Turn over to Philippians chapter 3.
Philippians chapter 3. We're going to go from verses 12
to 17. Don't know how long we'll go
tonight. You know, I hope I can keep a
little bit smaller since you stayed up all night.
Don't want you to fall asleep on me, but in Philippians chapter
3, verse 12 through 17, Paul is the writer here speaking to the
church. He says this.
He said, not that I've already obtained it or have already
become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that
for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet,
but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and reaching
forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the
prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
He said. Let us therefore, as any as are
perfect, and we'll see this in another passage, another
translation, have this attitude. And if and if in anything you
have a different attitude, God will reveal this also to you.
Verse 16. However, let us keep living by
the same standard to which we have attained.
Brethren, join and following my example and observe those who
walk according to the pattern you have in US.
And so here Paul is obviously writing to the church and he's
giving them some really great insight concerning life.
OK, this is not for the fivefold minister.
This is for the believer and some fivefold ministries.
Paul being within the office of the apostle, they that gift
itself and we'll talk more about it this coming year is that they
are always moving forward because they are trying to take
territory and we'll define that at A at a later service.
But Paul, although this is a part of his particular life, he
lets us know in verse 17 that P that the brethren notice he
said, brethren, he didn't say, now all those who are like me
are, are just apostles. He says, brethren, join in
following my example and observe those who walk according to the
pattern there. So there's some things that he's
doing that he's telling the church, you need to follow this
example. OK, we need to follow this
example. So let's go back up to the top
verse 12 and let's kind of dissect a little bit this
passage of Scripture and, and what he's saying is not not that
I've already obtained it right, that I'm perfect, but I press on
that I made laid hold of that which I've been laid hold of.
Now the first challenge you're going to have if you're going to
press on is that if you do not know why you were laid hold of,
then you're not going to be able to be running in a way to lay
hold of something. So Paul's running or his aim was
based upon an apprehension. Amen.
This is why Doctor Miles Monroe says it's more important to know
why you were born than that you were born and you were not born
so that you could find out about Jesus to be born again, so that
you could just wait till you die to go to heaven.
There is a reason why you are here.
There is a purpose for every one of us, and we need to know why.
What? Why God has apprehended.
Why did God die on the cross and be raised from the dead and then
called you into his family? Because they didn't call you in
to retire. He didn't call you in to just,
you know, hold on until you either die or he comes.
There is a plan. And so Paul was apprehended.
He was going a course of life himself.
Then he encountered Jesus. And in that encounter his whole
life was changed and his only pursuit was that which God had
called him. And he would not let anyone stop
him from accomplishing that task.
So he's he's communicating, he said.
Now listen, not that I've obtained it yet, not that I am
perfect. And this word perfect here is,
is actually an athletic term, and it means it.
It's in context with a race. And it's not that because back
in those days, he's using a term that was very clear to the
culture that he was ministering to.
He says you understand that when when you're in a race, the
athletes all run, but not everyone wins.
OK, So when you first get out of the gate, all the athletes have
the ability to win the prize. So he said not that I've already
obtained it or I have received the prize, which they all knew
was this crown that was made out of leaves that they would put on
the victor. And so everyone's running for
the victor's crown, everyone. However, not everyone's going to
get there. Later on he talks again about
not that I've perfected because what happened same term, but
once the athlete won, then the judge who would issue that
reward would make an announcement that this is the
perfect athlete because this one had reached perfect, it beat
everyone else. So the declaration, this is the
perfect athlete today and they are crowned with a crown and
based upon certain athletic competitions and how well they
did, the crowns would actually be adorned with different things
based upon how well they did. Not all crowns were the same.
OK, so Paul is saying, just like a natural man runs in a race to
obtain a prize, I'm running because God has put me in a
race. He has given me a life's
assignment and I am running that race to win that race and not
that I finished yet but there's but I am pressing towards that
goal. OK 1st 13 he gives he again, he
said brother. Not that I have regard myself as
having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, I'm forgetting
what lies behind and I'm reaching forward to what lies
ahead. Are you hearing me?
So what is Paul doing? Paul is giving us an indication.
In order for you to move forward, you have to learn how
to forget. There is no forward.
If you cannot forget now isn't amazing.
Sometimes you can get around some people that are like, man,
I just can't remember, can't remember, but they can remember
every wrong. They can remember every time you
blew it, every time you messed up.
You know, come on, husbands, you know how we are.
We'll get it, honey, I forgot. But then we can like, let me
tell you what you've been doing for the last five years Now.
How can we keep that list? But we can't seem to keep, you
know, our to our honey, do lists, so to speak.
You know what I'm saying? I mean, it's amazing how we can
retain certain information, but then there's other information.
We, you know, expect people to give us a pass for our
forgetting. Say Amen.
Anyway, I know it's first of the year.
This is really a positive message if you'll receive it
that way. I'm going to fix your mind this
year. OK.
And so he said, now listen, this is what not that I've laid hold,
but this is what I am doing. I am forgetting what lies
behind. Now, when he says forget,
there's a few things we need to understand about forgetting.
Forgetting is that this is the obvious.
We have to forget sin that you have to do.
I mean, that's the the number one thing you have to do when it
comes to forgetting. If you're going to continue to
move forward, you're going to have to forget your past.
You have to forget it because again, the day you said Jesus, I
believe that you died on the cross and rose from the grave.
You were born of the Virgin. You paid the price for my sin.
I could not have done it on my own.
I could never get you on my own. You are the sacrifice for me.
I call you Lord of my life. I give you my life.
I call you Lord, right? The Bible says when you call on
the name of the Lord, you'll be saved.
So then you pass from the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of
His beloved Son. The spirit of the man that was
dead is pulled out of your skin. Suit that spirit within you that
ruled your mind and your body. They were all three in agreement
and you were very good at sinning and rebelling against
God. And God snatched the root
problem out that you could not do yourself.
I'm saying snatch the root problem.
All of your excuses for wrongdoing is snatched out of
your B. It has passed away, right?
It's passed away. I don't know why we want to drag
this dead thing around with us like it still has ownership with
us. It is dead.
It does not exist in us. Then He puts in us.
We cross through the threshold, through the cross into the
doorway of the Kingdom, and then we have a new spirit on the
inside that's made in the likeness of God, and then the
Holy Ghost himself moves inside. Our suit speaks to our spirit,
that we can hear that conversation in our mind.
Because when the Holy Spirit's talking to my spirit, it's not
that my mind's not hearing it. I'm going to say that again.
When the Holy Spirit is speaking to my spirit, it's in my mind
that I'm hearing it. Hallelujah.
Now again, we're going to kind of deal with these things this
year because I have learned through observation and fruit
examination, we can examine fruit that the body of Christ in
a general sense has been Hanford.
When we tree hug a subject, we hug on it.
In fact, David and I were having a conversation concerning a
thought that Brother Hagin made went towards the end of his life
and he said if you do not teach the things of the Spirit to the
next generation, then you'll lose a move of the Spirit within
that generation. And sometimes because of
teachers, they will explain a move of the Spirit as the move
of the Spirit. And then a move that is
predominantly around a ministry is communicated that that is a
manifestation or the manifestation.
So then it implies if that's not happening, then he's not moving,
but it's a manifestation. It's not the only manifestation
and what has happened is the church, which is why we wrote
the book for the force, is that the church is kind of at large
lost big picture and become really good at funneling in.
And you understand a lot of times this is only happening
because these spirits, that's why we talked about reigning
spirit last year, are in the earth.
David, would you stand up? David, how old are you?
You don't mind me using your age, right?
OK. How old are you?
OK, David, you're 68 year old. When you were young and went to
a doctor back then the doctors knew really everything and
treated you for anything in your body, correct?
OK. But then all of a sudden,
because we are so educated and we needed more colleges that
doctors instead of doing being a General practitioner, that when
he would go to doctor, if your throat, foot, whatever, they
could take care of your whole body.
Thank you, Dave. You'd be seated today if you got
a problem with your foot. What are they called?
A specialist, right. You're giving me the literal
name. Thank you.
That was really good.
I mean, you, you're a teacher at Washington.
I expect you to know these things.
So you got the foot doctor, you got the hand doctor, you have
the eye doctor. Now, here's the thing.
You can have something going on in that very specific area, but
the reason you're having it in that area could be another
reason. Now, a lot of times, what are
those doctors do if they begin to realize, I perceive that
what's hurting in you is not where the source is, So what do
they do? They send you to another.
So you can't get taken care of in one location because that's
not my field of expertise. So because, and again, in the
spirit of the world, it is to kind of keep things hidden.
So then you train yourself to only know certain truths, but
when you only know certain aspects, you're already at a
disadvantage of other things. And so one area that the the
body has been challenged and, and Brother Hagin did a
phenomenal job in communicating and in practice, but it didn't
always, it did not translate through.
And there's one gift within the fivefold ministry that has to do
this the most, which is why God always intended the body, the
church, to have all 5 fivefold ministers.
He never intended for a church to have one.
I'm going to say that again. He never intended that a local
church would only have one ministry gift because if a
church has the ministry gift of pastor teacher then it's highly
probable that they will become specialized ministers and lose
big picture. I mean, the chances are 99% is
high because they're gifted to go line upon line.
They get so focused on a subject and they can tear that down that
they can lose how it's actually placed within the context.
Now as an apostle, big picture, I mean, the the majority of
messages I preach are on a big picture context.
But guess what? We have teachers here that I can
say what subject you what, what do you want me to minister, you
know, minister on this or a minute.
And man, they get up here and they go line upon line preset.
But they have they have me apostatically keeping big
picture so that they don't get so funneled that they lose
perspective. Because the only way you can
come up with doctrines that aren't accurate is because you
stay focused in very specific areas.
And look it in that vein only because I could bring people up
here who could minister on the subject of grace correctly,
concerning you've done nothing to deserve this.
And that would be truth. But then they would carry that
over into your life as a believer, that now we're getting
off because the saving grace, since it's multifaceted, it's
not one-dimensional anyway. The saving grace that is
unmerited to for you is appropriated to you through
faith. And that once you're born again,
you receive the grace Jesus had, which was not unmerited favor.
Because what in the world did Jesus do on planet earth that he
didn't deserve the grace he had? So that definition of for grace
doesn't work across the board because Jesus was full of grace.
And if we only define grace as God's power on you that you did
not deserve, Jesus was a man without sin.
He deserves everything. Well, the grace Jesus had is
called empowering grace. You know what's awesome about
empowering grace? Empowering grace is the ability
to resist temptation so that when you're tempted to sin like
Jesus was, he was tempted on all accounts, like we were, yet
without sin. But if you are taught only that
the first grace you received and it is true saving grace which is
unmerited favorite, you did not deserve this.
What you deserve was to be justly judged and thrown into
the lake of fire, which is a second death.
That's what you deserve. But God being rich in not love,
mercy, He extended this unmerited favor towards you that
when you acted on it, it you received it, that then once the
Holy Ghost comes in, he said, now I got another grace for your
life because you've been redeemed now from the law of sin
and death. And I'm going to give you the
same grace Jesus had so that every time temptation comes no
longer. Do you think I can you know, if
I mess up, if I, I couldn't do nothing to get in, I can't do
nothing to stay. Oh, you can do you do stuff to
stay because you can do stuff to get out.
However, same thing works. Works is a word that you can
teach in a vein that it is absolutely true.
It is not of your own works. You telling God what I'm doing
is acceptable and you need to accept what I'm calling good and
you need to accept me. Well, that's those works don't
work and you can stay in that vein so much that then you you
hear people all they're they're talking works.
And every time those people say that oh, works, that's a bad
word. Well, this is problem because
Jesus said that he did the work of the Father.
He's doing some kind of work. Then he ends up telling Paul in
the book of Ephesians when he talks about it's not of any
works, lest any man should boast.
It's by grace through faith. The next verse says that you
were saved for good. Well, this is problem because
I'm not supposed to work. If I say works, then I'm saying
I'm of the law. No, we're not saying that.
We're saying we have a work of faith.
But again, if you don't maintain big picture, then you get
isolated. Same thing happens with spirit,
soul and body. But Brother Hagin used to say
when it came to the gifts of Spirit, he says, now I'm
separating these for the sake of teaching.
And his implication was they are not to be separated, nor to
covet just one, nor to teach just one because of what one
produces. So you were never just supposed
to love the power gifts of the Holy Ghost more than the
utterance. And neither were you to say, oh
man, I just wish we could see miracles.
And then someone has a tongue and someone interprets it and we
walk away like God didn't move 'cause we didn't see an arm grow
out. Hallelujah.
And again, in the context of, of, of, of traditional thought,
you know, I love the services where the Holy Ghost comes down
and, and we get into laughter and we get into dancing and we
get into running. And then inevitably someone
says, ma'am, we had, we had church today.
The Holy Ghost fell. Well, the Holy Ghost didn't fall
when we did the teaching of the word and he revealed the truth
to you because you couldn't have a truth revealed unless the Holy
Ghost did that, which means he moved in the revealing of truth
just as much as he moved. And someone yielding and dancing
and one is not more powerful than the other, but the carnal
man and those that get in very strict, you know, things miss
these. All right, so we I said all that
because Paul says I need to press on to this higher calling.
And the thing we have to forget is sin.
And sin is everything we did prior to coming in, which means
that man's dead. We need to forget that and quit
going back to that or referring to it as if we cannot move
forward. And here's the thing, your past
has a voice. It's the one in your head and
then your acquaintances from your past.
I remember going to one of my high school reunions.
I think it was 20 or 30 years. I can't remember now.
Maybe the 20 year ones. Probably the last one I went to
20 years, you know, and you show up and they're talking to you
like we were at school yesterday.
Now I kind of looked like I was there, except bigger, healthier.
I had as the cheese at commercial.
I had aged you well because I looked at some of my friends.
I'm like, thank you, Jesus. Well, I know what half of it
happened, you know, because they were having all kinds of sins,
one substances that they were putting in their body and it was
really breaking down their flesh faster than mine was, right?
The glory is good. God keeps you good looking,
right? I mean at least age as you will,
right? Amen and so, but anyway, I mean
they would talk to you then they would even treat me.
I mean, I took my wife OK and again, I wasn't living for the
Lord in high school. I know that all right and I'm
not here to relish because I forget my past, but I was senior
class biggest flirt. That is a true statement and the
girl who was the senior plat class biggest flirt was at the
20 year reunion. Now she was already 3 sheets to
the wind. Y'all know what that expression
is? That's pretty old expression.
She was tipsy. She was drunk, as you supposed,
right in the parking lot, which made her bold.
OK, Well, she came over to me in front of my wife and touched my
chest. Now, in high school, that was
permissible. You understand?
I'm not happy about that. I am delivered.
Hallelujah. But yet she was like we were.
We were coming to school for a football game.
Then I would have been on the field anyway.
With that being said, you know, my wife's kind of like, you
know, and you just kind of keep navigating.
You just kind of keep moving, right?
But you have to forget your past.
It's it's obvious that they can't.
And it was crazy. Those girls would get around my
wife. And you know what they it's, it
was they had to, they had to tell her about me in high
school. They couldn't say, well, how's
everything been? What are you and Earl doing now?
Do y'all have any kids? Grandkids, which would have been
shocking to them anyway. And it was when I said I had,
but you understand, But no past. But I forgot that I've let that
go, OK, I have forgot that I have forgotten it.
It is not what I'm doing. And I'm going on the second
thing that Paul says that we need to forget.
Let me read this scripture before I give you the next thing
that you have to forget. And that is in Luke Chapter 9,
verse 62, it says, but Jesus said to him, to him, no one
after putting his hand to the plow and looking back as fit for
the Kingdom of God, OK, no one. So you have to forget your past.
You've been redeemed. Don't equate yourself as a
Sinner and going into 2025, you can't go back to 2020.
Don't go back into 2024 and say, man, I really made a mess last
year. It's gone.
Yeah, it's gone. And if you want to go forward in
this new year, then let's forget it now.
Forgetting doesn't work without repentance when it comes to sin
because your sin will surely find you out.
So you cannot say I just forget that I just sinned.
No, cuz sin will be like you can forget but here I am and you did
it again. So here's my buddy and he did it
again and here's my next buddy and here it again.
We've got a whole family here with you because you know none
of this is under the blood and we're following you around
because you have created sin. You've done the sin and
eventually we have a paycheck we're going to bring to a area
of your life. It's called death.
So forgetting sin means you repented and now you're
authorized to forget it. The Lord says, listen, I removed
your sin as far as the east is from the West, which means I've
forgotten about it. One of the most powerful
statements that he says in his love session of teaching in
First Corinthians chapter 13 is that love does not take an
account a suffered wrong because once it's under the blood, it
doesn't exist. Amen.
So we have to forget our sins, and then we also have to forget
the sins of those who have done something to us.
You have to forget that now a person can have done something
to you. They've not asked you to forgive
them, but you're already forgiven them.
You're just waiting to release it.
Do you understand that? Because this is a concept that
is not everyone understands. Jesus Christ has paid the price
once and for all. Jesus has literally forgiven
everyone's sin. You know who's sin He has
forgiven? The rich man written by Jesus
who was not in Abraham's bosom or paradise, but was eternally
waiting for eternal judgment or eternal damnation for Abraham,
said there's a gulf fix between us, you can't come here, we
can't go there. And he was already in a place of
torment. But it's not, it's not complete
in the torment because there is a later judgment to come that
then he will be cast into the lake of fire, which is the
second death. Yet he has been forgiven.
If he's been forgiven, how could he go to the lake of fire
because he never received what he has already been forgiven
for. So when someone does you wrong,
you need to forgive. But them coming to you and
asking you to forgive them is when you can release it.
This is very important because again, the relationship will
never be restored. OK, the relationship will never
be restored until they do the repentance.
Jesus has already forgiven mankind, but the relationship
cannot be restored till they ask for His forgiveness through
repentance. So in the natural, the Bible
says we need to forgive one another, right?
And again, I'll forgive you, I'll forgive you no problem.
But I cannot give you the forgiveness that is already
stored up for you if you do not come and ask for it.
And when you do, it's like, man, I am so excited that this day
has come, which means if I'm engaging you and you're not
asking, you've not received my forgiveness.
Even though I have forgiven you, we still have an issue.
Do you see that? Because Jesus is engaging the
world and he still has an issue in the relationship.
Although for him, he's like, I've already forgiven you.
All you got to do is ask. And you know what?
He's kind to them, but the relationship's not restored.
Why is he kind to him? Because the kindness of God
draws men to. So an act of kindness in a
relationship with someone doesn't mean the relationship's
restored. It's only in restoration when
both parties, which in Jesus case obviously he didn't have
to, but if it is a both party or one party needs to ask for that
forgiveness that the other one is not going to withhold.
If they're living like God, they're really just waiting for
the day for this relationship to be completely restored.
Are you hearing me? So we have to forgive our own
failures. We have to forget what people
have done to us. Walk in love.
I do not take an account of suffer wrong.
I am. I have already forgiven.
And I'm ready to release that forgiveness once they repent.
And I'll be kind to them, talk to them.
They would think that I'm already there.
But until that happens, it's not there.
OK. Hey, ma'am.
So but then the next thing concerning forgetting is this.
We have to forget the good, the accomplishments.
When I was studying today, my thoughts went to, oh, I'm going
to use Sarah, you know, because if there's anything you can
remember, let's just remember. And then it hit me.
She's looking at faithfulness. She's still not looking at past.
These are trophies. Basically, they are memorials of
the faithfulness of His Word, the faithfulness of His word,
the faithfulness of His word. She's not looking back at the
good she has done being in faith.
The reason he says it this way is because as a runner, if we
have a 26.2 mile marathon and we get to mile 25, we could stop
with 1.2 miles left and go, man, look what I have done.
This is awesome. I've got 25.
I'm like at record pay speed. Let me just stop here for a
moment and think about. Let me just look back.
Look at all those runners way back there and if you just stop
and meditate and stay there, then the next racer is going to
come and pass you by. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Paul is saying, listen, even what I've accomplished, I'm
forgetting and moving now. That doesn't mean I don't.
I've taken account God's faithfulness.
These are these are trophies that I have on my shelf that
shows that when I did God's word, God calls his word to come
to pass. So this next thing I'm in right
now with God, no problem because I have evidence that he's always
come through. No issue here, but I'm not going
to stop. I am moving.
I am always in a forward process.
I would even say it this way when the Bible says when you've
done all to stand, this is this is what you're standing looks
like it it is a you may have fought, you're fighting and you
don't know where else to go. And he said, look, and you
should fight the good fight of faith.
When you've done all the stands stand.
Obviously he's saying the devil and you've got some challenge
and it seemed like you're not making progress, but you
understand and you're being beat against, but you're standing,
you're standing your ground. You're not giving up ground, but
that standing is with a lien because at some point I'm going
to be stepping forward again because I'm not retreating.
I'm not pulling back. Are you hearing me?
With that being said, look at here in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter
10 verses 3839, it says But my righteous one shall live by and
if he shrinks back my soul has no pleasure in him.
He said, but we are not of those who shrink back to destruction,
but of those who have faith to the preserving of our soul.
Now this scripture is not just saying that you don't shrink
back to worldliness. This is not just worldliness
because the Bible says the just shall live by and we go from
faith to and I got this revelation honestly guys, just a
few years ago, just a few years ago, because I had been pretty
motivated by a particular prophetic word that was given to
us. But within six months of
starting Anchor Faith Church, that I needed to strike the
ground. And when that word came through
tongues and interpretation of tongues concerning Anchor Faith
Church as a ministry saying just keep striking the ground, the
Lord took me to where the prophet said strike the ground
concerning destroying the enemy. And they struck it three times.
And the prophet got really mad and said, man, if you'd have
done it like six or seven times, you would have routed your enemy
completely. But because you stopped at
three, you're only going to defeat them three times and then
they're going to be a problem for you, right?
And I thought, and I knew what the prophecy was about, about
faith, about moving forward. And I was, I mean, you hit one
project and that thing's coming, come really out of completion.
Boom, you're into the next one. I'm like, strike the next one.
What else? God, what do you want me to
believe for God? Come on, what's the next one?
And I want to go stop at three. I want I never stopped and said,
OK, well, this is cool. Let's just kind of rest here for
a little bit, man. We've been like believing God
for a lot. Let's just don't believe God for
nothing. No we were like boom boom boom.
Then it hit me about 3 years ago, maybe 4 at Max.
I'm reading we go from faith to faith and then the Lord says
what is faith? I said well now faith is calling
those things that be not as though they were.
He said. Notice I said you go from faith
to faith, which means before you leave one faith and see it,
'cause once you see it, it's not faith.
Faith is calling those things that be not as though they were.
That's faith. So before you actually see the
completion of what you're believing for, you need to start
believing for something you don't see so that when that
one's done, you're in, you're already in another that then you
go to another one and you don't get to 1 because there's a thing
that happens in the church. Well, we don't want to wear the
people out. We're not wearing you out.
We're doing scripture because when you're in faith, you're
actually at rest because you're resting in God.
Now there's a fight. Yes, I get it.
There is a fight. But you know, if you've been
around some champions, like watch Muhammad Ali and he got
around, you know, you know, he was in a fight, but he was like.
This is easy. And he would mock them.
I mean, it's not like he didn't get a few hits, but when they
hit, he was like, oh, there ain't no power in that punch.
And instead of just taking the he would play with the enemy, he
would dance, which you know, and his saying and he would dance
around and dance around and then he would boom, boom.
I mean, I believe he was intentional to not take him out
immediately, unlike Mike Tyson, you know, he'd like you're down
3 seconds, OK, next fighter. But he would go out, he would
play around. He would hit just enough.
Keep on your feet. Hold on, let's do a good show
now, right? I mean, get the people here are
watching. But he never had a doubt in his
mind he was going to lose, especially after the first
couple of punches from his opponent.
And you understand, there's some things in faith.
We're like, man, we got this thing right.
You're at such rest. Even in the middle of the fight.
Now there are some faith projects that you feel the
strain. I get it, Which then the enemy
says you ought to take a break. Well, He wants you to take a
break because every time you get what you've been believing for,
you keep tearing down his gates. You're taking over his
territory, that which he received from Adam, that
dominion and all that was associated with it and he's been
robbing us from. He doesn't want you to get up in
there because if you'll take a good enough rest and have
nothing to believe God for where God's constantly showing himself
faithful, then he can get into your mind and try to why don't
you just do it the world's way and it can happen that way.
So again, we don't shrink back, which means we stay even in
faith. So let's go back to verse 15
real quick again, verse 14 and 15 of Philippians 3.
He says as I press on towards the goal for the prize of the
upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
So again, someone who knows why they are born and wants to
please, please. Because the Bible says without
faith it's impossible to. This is not whether God loves me
or not. God loves me and I'm not trying
to to find out what he loved me more.
No, I want to be pleasing to him because the Scripture says I can
be displeasing to Him because faith is what pleases Him.
And so I always want to be a pleasure to my Father.
So what is your word telling me to do?
I want to act on that word. I want to be in faith in that
word. And I want to press on to the
next thing that you've laid hold of me.
What else do you need me to do? What else do I need to believe
God for? What else do I need to keep
pressing on? And he says I press.
Now, what's so cool about that? Is that in my weakness?
Oh, this is what's amazing. There are times in the battle of
faith that, man, I am extremely strong because you just got a
word. Oh my gosh, I got a word.
We can do this. Well, through faith and
patience, you inherit. So it's in the patience part
that weariness and fainting and fainting can show up.
But even in my weakness, he'll make me strong as long as I do
not abandon and I keep pressing. And for anyone who's done a
natural race, you know, you're like, just keep moving.
Just and you just keep the thing moving, right, Brittany?
We're like, just keep moving. Brittany's fast.
I remember the first gate river run we ran.
She was in a she was in a more elite class.
They ran faster. You know, I said which one?
Oh, I'm up in this group. Oh, I guess I picked the wrong
one. But in my mind, I thought, I'll
run her down. No, number one, she's taller
than I am. Her legs are double the my
length. She takes one step and I'm 2.
So here's Brittany, you know, because she has long legs.
Boom, boom. And I look like this.
Yeah, that's me. Like I'm going to get Brittany.
She's like, where you at? Like a gazelle.
Just go. There she goes.
And I'm like, I never saw you. You know, she's like, where
you've been. I've been here for an hour.
OK. But we press on because there's
something in front of us again. People who do not press have
lost sight of the goal. If you don't press, that just
tells me you've lost sight of the goal.
And if you're telling, why are you working so hard?
Why are you pushing so much? Why you keep doing this?
I don't want to talk to people like that because I'm like,
you've lost the goal. You've lost it because when you
know what you're in. And here's the thing.
I mean, we only have so much time in this skin suit.
There is a time that's going to be different.
I'm not going to tell you it's a time that it is mythical
thinking. We're with the Lord.
Oh, here's our nice little hammock and the angels are
coming by with coconut drinks. You know, they're ministering
spirits. They are bringing us our stuff
and the angels are massaging our glorified bodies, right?
And the Lord comes by and the cool of the day and says, you
enjoying your relaxation? You know, do you want to put a
little saxophone on right now? You know, so you feel chilled.
I'll get a little breeze to come through, you know, for all
eternity. We are just like on vacation.
Hallelujah. I think sometimes people think
that, but we press on. But look at verse 15.
I'm going to read it out of the Berean standard Bible.
Verse 15 says this. Let all of us who are mature
should embrace this point of view.
And if you think differently about some issue, God will
reveal this to you. Also, one translation says if
you think different about pressing, God will reveal to
you, you need to press. So in essence, he's not saying
if you think different than how I do it, and that's OK.
He's saying God's going to tell you that what I'm saying is what
you should be doing. Hallelujah.
Now we're watching. Anybody got the latest on the
Ohio State Oregon game? Because man, it was like 34 to
nothing at halftime. I mean, Ohio states, like just
trouncing them. It's like, where you at, right,
Pastor Mike? You pull up on ESPN, you catch
the phone. 4121 No, it's not. It was 34 to nothing. 4141 OK, I
thought you said 2121 Like, how can they have gone backwards?
Did they forget they made touchdowns?
4121 OK, All right, so there's a goal.
Now you understand a coach has a goal and they are telling the
players. It's amazing that any
organization allows the leader to put pressure on the team to
accomplish a goal. We see it in business with
managers because again, what's the reward?
You get a bonus or whatever. They let you know what we're
going to do. This is what happens.
We get here. We need to make it happen.
And man, we sell all out. They sell out in politics.
If you want to win an office, man, you are.
You're pressing. I mean, you're door knocking.
You're you're, you're, I mean, you're all that because this is
the season because after the day that we vote, if you didn't make
it and they're like, we're pushing to the finish.
Didn't we hear this during the president?
We're pushing all the way up to the finish line, which means all
the ones running the, the, the, the campaigns we're pushing,
calling, telling them, man, we hardly slap.
You know what? Because they wanted their
candidate to win, they let them talk to them that way.
These people right now, the coaches are saying you're going
to do this. I mean, I was shocked at the
Arizona State. I mean, they were getting beat
down by Texas. And next thing you know, we're
in overtime. Is this actually happening right
now? Which means the coach did
something that says we're not out of it yet.
Nobody, everybody thinks we're a Cinderella team anyway.
Got them sold on this idea and these guys are pressing.
No players like you're on the sideline, you're not out here
tackling. But when it comes to the church
in the past, like let's keep moving.
Well, who's he think he is talking to us like that.
Why is this the only organization that we have this
much conflict? I mean, I know why and I'll tell
you why. And then I'm going to train you
how to overcome that because we're going to overcome that in
2025. We will overcome that because I
know what it looks like. I know exactly what it looks
like to overcome because the minute it happens, if they do
not press, they do not stay. And you don't want an athlete on
your team that's dragging around trade on coach.
They they're not doing any good anyway.
In fact, John said, look, if they go, they weren't for you
anyway. They weren't with you anyway.
Are you hearing me? And Paul's like, look, we got to
push press on. But like he says this, he said,
now, if you've come to maturity, you need to embrace this point
of view. So when you reach spiritual
maturity, you're like, my whole life exists to accomplish why he
saved me. And I'm going to get around
people who that's their only goal.
I mean, who wants to be around the team?
Well, all we got is a bunch of two stars in here.
We never win. Well, let's see what we can do
at this game. We're probably going to lose,
but let's try something. Who wants to be in that kind of
culture? Who wants to play for that kind
of team? I mean, even the, you know, they
always do the David and Goliath analogy, which is always wrong
because Goliath always was going to lose.
But David, you know, this is the little team and can they do this
and how can they pull this off? I mean, that's what it sounded
like when they when Boise State was playing Penn State.
Well, you know, if they don't do that, how can they even pull?
And they their talk, but those guys on the field were not
convinced until it's over, it's not over.
And it was obviously that would Arizona State today because they
got them into overtime. But you understand they're not
in the locker. They are saying, you know what,
we had a great season. We are, you know, Big 12
champions. But at the end of the day,
everyone in the locker room is not excited because the goal
wasn't met. Now, a few days later, they'll
be rejoicing in the championship they did have.
But they'll live the rest of their lives knowing the rest of
their lives, knowing the rest of their lives knowing, just like
I've lived the rest of my life knowing that in the state
semifinals, we got beat in a rodeo arena.
The football field was inside a rodeo arena, and they let out
the bulls and trampled us. And I live without forever
because honestly, I wanted to win a state champion.
Who doesn't, right? Ask my grandson, Asher.
He went to the state championship game this year and
was ahead by a couple of touchdown, maybe even 3, and
lost. So when you're mature, you're
like man, there's no other viewpoint and an essay says
God's going to reveal to you that you need to mature up to
apprehend while He's saved you in the 1st place.
Amen. So let me give you these three
more scriptures and we'll be out.
Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 1718.
We'll be pretty quick. He says this for, you know this
one for momentary light affliction is producing for us
an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.
Listen guys, I cannot tell you how many times I've been around
certain people. At times they're like, how come
you're never content? I mean y'all got them all.
What? Why do you keep pushing?
OK, first of all, I am content with what I have, but I press on
to what God wants. And it's not that I'm never
satisfied. I'm satisfied when I wake up in
the morning and breathe and praise my King.
I'm full of satisfaction. But He has saved me for a reason
and I was never to do it alone. So I rally those that were
assigned to do the change. That's what we do, but for
momentary light, affliction is producing for us an eternal
weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at
the things that are what seen, but the things that are not
seen. For the things that are seen are
temporary. That's why I don't get bogged
down in the world. But the things which are for the
things that are not seen are eternal.
My eyes are already fixed on the eternal Kingdom, the rewards
associated with it, and that's what I drive after.
I do not have time to stop and determine how comfortable my
life should be in the planet because my life is the best it
could ever be. Because I'm known by the King.
I have arrived and so have you. Your daddy owns the planet.
A bigger house is not going to give you contentment or
satisfaction or, you know, feel. I mean, unless you have selfish
ambitions, those things will. But for those who know who they
are in Christ, then at the end of the day, the day that you're
in Christ, you're so excited and you're just excited.
God, whatever you want me to do, because whatever you want me to
do, the provision is already there for me to do it.
All I got to do is obtain it by faith.
I'm just the happiest guy in the world because I'm the wealthiest
guy in the world because my daddy owns the planet just like
you are. Amen.
But we do not obtain, he said. I've given you the power to get
wealth. And again, wealth is not for
your own personal accumulation. It's wealth for you to
accomplish the provision or the purpose that God's assigned you.
And a lot if you were really wealthy, you would be trying to
figure out how to give your wealth to other people.
So because of this, I had this thought.
Trials are the trails to triumph.
Trials are just the trails to triumph.
Adversary is the asphalt to advancement.
So when adversity comes, thank you for paving my way to
advance. Hallelujah, because this is a
momentary light affliction, 'cause compress means you're
having to go through something. You got to go through your own
personal challenges and do not let them hinder you.
So you got to do self examination all the while and
while you're running, you understand you cannot start a
race without refueling, especially if it's a long one.
And this is a long one. It's your lifetime, which means
you have to refuel. You have to know when to go
along the way and stop and refuel to continue on.
So you're always doing your own personal examination while
you're pressing. And you're like, you know what?
I'm going to get to that mark and I'm going to refuel there,
but I'm pressing to that place to refuel so I can continue to
press on. The reason I refuel is to move
on. So you do personal examination,
but you also press on because there are trials, there are
adversities. You cannot be an overcomer
unless there's something to overcome.
All right? So trials are the trails to
triumph, and adversity is the asphalt to advancement.
And when you do this, then these last two verses is your life
revelation. This is 2025.
Let this be 2025 for us. He who overcomes, I will grant
to Him to sit down with me on my throne as I also overcame and
sat down with my Father on His throne.
Thrones are in kingdoms, not religions.
So I'm telling you right now, I do not get bogged down on
worldly success or or or or accolades.
I'm only focused on the seat assigned to me for eternity.
And so I got a press and while I'm running, there's people from
the crowd that are not even in the race telling me I won't make
it. And they're telling you you
won't make it, but it's 2025. You going to make this thing.
You going to make it all the way to the end because God is giving
you his Spirit and greater is that spirit in you than the one
that's in the world. We're going to finish this
course. Why?
Because we're going to overcome. And he said, now if you
overcome, you going to sit right down here on my throne, me Whoa,
glory to God, Amen. And then it if it is that within
our lifetime that the Lord is coming and most likely is, then
your throne is about to be revealed.
So press because the finish line is upon us.
The last scripture is this Paul said this in second Timothy 487
and eight concerning his own life.
He said I have fought the good fight.
I have one translation said fully completed, fully
completed. Do you know you can finish a
race but not finish the course? You can start a race and finish
a race but not complete the course.
It's a 10K. You start a 10K, it is a race
that you're in and at 8K you stop the next day that race
isn't there so you can't go back to the race.
You started a race, you finished a race, but you didn't finish
the course. You left 2 kilometers on the
table. 2 kilometers do not allow you.
You have the number, you have the time, you have the reward
given you in the beginning, the T-shirt and the Cup that says
you were in the race. But you don't get the medal in
the end because everybody gets a medal when they run these
things. And then some get these like
victor's medals, right, because they're running to win.
Most of us are running for recreation, all right, but let's
don't run this life of recreation.
Let's run to win, he said. I finished the course I have
kept, which tells us if you don't keep the faith, you can't
finish the course. All right.
In the future, he says, is laid up for me here.
It is the crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.
And not only me, but also to, to who?
To who? All who?
Not all like the whole world, but all who have loved his
appearing. Those who have kept the faith,
those who have finished the course, those who fought the
good fight For what the crown of rises he has for me.
He has one for you. Will you finish the course?
It's 2025. It's the first day of the year.
You've not done it. You've done really good.
You came to church on your first date.
You made the Kingdom 1st instead of staying home.
It was late last night and I watched the ball go down and all
these people sing and I went to this restaurant and I didn't get
in till 2:00 and it was so late. You know, I think I'll just stay
home. No, you can't.
You pressed on, you assembled, you did the plan.
So then day 2 come. Did you read your Bible reading
today? Then you're on a good start,
people. You did some fueling for today.
You got the word in. You prayed in the Holy Ghost.
Now let's repeat tomorrow. Let's make every day count.
Let's be strong. Let's finish this course.
Let this be the year that we only move forward and never look
back.