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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

Beginning  with Eternity in Mind

Let us watch, let us pray a very fitting message for these days that we live in.

You know, we all breathed a sigh of relief when 2020 was finally history.

Yet in the midst of our ongoing battle with a pandemic, recent events in our country's capital caused great distress, and rightly so.

What took place in the US Capitol building this past Wednesday truly reveals a dysfunctional society.

5 people were pronounced dead and several others were injured.

And it was a deeply sad day for our country.

And as modern day disciples of Christ, as we gather to worship, As we spend time at the feet of Jesus day by day by day, we must be reminded that if there was ever a time that we needed to reflect God's character and be filled with the Holy Spirit and reflect the fruit of the Spirit, it is now.

And in doing so, we can be agents of healing and of unity in our hurting community and in our circle of influence.

And I believe that 1 of the greatest needs today is to be continually searching our own hearts to make sure that there's no pride or evil thing hidden in there, and choose to respond in absolute surrender to the will of God.

And by His grace, in these days that we live in, May we not only be disciples that are known by our love, by whomever watches us and listens to our words that come out of our mouth, but our prayer is that we would also be peacemakers in our great country for his glory, amen?

And as much as we welcomed 2021 with much anticipation and much jubilation, the harsh reality is that we begin 2021 in the midst of culture, political, and pandemic wars.

And our beliefs, our preferences, our values, our assumptions and attitudes, they all influence the choices that we make every single day.

And as much as we anticipate great things happening in 2021, we just don't know what is coming.

And I'm afraid that we often forget that even small choices have big consequences.

So there's a lot to think about as we enter into a new year.

And my message today is entitled, Beginning with Eternity in Mind.

With those thoughts in our mind, I invite you to bow your heads with me once more as we acknowledge God and ask Him to speak to us today.

Father in heaven, Lord, we don't need to be convinced that we live in very, very troubling times.

And I pray, Lord, that as we examine your word, as we read your word, that you, Lord, would speak to us in that mighty yet gentle voice.

We want to hear a word from you today Lord, as we embark into a new year.

Speak Lord, for thy servants listened and I your servant humble myself that you may speak through me today.

In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen Covey affirms that if 1 is to be highly effective, he or she must begin with the end in mind.

He goes on to explain that beginning with the end in mind is based on the principle that all things are created twice.

First there is a mental or first creation and then there's a physical or second creation of all things.

And he defines this principle in his book by stating, The most fundamental application is to begin today with the image, picture, or paradigm of the end of your life as your frame of reference by which everything else in life is examined.

Let me give you 2 personal examples of this principle.

There was a time when running was not 1 of my preferred forms of exercise.

In fact, I had no interest in pounding the pavement with my feet.

I had other choices and I preferred them.

But while I was attending a summer event in Michigan during the years that we served there, I chose to run a 5k with my family.

They persuaded me and I said sure and so I joined in, I registered, I ran this 5k and to my surprise, well I did fairly well.

I placed in the top 3 runners in the men's category.

Now after the race, a friend of mine, Dr.

Ron Dupre, who's a veteran marathon runner, he came up to me and he said, Christian, with that kind of finish and some ongoing training, my friend, you can become a runner.

You can go from being a jogger to being a runner.

And when he said that, I don't know what it was, but that just ignited something within my heart.

And from that day on, I began each day with the end in mind.

That is to say, to run 26.2 miles, namely a marathon, in under 4 hours.

And so I trained by strictly eating high carbs, high complex carbs.

I kept myself hydrated, drinking lots of water.

Several months later, now in the fall, in October, I ran my first marathon in Chicago with over 40, 000 runners.

And I crossed that finish line, my friends, with the time of 3 hours, 58 minutes, and 21 seconds.

I know I did when I crossed that finish line.

And I began, I had begun my training each day during the course of that time with a mental picture of the end, crossing that finish line under 4 hours.

And it had fueled my motivation to train consistently.

It was after that experience that I became convinced that there was something to Covey's principle.

Now I won't claim that I have always kept all my New Year's resolutions.

Oh yes, I've made several over the years and several I have not kept.

But I'm glad to report, my dear friends, that I actually did in 2020.

I resolved to go vegan all year long and I did.

Believe it or not, I ate neither cheddar cheese or any of the above, nor dairy ice cream, nor omelets, nor milk chocolate.

I didn't even have fried chick or stripples.

Some of you are thinking, I thought I was vegan.

And during the course of the year, I actually dropped up to 20 pounds.

And I ended with a cholesterol level of 163, which I am very proud of.

And again, I had begun the year with an image of the end in mind, and that had fueled my determination to practice self-control at every meal and thus reach my goal.

You know the mental image of Crossing that finish line under 4 hours was my frame of reference by which my priorities along the way were examined.

It was the end that I had in mind and I made choices accordingly.

The paradigm of practicing veganism for a total of 365 days was my frame of reference by which my choices at every meal were examined.

The principle that made a lot of sense to me.

And what I discovered is in my personal experience when applying this principle is that it motivated me to make not just good choices, but the best choices, leading to positive results in my life.

But I know something about human nature, just as you do.

We can be very ambitious at times, and the desire for instant gratification can be tempting.

It is when we're ambitious, when we're driven, that we think about the here and now.

We become so involved in the details of something in the present that we lose sight of where our actions will lead us in the end.

As we have heard it said, We can't see the forest for the trees or the ends justifies the means.

We're caught up in the moment, in the here and now, that we overlook or disregard consequences.

We can be so caught up with what needs to happen now at any cost that our tendency at times can be that we overlook the implications or the consequences of our actions.

And so, what if my frame of reference though was not a period of hours or days, even months or years, in order to accomplish a goal or an objective, but what if my frame of reference were to be eternity?

How could this impact my life and my thinking and The choices I make as I journey through life in this world, in this life.

Let's see how this played out in the life of 2 Old Testament characters that we're going to take a closer look at today.

2 distinct frames of reference, as we're gonna see, with 2 very different results.

1 of them I would like to propose began with the end in mind.

As we take a close look to these 2 men's lives, my prayer is that we will see ourselves in this paradigm and be able to make choices accordingly.

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Beginning with Eternity in Mind

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