Sermons

Come out of Old and press into the new

" This One thing I Do" Philippians 3:7-14 We serve a God who is very progressive he is not static, even if we look at nature there is a progression, there is an advancing. There is always a moving forward, when you find that you have become static it is time to worry, rivers are always flowing when they stop flowing then they become stagnant. No there is a movement Even in the old tabernacle, which because it is an old English word it sounds so spiritual and magnificent, but really it was a large tent or marquee with divisions such as a holy place divided into two, one section being the most holy place. It was a tent, why did God choose a tent…..? One of the reasons is because it was always in transit, and another point is that it was temporary. It was moved from one place to another. We in our lives will always be moving, from one place to another each station or point bringing us to closer to Canaan the land of promise, or for us the kingdom of God. I am convinced that God has some good things for you, because he is a God of good gifts. If we are to really reflect on the previous verses where he states his former life and experiences, he is arguing against the judaizers, who he addressed as dogs, trying to obtain perfection through the observance of the law. He is saying I used to think like that but I have moved on. Those that became converts but wanted to stress the Jewish law, could not let go of their past, their history, which was seen as letting go of their heritage. There is a letting go, and then moving into what God has for us. Paul is sharing that he is letting go of the past the good past and the bad past, he was doing some good things in the past, the problem I believe faces many of us is are we willing to let go and move ahead, can we come out and press in. The devil always reminds us of the good past, he will remind you of the great time you had with that friend but forget to remind of the big fight you had, he show you the girlfriend but will not, remind you of how the police had to come and break up the fight . Paul said I am forgetting those things that are in the past, they are in the past and there they must stay……..some of us may have had great disappointments in the past, great distress, mistakes that we made, thing we did or should have done……and I want to tell you two things the devil is the greatest historian of all time, and the greatest anthropologist (he understands the nature of man) He will always remind of the past in detail, but let me tell you what I do!! The devil reminds me of my past I tell him about his future…have you read revelations 20; 10 " and the devil that deceived them shall be cast into the lake of fire…….!!!!!! Paul says forgetting those things that are behind, there are some people today that cannot go forward because of their Past, there past is so present in their future, because they will not let go……well this is the way I see it….this is the way I am used to doing it….let go and move from your religious ideology into Gods best press in. Throughout the bible there were people that came out and pressed into something new. One of the main themes of the discipleship course was breaking ties with the past friends sins, colleagues anything that interrupted with you following after God Come out of Old and press into the new Abraham had to come out, he had to let go of the friends and family he had, he had sentimental attachments, it was his land of heritage…….he had some good and bad memories but God said come out into a land where I will show you…… come out of that and into this, leave that and follow this. This year is year when we will whole heartedly follow the Lord, not looking behind but pressing ahead……………….let me allegorize this….I ll never forget a race that I saw.. I cannot remember whether it was an Olympic race or not but it was import... the man that was leading albeit just by a fraction of a second looked back, and just as he looked back at what the other guy was doing the other man passed him to win the race… we are not of them that look back.

It is time for the church to go forward.