07/18/2025
“I May Be Done But God Is not Finished”...
Jesus’ called to the fishermen that had toiled all night and had caught nothing…. They were done and were cleaning and mending their nets, but God wasn’t finished with their story....
They were about to learn that it wasn’t about what was or was not in their nets, but it was about God’s calling on their lives as they were about to enter into a fuller relationship with Him.
The apostle Paul says that we all begin as spiritual children, but we can’t stay that way...and God has made every effort so that we can grow and develop....He personally came to earth to show us what spiritual maturity looked like! Jesus said upon first confronting the future disciples, “follow me and I will make you”. I’m not just going to call you, but I’m going to equip you, fill you with Holy Spirit, and place My anointing upon you. Tell someone, “Get ready for Jesus to interrupt what you’re doing”
Ephesians 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all (say all) come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ... 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine....(that which influences and limits our spiritual growth) Paul’s prayer for the Church was “That we might all grow up in all things in Christ”..... Or let me say it this way… “That we might allow Him to finish what He has begun in us”
A 40 year old man in diapers, because he doesn’t want to grow up, is not a pretty sight. We’re all getting older, but not everyone is going to grow up or come into maturity. Many folks will remain spiritual infants as well. Never going beyond the sinners prayer, and never entering into the Lord’s prayer… “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as in heaven”
A very tired dad, tucked in his 5 year old daughter and went to bed. A few moments later she called out to him in the dark. He summoned up some patience and went to her. He asked what she wanted and she replied... “Dad, I just need an adult in the room for a little while.”... I wonder how many times God has needed a spiritual adult in the room, when everyone is coming unglued and coming under the power of every situation that comes along as they deal with their chaotic world and turbulent life....
Have you ever thrown your hands up in exasperation and said, “that’s it, I quit?” “I’m out”… “that’s as far as I go”, and we begin to draw back, and stop growing, but Jesus is saying come.
Have you ever been so frustrated with somebody you were trying to help that you felt like washing your hands of them? (Or maybe you did!)
Serving God is not multiple choice….
Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God”! (a requirement)!
I looked up the word “maturity” on the internet. Here’s what I got ...maybe you have something better, but this is what I found ”Maturity is the ability to respond to your environment by being aware of the correct behavior and action needed for that time and place, according to the circumstances and the ramifications which are involved. Maturity requires a clear comprehension of life's purpose, a proper sense of direction, and intentional problem solving skills, which contribute to a life well lived”. And if all else fails, like the 5 year old asked, “Could I just get an adult in the room”!!
But notice the last few lines.....in the definition, “a clear comprehension of life's purpose, a proper sense of direction, and intentional resolution”
(In the Good News Translation) God is describing Israel…
Hosea 7:8 “The LORD says,"The people of Israel are like a half-baked loaf of bread”. They refuse to grow up, they pop out before they’re finished, they quit before they’re done!
God intends for His children to never stop growing, developing and expanding in their God given kingdom rights and privileges!!! Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:12 “Now if any man build (oy-kod-om-ay'o) upon this foundation (Salvation by grace) gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, & stubble v13 Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it…”�
The Greek word Oy-kod-om-ay’o or to build, is in the Progressive Tense, which implies an ongoing process. Like driving through Miami... There’s always construction going on!!! It’s always happening… anytime you go there!
And it happens because we have to continue building and expanding our highway systems to accommodate present and future growth and needs. Paul is saying the same is true in our spiritual growth, what is OK now, will not be sufficient for the place you will be operating in at a future time. Tomorrow we will live with what we have planted now…..and we will be tomorrow, what we are in the process of building now….
Statistics show that, human beings make roughly 5000 choices every day.
It is said that the point in our lives, when we make most of the difficult and important choices is around 16 to 30 years. These most important, foundational choices will decide much of the future we will live out in this earthly existence. The character groove, and our value system begins to be set, during this period of our life.
We call this time, our “youth”, and this is the time when we decide on our educational path, our life partner, our career choice, where we will live, etc. As we make these choices, we give them power over our lives, for good or for bad.
I think of the words God has Joshua speak to the people in Deuteronomy 30:19 when he says to the people, “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses that I have set before you life and death, blessings and cursings. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live well .”
ALMOST IS NOT ENOUGH.....
If you almost have a signal, your phone is worthless….
No marriage partner wants to hear that their spouse was almost faithful… Things would certainly have been different if David had almost defeated Goliath…. If Noah had almost build the ark… If Abraham had almost decided to leave his father’s house looking for a city whose builder and maker was God…. If Moses had almost led the Israelites out of Egypt….And if Israel had almost entered the promised land….
Every great invention ever made, has a group of people who thought of it first, but never did anything about it…. If you’re going somewhere, the Merry Go Round should not your choice of transportation...
A lot of movement but no progress!
I came across a poem about that….(I’ve read it before, last year, but it fits so perfectly here, so, “here it comes again”
He was going to be all that a mortal should be, Tomorrow.
No one would ever be better than he, Tomorrow.
Each morning he stacked up the letters he should write.
Each evening he would count the battles he should fight, Tomorrow. He was a man who would work like a working machine. And the world would have known him if he had ever seen, Tomorrow. But the fact is he died and just faded from view. And all that was left when living was through,
Was a mountain of things he had intended to do, Tomorrow.
Someone has said that “Wisdom is knowing what to do next, Skill is knowing how to do it, and Virtue is in actually DOING it”.
Check this out.....The bible tells us that “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also”!
None of us will ever change what we are willing to tolerate, because we have now mentally accepted that limitation as our standard in all we do. We have decided to be less than we could be.
If you are living in a certain way and you are unhappy, you must make a decision that you don’t have to live that way. You will only attract, what you respect and value the most. By respecting something, you put value on it. Things you don’t respect will not stay in your life because they have no value. The habits that are your daily routine are constantly determining your future. They are setting you up for success or failure every day.
If it’s not important to you, it probably won’t show up at your door. (No Little Ceaser’s Pizza delivery or Dominos, will ever come to my house, because I do not like their pizza, so I would never call them”. ( I wouldn’t put it past Robert to send them to my door) What are you calling, and is there something you should be calling into your life, that deep inside, you know you should…? I’m talking about those influences that are keeping you from growing to the next level.
You cannot free someone who refuses to leave their prison. You can’t help someone that doesn’t want to be helped.
We can be encouraged by the prophet Zechariah, when he says in Zechariah 4:9, “Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. Don’t worry. It will be completed. You will be able to finish it” God knows how to get our attention.
We can all appreciate Michelangelo’s philosophy of art. He believed that in every stone there was a finished work of art waiting to be released. If no one sees it, it is never released. He always said that His task was to see what is in the stone and then set free, so that others can see, and appreciate it.
When God told Moses to take his shoes off as he stood before the burning bush, Moses was taking off his preconceived ideas that had hindered and disqualified him for the walk that he was about to walk. He was removing his excuses and self- justification. He was surrendering His way for God’s way. He was laying aside all the arguments so that he could be the clay that was ready to be shaped by the master potter. God was changing his perspective which changed his perception of God, himself and his greater purpose. (When God shows up, take off your shoes and leave your worries at the door)… Take off the hindrances, the wrong motives, the limiting beliefs, and the false presumptions. Cast aside vain imaginations, and contrary thinking, those things which cancel out the power of God’s promise
Matthew 15:6 (amplified bible) “So for the sake of your traditions (Your ways, your thoughts and preferences), you have set aside the Word of God, depriving it of it’s power and authority and making it of no effect in your life”.
(The Revised Standard Version) v6 “So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void (cancel out) the word of God,”
God knows us enough to know what it takes to wake us up to a new reality….and at the end of ourselves we find the beginning of “Jehovah”, “The Great I Am” and what He can make us to be.
I recall a young man who was in our church in Connecticut. He was convinced we were some kind of cult and he came to protect his sister. One night, I could tell God was dealing with him, and I personally brought him to the altar, where he received Christ, and became part of our regular group. He went on to Bible college then became a minister of the gospel, all over the country, and his sister is a pastor’s wife.
Keep on growing! God’s not finished yet!
None of us are worthy or adequate, but He selects those who are surrendered, He enables those whom He calls and He equips those who are available to Him.
God could do it without us, but we have the amazing privilege of being chosen by Him to be part of what He is doing in each and every season we journey through.
God sends us into a broken world, to bring hope in the midst of tragedy, faith in the midst of perilous times, love and compassion when folks are wounded and betrayed, and give them a purpose when the rug has been pulled out from under them! We are the redeemed who bring redemption. We are the restored who bring restoration. We are the healed who bring healing.
This was the call to Moses and it is our call as well.
Take off your shoes and get ready to walk in places you have never walked before! The next 3 years are going to be amazing!
So many folks have put limits on themselves by the bitterness and unforgiveness which they have carried in their hearts. Their woundedness has now become their identity. The power of the bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness is strengthened when we keep agreeing with it and we nurture it and empower it….
There are many physical ailments which are the product of the root of bitterness and unforgiveness… Arthritis, heart disease, vascular problems, ulcers, headaches, systemic toxicity.. and on it goes....
A dear woman who was in the church for years, came forward at the end of the service, who was afflicted with painful arthritis, and the Spirit revealed to me, that she suffered because of the root of bitterness and unforgiveness that had opened the way for arthritis to afflict her. She confessed it, she forgave, let it go, and renounced it and she was healed and set free, later that very day.. The chains of bitterness broke off!!
You think you’re done, but God isn’t finished. We can see this in Elijah’s famine experience.. 1 Kings 17:6 “The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook. v7 Some time later, however, the brook dried up”. I reflect on how many times the brook of Jabok has been our ticket to the next appointment. Like pieces on a chess board that are being strategically moved to reach the desired outcome. How many times has God provided our “Raven” supplies and then the brook dried and we were thrust into God’s new direction for us, and another growth experience. In hindsight, it’s always much clearer now than it ever was then. Now, we can see the impact of all those dried up brooks and the difference it has made in our lives and the lives of so many
others that otherwise we would have never known and been able to minister to. And it has taken us places we would never have gone. God isn’t done just because your brook dried up....
He has begun a work in us to conform us to the image of Christ. And He doesn’t stop working in our lives until He finishes what He intends for each of us. That’s what He tells us in... Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this one thing, He who has begun a good work in you, will bring it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Until we stand in heaven in His presence, God’s grace work, will not stop growing and finishing any one of us!
Before the Apostle Paul’s powerful conversion... He was one bad Hombre....The church was done with this killer of Christians, but God wasn’t finished.....The church saw the bad, but Paul had qualities that God wanted and could use: He possessed zeal, loyalty, dedication and commitment, leadership qualities and theological insight.
The disciples of Jesus, initially rejected Paul, but God wasn’t finished with him yet. The church today has done the same.
There are Pauls all around, that God is not finished with yet.... They may look like transvestites, like pimps or prostitutes. They may be the best customers at the local bar, or the Queen and King of P**n... But mark my word... God is not finished yet...
It took a Stephen to reach Paul. It took an Andrew for Peter, a little maid brought Naaman the l***r, God had a Meriam for baby Moses, and a Mordechai for Esther... Naomi brought Ruth, and the Samaritan harlot at the well brought her entire village to Christ.....
And there’s someone waiting for you to find them....You may be done, but God isn’t finished yet!!!
Let’s open ourselves to God’s work of grace, that is here to finish what He has begun in us and through us....
Prayer.... Father God, we thank you that when you are for us, nothing can succeed against us. We are believing for miracles, and we know that you have freely given us all things. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are continually interceding for us and we thank you that nothing can separate us from your love. Lord, your Holy Spirit at work in me, can do far more than I could think or ask or imagine.
I rejoice with unspeakable joy, for you are even now moving and working in my situation. You are my living hope and I will not waver in claiming my miracle. I am fully persuaded that as I pass through this storm, and keep my focus on you and not the wind and waves, I can walk on water, and I will rise above the storm. In all things we are more than conquerors by your power and grace.
Lord, you said that if we believe you, we would see your greater works, and that nothing would be impossible. We stand on Your Word, that no weapon formed against us shall prosper. We pray that every stronghold that has risen up against us shall be demolished in Jesus’ name. We ask that the winds of the Holy Spirit will fall upon us and that the spirit of “true evangelism” will be released. Father, clothe us with Your grace as we commit ourselves to the advancement of Your kingdom in the earth in all we do. I believe You’re not finished with me yet, so here I am, fill me, use me, send me, as I offer myself to You. This I ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now, take this moment to surrender it all to Christ. Surrender yourself to His unfinished work, and allow it to be completed....Here and now! You may be done, but He’s not finished with you!
