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1. "I want us to learn from one of the most accomplished saints in the Scriptures. And on one hand, Paul acknowledges the deep sense of imperfection, one of the sure marks of a mature Christian. A man of a lesser discernment might have compared himself to others. However, Paul concludes with, I am doing exactly what God has called me to do. I am working in a field because some people judged him for when he was writing this letter, he was not in the Bahamas or somewhere on the Riviera or one of the Greek islands, but he was incarcerated. Because, see, God knew that the letter that he's going to send, send to the people of the Philippi, he's sending it to the church of CBC Northwest for today and encouraging you and I." [39:45] (72 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "On the other hand, it expresses the hopefulness which comes with repeated, comes with repeated along, continued experiences of the grace of God. That's what Paul was writing. And every time he was sending a letter out, he would start off, but to the saints. How come he wasn't starting off, oh, you heathens. I know what you're doing over there in Galatia. I know what you're doing in Ephesus or in the Philippi. But no, he said, saints. In other words, he was looking at them through the eyes of God. How God seizes them. Because you are saved and as along the life journey, you are being sanctified and God is working out. In yourself, those things that he does not want you to have. Not because he doesn't want you to have them. It is because he wants to protect you." [41:59] (63 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "The grace to forget. The grace to forget. Forgetting those things which are behind. That's what Apostle Paul said in verse 13 over here. Paul was determining to forget that which might return, retain spiritual growth. Let me repeat that again sometimes. Paul determined to forget those things that would hold them back from the spiritual growth that he needed to have. He mentioned the sacrifice he made in his distinguished career. His prestige and power only to emphasize what he had gained in Christ. Because in verse 8 it says, this is forgetting those things which are behind. And this is the thing. That I may gain what? That I may gain Christ." [44:17] (62 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "What trials have, what trials have you survived or you overcame? In Genesis chapter 41, Joseph went through some difficult trials. Now, he had some beautiful brothers, 11 other brothers. But those, 10 of those brothers looked at him a little bit sideways. Because the father favored him, gave him a coat of many colors, and they even sold him. And he had to endure some things along the journey's life because at 17 years old, his brothers sold him to the Mennonites where he got sold to the Egyptians. And not only that, he went into slavery when he gets to a place where he gets to a prominent place in Pharaoh's house. Then the Pharaoh's wife, not Pharaoh's wife, Pharaoh, excuse me, at Potiphar's house. And Potiphar saw Joseph, good looking young man, and made advances of him, at him. And he would not do what she wanted him to do. So he ran away. He ended up going to prison for false accusation." [49:03] (77 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "The grace to concentrate. Because he writes this in verse 13. He says, this one thing I do. Paul, what is that one thing that I do? What is that one thing that you do? Paul says, this one thing I do. Demand that Christian seek first the kingdom of God. See, when you seek the kingdom of God, that is a great thing to do. But in only seeking the kingdom of God, that means you only want to seek the hand of God. But it says, seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. See, that's what Paul wanted. He wanted also the righteousness of God. This is decisive in the choice of a job, a life companion, a place to live." [54:49] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
6. "The grace to persevere. The grace to persevere. See, Paul in verse 14 started saying, I press toward the mark and the prize. I press toward many good, many start a race good but finish poorly. When I did my first marathon, my full marathon here in San Antonio, my brother from, from Cali, from Oregon, and my sister-in-law came, came here to join me. He said, we're going to help you. Now, my brother, he's a little bit older than me. He's had about quite a few extra marathons ahead of me. So when we were at the finish line, he said, he said, I'm going to come here and help you finish this. But as soon as the, the, it went off, there he went." [01:01:32] (64 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
7. "See, God is trying to tell you that the truth that you're going through, the son that you're seeing that he's not coming back, your daughter that is being disobedient, or the trial that you're going through, or that boss that keeps pressing you, or that boss that keeps harassing you and keeps going against what you're doing, and it feels like this is never going to end. God is saying, hold on. God is saying, hold on. Hold on. The trial that you're going through is not going to destroy you, but it's going to make you stronger. See, God never promised us a smooth sailing in life. He promised us a safe landing on the other side, but Jesus said, I will never leave you, nor will I forsaken you. I will give my angels charge over you, and they will carry you when you are weak, and not only that." [01:07:24] (58 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
8. "See, when peter was he stepped out of the boat and he looked at all of the waves when he took his eyes off the g off of jesus and saw all of the waves he started singing he started sinking not singing sinking but when he turned his eyes back on jesus he started singing because he was able to walk see and jesus says all you of little faith imagine what a lot of faith will do if a little faith makes you walk on water if a little little faith gives you the strength to walk on water what does a lot of faith do see that's why god says keep holding on i am with you and i count not myself see paul says i count not myself to i apprehend it i didn't i didn't receive it yet i haven't reached it yet but my goal is toward getting there to get there but there's a grace for imperfection see there's grace for you and for me for imperfection that's what god wants to show you see god knows you're gonna fall short but there's grace for that imperfection motivated by divine discontent paul continues in in uh continues to grow until he sends the last letter to say in second timothy chapter 4 verse 7 through 8 he says i have fought the good fight i have finished the race the only thing that's waiting for me it's the crown of righteousness see he knew that soon" [01:08:49] (113 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God. You are the same God.
When Jacob would pray, he would pray to the God of my father. But when they had an encounter with the God that created them and made the promise with their grandfather Abraham, then they started praying, "My God." When they made it personal, it meant that the touch of God was upon them, and God is the one that touched them.
I want us to open our Bibles to the book of Philippians, chapter 3. I'm going to preach only from two verses, but before I go into that, I want us to open with a story. There was this wife who came to her husband in the morning while he was reading his book, the Bible, and she said, "Honey, I had a dream that I got a new pair of earrings and a necklace." And she goes, "What do you think that could mean?" He didn't say anything, just kept reading.
Throughout the day, she came to him and said, "What do you think that dream could have meant, honey?" He looked at her and said, "Just wait till your birthday." A few days away was her birthday, and in the morning when they got up and after they had breakfast, he comes in and gives her a beautiful gift wrapped. She was anxious and she opened it up quickly, and when she opened it, she found a book that said, "How to Interpret Dreams."
Sometimes husbands need the grace of God, not only the grace of God but the grace from our wives because we can do things that are unpredictable. I would like for us to do something that is unpredictable. I wanted to open with that one so it can give us a little bit of joy so we can see how God loves us so deeply. Not only that, I want us to understand that in the house of the Lord, there is joy, and He wants us to have fun. As Apostle Paul tells them, he says, "Rejoice!" And then he goes again, "I say rejoice!"
But let's go into the Bible verses that the Lord has placed upon my heart this morning. He says this: "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to the things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Amen.
Today's message I wanted to place the name of it as "Grace for the Imperfect." Grace for the Imperfect. I want us to learn from one of the most accomplished saints in the Scriptures. On one hand, Paul acknowledges the deep sense of imperfection, one of the sure marks of a mature Christian. A man of lesser discernment might have compared himself to others. However, Paul concludes with, "I am doing exactly what God has called me to do."
I am working in a field because some people judged him for when he was writing this letter. He was not in the Bahamas or somewhere on the Riviera or one of the Greek islands, but he was incarcerated. Because, see, God knew that the letter that he's going to send to the people of Philippi, he's sending it to the church of CBC Northwest for today and encouraging you and me.
He was saying, "I am doing exactly what God wants me to do because when I was doing the things that I wanted to do, I was persecuting the church, and I was doing what I thought was best. I was working in the religious spirit." And God does not want us to be religious. Jesus is one proof that religion, He hated. He hated religion because it wasn't about the religion.
When God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses to bring to the people, He brought those laws and those commandments to protect them, and He was trying to teach them that He wanted to have a relationship with them. He didn't want them just to come into a religion, a religious, repetitive things that they do. But He wanted them to have a relationship with Him.
On the other hand, it expresses the hopefulness which comes with repeated, continued experiences of the grace of God. That's what Paul was writing. And every time he was sending a letter out, he would start off, "To the saints." How come he wasn't starting off, "Oh, you heathens! I know what you're doing over there in Galatia. I know what you're doing in Ephesus or in Philippi." But no, he said, "Saints." In other words, he was looking at them through the eyes of God, how God sees them.
Because you are saved, and along the life journey, you are being sanctified, and God is working out in yourself those things that He does not want you to have. Not because He doesn't want you to have them, but it is because He wants to protect you. This grace, just like the song, "This grace that brought me safe this far, and grace will lead me home." That is exactly what God wants for us. A grace that will bring you this far, and grace that will lead you home.
This familiar challenge comes to us with continuous freshness. And the continuous freshness, it is exactly what we saw even this morning—the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And I don't come to the altar a lot, but this morning I got prompted, and when I came to the altar, I sensed the presence of God. And I know the Spirit of God is here today with us, and He wants to search our hearts.
He can visualize the Spirit for every word undertaken, and He gives assurance of three kinds of grace. And those are the three kinds of grace that I'll be speaking about today, available to hearts rightly attuned. Just like the guitar and everything else that needs to be rightly attuned. Now I can take the guitar, and I can string the chords, but it ain't going to sound pretty.
I think you got to stick to, stick in the lane that you're called to do. And the first thing that I want to talk about is the grace. And you have it in your papers over here. And I want you to write these things down. The grace to forget. The grace to forget. Forgetting those things which are behind. That's what Apostle Paul said in verse 13 over here.
Paul was determining to forget that which might retain spiritual growth. Let me repeat that again. Sometimes, Paul determined to forget those things that would hold him back from the spiritual growth that he needed to have. He mentioned the sacrifice he made in his distinguished career, his prestige and power, only to emphasize what he had gained in Christ. Because in verse 8 it says, "This is forgetting those things which are behind." And this is the thing: "That I may gain what? That I may gain Christ."
See, God wants for you and for me to forget those things where we have messed up, doesn't He? A lot of times, I'm not speaking from y'all. This is me. A lot of times when I fall short of the glory of God, and I come to the Lord, and I say, "Lord, please forgive me." And He says, "It's done." Then I have the accuser that comes along, and he says, "Yeah, but remember?" And it's hard for me to forgive myself. That's why he's saying, "Forgetting the things which are behind." The things that are behind, I cannot change. But I can do one thing: I can change today, and I can change for the future.
He refers to the suffering he had endured only to point out that they were unto the furtherance of the gospel. When he's talking about this in Philippians chapter 1, verse 12, he's saying all of this hardship, all of these trials that I'm going through, it is because it is furtherance for the kingdom of God.
And sometimes, have you ever asked yourself, "Lord, why am I going through this? Why do I need to learn these things that I'm going through? What is the reason for it?" And God is saying, "Your experience that you're going to go through right now is going to be a testimony to the persons that are falling short."
For instance, I have talked to somebody that he, as a young man, was rebellious. Even though his parents were in church, he was a preacher's kid, he was a pastor's child, but he rebelled. Then in his early 20s, he repented and turned to God, and now he has children. And his children did exactly what he did, amplified. And he would always get angry at them.
One day I talked to him and I said, "Listen, why don't you, instead of showing only your strong points, show him your weaknesses, what you had to go through in order to get to the place where you're at? Because when you're showing them your weaknesses, where you fell short, you're not bragging on it, but you're saying, 'The grace of God has brought me this far. Even though I fell short, even though I had to struggle, and I understand the struggles that you're going through, but the struggles that you're going through is going to be for the testimony of the furtherance of Christ.'"
So that's what Paul was saying over here in Philippians chapter 1, verse 12. What trials have you survived or you overcame? In Genesis chapter 41, Joseph went through some difficult trials. Now, he had some beautiful brothers, 11 other brothers. But those 10 of those brothers looked at him a little bit sideways because the father favored him, gave him a coat of many colors, and they even sold him.
He had to endure some things along the journey of life because at 17 years old, his brothers sold him to the Mennonites, where he got sold to the Egyptians. And not only that, he went into slavery when he gets to a place where he gets to a prominent place in Pharaoh's house. Then Potiphar saw Joseph, a good-looking young man, and made advances at him. And he would not do what she wanted him to do, so he ran away. He ended up going to prison for false accusation.
Now, in verse 41, after he overcomes all those situations, he ended up being next to Pharaoh, the second in command to the most powerful country of its time. This is what Joseph says when he has his first son. Instead of saying, "I'm going to get them brothers when I see them. They're mine. I can do what I want with them." But this is what Joseph says in Genesis chapter 41. It says, "Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh, for he said, 'God has made me forget all my trouble and all of my father's house.'"
In other words, God has made me forget and not only forget, but forgive what my brothers did because what they meant for evil, God turned it around. And the things, when the devil brings a trial in your life, or he brings difficult situations, or maybe you have a family member or a child that is not walking right with God, maybe there's a situation that is happening. There's a time that God is going to bring him because the prayers that you're doing for your child is the prayers that will not go in vain.
And for example, you look at one example. You look at me. I was not always in the house of the Lord. Even though my father was a pastor, even though I grew up in church, I walked away from God. But I had a praying mother that knew how to get a hold of the throne of God. And when she got a hold of the throne of God, she started praying and saying, "Lord, don't let Danny get lost. Don't let Danny die in his sin, but bring him back home. Bring him back to your house. Bring him back to your kingdom."
And because of those prayers, you see me standing here before you in the calling that God had from before He created me in my mother's womb. See, that's the thing that God has for each one of you. But there's some things that He says, "Listen, the things that your son is going to go through right now, those are going to be some things that the both of you are going to forget. Why? Because I'm going to glorify my name through him."
Now, I want to go because time is flying so quickly. And this is one long-winded preacher. But see, the thing about it, I don't want to leave anything because there's a message for each one of you. God wants to speak to each one of you because the times that we're living in, the times that we're going through right now, there's times of confusion, and the devil wants to bring confusion to your children. The devil wants to bring confusion to your parents and deter them from the calling that God has made for their life.
But God wants to say, "Today is the day that I'm going to speak to you personally, and I'm going to make a promise to you that I will bring them, and my name will be glorified through their life, and my name will be exalted because you kept persisting and kept coming to the throne of grace and say, 'Lord, have mercy. Have mercy. Have grace for my loved one.'"
I don't want to rush through it, and I hope you don't mind. We might go just a couple of minutes, but I want to make sure that I touch on everything, the message that God has placed on my heart. Paul was not denying the worth of discriminating and the retentive memory. He was not discriminating those things, but he was saying those things are for the furtherance of the kingdom.
He never forgot his experiences of the salvation and calling to the testimony when he spoke to King Agrippa 28 years later in Acts 26. And he said, "I remember when I was walking and I was riding on my high horse, and God Almighty had to knock me off of my high horse and bring me, so in order for Him to bring me to His kingdom so that I would be a testimony for Jesus."
Paul would emphasize that grace to remember. Remember, that which strengthens is not less important than the grace to forget that which weakens. Paul echoes the challenge of the psalmist. Paul was talking and echoing the psalmist on a lot of occasions because he would say, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits." Psalm 103, verse 2. Those are the things that Paul was mentioning. Forget none of His benefits.
And the second thing that I want to talk to you about is the grace to concentrate. The grace to concentrate. Because he writes this in verse 13. He says, "This one thing I do." Paul, what is that one thing that I do? What is that one thing that you do? Paul says, "This one thing I do."
Demand that Christians seek first the kingdom of God. See, when you seek the kingdom of God, that is a great thing to do. But in only seeking the kingdom of God, that means you only want to seek the hand of God. But it says, "Seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness." See, that's what Paul wanted. He wanted also the righteousness of God.
This is decisive in the choice of a job, a life companion, a place to live. This is decisive because it helps you understand that the person that you're going to be associated with, that the job where you're at, that you're going to be living a testimony, that when your co-workers are looking at you, they're going to see somebody that's different.
They're going to see somebody that's not walking in despair. They're going to see somebody that's encouraged, somebody that's lifted up and saying, "This, no matter what he's going through, he has a different hope than I do. He's not controlled by the situation. He's not controlled by the circumstances or by the news or by the media. He's controlled by what he's placed his faith in."
And they might come to you and ask you, "What is that joy that you have?" And you can be a living epistle for the living God where you can say, "It is the God, the hope of God that is within me." This one thing demands that Christians lay aside every weight, lay aside every weight according to Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1.
See, there's harmless involvements that have the appearance of evil. First Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 22 says this: "Abstain from every form of evil." See, my father used to always tell me, because I would say, "Oh, Dad, what do you know?" Especially here in America. And my dad would say, "Who's your friends? Name your friends and I'll tell you who you are." I mean, name your friends, I'll tell you exactly who you are.
Because the people that you hang around with have an effect on your actions and the outcome of your life. The other things, harmless practices which make a Christian indistinguishable from others. Let me repeat that: harmless practices which make the Christian indistinguishable from other ones.
When they look at you, they have to know that you are different than they are. There's a different spirit that leads you than they are. There's the spirit of God that leads you in the right path. And in the path that you walk in, you're not going to sit at the table of the evildoers. You can go to them, and you can talk to them, and you can be a testimony. You can encourage them and say, "God has something better for you. God has a different path for your life."
And you can change, but you should not be in the place where you are now. The place where you are now is lower than where God wants you to be. See, God wants you to be here because He gave you a name. Because when God gave you a name, He wants to call you by the name. But sin wants to call you by your weakness.
Because we know when you're around people and say, "Oh, I know that guy, he's a drug addict." Don't he have a name? Even in the Bible, when Jesus gave the example, there was the rich man and Lazarus. What, the rich man didn't have a name? He had a name. But see, the devil only wants to call you by your actions because he wants to lower you and say, "Oh, you're worthless."
But God says, "You are valued. I gave that which is the most expensive thing that was in heaven. I gave my son for your life that you would be saved, that you don't have to live in this lower part of life. I raised you to be a better, to be called by a name that is precious."
Harmless habits which silence the Christian testimony. See, when you do those things that you might think are harmless, but when you go and try to testify about your weakness or you testify about God, your weakness always stands before you and your testimony. Your weakness always stands before you and your testimony.
And in order for you to have that powerful testimony, because we look at Paul, and when Paul started writing to the churches, they knew that what Paul is talking about, those are true things because they saw him, how he lived. And he was no different than what he was writing because he was standing for the righteousness and for that which is godly.
Harmless activities which display Christian worship and service. Matthew chapter 7, verse 21 says, "Not everyone who says, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of God." Because when you testify with your mouth, and you believe in your heart, does it mean that I'm going to change overnight? No, it's going to take a while because the habits that you created over time is going to take you a while to break away from those habits.
But God is the one that's going to give you the strength to break away from those habits. Okay, that's why I want you to, all of us to understand these things, brothers and sisters. Paul again says, "This one thing deemed diligent application and not casual concern or occasional gesture, half-hearted participation."
Paul was not a half-hearted participant kind of person. Paul served the Lord with all his heart, all his mind, and all his being. Whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly as unto the Lord and not unto man. That's what he says in Colossians chapter 3, verse 23.
And the third thing that I want to touch on is the grace, the grace to persevere. The grace to persevere. See, Paul in verse 14 started saying, "I press toward the mark and the prize." I press toward many good, many start a race good but finish poorly.
When I did my first marathon, my full marathon here in San Antonio, my brother from Cali, from Oregon, and my sister-in-law came here to join me. He said, "We're going to help you." Now, my brother, he's a little bit older than me. He's had quite a few extra marathons ahead of me. So when we were at the finish line, he said, "I'm going to come here and help you finish."
But as soon as the gun went off, there he went. My sister-in-law was with me. And I wanted to be like my brother because, you know, so I wanted to start. And my sister-in-law said, "Pace yourself. Take it easy." I said, "I've been training for this. I know I've run 20 miles without any problem." But she said, "You're going to hit that wall."
At mile 21, I hit that wall. That invisible wall where I started walking. I started running. See, that's how it is. Even with God, we want to, when we are saved, we have the first love, which is the love of Christ within us. We want to tell everybody.
But the thing about it is what we try to do, we try to do it on our own instead of having somebody that's a seasoned Christian, somebody that's matured and somebody that endured the test of trials and the test of time that comes along and teaches you and says, "Pace yourself because you're going to hit that wall."
What's the wall? The wall when the devil comes and tempts you. The wall when he comes around you and he brings things that are difficult. See, when I got there, my sister-in-law was next to me. My brother was at the finish line. My sister-in-law was next to me waiting, saying, "Come on, you can do it."
See, that's what you need. That's why you need the grace to persevere. The grace that's going to teach you and is going to strengthen you. That's what Paul was doing. Many young people entering college will not finish but become dropouts along the way. They have ideas. This is what we're going to do. And then along the way, life, they get distracted.
Why? Because they got along with just friends that are like them instead of having a mentor. That's why Paul kept sending them letters. And not only that, Paul wanted to send letters because he wanted to send the letter not only to the people in Philippi, but he sent this letter for the people of CBC Northwest.
The grace to persevere. The grace to persevere. Traditional aptitude and placement, the test level, that highly, perseverance of God. The perseverance of God. A very good starter despaired and gives up just short, let me repeat that. A very good starter despaired and gives up just short of the goal. They give up just short of the goal.
And successful men have one thing in common. When they fall, they get up again. When they fall, they get up again. Then decisive battles are said to have one thing in common. There comes a moment in a battle when both generals think they are beaten. But victory is the reward of holding on a little bit longer. Just holding on a little bit longer.
And that's what God is trying to tell you and me. There was a pastor at a convention in New Jersey during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and when he started, when this pastor was at the convention, he was always known as a cheerful spirit. He was always happy. Somebody that you could always be around him and always have, always smiled. But this time, he was unhappy. He was sad.
Pressed for an example, he told the story. "I just came through a deep tragedy," this pastor started saying. A member of a church, a prosperous real estate broker lost everything. The tragedy was compounded when on the day of his funeral, there was found in his mailbox a letter of a client accepting a deal which he had been working on for months with a commission.
When he received this letter, he had the commission equal to a full year's worth of living expenses. And the pastor made this statement. He said, "If only he had held out another 24 hours." Another 24 hours.
See, God is trying to tell you that the truth that you're going through, the son that you're seeing that he's not coming back, your daughter that is being disobedient, or the trial that you're going through, or that boss that keeps pressing you, or that boss that keeps harassing you and keeps going against what you're doing, and it feels like this is never going to end. God is saying, "Hold on."
God is saying, "Hold on. The trial that you're going through is not going to destroy you, but it's going to make you stronger." See, God never promised us smooth sailing in life. He promised us a safe landing on the other side. But Jesus said, "I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you. I will give my angels charge over you, and they will carry you when you are weak."
And not only that. See, Jesus makes it even more personal. It's not going to be angels that's going to carry you because it's going to be me that's going to carry you, and you're because you're going to be in my arms, and I'm the one that's going to protect you. He's saying, "Just persevere. Keep going just a little bit longer because I love you."
See, when Peter stepped out of the boat and he looked at all of the waves, when he took his eyes off of Jesus and saw all of the waves, he started sinking. He started sinking. But when he turned his eyes back on Jesus, he started singing because he was able to walk.
See, and Jesus says, "Oh, you of little faith." Imagine what a lot of faith will do. If a little faith makes you walk on water, if a little faith gives you the strength to walk on water, what does a lot of faith do? See, that's why God says, "Keep holding on. I am with you."
And I count not myself—see, Paul says, "I count not myself to have apprehended. I didn't receive it yet. I haven't reached it yet, but my goal is toward getting there." To get there, but there's a grace for imperfection. See, there's grace for you and for me for imperfection. That's what God wants to show you.
See, God knows you're going to fall short, but there's grace for that imperfection motivated by divine discontent. Paul continues to grow until he sends the last letter to say in Second Timothy, chapter 4, verses 7 through 8, he says, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. The only thing that's waiting for me is the crown of righteousness."
See, he knew that soon and very soon he's going to see Jesus face to face, and he's going to be in the glory of God. That's why he says, "Listen, at the time when I sent the letter to the Philippians, I wasn't there yet. But now I know, but even though I'm facing that, I'm not dying. I'm stepping in from death into life, which is eternal."
And that's what God wants to encourage each one of you because when we close our eyes here and we open them in eternity into the presence of God, you will hear these words: "Welcome home, my faithful servant. You persevered, you held on, and you kept going, and you didn't allow the distractions of the world."
And see, in verse 17, "Be followers of Christ." He says, "Follow me as I also follow Christ and receive grace in its fullness." See, that is the grace that God has given you. God wants to show each and every one of you and every one of us, me included, because God loves you.
And as I've said, God wants to give you the grace to persevere, the grace to concentrate, and the grace to forget those things that you had to go through. But the thing what God wants to say is continue to persevere because I am the God Jairus that's going to keep you going through.
See, God wants to show you His grace. And God today is looking, has spoken to each one of you. And He's saying to each one of you and even to me, "Today is a grace that I poured out. It's a day when I poured out my grace upon you. What are you going to do with that grace? Are you going to accept it?"
Maybe there's some of you online that's looking. Maybe you have gone through some difficult times, and you have fallen short. And the devil is saying, "You'll never be forgiven. You've done too much. You've gone too far." But God is there to pick you up, lift you up.
In the book of Psalms, He says, "I had my feet in clay that was grabbing me and holding me. No matter how much I tried to pull out, I couldn't. But the hand of God reached down and picked me up and took me from that clay and put my feet upon the rock, which is Jesus."
See, the clay is the sin that you're fighting or the sin that you're in. Or maybe you're here in church today. God is telling you, "I've told you about my grace. There's no excuse when you stand before God, and God is going to say, 'What have you done? What have you done with the grace that I've shown you? Have you accepted it?'"
Today's the day. It's not tomorrow. Today's the day. And if you are that person, let's bow our heads right now, brothers and sisters. Wherever you may be, if you're home, you can raise your hand and text at the church. And we'll pray with you. And I'll pray with you right now.
Or if you're here in church, you might say, "I don't want to raise my hand. I'm embarrassed." But you know what? That's from the other side. Because Jesus stood on the cross and bore your shame and my shame. And He stood with His arms wide open. He said, "Father, I'm dying for him." Put your name in that place. "I'm dying for Daniel," as He did for me.
And I said, "Jesus, please forgive me. Forgive me for my sins. Wash me with your precious blood that you shed on the cross. For I know one drop of your precious blood will wash my sin right now. My name is written in heaven, and heaven, I'm going to call my home. And you're the one that's given me that ability.
And Jesus, when I fall short, please forgive me. Please forgive me. And help me to get up again and walk again. I thank you for your salvation, Jesus. I thank you for dying on the cross for me. I thank you for the grace that you're giving me. I thank you that you're giving me the grace to forget the things that I've done about the past and looking forward to the things that you will do with me in my life.
In your name, I pray, Jesus. And I thank you, Father, for the salvation that you've just given me. In your Son's precious name, I pray and thank you through the power of the Holy Spirit, Father God. Amen.
That's all it took. That's all it took. Now, you are my brother and sister. If there's anything that we can do for you, come along and join somebody. Join a life group that's going to help you walk with you a lifelong journey. A life journey.
And when you fall short, they'll come around you and say, "It's not over. Keep pressing. Keep pressing. God is going to see you through this." Amen. Thank you all for joining us today. And I hope that the Lord, and I pray that the Lord continue to bless you in the name of Jesus. I bless you all in the name of Jesus. May you have a blessed lunch and a great week. Amen. Thank you.
on Oct 13, 2024
