Don’t Ring Out
Ring bell 3 times.
I. Introduction
It is called Hell Week. The soldiers are pushed to their limits physically, mentally, and emotionally. They are forced to operate with little to no sleep. They are put through evolutions or exercises that exhaust them and stretch them. Obstacle courses, underwater swims, forced hikes, are only a sample of what the Seals endure. There are only two ways out of Hell Week. The first way out is to complete the 5 days of grueling training thus graduating into the Seals. Or the second way, and the more opted choice, is to ring out. On average 70% of the candidates ring out prior to completion. The pain is too much. They lack the endurance. Their minds begin to play tricks on them. The obstacles are too high. The lack of sleep clouds their thinking. They can’t handle the pressure and the stress and 70% of them walk forward and ring the bell. They ring out.
RING THE BELL THREE TIMES.
They quit. They give up. They give in. They fail. They bale out. They fail to complete their mission. They refuse to stay the course. They face the tough circumstances and they crumple choosing to quit. They ring out.
II. Examples of Ringing Out
We should have known it wouldn’t be easy. For some reason we actually think that this thing called Christianity will be a cake walk. It will be an easy journey. No problems. No challenges. Nothing we can’t handle. We should have known better. There are so many examples that prove otherwise.
He was described as a man after God’s own heart, a man who has lived his whole life passionately pursuing God’s presence, a man who has lived a life of worship, but the test comes. He is supposed to be in the battle. He is supposed to be in the war. It is the time that the king is to be engaged in battle. Instead David is standing on a balcony watching a beautiful woman as she baths. And he rings out. (RING BELL THREE TIMES)
He had the opportunity of a life time. He could join one of the greatest missionaries in history on one of his mission’s trips. He could see the sites. He could witness the miracles and the conversions. He could help with the masses. But instead Demas quits and runs home to mommy. He gives up. He Rings out. (RING BELL THREE TIMES)
She was powerful. Her Bible College had 1500 students. Her services were attended by 20,000 people. Her impact and influence in Hollywood was so far reaching that actors came to her meetings and got saved. She began a denomination called the Foursquare Church. It was the 1920’s and Amy Simple McPherson was anointed. But she died of a drug overdose after staging her own kidnapping. She couldn’t finish the course. She rang out. (RING BELL THREE TIMES)
He was only 17 when it happened. He had longed to preach but was never given the opportunity. Finally, on a Wednesday night his pastor after finishing his sermon handed him the microphone. His instructions were you can preach after I am finished and dismiss and if anyone stays you can talk to them. 17 students stayed to hear this 17 year old young man begin to scream at the top of his lungs, “I love Jesus”. Evan Roberts’ loud declaration of love for Jesus erupted out of that small gathering and launched the Welsh Revival. It was one of the greatest revivals to ever hit the world. In the first year of revival over 100,000 were converted. The crime rate dropped, drunks were reformed, pubs reported losses in trade. Bad language disappeared and never returned to the lips of many – it was reported that the coal mine pit ponies failed to understand their born again owners who now spoke without curse and blasphemy – even football and rugby became uninteresting in the light of new joy and direction received by the Converts. The revival swept the world for 10 years, but Evan only lasted 3 years. After three years he was burned out. He began to write books denouncing the very move of God that he had helped usher in. He threw in the towel. He gave up. He rang out! (RING THE BELL THREE TIMES)
He impacted my life. He listened to my heart. He laid his hands on my shoulders when I ran into the altars of my teen youth camp to pray and seek God. He stayed up late with me and my friends in the dorms. He laughed with us, cried with us, and ultimately he pushed us towards God. He was a man of God. He was a local church pastor who took time out of his busy schedule to be our counselor. Don Green was one of my heroes. But over the course of a few years after those camps he grew weary. He fell away from his love of God. He became a mortician instead. See the contrast. Instead of one who brought life he now dealt in death. His marriage crumbled. He gave in. He gave up. He rang out. No longer in the ministry. No longer my hero. No longer in the race. (RING BELL THREE TIMES)
I can’t help but think back to June of 1997. I was the guest speaker at a church camp. I watched in awe as a young man did things with a basketball that I have never seen before. He could jump out of the building, but more than that, he was a great leader. He had the ability to rally people around him. The other kids looked up to him. He was charismatic. He was gifted he could sing and write music. I will never forget one night I had just given the altar call. I had preached about crossing the line. Many of you have heard me preach that message. I did what I always do. I placed a piece of tape on the floor with the words “I Crossed the Line” on it. Then I had the kids step over the tape after saying, “I want to cross the line”. He stepped over the tape. I moved past him to the minister to the next kid. He grabbed me. He pulled me close and said, “You don’t understand, I have tried to make it before but this time it is different. This time I am not going back. This time I refuse to give up. This time I will make it.” I said, “That’s great Scott.” I challenged him to never turn back and hugged him. I was excited by his determination. A few months later I received a message that this young man, perhaps haunted by a drug flashback, burst out of the front door of his apartment. Barefooted, he began to run. When he got to the bridge he never slowed down. He simply jumped. He didn’t make it. He gave up. He rang out. (RING BELL THREE TIMES)
III. Today
Wait a minute . . . withhold your headshake or contempt until you examine what is going on today. Don’t think so little of them or too harshly of them.
Do you realize that right now 1500 pastors ring out each month? Worn out, abused, disheartened and debilitated by the hard work of ministry they give up. They ring out. I’ve told you before, what happens in the pulpit happens in the pews! You are just as likely to quit. (Slide 2) For a variety of reasons, 70% of those between the ages of 23-30 years old drop out of church (those who quit attending regularly for a year). Our teens are just as likely to quit. (Slide 2) The most current statistics reveal that 98% of teens who regularly attend church now as a teenager will backslide and ring out by the time they are a sophomore in college. Then there are those of us who keep coming to church physically, but have dropped out emotionally, spiritually, relationally. We quit growing! We quit connecting. We quit engaging. We quit worshipping. We quit pressing!
Too many of you quit. Some of us ring out because we allow the cares of life to discourage us. Some of us allow a broken heart to devastate us so we give up. Some of you will get your eyes on people and disappointment will sideline you. Other things will become more important. The pursuit of acceptance and popularity will interrupt completion of the course and you will ring out. The taste of temptation will be too sweet. You will give in and you will ring out. Fear, depression, anger, hate, sex, drugs, pornography, lust, peer pressure will assail you until you walk to the bell and ring out. For some it will be pain. A broken marriage. A broken heart. A sickness that shakes you to the core. A promise unfulfilled!
I want you to understand this morning that you are not an island. Illustration of how it effects. (Have 1 person stand up, YP, me) Look at the impact. With 3 people quitting, look at the effect.
Look at how it affects us when you give up. Don’t ring out. The impact is too severe. The ripples reach too far. We can’t make it if you quit. We aren’t the same if you give up. We can’t afford for you to ring out!!! Don’t buy the lie that you won’t be missed. Don’t convince yourself that you don’t matter. We need you. You are called to finish. You are called to endure. You are called to complete the course. You are called to graduate into victory. You must not. You can not. You dare not ring out.
We are told very clearly in Matthew 24:13 that it is those that endure to the end that will be saved. It doesn’t say it is those that ran to the front because everyone else did will be saved. It doesn’t say that those who have no problem, no hurts, no pains, and no temptations will be saved. It doesn’t say those that dance the hardest and shout the loudest will be saved! It says that those who endure will be saved. Salvation is reserved for those who fight it out. Salvation is for those who gut it out. For those who don’t grow weary.
Paul makes it very clear in I Corinthians 9:24-27 that many run the race, but the ones who win are those who are willing to strictly train, who are willing to beat their bodies into subjection lest they quit and give up. In Galatians 6:9, the man of God pleads with us, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” We are challenged in Hebrews 12:1 to run with patience the race that is set before us. This is not a sprint. This is an endurance run. This isn’t a quick trip to the altar or one emotional service. This is a marathon that will require patience and pain to complete.
Long after the crowd had left and the cameras had been turned off, a lone runner entered the stadium to complete the 26-mile-long marathon in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Injured earlier in the race during a fall, he stumbled along with a dislocated knee, more than an hour after the others had finished. Hurling himself to the finish line, John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania finished dead last. But before you judge him as a loser, take careful heed of the words he uttered when asked why he did not quit earlier when he had been injured:
"My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start the race. They sent me
7,000 miles to finish it."
The Word of the Lord to each of us is that "the race is not to the swift or to the strong"... what really matters is that we "endure to the end"
Closing Scriptures – Isaiah 40:31 promises us that if we will learn to wait on the Lord we will not faint. We will run and not grow weary. Be patient. Endure until he moves. When we learn to live beyond just the moment we will renew our strength.
I prophetically declare over you as a body that you are a (Slide 5) Hebrews 10:39 church . . . “You are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” You will endure till then end. You will run and not grow weary. You will walk and not faint. You will do mighty exploits and great feats for His kingdom. You will be saved.
I am looking for lifers. Those that refuse to quit. Who straighten their back and raise their heads and come hell or high water refuse to quit. Beat me and I won’t quit. Ridicule me and I keep coming back for more. Ignore me and I refuse to remain quiet. Betray me and I will not allow the hurt to destroy me. Walk away from me and I will still follow! I am in this for the long haul. I will not quit. I refuse to ring out. I believe that quitters never win and winners never quit. Hold fast. Stand strong. When you have done all you know to do stand some more! How about you? What’s your name? Come on ring out. Quit. It is too hard. You? They will laugh at you. You will miss out on the fun. Come on ring out. You? You could be accepted. You could be one of them. Come on ring out. You? It will cost you friends. Ring out. It will cost you fun. Come on ring out. Your spouse will think you are weak if you serve God. Your friends will think you’re a wimp. Give up. Don’t ring out!
How do we keep from ringing out?
1. Stay in packs. Lean on each other. Guard each other. Watch for each other. Help others run well. Get eyes off of you and you will forget your hurt, your injury, your pain and you will keep running.
2. Pace yourself. Not a sprint.
3. Remember and celebrate the victories big or small.
4. Keep your eyes on God and not on man. We aren’t in this because of the pastor. We aren’t in this because of a husband or a wife. We are in this because of God.
5. Trust God’s timing. If you put God on your calendar instead of you getting on His, then you will become disappointed and quit.
6. Toughen up. Don’t quit so easily. Hang on!
IV. Close
Those here who have quit who want to reenlist. You are here but you aren’t really in the fight. You have been watching from the sidelines. You want back in.
Those here who are committed but tired. Need to renew their strength.
Everyone who will make the commitment to be a lifer. Someone who will refuse to ring out. Some one who refuses to quit.
