Personal notes from a Sunday morning at Denton Bible Church:

Music:

• Sing to the King
• Mighty to Save
• Before the Throne of God Above
• Jesus Paid it All
• Word of God Speak
• Agnus Dei (benediction)

Text Reading: Hebrew 10: 36-39

Chorus of “Before the Throne of God Above”:
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Praise the One, Risen Son of God

Sermon Notes (Tommy Nelson in the pulpit) – The Musing of a Grumpy Old Man (Tommy turned 60 last week):

• “Hallelujah to the Frogs” (TCU’s Rose Bowl victory)
• The older you get, your ideals change. No longer is “it” all about skill, talent, and knowledge. It is about wisdom and “the finish”
• be impressed with those that have “pulled the long haul”, have fidelity in their faith, and a spirit that thunders from a soul that’s still alive.
• “faith” and “repent” are synonyms
• A saving faith is a continuance of rebirth; it continues until your last breath
• The righteous fall seven times (Proverbs 24:16), the get-back-up is a show and commitment of your faith
• TN: “The young is a wad of theory. No one wants to hear those life and faith theories from youth. Ya gotta do the long haul before anyone wants to listen to you. You’ve got to know what it’s like to bury your parents, bury loved ones, manage the trials of faith, church, marriage, and illness. Then maybe someone will want to listen to you.”
• TN: “Ahh the simplicity of the Book of John. John could have been a college football player by the way he deals with simple logic”
• Saved guys are not ex-saved guys (phony)
• A bird does not fly because it must, it flies because its a bird.
• Salvation wholly involves perseverance
• All my life I carry others. With age, God will carry me.
• “God, don’t let me go until I leave a footprint on the young”
• Fought the good fight; keep focus – no distractions; finish the course; come to the end of the run; kept the faith; maintain your steadfastness of God’s faith
• Exodus = “the way out”
• 2 Timothy 1; some men become shipwrecked and never get to deliver the goods
• what’s more important than life…God’s pronouncement of a job “well done”
• don’t say “the way we used to do” or “I remember when…”. That is voice from children of a lesser God. He wants us to finish the race ahead of us. The awards of the past, delight in them but do not dwell
• 1968 Olympics: Black Panther athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos made their controversial political statement much to the anger of a nation and the world. But the true statement made at those (Mexico City) Olympics was by an obscure marathoner from Tanzania named John Steven Ahkwari. More than an hour after a race winner was declared, Ahkwari completed the race hobbled and bloody from a leg injury to the applause of appreciation from the stadium crowd. He later told reporters when asked why he didn’t stop because of his injury, “My country did not send me 10,000 miles to Mexico City to start the race. They sent me to finish.”
• Finish what you start…fight the good fight…stay true to your faith…rewards await you in the end.