Are we reaching
1 Thessalonians 1: 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
We continually remember
We only continually remember the things that catch our attention and impress us. The things that above the ordinary, excellent, difficult, requiring great skill, investment, wisdom, work.
i.e. the pyramids, great buildings that took extra effort and work and endurance to complete.
V: 7 you became an example a model for everyone else! YOU! That is my hope and my goal for this Church!
Philippians 3: 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 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. 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
God has called me heavenward
- #1 Your work
Are we reaching High enough?
Matthew 5: 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds (works) and praise your Father in heaven.
- What are we doing that:
- People will remember and see as a light?
- Produced
- Have we grasped the calling of heaven? * Who we are, what we are to be doing, what is possible?
1 Corinthians 9: 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
- by faith
- Faith moves in the realm of the impossible, the realm of the unseen. Hebrews 11: 1 Faith without Works is dead!
- #2 Your labor prompted by love
Are we reaching deep enough?
- The best example I can give you is a woman who finds out she is pregnant and the awe, the fear, the mystery, and the love that binds her to the child. She goes through so much to bear this child and birth it. It is a labor of love! It is something deep.
- Are we connecting with our calling, with our God has it been birthed in us? Is it in us? Have we become one with the things of God or are they still something on the outside, a hobby and weekend activity?
- #3 Your endurance inspired by hope
Are we reaching far enough?
- A constant energizing to reach for more. Reaching for the impossible yes, but much more than impossible! The Eternal!
- Many of the things that we reach for in faith come and then we are lost. What should we do now? Are we reaching farther ahead? (Heb 11)
· In our Lord Jesus Christ.
o In Him!
Colossians 1: 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
Reach higher in HIM
Reach deeper in HIM
Reach Farther in HIM
Philippians 3: 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 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. 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
God has called me heavenward