Lord I got Questions
Introduction-
It is great to be in God’s house today! I believe He wants to speak to us through His word.
Prayer-
Wither you are listening to this message by the internet or you are in the service, everyone has questions about the bible and a lot of times the questions that need to be asked are not the questions answered by the preacher.
It is a good reason that we need to be studying the bible ourselves and digging for answers to questions we have.
I have titled this message- Lord I have questions! A lot of times, the questions we have are based upon what we are going through and what we are feeling- not always the best way to find truth because feelings change and what we are going through can cloud our minds.
This morning I want to ask you this question- what question(s) do you have for the Lord and how bad do you want an answer?
Let me give you a disclaimer- There are some answers to some of your questions that the Lord is not going to give you! Are you okay with that?
I mean the God of the universe has a right to say to anyone of us;
This is not for you to know
You cannot handle the answer to that question right now.
It is none of your business! When of course you are asking for a friend!
I have lots of questions! Some I understand the Lords thinking- the problem at times is making His thinking my thinking!
Like loving your enemies- I understand Jesus loves us and what He did for us- the only way to be Christ-like is to love unconditionally. It is easier for me to buy into eye for an eye- How do I love like Jesus when I feel like you mess with me or my family and the wrath of Wyatt Earp comes down.
The cost of following Jesus- All in or all out! No in between.
Luke warm Christians are a dime a dozen and their testimony is often tarnished by their own behavior and words
We tell Jesus-“I will follow you wherever you go”- Jesus says… good, we leave right now and don’t take anything with you!
Don’t get me started on Faith!-
“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because he who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Here is what I wish someone would have explained and told me about God much earlier in my life-
You will never get all your questions answered- repeat. You have to be okay with that!
There are some things that you will never know or never be told- you take it by faith.
There are truths that are hard to swallow and you must surrender to the fact that you are not God and you don’t always get what you want.
God does not have to tell us or get our permission for anything He chooses to do or not do before He does it.
Our best way to get answers is to surrender to the God who has all the answers-
Realizing that by us surrendering, He reveals His truths to us.
In His Word
In a message
By another believer
By spending time with Him in prayer and communication.
Our past does not define our future! Here is our text this morning-
Philippians 3:12-16 Read from Bible
As the Apostle Paul states his goal for his life and who has guided his life. We see that whatever state he is in he realizes it is because of God’s help.
I am not 100% there but my goal is take hold of what Christ has shown me.
I desire to lean into Jesus with everything I got so that I might attain my goal and please the Lord.
I press into Jesus and put the past in the past so that I might have a future.
It is going to be tough, Jesus never promises easy- the goal is to win the prize that Jesus Christ has offered and that is abundant life while living here and eternal life for eternity because of the cross.
Many questions asked and only some answered! Realizing the questions not answered are for my benefit and are not a punishment.
Getting past the past is getting some questions answered.
2 Cor. 5:14-
“For Christ love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
(17)- “therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!
Christ love for us compels us to living a life that is new and purposeful.
When we do that we realize that the past should stay in the past if it destroys and brought forth only as a way of encouragement to us or someone we know. We do not live in the past, we use the past for our betterment.
Listen to me-
There has to be a point of no return- where you decide that you are not looking back.
You will move forward until you accomplish what the Lord desires in your life.
You will not stop until you finish the task.
How many battles have we lost because we have quit too early?
How many have we lost because we have given up and never even gave God a chance to do something supernatural?
Forgetting what is in the past
Isaiah 43:18-19
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!”
Illustration- two brothers swimming in a bay
One brother was an excellent swimmer and his brother was only average but they were so competitive that everything becomes a race to see who is best. The one brother set off and swam out into the bay, the brother who was not the good swimmer would go out and the other brother would taint him, slowing up so he could catch up, then speed off. After a long while the two brothers met in the water and the water got choppy. The one said to the other, I don’t know how you were able to stay with me, we need to head back. The problem for the lesser swimmer was that it was farther to head back then go forward. The lesser brother said to his brother, the way I was able to do this is that I saved nothing for the way back! Not a good idea if you are setting in the middle of a bay and have not enough strength to get back- but it is a good way to live your life if you are putting the past in your rearview mirror.
Perhaps the abundant life Christ talks about is beyond the point of no return!
Maybe you have to stop checking for the familiar shoreline and get out into the deep and make sure that the focus is getting to the other side instead of constantly checking to make sure that you can get back to the shore.
Most of the time, the shore is what we are trying to get away from but still in our life we are making sure that we do not get far away from the shore-just in case we have to swim back!
A quote I heard is “
“When we settle for less, we settle for the safety of the shore”
Erwin McManus-
“We become so afraid of death that we never live, so afraid of failure that we never risk, so afraid of pain that we never discover how strong we really are.”
You cannot grab the future if you are holding unto the past
Could it be that we experience failure more often because we cannot let go of the past and we give up on ourselves too quickly.
Straining toward what is ahead
Paul shows us that we need to forget the past that has hurt us and strain forward to a future- we need Jesus amen!
Paul is telling us that good or bad, success or failure that the past is not going to distract us from moving forward in accomplishing what God wants in our life and through our lives!
Straining here conjures up a runner heading for the finish line and every muscle and part of his body pushing to the limit what is needed to not only finish but finish well.
Pressing toward the goal- the goal should be more than just making heaven as great as that will be. It is finishing and accomplishing your purpose here on this earth and enjoying the rewards of being a child of God.
The intensity is pressing on! Straining forward! Leaving nothing in the tank for another day or another time! Wanting the prize and showing that that prize is worth everything to you!
Why would Paul have so much to say about looking ahead?
Most trip and falls happen when you are looking backwards!
When I was a kid- I was all in or all out- no in between. My mother was fearful as I began a new project because just as fast as I got in I lost interest and got out. When I first talked about my call to ministry I am sure that she had that on her mind as I pursued the call.
Everyday you get to choose where you will live- in the past or in the future. As long as you have a plan if the project fails, you will never give it 100 %.
What if all in was not just a nice catch phrase but it became your lifestyle?
Many in the church universal have lost the passion for the things of God.
They have lost the urgency to which God calls each of us to the kingdom of God.
I think it was John Maxwell that said that a leader must bring urgency to the things that matter most.
McManus in his book the last Arrow said that we must set our past on fire-
I think you have to be careful if you do that-
You don’t want to burn all bridges. Some bridges need to be crossed at a later time and would be beneficial.
The bridges that are of no use and lead you to places you no longer want to go can be burned.
Listen, we will always have questions… if you cannot live your life without having all your questions answered, you are going to be disappointed and confused.
Because there is not always answers!
Because it may not be the right time for God to give you answers to what is keeping you up at night because you may not be able to handle the answer or the right answer has not arrived yet.
You are a work in process and help may be on the way!
“All of us who are mature take such a view of things.” What view? Let the past in the past. Forget the things that hinder you from moving forward. (2) Straining toward what is ahead.”
Phil. 3:7-11 read slowly and carefully
That is how Paul lived his life after Christ and that is how he survived when he did not have answers to some of his questions.
I take no confidence in the flesh
Anything that takes me away from Christ is no value to me.
Anything that I have lost that does not bring glory to God, I don’t want it.
I want to know Christ! It is the main thing and I want to keep the main thing the main thing!
By faith in Christ, I put my trust and my life in His hands!
I will ask the question but if He does not answer I know it is in my best interest or in the best interest of the kingdom and I will be okay with that.
I want His power in my life! Don’t you? When I am weak he is strong.
Last thought as we close-
(15) All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if at some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.” (16) “Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”
I know you have questions… so do I
But not all questions get answered and we need to be putting out trust where it belongs… in Jesus!
The world demands answers and walks away from the Lord. As believers, we walk with the Lord and ask questions with the idea that He knows best and wants the best for each of his children.
We walk in that confidence by faith.
Paul reminds us;
“There mind is on earthly thing. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Prayer-
