Summer Road Trip #3: Finish the Journey

Summer Road  Trip

(Finish the Journey)

    

2 Tim 4:6-8

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. 

NKJV

Introduction:  

Several years ago Jonna and I set out on a road trip for a few days…and if it could go wrong it went wrong…honestly, I wanted to turn around and go home…I wasn’t sure the hassle would be worth it…but Jonna persuaded me to press on…and it was a wonderful trip…

Have you ever had one of those trips…where it was better in your mind that it was in reality…but at the end you were glad you went on the journey…

We are in a series called “Summer Road Trip.”  Today I want to address the idea of:  Finishing the Journey.

 I want to spend my time concentrating on verse 7.

Transition:  We live in a time where people begin so many projects, yet few are ever completed.  Anyone can begin a race or even a marathon, but the prize is in the finishing.

The Great Apostle Paul is in prison for the second time in Rome…the first time he was in prison, while in Rome; it was house arrest in his own rented house.  Now, however,  he is being held in a dungeon-like a common criminal under the strong arm of Nero.  And Paul is writing this letter, his final letter, to his spiritual son Timothy.  

For the Apostle Paul his race began on the road to Damascus…doing God’s work.  

  • We spoke about this last week…
  • On that road Paul is struck down by the Lord and left blind…
    • So much for that God is a gentleman thing…if He wants to get your attention…don’t temp Him, because He knows how to get our attention
  • Paul is called on that road and thrust into ministry after 3 years of intense training
  • Privileged to serve with Barnabus, before striking out on his own…a combined 18 years later.  
    • Paul was more educated that Barnabus
    • Probably better qualified
    • The question wasn’t is Paul better educated or even more qualified than Barnabus…the question was could Paul serve with and serve Barnabus…
      • Sometimes your promotion is delayed even denied because we can’t serve…
      • It’s hard to serve when you think you are superior
      • That is why many of us men get lost and take so many detours on our Summer Road Trips…WE ALL KNOW A SHORT CUT…lol…
  • Paul’s life was filled with great ministry, incredible success encounters with God that were so vivid that Paul would say…”I don’t know if I was in the body or out of my body…but I know I was caught up into the 3rd Heaven…the dwelling place of God.”  Success in starting churches and watching them reach measures of success….
  • Yet it was also filled with trials, shipwrecks, beating, being abandoned, and snake bite, even left for dead.
  • Yet Paul was faithful and here he is writing his spiritual son a fair-well letter.

Transition:  4 Points I have found in verse 7 to help shape our lives and our walk with God.  To help us in our Road Trips…

Quote:  “Every pain you experience in life reintroduces you to yourself.”  How we manage those painful experiences leads to growth.

  1. Fought a Good Fight

“Commitment Suffers When Necessary”

    1. Today so many people serve the Lord simply for themselves…and if God doesn’t come through the way we think He should and when He should…we give up. 
    2. Paul said, “I want to know Him in the Power of His resurrection, but also in the fellowship of His sufferings.”
    3. Jesus said in Matthew “people will hate you for my sake…”
    4. This Christian walk of Faith is a Fight of Faith, not a lovely stroll in the Park
    5. Commitment Suffers When Necessary
      1. You don’t get to take the easy way out, you’re a Christ Follower and that requires following…
      2. Even when God seems silent
  2. I Have Finished My Course

“Commitment Stays With The Task At Hand”

    1. My Course
      1. Paul uses the phrase “I have finished “MY COURSE”
        1. This is reminiscent of our opening scripture in this series:  “In a man’s heart he determines his course…” Prov.16:9
        2. If we are going to determine our course is to follow the Lord Jesus…let’s be able to finish the course.  
      2. We are not responsible for other people’s courses, just our own
      3. I have to run my race, you have to run your race.
      4. John 21:20-23

20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had been reclining at table close to him and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remains until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”  23 So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remains until I come, what is that to you?”

ESV

      1. Turned and Saw…John.  Even the great Apostle Peter wanted to compare himself to John and honestly…wanted to know if am I going to have to suffer something, then why doesn’t John have to.  That was the real question at hand…
      2. I’ve often prayed…especially for my boys, because ministry is in them and in their future…”Lord don’t let my boys have to experience some of the stuff I’ve had to deal with…if I can go through it,  so they don’t have too…let it be.”
    2. Abraham and Isaac
      1. When God told Abraham to take His son to Mount Moriah, to be sacrificed, it took three days to get there.

“Commitment Stays With The Task”

      1. Abraham was holding on to nothing but a Promise from God
        1. Commitment stays with the task when all you have is a promise and circumstances look bleak.
      2. Abraham finished His Course
  2. I Have Kept THE Faith

“Commitment Sees Beyond The Here and Now”

    1. The Here and Now Will Soon Be Gone
      1. We forget this life is so temporal
      2. All we strive for, will all perish, only what’s done for Christ will outlive us…
      3. This is a question of Legacy actually…what are you investing in, that has the capacity to outlive you…
        1. Family…that’s good
        2. Your relationship with Christ
        3. The Kingdom of God…when we started the journey to build this facility my prayer was and is:  That Many many people would be saved, married, baptized, healed, and encounter God in this house…long after you and I are gone.
      4. Rom 8:18

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us

NKJV

    1. One Faith…Many Courses
      1. I have Kept THE Faith
      2. Jesus said, “Some will depart from the Faith”

“Commitment Sees Beyond the Here and Now”

    1. It’s The Difference Between the Watch and the Compass
      1. Each summer as a kid my dad had two weeks off for vacation that he took with us as a family…he and mom would take another vacation every year…but I’ll deal with that maybe next week…
        1. On our trips…we knew we had a certain amount of time…and we had places we wanted to go…things and people we wanted to see…but there was this tension between the Watch and the Compass
      2. First of all, you have to have both.  You have to have the Watch and the Compass
      3. The CLOCK is the Daily things = What we are doing
      4. The COMPASS is the Destiny things = Where we are going.
      5. The Compass allows you to see beyond the Here and Now…but that doesn’t mean you can neglect the Watch

Transition:  No Wonder the writers of Psalms and James would say…”Life is a vapor.”  

  1. I Have

“Commitment Stands Alone If Necessary”

    1. There are times when we all are called upon to stand alone…
    2. Consider Job
      1. Friends abandoned him
      2. Wife was against him
      3. He was forced to stand alone…matter of fact the company he did have was antagonistic toward him
    3. The wife or the husband who is saved, believing God for their spouse or the parent who is praying for a child…you are standing alone.

“Commitment Stands Alone If Necessary”

    1. You have to Turn Your IF to a WHEN
      1. The truth is there will probably come a time when your commitment forces you to stand alone.
      2. 2 Tim 4:16-17

16 At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. 

17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me

NKJV

  1. Closing

“Commitment Suffers When Necessary”

“Commitment Stays With the Task At Hand”

“Commitment Sees Beyond the Here and Now”

“Commitment Stands Alone If Necessary”

    1. Jesus went through this process for you and me.
      1. He Suffered – Isaiah said, “He suffered in a way no man had ever suffered…”
      2. Jesus stayed with the task at hand
        1. “If it be possible…but thy will be done.”
      3. Jesus saw beyond Right Here and Right Now
        1. For the joy set before him…he endured the cross…for the perchance you would accept what He did for you and me on the cross…he took the compass and didn’t stop till he reached his destination
      4. Jesus stood alone suspended between God’s judgment on sin and man’s sin, paying the price ALONE!!!
  2. Altar – Prayer
    1. What Jesus and Paul teach us…no matter the journey…it is worth it…there is fulfillment and value in it…
    2. Are you finding fulfillment and value in your Summer Road Trip?  

Email my notes