Preparing to Finish Well in Life and in Ministry

 I was 26 years old when I started out as a pastor.  Yet I didn’t know the Bible that well.  I had read some parts and some New Testament letters.  I had never read it from cover to cover.  Then at a men’s breakfast, a wise pastor and professor named Willy Muller mentioned that he had been through his Bible ten times by the time he was seventeen years of age.  Right then, I knew this was a growth area for me.  I started to read more earnestly and intentionally.     However, one section always bugged me; 1st and 2nd Samuel followed by 1st and 2nd Kings.  These books talk about Israel’s development from the judges to the monarchy.  They summarize the reign of each king.  I noticed many started well yet finished poorly.