Finish Well Series

Finish Well

2 Timothy 4:6-8

6 It will soon be time for me to leave this life. 7 I have fought a good fight. I have finished the work I was to do. I have kept the faith. 8 There is a crown, which comes from being right with God. The Lord, the One Who will judge, will give it to me on that great day when He comes again. I will not be the only one to receive a crown. All those who love to think of His coming and are looking for Him will receive one also.

As we come to the conclusion of the series of sermons about perseverance, I am excited about what God is preparing in us and for us! As you know, we started with ’What you looking at.’. Hebrews 12:1 – speaking on the beginning steps of persevering…focus…fearless. and faithful. We went into detail on how before you start the course you have to be focused on Jesus… not looking at what is going on around you as the source of your salvation or safety, but to the one who has secured both. When you focus on Jesus, you will be fearless about what is going on around you. The distractions, mishaps, trials, tribulations, and stuff will be merely things that will be used as stepping-stones and learning tools, not hindrances. And because we are fearless on who, what, and where that life tosses out, we will become faithful to God. Faithful, because we are focused on nothing but Him, faithful because the only thing we fear is not pleasing Him. Then the next week we talked about You got to go through it to get to it, 1 Cor. 9: 24-25, speaking on the keys of perseverance – petitioning the Holy Ghost so that we know what to say…. Praying the word so that it will hold some power --- and preparing for what God is fitna do in our lives….. Now we come to the final three, and somebody ought to get excited because these final three things will prosper you! There are two scriptures that allow us the understanding that it is more than just finishing… but God desires us to finish well….

Ecl 9:11b The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong,

Matthew 10:22 You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved

Now the keys to reaching this goal of finishing well is this

Broken

Believing

Blessed

Now we all rejoice about being blessed, but we ain’t too keen on being broken….Somebody can witness with me this morning…But there is evidence that personal will is not a good thing, and in order for God to move, He must break our will so that His will can be done. Luke 22:42 – Thy will be done!

When we read in Jeremiah 18:1-6 – we find Jeremiah at a potter’s house. When we do research on what a potter does, we find that he begins his process by breaking up the old pots and vessels that have been chipped and become useless. He breaks them down into a fine powder, adding liquid so that he can make something brand new. Some of us are in the broken stage right now. Crying out OW, I’m through, I quit, and this is too much…. But when God breaks us, it is to fix our brokenness’! Cause the pots that the potter was breaking down, were useless in their current condition, but after being broken down, he was able to build them into something useful and beautiful. God does not need our will, it is in the way, it is a flaw a crack a gaping hole in our vessel. It causes us to have imperfections. It causes the mistakes and mishaps in our lives. Our will is what causes the chaos and confusion in our homes. Our will is what causes unrest on our jobs. Our will is what causes us to flee what we should cling too. Our will is what causes us to go against the will of God…causing us to be useless vessels to God so he has to Break Us Down… When we are broken… God can begin to manipulate us into the thing He had planned from the get go. We can’t get mad at God when He is breaking us down…because we are expecting Him to take us higher. He is trying to get us to the point of Finishing well.

In order to finish well, you got to have a broken will…

What is a broken will…. It is becoming humble. Humble enough to understand that God is in control. Humble enough to allow God to work in your life. Humble enough to ask directions in every aspect of your life, and stop assuming God needs your advice. Humility is a mandate and a characteristic God desires in His children, because then He can operate in their lives.