finish strong (2)

19. All this, in writing at the Lord’s direction, he made clear to me, the plan of all the works.

20. David said further to his son Solomon, “ Be strong and of good courage, and act. Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you, or forsake you. Until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.

21. Here are the divisions of the priest and the levites for all the service of the house of God, and with you in all the work will be every volunteer who has skill for any kind of service, also the officers and all the people will be wholly at your command.

There are times when you need someone to remind you to be strong, or to finish strong, because life has pressed you down. Life has beaten you up. Life has taken every tear that you can produce. But, you can’t stop until the work is completely done. Soloman is being reminded by his father David to continue and not give up. When God has chosen you for a work, he has also made provision for that work and sometimes that work may seem overwhelming, may even seem like too much because of your experience, or your lack of experience.

You see God is always enough when god is apart of something. Here, Soloman didn’t have much experience. You will find that in 2.9 Chapter, vs 1, God is with you , please know that you don’t have to worry.

Rom 8:31, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? In other words, don’t hang your hat on your experience. Don’t become dismayed of what experience that you have gone through. See it’s easy to base you outcome on what you may have gone through, but God has never designed you life from where you are at or even what has gotten you there.

Which brings me to my first point, “ Don’t be afraid.” See, God chose Soloman vs #10, to take heed now for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and act. When God chooses you, don’t be afraid.

Don’t give way to fear. John:14:27.27, peace I leave with you. My peace I give you . I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

The scripture that touches my heart in this instance, Isaiah 41:10, fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

See we must look to God for everything, he will provide everything that we need. I am sure this task of building God’s temple must have been a stressful task even n the wisdom of Soloman. There were going to be a lot of challenges. There were going to be a lot of pieces and people to put things together. God puts people in places to give you strength because he knows that we need that sort of confirmation.

So even though Soloman was to build the temple and not David, David still gave offering first before asking others.

In other words, David was showing his obedience to God’s instructions. He put his money where his mouth was. Sometimes we have to show our commitment through our treasure because it’s where our heart is.

But when you trust every word that perceives out of the mouth of God, you know that he won’t fail you. He win’t forsake you. Hebrews 13:5 reiterates this- And the Lord, he is that doith go before thee. Neither forsake thee, fear not neither or be dismayed, which leads me into my second point.

Do not be dismayed. David instructs his son, Do not be afraid or dismayed(consignation and distress). What does it mean to be dismayed? I know there are a lot of things that may have distressed you. This year has been so tough.

Starting with inflation, coming out of covid, but now covid is back on a rise. To see Israel and Palestine, Russia and Ukraine in a war. Damar Hamlin collapses on a field; the house speaker in chaos. Bruce Willis diagnosed with dementia. Jimmy Carter entering hospice. Rosalind Carter dies after dementia diagnosis. Lord, Donald Trump indicted on 91 counts.

There was a scare at Cheraw High School, guns in the school and children running for their lives. There were violent attempts to come for the lives of our children in this church.

We lost members in 2023 in this church. There were incidents, accidents, scares, death, hard times, rough times, lies, back bitting. But 2023, was not all bad of course there were some good times and some good moments. Some babies born, and some celebrations made. Not to mention, that we all had Birthdays!

But, its often times easy to become dismayed.

David says be strong and of good courage and act.

God won’t walk off and leave you. He is at your side forever until every detail is completed. So what am I trying to tell you is to finish this last day, God’s last detail because God designed it that way. Not only does god want you to do all that he ask, see the blessing is in the details . Sometimes we try to rush time and we skip the blessing.