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Hanging-Tough-Together-and-Loving-It-Msg · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: In the sweltering summer way back in seventeen seventy six,
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Speaker 1: delegates to the Continental Congress were debating among themselves as
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Speaker 1: they carefully crafted the words of Thomas Jefferson's draft of
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Speaker 1: the Declaration of Independence. Each man understood as he leaned
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Speaker 1: over that document to sign his name, that, in truth,
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Speaker 1: he was signing his own death warrant if that newborn
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Speaker 1: nation failed to secure independence from the motherland, Great Britain.
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Speaker 1: With a heavy threat in the air, Benjamin Franklin was
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Speaker 1: recorded as saying, we must all hang together, or most assuredly,
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Speaker 1: we shall all hang separately. Classic statement. Isn't it Their
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Speaker 1: determination to hang tough eventually brought about American independence? But
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Speaker 1: it wasn't their decision to sign the declaration that made
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Speaker 1: them independent. Independence was achieved through agonizing effort. Never forget that.
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Speaker 1: As is true of freedom, so it is with all
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Speaker 1: of life. Dreaming and planning and hoping, will never accomplish
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Speaker 1: much without concentrated effort and a disciplined willingness to persevere.
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Speaker 1: The Apostle Paul is a great example. He was one
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Speaker 1: who joyfully persevered, hanging tough in order to reach his goal.
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Speaker 1: That's why I've titled today's message hanging tough together and
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Speaker 1: loving it. To prepare ourselves for it. Open your bibles
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Speaker 1: to the Letter to the Philippians, chapter three. Here we
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Speaker 1: will read Paul's declaration to remain tough, to persevere to
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Speaker 1: the end regardless. I'll read from Philippians beginning at verse twelve.
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Speaker 1: Not that I have already obtained it, or have already
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Speaker 1: become perfect. But I press on so that I may
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Speaker 1: lay hold of that for which also I was laid
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Speaker 1: hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard
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Speaker 1: myself as having laid hold of it yet, But one
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Speaker 1: thing I do. Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward
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Speaker 1: to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal
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Speaker 1: for the prize of the upward call of God in
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus. Let us. Therefore, as many as are perfect,
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Speaker 1: have this attitude, And if in anything you have a
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Speaker 1: different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. However,
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Speaker 1: let us keep living by that same standard to which
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Speaker 1: we have attained. On the same day every year, there
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Speaker 1: are secret dreams entertained by the young. Some of them
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Speaker 1: are little boys not yet into even junior high school.
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Speaker 1: Some of them are teenagers, that are now in their
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Speaker 1: high school years, and some of them are distinguishing themselves
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Speaker 1: as university students. They have secret dreams about the same thing.
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Speaker 1: They are all athletes, and though they never tell their
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Speaker 1: parents the dream, they have the same dream. Though they
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Speaker 1: never tell each other they have the dream, they still
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Speaker 1: dream it. That same Sunday every year has come to
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Speaker 1: be known as Super Bowl Sunday, and the dream is
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Speaker 1: that he will someday be in the starting lineup of
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Speaker 1: one of those twenty two players on the field battling
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Speaker 1: for and hoping to win the ultimate trophy of that
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Speaker 1: particular sport. Few reached their dreams. A little ten year
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Speaker 1: old boy was sitting in the stands at the first
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Speaker 1: Super Bowl game way back years ago, now decades ago.
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Speaker 1: It so happened that his father had found a couple
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Speaker 1: of tickets available, because, as sports fans will remember, that
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Speaker 1: first Super Bowl was not sold out, And so his
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Speaker 1: dad took his boy in hand, and they set up
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Speaker 1: high at the stadium at the Los Angeles Coliseum and
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Speaker 1: they watched these players. This little ten year old boy
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Speaker 1: watched Bart Starr and Boy Dowler and Fuzzy Thurston and
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Speaker 1: Paul Harnung and names like Kramer and Willie Wood and
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Speaker 1: other names that you could name, all these fellows who
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Speaker 1: played for the legendary Green Bay Packers who won the
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Speaker 1: game hands down. The little boy never said a word
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Speaker 1: to his father about it, but he entertained a dream. Someday,
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Speaker 1: he thought, huh, I will be on that playing field.
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Speaker 1: Someday I will be in the Super Bowl. That little
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Speaker 1: boy went through high school and then into college and
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Speaker 1: finished his work at Stanford, and then went from one
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Speaker 1: pro team to another. And would you believe it, on
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Speaker 1: the twenty fifth anniversary of the Super Bowl, that little
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Speaker 1: boys who's now thirty four years old, dream was fulfilled.
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Speaker 1: The oldest man playing on the Buffalo bill squad wide
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Speaker 1: receiver James Lofton, just a little fellow ten years old,
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Speaker 1: looking at a game twenty five years before and now
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Speaker 1: realizing seeing the dream come true. I can't tell you
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Speaker 1: what makes football fans out of other people. I can
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Speaker 1: only speak for myself and tell you that the game,
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Speaker 1: that the game is really to me an analogy of life.
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Speaker 1: And I think the most obvious analogy is that you
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Speaker 1: don't get through life by dreaming, or for that matter,
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Speaker 1: by simply planning, or if I may say it by
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Speaker 1: simply praying you get through the game of life by
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Speaker 1: hanging tough regardless, by not giving up when you encounter obstacles,
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Speaker 1: by not quitting because you have critics who come at
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Speaker 1: you from both sides, by not stopping because of pain,
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Speaker 1: or giving up because you are weary. In the final
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Speaker 1: analysis is one by hanging tough. You don't get that
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Speaker 1: when you browse through bookstores and look at the popular
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Speaker 1: titles of the day. I found myself in a bookstore
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Speaker 1: as recently as last evening, and I sort of lingered
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Speaker 1: over the business and management and motivational sections, just to
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Speaker 1: take a look at some titles that are offered today
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Speaker 1: to get people to buy books. Listen to a few
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Speaker 1: of these and see if they reflect hard work and
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Speaker 1: hanging tough and being there through the long haul. One
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Speaker 1: title is Passport to Prosperity. Another one is called Winning Moves. Another,
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Speaker 1: I'm sure highly spiritual work, is entitled True Greed. I
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Speaker 1: like this one Leadership Secrets of Attila the hun It's
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Speaker 1: there on the shelf. You can find it. Winning through Intimidation,
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Speaker 1: cashing in on the American Dream parenthesis, How to Retire
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Speaker 1: at thirty five the art of selfishness, techniques that take
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Speaker 1: you to the top, how to get what you really
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Speaker 1: want now, Secrets of quick success that one especially turn
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Speaker 1: my stomach. There is no quick success. There is no secret,
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Speaker 1: some special plan that will help you get to the
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Speaker 1: top in a half an hour, or for that matter,
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Speaker 1: half a year or half a lifetime. Ask any person
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Speaker 1: who has succeeded in the realm of his or her career,
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Speaker 1: and they'll name two words. Hard work. Hanging tough. We
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Speaker 1: say today, regardless and as much as you may not
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Speaker 1: want to hear that coming from the Bible, that is
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Speaker 1: indeed the Christian life in a nutshell. It is not
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Speaker 1: dreamy praying. It is not goofy songs. It is not
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Speaker 1: sitting on a hilltop strumming a guitar, eating bird seed,
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Speaker 1: singing dolord. It isn't some kind of passive, dreamy, wonderful
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Speaker 1: ethereal existence where you wind up in heaven fully rewarded
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Speaker 1: for a life well done. It is hanging tough against
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Speaker 1: all odds. It is living with the so over your head.
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Speaker 1: I think if any one of us were we to
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Speaker 1: be able to corner that particular wide receiver for the
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Speaker 1: buffalo bills. If any one of us were to ask
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Speaker 1: him how he got to where he is as the
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Speaker 1: oldest man on the squad, finally in the Super Bowl,
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Speaker 1: he would tell you, I hung tough. The Apostle Paul
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Speaker 1: in the third chapter of Philippians writes the same kind
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Speaker 1: of thing in different words. And you will find no
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Speaker 1: so called quick and easy secret to living the Christian life.
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Speaker 1: In the middle of Philippians chapter three. As a matter
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Speaker 1: of fact, you will find that the race is one
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Speaker 1: by locating the right objective and relentlessly pursuing it. Finding
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Speaker 1: the right objective, then relentlessly pursuing it day after day,
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Speaker 1: in season and out of season, year after year, like
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Speaker 1: raising a family, like repeating the same of restrictions, like
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Speaker 1: standing on the same standard, like going over the same
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Speaker 1: rules in the home, like living the same message day
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Speaker 1: after day, year after year, decade after decade. And then
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Speaker 1: finally it works. The Apostle writes in Philippians three, verse twelve,
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Speaker 1: not that I've already obtained it or have already become perfect,
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Speaker 1: but I press on, and verse fourteen, I press on. Wait.
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Speaker 1: Now there's a context in which he says this, and
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Speaker 1: we need to understand where he's coming from. You don't
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Speaker 1: just pick up a novel and begin on page thirty seven.
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Speaker 1: You don't find a newspaper and start reading in the
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Speaker 1: middle of the column on the third page. You go
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Speaker 1: into the context of that to make it, help it
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Speaker 1: make sense. What's he getting at becoming perfect and having
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Speaker 1: already obtained and what's on his mind? Well, you may
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Speaker 1: have forgotten that he has just gone through his testimony
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Speaker 1: telling us about a changed life, and what a story
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Speaker 1: he has told. Verse four of chapter three concludes, if
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Speaker 1: anyone has a mind to put confidence in the flesh,
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Speaker 1: I far more. I'm more than they now. A person
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Speaker 1: reading it for the first time, it'd say, it sounds
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Speaker 1: like arrogance to me. Well, you're right. He did live
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Speaker 1: an arrogant life before his life was invaded by another person.
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Speaker 1: You see, the Apostle was on his way to the top.
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Speaker 1: He was, if you please, being groomed for the top
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Speaker 1: seat in the Supreme Court among the Jews, called in
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Speaker 1: the Sanhedron, the top rulers of the nation. His name
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Speaker 1: had become a household word. He had won all of
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Speaker 1: the honors, he had accomplished, all of the achievements, He
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Speaker 1: had the heritage, the schooling, the tutelage, the respect, the
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Speaker 1: zeal so much so that he eclipsed all of his contemporaries.
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Speaker 1: His name was a household word. He had name recognition.
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Speaker 1: Saul of Tarsus, the epitome of legalistic righteousness. Blameless is
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Speaker 1: the word he uses as to the law of Pharisee
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Speaker 1: verse five, as to righteousness, which is in the law,
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Speaker 1: verse six, blameless I had arrived. If any man could
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Speaker 1: have worked his way to the approbation of God, I
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Speaker 1: had done it. And ban the Damascus Road experience, I broke.
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Speaker 1: Everything changed. This Jesus had the audacity to invade my life.
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Speaker 1: John Pollock, in a work entitled The Man Who Shook
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Speaker 1: the World, describes it better than I. Saul could not
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Speaker 1: believe what he heard and saw. All his convictions, intellect
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Speaker 1: and training, his reputation, his self respect demanded that Jesus
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Speaker 1: should not be alive again. He played for time and replied,
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Speaker 1: who are you Lord? He used a mode of address
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Speaker 1: which might mean no more than your honor. I am
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Speaker 1: Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you,
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Speaker 1: this kicking against the goad. That he knew in a
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Speaker 1: second that seemed an eternity. Saul saw the wounds of Jesus,
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Speaker 1: had and feet. He saw the face and knew that
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Speaker 1: he had seen the Lord, that he was alive, as
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Speaker 1: Stephen and the others had said, and that he loved
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Speaker 1: not only those whom Paul, whom Saul persecuted, but saw himself.
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Speaker 1: It is hard for you to kick against the gods.
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Speaker 1: Not one word of reproach. Saul had never admitted to
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Speaker 1: himself that he had felt pricks of a goad as
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Speaker 1: he raged against Stephen and his disciples. But now instantaneously
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Speaker 1: he was shatteringly aware that he had been fighting Jesus
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Speaker 1: and fighting himself, his conscience, his powerlessness, the darkness and
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Speaker 1: chaos in his soul. God now hovered over this chaos
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Speaker 1: and brought him to the moment of new creation. It
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Speaker 1: wanted only his yes saw broke. What shall I do? Lord?
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Speaker 1: I was sitting in Seminary Chapel back in nineteen fifty
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Speaker 1: nine Dallas Theological Seminary, and I was listening to on
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Speaker 1: a Red Path, then pastor of the famed Moody Memorial Church.
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Speaker 1: I was taking notes, as I often did when listening
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Speaker 1: to chapel speakers, and suddenly I stopped taking notes. He
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Speaker 1: made a statement that burned its way right into the
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Speaker 1: creases of my brain. He made the comment, when God
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Speaker 1: wants to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible
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Speaker 1: man and crushes him. Paul was crushed, shattered, says Pollock.
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Speaker 1: That's why verse seven of Flippings three begins with but
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Speaker 1: having achieved all of those honors, having won all of
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Speaker 1: those awards, having gotten all of the applause, having impressed
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Speaker 1: all of my contemporaries, but God pulled them all off
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Speaker 1: the wall. He sent all all of that into virtual
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Speaker 1: oblivion as he won my heart, as Christ came in.
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Speaker 1: Whatever things were gained to me in my former years,
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Speaker 1: those things I have now counted as loss for the
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Speaker 1: sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things
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Speaker 1: to be lost in view of the surpassing value of
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Speaker 1: knowing Christ, my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss
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Speaker 1: of all things, and count them but rubbish. We looked
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Speaker 1: at that last time, trash, that I might win Christ.
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Speaker 1: I love that next verse, and I might be found
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Speaker 1: in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived
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Speaker 1: from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ,
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Speaker 1: the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.
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Speaker 1: I have been justified. God's love has invaded He's changed
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Speaker 1: me justified the sovereign act of God, whereby he declares
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Speaker 1: righteous the believing sinner while still in a sinning state.
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Speaker 1: Here I am in a sinning state, and Jesus declares
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Speaker 1: me righteous by his grace. Now my purpose is different
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Speaker 1: Verse ten. The Amplified Bible renders it beautifully that I
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Speaker 1: may know him. That is that I may progressively become
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Speaker 1: more intimately acquainted with him. Isn't that good? Progressively become
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Speaker 1: more intimately acquainted with Him and discover fellowship even in
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Speaker 1: the sufferings a changed man. Life isn't made up of
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Speaker 1: a quick secret sitting in the stands watching the game
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Speaker 1: being played, knowing that if so facto, I'll be there.
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Speaker 1: Life is in fact a daily crushing, an experience in
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Speaker 1: the classroom of hardship. And I've discovered that the way
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Speaker 1: I make it is by pressing on hanging tough. Regardless.
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Speaker 1: I want you to hear that, because you're not going
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Speaker 1: to see it in the media, and you're not going
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Speaker 1: to read it from the shelves. You'll get it from
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Speaker 1: the book of God and some of you are going
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Speaker 1: through hellacious times, and unless I miss my guess, you're
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Speaker 1: getting a little disillusioned, thinking you've missed the Christian life
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Speaker 1: along the way. Maybe somebody has a secret, and you're
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Speaker 1: sitting duck waiting for the cult to promise you some new,
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Speaker 1: great innovative idea that will lift you above this time
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Speaker 1: and place you in another realm while living on this earth,
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Speaker 1: on and on and on on infanitum odd nauseum. And
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Speaker 1: if you are not careful, you will buy into that,
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Speaker 1: and you will miss the message of true Christianity. Christ
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Speaker 1: himself said I did not come to bring a peace,
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Speaker 1: but a sword. So the apostle says, some of you
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Speaker 1: might think, now that I have Christ, I have arrived,
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Speaker 1: I have reached a level that very few will reach.
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Speaker 1: No I press on. I've studied these five verses very
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Speaker 1: carefully twelve thirteen, fourteen, fifteen sixteen, And as I've studied them,
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Speaker 1: I have found five parts of that whole idea of
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Speaker 1: hanging tough regardless. I think that makes for a good slogan,
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Speaker 1: but it doesn't spell it out. And anybody who cares
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Speaker 1: about their walk with Christ wants to know how to
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Speaker 1: do it. What's involved in pressing on? What does it
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Speaker 1: mean to hang tough in season and out of season,
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Speaker 1: day after day, cold or hot, young or old? How
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Speaker 1: do I do it? Let me give you these five
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Speaker 1: statements that I find sort of bubbling up out of these.
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Speaker 1: Passage number one, The plan is progress, not perfection. The
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Speaker 1: plan is progress not perfection. In fact, he says that
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Speaker 1: two or three times in the first couple of verses.
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Speaker 1: Not that I have already obtained it, not that I
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Speaker 1: have already become perfect, But I press on. Look at
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Speaker 1: thirteen brethren. I do not regard myself as having laid
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Speaker 1: hold of it. Yet. I haven't arrived. I haven't come
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Speaker 1: to a place of sinless perfection. I get nervous, by
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Speaker 1: the way, when I'm around men who talk about their
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Speaker 1: being in that state, always want to visit with their wives.
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Speaker 1: It's something in me that just won't accept it. And
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Speaker 1: I find that a disillusioning state of mind that one
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Speaker 1: teaches to another individual, that there can be a state
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Speaker 1: of sinless perfection, not as long as we are on
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Speaker 1: this earth. So many intent on their pursuit of Godliness
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Speaker 1: and Christ's likeness, which is the word it, the definition
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Speaker 1: of it. I have, not having laid hold of it yet.
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Speaker 1: Christ's likeness, that's what he's pursuing. So many, in their
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Speaker 1: intent pursuit of that, don't remember that they have to
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Speaker 1: constantly live with imperfections, and their expectations will be dashed
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Speaker 1: and there will not be the absence of humanity. On
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Speaker 1: the contrary, there will be frequent touches of humanity and disappointment.
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Speaker 1: That's all part of the journey. Why I'm saying this.
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Speaker 1: First of several principles I want to give you is
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Speaker 1: that the plan is progress, not perfection. If you are
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Speaker 1: a perfectionist, this kind of teaching drives you nuts because
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Speaker 1: you want so much to do it all without a flaw.
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Speaker 1: You can't. Furthermore, neither can anybody else. So give us
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Speaker 1: a break. Perfectionists are people who take pains and give
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Speaker 1: them to other people. And I want to warn you
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Speaker 1: if you are given to that kind of thinking, back off.
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Speaker 1: Remember if the Apostle had not attained, if he had
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Speaker 1: not become perfect, if he hadn't laid hold of it, yet,
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Speaker 1: neither of you, and neither has anyone else. The plan
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Speaker 1: is progress, not perfection. Second, he continues, Brethren, I do
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Speaker 1: not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet.
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Speaker 1: But one thing I do forgetting what lies behind. The
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Speaker 1: second statement I would give you is that the past
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Speaker 1: is over leave it. The past is over, leave it
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Speaker 1: forgetting what lies behind. This word forgetting in the original
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Speaker 1: text is a word for completely, forgetting, absolutely forgetting. It's
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Speaker 1: an athletic term of a runner who has outstripped another
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Speaker 1: runner on the course, and that one, now in first place,
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Speaker 1: does not turn and look back to see the location
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Speaker 1: of the one he has just outrun. He doesn't look
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Speaker 1: back and focus there. It looks forward and focuses on
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Speaker 1: the tape. Forgetting what is behind? Well, what is behind?
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Speaker 1: If I gave you categories, I could only name two.
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Speaker 1: First of all, there are great attainments and great achievements,
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Speaker 1: great moments of accomplishment and glory. That's fine, that's good,
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Speaker 1: but you can't live there. I find that people who
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Speaker 1: live in the glory of past achievements slacken their efforts
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Speaker 1: for what they might be able to do today. They
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Speaker 1: keep calling to mind the way they were. Something God did,
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Speaker 1: some great accomplishment he performed, And it's always yesteryear. That
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Speaker 1: can be by the way the sound of the death
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Speaker 1: knell over a church. A church can live in the
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Speaker 1: days of past glory. A Christian organization can live in
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Speaker 1: the days when we were a great place. And you're
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Speaker 1: heading for trouble when you do that, the apostle says,
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Speaker 1: forget what lies behind. Second, in the past is failure
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Speaker 1: and areas of disappointment and defeat, and we all have them.
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Speaker 1: Now we're to learn lessons from them. But to keep
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Speaker 1: plowing that same old field and picking fruit from that
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Speaker 1: same old putrid tree, it does nothing but defeat you
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Speaker 1: and steal your courage for today and for facing tomorrow.
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Speaker 1: So let's just pause and ask ourselves. Do you tend
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Speaker 1: to do that? Do you tend to focus on the
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Speaker 1: past more than you should? The apostle says, I press on,
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Speaker 1: and in doing it, I forget what lies behind. Now
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Speaker 1: the third, the future holds out hope. Reach for it.
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Speaker 1: See how he says it here, forgetting what lies behind
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Speaker 1: and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on.
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Speaker 1: I love this part of it. Again, He uses an
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Speaker 1: athletic term, probably has reference to chariot races in the
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Speaker 1: early Olympian Games. Now, I have never seen a chariot.
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Speaker 1: I saw Charleton heston on a chariot. You may have
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Speaker 1: seen that movie or they had this chariot race. And
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Speaker 1: I studied that chariot real carefully. I notice there are
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Speaker 1: no handles on it. It's a rather precarious thing to
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Speaker 1: be a chariot. Apparently it was a precarious thing to
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Speaker 1: be a chariot driver. First of all, you're wearing a skirt,
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Speaker 1: and second you've got long boots that come up to
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Speaker 1: your knees, and you've got nothing to hold on to
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Speaker 1: but these but these reins for the horses. And you've
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Speaker 1: got other people that have big jagged things on their wheels,
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Speaker 1: and they're gonna try to beat you in this race.
27:55
Speaker 1: And I noticed that one thing that the winner did
27:59
Speaker 1: was he lean forward. He reached forward, not only to
28:03
Speaker 1: keep his balance and to stay in that silly little
28:06
Speaker 1: thing where there wasn't a lot of room to start with,
28:09
Speaker 1: but he reached forward driving those horses. And there's a
28:14
Speaker 1: sense of passion in that race. That's the word here
28:19
Speaker 1: forgetting what lies behind. I reach forward in this race
28:24
Speaker 1: called life, pressing on, determined to win. Now, I want
28:36
Speaker 1: you to look at the words as they appear in
28:38
Speaker 1: the text, because that's far more important than my comments
28:44
Speaker 1: Verse thirteen. I do not regard myself as having laid
28:48
Speaker 1: hold of it yet. So it's a plan that's a progress,
28:51
Speaker 1: not perfection. But I forget what lies behind. The past
28:57
Speaker 1: is done, so leave it and I reach forward forward
29:02
Speaker 1: to what lies ahead. I press on. He says it again,
29:10
Speaker 1: I don't stop. I press towards the goal for the
29:16
Speaker 1: prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
29:21
Speaker 1: I stretch as if in a race. Is that you
29:31
Speaker 1: only you can answer that question? Are you engaged in
29:35
Speaker 1: that kind of progressive living or you hung up on
29:42
Speaker 1: something from the past, or are you over focused in
29:47
Speaker 1: something out there that's some kind of dream that is
29:50
Speaker 1: far from reality? In it all, the game plan is
29:54
Speaker 1: to hang tough and to live with this sense of
29:59
Speaker 1: quest in mine. I remember hearing Ray Ortland, a pastor
30:05
Speaker 1: friend of mine and of many of us, talk about
30:07
Speaker 1: how when he learned to preach, he learned to preach
30:10
Speaker 1: and the ball of his balls of his feet as
30:13
Speaker 1: he would lean forward. And there's a sense of passion
30:16
Speaker 1: in that. I see the apostle living his life on
30:19
Speaker 1: the balls of his feet, leaning forward. He's not kicking
30:24
Speaker 1: back and sort of a peaceful alliance or passive coexistence
30:30
Speaker 1: with the enemy. He is on the quest. Let me
30:34
Speaker 1: ask you, does the name Robert Ballard mean anything to anybody?
30:39
Speaker 1: Maybe to some of you. Robert Ballard is a man
30:44
Speaker 1: who lived with a quest. He is the one who
30:50
Speaker 1: discovered on September one, nineteen eighty five, the sunken HMS Titanic.
30:58
Speaker 1: He's the one who sent down that bright light more
31:01
Speaker 1: than two miles deep in the North Atlantic, over three
31:04
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty miles off the coast of Newfoundland, where
31:07
Speaker 1: the old beautiful ship had sunk. He writes this in
31:15
Speaker 1: a work where he recorded his feelings at that moment.
31:21
Speaker 1: My first direct view of Titanic lasted less than two minutes,
31:27
Speaker 1: but the stark sight of her immense black hall towering
31:30
Speaker 1: above the ocean floor will remain forever, ingrained in my memory.
31:36
Speaker 1: My lifelong dream was to find this great ship, lifelong dream,
31:43
Speaker 1: and during the past thirteen years, thirteen years, the quest
31:50
Speaker 1: for her has dominated my life. Robert Ballard lived his
31:56
Speaker 1: life on the balls of his feet, thirteen years pressing
32:03
Speaker 1: for the discovery of that ship. That's the apostle Paul's
32:08
Speaker 1: point in verse fourteen, I press on. The plan is
32:14
Speaker 1: a progressive one. The past will leave me and it
32:17
Speaker 1: must be left aside. It will depress me, or it
32:21
Speaker 1: will overinflate me. I need to leave the past where
32:24
Speaker 1: it is. It'll speak for itself in my life and
32:28
Speaker 1: the future. I need to reach for it because it
32:31
Speaker 1: holds out hope. How much time do you spend even
32:35
Speaker 1: thinking about the future, my friend? Every year is a
32:38
Speaker 1: perfect occasion to make plans for the next year. If
32:42
Speaker 1: you make no plans, you will be as you were
32:44
Speaker 1: last year, or worse. What objectives have you said, What
32:49
Speaker 1: goals have you arranged? What thoughts have you put together
32:53
Speaker 1: to give you hope in this next period of time?
33:00
Speaker 1: All that brings me to the word attitude. You knew
33:02
Speaker 1: I'd deal with that one if nothing else now. The
33:05
Speaker 1: apostle in verse fourteen says, I press on toward the goal. JB.
33:10
Speaker 1: Phillips paraphrases it, I go straight for the goal. Let
33:15
Speaker 1: us therefore, verse fifteen, as many as are perfect, have
33:19
Speaker 1: this attitude, And if in anything you have a different attitude,
33:23
Speaker 1: God will reveal that also to you. Number four. The
33:26
Speaker 1: secret is a determined attitude. Maintain it. The secret is
33:33
Speaker 1: a determined attitude, maintain it. You might have been thrown
33:39
Speaker 1: by his word perfect in verse fifteen. It sounds like
33:41
Speaker 1: double talk. He said earlier in verse twelve that he
33:44
Speaker 1: has not become perfect, and now in verse fifteen he says,
33:47
Speaker 1: as many as are perfect. I think that's best described
33:51
Speaker 1: in the words of another expositor. Let me read them.
33:53
Speaker 1: I am complete in the sense that I have grown
33:56
Speaker 1: as far as I can at the present, and I
33:59
Speaker 1: am ready for the next lesson. This use of the
34:02
Speaker 1: word perfect has in mind maturing, reaching the goal of maturity,
34:09
Speaker 1: and I am in that process as many of us
34:12
Speaker 1: as have reached the level that is the level of
34:16
Speaker 1: our growth, and we are ready to learn the next lesson.
34:19
Speaker 1: Let me mention attitude. The secret is a determined attitude,
34:23
Speaker 1: throwing yourself into life, full sale, full bore, holding nothing back.
34:29
Speaker 1: That's the thought. And by the way, he's rather gracious,
34:32
Speaker 1: isn't he. He says, if anyone has a different attitude,
34:35
Speaker 1: God will reveal that to him. He lets other people be.
34:39
Speaker 1: He doesn't demand of you the same drive he has
34:41
Speaker 1: in himself. He simply holds it out as a model
34:44
Speaker 1: to follow. I want you to hold you place here.
34:46
Speaker 1: Let me show you a thought out of James Chapter one.
34:50
Speaker 1: Go over toward the end of the New Testament, if
34:53
Speaker 1: you're not familiar with your Bible, and just before those
34:57
Speaker 1: ending letters of Peter and John, you'll find the Book
35:01
Speaker 1: of James. And I have in mind verses two, three,
35:05
Speaker 1: and four of this first chapter wonderful words. And especially
35:13
Speaker 1: for you who like life easier rather than harder, and
35:17
Speaker 1: that's all of us, and you who find trials irritating
35:21
Speaker 1: rather than encouraging, And that's also all of us James
35:25
Speaker 1: one to two. Consider it all joy, my brothers, when
35:28
Speaker 1: you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your
35:32
Speaker 1: faith produces endurance. Now watch, let endurance have its there's
35:39
Speaker 1: our word again, completing effect. Let endurance run its course.
35:45
Speaker 1: Let endurance have its perfect result, that you may become mature, complete,
35:53
Speaker 1: christ Like, lacking nothing. How does that happen when those tests? Well,
36:01
Speaker 1: I think one of the paraphrases talks about when all
36:04
Speaker 1: kinds of trials crawl into your life, my brother, something
36:09
Speaker 1: like this, do not resist them as intruders, but welcome
36:13
Speaker 1: them as friends. Sounds crazy. You're not taught to do
36:18
Speaker 1: that in books on true greed and the art of
36:22
Speaker 1: selfishness and leadership. Secrets of Attila the hunt that won't
36:27
Speaker 1: teach you how to learn through through difficulties. You'll fight difficulties,
36:32
Speaker 1: you'll never mention them. You'll live as though they don't happen.
36:35
Speaker 1: You'll press right on rather than embracing them, learning from them,
36:40
Speaker 1: accepting the fact that life is tough, and those with
36:43
Speaker 1: a determined attitude of the ones that make it. I
36:47
Speaker 1: read years ago about an evangelist that owned two bird dogs.
36:51
Speaker 1: He was so proud of those little bird dog pups,
36:52
Speaker 1: and he sort of indulged them as he raised them
36:56
Speaker 1: in a large backyard. He noticed as they were growing
36:59
Speaker 1: up that one day a little henry bulldog kind of
37:04
Speaker 1: dug his way under the fence and got into the backyard. Well,
37:08
Speaker 1: those two bird dogs were on him like white on rice.
37:12
Speaker 1: I mean, they they were just teeth, hair and eyes everywhere.
37:16
Speaker 1: And then little old bulldogs skirted out under the fence
37:19
Speaker 1: and took off yiping on his way down the alley,
37:21
Speaker 1: and the owner stood inside out looking out the kitchen
37:24
Speaker 1: when and he thought, that's great, those are my dogs.
37:27
Speaker 1: Next morning, that little bulldog came back and he dug
37:31
Speaker 1: back under the fence and boy, they went after him again,
37:35
Speaker 1: not quite as assertively as before, and he was growling,
37:38
Speaker 1: biting and fighting, but they whipped him and he, you know,
37:41
Speaker 1: he took off. Well. This evangelist had to go on
37:44
Speaker 1: a trip for two weeks, and so while he was gone,
37:46
Speaker 1: he decided to ask his wife how the bird dogs
37:49
Speaker 1: were doing. And he called her a week or two
37:52
Speaker 1: and a week or so and she said, Honey, the
37:54
Speaker 1: funniest things happened. That bulldog has come back every day.
38:00
Speaker 1: And you know, just lately he beat the stuff in
38:03
Speaker 1: out of both of our bird dogs. And now when
38:05
Speaker 1: he comes they whine and run under the house and
38:09
Speaker 1: they look at him with their ears back. And she
38:11
Speaker 1: said that a little bulldog just struts around in that
38:13
Speaker 1: backyard like he owns. He owns the place. That is
38:18
Speaker 1: a determined attitude. You come back at it, and you
38:24
Speaker 1: come back at it, and you come back at it.
38:27
Speaker 1: And it's remarkable how God honors that kind of life.
38:37
Speaker 1: I press on in season out of season, when it
38:43
Speaker 1: feels good. When I don't feel good, I am determined
38:51
Speaker 1: to see it through. I love the sign that appeared
38:56
Speaker 1: on the boundary of a South Carolina town just on
39:01
Speaker 1: the city limits, it said, They tell us a receation
39:05
Speaker 1: is coming. We have decided not to cooperate. I think
39:10
Speaker 1: some of you read the news and then decide to
39:12
Speaker 1: cooperate with the news, and in that sense you live
39:17
Speaker 1: a defeated life. You watch the news at the end
39:20
Speaker 1: of the day, and it is never designed to make
39:22
Speaker 1: you feel great. Have you noticed when you get through
39:25
Speaker 1: watching it, you never go, man, I'm ready to face
39:27
Speaker 1: the day tomorrow. That is terrific. Thanks Dan, Rather, you'll
39:32
Speaker 1: really make me feel good. Good night, Dan. You don't
39:36
Speaker 1: do that. You go click, Oh my gosh, how are
39:39
Speaker 1: we gonna make it through bed? And the next morning?
39:44
Speaker 1: Oh no, it's gonna be as bad as Dan said
39:47
Speaker 1: it was gonna be. Last night. It's as bad as
39:50
Speaker 1: I thought. It's worse than I thought. Let's watch him tonight,
39:53
Speaker 1: so we'll see how we can do it again. Give
39:57
Speaker 1: me a break. Does that sound like what verse fifteen
40:03
Speaker 1: of chapter three and Philippins is all about, have this
40:09
Speaker 1: attitude pressing on? There's one more. We're in this thing together, folks,
40:14
Speaker 1: verse sixteen. And I'm glad, he says. Let us in
40:17
Speaker 1: these last two verses, let us have the attitude and
40:21
Speaker 1: let us keep living by that same standard to which
40:26
Speaker 1: we have attained. Number five, The need is keeping a
40:30
Speaker 1: high standard together. Lock arms with your brothers and sisters
40:37
Speaker 1: in the family, Lock arms with your fellow Christians, Lock
40:41
Speaker 1: arms with those who are listening to and directing their lives.
40:44
Speaker 1: But the truth, the need is keeping a high standard together.
40:49
Speaker 1: It's a mutual effort. Listen to two verses Galatians five six,
40:55
Speaker 1: verse nine. Let us not lose heart in doing good,
40:59
Speaker 1: for in due to two we shall reap if we
41:01
Speaker 1: do not grow weary that great hope. Here's another one
41:05
Speaker 1: you won't hear on the evening news one Corinthians fifteen
41:08
Speaker 1: fifty eight. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always
41:14
Speaker 1: abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much
41:16
Speaker 1: as you know that your labor is not in vain
41:19
Speaker 1: in the Lord, don't grow weary and well doing your
41:23
Speaker 1: labor is not in vain in the Lord, you can
41:27
Speaker 1: face it. Most of the Christian life is not big
41:31
Speaker 1: time tingles. It is not cheers and applause from the crowd.
41:35
Speaker 1: It is not fun and games. It is not relaxed,
41:38
Speaker 1: easy living good life. It is gutted out, hang tough, trusting,
41:44
Speaker 1: God to use your life in spite of the times
41:48
Speaker 1: in which you live, and he willed. I noticed there
41:53
Speaker 1: were some biblical stories that I don't have time to
41:56
Speaker 1: review for you here, but just the names will remind
41:58
Speaker 1: you of them, glories of men and women who lost
42:02
Speaker 1: their way, as well as those who stayed on course.
42:05
Speaker 1: I think of Lot, who had so much going for him,
42:10
Speaker 1: but he lost sight of the gold. I think of Samson,
42:13
Speaker 1: who judged Israel twenty years and fell into the arms
42:16
Speaker 1: of a harlot, finished so poorly. I think of Saul,
42:21
Speaker 1: the King, head and shoulders above all the other people
42:24
Speaker 1: physically and perhaps even spiritually, a man of humility and grace,
42:31
Speaker 1: who became a bitter man because of an enemy mindset
42:35
Speaker 1: he had toward David, and he finally died a terrible suicide.
42:41
Speaker 1: I think of Anonius and Sopharra. What a terrible story.
42:49
Speaker 1: First of all, how'd you like to be married to
42:50
Speaker 1: a woman named Sephirah? But Anonius and Sopharra is they
42:56
Speaker 1: are examples of a couple who tried to fake out
42:59
Speaker 1: the Christian community and God didn't let him get away
43:03
Speaker 1: with it. And then there are other names like Joseph,
43:07
Speaker 1: who wouldn't shrink under the cloud of bitterness against his
43:11
Speaker 1: brothers who had done him wrong for so many for
43:15
Speaker 1: all those years he'd suffered. Joseph, I think of Daniel,
43:20
Speaker 1: who endured the treatment of several ugly and thoughtless kings.
43:26
Speaker 1: I think of John Mark, who did fail, but he
43:29
Speaker 1: returned and became effective in Paul's ministry. I think a Moses,
43:35
Speaker 1: I think a Rahab. These people finished. Well, is that
43:42
Speaker 1: your plan? Well, let me see if I can give
43:49
Speaker 1: it to you in a simple statement. Okay, let me
43:52
Speaker 1: give you a little workable statement. Progress is maintained by
44:00
Speaker 1: here we go, forgetting yesterday and focusing on tomorrow. Progress
44:11
Speaker 1: is maintained by forgetting yesterday and focusing on tomorrow, while
44:17
Speaker 1: we keep the right attitude and remember we're in it together,
44:26
Speaker 1: forgetting yesterday and focusing on tomorrow. While we keep the
44:29
Speaker 1: right attitude and remembering we are in it together. I'm
44:34
Speaker 1: encouraged to know that you're on a team with me,
44:36
Speaker 1: and I'm on a team with you, and you don't
44:39
Speaker 1: have to be a star, and I don't have to
44:41
Speaker 1: be a star. We can stub our toes and fail,
44:44
Speaker 1: and because we're locked ars, we're going to pull each
44:45
Speaker 1: other through this thing. You and I are pulling together.
44:50
Speaker 1: We're not against each other. That brings me great encouragement.
44:54
Speaker 1: I remember as a little boy in a little Baptist
44:57
Speaker 1: church that we attended for several years growing up in
45:00
Speaker 1: South Texas town of El Campo. I remember lying on
45:05
Speaker 1: the pew board stiff, listening to sermon after sermon. But
45:11
Speaker 1: I remember a gospel song that we used to sing
45:15
Speaker 1: that was just terrific. We don't sing it anymore now,
45:19
Speaker 1: but we did then, and it says this, I'm pressing
45:24
Speaker 1: on the upward way, new heights. I'm gaining every day,
45:30
Speaker 1: still praying as I onward bound, Lord, plant my feet
45:35
Speaker 1: on higher ground. Lord, lift me up. Let me stand
45:38
Speaker 1: by faith on Heaven's table land, a higher plane than
45:44
Speaker 1: I have found. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
45:50
Speaker 1: And I realized when I finished this message that that
45:55
Speaker 1: song is based on Paul's words pressing on Lord. I'm
46:00
Speaker 1: pressing on the upward way, and I'm in a process.
46:07
Speaker 1: I'm learning something every day praying as I onward bound,
46:13
Speaker 1: plant my feet on higher ground. What a way to live.
46:23
Speaker 1: Let's bow together, Please, I don't know the details of
46:30
Speaker 1: your circumstances and it's probably best that I don't, so
46:34
Speaker 1: that you won't have any feeling that I've been talking
46:36
Speaker 1: just to you, or that I plan this message with
46:39
Speaker 1: you in mind. You may be surprised to know you're
46:44
Speaker 1: you're living near and spending your life around others who
46:47
Speaker 1: were in a very same sort of situation. Don't know
46:52
Speaker 1: your way through, can't figure out why it's happening to you,
46:56
Speaker 1: can't see good in it. For sure, it does make
47:00
Speaker 1: logical sense. Have you thought maybe it's been designed to
47:07
Speaker 1: crush you, not in a sadistic way, not to just
47:12
Speaker 1: watch a squirm. God isn't unfair, but to bring it
47:17
Speaker 1: to your knees, to remind you that you're not all
47:21
Speaker 1: that all fire important to the whole world to humble you.
47:29
Speaker 1: Remember the words of Deuteronomy, where Moses reminds the people
47:33
Speaker 1: of those forty years in the wilderness they went through
47:35
Speaker 1: to humble them, to prove them, and to show them
47:38
Speaker 1: what was in their heart, whether they would keep his
47:40
Speaker 1: word or not. Maybe you'd love to have somebody to
47:48
Speaker 1: talk to about it. Maybe you realize your desperate need
47:52
Speaker 1: for a savior the first time you've been humble enough
47:56
Speaker 1: to admit you can't make it on your own that
47:59
Speaker 1: this a tough minded determination is beyond you. I want
48:05
Speaker 1: to point you to Jesus Christ today. It's the Cross
48:10
Speaker 1: that lifts up our head. It's the Cross that shows
48:14
Speaker 1: us the way. There's a prayer room that's clearly marked
48:19
Speaker 1: here on one of the doors at the front wall
48:21
Speaker 1: of our building in the worship center. If you need
48:25
Speaker 1: to talk to someone there, that's the place to do it.
48:30
Speaker 1: Thank you, Father for the remarkable, inspiring message from this
48:36
Speaker 1: grand man who shook the world. A life filled with
48:40
Speaker 1: your spirit. Not perfect by his own admission, but what
48:45
Speaker 1: a model of determination and strength amidst hardship. Lord, get
48:53
Speaker 1: us beyond the quick and easy mentality that life's sort
48:57
Speaker 1: of fun and games, that it's sort of easy, come, easy, go,
49:02
Speaker 1: and you sort of get breaks and you become great
49:05
Speaker 1: in sort of a three step process. Remind us, Lord
49:09
Speaker 1: that greatness begins with a humble heart, with a love
49:15
Speaker 1: for integrity and justice, and with a walk in Christ
49:20
Speaker 1: that is consistent and authentic. I pray especially for those
49:25
Speaker 1: who need to make that decision today. You give them
49:28
Speaker 1: the strength to do it, and give us all the
49:32
Speaker 1: power from your spirit to hang tough regardless we're pressing
49:41
Speaker 1: on the upward way, Lord, and by your grace we're
49:45
Speaker 1: gaining new heights. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen.
49:52
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Hanging Tough Together and Loving It was
49:57
Speaker 2: copyrighted in nineteen ninety one and the sound recording copyrighted
50:00
Speaker 2: in two thousand and eight by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
50:03
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
50:09
Speaker 2: Is grateful to Cook Communications Ministries for permission to quote
50:13
Speaker 2: from the book The Apostle, copyrighted in nineteen seventy two
50:17
Speaker 2: by John Pollock