Dodger: Hi there! How have you been? Sorry we haven't been here in a while, but we've started our summer vacation! Have you started yours yet?
Lilly: We've been having fun. Dodger and I went to the pool and we watched some swimmers the other day. They were racing, and it was really neat to watch how fast some of the swimmers were. But do you know what was interesting? Some of the swimmers started swimming quickly, but as time went on they had to slow down.
Dodger: They lost their energy. They started really well, but they didn't finish well at all. In fact, most of them were huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf when they finally reached the finish line.
Lilly: That's what were going to talk about today, Dodger.
Dodger: What, the Big Bad Wolf?
Lilly: No, finishing well.
Dodger: Oh.
Lilly: Just like those swimmers, many people start to do something with good intentions and plenty of enthusiasm, but they don't finish well. There are examples of that in the Bible, actually.
Dodger: Really? Like whom?
Lilly: Well, there's King Saul.
Dodger: King Saul? Oh, you mean the first king of Israel. He was anointed by God.
Lilly: You're right, and he had a pretty good start. You see, his story is told in the book of 1 Samuel.
Dodger: Here it is, starting in chapter 9. It says: "There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. And he had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people. Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. And Kish said to his son Saul, “Please take one of the servants with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.” So he passed through the mountains of Ephraim and through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not find them." (1 Samuel 9:1-4 NKJV) Um, Lilly, why is Saul searching for donkeys? Shouldn't he be king by now?
Lilly: No, not yet. Actually, this is what Saul was doing before he became king. You see, while he was searching for the donkeys he met a man named Samuel, who was quite famous back then.
Dodger: Why was he famous?
Lilly: Because he was a prophet who talked to God, listened to what he said, and told it to the people. Samuel could hear what God said.
Dodger: That's neat. So Saul gets to meet Samuel?
Lilly: Yep. Keep reading.
Dodger: Alright. "When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, let us return, lest my father cease caring about the donkeys and become worried about us.” And he said to him, “Look now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honorable man; all that he says surely comes to pass. So let us go there; perhaps he can show us the way that we should go.”
(1 Samuel 9:5-6 NKJV)
Lilly: And they did just that. Now check this out. Samuel was expecting Saul.
Dodger: He was? How did he know Saul was coming?
Lilly: Well, later on in the chapter it says: "Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, “Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me. So when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, “There he is, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign over My people.” ” (1 Samuel 9:15-17 NKJV)
Dodger: So, God had already decided that Saul would be king?
Lilly: Yes. So let's skip forward a few verses and look at what happened to Saul. Samuel gave Saul a nice dinner, and just in case you're worried about the donkeys-
Dodger: I am.
Lilly: -They're okay. Samuel tells Saul not to worry about them, since they were found. Now look at the last verse in the chapter, where it says: "As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.” And he went on. “But you stand here awhile, that I may announce to you the word of God.” (1 Samuel 9:27 NKJV)
Dodger: What was the word?
Lilly: The Bible says: "Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you leader over his inheritance? When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?”’
“Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them.
“After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you. “Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.” As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. (1 Samuel 10:1-9 NIV 1984)
Dodger: Wow. That would be pretty cool if something like that happened to me. So then what happened?
Lilly: Samuel went and showed Saul to the nation of Israel which he was to rule. "Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!” (1 Samuel 10:24 NIV 1984)
Dodger: So Saul was made king.
Lilly: Yep. But Saul's first big victory was in chapter 11, where he with the help of God, saved a bunch of Israelites from an evil king named Nahash who wanted to take all their right eyeballs out.
Dodger: Ugh! Nahash wanted to put their eyes out?
Lilly: Yep, but he didn't get too. The Holy Spirit came upon him, and God used Saul to score a major victory over Nahash and his army and save the day. Saul was doing a good job.
Dodger: But he failed later, didn't he?
Lilly: Yeah. Look at what 1 Chronicles says. "Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse." (1 Chronicles 10:13-14 NIV 1984) When God sent Samuel to tell him to repent and change his ways, he refused to admit he was wrong. Then he became jealous of another famous man who would be king after him, David, and tried to kill him. Saul did not serve the Lord, even though he started well.
Dodger: Wow. That's pretty sad. I mean, he started really great, but he made a bunch of lousy mistakes and didn't repent of them.
Lilly: It is sad. Saul gives us an example of a person who starts doing something with God's help, and then turns away from serving Him. Saul failed, and so will anyone who starts with God but walks away from Him. That's why we're talking about finishing well, because as good as it is to start well, it's much more important to finish well.
Dodger: I see what you mean. So what do we do to finish well?
Lilly: Well, first of all, you have to rely on God's strength, not your own. If we try to do everything on our own, we fail. In Proverbs 3:5-6, God tells us to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." (NIV 1984) When we rely on God, through prayer, and the reading and doing of His word the Bible, we can succeed. We must also keep our focus on Jesus. We have to do what Hebrews 12:2 says. I know I've said this verse before, but the Bible never gets over quoted. It says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (NIV 1984)
Dodger: There's actually a pretty good story for that. In ancient Israel there was a man named Gideon. In his day Israel was suffering because they had been sinning, and so God had turned them over to the Midianites, who treated them badly, destroying their food. But Israel asked God for help, and He chose Gideon to lead an army against the Midianites. At first, Gideon had a nicely sized army, but God made him shrink it down to 300 men. God made his army smaller so that Israel wouldn't be able to claim they'd saved themselves. And you know what? Gideon won! On his own, he wouldn't have been able to do it, but with God's help, he defeated them! By the way, if you've never read about Gideon, you can read his whole story in Judges 6-8, which is a really great thing to read. Gideon had to trust God, which he did, and he stopped an army which had been oppressing Israel and saved Israel.
Lilly: Gideon wasn't perfect, and he made mistakes afterward, but he finished the task to defeat the Midianites that God gave him, and he did it because he relied on God. Instead of looking at his circumstances, he looked at God's promises, thus he finished well.
Dodger: So what else do we need?
Lilly: Well, we need perseverance.
Dodger: Percy-who?
Lilly: Perseverance.
Dodger: What's that?
Lilly: It means that when we start something, we stick with it until it's done, no matter how difficult the challenge. Look at Hebrews 10:36 where it says: "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." (NIV 1984) No matter how hard the work we set out to do, we can't give up.
Dodger: That reminds me of Romans 5:3-5, which says "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (NIV 1984) Perseverance leads to other good things.
Lilly: Right. We must rely on God's strength to sustain our efforts, and keep at them until they are finished. That's why walking with Jesus is something we do all our lives.
The last thing we need is repentance. When we fail, we need to be quick to repent and change our actions and tell Jesus we're sorry and mean it. The Bible says in 1 John 1:8-9 "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (NKJV) We need to be quick to repent, otherwise we run the risk of becoming hard-hearted like Saul, who definitely did not finish well.
Dodger: It's pretty rewarding to finish well, isn't it?
Lilly: It certainly is. Lives can be saved, such as when Jesus finished his job of redeeming mankind and said "It is finished!" (John 19:30) Missions are accomplished, and best of all, God is pleased when we finish well. Pray and ask Jesus to help us to make the right choices and finish well.
Dodger: You know what? It looks like we're about out of time. I'm glad you came today. Thanks a lot! Remember, Jesus loves you, and that's not about to change!
Lilly: Búcsú!
NIV 1984 means New International Version 1984
NKJV means New King James Version
Lilly: We've been having fun. Dodger and I went to the pool and we watched some swimmers the other day. They were racing, and it was really neat to watch how fast some of the swimmers were. But do you know what was interesting? Some of the swimmers started swimming quickly, but as time went on they had to slow down.
Dodger: They lost their energy. They started really well, but they didn't finish well at all. In fact, most of them were huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf when they finally reached the finish line.
Lilly: That's what were going to talk about today, Dodger.
Dodger: What, the Big Bad Wolf?
Lilly: No, finishing well.
Dodger: Oh.
Lilly: Just like those swimmers, many people start to do something with good intentions and plenty of enthusiasm, but they don't finish well. There are examples of that in the Bible, actually.
Dodger: Really? Like whom?
Lilly: Well, there's King Saul.
Dodger: King Saul? Oh, you mean the first king of Israel. He was anointed by God.
Lilly: You're right, and he had a pretty good start. You see, his story is told in the book of 1 Samuel.
Dodger: Here it is, starting in chapter 9. It says: "There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. And he had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people. Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. And Kish said to his son Saul, “Please take one of the servants with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.” So he passed through the mountains of Ephraim and through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not find them." (1 Samuel 9:1-4 NKJV) Um, Lilly, why is Saul searching for donkeys? Shouldn't he be king by now?
Lilly: No, not yet. Actually, this is what Saul was doing before he became king. You see, while he was searching for the donkeys he met a man named Samuel, who was quite famous back then.
Dodger: Why was he famous?
Lilly: Because he was a prophet who talked to God, listened to what he said, and told it to the people. Samuel could hear what God said.
Dodger: That's neat. So Saul gets to meet Samuel?
Lilly: Yep. Keep reading.
Dodger: Alright. "When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, let us return, lest my father cease caring about the donkeys and become worried about us.” And he said to him, “Look now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honorable man; all that he says surely comes to pass. So let us go there; perhaps he can show us the way that we should go.”
(1 Samuel 9:5-6 NKJV)
Lilly: And they did just that. Now check this out. Samuel was expecting Saul.
Dodger: He was? How did he know Saul was coming?
Lilly: Well, later on in the chapter it says: "Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, “Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me. So when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, “There he is, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign over My people.” ” (1 Samuel 9:15-17 NKJV)
Dodger: So, God had already decided that Saul would be king?
Lilly: Yes. So let's skip forward a few verses and look at what happened to Saul. Samuel gave Saul a nice dinner, and just in case you're worried about the donkeys-
Dodger: I am.
Lilly: -They're okay. Samuel tells Saul not to worry about them, since they were found. Now look at the last verse in the chapter, where it says: "As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.” And he went on. “But you stand here awhile, that I may announce to you the word of God.” (1 Samuel 9:27 NKJV)
Dodger: What was the word?
Lilly: The Bible says: "Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you leader over his inheritance? When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?”’
“Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them.
“After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you. “Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.” As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. (1 Samuel 10:1-9 NIV 1984)
Dodger: Wow. That would be pretty cool if something like that happened to me. So then what happened?
Lilly: Samuel went and showed Saul to the nation of Israel which he was to rule. "Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!” (1 Samuel 10:24 NIV 1984)
Dodger: So Saul was made king.
Lilly: Yep. But Saul's first big victory was in chapter 11, where he with the help of God, saved a bunch of Israelites from an evil king named Nahash who wanted to take all their right eyeballs out.
Dodger: Ugh! Nahash wanted to put their eyes out?
Lilly: Yep, but he didn't get too. The Holy Spirit came upon him, and God used Saul to score a major victory over Nahash and his army and save the day. Saul was doing a good job.
Dodger: But he failed later, didn't he?
Lilly: Yeah. Look at what 1 Chronicles says. "Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse." (1 Chronicles 10:13-14 NIV 1984) When God sent Samuel to tell him to repent and change his ways, he refused to admit he was wrong. Then he became jealous of another famous man who would be king after him, David, and tried to kill him. Saul did not serve the Lord, even though he started well.
Dodger: Wow. That's pretty sad. I mean, he started really great, but he made a bunch of lousy mistakes and didn't repent of them.
Lilly: It is sad. Saul gives us an example of a person who starts doing something with God's help, and then turns away from serving Him. Saul failed, and so will anyone who starts with God but walks away from Him. That's why we're talking about finishing well, because as good as it is to start well, it's much more important to finish well.
Dodger: I see what you mean. So what do we do to finish well?
Lilly: Well, first of all, you have to rely on God's strength, not your own. If we try to do everything on our own, we fail. In Proverbs 3:5-6, God tells us to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." (NIV 1984) When we rely on God, through prayer, and the reading and doing of His word the Bible, we can succeed. We must also keep our focus on Jesus. We have to do what Hebrews 12:2 says. I know I've said this verse before, but the Bible never gets over quoted. It says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (NIV 1984)
Dodger: There's actually a pretty good story for that. In ancient Israel there was a man named Gideon. In his day Israel was suffering because they had been sinning, and so God had turned them over to the Midianites, who treated them badly, destroying their food. But Israel asked God for help, and He chose Gideon to lead an army against the Midianites. At first, Gideon had a nicely sized army, but God made him shrink it down to 300 men. God made his army smaller so that Israel wouldn't be able to claim they'd saved themselves. And you know what? Gideon won! On his own, he wouldn't have been able to do it, but with God's help, he defeated them! By the way, if you've never read about Gideon, you can read his whole story in Judges 6-8, which is a really great thing to read. Gideon had to trust God, which he did, and he stopped an army which had been oppressing Israel and saved Israel.
Lilly: Gideon wasn't perfect, and he made mistakes afterward, but he finished the task to defeat the Midianites that God gave him, and he did it because he relied on God. Instead of looking at his circumstances, he looked at God's promises, thus he finished well.
Dodger: So what else do we need?
Lilly: Well, we need perseverance.
Dodger: Percy-who?
Lilly: Perseverance.
Dodger: What's that?
Lilly: It means that when we start something, we stick with it until it's done, no matter how difficult the challenge. Look at Hebrews 10:36 where it says: "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." (NIV 1984) No matter how hard the work we set out to do, we can't give up.
Dodger: That reminds me of Romans 5:3-5, which says "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (NIV 1984) Perseverance leads to other good things.
Lilly: Right. We must rely on God's strength to sustain our efforts, and keep at them until they are finished. That's why walking with Jesus is something we do all our lives.
The last thing we need is repentance. When we fail, we need to be quick to repent and change our actions and tell Jesus we're sorry and mean it. The Bible says in 1 John 1:8-9 "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (NKJV) We need to be quick to repent, otherwise we run the risk of becoming hard-hearted like Saul, who definitely did not finish well.
Dodger: It's pretty rewarding to finish well, isn't it?
Lilly: It certainly is. Lives can be saved, such as when Jesus finished his job of redeeming mankind and said "It is finished!" (John 19:30) Missions are accomplished, and best of all, God is pleased when we finish well. Pray and ask Jesus to help us to make the right choices and finish well.
Dodger: You know what? It looks like we're about out of time. I'm glad you came today. Thanks a lot! Remember, Jesus loves you, and that's not about to change!
Lilly: Búcsú!
NIV 1984 means New International Version 1984
NKJV means New King James Version
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