Learn and Move Forward | RIOT Podcast Ep 112 | Christian Discipleship Podcast

Learn and Move Forward is the topic that will be discussed today on the RIOT Podcast, a Christian Discipleship Podcast.

At the end of the year, business owners are often busy taking inventory. To know if they have made a profit or not, they must face this painful but necessary reality. They analyze the data they gather and make changes for the following year.

As Christians, we need to stop at the end of the year and measure our progress. Sometimes this is a very painful thing to do. But that is what we are going to talk about today. In our reading today Paul is taking inventory of his life and he gives us the 5 next steps of how we are to evaluate our life by still moving forward.

Read Philippians 3:12-16

PAUL’S EVALUATION OF HIS LIFE INVENTORY
1. His Dissatisfaction With Himself
Obviously, Paul was satisfied with Jesus, but he was not satisfied with his Christian life. A sanctified dissatisfaction is the first essential to our progress in the Christian race of life.

Many Christians are self-satisfied because they compare their running with that of other Christians, usually those who are not making much progress. Had Paul compared himself with others, he would have been tempted to be proud and perhaps to let up a bit.

Has this year produced in us a self-satisfied life where we are tempted to be proud?

2. His Devotion
Paul said one thing I do, not many things I do. Many Christians focus on too many things and Paul wants us to evaluate the one thing we do great. The true follower of Jesus must devote himself to running the Christian race. No athlete succeeds by doing everything; he succeeds by specializing.

(James 1:8 A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways) Has our year been focusing on many things or the main one thing?

3. How He Viewed His Direction
13c Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. The unsaved person is controlled by the past, but the Christian running the race looks toward the future. Imagine what would happen on the racecourse if the runners started looking behind them. They could possibly have a collision or serious injury.

Believers should be future-oriented, To Forget means to no longer be influenced by or affected by. Not fail to remember

Have we been breaking the power of our past by living for our future hope in Jesus?

4. His Own Determination
I press, this same verb is translated “I follow after” and it carries the idea of intense endeavor. The Greeks used this word to describe a hunter eagerly pursuing his prey. A follower of Jesus does not become a winning athlete by listening to lectures aka sermons, watching movies, reading books, or cheering at the games. He becomes a winning athlete by getting into the game and determining to win!

Has our past year been an intense endeavor to win for Jesus

5. His Discipline
It is not enough to run hard and win the race; the runner must also obey the rules. Paul is emphasizing the importance of the Christian to remember the spiritual rules laid before him in the word of God. If we are not in our word daily we will in essence break our training and be disqualified. We cannot compete at the highest level if we do not understand the rules.

Bible history is filled with people who began the race with great success but failed in the end because they disregarded God’s rules. As we evaluate our year, have we been in God’s word daily so we can know the rules required for battle?

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