{"id":8839,"date":"2020-06-26T09:21:45","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T13:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/?p=8839"},"modified":"2020-07-26T10:59:51","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T14:59:51","slug":"ctpress-june-28-2020-virtual-worship-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/2020\/06\/26\/ctpress-june-28-2020-virtual-worship-program\/","title":{"rendered":"CTPress June 28, 2020 – Virtual Worship Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This Sunday, I am preaching on Philippians 3:12-4:1<\/strong>. This section contains some of my favorite<\/em> verses:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. 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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (3:12-14)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of the last few months, I can\u2019t tell you how many times I\u2019ve heard people say, \u201cI\u2019ll be glad when we get back to the way it was!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get it.<\/strong> I\u2019ve written a few times in my newsletter space about how exhausting everything is because of the coronavirus. I think, though, that we are setting ourselves up for massive disappointment if we think that everything will return to \u201cnormal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think we will ever get back to the way things used to be, but I\u2019m also not convinced that is a bad thing. The most important thing we can do during this virus \u2013 and really, at any point in our lives, is to find Jesus amid our difficult times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice how Paul describes his process: I\u2019m not there yet\u2026I press on\u2026I\u2019m a work in progress\u2026I forget what\u2019s past\u2026I strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul is a describing a holy tension that fills all believers. We\u2019re not yet where we are going. We are not yet like Christ in every way. Yet, we continue onward. We continue focused on him.
It would be so easy, during all the chaos of our current situation, to throw up our hands and give up. Or to blame God for all that\u2019s wrong in the world. Instead, we need to seek Jesus. We must let the difficulty of the present tem-per us for the future. This is what will bring us closer to Jesus, which ought to always be our goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am reminded of these words from Psalm 46<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is our refuge and strength, <\/strong>
an ever-present help in trouble. <\/strong>
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way <\/strong>
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, <\/strong>
though its waters roar and foam <\/strong>
and the mountains quake with their surging\u2026<\/strong>
He says, \u201cBe still, and know that I am God; <\/strong>
I will be exalted among the nations, <\/strong>
I will be exalted in the earth\u201d
(vv. 1-3,10)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blessings,<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Pastor John<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worship Program 06-28-2020<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
songs-for-06-28-2020<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Sunday, I am preaching on Philippians 3:12-4:1. This section contains some of my favorite verses: Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8842,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Psalm46.png?fit=543%2C354&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8843,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8839\/revisions\/8843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}