Finish What You Start
Luke 2:40-49
What the young Jesus was trying to tell his parents was “I have started something for my Father, and I must work on it until it is finished”. Even though Jesus was young he knew the importance of finishing what you start. So, finish what you start.
Finishing what we start is very important. I wonder how many times we have dropped the ball, by not finishing something that God needed for His work.
1) Finishing what you start will remove some frustration from life.
- A list of task will help frustration turn into encouragement.
- A list shows what you have started and what you plan to start.
- Crossing some item off the list by finishing it is encouraging.
2) Students should finish school
- Unskilled and untaught people will have a difficult time finding good employment.
- Without good employment you will need to depend on others.
- Are you going to school to earn a good living? [2 Thes.3:10] work is good
- [Prov.19:27] “Cease” if causing you to err.
3) A person should finish his food
Americans put lots of food in the trash. You take a blessing from
God and waste it. A sign at a local buffet says “Take all you can eat, and eat all you take”
4) A person should finish his financial commitments
- You should honor your word, God does.
- Be on time.
- Exactly as agreed.
- Just because it is family, no difference.
5) A person should finish projects
- Finishing small things is practice for larger, harder things
- Children should be encouraged to finish a coloring page before moving to the next.
- Finish your plate, clean your room, do your chores.
6) A person should finish for the Lord
- What spiritual projects have you started?
- What promises have you made to God?
- Have you stopped reading your Bible or prayer time?
- [Phil.1:6] God is very able to do his part.
7) A person should finish life
- God gave you your life and he only has the right to take it. [Job 1:21]
- [Ps.104:29] Great example that God is in control.
8) A person should finish his marriage
- [Matt.19:6] A couple should get married and stay married.
- A couple that finishes their marriage will not quit on their children, parents, or God.
9) A person should not start what he cannot finish
- Criticism about others
- You have no control over another’s faults
- [Eph.4:29] “ …that which is good to the use of edifying”
- [Phil.1:27] “…as it becometh the gospel of Christ”
10) The Bible contains many examples of finishers
- Noah and his wife
- Joshua was out numbered at Jericho
- Naomi lost a husband and two sons but didn’t quit on Ruth
- Nehemiah finished a wall with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other
- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego never quit, [Daniel 3:16-18]
- Joseph and Mary departed to Egypt to save Jesus
- Paul [2 Tim.4:7-8] finished
- Jesus finished [John 19:30] at the cost of his own life