The Overwhelmed Challenge - Lesson 5 - Finishing Well

THE WINNER!!

Last week our subject was God is Faithful and we started with a tweet from Rick Warren "Stress is a choice. We get stressed out when we choose to focus on our own limited resources instead of focusing on the unlimited resources available through our heavenly Father."   That tweet is the subject of a discussion on LinkedIn, a business social media platform that I am part of.  One of the Groups on LinkedIn is Faith Driven Business and that group is discussing the tweet.   Here are just three of the comments.

"Love this quote by Rick Warren. Scripture does not say cast some of, most of or just the bad stuff but it clearly says, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." I choose obedience over stress."

"There can be a lot of stress in the broadcast industry...but when I start feeling my left side tightening, I grab my Bible and just flip to anywhere in the New Testament and or my "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young, read a little, say a prayer of gratitude and the left arm pressure goes away and I am good to go back to "It's Showtime!"...that's my prescription for me and any one reading....Blessings...."

"That's absolutely correct! It's so essential to remember that God is Almighty and He is osur guide, through business, careers, family life, social life....Whenever I get stressed He reminds me that He has everything under control and He is never taken by surprise when anything happens. He knows.

We talked about what Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations after all the stress he was under during his ministry.  Remember he was prophesying that Judah was going to be conquered and go into exile because of it’s idol worship. Because of  that  he was called a  meddler and a traitor; and people, nobles, and kings, tried to do him to death.  Eventually Judah was conquered by Babylon and Jerusalem and the temple destroyed and the people sent into exile.  On seeing  the destruction of the city Jeremiah wrote Lamentations (the definition of lament is a passionate expression of grief or sorrow, or to mourn).  

Lamentations 3:22-24 (NKJV) ²²  Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. ²³  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. ²⁴  "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"

We said last week that God is:

• Faithful!  
• My circumstances do not dictate His character!!!  
• I can always trust Him and know that He is in complete control of the universe and that ALL things are ultimately for HIS GLORY and my good (Romans 8:28 (NKJV) ²⁸  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.)

This week

This week we are going to talk about finishing well as we win the war against stress and worry.  

People don’t usually remember how you started—but they almost always remember how you finish.  Like a few years ago when the Lakers made it to the playoffs and got swept by Dallas in 4 games.  Nobody remembers that their record was 45-37.  Not great but they won more than they lost but what people do remember is how they finished. They were swept.  In fact I had to look it up to find their record for the year but I didn't need to look up the fact that they were swept by Dallas in the Western Conference finals.  They didn't win one game.

We all want to make a positive impact

I believe that all of us, no matter what has gone on in the past,want to make an impact in the body of Christ.  I’ll tell you what I want to do.  I want the work that I am doing on the Internet with “Faith The Evidence” to spread like wildfire.  Not to generate money, although that would be a great thing, but to be a blessing to others no matter where in they are in the world.  The emphasis of the website is to show that God has given us all a measure of faith, and that we should develop it, walk in it, and live in it with  the bible as the instruction manual.  I want to help people walk by faith.  I also want to help other people who want to put their ministries on the Internet.  Not necessarily church websites but individual or group ministries.  I know that you all have something that you want to do for the kingdom of God.  Anybody want to share?

Paul's approach to finishing well

Well here’s what Paul said to Timothy about finishing well. It is thought that 2 Timothy contains the last words found from Paul. They were written from prison shortly before he was martyred.  

2 Timothy 4:6-7 (NKJV) ⁶  For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. ⁷  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 

Now that’s finishing well.  

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NKJV) ²⁴  Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. ²⁵  And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. ²⁶  Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. ²⁷  But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. 

THE GOLD MEDAL

Paul says that he doesn't just preach and teach  willy nilly or with no real purpose but he disciplines himself, he trains hard he works hard so he can finish well.  Paul's work for the gospel  demanded personal discipline. Paul wanted to win the prize and so should we. 

That’s finishing well.

We should finish by reaching God's goal for us

What we should be doing is reaching forward to God’s Goal.  Go to

Philippians 3:12-14 (NKJV) ¹²  Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. ¹³  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Reaching that goal would be full knowledge and perfect conformity to Christ which is what God wants us to be, conformed to the image of Jesus..  So since we haven’t reached that goal yet  we can’t become complacent we have to continue training like the athlete.   

Don’t dwell on the past even if it is good and with great accomplishments, and of course if it is not good don’t dwell on it at all.   Keep moving forward toward the goal which is complete knowledge and conformity to the image of Christ. 

That's finishing well.

Finish Well

Remember that the only thing most people are going to remember is how you finished. Remember what we said last week:

God IS faithful! My circumstances do not dictate His character!!! 

I can always trust Him and know that He is in complete control of the universe and that all things are ultimately for HIS glory and my good. 

Romans 8:28 (NKJV) And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Remember what we said in our first lesson about all things working together for the good.....?  

We said that  it is the destiny of those who love the Lord to be like Jesus. God is committed to produce in us all the love, all the joy, all the patience, all the long-suffering, all the goodness, and all the gentleness of Jesus.  But until that happens we are still subject to the realities of sin and death.  It is God's love in Christ that sustains us and empowers us—even in the midst of our experiences of sin and death—"to be conformed to the likeness of his Son". 

Romans 8:29 (NKJV) ²⁹  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

God works in all things toward that good purpose. But only "those who love him" know that, because they are participants "with him" in the working out of that purpose.

Let’s finish today with this Charles Spurgeon devotional that I read just this morning from "Charles Spurgeon Morning And Evening" devotional because it fits with our winning the war over worry and stress.

1 Chronicles 5:22

There fell down many slain, because the war was of God.

VICTORY

Warrior, fighting under the banner of the Lord Jesus, observe this verse with holy joy, for as it was in the days of old so is it now, if the war be of God the victory is sure. The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh could barely muster five and forty thousand fighting men, and yet in their war with the Hagarites, they slew "men, an hundred thousand," "for they cried to God in the battle, and He was entreated of them, because they put their trust in Him." The Lord saveth not by many nor by few; it is ours to go forth in Jehovah's name if we be but a handful of men, for the Lord of Hosts is with us for our Captain. They did not neglect buckler, and sword, and bow, neither did they place their trust in these weapons; we must use all fitting means, but our confidence must rest in the Lord alone, for He is the sword and the shield of His people. The great reason of their extraordinary success lay in the fact that "the war was of God." Beloved, in fighting with sin without and within, with error doctrinal or practical, with spiritual wickedness in high places or low places, with devils and the devil's allies, you are waging Jehovah's war, and unless He himself can be worsted, you need not fear defeat. Quail not before superior numbers, shrink not from difficulties or impossibilities, flinch not at wounds or death, smite with the two-edged sword of the Spirit, and the slain shall lie in heaps. The battle is the Lord's and He will deliver His enemies into our hands. With steadfast foot, strong hand, dauntless heart, and flaming zeal, rush to the conflict, and the hosts of evil shall fly like chaff before the gale.

Stand up! stand up for Jesus!

The strife will not be long;

One day the noise of battle,

The next the victor's song:

To him that overcometh,

A crown of life shall be;

He with the King of glory

Shall reign eternally.

Finish Well

Next week we are going to start our study using Pastor Perry's book "Overwhelmed:  Winning the War Against Worry"  Read as much as you want but our study next week will be of the first three chapters.