Preparing for a joyful future
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PREPARING FOR A JOYFUL FUTURE
“Paul’s Model for Successful Living”
Philippians 3:12-21
v.17 “Join with others in following my example, and take note of those who live according to the patterns we gave you.”
Max Lucado—“When God Whispers Your Name”
“Perhaps your childhood memories bring more hurt than inspiration.
The voices of your past may have cursed you, belittled you, ignored you. At the time, you thought such treatment was typical. Now you know it isn’t.
And now you find yourself trying to explain your past.
Do you rise above the past and make a difference?
Or do you remain controlled by the past and make excuses?
The Apostle Paul writing to the Philippians under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gives us some very powerful words to help set a course for our future---
Whether you are a young person just starting out—wondering what the future holds….
Or approaching your retirement—wondering what the future holds…
Or looking at the prospect of your own death—wondering what the future holds…
I read last week about a man who was a few years away from retirement and decided that he would learn the Mandarin Language—a dialect of Chinese---
Why? Because when he retired he planned to go to China and teach English as a Second Language.
Goals! Dreams! Visions!
They are not just for the young! You need some too! In order to launch into a joyful future….
Billy Graham—just recently, facing parkinson’s disease and the extremities of old age (he is almost 89)—said to his son, Franklin, “I think I have one more crusade in me…I want to preach one more crusade…”
Always growing! Always striving! Always moving forward!
Never giving up! One more…opportunity!!!
Paul gives us some principles for growing into a joyful future!
#1 EVALUATE: I must face my faults
Anybody who accomplishes anything is always evaluating their performance…
Athletes—mark their progress with time clocks and points scored…and they are always trying to improve
They look at the areas that need improvement and seek to improve them
They look at their strengths and seek to build on them
We ought to do the same…
This is where we are brutally honest with ourselves—Where can I improve???
Paul was! He says, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect…I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.” vv.12-13
Every communion Sunday we come with the challenge to “examine yourself…”
The unexamined life is not worth living!!!
Evaluate your present circumstance—what brought you to this place?
Some things must change—change them!
Some things must be improved—improve them
Some things must be forsaken—forsake them
Proverbs 28:13 (GN) “You will never succe4ed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you.”
Here is the question we need to ask ourselves: “Where do I need to change?”
Take a personal inventory!
Take a self-test!
(second principle for growing into a joyful future)
#2 ELIMINATE: Forget the former—let go of the past
Paul could not obliterate the past from his memory, but he refused to let his past obstruct his progress toward his goal.
Stop being manipulated by your memories!
He wanted to forget his self-righteous past (see vv. 4–7). By using the present tense for forgetting Paul was indicating that it is an ongoing process. He might even be implying that he wanted to forget everything so that he would not rest on his past successes in Christ, but continue to labor for the Lord.
You can rise above your past and make a difference?
Or you can remain controlled by the past and make excuses?
v.13 “This one thing I do; forgetting what is behind…”
Isaiah 43:18 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing!"
How do you forget? Isn't it true our brain stores everything you have ever done? Isn't it true that we never really forget anything? So how do I forget the former?
To forget, actually means, don't let the past affect you anymore. Don't let it control you or have power over you or manipulate you. Successful people learn from the past without dwelling on the
past. There's a big difference.
What should I forget?? Two things, if you are going to follow Paul’s pattern for joyful living:
1. Your failures-- So many Christians are continuing to rehearse things in their heart that God has long since forgiven and forgotten.
Satan’s favorite tool is to immobilize you with your memories.
To manipulate you with your past failures and stop you from further progress because you will not forgive yourself…
Note: I said, “will not” not ”cannot”
It is a matter of what you will to do!
You must agree with God and forgive yourself!
Nothing you ever do will change your past. No tears, regrets, self-pity. The past is past, over, dead. You can't do anything about it. Let it go. Learn from it and let it go.
2. Your successes—Learn from them but let them go!
Paul has just rehearsed some of his successes—but he says that he needs to let them go because they amount to nothing more than a pile of garbage—He has to let go of past success in order to embrace a joyful future of adventure and challenge—
The problem with success is that it tends to make you complacent and fills you with pride.
Then you stop growing and learning and then you're going to fail.
Luke 9:62 (Good News) "Jesus said, `Anyone who starts to plow and then keeps looking back isof no use for the Kingdom of God.'"
You can't drive a car forward looking in the rear view mirror. You can't run a race looking backwards. You've got to let it go.
The Question becomes: What memory do I need to let go of?
(third principle for growing into a joyful future)
#3. CONCENTRATE: Focus on the future
“But this one thing I do…straining toward what is ahead I press on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus…”
We are spread so tin any more…Nobody knows what they are really doing or why they are doing it…
Our lives are filled so many things
Activities—busyness—stuff
Paul says concentrate on what is the most important!
Find out what really counts!
George Washington Carver was praying and asked God to reveal to him the secrets of the univers…God says that is too much, you can’t handle it. How about the secrets of the world! That is too much for you, you can’t handle it!
He dept praying like this until he finally just asked God to reveal to Him the secrets of the peanut! God said, not there is something you can handle…and he did! And the wold has been changed by the research of George Washington Carver…
You can’t know everything—even in this age of information at your fingertipis
You cannot be everything—but you can be the best You the world has ever seen…
You can’t do everything—but you can do something!
Find it and do it!
Paul says "I face my faults, forget the former and focus on the future and that is the one thing I do. I have my goal clearly in mind."
I Cor. 9:24 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to win the prize."
What was Paul's goal?
2 Cor. 5:9 "So we make our goal to please Him."
There is no more rewarding goal in life than to please God.
Paul wanted to be able to stand at the end of his life and hear Jesus say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant. You were faithful in a few things. Come into my joy."
The question we ask ourselves is, What am I living for? What is my goal in life? What's most important? If you don't know where you're going, nobody else does. Focus on the future.
And if there are people following you…your children…then they won’t know where they are going…it is the blind leading the blind…
FOCUS!!! CONCENTRATE!!!!
ON WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT
WHAT ARE YOU FOCUSED ON????
(Fourth principle in moving into a joyful future)
#4 DETERMINE: Fight to the finish! Persistence
The great people in life are just ordinary people with extraordinary amount of determination.
They don't know how to quit. They keep on keeping on. They never give up.
Notice the terms Paul uses in v. 12 & 13: "I press on, straining toward the mark... I press on to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Feel the intensity of Paul here, the determination.
He is a fighter to the end…
He writes to Timothy near the end of his life:
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith…”
Acts 20:24 "But I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me, in order that I may complete my mission and finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the Good
News of the grace of God."
This is Paul's life verse.
Paul said he's not going to stop, to give up, quit. He's going to keep on keeping on until he's experienced all that God had for him in life.
Some people quit at the drop of a hat---when it gets tuff they get out—When it gets hard they hit the road—
Paul says I want to see it through to the end—he that endures to the end shall be saved!!! Is what Jesus said!
Paul will endure---he is determined!
How about you!
What will slow you down? Turn you around?
Disappointment? Many will come your way.
Discouragement? You will experience it.
Doubt? No doubt about it!
Difficulties? They come in all shapes and sizes:
Financial—relational—emotional—misunderstandings abound—fears and failures will be yours
What will it take for you to give up? To quit!
Don’t you hate that word? “Quit”
Stay determined!!!!
In vv15-16 Paul summarizes his strategy for a joyful future:
He has three things to say:
1. Be mature---v. 15. "All of us who are mature should take such a view of things."
You're going to face your faults,
focus on the future,
forget the former, and
fight to the finish.
All of us who are mature will act this way.
He's saying here, don't become complacent,
Don't become self-satisfied.
2. Be teachable
"And if on some point you think differently that too God will make clear to you."
Stay open, God will teach you.
The moment you stop being teachable, you stop learning.
The moment you stop learning, you stop growing.
The moment you stop growing,--- you're dead.
3. Be persistent: “Let us live up to what we have already attained.”
Two promises
Galatians 6:9 "Let us not grow weary in doing good. For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Don't give up. Don't give up on your marriage, your dream... You
will reap a harvest at the proper time if you do not give up.
Philippians 1:6 "Be confident of this very thing. That He [God] who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion unto the day of Christ Jesus."
What God starts, He finishes. He doesn't lead you out on a limb and cut you off.
You do your part and God will do His part.
You do your best and He'll do the rest.
Is there one of these issues you need to take to heart this morning?
When was the last time you sat down and took a good look at yourself—Evaluation—Your marriage, your job, the way you spend your time and money…What values do they project? Where are you headed? What do you need to change???
It is a healthy thing to do! Evaluate your own life!
Is the past maintaining a grip on you? Is it time to eliminate some things from your past so that they no longer manipulate your in the present and control your future????
ELIMINATION
Are you doing so many things that you can’t do anything right? Maybe you need to cut some things out of your life—simplify!
And CONCENTRATE
Find the one thing that is most important and specialize in doing that!!!
Or maybe you have been tempted to give up! Don’t do it!
Determine to finish the course!
These are key values in life! They will direct you into your future!
And you can’t go it alone!
You need Jesus and you need his people alongside of you!
This is a church of imperfect people!
We don’t have it all together!
We still make all too many mistakes
Like Paul said, None of us have arrived!
If you are a perfect Christian you probably won’t feel very comfortable here…We are just a lot of imperfect people who are committed to growing in Christ Jesus!
At Colusa Assembly of God we don’t care much about ;your past—where you have been is not near so important as where you are heading! We want to encourage each other to keep heading in the right direction!
And we have discovered that we have to be totally dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ to make that a reality!!!
So today I challenge you to commit (decide) to follow Jesus and to follow Him to the end!!!!
PREPARING FOR A JOYFUL FUTURE
Philippians 3:12-21
(Adapted from an outline by Rick Warren)
"Join with others in following my example, and take not of those who live according to the pattern we gave you." vs. 17
Paul's Pattern For Successful Living
1. EVALUATE: _______________________________________
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect ... I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it." vs. 12-13
"I don't claim that I have already succeeded or become perfect." (GN)
"You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you." Prov. 28:13 (GN)
Question:
2. ELIMINATE:_______________________________________
"But this one thing I do; forgetting what is behind ... " v. 13b
"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing!" (says the Lord) Isa. 43:18
What to Forget:
1.
2.
"Jesus said, `Anyone who starts to plow and then keeps looking back is of no use for the Kingdom of God." Luke 9:62 (GN)
Question:
3. CONCENTRATE: ___________________________________
"But this ONE THING I do ... straining toward what is ahead I press on toward the goal ... " vs. 13c
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to win the prize." I Cor. 9:24
What is "The Goal"?
"So we make our goal to please Him ..." 2 Cor. 5:9
Question:
4. DETERMINE:____________________________________
"... I press on ... straining ... I press on to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
"But I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me, in order that I may complete my mission and finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the Good News of the grace of God." Acts 20:24
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord ... will award to me on that day ..." 2 Tim. 4:7-8
Three Suggestions: vs. 15-16
1.
2.
3.
Two Promises:
Galatians 6:9 "Let us not grow weary in doing good. For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Philippians 1:6 "Be confident of this very thing. That He [God] who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion unto the day of Christ Jesus."