Good morning, everyone. It's good to see you this morning. I get very few opportunities to preach. And the last time I preached was when I was here. And so my ministry is winding down. It's coming to an end. And so I still have work to do, and I'll keep doing that work until the day of Jesus Christ. But you're my age, and I'm your age. And so I have a message this morning about crossing the finish line and what we do then and there. And this is New Year's Eve. On New Year's Eve, it's kind of like you get to turn a page in the book or a chapter. Last year's over with, the devastation of last year is gone, and now we have a fresh start. It's not quite that easy, but at least it gives us a feeling that we have a fresh start and we can do better this year than we did last year. And so I'm hoping that in my personal life, I can do the same thing. I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions. Because every time I make a New Year's resolution, I blow it before the day is over. But this year, I started this year writing meditations every morning. I get up early at 4 o'clock in the morning, 2 o'clock in the morning, and I read my Bible and I write a meditation and I post it on Facebook. And would you believe that those Facebook posts have been picked up in Pakistan and people use them as Sunday school material there because they don't have Bibles and they don't have literature and people use them. And I get messages from Korea and China. One lady from China wrote to me and she found my website And she says, Mr. Hutchings, I admire you for your philanthropy. That's a big word for your charity. And she said, I do charity, too. Maybe one day we will do charity together. And she said, but there's one difference. She says, I'm an atheist. And so I wrote back to her, and I sent her another meditation. Then she followed me every day on my Facebook page and wrote me about a week later and she said, you know, I don't think I'm an atheist anymore. So I know that your broadcast is on Facebook and you never know where that's going to go and how you're spreading the gospel all over the place. And so my hat is off to you. And I want to thank you for your cordial welcome of myself. I feel like I'm at home. Mike and I have been friends since college and seminary. And he has picked me up many times. I suffer from manic depression. I have a disease called bipolar disorder. And I get down. And I call Mike and he just comes over and talks to me. We have coffee and suddenly I feel better. And so he, you have a real jewel as a pastor here taking care of you. And I don't know if you know it or not, but Mike is filled with scripture and he knows the scripture more than anybody I know. And I, I wish that I could preach like he can, but he knows the Greek and the Hebrew and I just know the English. But I want to preach to you this morning. There's two passages of scripture about summing up your Christian faith and coming to an end of your walk. And one is in Matthew and the other is in Timothy. And I'm going to read them to you. and try to preach to you as best I can. And don't think that I'm preaching directly to you. When I preach, I preach to myself. And if it hits me in the heart and cuts across my spirit, I'm preaching to me and trying to get me straightened out. And so if it straightens me out, maybe it will be good for you too. So here we go from Matthew chapter seven. Verse 21, there is a famous verse in the Bible that we all get saved by. For by grace, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that is a famous verse. But then there's a contradictory verse, one that contradicts that here in Matthew chapter 7. It says, Get away from me, you who break God's law. I was in a revival at First Baptist Church of Waynesville, and a drill instructor wanted me to help him with this faith. And I was at his home with this pastor, and we went down the Romans Road Plan of Salvation. He prayed to receive the Lord. But it didn't take. He wouldn't get saved. He had no emotional feeling. He just went down a dry center and came up a dry center. He would repent and repent, but nothing happened. Nothing changed. And then I discovered why. He was mechanically calling on the name of the Lord and a contract that if you call on the name of the Lord, you'll be saved. But he was not willing to surrender the sin in his life and to repent from it. And the sin in his life, he was a drill instructor, and he had to cuss at his recruits. And because he could not quit cussing, he could not repent. And then his calling on the Lord was null and void because he could not repent in his heart. For with the man believeth in his heart, it is counted for him as righteousness. And so he went away, we went away empty because the man could not repent. And so we were, not everyone who calls out to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. but only those who actually do the will of my Father, which is in heaven. I know a friend, I have a friend who has, he has a head full of scriptural knowledge. He has experience in the pulpit and in the church, but he owns a lot of property here in St. Louis, and he was given an opportunity to preach a church in Springfield, Illinois. but he could not leave the wealth of his properties in St. Louis to go to Springfield to leave. He could have given the property to a property management company to have them manage it, but he couldn't do that. So he would not go and pastor this church because he had to take care of his property. And then he's going to hear God say, Get away from you, you who work iniquity. When God calls you to do something, you have to do it immediately. When I got saved, I knew that God was calling me to be a minister. But I was a Catholic boy with a Catholic mom and a Catholic dad. They were so Catholic, my mother wasn't a nun and my father was a priest. That's an inside joke. But my family wouldn't be embarrassed with me saying that. They say that themselves. But I would have to go and tell them now that I'd become a gospel preacher. And they disowned me. I couldn't go home. And then it came time that I had to go to seminary. I knew that my dad was going to die in the next few months, but God was calling me to go to seminary. He even brought a stranger by the knock on my door and by my house. Just that easy. I didn't even have to hire a realtor. And so we sold our house. We went to Texas and went to seminary. And sure enough, my father passed away and we went home for the burial. but I wasn't allowed to say a word because I wasn't a Catholic. And so, when you're called of God, you're called to immediately respond. And if you're not willing to endure some type of persecution or uncomfortableness, then you should decide whether you're really a believer or not. Now, we, We had a real hero here in St. Louis. His name was Mark McGuire, and he hit 70 home runs in one year, and he broke Roger Maris' 61-year home run record, but he never got into the Hall of Fame. Why? because he used steroids and he cheated. And so the Hall of Fame says, depart from me, you who work iniquity. Depart from me, you who break God's laws. There was Pete Rose, one of my favorite heroes with Cincinnati, had 53,000 Over 5,000 hits, rather. And yet he never made the Hall of Fame. Why? Because he bet on baseball. And so now the Hall of Fame says, away from me, you who break God's laws. Now there's two reasons why we are cast away at our judgment seat there. at that time. One is that we don't, there are people who do great works, but they don't know the second birth of Christ. And they perform a work out of their own hands and their own ego, and they do it for themselves to show how big they are. And so God says to them, depart from you, you who work iniquity. And then there is the other person who is cast away from God's presence at the judgment seat because he did a big work of God. He cast out demons. He built this thing. He did that thing. But he did it while he was deliberately, intentionally trespassing the law of God. And God says to him, depart from me, ye who work iniquity. And so I use this as myself to, I am told that an airplane is off course 98% of the time. But it has computers on it. And those computers bring it back on course. And we have the Holy Spirit. When we get off course, the Holy Spirit brings us back online. He corrects us. He spanks us. He puts us in right order so that we will hear, well done. good and faithful servant. But it scares me that I can do all the work that I've done all my life and then have to hear God say, depart from me, you who worked iniquity. You slide back. And then there's the other one. that I love in Timothy. This has a little bit better ending. One I like to hear. I don't like to hear, depart from me, you who work iniquity. But I do like this one. From 2nd Timothy, chapter 4, verse 6 and following, it says, For me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. He has entered into the end of his life. I am entering into the end of my life. I'm 75 years old. I am sciatic and nervous. I can't even walk in the morning until I have to use a cane. I can't only get up and get around. I got six-tenths in my heart. I've had surgery on my back and knees. I have chronic old man disease. We've got to talk about, we get to brag about who's got the worst scars in our body. But Paul says, I have been poured out. He has used up his life preaching the gospel, and he is ready for death now at any time. I'm older, you are older. Now, you know, when you start a work for God, it takes courage. And it takes courage because you're afraid that you will fail. It takes courage because you're afraid you will lose family members. or it takes courage because you lose your friends and family. And I've got two stories here that it takes courage to. I printed them off the internet, but I had to print it out because I can't pronounce their names correctly. But in 1960, a man named Abedi Bikani from the Sudan was running in the Olympics. But his shoes were worn out and dilapidated and falling apart. And he was looking to buy a pair of shoes to run the Olympics in. But he was afraid that the new shoes would cause a blister on his feet. And with the blister, it would disqualify him. as running in the Olympics. So with all the courage he had, he mustered and he got up and he ran the race barefooted and he won. It takes courage to start a ministry. And I have a friend who has a handful of knowledge of scripture. He's got experience in pastoring and teaching, and he owns a lot of property here in St. Louis. And a church in Springfield called him to be their pastor, but he wouldn't accept it because he was hanging on to his own property. He will hear, depart from me, ye who work iniquity, because he did not respond to the calling that God gave to him. So it takes courage to start doing a ministry, but then it takes even more courage to end a ministry. There is another runner named Derrick Redmond, who I read about. I looked these up on the internet. In 1990, he was running in the Olympics, and he got halfway through and he pulled a hamstring and fell. And then the whole race was going by. His father came out, put him on his shoulder, and they limped across the finish line in last place. But in doing so, they received a standing ovation for the courage that they had to finish their race. And God calls us not to just start a race and have the courage to start a race. He calls us to finish our race. Now, God has called me, has given me a ministry to do with building a school in Kenya. And last year almost went out of existence because of the lack of finances. And we were trying to raise the money to keep it going, but it's still going. And now I have the hope of some pledges to keep it going stronger. But I wanted to give up and quit. But my work was not yet done. And God calls us not to just start a work. He calls us to finish our race. Run the race. Run your course. Finish the race. And there is later for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but to all those who love his appearing. For those who finish the race, that God is going to give them a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Now in 1966, I graduated from high school at Leopold High School, population 140. My graduating class was 28, and I think I graduated number 29. But we won the volleyball tournament that year, and our picture, our class picture was posted on the wall. The trophy was in the trophy case, and we were the king of the hill for a little while ago. And then 20 years ago, I went back to see the school. Our pictures were gone. The trophy was gone. The trophy case was gone. We were forgotten. Nobody ever remembered the glory that we had in 1966. But when we go to heaven, God gives us a crown of glory that fadeth not away. So it is eternal in the heavens. We shall not be forgotten. And so as for me, my life has been poured out as an offering. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. God calls us to finish the race. And I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me, the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge should give me at that day on his return. And the prize is not just for me, but for all those who eagerly look for his appearing. So you're looking for God's appearing and waiting and being faithful to carry out and finish the race. Everybody is given a work on earth to do. It's a different work. I've got a dear friend over, we worship at the Rock Church on Manchester Road. It used to be called Baldwin Baptist Church and now it's called the Rock Church. And our church went through a couple of splits and you could go in there and it was cold as ice. And people would see each other and just wave and go on out. And people were just putting in their time. And a man named Victor joined our church. He's from the Ukraine. He had been a pastor over there. He's a plumber now. And he says, this has got to change. And he organized a luncheon after church. And now every Sunday after church, they have a luncheon and other people have pitched in and helped cook the lunch and the ladies have gotten active and they are using their gifts and their talents of God to provide a good luncheon for everyone. And the whole attitude of the church has changed from being cold and ice slipping to being a warm fellowship as we exchange testimonies and lives and get to know each other better. Everyone has a gift to do. I don't know what your gift to do, but I do know that you are called to do your gift until the end of time. Finish your race, run your race, finish the course, keep the faith. And henceforth there is laid up for you a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but to all those who love his appearing. So that's my message for today. I want you to continue your course. You're doing a good work here. And be faithful until the Lord comes. And if you don't mind, tell Mike I did a good job and invite me back. I get very seldom opportunities to preach anymore. If you want to sing the invitation, we'll do that now. But thank you for having me. And I hope that you have been able to gather. God has been speaking to me about these things. I hope that in speaking to me, he also speaks to you and gives you encouragement. Thank you so much.