Staying the Course Print

Pastor David Koop 

Proverbs 4:7a
Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do!

2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

In order to make it count in 2008 it may require us to change lanes. Not only do we want to “change lanes”, we also want to stay the course.

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1 Corinthians 13:3 is a verse that gives us wisdom on how to keep in the lane and stay the course.

1 Corinthians 13:13
There are three things that will endure—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

  1. We need HOPE to stay on course. (Hope: to expect with confidence, to cherish a desire with anticipation, to look forward to with desire and confidence.)
    1. Hebrews 12:2
      Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.
    2. What are you focused on?

  2. We stay on course by walking in LOVE.
    1. Jesus made two big lane changes in His life. One was when He entered in to His public ministry and the other when He went to the cross. On both occasions He was empowered by the love of the Father.
    2. Matthew 3:17
      And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
    3. God’s approval will hold you in a world that is desperately seeking approval.
    4. Paul finished stayed the course and finished the race because he did not look for the approval of men, but the approval of God.
    5. 1 Corinthians 4:3,4
      What about me? Have I been faithful? Well, it matters very little what you or anyone else thinks. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. My conscience is clear, but that isn’t what matters. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.
    6. Galatians 1:10
      Obviously, I’m not trying to be a people pleaser! No, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s servant.
    7. If we want to make it count we will have to fill our lives with love.
    8. 1 Corinthians 14:1
      Let love be your highest goal.
    9. Romans 5:5
      … the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

  3. We stay on course by walking in faith.
    1. Not long after stepping out and making a lane change we may wonder what we just did. We have left the comfort zone of the rut we were in and now we have encountered conflict.
    2. Mark 4:26,27
      And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.

To make it to the other side, to stay the course, we will need to accept Jesus for all He is.

Mark 4:36
Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was.