A WRONG ENDING WITH A RIGHT BEGINNING
Philippians 3
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As hard as it is to believe, 2008 will be over in a few days and we will embark on a journey into a brand new year.
It is a tradition in our land to put together new year resolutions. Maybe some of you here have already begun working on your list.
There is lots of helpful advice when making yours and I’ll not spend time reciting them to you. However I did find one that could be most helpful.
There was a couple who were sitting with a marriage counselor for their first session and the good doctor asked them to identify what seemed to be the root of their problems. The wife responded, "It all started when we thought it would be cute to think up each other’s New Year’s resolutions"
It might be a good thing to stick with just making your own.
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Once Christmas has passed, people start thinking about the upcoming new year.
Allow me to prove a point…
By a show of hands - how many have already made plans on News Year’s night. Regardless of what they may be.
Again by a show of hands - how many have a plan set in place that will help you succeed and grow in 2009?
More people spend more time planning how to end the year rather than how to begin one.
So this morning I want to try and help you set a plan together on how to begin a new year off right.
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People all across our nation will end this year…
• Deeper in debt.
• Some without a job
• And some without a home.
• Some started the year happily married but are ending the year sadly divorced.
• The year began with the family all intact, but at year’s end, family members are missing.
• We began the New Year with hope for tomorrow and yet many are ending the year wishing that tomorrow had never came.
It’s sad to say - the majority of our world will end this year on a bad note.
And that bad note will continue to sound on in to the coming New Year.
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I want to take you this morning to the book of Philippians, chapter 3…
This morning’s title is…
A WRONG ENDING WITH
A RIGHT BEGINNING
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As you find our text -- There was an article a few years ago in which a man gave his idea of a perfect world.
He said, "In a perfect world you would feel as good at 60 as you did at 17. And you would be as smart at 60 as you thought you were at 17."
"In a perfect world professional athletes would be complaining because schoolteachers were signing multi-million dollar contracts."
"In a perfect world potato chips would have calories, but if eaten with dip, the calories would be neutralized."
"In a perfect world, the check in the mail would always come early and be for more than you expected it to be."
The truth is: this is not a perfect world and it never will be! But it can become a lot better in this New Year.
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Philippians 3
1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved.
3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,
4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.
6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.
8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ
9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,
11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
15 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you.
16 But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.
17 Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.
18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.
19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.
20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.
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I told you earlier that more people plan how to end the year rather than how to begin one.
Even though Paul wasn’t writing Philippians 3 with a New Year in mind - he gives us some great advice on how we can start a New Year right.
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The first thing Paul tells us is…
1: REJOICE IN THE LORD…
Nay-sayers and sour-pusses usually miss seeing the goodness of God because they can’t get past how bad things are and how things are going to get worse.
Listen - I’m not telling you that things don’t look gloomy. I’m not telling you to bury your head in the sand so you can’t see what’s going on in our world.
There are enough dooms day voices getting too much air time.
Paul says, …whatever happens brothers and sister, REJOICE in the Lord…
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A few years ago a song came out that said, "don’t worry be happy". People sang it with fake smiles and fake happiness.
Instead of looking at the start of 2009 as a load of problems and troubles coming your way, start the New Year by rejoicing in the Lord.
I can hear people say - pastor I just don’t have anything to rejoice over. You just don’t know how bad things are.
Paul isn’t saying…
• Rejoice in the Financial Market
• Rejoice in the Housing Market
• Rejoice in the Auto Market
• Rejoice in the Health Care System
• HE SAYS REJOICE IN THE LORD.
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Rejoice in the Lord…
• In the Lord, I am a new creature…
• In the Lord, I am more than a conqueror…
• In the Lord, I am always victorious…
• In the Lord, I am a child of the King…
• In the Lord, I am walking in the Light…
• In the Lord, I am forgiven…
Surely you can think of something to rejoice in the Lord in.
Surely His goodness has somewhere touched your life.
Surely you’ve seen His grace or mercy.
Even with what is going on right now - whatever happens brothers and sisters, REJOICE IN THE LORD…
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I know it may sound cheesy and religious mumbo jumbo - but if you can start the New Year and continue the year by rejoicing in the Lord, you might just have a better year in 09 than you did in 08.
Paul says in the next chapter of Philippians this, …rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice…
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The next thing Paul tells us is…
2: DON’T PUT YOUR TRUST IN YOUR CREDENTIALS…
How many here this morning has ever encountered a bad attitude?
I’m not a fan of bad attitudes, but most likely the number one attitude (at least top 3) that gets my blood boiling is the attitude of entitlement.
That attitude that says, I deserve something because of…
…who I am… or
…what I’ve done… or
…my title or position…
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Paul ends verse 3 by saying, …We put no confidence in human effort…
…and then spends the next few verses spouting his credentials and says if anyone had a right to some thing based on credentials, it would be him…
He ends his rant by saying, …I no longer count on my own righteousness… rather…, I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead…
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If you’re thinking you’re going to prosper in life and succeed where others failed because of who you are or what you know - you are setting yourself up for a mighty fall.
Instead of this year looking for someone to pass out bailouts…
Instead of looking for someone to recognize your name or position…
Instead of waiting for your rights
Start 2009 by seeking to experience the power of God that raised Christ from the dead…
Start 2009 by seeking after His righteousness and His Kingdom…
Start 2009 off by not standing in WHO you are but rather WHOSE you are.
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You may not be from the right side of the tracks
You may not wear the right kind of cloths
You may not drive the right vehicle
OR
You may from the right side, have the right cloths, and the right vehicle.
If you put your trust in your credentials, 2009 will end wrong just like 2008.
But if you’ll purpose to know Christ, 2009 will end well because you began right.
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The next thing Paul tells us is…
3: YOU CAN’T SETTLE WHERE YOU ARE…
Listen to what Paul says here,
12 …But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
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If your life were to end in 5 minutes, would you feel you’ve accomplished and achieved what you wanted to or dreamt to?
Boxer Joe Lewis said, "You only live once, but if you live it right, once is enough."
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The fact is that most people will end 2008 without any difference than 2007, or 06, or 05 and so on.
We are creatures of habit and once we find a pattern we like, we settle in that pattern and we never step outside of the rut.
I can assure you that something so incredible lies ahead of each of you that it would blow your mind if you knew.
But when you settle for where you are - you’ll never attain what God has placed before you.
Deuteronomy 1:5-8
5 On this side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying,
6 "The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ’You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.
7 Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates.
8 See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers — to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — to give to them and their descendants after them.
Have we become so secure in the wilderness that we’ve forgotten that our destination in the Promise Land?
2009 can be the same kind of year if you want it to be.
• No new victories to celebrate…
• No fresh anointing…
• No new Word from the Lord…
• No reason to get excited
OR - it can be a year of power and glory if you’ll just walk in the fullness of the Spirit.
There will be enemies to face
…But no weapon formed against you shall prosper…
They are going to talk about you not in a nice way.
…every tongue that speaks against you shall be condemned….
You can enjoy the dust of the wilderness like you have in times past -- or -- you can possess the place the flows with God’s blessings.
You can relish in the trophies of the past -- or -- you can press onward to receive the heavenly prize that is in our Lord.
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The final thing Paul tells us is…
4: WE MUST LIVE READY TO LEAVE…
vs. 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
How disappointed would you be if the Lord returned today?
Sounds like a crazy questions doesn’t it?
So let me ask it again, how disappointed would you be if the Lord returned today?
For some people, they hope the Lord’s return doesn’t happen…
• Before they graduate…
• Before they get married…
• Before they have kids or grandkids…
• Before something they really want to do…
Sounds crazy - but it’s true. People will say they want the Lord to come, but yet there is something they long for before He does.
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I want you to hear this and hear it well -- there is nothing more important than being ready for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!
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In our text Paul says, (vs. 8)…everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ
KJV says, …I do count them but dung, that I may win Christ…
If you’re not living ready to leave - this year isn’t going to end well for you nor the next one or the one after that.
If you’ll spend ’09 rejoicing…
If you’ll not put too much faith in yourself…
If you’ll not settle where you are…
2009 is going to be a great year!
But should the Lord return and take us to heaven, 2009 will be the greatest year of them all.
