“Finishing Well” by Dr. Simon Huang on 24th Mar 2019

Many started well but had poor ending. An example which can be seen was King Solomon. Another example was Moses who saw the Promised Land but he failed at the last hurdle. God gave him clear instruction to talk to the rock rather than hitting it twice. Out of anger and frustrations he disobeyed God and used his own method. How about us, and who can we learn from? Jesus and Paul are the best we can learn from. Our first task is discipleship. We need to be an apprentice and an authentic disciple i.e. to do our best.

In discipleship, we need to be determined just like Moses who was tasked with the Exodus and like William Wilberforce who fought to abolish the slave trade. We need to pray and be sensitive to God’s calling. Secondly we need to be disciplined. We do not want to be like David and Samson who both failed because of women. They both paid a heavy price because both of them failed to be disciplined. We need to be spiritually discipline such as reading the Scriptures regularly, attend worship service and fellowship meetings etc. Lastly, we need to be free from distractions. One of them is sexual abuse and lure of sexual sin which lead to the downfall of a person. Money is also a distraction. Embezzlement of money from the Church can cause a lot of distraction to the Church.

So how to overcome sex, power and money (SPM)? We need to be equipped with the Armour of God to resist temptation (Eph 6:10 – 18). We need the word of God to rebuke Satan. We also need to refrain from criticisms and complaints otherwise they can make us weary and burnt out. Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Mat 11:29). How we start is far less important than how we end. Let Jesus tells you personally that you had fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith.