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Transcript

Finish Well · Enjoying the Journey

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  In our busy world, family time is frequently neglected.
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  It is vital that we give attention to our families while we can,
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  and it is especially important to give attention to what God
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  says in his word about our homes. For the next few moments,
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  let's join Scott Pauley as we open the scriptures and and find
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  God's message for your family.
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  It is one thing to start well, and it's quite another to stay the course
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  and finish well. We've been looking at the life and
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  the example of a man by the name of Aquila and
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  his wife Priscilla and how God worked in their family
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  and then through their family to minister to so many others. And I would simply
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  point out to you today, they're still ministering. They are still reaping because
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  even now, this very week, as we study their example,
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  they are being used of God to encourage us. Oh,
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  may the Lord help us to be that kind of Christian and that
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  kind of family right where we are. We were first introduced to them,
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  you remember, in Acts chapter 18, and then we saw them in Romans
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  16. We saw them in 1 Corinthians 16, but the last mention
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  of them, the final time they're recorded in scripture is found in
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  Paul's last letter. In fact, all the way at the very end,
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  2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse number 19,
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  in a long list of people that he addresses and refers to, we read
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  this: Salute Prisca and Aquila
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  and the household of Onesiphorus. So here they are.
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  Notice please, they're still together. Thank God for that. Could I
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  say to every married couple Stay together. Look,
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  distance and separation is not going to make it better. Stay close
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  to one another, and more important, stay close to the Lord. If you'll both stay
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  close to the Lord, he will enable you to stay close to one another.
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  So they are still together, they are still serving the Lord, and obviously
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  they are still on the heart and mind of the Apostle Paul. This was
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  a couple that ministered to the minister. We've learned
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  so many things from their life, haven't we? We, we learned that they serve the
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  Lord together. That they served God right where they were, that they supported
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  the preacher, that they were faithfully under the preaching and teaching of the word
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  of God. We learned that they taught others what they had been taught, that they
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  involved their whole house in the work of the local church. We learned that
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  they were encouragers. All of these are wonderful things. May God help us to
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  apply them. But let me give you one final thought today from the final mention
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  in 2 Timothy 4 and verse number 19, and it is this: They
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  were faithful to the very end. In fact,
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  chronologically, if you look at Acts 18 and then
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  you come to 2 Timothy chapter 4, the span here is a number
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  of years. Some people have suggested a minimum of 16
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  years, but perhaps longer than that. But the point is,
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  many years after we are first introduced to them,
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  they are still faithful to God. They are still faithful to one another.
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  They are still faithful to the ministry God has given them as a, as a
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  lay couple, as volunteers in the local New Testament church.
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  I think it is the example of what all of us ought to be.
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  My parents, who in just a few days I'm going to introduce to you
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  on this series of broadcasts— my
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  parents have been married for almost 50 years. They've been serving
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  the Lord in the same church for over 3 decades. When I look at their
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  lives, I see in them what I want in my own life and
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  marriage and ministry— faithful to God, faithful to one another,
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  faithful to their children and grandchildren, faithful to what the Lord has given
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  them to do. You see, this is something all of us can be.
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  The Bible says that most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness,
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  but a faithful man who can find?
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  There are a lot of braggarts today, a lot of people promoting themselves.
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  But where are the faithful people? The Bible says in the
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  Apostle Paul's writings that it's required in stewards that a man be found
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  faithful. You may never be famous, and you may not feel yourself
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  extremely gifted in certain areas, but you can be faithful with
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  whatever God has given you right where you are.
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  And that is exactly what Aquila and Priscilla did.
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  They finished well. Thank God for an example of finishing
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  well. Paul is himself signing off
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  in 2 Timothy chapter 4. He's finishing well. Remember, I fought a good fight,
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  I finished my course, I've kept the faith. But isn't it glorious
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  to see in the same chapter a married couple who are still fighting the good
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  fight, finishing their course, and keeping the faith?
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  In this same passage, Paul points out some faithful people and some
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  unfaithful people. There are faithful people like Luke who's still with him.
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  There are unfaithful people like Demas who forsook him. But thank
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  God there's a faithful couple, a married couple still serving
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  the Lord together and enjoying the journey
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  together, exactly as God intended for all of us.
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  And do you know who I think the exact opposite of Aquila and Priscilla
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  is in Scripture? There's another married couple, another married couple introduced to
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  us in the book of Acts. Another married couple, though, that once they make their
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  initial appearance do not show up again. They pass from the scene
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  tragically. Do you remember who it is? It's a couple by the
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  name of Ananias and Sapphira. You remember them? Ananias and
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  Sapphira lied to the Holy Ghost, pretended they were giving everything
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  to God, and instead the Bible says they kept back
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  part. May I tell you that the couple we've been studying
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  are the exact antithesis of that. They kept back nothing.
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  Ananias and Sapphira kept back part for themselves. Aquila and Priscilla gave everything
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  to Jesus Christ. Ananias and Sapphira were a lot of
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  talk, but Aquila and Priscilla were substance.
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  They were the real deal. They were faithful to the
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  very end. And I'll tell you, friends, that'll cost you something.
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  It doesn't come easy. There's no, no substitute for faithfulness, and there's no shortcut
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  to it. Years ago, I remember reading the story of a man in
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  Ontario, Canada by the name of Mr. Martin, I believe it was, if my memory
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  serves me correctly, who loved to go to yard sales, who loved to,
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  to go through garage sales. For the record, I, I hate them.
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  Now, my wife loves them, and so I love them because I love her,
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  but they're not my favorite thing in the world. But Mr. Martin loved them,
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  went to them frequently. A true story: one day he walked through
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  a garage, saw an old dusty painting And, uh, decided it was
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  pretty. It was covered in dust, it was unframed, but he thought he'd like to
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  have it. And he asked the owner, how much for the old painting? And the
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  owner said $100. I've not been to a lot of yard sales and garage
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  sales, but I know $100 for anything's pretty expensive. He tried
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  to get him down, but he wouldn't budge off of it. And Mr. Martin liked
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  the painting so well, he paid $100 for it. I remember
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  thinking to myself and reading the story, what a waste.
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  $100 for an old dusty unframed painting.
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  But as the story went, some months later that same
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  painting sold on eBay for, I believe it was,
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  $50,000. And the moral of the story was that the only one
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  who reaped the benefit of it was the one who was willing to make the
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  investment. I wonder how many of us have walked past
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  so much potential so many times, unwilling to pay the
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  price. Dear friend, if you want God's best
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  for your family and you want God's blessing not only upon your family
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  but through your family to others, you want God to make you a blessing,
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  it will cost you. You'll have to pay the price, and the price is faithfulness
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  to God and what God has given you to do. You'll have to determine
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  by the grace of Almighty God that you're not going to be
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  perfect. Aquila and Priscilla were not perfect people. They were not sinless people,
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  but they were people mightily used of God because they simply gave
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  themselves to the Lord all the way through and finished well.
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  I want to challenge you wherever you are today to just stop even now and
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  rededicate yourself to the Lord. Reconsecrate your
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  family to God. Plead the blood of Christ and
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  give yourself to the Lord afresh and anew. Let today be a new
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  beginning for you. You may even want to gather your family around
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  and pray over them. You may want to go around and let each member of
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  the family voice some prayer to God But wouldn't it be great if
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  all of us determined by the Lord's grace that we were going to finish well?
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  That at the end of the story, our names could still be
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  read and someone could say they were faithful to the very end.
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  You see, this is one of my favorite couples because this is a faithful couple.
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  May the Lord help every one of us to be faithful and to
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  finish well. For more resources
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  for your marriage and family, visit us at etj.bible
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  and click on the Take the Next Step link, where you'll find
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  many Bible resources that will strengthen your marriage and equip
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  you to raise your children in the ways of the Lord.
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  We highly recommend Scott's book, New Testament Marriage.
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  In it, you'll discover timeless biblical principles
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  from the husband and wife team equipped
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  and Priscilla, and these principles are very applicable to your marriage today.
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  From all of us at Enjoying the Journey, thanks for listening today,
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  and until next time, we pray that you will enjoy the journey.