← ArchiveSunday, January 3, 2016DateJanuary 3, 2016Speaker—TextPhilippians 3Passages in this sermonPhilippians 30:28Matthew 65:24Acts 720:43Acts 8:122:241 Corinthians 932:24TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00I'm supposed to follow that. Wow. Thank you, Greg. Miss Jessie, choir, you guys are great. Philippians chapter 3. Let's go ahead and move quick.0:30I've got a lot. And I promise I'll try to get us out of here before lunch. I know our students are going, here we go. Speaking of students, I've already told them this, but I'm just going to let you guys in on this little secret. This is actually the first installment of a new series I'm starting on Wednesday night called Life. It's not a game. And so if you're dyslexic like I am, it was really easy to come up with that because the board game Life.0:59So anyway, Life is not a game. So we're going to be starting that this Wednesday. Philippians chapter 3. There are some passages in the Word that can cause an unbelievable amount of frustration. And this is one of those body of texts that we're going to kind of go over that I'm going to be really, really transparent with you, really honest with you. As I've studied Philippians, and especially chapter 3, there's some really awesome things in the first six verses.1:26But then once you get into 6, 7, and then 8, then we're going to go over all these. They're really great until you have to lay your life on them. And then when you lay your life on them, it's like, oh, this is so difficult. It's so hard. How could the Scriptures really say these things? And so we're going to go over these. But there's an amount of frustration. And of that frustration, they teach us sometimes hard, valuable lessons, like God's Word always does.1:57Here's a key thought for today. God desires to raise up people in His church whose lives count for His glory in the world. God desires to raise up people in His church whose lives count for His glory in the world. And so let's go ahead and let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank You so much for Your Word. Lord, as I stand here, Lord, I pray, Lord, that Your words would be mine. And so, Lord, I pray, Lord, You would move me aside. And, Lord, I pray, Lord, You would speak. Lord, I pray, Lord, that it would be an encouragement, Lord, to the people here,2:25and it would build the body up, and it would equip. And it's Your name we pray. Amen. We're not even going to be able to dive into the first five verses, so we're going to kind of go through this pretty quick. Paul was basically addressing a problem in the church that had arisen from a group of religious people called Judaizers. These were Jews that had really gotten saved or probably gotten saved.2:50Some of them we're really not sure about. But they were Judaizers. They were religious people. And this is what basically happened. They had gotten saved, and they started to kind of go back to their religious views on things. In other words, they would go up to the Gentiles and go, you know, this is what you really have to do to become righteous. This is what you have to do to become saved. And so what they would do is they would get off this list of things like religious people often do, and they would say, this is what you have to do.3:19And so Paul was addressing that. He was addressing these Judaizers. And so if you're a Gentile coming to faith in Christ, then you need to start following this Jewish practice. That's what these Judaizers would do. They said pull out their list. If you look at verse 2, chapter 3, verse 2, it says, look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate their flesh. And so Paul used some very strong language here toward these Judaizers.3:45He called them dogs. And it wasn't your pet, okay? Your pet probably got a sweater for Christmas. Okay? Some of you guys are like that. I mean, to me, it's just kind of weird. We have a cat that I don't like. And so some of you guys, when he says dogs, he means wild dogs that had rabies4:12that you would not let around your kids, okay? So don't think about your pet when he says dogs here. He's talking about wild animals. And so that's what he was, he was comparing these religious peoples to dogs, to these wild animals, these dogs. And so as a result, they were hindering, they were hindering the advancement of the gospel throughout the Gentile world because they were putting all these other things on being righteous.4:41They were telling you you had to do all these different things. And they were masking the gospel. And so now he's dealing with these religious people that were, wherever he goes, they kind of followed him around. There's a sense of frustration you see in Paul's life all through the Bible that he's always having to address these issues of these religious people. So now when he's dealing with them, he's basically saying that they have an agenda.5:08And most religious people do. They have an agenda. They want you to think that they are religious because of the outward things that they do. As a matter of fact, if you want to turn, you don't have to turn there, but I kind of made a list of some things. In Matthew 6, verse 1, it says, And here's one.5:27I know you guys probably know some people that are fasting right now, and they're very vocal about it. Matthew 6, verse 16 says this, And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces5:57that their fasting may be seen by others. So in other words, go to your closet and do those things. Don't make it public. Don't go out and make yourself be known like the hypocrites. These are religious people that we're talking about here. And so we get to Philippians 3, verse 4. If we go into verse 4, it says that, Though by myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason6:25for confidence in the flesh, I have more. And so what we're going to look at here is literally Paul is trash-talking. For lack of a better term, he's having to address these religious people. And at some point in time, you can tell that he gets a little frustrated with them like he is here. He calls them dogs. That's a little frustration there. And so he's basically saying, Hey, you know what? If anybody could talk, it's me.6:54If anybody could say anything about being religious at one point in time in my life, it's me. And so then we get to verse 5. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, and as the law of Pharisee. Verse 6 says, As to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteous under the law, blameless. And so what Paul was saying is, Hey, you want a list?7:24I'll give you a list. I've got a list of things that I was a part of, that I've done. And so what you're seeing here is these religious people that literally at some point in time goes into the church and they start to frustrate it. They start to hinder the gospel. They start to do things that knock people off course. Now,7:57Now, if you look at the next couple of verses, when we come to verse 7, he drops a bomb on everybody. He says, But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Verse 8, Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things8:27and count them as rubbish. Some translations use the word garbage as rubbish. Rubbish is the Greek idea for dung. You can Google it. I'm not going to go into any other further translations than that. You kind of get the point. We're in the South. Manure. Okay? That's basically what he's saying here. I think you get the idea. Then he says,8:56In order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, verse 10. It says that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. Verse 11 says that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection of the dead. Now, this is where this text gets frustrating for me because what the Apostle Paul9:26just said here, and if you read the text carefully, in my life, everything was of lesser value than Christ, and I'll pay the price, any price, to know him more. That's what Paul is saying here. Take my family because Christ is more. Take my kids because Christ is more. Take my health9:55because Christ is more. He's not saying that Christ is second. He's saying Christ is everything. He is everything. He should be everything in our life. And so, when I take my life and I lay my life on that scripture, I'm like, man, that is, am I there? I'm like, I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. I've been a believer since 95, and I'm like, man, I'm nowhere close to this. And so, I lay my life on the scripture, and I'm like, man, what in the world?10:25What in the world? How can we get there? And so, we come to a new year. Can I look back at 2015 and say, Christ mattered in everything? Can I do that? Can we as a church look back at 2015 and say, man, Christ mattered in everything that we did? Individually, can you look back at 2015 and say, man, Christ mattered in everything? Everything.10:55Everything. It's tough. And can I even comprehend what he's unloading on us here? That I count it as loss. I count it as rubbish. And I'm thinking, man, I'm nowhere near that. I'm nowhere near that. Then a new year rose around, and I don't know if you've thought long about it, but there's something interesting about a new year, especially in our culture. about half of you are probably going to the gym Monday. Really?11:27Really? Maybe, no, not this group. There's a lot of you starting new diets. How many, just be honest, how many of you guys, new diet? Come on. Come on, I got family here. I know, you should. Anyway, I've seen how much y'all hate. There's something interesting about this new year in our culture that this new, this fresh, that's something that you can kind of start over. But there's some12:00anticipation, there's a little nervousness as I approach 2016. Am I going through things differently? The idea of newness, there's an opportunity of freshness, a new walk that may have hindered you, some things may have hindered you in 2015 that you're like, man, I'm going to do that differently this year. There's some things that I'm taking care of spiritually, some things physically I want to take care of that I'm going to do12:28differently this year. And so it's a new year. Some of you may, may get this, some of you may not. As I'm looking at this text, I'm saying to myself, what can I do better this year? There's always a great deal of hesitation because some of our testimonies in this room aren't as clean as others. But look at my past12:58and I'm like, man, you know, I really have struggled in some things in my past and some of you in this room, you're like, man, this was a rough year. And so there's some anticipation, there's some hesitation as you approach this new year. But then the next verse, verse 12. Not that I've already obtained this or I'm already perfect but I press on to make it my own13:27because Christ Jesus has made me his own. I look at that verse and I go, man, Jesus has taken, he's taken all those things and now we can press forward. We can press forward. And I want you to notice something that's really interesting about this text13:56and there seems to be in this text we read this little sense of discontentment in the heart of Paul which is mind-boggling to me because he says, I'm not there yet. Paul, the apostle Paul is saying, I'm not there yet. You know, he lists out all these different things that he was before he was Paul. He saw he was a Hebrew of Hebrews and all these different things but then all of a sudden he says, you know what, but I haven't obtained it yet. I'm not there with Christ yet but I want more. That's what Paul is saying. I want more. If you look at the life of Paul,14:25he wrote 75% of the New Testament. I mean, his handkerchiefs healed people. I mean, Paul, we lay hands on people and we put oil on them and we pray and we pray over them. Paul would walk up to people and go, you're healed. It's a different kind of faith. It's something that Paul had gotten to that I'm looking at him going, man, you're saying you have not arrived yet.14:55You're not there yet and I'm not even in the room. I'm not there yet. And so there's this dissatisfaction built into the heart of Paul that should be a dissatisfaction built in the heart of every believer in this room to strive forward to press on to press in. I mean, this man has experienced things that we can't even imagine. It's a different kind15:26of power. It's a different kind of man. And he's going, I'm not there. I'm not there yet. Those of you that that know me know my students have heard me every Wednesday and those of you that have walked with me, you've heard me, you know that there's certain subjects that kind of get under my skin. And one of those is, how do I say this?15:56Legalistic religious people. I'm just going to go ahead and throw it out there. They get on my nerves. I'm just going to be really honest with you. They really do. And there's different reasons why. Part of that has to do with my past. But a legalistic gospel, a gospel built around a list of rules. And the reason it frustrates me16:25is because what ends up happening is you eventually get there. Those people eventually will arrive to their own list. And this is what they do. They hinder the progress of the gospel of the church because they've arrived. They've all of a sudden they've made their list and they're looking at you going, really? I'm better than you. And it makes the church16:57look horrible because guess what happens when they mess up and they will. They've had this false sense of righteousness. It's not real. It's religious. It's legalistic. And it flies in the face. What Paul is saying here flies in the face of a legalistic religious viewpoint that says, look at me in my list. Look at me in my list.17:27Because once it happens, once you make that list, if you have a list of things that you think that you're having to do to be godly, that you think that you're having to do to be righteous, what ends up happening is it devastates your pursuit of Christ and it hinders the church. And so here Paul is beyond us in power who says, I want to know him and I'm going to press on and I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. I haven't arrived yet.17:56Verse 13. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I want to stop right there. According to Scripture then, there can be things in our past. Things that we've been a part of, things that we're not proud of, things that we have done. And all of a sudden,18:27Christ saves us. And he radically saves us and then we come to a meeting, we come to a church meeting and we're reminded about those things in our past. Y'all tracking with me? You've been there? That guilt is still there. Those things that we've done in our past, they're still looming. And so what happens is when we get to that point18:57in our current pursuit of Jesus, it starts to slow us a little bit because we're thinking we're not good enough. Because I still have this thing back here that I did in 2015. I still have that thing that I did maybe before I was a believer in Christ. I still have this thing. Man, I'm embarrassed about that. You know, I've repented and I've made it right before the Lord, before the church, but man, there's just something in me that just, I'm just not good enough.19:27And so it hinders us. I've heard people tell me before that I've thought we're godly people. Hey man, will you lead a life group class? No man, I can't. Why? Well man, there's this thing. And I get to go into this whole story and I'm like, dude, have you confessed that? Have you repented of that? Yeah. That's long gone.19:58And so they're like, man, there's this gift and it's there that you can see it in that person and they're just like, I'm not there. I'm not there. I'm not there. So Paul's not writing in some abstract way but by personal experience. Let me show you what I mean. I want to read that verse 13 one more time. Before we move to this next set of scripture, I want you guys20:27to get a good picture of this. Verse 13 said, brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own but one thing I do, forgetting, forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what lies ahead. I want you to turn to Acts. Acts chapter 7.20:52Particularly verse 54.21:02Now when they had heard these things, they were enraged and they ground their teeth at him but he full of the Holy Spirit gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and he said, behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God but they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushing together at him. Then they cast out, they cast him out of the city and stoned him and the witnesses laid down their garments21:31at the feet of a young man named Saul who would become the author of Philippians chapter 3. Now, Stephen was a young man who's preaching a message and it went brutally wrong. It went really bad for him. In Acts chapter 7, things were great at the church, in the church.22:01The church was growing. Thousands were getting saved. Rich people were selling their stuff. Poor people were getting fed. Some amazing things were happening. But Saul decided no. And so he had Stephen stoned, the first New Testament martyr. If we look on down, Acts chapter 8, verse 1. And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day22:32a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea, Samaria, except the apostles. Now, if you read about Paul before his conversion, he was leading a holocaust against the Christian church. He was rounding them up, throwing them in prison and beating them and executing them. As a matter of fact, he even went to the high priest23:01and says, if you would just give me the letters, I'll go. I'll go. And I will put out this thing they call the way. I'll stomp it out. And so you read about Saul and you read about the things that he used to do, the things that he was a part of. Do you think there was a possibility that years later when Paul writes23:31forgetting what is behind, he might be writing about his own past. He might be writing about his own past because shame and guilt are unbelievably heavy. And like some of you, there's some things that you're in that moment and that thing happened, that sinful thing took place, that thing that you are ashamed of. And the apostle Paul is going, mm-mm, forgetting24:01forgetting what is behind and pressing forward. So what do we do? What happens when stuff happens? What happens when we're trying to get rid of that feeling, that guilt? We busy ourselves, don't we? Don't we? We get busy with things. We try to mask it. We try to numb it. Christ rescues us.24:31He saves us. We lay our lives at his feet, but then time draws near and we're reminded of those failures. The guilt begins to define our lives. You guys met people like that? This guilt, it just kind of defines their life. In counseling, we counsel with people oftentimes and we're like, you know, what's the deal? And they're like, well, I feel like that I'm this label now. I have this label on me. I'm like,25:01I'm like, do you really feel like that Christ has no place for you? And they're like, no, he don't. There's a lot of people that feel that way in this room. In this room and in churches all across the country. You're defined by your guilt. There's a story that I'm a little reluctant to tell. I haven't told this whole lot because this really did happen. It's a friend of mine.25:32I was in college and I was working at this place and I'm going to have to be very, very careful about how I'm going to name any names or even the business that I worked at. There's a guy there that for lack of a better term, he was my boss. And this place that the Lord had placed me in was, I literally was like, Lord, why did you do this? I was just saved and the Lord put me25:59in the most vile place to work at. I mean, there was porn on the walls. You know, there was drugs, easily accessed to drugs. I'm like, what in the world? And didn't know it was like that before I was hired, but hey, you know, in college you just want to get a job. And so I drove a truck, delivered stuff. And so this warehouse manager was there26:29and he was lost. And I just began to just kind of peel away, just try my very best to just to penetrate his life just a little bit. And this is what he would tell me. You don't know what I've done. You have no idea. And he would get angry at me. I'm thinking, okay, I'm gonna get fired. You know, I'm getting in trouble. And there were times when he would just get very, very defensive toward me. Eventually,26:59Eventually, to make a long story short, this man confessed Christ on his deathbed almost. He almost died. The Lord actually spared him. He did come back to work and he'd come up to me crying. He said, man, you've been trying to get to me and I want to apologize. And so our relationship kind of grew there and everything and there was still something there. He still would always say, Brad, I can't believe Jesus has saved me,27:29man. I can't believe Jesus has saved me. I just can't believe this, that Jesus saved me. And he never would tell me what that was. Three years later, another job, met a group of people, started to hang out and this one particular young lady, we became friends. She was an engineer and she got to ask me questions about where I worked before. And I told her27:59about this place I was working at. She got very quiet. She said, hmm, was there a man there named, said, yeah. As a matter of fact, man, he got saved. He confessed Christ. she loses it. Starts to cry, bawl, I'm like, what just happened here? And she looks at me, she stands up, she confuses herself, she said, that was my stepdad. He sexually abused me28:31when I was a little girl. Of course, at that point in time, I'm like looking for people because I'm like, okay, this is way over my pay rate here. And so I sat down with her and we became really good friends. And she eventually, what I understand, made amends with him. And I'm like, wow, Jesus, Jesus did that.28:59He did that. This man thought that he could not ever be used. Ever. Turn the whole place around. The porn come off the walls. Clean the whole place up. Have Bible study. Really amazing29:31Really amazing what the Lord can do. One of the most beautiful things that I've ever experienced experienced personally is when shame dissolves under the light of the gospel of Christ. Forgetting what is behind. Anything that hinders the pursuit, forget. When that happens, the result is not legalism. The result is not religion, but it's humility and joy. It's humility and joy. That I don't save myself, that Jesus is my savior. And that leads to joy30:01because the pressure is off of me to perform and work for salvation. The pressure is off me. The pressure is off us. And instead, Jesus pleases God, the Father, in my place. And now he saves me. Jesus gives me the Holy Spirit to empower me to live an obedient life so that now the pressure is off and I get a new life of joy. So God desires to raise up people in his church whose lives count for his glory in the world. Now back to Philippians. Back to Philippians 3,30:31verse 13. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way and in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that to you also. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Now,31:01Now, I want to shift gears a little bit here because there's really and truly there's two parts to this thought here. Paul, at the very beginning, was talking about this religious group of people and not to have a list but to have a list don't look back, look forward. But then he shifts gears. I want you to see this. This is a really, really important part of this body of text. Godliness does not happen by accident.31:31by accident. I want to be very clear about that. Godliness does not happen by accident. It never happens accidentally. You're not going to wake up on Monday godly. It just don't happen that way. You've got to press on. You've got to strive. And you've got to toil. In Philippians 3, 9, and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ Jesus, the forgiveness from God32:01from God that depends on faith. And so it's a very, very important part. Verse 9 is a very, very important part of that whole entire body of text because he's very clear. Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ. The righteousness from God that depends on faith. Now you don't have to turn there but 1 Corinthians 9, 25 and this is really, really an interesting parallel here. 1 Corinthians 9,32:32verse 25. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath but we and imperishable. Now I know that when I see every athlete, if you were playing pee-wee football and you got a participation award, he's not talking to you. Okay, when it says every athlete, he's not talking to those of you that, I know my son, he received a little participation award for playing soccer. Anyway,33:01Anyway, I'm not going to talk about his athletic ability that he gets from me. he's saying at the highest level of athletics, there is a self-discipline that pushes you to the limit in every aspect of their life. Have you ever met that kind of athlete? I mean, they've got the gold card at GNC. You know, they walk in GNC, they're like, I mean, we'll get you usual and they get this pack33:31of stuff that's 300 bucks and they pull it and you're like, what in the world? I go in there looking for like vitamins or something. You know, or this magic pill will lose weight. And so, but these guys are just ripped and they sleep this stuff, they breathe it. Now, last week, I think we talked about, is Matt here? Where's he at? There he is. I mean, I couldn't imagine running as long as this guy. I see people running like him and I want to take a nap. But these,34:01But these, those type of people, those athletes that he's talking about here is a different level. And so, he's making this comparison. It says in verse 26, so I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and I keep it under control lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. It says, but I discipline my body. so in my pursuit34:32of Philippians chapter 3, in my pursuit of Philippians chapter 3, I've got to discipline my body. I can't run aimlessly. I can't box the air. In other words, I have to have a plan. You don't become righteous. You don't become godly by accident. It doesn't mean you have to have a list. What it means is you have to get into this35:01and you have to live it the best way you know how. And so, my question for myself as I reflect on 2015 is, have I done that? And as I lay my life on Philippians chapter 3, I'm like, man, I'm not there yet. But then I'm relieved. The apostle is leaving what is behind and look forward. Press forward. Press on.35:30Press on.35:36So I discipline my body and I keep it under control. I don't run aimlessly. I don't punch the air. I'm not so prideful to know that I need to grow. There's a lot of areas of my life that I need to grow. And I'm working on a plan and I'm fighting the enemies that I deal with. And I don't just do church, join a life group and hope for the best.36:05It doesn't work that way. You have to work at this. You have to have a plan. I'm going to be really transparent with you. I think that's okay in this setting. We're all family here. When things start going bad for me, when I get frustrated, do you know what I want? There's some things that I like to do when I get frustrated, when I get stressed out.36:35I like to paint. I'm kind of an artist. I'm very amateur. But it just relaxes me. Okay? I don't have time for that. I got two minions. Okay? It just don't happen. I've been working on a portrait of my son, oldest son, for three years. It's ridiculous. I should do better than that. Anyway, do you know what I really want? Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.37:06Coffee. I want caffeine. As a matter of fact, I get a little embarrassed sometimes when the coffee machine is out. When Sharon walks in there and goes, coffee's out, and I'm like, oh, man, that's on me. That's on me because I'm like on my seventh cup. You know, so I want caffeine. You know, if it's not coffee, it's Mountain Dew or if it's something like that. And so what happens, for some of you, it might not be coffee.37:35For some of us in this room, it may be more hardcore for you. It may be that drink or maybe the drugs. It may be something a little bit more hardcore for you. But here's what we do. I'm just being really real with you. I'm being transparent with you here. Here's what we do. We mask the guilt that is behind us. Am I right? That's what we do. We just kind of mask the guilt behind us. We go and we get busy. Okay,38:06Okay, we go work extra hours because there's something that is eating at us that we have not forgotten that we're not pressing forward. And so we mask it. We mask it. But you know what I really need? I need to lay at the feet of Jesus. That's what I need. I need to lay at the feet of Jesus and just soak. Just marinate in his goodness,38:35in his richness, in his word. Just marinate there. So I have to discipline my body. There's another version. I'm not sure which one it is, but it says I've got to beat my flesh to submission. That's what we have to do as believers because guess what? This flesh wants coffee. This flesh39:06This flesh wants other things. This flesh is drawn to things that will numb the pain. But what we need is Jesus. What we need is Jesus. I need to press in and pray and throw my life down at the feet. And this is what Paul is saying here. He's going this is what my flesh wants. My flesh wants this, but it's not what I need. I must discipline my body. So on Monday39:37morning, 2016, the gym is going to be packed. There's going to be a lot of people there for the first time. For you, it may not be the gym, it may be that diet. And here's what happens a lot of times. People, they pay money, they go to the gym or they do this diet in about two weeks, three weeks. I'll give you four. It's the same old crew. And you're like,40:08man, I tried. That diet, it got busted. That's kind of what we do, isn't it? And here's what happens, I think, a lot of times we don't have a plan. The reason that happens is people go, I have to get in better shape and they really want to, but they haven't defined that. What does that mean to get in shape? What does it mean to be righteous?40:37What does it mean to be a godly man, a godly husband? What does it mean? What does that look like? And so I want to submit to you this morning is guess what? Every one of us in this room, we need help. We need help, not just from the scripture, not just from praying, but from each other. From each other. Where iron sharpens iron.41:07iron. Because guess what? I haven't arrived yet. I might have a little bit more knowledge than these guys down here. Maybe. And so I have to lead them the best way I know how. And they come to me for questions, they come to me for advice, and I give them the most godly advice I possibly can. And hope that they take it and they run with it. So I have to lead by example. Same thing41:37Same thing with my marriage. Man, I'll tell you what, there's a lot I got to work on. My wife has already made some New Year's resolutions for me. She's like laying in bed, I look at her and say, are you making resolutions for me? Oh, yeah. I've got a list of my own for her too. I just haven't told her yet. Godliness does not happen by accident. And it doesn't happen because of wanting to. It happens because of striving and42:07striving and laboring training and fighting and discipline. So this week, I'm releasing my 2016 student ministry calendar. I've already told them that's what I'm going to do. I've already got it. I'm going to print that thing out and give it to them. I've already got about four months of sermon series planned for them. And let me tell you something, you guys that know me, you know I'm not a planning freak. I'm not. I have to do that. I have to42:36have a plan because you know why? Being transparent with you, I have a tendency to wonder. I have a tendency to procrastinate. I have a tendency sometimes to be lazy. But if I don't have a plan, my have to's becomes I wish I would have. Or my want to's becomes I wish I would have. And I think if we're all honest with each other in this room, that's the same way most of us are. We've got to have a plan. And Paul43:07And Paul is saying we've got to have a plan. If you're going to be a Philippians 3 kind of guy, kind of woman, you've got to have a plan. So if I can encourage you in the most practical way possible, I would say before tomorrow morning, ask yourself, where am I running and what may be hindering me for running and what may be hindering me from running well? If you're going to become full of43:36full of Philippians 3, I count it as loss next to the suppressing greatness of Christ. That will not accidentally happen. It won't accidentally happen. It never has accidentally happened. Guess what? It has to be fought for and it is a worthy fight. It's a worthy cause. It has to be fought for. Apostle44:00Apostle Paul says labor with me in prayer. It's a weird thing to say labor with me in prayer. He's acknowledging that hey this thing is not going to be easy. It's not going to be easy.44:22I can't tell you how to do it. I can't tell you how it works for you as far as your prayer time goes. As far as getting in the word. All I can tell you is it's a worthy cause. It's a worthy cause. And if we're going to move forward in 2016 as a body of believers we have to look past44:52past and say we're forgetting what is behind and we're moving forward. We're moving forward. I'll leave you with one little side note. I wasn't going to go here but I'm going to. Now close.45:15Over the years I've learned that for some very good Christian believers that are good people often have this sense of nostalgia about the past and this is what they'll say. It needs to be like it used to be. The45:45The good old days. Something happened either in their church that was a milestone and they're looking back at that going man that was awesome wish we could go back to that. Maybe personally for you there was a milestone for you and you think man wish I could go back to that moment that46:14that mountaintop can I submit to you this morning that sometimes holding on to even those things hinders you from moving forward. So as a body of believers as we move forward new pastor is going to be here Monday morning I'm excited excited46:44excited to hear what he's got to say as far as his vision goes and how he's going to lead this congregation let's move forward not holding on to what's behind us but move forward let's pray go to goMore sermons on Philippians →
