TEXT: For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:6,7).
Calvin Coolidge believed that education, genius and talent are, of themselves, inadequate. He stated, “Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
When life becomes troublesome or a teaching of Jesus seems difficult to understand or obey will we, like His disciples, lack persistence and “no longer follow Him”? (John 6:66) Hundreds of professing followers of Jesus gave Him a triumphant greeting with palm branches and shouts of Hosanna only to abandon Him at His arrest and crucifixion.
A modern example can be seen in the early Pentecostals who persistently proclaimed a biblical gospel from storefront churches in crime ridden, drug infested poor neighborhoods. Today much of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement is saturated with Word Faith heresy, lunacy and a gospel of greed. Instead of being persistently focused on Jesus they shifted the emphasis to a health and wealth false gospel of self. David Wilkerson, an elderly example of the former, provides a spellbinding warning to the Russian church on this issue (You Tube: David Wilkerson On Weird Manifestations).
The book of Acts is a record of the Apostle Paul’s determination and persistence in spite of relentless hardship. He sought only to “finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace” (Acts 20:24). Let us follow his example.
Calvary Chapel of Richmond is a local fellowship of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our supreme desire is to know Christ and be conformed to His image by the power of the Holy Spirit through the continuous study and application of God's Word.
