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Halfway Boulevard
Acts 20:24
"But none of these things move me, neither
count I my life
dear unto myself, so that I might finish
my course with joy, and the
ministry, which I have received of the Lord
Jesus, to testify the
gospel of the grace of God."--Acts 20:24
" . . .I have finished my course . . .
."--II Tim. 4:7.
Recently I saw the words, "HALFWAY
BOULEVARD" written on a street sign.
"That's the street most Christians live
on." I thought to myself.
In our text, we find a man who was not
satisfied to live
there. He was not happy on “nine-mile hill,
“one-mile bridge” or even
“midway lane”. He had to be right in the
heart of things for God.
Paul is saying to us, "I don't care if they
criticize me, beat me,
lock me up in jail, stone me or kill me: I
want to be an
all-out, dedicated Christian. I want to
finish my course."
Paul
Wasn’t Ashamed of the Gospel. He was always glad to be
identified with Christ. He stated on one
occasion, "For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is
the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth; to
the Jew first, and also to
the Greek" (Rom. 1:16).
People seem to be willing to speak out for
sin and all the rest that
the Devil stands for. Yet around the church
they are quiet as
mice. [testimony time] Should I not assume
that the children of God
are afraid to speak out for Jesus in the
world all the more?
Paul
Didn't Argue With God. When the Spirit of the Lord
spoke to his heart, he began to pack his
suitcase. On one occasion,
he was leaving for Bithynia, but the Spirit
suffered him not and he
didn't go. Then he saw the vision of the
Macedonian man, and right
away he left for Macedonia. Obedience is
the greatest attribute of
the child of God.
Paul Was
Not Afraid of a Goal. He knew where he was going.
He pressed toward the mark of the prize of
the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus (see Phil. 3:14). He also
knew what it was going to
cost him to get there. yet he still refused
to ease up. Thank God
for a man who would not be lukewarm,
halfhearted or casual with
God's business! Christians have no business
living on "HALFWAY
BOULEVARD."
For those who agree and desire to move
to a more active life of
service for God, I suggest you take along
some new items to move into
a new location at the
corner of “Busy Street” and “Active Avenue.”
Notice the seven things that ought to be a
part of your life.
I. THE GO OF
COMMISSION
God told Abraham to go, and he went.
So did Moses, Joshua,
Elijah, Peter, Paul, the blind man, the
adulterous woman, the maniac
of Gadara and many others. He gave us the
Great Commission as a
last, dying request.
Isaiah got a glimpse of the Lord one
day and became troubled
about his sinful condition. Just as soon as
that was taken care of,
he wanted to go. He volunteered himself and
cried out, "Here am I;
send me" (Isa. 6:8). It is normal for a
person to want to go with
God's message. There is something wrong
when we do not want to go.
II. THE GLOW OF
COMPASSION
Compassion will develop and grow as we
are exposed to the
need. The psalmist explains this: "He that
goeth forth and
weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall
doubtless come again with
rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him"
(Ps. 126:6). Jesus had
compassion on the multitudes and wept over
the city of Jerusalem.
Paul ceased not to warn the people with
tears day and night.
I remember one night visiting in a home
where I was trying to
win the husband to Christ. He was polite
but hard. "No, thank you," he said several times. Then I noticed his
little wife
began to weep silently. When he saw the
tears running down her
cheeks, he broke and opened up, eventually
getting saved. Compassion had brought results again!
III. THE GRIP OF
CONVICTION
When a person makes a commitment to
God, it ought to grip his
soul. His mind ought to be made up at that
point that the Bible is
right and that settles it! There used to be
a day when right was
right and wrong was wrong, but that day is
gone. Gray has replaced
black and white, and we are in a mess. No
wonder when people leave they end up in all kinds of other belief systems,
blown about by every wind of doctrine!
In the Bible, men knew where they
stood. Paul said, "For I
know whom I have believed, and am persuaded
that he is able to keep
that which I have committed unto him against
that day" (II Tim.
1:12). When specific convictions grip a
man, they will give him
purpose and direction.
IV. THE GODLINESS
OF CONSECRATION
People are moving farther and farther
out of town in this
matter. David prophesied that "the godly
man ceaseth…the faithful fail from among the children of men" (Ps. 12:1).
Paul pleaded with men to "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Rom. 12:1). The
Bible says of Caleb, "He hath wholly followed the Lord" (Deut. 1:36). O
God, may his tribe
increase!
V. THE GRACE OF
CONSISTENCY
Don't you get tired of once-in-a-whilers,
used-to-be'ers and
later-on'ers? The churches today are full
of spasmodic, part-time
Christians who are an abomination to God.
They have just enough
religion to make them miserable.
This crowd gets really stirred up
during revival meetings, then
they are gone again. The Word of God
declares, "Be ye stedfast,
unmoveable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, forasmuch as
ye know that your labour is not in vain in
the Lord" (I Cor. 15:58).
Thank God for Moses who refused to
be scared off by the
Pharaoh, Daniel who would not stop praying,
the Hebrew children who
would not bow down, Joseph who would not
have any part of Potiphar's
wife, and for Jesus who told the Devil, "It
is written . . ." (see
Matt. 4:4, 7, 10).
In season or out of season, God give us
grace to stand.
VI. THE GUMPTION
OF COMMUNICATION
This fifty-dollar word has a
one-thousand-dollar meaning. It
simply means to have common sense in any
situation. God works
through common sense. The Holy Spirit gives
us spiritual
discernment. He gives us sense enough to
say and to do the right
thing at the right time. [also means
boldness, spunk]
Philip didn't know exactly what he was
going to say to the
eunuch. He joined himself to the chariot
and started talking. It
wasn't long before he led the eunuch to
Christ and he baptized him.
Jesus talked to farmers about sowing and
reaping, fishermen about
fishing, shepherds about sheep and
carpenters about a building with
a good foundation. That is gumption!
VII. THE GRIT OF
CONTINUANCE
People who are determined to please God
must learn the lesson
of persistence. Moses endured, as seeing
Him who is invisible.
James said, "Blessed is the man who endureth
temptation: for when
he is tried, he shall receive the crown of
life . . ." (James 1:12).
Jacob would not let go of the angel
until he got the blessing.
Moses would not quit fasting and praying
until God changed His mind
and spared the people. Elisha refused to
let Elijah get out of his
sight until the mantle was his. The Gentile
woman refused to get
offended until she got the crumbs from the
table. Blind Bartimaeus
just hollered louder when they tried to keep
him quiet, so serious
was he about getting his sight back. All of
these accounts show us
the value of staying with it until the
desired result comes.
Torrey Johnson tells how he was
traveling once on a plane.
He was praying that the Lord would give him
an opportunity to
witness to someone. The air became
turbulent, and the stewardess
sat down next to him until it calmed. He
engaged her in
conversation and won her to Christ. As he
departed from the plane
in St. Louis, she said, "If I don't see you
again, I'll see you in
Heaven."
A few minutes later a radio
announcement told of the crash of
that very same plane. The girl was killed
with the rest of the
passengers and crew. What a blessing that
Mr. Johnson did not just
halfway do his job!
God help us to get into God's business
with our whole heart and
