FINISH - You?re Not Done Until You?re Done

Welcome to Turning Point Weekend Edition. As you move forward with life, the important part isn't how you start, but how you finish. Today, Dr David Jeremiah offers inspiring biblical examples of finishing strong. Listen, as David shares his message, finish. You're not done until you're done. This is the series Forward here on Turning Point, the Weekend Edition. And forward means all the way, all the way till the end, all the way till you're finished.

It's easy to start something. Sometimes you can even hang in there for a while. But the art of finishing is something we need to learn very carefully to accomplish in our own lives.

And we're going to talk about it today on the Weekend Edition of Turning Point. It's finish. You're not done until you're done. You can have a great vision. You can pray godly prayers. You can choose the right goals. You can focus on the right things.

So far, so good. You can also pursue your dreams, make huge investments in God's Word, his work, and his wealth. But if you don't finish what you start, it's like building a tower that never gets done. There are countless barriers, men and women, to finishing well.

I've discovered that there are basically five major ones. And I'm going to talk to you about them today because I want us to learn how to finish well. But rather than talk to them like barriers, I want to share them with you as challenges.

I want you to think about the rest of this message like we're in the locker room and we're getting a pep talk delivered to all of us before we head out of the tunnel for the second half of the game. So here are those five things. As you can well imagine because of where I am in my life, perhaps this chapter means more to me than all the rest. I've studied this diligently. I've spent probably more time thinking about this than all the rest of the chapters combined.

Here's what I've learned. Number one, to finish well, you have to stay focused until you're finished. One of the great finishers of the Bible was Solomon, King David's son. In fact, I discovered when I was researching this that the word finish is connected with Solomon a dozen times, especially with his building of the temple. So I went through with a yellow pad and I made a list of all the references associated with Solomon finishing assignment to build God's house. And I noticed something that escaped me in all the many times I've read the story.

It's interesting how just one little word can escape you and it can mean everything. Solomon was not only a finisher, he was a total complete absolute finisher. And I want you to notice this as I run through these scriptures together. Number one, 1 Kings 622, he finished all the temple. 638, the house was finished in all of its details according to all its plans. 751, so all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was finished. 2 Chronicles 5-1, so all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was finished. 2 Chronicles 7-11, Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord. When it came to building God's temple in Jerusalem, Solomon finished it all.

He left nothing undone. And that's because I believe his father prayed him into this environment. Listen to David's prayer and his challenge to Solomon before David walked off the scene and Solomon took over. 1 Chronicles 28-20, here's what he said, be strong Solomon and of a good courage and do it. Do not fear nor be dismayed for the Lord God, my God, he will be with you.

He will not leave you nor forsake you until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord. We have to finish it all. We don't get to stop part of the way.

Most of the way doesn't work. Almost all the way isn't enough. God wants us to finish it all.

That's what it takes in life. You have to stay focused and keep your eyes on the goal and run through the finish tape and then you can celebrate. The apostle Paul said it this way, he said, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. So if we're going to be finishers, we have to focus till we're finished.

We got that? Focus till you're finished. Don't say well I'm almost there and then you walk away and you leave it not quite done. There's not anything more discouraging to you than to spend all of your time and all of your energy to get almost all the way and then walk away before you get done.

Here's the second thing about finishing life. Stay resilient about retirement. I don't think anything's more controversial in the lives of people like me than retirement. I hear it all the time.

Somebody always brings it up. And I want to tell you that the second key to finishing well is to approach the topic of retirement with resilience and with some sanctified resistance. Many people you see have followed the general expectation in America and the Western world that when we reach a certain age, we retire.

It's just what we do. Retirement has become the final rotation in the cycle of life. Just like we ask children, what do you want to be when you grow up? We ask adults, what do you plan to do when you retire? And seldom do we hear the value of retirement plans questioned and certainly not the value of retirement itself. But retirement, men and women, as we know it today, was virtually nonexistent throughout history. Retirement made little sense when the average life expectancy was only 30 or 40 years. It has its roots in the early 1900s when many large American industries, including railroads, banks and companies, began offering pensions. In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt introduced the Social Security Act. An employee's income was taxed throughout his or her working life to fund a retirement income beginning at age 65.

In America today, most workers expect to retire and the culture is geared to accommodate it. But what does the Bible say about this? Interestingly enough, the Bible has only one example of retirement.

I'll tell you where it is. It's in Numbers 8 verses 24 through 26. Here's what it says. This is what pertains to the Levites. From 25 years old and above, one may enter to perform service in the work of the tabernacle of meeting. And at the age of 50 years, they must cease performing this work and shall work no more. They may minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of meeting to attend the needs, but they themselves shall do no work. While the Levite tabernacle workers were instructed to retire at age 50, they weren't put out to pasture to spend the rest of their lives twiddling their thumbs and gazing at the sundial. No, they were charged to minister to the younger Levites who took over their jobs. They became mentors and advisors.

Today we would probably call them consultants. So no, I'm not saying you shouldn't take advantage of your Social Security income or pension benefits, but you might want to avoid the word retirement. You don't have to continue in your profession until you're in the 90s, but if you do leave your job, remember, retirement is simply God's way of freeing you up for further service. So stay focused till you're finished and stay resilient about retirement.

Here's the third thing I learned. Stay connected to your calling. Romans 11 29 says this, the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

That means you can't undo them. If God calls you, he's not going to uncall you. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

Os Guinness had something to say about this. He said, I think it's important to realize that we can retire from our jobs, but we can never retire from our calling. Calling gives us our sense of task or responsibility right up to the last day we spend on earth when we go to meet the caller. I think that gives life incredible value and therefore the prosperity of finishing well is that we continue to have a sense of responsibility and engagement that makes every day we live enormously important. So to finish well, consider maintaining a connection between what you did before you retired and what you do after you retire. Someone has said, your career is what you're paid to do.

Your calling is what you're made to do. One of the most influential people in my life to illustrate this was Howard Hendricks. Howard Hendricks was one of my professors at Dallas Theological Seminary and my wife Donna was his secretary while I was a student.

Howard Hendricks was an incredible teacher and a master motivator. And when Bob Buford interviewed him for his book Finishing Well, Dr. Hendricks said, the average person dies between two and seven years after retirement. And it's simply because they lose their purpose in life. For most of them, their purpose was wrapped up in their work. And once they're no longer working, they feel they have no meaning in their lives.

They retire from something rather than to something. Hendricks went on to apply this principle to himself. He said, I've done a lot of things in my life, but only one thing gives me ultimate satisfaction and that's teaching. If I stop teaching, I lose the reason for which I was put on this planet. And this is what I was born to do. So if the seminary decides it's time for me to move on, I'll just go teach in another venue. I will spend the rest of my life teaching. I have a good friend who loves to preach, but he hates administration. When I heard that he'd resigned from his church, I called to ask him about it and he took my call, but instead of saying hello, he just said, free at last, free at last.

Thank God almighty, I'm free at last. He meant that he was free now to do what he really loved, to preach without all the distractions that he had in his church ministry with administration and people problems. No, you may not have a career that's transferable into your post-retirement life, but if you're a follower of Christ, you have a calling. You have a gift God has given you, an ability for service, so just keep using it for the Lord.

Use it in a different context, in a different environment, but don't stop doing what God has called you to do. When Jesus had finished his work on earth and was about to be crucified, resurrected and returned to heaven, he prayed this prayer about his life, John 17 four. He said, God, I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. Read that verse carefully. Jesus didn't finish all the work there was to do.

He finished the work that he was given to do, and that should be our prayer. Lord, help me to finish the work you have given me to do. If you do that, you're going to live a full and exciting life. So number one, stay focused till you're finished. Number two, stay resilient about retirement. Number three, stay connected to your calling. Here's number four, stay vigilant after your victories. Finishing well, going all the way to the end, staying in God's will and in his plan and in his purpose and in his blessing, all the way to the end demands vigilance. We can't let our guard down, especially after new adventures or fresh victories.

Let me illustrate it this way. Back in 2012, Donna and I visited Switzerland for the first time. We ended our tour in Zermatt, the beautiful village that lies at the base of the Matterhorn. The north face of this mountain called Hornley Ridge is an almost straight up climb. It was really hard for me when I stood there at the base of that to imagine anyone making it to the summit. But many climbers have navigated their way all the way to Hornley Ridge. At the foot of this Matterhorn, there's a cemetery called Mountaineers Cemetery.

Someone told me I should go visit it, so I did. Most of the people that are buried in that cemetery are casualties of the Matterhorn. But here was my strange finding. Many, if not most, who died on this mountain died while they were descending the mountain instead of on their way up. Here's what was written on one of the gravestones. In memory of David Robinson of Wakefield and Banger North Wales, whose untimely death at the age of 24 years occurred while descending the Hornley Ridge, having climbed the north face of the Matterhorn on December 28, 1976.

What a lesson that was for me. What it should be for all of us to think about. We are the most vulnerable to failure after we have achieved the greatest success. Back during World War II, England's Royal Air Force psychologists discovered that pilots made the most errors as they were flying their planes back in for a landing, coming back to their base after flying a successful mission. The cause was almost irresistible tendencies to relax.

Like pilots and mountain climbers, we can become enamored of our achievements and fail to focus on finishing what we started. I think that's what got King David into trouble. He got into trouble with Bathsheba because he had achieved great success. He had won every battle against all of his enemies. The Bible says his world was at peace because of him. He had created great peace in Israel, and then after all those victories, he got careless.

Listen carefully to the words that describe what he did. 2 Samuel 11-1, and it happened in the spring of the year at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, but David remained in Jerusalem. King David should have been leading his people, serving as the head of his army, but instead he stayed home. He felt he was at the point in life where he could relax some and let others bear the burden of war. He paid his price.

He wasn't where he should have been, and he wasn't doing what he should have been doing. He was celebrating his victories without vigilance, and the rest is history. His sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah is a stain on David's life. While God forgave David and restored him, that one moment of carelessness, that one moment when he lacked vigilance, that one moment became part of David's biography. I don't know if you've ever read this verse before.

I remember reading it and kind of being astonished by its wording. 1 Kings 15-5, here's what it says. David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not turned aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. Elijah had a similar experience.

You remember him? He stood alone on Mount Carmel and called down fire from God on the prophets of Baal. He personally witnessed the terrible might and power of the Lord, but then just a few hours later when Queen Jezebel threatened to have him killed, he's running for his life and he's begging God to kill him.

1 Kings 19 says he rose and ran for his life and he prayed that he might die, and he said, it is enough now, O Lord, take away my life. You see, what happens is when we get to the top and we experience the greatness of God, if we're not careful, we let down our guard, we relax, and we allow the enemy to move in in the most unlikely time, and I know that's happened over and over again to so many people I've talked to. I believe there's two verses in the Bible that we should all memorize and always keep before us. They tell us what to do in order not to fall, and they capture this vigilance after victory warning. Proverbs 16, 18, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

1 Corinthians 10, 12, therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. So here are these challenges as we prepare to go out for the second half of life. Stay focused till you're finished. Stay resilient about retirement. Stay connected to your calling. Stay vigilant after your victories. And finally, stay ready for redeployment.

Always be looking forward to what the Lord has for you next. Yes, you may have to cycle out of what you do, where you work. Maybe you have a mandatory retirement. I remember serving on the board of a college. I was doing my best to make a difference, and one day I got an email from them saying, don't come to the next meeting. I was shocked.

Yes, that was true. Don't come to the next meeting. You see, they have an age limit of 75. You can't serve on that board after you're 75, so I had outlived my usefulness, and I had to quit doing it.

Now, I filled up that time with 100 other things, but life does that. Sometimes you're in a situation where you have to stop doing what you're doing, but here's what I want you to hear. Make sure that you're ready for God to redeploy you in any way that he chooses.

Always be looking forward to what the Lord has next for you. Folks, it doesn't take a deep dive into secular history or the Bible to discover that many great things are accomplished by people who are past the age of retirement. Right now, as I speak to you, I am 14 years past normal retirement age.

You can do the math. The other day, I began to think about some of the incredible things that God has allowed me to do since I didn't retire. Number one, I preached in one of the largest churches in the world.

Calvary Temple in Hyderabad, India, holds five services every Sunday, starting at 5.30 in the morning. I preached in all five services to well over 100,000 people. On the Monday after this amazing Sunday, I preached the ordination service for the son of the church's founder and pastor, Pastor Satish Kumar.

I still can't believe I was privileged to do this. I will always be so thankful that I got to go and preach in that church. I released the Jeremiah Study Bible, which is now available in the new King James Version, the New International Version, and the English Standard Version. At the church that I pastor, Shadow Mountain, we built a $30 million generations building that has revolutionized the way we do church.

I saw Turning Point Radio grow to 3,000 radio stations across the United States. I wrote and released 14 new books. I fulfilled a long-term dream and led 1,000 people on a tour of Israel, where I taught the Bible on the very sites where the events occurred.

I visited the beautiful country of Switzerland two times. I had part in producing three Christmas specials in New York City that were seen during the Christmas season by millions of people. Now, I'm not just producing a resume here, and I'm not bragging. I don't say these things to say, look what I've done. No, I'm telling you these things because I'm so grateful to God. God allowed me to do these things after the world says I should retire. Pearl Buck, the famous writer and the daughter of missionaries to China, said, I've reached an honorable position in life because I am old and no longer young. I am a far more useful person than I was 50 years ago or 40 years ago or 30 or 20 or even 10.

She said, I have learned so much since I turned 70. So don't give up on yourself too early. Don't deprive yourself of the many blessings God wants to bestow upon you in your post-retirement years. Change what you do if you have to, but don't stop serving the Lord. Because I believe one of the greatest unused talent pools in our churches are people who have come to a certain age, and they have this mentality that's been forced upon them by the culture that says when you get to a certain place, you have to quit, you have to stop. Go sit on a beach someplace.

Go play golf, play cards, whatever. But then they lose their sense of importance, their sense of value, and they lose the joy of their life. God didn't give us just 50 years or 65 years. He gives us as many years as we're allowed on this earth, and we should try to make every one of them count for the kingdom. Here's a couple of verses to encourage you. They sure have kept me on board. They were given to us by our gracious Father to keep us faithful throughout our lives.

Don't forget what we learned earlier. If you're not dead, you're not done. Psalm 92 says this, The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age.

They shall be fresh and flourishing. Isaiah 46 verse 4, Even to your old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made and I will bear you. Even I will carry you and deliver you. And here's the special prayer that I have claimed for my life. Psalm 71 18, Now also when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me until I declare your strength to this generation and your power to everyone who is to come.

Yes, God uses us all the way through if we just make ourselves useful. As I bring this message to a close, I want to tell you about one of the men in our congregation, Shadow Mountain. More than anyone I know, he has captured the concept of finishing well. Tom Heyer taught math at Helix High School for 40 years. He had received Christ as Savior as a junior at San Diego State and immediately began to teach. He loved his job. He loved his students, I can tell that for sure.

He wasn't just putting in his time. He helped start a Christian club on that campus that impacted many lives. He was a well-loved teacher and he was really good at what he did. But in the summer of 2002, Tom Heyer was looking forward to beginning his 40th year of teaching. One morning during the summer as he and his wife Pam took their regular prayer walk together, God spoke to Tom and turned his life upside down.

Here is how Tom put it. He said, that morning God spoke directly to me. He told me it was time to set aside teaching because he had something else for me to do. Since teaching had been his whole life, Tom had no idea what God was up to, but he was about to find out. After counseling with one of our pastors, Tom accepted the challenge to start a weekly men's Bible study. That Bible study called itself Fellows and it's been going now for 18 years. Because of his leadership in that Bible study, he was asked if he'd be willing to take over the prison ministry at our church, Shadow Mountain Community Church. At that time, we had about 12 people who were involved in ministering to the prisoners of San Diego County.

Once again, Tom prayed and he accepted the challenge and what has happened since is truly remarkable. Today, as he closes in on the 17th year of his leadership in this ministry, God has opened doors for ministry to everyone impacted by incarceration. He ministers to inmates, parolees, ex-offenders, spouses, children, other family members, even correctional officers and prison staff.

According to Tom, the P in prison doesn't stand for prison, but it stands for people, people who God loves with an everlasting, unconditional love. At Christmas, a huge party is hosted for the children of incarcerated parents. Hundreds of children, mostly with their mothers, attend this party on our church campus. On the Saturday before Christmas, our event center is filled with families that would be forgotten were it not for this incredible ministry. Several years ago, a young man in our church who'd been incarcerated was released and he came to Tom higher and he told Tom how Christmas was such a hard time for prisoners. It was the lowest time, the loneliest time, the time when they felt so rejected and forgotten and he asked Tom if he thought there was anything we could do to make a difference in their lives during this season.

The result of that conversation was the great Christmas card mail out. Last Christmas, hundreds of volunteers, some of them from our church, but many of them just from San Diego, under the direction of Tom Hire's Shadow Mountain Prison Ministry, got together during the holiday season and sent out over 15,000 Christmas cards to prison inmates. When God spoke to Tom Hire on that morning walk in 2002, he ignited a movement that will live on long after Tom and I are gone.

Today, the Shadow Mountain Prison Ministry is one of the largest church-sponsored prison ministries in America. It all started in the life of one man who was retiring and Tom Hire was ready to be redeployed. Are you ready for God to use you? You may think, well, I finally got to the end, now I can, no. If you're Christian, God has a right to your life and if you will give him the opportunity to use you, even in the days after you have finished your full vocational experience, you may discover that God will do the greatest things in your life at the end than all the things he's ever done in your life up until that point. How many of you know sometimes God saves the best till last?

He wants to do that for you, he wants to do it for me. So let's commit ourselves to the fact that we're gonna stay faithful until we're finished. Amen?

Amen. We hope you enjoyed today's Turning Point weekend edition with Dr. David Jeremiah. To hear this and other Turning Point programs or to get more information about this ministry, simply download the free Turning Point mobile app for your smart device or visit our website at davidjeremiah.org forward slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio. You can also view Turning Point television on free to air channel 72, Sunday mornings at eight and on ACC TV Sundays at 6.30 a.m. and Friday afternoons at one. We invite you to join us again next weekend as Dr. David Jeremiah shares another powerful message from God's word here on Turning Point weekend edition. Thanks for taking time to listen to this audio on demand from Vision Christian Media. To find out more about us, go to vision.org.au