Fresh Methods Philippians 3:1-15 January 16, 2011

Sermon 1-16-11 fresh pt 3 fresh methods

1 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 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.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 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.
Following Paul’s Example
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

Fresh – directions, ingredients, methods
Forgetting what is behind – I press on
I count it as loss for the sake of knowing Christ

I consider it all a loss that I may know Christ

Paul has a lot of things to set aside
He was as righteous as a person could be by the law

We can be set in our ways – we don’t want to change
Last 7 words of the church, we never did it that way before

Insanity is do ing the same thing over and over but expecting different results

Tom hanks and the ice skate…….need new methods if he is going to be successful as a dentist

Fresh methods

In marriage
We have seen lots of trouble in marriages in the past year
What are the main stressors
Finance, sex, children, in-laws

We think we know what to do.
We are supposed to know what to do
We are totally unprepared for what to do
What if you had to pass a class before you could have a baby?
What if you had to pass premarital before you could get married?

How can we get better
1. Realize that you need help
2. Read a book
3. Have a mentor

4. Apply the principles of scripture
Love God
Love your neighbor
Get yourself out of the way

You are not there so the other person can make you happy
You are there to serve them, and when you do, happiness comes

Luke 6:31 “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

The lover creates the love

5. set common goals
6. realize that this takes work, give self some time

In life
We want better relationships but what are we doing to get there?
The pursuit of mental health usually lies outside of our comfort zone.

1. Do no harm
2. Listening – we don’t want to listen, we think we know
3. Seeing what we have not seen
Create in me a clean heart of God Ps 51
Create in me a clean heart of God Ps 51
10Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

4. Ask new questions – its not about where I was going, it is about where Jesus is going

Conclusion
So I count it all loss for the sake of knowing Jesus
I set aside the old and I look for Jesus

What is the Jesus stuff?

Brokenness. Humble. Submitted. Surrendered.

Are you in the game for you or for God?
To what degree are you upset because the world will not align itself to make you happy

Jiffy lube and the car title

I count it all loss that I might know Christ
I give up

Phil 2 - 5In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

I count it all loss for the sake of knowing Christ
And so the Jesus of the Christian faith invites us to die
To self. To old ways. To old ideas
Until there is nothing left but his love……….