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Intro:
Tonight, the title of my message is, [God Will Finish What He Starts].
I know this is the first time I have had the opportunity to meet many of you.
Before I became the pastor of Vulcan Assembly of God, I traveled as an evangelist for five years.
I moved from Oklahoma at eighteen years old and worked out of a church in Salem, MO.
Serving as Staff Evangelist was one of the greatest decisions I made.
I really learned how to preach in Salem.
I met my wife through our pastor in Salem.
He had a friend in Evansville who wanted an evangelist for revival.
I prayed before I went into the church on that Sunday morning, “God, let me meet my wife today.”
And there she was, standing behind the keyboard singing.
That Indiana woman met an Oklahoma man, and we’d get together every time we can! Bekah married me because she loves me.
She knew that I am not the most athletic, outdoorsy, or strongest man alive.
However, I do go through phases.
I will eat right for a few days, until someone offers me pie or ice cream!
I enjoy exercising for a few days, then I take a break for a few months or years.
One of these exercise phases occured when I lived in Salem.
We had a new Associate Pastor join our staff and he mentioned to me that he enjoyed jogging.
I responded, “I have never jogged, but I need to get in shape, maybe we can jog together.
I need some accountability to stick with this exercise thing.”
Excitedly he answered, let’s start on Monday at 6:00.
I said that’s great, we’ll come to the office and work, then we’ll jog in the evening?
His answer.
No. 6:00 am.
Okay..
I got up early and I was so excited.
I had never jogged, I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew I wanted to get in shape.
I ate a big breakfast, because I knew I would need my strength.
I took my vitamins because I was starting on a journey toward health!
I made a mistake that first morning, I jogged a mile.
We went back to his house, he asked if I wanted breakfast.
I wish’d he had never mentioned the word, as my breakfast was beginning to make me sick.
The next day, he encouraged me to jog a mile and a quarter.
Then the third day, a mile and a half.
By Friday, I could hardly walk.
As I laid in bed, I began to pray, Lord, let it rain.
Not the showers of blessings that revive our souls, the literal rain that would keep me from having to jog.
Eventually, I stopped responding to the encouragement to run and I didn’t exercise for a few years!
While my story is unique to me, we could all share our experience of starting something, only to stop before we are finished.
It is our human nature.
Thankfully, God’s ways are higher than our ways.
In our text, we read the affectionate words the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Philippi.
By the time he wrote his letter, the Philippian church had grown and flourished for over a decade.
He thanked God for the Philippians.
Whenever they came to his mind, he prayed for them and thanked them for their continued support.
They stood by Paul in good and bad times.
In times of freedom and imprisonment.
Paul included a promise that encouraged the Philippians.
He was confident that God would finish the work He began in the Philippians.
In other words, God will finish what He started.
No matter what they faced, whether good or bad, they could have hope that the Lord would never leave them nor forsake them!
As I prayed about what to share this evening, that phrase came to my mind: God will finish what He starts.
On the first night of this Community Revival, no matter where we are in our faith journey, just beginning or been at it for a while, God is here to begin a good work in us that will keep us until He comes again!
To understand the importance of Paul’s words to the Philippians, I want us to go to and read of the beginning of the church in Philippi.
Through their story, we will see: God will Finish what He starts, [In Salvation], [In Suffering], and [In Celebration].
Let’s begin
1.
In Salvation
Paul’s arrival in the town of Philippi was unplanned.
He had every intention to return to the Galatian region to check on the churches he started in his first mission’s trip.
However God had other plans.
He had a vision of a man pleading with him to come to Macedonia and preach the gospel to them.
They boarded a boat and were the first Christians to take the message of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection to Europe.
Paul’s method of ministry was to go to a synagogue and explain the scriptures to show that Jesus is the Savior of the world.
The only problem, there was not a synagogue.
In order to establish a place of worship, it required at least ten men from the community.
Philippi did not have ten men faithful to God.
Instead it had a handful of women who worshipped God, but had never heard of Jesus.
Paul’s first convert was named Lydia.
She was a wealthy women with many connections in the city.
The Lord opened her heart to the message of salvation, and she accepted the Lord as her personal Savior.
With just one person, God was prepared to change an entire city with the powerful truth of salvation through faith in Jesus!
Word spread through the community of what took place.
Paul preached of a man that could change our lives, you need to hear what he has to say.
Paul stayed in Philippi for some time.
One day as it was time to pray, a demon possessed girl began to follow him.
On the surface her words are complimentary.
I have been preaching for over ten years now, I have yet to have someone follow me in Walmart and say, LISTEN TO THIS GUY, HE KNOWS THE WAY OF SALVATION!
Most of us would feel honored, but Paul became annoyed.
The reason?
In the original language, she declared, Paul showed A way of salvation, not THE way of salvation.
The shift in one word was a problem.
Paul came to show that there is no other God except OUR God.
He sent His Son Jesus to be the ONLY way to heaven.
Now, there is a girl trying to pervert the truth of the gospel.
Jesus in not ONE of many ways to heaven, He is THE ONLY way to heaven!
The great work God started through Paul was threatened.
Paul exercised Spiritual Authority, silenced the girl, and she was set free for her sin.
Clearly God started something wonderful in Philippi, and it began in Salvation.
But what came next was not as fun, but we see the truth God will Finish what He Starts...
2. In Suffering
Once the girl was set free from the demon, the bible tells us her masters saw that their hope for profit was gone.
They used the girl as a fortune teller, and now she couldn’t do that.
They instigated a riot, taking Paul and Silas to the authorities.
Imagine being Paul.
He never planned to go to Philippi.
Instead, God sent him there.
He was merely being obedient to God and now he was about to be punished for a good deed.
He had to listen as these men lied and made false accusations about Paul, but the suffering was about to get much worse.
The whole city was against Paul and they began to beat him.
They took rods and stripped Paul and Silas of their clothing, humiliating them, abusing them, and finally imprisoning them.
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