Week #1 – With Us Til THE END

• There is a quality of Jesus that we need to get better at embracing. He is called Author and Finisher.
Alpha and Omega. Beginning and End. The First and the Last.
• In other words, He’s not simply the One who helps to jumpstart our faith. He stays with us to see us
all the way through.
• Psalm 138:7, 8 (NKJV) – Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch
out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me. 8 The Lord will
PERFECT THAT WHICH CONCERNS ME; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake
the works of Your hands.
• Perfect (Heb) – to complete; to perform; or to bring to an end.
• Psalm 138:8 (NLT) – “The LORD will work out his plans for my life -- for your faithful love, O
LORD, endures forever. Don't abandon me, for you made me.”
• Psalm 138:8 (MSG) – “Finish what you started in me, God. Your love is eternal - don't quit on me
now.”
• Despite what our feelings or our circumstances may tell us, there is never a time in our lives where
God will abandon us, let us down, or quit on us. He is a FAITHFUL God!!
• Faithful (Dict.com) – strict or thorough in the performance of duty; true to one’s word, promises, or
vows; reliable or trustworthy; one who can be depended on.
• QUOTE (anonymous): God is the ARM that will hold you at your weakest, the EYE that will see you
at your darkest, and the HEART that will love you at your worst.

II Thessalonians 3:1 – 3 (TLB) “Finally, dear brothers, as I come to the end of this letter, I ask you to pray
for us. Pray first that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and triumph wherever it goes, winning converts
everywhere as it did when it came to you. 2 Pray, too, that we will be saved out of the clutches of evil men,
for not everyone loves the Lord. 3 But the Lord is FAITHFUL; He will make you strong and guard you from
satanic attacks of every kind.”
• I Timothy 3:3 (NLT) – He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not
quarrelsome, and not love money.

Hebrews 13:5 (MSG) – Don't be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you
have. Since God assured us, "I'll NEVER LET YOU DOWN, NEVER WALK OFF AND LEAVE YOU,"
• God has NEVER failed us; even when we’ve felt like He let us down, He was still there.
• Oftentimes, we don’t realize that it’s not just His love for us that causes Him to stay with us. It’s that
fact that HIS NAME IS ON THE LINE.
• I Samuel 12:22 (NKJV) – For the Lord will not forsake His people, FOR HIS GREAT NAME’S
SAKE, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people.

I Corinthians 10:13 (MSG) – “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what
others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be
pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.”
• QUOTE: God will NEVER allow you to be pushed past your LIMIT, but He WILL allow you to be
pushed past your COMFORT ZONE!
 • It gets extremely uncomfortable when God stops bailing us out at the first sign of trouble or difficulty,
but instead starts requiring us to exercise trust and the character of God within us (Fruit of the Spirit).

Isaiah 43:1, 2 (NKJV) – But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O
Israel: "FEAR NOT, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; YOU ARE MINE.
2 When you pass through the WATERS, I will be with you; And through the RIVERS, they shall not overflow
you. When you walk through the FIRE, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.
• QUESTION: Why won’t God just part the waters, dry up the rivers, and put out the fires?
• Because He needs for us to mature to a place of knowing that the One who is with us is strong enough
to SEE US THROUGH the difficult times that come against us.