God Will Complete What He’s Started In You

GOD WILL COMPLETE WHAT HE’S STARTED IN YOU

Phip. 1:6

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: UNCHANGED?

1. A parable is told of a community of ducks waddling off to duck church one Sunday to hear their duck preacher. The duck preacher spoke eloquently of how God had given the ducks wings with which to fly.

2. “With these wings, there’s nowhere we ducks can’t go! With these wings we no longer need WALK through life, we can SOAR high in the sky!” Shouts of Amen were quacked. The duck preacher concluded his message by shouting, “With our wings WE......CAN.....FLY!¨ They all quacked loud AMENS!

3. All the ducks loved the service and commented on what a convicting message they’d heard....and THEN THEY LEFT THE CHURCH AND WADDLED ALL THE WAY HOME.

4. APPLICATION. Too often we waddle AWAY from worship the same way we waddled IN....UNCHANGED!

B. TEXT

“3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” Phip. 1:3-6.

C. TITLE

The title of this message is “God Will Complete What He’s Started in You.”

I. GOD IS DOING A GOOD WORK INSIDE CHRISTIANS

A. WHAT HAS GOD STARTED?

1. HE’S REDEEMED US. He pulled us from the fire, as a brand from the burning! Took us from the lowest place to the highest place. He took a worthless piece of clay and made it into a priceless piece of porcelain. He took what was defiled and desecrated and changed it into perfection fit for Heaven!

2. A NEW CREATION – just like His original creative action – He makes us into something not originating from this fallen universe, but destined for the new heavens & the new earth.

3. WE’RE ADOPTED into the Royal Family of Heaven: Sons & Daughters of God! King’s Kids, with Royal Blood flowing in our veins! We have the divine nature and lineage of Jesus Himself!

4. This is our destiny and promised future. But are we living like it?

B. IT’S COMMON WE DON’T SEE THE GOOD IN US

1. “Pastor, I don’t see much good going on in my life! How can I be sure God will do such a work in my life?”

2. We know it’s a good work because a GOOD GOD began it! He’s set out the good plan He has in mind for us -- He’s creating, developing, training, pruning, purging, & building us up.

3. You may not see it yet because it’s at its beginning! The biggest weight-lifter in the world started off as a helpless baby. Only after years of training did he begin to resemble the man he would become. We too, are slowly, almost imperceptibly changing to be more like Jesus.

4. ILLUS. We had one wall in our house where we had all of our kids & grandkids stand against and, year after year, we marked their growth. Each year we’d make a mark on the wall, with name & date. It was always a quarter-inch or an inch higher. But when those kids looked in a mirror each day, they couldn’t see the change, because it was so gradual. It’s the same with you; you don’t see the change, but you’re very definitely maturing into Christ!

C. LET GOD’S GREAT LOVE ENCOURAGE YOU

1. In Luke 15:8-9, Jesus tells a Parable describing the Father’s Love for you; “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.”

2. God spared nothing in His search for you. He gathered the greatest search party that has ever been formed, to find you. He sent His Son, His Spirit, and His Angels after you. He had his people pray for you. You will never fully know how deep, how thorough, and how costly His search was.

3. You don’t belong to Him today because of chance, or accident, or a stroke of fate; You’re His because He never gave up His search until He found You.

4. Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all--how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” Remember God rejoices over you...not based on how good you are, but because of who you are to Him.

II. GOD’S BEGINNING, IS GROUNDS FOR BELIEVING HE WILL COMPLETE IT