Tie a Knot

Philippians 3:13–14 NIV

13 Brothers and sisters, 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.

Yukon Arctic Ultra

On a frosty February evening, Diane Van Deren made history as the first woman to complete the Yukon Arctic Ultra. Touted as the world’s coldest and toughest race, The Yukon Arctic Ultra is a grueling 430-miler run in the dead of winter. For 10 days Diane ran across the frozen Canadian tundra. For the first 100 miles she drank no water and only slept about an hour each night. But that’s not the crazy part – Diane can’t read maps telling her where to turn. At 28-years-old she had a seizure in a car while being three weeks pregnant. As she remembers it, she felt a funny sensation that was brief. The next thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital confused wondering where she was. She was quickly sent to have an MRI where scans revealed she had epilepsy. Doctors decided they needed to remove part of her brain but in the process, they also removed her basic awareness of time. You would think that after all she had been through she would have given up, but as Franklin Roosevelt once said, “When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” If we are going to look beyond our circumstances, we need to know how to maintain our focus. Just as Roosevelt learned - when we reach the end of our rope, tie a knot.

Tie a Knot of Not Yet

Philippians 3:13 (NIV)

13 Brothers and sisters, 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,

If anyone should appear that they have arrived to a place of holiness it is Paul. But he is repeated saying that he has not arrived yet.

I love those two words “Not Yet!” Because in it there is a realization that I have to arrived to the place I want to be BUT my plans have not changed. I will get there… just not yet!

Not yet reminds us that things will not be this way forever!

This phrase is so good. These two words have helped me so much:

While I was single people would ask me. Are you married? Not Yet! (You see how that works. I not know bit by God’s grace I plan to be).

Do you have a job. Not Yet!

Do you know what university you attend? Not Yet!

Try it with me. Do you know what you want your major to be college? Not Yet!

Have you traveled? Not Yet!

Do you have a car? Not Yet!

Have you told her you like her? Not Yet!

Don’t those two words have so much hope. And if you asked Paul, have you reached Christlike perfection he would say, Not Yet!

But for it to work you need patience.

You need to be willing to wait.

Because sometimes people replace NOT YET with NOT EVER - where we lose hope and become discouraged.

OR we can replace NOT YET with NOT WAITING. Where impatience get’s a hold of us we not longer are willing to wait on God.

Patience requires you to prune your priorities.

To look beyond your circumstances, you need patience.

Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

Wait for the Lord;

be strong and take heart

and wait for the Lord.

Paul Understood that Circumstances Change and are Unstable

Some people have fortunate circumstances and are born into wealth. But wealth is unstable. Like the man who lost $20 Billion in two days during the month of August and is now hiding out in New Jersey. I am sure a lot of people want to know where he is :)))

Or you could be like the John Harvey Kellogg who did not have the funds needed to get through medical school and Ellen and James White supported him financially. And from having almost nothing he created the first breakfast cereal companies in the world.

Circumstances change. People can be healthy one week and sink into sickness the following week.

That is why Paul knows it is necessary to look beyond our circumstances to something that is immovable and unshakable, something that doesn’t change.

When we look beyond our circumstances, we see Christ solid rock. No wonder God says that He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

When you look to God, the one that does not change you can face any circumstance in life.

Wait for the Lord! Your circumstances may look like they are overwhelming but wait for the Lord. There is something that happened that has left you feeling disappointed, but God says wait for the Lord - don’t post anything, don’t send a text, don’t start gossiping, don’t meet them at the back of the school - just wait for him. You feel like you are being treated unfairly, wait for the Lord! Joseph waited for years in jail, but he waited on the Lord and became second in-charge of all of Egypt.

Quote: Ellen Gould White, The Ministry of Healing(Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1905), 72.

“Circumstances may separate friends; the restless waters of the wide sea may roll between us and them. But no circumstances, no distance, can separate us from the Saviour.”

God is working in your life in every situation. Like Moses who as a baby was placed in a basket on the Nile river, with crocodiles and sea snakes, nothing could separate him from God’s protective love. Like the three Hebrew teenagers that were placed in the fiery furnace, circumstances could not separate them from God.

Look beyond your circumstance by being patient as God prunes.

Tie a Knot by Looking Ahead

Philippians 3:13 (NIV)

13 Brothers and sisters, 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,

When we are in a difficult circumstance it is easy to look at your situation now and lose sight of what is ahead to Jesus Christ.

In Australia our coat of arms are represented by two native animals, the Kangaroo and the Emu. You might ask what they both have in common is that neither animal can move backwards easily. So it symbolizes our nation moving forward.

Paul looked ahead when in difficult circumstances and not behind. He could not move forward if he kept looking back.

That was the issue with the Israelites. They were saved from Egypt but they kept looking back.

When God saves you from a mess, don’t look back. Look ahead.

How many of you have your drivers licence already? I senior that was part of our youth group and I asked him if he had a licence. He didn’t say not yet! He said, “I don’t need a licence, I got Uber.” He was being chauffeured everywhere he went.

You can't drive forward looking in the rear view mirror!

Some people are never able to move forward because they keep looking back.

Some of you tonight are looking back and it causing you to be discouraged and give up but Paul looked forward. There are some of you who made it because you refused to look back and you stayed looking forward.

Lot’s wife turned to a pillar of salt because she looked back. It can be dangerous to look back.

Looking back on past pain, looking back on past relationships.

Looking ahead kept you focused on your studies even when you did not do well on the quiz, looking ahead made you consider college even when there was no one in your family that got a higher education, looking ahead made you not respond to that text message, looking ahead kept you from make that same bad decision again.

Testimonies for the Church, Volume 6 (Section 3—Education)

Opposing circumstances should create a firm determination to overcome them. One barrier broken down will give greater ability and courage to go forward. Press in the right direction, and make a change, solidly, intelligently. Then circumstances will be your helpers and not your hindrances. Make a beginning. The oak is in the acorn.

You look like a seed now! But look ahead. God is going to make you an Oak Tree to bless others around you.

The hard shell of the acorn protects the seed from damage and predators. The reason you feel so stifled and you just want to shake of the shell, God is saying I am using the shell to protect you.

Jesus said, “My time has not yet come.” If it comes to early it will shorten my mission.

Do not be discouraged, your time will come. The acorn will become an Oak Tree but to see the oak tree you need to look ahead.

Some of you feel just like an acorn. You feel in significant. That is enemy trying to keep your focus in the rear view mirror instead of ahead.

Tie a Knot by Keeping Your Attention

Philippians 3:13-14 “...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.

Here Paul uses the image of an athlete that is running toward the finish line.

Like any good runner knows, a backward glance will only slow their progress toward the finish, Paul says that he forgets what is behind and stretches out toward what is ahead, so that he might complete the race and win the prize.

Paul actually lists our all his accomplishments BUT he said that is no longer his focus Jesus is.

You would be forgiven to think that Paul was spiritual perfect because of what he writes in verses 4-6. There he lists all his accomplishments like a Linkedin profile.

Philippians 3:4–6 NIV

4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

You want to see my street cred, here you go!

He is prison for the faith, but He still says he has not arrived. Looking beyond your circumstances requires patience.

Paul speaks of the idea that he has not already become perfect.

He is not the man that he wants to be yet, a man that reflects the complete character of Christ.

What do you do when you are not yet the person you want to be? What do you do when you worry that maybe today will be the day that people find our I am a fake? That I go to a Christian school but do not have a personal with God. That there are some things I have done that I am not proud of? That I pray and ask God for his will be then I just do what I want.

Paul wants so bad to be like Christ that Jesus has captivated all of Paul’s energy, focus and attention.

Who do you want to be like? (Growing up I wanted to be like Mike song “Be Like Mike”)

USA Today asked young adults, “Who do you want to be?”

86% of young Americans want to become a social media influencer

Another 20% of young people said they know an influencer personally

2% of young people said they already considered themselves an influencer

The top influencer on social media right now has 48 million followers

Some of people have become so distracted by how many followers they got they have forgotten how to be leaders.

But Paul is saying that real “influence” in the world comes from being more like Christ.

Facebook officials knew Instagram can have negative mental health impacts for teens, report claims

“Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,”

“We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.”

“Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,”

Could it be that the enemy know that we cannot look beyond our circumstances when we hate who we are? The very thing that they promised would make use feel better and increase connection is actually making us feel worse about ourselves.

QUOTE: Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3 (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1855), 506.

If you go to the other extreme and form too low an opinion of yourself, you will feel inferior and will leave an impression of inferiority which will greatly limit the influence that you might have for good. You should avoid either extreme. Feeling should not control you; circumstances should not affect you.

And here is the thing, I wonder if the lack of positive attention we get from social makes us think God that it is difficult to get God’s attention as well.

Sometimes the way we can pray in a way were we feel like we need to wake God up and get his attention. Like we are dog’s in a dog shelter clawing on a cage and saying, “God, here I am please hear me, please choose me, please respond to me.” I have been praying for 3 hours. I hope you have heard me.

Prayer is not about me getting God’s attention, prayer is about Him getting mine.

What we happen if we lived in such a way that we already have heaven's attention. I mean, if we didn't have heaven's attention, the Son of God certainly wouldn't have stepped down from heaven where there are cherubim and seraphim saying, Holy Holy Holy, he would not have been wrapped in flesh, with people saying Crucify Him! So that he could be a sin offering so I could approach God boldly and come before his throne with confidence because of a drop of His blood made a way of access into the presence of God. When we come before God, when we worship God, when we need God, when we call on God, I'm NOT trying to get his attention. I'm not trying to get him to notice me. Maybe as I go through my life a better question isn't, "Is God paying attention to me"? The question might be, "Am I paying attention to him"? (Ref: Furtick)

Paul is saying, God! You have my attention. You are my goal, you are my focus.

Maybe our unhappiness is not based on the prison around but the prison inside of us. We are trapped because we may have the wrong goals in life! What would happen if we changed our goal?

Conclusion

ILLUS: One of the things I enjoy watching is the replay of 1998 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz. I love watching it because it was such a close game. I remember watching it live in Australia. It was like 1 AM in the morning. Scottie Pippen’s back is injured, he can’t really play. With 10 seconds to go in the game the bulls are down 86-85. Jordan dribbles right then crosses over left. Takes the shot, nothing but net and the bulls win. I was so stressed during that game, I was throwing popcorn in the air. Jumping up and down!

But now, watching the replays I love them. Having watched the game I can look beyond the circumstance. I am not stressed. I am relaxed with 10 seconds left because I know how the story ends. Bulls Win!

Application

GCA. What circumstances do you need look beyond?

Right now you are may be going through a difficult situation. You are

It may have to do with your family, finances, health, studies. You may feel like things will never change so why bother.

God has given us his Word. He has given is the the Spirit of Prophecy. We sees the signs around us, don’t let the circumstances make you afraid or scared. We know how the story ends. Jesus Wins! Jesus Wins!

Look beyond your circumstances.

It does not mean your circumstances will always change BUT it does mean they no longer need to control you.