Text: Philippians 3:12-14
Introduction:
1. Illustration –
Recently, a Taiwanese tourist visiting Australia was so engrossed by her Facebook page on her smartphone that she walked right off the pier plunging twenty feet into the icy waters of the ocean below. Rescue workers were called and after spending twenty-minutes treading water, while clinging to her smartphone, she was saved. )Paul Fritz, Keys to Success, sermoncentral.com)
2. Sadly, many people find themselves in distressing situations because they are focused on the wrong things.
3. The last two years have been like nothing we have ever faced before. It has been a challenge to our nation, our families, our churches, and our own peace of mind.
4. But we have a choice we can focus on the past or we can focus on the future.
5. With the year 2022 I want to encourage you to turn the page on the past and focus on the future and accept the upward call.
Discussion:
I. The Apostle Paul
A. Paul could have said, “Look. I put people in prison, I voted for the death penalty for Christians I arrested. How could I have been so wrong? There is no hope for me there is no way God could ever forgive me for the things I have done.
B. But God turned the page on Paul’s past.
1 Timothy 1:12-16 (ESV) 12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
II. God has turned the page on all your past sins. You should too
Psalm 103:10-12 (ESV) 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
1 John 3:20 (ESV) 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
III. Turn the page on a lukewarm relationship with Christ.
Revelation 3:14-17 (ESV) 14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. 15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
A. Illustration
"I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with immigrant. I want ecstasy not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want about a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please." – (Charles Swindoll’s book Improving Your Serve)
B. Are you using God’s grace as an excuse for doing little or a motivation to do all that you can to serve and Glorify God?
C. If so, you are denying yourself the full blessing of God.
Matthew 6:33 (ESV) 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Psalm 34:8 (ESV) 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
IV. Turned the page on unforgiving heart.
A. Are you carrying a grudge against a neighbor, a fellow worker, a family member, a brother, or sister in Christ?
B. Why are you carrying the load of unforgiveness?
C. Illustration:
"GRUDGITIS" ... KILLER DISEASE
"Fret not thyself because of evildoers..." (Psalm 37:1).
A grizzly bear lumbered into a clearing where garbage had been dumped. Tourists noticed that there was only one animal the grizzly would permit to eat with him - a skunk. Doubtless he resented the skunk's brazen impudence. He could have easily won a fight with the two-tone intruder. But he didn't. Why? Because he knew the high cost of getting even.
Smart grizzly. Much smarter than the thousands of humans, who spend weary days and sleepless nights brooding over resentments and inventing ways to get even.
Dr. S. I. McMillen says that a disordered emotional life is a frequent cause of ulcerative colitis, toxic goiters, high blood pressure and scores of other diseases. If the truth were revealed thousands of death certificates would record that the victims died of "grudgitis"!
Scoffers have ridiculed the advice of Jesus, "Love your enemies." Impractical. Idealistic. Absurd. Now psychiatrists are recommending it as a panacea for many of man's ills. When the Great Physician said, "Forgive," he prescribed good medicine not only for our souls, but for our bodies, too.
The moment I start hating a man I become his slave. He controls my thoughts. He hounds me wherever I go. So, the Good Book advises, "8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. . . .12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,” (Col. 3:8,12).
-- By Joe R. Barnett.
V. Turn the page to the Upward Call.
A. Are you ready to open the door to a future with Christ?
Revelation 3:20-21 (ESV) 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (ESV) 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Revelation 21:1-7 (ESV) 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
B. Song: Who am I?
C. Ask yourself, Who am I that a king would bleed and die for? You are one for whom he is willing to turn the page on your past and offer you the opportunity to accept the UPWARD CALL.
