Just a Few More Feet | Marcus Mecum | 7 Hills Church

First Kings chapter six, let's look at verse twenty one. And Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold. He extended the gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which he overlaid with gold. So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid the gold with gold, the altar. I wrote down in my little margin here, that's where the real gold in life is at. It's at the altar. Whatever that's worth. Let's drop down to verse twenty eight there, he overlaid the cherubim, which is an angel with gold, and then in verse thirty, it talks about the floors and the outer rooms of the temple with gold. Verse thirty one, it talks about the entrances also had hammered gold on them. I'm not rushing through it as much as I want you to catch the thought of the way that God built his Solomon's temple. If you read anything about Solomon's temple, you would quickly catch that on the outside of the temple, you would have the olive woods, the juniper woods, the cedar woods, you'd have ornate stones, you'd have different metals like bronze. But it wasn't until you got to the center as you approached the entrance, as we read, of the inner courts where you'd begin to see the gold. And the closer you got to the holy of holies, the more gold there was. The floors were paved with gold, the altars were covered with gold.

And so imagine you go into the most beautiful building you've ever been in and the closer you get to the center of it, the more gold you see. That is what Solomon's temple was like. And the point is, it's a picture to us of. The more centered your life is or the more God is at the center of your life, the richer life really is. Jesus actually said it like this, that in Revelation three that we are to seek, he commanded the church to seek the true spiritual gold. That we're commanded to not just see the material. He's going beyond the material. Realm of life to the relational treasures from the material to the spiritual treasures of life. And I believe he's saying that you can strike gold in life again, beyond the material. When you understand the importance of God being at the center. There's an old story of a man who for six grueling months. Would tunnel through a granite mountain. He would dig his way, knowing that somewhere in the heart of the mountain, according to all the geological indicators would be gold somewhere in that mountain. After months of sacrifice, months of struggle, months of setback after setback, exhausted and tired, he decides to bury his pickaxe, his candles and his dynamite and he abandons his dream. Years go by in an Eastern mining company that was aware of the mine, goes to check on it. And to their surprise, they find out that the mine had been

abandoned by this, this prospector. And they immediately put the details together to resume the work. They get there, they move the debris aside, all the fallen rock. They make their way through the tunnel that the old miner had already dug. They find there a rusted pickaxe, the candles and the dynamite that he had buried. And immediately they encouraged the excavation to begin. And just three feet beyond where that old miner had stopped, the gold was discovered. Just three feet further. That's what I want to talk to you about. Just a few more feet. Just a few feet further, that Northern California mine eventually became one of the most prosperous mines since the early days of the gold rush. So I'm asking you to consider the tragedy of those lost three feet. How discouragement buried the dream three feet too soon. How the heart folded just a few feet from the fortune, how defeat was accepted just a few feet from the gold. Again, we're not talking about the material, so I want you to go with me into the Bible into places where we see a similar type of attitude take away the gold of life from people. In Acts chapter 26, we see the almost persuaded, Paul the apostle is preaching to King Agrippa and King Agrippa's response was, you've almost persuaded me to be a Christian. Not yet, I'm not there yet, but not yet became never. He said, almost, you've almost persuaded me. Couple chapters earlier, he's preaching to another leader, Felix, the governor, and Felix,

the governor's there trembling and says, go away. I'll call for you at a more convenient time, but he never does. So the convenient time was chained to an almost, the tragedy of an almost. The tragedy is that, that God's word is not almost. God's word is now. Today is the day of salvation. Faith is now is what the Bible says. Almost is how it's, but the problem is, is it's a tempting word. Well, I'm almost there. Almost, I'll think about it. And that almost being persuaded led Agrippa, led Felix. They're standing at the door. They're knocking at the door, but they're not entering in just a few feet from the gold, just a few feet from eternity. The next group of people that you run into are found in Numbers chapter 14, and this is the not quite believing. The children of Israel, God swears to them, this generation, that they won't enter the promised land. And he says, the reason that they will not enter is because of their unbelief. So think about it, an entire generation. They come out of Egypt. They come out of 400 years. They go through the 40 years in the wilderness. They watch miracle after miracle. Now they're on the shores of the Jordan river. They're on the brink of the promised land. And God says, you will not enter in because of your unbelief. They abandoned the promise three feet from the miracle. Numberless graves across the wilderness are there because a generation lost their determination at the border of a not quite faith.

They're camped out at Kedash Barnea. In other words, they die in the desert of not quite. We're not quite there. We're not quite where we need to be. We're not quite, we don't quite have enough faith. Joshua and Caleb saw grapes the size of a man and said, we want that. The tent spies said, there's just giants and we're like grasshoppers in their sight. So Joshua and Caleb said, let's go in. And the rest of the generation said, let's go home. We're just not quite ready. The not quite crowd. My point is that there are crowds of people in our world that they were just a few feet away, but yet they're almost persuaded. They were just a few feet away, but they're not quite believe they're just not quite there. And at some point you teach yourself to look yourself in the mirror. That will be your only cheerleader at times. And you got to make the decision. I hope that I have some encouragement along the way. But if not, you look yourself in the eyes and you begin to talk to yourself. I will not find myself amongst the multitudes of those who say not quite. Well, you know, almost. I will be the person that finds the strength, no matter what the setbacks are to go at time. And it happens in your family. It'll happen in your marriage. It'll happen in your walk with God. It'll happen in your business. There's not one sphere of life. You will not find the temptation to draw back into the crowd of the almost and the not quite. And I just came to talk about it.

a simple principle that will work in any situation and you got to get it into your spirit, just a few more feet. Just a few more feet further and I get the goal. The next group is the not far from the kingdom. The gospel of Mark talks about the rich young ruler. It's a man that's financially secure, he's accomplished. Jesus offers him this great opportunity to follow him. And the conversation that they have is a bit different than the one he had with the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The conversation he had with them would be adversarial, argumentative, like a debate. But this conversation is different. Jesus actually found a lot to admire in the rich young ruler. But he said to him, thou art not far from the kingdom. And in many ways, close is the cruelest distance. You're close enough to smell the banquet, but you're too far to sit at the table. You're close enough to see it, but you're too far to seize it. The scribe in Mark chapter 12 that comes to Jesus and says, I want to know what the greatest of the commands are. And he says, Jesus' response is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And Jesus and the scribe agree. And Jesus says to the scribe, you are not far from the kingdom. You're not far. You're close, you're not in, you're close,

you're close, you're not in, you're close, you're not far away. In other words, the bus left him. He was next in line, but he's still on the sidewalk. He had the law in his head. When the king was within his reach, he pulled back, not far from the kingdom. So you have the almost persuaded, the not quite believing, and the not far from the kingdom. All people that were just a few feet from the gold. Three different ways that we're warned in the Bible to not stop at an almost, to not stop at the not quite or the not far. So look around the room. How many of you are here and you're living in an almost? You're living in the not quite. You're living in the you're not far. But the crowd that was in the not quite, but the crowd that wants you to come their way. Come on, you don't have to do all that. You don't have to go that far. You don't have to be all in. All of us have the voices. All of us have the people that in some way love to feed our doubt, love to feed our fears, love to feed the thing on the inside of us that wants to get you to live for less than the thing in you that God has given you to keep on pressing just a few more feet. I wonder how many of you would say I find myself there.

I've been in that place where I've just felt like I was a few feet away from what God promised me. I think about how many men and women stand where these stood. I think about how many churches have stood where the people that we read about stand. I think about how many lives are really in that kind of a place. People that once knew the promises of God. They once knew the purposes of God. They embraced it. They said, that's what I want. One of the things I talk to our staff about all the time is I say, remember, this is the very thing that you prayed for a long time ago. So be careful to be mad at the thing you used to pray for. And I don't quote that to them for their sake. I quote it to them for my sake. But people that once said, God, I'll go, God, I'll do it. Anything you want, count me in, use me, send me. I don't care what the price is. God, please, I beg you, if you'll let, just let me do something great in your name, whatever that looks like, but yet life hits. The trial hits, the struggle hits, the trouble hits, the loss hits, and all of a sudden, that vision and that dream that was in their heart begins to be pulled away and they find themselves, we find ourselves amongst the crowd of I was almost there. I didn't quite get there. I was not that far away.

Well, what happened? Well, we don't want to say I gave up, I quit, so we blame them and we blame this and we push. I could have, I might have, but she and they and, and we bury our pickaxe and our candle just a few feet from the gold. Just a few feet from revival, just a few feet from the miracle, just a few feet from the promise, just a few feet from an unimaginable blessing. I wonder how many things in God we never experienced because our faith cowered just a few feet away. I wonder how many churches are still in the lumber yards because they stopped just a few feet short. I wonder how many lost souls right now are in hell because someone stopped a few feet short of love. I say this because we all at times stand in a moment where we're within striking distance. The dream is within reach. All God's asking us to give is just a few more feet, just a mustard seed of faith, just a widow's might of determination. It's there, you're almost there, not quite, thou art not far away, just three more feet and you strike the gold. I think about men like Louis Pasteur whose body was racked with pain, back bent over, could hardly stand up from all of his experimentation. He at one point wants to give up. He's of course doing an experiment

that would provide some level of evidence that would lead to another one. Eventually he gets so exhausted, so tired, he almost walks away, just frustrated by the mystery of disease. But he makes a decision, I will not give up. I will not be in the multitude of the almost, the not quite and the not far. And he pushed forward for a few more feet and now some of the greatest discoveries in the realm of disease are ours because he said, I refuse to be in that crowd. Just a few more feet. I think about Mario Lemieux, I may say his name wrong but he's known in the National Hockey League as Super Mario, affectionately they call him Super Mario. And in 1992, he was easily going to win that year the season, single season scoring record. And about halfway through the season, he's playing with a broken hand, injured back. He goes to the doctor because he's not feeling good and ends up being diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. The result of that is he would have to leave the ice five times a week and go get radiation. The radiation that he would experience would be 50 times stronger than that of an x-ray, leaving him weak, exhausted, famished, couldn't eat. So he's extreme weight loss. He would miss 23 games that season. But after his last radiation treatment,

he got on a plane, flew to Philadelphia, playing for the Penguins, the Pittsburgh Penguins. And he in that game, in his first game back, scored a goal and went on to win his fourth straight single season scoring record. He just had to make the decision. I'm not going to be amongst the almost the not quite and the not far broken hand injured back. Well, next season I'll look at it. Well, when everything's working a bit better, I'll look when I don't have this disease, I'll go for it. He looked at every lens and that's what I'm, we're talking about people who had every reason to walk away. We're talking about people who faced impossible circumstances, people that faced the awful storms of life, the most horrific stresses of life. We're talking about people that were blood spattered and scarred as they battled to build the temple of their soul. All of them had this single thing in common. It burned in their spirit. I will not be amongst the almost the not quite in the not far. They accepted no limitations and they just went a few more feet where most bury their dreams. They said, I'm going just a few more feet. They would swim through the waters of hopelessness. They'd walk out of a dark Valley looking at their own mistakes and failures. Our faith stands on those type of people. Our faith was carried on the shoulders of those type of people. We could look at the apostle Paul who talked about the perils at night, the perils in day, the perils at sea, the hunger, the, the beatings, the floggings. We could look at his resume filled rejection, abandonment, misunderstandings. We can look at all the things that should have distracted him, should have turned him away in the middle of the night. He's there hanging on to a plank of wood after shipwreck dark and cold, but on the other side of the shipwreck, on the other side of a serpent's bite, the apostle Paul said, I will not be found in the multitude of the almost the not quite and the not far. And the Bible is clear. He not only found his calling, but he found his missions field when he just simply realized it's just a few more feet, just a few more feet. I don't know what you're looking at today, but I just have a sense on the inside to somebody here. We're just talking about a few more feet. Paul's in the Mamertine prison. I mean, think

about it. He's in prison. He's, he's not on a stage. How's he going to influence anybody? He's not pastoring the church at this point. He don't, he don't have a, he don't have an to post on and tell it. He don't have none of that. He's in prison, but he finds a pen and a piece of paper and he pins the book of Philippians to the, the church of Philippi just went a few more feet. And now our hearts are encouraged because of that with verses like Philippians four 13, I can do all things through Christ. It gives me strength. We can read verses like Philippians four, six, the peace of God that passes all understanding. May it rule and reign in your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. He would pin things like be confident in this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. We're talking about a man who went just a few more feet. He would write things like for me to die is gain. But if I live, it's for Christ. He would write things like always rejoice, rejoice always. And then in case you didn't get it, he said, again, I say rejoice. He's writing that from prison. Well, I almost would have done something great for God. I, I, I, I was just not quite sure what to do. I mean, look at my circumstance. I, I was not that far from it, but you know, these things were working against. Just a few feet from the gold. And now 2000 years later, we're encouraged by some of the greatest letters he would write each of them from a prison cell. He fought the fight. He finished the race. He got the gold because he understood the power of just a few more feet. Just a few feet past the tragic cross, a small group of determined believers would find Pentecost. Just beyond being burned in boiling oil, just a few feet beyond Patmos, the apostle John, the apostle of love would see the heavens open, and he would see the one on the throne. And he would see the curtain pulled back, and he would catch a glimpse of the heavenly city whose streets were paved with that glorious gold. We could talk about Bartimaeus. We could talk about the one with the issue of blood. We could talk about the disciples in the middle of the storm, and Jesus is walking on the water, and it says he would have passed them by. As a matter of fact, it actually says that was his plan, but they cried out. They could have just said, well, that's it. Nothing we can do. Look, he's just walking away. He obviously doesn't care, but the point is the greatest testimony you have usually comes from that failure, that heartbreak, that the goal of it was to get you to live amongst the almost, the not quite, the not far, when it's just a few more feet. I pray that

over every marriage, every family. I pray that over our business people. I pray that over every person's faith. I pray that over our church, that we would never live our life saying, well, we almost, well, we, you know, not quite. We saw the promised land. I don't know what the promised land is other than we all die standing before God saying, hearing those words, well done. I don't know what's better than that, but I do know this, that between now and then we've got work to do, which is what? Just a few more feet. And what's the temptation going to be? Come on. Do we really have to keep pressing? Do we really have to keep pushing? It's a principle. What do I do? Just a few more feet. How do I handle this problem? Just a few more feet. What do I do with the pain? What do I do with the heartbreak? What do I do? Just a few more feet. That's the word of the Lord. Cause that's how you strike the gold. Amen. Every eye close, every head bowed. Maybe you're here this morning and you are a few feet from eternity right now. Heaven's pulling you one way and hell's pulling you the other way. You can leave this room like an Agrippa being almost persuaded. You can leave here like a Felix saying, I'll wait for a more convenient time. Or you can feel the pool of heaven. You can feel the faith that God brought you here in this moment, in this time for something more. And there's some beautiful gold found on the other side of salvation. There's some beautiful gold found in forgiveness. There's some beautiful gold found when you let go of your old life and say, God, I want everything you have for me. And if you're in this service and you'd say, Marcus, I'm not right with God, but I want to be, you'd say, Jesus Christ is not the Lord of your life. You're not serving him. You're not living for him. You've not put your trust in him. You've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life. You've never surrendered to him. You've never made the decision. God, all of my life, the good, the bad, the indifferent, I lay it down. at your feet. You've never made the decision today, I'm going to pick up my cross and I'm going to serve God with all I am. And you're in this service and you want me to pray for you. You'd say, Marcus, today is the day. I'm not giving God an almost today is the day on the count of three. If that's you lift your hand as high as you can. One, two, three, throw it up as high as you can. Keep it raised. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Keep it raised. Don't put it down. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus. Let's all put our hands on our hearts. If you lifted your hand, I want you to pray this prayer. Somebody said, does a prayer save somebody? Well, a believing prayer does a prayer of faith does, right?

You're saved by grace through faith. So if you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth, do you get it out of the abundance of the heart? The mouth speaks. So let's pray this together. You're from your believing heart. Say this, say, Jesus, I believe that you died on a cross to pay the price for my sin. I believe that you're God's only son and that he raised you from the dead. I give you my life. Now I ask you to forgive me, cleanse me, wash me. I ask you to take my life, everything that it's not everything that it could be. I lay it at your feet in Jesus name. We all said, amen. Amen. Let's give the Lord a good hand clap.