“MOVING FORWARD”

 

 

 INTRODUCTION:

 

     Opening statements/Example of Pastor Tim

 

One of Pastor Tim’s greatest gifts to the Body of Christ & the Kingdom of God is having the disposition of constantly “moving forward” in all aspects of his life.

 

     Questions:Are you moving forward in your life right now?

      You might ask, in what way (s) are you asking am I moving

       forward? In any identifiable way! 

 

       I have a saying that most of you have probably heard me

      verbalize at one time or another, and its not always easy to

      put into practice (baseball analogy): “I don’t allow the

      curveballs of life or the screwballs of life to take me off the

      field of play and out of the game.” 

 

       There are plenty of curveballs thrown at us in life, aren’t

       there? There are plenty of screwballs thrown at us in life,

      aren’t there?  YES!

 

 

***WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO TO OVERCOME ALL THE CURVEBALLS AND SCREWBALLS OF LIFE? KEEP MOVING FORWARD NO MATTER WHAT.

 

    Scriptures

 

Proverbs 24:16“For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”

 

Psalms 37:23-25“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand. I have been young, and now am old: yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread.”

 

***WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO WHENEVER WE HAVE FALLEN AWAY, OR FALLEN DOWN, OR BACKSLIDDEN, OR LOST IT AND WALKED AWAY?  KEEP ON MOVING FORWARD NO MATTER WHAT!!

 

    Famous Quotes

 

1. Famous theologian, Rocky Balboa, “It ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”
2. Zig Ziglar: “Getting knocked down in life is a given…getting up and moving forward is a choice.”
3. Henry Ford: “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”
4. Babe Ruth: “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.”
5. Walt Disney: “Around here, we don’t look backwards for very long…We keep moving forward opening up new doors and doing new things…and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

 

     WHAT ABOUT OUR PAST?

 

Key ingredient for a successful life: having a proper perspective regarding our past

 

1. One of the key ingredients for having a successful life is having the proper perspective regarding our past. We cannot allow our past to keep us from moving forward. 

 

2. We cannot allow ourselves to live “frozen in time.” Past traumatic events, past hurts, past sins must not be allowed to linger inside of us for too long a period of time. 

 

3. We need to face our traumas.We need to deal with those events. We need to reconcile with those events and people in appropriate ways and throughout varying periods of time, but the best disposition to maintain in getting out from under the effects of those events and people is to what, to keep moving forward. 

 

4. What do you need to doright nowto move away from your past? To start moving forward? (Open-ended)

 

5. Who do you need to forgiveto move forward? Yourself? A mate?  Brother or sister in Christ?  A boss?  Mother? Father?  Sibling?

 

6. Who is, or, What is keeping you from moving forward?

 

          I Love This Saying: “Don’t give God excuses, give God

 excellence!”

 

          Some More Questions:Pastor Don will ask them…

 

 Some More Scriptures:

Philippians 3:13-14 King James Version (KJV)

^13 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgettingthose things which are behind, and reaching forthunto those things which are before,

¹⁴ I press towardthe mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:13-14 The Message (MSG)

Focused on the Goal

^12-14 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

 

Philippians 3:13-14 Living Bible (TLB)

¹³ No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.

        Some more great quotes

 

1.MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

 

“If you can’t fly, then run.

If you can’t run, then walk.

If you can’t walk, then crawl.  But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”

 

2.QUOTE:(picture a tortoise)

 

“Your speed doesn’t matter.  Forward is forward.”

 

3.QUOTE:

 

“Don’t look back, you aren’t going that way.”

 

The Greatest Example of A Person Always Moving Forward:

JESUS

 

Jesus: If we want to evaluate whether or not we are moving forward in our lives we just need to take a look at some of the reasons Jesus came to earth:

 

1. To serve ( 20:28)
   1. “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
2. To be a ransom for many ( 20:28)
   1. “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
3. To savethe world (John 3:17; Luke 19:10)
   1. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”…“to seek and save the lost”
4. To preach the good news of the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43)
   1. “But he said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”
5. To bring division (Luke 12:51)
   1. “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.”
6. To do the will of the Father (John 6:38)
   1. “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”
7. To testify to the truth (John 18:37)
   1. “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.   Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king.  In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
8. To die and destroy Satan’s power ( 2:14)
   1. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil.”
9. To destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8)
   1. “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

• To give life (John 10:10,28)
  1. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full . . . I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”
• To proclaim freedom for believers (Luke 4:18)
  1. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.”
• To call sinners (Mark 2:17)
  1. “On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'”

 

     Conclusion

 

       Let’s not be like Lot’s wife(Genesis 19:15-26)

 

        Let’s be more like:

 

1. Abraham– failed God miserably, but he refused to

 constantly look back at his sins and shortcomings…He   constantly moved forward.

 

2. David– failed God miserably, but he refused to constantly look back at his sins and shortcomings…He constantly moved forward

 

3. Paul– failed God miserably, but he refused to constantly look back at his sins and shortcomings…He constantly moved forward

 

4. Peter– failed God miserably, but he refused to constantly look back at his sins and shortcomings…He constantly moved forward

 

    PRAYER