The Last Chapter of Noah | Genesis 9:18–29

Hello, I am Anthony Garcia.

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Yeah.

Got out of the Navy, was working up in Fresno, California.

And uh around when I was in junior high, we moved up to the Fresno Clovis area of California, about 30 minutes away from uh the little uh Lamore Hanford area.

And uh junior high, we started going to Central Baptist Church.

And uh the pastor there was Pastor Eldon Martins.

And uh Pastor Martins, he was really only my pastor for maybe uh one, maybe two years that we were there, and uh I had obviously went to church with my family, so I had some interactions with Pastor Martin, but uh it was other pastors in my life later on, youth pastors and uh uh uh a senior pastor that really were the ones that invested in my discipleship and vested in uh uh uh in my life in a more particular way.

But Pastor Martins, there's a few different memories that I have of him, and I remember uh it wasn't too long after we had got there that he decided to retire.

He came to one of the memories I have of him is he showed up to uh one of my football games when I was uh a freshman, and he came to the football game, and he showed up, and I I guess he was praying for me because I happened to get an interception on that day.

My one and only interception in a football game, he came, he saw it, and then he was gone from there, right?

We came and he prayed and he helped me.

And so uh I remember that particular situation, and I remember seeing Pastor Martins later on.

He had since retired and uh he stayed connected with the Bible college that I uh uh went to, and so I saw him on a few occasions at that Bible college continuing to serve the Lord and uh help train people for ministry and invest in people's life and uh try to help people in that way.

But my interactions with Pastor Martins, they weren't um as much as some of the other pastors that I've had in my life.

He didn't directly influence me, but there is one lasting legacy, there's one lasting truth that Pastor Martins will always leave with me as a young man, and it was actually in his death.

In his death, at his funeral, I remember being there, and I don't remember what church it was at in Fresno, but it was a little bit of a larger church, and uh that auditorium that was packed with different people that his life had impacted, that he had uh affected with the gospel or with his ministry, and what I will go away with learning from Pastor Martens is the importance of finishing well.

Finishing well.

Sometimes you we hear it uh phrased this way, right?

It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish.

It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish.

The impact that Pastor Martins left with me is that he finished well on Wednesday night.

Uh uh, Brother Philip, you prayed a prayer, and uh you're one of our uh seasoned saints, right?

And Brother Philip prayed a prayer that God would help him to finish his course well, that he would run to the finish line, right?

That we wouldn't, as we go on in our Christianity, get complacent, think I've already arrived, think there's not really much else that the Lord has for me.

I've done good, I've done my part, I've lived my life, I've fought that sin, and now I can coast to the end.

No, what we see here in chapter number nine is actually a tragic story of the last chapter of Noah's life.

Noah, when we first get introduced to him in chapter number six, he's a man that is righteous.

He's a man that is faithful, he's a man that obeys God in every commandment that he was given.

God, you want me to build an altar, I'll build or an ark, I'll build an ark.

God, you want me to build an altar, I'll build an altar.

God, you want me to preach, even though people won't hear it, even though people won't receive it?

God, I will obey you in all my ways.

And Noah was a man of righteousness.

And yet, here in chapter number nine, we're confronted with this last chapter of Noah's life that I believe in some sense he wished was never written.

Would you stand with me one more time together as we read God's word?

Verse number 20 of Genesis chapter number nine.

And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent.

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

And Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father, and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

And Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done unto him, and he said, Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.

God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.

And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years, and all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

Let's pray together this morning, because I pray out loud.

Would you pray in your hearts this morning?

Ask God to speak to you and help you today.

Lord, I thank you for all those that are here this morning.

God, you've placed us all here this morning on purpose.

You've given us this text this morning on purpose.

God, you desire for us to learn more about you.

You're not a distant God.

You want to be known.

You've given us your truth today.

You desire that we have a relationship with you.

You desire that we would lean on you and walk with you in faith, and you give us this story for our reflection, for our learning, and I pray that we would glean from it exactly what you intend.

God, I pray that you would teach us your ways, that you would teach us your word.

Father, I ask that you would help me as a as a weak individual in need of your help.

God, I need your help to speak this morning.

Lord, this is your flock, Lord.

I pray that you would feed them with the exactly the truth that they need in their life today.

God, I don't know every situation.

I don't know where everyone's at this morning, but I'm thankful that I don't have to because you know, Lord, you know our address, you know where we're at, and God, you desire to help us this morning.

And I pray that we would have these ears of faith, this heart of faith that takes your word and receives it as it is and applies it to our lives.

We we need your help, God, and I pray that you'd fill me this morning with your spirit.

I pray that you'd fill each individual this morning here with your spirit so that we might learn from you.

Would you bless our children this morning and bless our children's class?

Would you bless our nursery and those that are serving in nursery this morning?

Would you keep us protected, Lord?

Would you help us to hide our hearts in your truth today?

We love you and we pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

If you would, you can be seated this morning.

Thank you so much for standing.

What can we learn from the last chapter of Noah's life?

The last chapter of Noah, well, first, number one, it points to the importance of finishing well and guarding our lives from sin.

The last chapter of Noah, which we wouldn't have even known about this unless the Lord desired for this to be written in the scriptures, but the last chapter of Noah, it points to the need that we have in our lives to finish well, to guard against sin, to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus as the Apostle Paul did, to move forward in faith.

I don't know what Noah may have been thinking in this situation.

It would have taken some time for the vineyard to be planted, and I don't think the vineyard planted was the sin that Noah had committed, but it would have taken some time, and I don't know if Noah here, if it was the stress of victory, the sorrow of defeat, I don't know what it was for Noah.

I don't know if it was, man, that you had this great victory that wow, my family is saved, my family is rescued, and it's sometimes in the victory, it's sometimes in the mountaintops that we are the biggest target to fall into temptation.

I don't know if that's what it was for Noah.

I don't know if it was, well, the fact that him and his family are the last people on earth.

I don't know if it was the pressure, I don't know if it was the sorrow, I don't know if it was the difficulty of accepting that that led Noah into this temptation.

I don't know if Noah bought into this lie of temptation that we sometimes face.

I don't know if Noah bought into this lie that, man, you've been faithful, you've been preaching, man, 50, 100, 120 years, building the ark, being faithful to God.

You were on the ark for a whole 370 days.

You even when you got off the ark, you built this altar.

I don't know if this temptation came into Noah's life.

You deserve this.

You deserve a break.

You deserve the opportunity to kind of relax on what you once lived for.

This temptation can catch us all if we're not careful.

We can begin to justify why we deserve that particular temptation.

Why can't we just enjoy a little bit of what everyone else enjoys?

What we see in the scripture here this morning, okay?

And uh I know that there's uh arguments that are made.

Is it okay for a Christian to have one drink?

Is it okay for them to uh uh have social drinking, all these different things?

What the Bible is clear on is that it is a sin to drink and become drunk.

The Bible is clear that we are not to be drunk, and this is what Noah does.

He drinks of the wine, and he was drunken.

He was drunken.

The Bible's clear.

He gave us some different cross-references to consider this morning.

Romans 13, 13 through 14.

Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but rather than living in that way, rather put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.

Proverbs 20, verse number one says, Wine is mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Proverbs 23, verses 29 through 35, who hath woe, who hath sorrow, who hath contentions, who hath babbling, who hath wounds without cause, who hath redness of eyes, that they that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine, look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

Proverbs 23:29–35

At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

When we are drunken, when we are drunk with alcohol, with wine, it changes how we behave, it changes our character, how we live, our judgment.

This is why later in Proverbs 31, the Bible says again, it's not for kings, Olemiel, it's not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.

The Bible is clear that drunkenness is not the Lord's will.

And wisdom does tell us this that I can't get drunk if I don't have the first drink.

Wisdom tells us that if I guard myself from having it at all, then I never have the opportunity to break what God sees as wrong.

Because the fact is that Noah here at the end of his life, I don't know what the reason was for it.

I don't know what was going through Noah's heart, but the details that I have is that the Bible says he drank wine and was drunken, and in his drunken state, he was now uncovered within his tent.

His actions that he was known as a righteous man, he was known as a man of integrity, he was known as one that had an upstanding character, was now outside of how he typically lived.

The drink influenced his behavior.

The drink influenced how Noah lived.

The Bible contrasts drunkenness and being under the influence with the need for each Christian to instead be filled with the Spirit.

Ephesians 5.18 says, and be not drunk with wine, where is an excess?

Excess is debauchery or the fact that as we're drunk with wine, it can lead us to reckless living.

He says, instead be filled with the spirit.

To where when we're drunk, we might become a different person.

But when you're filled with the spirit, then you'll also become a different person that you live according to how Christ desires for you to live.

I don't know what it was for Noah.

Perhaps Noah's drunkenness was a coping mechanism for him.

Perhaps Noah wanted to forget what was lost.

Perhaps Noah just wanted to celebrate what was given.

Whatever the reason for his decision, the drunkenness affected his character and his life.

And we all deal with stresses in this life.

We all deal with difficulties.

I used to think I don't get stressed very easily, and I don't really worry about very much things, and now as I've uh uh uh uh um served and ministry longer, and as now as I have four kiddos, now as I have more responsibility, and now as the different things of life start to press in, you start to recognize oh, I do have some different burdens on my shoulders, and if I'm not careful, I can cope with that stress in a way that is unhealthy or in a way that can lead me to sin.

And God has a different answer for us as we live these sometimes stress-filled lives.

We all cope with things in different ways, right?

Uh uh for me, the stress, sometimes Sundays and Wednesdays, just to be honest with you, as a minister, those can be some of the most stressful days, right?

I have this pressure that I want to feed the flock, I care for you, I love you, I want the service to go well and be a help.

And so there's a natural stress that comes upon the life of a minister on Sunday.

And so for me, if I'm not careful, my coping may not be to run to the drink, but my coping may be to run and eat far more in excess than I should, alright?

And can I say that that's not the way that God wants me to deal with it either?

My coping could be to numb myself from the problems of life by scrolling through social media or watching something on the TV and saying, I'm just going to be numb to the world.

Now, is it wrong to eat?

No, it's not wrong to eat.

It's not wrong to have uh good food, right?

Is it wrong to watch TV every once in a while and enjoy something?

It's not necessarily wrong to enjoy those things, but when I use it as a coping mechanism for my stress, I am leaning on my own self and my own ability to numb the problems or to numb the stress instead of running to the person who's the only one that can help in my time of need, who's the only one that says, Anthony, come to me.

The problems, the stresses, the difficulties that you have in your life need to be brought towards the Lord.

Philippians 4, 6 and 7 says, Be careful for nothing, don't be pulled apart, don't be anxious, don't be stressed out for anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Be careful for nothing.

Your stresses, your anxieties, your worries, it's an alert for you to pray, to give those things to God, to lean on him in dependence, to trust in what his word says, to understand that I might not know how it's gonna work out, I might not know how it's gonna change, but God knows and he cares.

1 Peter 5 7, casting all your care upon him.

Why, church?

Because he cares for you.

He cares about you, the difficulty that you have in life, it is not a surprise to God.

It is not like when you bring it to him, God's like, oh man, I didn't even realize that was going on in your life.

No, I think usually what happens is when we bring it to him, God's like, finally, you brought it to me.

I've been wanting to help you with this.

If you would just bring it to my throne, if you would just seek me in prayer, if you would just lay it at the altar and let go, I would be happy to help you, to comfort you, to show you the direction that you need.

Because he actually cares about you.

Psalm 62, 8, trust in him at all times, ye people.

Pour out your heart before him.

You ever been there where you just had to pour out your heart before God?

God, I don't know what to do.

God, I need your help.

God, I there's this and that and the other.

Where you pour out your heart before him.

Why?

Because God is a refuge for us.

He's a refuge.

The answer to being overwhelmed isn't to find something that will control you or numb you.

The answer to being overwhelmed is to surrender yourself to someone who can sustain you.

Noah started well, but here in the middle-ish of his life, Noah chooses sin.

My friend, we have to strive, we have to strive to finish well.

Noah's been faithful for some 600 years, and now he has this uh middle of life crisis.

It's this middle area where he put his guard down, and it's oftentimes that 10, 20, 30 man, I've been serving the law, I've been saved since I was for me seven years old, alright?

I've been saved for a while.

And if I'm not careful, you've been saved for a while, and you're not careful, then that's when we can start to put our guard down and think that God doesn't have any more growth for us.

That you know what?

That sin that I used to really struggle with, man, that's been conquered in my life, and it doesn't really impact me anymore.

And because I got victory over that, man, I'm good to go.

It's in the middle, it's near the end where we feel like we've kind of arrived and we can coast to the end.

I've learned that story before.

I've heard that message before.

I've taught lessons on that before.

I've been saved for a while.

I don't really do the really bad stuff anymore.

I don't struggle with that anymore.

Oh, these are the times that we get caught in temptation, is it not?

These are the times where a haughty, a proud spirit, where we're susceptible to fall.

Wasn't it David?

Wasn't it David?

Who when he was at the pinnacle of his kingdom?

Man, he's conquered.

He's not running away from Saul anymore.

He's now the king, and they're seeing victory, and they've seen this nation push back, and they've seen the Philistines defeated, and he has these mighty men that are under him, and he has these warriors.

Wasn't it David that in the middle, when the kings were supposed to go to battle, that David said, I think I'm gonna take a break.

I'm gonna sit this one out.

On the rooftop, Bathsheba is spotted by David.

David takes Bathsheba, who was one of his soldiers' wives.

He commits sin with Bathsheba.

Not only that, he has her husband murdered essentially on the battlefield, was it not?

When David was at the pinnacle, when you would look at David and you say, Man, there's victory and everything's going well, that David let his guard down and said, I've kind of earned this.

I kind of coast now.

And oh the tragedy.

You know, football season's coming up, and when I played football, uh uh uh uh my dad told me, you play through the whistle.

You play until the whistle is blown, right?

If there's a play and you might be on one side of the field way over here, but the whistle hasn't blown yet, man, you run and you try to make a play on the other side of the field.

You play until the whistle is blown.

And my friend, Christian, we fight, we strive, we grow until the trumpet is blown, until Jesus calls us home.

We've got to keep on pressing on.

Be not weary in well doing, for in due season, you shall reap if you faint not.

My friend, as we grow in the Lord, that should give us more caution.

There's too many stories.

There's too many, uh, there's too many stories of recent days, there's too many stories in the Bible of people that do not finish their Christian life well.

We've got to press on towards the mark.

And can I encourage you this morning?

It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish.

And you may be here this morning and you might be looking back at your history and looking back at your life, and you think, man, I failed in this way and I've wasted so much time, and and I and I didn't serve God when I could have, and I didn't choose this decision when I should have.

It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish for the Lord.

So go forward today.

Serve him today, believe on him today.

Noah started well.

We've got to play to the whistle.

The last chapter of Noah, it points to the importance of finishing well and guarding against sin.

But there's another emphasis here in chapter number nine.

It points to the importance of showing grace when others falter.

The emphasis here is really because in chapter number 10, it's gonna go into the different nations as Noah's here, and his sons are going to repopulate the earth.

But it goes into this sin of Ham.

Verse 22, and Ham, the father of Canaan, he saw the nakedness of his father.

He saw that his father had messed up, he saw that this man that was to be honored, that was to be uh revered, especially in that culture, that he caught himself in a compromising situation.

And what Ham does is he goes and he runs to his brothers.

And I don't know exactly how it would have been.

I don't know if he would have been snickering and laughing about it.

I don't know if he would have said it to uh uh uh make a play and uh more of a leadership, trying to usurp a leadership role.

I don't know what it would have been for him, but he runs to his brothers and he says, Hey, dad's caught in a compromising position in the tent.

I don't know if he was laughing about it, I don't know.

He would have obviously known that Noah wasn't in his right mind at this point.

And he comes and he tells his brothers without, you know what essentially what Ham was doing?

He was kicking Noah while he was down.

That's right.

Now let me say immediately, I'm not talking about this morning, when it's when we show grace to others when they falter, I'm not talking about covering up sin for someone, okay?

I'm not talking about refraining from reporting that which is necessary or something done illegally or something that is causing harm to others.

I'm not talking about anything like that.

What I'm talking about is when a brother or a sister, when a family member, when someone that we know, when someone that is supposed to be uh walking with Christ and living for Christ, when they falter because we do, that's not the time to come and kick them while they're down.

That's not the time to run over like Ham did and gossip about their situation.

Oh, did you hear what so-and-so did?

Oh, did you see the the the the news on Facebook or on this or that?

It's not the time for us to kick down someone else.

The question is, when someone falls, do we celebrate their demise?

Do we celebrate and think, oh man, I'm so excited to share this with someone.

They thought they were so perfect, and now look at what's happened to them.

Or does it lead us to consider that, man, I hope if I was in that situation, that people that I love that care about me would show me grace and restore me, as the Bible teaches in the book of Galatians.

We'll look there in just a moment.

That's one of our biggest fears.

No one likes to be exposed.

And yet, people, our society, uh, uh uh uh tabloids and drama and this and that, our culture loves exposing the gritty, dirty details of other people's sin.

And that's what Ham runs to do.

He runs to tell.

And I don't know, maybe it was hidden pride in Ham.

Sometimes it's we like to speak bad about others because it makes us feel good about ourselves.

There's hidden pride that's there.

And we're willing to make sure we share with others how bad someone else is because it makes us feel better about me.

You've seen this play out.

Maybe even as a kid, right?

You get in trouble, but then you make sure to say, Well, I did that, but but but my brother, but my sister, they did this, right?

We like to make sure that someone else falls with us, or man, if it was a bigger deal that we're the ones that, oh, now your sin looks a little bit less, and theirs looks a little bit greater.

We can find ourselves even as Christians in danger of disguising gossip as care.

We can find ourselves even as Christians lacking grace towards people in their weakest moments.

And it's not that we don't help hold people accountable and encourage them to do what's right and meet them where they're at, but there is supposed to be a tender grace that is shown towards one another.

It would have been right for Ham not to go, and then the reason why I think he did this in an attacking type of way is because of the response of the brothers.

The response of the brothers, Shem and Japheth, they took a garment, they laid it upon both of their shoulders, and they went backward and covered up the embarrassment, the nakedness of their father.

Their response tells me that Ham had ill intent in sharing this with the brothers.

He could have helped cover up his father and left it at that and not said anything.

But instead, he needed to go and share with the brothers what had happened.

And the brothers, they choose the right response.

They say, we're gonna help restore our father.

We're gonna help cover this.

Like I said, it's not it's not covering sin in that way.

Things need to be dealt with properly.

Not talking about that.

What I'm talking about is Galatians 6, 1 and 2.

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, go and make sure that you gossip to everyone about what happened in their life.

That's not what the Bible teaches, does it?

Ye that are spiritual, make sure that you really distance yourself from them because they're just an awful person and you're so much better than them.

That's not what the Bible teaches.

The Bible says, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, humility, saying, Man, I considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

It's a spirit of meekness that says, were it not for grace, I would fall on the same thing.

I would mess up as well.

Considering thyself, lest thou also art tempted, and bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Hey, listen this morning.

You may have strayed far from God.

There are folks that perhaps have strayed far from the Lord.

There are times in the life of a church family, right?

Where you have those that, man, they're they're they're following the Lord and things come up and temptations come, and it seems like they run far from God, right?

I want to tell you this morning that there is always room for more grace.

A response towards those that falter is not to beat them up, but a response is like the father who welcomed the prodigal son home.

This is your welcome here.

I need grace and I'm willing to extend grace to you.

There is grace for each of you.

For each of us here this morning, I'm thankful that each time I've messed up, that my parents, they didn't immediately kick me to the curb, right?

They didn't immediately say, All right, you're out, boom.

I'm thankful that even though I'm an imperfect husband, my wife still loves me and she still shows me grace, that even when I falter, I'm thankful that here at Beacon Baptist Church, this is not a body of perfect Christians, but this is a body of growing Christians that we may have problems, we may have struggles, we may have difficulties, and we're not excusing the sin, but we're saying, hey, let's everyone look to Jesus.

He is the one that can help us, grow us, change us, and give us the grace that we need to live unto Him.

How would Ham liked his brothers to have treated him in this situation?

Oh, the next time we're tempted to gossip about someone and uncover what a bad person we think they are and uncover their sin, perhaps we should consider the grace that has been shown to us.

How would we like them to treat us if we were the ones who faltered?

Again, I can't emphasize this enough.

I'm not talking about covering up a sin or a crime or anything like that that someone's committed.

It needs to be dealt with properly, but the grace is still shown.

The walk is still there.

The love is still there.

The last chapter of Noah.

Here it is.

The last point.

It points to the importance of a savior.

It points to the importance of a savior.

And Genesis is gonna get going to continue to do that.

The Old Testament does that.

You read of a hero, right?

Noah.

Man, how how admirable that he built this boat.

He took care of his family, he preached righteousness, he was faithful for some 120 years, perhaps.

How admirable as we look at Noah, and yet the end of his life, the last chapter is that Noah messed up.

How many other stories are like that?

A spouse will fail you, a parent will fail you, a pastor will fail you.

Noah failed, Abraham failed, Isaac failed, Samson failed, Peter failed, Paul failed, the list goes on and on and on of people that have failed.

Though they were trying to do their best to live a righteous life and to do what was right in God's eyes, we can't platform a fellow human being to be our Messiah because they will always fail you.

I will fail you.

Don't look to me as your Savior.

Don't look to me as this personality that will be your rescue and what you plant your life upon.

Don't look to another leader or somebody else or to a spouse or to a friend or to whoever.

Look to Jesus.

He's the rock that you build your life on, and he will stand forever.

There is one.

There is one who was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin.

Oh my friend Jesus, he never told a lie, he never dishonored anyone, he never did that which was wrong in all his ways.

He pleased the Father in all his ways.

He did what was right, he kept every single command throughout the Word of God.

There is one who lived a perfect life, who committed no sin and did no wrong.

There is one who died on the cross of Calvary to pay for your sin, to pay for my sin.

There is one that rose from the dead and is seated on the throne.

There is one that we will bow our knees to, that we will sing to and worship forever and ever and ever.

There is but one, and his name is Jesus.

My friend, my job this morning, my job at Beacon Baptist Church is to point your heart and your eyes towards Jesus Christ because he is glorious and he is wonderful and he can save you and he can change you.

Would you look this morning to Jesus?

Jesus desires.

If you are here this morning and you don't know him as Savior, he desires to be your savior today.

Oh, but I've done this wrong and I've messed up over here and I've sinned and he knows all about it, my friend.

But he died on the cross to cover your sin and to give you a home in heaven.

Noah points us to the fact that we need a savior.

That we need a savior, we need a Messiah, we needed someone to rescue us.

Noah wasn't perfect, Abraham wasn't perfect, Moses wasn't perfect, the list goes on, but there was one that the Bible's written all about that was perfect.

And if you will call on him in faith, he will save you today.

He will be your savior.

If you would call on him, Christian, let us press towards the mark.

You've been here, you've been saved, you've been faithful here.

Beacon Baptist Church, man, you've been growing, you've been serving.

Don't quit.

Keep growing.

We have our we stumble, we fall.

Get back up.

Finish the play.

Play to the whistle blows.

Live your life till the trumpet sounds.

Hey, this is the time.

You've been saved 5, 10, 15, you've been saved 20 some years.

This is the time where you should instead of saying, okay, I'm gonna kind of ease off the gas pedal or ease off of these things, instead, this is the time to be more concerned about your sanctification.

More concerned about your walk with Christ.

It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish.

I hope this message was a blessing to you.

If you are in the Phoenix area, we would love to have you come in for a visit.

We're located on Indian School and 23rd Avenue.

And if we can be a help to you in any other way, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

I would love to answer any questions that you had about discernment, or maybe a question that you have about eternal life and a relationship with God.

We're here to serve you and to point you to Jesus Christ.

Thank you so much for watching this method.