Run the Race Well
Austin White · Tidal Church Moncton · July 10, 2022 · Recharge series
Austin White teaches from 2 Timothy 4:1-8, where Paul finishes his race well. He shares three ways to run with endurance: start, trust the process, and keep pounding the stone, with daily habits like Scripture, rest, serving, giving and prayer.
More from Austin White · The Recharge series
Topics: Faith, Purpose, Discipleship
Transcript
[0:00] Jess and I had been married for I don't know, maybe a little bit over one year. So we had gotten married, we moved immediately to the States. I tell people sometimes that we got married in Sussex, New Brunswick, then we honeymooned in Toronto, honeymooned in Chicago, and we've been honeymooning ever since. One time I told that to, yeah, we try our best. One time I told that to the husband of, at the time, our general superintendent of the Wesleyan Church, and he looked at me dead serious, and he said, Austin, you have the spiritual gift of lying. It's like, oh man, that being said, I am very blessed, and I just celebrated about a month ago our five year anniversary. So that was a big pleasure and privilege.
[0:54] And as well, I have the privilege of stepping into my sixth year of ministry, and I'll get into that a little bit later, but we were one year into our marriage and we were sitting at the place that people went after a good sermon. Applebee's. Applebee's. So I just remember we were sitting down, and I was probably slouching a little bit, and the issue was the benefit of my youth, AKA high metabolism, had faded at that point. I had been married for one year and I got the memo that the USA has great food. But I didn't get the memo that the USA has bigger portions. Has anybody ever been to the USA?
[1:40] The raise of hands, online let us know if you've ever been to the USA. I think we can all attest that the portion sizes are as big as the state of Texas likes to claim it is. So the portion sizes were very good. I like to think that I was slouching in that Applebee's. And what did I do as sometimes I'm guilty of doing? I started complaining. We've all been there. I think if you've never been there, then let me know after the service how you manage not to complain, because unfortunately that can be something that I fall into. But I started complaining about the fact that I was finding it difficult in the States to stay fit. I was finding it difficult in the States to stay active. I was used to being able to play sports, and my sport of choice growing up was rugby. Now, moving to the States, we didn't have any health care. So because of that, rugby just wasn't on the table.
[2:36] All of a sudden, my accountability partner Caleb, he looks over at me as I'm sitting there and he says, well, Austin, what's stopping you from running? And what I wanted to say to Caleb is, nothing stopping me from running, other than the fact that I hate running. Is there any running haters in the room? Any? Yes, there you are. Okay. There you are. I essentially had told him that the only reason that I ran was for a sport, and he said, but running is a sport. Pastor Austin, don't you realize that people run around the track? And I'm like, that sounds even more boring than regular running. And I said, okay, well, I'm intrigued. Why don't you tell me about this whole running thing? It's a cross country, and he says, oh no, no, Austin, that's too exciting.
[3:21] I want you to run around a track. I want you to commit to running around track. And what did I do as my belly was full of Applebee's? I did. Something incredibly foolish, and I told him I'd do it. And then after I committed to it, I said, well, how many times do I need to run around this track? And he said, 12 and a half times. And I said, what about the sprint? And he said, Austin, you're not built for sprinting. He said you're not built for sprinting, and long story short, he signed me up to go unattached to a university collegiate track meet where 13 of us registered. Sorry, 16 of us, and I was the only person without a scholarship. So everybody else was getting paid for this honor of running around the track 12 and a half times.
[4:11] And I was the lucky fellow that got to run around it. After a little bit of preparation, now I'll share a little bit more about that later, but I committed to him that fateful day. And how many of us would honestly say, if I asked the question, How hard is it for us to commit to things at times? For me, I made a commitment that I regretted in the moment, but I will give you a little bit of a teaser of what's to come. I appreciated the commitment long-term. I made a commitment that in the moment seemed good, but then that night when I looked at Jess, I said, Jess, what have I gotten myself into? How easy is it to make a commitment? We're about halfway from all the New Year's resolutions, right?
[4:57] Oh. This is the graveyard of New Year's resolutions this time of year. It's easy for us to have resolutions, commitments, for us to make decisions. But how many of us, if we truly, in our heart of hearts, got honest with ourselves, with God, with one another, would say that sometimes it's easy to make a commitment, but it's a little bit tougher to stay on course for that commitment. That's why our title today is Run the Race Well. Run the Race Well. We're in this Recharge series, and my title is Run the Race Well. Can you turn your neighbor and tell them that? Run the Race Well. Run the Race Well. Now, I must pause here and say that the Bible talks a little bit about running. Now, before those of you that raised your hands that you hate running, that you walk to the door, not run.
[5:51] Sort of did there. Before you walk or run to the door, I want to encourage you in this. This will not be a sermon about how we must run a marathon like Pastor Marc Jolicoeur, our worship guy. That is not the point of the sermon. This is not a sermon about the car show that's happening this weekend. I know that there's some people that enjoy racing in cars. That is not what this is about. But rather, I am going to take us to 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy. It's an epistle towards the end of your Bible, and it talks a little bit about running the race well. One time I was talking to my father, Michael White. Some of you have met him before, and he says, well, Austin, I like to run. I just run to the dinner table when there's a lot of food.
[6:39] And I proceeded to talk to a little bit about this, and he says, well, the reason I run to the table is I'm on a strict diet. Tell me more about this. And he's from Yarmouth County, right? So, sure, Nova Scotia. They're known for their lobsters, similar to where I live. My wife and I just live outside of Shediac, known for the lobster. And he said, well, I stick strictly to my seafood diet. When I see food, I always eat it. I always eat it. I'm religious about my practice of my seafood diet. So if we've never met, I want to say this. First off, my name is Austin, and second off, the most important thing you can know about me isn't my vocation. It's not where I work. It's not where I live. It's not even that I've been married for five years to the love of my life.
[7:25] The most important thing is that I'm a Bible guy. You've heard me say that before, and I'll say it every sermon. And today we're going to go to 2 Timothy chapter 4, so you can flip there in your physical Bible, on your phone Bible, whatever type of Bible you have. But in a shifting world, where people like me in their mid-20s are looking around them and saying this world is different than the one that I was even born into. This world is different than the one that my parents were born into, which is different than the one that their grandparents were born into. This is not shifting sand, because God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and His Word does not change. And this is what I choose, to build my life on Him, His Word. So that being said, whether you've opened this a thousand times, or maybe for some of you, whether it's online or in person, this is the first time that you've heard a sermon and somebody talked about God's Word in a long time, I want you to know that for me, I don't build my life on my Chelsea boots. I don't build it on my style. I don't build it on the shifting sands of this culture, that I build it here. And that's where I find my joy, my peace, my gentleness, my patience, and all of the things that God can give us. So 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 1. Are you there yet? If you've got a physical Bible, just hold it up for me so that I know you're there. 2 Timothy chapter 4, we're gonna slide into verse 1 through 8. But before I say that, I'm gonna go ahead and pray for us.
[8:57] Father God, I know that when we go on our knees in prayer, that we meet with the God of the universe. So Father, I ask that we would be a people of prayer, that we would be a people founded and rooted in You, Jesus, and Your sacrifice for us on that cross. So, Lord, as I share Your Word, help it to not be my words, help it to not be my illustrations, help it to not be me, but Holy Spirit, do Your thing. Do Your thing, Jesus. And I ask that we would walk out of here different. I pray this in Your name. And any of God's people that wanted to say it, say amen. Amen. Amen. 2 Timothy chapter 4. I'll start with this, that Paul is writing to his protégé Timothy.
[9:48] The English Standard Version has an intro to 2 Timothy that says this: this is a personal epistle. This is a personal epistle. Paul knows that he will die. Paul knows that he will die. He references it in the letter, and he says to Timothy that this is it. This is a pastor on his deathbed, leaning over and whispering his final goodbyes to his son, his grandson, his protégé. You can insert who that person might be. That's the illustration that I would use about this book. Paul thinks he will die soon. All of his friends are on different assignments, and he's writing some instructions to his friend, to his mentee, to his project.
[10:39] 2 Timothy 4:1. This is the Word of the Lord. "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word. Be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage, with every form of patient instruction. For the time will come." Church, I think this is relevant. "For the time will come when men and women will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears, they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." In verse 5, Paul decides to put it in the positive.
[11:27] He says, "But you, be sober in all things, endure hardships, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." Can I just say this as a brief interjection? You're not looking at the evangelist. The Lord has empowered every single person that calls on the name of Jesus to pursue evangelism. Please do not think that the work of evangelism is just for those that preach on a stage on a Sunday morning or a Sunday night. Please know that we are all called to evangelism, and not just called, but God will empower you. Verse 5: "Be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of the evangelist, fulfill your ministry." He writes to Timothy, "For I'm already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
[12:20] Verse 7: I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." Church, I used to read that as a sad verse as a kid. I would read that and I would say, "Man, he's saying I'm being poured out like a drink offering." But I look at that now and I realize that there's optimism in Paul's language. He's realized that he is reaching the end of the race, that he is reaching the end of his life. And he says, "From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." I'm going to heaven. I know how this story ends, is what Paul is implying to Timothy. There is a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but to all who crave His appearing. He knows that at the end of his life, the gospel means good news, church.
[13:11] We know how this thing ends. We know what's at the end of Revelation, and we know where we're going. If you call on the name of Jesus, you will be saved, as the promise that Scripture gives us. One of the things that I love about preaching: there was an incredible evangelist that I just heard yesterday. He did a four-day spree of preaching, mornings and nights. His name is Dr. Steve Lennox, and he shared this truth from stage in front of a group somewhat similar to what we have here this morning. He says, "Preachers die," and he's a really intense preacher. He always goes down like this, which I love. I can't do it for too long, but he'll be in this position for 10 minutes straight. He says, "Preachers die, but the Holy Spirit never dies."
[14:05] So sometimes people will ask me, Austin, what's your method of writing? What's your method of preaching? And I say, well, I think you know that it involves prayer. I think you know that involves pursuing God's presence. But something that many of you don't know is every time I write a sermon, I do so with you in mind and Billy Graham playing in the background. Billy Graham playing in the background, because when I think of our title today, Run the Race Well, I feel that this man of God who died fairly recently, I believe that he ran the race well, and there's something to that. So very quickly, I want to go ahead and talk about three ways that we can run this race well. Run this race of living for Jesus well. Because our big question today is how do we run the race well? So I want to look at three quick things about how we run the race well. Number one is this: you've got to start.
[15:08] Turn to your neighbor and say, you've got to start. Whether you're online or in person, you have got to start. You've got to start. Man, it would be nice if you could show up to a race and get the medal and just sit on the sideline and eat some Burger King, 299, 10-piece chicken nuggets. Can I get an amen from anybody? My goodness. They're too cheap. They're too cheap. Hebrews 12:1 says Therefore, since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, He's talking about heaven. He's talking about heaven. He's talking about us. He's talking about people that have run the race well. Since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Can I encourage you if you're feeling tired?
[16:03] Jesus wants to take a little bit of your burdens this morning. I hope that you'll meet somebody. I hope that you won't run out of the atrium or walk out of the atrium or sprint out of the atrium. I hope you will meet somebody and talk with somebody, whether it's at a blue tent or an old friend. That helps. Share your burdens. That helps share your burdens. It's a great illustration in a man that many of you have heard the name of. Maybe you've been in an airport that shares his name. It's John F. Kennedy. He said this: we choose not to go to the Moon, or sorry, we choose to go to the Moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard. Not because it's easy, but because it is hard. I had a young person say to me somewhat recently, not super recently.
[16:55] They said to me, "Austin, I'm tired of this whole being a Christian thing." And I think that that's one of the saddest lines I've heard out of a young adult. They said, "I'm tired of this whole being a Christian thing." My question for you is, are you tired? Are you heavy laden? Are you weary? Because, as I paraphrase Jesus' words, He says, "Come to Me, you who are weary, heavy burdened, and I will give you rest." So when those words were said to me, I spent some time of soul searching, prayer, and processing, and saying, "God, where did I go wrong? Is this person's pastor making them think that?"
[17:49] They're doing anything other than pursuing the presence of Jesus, who loves them desperately and died for them. That was a moment where I realized that maybe I get too caught up in sharing the benefits of following Jesus, that I forget that sometimes we need to realize that we've just got to sit at His feet like His disciples did and enjoy how awesome Jesus is. How awesome Jesus is. One of the things that I love about starting the race is it involves passion. Pastor Buckingham once looked at me, and we were talking about the topic of pastoral burnout, and he said, "Austin, the only way you can burn out is if you catch on fire first." So you've got to make sure that you're passionate and on fire for Jesus and His local church.
[18:38] Because you can't even burn out if you're not passionate. Not that we're encouraging burnout, but you've got to be passionate, as a pastor, as a parishioner, as a lay pastor, as somebody in the pews of Moncton Wesleyan Church. We've got to be passionate about starting the race and running the race well. Otherwise, we won't even start. Number two is, you've got to trust the process. You've got to trust the process. Can you say that with me in three, two, one? You've got to trust the process. Another way to say this is stay the course. My concern for my generation, whether 20s, 30s, 40s, Millennial or Gen Z, is I'm worried that we will get sidetracked as we try to stay the course.
[19:28] I'm worried we'll get sidetracked as we try to stay the course. As I was running that race that I didn't want to run for 12 and a half laps around that track, I realized that nothing was stopping me from just heading over on the side of the track. Nothing was stopping me from just wandering off, other than maybe a little bit of embarrassment. But my concern, especially for my friends in their 20s and 30s, is that they're growing weary before they've even finished the first or second kilometer. And that's why I see my goal as your Youth and Young Adult Pastor: to encourage the next generation to not just get the torch, but please don't drop it on the side of the road. Keep running.
[20:14] So what I would encourage the older generation, whatever that age range is, not just to pass the torch to the younger generation, but to make sure that you encourage them to keep running even when you've passed the torch. Can you do this? Can you encourage them and say, "Keep going even when it's tough"? Keep going even in a culture that maybe 40 years ago respected pastors or respected Christians, or didn't make fun of them in the schools. But now I've got teens that are made fun of in their middle schools and their high schools because of their faith. Can we make sure that we encourage those teens? Can we make sure we encourage those young adults, so that they don't drop the torch when the times get tough? There's a great book by Joshua Medcalf, and he says this in it. It's a book called Chop Wood Carry Water. He says, "Everybody wants to be great.
[21:10] Everybody wants to be great, but they don't fall in love with the process of greatness. Everybody wants to be great, but they don't fall in love with the process of greatness." Another way to put it is, I want you to guess, maybe just with your 10 fingers, how many friends growing up in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, just 10 minutes away from where Sidney Crosby was born, maybe 20 minutes away. I want you to guess how many of my schoolmates wanted to become professional NHL hockey players. How many, zero being an option and 10 being an option? I could list right now seven of my friends that wanted to be NHL players. But guess who quit hockey in 10th grade when it got really tough?
[21:55] Five out of those seven. Five out of those seven. Okay. So what I want you to know is that we need to not only fall in love with the idea of Jesus, we need to fall in love with the person of Jesus. Another way to put this, with this illustration, is Matthew 16:24. Jesus said, "Anyone who should follow Me must pick up their cross." It's kind of a depressing statement for His disciples, because sometimes when we think about the cross, we just think about the necklace, we think about something that's on a stage, but we forget that it was a Roman torture device. Jesus was saying it's not going to be easy, church, but it's going to be the best thing you could ever do.
[22:42] I'd encourage you to maybe jot down in your notes or pull open your phone and look at Matthew 16:24, because we've got to count the cost. The author John Mark Comer, in one of his books, said this: everybody wants the life of Jesus, don't they? They want purpose, they want 12 friends, they want to live a life, and life to the full is what John 10:10 says. But once they realize that it's going to be really tough, don't we get sidetracked? When we talk about running the race well, we say we want to run the race, but maybe once we count the cost, we realize this is going to cost us a little bit more than we're willing to spend. You know, for me, I love the idea of prayer. I love the idea of getting up at seven in the morning and spending an hour Of prayer. But the plot twist is, we can fall in love with the idea of prayer. But guess what Jesus did in Luke chapter 6, verse 12?
[23:42] Jesus was up on the mountainside, and then the Scripture says what? He spent the entire night praying. You guys, I can barely stay up all night with our teenagers for an all-nighter. And they wake me up every 30 seconds when I start dozing off. Team, it's incredibly tough to imagine staying up all night in prayer. But if we're truly committed to the work of following Jesus, that's something that He prioritized. That's something that He felt was necessary for His discipleship. And just as Jesus did that, both fully God and fully human. For me, I look at His witness. I look at His testimony.
[24:29] I look at His life and I say, man, I've got a long way to go, and that's not a discouragement, church. That's an encouragement to look more like Jesus, to look more like Jesus. So my encouragement for you is, you've got to start the race. Number two, you've got to trust the process. 1 Corinthians 9:24 says, "Do you not know that in a race all runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it." I think of the story of me in 10th grade. Again, I was sitting down, but it wasn't at Applebee's. I kind of wish it was Applebee's. And I said to my parents, "Guys, I want to run for grade 10 representative." In Nova Scotia, your first year of high school is grade 10. So I said I want to join the student council, and my parents said absolutely. So what did we do? We started making some flyers for grade 10 rep.
[25:22] Now, this, all the teams can start taking notes, because I feel like this was a pretty good election strategy. What we decided to do is we decided to buy suckers for the entire school. So there were 1,400 people in the school. So we bought 1,500 suckers, and what did we put on them? We put a little pamphlet, because we didn't want them to assume I was a different candidate. There were 12 of us running and only four spots. So what was our motto? Around that dinner table, we were sitting down, we're like, what do we need to do? So my motto was, and we taped this to the 1,500 suckers, we said, "Don't be a sucker, vote for Austin White." Please don't post that in the comments on Facebook. That wouldn't be good. That would not be good. "Don't be a sucker, vote for Austin White."
[26:07] So we handed those suckers out for two weeks. And again, we're sitting around the dinner table the night before, and I say to my mom and my dad, I say, "You guys, I'm gonna quit. I'm gonna quit. I can't do it." Because what they had asked me to do a couple days before is they had asked me to do a speech, a 30-second speech in front of the entire school. But get this, it wasn't even up in front of them. It was just over the intercom. So essentially, all I needed to do was go like this. And do a 30-second speech. I was so petrified that I went to my parents and I said, "Mom, Dad, I can't speak in front of anybody." I don't care that I'm not in front of anybody. And all I need to do is just read these two paragraphs that I've prepared. I could have done two sentences for all I cared, but I said, "You guys, I'm quitting."
[27:01] And my mom looked at me and said, "Austin, I don't care if you blubbered your way through that entire speech, because our son isn't a quitter." And I went up, and I didn't blubber my way through the speech, and now I speak for a living. And I'm very thankful for the fact that my mom looked at me and said, "Austin, you're not a quitter." But can I ask you this? As I look around this Celebration Centre, I want to ask each and every single one of you: Are you thinking of quitting? And that's not something I can answer for you. Are you thinking of quitting your daily practice of reading God's Word? Are you considering quitting on your spouse?
[27:47] Are you considering quitting your discipline of showing up in a small group? If you're part of a small group, are you thinking of quitting? In your service to the Lord, are you thinking about quitting? As times get tight financially, are you thinking of quitting? And that's not an answer that this pastor can give for you. So my final point is this. Number three, you've got to pound the stone. What do I mean by that? Number one, you've got to start. Number two, please trust the process. And number three, you have got to pound the stone. There's a great book by Joshua Medcalf called Pound the Stone. And the parable goes a little bit like this.
[28:34] A son and father, about 3,000 years ago. We're talking about the family business. The father was looking at the son, and to be totally candid, the father was really scared for the son's future. It was a brutal world, a brutal but beautiful part of the world that they lived in, but he was worried that the harshness of the world was greater than the grit of his son. So one day the son and the father set out on a 10-hour trek, and two hours into the trek, the son looked around confused, because this was all that the father had in his hand. He looked and he said, "There's no food. There's no water. Just a hammer."
[29:23] And the son looked at the father and said, "Father, where are we going?" And the father just looked at him and he said, "We're going to go pound the stone." About an hour later, the son looked at the father again and said, "Father, where are we going?" And he said, "We're gonna pound the stone." They're five hours into the journey at this point. Three hours later, on the 8th hour of their journey, the son said, "Dad, I'm getting hungry. What are we going to do?" "We're gonna pound the stone." All of a sudden, they get to this gorgeous waterfall, and there's this massive stone at the bottom of this waterfall. And again, the son, his stomach, it's growling. It's 3,000 years ago. He says, "Dad, what are we gonna do?" And the father said, "We're going to pound the stone." And he hands the sledgehammer to his son.
[30:09] And his son, "I need you to pound that stone for us to go home." And the son takes this hammer, and I don't know if you've ever held one of these before, but I had to use this before a Leaders' Gathering. We were pounding some stakes into the ground for our fire pit, and I got tired after about 10 swings. So the boy takes 10 swings, and he can't break the rock, and he says, "Father, why are you getting me to pound the stone?" And the father says, "I need you to just keep pounding the stone. 10 more swings." "Father, why am I pounding this stone?" He says, "You've got to pound the stone." And finally, the boy grows tired, and he starts to weep. 3,000 years ago, brutal temperatures. And he says, "Father, what are we doing here?" And all of a sudden, the boy had now done maybe 29 swings at this stone, maybe 39 swings at the stone, maybe 49 swings at the stone, but on the 50th swing, the father took the sledgehammer. And you guys know how solid this is, right? So he, no, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I thought about bringing a rock on stage. But listen, I don't want to upset the powers that be. This is an awesome stage, and we steward it well. So the father took the sledgehammer.
[31:28] Raised it way over his head like this, hits it down on the stone, and it shatters into tens of thousands of pieces, and he said, "Son, you quit right before your breakthrough." And my concern for us as a church is, what if we quit right before our breakthrough? My concern for us as Christians is, what if we quit right before our breakthrough? And here in a moment, we're gonna sing a song that some of you have heard before. It's called "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus." And you'll hear the piano here in a moment, but I want you to stay real focused as I give us six ideas to pound the stone, because my concern is some people here.
[32:21] They feel called to follow Jesus, and they're holding this hammer, and they've been pounding the stone. Maybe they feel like they've been spinning their wheels. Maybe you feel like you've been swimming or paddling or going upriver for a long time. But my encouragement to you as a church, and I share this from a place of brokenness as a pastor. You know, that us pastors have had a tough two years of COVID. So my encouragement for you is, here are six ways that I hope you'll pound the stone. Not in a figurative way, but this week, tomorrow. Number one, I hope you will read daily. I hope you will read daily. Desmond Tutu said this: There's only one way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time. Not encouraging anybody to eat an elephant. But what I am encouraging you to do is, if you think that the Bible is tough to read, can you take it one bite at a time?
[33:13] Number one, I hope that you read daily. Number two, I hope that you Sabbath weekly. I share this again from a place of vulnerability. John Mark Comer wrote an incredible book called The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. And I'm a big believer in the ruthless pursuit of hurry. I struggle with Sabbath. I struggle with spending time without working, without emailing, without sermon writing, just in the presence of the Lord for 24 hours a week. Psalm 46:10 encourages you to be still and know that He is God. Number three, I hope that you will serve weekly. I think you know, church, that we're not a consumer church. We're a contributor church. I've got 40 volunteers that serve with the teens week in, week out. And if you have ever had children, you know that sometimes it can be tough mentoring the next generation, but they believe that Jesus loves the next generation. So they serve with the next generation. So I hope that we will continue to not be a consumer but to be a contributor, because we're a church that doesn't want to just be a 9:45 Saint George Boulevard. We want Moncton's, yep, Riverview, all the surrounding communities to be different, because we're a serving church, not a sitting church.
[34:31] Number four, I hope that we will tithe always. The people that have blessed Jess and I, they don't tithe. They haven't tithed for years. The reason why people have blessed Jess and I with paying for car bills when we were in the States and didn't have much money, they hadn't tithed in years because they gave above 10%. It wasn't a tithe at that point, because they realized that God wanted a generous heart. They didn't just give 10%. They tithed 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Plus they blessed the community. Plus they give above and beyond out of a generous heart, because the Lord values a generous giver. Are we talking about a guilt trip? Absolutely not.
[35:23] If you walk out of here thinking, "This is a guilt trip. Oh, I did a bad job." At the end of the day, God blesses. And God enjoys a cheerful giver, not an obligated giver. Tithe always, pray continuously is number five. And number six is press on. Press on. If any of you want to know what my dream car is, there's cars coming from all over Atlantic Canada. If you want to know what my dream car is, it's a vintage red 2006 Toyota Corolla. You want to know why? Because it gets me from point A to point B. Please press on. Please press on. Angela Duckworth said that enthusiasm is common, but endurance is rare.
[36:15] And enthusiasm is common, but endurance is rare. Let's reflect on that as we sing this, and I'll be back in 60 seconds.