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Monday, January 9, 2012

SUMMARY ATTEMPT | FINISHING STRONG | STEVE FARRAR | CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER TWO
FINISHING SO-SO

Four kinds of finishes:
Cut off early – taken out of leadership (assassinations, killed in battle, prophetically denounced, overthrown)
Finished poorly – going downhill in the latter part of their lives. Either in terms of personal relationship with God, competency or both.
Finished so-so – they did not do what they could or should have done. They didn’t complete what God had for them to do.
Finished well – means that they were walking with God personally at the end of their lives. They were strong in faith and close to the Lord.

Ambushes to avoid
The ambush of another woman: risk is the central issue in determining whether or not you will survive this ambush. 
The measures to check this ambush include:
Spend personal time with the Lord in prayer and reading the Word at least three times a week.
Build a friendship with at least one or two men based on trust, confidentiality and accountability.
Avoid spending significant time with any attractive woman other than your wife.
Don’t completely assume that you will finish strong.
In the last decade, some very high-profile evangelists have stumbled into an ambush. Specifically, they wandered into the ambush of another woman. Take a cue from the ministry ethics of Billy Graham amongst others and maintain a high regard for the lack of any kind of privacy with any woman especially when a boss and secretary is involved.

The ambush of money: This ambush wasn’t just during the times of the Acts of the Apostles but is still around till this day. Ananias and Sapphira were more interested in looking good than in doing good. No matter how much you seek to gain from financial falsity, it just isn’t worth it especially if you want to finish strongly.
If you make money your God, it will plague you like the devil – Henry Fielding

The ambush of a neglected family: Many become successful in ministry and lose their family. It is better to face whatever adversity there is as a family than to neglect one another through a distorted understanding of Christ’s demand on one’s family. D. L. Moody said “I believe the family was established long before the church, and that my duty is to my family first. I am not to neglect my family”
A man is only to be given a public ministry only after he has proven his leadership abilities with his own family. The qualification for having a public ministry is not giftedness but proven character. Fulfilling the Great Commission starts with the home. Make sure that you get home from work in time for dinner. And if you don’t ever have time to coach one of your son’s or daughter’s teams, then you’re getting weird, real weird. Don’t let the enemy sucker you into working excessive hours to give your children more things. They don’t need more things – they need you and they want you. The more time that you can spend with them, the more they are going to want to be like you and know the heavenly Father who made you such a great dad. That’s how you lead your children to Christ.

Source: Finishing Strong by Steve Farrar



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