All That I Am -- All The Time

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All that I am -- All the time

Philippians 3:4-11

It is vital for the Christian to daily surrender everything to Jesus.

Sunday Morning Sermon

01.06.08

Intro:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZsaLHz1G5s

(Start with Title and text)

The wonderful Cross bids me come and die that I might truly live. For us to have true life in this world we must die to the stuff of this world. For us, the church, to be a light in this world, we must reflect the light of the world, which is Jesus. We can¡¦t reflect that light, if we are hanging on to the past, if we are hanging on to hurt, if we have pride in ourselves. The cross gives us one message of surrender and true gain the world, or the crowd gives us a different message that often puts self first. So what I’m going to ask you to do this morning might sound foreign, or even unnecessary.

Hear me on this it is vital in the life of the Christian to daily surrender everything to Jesus. The length of your Christian life is determined by your desire to surrender everything all that you are all the time. Say that with me (Advance) ALL THAT I AM ALL THE TIME.

Discussion:

Paul came to the point in his life where he said ALL THAT I AM ALL THE TIME. Paul came to the conclusion that our confidence, our self-worth, our value comes not in degrees, titles, positions, heritage or talents but it comes from who we are in Christ.

Turn with me if you have your bibles to Philippians 3:4-11 (read) (Advance)

I see three things this morning that will hopefully bring us to the conclusion of giving all that we are all the time. We have to:

(Advance)

I. Lose Confidence in Self (4-7)

I didn’t say have no self-confidence. (Advance)

Romans 12:3 (NIV) For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

a. Don’t find pride

i. In the things you have done or what you have accomplished

ii. In your past victories or even your Christian walk

Pride makes a person stop. That why it comes before the fall it literally makes a person fall when you are running this race that is the Christian life and you begin to be prideful about whatever it is you will stop. It’s at that point you are not running the race that is the Christian life. 2 Chronicles 26 tells the story of King Uzziah he became king when he was 16. Chapter 26 says that his mother did what was right in the eyes of the lord just as his father had done. So you have this 16 year old king, with a righteous upbringing. It says that became powerful. He built an army of 307,500 men trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies. 14 Uzziah provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and slingstones for the entire army. 15 In Jerusalem he made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful. (listen to this) (Advance)16 But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. We have to be careful of our pride as well.

Say those words with me (Advance) ALL THAT I AM ALL THE TIME.

b. Realize the trade off --

Paul says But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

i. If we are going to know Christ

ii. If we are going to surrender everything to Christ

iii. If we are going to gain Christ

We have to look at our lives in the same way Paul looked at his. The word ¡§Profit¡¨ is plural (more than one) - it’s like Paul had counted his past reasons for confidence one by one -- lining them up. Starting with Verse 5 -- (Advance)circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But he had a change of heart, I now consider loss¨ -- the word loss is singular -- meaning Paul no longer counted his profits as single reasons for confidence -- but he saw them all together in one lump. Say those words with me (Advance) ALL THAT I AM ALL THE TIME. What Paul was and did was nothing. What Christ had done was everything.