PRESSING FORWARD
As we are finishing the month of April, we have been dedicating ourselves to take a close look at what Jesus did for us at the Passover, Resurrection, and the Ascension. To finish up this last week of the month, the Lord has given me a message on what He told the disciples He wanted them to do next in their Ministry. So, I named the Sunday message “What’s Next?” Of course, you can go to our Website www.LifesDestinyChurch.org and find this Sundays' link to our ''online.church" message and watch it. If you don’t, or didn’t, have the chance to watch it, it will be in our Messages section on our site by the 30th of April. In this Message, you will hear what Jesus told Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to do before He ascended into Heaven. However, as soon as I finished filming the "What's Next?" message, the Lord spoke to me that many are going to feel they need to get right up and make a bunch of plans, and/or resolutions, to run out and try to win a ton of disciples. The Lord then said to me that you do not need to make a bunch of promises to God. He said this because you might look back and realize how many things you started, didn’t finish, and then wound up feeling ashamed, guilty, and totally helpless as you look at your shattered plans, resolutions, and promises.
Rather, He asked me to remind you that He created you with a wonderful selection of talents, abilities, and skills. He then called you, because He already has a plan for you from before the foundation of the world. And He says that He is not expecting you to come up with choices of things that you wish to do. But rather, He knows that you must face the fact wherein you bear full personal responsibility for your every act. Galatians 6 explains this very explicitly. “A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the spirit, from the spirit will reap eternal life (vv. 7b-8). Please remember that Jesus is the one that has given you the Spirit of hope and will show and teach you how to sow into the Kingdom. Thus, finding your very own special purpose. Of course, that purpose will frame the rest of your life. How do you proceed to go about finding that purpose? Let’s look at a Scripture the Lord has picked for you today. I like to call it: “Pressing Forward”
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too, God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. (Phil 3:12-17 NIV)
Paul sent this letter to the Philippians to reassure them that they would be victorious if they had the same attitude of Christ while knowing that Christ was their all-sufficiency in any and every circumstance. Paul, of course, was very understanding and encouraging. So, it seems appropriate to share these words with you these words of blessing and encouragement, and to urge you to persevere in seeking the fullness of the Lord’s wisdom while you are Pressing Forward.