Did everybody have a good Christmas? Santa Clause find your house?

Now comes the hard part - taking down the Christmas tree. I hate taking down the Christmas decorations. Everything looks so bare! I've been trying to convince Robin that's it's fashionable to leave Christmas lights up all year round on our house - but she's not buying it!

After all the build-up ? all the anticipation ? all the hustle and bustle ? now Christmas is over!

It's a common theme in life to experience a "let-down" after a big event. The Bible is even full of stories of people who faced severe times of testing and trial immediately AFTER a big victory or challenge was won.

EX: Elijah comes to mind first. Just after he defeated 400 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, he runs away when Jezabel says "I'm going to kill you." He suffered a let-down because he was tired and fatigued.

EX: King David experienced a let-down when he stayed home from battle. All of the accounts of David's great military victories involve David LEADING his men into battle. This time he stayed home, let his guard down and sinned with Bathsheba.

EX: On the road to Jerusalem with Jesus, Simon Peter, under the influence of God boldly proclaimed "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Peter opened the door for Jesus to introduce the church, and yet only days later Peter denied three times that hee even knew Jesus. Fear led Peter to a let-down.

T/S: We all deal with the tendency to let=down - to stop short of the prize - to comprimise because it's easier. This time of year is especially difficult. It's the end of the year, we're just coming out of the "holiday season." It's easy for the winter ?blah's' to set in.

You need to take special heed of this message if you are emerging from a protracted time of stress or trial. Decompressing after a stressful time is necessary - becoming defenseless is dangerous.

You also will find this message useful if you one of countless saints who are just plugging away a life - and you have been for a while. The Bishops have a line in one of their songs that says: "It's not the mountains that make me stumble, it's the little hills I face every day." Sometimes life can become tedious or even monotonous - and after a while it's easy to grow discouraged of the grind. I bet every one one of us has faced a day where we just wanted to ?chuck it all away.' The problem for many is that after a while, those are feelings that plague you day after day. Sound familiar?

Paul recognized the danger and warned his spiritual son Timothy that it wasn't about starting well ?. It was much more important in life to finish well. Let the Bible speak to you this morning as Paul speaks to Timothy.

Paul makes reference to a race as an analogy for life in this passage. It's a word picture that he uses several times in his writing. In this particular section of Scripture, there are two observations about this race that we need to make.

This is not the easiest concept for many to grasp. It is so much more palatable to search for a path that offers wealth, happiness and pleasure than to embrace a faith that is so upfront about putting others first. About humility. About giving yourself away.

But that is what the Bible says. It more blessed to give than to receive, because it is in giving that we store up treasure in heaven.

True love is measured by how much of ourself we give away, Jesus said. There is no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend. It was both a statement concerning His love, and a standard for us to follow.

We are commanded to imitate Christ, and His life is nothing but sacrifice. Giving Himself away, in love, for others. We should not be surprised, because the most famous verse in the Bile says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son."

Martin Luther once said "A religion that costs nothing, gives nothing and suffers nothing ?. Is worth nothing."

(ill) In the movie First Knight, the story of Camelot is retold. In it, there is a scene where Lancelot is sword fighting for fun and money. Bets are placed and wagers are made, then Lancelot beats a man who is much bigger and much stronger than he is. The man asks Lancelot to teach him his secrets. Lancelot says "First you must study the way your opponent moves until you know what he's going to do before he does it."

"I can do that," the man said.

"Second, you must know the moment in every fight where you can win or lose," Lancelot instructed.

"I can do that too, if you will show me," the man replied.

"Finally," said Lancelot. "You have to not care, my friend, whether you live or die." The man hung his head and walked away.

T/S: Often, we struggle with spiritual let-downs because we are caring too much about ourselves. Or because we have become too attached to this world and this life.

I pay special attention to these verses because I know myself. I am fabulous at starting projects ... not so accomplished at finishing them. But you only win the prize if you cross the finish line. That's why you'll not find mention of a retirement age for Christians in the Bible, rather, we see examples like Abraham serving God well into his golden years. There is no scale of accomplishment or accumulation in the Bible - nothing that says "When you have done this much for the Lord, or served this Long in the church ? you can quit!" It's not in there!

When we sign on with Christ, we sign on forever. Literally. Eternal life begins you are born again in Jesus. Part of that eternal life is on earth, the rest is in heaven ? but it starts the moment you are saved. The only line you will cross is the one between this physical, sin-filled, temporary life into the perfect, holy, God-inhabited life that exists in heaven.

(ill) I have seen some great stories come out of the Olympics. One of my favorites is captured on a poster that hangs in the loft upstairs. It is a picture of the candiamn sprinter who tore his hamstring in the 400 meters, but struggled back to his feet and began limping toward the finish line. Unable to barely move, his father raced from the stands, put his arm around his son, and helped him home.

T/S: It's a powerful reminder to me that God, my Father, wants more than anything for me to make it home. It reminds me that God, my Father, will do anything to help me make it home.

(ill) I read about the distance runner from a small African nation who finished the marathon about 2 hours after everyone else. No one was even left to see him finish, and when he was asked why he did, the runner said "My country did not send me to quit the race, they sent me to finish."

T/S: God wants you to finish well. Most importantly, God wants you to finish. So if you are tired, weak, weary, discouraged and on the brink of quitting, Paul has two secrets to living well and finishing well, that he shares with us.

There are two concepts Paul is addressing here.

To many people living in the moment sounds like an excuse to do whatever you want to do. Paul makes clear that's not what he has in mind. To be fully engaged in the moment is to recognize God's perspective on your situation, to see the moment for what it is so that Satan's deceptions don't cause you to veer off course.

That's why Paul writes to Timothy, just two verses before, and says:

T/S: We get in trouble when we start to rationalize the situation we are in, explain away our sinful and selfish desires, and let opinion or worldy values cast us in a different light. When we do that we fall into sin, are trapped by fear and worry and remove ourselves from God's path.

Living in the moment means remembering what the goal is , in every moment. Our job is service to the King, in His kingdom, to His glory. When we forget that, we will act selfishly, and will sidetrack our lives.

*qu) Henry Blackaby says "If what you are doing can be done by you, without God, then God won't bless it."

The foundation of our faith, the bedrock of what we beelieve is that Christ is enough. His death was enough to overcome our sins. His life enough to overcome our temptations. His glory enough to overcome our shame.

Living by faith is not about you. Living by faith is not about me. It's about Jesus. And living in the moment means living each moment by faith. Trusting Jesus to lead you, provide for you, empower you, strengthen you, encourage you, direct you, rebuke you, prod you, push you, carry you ? He has said

Practice trusting Him with every moment.

(ill) Have you seen that commercial that says men think about women every 5.5 seconds? But they never think about soap?

T/S; Change that around a little. How often do you think about Jesus? Consciously giving your life over to Him? Aware of His surrounding presence? Seeking His direction and will?

Try an experiment: every hour, at the top of the hour, give that hour to Jesus. Consciously pray "Lord Jesus, I am trusting You for the grace and strength to live for the next 60 minutes. I know that You are with me, and I am living my life by faith in You for the next hour."

Once that becomes a habit, see if you can trust Him with every half-hour. Brother Laurence wrote a book called Practicing His Presence" in which he began this experiment, and ended by understanding what it meant to both pray without ceasing, and to live by faith. He had practiced trusting Jesus with every moment ? until he did!

The way to finish well is to keep the finish line in sight. To keep the prize in mind. We have been promised a reward, actually a series of awards, according to how we live. Heaven, of course, is the big trophy, but inside of heaven there are crowns spoken of. I like to imagine what heaven will be like, because it makes me remember that what I see is not all there is. Not that what I see is all bad, in fact, when I look at Robin and the girls, I see one of my biggest motivations to finish the race. I want to live with them in heaven forever. And I want to finish my race to set a good example so that I can now they will be there!

But I have to be focused on the right future. I have to savor the promised reward. Make it real enough to motivate me.

(ill) Dr. Jim Dennison tells a true life story that drives home this point. While on a mission trip in Malaysia, Dr. Dennison was able to witness a baptismal service for several new converts. While the new believers were being baptized, Dr. Dennison noticed some worn-out luggage along the wall, and he asked a church member what they were there for.

The member pointed to the girl being baptized and said, "her father said that if she was baptized as a Christian, she could never come home again. So she brought her luggage."

T/S; Because she understood the reward was that great. That girl kept the prize before her.

Albert Einstein once said "never try to become a man of success. Instead become a man of value."

Know what is of eternal value, and live for that. Sometimes it will mean remembering why you started this journey to begin with. Paul said:

Pray for Jesus to stir your heart and long for Him. Allow the Holy Spirit to speed up your pulse, to be excited about seeing Jesus. Remember the thrill of your faith when it was new? Allow God to rekindle that kind of passion!

(ill) When Winston Churchhill died, he had Taps played by a bugler at his funeral. Immediately after, though, Churchhill askd that Reveille be played as well.

T/S: Churchhill understood the race, and that what was an ending here on earth was a beginning in heaven. That's what I mean by living for the right future. Keeping our perspective eternal allows us to use Christ's victory top overcome our weariness, our discouragement and our temptation to call it quits.

(ill) I happened to be watching TV during the last summer Olympics when I saw an American woman named Marla Runyon compete in the 1500 meter race. She made it to the finals and placed 8th in the world. An amazing accomplishment! It's even more amazing when you know the rest of the story.

Marla Runyon is legally blind. She races at world class level and she can't see! Actually, she has enough vision to be able to distinguish blurs in her light, that she knows are other runners. But as the television commentator so appropriately said: "Marla Runyon runs for a finish line that she cannot see."

T/S; This message is an acknowledgement that every one of us is in that same boat. We are racing for a finish line that we cannot see. But that doesn't mean that it is not there! In fact, we are reminded in the Bible that the reason we cannot see heaven or God is because in this body we can't take it! It's too good! It's too much!

But God wants you to be there! He wants you to finish the race , abd collect your prize. And He has promised to help you.

So, are you tired? Keep running!

Fallen down? Get up and keep running!

Discouraged? There's a cloud of witnesses cheering you on, so keep running!

Scared? You're not alone, so keep running!

Don't quit! Keep running! Jesus is coming! Keep running! Stay the course ? and keep running!