Hey everyone! I hope you are excited about church tomorrow! It is going to be a great day! PLEASE bring your Discount card money and turn it in!
A Few Thoughts from Yesterday:
Josh L: What a funny Guy! You and Jessica had me laughing so hard yesterday!
Jessica: ... What do I say... You had me laughing like crazy. "my parents dont know...". AND I enjoyed another day of Silly songs with Jessica, (GIVE ME A BREAK)
Alex: Thankyou so much for that book on Babyruth Candy bars!! I didnt know if I would ever find out all that information. What a relief! :) Your Funny Too!
Tyler: Wise words man! Being religious is "trying to please man, instead of God"
Philippians 3:12-16
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
These 5 verses pack a powerful punch. If you dont understand what it is talking about, that is ok. Just read and meditate on verses 13 and 14. Paul is sitting there and he says: This is one thing that I do: I forget the past and look to the future. I can think of several reasons why... Paul had a rough past, Paul was the man that so many Christians were scared to death of, because He killed Christians all the time. He had a rough past. Do you? Is there a lot of things that you look back on a regret? Well, Paul says that He purposely FORGETS those things which are behind, so that He can reach to the things which are in front of Him to accomplish.
That is one side of the coin, then the other side is that fact that Paul had done many great things in the past (since his conversion), but He did not just sit back and boast in his accomplishments, No, He said, Hey I am going to forget the past accomplishments and press on for what God has for me to do tomorrow.
APPLICATION:
Satan often tries to use our past to hold us back from spiritual growth. But the truth is that when we are forgiven for our sins, Jesus Christ removes our sins as far as the east is from the west. I must trust the truth, instead of believing the lies of satan. I AM FORGIVEN! Believe It! And Maybe that is not my problem, if you are like me, when you accomplish something great, usually you want to just relax afterwards. When I mow the lawn, then usually I want to go inside afterwards and get a drink, sit down for a while, then it becomes a long time... because Hay, I ALREADY MOWED THE LAWN. I did my duty. Paul says. Hey! PRESS ON! FOR THE PRIZE. When you are competing for a prize you dont just chill out, you are focused and you are diligent! Press on for the Lord! Be DILIGENT about living for Him!
Suncoast Youth Group
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Back from Guatemala14 years ago
15 comments:
Well I’m glad I could be of such great humor to you Pastor Lee...I try!!
These verses remind me of the story Pilgrims Progress. In this story Christian is burdened down but continues to "press on" so that he can arrive at the Celestial City.
Paul is in a similar situation where as he is sitting in jail and has an awful past but continues to glorify Christ in all the ways he knows how to.
Once you become a Christian you are called to press on towards becoming more like Christ. We are told to look to the finish line and finish the race. To do this we have to be committed though by being committed to these devos and church but most importantly our relationship with Christ.
Paul says to forget what was left behind you or your past and only look at what lies ahead. Paul persecuted Christians but has put those awful things that he has done to rest because he talks about how if he dwells on them then he can only spiritually kill himself from regret, grief, and sorrow.
We can only waste our lives away by thinking about what ifs and the I wish I had done something differently. But Christ has shed his blood for us so that our sins might be washed away like Pastor Lee said as far as the east is from the west.
So, this passage touched my heart for a lot of different reasons.
Sometimes it is so easy to look back at the things one has done and say that It's too hard to get away from that kind of sin. It's too hard to strive to be perfect. In verse 15 Paul says, and I don't know if I'm interpreting this correctly(pastor Lee you can help me out) that we won't be perfect but lets have a mindset of perfection always striving to make the choice Jesus would make. If we aren't in this mindset if we only try to do a couple of things right and forget about the things that tempt us most than God will reveal this unto us in one way or another.
I look into my heart here and sometimes I feel this way, that we can't do everything right so why try? But this is giving God's purpose for us this verse right here says the opposite of what I am guilty of thinking before. I believe that with the half way committed out look If we continue to sin and believe it is ok God will certainly call our attention to that sin. Whether it be conviction or something bad happens. Almost like when Jamey Ragle said Isn't it better for you to give your attention to God rather than have him have to get it? AS for our pasts, well we have all made mistakes. It can curse us but I think it can also motivate us to do that much better in the future. Some mistakes we have to live with for the rest of our life and some affect the out come of other peoples lives. Even today I see the affect of my sin on other people's faith, part of their lives. But just like Paul says forget the past. Ascend into God's will in the future.
We need to press on for the Lord like he did with us. We have faith in Jesus. We need to take everything in the past and leave it there so that we can focus on future accomplishments for Christ. Everyday I need to press toward the mark and for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He gives me strength to get to that goal. Last year I had something come up and it was pretty hard for me but a few weeks later I trusted in God and He gave the strength through His power to get over it and now its in the past and it will always be in the past. I have left that in the past so I can reach further to God and his calling for my life. The devil always tries to bring "bad past" into the future but whenever we accept God into our hearts Christ forgives our sins from the past and we dont need to worry about them anymore. We all need to stay one the straight path to Christ and dont go off on any rabbit trails just persevere and trust the Lord for your life and let the Holy Spirit work within you.
well what i got from this was that Paul was trying to forget the past things he had done because he use to kill Christians untill he became a Christian himself and now he stands up for the Christians and God, and i am also not shure if he was in jail at the time he was writing this. he also says we should forget our past and look forward toward the prize which is Jesus Christ and heaven. i am shure we all have done something we regreted doing and wish we could take back but we can't so we need to just stop bringing it up and thinking about it and look forward to see if we can do things that would honor and help God in the future.
MESSAGE FOR ALEX BEALS
Wow that is so cheap if you want the longest devotion award try making it only on a devotion not about nonsense about babe ruth. Anyone can make a long devo just by putting in a recipe for chocolate cake in it.
So on to my devos. Wow this story is for anyone who may think would god save me even though i've done all this bad stuff. It actually reminds me of randy houge and how he did drugs, hung out with a bad crowd, ran away from home, and pushed "stumpy" down the stairs. Even though Randy was such a horrible person before he turned himself around and is now living for god. So pretty much don't dwell on the past, look forward and move on for jesus because no matter what you may have done god will forgive you and will continue to love you forever and ever. Remember though just because god will forgive you for whatever you may have done it doesn't mean you can just prance around everywhere and just sin as much as a world champion eater eats at a chinese buffet.
I have had a lot of bad things happen to me like like my uncle dieing and just a bunch of stuff. Yesterday i watched P.S. I love You. The movie is about a husband dieing and him sending letters to her from the dead to help her forget about him and move on. I know that is hard to forget the things in your past but if you keep thinking about them your life is going to stop. You need to put it in the past to enjoy your future. Thats what this passage is about to me. We need to forget about all the bad things in our life and focus on the future! If we dont were not going to be able to do the lords work and help others
What I got from this passage is to not let the past slow you down. Try not to regret things you have done in the past, and just keep going forward towards God. He forgave us so we can move on, and continue to praise him.
This kind of reminded me of The Lion King. When Timon and Pumba find Simba in the desert, and tell him to leave his past behind him. Hakuna Matata!
This passage reminds me that I have never "arrived" or "attained perfection" as a Christian. We can get caught up in that sometimes. We can compare ourselves to lost people or my old life and say wow look at me now, I'm really spiritual, now I can just coast. Paul never beleived that. Look at what he had done(and was doing) for Christ. And he still said"I have not attained"; "I'm still trying to become the person God is creating me to be." verse 12
I am excited to see what Christ can do with me if I yeild my life to Him daily.
Trust me, if God can use me, He can use ANYBODY! :)
I think this passage is saying that in order to achieve spiritual greatness a person needs to move on from their past mistakes and realize that al is forgiven and to trust that. Like Pastor Lee said Paul is encouraging us fellow believers to not only achieve the goals we want in our faith but to keep going further thatn what we can do...that whay Christ can use us for someting more that we could imagine.
Tonite was a blast =]
Gaby pretty much explained what I first thought, so for my lack of creativity at the moment, I'll put it in my own words.
This passage relates to me in alot of ways and I'm glad she reminded me to do it tonite. I guess its trying to say not to dwell on past mistakes for they have been forgiven.
Yes. Tonite was fun :). Yayness for my second laptop I never used, hope you can make good use of it.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Meaning were going towards a goal a goal thats something thats not worthless its meaningful.
Really Nothing To Say...
Jonathan Massey
i find this passage to be about looking forward to the future in two different ways; to leave the bad behind and look forward to better, but also to not stay in one place and focus on what good you do, to move on and do more. Theres no time for regrets!
As Christians truly trying for God, we should constantly be thinking of what next we can do for Christ, and be open to the ways he can use us. The only way to really let the Lord really in is to let go of all of the bad that sort of refrains you from your full Christian potential.
pastor lee; i did like i promised about yesterdays devotions
A quote from The Lion King Timone: "You gotta put the past behind ya". That is sort of what this passage is saying. You can't meditate on the things that you have done. It's only going to bring you down. Now what you should do is Think about what you are about to do. The past has happened and you can't change that. But you can use the past experences to help aid you desicions for the future. Hakuna Matata!!!
I've lived my life this year & 1/2 way thru last w/o regret.
i don't look back on the bad cuz it holds me in the past(which isnt pretty)
instead i simply look 4ward to whats2come & the GOOD i can do.
everything happens4a reason, good or bad
so we just gotta let the past go & 4give ourselves & 2 better ourselves.
look 2 the future we have & focus NOW on building our relationship w/god.
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