A Solution To Your Resolution part two

Our text this morning is found in the book of Philippians chapter 3:12-14 We're going to pick up where we left off last week, Paul had sent a letter to the church at Philippi, Paul's intention as usual was to encourage his brothers and sisters in Christ. That's my intention this morning to encourage you. In this part of his letter Paul wanted to encourage them to continue to grow in their Faith. Paul gave them three simple steps in progressing in the faith, we covered the first step last week, and we will touch on it this morning. 1-PRIORITIZING Your life! Remember Paul said, this one thing I do! This one thing that Paul did was pursue a life of Christ likeness. Most people aren't like Paul they have their priorities all mixed up. Many, most of us get our needs mixed up with our wants.. It reminds me of the story of a wealthy man who had crashed his Mercedes-Benz. His whole life was busy with pursuing wealth and the things of this world. He had run off the road and when the policeman showed up the policeman said, come on let's go , and the man said wait, wait, my Mercedes where's my Mercedes, and the policeman said don't worry about your Mercedes, you've got more important things to worry about, your left arm has been severed beneath the elbow. The wealthy man said oh no my Rolex my Rolex! Some of us need to get our priorities right. Paul says the first step is being Christ like, putting God first, others second and ourselves last that's what Christ did. Putting God first runs directly contrary to what the World view teaches, which is to put yourself first. The worldview teaches us that it's all about us. Christianity teaches that it's all about God and others before ourselves. The worldview is rooted in pride, Christianity is rooted in humility. The worldview is self-serving the Christian view is God serving. The worldview is, my will be done, the Christian view is Thy will be done. The worldview teaches you that you're the king; Christianity teaches that God is the King? Theres one thing the world can never give the world never offers. PEACE! Paul starts off by saying this one thing I do, Paul's main focus was to become more Christlike. Paul teaches us, that our main priority in life should be the same as his, to become more like Christ. That's what Paul is talking about in verse 14 when he says I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. To become more like Christ

Look what Paul says in Philippians 3:17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a model. Christ was Paul's model, but Paul says follow me and my example. Hes saying follow me as I follow Christ Paul is saying watch how I live my life, sometimes we need to see living examples so that we can learn from those that are further along in the faith than we are. That doesn't mean that we put our faith in man, it just means that we can learn from others that are further along in the faith. People like Billy Graham, who's committed his life to serving Christ. If I wanted to be a professional carpenter, I would want to work alongside a professional carpenter and see how he does it. Paul is saying if you want to be a better Christian watch how I live my life, let me show you what a Christian looks like and how he does it. How he acts, how he responds to difficulty, how he treats people, always esteeming others better than himself. You and I can learn from those that are further along in the faith. Paul understood the importance of his testimony; He knew that both Christians and non-Christians alike were watching him. That's why our testimony is so important as Christians, because people are watching how we live. Your testimony exemplifies the power of God and how He can change lives. So Paul says prioritize your life, put God first in all you do and live your life to please God and not man. This allows us to pick up where we left off last week. Paul says this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind. Pauls Second point in teaching us how to grow up spiritually is that we need to: 2-Make peace with our past. Paul could've never became the man God called him to be or accomplished all the things God had in store for his life if he didn't first reconcile with his past. You and I can never become all that Gods called us to be if we don't first reconcile with our past. Our past can eat us up. Jesus Christ came to earth to reconcile sinners back unto God. Romans 5:1says, Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God. If you have given your life to Christ, the wars over, you are no longer at war with God, youre now a child of His. Paul, who was one of the greatest enemies of the church, came to realize this truth, and you and I need to realize this as well. God loves you. And God can use you for his glory In case youre not sure that God uses imperfect people, to accomplish His work on earth, I would like you to consider the following list. We've already talked about Paul and his shortcomings last week, now let's look at some of the other men and women that were imperfect that God used in mighty ways.

There're quite a list, the list includes but is not limited to, people who were, liars, adulterers, schemers, deniers of Christ, prostitutes, and even murderers. These same people became spiritual giants in the Faith. Abraham, the patriarch of Israel. Abraham lied about his wife, he told the Egyptians that she was his sister when she was his wife to save his own neck. Abraham took Hagar as a wife so that he could have a child with her even though God had promised him a child with his wife Sarah. God chose Abraham as the patriarch of Israel; he's the father of all of those in the faith. Moses, Moses killed a man while he was in Egypt when one of the Egyptians were abusing one of the Hebrews. God used Moses to deliver his people out of Egypt after they had been in bondage there for over 400 years. The Bible called Moses the most humble man on the face of the earth, in the book of Numbers. Something we can all learn from Moses is that God had to work in Moses before He could work through Moses, that process of making Moses the man he needed to be took 40 years. That's what God is doing in our lives today He's working in us so that we may become all that He's called us to be. Moses was prideful in Egypt but after 40 years of herding sheep in the desert Moses became a very humble man, God could not use Moses until Moses humbled himself before the Lord, God cannot use you or me until he brings us to this point of humility in our own lives. Humility and holiness go hand-in-hand. The Bible says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. God showed incredible grace towards Moses, The Bible says that God spoke to Moses face-to-face. God would later call Moses his faithful servant. David, David was called a man after Gods own heart. David was the King of Israel when he sinned greatly against God. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then he called her husband in from the front lines and tried to get him to drink with him so that he could send him home to sleep with his wife so that he could cover up the adulterous affair that he had had with his wife. When that didn't work David sent him out to the front lines and then told the commanding officer to withdraw from him so that he would be killed. Later David paid a terrible price for his sin and David went on to repent and asked God to forgive him. God did forgive David and later God made a covenant with David and told him that from his seed the Messiah would come and would rule on the throne forever. Jesus came through the line of David. Paul, Paul tried to destroy the church, but God used him as the apostle to the Gentiles Paul wrote the majority of the New Testament.

Peter, Peter denied Christ three times even though he had spent three years with Christ, but God used Peter as his apostle to the Jews. He was also one of the leaders in the church at Jerusalem and Peter wrote two books in the New testament. Mary Magdalene was a former prostitute, yet she was the first one that the resurrected Christ revealed himself to. I'm trying to show you that your past does not have to affect your future, because you're a new creature in Christ! Get that in your head. Because there's great power in the blood of Christ. And just as Christ has changed your life, and forgiven you of your sins, He can do the same thing for those that you love. Please turn your Bibles to Philippians 3:12-14. Philippians 3:12-14 A Solution to your resolution Part 3. Becoming more Christlike Just to refresh your memory the first two parts of our sermon titled a solution to your resolution Dealt with number" One" our priorities, getting our priorities right. That involved "1"-Putting God first, others second and, ourselves last. 2- Making peace with our past. . We're going to be talking about the third and final instruction that Paul gives us in the message today that we are to live in the present.

But first; I want to pick up where we left off last week when we were discussing how God can use people who have made some very poor choices in life, to later on become champions of the faith! Anybody have a junk room in their house, or a junk drawer? You know what I'm talking about; its the room you close the door to when people come over! When I first started my business we ran it out of our house and my office eventually turned into a junk room, it was a room where stuff just piled up. It looked so bad because it's where I put all the stuff that I didn't want to deal with. One day I got so discouraged with the junk room that I decided I was going to clean it out, I didn't just clean it out, after I cleaned it out I painted it, and bought some nice furniture to put in it. Now, a room that I was ashamed of I am now proud of. Dealing with your past is like cleaning out your junk room, once you clean out the junk you're not ashamed anymore, and you can go On to be all that God has called you to be!

Some of the greatest men and women in the Bible are people who had to clean out some junk, We talked about Abraham and the poor choices he made, then we talked about Moses and how he had murdered a man while in Egypt, We discussed David and the adulterous affair he had with Bathsheba, We talked about Paul and how he had tried to stomp out the church, and then we talked about Peter, how he had denied Christ three times, and we finished off talking about Mary Magdalene, and how she had been demon possessed and even a prostitute, But yet Christ appeared to her first after his resurrection and told her to go tell the disciples that he had risen. I'm sure many people had given up on Mary Magdalene, but Jesus never did. That's why Mary was there at Jesus's tomb that Sunday morning, she could never forget how much Jesus loved her and where she had come from!

When the American hostages came home from Iran on January 20, 1981, the first thing they did when they got off the plane was kiss the ground. No matter what star or achievement they had earned in the armed services, when they hit the ground from Iran, They bowed down. Home sweet home! Putting their clean lips on that dirty tarmac they kissed it. They went down. Because they knew where they had been and they knew where they were now. Do you know why people stop bowing? Because they forget where they've come from. They forget that they have been hostages in Satan's territory, and now they have been made free.

Just Like those that have come before us, like these heroes of the faith, we as Christians are to understand that God is in the business of delivering us from our past and setting us free, He is our deliver. He is our strong tower, He is our shield, and He is our strength. Hasn't God delivered you? Aren't you now a new creature in Christ? I bet you don't talk like you use too! I bet you can't sin like you used too! Why? Because God has delivered you. God is in the business of setting people free, to give you a peace that passes all understanding.

That's why you never give up, and you continue to pray for the Black sheep in your family, or for that wayward son or daughter. Because God has the power to change peoples lives. The Bible says the prayers of a righteous man Availeth much! Satan wants us to believe that God cant use us, because of our past mistakes. That's a lie. Here's one of the ways that Satan works. He works through people.

Just as God Works through people, Satan also works through people. Satan will send Discouragers your way. These are people that tell you what you can't do. Satan will work through people to tell you that you're never going to amount to anything. They want you to believe that your past determines your future. Sometimes these are even people in your own family, but we need to cling to the truth, and remember that we have been bought with a price, and that we are now children of God. That we can do all things thru Christ who strengthens us! The Bible says that we're a royal priesthood, those that have put their faith in Christ are identified as Saints in the Bible. The Bible says that we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The Bible says in the book of Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. This is in the past tense; it's something that's already occurred. God has already gave us everything He's going to give us in the spiritual realm, all we have to do is claim what He's already gave us!

We were spiritually bankrupt but now we are rich in Christ. Not only did Christ take away our sins but he went a step further and imputed his righteousness towards us in, other words he put his righteousness to our account. When God sees us now He sees us as perfect, He sees us clothed in the righteousness of His Son, the Bible says that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. He sees us standing before His throne worshipping Him; God has the capacity to see us in our finished state. At one time we were at war with God but now were at peace with God. The Bible says in Romans 5:1 therefore having been justified by faith we now have peace with God.

Let me tell you something, people who try to hold you down by continually bringing up your past, are trying to exercise control over your life. They don't want you to experience the peace of God. They're miserable and they want you to be miserable with them.

We need to pray for those types of people, because if they were right with God they would be thanking God that you're not like you used to be. That God has delivered you. People that are right with God are encouragers not Discouragers. People that know God, forgive people because they understand how much they have been forgiven. They understand Grace. Jesus teaches us that forgiving others is very important, because He says; forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. For some of us to be able to make peace with our past we need to forgive someone whos hurt us. Alfred Nobel, I Swedish physicist created dynamite. His intentions were awesome when he created dynamite, He wanted to create an explosive that could move rock to build roads and get things out of the way to build buildings. He wanted to create a force that was powerful and that would make life better. The problem is that people took his creation and used it for destructive purposes, to kill people and to make war. So depressed was Mr. Nobel that his good intention was being used in a wrong, destructive way, that he took $9 million dollars put it in an account, and begin to award people for promoting peace. We call it the Nobel peace prize. What motivated him was the fact that what he intended for good was being used for wrong. He wanted to award those who were doing what his intentions were. When these people get the award, they become internationally known as Nobel peace prize winners. They are called by that name because they make peace instead of making war. God is looking for some Nobel peace prize winners, Folks that are looking to promote peace instead of war, Folks that are willing to forgive people of their trespasses, folks that are willing to turn the other cheek. Remember Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers for theirs is the kingdom of God. . When you hold resentment and forgiveness towards someone it's like you taking poison and hoping they get sick. It only destroys you! Let me share something with you as we conclude this point of the importance of making peace with your past, Please consider this monumental TRUTH, if you weren't worth anything to God, if He wasn't capable of forgiving us of our sins, He would not have created us in the first place, and Jesus Christ Would not have hung on the cross and died for Us! God loves you and don't you ever forget that! That's the truth John 3:16

I love 1st Corinthians 1:27-29 The Bible says: But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, And God's chosen the weak, things of the

world to put to shame the things which are mighty, And the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, That no flesh should glory in his presence. As you consider your past I would like you to consider this. Nothing in your life ever happened without God first allowing it to happen. It has to pass by God first, he has to approve it. , The Bible says that all things work together for the good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose Our God is a sovereign God, That means he' all knowing. And all powerful The Bible says that God knew you before you were in your mothers womb, God allowed everything that happened in your life to happen for a reason, that he might make you the man or woman that you are today, that we might worship him and bring honor and glory to his name.

As a Christian we need to understand that the scars that we carry are "wounds "that have been healed, a scar is a place where there used to be a wound, its a place where healing has occurred, God allows us to remember our past failures to remind us of the great healing power of Jesus Christ.

But God doesn't want us to live in the past. He saved us to a glorious future, and for the furtherance of His kingdom. This brings us to our third Key point that Paul teaches us about progressing in our spiritual life. (3) Paul teaches us to live in the present, He says this one thing I do; Paul doesn't say this one thing I have done. Or this one thing I am going to do, No, he says this one thing I do, speaking of the present. Remember what Jesus said in the Lords Prayer give us this day our daily bread. God wants us to live one day at a time. None of us are promised tomorrow. God wants us to live in the present, how many of us have worried about things that rob us of life, things that never came to pass? What good comes out of worry? Nothing.

Worrying about tomorrow Rob's you of today. Jesus said take no thought for tomorrow for tomorrow will take thoughts of the things of itself.

Where there's worry there's a lack of faith. What is worry? Worry is a feeling of helplessness, the feeling of losing control.

People worry when they feel like they've lost control, or could lose control

People that are right with God understand they've never been in control, and furthermore they don't have to be. Therefor they don't sweat the small stuff. After all any problem we have is small stuff to God, right? People that are right with God don't worry because they know that God is in control. Let me share this with you, you're never going to be all that God's called you to be until you come to understand that You're not in control. You have got to come to a place of surrender in your life. Trust Him! I love what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, He said consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin, yet I say to you, that even Solomon arrayed in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these. Then he says, if God so clothes the Grass of the field, Which today is and tomorrow is cast into the fire, Shall He not much more clothe ye, oh ye of little faith? Jesus is saying look around you, look at these wildflowers, nobody planted them, nobody waters them but they come up every year, because I take care of them, and arent you more important than a bunch of flowers, after all I created everything for you to enjoy. I gave you dominion over all the earth. Jesus is trying to teach us to quit worrying that he's in control God also wants us to live in the present, so that we're good stewards of our time and quit putting things off till tomorrow that could be done today. Do you know what the busiest day of the year is? Some people think it's Christmas some people think it's Thanksgiving some people think it's Black Friday, but the busiest day of the year is Someday! You'll never find someday on any calendar, because someday never comes it never exist. Many people that are confronted with the gospel message respond to themselves by saying, someday I'll make a decision for Christ.

The problem with that type of thinking is that nowhere in the Bible are you promised tomorrow. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. Let's sum up the message we've been on for three weeks,, The apostle Paul taught us that number one, that we need to have Our priorities right Seeking to understand God's will for our lives and we do that primarily by spending time in his Holy Word which Leads us to become more Christlike. Secondly Paul taught us to make peace with our past. We make peace with our past first by asking God to forgive us of our sins, secondly, whenever possible, we ask those that we have offended to forgive us as well. You can't drive a car looking out the rear view mirror. God wants you to look through the windshield of life. If God was finished with you, you wouldn't still be here breathing His air. God's not finished with you yet, we need to focus on finishing the race well, Paul says I press on; Like Paul we need to strive to be all that Christ has called us to be. You'll never see a sprinter looking backwards while running. Why? Because he wants to finish well, because he wants to win the race. Number three Paul teaches us to live in the present, Were not to worry about the past and we're not to worry about the future, Paul is the one who said that he counted it all joy, Paul while he was in prison with Silas in that Philippian jail would sing praises to God. He could write incredible letters of encouragement while he was in prison. We need to learn like Paul to give thanks in all things, and we need to remember that this is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it! Right priorities, reconciling with the past, and remaining in the present these are the three keys to spiritual growth and becoming more Christlike These three keys are the solution to your resolution if your resolution is right this year. To become more like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!