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;
27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness--
28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
30 If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. If your Christian walk is all about taking the easy road then maybe it is time to rethink your direction.
II. Consider the Cost 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. Three important things to see here. 1) We want to know Christ… People all over the world know about Christ. Even atheists will admit the Jesus was a living figure in history. But the desire of every Christian heart is to know Him intimately. To seek first His kingdom and His righteousness… to be the living stones upon which the house of God, the church of God, the body of Christ will be built. 2) We want to know His power… Romans 1:4 (NKJV) says that He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. That is the same Holy Spirit power that is available to all who have trusted in Jesus. It is that power that gives us our victory. It is that power that gives our freedom. It is that power that brings our peace… but, unfortunately, it is that power that will also bring opposition from an unseen enemy. 3) We must be willing to share in His sufferings. Our fellowship with Him will find a specific connection at this point. becoming like him in his death… I believe that this has a dual meaning. First, that we would get hold of every promise that has come to us through His suffering… Isaiah 53:4-5 (NKJV) 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. Secondly, we must die to ourselves daily and be raised to newness in Him daily. Romans 12:2 (NKJV) 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
III. Forget Past Failures… 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… I really want you to look at this last part of verse 13, Forgetting what is behind… This is such an important key to moving forward. When we hold on to something, whether it is a past hurt, or good experiences from our past, we set an anchor that keeps us from moving forward. For instance, when we hold on to our past spiritual experiences (we all want to see Old Time Pentecost in the church) we kind of limit what God wants to do. Or when we have been hurt by someone, over time the hurt may be a little less painful as we get farther away from it, but the anchor is still there and all we do is make circles. The circles get larger and we do get further away from the anchor, but it keeps us from moving forward. So we have to ask the Lord to help us in these areas. In his book. Lee: The Last Years, Charles Bracelen Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it." It is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, let bitterness take root and poison the rest of our life. There are people that we just need to forgive, then pull up the anchor and move on. And you know, the church services that we had when Mike and Charlotte pastored here, those are good memories, but it’s time to lift that anchor and move forward. God’s plan for this church will never change – you are to win the lost in Palmyra and surrounding areas and be a Holy Spirit influenced group of believers that operate in God’s power and not your own wisdom. But the manifestations of the spirit’s power may come in ways you have never seen before and by look ing to the past we hinder what the Lord wants to do in us.
IV. Put It In Gear and Go. …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. Let’s look at three things in this passage. 1) Straining… the Greek word means, to stretch yourself out towards something. That often puts us in an uncomfortable position. How many of you remember the game “Twister”? You know… spin the dial and put left hand blue and then right foot red… We would do whatever it took to try to achieve that goal. Moving forward, whether it’s your personal faith, of your physical health, or corporately as a church, will stretch you. Paul committed to that. I am going to do whatever I have to do to become whatever God wants me to be. 2) 14I press on toward the goal… the word translated “press on” means “to pursue”. Can you see this? Your relationship with the Lord must be an active relationship and not passive. To often we think that the Lord will just do what He wants to do in our lives. That’s just not true. We have to pursue God… We have to commit our lives to chasing after the things of God. I have a book at home called THE GOD CHASERS by Pastor Tommy Tenney. On the back cover this sentence describes what the Lord wants from us. A God Chaser is an individual whose hunger for God exceeds his reach. A God chaser is stretched. A God chaser pursues. 3) 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. On the surface we could look at that verse and say that our goal is heaven… that’s all I’m concerned about. But Paul says he is pressing on toward that goal. There is a lot going on between now and heaven. The God Chaser goes on to say, “A God Chaser is a person whose passion for God’s presence presses him to chase the impossible in hopes that the uncatchable might catch Him. A child chases a loving parent until, suddenly, the strong arms of the Father emfold the chaser. The pursuer becomes the captive; the pursued the captor. That’s what Paul meant when he wrote in verse 12, 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.
So now you who are of this local family of believers, having gone through difficult times, have a decision to make. Will we allow the past to dictate what I will receive from God for the future?
It is time to cut the rope to the anchor and hoist the sails to allow the Spirit, the very breath of the Living God, to blow you into a new Pentecostal future.
It is time to become as the early church…Acts 2:1 (NKJV)
1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
The enemy has put speed bumps in your path…
Watch out for the potholes…
1. Rethink your direction…
2. Consider the cost…
3. Forget past failures…
4. Put it in gear and go…
press on toward the goal to win the prize…
