I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ..
Its a honour to proclaim Biblical truth this morning that affects our day to day living..
I want us to share from Phillipians 3:12-14..
Paul has alot to tell us as the well acclaime writer that he is.
A man who persecuted the church to gain all for self but God is too great and can change the worst of sinners.PAul was tranformed and thus he wants transformation of the genaration today so we may lead Christ centerd lives.
Verse 13:
THIS ONE THING I DO
We need focus to know what thing we do..The Bible says "What ever your hand finds to do,do it with all your might".Paul persecuted and hated the church with all his might.he wanted nothing to do with those who claimed to believe in God.He was determined to kill all who believed in Jesus.Paul had never had an encounter wiht God,until the damucus road.When that light shone and the voice descended from Heaven all he could say was "WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME DO LORD?".The ansewr came,forget what is behind,forget the past.
FORGETTING WHAT IS BEHIND
The reason we tend not to succeed is because the past is controlling our future.We need to let go of the past and move on.We hold grugdes of the past but ii declare the reason some people stay in our past is cause they dont deserve to be in our future.What do you have to forget?..
The mistakes,the embarrasments, the falls.What did Paul have to forget?..
He had to erase the visual displau in his mind of Stephen's stoning as he killed believers.paul had to forget that so as to not hinder the prgress of the work of God
The past is in the past give God the future and just stay connected to him and strining on to what is promised unto us.
STRAINING TOWARDS WHAT LIES AHEAD,I PRESS ON TO WHAT LIES AHEAD
God has an expected end for you(Jer 29:11).His plans for you are that you make it to where he wants you to be.An athlete runs a race to reach the finish line with out stretched hand,huffing and sweating to get what lies ahead..our race is not easy..Satan is there left,right and centre but we need to keep our eyes n whts ahead.Each race is a different race,we our to forget our past vicories that give us false confidence and our past failures that give us false fears but depend on God who says I am with you to the end..Straining as hard as it will be there is a prize for us.
FOR WHIH GOD HAS CALLED ME HEAVEN WARD IN JESUS CHRIST
Our prize is the promise of a better tomorrow.>A home where we will dwell for eternity.We will never cry,mourn,weep,be in pain,be sad,be heartbroken,betrayed,sorrowful for the OLD ORDER OF THINGS WOULD HAVE PASSED.AMEN.
Heaven is real and that is the prize we must strain forward for,leaving what is behind.
God will help and bless us.
Commit your ways unto the Lord and Heaven will be yours.
May God Bless you.
By Pastor T. Mhlanga
