- I Press On: Because I realize I have room to grow. (Phil 3:12)
- I Press On: Because That is what Jesus wants for me. (Phil 3:12, 14)
- I Press On: Because The past is irrelevant. (Phil 3:13)
- I Press On: Because This is mature thinking. (Phil 3:15-16)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:04
At the time I was young and cool.
00:07-00:14
And over the years I've learned that I am becoming less in both categories.
00:20-00:28
The realization really hit me a few years ago when I was teaching a group of third and fourth graders.
00:30-00:44
And I thought I was being really cool and relevant and connecting and I made some sort of a reference to Fat Albert and was met with a room full of blank stares.
00:46-00:49
They were like, and I'm like, why are you all looking at me like that?
00:49-00:50
And they're like, who's Fat Albert?
00:52-00:53
Like, who's Fat Albert?
00:55-00:57
I sent notes home to all the parents.
00:57-00:58
(congregation laughing)
00:59-01:03
Like your discipleship in your household is seriously in question right now.
01:08-01:17
So those of you under 23, turn to somebody older after service and have them explain this to you.
01:17-01:22
But I'm also old enough to remember the Sunday drive.
01:23-01:26
How many of you know what I'm talking about when I mentioned the Sunday drive.
01:27-01:28
Remember the Sunday drive?
01:28-01:32
Okay, how many of you are like, "I have no idea what the Sunday drive is." Go ahead.
01:32-01:34
Taylor Brown, seriously, my heart aches for you.
01:35-01:37
The Sunday drive.
01:37-01:40
Well, the Sunday drive was basically this.
01:40-01:54
It was after church Sunday and after lunch, dad would be like, "Pile into the car, "we're going for a drive." And go ahead and shout it out, "Where did you go?" Nowhere, right?
01:54-01:58
And you just went for a drive and you got in the car.
01:58-02:04
And the reason younger people don't understand this is we did this before gasoline was like $80 a gallon.
02:05-02:07
So you could afford to do it.
02:07-02:10
But now Sunday drive is like family vacation.
02:10-02:13
Like kids, we can go to Disney World or we can take a Sunday drive.
02:13-02:23
But, oh, speaking of vacation, you'd have the Sunday drive and you would have the vacation drive.
02:24-05:06
But the vacation drive, it was, "We need to get to this resort spot, this destination. We're going to Myrtle Beach, for example, and here's how long it's going to take us, and here's the route that we're going to go, and here are the places that we're going to stop." And you're like, "Why in the world are you talking about this. Well, let me ask you this. Which is the Christian life more like? Is it more like a Sunday drive where we just sort of wander around aimlessly, or is it more like the vacation drive in that we are heading somewhere, we have a destination in mind, and we need to be deliberate about getting there? Which is it? The Christian life is more like the vacation drive, isn't it? And that's exactly what the Apostle Paul is talking about here in Philippians chapter 3 verses 12 through 16 that we're going to be looking at this morning. Last week we looked at the first 11 verses where Paul said, "You know, I used to put my confidence in who I was." You remember he gave his little resume, you know, "Here's my Jewishness and here's my religious zeal and here's blah blah blah blah blah," and he said, "It's rubbish." And then he gets to the end of the passage that we looked at last week, and he talked about being found in Christ, and having a righteousness from Christ, and knowing Christ, and knowing the power of his resurrection. Verse 10, "Sharing in his sufferings and being like him in his death, attaining resurrection from the dead." And at this point, like the original readers of Philippians, we could step back and say, "Man, Paul had it going on. Paul was perfect, wasn't he? I mean, Paul was perfect. He was just perfect. I mean, you read that list there about knowing Christ and knowing his power and sharing in his sufferings. I mean, Paul had it nailed down." And then, like the Philippian readers, we start to ask some other questions. Does that mean that coming to Jesus Christ means that I'm instantly perfect? Because let's be honest, I still struggle, man. I still struggle. Anybody else still struggling in your Christian walk? Anybody? Look, I've been a Christian now for like 17, 18 I've been a pastor for like 15 of those, 16 of those, I lost count.
05:07-05:12
And I can tell you that every day is still a struggle in some way, shape or form.
05:13-05:21
And I was naive enough 15 years ago to think, you know, once I get to my mid-30s, late-30s, I'll have it nailed down.
05:22-05:25
It's still a struggle. It's still a struggle.
05:25-05:28
So the question is, why am I still struggling?
05:28-06:33
shouldn't it be easier? You know, I don't feel very perfect. Am I even a Christian? Well, the Apostle Paul was the master of anticipating what people were saying or thinking after they were reading portions of his letters, so oftentimes he interjects things. He's like, "I know what you're thinking, so let me tell you something right now just to clear that up, and that's what we're going to be looking at today. So if you're a perfect Christian, you are dismissed. But if you are still struggling like me, let's see how Paul interjects here. He says, verse 12, "Not that I have already obtained this, or am I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
06:36-06:39
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.
06:41-06:58
But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ, in Christ Jesus.
07:00-07:04
Let those of us who are mature think this way.
07:04-07:11
And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
07:12-07:17
Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
07:20-07:24
The Apostle Paul frequently used sports metaphors.
07:24-07:25
Did you know that?
07:27-07:39
He talked about wrestling and he talked about boxing and oftentimes he would talk about running a race, a sports metaphor I am less inclined to identify with.
07:40-07:44
But that is the metaphor here, like in 1 Corinthians 9, 24.
07:45-07:46
He's talking about running a race.
07:47-07:53
He says it in verse 12, you saw it, he said it in verse 12, he said it in verse 13, and he said it in verse 14.
07:53-07:57
Press on, straining forward, pressing on.
07:59-08:01
It's a picture of a runner, right?
08:03-08:04
But not just a runner.
08:08-08:12
You know, if you look out the back doors here, you see people run this property here.
08:12-08:14
Paul's not talking about that kind of a runner.
08:15-08:17
He's talking about a runner in a race.
08:19-08:23
And not just the runner in a race, but a runner who wants to win.
08:26-08:32
And not just a runner in a race who wants to win, but a runner in a race who wants to win what?
08:36-08:37
First place, right?
08:37-08:38
The gold.
08:38-08:39
No, no, no, gold's not good enough.
08:39-08:40
What's above gold?
08:41-08:42
That's what I want.
08:42-08:43
That's what I'm running for.
08:43-08:44
That's the picture here.
08:45-08:45
(congregation laughing)
08:45-08:47
I found this extremely interesting.
08:47-08:50
You know this word for press on or to strive?
08:52-08:59
It's used in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, those books, 13 times.
09:00-09:05
And the apostle Paul used this word in his writings 10 times.
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And do you know the context that this word is usually found in?
09:09-09:10
I found this so interesting.
09:10-09:23
The context that you usually find this expression for press on or strive forward has to do with hunting something down passionately, and it's usually in the context of persecution.
09:26-09:31
Like somebody out to persecute the church, they're striving forward to get them.
09:31-09:34
They're not just like after them, they're passionately after them.
09:34-09:42
I hate those Christians, and I hate that they identify with Jesus, and I'm going to hunt them down, and they're very serious and very passionate about this pursuit.
09:43-09:45
That's usually the context you find this word.
09:45-09:52
And here Paul is using this hunting it down passionately referring to something else.
09:52-09:55
You're like, well, what are we hunting down passionately?
09:56-09:59
We'll look again at the text, verse 12.
09:59-09:59
Here it is.
10:00-10:04
"Not that I have already obtained this." Okay, so there it is, this.
10:05-10:07
That's what we're hunting down passionately, this.
10:07-10:09
All right, any other questions?
10:11-10:12
What is this?
10:14-10:17
Well, actually, you go back up to verse 10 for that.
10:18-10:20
This is all in context, right?
10:20-10:20
You know that, right?
10:22-10:24
This is building off what he said previously.
10:24-10:28
And what this is, is knowing Christ.
10:32-10:35
What this is, is growing in Christ.
10:35-10:37
What this is, is being perfect.
10:40-10:53
We are hunting down, listen to this, we are hunting down knowing Christ fully, we are hunting down growing in Him, and we are hunting down passionately maturing in Him.
10:54-10:55
Why?
10:57-10:58
I'm so glad you asked.
10:58-11:01
In fact, I anticipated that you might ask, so get your outline.
11:01-11:02
Why do we press on?
11:04-11:05
It's all straight here from the text.
11:06-11:07
Why do we press on, number one?
11:08-11:10
I press on because I realize I have room to grow.
11:12-11:13
That's the first thing.
11:13-11:17
I press on because I realize that I have room to grow.
11:20-11:23
He said it in verse 12 very plainly.
11:23-11:44
He says, "Not that I've already obtained this or I'm already perfect." People are like, "Well, the Bible's so unclear." Verse 13, "Brothers, I do not consider "that I have made it my own." He was going to every effort to make sure it was so crystal clear.
11:44-11:46
Paul, are you perfect, Paul?
11:46-11:51
Would you say that you're at the mountaintop of the Christian experience, Paul?
11:51-11:52
Is that what you're saying?
11:52-11:53
What's his answer?
11:54-11:55
Shout it out, what's his answer?
11:56-11:59
No, no, no, I'm not there.
12:00-12:04
No, I'm not saying that I've obtained like the spiritual elite status?
12:04-12:11
No, no, I'm not saying that I've mastered the spiritual life.
12:13-12:15
So I press on because I realize that I have room to grow.
12:16-12:20
And that's the paradox of the Christian life.
12:21-12:23
What is the Christian life?
12:24-12:26
How would I define the Christian life?
12:26-12:28
Here's how I define the Christian life.
12:28-12:29
Drop this phrase down.
12:29-12:33
The Christian life is the process of becoming what you are.
12:34-12:36
That's what the Christian life is.
12:36-12:40
It's the process of becoming what you are.
12:43-12:47
You go, "That doesn't make any sense." Well, sure it does.
12:47-12:53
God says about you in Christ, now understand I'm talking to those that are in Christ, okay?
12:54-13:02
If you're here and you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you have not been born again, you have bigger issues than pressing on.
13:04-13:07
You're spiritually dead and you need Jesus Christ.
13:09-13:17
But for those of you that have received Christ, God says this about you.
13:17-13:26
He says, "You are holy, you are righteous, "you are guiltless, you are blameless, "and you are perfect in Christ." That's what God says about you.
13:26-13:27
Did you know that?
13:31-13:38
And your walk, your Christian walk, is God growing you into what He says you are.
13:42-14:04
Even with a new heart and a new disposition and a new mind and a new standing before God and the indwelling Holy Spirit, we step back as Christians and look at all of that and "but I'm still in need of growth." And as I told you, 18 years later, I realized the more I grow, the more I need to grow.
14:08-14:13
So the Christian life is God growing you into what he says you are, into who he says you are.
14:14-14:16
It's the process of becoming what you are.
14:18-14:25
Now, this year, our ministry theme, tell our friends from Pittsburgh East, Your ministry theme is what this year?
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It's joy, right?
14:28-14:30
And you're like, well, where's the joy in this?
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Where is the joy in knowing that I need to grow?
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Well, we've surveyed 100 people, top three answers on the board.
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My son loves the family feud.
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Why is there a joy in knowing that I need to grow?
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Here it is.
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Number three, it's a sign of life.
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That's why it is a joy knowing that I need to grow.
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It is a sign of life.
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Why?
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Because dead things neither grow nor care that they need to grow.
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However, living things grow.
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And one of the perks of being a new creation is the desire to grow is built right into that.
15:17-15:17
So that's encouraging.
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If you're like, "I'm just not sure if I'm a Christian "and I'm not sure, does the Holy Spirit live in me?" One of the things I'd ask you is, do you have a holy discontent with where you are spiritually, that you feel the Holy Spirit is calling you to grow, to trust more, to grow more in Christ?
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Do you feel that?
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Do you experience that?
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Well, that's good news.
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That's a sign of life.
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Number two, why is there joy in knowing that I need to grow?
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Number two is this, I won't be so quick to judge others.
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Talk about an area that God's grown me.
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I won't be so quick to judge others.
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It's grace.
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It's grace.
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Sometimes as Christians, mature Christians, instead of talking about life dominating sins, because at this stage of the game, I surely can't use that expression.
16:17-16:49
What do we call them? Growth points. Growth points, right? No offense, ladies, but that phrase had to have come out of some women's ministry somewhere, right? Growth points. I have growth points. Well, you know what? I have growth points, and so do you. And it's so easy for me to judge you on your growth points. To say, "Gosh, that This guy's been walking with the Lord, he said for 10 years, but he acts like a spiritual infant sometimes.
16:50-16:54
And it's like, hey, how about a mirror, pal?
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That's me.
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That's me sometimes.
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And when I realized, you know what?
16:58-17:00
God's still growing me.
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God's still working on my heart.
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It's a reminder that he's working on you too.
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And I just ask for your grace.
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You know, sometimes as a pastor, people think of me as being, well, you're like Paul, right?
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You're perfect and have it all figured out.
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I do not.
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You talk to the two people that know me best, talk to my wife and talk to my brother.
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I do not.
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But God's still growing me.
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God's still changing me.
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God's still teaching me some things.
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As I heard one evangelist say, I'm not yet the man that I wanna be, but I thank God that I'm not the man that I was.
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I won't be so quick to judge others.
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And number one answer, why is there joy in knowing that I need to grow?
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Well, I won't be discouraged when I fail.
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I won't be discouraged when I fail.
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Christians, how many times have we, we've done the very thing that we knew we shouldn't have done.
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And then we walk away and we say, I should have known better.
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What's wrong with me?
18:17-18:20
Well, apparently this is an area that God is growing me.
18:24-18:28
And this reminds me of reality.
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It makes me long for heaven.
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So I won't be discouraged when I fail.
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I don't make excuses for it.
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That's a reality check for me.
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God's still growing me.
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So this concept of growing in the Lord, there's a big fancy theological term for it.
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You see it in God's word.
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It's called sanctification.
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And literally it means being set apart in your character and in your attitude and in your action.
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And how does it happen?
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How does sanctification happen?
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How does growth happen?
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Now listen closely, this growth, this sanctification, it's like a plant.
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I can't make a plant grow.
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Do you know that?
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I can't make a plant grow.
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What I can do is I can put it in a position to maximize its growth potential, right?
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And it's true for you.
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I can't make you grow spiritually.
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You can't make you grow spiritually either.
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What you can do is put yourself in a position to maximize your growth potential.
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What does that mean?
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Well, there are two ways that you are sanctified.
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Not two like separate paths, understand that.
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Like, well, there's path A or path B.
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No, there's one path, but there's two things on that path that work together for your sanctification.
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And here are the two things.
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First of all, it's the word of God.
19:57-20:00
John 17, 17, Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth.
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"Your word is truth." Jesus said the thing that would sanctify us, church, is the Word of God.
20:11-20:16
But then Romans 15, 16 says that we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
20:17-20:19
That's how God grows you.
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It's by the power of his indwelling spirit within you at work with the Word.
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That's why we tell you to read your Bibles.
20:28-20:41
Have a plan and be in God's Word because God's Spirit wants to take what is in God's Word and plant it into your heart and have it flow out of your life.
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That's why we preach from the Bible.
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That's why I'm encouraged that nobody walks in here on a Sunday morning and says, "Pastor Jeff, what are you gonna speak about today?" Everybody knows, right?
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The Bible.
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Aw, you talked about that last week.
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Well, I hate to spoil next week for you.
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The Bible.
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Why do we preach from the Bible?
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Because this is what God uses, his spirit, his word, to provide his results.
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What does Paul tell us in Romans?
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Faith comes by hearing.
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The Holy Spirit takes it and works it through you.
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So first of all, I press on because I realize I have room to grow.
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Secondly, jot this down, I press on because that is what Jesus wants from me.
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That is what Jesus wants for me.
21:43-22:50
Jesus Christ saved me for a purpose. What is the purpose that he saved you? Why did he save you? Well, notice in verse 12 he says, "I press on to make it my own." Why, Paul? "Because Christ Jesus has made me his own." So when Jesus saved you, what was he after? Your advice? He's like, "You know what? That Bob Arnold, I gotta get him in because I bet he has some good ideas. No, that's not why he saved you. Like, oh I know, it's for my work, right? Well he prepared good works beforehand that we should walk in them, Ephesians 2, but let's not get some kind of an arrogant attitude like, well he saves me because he needs me. What does God need? Nothing.
22:50-23:51
God doesn't need me. So why did he save me? For what purpose did he save me? And here it is, literally, this is what Paul is saying in the text. And this this this about blew my heart right out of my chest this week. Jesus took hold of me because he wants me to know him." Isn't that awesome? Jesus took hold of me for the sole purpose of "he wants me to know him." "For God so loved the world." God loves the world. Now what is he after? He's after a relationship with you. That's That's why when we show up to church and sort of punch in the time card and say, "I did my weekly duty," God's not after that.
23:52-24:01
He says, "I saved you so that you would grow in a relationship with me." That's why He saved us.
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And knowing Him is becoming like Him.
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Romans 8, 29 tells us that he predestined us to be conformed into the image of his son.
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That's why he saved you, it's for his glory, that's number one, that's obvious.
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It's all about God's glory.
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You got that right.
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But if you're like, well, why did he why would he save me?
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Because he wants you to know him.
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He wants you to grow in him.
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He wants you to experience his love and mercy and forgiveness and know what kind of a God he is.
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But you know what can seem frustrating?
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Going after a goal that we will never achieve.
24:50-24:55
You know, Paul says, you know, I've been, I'm pressing on and I'm going after this thing, I'm going after this thing.
24:58-25:02
Do you think that Paul ever got to a point in his life that he was like, got it?
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Do you think if you would have talked to Paul five minutes before he died, He would have said, "You know, I've grown as much as I can possibly grow." Do you think he would have said that?
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I don't.
25:16-25:20
Five minutes before he died, I think Paul would have said something like, "Yes, hey, I'm pressing on.
25:21-25:30
I'm pressing on to know Jesus Christ." So in that regard, you could say, "Well, man, isn't it frustrating?
25:31-25:36
We're going after something we were never going to achieve." Well, here's the thing, you are going to achieve it.
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In glory.
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When you are in the presence of God himself, you are going to perfectly achieve this thing that you're going after, but the purpose of the pursuit now is knowing Christ more now, so Christ's goal for me is for me to be in pursuit of the goal which is growing in our relationship.
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Did you catch that?
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That's one of the sentences I wrote it.
26:06-26:08
I'm like, man, that sentence is so confusing.
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I'm not even sure how it started.
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Let me run that by you again.
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Christ's goal is for us to be in pursuit of the goal, which is growing in our relationship with him.
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So why do we press on?
26:23-26:30
Paul very clearly says, "This is what Jesus Christ wants for me." Thirdly, I press on, why?
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Look at verse 13.
26:34-26:37
I press on because the past is irrelevant.
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The past is irrelevant.
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Look at verse 13 with me again, where the apostle Paul says, "Forgetting what lies behind "and straining forward to what lies ahead." And listen, this whole pressing on thing can't happen until you do this.
26:59-27:01
You have to let go of the past.
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You have to let it go.
27:02-27:04
You have to let it go.
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He's using this runner analogy.
27:06-27:10
Now think, let's carry this analogy out a little bit, can we?
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Here's the runners at the starting block.
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And you're just about ready to run this race.
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You're waiting, you're waiting for the gun to go off because you're going after this.
27:28-27:30
And the gun goes off.
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and the runners start running and you just turn to the guy beside you and you say, "You know what?
27:37-27:43
"I've had a lot of good runs back in the day." Let me tell you, and you just sit down right there in the track.
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Like, "Hey, come here and sit down.
27:44-27:53
"Let me tell you, you know, back in '86, I was fast "and I had this one race." And you're like, "Yeah, good for you, buddy.
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"You're in a race now.
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"Why are you sitting down talking about something "that happened in the past?
27:58-28:01
How much is that going to help you run this race?
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Zero?
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Or the runner gets in the starting blocks, and he's like, OK, the race is about to start.
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But you know what?
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The last time I ran, I didn't do very good.
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Last time I ran, I really failed.
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And I'm not sure if running's really for me.
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Maybe I shouldn't be running.
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Maybe because I've failed in the past, maybe I shouldn't be running now.
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How much is that attitude going to help him in the race that he's in right now?
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How much is that attitude going to help?
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So tell me, what should the attitude of the runner be?
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The gun goes off and he's like, "I am going to go after this with everything that I got.
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"It doesn't matter how fast I was in '86, "and it doesn't matter that I lost my last race.
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What matters is that I'm in a race right now.
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The past is irrelevant.
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And that's what Paul is reminding us Christians in our spiritual race, in our spiritual pressing on.
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The past can be debilitating.
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And even some Christians get stuck, and I would suggest to you, even some Christians get obsessed about their past.
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There are some Christians that they're obsessed.
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They can't have a conversation, you know, like, "Hey, how's the weather?" "Oh, the weather's fine.
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The weather's actually a lot like the weather was, you know, 27 years ago when I went through this horrible crisis." Like, "The weather's a lot like it was when I made this horrible mistake." And so what are we forgetting?
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What are we forgetting?
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I'm gonna give you another list.
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Top three answers on the board.
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You're like, "Two lists in the same sermon." He's gone off the deep end.
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Somebody needs to stop him.
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What are we forgetting?
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Three things, you ready?
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Number one, we're gonna go one, two, three on this one.
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Number one, we're forgetting regrets or sins or things I put down in my notes, things of me.
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That's what we're forgetting.
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We're forgetting regrets and sins.
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Some Christians are stuck.
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And listen, as a pastor, please hear my heart.
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My heart aches for you.
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My heart aches for you.
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When you, you know what, Pastor Jeff?
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Eight years ago, I did something really bad.
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And you know, I've prayed and I've sought the Lord on this and I've made reconciliation, but I just can't get over it.
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I've done a lot of things I regret, man.
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You know what?
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Me too.
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I have too.
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Don't underestimate the wickedness of my sin because it took the death of the Son of God to pay for my sin.
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But neither underestimate the work of Christ because his death destroyed the penalty of sin.
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So number one, forget your regrets, your past sins.
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Please hear me.
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I'm not making light of this, but you can't go through life holding on.
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Number two, what are we forgetting?
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Worldly pursuits, worldly acclaim, worldly victory.
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I put down in my notes, things by me.
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I'm forgetting things of me, but I'm also forgetting things by me.
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All these things on my resume.
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You know, Paul said, "I got this list." And guess what?
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I have my list.
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And it's so easy to evaluate my life by looking at the best of, right?
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If you would go down to the, I almost said record store.
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If you would go down to the music store and buy a CD from a band or from an artist that was best of, what are you getting?
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You're getting like their best music, right?
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And if that was all you knew of them, you would think, man, all they can do is like crank out the good ones.
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You know what?
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I could make my Christian life look like a best of album.
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Let me tell you about some of the things that I've done.
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Let me tell you about some of the amazing ways that God's used me.
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And that's exactly what we talked about last week.
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Paul was like, "Pfft, rubbish.
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"Rubbish, it's all in the past." And these successes can be even more debilitating.
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So the third thing to forget, please hear me, wrong things done to me.
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Wrong things done to me.
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Remember, forgiven people forgive, right?
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Forgiven people forgive.
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And your past has nothing to do with your future because there is nothing you can do about it.
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Every sin has been paid for.
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Every highlight has nothing to do with making God love you more than he already does.
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Holding grudges does nothing but put a burden on your own hearts.
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We choose to forget.
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Why?
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Well, here's one more thing before we wrap up.
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Why do we choose to forget?
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Because God chooses to forget.
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Did you know that?
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And God's so fired up about this choosing to forget business that he says it twice in his word, once in the Old Testament and once in the New Testament, just in case you miss it.
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Jeremiah 31, 34. Hebrews 10, 17. God says, "I will remember their sins no more." So if God is willing to forget some things, why can't you? Why can't I? So I press on because the past is irrelevant, and finally, I press on because this is mature thinking.
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This is mature thinking. Getting back to our runner analogy, you know, when that runners in the race, it'd be easy to gravitate towards two extremes. One is this, I'm never going to improve my time. I'm never going to get better. I'm never going to get faster. I'm never going to get any better." Wrong. But here's the other extreme. "I have no room for improvement. I'm as fast as a human being can possibly be." And that's why as Paul's talking about pressing on, "I'm not perfect. I don't have perfect full knowledge, perfect experience of knowing and growing in Christ, so I'm pressing on.
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Paul reminds us, look at verse 15 and 16 again.
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He says, "Let those of us who are mature think this way." He says, "This is mature thinking." Immaturity is found on the extremes.
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Here are the two Christian race extremes.
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One is this, "I'm just a sinner.
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I'm just a sinner." Do you know who says that?
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Somebody that wants to make excuse for their sin.
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I'm just a sinner.
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Well, just a sinner.
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Not in Christ.
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In Christ, you're a child of God.
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You act like the very thing you identify yourself with.
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So walking around saying, "Well, I'm just a sinner," that's not gonna get you anywhere.
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Here's the other extreme, walking around saying, "I am perfect." You're like, "Pastor Jeff, do people really do that?" Yeah.
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The Bible college that I attended, I was a very young Christian at the time, so basically I had no clue about anything.
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I didn't even know there was a difference between one Bible college and another.
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And one of the things at the Bible college I attended, One of the things they taught was Christian perfection, that you're kind of going along and you have this crisis moment and you cry out to God and he saves you, you're justified.
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The penalty of sin is removed.
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But they teach that as you're going along, you have another crisis moment and you're entirely sanctified at that point that now not only is the penalty of sin removed, but the power of sin is removed.
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and you live the rest of your life completely devoid of temptation.
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That's what this school taught.
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Take a guess how many head-butting matches I got into with the school.
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And a lot of them circled around this text that we're looking at right here.
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Like if the apostle Paul says he hasn't obtained it, who do you think you are walking around saying, and we had people, you know, I've been entirely sanctified for, you know, 73 years.
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You haven't been tempted to sin, you haven't made one mistake, you haven't spoken one harsh word in 73 years, really?
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Nope. Oh, I might have had some maybe errors in judgment or maybe a temporary lapse of moral cognitude, something, but I haven't sinned in 73 years. You just did liar. No wonder we're joyless. Seriously, no wonder we are joyless when we walk around, "Well, I'm just a sinner. Well, I'm just perfect." Both of those extremes are messed up. That's why Paul says here's mature thinking. You're like, "Well, I'm not sure I agree with all this." And my response to that is, "It's okay. Give it time because here's what he says. And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you." Paul's like, "There are probably some people reading this." and they're like, "Yeah, I'm not so sure." And Paul's like, "Okay, it's all right.
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"It's okay." You might be sitting here today and you're like, "Yeah, Jeff, I totally am not tracking "with what you're saying." It's okay.
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It's okay, you keep seeking the Lord, He'll reveal it to you.
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You're not a sinner and you're not perfect, Christian.
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This is just how it is.
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You're like, "Well, you know what?
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"I hear what you're saying, but you know, a lot of this seems overwhelming.
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You know, my goal is Christ's goal to grow by knowing him and I won't ever fully attain it here, but I'm supposed to keep pressing on.
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And wow, there's like a lot of stuff here.
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So you're like, what do I do?
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There's like a lot of stuff to process.
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Well, here it is, last verse.
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"Only let us hold true to what we have attained." Why does Paul close this little section with this command?
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because growth is a work of the Holy Spirit.
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What Paul is saying is this, you stick to the basics of the gospel and growth will come naturally.
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We're not going after a new fad, a new gimmick.
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We're not going after a shortcut or alternatives or plan B.
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Get in the Word, pray shamelessly, be connected to a body of believers, get involved in a small group, Use all of these as your means to passionately pursue Jesus Christ.
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Do you believe that God loves you?
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Do you believe that?
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Do you believe that God loves you?
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Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and he rose from the dead?
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Do you believe that?
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Do you believe that God's Holy Spirit indwells you?
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Do you believe that?
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Let's hold on to that.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 3:12-16
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.