Certainties that Drive an Enduring Ministry, Pt. 1

It is a special message that has been on my heart for a number of weeks in preparation for the John Piper Conference which will come up in a week or so, a couple of weeks from now, that I want to bring to you tonight. I've been thinking, because I've been asked to think about it, about what it is that contributes to an enduring, persevering, long-term ministry. This is not something that I have not thought about. In the past, I have. I began to think about the end of my life somewhere near the beginning of my life, truthfully. Somewhere in the very early years of my ministry, I was brought under the power of the words of the Apostle Paul. They were dramatically effective in my thinking very early in my ministry. They are the words that Paul wrote to Timothy. He had instructed Timothy to fulfill his ministry. And then he said this, “I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not to me only, but to all those who love His appearing.”...