Focus Forward | Pastor Tim Payne

Hey, thank you for checking out our video today We know you're gonna enjoy this word from God and make sure to leave a like and share it with somebody Thank you. Thank you That while we were sinners you died for us And you died for us God to remind us that you are for us Hey God, we just say thank you that when the devil and all of hell did everything they could Thank you that because of your blood and the power of the blood of Jesus That the devil has been rendered defeated Thank you, Jesus Thank you. God that that when the enemy attacks us that our victory is in you Jesus and Thank you that we still have the power over the enemy By the word of our testimony by the blood of the Lamb, thank you Jesus for giving life So we might have life and life abundantly We pray this in Jesus name. Hey, man Hey, man How about that song y'all like that song Such a good song we sing that at passion and They introduced that song and man it just stuck the first time. I Want you to turn around and welcome a few people middle schoolers, we're glad that you are here I know you have an exciting time plan today. So middle school is dismissed Maybe turn down the feedback on the stage monitors real quick It's hard to move forward When your past controls your future It's hard Let me say that one more time It's hard to move forward when your past

controls your future In other words, we have a windshield in our car and the windshield is way bigger than the rear-view Mirror for a reason it's for a reason It's for a reason. I'm thankful during the fast. I'm so thankful. I've Experienced God I've experienced breakthrough. I hope and pray you have to has it been a good fast for you If some of you like we don't know what you're talking about we We just as a church corporately set aside the first 21 days and what not the first 21 days But 21 days and we started after passion we said we're just gonna we're gonna seek first the kingdom of God his righteousness and we are we just know that God's gonna bless us and He's gonna bless us during the fast, but but God Actually will bless you even after the fast in fact pastor Michael if you'll come up here real quick just want to brag on pastor Michael and Is our new worship pastor? He's our worship pastor and I'm just so proud of you and I'm thankful and really this is a great illustration because God crossed our paths and the timing was was holy and perfect and God blessed us with pastor Michael in December at the end of the year I felt like Michael God was saying hey I have one of my best blessings for you at the end of the year, you know, and I mean that man I love you. We're glad that you're here. Oh my gosh. Love you. So proud of you. So proud of you Well, we're in Philippians 3 let's go there's gonna be a quick message so listen quickly I hope you've taken notes the lights are up so you can see and you can take notes You can mark in your Bible what we're in Philippians chapter 3. The devil is bothering me The devil is fighting me The devil the devil is kicking my butt. You ever heard someone say that before y'all pray for me, man The devil's really just and and the devil has bigger fish to fry than me For the devil is not like Jesus. He is not omnipresent. He's not present everywhere. There's one Satan there's one devil, but he has a plan. He has a scheme and he has a team to Make hell happen. Are you with me? So whenever the enemy is coming after you is probably not the devil

But it's a demonic spirit that's attacking you. Have you ever felt jealous and you're like, I don't know where that came from All of a sudden I just feel jealous You ever felt angry and you were like doing really good and then all of a sudden anger was on you And because anger was on you, wherever you went, the anger went, it's a spirit of anger. You felt fear, and you're like, I don't know what happened, man, like life was good, and then all of a sudden, it was just like, I just became so fearful, and fear has a way, just like other demonic spirits, of you just give the devil a little bit, the devil will take a lot. That's why scripture says, neither give place to the devil. If you give the devil an inch, he'll take a mile. You with me? And so sometimes we talk about the enemy and the devil, and we're like, man, the devil is, but sometimes the enemy is actually the inner me. Sometimes the enemy, you help me preach better, I just wanna say thank you, come on now. Come on, I just gotta, I just wanna say thank you. The enemy oftentimes is the enemy, and here's why, because the lies of Lucifer last, the lies of the devil, sometimes the devil fly over like a plane, right, or his demonic forces, and they will drop lies, and the lies linger, and the lies last. And he could do something like, he could put a lie in your heart, like, you know, you're never gonna be used by God,

you're not worthy. You know, you just think you're forgiven. You just think, yeah, yeah, I heard you sing that, I heard you, you know, it's kind of a vibe in the room and everything, but I heard you singing that you're a son, I'm a child of God, you're a daughter of God, you're not a child of God. And sometimes it's the inner voices where the enemy has dropped seed in the seed because we didn't reject the lie, because we didn't tackle and terminate the lies of the enemy, they get in the heart and they begin to grow, and the lies last. Are any lies lasting in your heart, in your mind? Anything in the past still lasting? I wanna tell you this message, we're done with the past. The past doesn't need to last anymore. The past doesn't have to last. Let's go to our text real quick. Let's go, Philippians chapter three. Let me give you a little context, right? Because you can cherry pick a verse, and that's cool. We pick a verse and preach on the verse, but if you don't understand the context, you're missing out. The context of this chapter is Paul is saying, knowing Jesus is everything. The greatest thing you could ever experience is Jesus. It's his righteousness. It's a real relationship with Jesus.

It's not that you just go to church. It's not that you just do the right things. It's not that you don't drink, smoke, or chew, or date the women that do, okay? All right? Right? And if we're not careful, religion says conform, conform, conform, as if my conforming, or my performing is what makes me right with God. But there's nothing I can do that will make me right with God. It's not what I could do that makes me right with Jesus. It's what Jesus did that makes me right with him, that makes me right with God the Father. So I don't have to work so hard at getting everything just perfect to get to the cross, but because I've been to the cross, the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead is in me. And the life that I now live, I live through the Spirit of God, through the power of God. That's how I live. And so sanctification is God making me more like himself, and it doesn't happen overnight. So I come to the cross, God accepts me just as I am, and he accepts you just as you are, but he loves you too much. He loves me too much to leave us just as I am. But some people wanna come to Jesus just as I am without one plea.

I love you, Lord, but just don't change nothing about me. And that's not how it works, because he says you come just as you are, and you don't get cleaned up to come to me. You come to the cross, I'll clean you up, and the Spirit of God will conform me and perfect me to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. Are you with me? I hope you get that. So it's big. And Paul, who's writing this letter, tried to get God's approval by doing all the things, by checking all the boxes. You read chapter three, and he says, hey, if anyone had everything going for him, it was me. And he was like, I'm from the tribe of Benjamin. was a Pharisee, a Pharisee held to the strictest letter of the law, because they believed that by doing that, they would have favor, acceptance, justification by their good works. And so he said, hey, I was like all things. I was the best of the best. And so, and then he says, but I also, I was executing it so well that I ended up persecuting God's church because I thought that was doing the right thing. And he was there holding all the coats. When Stephen was martyred, the first martyr, you read that story in Acts. And he was like, I was doing everything,

circumcised on the eighth day. I did everything, checked all the boxes. And then he said, but let me tell you something. Let me tell you what, I count all that as a loss. If you do a study on that word, he's saying it's all crap. We don't say dung today, but when you study the original language, he's saying all that is worth a pile of poo. All the things that I did, all the things I did to measure up and thought I had everything, he's like, that doesn't matter at all. All, it doesn't matter. He said, here's what matters, is I have a real relationship with Jesus. I wanna know him. I wanna know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. I want to know Jesus. In other words, just give me Jesus. And this is the context from which we pick up here in verse 12. Look at verse 12. Now he's talking about not just the value and the priceless value of knowing God, but now he's talking about, hey, let's press in. Let's lean in to God. I don't mean to say, verse 12, that I've already achieved these things or that I've already reached perfection. And that word perfection doesn't mean

what you and I think perfection. That word perfection means maturity. So here he is as a teacher, he has authority, but he's saying, hey guys, God is still working on me. Is God still working on anybody in here? Come on, is God still developing anybody in here? You're right, right, right. And the same here, and Paul's like, I'm with you guys. So he's not preaching at them. He's preaching to them. And he's saying, we're all in the same boat. We all want to be more like Jesus. Raise your hand if you wanna be more like Jesus. I wanna be like Jesus. I want when, you know, and I ask Jesus, God, like put me where you need me. I wanna be the hands and the feet of Jesus. I wanna step into a room and shift the environment because the spirit of Christ is in me and the anointing is upon me. I wanna be able to be in, you know, I was at a wrestling tournament yesterday and one of our wrestlers from the high school came up and said, hey, I just found out my friend's dad has cancer. Would you pray for him? Like there's 32 teams, guys and girls, and 32 schools represented in this gym. Never saw more people in a high school gym in my life for like 10 hours, 12 hours, but we were there. And I'm like, this is what it's all about,

that I may know him, that I can, that Jesus comes with me wherever I go. Are you with me? And Paul's saying, hey, guys, I'm not Mr. Perfect. Hey, parents, we do well to tell our kids that. We would do well to tell our kids, hey, I don't want you to think, like, you know. Because how many of us parents know we missed the mark too? We're like to our kids, don't be angry. And they're not allowed to talk back, but if they were, they'd be like, well, why are you so angry? Don't be so disrespectful. Why are you so disrespectful to your spouse? It's getting, so don't finish it. All right, I mean to say that I've already achieved these things. No, I don't mean to say this, or that I have already reached perfection, but I press on. Someone say, press on. Whenever you come to a but statement in the Bible, keep reading it, and it's getting ready to get real good. He said, but, I've not arrived yet, but I press on to, watch this, possess that perfection, and the word for perfection is what? Maturity, for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. He got control. Jesus got all of me. I love this, let's keep reading. No, dear brothers and sisters, I've not achieved it.

In other words, I'm not there yet, and you're not there either. Tell your neighbor right now, come on. Tell your neighbor, look at him right now. Say, I'm not there yet. Tell your neighbor on the other side, I don't have my act together all the time. Right, not all the time. Paul said. No, but, here's another one, but I focus on this one thing. What's on the one thing he said? I focus on this one thing. Forgetting the past. Quit allowing your past to last. Focus forward, focus forward. Your past is in the past and it doesn't have to last. You can't change the past, but you can allow God to change you. And at Calvary, all things became new. All things. And so you may have struggled with depression your entire life, but Jesus is greater than depression. Your depression that you had for 16 years can change in an instant. Are you with me? Your past doesn't have to last, you focus forward. And Paul says this, he says, I'm pressing on. I'm forgetting the past. See, you cannot press on until you forget the past. And whenever the devil comes and the devil's reminding you

of your past, you just need to, say, let's just talk about your future. Well, you wanna talk about me, let me remind you of your future. You saw God Almighty, you stood in his presence and still sinned. And you can't be judging me about my sin because Jesus already paid for my sin. My sin has been covered and cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Now, what were you talking about? And we resist the enemy by the word of God. He don't wanna talk about his future. But when he reminds you of your past, that's what he does. He come and say, you know, I'm not sure if you're really a child of God. I'm not sure if you really got victory over that. You know, like that eating disorder. Let's just get real for a second. Gotta fix my mic for a second. I was all over the place during worship. I like it that way. He said, man, that eating disorder, man, you just had a few good months you stacked. Let me remind you why you had that eating disorder. Let me remind you who you're not. Let me remind you who you lost. Let me remind you where you fell off. Let me remind you of the worst. And that's what he does. Cause he says shame, he wants shame on you.

Shame is the devil's game. He wants shame on you. Jesus came to set you free. Whom the son sets free is free indeed. So it's a message of shame off you, not shame on you. Let's read the last of the text here. A couple of verses here. He says, so I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God through Christ Jesus is calling us. And then he says, verse 15, let all who are spiritually mature. Sometimes we think we're more spiritually mature than we are. How do you gauge your spiritual maturity? Talk to me about your obedience. Talk to me about how when you're hearing the voice of God. Talk to me about the time that you spend with God. What does it look like compared to Netflix? What does it look like compared to social media and doom scrolling? What does your prayer life look like? Is it more of a now I lay me down to sleep? I pray the Lord my soul to keep? Like throwing it up, Jesus hope you got me. Or do you understand that warfare happens during your worship, not on Sunday when the music's hot, on your knees in the prayer closet where the devil's not. Let us all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point,

I believe God will make it plain to you. Sometimes as Christians, we think it's our job to make it plain to him. It's God's job. Don't argue with a Pharisee. Paul didn't get right because someone argued him to Jesus. Paul got right because he saw Jesus. And when you see Jesus high and lifted up, all of a sudden it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. I got chills. Come on, last verse. But we must hold on to the progress that we've already made. I noticed a pattern in the scripture. I put it, italicized it or made it bold in the scripture on the screen and I don't think you can see it here, but he starts off in verse 12 and he says this. He says, you gotta press on. Amen. And then in verse 13, he says, you gotta focus on. But sometimes we lose our focus. So what do we have to do? Well, Paul reminds us here in verse 14, next verse, he reminds us you gotta press on. So if you lost your focus. is what I know is true about you is true about me. When we lose our focus, we stop pressing forward. So what do we gotta do? We gotta press on.

Someone say press on. But then he says in verse 16, you gotta hold on to the progress that you've already made. Someone say hold on. So I'm not maybe all that I'm supposed to be, but come on, I'm gonna have a little dance party right here because I know that I'm not who I used to be. I know I'm not who I used to be and the spirit of God is conforming me, not because my hair is a certain length, not because I only listen to K-Love, but because I have a real relationship with Jesus and he walks with me and he talks with me and I spoke with him this morning. Hold on to that, hold on to the progress you've made. The devil says, man, okay, so you went to church today, you know what, but your pattern's like one time every six weeks. Tell him it's a new day, devil. You count on me being back in church because once every six weeks is not a win, you know that, right? Once every six weeks is not a win. There it is, I got you now. Once every four weeks is not a win. You know, what would you think about Pastor Tim if I was bragging like, I work out. I go to the gym once every six weeks. Boy, you ought to see me, you ought to see me 30 minutes every six weeks, boy, I'm busting it,

let me tell you what, I'm telling you. I'm telling you, ain't nobody like, I work out. You'd be like, like the people that it's not, when you feel like it, it's a lifestyle, it wouldn't impress you, you know what I'm saying? But the devil's like, hey, hey, say, no, no, no, no, no, listen, God's growing me. I'm moving closer to Jesus. You know, it might be like this, like in the past, you know, people would make a decision, do I come on Sunday morning or do I come for a night of worship? Why wouldn't you do both? Are you scared of too much Jesus? Is Jesus, my God, like this ain't condemnation, but this hopefully be implementation. Hopefully, hopefully, what you realize is, you know what, I can't get enough Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. John said it this way, he said, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. You come on Sunday morning, come back tonight. If you miss tonight, I'm telling you, you're gonna miss it. We're gonna sing that song, aren't we?

Nothing but the blood. That be reason enough. Two times in one day? Come on. I found out on Thursday night, I found out on Thursday night, Gavin had a wrestling tournament. Found out at 5 p.m., and I'm headed to a meeting starting at 6.30, and a lot had to happen because he was leaving the next morning at 8 a.m. to go to Panama City, you know. So we had a lot to get together, and they're gonna spend the night in Panama City, wrestle all day Friday, wrestle all day Saturday. So I had some things Friday morning, but I drove two hours because my son's worth it. And I drove two hours to watch him three hours. I say watch him, you know, it's a match of six minutes if you make it, you know. But, and I didn't get to see him. And then I turned around and drove two hours home. So I had four hours invested, and then three hours, seven hours, because he's worth it. And then I got up the next morning on a little bit of sleep, got up, drove two more hours, and then stayed in the gym too many hours, and then drove home two more hours. You know why? Because he's worth it. He's worth it. You know what?

I wanna tell you something today. He's worth it. He's worth it. He's worth it. And if you don't want your past to last, you need more Jesus, not less Jesus. I wanna give you three points. We're gonna close in prayer. Number one, number one, if you're gonna catch this in your spirit, you gotta remember to forget. Remember to forget. You gotta remember there are things to forget. Don't let the enemy continue to drag you through your past. Remember to forget. It has to happen. It has to happen. Number two, remember to press. I press towards the mark, towards the high calling. It's the prize. What's the prize, Pastor? Jesus. So I'm pressing towards Jesus. Remember to press. And he says it more than once. Different translations say I am looking. Some of them say I am stretching. Some of the translations say I am straining. I'm stretching. I'm training for the prize. It's like a runner that's running and it's a close race

and at the last second that chest pumps out a little bit more. I'm doing everything I can for the prize. You gotta remember the prize. Who's the prize? It's Jesus. The prize is your purpose. Remember your why, that's number three. Remember your why. Remember why you're doing what you're doing. Remember why it matters. Remember why it matters. Quit letting the past last. Focus forward. It's so hard to move forward when the past, when you're allowing the past to control your future. Heads bowed please, eyes closed, would you? How many say Pastor Tim? Woo, you read my mail. Right there. You read my mail. Come on. The devil tells you about your children. You weren't a good parent. You didn't know Jesus then. You went through a divorce or two or three and the devil tells you, you suck. You blew up, you lost it, you shouldn't have, but you did or you got a DUI. The devil's just making sure you don't forget.

Maybe you weren't as kind and loving in that moment with your child as you should have been or your spouse when you should have been and the devil's just rubbing your face in it. Don't let your past last. Jesus said it's finished. The price that had to be paid was paid once and for all. I wanna talk to everybody real fast. If that's kind of your story, that's where you're at, that's kind of your struggle, you just raise your hand real quick, just be honest, man. That's just me, that's where I'm at, man. The devil's just throwing my past in my face. He just reminded me every day, all day. All right, everybody look up here real quick. In just a minute, we're doing our gatherings like this where we're having a worship time and then a message time and then a response time, it's real simple, A, B, C. And in just a minute, we're gonna have a response time and what I wanna encourage you to do is humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Because what, if I can communicate it, what will happen when you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, God will lift you up. And for some of you, God lifting you up means God is gonna lift you out. Some of you have not been able to get out, you've been in a rut. In wrestling, they have a cradle, you get the head and you get the leg and you cradle them,

you're trying to pin them and the only way out of that is to keep kicking your way out. Well, you can't kick your way out. Jesus already beat him, we're not fighting for our freedom, we're fighting from our freedom. The devil was rendered useless and defeated the blood of Jesus. You just receive the truth and walk in it. God said, I've not given you a spirit of fear. I did give you a spirit of power, love and a sound mind. So quit letting the devil tell you, quit calling yourself, quit calling it my anxiety. Evidently, you make it easy for the enemy to keep it around because you're saying it's yours. Let's just cut it today. In just a minute, we're gonna sing. I just pray this place is packed. I pray people are on their knees, we're gonna have our team here, we're gonna have prayer partners here, come pray with them. Don't just raise your hand and walk out of here because you're like, yeah, that was me. No, no, no, no, do the one thing that makes the devil scared to death, talk to Jesus about it. Call on the name of the Lord. Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved, not just for eternity, but from your insecurities, from your fears, from your failures. That's you in a minute, I want you to do that.

But we never like to close a gathering without giving you an opportunity. And last gathering, I told him, I said, I want you to walk down forward if you want to give your life to Christ. And at the end of the song, someone had made their way all the way over here. Roy, Roy met Jesus. That's why we do it, Doug. That's why we do it. It's worth it. If you're not a child of God today, I beg with you. I plead with you today. Quit gambling with your soul. Let Jesus in today. I promise you, you'll realize why they call him the Savior. Let's pray, would you pray with me? Right now with heads bowed and eyes closed, just repeat after me, you are not praying to me. You're not even going through me as a pastor to get to God, you are going through Jesus. He's the way, he's the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by him. Would you just talk to Jesus with me? Would you say, Jesus, I confess I'm a mess, I'm a sinner, I need a Savior, you're the Savior, be my Savior, you are Lord, be my Lord. Thank you for loving me, for bleeding for me, for dying for me, and for rising again. I give a total claim to my life.

I now give you my life and I receive your life. Now teach me how to live in Jesus' name, amen. With everyone standing, would you stand right now? We're getting ready to go into this time of response. But if you prayed that prayer today, host, you're ready. If you prayed that prayer today for the first time and gave your life to Christ, hold that hand up on the count of three, would you, I wanna see it. Hold that hand up on the count of three, don't be shy, hold it up high. Come on, Jesus, give him courage, Holy Spirit. One, two, three, right now, hold that up. Hold it up, come on. Come on. God bless you. Well, that was a great word that we just heard, so make sure to leave a comment on the video of what you got from it. Give us a like and subscribe to the YouTube page, that way you can stay up to date with everything that's going on at Momentum Church. And you can also click on that Give Now button down below if you want to support the mission. Thank you so much for stopping by, and we'll see you in the next one.