"FINISH IT!"

Characteristics of Great Leaders

1) Start with the end in mind.

Luke 14:25-34

Most people in the world today when recruiting people for their team, will advertise the benefits, the accommodations, the extravagance, the blessings of being as part of the team. Jesus attracted His team by describing the cost of being with Him, in fact at one time he said, can you eat my flesh and drink my blood? There is something about not finishing that discredits a leader or for that matter anyone. We see marriages that are not finishing, ministries that are not finishing, families that are not finishing. We live in a world that says, if things get rough, get you another wife... Jesus begins to admonish His followers that if you are going to finish you must count the cost, you must start with the end in mind. Can you go all the way with me? Will you still be with me when things get difficult, have you thought out what finishing will require of you, what will it cost you? Here are some principles that He teaches us to help us finish well, after all it is not how you start, it is how you finish.

* Finishing requires that I love Him more than anything else. He actually says, if you don't hate your momma (hate my momma, I will sock anybody that says something about my momma!). In other words if you love and value anything more than me, you will not finish with me.

* verse 31, He tells us that when you go to war, the odds will be stacked against you. You know you are anointed for greatness, when the odds are stacked against you. The greater the battle, the greater the reward. You can tell the size of your future by the size of your opposition. If you are going to finish you must know that all hell will try to stop you! If you can be denied, you will be, if you can be stopped, you will be. You must determine that you are unstoppable.

* Salt if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is not even fit for the manure pile. God has put you in that hostile environment to sprinkle you as salt there. You are light that is assigned to darkness. God puts you in the most adverse environment not so that you can leave but so you can change it! God has enough confidence in you that he trusted you with that carnal job. You are anointed to change it.

One of my spiritual fathers once told me on my wedding day a powerful statement that has stayed with me my entire life. He said "The will of God will never take you, where the grace of God won't keep you". In other words if God's grace comes on you, it is the place of your assignment, if you can take it and keep smiling then it is the place. If there is no grace for the place, then pray about where God's place of grace is for you. You can be in lions den but grace will shut the mouth of the lions.

Lastly, I was privileged to attend a network meeting online recently. The speaker who leads one of the fastest growing Churches in America, said something that impacted me. He said, "I would never tell my sons to plant a Church the way I did, I did not have clue what I was doing, but one thing me and my wife had was resolve". He later went on to say that the secret to their success was that before they started, they determined that they would die for that city, that there was no turning back, they would stay there until they got their breakthrough. Fifteen years ago they didn't have half the books, conferences, and information that we have today, but one thing they had was resolve, a determination that come hell or high water, they would finish. If people leave, we will finish, if people criticize, we will finish, if we are not popular we will finish. Why? Because the price of popularity is conformity, but the price of greatness is a determination to finish.

No matter what you are going through, I want to help you get your second wind, you can finish it. If there is no grace for that place, God will provide a way of escape (exit). Let's finish it!

Tomorrow, I will share on the regret of not finishing and two kinds of pain.