PATHWAY TO TOMORROW
Philippians 3:12-14
Jonathan Swift who wrote Gulliver’s Travels had an unusual greeting for others – “May you live every day of your life!”
1. Summer left us on Thursday and Friday Fall took its place, but looking back – how many days did you really live life at its best?
2. Living life at its best – I know someone who strived to do that – the Apostle Paul.
3. Certainly no man had better excuses for being miserable in life
• He went about doing good yet the worse sort of things constantly happened to him
• He was arrested falsely many times
• He was beaten unjustly
• He was thrown into prison
• He was shipwrecked
• He often went without food
• He was afflicted with illness
• YET this man seemed to live every day to its fullest.
4. Most of us, if not all of us are conscious of the fact that we are not living every day to its fullest.
• Someone will ask us, “How are you doing?” And we will answer, “Great” “Super” – But behind our mask, we know it isn’t so.
• We know that there has to be a better way than the way we are going.
• Jesus said in John 10:10 I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Is life abundant for you?
• Let’s check in with what Paul says in Philippians 3:12-14.
• I would like to reduce that to 6 little words – 3 couplets
I. FORGET YESTERDAY
1. “Forgetting what is behind” – That is hard to do.
2. Yet life is less than what it can be if we keep carrying around all of our yesterdays. They weigh us down.
3. Paul says we are to “forget”
• Paul did not mean to erase the past from our minds.
• The past is not a place to stop at but a place to build upon.
• Paul did not let his failures or successes obstruct his present running of God’s race for him.
4. Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
a) The race is now.
b) It’s time to run our best
5. The race is not run looking back but looking forward. Too many runners have lost the race by looking back.
6. Forget Yesterday
II. LIVE TODAY
1. Paul says that he tries as hard as he can – straining toward
2. [Illus.] Suppose the doctor says you only have 6 months left to live – a week left to live – one day left. How would you live today?
3. BUT, here’s the thing, God only gives today. Not a one of us is promised tomorrow. Yet we often assume we will have plenty of tomorrows when all we are assured of is today.
4. This is the day the Lord has made, therefore be glad in it. Live today. It is a gift from the God who loves you. Live it to the fullest.
a) Do not try and say, “If things were different” or “What if…”
b. Live today with purpose
5. Only Jesus can give your life purpose. He is the One who created you in the womb of your mother. He is the One who birthed this church 84 years ago. As individuals and as a church we will only find our purpose in Him.
6. Just 6 words – 3 couplets – (1) Forget Yesterday (2) Live Today and
a) Trust Tomorrow – there is victory here
III. TRUST TOMORROW
• Matthew 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
• Instead of worrying about tomorrow we need to trust tomorrow. What do I mean by that?
a. First we need to trust tomorrow to what God can do through us today
1) There are some things we can do today that will help us fulfill what God wants us to do tomorrow.
2) A student can study today for tomorrow’s test. If he doesn’t then he might just fail.
3) Seeing this church grow tomorrow will mean your time, effort, faithfulness, money and prayers today.
4) God has brought Harmony Baptist a long way in these years – only to take you farther. How much further depends upon your actions today. You are determining your future right now!
5) So first, we do things about tomorrow that we can do today.
a. Secondly we need to trust tomorrow to God to do the things we can’t do
6) The same God who has seen us through and blessed us in the last 200 years as a church, is the same God who is out there paving the way for better things.
7) The words to an old song say it this way: “Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand, but I know Who holds tomorrow, and I know He holds my hand.”
• Trust tomorrow. It is worth your investment today. It is worth putting in the Master’s hands.
Conclusion
• So that’s the simple formula to enjoying and getting the most out of each day.
1. Forget yesterday – build on it – build from it
2. Live today – where you are – giving all you have
3. Trust tomorrow – because God is there
