Never Give Up; Strive To Win by Zac Poonen

when we think of spiritual growth I think of 2 verses 1 Corinthians chapter 9 all speaks of the progress in his own life in verse 24 don't you know that those who run in a race all run but only one receives the price you must run in such a way that you may win so there are two things I want you to notice here one is Paul is speaking to one of the worst group of Christians that lived in the first century the Corinthian church was the worst Church you know what all they had in their midst there were people in that church taking each other to court there were a whole lot of people in the meetings getting up and screaming away in tongues trying to impress people all fake and there was a man living in sexual sin with his stepmother and nobody was doing anything about it and when they came for breaking of bread they would have their potluck potluck they would bring their lunch with them and they wouldn't share it with the poor have you ever seen a church like that I mean I've seen some bad churches but not something like this and he's telling this church you can come first in the race isn't there hope for every one of us then are you as bad as what I just said you're not as bad and he said you can run in such a way that you win the first prize yeah you would think that such a church there's no hope forget it there's no for you fellas he says no there is even now if you repent and turn around and start running God will forgive your past and I want to say that to anybody here who is discouraged or feels condemned that you are not making it or made some blunder or mistake and you're not as bad as this okay we all make blunders and mistakes but think of this church and this book is kept in the New Testament to encourage us that you can run in such a way as to win the first prize but you may say if there's a church of two 300 people how can they all run the win the first prize this is the amazing thing in the Christian life in the worldly race is one person wins that's what it says here only one receives the prize but you all of you can run in such a way as to win that means you can all come first it's a illustration but but he says if you want to do that you got to be a little self-control or disciplined it says in verse 25 everyone who who wants this first prize exercises self-control that means self control is when self wants to go forward you put the brakes or like when a horse is trying to go off in some other direction you pull the bridle there are some wild horses before they are caught who are very fast very fast but they will never win a race in a horse race they'll never win a race in a horse race even though they are very fast because they are not disciplined to obey the one who's sitting on top of them the jockey and then another horse who's not so fast wins the first prize because he just obeys the jockey and the jock he pulls the bridle decide the horse goes this side and the jockey kicks the horse with his leg though runs faster so he says you must be disciplined if you want to win the first prize discipline in our life is the thing that most Christians need and which they don't value they all love it enough they need it but they don't want to pay the price for it but he says as far as he is concerned all himself Paul is such a amazing man is he wasn't committing all these sins that these people were doing and he done so many wonderful things but he still says I run I discipline my body verse 27 I make it my slave that means I decide what my body is going to do my eye is not gonna decide what it is going to see I decide what my eye is going to see I decide what my hand is going to write my hand may want to do so many things I mean I decide what my tongue is going to speak that's the meaning of I make my body my slave now generally speaking in the world most people are slaves of their body whatever the body desires they if it's some dirty lust they go for that even in eating and drinking there can be a very in disciplined way of doing it I'm not talking about physical health alone it's good to be disciplined in the area of physical health but he's talking about a spiritual thing here that I discipline my body not just to keep myself fit but that I don't look at things which I shouldn't be looking at I hold back there that I shouldn't say things I shouldn't be saying I hold back there that means I pull that horse that wild horse and discipline myself and then I'll win the prize otherwise he says Paul says I can be a great apostle verse 27 but I can be disqualified so that's one thing and the second thing I want to show you is in Philippians 3 where he again speaks about the spiritual progress we heard of from one stage to another to another to another never stopping but continuing Paul says in Philippians 3 he says first of all in verse 8 I count everything in this world as loss compared to the value of knowing Christ that is how he comes to I'm pressing towards the mark verse 12 I haven't attained it yet verse 13 but I pressed towards them goal worse 14 I forget what lies behind verse 13 and reached forward to what lies ahead I see two things there one first of all he's not satisfied with his spiritual growth now I want to urge all of you my brothers and sisters never be satisfied with your spiritual growth I was born again 58 years ago but I can say before God today I'm not satisfied with my spiritual growth because I see areas in my life where I'm still not perfectly like Christ so I want to be like Christ in those areas also there are areas where God has helped me to overcome certain things but if I keep looking back at those things oh I've overcome this and I've overcome this and I've overcome this you know those who look back in 100 meters race will never win and those who keep looking back even in a marathon race will not win Paul says I reach towards the goal I don't keep looking back saying how many miles have I covered I don't keep looking back saying what all have I overcome the best Raiders hinder your spiritual progress is by looking back and congratulating yourself on what all you've accomplished Paul says no I forget verse 13 I forget what lies behind and I'm reaching forward and if some of those things you heard today maybe some of those areas you've already achieved something good don't look back and congratulate yourself just press on look at the areas where you have not conquered and move on I mean it's just like in a school child is in the sixth standard he doesn't doesn't keep revising addition and subtraction and glories that in second standard he got 100% or third standard he got 100% he'll never make any progress that way the good student is actually going ahead of his glass and reaching forward I want to think of the things in mathematics and science have not yet learnt I want to go ahead so that's what Paul says I press toward the goal seeing worldly things it's like that those of you who are in a profession whether in the computer field or anywhere else you always you know that if you don't keep in touch with the way your profession is advancing you'll be out of a job after a while you can't say well I studied computer science in college 10 years ago and so I'm ok you're not ok you lose your job if you don't keep in touch with what's happening because every field of science and jobs are there progressing and so in our profession we are so eager to keep studying I mean I find people who are 40 50 years old are still studying so that they don't lose their job and so that won't see the passion that we have I have not yet become like Christ what do I study my study is Christ what are the areas where I see myself still not like him I want to press towards that mark and I believe you know if you see somebody else in this church who is lagging behind that means you find in some area they have not overcome what you have overcome what should you do do you remember in one conference I think it was last year or year before where Sundeep showed us a video of two brothers who were running a huge marathon race and some distance just before they reached the finish one of those brothers collapsed you remember that and the other brother what did he do he held them and they were coming first they were coming first in second and there was another fellow coming third they would have won one of those two brothers would definitely have come first but he sacrificed his first position to help his brother and so the other third fellow overtook him came first he raised his hands he come first but to me the most wonderful picture there was not the guy who pay him first this is this person who helped his brother and struggled along and struggle along and when he came to the finishing line you know what he did he pushed his brother forward so his brother would come second and not he himself boy it's a fantastic testimony or true Christianity and that's what we were supposed to do in a church if you find some person with a weakness or a spiritual handicap a problem or was defeated in some area what should you do just leave him behind and run ahead and come first I think that worldly person I don't even think that guy was a Christian but he said this is my brother I mean I don't think he would have done it if it was some other person but this was his brother and that's how we got to look at the brothers and sisters in our church this is my brother this is my sister and they're lagging behind their failing somewhere what shall I do let me encourage them to hold them is to encourage them give a word of encouragement and say come on don't give up let's press on don't give up we can we can still complete the race that's let's be like that and we will be a church that pleases the Lord amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

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Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, Zac Poonen

Id: 9sZpW7kfQ3o

Length: 14min 1sec (841 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 08 2018