← ArchiveSunday, February 15, 2015DateFebruary 15, 2015Speaker—TextPhilippians 3Passages in this sermonPhilippians 31:34Ephesians 64:05Psalms 429:231 Timothy 610:10Philippians 3:1311:41Matthew 2812:38Genesis 4519:09John 1524:32Philippians 3:1425:16Hebrews 1226:29TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00That is a tremendous song. You know, most people take on and read biographies about important people to find out the secrets that make them important. We all are caught up sometimes.0:30If you're a reader, you'll read these biographies about these different people, about all their great tasks and all their great things that happened in their life. And we do that for simple reasons. We want to know what makes them great. Isn't that right? I read recently for the second time, I went back and reread this, the biography of our former president, George W. Bush. And there have been several books written about him. And this one was really, really an in-depth book, several hundred pages. And over the holidays, I said, you know, I haven't read that since he's been out of office,0:59so I think I'll read it again to remind me what I missed about him. And I just really was engulfed with the great leadership skills that he had. Yes, he was kind of like me of bumbling around on words and, you know, making up words and stepping on participles and all these kinds of stuff, dangling out there. And his communication skills may not have been the best, but he was a great leader, was he not? So it was incredible to go back and read that. The biography of the apostle Paul is chapter 3 of Philippians.1:29Philippians chapter 3, if you were to dissect this particular entire chapter, the verses 1 through 11 is Paul's past biography. If you picked it up in verse 17 through verse 21, it is his future portion of his biography. He talks about where he's going, what he's all about. And so what we're going to study today is the present biography of the apostle Paul,1:54chapter 12, verse 16 through 16. Turn with me. If you brought your copy of God's word or boot up your iPad and look with me at Philippians chapter 3, beginning with the 12th verse. And I want us to unpack this several verses of scripture here today. And I've kind of subtitled this as the essentials for winning the race. The secret for winning. The secret for Christ followers.2:24Winning Christians have the essentials that lead them in each and every daily race. Finishing strong should be the goal of every Christ follower. Every believer in family life, church life, work, and play. No matter how long it takes you to win the race, we should finish strong. Look with me. Philippians chapter 3, beginning with the 12th verse. Not that I have already obtained this or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.2:52Brothers, I do not regard myself having made it on my own. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward or pressing forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature thinking this way, and if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.3:20Only let us hold true to what we have obtained. I'm going to unpack those and give you several nuggets for you to consider today. But I think what we need to understand, that every Christ follower in this room, we have the essentials for the winning the race.3:49Now, I love the Apostle Paul because the Apostle Paul, in all of his letters, he uses several different illustrations to drive home the point. For instance, he loved using military illustrations. Put on the whole armor of God, Ephesians chapter 6. He loved using these particular illustrations to help drive home the point. By the way, if you go back and look to Ephesians chapter 6 where he says, put on the whole armor of God, he never says, take off the armor of God, does it not?4:16It says, put on the whole armor. So once you suit up for battle, you should never take it off. You say, well, I like to take my armor off, brother Dan, when I go to sleep at night and lay it off to the side over there because I'm horizontal, I'm sleeping. Satan is like a roaring lion seeking those who may be devoured, and he will try to devour you even in your sleep. So it says, put on the whole armor of God. So Paul is telling in the military terms, we should suit up for battle each and every day.4:43Not only did he use military terms, but he also used architectural terms. He has said in 1 Corinthians, he says, you are the temple of the living God. Now, if you say, Dan, you're a temple of the living God. Yes, I reside the living God in me. I'm the temple of the living God. I would be considered a mega church is what I would be because I'm so large, right? Put on the whole armor of God. You are the temple of the living God.5:11So he used military terms. He used architectural terms. Also, he used agricultural terms. Now, we here in the Deep South, we understand that. The Bible tells whatever man sows, that shall he also reap. So he's using architectural terms. He's using agricultural terms as well. If we sow good seed, we're going to produce good crop. Amen. If we put bad seed in the ground, we're going to have bad crops.5:38Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. So he used military terms. He used architectural terms. He used agricultural terms. But Paul found himself often running back to the athletic terms. He said, I press on, reaching forward, pressing forward to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He used these architectural, agricultural, but he loved using the athletic terms.6:07So as we are unpacking these verses, I want us to look at the five essentials for winning as a Christ follower. We're going to be needing to keep your Bibles open because we're going to be looking at several cross-references and passages of Scripture throughout this time in the Word today. First, I think we should understand if we are going to win this race, we must become dissatisfied with where we are.6:32We must become dissatisfied with where we are as a church, personally, family-wise, in business, in any aspect of our lives. The essentials for winning. We must become dissatisfied with where we are. If you're satisfied with where this church is, then we need to ask you, beg you, and you need to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus and confess your sins.6:55You see, we're satisfied with who we are as a church. He says, I press on. Paul is saying, I'm not sitting still. I'm dissatisfied with where we are. Look what he says in verse 12. Not that I've already obtained this or I've become perfect, but I press on in my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.7:17Church, listen to me. We need to become dissatisfied with where we are in Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not regard myself as having made it on my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and pressing forward to what lies ahead. Now, I'm not quite certain the number of years this church has been in existence.7:45I should have looked that up, but it's been a couple of years now. And we've done some great things as a church, have we not? God has blessed this congregation immensely. There have been a lot of people come through this church. A lot of folks came to faith in Christ because of this congregation of believers. We've done some wonderful things. You relocated onto this and you built and then you had to rebuild. Because of the tornado came through, you had to do some things.8:14So you had to stretch, you had to get outside your comfort zone. And we talk about the good old days as well as those are as good as they are. And we praise God for those. But Paul is challenging us today. If we're going to be the church that he wants us to be, if we're going to be the church that God wants us to be, we must forget what lies behind, reaching forward to what lies ahead. Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't forget all that tradition.8:42I'm not saying that we shouldn't go back there and revisit that every now and then. But many, many, many congregations want to go back to the good old days. I don't want to go back to the good old days. I'm in the good old days right now. I can't do a thing about the sins of the past. I can't do a thing about all the things of the past. All I can do is press forward to what lies ahead.9:10If God should give me another day, I should be committed to surrendering to the Lordship of Christ, to surrender to him and live another day. Turn with me to Psalms chapter 42. I love this passage. Psalms chapter 42. Someone should put this to music. As a deer pants for the flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for you, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?9:39My soul pants for God. As the deer pants for the living water, we should pant for God. So we should forget those things that lie behind. We should press forward to what lies ahead. Amen? That should have gotten more than two amens. If we're going to be all that God wants us to be, we can't wallow around in the things of the past. We've got to press on towards the call of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus.10:06Turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 6. Quickly, I want you to look at a couple of verses of Scripture. Fight the good fight, he says. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold the eternal life to which you were called, and about which you were made the good confession, and the presence of the witnesses. We must fight the good fight that is set before us. We must become dissatisfied with where we are.10:33I want you to know something, folks. I am thrilled about the ministry that God's given me. I am thrilled. Over 32 years now, I've been preaching the glorious message of Jesus Christ. I am so jazzed about the ministry that God has given me, but I am more excited. I was telling a group of young pastors this week that I'm mentoring. I am more excited today than I've ever been in ministry. I am more excited about the opportunity that we have right now that awaits us.11:01God has given us today to press forward. We should not worry. We need to build off the foundations of the structure of this wonderful congregation. We should build off the great history and the success of this church, but we must press forward to what lies ahead. Amen? You say, Brother Dan, I already have. Move on to the next point. Okay, number two. Not only we must become dissatisfied,11:29but we must be committed or devoted to the plan. Very simple principle, isn't it? Look what verse 13 says again. In Philippians chapter 3, verse 13. I love this. He says, Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it on my own. Paul is testifying, saying, I'm pretty good, but I haven't made it on my own. Look what he goes on to say. He goes on to say, But I do not make it on my own,11:58but one thing I do. Forgetting what lies behind, and I strain it. I love what the English thing that the virgin says. I'm straining. Paul, I'm straining forward. I'm pressing forward to what lies ahead. Straining, pressing forward. It's an athletic term. He said, I am devoted to the plan. Turn with me to Matthew's gospel. You'll know this. Matthew's gospel, chapter 28. You'll know this passage. Matthew's gospel, chapter 28,12:28and verse 19 and following. Now, many of you can just quote it, but I want you to look at it because I want to kind of break it down for us to consider today. Matthew, chapter 28, beginning with the 19th verse. Go, therefore. Action word. Translation, as you go. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. Church, let me tell you something.12:56This is the plan right here. We don't have to create anything else. This is the plan. I want to ask this question. How many of you have committed to the plan to making disciples of all the nations? Well, Dan, I'm just not a great teacher. No, I didn't ask you if you were a great teacher. Well, Dan, I'm just not a great, I'm not a great speaker. I didn't ask you if you were a great speaker.13:25Dan, I'm not a great singer. I didn't ask you if you were a great singer. I'm asking you, are you committed to making disciples of all the nations? This wasn't just for a select elect few. This was for everyone. He stood on that mountain and he broadcast this and now 2,000 years later, Brad, he is telling Bethel Baptist Church collectively, we should be about making disciples of all the nations. Why? Because it is a command. It is non-negotiable.13:54It is not an option. We are called to make disciples. So we must be devoted to the plan. Pure and simple, we must be devoted. I started thinking about that principle yesterday. And I was thinking about that principle being devoted to the plan. And I started thinking, why are we not? I always kind of try to pick it apart. Okay, what causes us not to be? What can I do to encourage the body of Christ14:25to be committed to the plan or devoted to the plan? And I've come to the realization when I'm not, when me, Dan Moran, is not as devoted to the plan as I ought to be, maybe you're the same way. It's because my quiet time has suffered. It goes back to the basic principles of falling in love with Jesus. Now, Miss Debbie and I had Valentine's lunch yesterday. Kids asked me, by the way, that was the only folks that gave me a Valentine was a 10th and 11th grade girls.14:55And I think the guys wrote their name on there. They had nothing to do with it. But they're such a blessing. They gave me chocolates. By the way, where's all you adults? Where's my? I'm just kidding. But we had lunch yesterday. And we were hanging out. And oh, Valentine's Day. What a rip off. I mean, goodness gracious. I mean, you know, we don't give flowers anymore because they die. I told her, I said,15:24I'll tell you what, let's eat. Let's go eat. She said, that's good. Let's go eat. And so we went to eat and hung out. They came back and got in our sweatpants and got warm again. Hung out. I mean, it was because we've been married 35 years come May if the Lord lets us live this long. By the way, I decided I'm, this whole thing, we're doing it till death do us part. I told her, I said, if you decide to leave me packed, let me know because I'm going to pack my bag and go with you. I'm just not going through this again.15:53Right. We were hanging out yesterday and we are devoted to one another. And I was talking to her about this. She said, you know, Dan, I could contest to that. When I am not committed to making disciples, when I feel like that I'm waning in my walk with the Lord, it's because I haven't spent adequate time in the Lord. Church, let me tell you something. The basic principles of the Christian life is this. It's not how many people that you write on a piece of paper. It's how much you spend time alone with God. You will never know him more16:24by sitting in a sermon like this. You will know him greater and more intimate by spending a time alone with him. If you don't have a time alone with God, then start one. You say, well, I've been a Christian for a long time, but I haven't really committed that. Let me tell you something. You'll never be committed to go out there to share your faith until you spend time alone with the one who gave you the faith to share. We must spend time alone.16:53Oh, you say, brother Dan, I am so busy. If you're too busy to spend time alone with God, then you are absolutely too busy. Get rid of something else. Ladies, don't look at your husbands. I know you want to get rid of them sometimes. They've even thought about that with you. But folks, let me tell you something. Your salvation, to work out your salvation,17:21we need to spend time alone with God. We need to spend time alone in his word. And the most important, where the fuel comes and the power comes, is that we must commit to pray. Be devoted to the plan. Paul said it best in Philippians 3, brothers, I do not consider that I have made it on my own, but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward17:50to what lies ahead. So we must become dissatisfied with where we are. We must become devoted to the plan. Number three, we must commit to the direction God has purposed for us. We must commit to the direction, the third, the C part of that, that verse 13, looking or straining forward to what lies ahead. Many of you know that I'm an avid golfer.18:20I love golf. I don't play much when it's real, real cold. I used to play year-round when it didn't matter, but I guess the older I'm getting, I'd rather sit there holding Miss Debbie's head in front of the fire rather than chasing that white ball around when it's snow on the ground. And so I love golf, but the thing I love about golf is it frustrates me, but I love it. It's because everything is in front of you. The professionals say that they forget the last shot.18:50They make a bad shot, make a good shot. They just forget it. There's not one thing that they can do about that shot that they just hit. But the next shot in front of them is what they've got to keep their head in. They've got to be committed to the direction, looking forward, looking forward. Joseph in Genesis chapter 45, he went through all of that situation with his brothers, but he kept going to say, I love you anyway. I am your brother. The Lord was with Joseph19:19faith because he kept the direction forward. So we must become dissatisfied with where we are. We must become devoted to the plan. We must be committed to the direction God has purposed for us. Number four, we must have the determination to stay in the game. The determination to stay in the game. Chapter three, verse 14. I press on towards the goal for the prize19:47of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul said, I'm pressing forward. I'm not worried about it, Philippian church. I'm pressing forward. I'm challenging you to press forward to the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I have a close friend of mine who, if I gave him his name, you would say, oh wow, yeah, I remember him. He played on two national championship football teams for that team down there in Tuscaloosa. Paid on two national championships,20:17back-to-back wins, national champions, and he was a wide receiver for them. They ran a wishbone offense. He said, if I ever touched the ball, it was a fumble. And so we never threw the football when Coach Bryant was there. And so my friend, he's a great, was a great athlete and he's a neat, neat guy. He's a pastor now and he's just a wonderful friend, a brother of mine and a prayer partner. And he came up with this wild idea a couple of years ago, just a few years back. His wife is originally20:46from Huntsville, Alabama and so he decided he would go, instead of running in the Mercedes Marathon, he said, I will honor her and I will go and run in the Huntsville Marathon. Now, back in the day, in the 70s, when he was an athlete for Coach Bryant, he was in great shape. I mean, he was in great shape. And he's not in bad shape now, but he's not in that playing weight shape, Brad, like you are. You know, he's not in that playing weight shape. And so he said, I'm going to run in this marathon. So he started21:15trying to get in shape and so he said he would have these little nicks and bruises and aches and pains and that kind of stuff. And I kept saying, well, dude, you're in your 50s. It's going to hurt. Those joints are not as lubricated as they once were. And so he decided he was going to run in the marathon. And I called his wife. I said, has he lost his complete mind? I mean, tell me, what do you want me to preach at his funeral? He's going to go run 26 some odd miles in this marathon in Huntsville, Alabama.21:45Has he lost his ever-loving mind? She said, I know, but he wants to do it and he is committed. He's determined to do it. I said, well, great. Call me every so often and let me know he's still alive in this race. And so the day came. She called me that morning. She said, he's about to take off, be praying for him. I said, man, I have been praying for him. I just want to make sure that you know what you want sung at the funeral and what you want me to preach because I believe this old boy's going to die.22:14And she said, wow, that's encouraging. I said, I'm just being honest with you. He's crazy for doing that. Now, if anybody likes to go out there, I would rather drive 26 miles than to run 26 miles. I mean, what is the deal about that? There's nothing that's hyper spiritual. I know some of you runners, y'all love it. Please run somewhere else but the major highways because I'm tired of dodging you on the highways, right? And so he gets out there and runs and he's about three quarters of the way through. He's about a quarter of the way through. She calls. She said, he made it through the first mark. He gets halfway through.22:44He made it through the half mark. I said, my goodness gracious. She said, he gets all the way through and about six hours later, she calls me. She said, he finally made it. I said, fantastic. Now, they tell me, I don't know, you can tell by this physique that I don't run too many marathons, right? But they tell me that you can run that thing in four or five hours. It's like an eight-hour run for this guy. And so she calls me. I said, put the phone on. I said, man, how'd it go? I said, oh my goodness. I said,23:14I said, he said, Dan, it was amazing. I said, really? It sounds like you're feeling like it was amazing. I mean, you got oxygen going on. They're giving you an IV. I mean, all kinds of stuff going on in your life right now. I said, how did you do it? He said, man, I was about three quarters of the way on this deal and this 80-year-old comes flying by me. He said, that guy looked like a hockey stick with hair, man. I mean, he was skinny, had them shorts on and he was just going23:43and he said, I was dragging, I was sucking wind, I was dying and this old man ran by me, said, you gonna catch up with me, boy? And I said, I ain't letting some old 80-year-old guy outrun me. I said, did you beat him? He said, no, I never beat him. He was gone long. He said, that's how I got it. I had the goal of that 80-year-old staying out in front of me. Let me ask you this question. Do you have a goal24:14in your own personal life to be determined to stay in the game even when it gets tough? Even when it doesn't go the way you think it ought to go? Even when you're tired and weary? John chapter 15, one of my favorite verses is chapter 15, verse 5. Jesus said it best, I am the true vine, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him,24:44it is he that bears much fruit for apart from me, say it with me, you can do nothing. Apart from Christ Jesus, you can do nothing. We must be decided to become dissatisfied with where we are, we must become devoted to the plan, we must be committed to the direction and we must have the determination to stay in the game.25:12Philippians chapter 3, verse 14, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And finally, we must be disciplined to finish strong. Disciplined to finish strong. Now pick it up in verse 15, let those of us who are mature in thinking this way, if anything you think otherwise,25:40God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have obtained. Now Paul is saying, we must become extremely disciplined to stay in the game. Discipline means we must work the plan, plan out the work and work the plan and stay disciplined to the task at hand. Disciplined to do it26:09all the way to the finish. Those that finish the race and finish strong are disciplined to stay in the race. They're disciplined to say, you know, when it gets tough, I don't really care. I know that the end is worth it all. The results are worth it all. Hebrews chapter 12, beginning with the first verse. This may be one of the most powerful passages in the Word of God. I quote it often.26:39I live by it. I keep it etched on the tip of my tongue. Paul, the writer, who is, some say, the Apostle Paul. Some debate that. But the writer says, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder, the author,27:09the author, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despised and ashamed, and is sat down seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Folks, let me tell you something. The one thing that we can stay disciplined about is because he's not a moving target. He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. We keep our eyes fixed upon him, the author, perfecter, the alpha, the omega, the beginning and the end of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.27:39Church, let me tell you something. You want to be disciplined, you need to look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Be disciplined to finish strong. I had dinner Thursday night. Deb and I went to Atlanta to see our son and we took his girlfriend and they were out to dinner and they ate at the little restaurant over in Midtown and had a great evening together28:07and cost me more money than I should have spent but it was worth it just for the time to see the look on their face and the joy that's going on and the excitement that's going on in their lives about their careers and about their walk with the Lord and their things that are going on in their life and the second grade Sunday school class that they're co-teaching with a 24-year-old couple teaching second graders. Heaven help those second graders, I'm just telling you. It reminded me28:36when Seth was about second grade. He loved the story of Zacchaeus. We were talking to him one night and we said, Seth, we want you to start leading us in our evening time where we read the word and pray together as a family. We did that since day one and so we want you to lead us sometime and so he said, great dad, I will and so we were in a particular portion of the scripture and we thought that's where he would pick it up and so that night29:05he got his pajamas on, got him to his bath and ready to go to bed and all that stuff and so I said, Seth, it's time for us to have our time alone, our devotion, our family time. We call it family worship hour and so our family worship time and so we got together and he said, wait a minute, let me run and get my Bible so he runs upstairs, Brad, and he goes upstairs and gets his little children's Bible, the little shiny front on it, man, it's got great pictures in it and all kind of stuff so he goes up there and gets his Bible and he stands up and me and Debra are sitting on the couch29:35and he stands up and he has his Bible and he holds it up, he says, mom and dad want to talk to you tonight about Zacchaeus. I said, okay, Reverend Seth, tell us about Zacchaeus, would you? He said, Zacchaeus was a little bitty guy. He climbed up his tree and he was looking for Jesus. Let's pray. I said, Reverend Seth, that's a phenomenal sermon. Thank you so much for that devotion. I really appreciate it. But man,30:04But man, don't you think there's a little bit more to this message? There's got to be some more nuggets here. I'm looking for sermon illustration. Give me something else, Seth. He said, Dad, you missed the point. Zacchaeus was looking for Jesus. My wife leaned over to me, she said, let's pray. Justin, I'll never forget that as long as I live. My little first or second grader at that time taught me something30:34about discipline. If we're going to be the church that God wants us to be and have that joyful heart that he wants us to have, we must be dissatisfied with where we are. We must be devoted to the plan that he's laid out for us. We must be committed to the direction he has purpose for each and every one of us. We must be determined to stay in the game31:03no matter how tough it gets. And we must be disciplined to finish strong. Look at the surrounding people that are in the game with you. Look at the area of your life that needs adjusting. But let's keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who one day he'll come for us and he'll say,31:33well done, good and faithful servant. Let's pray. Bye.More sermons on Philippians →
