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God Gave The Increase! 2/8/17
John 19:30 (KJV)
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Never were truer words spoken when someone uttered the following:
"
THEY SNATCHED DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY!!"
STILL mourning/disgusted with the crushing defeat of my home town team, I spent a sleepless night and following day WONDERING HOW?????????????????????????
How does a football team lose a game leading 28-3 with the game 2/3 over??
Did not the Apostle Paul claim:
2 Timothy 4:7 (KJV)
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
O well, as my son Joshua said, "OUR false idols!"
The answer I received was a simple word-FINISH WHAT YOU START!!!
To quote my second favorite book, THE DISCIPLINES OF LIFE:
''Young persons sometimes ask Mr. Ford, 'How can I make my life a success?''-as if anyone could answer that question half as well as the one who asks it.
But occasionally Mr. Ford does give a valuable tip, even if at the moment the young person receiving it fails to appreciate it. One such tip would be-'If you start a thing, finish it.'
It sounds rather familiar, a piece of old-fashioned advice-but it is part of an engineer's design for living-finish it!
While watching the Pregame interviews, I took note of the words spoken by the opposing team owner, Mr. Robert Kraft.
When asked about his quarterback, he said this:
"
A lot of people are able to get 80 % of their goal, but fewer people are able to close the deal."
In other words, "FINISH WHAT YOU START!!"
The game or LIFE is not over until it is over!
This axiom applies to all of life!
A farmer does not plant a field and then rejoice if some plants come up!!
He wants RESULTS!!
Success is not a participation trophy.
A sales person's success is not measured in how many appointments they see, but how many deals they close!!
Learning most of a song does not make an artist great.
Luke 14:28-30 (KJV)
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
As I attempt to push this sermon out today, I left the house seeking a quite place to write and thing and PRAY.
As usual, the enemy often attacks me with the "cares of this life" and steals the valuable time that I always want to put into writing these messages.
I retreated to a local fast food restaurant and as soon as I began to type, a homeless couple came and sat beside me---
and they wanted financial help and to TALK.
Which asks another question-SOMETIMES one simply cannot "finish what they start!"
We WANT/HOPE TO finish, but...............
To quote a song I have sang many times:
"
If there ever were dreams
That were lofty and noble
They were my dreams at the start
And hope for life's best were the hopes
That I harbor down deep in my heart
But my dreams turned to ashes
And my castles all crumbled, my fortune turned to loss
So I wrapped it all in the rags of life
And laid it at the cross."
Today, if YOU, "HAVING DONE ALL, TO STAND!!"
Ephesians 6:13 (KJV)
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
At the end of the day, all we can do is do what we can do-
LEAVE IT ALL ON THE FIELD!!
The final Word is and will be Jesus:
1 Corinthians 3:6 (KJV)
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
"
GOD GAVE/ (GIVES) THE INCREASE!"
GOD BLESS YOU TODAY!
PASTOR DOUG
404-295-5644 or
CHURCH ADDRESS:
70 Stone Rd.
McDonough, GA. 30253
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