Philippians 3;12-16

12Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. 13Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before. 14I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you: 16only, whereunto we have attained, by that same rule let us walk.

Looking to what is ahead of us, what is it that you desire to obtain or conquer, what goal do you want to me, what aspiration do you have.

We need to focus on the goal ahead of us. And make a decision to be willing to do what ever it takes to achieve that goal.

Are you DISCONTENT with your spiritual life this past year?

Paul here says that he is not satisfied, not happy not content with his position, he says he is not complete, not finished, from his point of view, Jesus is doing a work in me, he has saved me, that is finished, that will not change, but that which I am suppose to be doing, in this life, in the flesh all that I am to do and become is not finished and I can not sit down and be satisfied with myself.

Paul said I am Discontent

Paul said, I am not finished, I have seen a stream but I am looking for the ocean, I ve seen a hill, but the mountains are ahead of me.

No person can ever be happy until he has learned to enjoy what he has and not to worry over what he does not have.

I had no shoes and complained until I met a man who had no feet. Discontentment makes rich men poor, while contentment makes poor men rich.

Php 3:3 For we are the [true] circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Because whom he has foreknown, he has also predestinated [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be [the] firstborn among many brethren.

Php 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath reason to trust in the flesh, I more:

Some evidently thought that , if you lived a perfect life style it could actually bring in the time of the Messiah coming, If anyone ever could Paul would be that man, some have believed and still do, that they can live one day and not sin, leading to perfection,
PAUL SAID I HAVE NOT ATTAINED IT YET
I CAN NOT SIT DOWN, BUT THIS IS ONE THING

A weakness of all human beings, ” Henry Ford said, “is trying to do too many things at once. That scatters effort and destroys direction. It makes for haste, and haste makes waste. So we do things all the wrong ways possible before we come to the right one. Then we think it is the best way because it works, and it was the only way left that we could see. Every now and then I wake up in the morning headed toward that finality, with a dozen things I want to do. I know I can’t do them all at once.” When asked what he did about that, Ford replied, “I go out and trot around the house. While I’m running off the excess energy that wants to do too much, my mind clears and I see what can be done and should be done first.”

In order to reach the goal, this one thing I must do, I have a plan,

I have evaluated it all and find that I need to go on, for I have not arrived.
ONE THING THAT I DO,

I have a one thing mentality, one, one, one, one thing on my mind,

There should be as much difference between what is no 1 in our life and what is 1000, for when you loose no 1 you loose the uniqueness, the singleness, the priority,

Paul has a singleness of mind, what happens when we focus in on one thing,

I MUST PURSUE, GO AFTER, to seek eagerly, like a hunter, like a runner after the prize,

THE PROCESS IN WHICH I PURSUE, IS,

Number 1. I FORGET,

I MUST FORGET
Forget those things that are behind, the Past, the good and the bad
What would Paul need to forget?
The bad, the guile.

What is it oftentimes, that keeps us from going forward, guilt of the past sins, it holds us in bondage .

What could it be that Paul was forgetting, past sins.

Acts 9:2 And desired from him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he should find any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shone around him a light from heaven: 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Acts 7:58 And cast him, Stephen, out of the city, and stoned [him]: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.

Paul has to forget, about the sins that he had committed, he stood there and watched stephen die, he had hunted down the christians and persecuted them, he had sinned against the Lord, he heard the words ringing in his ears, Saul Saul why do you persecute me.

Paul must also forget about his past achievements.

Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but[this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are before, Php 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath reason to trust in the flesh, I more :Php 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, [of]the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; with respect to Look at my pedigree, my papers, I am of the elite, everyone knows I have made it, the elite tribe of Benjamin, lived in Tarus, where they still spoke hebrew, instead of Greek,the law, a Pharisee;

I am well versed, I know it, all 613 laws of division, and I have kept it, I am blameless, I am righteous, Look at my resume I have it together.

Men who live in the past remind me of a toy. The toy is a small wooden bird called the “Floogie Bird.” Around the Floogie Bird’s neck is a label reading, “I fly backwards, I don’t care where I’m going. I just want to see where I’ve been. —

All this I have on my side going for me, Php 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; with respect to the righteousness which is by the law, blameless Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

I forget but I also press on.

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”-Calvin Coolidge

I stretch out toward, press on toward the Goal line to finish What areas do you and i mankind strive, and push and press on, with all their will, emotion and physical force, sports,

Olympic SALMON PRESS TOWARD HOME 1100 MILES AWAY. we prize that in them, how much more should it be in us.

Someone once asked Paul Harvey, the journalist and radio commentator, to reveal the secret of his success.
“I get up when I fall down,” said Harvey.