Pressing Toward The Goal:

Super Bowl Sunday: Next Sunday, Feb. 4th is Super Bowl Sunday. Of course the AFC is represented by Tom Terrific & the New England Patriots. The NFC by Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles. The one goal all NFL teams have each year is to be in and to win the Super Bowl. Only one of the 32 teams are victorious. Of course our local team, the Indianapolis Colts, won only 4 games and lost 12. Our quarterback, Andrew Luck, was injured and out all season and our coach, Chuck Pagano, was fired at the end of the season. Apparently, Josh McDaniels, current Offensive Coordinator for the New England Patriots will be hired as our new coach by Chris Ballard, the Colts GM. The Colts and 31 other teams won’t reach that goal of winning the Super Bowl. But many smaller goals were reached by many of the players, coaches and teams. Life has its reversals and rejections and failures. Think of the coach of the Tennessee Titans; The Titans fired Mike Mularkey on Monday (Jan. 15), less than 48 hours after a 35-14 loss to New England in the AFC divisional round. Mularkey revived a team with the NFL's worst record over two seasons and led them to their first playoff victory in 14 years only to become the first coach let go after winning a playoff.[1] That has to be frustrating. Yet, Mike Mularkey will probably be hired by another team soon and make millions next year. Perhaps you have had some failure in reaching your goals. Perhaps you lost a job or had a disaster that sent you into a tailspin. We all have or will have in our life time, failures. How we handle the rejections, reversals and failure is crucial. Now for our text for today’s message:

Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT) I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Here are 4 Insights which can help us realize our goals.

1. Commitment To A Process of Growth: Two important things are clear in our passage. One, we have to realize we can honestly assess where we are and that we have a long way to go to enter into perfection or maturity. Two, I press on to possess that perfection or maturity Jesus has in mind for me. This word translated “perfection” here is also translated: Accomplish, Accomplishment, Finish, Fulfill, Fulfilling, Fulfillment, Perfect, Perfectly in other places in the Bible. Greek: teleioō means: to complete, i.e. (literal) accomplish, or (figurative) consummate (in character) :- consecrate, finish, fulfill, make) perfect.--Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. So we are to look at this spiritual growth as a life-long calling which we are to complete or finish. It has the idea of straining to realize this goal God has called us to. There will be many smaller goals we are to reach along the way but we recognize it is a life-long journey to become like Jesus. Romans 8:29 (NKJV) For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. God wants us to be just like His Son and to reflect His glory by allowing Him to live through us.

2. Forgetting The Past: Our past choices and lifestyles can be embarrassing, we can have much shame we carry from these failures. Yet when Jesus redeemed us, He carried our sins and also our shame away.

ü I just heard a snippet of Joyce Meyer’s testimony where the Lord told her to teach others that God really loves them. She studied on this for a year. She first argued with the Lord, “Everyone knows God loves them.” But then she realized that many who claim Christ do not believe it. She says it has to become revelation to us and then we can hold on to it. When everything is going good, it is easy to think God loves us but when there is failure or setbacks or sickness or tragedy, we can easily doubt it. God’s love is not on the basis of our performance. He loves us the same even when we sin or fail Him. He does not accept us when we are living in sin or rebellion, but He still loves us even when He has to discipline us or when He allows the consequences of our choices to bite us bad. Some confuse this as no love, but God believes in “tough love” and He lets us experience and reap what we sow.

Failure: Our past moral and sexual failures can haunt us. Many today have failed by allowing alcohol, nicotine, opioids, drugs or even food to control us. When that happens, there are many consequences causing others to suffer for our failures. If we just dwell on our failures, it can ruin us. How many have been tempted to commit suicide and some have even tried? I recently went to see the latest Star Wars movie and got a great quote on failure from Yoda: The greatest teacher, failure is. Of course, Jesus is the greatest teacher, but we can see the truth in this statement. Failure can cause us to learn even more than our successes. How? We are to deal with our failures and forget the past. We are not to forget what we learned but forgetting the guilt, shame and mental torment that comes from dwelling on that kind of negative thinking. Instead we dwell on redemption, trusting God to turn what was evil for good. Do you remember when Joseph in Egypt revealed his identity to his brothers? Genesis 50:20 (NKJV) But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. What they did to Joseph was terrible but Joseph saw God’s redemption in it. He wasn’t bitter or unforgiving. He forgot the past and allowed the Lord to redeem it.

The Greek word for forget, Epilanthanomai, means to lose out of mind; by implication to neglect :- (be) forget (-ful of).--Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. We choose to forget the pain and shame of the past and to press on.

3. Keeping a Positive Faith Focus--Looking Forward: We serve a God of faith, He uses His faith for everything and He responds to faith in us. Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Positive thinking is positive. But God-inspired thinking is positive and true. Mind over matter works in some situations but it has nothing to do with God. Self-help books can be helpful for some and for a while but if it operates on the strength of the flesh, it will fail. But what Jesus initiates in our lives is not only positive, requiring faith, but it will not fail. Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hope is the confident expectation of future good. Our faith is built on what we hope for or expect. If we look forward to something, it keeps our faith active and alive and expecting. No expecting (sowing), little reaping. So it is crucial that we keep looking to God for what we are praying about. It is important that we stay positive and believing in what we have asked God to do, what we know is His will. We keep praising Him for the answer before we see it in the natural. Some of my looking forward is for the growth of New Life, for the increase in the Prayer Room Ministry leading to the Prayer Tower and 24/7 intercession and for the nation of Kalmykia to come to faith in Jesus Christ. Those are some huge expectations but we serve an amazingly powerful God, who uses ordinary folks like us in super-ordinary ways. I ask you to join me in praising God for those answers.

4. Pressing On To The Finish:

Philippians 3:13-14 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Philippians 3:14 (NKJV) I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Press On: Katalambanō: to take eagerly, i.e. seize, possess

Goal: Skopos-a goal:- mark that is concealed until it is reached.--Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.

To reach a significant goal is difficult. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. But few are realizing significant goals. The graduates of the NLSOM 2 year course are in an elite group. The devil fights you and life throws many difficulties your way. Lisa has come back to finish one of her goals to get an Associate’s Degree by completing the ISOM courses we offer. Vaughn is just now completing his Master’s Degree with CLU after completing the NLSOM 2 year course on the graduate level. Steve Smith has set a goal to grow his business and he stepped out in faith to get a second truck and linked up with his son, Randy, to expand their territory. His plan is someday in the not too distant future to sell a successful business and be free to do ministry.

We have to seize or possess the opportunity. Many times the goal or mark we are seeking is hidden or concealed until we actually reach the goal. It requires faith, hope-that confident future expectation of good, we hold onto as we praise God for what He has shown us before it can be seen. It cost something but it realizes so much.

Small Expectations: Most of us do not accomplish much because we do not expect to accomplish very much. A.B. Simpson indicated the majority of us when he said, "Our God has boundless resources. The only limit is in us. Our asking, our thinking, our praying are too small. Our expectations are too limited." J. Hudson

Florence Chadwick: It was a fog-shrouded morning, July 4, 1952, when a young woman named Florence Chadwick waded into the water off Catalina Island. She intended to swim the channel from the island to the California coast (26 miles). Long-distance swimming was not new to her; she had been the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions.

The water was numbing cold that day. The fog was so thick she could hardly see the boats in her party. Several times sharks had to be driven away with rifle fire. She swam more than 15 hours before she asked to be taken out of the water. Her trainer tried to encourage her to swim on since they were so close to land, but when Florence looked, all she saw was fog. So she quit. . . only one-mile from her goal. Later she said, "I'm not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the land I might have made it." It wasn't the cold or fear or exhaustion that caused Florence Chadwick to fail. It was the fog.

Many times we too fail, not because we're afraid or because of the peer pressure or because of anything other than the fact that we lose sight of the goal. Maybe that's why Paul said, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14). --John Cochran

Two months later, she tried again. The same thick fog set in, but she succeeded in reaching Catalina. She said that she kept a mental image of the shoreline in her mind while she swam. She later swam the Catalina channel on two additional occasions.[2]

Here are 4 Insights which can help us realize our goals.

1. Commitment To A Process of Growth:

2. Forgetting The Past:

3. Keeping a Positive Faith Focus--Looking Forward:

4. Pressing On To The Finish:

[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2018/01/15/titans-split-with-mularkey-after-1st-playoff-win-in-14-years/109477612/, Downloaded 1-26-2018.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Chadwick, Downloaded 1-26-2018.

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