Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen.

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1 Oct 7,8,2017 Phil 3:12-14 Pressing On 1 Philippians 3:12-14(ESV) 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 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, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen. We are in football season and there are some excellent high school teams in this area. I will not mention their names because it may be that of your arch rival. In almost every football play there is at least one person knocked flat to the ground, not every play but almost. There are days you go to work and things do not go well. A person shows you a terrible mistake that you made, a real blunder. You feel like you have been knocked flat onto the ground face first. There are other things that may knock us flat. God has helped you overcome an addictive, debilitating sin. For some time now you have not fallen into the behavior that hurts your own body and hurts deeply those that know you. To put it bluntly you have behaved yourself. And then it happens, you take that sip of alcohol, or you pop that pill, or you open your computer to what is sinful, or you mistreat a person you love and hurt them deeply. You find yourself flattened by your own behavior. You have fallen hard. I could use more examples such as getting let down big time from a friend or getting knocked down by a certain diagnosis, the loss of job, listening to the news of shootings in Las Vegas, but now I wish to make the point. No matter how far down you find yourself and no matter how you got there, it is time to stand up, get off the ground, and press on. You may feel like completely quitting on the inside but God has the power to raise you up, put you back on your feet, and move you forward as you press on in God, with God s power for God has much work for you to do. It is time to press on. In no way at all is God finished with you. He is giving to you a new start, a brand new start as the Holy Spirit raises you up off the ground and you put your focus right where it should be, on the Lord Jesus.

2 Oct 7,8,2017 Phil 3:12-14 Pressing On 2 In the Old Testament, the great prophet Elijah sunk into a deep pit of discouragement. God caused Elijah to have his greatest victory in ministry on Mt. Carmel, defeating the prophets of Baal. God demonstrated his power in an absolutely spectacular way. Then Elijah hears this news. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, May the gods deal with me be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them (1 Kings 19:2). 3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. I have had enough, LORD, he said. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors. 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, Get up and eat. 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. 1 Kings 19:3-9(NIV). One can be used of God greatly and still get real low on the inside. Elijah fell into a pit of great fear and ran for his life. When we may get knocked flat we can be overcome by fear, paralyzing fear making it next to impossible to get up. Paul says, press on. God speaks to Elijah and tells him to get up and to go back where he came from. God impresses on Elijah that it was time to press on because God wanted to use Elijah to be a blessing to so many. God did not condemn Elijah for his discouragement. He let Elijah know there was still much more work that God wanted Elijah to do. Elijah would press on to be a blessing. God picks us up so we can bless others. God has much for us to do.

3 Oct 7,8,2017 Phil 3:12-14 Pressing On 3 Crippling fear is a very real thing. The times we live in are so difficult. The lie of Satan goes like this. If God really loved you this would not be happening. I believe one of the reasons Elijah was so afraid was he doubted God s love. The Bible says, Perfect love casts out all fear. Friends, when fear overtakes us, it is then time to be reminded that no matter what happens we can never be separated from God s love, NEVER! This is how we press on. Romans 8:35-39(NIV) 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the love that picks us up, puts us back on our feet, so we can be a blessing for the sake of Jesus. The goal of every Christian is to become more like Christ. Paul presses on for that very reason. Paul admits in this passage that he has room for lots of growth and that he falls short at being like Jesus. He still had many weaknesses and a thorn in his side that made things difficult for him. Do you know that all of us have lots of room for Christian growth? None of us has arrived at the pinnacle of Christian maturity. What motivates us to press on is a sense of dissatisfaction of where our walk is with God. If you are most satisfied with your growth then you have something terribly wrong happening on the inside. Paul was more mature than all of us and he still had a long way to go. He honestly admits to us all, Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own (Phil 3:12). To press on means to run or follow after. It is an aggressive, energetic endeavor (Dr MacArthur, Philippians, pg. 245). Paul pursued Christ, pressed on every

4 Oct 7,8,2017 Phil 3:12-14 Pressing On 4 day, for the spiritual prize with all his might, straining ever spiritual muscle as he ran to win. (1 Cor 9:24). I wish to remind you all that Paul was in prison, chained to a guard, and there is not even a hint of self-pity in these verses. I know my own weaknesses. If I was chained to a prison guard I would be feeling so sorry for myself I would be useless for Christ. Not Paul. He would have none of it. He chose instead to be a blessing to all who spoke to him and in all of his letters that he wrote while in prison. God wants to us use all my friends even as we press on to become more like Christ. The Christian life is a life-long pursuit of Christ likeness. It is time to press on. Philippians 3:13(ESV) 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. Friends, for us to move forward in the present we have to let go of the past. Paul s past included persecuting the church and he also had achieved some great successes as far as education and more. He was well connected and came from a wonderful family line. But all of his earthly achievements meant nothing to him compared to knowing Jesus. Paul did not let his past failures or successes hinder him from pressing on to becoming more like Jesus. One s past successes can actually hinder growth if we fail to realize how far short we fall. Dr. MacArthur writes this about letting go of the past. Churches are full of spiritual cripples, paralyzed by grudges, bitterness, sins, and tragedies of the past. Others try to survive in the present by reliving their past success. They must break with the past if they are to purse the spiritual prize. God is interested in what believers do now and in the future. The clearest of vison belongs to those who forget the past and reach forward to what lies ahead (ibid pg. 247). Letting go of the past is having God cut the chains that have kept you bound for years and unable to move forward and press on to Christlikeness. Philippians 3:14(ESV) 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul s passion in pursuit of Christ is absolutely genuine. He knows he will

5 Oct 7,8,2017 Phil 3:12-14 Pressing On 5 not achieve it fully in this life but that does not hinder his constant pursuit, continually pressing on day in and day out, not letting his past hold him down but experiencing increasing freedom to move forward in and with Christ. Friends, the mistakes of your past do not have to determine your future. Your past sins need not flatten you for long. God can take all of your past, work in and through it, help you to let go of it and bring nothing but good out of it. God wants you to press on to become more like Jesus. God wants you to press on because he has much work to do through you as you grow. Now is not the time to be flattened by the evil times we live in. Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus. Press On and never quit. God has put us here for such a time as this. Amen and Amen.