First Baptist Church of New Holland PA

PHILIPPIANS 3:1-11 - TOGETHER WE HAVE A GOAL Part 1

TOGETHER WE BELIEVE #6 – AM 2/9/23

• If you are like me, I get more done when I have a goal in mind.
• When I proposed to Dottie and she said “yes”, there were lots of goals set and achieved.
• We had to set a date, decide on a venue, plan the service and the reception, get a preacher, enlist our attendants, and send invitations. Dottie made her own dress, and I planned the Honeymoon. If we didn’t set goals, we would have never gotten things done!
• Together as Christ-followers we should have goals that are individual and corporate.
• One of the most important goals we should have is to be imitators of Christ, and thus be imitators of God.
• Christ-likeness should be our goal!
• And to achieve this we must understand how it fits in God’s overall plan for our lives!

OUR WORKS-ORIENTED PAST – Philippians 3:2-6

• Vs. 2 – Judaizers teaching that circumcision is required for salvation – works oriented.
• Vs. 3 – Circumcision of the heart is of the utmost importance. Deuteronomy 30:6
• We should give self-effort for being acceptable before God so we can be forgiven and go to Heaven a vote of “no confidence”
• Vss. 4-6 - Paul enumerates reasons why, if anyone could have earned eternal life, it would have been him.

OUR CHRIST-CENTERED PRESENT – Philippians 3:7-9

• Vss. 7-8 – There came a day of reckoning when Paul counted all his self-effort as loss and trust Christ alone for salvation.
• Vs. 9 – Found in Him and trust Him for righteousness by faith. Titus 3:5, Romans 5:6-9, 1
• Why work for something that’s already paid for?

OUR LIFELONG PASSION – 1 John 3:1-3, Philippians 3:10-11

• 1 John 3:1-3 should instill a love for Christ in us causing us to desire to really know Him. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
• To know him is to spend time with him and others who do.
• Knowing His power is to yield to His resurrection power through the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:19-21
• The “fellowship of his suffering” – to take abuse for Him as He took abuse for us. Acts 9:16, 2 Timothy 4:10
• As I die with Christ, the resurrected Christ lives in me. Romans 6:10-14