Sermon

Forgetting What Is Behind

Theme

Change

Object

Record album/CD

Scripture

“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal . . .” Philippians 3:13, 14

How many of you know what this is? (show record album). This was one of my favorite albums several years ago. But you know what, I don’t have a record player to play it on anymore. How many of you have a record player in your house? How many of you have even seen an old record player?

Recently my daughter sent me this present. (show CD) This is my old record album in a new form! I was quite excited to get it. Now how many of you have a CD player in your house?

Record players are old and have been replaced with new technology – a CD player. Things change and sometimes whether we like it or not, we have to change. I don’t imagine they even make records anymore so even if I still had my old record player, I wouldn’t be able to buy any of the new music to listen to.

Paul tells us in Philippians that we change and we have to forget about what is behind and move on to what is ahead.

Sometimes it’s hard to change and move ahead. Maybe we don’t want to grow up and go to school everyday. We’d rather stay home with Mom. Maybe we are nervous and anxious about leaving home to go to stay all night with a friend. Maybe we just really like changing, and you have to leave certain things behind.

In our Christian lives, we are growing also. We are growing to become more and more like Jesus. We do that by letting God change us from the inside out. First, inwardly our hearts, and then outwardly in the way we live and behave. We leave behind the things of the world and we learn to love Him and serve Him day by day.