Finishing Strong
“… ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end’…”
(Revelation 21:6 NASB)
START STRONG WITH GREAT INTENTIONS, AND ZEAL
“Do you not know in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
(I Corinthians 9:24 NIV)
“…they said, ‘Let us arise and build.’ So they put their hands to the good work.”
(Nehemiah 2:18 NASB)
“So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.”
(Nehemiah 4:6 NASB)
1. RE-MOTIVATE YOUR MIND
REMIND YOURSELF OF THE PURPOSE
REWARD YOURSELF WITH LESSOR PRIZES ALONG THE WAY
RE-FOCUS
“…I do not run like a man running aimlessly…”
(I Corinthians. 9:26 NIV)
“…Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David…and encouraged him in God.”
(1 Samuel 23:16 NASB)
2. PRACTICE ENCOURAGING YOURSELF IN THE LORD
“…David was greatly distressed…but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”
(I Samuel 30:6 KJV)
“…I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 3:13 NIV)
ASK GOD TO STRENGTHEN YOU
“…But now, O God, strengthen my hands.”
(Nehemiah 6:9 NASB)
3. DISCIPLINE YOURSELF
“…I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.”
(1 Corinthians 9:27 NASB ’77)
“I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should…”
(I Corinthians 9:27 NLT)
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.”
(2 Timothy 4:7 NIV)
“The easiest time to start a diet, is right after you ate a buffet.”
(Pastor Kent)
Victory Group Questions:
1. What have you started, that you need to finish strong?
2. Are you someone who when the going gets tough, the tough gets going? Why or why not?
3. When you start something, what tends to discourage you from finishing?
4. What scriptures do you tell yourself to keep you motivated?
5. Is there someone in your life that you can be a “Jonathan” to?