God Is Not Finished With Me - Part 2 - 2021
God Is Not Finished • Sermon • Submitted
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God is Not Finished With Me!
God is Not Finished With 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.
Prayer
Confession of Faith
I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name!
Last Week we began this series and focused on living in our second half!
We looked at the Apostle Paul and his encounter with Jesus Christ that took him from persecuting believers to drawing people to Jesus!
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.
12 I do not mean that I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal, but I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. Christ wants me to do that, which is the reason he made me his.
It’s the second Half - First Things First:
When Jesus saves you and me, Just like when he saved Paul, that was just the beginning, not the end. God is not finished with us!
We have been saved to live for Jesus and to serve Jesus, and as long as we are on this earth we must keep living for Jesus and doing all we can to serve Jesus !
Paul did not count himself as having yet attained—he was not yet perfect. Perfection is the end for the believer.
God has grabbed you and me, he has apprehended or laid hold of us for one reason: The HE may make us perfect !
That we may be perfect to worship in spirit and truth!
That we may be perfect to live and serve Jesus forever!
In our first half -We were spending too much time trying to operate in perfection according to the worlds standards!
That is why so much bullying, body shaming, and insecurities, exist!
Here’s what I mean, The people we look at that we think are smart are only using one-tenth of one percent of their mental capacity! And you think they are smart! - That’s far from perfection!
The good looking folks or The people we think have perfect bodies! Here is what a perfect body is!!! A body that never desires anything , A Body that never thinks negative , A body that has committed no wrong;
A body that never came up short;
A body that never aged,
A Body that never deteriorates,
A Body that never dies
A body that never ever decays
That’s why Paul said I am not what God wants me to be...
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.
19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
5 It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.
We must continue - just like Paul to follow after God seeking his perfection in us!
Second Half - God’s Not Finished With Me Yet!
Second Half - God’s Not Finished With Me Yet!
You must follow after your God-given purpose.
The word "follow after" means to press; to pursue just like a runner in a race. There is no place for walking, or for sitting or lying around in comfort, complacency.
You must follow after your God-given purpose.
The word "follow after" means to press; to pursue just like a runner in a race. There is no place for walking, or for sitting or lying around in comfort, complacency.
As long as you and I are on this earth we must pursue Jesus,
As Long as you and I are on this earth we have to run after Jesus!
In the second half - we have purpose
No time to be idol,
There is No time to sit around doing nothing
We must be chasing after Jesus
As long as Paul was on this earth, he was going to press and run after perfection.
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
This is the passage right here!
This is the passage right here!
The bible is stirring us to run and to keep on running this Christian race of Life!
This race is the race for heaven.
This race is the race for abundant and eternal life
This race is the race to live with God forever.
This race is the race for perfection
This race is the race for a life
This race is a race for a world in which there is no suffering, corruption, evil, suffering, or death.
This race is a race for righteousness and justice
This race is a race for a perfect world of godliness.
This race is a race for the true promised land, the eternal land where we can live forever with God.
This race is a race to live in the new heavens and earth with God forever and ever.
This race is the race to know God, to commune and fellowship with God both now and forever.
This must be the goal for each of us! This is the race we are running!
This must be the goal for each of us! This is the race we are running!
Run this race if you believe in God
Run this race for the promise of living with Him forever and ever;
Run this race if you believe in God's promise of a new heavens and earth!
Run this race to be escorted into the very presence of God where you will live with God forever and ever;
Run this race to get to the glorious day of redemption
Run this race to get to the day when the heavens and earth shall be remade and perfected forever.
Run this race for the promised land!
God has already gave us the Promised Seed in Christ Jesus
God has already gave us the Promised Seed in Christ Jesus
The Promised Seed has come, and He has died for our sins and been raised again for our justification.
Run this race knowing we shall live forever in the promised land of God's glorious presence forever in heaven , forever in His love, forever in worship and forever in service.
This is the race that is before each and everyone of us!
This is the race that is before each and everyone of us!
This is our second half! Start running....
In the second half -study the race,
In The second half - you must understand the race
In the second half- be able to explain why you are running this race and why God is Not Finished with You Yet.
Forget the past.
Forget the past.
Ok , if you have ever failed God, I mean miserably failed him - which means you have failed yourself and possibly people you care for!
If you seemed to be always faced with your shortcoming and you struggle to move forward
This is our time: This is for us...
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,
ONE Thing!!
ONE Thing!!
Paul tells us how to deal with the past.
How?
By concentrating and controlling the mind
By reaching forth to those things which are before you .
Say One Thing
⇒ but one thing.
⇒ but this one thing I do.
You must forget the things that are past and reach forth to those things that are before you.
This requires two things - forgetting and reaching forth!!!
This requires two things - forgetting and reaching forth!!!
The past cannot be forgotten without reaching forth to what lies ahead.
You cannot sit around moaning and regretting the past. To do so is to be concentrating upon the past.
The things of the past are to be forgotten.
The things of the future are to be the focus of the mind.
We must focus on the things at hand and on the things that lie ahead. If we do this, there is no time to wallow around in the past and its failure.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Steadfast and Unmovable
Steadfast and Unmovable
We must become stedfast and unmoveable. Why, because of the race we are running now
Why because of the hope we have :
the hope of being resurrected and given an incorruptible and immortal body.
the hope of being resurrected and given an incorruptible and immortal body.
Steadfast means to be firm, fixed, determined, purposed, faithful.
Steadfast means to be firm, fixed, determined, purposed, faithful.
We must stand fast and fixed in our belief and labor for the Lord,
You got to be determined to live for the Lord
You must make und to carry out our purpose for the Lord.
We must focus on being faithful to the end.
Unmovable means to be unyielding, unshaken, undisturbed.
Unmovable means to be unyielding, unshaken, undisturbed.
We must become sure in our work and service for the Lord.
We have to stand as solid as a rock in ours beliefs and in the serving of the Lord.
Labor means toiling and working to the point of exhaustion and fatigue, to the point of collapse.
Labor means toiling and working to the point of exhaustion and fatigue, to the point of collapse.
This word always means never cease, never stop, never slacken up, never quit, never retire.
Knowing we will be rewarded.
9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.
It’s the second half in our life and God is Not Finished With Me Yet join us next wee as we continue in our series God is not finished with me!