Moving Forward

Palmyra First Assembly

January 13, 2019

Morning Worship

Text: Philippians 3:7-14

Title: Moving Forward

Have you ever hit a speed bump or a pothole too fast? One that you didn’t know was coming up? It kind of gets your attention doesn’t it?

I was reading on the Internet about people who ignore speed bumps. What happens? Damage to axles. Bent  body parts… front end alignments? And yet people continued to ignore them. I read stories of how cars literally fell apart after hitting multiple speed bumps at high speed.

The purpose of speed bumps are not to slow you down permanently… just for your own safety.

Now, having said that, the enemy of your soul and of the church would like to throw speed bumps at you that would cause you to never move forward again without wondering, “what is going to happen next.” And if he can accomplish that, then he has damaged your life and the life of the church.

We have not reached our final destination yet and there will be plenty of potholes or speed bumps along the way.

I want to share with you today four steps to regaining your foothold in your journey and how you can begin moving forward again.

Philippians 3:7-14

7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Four steps in moving forward.

I.                  Rethink Your Direction. All the roads from our house lead to Troy. You can get there about five different ways. Ask Larry Baker. He accused me of trying to get him lost so he couldn’t find my house again. I was trying to teach him a spiritual lesson. But before we go to town we have to evaluate a couple of things. 1) What part of town are we going to? 2) What is the shortest route? If we are going to Main Street we normally take Highway J to Boone St and then to downtown… because it is a smother road. We could turn left out of our subdivision and hit south Main Street but it’s a rougher road. When we go to church, however we take South main, even though it’s rougher, simply because its closer. Either way there is an evaluation process. Paul wrote,  7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. The apostle Paul was the most promising young rabbi of his time. He had it all – a good life, a great education. He came from a well - to - do family. Top of his class… and part of the nation that could claim that they were God’s chosen people. And yet when he hit that speed bump on the Damascus Road something changed. He changed his direction. He reevaluated his direction and considered one way to be far better than the other.  8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ…  Paul was on the smooth road – Highway J if you would – and yet he chose South Main Street.             2 Corinthians 11:24-30 (NKJV)

24  From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.

25  Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;

26  in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;