Don't Worry, God Finishes What He Begins

Bunbury

Tues pm

25/01/2011

“Don’t worry – God finishes what he begins”

Intro: A great deal of our anxiety comes from worrying about things we really shouldn’t worry about.

Some people have a lot of confidence in themselves.

But their confidence is sometimes not well founded.

*** John McKay, of the NFL, tells a story illustrating the supreme confidence of University of Alabama football coach Bear Bryant:

“We were out shooting ducks, and finally, after about three hours, here comes one lonely duck. The Bear fires. And that duck is still flying today. But Bear watched the duck flap away, looked at me and said, ‘John, you are witnessing a genuine miracle. There flies a dead duck!’”

I think his confidence didn’t serve him well on that occasion.

But you know the reverse is true too ….. sometimes we lack confidence when we have every reason to be confident.

Never is this truer than when it comes to placing confidence in God to do what He says He’ll do.

Life would be a whole lot easier for many believers if they would rest in the fact that God finishes what he begins.

Which is exactly what I want to look at tonight – ‘Don’t worry, God’s finishes what He begins’.

Text: (Phil 1:6 NKJV) being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

# 1. Confidence in God.

A. Sometimes our confidence in God fails!

1. I’d like to say that I’ve always trusted God & had perfect confidence in him – but it’s not true!

a.) It’s almost as though we don’t trust God to be able to do what he says he’s going to do.

*** Satchel Paige was a renowned black baseball pitcher who had incredible confidence in his own ability to be able to strike out a batter. On at least one occasion if not more he ordered all of his outfielders into the dugout while he proceeded to strike out the batting lineup. If only one ball he pitched had have been hit it could have been disastrous. But Satchel Paige was a man who had tremendous confidence that he could do what he said he could do. The outfielders willingly went to the dugout b/c they had confidence that if Satchel Paige said he could strike them out he would!

b.) Now that’s the kind of unquestioning confidence we need to have in God!

Numbers 23:19 (NKJV) 19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

c.) When we strip away the façade of what we are really saying when we lack confidence in God what we are saying is God have more confidence in your ability to fail than to succeed!

2. Failing to have confidence in God is a human habit.

a.) Abraham failed to have confidence in God ……. Instead of waiting for God’s time – a weekend fling w/ Hagar The Horrible!

b.) Moses failed to have confidence in God …….. talk to the Rock – he disobeyed & struck the rock.

c.) King Saul failed to have confidence in God …… Samuel promised to be there to offer sacrifice to God b/4 going to war – Saul didn’t wait.

d.) Peter didn’t have confidence in God ……… lopped off the ear of the high priest’s servant!

B. Maybe at times you’ve felt your own confidence in God failing!

1. It’s not that you don’t believe that God can do what He says but ……

a.) Things have gone wrong at times & not worked the way we thought / believed they should have & the result is a crises of confidence.

b.) You want to believe God but fear begins to take over whenever you think about taking that step of faith.

c.) You see one of the enemy’s strategies is to keep you under the dominion of fear.

d.) Fear of failure / fear of ridicule / fear of losing / fear of mockery / fear of criticism ….. simply b/c you believed God!

2. Maybe you like O/T King David find y/s asking God …….. How long O Lord?

a.) When am I going to have the boldness / confidence / dominion I need to be able to operate / live / function in a godly confidence?

b.) If you’ve ever felt like this don’t worry ….. you’re not alone.

c.) But …. Don’t give up either b/c God is in the business of transforming timid hearts into lions of faith!

Proverbs 28:1 (NKJV) 1The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.