Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Well, this morning I want to share a message called no Unfinished Business.
[00:00:09] We don't want to have any unfinished business.
[00:00:12] As we are taking today as a moment to reflect and to remember what went on in the sacrifice that many gave in order for us to have freedom.
[00:00:25] I wonder what they would say to us today.
[00:00:28] I wonder if they knew that they could have one last word with us. What would they say?
[00:00:34] I don't think they'd say make more money.
[00:00:37] I don't think they'd say even work harder necessarily.
[00:00:42] I wonder whether they would say, take every opportunity, take every moment.
[00:00:48] Empty yourself of your purpose. Use every moment, last breath that you have in order to live for purpose.
[00:00:59] Many of those that went to war probably went knowing that they would never enjoy the freedom they were fighting for. Can you imagine that thought, realizing full well that they would probably lose their lives on the battlefield, and yet they were thinking of the generations that were coming after them.
[00:01:20] Is that our. How hard is that in our mind as we are living our lives, that we would live not for ourselves, but for those that would follow?
[00:01:32] It's interesting. We often celebrate the first words of a child.
[00:01:37] Every father believes that dada is the first word that I think it just rolls off the tongue a little bit better. But they're probably just saying dada probably means more food or change me. But every father believes it is definitely an expression of love towards them.
[00:01:55] But I wonder what your last words would be. Imagine what your last words would be. I just hope that my last words are not that wasn't such a good idea.
[00:02:04] Or the last words I hear from Amy are, told you so. Yeah, but you know the great apostle Paul, he lived a life of faith. He experienced pain and hardship and suffering.
[00:02:19] And he's sharing his final impassioned plea to Timothy and the church. This is what he says in 2 Timothy 4, 5 8. But you be sober in all things. Endure hardship. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. From now on, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who crave his appearing. There was a passion, a sense of urgency in Paul saying, this is my last moment. And with it I want to urge you to live according to the calling on your life. I love this. Fulfill your ministry. What is it that God has called you to do?
[00:03:17] Are you living to fulfill the ministry that God has given you?
[00:03:24] How do we honor those who've gone before us?
[00:03:27] We finish well.
[00:03:29] We finish well. We don't know when our last breath will be, but will we live with the thought that this could be my last? Let me not waste a minute of it. The challenge for all of us is to live a full life and die empty, fully spent. Like Paul said, I'm like a drink offering being poured out. Ever poured a cup of water out, there's nothing left. Shake it out. Every drip, gone. That's how we want to live our lives. Would you pray with me this morning? Father, we thank you.
[00:04:04] Thank you for this opportunity to reflect, to remember those who have gone before us. Thank you for the opportunity to be challenged again by your word. These words from Paul, that we would live a life, that we would be poured out, that we wouldn't have anything left in the tank when it's time to go. That we would give of ourselves to bless the generations that would follow us. Lord, speak to our hearts today. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:04:35] There's a powerful story in The Bible in 2 Kings, chapter 13 of A Man named Elisha. How many people know of Elisha in the Bible? Give us a wave, a few of you. This is what it says in verses 20 to 21 of Second Kings 13. Then Elisha died and was buried. Groups of Moabite raiders used to invade the land each spring. Once when some Israelites were burying a man, they spied a band of these raiders. So they hastily threw the corpse into the tomb of Elisha and fled. But as soon as the body touched Elisha's bones, the dead man revived and jumped to his feet.
[00:05:19] Okay, wow. Number one, next. I would love to interview that man, wouldn't you? Like, all of a sudden, he's awake in a tomb and there's a dead body right there. But he is alive.
[00:05:34] But the mystery of the story is hidden in the bones of Elisha. Locked up, lying dormant within these bones was a residue of unused power.
[00:05:45] That power was enough to blast a dead body back to life just by touching them.
[00:05:52] Now, we don't know how long it had been since Elisha died. We don't know whether it was weeks, we don't know whether it was months. All we know is that there was a level of anointing still within that body, that when those bones were touched, this man came to life. Now, this is amazing, right? This is incredible. But I wonder if there's Also, a little bit of a caution within here.
[00:06:16] I wonder if there was still anointing within Elisha that should not have been left in him because it should have been passed on to the next generation.
[00:06:25] Anyone familiar with Abraham from the Bible, Give us a wave. A little survey. Okay. How many people familiar with Noah, Give us a wave.
[00:06:35] How about Moses?
[00:06:37] Yep. John the Baptist?
[00:06:40] Gehazi?
[00:06:43] Not as many. There are some, but not as many. You know who Gehazi was? Elisha's servant.
[00:06:51] So Elijah had Elisha, Elisha had Gehazi.
[00:06:57] It sounds more like a sneeze, like gesundheit, you know, But Gehazi, Gehazi, Gehazi, Gehazi, however it's pronounced.
[00:07:06] But sadly, Gehazi's story is one of sadness because we see that there was an opportunity missed to pass on from one generation to the next. Now, whether the fault was Elisha or Gehazi's, we don't know all of the story and all of the background, but we are going to read a portion of the Scripture today and see that hopefully out of this today there is a warning, a caution for all of us that if we have something in our life, it is our responsibility to pass it on to the next. That we would live a life that is not just for ourselves, but for the generations that come.
[00:07:44] If you know the story of Elijah and Elisha, Elijah was a prophet of God, spoken to the nation of Israel with incredible courage, saw miraculous things take place for the work of his hands. He went and picked Elisha, who was busy plowing oxen. And he says, I want you to come and I want you to be a part of my team, and we're going to minister together. Elisha followed Elijah, followed his ministry, saw the miraculous things took place. And there was a moment where Elijah was about to be taken up into heaven, these flaming chariots.
[00:08:20] And Elisha has the boldness to say, would you give me a double portion of that thing that's on you now? There's something about that request. It sounds selfish, but if out of the right motive that was given because he longed to see the power of God at work in Israel. God clearly granted that because the Bible records that he did twice as many miracles as Elijah. I think it's seven and 14 miracles, if I'm correct.
[00:08:54] Incredible. So Gehazi now is following after Elisha, but we see that Gehazi didn't carry the same spirit.
[00:09:07] We come to Second Kings, and there's a man named Naaman.
[00:09:12] He's got leprosy.
[00:09:15] He's told by Elisha to go into the water, the Jordan river, dip in seven times.
[00:09:21] At first he says, I'm not going to do that. It's a dirty river.
[00:09:26] But finally a young girl, a slave girl, says, come on, you can do this.
[00:09:33] So he does. He dips, dips into the water, comes up the seventh time, he is clear. He's clean, he is healed. An incredible miracle. So Naaman, in his wanting to honor the Prophet, says, I want to give you a gift. Can I give you some of my resource? I want to give you gold. I want to give you clothes. And Elisha says, no, no.
[00:09:57] So off they go. But the story doesn't end there. Unfortunately for Gehazi, after Naaman had traveled some distance. This is Second Kings, chapter 5, verse 19 to 27. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said to himself, my master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, for not accepting from him what he bought. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him. So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. Is everything all right? He asked. Everything is all right, Gehazi answered. My master sent me to say two young men from the company of the Prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing. By all means, take two talents, said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.
[00:11:06] When he went in and stood before his master Elisha, Elisha asked him, where have you been, Gehazi?
[00:11:15] It's almost like the where are you? Question that God asked Adam and Eve in the garden. It wasn't a where are you? Because I don't know where you are. Elisha knew exactly where he was and specifically where his heart was.
[00:11:31] That's a question that God asks of us, where are you?
[00:11:35] He's asking that question of some of us today. Where are you?
[00:11:40] Are you still going to hide from me? You're still going to run from me?
[00:11:45] Or will you receive the embrace that I want to give you?
[00:11:51] Where have you been, Gehazi? Your servant didn't go anywhere Gehazi answered, come on, we've all told that lie to our parents, right? Yeah, just me. Okay.
[00:12:05] But Elisha said to him, was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you?
[00:12:13] That speaks of an intimacy that the two of them had as a master and a servant and as one following after him.
[00:12:21] Is this the time to take money? Or to accept clothes or olive groves or vineyards or flocks or herds, or male and female slaves? Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and your descendants forever. Think Ahazi went from Elisha's presence and his skin was leprous. It had become as white as snow. What a tragic ending to a story that could have been so different.
[00:12:48] I mean, if we just followed on from the principle of Elisha passing on a double portion to Elisha.
[00:12:57] Imagine if Gehazi in the right spirit, says, whatever you have, could I have at least that?
[00:13:04] Or maybe double that?
[00:13:06] Imagine what could have taken place.
[00:13:09] And yet Gehazi missed this moment because of a greed, a desire for things, for himself.
[00:13:17] There's two lessons I believe we can learn from the story. And as we think of those who have gone before us, as we choose to live a life by honouring God in the way we live our life and the way we pass on to others, here are the two thoughts today. Number one, what God has given us to be spent on earth must stay on earth.
[00:13:39] God has given us an inheritance, but we don't take it with us.
[00:13:44] The Bible says in heaven we don't take anything with us. Not of this earth, not of this world. It's all going to rust away. There's no point storing it up to then not give it away.
[00:13:59] We have to start full, we have to finish empty. Nothing held back, nothing in reserve, nothing we wish we had have done.
[00:14:07] Come on. I think there's some people here today, even as I'm saying this right now, there's something going, oh, that one thing I never did, that one thing I always said I would do, that thing that was in my heart. I haven't done it. I haven't stepped out. Come on, this is your encouragement again, to step again, to step out in faith again. Do you know how many times I sat in meetings with the children's books that I had written in my head and in my heart? And I sat in these meetings going, do it, do it, do it. Put it off. Ten years I put off writing it and then finally that's like, do it, come on, just do it, come on. Some of you are carrying something, that's just going to require one more step. One more step, one more activation of that thing that's inside of your heart. That conversation with a friend that won't let you go. Come on, has anybody got one of those bulldog friends?
[00:15:05] If they get onto something, they will not let you go. Come on, you need one of those friends if you. You're carrying something in your life to be able to say, come on, we will go get this together.
[00:15:16] What God gives us to be spent on earth must stay on earth. If there's something left in the tank, then there's someone we never got around to helping.
[00:15:25] Now, if someone gave you a gift voucher for Tesco and then you went into Sainsbury to try and spend it, they're probably not gonna say, looks close enough.
[00:15:35] In the same way, we can't spend what we've got here in heaven. Different store, right?
[00:15:42] So what we have now, we have to spend now, we have to give now we have to pour out now. Because when it's over, it's over. We've got a chance now to invest in those.
[00:15:54] Romans 12:6. In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. I like the way that's written for doing certain things well. If we were to look around this room and we look at the gifts, the talents, the abilities, the skills and the natural and the physical, the spiritual, There are so many things in this room that are just so incredibly exceptional. I was talking with someone last night, one of our YA students talking about wanting to be a surgeon. I'm going. I could not imagine what that would be like.
[00:16:32] And yet the passion that they carry to be able to see people healed through surgery is incredible, right? And each of us have a gift for doing certain things well.
[00:16:46] But God's power in us is not so we can spend it on ourselves. We can't use what was intended for lost people just to bless ourselves. We're blessed to be a blessing. In other words, we are filled to die empty in the safest way that we can get the things we want. You know, sometimes we do have a desire in our heart of something we want and long for. You know what I found over time? Is that the best way to get that, if it is truly a desire of God, is to give it.
[00:17:14] If I long for time, I give time. If I long for honour, I give honour.
[00:17:21] If I long for love, I give love.
[00:17:25] Isn't that what the Father modeled for? God so loved the world.
[00:17:31] What did he love? He loved the thought that we could be in relationship with Him. He loved the world so much that he gave. When we talk about giving and finances and giving of ourselves, God gave us the example of giving, loved us so much that he would give his only son.
[00:17:55] One of my favourite verses and a verse that I think I learned when I was 11 or 12 years old, Psalm 37:4, delight yourselves in the Lord, or take delight in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart or your heart's desire.
[00:18:10] Now if we misunderstand this verse, we think it's about us.
[00:18:17] So if I spend time with God, if I read my Bible, if I pray, if I spend time in worship, then God will give me what I want. That's a complete misunderstanding of that verse.
[00:18:27] If we delight ourselves in the Lord, what does that mean?
[00:18:30] To abide in him, to be close to Him, Whatever that looks like for you. There isn't a formula for the quiet time. Because some people are like, I don't do quiet times, I do loud times.
[00:18:41] So if that's you, and I know a few, and I know a few in this room, your quiet times are probably not so quiet, but you are with Him. So whatever that looks like, that intimacy with God, that's what it means to take delight in the Lord, delight yourself in the Lord, spend time with Him. And when you're in that place with him, guess what? All of a sudden your mind starts to think of things, your heart starts to respond to different things, and all of a sudden you are starting to think about kingdom things and the desires of your heart are actually his desires that he puts within us.
[00:19:25] And I found the more time I spend with God, the less focus it is on me and what I can get out of it.
[00:19:35] Interesting that, right?
[00:19:37] If it's on me and my desires, I'm probably going to be all about Mike. But when I delight myself in him and I get close to him, and I get close to Jesus and I abide in Him, I start to hear his heartbeat. You know, his heartbeat sounds a little bit like people, people, people, people, people.
[00:20:05] Every time you listen to your heartbeat, would you think, people, people, people, God loved the world so much that he gave his only son.
[00:20:21] He also called us to be a part of a movement of people who would live for others in a world that is so self serving, a world that is so selfish to gain, to get, to steal, to grab.
[00:20:39] Christianity says something else. I will give, I will lay down, I will sacrifice, I will offer myself.
[00:20:48] Why? People, people, maybe this week as you hear Your heartbeat every now and then.
[00:20:55] People, people. That's God's heart.
[00:20:59] Would that be my heartbeat too? That all I do is not for Mike, but for people who God would put in my path.
[00:21:11] His desires become mine.
[00:21:14] Your desires become God's desires.
[00:21:18] What God has given us to spend on earth must stay on earth. Second thought. And as the team join me this morning, we will close with a song. Dez, if you can lead us in something, that'd be great.
[00:21:30] What God has given us is to be passed on to others. What God has given us is to be passed on to others.
[00:21:39] Now, we don't know the breakdown between Elisha and Gehazi. His story is very short in the context whether Elisha followed after Elijah.
[00:21:52] Gehazi did not.
[00:21:54] But one thing we have to realize, and I'm seeing this the older I get, I like to call my gray hairs my wisdom, racing stripes.
[00:22:05] I've got lots of racing stripes coming in now.
[00:22:09] But you know what I'm realizing as I go through this journey of life and as I see young leaders coming through, there are some gifted, talented, charismatic leaders who are just incredible.
[00:22:26] But they haven't been raised right.
[00:22:30] They don't have the depth of character that will sustain them on the mountaintop.
[00:22:37] They'll get to the mountaintop pretty quickly. Their skill, their gift will get them right up there for the world to see on display.
[00:22:47] But if there isn't a depth of character and righteousness and holiness that is built within them, they'll tumble down that mountain really quickly. I sadly watched that happen.
[00:23:05] How many people call themselves old?
[00:23:08] I've got my hand up. Come on. There's a moment where you actually accept it.
[00:23:13] Some of you are still in denial, and that's okay.
[00:23:17] You know what? I'm getting old, and I love it.
[00:23:23] Do you hear that? I'm getting old. And I love getting old. Because as I get older, I know a little bit more than I did before.
[00:23:34] But you know what? There's some people that have gone before me who older than me, and I love what they carry.
[00:23:43] And I long to be in their presence to listen, to learn, to have them pray over me.
[00:23:51] And I want to say to you, if you are a young person in this room and you could put yourself in any age, chronological age you would like in this. If you think you are still young, Come on. How many people think they are young? Look at that. There's a few people punching over 80, saying, they're young.
[00:24:08] Come on. I want to encourage you, especially our students. It was so good to See, last night, a bunch of our young adults invited by a family in this church to come over to their place. Why? Just to hang out. To hang out with a couple that just love people.
[00:24:27] Just said, you can come to our house, you can hang out with us.
[00:24:31] Just gathering in their room, gleaning from their wisdom.
[00:24:35] Young people, I want to encourage you. Look around this place, look around these people, and don't say, they're gone, they're past, they're used by. They are not. They carry wisdom.
[00:24:48] They carry an anointing that if you would stay close with them and they pray with you and you pray with them, you might just learn from them. You might just glean from them something that will help you.
[00:25:01] You know, sometimes we kind of dismiss the younger generation. We say, well, they'll just learn.
[00:25:07] It's like sending a kid out onto the road saying, well, that'll teach you.
[00:25:13] How horrible is that?
[00:25:16] Now, yes, we do need to make our own mistakes, and often we will reject the advice given, and then we go out and make the mistake that that person said, if you do this, this will happen. That's called parenting in children, right? But it carries on. The older we get, we still reject the wisdom and the advice given. But what if not like Gehazi, what if our response was different to his?
[00:25:44] When Elisha says, no, no, don't go.
[00:25:48] Don't go back and get that. We don't need this. This is not the time for that. What if in that moment, Gehazi said, you know what, Elisha, he's wise. I'm going to trust him.
[00:26:00] You know, over the coming months, I'm really excited to begin some conversations around discipleship.
[00:26:08] Discipleship of older men and younger men, older women, younger women.
[00:26:15] You know, I had a connect with some of our. Our parents of children my age going through life trying to raise children, trying to make it work. You know, it's a challenge, right? It's a challenge.
[00:26:33] However, I asked them, tell me some of your heroes.
[00:26:38] Who are the people in this church that you really respect, you really love? And it was not hard for them to list off. There were probably a dozen names that just came out. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
[00:26:50] And you're sitting in this room here today, and you don't know that you are the hero of some other young families.
[00:26:56] But what we're gonna do over these next six months is we're gonna start to connect some of these stories, some of these generations together. I need you, and maybe you need me.
[00:27:10] We need each other, but we can't have what we have in us not be passed on to others.
[00:27:19] Jesus, he spent his life, his three years, his last three years of life, inputting into his disciples.
[00:27:27] He didn't keep the secrets of success to himself.
[00:27:31] He taught them. He trained them. He sent them out, pray for the sick. They'll be healed, cast out demons. He taught them how to do all of that, and he released them. And then there was a moment. He says, I want you to go and wait in Jerusalem, because I'm going, but I'm going to send my helper.
[00:27:47] In Acts 1:8, he gives a promise. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. That's a promise that Jesus gave, and it is continuing. And here we are, Amy and I, from the other ends of the earth back to here. The gospel got all the way out to there and back again.
[00:28:14] And we've got a part to play.
[00:28:18] But we don't want to leave this world with it still in us.
[00:28:24] The late Miles Monroe, an amazing preacher and leader, died tragically in a plane crash about probably mid-50s. Still many years left in the tank, so to speak. But he said this. He said the wealthiest place in this city is the graveyard. Because that's where all the inventions that should have been invented lie. That's where all the businesses that should have been built still remain.
[00:28:50] Come on, let's not have a graveyard in Exeter filled with unfinished business.
[00:28:57] That thing that's in you, that risk you gotta take, let it out. Don't keep the secret anymore.
[00:29:04] How many people like Christmas? Minced tarts Pies? Yeah. All right. How many people think that they have the best recipe?
[00:29:11] Okay. All right. Amy, can you.
[00:29:14] Okay, I'm gonna need a couple of volunteers. Here we go. All right. All right. Come on. Who likes a good Christmas? Minced heart. Come on, then. Come on. Come out the front here. You're gonna have to eat in front of everybody. I need another volunteer. Anyone else?
[00:29:29] All right, come on. There's one left. Come on. Get into it.
[00:29:33] Anyone else want to come and eat it? I've done anything to it, I promise. Well, come on.
[00:29:38] Someone's going to come and eat it. All right. Come on, then.
[00:29:43] There you go. Tuck into that one. There you go. All right.
[00:29:48] All right. Yum. It's good. All right.
[00:29:54] That one not as convincing. Right.
[00:29:57] Okay. So now that I've put you on the spot and you've got a mouthful of food, can you tell Me. Is that the greatest mince tart you've ever tasted?
[00:30:05] I don't know. I haven't had many mince pies, so I don't think I can say.
[00:30:11] Not quite the response I was after, but honest.
[00:30:14] Is that not the greatest mince tart you've ever tasted in your whole life?
[00:30:18] No.
[00:30:21] Well, that's fine. That's fine. You guys can sit down. That's fine. You can enjoy your average minced heart if that's what you want.
[00:30:31] Now, some of you are thinking, mike went to all that effort to make that minced heart, and they've just made me feel horrible. But actually, they're from Sainsbury's, so I'm just saying.
[00:30:49] But you know what? They might have a secret recipe for that, but all the ingredients are on the box.
[00:30:57] You know, sometimes we think that we gotta hold on to our stuff because if we don't hold onto it, then somebody else will grab it or steal it.
[00:31:06] Just give it away.
[00:31:08] Come on, we gotta live a life that says, just give it away.
[00:31:11] Give what we carry. Don't look at somebody struggling and go, I've got the answers that could help you in your struggle. Or you'll work it out yourself. No. Step in. Go and ask a question. Hey, can I help? Can I get alongside you? Can I be a part of your journey?
[00:31:28] Let's not keep the Christmas secret to ourselves.
[00:31:34] If you've got something that God has anointed you to do, don't you dare hold onto it for yourself.
[00:31:43] Go find someone, invest yourself into their life.
[00:31:47] And I'll tell you what, if you are young, come on, all the young people, if you are young in this place, you go find someone. Go find someone that inspires you. You go look at someone who's raised their family or has been successful in business or has stood with righteousness and holiness, and you look at them and they carry something, you go find that person. You say, can I buy you a cup of tea? Can I buy you a cup of coffee?
[00:32:13] I want to learn from you. I want to listen. I want you to speak into my heart. I want you to speak into my character.
[00:32:20] I can promise you, you will not be refused. You will not be refused. If someone came to me and said, can I have some of your time?
[00:32:28] I will not refuse that.
[00:32:31] A young guy, just before we left New Zealand, said, mike, would you continue to speak into my life? 16 years old, I said, you reach out to me. You keep reaching out to me. I'll be in your world. He's messaged me about five times since I've been here.
[00:32:47] How you doing? How you going?
[00:32:51] I was like straight back pouring into him. Why? Because he's wanting something that I might carry.
[00:32:59] So come on. 2 Responses Today there's those who you carry something, but there's a chance that you could take that to your grave with you and you need to deposit it into somebody else.
[00:33:12] Would you go find someone? Would you go find someone and say, hey, there's something about you I really love. Can I spend some time speaking into your world?
[00:33:22] But then there's some of us that we need to go and find that someone ourselves need to go and say, hey, can I get a moment with you? Can I buy you a cup of tea? Can I buy you coffee? Can I buy you a much better minced heart than that one?
[00:33:40] What would happen? What would this church community look like if we saw that of the generations?
[00:33:50] I've spoken about it before. It's Mark's heart, it's our heart is that we would be a church of generations that would love and serve and walk alongside one another.
[00:34:03] You just take a moment to bow your head, maybe just respond as God leads you.
[00:34:13] Maybe it's a conversation you need to have with someone, say, God, I don't want to leave this life without inputting what I have into somebody else.
[00:34:26] Or maybe there's a desperate desire in your heart that the thing you lack might be found in somebody else.
[00:34:34] Would you pray a prayer right now in your own words to just say, yes, God, I'm going to be obedient, that if someone comes and asks me, I'm going to give myself to serve them, to bless them.
[00:34:50] Or even better still, would you put someone on my heart that I can go and minister to, that I can speak into?
[00:34:57] Maybe the second response is maybe you're saying, I need somebody as a mentor. I need someone to help disciple me.
[00:35:06] I'm going to go find someone.
[00:35:09] I'm going to go get close to some people and see whether they would say yes.
[00:35:16] My encouragement to you. Be bold.
[00:35:19] Be bold and ask the question.
[00:35:22] God, I thank you.
[00:35:25] I thank you that you are with us here today. I thank you. You are the God of generations of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
[00:35:39] I thank you Lord that you have given each of us gifts to do certain things.
[00:35:46] And Lord, if we are faithful with those, we would empty ourselves into the generations that follow.
[00:35:56] Lord, as we remember today, those that sacrificed themselves gave of themselves, Lord. We recognize that, Lord. We want to honour them by living a life the same way that we would pour ourselves out, like Paul said, as a drink offering for the glory of your name.
[00:36:24] Let me read the words again of the apostle Paul that I started with this morning. As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God.
[00:36:37] The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight. I finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me, the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on the day of his return.
[00:36:54] Paul's saying I'm empty. I'm spent.
[00:36:58] I've given it all.
[00:37:03] Chris Hodges says the goal isn't to live on life forever, but to leave something that does.
