God's Not Finished With You Yet

.I once heard Charles Stanley tell the story of his prayer room at First Baptist Atlanta. It has no windows so with the lights off it is completely dark. He said at times he would fall asleep while praying and then wake up and go back to praying.

.Maybe that all we can do is pray until we fall asleep and when we wake up, we can pray some more.

. God is not finished with you yet folks.

. You have heard it said that it isn’t how you start a race its how you finish.

. The apostle Paul wrote several times about staying the course, running the race, finishing the course.

At the 1968 Olympics, an hour after the marathon's winner crossed the finish line; Tanzania's John Stephen Akhwari limped across the finish line, injured in a fall early in the race. Asked why he didn't quit, he said, "My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start this race. My country sent me to finish."

. God expects us to finish the race, live the life that He has laid out before us as we honor Him with our life.

. Billy Sunday was a professional baseball player for 8 years . He heard a sermon on the street one day and gave his life to Christ. He quit his $5000.00 a year job as a baseball player and became one of the greatest evangelists of all time. Here is a quote from him about service and aging.

“. I'm against the devil. I'll kick him as long as I've got a foot, and I'll fight him as long as I've got a fist. I'll butt him as long as I've got a head. I'll bite him as long as I've got a tooth. And when I'm old and fist less and footless and toothless, I'll gum him till I go home to Glory and he goes home to perdition!”

. God’s not finished with you yet folks.

.The writer of Hebrews has the best closing that I can think of for this sermon.

. He has just told his readers about the heroes of the faith. Much like we have done here this morning and he writes this in 12:1-2

. 1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

2We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith…

. Invitation

*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.

May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.

Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT

Senior Moments, Ricky Nelms (sermon central)