Forgetting What Is Behind, Pressing On Toward What Is Ahead

This sermon was preached on the first Sunday of 2022 at the Albuquerque Baptist Church, drawing its central passage from Philippians 3:12-15. The core message is a call for every believer to follow the example of the apostle Paul: not to be complacent with past achievements, but to press on toward the goal of the heavenly calling of God in Christ Jesus.

The pastor identifies three chains that bind believers to the past: the glory of former accomplishments, the criticism and contempt of others, and personal failures, losses, and mistakes. To illustrate this, the sermon references Peter's restoration in John 21:16, showing that Jesus did not leave Peter imprisoned by his denial, but gave him a new mission. Similarly, Joseph in Genesis 41:51-52 named his two sons to mark his freedom from a painful past and the blessing God had given him in the present.

The sermon also warns against the mindset of the older brother in Luke 15:29-30, who was bound by feelings of injustice and comparison, unable to rejoice in the blessing God showed to others. Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 9:26 and Matthew 16:26 are cited to remind believers that the spiritual race requires clear purpose, because the soul has infinite value.

The practical application is presented through four spiritual arithmetic operations for the new year: addition (giving, understanding God's Word, forgiveness, kind and encouraging words), subtraction (quarreling, cutting remarks, greed and impurity), multiplication (growing faith, participation and collaboration, being a good example), and division (sharing the Gospel, making disciples, love and mutual support). The sermon closes with the promise of Isaiah 40:29-31 that those who wait upon the Lord will receive new strength to keep running without growing weary.