Becoming God's Best Version of You
PPT 1 Series Title Slide
The title of this series is: "Becoming God's Best Version of You."
Making the rest of your life the best of your life.
I want to begin by noticing a guiding principle in the life of the Apostle Paul:
PPT 2 Text
Php 3:12 Not that I have already obtained [it], or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of [it] yet; but one thing [I do]: forgetting what [lies] behind and reaching forward to what [lies] ahead,
Php 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (NAS)
First notice that in verse 12, and in verse 14 Paul talks about pressing on, the Greek word translated press on is: dee o ko and it means to run swiftly after.
What is he running swiftly after? The upward call of God in Christ Jesus. In a future message I want to talk about the danger of the nothing, of settling into a life where the status quo is your happy place. This week I just want to start this series by hopefully pumping you up to get hungry to make the rest of your life the best of your life. Whenever the past is more exciting than the future you are showing signs of spiritual dementia.
I want to point out to you that Paul wrote Philippians at pretty much the same time as he wrote the book of Philemon, and I want you to pay particular attention to how he describes himself in the book of Philemon:
PPT 3
Phm 1:9 yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul— an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— (NIV)
Paul called himself and old man, and he said I am running after an upward call, I forget what's behind, I press on - which means he was stretching himself, there is more ahead for me, he is like the servers at Cold Stone, "I like it, I love it, I gotta have more of it."
There is no such thing as spiritual retirement, or its time for someone else to do it. If God has made a deposit in your life He expects to collect interest till the day you die. So whether you are 12 or 92 you should be pressing on for the upward call. You should be wanting more. Sometimes people fall into a mindset where there best years as a believer are behind them, Paul repudiates that by saying he was an old man but his approach was to still be pressing forward.
So lets talk about God's best version of you.
How many of you remember the TV show called sliders?
PPT 4
TV Show called sliders. There are unlimited parallel universes and a different version of you exists in each one of them. In one universe you are the president, in another you are a beggar in Africa, every possible version of you exists in some universe out there.
There are serious scientists who actually believe that kind of stuff.
I only believe in this universe, but I want to take the idea of multiple versions of you and apply it to this sermon today. The only universe that really matters is this one, and in some regards there are a very large amount of different versions of you that could be. Some of them are better than the you, you are now, and some of them are worse, than the you, you are now. The whole point of the series we are starting today is to help each one of us become God's best version of you.
PPT 5 So What does the best version of you look like?
Are you thinner, healthier?
Better with your finances?
Is the best version of you no longer single?
Does the best version of you have a better marriage.
Does it pray more.
Is the best version of you closer to God? Yes!!!
I like the New Years season for several reasons, the main is that it is a convenient place to start over, and start fresh, and to begin again with new enthusiasm. I'm believing this is going to be an incredible year of accelerated growth for me and for many of you. Doesn't that sound like a great idea?
Some of you have been in a rut for far too long, you have reached a certain level of personal and spiritual growth and have had little desire or inspiration to move beyond where you are. You are cheating yourself out of a wonderful adventure you could have.
If I had a word for 2014 as a whole it would be, "Behold, I set before you an open door."
An open door to grow, to advance, to become more in line with God's best version of me.
Earlier I asked what do you think the best version of you looks like, now I want to tweak that question ever so slightly, but it changes the question radically, "what does GOD's best version of you look like?"
I am going to give you God's answer from scripture:
PPT 6
Eph 4:11 And He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] prophets, and some [as] evangelists, and some [as] pastors and teachers,
Eph 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
Eph 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.
In short Paul says we are to keep growing till we become like Jesus. Are you there yet? Then keep pressing forward.
Another one of our messages in this series will be, "If you don't know, you can't grow."
PPT 8
In Proverbs Pr 27:23 Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, [and] look well to thy herds.
Pr 27:24 For riches [are] not for ever: and doth the crown [endure] to every generation?
That message will mostly be about the need to measure, what to measure against and the need for review and reflection. If you don't have a standard to measure your life to, than you don't have a criteria by which to judge it, and if you don't have a criteria by which to judge it you also don't have a target to shoot at.
If you don't know you can't grow.
God has given us standards, goals and benchmarks. In Philippians Paul says the standard and goal is one that is always advancing upwards, and in Ephesians he explains why it is always an upwards call, because the standard is to become like Jesus.
I want to ask some questions now, and I believe the Holy Spirit wants to use them to begin to stir something in many of you.
PPT 9
If your life were describe by the gears of a car would you be in park, reverse, neutral, or drive? By the way the answer to this question has nothing to do with your health or finances.
Let me make an important point right now, once you stop pressing forward, the current starts taking you backwards. (Hebrews 2:1) In life we are either growing or shrinking, there is no neutral in this river we call life, because of the strong current in the river.
So how are you doing? If you are going forward, awesome. If you are fighting the current just enough to stay neutral, come on fire up your engine and get going again, if you are going backwards let today be the day you decide to step on the brakes and change direction.
I believe God wants this to be a year of growth. I have a lot of exciting messages planned some I have already mentioned another is 5 powers God gives to get from here to there. Sometimes there can seem very far away. God wants this to be a year of getting from here to there.
Let me give you an encouraging thought right now that we will reinforce in weeks to come: small efforts consistently applied can yield big results.
Life by the yard is hard, inch by inch its a cinch.
I am going to close in prayer in a moment, but before I do I want to mention a couple of resources that I have used in preparation and that can be very helpful to you. Than a closing thought.
John Maxwell the 15 invlauable laws of growth.
John Ortberg The me I want to be
Bruce Wilkenson The Dream Giver
God's best version of you is closer to Him. Rev 3:20.
We are all familiar with that verse some use it as a text for salvation, others interpret as a message to the church. For today that is how we want to look at it as a message to us as believers. Behold I stand at the door and knock. It is time to get pumped up again about being a believer, to be zealous to serve Him, to open the door again and say Lord, help me to get out of park, neutral, reverse, and put this thing called my life in drive.
