Finish

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 CSB

24 Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize. 25 Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. 26 So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. 27 Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

I like watching sports. Yesterday, I watch our UTSA football. The beginning of the game was nothing to remember. They had a really bad start to the game. I was sitting with my daughter and I told her, “The good thing is that there is still 3 1/2 quarters left.” At the end of the 1st quarter the score was 21-0. Things weren’t looking good. They came back and won on a last second field goal. Later in evening I was watching UFC. I forget the fighters but in the first round one of the competitors got hit pretty hard. He was knocked down 3 times but he kept getting up. The announcers were saying that he’ll be lucky to finish the round. He did finish the round and then in the second round he beat the other guy. He didn’t start good but still won. What I like about sports is that it doesn’t matter how you start but how you finish. You have to go in with a mindset of finishing. Our walk with the Lord is similar in that it doesn’t matter how you start. Some got a favorable start (your parents were believers and you grew up in church), others got to the starting line after a difficult life, still others got to the line at the brink of death. The point is that we all got to the starting line. However, starting is not the goal. Jesus said that those that remain to the end will be saved. The purpose of this race (the Christian life) is to remain (finish) to the end.

1. Get in the race to finish

You don’t need to be perfect to start

You don’t have to know all the Bible to start

You don’t have to be sinless to start

Some come broken, broken marriages, broken life

Broken is a good place to start

Wanting to learn is a good way to start

Some come with pride

Many think they know enough

Many think that acknowledging God is enough

We need a relationship with Him

Like every successful relationship, you need to put effort into this relationship

If you are not around in your relationship, that probably won’t last.

Make sure you are here to build your relationship

Starting is good but we need more than just a good start

2. Self-control is the key to finish

Your past does not have the power to stop you

Phil 3:13-14 “13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.”

Learn to put the past behind you

Your past is dead, nothing you do today will revive it

Continue to do what you have learned James 1:22 “22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Have the self-control to continue in the way of the Lord even if things don’t look as bright as you thing they ought

Have the self-control to keep answering the bell

Have the self-control to keep getting up after you have been down

Lk 11:28 “28 He said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.””

3. Do not allow fear to derail you

Fear will derail you if you allow it

Forgets purpose

Remember that God has good plans for you

Empowers the enemy

God did not give you a spirit of fear but power, courage, and sound thinking

Accepts less

Do not settle for less than God as for you

Hold on until you get your breakthrough

Rejects truth

The truth will set you free

You are more than a conqueror

4. Remember the promise and finish

Jesus came to die for us

He did not quit

He was hanging on the cross and said, “It is finished”

Remember, Phil 1:6 “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

If you are still alive, then you are not done

Don’t tap out

Stay in the fight

I saw a champion get put in a couple of chock holds and he held on. He finished the fight and he won

Champions don’t quit and quitter are not champions

Quitters never win and winners never quit

5. The reward comes to those who remain till the end

If you’ve ever been to a Marvel movie you know that you have to stay until the very end or you could miss additional scenes

Don’t quit and disqualify yourself

Many start with the Lord but along the way they quit

They got to the starting line

They even started the race

Remember that the race has been marked out for us

We need to go the distance

We don’t stop just cause we get tired

In a marathon, if you finish you get a medal (reward)

Marathons are not easy

Understand that there will be obstacles to overcome

There will be trials, pain, sickness, lack, discouragement, frustration, and much more

Don’t quit just cause things got difficult

Keep running the race until you cross the finish line

Paul said, “I fought a good fight. I finished the race.”

Jesus said, Mt 24:13 “13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Finish

Cross the FINISH Line