Pressing forward towards the Prize....

I utilized my Ipaq to take notes this morning and I was touched by this morning's message by Doug Dickerson who filled in for our pastor Tom Glisson. Doug Dickerson has preached at our church on several occasions and were happy to hear what God said through him this morning.

Doug picks up the sermon in Phillipians chapter 3 verses 12-14 as the apostle Paul is speaking....

Grace Fellowship Church
Sermon 7/11/04- Doug Dickerson

Phillipians 3:12-14

Phi 3:12 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.
Phi 3:13 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,
Phi 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Are we preserving or progressing in the Lord with our relationship?

Preserving is maintaining
Progressing is to move forward to the prize or pressing on

Are we content in living in what used to be?

Moving out of our comfort zone takes risk

God can not do anything new until we shake off the past and our comfort zone.

Do we place our comfort over commitment?

The tradition of the past hinders God from moving us into the future.

God does not change but we can be changed by God.

We can not be content in just our Godly heritage

We have not arrived.

There is always something new to experience and gain in our relationship with God.

Bad Attitude that hinders growth
Yesterdays experience was sufficient and can not be exceeded.

We are dependent upon God today.

Spiritual pride keeps us from experiencing God in a new way. We should not live in the past and our accomplishments with God.

Preserving is a defensive hold on the past.

Progressive is moving toward the future.

The 7 deadliest words for a church = We never did it this way before...


Paul was passionate abut knowing Christ. To move on with God we must become passionate about who God is and what He wants for us.

Fear of new things paralyzing us and keeping us from what God wants for us.

Fear paralyzes our dreams and hopes.

Lay down those (the) sin(s) that so easily entangles us

Three challenges for us today.


Believe that God wants to exceed our expectations

To keep our eyes on Jesus and not our circumstances

To keep pressing on towards the goal to win the prize