Finishing Strong | Daniel Bentley

Dec 10, 2023

Devotional

Day 1: Keep going in the strength of the Lord.

The journey of faith is a marathon, not a sprint. There is always more ground to take, more of God's grace to experience, and more of His faithfulness to encounter. Complacency can easily creep in during seasons of rest, but the call remains to press onward. The same God who fought for you in the past will continue to lead you into future victories. [16:09]

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12 NIV)

Reflection: As you look back on your spiritual journey, what is one specific way God has fought for you in the past? In light of that history, what is one area of your present life where He is inviting you to ‘keep going’ and trust Him for a new victory?

Day 2: Stay the course by holding to God's Word.

A life built upon the truth of Scripture provides a firm foundation for every season. God’s Word is both timeless in its truth and timely in its application, offering wisdom and guidance for every situation. It serves as a lamp, illuminating the path forward and keeping you from straying to the right or to the left. Clinging to it is the key to a faithful and steadfast life. [22:23]

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:105 NIV)

Reflection: Where in your daily routine can you create more consistent space to engage with Scripture? What is one practical step you can take this week to allow God’s Word to more directly inform your decisions and worldview?

Day 3: Guard your heart against the subtle drift of compromise.

Compromise rarely begins with a major decision, but with small concessions that slowly pull you off course. It is a subtle drift that can leave you far from where you started, often without you even realizing it. The call is to a life of purity, set apart for God’s purposes as a light to the world. Vigilance is required to hold fast to the Lord and not ally yourself with what He opposes. [29:57]

“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” (Hebrews 2:1 NIV)

Reflection: Is there a seemingly small area in your thoughts, habits, or relationships where you have begun to make concessions that distance you from God? What would it look like to ‘hold fast’ to the Lord in that specific area this week?

Day 4: Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength.

God’s primary desire is not for outward compliance to rules, but for the full affection of your heart. Obedience that flows from a place of genuine love is not burdensome but is a natural response to His great love for you. When you draw near to Jesus, the focus shifts from the boundaries of sin to the beauty of the Savior. A heart fully devoted to Him is the surest guard against a life of compromise. [33:13]

“Jesus replied: ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment.’” (Matthew 22:37-38 NIV)

Reflection: How would you describe the current state of your love for God—is it warm, routine, or distant? What is one tangible way you can express your love for Him today, not out of duty, but from a place of genuine affection?

Day 5: Choose the path of God's faithful promises.

Your life tells a story, and you have a choice in its narrative. One path leads to the fulfillment of God’s good promises, a life characterized by His faithfulness. The other path leads away from Him, resulting in pain and regret. It is never too late to allow God to rewrite your story; the ending is what truly matters. You can choose today to embrace the life of blessing He has promised. [38:11]

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV)

Reflection: Looking at the story your life is currently telling, which of the two paths does it most resemble? What is one step of faith you can take today to more fully align your story with the ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’ of God’s promises?

Sermon Summary

Joshua chapter 23 unfolds as a sober wrap to a life lived in obedience and a clear call to finish well. The narrative recounts an aged leader summoning Israel to remember God’s past victories, to act on the inheritance already allotted, and to press into the remaining work rather than rest on past success. Stories of miraculous deliverance—Jericho’s walls, hailstones, and the sun standing still—become proof that God fought on Israel’s behalf and that continued faithfulness will see promised victories fulfilled. Three practical imperatives emerge: keep going, stay the course, and don’t quit.

Keeping going recognizes seasons of rest without mistaking them for the end of the mission. Complacency proves dangerous; the people must press into unfinished tasks because God’s past interventions guarantee future help when obedience continues. Staying the course centers on Scripture: obedience, meditation, and fidelity to God’s word form the plumb line for decisions, discerning truth that is both timeless and timely. The text insists that Scripture remains relevant because it bears divine breath and speaks into modern dilemmas with fresh clarity through the Spirit.

The sermon exposes the subtle seduction of compromise. Associating with surrounding nations and adopting their gods illustrates how small concessions accumulate into spiritual drift. Rather than portraying divine wrath as arbitrary punishment, the text explains consequences as the natural fruit of turning away: enemies become snares, and sin brings bondage. God’s promises remain unwavering and true, yet their realization in human lives requires a responsive, obedient people. The conclusion pivots from sober warning to hopeful invitation: endings continue to matter, and repentance, renewed devotion, and persistent obedience can rewrite a life’s story. The portrait closes with the conviction that God is both author and perfecter—faithfulness endures, and the faithful can pass a trustworthy legacy to the next generation.

Key Takeaways

1. Keep going; finish the fight Continued rest doesn’t equal completion; unfinished work remains even after miraculous victories. The history of divine intervention should not lull the community into passivity but propel it into renewed obedience and mission. God’s past help guarantees present enablement for the tasks that remain, so perseverance becomes spiritual stewardship rather than self-reliance. [16:09]
2. Stay the course in Scripture The sure path forward depends on holding unswervingly to God’s word as lamp and guide. Scripture functions as both timeless truth and Spirit-lit, timely counsel, shaping decisions and resisting cultural drift. Obedience grows out of a love-formed heart that lets the word direct every step, not merely furnish moral examples. [22:43]
3. Guard against quiet compromise Compromise enters as small concessions that, accumulated, carry the soul away from covenant faithfulness. Close, repeated proximity to pagan patterns corrodes devotion until foreign alliances become spiritual thorns. Vigilance requires deliberate separation and a posture of cleaving to God, not curious negotiation with surrounding philosophies. [27:56]
4. God's promises require response Divine promises remain true and fulfilled in Christ, but their personal realization calls for human response—repentance, obedience, and perseverance. Promises are reliable; potential is not automatic. A life that ends in blessing results from choosing the path of faithfulness, not passivity or resignation. [36:44]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:57] - Sing-Along Invite & Christmas
[02:14] - Yearly Word & Upcoming Series
[03:30] - Hanukkah: History & Meaning
[06:35] - Opening Prayer & Aim
[07:46] - Theme: Finishing Strong
[12:13] - Joshua 23: Context Set
[16:09] - Keep Going: God Fights
[21:59] - Stay the Course: Obey Scripture
[27:56] - Beware Compromise and Drift
[36:44] - Promises, Choices, and Ending
[44:37] - Closing Prayer & Response

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading
Joshua 23:1–16 (ESV)

Observation questions

In Joshua 23:3, what does Joshua emphasize as the source of Israel’s past victories?
According to Joshua 23:6–8, what specific instructions does Joshua give for remaining faithful to God?
What consequences does Joshua describe for turning away from God and aligning with foreign nations (Joshua 23:12–13)?
How does Joshua describe God’s track record with His promises in Joshua 23:14?

Interpretation questions

Why does Joshua repeatedly stress that “the Lord your God fought for you” (Joshua 23:3) [16:09] instead of attributing success to Israel’s strength?
What might it look like for someone to “associate with” or “intermarry” with unbelieving cultures in a modern context, as warned in Joshua 23:7? [27:56]
How does the idea that “sin is a cruel taskmaster” [35:54] help explain the natural consequences of turning from God described in Joshua 23:13?
In what ways can God’s faithfulness in keeping past promises motivate continued obedience, as Joshua implies in verse 14?

Application questions

In what area of your life have you become complacent or settled into a “season of rest” [19:32] when there is still spiritual ground to take? What would it look like to “keep going” this week?
How can you practically “hold fast to the Lord” [31:47] and avoid the subtle drift of compromise in your relationships, entertainment, or priorities?
Where have you experienced God’s faithfulness in the past, and how can remembering those moments strengthen your trust in His promises for the future? [38:11]
What is one step you can take this week to make Scripture a more central guide for your decisions, rather than relying on cultural trends or personal preferences? [24:26]
If someone were to read the “story” of your life right now [40:33], what would it say about what you value most? What is one change you’d like to make in how you’re “writing” your story?
Is there an area where you’ve allowed compromise to creep in, and what would repentance and returning to wholehearted devotion look like for you today? [42:20]
How can you encourage someone else this week to “stay the course” in their faith, especially if they’ve grown weary or distracted?

Sermon Clips

39s

#LiveYourStory

“And here's this here's the deal. You and I, we too are writing a story with our lives. You write a chapter every day. Paul says in second Corinthians three that we are living epistles. We're living letters. Just like his letter to the Philippians and the Ephesians and the Colossians and all the rest. You are living epistles. You're writing a story with your life and it's being known and read by all men. The question is, what kind of story are you telling with your life? Is it is it a story that will serve as a warning to future generations, or is it a story that will serve as an example?”

28s

#ChoicesHaveConsequences

“As he outlines, this is what will happen should you choose not to follow the Lord. He doesn't say God's gonna come after you, and God's gonna get you, and you'll be on the run from God. He says, no. No. No. The the enemies that you embrace, they will become whips on your back. They will become thorns in your flesh. And and so, oftentimes, we think that if we choose to reject God and embrace sin, that God's gonna come down, he's gonna smite us, he's gonna throw lightning bolts at us.”

33s

#KeepPressingOn

“Here's Paul saying, I haven't arrived yet. And think about who Paul is. He'd written most of the New Testament by this point. He'd been walking with the Lord for decades. And yet by his own admission, he says, there's more for me to experience. There's more ground for me to take. And if Paul hadn't arrived, guess what? Neither have you. There's more of God's grace to walk in, more of his faithfulness to encounter, more of his love to know, more of his goodness to drink up. And and so you got to keep going. Keep going.”

33s

#GodIsFaithful

“The promises of God are yes and amen, and he will fulfill all of his promises, but he's not obligated to fulfill your potential. You have to choose the path that leads to life. Joshua chose a good path. He finished strong. And if you were to write a sentence to summarize his story, it might be, God has been faithful to me. I mean, he could write a book with all the stories of God's faithfulness in his life. In point of fact, that's exactly what he did. He wrote the book of Joshua. It's a chronicle of how good God had been.”

33s

#FinishStrong

“And if I were to give a title to these two speeches, if we were to extract a theme from these speeches that Joshua gives, then we might title them how to finish strong. And Joshua was well equipped to speak on this topic because he had lived his whole life in faithfulness to God, and he was in fact finishing strong, which puts him in rarefied air. You know, a lot of people have great starts, and a great start is a wonderful thing. But a great start doesn't guarantee a great finish.”

37s

#ChooseTheRightPath

“These divergent paths, you have the path of pursuing the Lord, and and walking with the Lord, and obeying his word, and and the life that that brings, a life of fulfilled promises. And then you have this other painting of a life lived in compromise and complacency, and how it's a life characterized by pain and regret. And so, it's like Israel was at fork in the road, so to speak, and they had to choose their path, and so too, each and every one of us gets to make a similar choice today. And I wonder where are you on that path?”

30s

#FinishTheJob

“And then he turns his attention to the future. He says, the God who fought for you then will continue to fight for you now. He says, I've already divided up what remains. There were some nations that remained. In other words, the job wasn't finished, but the the future had already been written. Joshua said, you will be successful, but you need to keep going. You need to finish the job. You see, Israel had come a long way, there was still work that needed to be done.”

30s

#GodFightsForYou

“And for the next, I don't know, twenty hours or so, Israel is able to pursue their enemies, and they don't get away, and they're able to mop them up and finish the job. Now, I think you'd agree with me when I say this. When God causes your enemy to fight themselves, when he takes them out with hailstones from heaven, and when he causes the sun to stand still in the sky so you can finish up the job, you can't take any of the credit for that victory. Amen? And so Joshua says, it was the Lord fighting for you.”

40s

#StayTheCourseObey

“The second point in our outline, this is what I I I think is the the real meat and potatoes, the heart of Joshua's speech. And it says he commends Israel to stay the course. His first point is keep going. His second point is stay the course. How do you finish strong? By staying the course. And for Joshua, that meant obeying the word of the Lord. And here's what's interesting. If you look closely at what Joshua says here, he basically copies almost verbatim the the words that God spoke to him when he initially assumed the reins of leadership from Moses.”

35s

#FinishWithLegacy

“When you're old, you let go of the pretense and you just shoot straight from the hip. And that's what Joshua is doing. He references his age a third time in verse 14 where he says, now I'm about to go the way of all the earth. In other words, I don't have much time left. I'm getting ready to die. Now you have to remember that Joshua and Caleb were the oldest people in Israel by at least twenty years, but probably more like forty years. Imagine someone that is older than everybody else by forty years. That was Joshua and Kayla.”

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Finishing Strong | Daniel Bentley

Devotional

Day 1: Keep going in the strength of the Lord.

Day 2: Stay the course by holding to God's Word.

Day 3: Guard your heart against the subtle drift of compromise.

Day 4: Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength.

Day 5: Choose the path of God's faithful promises.

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Finishing Strong | Daniel Bentley

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