was finishing what was put in front of her. Amen. What does that mean? It means to accomplish. How many of y'all like to accomplish something? Amen. I mean, just to accomplish, get it done. Amen. What's the old redneck, what did he say? Get her done. Amen. Get her done. Hey, listen. Get her done. Accomplish the thing. Complete it. There's three men in the Bible that I know of There could be more, but there's three that is specifically in my heart and my mind where it says they finished. I know more did. And I know that Joshua was known to finish the work that God told Moses to do. I know it says that. He left nothing undone that God told Moses to do. Amen. He finished that. I understand. But the words finished and fulfilling their course is only mentioned about three men. And one of them is this one right here, Paul. Amen, that's kind of, thank you Captain Obvious, amen, right? There it is. Paul is one of them there. Let me show you what Paul says in Acts. Turn to Acts chapter 20. And look what Paul says here. This was Paul's desire. This is what Paul's desire was before he got put in prison, before he was going to get his head cut off. This was his desire. Look in chapter 20 of Acts and look down here at about verse 24. He says this, he says, well this is where he was going to Rome, and they were trying to get him to not go to Rome, and they were telling him, look, you know, the Spirit's saying, hey, you don't need to go, and he probably shouldn't have went, but he did anyway, and so here it is, and so he says there in verse number 22, look at this, and now behold I go bound, in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions are by me." Paul says, I've been in bonds everywhere I went. So if I go to Rome in bonds, it's nothing new to me, and the Spirit's going to help me, God's going to help me. And he says in verse 24, but none of these things move me. Look at this, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. And then he goes on and talks about the ministry that the Lord gave him, Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. His desire was that he might finish. And he says, I pressed toward the mark of the high calling. What was that mark? It was to finish. You see, it wasn't a course. He already said it. Everywhere I go, I'm in bonds. He already knew what his course was. And it was just serving God. And he said, my desire is to finish. And not only finish, but finish with joy. How many of you were waking up this morning with joy? Unless your wife's name's Joy, you probably didn't. Amen? It's like, ugh. Right? I mean, but he said he wanted to finish with joy. He didn't want to go to his grave disappointed. He didn't want to go to his grave God disappointed with him, and he disappointed with himself, and him going to the grave with business undone. Amen. He didn't want to do that. He wanted to finish and he wanted to finish with joy. And that right there will preach. I mean, boy, that will preach. And he said there that he might finish my course with joy and the ministry. And the ministry. And he says there, which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. He wanted to finish with joy and he wanted to finish in the ministry of telling people about Jesus Christ. And he did both. He did both. A second one, let me show you. You're there in Acts, look in Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, this is a witness about another man that fulfilled, finished his course. Look there in Acts chapter 13, look down in about verse number Look in verse number 24. When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? So what happened? John finished his course. Boy, it was a short one in the ministry. Amen? It was a short one. But look at the thief on the cross. Man, that was a short ministry, but we're reading about his testimony. What a witness! What a witness! John fulfilled his course. Paul finished and fulfilled his course. And let me tell you one more. Let me show you one more. Go to the book of John in chapter 17. St. John, chapter 17. St. John 17. Look what Jesus, He's praying in the garden here, and He's praying just before He goes to the cross, and they arrest Him. And in John 17, look there in about verse number 3, He said, well 2, And as thou hast given Him power over all flesh, then He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him. Who is He talking about? He's talking about Himself. He's talking about glorifying Himself, the Father glorifying the Son in verse 1. And he says, in this life, in verse 3, is a life eternal that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. And he says this in verse 4, I have glorified Thee on earth, I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. Look in chapter 19. He finished the work. Look what he says, here He is on the cross, It says in verse 28, after this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished. Isn't that something? They were accomplished. What does that mean? He finished them. That the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. What is that? Psalms 22. Look in verse 29. He says, now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled the sponge with vinegar and put it up on his sip and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said what? It's finished. Those three men, Paul and John and Jesus, are the ones that are mentioned in the Bible, them finishing. Now, like I said, I know others did. Moses didn't get to. Elijah didn't get to. Amen. God took Moses up there and killed him, buried him. He'll come back and he'll finish it, but it ain't finished yet. Elijah, who didn't get finished either, he went up in the whirlwind as we read Sunday, but who's coming back? He'll finish it in the tribulation, amen? Revelation chapter 11, the two witnesses, Moses and Elijah, amen? They'll finish it, but it's not finished yet. They'll finish theirs in the tribulation, but John and Paul and Jesus, we know for sure, the Bible says they finished. They finished. They finished. Let me give you this last one here. He says there, I fought a good fight. I have finished my course. And then he says this, I have kept the faith. I kept the faith. Y'all know where I'm going with that, don't you? Faith is good, but it's the keeping of the faith. Not failing. Not failing. Not losing it. Amen. You can't be unsaved. You can't be unborn. I get it. But it's the keeping of the faith that's what's important. Isn't that what you're going to be judged at, the judgment seat of Christ? You're not going to be judged for your salvation. You're not going to be judged for your faith. You're going to be judged for your works, of how you kept that faith, of what you've done with the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. How you lived. Amen. How you walked. How you witnessed. How we did what God asked for us to do. That's the judgment seat of Christ. See, our faith is that we're saved. I'm not going to be judged on that because I've already accepted Christ as my Savior. I'm done. I'm in. But, the keeping of the faith. That's the important thing. Faith is important. It's how you get saved. I'm not saying it's not, but I'm saying in the verse, I kept the faith. That's what we do with faith. We've got to keep the faith. Amen. What is that? Again, it's a fulfillment. It's to maintain. It's to hold fast. His faith was so important that he didn't waver on it, like a lot of us do. He didn't waver in what he believed. He never changed his story after he got saved. He never wavered on his belief. He never wavered on his profession of who Jesus Christ was, who God was, who the Holy Spirit was, and He is. Amen? He never changed on that. He never changed in his preaching, and he never changed in his teaching. He never wavered on that. What did he do? He kept it. He maintained it. How many of y'all have ever seen people jump stupid? Amen? I mean, we had a guy that was a missionary in here, and man, he was a good guy. I loved the guy. Him and his wife, they'd come in here, and we supported him as a mission, but then when he got a church, we couldn't support him as a missionary anymore, and I preached for him at his church several times. I don't know, two, three, four times. I don't know. I enjoyed his company, enjoyed his family. I mean, he was just a blessing. And then he gives me a call one day and tells me that, well, him and his wife split up and all that stuff. And, you know, I'm like, man, I hate to hear that. Man, I really hate to hear that. And it's kind of like, you know, in our mind, I never asked him what was going on and it wasn't none of my business. But I told him we'd be praying for him and praying for his wife and all that stuff, and have two precious youngins, and amen, and just, and then the next thing you know, you know, you're wondering, you're like, man, I wonder what went on. I didn't ask nobody, I didn't inquire about anything. And, you know, it goes back to that thing of picking your battles, amen? I didn't have no business spending time on that. It wasn't none of my business. And so, and so just, I mean, you know, most of the time if you leave things alone, the truth comes out. And then just a little while, this guy, he's still passionate in his church and all that stuff, and just in a little while he's got a girlfriend. And then not only does he have a girlfriend, he changed his belief. He's not a Bible believer anymore, he's a Calvinist now. I mean, he just jumped straight in. He jumped stupid! And that's stupid. I hate it if that offends you, but that's what that is. Amen. You know, the Bible calls that thing willingly ignorant. Willingly ignorant of the truth. What does that mean? It means stupid on purpose. Willingly ignorant. And he jumped ship, man. And he's teaching and preaching things that are not Bible. They're not truth. Amen. So Paul says, man, I'm not wavering. He said, I kept the faith. I'm not changing my belief. I'm not changing my profession. I'm not changing my preaching, my teaching, or anything about the Lord Jesus Christ. He kept the faith, amen. I know of other preachers, and I could call their name, and you all would know who I'm talking about if I called some other preacher's name. Years ago, man, they stood for the book, they stood for the Bible, they stood for it. And man, I had all kind of respect for them, and they pastored a church, and now they decided that, you know, they take Baptists off their church. Now they're just a church. Why is that? So they can get every animal in the zoo in there, amen? I mean, it just, and they tell me, you know, well, and I try to go to these men and talk to these men to gain knowledge. And then you find out that they've jumped ship and gone, and it's like, how disappointing. Disappointing. And it's like, I mean, and I might do it tomorrow, I don't know. I know my flesh is strong, our flesh, your flesh, all of our flesh is very strong. But the illustration and what Paul is saying, he knew he was at the end of his life and he says, I've kept the faith. I didn't waver. I'm not stopping. I didn't quit. I didn't change. Look down here and I'm pretty much done. Look what he says in verse number 16, back in chapter 4. Look what he says in verse number 16, he says, he says, At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. But here's what he says in verse 17, Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me. Isn't that good? The Lord stood with him. Well here he was at the end of the road, he's fixing to get his head cut off, okay? Why was he getting his head cut off? Because he was preaching the gospel. And he was preaching contrary to what the religious crowd wanted to hear. And so he was at the end of the road. And so he said, the Lord stood with me, and look what it says, He strengthened me, and strengthened me. Why would Paul need strength when he's fixing to be in heaven? Listen, Job said skin for skin what a man would do for his life. Here Paul was fixing to face the chopping block. You don't think the devil, the lion, would come out there and start chewing on him saying, man, if you just recant that thing, man, if you just lay that life down, if you'll just quit that mess, they'll let you go. Yeah, the Apostle Paul, what did he say in Romans 7? He said, that had dwelt in my flesh, dwelt no good thing. I mean, he understood that he was weak, and he said in 2 Corinthians chapter number 12 over there, he said he had infirmities, right? He said he had a thorn in the flesh, and he prayed for God to take it away, and God wouldn't. And he asked God to strengthen him. I mean, there he was. He was tempted by the devil in some fashion, some way, whether it be his body, his eyesight, whatever it was. But he said it was a messenger of Satan that come to buffet him. Well, here he is at the end of the road fixing to die, and he knew he was fixing to die. You don't think the devil didn't come around and start telling him, hey, Paul, if you'd just stop that mess, you could live. You don't have to die. I mean, you can do this and keep on this and do this. That's why God had to come and strengthen him. That's why that whenever everybody else left, that God shows up, just like in the Garden of Eden when Peter, James, and John are over here sleeping, Jesus is over here praying, and His sweat was that great drops of blood, and the angels come and strengthen Him. Why? Because the same thing. Man, He's facing the cross. And he was dealing with his flesh. He was tempted by Satan three times, right? Amen. Just like me and you. And the devil's coming along tempting him, and so God comes through that thing, and man, he started strengthening him. And he says, "...and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear." So even at the end of Paul's life, Understand this, at the end of Paul's life, God starts to strengthen him and encourage him, and not only encouraging him of where he's going and he did the right thing, but also encouraged him to let him know that somewhere down the line, in the year 2023, there's going to be a little Baptist church, independent Baptist church, that believes the book is going to read his words and folks are going to get saved. Amen. Tell me God's not good. Man, and so there he is, he encouraged him. By his preaching the Gentiles was going to hear the gospel. Here we are. And so what did that do? Man, he said, I was delivered. No more doubting. No more weakness. No more of that stuff. He said, I was delivered. He says, not only to deliver, but He shall deliver me. If I don't get my head cut off tonight or tomorrow or the next day, the Lord still has delivered me. And then he goes on, look at verse number 18, the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and notice this, and preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Paul knew where he was going. He knew God preserved him for the kingdom of heaven. for the kingdom of God. He knew that he was preserved to be up there with Him. He knew that. He knew that. Don't believe the lie that says you can't know where you're going until you die. Paul just says, man, I'm preserved. He preserved me unto the kingdom. And now what did he say? He said, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom. Paul knew exactly where he was going. And I'll tell you tonight, according to that book right there, I know exactly where I'm going to. And I've told you before, I may not know what tomorrow's gonna bring. We got an idea. We have thoughts of, hey, I'm gonna do this or I'm gonna do that, but we don't know that for sure. We don't know that. I know more about what heaven's gonna bring than I do what tomorrow's gonna bring. Why? Because this is all truth. It's all truth. Every bit of it. There are streets of gold. Amen. There are gates of pearl. Amen. There's walls of jasper. Man, there's mansions up there. Amen. In my father's house. Right? Amen. So, I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I kept the faith. Stay in the fight. Amen. Stay in the fight. Finish. Don't quit midstream. Finish. And then what God's given you, keep it. Maintain it. Amen. Maintain it. Maintain the faith. Maintain your belief. Maintain your confession and profession. Amen. Keep doing it. Keep doing it. And then when you get to the end of your life, You can say, I've fought a good fight. I've kept the faith. Amen. I've finished my course. You can say that. But you won't be able to unless you do that. Amen. All right. Well, I'm done. I can see how sad you are.