So What Is Your Goal?

1. DON’T GET TOO COMFORTABLE IN YOUR SUCCESS!

PAUL as we discussed from VS. 1-10 had it all. He had every reason to think he had achieved it all. The warning is not to let that BECOME YOUR GOD.

Many think because they have achieved that perfect job, that dream house, that reputation, that popularity, (the list goes on) feel that they can now relax. I’m not saying that success, riches, or any of the pleasures of life are bad. They are not.

But care must be given that those pleasures do not consume you and pull you away from God. I’ve seen many drop out of church, lose their commitment and involvement and slowly become someone else.

1 Corinthians 4:7 (MSG)

7 For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing?

STAY IN FOCUS! Paul said in Vs. 7 “whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ”.

2. DON’T LET PAST MISTAKES PULL YOU OUT OF THE RACE!

We must always work to learn from the past but NOT ALLOW OUR PAST TO CONTROL US. The PAST is NOT to be used as “a barrier to the future” or “an excuse to drop out of the race”.

I have watched so many BLAME THE PAST for missing out on so many opportunities when it is our PAST that SHAPES OUR FUTURE!

a. My First 10 Years of Ministry were not for God. Because my life was not being lived for God, everything in my life was about me. Because it was all about me, it was a life full of mistakes that eventually led me to a point of losing everything.

b. Once I corrected my focus and began “straining toward” God, not only did God give me a wonderful, blessed, and awesome marriage and family, He also returned me to the ministry and in ways I never felt possible.

But all of the PAST MISTAKES are parts of my life that He used to prepare me for what was to come.

Forgetting the past and “straining toward what is ahead”

The word “straining” here means “to stretch forward as in a foot race”.

Listen to the YLT Translation of this verse:

Philippians 3:13 (YLT)

13 … --the things behind indeed forgetting, and to the things before stretching forth—

The things “behind” – bah! Instead, let’s spend our time “stretching forth” to what God has prepared for us. Because we know that “in all things God works together for the good of those who love Him”.

III. RUN FOR CHRIST WELL! (Verse 14)

To have a good year, WORK OUT YOUR SALVATION by growing and maturing to be whom Christ is preparing you to be: WORK TO MOVE FORWARD taking one day at the time and keeping Christ the focus of your life. Last, in stretching forth RUN THE RACE FOR CHRIST!

READ VERSE 14

“I press on toward the goal”

The word “goal” here describes a MARK on which to FIX THE EYE. A spot that we constantly MOVE TOWARDS! So Paul’s charge is that we must pursue – must be fixed – must pursue (from earlier) - moving towards winning the prize. That’s our goal! Right?