“I Have Finished My Course”

Timothy 2 4:6-8, Kings 2 2:11- (Scottice Castle) Proverbs 2 9-19, Corinthians 2 11:23-28 His Curse (Apollo 8 – December 1968)

I: The Time of my departure is at hand.
1. Paul the Great Preacher was something to the close of his earthly journey as every man must do.
2. The time for his appearance before God was near.
3. He was getting ready to make his report to God.

II: “I have fought a good fight.”
1. With joy he looked back on his Christian hardships as  soldier of Christ.
2. It was a comfort to know that he had done his best.3. There was no storm of remorse sweeping across his soul. (Saul – “I have played the fool”).

III: “I have finished my course.”
1. Mission completed. Coming home.
2. He had not started a thousand jobs and quit them one by one. “My school sent me to run clear the track.”
3. He was ot turned from the course by every wind that blew.
4. He did not quit when friends turned against him.
5. He didn’t let his tent making interfere with his finishing the job given to him.
6. Hunger, cold, disappointment, and persecution failed to stop him short of the finish line.
7. Paul determined to finish the work God had given him if he had to crawl across the finish line.
8. He would teach us great stability and cause us to stay with the course set before us if we would listen to him.
9. Paul took Jesus as his example and Jesus did not stop short of the finish line for he said,  “It is finished.”

IV: The Secret of his success was Failure in the Lords Eyes:
1. He kept the faith once delivered unto the Saints.
2. When we fail, falter, and quit it is a definite sign that our faith in God is weak. He weighed the Present against the Future.
3. A living faith will not quit, nor will it remain idle.
4. Faith looks thru the present difficulty at the crown to be won.

God is grieved by our excuses here in Delano, Jesus calls us to get under the burden he has called us to bear, and to stay there until he says quit.
Song, “Must Jesus bear the Cross alone.

Tehachape May 1956
Perris Valley Baptist September 9, 1962

Webster when secretary of State in President Fillmore. Cabinet was dining one night with 20 others at Aster House in NY. He was asked a question. Mr. Webster will tell me the most important thought that ever occupied my mind was that of my individual responsibility to God.

Perris Valley Nov. 12 1967
Perris Valley Dec. 29, 1968