Being a Fully Alive Human Being: Finishing Well

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Being a Fully Alive Human Being Finishing Well

• Paul I consider my life worth nothing to me,
  if only I may finish the race and complete the
  task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of
  testifying to the gospel of Gods grace. --Acts
  2022
• I'd rather be a failure at something I enjoy
  than be a success at something I hate. --George
  Burns

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• A Resilient LifeGordon McDonald
• A quitters gene

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• When we change our thoughts it will change our
  feelings and our perspective and behavior will
  change as a result.
• My greatest ministry success was not quitting
  when quitting, dropping out of the race, would
  have been the easiest thing in the world for me
  to do.

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• Perseverance often is success in Gods eyes.
• Sometimes success is just being faithful in
  hardship and apparent failure. . . . If you are a
  Christ-follower, it means you may no longer
  measure your life by visible triumphs.
  Sometimes, success is just being faithful in
  hardship and apparent failure. --John Ortberg

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• What resources has God given you?
• Whats in your hand?
• God has uniquely gifted you like no other person
  in the world to carry out his purposes.
• We serve God with whats in our hand however
  unimpressive it may seem.

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• What will it take for you to finish well in
  ministry?
• The truth is we dont always look at things the
  same way God does.
• We need a theology adequate for our failures and
  imperfections. Failure is not final. Failure is
  only temporary.

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• Only 1 out of 4 Christian leaders finish well.
  --Arch Hart
• How difficult it is to be a Christian pastor!
  Browning
• Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
  tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has
  enough trouble of its own. --Matthew 634

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• "I have told you these things, so that in me you
  may have peace. In this world you will have
  trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the
  world." --John 1633, TNIV
• Finishing well starts with finishing well each
  day.

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• Wheres an area in your life where you need to
  hold onto hope by practicing patience? Where do
  you need to trust that the seed of the Kingdom of
  God has been planted and that its just a matter
  of time until it reaches maturity?

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• Obstacles to Finishing Well
• 1. We constantly compare ourselves with others.
• Comparing yourself to others will wear you out,
  frustrate you and make you depressed and angry.
• 2. We copy the way others do ministry

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• We do God, ourselves and those we minister to a
  great disservice when we try to be someone were
  not.
• The more you become yourself the more likely it
  is that you will finish well in ministryand that
  youll be faithful and fruitful.

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• Life is full of starts and stops, blind alleys,
  disappointing detours, and bad guesses.
  Eventually, by Gods grace, we find our ways into
  acts of obedience, acts of praise. But along the
  way we spend considerable time extricating
  ourselves from brambles thorns, blackberries
  and scratching our heads (Eugene Peterson, The
  Unnecessary Pastor, vii).

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• 3. We think theres a formula, a magic bean,
  a technique or a silver bullet that will bring
  success to our ministry.
• The only formula that will bring biblical
  success is to love God with all your heart,
  mind and strength and love your neighbor as
  yourself.

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• 4. We compete with each other.
• 5. We fail morally or sexually.
• 6. We fail to deal with stress, burnout and
  depression.
• Ministry is largely a matter of surviving
  depression.

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• 1 in 4 teenagers are currently clinically
  depressed.
• Depression is now 10 times more prevalent than it
  was in 1960.

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• Pastors were asked In the past six months have
  you
• been discouraged (95)
• depressed (25)
• felt burned out (45)
• considered doing something other than full-time
  Christian ministry (5)

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• 63 percent of pastors have struggled with
  depression in the past ten years.
• 53 percent of pastors wives battled with
  depression.
• 12 percent of the ministers surveyed always or
  often felt depressed in their ministry (Richard
  Blackmon).

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• Ministry is a vocation of loss. We need to learn
  to grieve and surrender our losses.
• To Pastors Spouses
• 1. Take care of yourself.

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• Co-dependency--where we find our self identity
  outside ourselves either in another person, our
  work, alcohol or drugs, or even our ministry.
• Quite often the neighbor who most needs to be
  loved is you. If you dont take care of
  yourself, its quite likely that no one else
  will.

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• 2. Embrace your own God-given purpose apart
  from your spouse.
• What are your spiritual gifts? Whats your
  passion? What breathes life into you? When do
  you feel most fully alive and full of joy?
  These are all clues as to Gods purpose for you.
  
• 3. Grow yourself.

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• God has something for you to do in this world
  that no one else can do.
• Resist one-size-fits-all prescriptions.
• 4. Develop your own support system.
• With close friends the sorrows and
  difficulties of life arent as overwhelming and
  the joys of life are at least twice as blessed.

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Questions for Reflection

• What will it take for me to finish well in
  ministry? What steps do I need to begin to take
  to live well today so that I can finish well?
• What has been my greatest success?
• Whats in my hand that God has given me uniquely
  to be and do in the world?
• Where do I need to be encouraged? What do I need
  God to say to me at this conference?