How To Finish Strong - Part 4

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:02

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi, and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there will be a link to the episode website at beholdingbibletruth.com, and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:49

Well, when our son, Josh, spent a year in Europe, he said, dad, why don't you come over and we'll go skiing? I said, That'd be great. He said, So here's how I do it. I fly into a city and I land and I just roam around. I look for a place to stay and maybe I stay there at night and then I'll stay there somewhere else and and maybe maybe near where we're gonna ski or maybe we move around. And I said, oh, that's an interesting approach. Yes. Sounds fun. And I may have even liked that when I was a teenager or young 20, but not now.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:27

No. No. I'll have my tickets bought in advance. I'll know where I'm staying. I know what it's like. Right? And I know, you know, I like to have my itinerary all in a place and everything planned out. But Josh is not a whole lot of a planner, so understanding that he's wired a bit differently from me and he's, of course, a lot younger than we are is a good reminder. Well, there's 2 ways you can kind of mosey through life.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:56

You can just get on a train and show up somewhere and each day kind of unfolds and all of a sudden time passes and then you say, Hey, where are we? Where have I been doing? Right. What have I been doing today? And as you probably know, days are long and weeks are, are, are fast. Right? That seems to be the way. And people retire and say, I don't know how I got anything done before. I'm so busy now. Right? And so life is busier, isn't it? You know, it's busier. And so it behooves us and reminds us that we need to live with purpose. We need to live on purpose and with purpose.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:33

Right? And so as we talk about finishing strong, understanding that we're here for a time and the days are long, the weeks go fast and so does life, doesn't it? And all of a sudden you say, woah, who's that person in the mirror? Kind of looks like my dad or my mom a little bit, you know, and you say, what the heck? Where did time go? How many thought that? Where did time go? Right? That's how so we're gonna talk about, in this horse session how to finish strong, how to finish strong. And so we've talked about the kind of the footer, if you will, of, finishing strong for me is to make sure we have our feet deeply, firmly planted and secure in the sovereignty and providence of God. Without it, life doesn't make sense. Even with it, oftentimes life doesn't make sense. You know, everything from ALS, whether it's with Matt or Toonsh, you know, and then how's that going to work? And you see God works it. He does work it. But you wonder at times, lots of questions. So we need to have sovereignty and providence really secure.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:40

And we talked about last time about daily routines and how daily time alone with God is really important. Does that mean 7 days a week? No. It's rarely 7 days a week. It's probably 4 to 6. Right? Kind of on the average. 4 or 5, whatever. It just means it's kind of generally more often than not, we begin our day in private time, 1 on one time with the the savior and with the father, to him who sits upon the throne and to the lamb. Right? To those 2 that we have the ability to come before his presence.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:17

I mean, that's the that's the gospel, isn't it? And we we live out the gospel as we come before his throne as we bless him and we praise him for who he is. We bless him. We thank him for what he's done. We confess our sins. We apply the blood of Christ and we receive his manna mercies. Every day they wash over our soul. They cleanse us and clean us. Right? We give thanks and then we pray for our stuff, you know, and we bring our stuff before him.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:45

We're absolutely critical, absolutely essential, absolutely necessary because he is way, our truth, and he is our life. Right? Our life. Right? For a day in thy courts is better than a 1,000 outside. That's what he says. A day in thy courts is better than a 1,000 outside for the lord is a sun and shield. The lord gives grace and glory. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. So that daily time.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:13

And so now we finish up really with this idea that we live fully, which are the 2 spaces on your sheet, live fully. So 2 scriptures, let's read the first one. We know it. So teach us to number our days that we may present to thee a heart of wisdom. So teach us to number our days. What's that mean? Yeah. Remind us that they're limited. Whatever the number is, he knows, right, when as yet there was none.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:40

What's he say? When as yet there is none. So the lord knows what those number of days are. We do not, but they are ordained in advance. Right? We don't know. So teach us the number of days. And I like this. Paul says at the end of his life, for I'm already being poured out as a drink offering. In other words, right, my life has been poured out.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:00

It's been fully invested. Right? I'm already being pulled out. The time of my departure has come. He had a sense. This is it for him. I fought the good fight. I finished the course. I've kept the faith.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:13

Right? And I think that would be the case for those of you who are in here. We wanna say the same thing, don't we? We wanna fight the fight. We wanna finish the course. We wanna keep the faith as we do that. So we're gonna look at 4 things today that to me are essential to live fully. The first one would be purposefully. Purposefully. And the idea is we live on purpose.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:38

We live on purpose, which is challenging, isn't it? Because life comes at us all the time. And what I found is that the, you know, the the torrent of life in order to live on purpose, it never comes behind you. The the the winds of life never come behind on living on purpose. They did you don't. They're they're against us. We have to be sharp, if you will, to press through. Right? So live on purpose. So one of the things that is super helpful for that is to create a purpose statement, to understand what your purpose is and have it written and review it often and make, really purposeful things happen daily.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:21

Make purposeful things happen. If I have a purpose, then I make purposeful things happen, things that are in line with my purpose because things happen every day, don't they? They just happen. So the the the idea is to get really clear about what is my purpose here, right, to be able to say it, have it written down, and to to make things happen every day that are in line with my purpose. But he says, k. Because things just happen, don't they? Lots of things happen. Probably seen this quadrant before. Right? This is urgent and non urgent. This is important and non important.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:04

What tends to drive our life? Urgent. Urgent come at us. Right? They come at us. They come at us. They come at us. If it happens to be urgent and important or urgent and purposeful, that's pretty good. Right? But most things that are urgent tend to be down in here, don't they? So if you think about this quadrant, the most important things in life are there, which means there's no urgency to them by nature. There's no urgency to the most important things in life.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:32

To sit down and to create a purpose statement. There's no urgency to that. So that that quadrant is about creating your own urgency. If you don't do that, it does things don't happen. You ever notice that? So this is what this is what flies at us every single day. Sometimes it's in here, which is good, but this is some of the most important things. There's no urgency to get time alone with God. Right? There's no urgency for that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:00

Nothing in there. So we have to create our own urgency. You have to you have to create your own. And these actually I found these are the most important things in life. That's why I always say deadlines are my friends. I have to create my own deadlines. I have to create my own deadlines or accountability is the way to bring urgency, isn't it? You create accountability. You share things.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:25

So having a purpose statement and to review it often, to make purposeful things happen. So Paul says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. How many have heard that? To live is Christ, to die is gain. Okay? Now watch what he says. But if I am to live on in the flesh, if I'm to live on in the flesh, so he's saying, right, to die is gain, but if I'm to live on, if I'm to stay here longer, he says this will mean what? Not just labor but fruitful labor. Fruitful for him. Fruitful for him. And Paul would say, right, I am called to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, to preach Christ to the Gentiles.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:09

That's essentially his calling. He says in Ephesians, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. That was that would be his purpose statement. Now again, he, you know, he did other things. He worked, he discipled, but at the core, his purpose was to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. So wherever he was, he was carrying that out. Does that make sense? That was his purpose. It's not yours.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:34

Right? Everybody has a unique purpose. He says, and I do not know which to choose. Interesting. Most people would say, no. I'd rather stay here because to die isn't really gained. Although the longer you go in the world, sometimes you say, Lord, I'm ready. I'm ready. Right? But he says, I'm hard pressed, interesting, from both directions.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:54

Having the desire to Yet to remain on the flesh is more necessary, he says, for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith. So he's saying, I wanna go. It's better. I have to stay. Why? I have work to do. I'm here for a purpose, not just because there's some days left and I might as well hang around, but I'm here for a purpose. And as long as I'm still here, I have work to do.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:34

Does that make sense? As long as you're still here, God has work for you to do. Does that make sense? Fruitful labor. Fruitful labor. Everybody get that? So we don't just coast into the edge or the end of life, right, whenever that's going to come, so you have fruitful labor. And then in Habakkuk, he says, the Lord answered me and said, record the vision. Underline that. Record the vision. Write it down.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:02

He says, write it on tablets. Why? That the one who reads it may run for the vision is yet for an appointed time. So I have clarity about what that is. It hastens toward the goal and will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it. And then he'll go on to say the righteous shall live by faith. That's where where where Paul quotes it from Habakkuk. The righteous shall live by faith.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:25

In other words, there's the purposes that he has for your life and that kind of that core purpose, it tarries, of course, because it's yet. It's yet. So it's being clear about that. So record underline record the vision, which means we should have a life purpose statement. I will remain and continue with you all for what? For a purpose. We're here for a purpose. It's easy to mosey through life, and sometimes it sometimes it feels like, frankly, life what's the point? Ever anybody struggle with that? I do. Some of them think, what's the point? I have to remind myself.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:01

What's the point? Like, just wanna get through the day. Just wanna get through the day. Lord, when do you come back or call me home? Right? Just like, of course, the world system says just turn up the distraction. Right? Just turn up the distraction. If you if you don't know Christ, right, just turn up the music, if you will. Turn up the music, right, and stay distracted to not think about it. Same way for us. So be purposeful.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:29

My life purpose. A life purpose. So what I want you to write in there, if you've never done that, I want you to write a poor life purpose statement. How many can write a bad one? See, because you think, oh, all I want you to do is write version 1. Right? All you want you to do is write version 1, which means you can have version 2, version 3, version 4. How many versions of Microsoft Windows have there been? You can have lots of versions. So you can write a poor statement. That's easy.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:00

Right? Everybody see what I mean? So write a version of that if you've done this before. This is challenging, is it not? And scary, is it not? How many would like to go through a how to build a purpose blueprint? Would that be helpful? We do that. Who who would like to do that? Like a blueprint process to create your your life purpose. Raise your hand. So let me see. So we'll do that next week? Okay. Would that be helpful? So in between, just write a bad statement. Right? Just write a bad statement.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:34

And the thing with the statement is you write and you have to write on there, no purpose envy. No purpose envy. What's purpose envy? Oh, they've got a better purpose. Paul Paul had a purpose preach to the Gentiles, the unfathomable riches of Christ. Okay. What am I doing? Right? But my, you know, I I always talk about my plot. Your plot is the plot that God's given you. Some are bigger plots, but Paul had the I mean, the plot in Europe.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:03

He had a bigger plot but you gotta be okay with your plot. No plot envy. No purpose envy. God gives the plot and and and and you need to be okay with that. The other thing that I share with the people I coach is what I call 1231. 1231. How many have to do lists? I hate to do lists. Well, I I don't want things to do in life.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:29

How many know I want no more things to do? No more things to so I just forget to dos. I don't wanna make to do. I don't want to have things to do. So then I thought, what do I really want? I want to make things happen. I want to make things happen. Things with purpose, things with value, things with impact. Right? To do is just check things off. So you make this few long list, you do the easiest thing so you can check more checks.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:55

Right? But it has nothing to do with what's purposeful. So making things happen, this is we have a system. It's called the make it happen system because it's about making purposeful things happen. And so the concept is 1231. And this is the case whether you're in a class or you're into your day or you read a book or whatever you do, this idea that how many have read a book or come to a session like this or you go go to something or think about your day, there's at least 12 things you could make happen. At least 12 things. Right? Whatever it means. It could be 5 or what, but there's lots of things you could make happen today, tomorrow, every day.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:37

Does that make sense? Lots of things. That's the first twelve. That whole concept is 12 things you could make happen. Out of that list, if you race them against each other for the most most impactful, most important, then 3 things you should make happen And one thing you will make happen. One thing you will make happen. So if you think about as you head into your day or to your week, think about the result at the beginning. What's the, what's the thing I want to make happen at the end of the day? Right? How many have worked hard, done a whole bunch of things during the day, and then the day ends, you think, what did I do? Just did a bunch of to dos. Right? So it's really turning to think think about the result before you begin and say, what's the result I will make happen? And it's really about one thing, one thing, one thing that you will make happen purposeful this day.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:38

Right? It's about living fully in the day. Is this easy? No. It's extremely difficult, But the one thing doesn't have to be the perfect thing, but it's just it's sharpening your ability to say what's one thing that's impactful today. It's 3 in 1. 1231. Where did I get that concept from? 12 3 1. Jesus had 12 disciples, 3 that were close, one that was the closest. It's a principle.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:09

So either in the kingdom, there are principles. That's a particular principle applicable to many things, including priorities. 12, 3, 1. You notice the 3 and 1 are always in here for me. The one is usually here, which means there's no wind behind it for the day. You're gonna you're gonna have to battle to make it happen. Does that make sense? Because stuff comes like this. Right? The The winds of life never come behind the sails of the most impactful things in your life.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:44

They never do. We're always battling. Makes sense? 1231. Purposeful day. So the first is purposefully, live on purpose, with purpose and on purpose. The second thing that's critical is promise fully. Promise fully. It's critical to live with assurance, to live with assurance.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:07

So let's read, Joshua. Now behold, today I'm going the way of all the earth and you know that in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one word of all the good words, which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed. All have been fulfilled for you. Not one of them has failed. How many believe at the end of your days, you're going to be able to say not one good word has failed? All the words, all the promises, all the assurances that he's given you, not one will have failed. Everybody get that? So Joshua said at the end of his days, not one good word has failed. For I'm convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Is that a great promise? So you start to think about what are the promises? What are the promises that you stand on? I'm standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my savior.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:21

Right. Standing Faithful is he who calls you. He will also bring it to pass. Love these. Right? The lord will accomplish what concerns me. Thy loving kindness, oh lord, is everlasting. In the amplified version in Hebrews 13:5, let's read this. It says, let your character, your moral essence, your inner nature be free from the love of money, being content with what you have.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:49

For he has said, I will never, under any circumstances, desert you, nor give you up, nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless, nor will I forsake or let you down or relax my hold on you? Assuredly not. Is that a good promise? Like no way. He's saying no way. So the amplified just takes the Greek and kind of lets you know it's emphatic. It is indeed emphatic. So general promises to all his people, But also the critical to have the promises that he has made clear to you, one of which would be life verses. Those are life promises. They're part of the purpose that he has for you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:42

Right? Clear promises that he has spoken. His spirit has taken them and how many have them? Or, you know, he's spoken these. These are mine. Right? You wanna have those listed down. My life verse or verses. And I forgot we haven't done this for a number of years. We'd go into the year and say, lord, what's a verse for the year? If we made any major decision, any major decision, I'd always say, lord, you tell me. You give me a verse.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:08

You give me a verse. And we thought about buying a new house. I said, lord, I wouldn't do that unless you gave me a verse. And he gave me a verse which was no. It was clearly no. People say, well, there is no verse that says, lord, can I buy a house? No. But he will if you ask him. Right? Because if I'm gonna make a turn in life, if I'm gonna make some major turn in life, I wanna make sure I have a promise to stand on.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:30

Does that make sense? I'm gonna make a promise. So we don't make I don't do that through the day. We're moving and trust his spirit, you know, leading his guidance. But if we're making major changes, I ask him for a promise out of your word, then it's clear. Does that make sense? I want to stand on those. Right? Stand on those. And I wanna say at the end of the days, no good word that you've given us has failed. We wanna say at the end of our day, right, no good word has failed.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:58

So promise fully. Live with assurance because God fulfills his word. He does what he says. Period. Right? No question. No question. So we live purposefully. We live promise fully.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:16

And therefore, we need to live persist fully. So I call that live forgetting forward. Live forgetting forward. So it's really clear that you have a set of reasons that you persist, A set of reasons that you persist. There's a writer who's kind of have a movement on why in in the business marketplace. Right? What's your why? Why do you do what you do? And I found that's a challenging question. But in life, we also think about our who our why for me is usually about our who. Who do we persist for? Right? Because Paul says, I do it for you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:59

Who is the you for you? It's not just a sense of why. There's my purpose, but who is it that I persist for? Because a lot of stuff we do in life, I wouldn't do just for myself. How many are in that same category? Wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it for myself. I wouldn't I I wouldn't stay fit for myself. It's too much of a hassle. Right? You you gotta have a bigger there's gotta be there's gotta be a bigger reason to do that. Right? Coming every week for the last 30 years or whatever it is here.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:28

I wouldn't do it every week. There would be weeks where I go, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that. In fact, there was there was a a period of time. I think it was 3 months or 4 months. I don't know if you're around there, but it was kind of a midlife. I just I just stopped. I didn't teach.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:44

And the Lord finally just, like, banged on my head, you know, like, this is not good. Good for my soul? Oh, yeah. Good for my soul. But there's reason you are part of the who, you know, and not just not just who you're related to, of course, that's on there, but it's the bigger who within his people. Right? Who who do we persist for? So it's really clear the why that you persist, but who does it matter to? Paul was saying it's for you. Well, who's the you? Does that make sense? Who's the you? Because we have to have a bigger reason. We wouldn't just do it for ourself. We have to review it often, don't we? Otherwise, you wanna give up.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:22

It's harder to get out of bed. Everybody find that out? There are more aches and pains. Like, how can I be how can I wake up so sore? You think, wait a minute. I was laying on a mattress. Like, what's up with that? I told Gabriel, it was a minute. He said and I can't remember. I think it was when I was 60 or whenever. He said he said, are you full of aches and pains? I said, no, I'm really not.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:44

It was shortly after that I had that. I said, what'd you do? Like like, what was that? I think I think he had a doll and he cursed me or something. Like, what the heck? Yeah. That's true. So, like, what just getting up. Sometimes you gotta have a reason to get up because why? It doesn't all happen right away, does it? It doesn't all happen. There's opposition. What happens when it's not happening? And then I start to lose heart, don't I? It's not gonna happen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:13

I don't see it. There's nothing going on in terms of my life. Right? So he says let's read this. Do not call to mind the former things. Ponder the things of the past. Behold, I will do something new. Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. God is ex nihilo, out of nothing.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:37

He creates something out of nothing. In the times of nothingness in your life, you need to remember he can create something out of nothing. I will make roadways in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. We have to remind ourselves, this is what our god does. So there'll be times of nothing. And he said in Habakkuk, the vision is yet for an appointed time. Though it tarries though it tarries, wait for it. It will certainly come.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:03

That's why he says write it down. You got to write it down. Record the vision that those who read it will run, will continue to run. And presumably, the purpose often your purpose in life, there'll be a time when you hand the baton. Right? When you've got it when you're running in a baton race, a relay race, your purpose you're running with somebody for a time and then they're running. Right? Then they're running the deal. Right? So he says, trust in the lord and do good. Dwell in the land and, 3rd this, cultivate faithfulness.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:35

Delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Hold on. What does that mean? He gives you what you want? No. It means he breathes his desires into your heart. He will give you the desire. Oh, he's gonna give me everything I want. No. He actually loves you too much to give you everything you think you want.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:56

Right? If he loved you, he would not give you everything you think you want. I would think about all the things that I think I wanted over life, And he would wanna do the black and white film you watch at Christmas. Oh, wow. Bailey. George Bailey. Yeah. He does what do he wants to do a wonderful life for you and show you let me show you a a picture of what your life would be like if I gave you everything you wanted. Here's where you'd be.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:25

Wow. Which is why I give you I need him to give me desires in my heart. Does that make sense? To to help my desires. You gotta get them in line. Commit your way to the lord. Trust also in him. He will do it. Dwell in the land, he's given you the plot.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:42

Cultivate faithfulness. Cultivate faithfulness. Do the things. Right? Do the things that he call you to do. Each day, each week, right, with purpose. Does that make sense? So what have you given up on? Maybe something you were doing for the lord and it just feels like I don't know. Nothing happening. Right? Nothing happening.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:09

He wants to revive revive. That's what he does, isn't he? He revives. What he says, he will not the smoldering wick or a bruised breed. I mean, even if there's a flicker, he's the one. So he just reminds us, right, when it's not happening persistfully. What about when you fall? Well, the righteous falls 7 times, rises again. What's that mean? 7 times. Perfect number.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:37

Lots. Lots. Lots. Sometimes 70 times 7, you fall. Tim Keller said, people say, I know God forgives me, but I can't forgive myself. Interesting. He said they mean that they have failed an idol. I thought, what does he mean failed an idol? Whose approval is more important to them than god's? Interesting.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:02

Idols function like gods in our lives, and so if we make career or parental approval or physical fitness or whatever we make our god and we fail it, then the idol curses us in our hearts for the rest of our lives. Isn't that interesting? Approval of a friend, approval of, you know, whatever that is. Yeah. Parent approval. Isn't that interesting? The idol will curse you in your heart. You notice that. Right? And and so sometimes it's, you know, major major sin, major mistakes we've made in our life in the past. Right? We can't shake that sense of failure.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:42

So it's good to say, what do you need to forgive yourself for? As you you can't live with purpose, you can't live fully, you can't be fully engaged if there's a sin that you haven't forgiven yourself for. Which begs the question, is there a sin in life that the blood of Christ isn't sufficient pay for and to cover? Is there anything? I've told this story before. I mean, Red Square in in Russia and the soldier says he said, nope. You have no idea. He says, you have no idea what I've done. I said, I don't. I don't. I said, I know what I've done, but I have no you know, he said, no.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:22

You have no idea. And I said to him, you're right. At the end of the day, I can't. I don't even wanna know. But I said, he knows, and his shed blood on the cross is sufficient for whatever you've done. There isn't anything in life that his shed blood isn't sufficient for. And if he shed his blood and the father said, it is paid for, it is finished, it is enough, if he said that, what right do we have to say no? I need to have penance. Penance.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:58

Like, what penance? What would you do that his blood hasn't done? I'm gonna do 12 things, 4 things, say things, what? Penance against the holy God? What what could I do? How many times? How many right? Think about it. What would you do that the blood of Christ hasn't done? That he came to the cross and shed his blood where the full wrath of god fell upon Jesus. The full wrath of God. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? The full wrath of God. God turned it head. Right? And then Jesus said, it's finished. It's finished. It's paid for.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:39

What are you holding on to? What do you need to forgive yourself for? You gotta let it go. He let it go. Let it cover it under the blood of Christ. Cover it under the blood of Christ. So Paul says one thing I do forgetting what lies behind, let's read this, and reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He says there's one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind. And actually, there's 2 forms of forgetting.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:12

Right? In other words, it might be, oh, I've done a whole lot for the Lord. I mean, I've worked really hard. It's time to relax, rest, just hang out. Right? There could be that. Right? Or the other could be, there's no way he's gonna use me. There's no way. Right? What I've done, there's no way. Right? So we self sabotage or we self satisfy.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:36

We self sabotage or we self satisfy. Which one do you tend toward? Which one do you tend toward? He's saying forgetting what lies behind even if it's great things that God has done in you and through you where we're self satisfied or we self sabotage. There's no way. So what do you need to forget? Forgetting what lies behind. Forgetting what lies behind. And we have an enemy, right, who does that. What's he do? He deceives. Right? He accuses and he tempts.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:09

Right? He does that stuff. Right? He accused. He's the accuser of the brethren. He's the accuser of the brethren. You think he's gonna he's gonna just let you go? No. He's gonna drag that thing up. Where do you have to point? To the cross. To the cross.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:26

To the cross. You take you take that up with Jesus. You take that up with Jesus. Who's the one who accuse he says, if if God is for you, who's against you? Who's the one who accused you? Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather who was slain on your behalf, who intercedes for you. The father? No. Who's left? The enemy. So what do you need to forget? What do you need to forget? To persist, you have to forgive and you've got to forget.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:53

And then the last under persist is I put keep short accounts. Keep short accounts. Jesus said if you're presenting your offering, if you're in if you're worshiping and there you remember what? That your brother has something against you, he says leave worship. I mean, that's the whole idea. Not that you'd literally, but sometimes you might say, leave it because it's important that you go be reconciled before you come and present your offering. What's that mean? Keep short accounts. And he says make friends make friends with whom? Your opponent at law. Make friends quickly.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:30

Keep short accounts. Somebody has somebody against you, like, clean it up. Seek forgiveness. Do your best to be at peace with everyone. Does that mean you can be at peace with everyone? No. Would you do your best to be at peace with everyone? To be at peace with everyone. It's like, you know, people say I'm being persecuted because of Christ. No.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:53

You're being you're being persecuted because you're a jerk and you're calling it that you're a Christian. You're just annoying. Don't get the 2 confused. Right? And this was one, I mean, this was, you know, one that he he really applied in in in particular our marriage. Be angry and yet do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Don't go to bed with when you're angry. Just don't do that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:19

Why? It gives the it says it gives enemy a place and place is possession is territory in your soul. It gives him territory. So in order to persist, you've got to keep short accounts, which means you got to forgive quickly and you got to seek forgiveness quickly, Which means it's a lot of work because I'm being offended often and I'm offending often. Right? If you're if you're doing if you're out living on purpose, you're gonna be offended often and you're gonna offend often. So you gotta if you're waiting for the world to be fair or to be just or to be in sync with you, it ain't going to happen. Not gonna happen. So if you expect opposition, you're not surprised. If you expect opposition, there there's not gonna be a whole lot of support to to live on purpose because this this is on purpose up here.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:19

Right? This is on purpose. This is a bad marker. Right? That's that that is up up there. That's most of the most of what you need to do with purpose is up here. And they'll they'll you just need to expect opposition. Expect opposition. So who do you need to seek forgiveness from? Who do you need to forgive? Right? Just don't be carrying it. It's a load.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:46

It's a load. And lastly, I put, because I had to pick another p, pleased. Pleased fully. Pleased fully. In other words, live with gratitude. Live with hey. Pastors pay a lot to learn how to get all p's, you know, to do alliteration. They they pay a lot.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:05

Live with gratitude. Should be easy in this country. Should be easy in this country, but it's not, is it? It's not. And they say, oh, if you go to another country or if you've been to, you know, even to Africa or Mexico or wherever and Russia and all, you know, they're living happy. No. They're not. That's just no. They're happy when they're in front of you just like you're happy when appear to be happy when people everybody struggles with that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:28

If you have nothing, if you have lots of things. It's harder when you have lots of things because when you have lots of things, you expect more. Right? But the the love of money, the love you think that people without any money don't love money? Yes. They do. It's the love of money. Right? Of course. Right? All were there. So create a gratitude asset list.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:48

You probably have a financial asset list. Create a gratitude asset list. What am I grateful for? Am I grateful for review it regularly. Gratitude is a virtue most worthy of our, and I bolded it, underline it. What does that mean? You're not naturally grateful because the nature of sin, look at what he says in Romans. What's the nature of sin? For although they knew God, they did not honor God or give thanks. See, that's the nature of sin. That we're not we're not free from that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:24

We're free from the consequences of that, but sanctification is being free, you know, being freed from the power while we're here. We won't be free from the presence of of this until we see him face to face. In the meantime, we struggle with not honoring him and not giving him thanks. That's the nature of sin. We don't honor him. We don't give him thanks. I never wake up and say, oh, this is amazing. Why would you give me mercies every day? Doesn't seem right, lord.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:54

Nobody's no. He didn't hear that. Right? What's with all those mercies? That's not right. Shouldn't be right that I receive mercy and grace. What he says. Right? The, indeed, in all the Christian life, gratitude is to be planted, watered, dressed, and harvested. Oh, sounds like work. Oh, you mean it doesn't happen automatically? I thought it was like one of those little chia things.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:24

Right? You just put a little water in, that thing just no. It sounds like a farm. Sounds like a farm. Gratitude gets at the very essence of what it means. So listen to this. To be created, finite, fallen, redeemed, and sustained by God, the God of all grace. If you understand that, there should be tons of gratitude for the fact that we have been created. We're finite.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:54

We're fallen. We're redeemed. We're sustained by the God of all grace. He says, you made known to me the path of life in your presence. There is fullness of joy, fullness of joy. I said to Beth often, I feel like wonder why do I have so little joy? I should be so joyful as a Christian. But why do I have so little joy? I feel like someone, what's up with that? It's part of our sin nature. It's a battle.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:26

Gratitude, gratefulness, thankfulness has to be cultivated. Seeded, planted, watered. Right? There's weeds that grow up all the time, doesn't it? It's just it's it's the nature. It's the nature. Let's read first Peter. For though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. Right? And that's what we will be doing when we see him.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:59

That's what Tunc is doing now and Sharon and those who've gone before. Right? Fullness of joy. In his presence is fullness of joy. His right hand are pleasures forever. In the meantime, we push through, don't we? We persist and we live pleased fully. Pleased fully. But it takes cultivation. Lots of weeds.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:23

You know, it's those dang weeds. I don't plant them. I don't I don't water them. I have to put stuff on to keep them from coming in. They're always coming in like they're driving me nuts. That's life, isn't it? It's life in a fallen world. It's part of the curse. It's part of the curse.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:41

Right? So gratitude. So share gratitudes. So on Monday morning, in our business, we share 3 gratitudes or 3 gratitudes. And for a while, I think for about 6 months, everybody grumbles that you have to share gratitudes. Do I really have to share these things? You're like, no. I'm serious. You know? Until it now it's a habit. Right? We kinda go through and then you kinda go through the motions.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:06

But sharing gratitude is a way to do that. Making a gratitude list. Right? However you do that, even if it's daily. And the other is to celebrate progress daily by answering the question, hey, what's one good thing you made happen today? If you start your day with here's here's one thing I'm gonna make happen, at the end of the day, right, the end of our end of our business day, that's part of our make it happen system. Right? You you answer the question, what's the one thing? What's the one thing that I made happen today? To create in you, of course, self celebration. Right? To be able to acknowledge, right, what happened today. Does that make sense? So Beth and I will ask each other, hey. What's one good thing? Right? What's one good thing today? It's it's one of our daily routines.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:58

Hey. What's one good thing today? One good thing. Just remind you you you would think we wouldn't have to do it, but we do, don't we? We have to remind ourselves because it's easy to think about all the things that aren't right or aren't going well or whatever. It's the reason I don't watch the news because I don't need to know a 110% of what they share. Right? So celebrate. Share gratitudes and celebrate progress daily. And I like this. I found this, my day begins with and ends with gratitude.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:31

It's great bookends for the day. Gratitude. So 4 things, purposefully, promisefully, pleased fully. Now what was the third one? Persistfully. Yeah. And pleasedfully. Right? So how to live fully, how to live fully. Alright.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:49

Write down the application and then we'll share some thoughts, questions, insights. And may the lord god and his son, may he bless you, may he keep you, may he cause his face to shine upon you, may he lift up his countenance and grant you shalom deep in your soul. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God our father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and always, and may you live for the purpose. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the bible and his son, Jesus Christ. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time, may God bless you and keep you.