 Our pastor is Bishop Alexander, Arling Alexander, and our first lady is First Lady Bobby Alexander. We thank the Lord for the great leadership and shield of faith. And if you're looking for a place to come and worship the Lord, right here. Heaven, here to glory, here to glory, here to glory. Hallelujah. Come on. And she's going to take us further into the service. Hallelujah, Saints. Hallelujah. That sounds like hallelujah for me, but hallelujah for Jesus. Hallelujah for Jesus. Hallelujah. He kept you this week. We should have more praise and worship in our spirit, especially after that. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let us go before the Lord and praise and worship him and pray and ask him to enter into this place and into our hearts. Hallelujah. Father God, we thank and we praise you for today. Thank you for waking us up, Lord, in our right minds. Waking us up with a determined spirit to come into the house of the Lord to worship and to praise you. Hallelujah, Lord. We ask that you continue to dwell in our presence. Allow us to praise and to worship you in spirit and in truth. Lord, we pray that you meet us here as you met the Samaritan woman at the well, Lord. Receive our praise and our worship on today. Hallelujah. Receive our praise and our worship on today. Open our hearts to receive your word as we will hear what the says the Lord today. Put a yeah action. Say yes without our bishop and our first lady. We pray that you keep them, Lord God. Hallelujah. That you give them traveling grace, Lord God. That you continue to keep your angels encamped around your righteousness. Father, anoint every portion of this service today. Anoint the praise and worship team. Anoint the praise and worship leader and the musicians as they worship you in Jesus' name. Amen. Our scripture this morning is Psalms 149. Praise our God. Praise the Lord. Sing and his praise in the assembly of saints. All right, it's your turn. Verse 2. Let them praise his name with the dance. Let them sing praises to him with the temple and the harp. He will beautify the humble with salvation. My Bible says make it humble. Same thing. Praise the Lord. Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud on their beds. And a two-edged sword in their hand. Amen. Amen. Amen. Praise our God. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. Praise the Lord, saints. Joy bells keep ringing in mind. So, hallelujah. I thank and praise the Lord for giving me another year of life. Oh, yesterday was my natural birthday. And God has blessed me with 63 years. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. And you know, Lord is so good. You know, to be in the presence of the Lord clothed in my right mind. Hallelujah. The Lord delivered me. He saved me. He raised me up. Hallelujah. And I thank the Lord every single day for it. I'm not ashamed of the years that the Lord has given me because it's nothing but the goodness of the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I give him glory. About the joy that came my way. How you took away my crown. And the things that had me bound. To give us this day. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will be glad and rejoicing him. But guess what? It's also another opportunity to ask the Lord to have his way in us. Hallelujah. To empty out all those things that are not pleasing to him. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Empty me. Won't you fill us up, Lord? Overflowing with your spirit, Jesus. Hallelujah. We surrender to you this day, Lord God. Hallelujah. All that we are and all that we have, Lord God. We cast it at your feet, Jesus. Hallelujah. With holding nothing from you, Lord God. Hallelujah. You know us. We can't hide anything from you, Lord God. But help us to submit ourselves to you, Jesus. Hallelujah, Lord. Hallelujah, Lord Jesus. We just want to be in your will, Lord God. Thank you, Lord. I surrender it to you, Lord Jesus. Have your way, Lord, in me today. Have your way in this place, Lord God, today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. At this time, we will have our solo by wonderful minister, Marilyn Alexander. Amen. You enjoyed that worship, didn't you? It was for the Lord. Hallelujah. It was for the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. But somehow or another, we get residuals. Come on. Amen. We get residuals. When the praises go up, the blessings come down. Amen. And the Lord blesses our heart. He blesses our souls. He deals with our emotions and our mind. While we're worshiping Him, He provides you with holiness. Amen. Save me 40 years ago, and I thank Him for the change. Thank Him for loving me enough. I said, baby, this is the direction that I want you to go. Yes, yes. And I thank God for Him giving me the strength to make the decision to go in that direction. Yes, yes. I haven't changed my mind since. Amen. I've been walking with the Lord a long time. Hallelujah. And like the old folks say, I wouldn't give nothing from my journey. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Those of you that can't help me sing this song, I love you Lord today. Come on. Hallelujah. Lord, you care for me. Still care in such a special way. Yes, I praise you. I lift you up. Lord, you care for me in such a special way. Do you love Him today? Yes. Is your heart filled with praise today? Yes. Do you love Him today? Come on and stand on your feet and open up your mouth and clap your hands and just begin to worship Him. Say, my heart is filled with praise. When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all you've done for me, my heart is filled with praise. I can't help but praise Him. I can't help but lift Him up. I can't help but exhaust Him from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same. That's why my heart is filled with praise. That's a thief in the night. Praise Him. I keep on worshiping Him because I know He's coming. This is not a time to surrender. This is not a time to quit. This is not a time to give up. We have passed a point of no return. See, for a ship that's the point where it would be further to go back from where you started than it would be to finish the course. And we've gone past the point of no return. Run too long. We fought too hard. We've given up too much already to quit now. Thing is not an option. See, Wednesday night, Minister Amber, she said, be steadfast. Be steadfast in your faith. Don't give up now because He's coming. He's coming back for people that already tell you, I believe I'm going to run on and see what the end is going to be. See, I got heaven in my view. I got heaven in my view. It's kind of like Thanksgiving Day. You know, around noon, you watching the football game and the Thanksgiving meal is cooking in the kitchen and all those wonderful smells are passing through the house. It's so good you can almost taste it. See, I got heaven in my view and it's so good to me. I can almost taste it. I don't know about you, but I'm excited. You probably can't tell, but I'm excited about this thing. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your words. Father, our hearts are filled with praise. When we think about how you saved us, when we think about how you redeemed us, there was nothing good in us worth redeeming, but you saw something in us and you chose to love us. We thank you for that. Father, we thank you as Sister Merlin said, and you have beautified us with holiness and with righteousness. Our righteousness is this filthy rags, but we are dawned in your righteousness. Your righteousness alone. Father, be pleased to be with us in the continuous of the service. You've already been with us so far. Father, give us a word, speak to our hearts. We will give you the praise. We will worship you. We will bless you in Jesus' name. Amen. Clap your hands and bless your Lord. Hallelujah. He's worthy of praise. He's worthy of praise. The word that the Lord gave me for today is, finish the race. Tell somebody, finish the race. Don't stop, don't give up, but you've got to finish the race. Hallelujah. See, I don't know about you, but I'm in it to win it. I never got into a race or fight or nothing to lose. I'm in it to win it. Matthew 10, 22b says, but he that endureth to the end. But to he that endureth to the end, the same, that person shall be saved. I have these trophies up here. These are some of the trophies that I won over the years. And the truth is that these trophies in and of themselves are very little monetary value. But these trophies probably altogether, probably worth $20 or $30, not much money. But to me they represent some of my blood, my sweat, and my tears. It represents me achieving some of the ideas and the goals that I had in life. So to me these trophies, these little pieces, little hunks of wood and metal are valuable to me. Probably not to anybody else. But the reason I brought them, I wanted you to understand that none of these, none of the trophies, certificates, or plaques that I have received in life were given to me because I started an assignment. None of the trophies and plaques and certificates that I received, they weren't given to me because I did not finish my assignments. But all of the trophies and all of the plaques and all of the so-called accolades that I have received in life is because I finished my assignment. See, it's not so much that you started, but you need to get to the place where you determine that I'm going to finish it. And some of these trophies that I got, I didn't receive just because I finished, but because I showed mastery and expertise in what I was doing. I was in a football league and I was the quarterback and we won the trophies we won at the end and they gave me the most valuable player in the league. That's because I finished and I finished well. You have started the race with Jesus, but you've got to make it up in your mind. I'm going to finish the race and I'm going to finish the race with joy and with gladness. I didn't start this thing to stop. In our spiritual lives, you can take this order, in our spiritual lives you need to understand that we are running a race and there is an eternal prize to win. As a people of God we need to recognize that without a doubt there is a heaven to gain. And a hell to shun. Don't let people tell you that that's not real. See sometimes people say, oh you're just an extreme but let me tell you something. One minute after you die and go to hell, you're going to realize they were telling me the truth. And like the brother said, I can't take that chance. So what you and I do right now determines where we will spend our eternity. Whether it's in heaven or in hell. See sometimes we think, well I'm going to wait until I get to be an old man like Ross and I'm going to get my life to Jesus. I heard you laugh brother Terrence. I wrote that down. You're supposed to say, oh no, not you. But see there are no guarantees that you're going to make at 65 years in this life. See I was talking with Elder Sodom today and he was talking about the grace of God in you and all that. See sometimes we outrun our grace. We think we got a long time and we end up going before we were ready to go. But I'm going to start my race. I'm going to stay in the race and I'm going to finish the race that I started. Going too far to give up now. So today we're running in a race to win a prize. And that prize is the crown. We're looking to receive the crown in that city called heaven in Matthew chapter 24. You can turn there. Matthew chapter 24 says, Jesus was talking to his disciples and he was telling them, do not let evil men deceive you. For many will come saying, I am the Christ. He says, and they will deceive many. And then he said, there will be wars and rumors of wars. You have the housewives of Beverly Hills, the housewives of Atlanta, the housewives of Chicago. There are going to be wars everywhere. He said, nation is going to fight against nation. We see that happening in the news. Family members are going to come against family members. They're going to be hating on one another. And I said, the false prophets are going to rise up and deceive many people. I was looking at something the other day and I came across and they were talking about the fact that the queen bee released a recording recently. Renaissance. If y'all know, y'all know, y'all know what I'm talking about. Don't act like I don't know what I'm talking about. But I looked at the lyrics of some of those songs. They were so vulgar, I was shocked that she could sell that in public. See, she was advising you to do your thing. Don't let nobody stop you sleep with whoever you want to sleep with and act a fool. And see, she's going to deceive a lot of people and lead them astray. See, you've got to be aware of what you're listening to. Just because it sounds good don't mean that it is good for you. See, the enemy will put some things down in your spirit and you will struggle with some things and you think, what in the world, where did that come from? I remember when I was a little boy, I was listening to the radio and it's kind of funny now because also Henry, he was just Uncle Henry to me, I was listening and I sang a song, lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed. I didn't know what I was talking about. He slapped me upside the head and said, boy, do you know what you're talking about? I said, it's just a nice song. He said, shut up, turn it off. See, you've got to be aware of what you're bringing to your spirit. When I found out, I said, oh, I sang it one more time. No, I didn't, I stopped. See, but you've got to know, don't let the enemy deceive you by something just because it looks good. See, sometimes, you know, we run into somebody and we're looking for a husband and we meet this guy, he's six foot tall and got a six pack and he looks so good. Got cologne on, dressed to the tee and ain't got no Holy Ghost. Just because it looks good. And see, I found out a long time ago, I went to church one time and I saw this sister and she looks like she was saved. She had an address down to her, almost down to her ankles and you know, she was going around and going around and you know what, I discovered she was the first one to take off her dress for anybody. See, just because it looks good don't mean it is good. And then it said, and some, because of sin, the love of God, the love for God has waxed cold. And they say, I just don't care anymore. I've been through hard times, I've been through COVID, I had COVID, I lost my job, I've been through a whole lot. I just don't care anymore and it sounds like life in America in 2020. This was the man of God years and years ago. And there are so many distractions that will try to get your attention and take your focus off of running the race. Hey! See, I, I, I, I say, you know, it is so much available. You can hit a button and you can have so much entertainment in your house. And God said, he's just trying to distract you. Don't pay attention. Don't listen to it. Don't let him have too much of your time. If I spend 40 hours a week watching TV and watching that mess and two hours a week praising God and seeking His face, something's wrong. See what you spend the majority of your time doing. I got a better one. What you spend the majority of your money doing will tell you where your where your, where your priorities are. If you spend 40, 50, 60% of your check on entertainment, on buying clothes, or things like that, then that means that's where your priority is. And so we've got to get to the fact that I don't lose focus of the fact that I'm running a race and I'm trying to please the Lord. I'm trying to make it heaven. I'm trying to do what is right. I'm trying to lift up the name of Jesus. I'm trying to let the enemy know you ain't got no right in my house. You ain't got no right in my family. You ain't got no place among my people. I've got to make it to the city. See, I know we don't talk about that too much, but I've got to make it. So in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus is talking to His disciples in verse 13 and 14. Let's read that. Matthew, let's start with verse 12. And it says, And because iniquity shall abound, that is because sin shall abound. The love of many shall wax cold. It says, But he that shall endure unto the end, hallelujah, he that shall endure to the end, he shall be saved. And this gospel, this good news, this truth about the kingdom, shall be a witness unto our nation, and then shall the end come. So Jesus said, He that endures unto the end. He didn't say that he that starts and doesn't finish. He didn't say that he that starts and stops. He didn't say he that starts and gets sidetracked. He didn't say he that starts and get offended, get offended. She hurt my feelings. They talked about me. Someone lied on me and I'm offended. I just can't make it because they made me feel so bad. Or it's just too hard. I can't make it. All of those are simply invalid excuses to quit. Denied. The Bible said, But he that endures to the end, the same shall be saved. And once we've been born again, born of the water, baptized in his name, in the name of Jesus, born of the spirit, filled with the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues. Once we've been born again of the water and of the spirit, we are well equipped to finish the race. Tell somebody I'm well equipped to finish my race. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Tell your neighbor, tell your neighbor, oh yeah, you can make it. Tell them you can make it. Tell your neighbor, finish the race. And see, but you got to understand that while we are running the race, the enemy will try to do everything he can to stop you from running the race. He'll use your husband. All right, sister, don't say amen too loud. He'll use your wife. He'll use your children. He'll use your dog. He'll use your boss. He'll use your teachers. He'll use anything he can to stop you from running the race, to stop you from living, for God to stop you from lifting up the bloodstain banner. So we understand that the struggle is real. The enemy is real. But again, we are well equipped to finish the race. Because the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mining through God to the pulling down of strongholds. And every stronghold that the enemy throws up against you, God has given you power to pull down the stronghold. The Bible said, and after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, you shall have power. Our weapons are prayer. Our weapons are praise. Our weapons are the word of God. Our weapons are fasting. And so on and so on. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. I love this particular verse in the Bible. It's so inspiring to me. Years ago, late Bishop Morrissey go to preach on this text. And his subject was so great, a cloud of witnesses. 12 verse 1 says, in seeing we also are surrounded on every side about what so great a cloud of witnesses said, let us lay aside every weight and shin which there so easily beset us and let us run. Ha! It said, let us run. Ha! Let us run with patience. The race not just any race, but the race that is set before us. Bishop Goldie was talking about how the saints have, they're already going to glory. They're in the grandstands of heaven and they're saying, don't stop. Don't quit. Don't give up. You can make it. Don't throw in the town. You got this. I got your back. You can make it to the kingdom. Said, if I can make it, you can make it. And all of us have some saints in the grandstands now. Sister Merlin, Brother Darlin, Sister Sykes, Sister Terry. I believe all of us in this room have somebody in the grandstand that said, don't give up. Ha! Don't quit now. God's hand is on your life. You can make it to the city. You can make it. Just keep on going. Keep on pushing. Keep on fighting. Keep on believing. You got this. Hey! Tell somebody, you got this. You got this. Yes, you do baby. You got this. Someone said, if you live right, heaven belongs to you. Someone else said, and I shall wear a crown. When the trumpet sounds, and someone else says, will we all get to heaven? Ha! What a day of rejoicing that's going to be. When we all see Jesus, we're going to sing, we're going to shout, we're going to dance. The victory. The victory. See, I love that. The victory. See, God has already given us the victory. And all he wants is for us to give him the praise. See, some people say, living saved to get to heaven is just too hard. And sometimes, I fall short. But the grace of God. The grace of God. The mercy of God. But Bible says, shall we continue and sing God forbid, but when I do mess up, there's a grace. I got to nap the kids. Say, yeah, he messed up, but Jesus said, I took his place. I paid the price. Yes, he was guilty, but that was all on me. Justice declared that my life would be taken, but the mercy of God said he was guilty. But I took his place. They said on Calvary when Jesus was nailed to the cross that Barabbas that hey had released was going down the hill and some soldiers that hadn't been up there to see what happened saw Barabbas and thought he escaped and they went to capture him again and take him to be killed. And Barabbas turned around and pointed at the cross and said, he took my place. And today we can say he took my place. He died on my behalf. He redeemed me from sin. He set me free. He took my place. Yes, it should have been me, but he took my place. I like that. I did some stuff. Lord have mercy. When I was a little boy, I did something. My mother called me. She'd get ready to beat me. I tried to say he took my place. She said, but you're going to take this beating today. Oh yeah, he took your place. My mother didn't play that. But this is a hope that we have that we're going to a city called heaven. I don't know much about heaven, but what I do know heaven is going to be a wonderful place. And I've got to make it to the city or are you going to make it to the city? Have you made up your mind that I'm going to make it to that city called heaven? See, some things you can afford to miss. You can afford to miss a bus. You can afford to miss a plane. But do not miss that city called heaven. Finish the race. Finish the race. Don't give up. Don't give out. Don't get, don't quit, but finish the race. Second Timothy. Chapter three. Paul is preparing to go home and to be with the Lord. And he's speaking to Timothy. His young protege, his understudy. And he's telling him about the things that he needs to be aware of concerning ministry. Second Timothy chapter three. So Paul is warning Timothy. He says this know also that in the last days, perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of their own self, covetousness, boastful, proud, blasphemy, disobedient to parents, unthankful. Has anybody been unthankful? Have you ever run into some unthankful people? No matter what you do, it's just not enough. See, God has been so good to us. And some of us are just unthankful. You know, we get up like, you know, I got up, I woke myself up this morning. I started myself, but it was God that woke you up this morning. It was God that started you on your way. It was God that gave you strength. It was God that gave you power. So I learned to get up when I get up. I said, Lord, thank you for another day. Thank you for strengthening my body. Thank you for some place to live. Thank you for food to eat. Thank you for food to eat. Thank you for clothes to wear. Thank you, Lord, that you've given me a nice car to drive in. But you know what? Even above that, I thank you that you've redeemed me. I thank you that you've saved me. I thank you that you brought me out. I thank you that you're going to take me in. I thank you. So it said unholy, without natural affection, truth breakers, false accusers, incontinence, fears, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than God, having a form of godliness, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. It said, and the same such of which creep into houses and lead captive, silly women. Now, I did not put that in the Bible, sisters. I would not say that. It's in the book. Sister Terry said, mm-hmm, okay. She going to get me at the church. It's in the Bible. It's in the book. Silly women laden with sin and let away with divert lust. Ever learning. Picking up every new book. Going to every seminar. Go running here and running there. But they never learned. They just don't get it. You've got to stay in one place and let the man or woman of God teach you the word of God. Be rooted and grounded and movable. Be steadfast in the word of God. Miracles don't save you. Miracles won't keep you. It's the word of God. And so, he says, now, I want you to be aware of these things. This is the state of affairs of the church at that time. And it sounds like he's talking about August 28th, 2022. As they say, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent, but we see this every day in our churches, in our homes, on our jobs. So, Paul is telling Timothy, you be aware of that. And then in the fourth chapter, verses 1-5 you can read that at your leisure. Paul gives Timothy a charge. This is what I want you to do concerning the ministry. Number one, he says, preach the word. Preach the word of God to anybody and everybody that will hear it to speak the truth. Do it in love, but preach the word. Preach the word. And then he says, be instant in season and out of season. In other words, be ready to do what you've been called to do at a moment's notice. If you've been called to preach, be ready to preach at a moment's notice. If you've been called to sing, be ready to sing at a moment's notice. See, that's what I love about sister Dolores. She is ready to usher. She's a usher. She's ready to usher at a moment's notice. You don't have to ask her. You don't have to tell her. You look up and she's like one of those people in the movie, like whoa, where's she come from? She's there doing her job. Elder Sorton a mighty man of God. But he's always willing to whatever needs to be done. He is instant. He is there. He will help you. He will pray for you. He will also tell you, man, you need to slow your roller. Sit down. He's instant. And Deacon Patrick, you know, I love him. He's always ready to be instant. He anticipates what you need. See, when we are instant, God can use us. See, some of us who say, if they say I need you to do so and so, we can't do it. Because you and I had time to get ready. I'm not all prayed up. You know, I'm not, you need to stay prayed up. You need to stay fasted up. You need to read your word. And when they call you at a moment's notice say I'm ready when you want me to do it. I'm ready what you want me to do. See, we talk about Lord use me. And I've been in huge meetings and everybody was fighting trying to get down front, you know. And I was standing in the back room, minding my business. And people would come up to me and say, hey man, we need somebody to open this thing up in prayer. They don't even know me. I don't know why they came up to me, but I was in place. See, that's where your blessing is when you're in place. And when you're ready, I didn't have to get ready. I was ready. He said, I need you to pray to open up this thing. I said, give me a microphone. Let me do it. Instant. He said, be instant in season. He said, reprove, rebuke correct. And then he said, watch all things. You don't hear it too much anymore, but the saints used to say, boy, you need to watch and pray. Watch and pray. I remember my grandmother told me one time, she said, you need to watch and pray because everybody that come to church ain't saved. See, you need to watch and pray to be like the sons of Issaacar. See, they were watching and praying. It says, and they understood the times. They knew what was going on. Do you understand what's happening all around you? Are you praying for your lovers? Are you praying for the loss? Are you watching and praying so you will know what to do? He said, watch at all times. And then he said, endure affliction because a fence will come. When a fence comes, will you flake out? Will you get mad and take your marbles and go home? Will you give up? Can you be corrected? I had a situation happen a few weeks ago and pastor said, I don't like that. You were wrong. And my flesh said, I'm a grown man just like you. And I'm almost as big as you. But my spirit said, you humble yourself. You apologize and you take the correction with gladness. And see, I learned when I miss it, I don't just say, I'm sorry. I tell people, please forgive me. I'm sorry I was wrong. See, I can take correction just like anybody else. See, you've got to get to the place where you can hear from God. See, because after I took the correction, God blessed me. He did some stuff for me that almost blew my mind, but I wasn't surprised because I understood if I lumber myself. If I lumber myself, he forgot he will exalt me. He will bless me. He will call me to give favor unto me. And then he said, do the work of an evangelist. Share the gospel. Share the good news. Whatever you go and to anybody that will listen if you share the gospel and they don't want to hear it, shake the dust off your feet and keep moving until the next person. But do the work of an evangelist. And then in the fourth chapter of Saint Timothy, and we brought this thing up and bring it home for verse 6 Paul summarizes his journey. He says, now I am ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. He says, but I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I kept the faith. Say, his forth is laid up for me. For me. For me. Say, for me. For me. For me. A crown of righteousness. Which the Lord the righteous judge shall give unto me on that day. And not to me only but to all of them that love his appearance. That have been looking for his appearance. Ready? For his appearance. So Paul says, I fought a good fight. I fought on good days. I fought on bad days. I fought a good fight. When the enemy attacked me on every side. I fought a good fight. When my friends turned their back on me and walked away. I fought a good fight. Are you fighting a good fight? Paul said, and I finished my course. I finished your course. I've got to stay in my lane. He says, but I finished my course. In other words, everything that God gave me to do, I did my best and I completed my course. Times I didn't know what to do and where to go. I still finished my course. When there were roadblocks in the way I finished my course. Even when I had to push up here. I finished my course. And this is what I like. He says, and I kept the faith. When the adversary came up against me I kept on believing God. When my friends came against me I kept on believing God. When I felt like giving up. I kept on believing God. When the doctor said, it's nothing we can do for you. I kept on believing God. When the doctor told me, Ross, it looks like you could die. I said, devil, you a liar and I kept on believing God. See, you've got to get to the place that no matter what comes against you that my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I'm going to keep on trusting God. I'm going to keep on believing God. I'm going to keep on looking to God. I'm going to keep on saying, Lord you said in your word the Bible said that God is not a man that he should lie. And he's not the son of man that he should repent if God said it. Ha! If God said it to him you can believe it to him. You can put your faith on him. If God said it, you can take it to the bank. He said, I kept the faith. And then Paul said after all of that he says and then I'm going to go to heaven and I shall wear a crown. Jesus is going to give me a crown made just for me. And he said not just for me but to all those who love the Lord. Do you love the Lord today? Are you going to live for Jesus today? Are you going to finish your race today? Then you get a crown and you get a crown and you get a crown. And you get a crown. I said all that to say this finish your race. I said finish your race. Tell somebody I'm going to finish my race. The enemy is not going to stop me. The enemy is not going to make me quit. I'm going to finish my race. I said I'm going to finish my race. And not only that but I'm going to finish my race with joy. The Bible said the joy of the Lord is your strength. Why are you running the race? And sometimes you get a little weak. And sometimes you get a little bit tired. But I discovered when I get a little weak and when I get a little tired I lift up my hands to begin to worship. I lift up my hands to begin to praise. And the Bible said they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not get weary. They shall walk but I'm going to run the race. I've come too far I've been through too much. I've been through hell and high water. I've seen what God can do. I'm going to finish my race. I'm going to do it through good times and bad times. When I'm bawling when I'm broke when I got friends with me when I'm all by myself when I don't know what to do I'm going to keep on running I'm going to keep on pushing I'm going to keep on fighting because I've got to finish I've got to finish my race because it will be worth it all when we see Jesus it will be worth it all when we see God one look I said one look one look at his dear face or sorrow or problems or sickness or diseases or situations it won't mean a thing so let us run this race so let us run this race so let us run this race till we see God so keep on running keep on fighting keep on believing keep on pressing keep on pushing whatever you do whatever you do finish the race by any means necessary finish your race never give up never surrender never retreat finish finish say finish say finish I'm going to finish my race and I'm going to have the victory and I'll see you in glory God bless you Praise the Lord everybody amen that is the word of the Lord for this house this day amen the Bible says the Lord sent his word to heal us and to deliver us amen and so this is what God is saying to his people today amen you want to make sure that you finish the race no distractions how many of you remember the story of the hare and the tortoise the hare and the tortoise if you're not familiar with it when you think of both animals obviously the rabbit or the hare is the fastest it's obvious that he would outrun a turtle because turtles are very slow paced but that hare got distracted by so many things every time you turn around he was doing something that was not a part of the race had nothing to do with the race just distracted till eventually the tortoise won because the tortoise stayed steadfast unmovable unmovable stayed on the race stayed on the course so the Lord is telling us today don't get distracted there's a lot of things in life that can distract you if your mind hasn't stayed on the Lord there's a lot of things in this day there's so much exposure to things that can literally ambush you you'll look up and you're like where did that come from where did that come from I was running and I was running with determination and destination in mind and all of a sudden something else caught my attention something else distracted me in a position where I was out of the race just out of it disqualified and got to go into a position where you have to retrain and get yourself together and start over thank God we serve the God of a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth tenth chance and he is able to get us back in the race hallelujah come on if you've been distracted hallelujah if something has caught your attention that ain't got nothing to do with God and his purpose for you come on and get you some prayer hallelujah come on and get you some prayer amen because we need to stay on course you all the enemy is subtle hallelujah he sneak up on you next thing he'll be all in your breast okay he's all up on you you know and you're like where did he come from right there right there up on you so come on if you need some prayer for strength if you need some prayer for endurance you need some prayer to stay in the race amen you need some strength for the Lord hallelujah amen the Lord through the Holy Ghost gives us power to live right he gives us power to to endure power to stand the Holy Ghost is a warner lets you know it tells you about imminent danger the Holy Ghost will tell you don't go there as if you yield to it if you adhere or surrender to the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost will prepare you hallelujah tell you don't go down that way you know Holy Ghost will show you things along the way I see you devil amen amen so come if you need prayer if you need strength hallelujah hallelujah come on we all need strength for the journey amen amen and I know in my life I'm 61 years old I've been distracted a lot you all I didn't get out of the race I did get in places where I shouldn't have been in places where my strength might have been diminished or my eyes was not on the prize like it should have been and I thank the Lord for his Holy Ghost I'm telling you man we what a a paraclete goes alongside of you and helps you it's like a legal person who tells you through life amen helps you to have the strength for every test and trial I thank God thank God we are so fully equipped so fully equipped it will be see Jesus life's child will seem so small when we see God let us who are so small come on I'm living to live again the hope is that the race is not given to the swift nor the strong but to that one that endures the Lord knows that we are dust that's the reason why he sent us his spirit because the Holy Spirit is the help it is the help it's the paraclete the Holy Spirit and so it is vitally important as believers that we are filled with the spirit of God because that's how we get from earth to glory amen the Lord knows that we might trip and fall we might get distracted but the thing that we have to do is endure endure a good man falls good man might fall several times but he gets up and he tries again amen let's give the Lord a hand praise for that excellent word of encouragement that God has sent amen to his house God equips us and he gets us ready so next week be ready some distractions are going to come and you got to know how to pay attention and keep your eyes on the prize amen stay in the raise amen come on let's receive deconsorted he's going to help with the offering great message what are we going to do with that word hallelujah the Bible said for us to hide the word in our hearts that we may not send against him hallelujah for it's the word of God that's going to keep us it's the word of God that's going to save us it's the word of God that's going to heal us hallelujah thank you Jesus now that it's time for us to bring our tithes and our offering time to honor the Lord with our substance as the Lord has blessed each and every one of us we give back to the Lord and the Lord will give back to us so we have to trust God sometimes we live part of the Bible we have to live all of it we have to receive all of the word of God we have to obey all of the word of God hallelujah that's how the Lord bless us the Lord said you give and it shall be given back to each and every one of us with good measures pressed down shaken together running over shall men give unto the bosom now if you have your tithes and offering please stand with me in Jesus name hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah let's stand on the word of God let's obey him hallelujah let's depend on him he's true to his word he said he'll give back to you in Jesus name now if you give grudgingly you're going to receive grudgingly you give bountifully you'll receive bountifully in Jesus name the Lord say he loves a cheerful giver let's raise our offering up in Jesus name Father we thank you we praise you we glorify we magnify your name Lord God we thank you for this offering Lord God that we're about to receive Lord God in Jesus name Lord God we ask you this evening Lord God that you will bless the gift and the giver Lord God in Jesus name and Lord those that are not able we ask that you will make a way that you may be able to give the next time Lord God in Jesus name and Jesus name we pray amen and amen bring your offering blessing and glory to you thank you Jesus I just want to praise you forever thank you Jesus come on and bless the Lord come on and bless the Lord are you going to stay in the race are you going to finish the race are you going to run all the way are you going to cross the finish line I don't know about you but I'm going to stay in the race and right now we're going to have Deacon Patrick he's going to come he's going to lead us out with a song I want you to get behind him and we're going to celebrate even as it comes give God a hand praise right now I was going to say my little testimony on this last past week on my job I started supervising on August the 1st and the Lord blessed me this Friday I got my batch with my picture and my wife's she knows he increased my he increased my pay and all that and he came to be a good group of people too along with my duties so they make my job more easier by being F1 that's the supervisor we got a lot of responsibilities so we can't be babysitting that's why I tell them all the time we're getting that group so before we start this is an old school song this is not my song that I normally sing but this is an old school we are soldiers in the army we got the fight although we got the cry we got the whole of the blood stained banner we got the whole up until we die we are soldiers in the army we got the fight although we got the cry we got the whole of the blood stained banner we got the whole up until we die we are soldiers in the army we got the fight although we got the cry we got the whole of the blood stained banner although we got the cry we getting ready to go home thank you for coming out amen today to hear the word of the lord to increase in your faith God take us from this place but never from your present keep us until we come back hallelujah at the appointed time amen and to give you praise and to give you glory and hear what you have to say with us come on we are determined to walk with the lord Jesus amen come on