======================================================================== HOW CAN BELIEVERS FINISH WELL IN THEIR WALKS WITH THE LORD？ by Al Whittinghill ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of finishing well in the Christian faith, drawing inspiration from Paul's words in 2 Timothy where he expresses confidence in his past, present, and future because of his identity in Christ. It highlights the need to keep our focus on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and to have faith in Him as a gift that is always present. The message encourages believers to let go of past failures, press forward, and prioritize a deep relationship with Christ to finish well. Topics: "Finishing Well", "Identity in Christ" Scripture References: 2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 12:2, Hebrews 11:1, Philippians 1:6, Jude 1:24 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of finishing well in the Christian faith, drawing inspiration from Paul's words in 2 Timothy where he expresses confidence in his past, present, and future because of his identity in Christ. It highlights the need to keep our focus on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and to have faith in Him as a gift that is always present. The message encourages believers to let go of past failures, press forward, and prioritize a deep relationship with Christ to finish well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, you know, a lot of believers do not finish well. We look around and there's some real tragedies, but if you look in the scriptures at Paul in 2 Timothy at the end, he says to Timothy, Timothy, I can look back without shame. I can look at the present without apology, and I can look at the future without fear, because he knew who he was in Christ. And so we've got to keep Christ. I will set the Lord before me. I have set you before my face. And we look away from this unto Jesus. We aren't pressured by the world. We look to him, the author and the perfecter, the finisher of our faith. So it's faith from him as a gift. Faith is always now. It's not just later. Faith is now faith is. Substance is evidence of things hoped for. It's the proof of the unseen. And so faith is always his. I mean, victory is always from him. It's not later. It's now and it's always his. So I would say when it comes to finishing well, that I've got to realize that my life when I came to Christ ended, it wasn't just mended. So my expectation is from him. Now, these are easy to say, but I know that he who began this good work in me and who loved me when I was really, truly, even more unlovable consciously, because I didn't care about him. I didn't, I was not plugged in. Once he changes your heart and gives you a new spirit, a new heart and puts his spirit within you and puts his word in you and dazzles you with his glory and honor, it's easier. But to finish well is to keep your eyes on him. Let this one thing, this one thing I do, forgetting the past, I press in. Rich young ruler, one thing is needful. He's talking about the Lord Jesus to the rich young ruler. He had everything else. He laid everything else down, he said, but he couldn't lay down the idol of his heart. So I would say to myself, if I want to finish well, I keep my eyes on him and don't dream up your own finishes, but let his finish be what he has. I don't think Stephen necessarily thought that he'd be stoned. I mean, he was one of the finest men in the church in act seven and he's there before all the Pharisees and there he gives one of the greatest messages in the word of God, rehearsing from beginning to end the whole coming of the Messiah. And then he, he rebukes the Pharisees and I don't know if he expected to be stoned or not, but remember Jesus had gone to be sitting on the right hand of the father. It says over and over in the new testament, it quotes that from Psalm 110, sitting at the right hand of the father. But when Stephen looked up to the Lord, he saw Jesus standing as if to say, this is my, this is the first fruit. This is what I'm after. A person who loves truth and life in me more than his own safety. And as he faded into obscurity, I don't think Stephen ever had any idea that there was a young man watching this, who was holding the clothes of the people throwing the rocks, who would soon be knocked off his high horse. If he was on a horse, if he's walking, I don't know, but Paul would fall at the dirt and see this same Jesus that Stephen surely didn't know. And we don't know. You don't know how many heartbeats you have left. You don't know what situation you'll be in, but you know what, if it's the Lord that leads us, it's going to be well with my soul. So I would say to myself, I intend to finish well, not because I intend to, but because he who sought me and bought me and saved me and fill me and wants to use me despite this stubborn hardness that we all have, he's going to perfect that, which concerns me. And he is able to present me, not just blameless like I am now, but faultless, says Jude, faultless in that day. Hallelujah. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/UnbeW5EcZLI.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/al-whittinghill/how-can-believers-finish-well-in-their-walks-with-the-lord/ ========================================================================