Whether all his creatures realize it, God, the divine sculptor and architect of the universe, finished his works (Genesis 2:1-2). Having finished creating the world, he evaluated it and said it was good (Genesis 1:3-4). Then he rested. He rested, not because he was weary, but because creation was finished. Not only did God finish his creation, Jesus finished the work of redemption. As he was finishing his earthly work, Jesus explained that his nourishment came from doing the will of God and finishing his work (John 4:34). And he finished the work God gave him. While on the cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished.” (John 19:30) Access to an authentic relationship with God was now available through the sacrificial death of Jesus. After Jesus finished the work of redemption, he sat down at the place of honor at God’s right hand (Hebrews 10:12).

As Jesus followers we are called to finish our God-ordained assignments (Colossians 4:17). Our lives are worth nothing, unless we give ourselves to doing and finishing the work assigned to us by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News of God’s love and grace. Let’s finish the work assigned to us, so we can say like the Apostle Paul: “I have fought a good fight. I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful” (2 Timothy 4:7). Don’t rest your life until you invest your life in the kingdom of God.

What are some projects you have started and finished? What would you like to finish your life being/doing?

Like people attempted to define who Jesus was with derogatory and scarcity language, they will attempt to define you and undervalue you with that same kind of language:

You are “just” a _______________________________ (fill in the blank)

He is greater than your past.

He greater than what has happened to you.

He is greater than labels and incomplete definitions.

He is greater than the foreclosure, greater than the addiction, greater than the abortion, greater than the divorce, greater than the abusive home, greater than your absent parents, greater than the layoff, greater than a rejection letter, greater than your failure, greater than the ridicule for being smart or not being so smart. God is greater than what has happened to you.

God is greater than your skin color, greater than your hair texture, greater than your facial features and your body composition. He is greater than your education or lack of education. Greater than your family and greater than the fact you didn’t have a family. He is greater than the labels that others put on you.

Let this next sentence wash over your heart. You are more than “just.” If you are a believer in and follower of Jesus, then you are:

forgiven

chosen

adopted

treasured

loved

special

included

on His mind all the time

People will always try and define you with scarcity language, and if we are not careful, we will begin to believe what they say. However, remember that you are more than “just.” You are who God says you are. You are a treasured child of the King.

in what ways have people attempted to define you, using scarcity language? How did you respond? How will knowing you are more than “just” help you respond differently?

Most of us have a typical negative emotional response of anxiety to criticism, whether it is real or imagined, self-directed or from someone else. Some of us even panic when we are criticized by others, and we become defensive, deny the criticism, and we end up being manipulated into defending what we want to do instead of doing it. I have not always handled or coped with criticism in a way that displayed maturity, but I have been developing the following skills and attitudes to help me handle criticism better:

1. Agree with any truth in statements that people use to criticize me and determine how I can grow.
2. Listen to exactly what the critic says, not to what’s implied.
3. Respond only to what the critic says, not what the criticism implies or my interpretation of the criticism.
4. Don’t interpret what is said to conform to my own insecurities and self-doubt.
5. Accept my mistakes and errors and see them as just that.
6. Realize that my mistakes and errors do not define me as a person.
7. Realize that God does not condemn or criticize me for my sins, mistakes and errors.

Next time you’re criticized for something, walk through this list. The result of developing these skills, we can cut our learned emotional puppet strings that cause us to react negatively to criticism from others and become whole, fully effective, free people.

What is your typical response to criticism? What other skills of handling criticism have you learned and can add to this list?

Reading Luke 22 this morning, the echoes of these ancient words reverberated through the corridors of my soul. I was convicted – guilty as charged.

Just hours before he would carry all of humanity’s sins on his shoulders and in his own body, Jesus spoke these words to his friends, disciples, the men who would be responsible for his world-wide mission. He invited them to enter into and share his agony through intercessory prayer.  But, they were exhausted with grief and the self-absorbed pursuit of moving up the leadership ladder.  How could they sleep while their Master suffered? What a shame! Well, over 2000 years later, he speaks these same words to me.

I am in that garden, sleeping. My Savior invites me to pray with him, but I am exhausted with grief and hopelessness, self-absorbed pursuits, and the lack of curiosity. My Savior has invited me into his pain. Yet, I sleep. My Savior has invited me to agonize with him over murder, abortion, rape, slavery, genocide, infanticide, abusive relationships, failing marriages, oil spills and hurricanes, and earthquakes. Yet, I sleep.  He comes to me and finds me sleeping. I’m busted. I’m embarrassed. I offer no words of excuse or rationalization. I was sleeping – plain and simple.  I wipe the sleep from my eyes and the drool from my mouth, only to recognize that he has been praying while I was sleeping. He has been praying and agonizing over the pain, the brokenness, the sins, the fear, the anxiety, and the hiding of the world, and I have been sleeping.   My Savior kneels alone on his praying ground, deeply troubled. Yet, I sleep.

Because I am sleeping, I am not praying. And, because I am not praying, I am more prone to fail. I am in the garden, sleeping, and I am prone to give into all kinds of temptations: irrational fear, unnecessary anxiety, blatant satanic lies that my sins can outrun God’s grace, the delusional belief that I know better than God and can control my own life, and feeding my flesh is more important than feeding my spirit. It’s time for me to:

Get up!

Arise!

Wake up!

Pray!

Intercede!

Talk to God!

Be devoted to prayer!

Enter into this exhausting, powerful, and intimate spiritual habit with my Savior.

Will you join me in being devoted to talking to our heavenly Father daily? Let’s awake and pray so we won’t fail him and others we love.

4. Is God’s will for my life more important than my will for my life? Matthew 26:39-42

Often we go to God for guidance, but when we get an answer we don’t like, we sometimes go for a second opinion or we keep asking, thinking that God will give us an answer that we like. Or, we go in asking God for guidance, hoping he will bless what we have already decided. If we are to receive direction from God, we have to resolve that his will is more important than ours, and we will do what he says.

So, as we pray about where we should live, who we should marry, where we should go to school, and how many kids to have, I believe God answers our prayers for guidance in at least four ways:

1. No way! Your request is not in God’s will (Matthew 26-36-39)
2. Slow Your Roll! Your request is not God’s will at this time. (John 11:3, 6, 14-15, 43-44)
3. Grow Up! Your motives and spiritual condition are wrong (James 4:3)
4. Go Ahead! Your request, timing and spiritual condition are right (Acts 12:5-7, 12-17)

“God, our eyes are on you. We don’t know what to do and where to go. All we know is we will keep our eyes on you through a demonstration of desperation.”

3. Have I spent time getting to know His voice?  John 10.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the right voice, over all other competing voices, giving us guidance and clarity in our lives? Jesus says that it is possible for us to pick out his voice amidst all these other competing and confusing voices. The key to recognizing his voice and getting guidance from Him is spending quality time with him in prayer and reading and listening to his words. The more we practice these disciplines, the more we will recognize his voice and follow his guidance.

2. Am I living a holy and obedient life? Psalm 66:18; 84:11; Ezekiel 20:1ff, 31

God’s moral will is revealed in the Bible through the commandments and other biblical principles: – don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, etc. God’s moral will is connected to his specific guidance for our lives.  So, before we ask God who we should marry, where we should live, and how many children we should have, we should ask the question: Is there sin in our lives that would hinder our ability to talk to God and hear his directions for our lives clearly?

1. Have I chosen to follow Jesus and let him reign in my life? Matthew 6:31-33

God will guide us when we have chosen to submit to the reign and leadership of Jesus. If we have not made the decision to follow him in the most important area, that is, to love him and seek his kingdom values, then why should he give us guidance/direction in other areas in our lives?

After the 11:00 service a man approached me and said he needed to ask me to forgive him. Immediately, I wondered what it could be. He told me that when I was introduced as the candidate for the position of Senior Teaching Pastor, he didn’t vote for me. “I am sure that many people didn’t vote for me.” I opined. So, his comment was no big revelation to me. What he said next was. He said, “You need to know why I didn’t vote for you.” I continued to listen. Because of his experiences in the past, he had developed a spirit of prejudice and racism against black people. In essence, he was saying he didn’t vote for me because I was black. He began to weep and asked me if I would forgive him. I said it wasn’t a problem. He retorted, “Listen! You don’t understand. I really need you to forgive me. I don’t want the junk of prejudice and racism spilling over into my kids’ lives. I didn’t vote for you and I was wrong. God has been and is using your preaching to impact my life.”Wow! To His glory!

I realized what God was doing. This man heard God and was acting on what he heard. I forgave him. We hugged for a good while, weeping in one each other’s arms (Glad we weren’t in the men’s bathroom doing this – Smile! It was a joke). I was moved, humbled, and I rejoiced as I was reminded that God has me in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. God, thank you for using Malachi to help us see that: Correcting injustice in the world really does begin when we let God correct injustice in us. For His glory!