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Pre-Decide
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Maybe at one time you had a goal or a dream, a vision you started with great anticipation. But you hit some resistance, you stalled. You've had very little or no progress, and frustration has set in. You're discouraged and you feel like giving up.
It might be a relationship you tried to restore—you reached out to bring healing, but things didn't go well and the relationship is worse now than before. Or maybe you're fighting to save your marriage, doing everything you can, but you feel like you're running out of fight. Perhaps you're believing for a miracle, praying for your child to come back to Jesus, praying for healing, for financial provision, or asking God to help you overcome an addiction. You've tried, you've prayed, you've believed, but you haven't seen results. Now you're discouraged and losing hope.
We are concluding a message series called Pre-Decide. Over the last several weeks, we've talked about the importance of our decisions because the quality of our decisions will determine the quality of our lives. Most of us are not very good decision makers.
Instead of waiting for the heat of the moment to decide in the future, we are seeking the wisdom of God through His Word to pre-decide—to make certain decisions ahead of time. When faced with a certain situation, we pre-decide what we'll do.
We have six specific decisions we are making to determine who we will be as followers of Christ:
We're not waiting until we get in the middle of the moment. We're determining ahead of time that no matter what, we are ready, consistent, devoted, generous, faithful, and finishers.
One thing I know about the desire to finish is that it's really easy to start something new, but it's not easy to finish. Consider these questions: What separates average people from amazing people? What separates those who are fulfilled in life from those who are often empty? What is the difference between those who struggle and those who succeed?
Let me tell you what it's not. It's not their intelligence, appearance, talent, or education. It's not who or what they know. The difference is their perseverance. It's their willingness to stick to it, their grit to finish, their drive to persevere, their refusal to quit.
Angela Duckworth, a researcher I admire, studied why really successful people succeed. She looked at business leaders, military leaders, teachers in difficult situations, and fifth graders who could spell the hardest words. She asked: What qualities separate these successful people from others?
The number one top quality she identified is what she calls grit. She defines grit as "the strength of character that refuses to quit." The difference isn't what you know or even who you know—it's your willingness to stay in the fight, the strength of character that refuses to quit.
I love her quote: "Enthusiasm is common, but endurance is rare." It's easy to start, but it's often far more rare to finish.
That's why we're pre-deciding that we're finishers. By nature, we tend to take the easy way out, the path of least resistance. If things get difficult, it's easy for us to quit.
Our big decision today is this: When I commit, I don't quit. Why? Because I am a finisher.
Let's say it aloud: When I commit, I don't quit. Why? Because I am a finisher.
How do we as disciples of Jesus strengthen our perseverance when the enemy wants us to quit? How do we strengthen our character, our refusal to quit? I want to look at the words of the Apostle Paul as he gave an emotional farewell to his spiritual son in the faith, Timothy.
To give you the context of 2 Timothy: It appears that the Roman emperor Nero had sentenced Paul to be beheaded. Paul is writing this letter to someone he loves dearly while awaiting execution in a deep dungeon underground—really more like a sewage drain where some prisoners would die even before their execution. This is where Paul likely wrote this very emotional letter days before his execution. He writes to Timothy, his spiritual son, these words of encouragement.
Paul says, "Don't be afraid of suffering for the Lord." If you're going to finish, you're likely going to suffer. Being a Christian doesn't mean you won't have hard times; in many ways, it guarantees you will.
Then Paul tells his spiritual son: "Work at telling others the good news, and carry out the ministry fully that God has given you." In other words: finish what God called you to start.
Then Paul says, very emotionally: "As for my life, it has already been poured out like an offering to God. The time of my death is near." And then he says:
"I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. And I have remained faithful."
Paul says: I've been in the battle. I haven't given up. I fought the good fight and I've remained faithful.
Here's what's powerful: It's obvious that Paul had finished his race. But you have not finished yours. God has more for you to do.
If you find yourself discouraged, if you find yourself feeling like giving up, maybe God would say to you: If you are not dead, you are not done. There is more for you to do. God has more plans, more assignments for you. There's more love to give, more people to help, more ministries to start, more businesses to launch, more content to create, more hope to share, more friendships to make, more addictions to break.
God's got more for you. If you're not dead, you're not done. There's more for you to do. So fully finish the work that God called you to start.
But some of you are saying, "Great, but I'm tired. I'm so tired." I understand. How are you doing? I'm busy. I'm tired.
I'd like to finish, but I've got too much to do. Does anybody relate?
If you feel like there's too much to do, I like what David Allen said in his book Getting Things Done. He said: "Much of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they've started."
Maybe the stress you have isn't that you have so much to do—it's that you haven't finished what God called you to do.
I want you to be in a posture of prayer. Just be open and say in your own mind a simple prayer: God, show me what you want to show me. Speak to me.
I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to see if God doesn't give you an answer. I want you to think about what you started but haven't finished—something that God prompted you to do. Not something trivial, but something God prompted.
Jesus said this to the church in Sardis in Revelation 3:
"I know your deeds. You have a reputation of being alive but you're dead... Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God."
Jesus is saying: You didn't finish what I called you to start. You have some unfinished deeds.
In a posture of prayer, I want to ask you: What is your unfinished business? What is your unfinished assignment?
What is it that as a follower of Jesus, you were prompted to do? You know you're supposed to do it. You thought you were supposed to do it. You were going to do it. You hoped to do it. You thought about doing it. You knew you were supposed to say it. You were prompted to give it. You were looking to reach out to someone. What is it?
Perhaps you were going to try to heal a broken relationship and you never reached out to someone. Maybe God prompted you to share your faith with somebody. Maybe you were supposed to give something and you never gave what you were supposed to give. Maybe you were supposed to finish your degree. Maybe you were going to start a hobby, join a life group, or serve at church using your gifts—but you never followed through.
It might have been a ministry you were supposed to start, a business you were supposed to launch, a physical goal like losing 20 pounds, or an apology you needed to make. What is the unfinished business in your life that God called you to start and you haven't followed through?
Think about it. Let it sink in. What would God be saying to you?
I love the advice the Apostle Paul gave to the Corinthians. They were going to give big and they started, but they didn't follow through. Paul said:
"It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year, you were the first who wanted to give and you were the first to begin doing it."
Then he asks: What should you do? You should finish what you started.
What is your unfinished business? What is it that God prompted you to do that you haven't done yet?
You may ask: What's the big deal if I quit? Honestly, there are some things you will want to quit—you're not called to everything. But there are divine assignments that you haven't completed yet. Why does it matter if you quit that?
Every decision you make is actually a vote toward your future. Every time you decide in the moment, you're voting on what kind of person you are. Whenever you decide to quit, you're voting that you really don't have what it takes, that you're not a finisher.
On the other hand, when you stand strong in the Lord, when you persevere and don't back down and finish, you are voting: I am a finisher. I persevere. When I commit, I don't quit. Why? Because I am a finisher.
You're always voting.
Let me tell you a story. I played a lot of sports in high school, including tennis. I was decent. In the semi-finals of the state championship, I played a guy who was undefeated, and I played the match of my life in front of a college recruiter. I beat him 6-3, 6-2. The scout signed me on the spot for a really good school.
Then I went into the finals. I played a guy I'd beaten two weeks previously, and he waxed the court with me. The scout didn't see that match.
My first day at this NAIA school—which at that time meant they could recruit basically any age, including ex-pros—I was the only American on an international team of professional athletes. This team was one of the best in the country. My first day there, I played one of my teammates and lost 6-0, 6-0. My first match, I was playing number six, the lowest on the team. I played the number six on another team and lost 6-0, 6-0. I cracked all of my rackets.
This was before I was a Christian. I screamed that I quit and walked off with the full intention to quit. Some guy there knew my high school coach and called him. My coach drove an hour and a half to come to my school. He knocked on my dorm room door while I was in there saying every bad word you could imagine.
He came into my room and sat down. He said, "So this is the kind of person you are, huh? I never saw you as a quitter." I told him to go do some things to himself. He said, "This is a really big day in your life and I'm glad I'm here to see it, because today you're gonna determine what kind of person you are." He asked me a question: Do you quit in the face of adversity, or are you an overcomer?
When he walked out, I decided in that moment: When I commit, I don't quit. I hung in there and barely survived my first year. I got better my second year. Believe it or not, I was undefeated at my level in my third year. In my fourth year, I won athlete of the year for my entire college.
The power of that story isn't about the awards. The power is: I didn't quit. I didn't quit.
Listen to me. Here's what you may know about me: You may see me struggle, but you won't see me quit.
Tell the person sitting next to you: You may see me struggle, but you won't see me quit. Because when I commit, I don't quit. I am a finisher.
Scripture is so powerful. One of my favorite verses in all the Bible is Acts 20:24 when Paul said:
"I consider my life worth nothing to me. My only aim is to do what God called me to do—to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me: the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace."
Notice the little phrase so many people miss: Why could Paul finish the race? It's because he wasn't running for himself. He said, "I consider my life worth nothing to me." It's not about my desires. It's not about my dreams. It's not about my 401k account. It's not about my popularity.
If you are quitting what God called you to start, maybe it's because you care about something more than you care about running God's race.
I want you to fill in this blank with something very personal: I consider my _____ worth nothing if only I may do what you called me to do.
I consider my personal comfort worth nothing if only I may please Jesus and finish His race. I consider my net worth worth nothing. I consider the opinions of other people, what they say about me. I consider my social media followers. I consider my personal hopes and dreams worth nothing if only I may finish the race that God called me to run.
You see, when we commit to Him, we don't quit because we're finishers. How do you run your race? You run it for God, not for yourself. You run it for God.
And here's what you do to finish: You take the next step. That's what you do. You take the next step.
The great news is you don't have to finish your race today. You just take the next step. When you look at the life and ministry of Jesus, it is indescribably powerful and emotional to look at how it ended. But if you look at every step He took from when He started to when He finished, He just faithfully ran for God, taking step after step.
Think about it: Right before Jesus looked up to heaven and cried out to His Father, "Into your hands I commit my spirit," and He breathed His last—right before that, Jesus said:
Tetelestai—"It is finished."
He said, "I did everything you sent me to do, Dad. I finished the race."
How did He do it? He wasn't running for Himself. He was running for His Father. Day by day, week after week, month after month, year after year, painful moment after painful moment, He just took the next step. When they hated Him, He just took the next step and loved them back.
When they struck him on the cheek, he just took the next step and turned the other cheek. When he was carrying the cross up the hill and he fell to the ground, he just stood back up and took the next step. Hanging on the cross, when they mocked him and shamed him, he just took another step and said, "Father, forgive them for they don't even know what they're doing."
From the very moment he started, he had pre-decided: I'm always ready, I'm always consistent, I'm always devoted, I'm always generous, I'm always faithful, and when I commit I don't quit because I am a finisher.
The trajectory is always toward what's easy and convenient. The devil will want you to quit what God called you to start. So you're going to pre-decide: When I commit, I don't quit.
I don't know how this will play out in your life. Maybe when you're about to give up, you decide to say one more prayer or make one more call. Or even when it's difficult, you give one more gift. When they hurt you again and again, you forgive one more time. You don't walk away; you send one more email. You run another mile. You memorize another verse. You take another lesson. You ask for another meeting. You talk to your child again, you pray for your child again, you love your child again. You show back up and do what's right even when everybody else says what's wrong.
Stay in the game. Because when you commit, you don't quit. You just take another step, you just take another step, you just take another step. They knock you down, you get back up. They tell you that you can't—you just believe with God's help you can. You run for God and you just take another step.
Then what do you do when you have no more? You've forgiven with every bit of faith you have. You've loved when they've taken advantage of you. You've given when they didn't care. You've prayed and you see no results. What do you do when you've tried to run and you don't have the power in your own strength to take another step?
In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, there was a British athlete and sprinter named Derek Hammond who was a potential favorite in the 400-meter race. He got off to a very good start, and midway through the race, he ruptured his hamstring and fell to the ground. Every Olympic dream crushed, knowing he didn't have what it takes to finish the race.
In one of the most emotional moments in sports history, his father, who was in the crowd, got up out of the stands, came down onto the track, and carried his son to the finish line. When the son could not go on, the father carried the son to the finish.
What I hope you'll understand is this: You never run alone. You never run alone. You never run alone.
And that's why you can be confident of this:
"He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day that Christ Jesus returns."
Our God will carry it on. When you are weak, he will be strong.
Why is it that so many people quit? Why do they quit on their marriage? Why do they quit on their dream? Why do they quit on God? Well, probably the most simple reason is because quitting is an option.
What if it wasn't an option for us when God calls us to it? What if when we got married, we entered into a covenant, not a contract, and said this is something till death do us part? What if when God calls us with a vision and a dream, we said, "This is from God. And if God is for us, who can be against us?" Instead of walking away and quitting on God, what if we ran to him even in our doubts, even in our fears, even in our disappointments, and cried out to him saying, "I don't understand. I don't trust you fully, but I'm just clinging to you and I'm not letting go"?
Because you may see me struggle, but you'll never see me quit. Why? Because we are disciples of Jesus. Because he is the ultimate finisher. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. He started it and he will finish it.
When I commit, I don't quit. I'm a finisher. The author and the perfecter, the finisher of my faith dwells within me.
Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit does a deep work in our church. I would ask God that individually we would be open to what you would say to us. What unfinished business do we have? Prompt us. Show us. And God, by the power of your Word and the truth of your Spirit, empower us to be faithful, to run this race.
I'm curious—how many of you, something comes to mind? Something that you just want to say, "God, I know this is from you and I want to follow through on what you called me to do." There's something that comes to mind. All of us have promptings that God will call us to do. Your assignment is to watch for what that is because all of us have unfinished business.
I pray that you would reveal to us any place where we have an unfinished assignment—something to give, an encouragement to offer, a word to someone, a blessing, something to start, something that we need to go and redo, something we need to try to undo. God, speak to us.
And I pray that every day we'd run for you and just take the next step. Not have to finish today, not at the end of the week—just take the next step. I pray that, just like Paul, toward the end of our days on earth, we might have the blessing to look at God and say, "I ran a good race. I'm finishing my race. I've been faithful to you, God."
It's interesting to think about what Jesus said on the cross. He said, "It is finished." Now, what was finished?
There were many prophecies in the Bible that he fulfilled. But the biggest thing that Jesus did was finish the work and the plan of God. What was God's plan? God recognized that because we've all messed up, we've all sinned—you know, you've done those things that you feel bad about, that you're ashamed of. That's what the Bible calls sin.
God is a holy God. He can't look upon sin; he can't tolerate it. He has to punish sin. But God loved us so much that he wanted to do something about this problem. So he sent his Son. He became one of us in the person of Jesus, who was without sin. Jesus gave his life on the cross. He was the innocent sacrifice. He did the work of God and said, "It is finished. Into your hands I commit my spirit." He gave his life as the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.
Jesus, the Son of God, died. He was buried. And three days later, the stone was rolled away. The tomb was empty. Why? Because Jesus was not there. God had raised him from the dead. What does that mean? That means that anybody—and this includes you—because of the finished work of Jesus, when you step away from your sins and step toward Jesus, becoming his disciple, God forgives all of your sins. He makes you brand new. He's the author; he starts it and he's the finisher of your faith.
Some of you—today is the day you start your journey with Jesus. It starts with one step: stepping away from your past and stepping toward his grace. You say, "I need your forgiveness. I need your mercy. I call on you."
Those who say yes—"I want that. I step away from my old life. I step toward Jesus. Today by faith, I give my life to him." If that's your prayer, he'll hear your prayer. He'll forgive your sins. He'll make you brand new.
Wherever you're watching today, those who say yes, "I'm taking that step. I give my life to Jesus"—that's your prayer. What we're going to do is we're going to pray together. Nobody prays alone. We are starting the work that God will finish in you, taking the first step toward Jesus.
Just pray today:
Heavenly Father, I surrender to you. Jesus, forgive my sins. Save me. Be my friend, my Savior. Be the Lord of my life. Help me to start following you, doing your will, showing your love. My life is not mine. I give it all to you. Thank you for forgiveness. Thank you for your Spirit. Thank you for your love. Thank you for new life. I give you mine in Jesus' name I pray.
When we commit, we don't quit. That's who we are as the church of Jesus Christ—we are finishers.
