[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here, and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in. Welcome, welcome, welcome. We're so glad that you decided to tune in today and welcome to our home. It's church from the couch or wherever you're. Wherever you're watching from. And so we thank you so much for tuning in. There's some wonderful things that God has in store for you today, and then there's some great things that are coming up for you in 2026.
[00:00:36] Speaker C: That's right. First, I wanted to tell you guys that I hope that you had a very merry Christmas. And then I wanted to let you guys know that prayer and fasting is coming up. January 12th, 13th and 14th at 7:00 each night. And then on that Wednesday, we'll have a 10 o' clock service. And then the following Sunday, we'll have baptism services. So if you feel like this is your next step, then go to the website and sign up today.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: There's wonderful things in this next season. We cannot wait to share those things with you.
So now turn your attention to Philippians, chapter 3.
God's word has some wonderful things that I believe are so important for us as we, as we end 2025 and as we're preparing to walk into 2026, there's some great scripture I want to focus on today, and I think it's important for us to see that. And so the Apostle Paul is writing this from prison. This is towards the end of his life. There's a lot of things he's had to learn and experience and wisdom he's gained along the way. And he writes something that's so important and a scripture that you've probably heard many, many times. And I want to take a look at it with, with a fresh perspective, with fresh eyes today. He says this in verse 13 of chapter 3. He said, Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of this.
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. He said, I don't have it all figured out. I don't have it all nailed down. But, but I. But I do know this, this one thing. And so as we're looking at this scripture, I think there, there are three important things that God is saying to us to. To be able to finish this season well and to look forward with hope in 2026. It's such a critical thing for us as believers to finish well.
And so here's the first of three things I want to share with you. Number one. Paul talks about forgetting what lies behind.
Here's what I want to say. Forget what needs forgetting.
Forget what needs forgetting. Some things just need to be left in the past. Now, sometimes it's easier said than done. I get that. But he says, forgetting what lies behind. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just, you know, do what scripture says God does? You know, he cast your sea as cast your sin is into the sea of forgetfulness. Like, as far as the east is from the west, I remember your sin no more like, well, that's nice because God, you could. You could do that. But. But what about me? I have a hard time just forgetting what lies behind. But Paul had some really deep and dark things that he was trying to forget and trying to get out of his mind as well. So he understands what he's talking about when he says forgetting what lies behind. Think about this. In Paul's own life, he was always treated like an outsider. He had to defend his credentials. He had to defend himself, saying, you know, I'm not here to persecute you. I'm actually trained. I know what I'm doing. And because he wasn't one of the 12 that walked with Jesus on this earth, and he comes in as kind of an outsider, and they're very leery of him and very suspicious of him. And so he has to fight that his whole career. He gets persecuted one time after the other. His life is full of sorrow and difficulties, and the things he had to walk through are difficult for any human being. I don't care who you are, to have to try to say, just forgetting what lies behind. But this is what he's telling us to do. And as he's doing that, I was just thinking, you know, there's. There's so many things that I'd like to forget about my own past. It's easier said than done sometimes. But even this past year, there's some things that I would like to leave in the past, some forgetting what needs to be forgotten so that you might have some things that you're like, okay, I need to forget all about that. What about the gifts that people said would change your life? You know that. And turns out like, they don't really change your life. Oh, this will change your life. And people do this, like at Christmas, people get me, like a daily planner. Like, oh, you gotta have this planner. It's gonna change your life. Like, you use that for about two weeks. Let's be honest. And then you're like, okay, go back to the notes section on your phone. Like, this is not convenient at all to just write everything down. Maybe you're one of those weirdos that loves to have everything in a Planner. Welcome to 2026. You're gonna be fine. Like, who really? It did not change my life. Let me just say, before I offend you, but there are some things we need to just let them go.
But there's also, like, there was like a two week period this year where my wife and I, we remodeled our bathroom. And let me just tell you, we did not realize. Like, when you, when you stain wood for like the next two weeks in your house, your house is going to smell like a meth lab. Let me just tell you. And so we tried so hard to try to get some rest, but, like sleeping with those paint fumes. I want to apologize for the messages I preach for those two weeks because I have no idea what I was saying.
Things were a little strange in the Ingram household when you're remodeling. I wish, I wish I could forget that and just kind of let that lie in the past. It looks great now. It's wonderful, but there was about two weeks where it was, it was, it was stout in here. And so when Paul says, forget what needs to be forgotten, how do we, how do we do that?
Now? It's interesting that, that, that 2,000 years in the past, Paul was hitting on something that psychologists understand. Now. One of the highest forms of intelligence that there is is something called metacognition. And if you understand psychology, if you understand the way that people think, you understand this term, it's a big deal.
Metacognition means you teach a person to think about the way that you're thinking, think about your thought patterns, think about what occupies your mind. And when you can kind of come outside of yourself and say, okay, why do I think that way? Why do I process that way? Why can't I let that go?
When you're able to do that metacognition, you're able to take a good, honest look at your thought patterns and say, that's true or that's not true.
Paul talks about this later on in Second Corinthians when he talks about taking every Thought captive. That's metacognition. This is groundbreaking stuff. Since the 1970s, this has kind of become an important part of everything that we do in culture and the study of people and sociology, learning how to recognize thought patterns and the way that we process information, the way that we learn. And Paul says this thousands of years ago. This is how you're able to strain forward, to reach into the future, is by taking note of the way that you. That you process things.
He's not talking about forgetting, like, oh, amnesia. No, he's talking about release. And there's a big difference between just trying to forget something and a biblical principle that of learning how to release those things, how to take those thoughts captive and say, that thought is not going to walk with me into this next season. I'm going to let that go. God says I can take my thoughts captive. It's an authority issue.
I can let that thought not just run wild in my mind and take me to places that I've already been. That thought pattern, you get stuck in a loop. Stuck in a loop. But metacognition, learning how to forget what lies behind is a beautiful biblical principle that we can apply to our past and say, lord, I am able to forget what lies behind because I understand that you created my mind to not just allow my thoughts to control my life, but I can step outside of that, take those thoughts captive, submit them to the authority of your word, and say, that's not gonna walk into my future anymore. Paul says, you can forget what lies behind. You absolutely can do this. You don't have to carry the same junk from 2025 into 2026. There's a beautiful biblical principle that is at work here, and it's powerful. One of the things, I'll just give you a quick look into my life. I've been hurt this year. There are people that have said things and done things and spoken about and spoken to me, things that were deeply hurtful and things that I could have allowed to cause me to become bitter. They could have changed the way that I preach and process. It could have changed the way that I pastor my people, the way that I. I father my family. It can affect a lot of those things. But I learned a long time ago that we don't battle against flesh and blood, that people are not my enemy. I understand that being a pastor means I'm in a spiritual battle, and that spiritual battle wants to control my mind. It wants to get me to focus on the things that I can't control and get me lost in Offenses and bitterness and rage and anger and all the things that make me want to take revenge and make this right. And let me just tell you, that's not a good way to live. But I've learned a long time ago what happens when people betray me, when they hurt me, when they say things that aren't true or when they say things that are intentionally painful and difficult to process. I've learned to forgive. And by the way, that's. That's not just an emotional thing. It's a choice.
And honestly, it's something that you have to make a thousand times a day before it ever becomes really true. And I've learned to say some of the most powerful words in my life when, when those thoughts come back to my mind of what that person did to me, what they said, how they treated me, if they betrayed me, lied to me, cheated on me, whatever it may be. I've learned to say I've forgiven them for that.
And by the way, I might say that a thousand times in a single day before I ever start believing it. But this is metacognition, where I replace that lie of you did this to me and I'll never get over it with the truth. I forgive. And why? Because God's forgiven me of so much. I've learned to walk in grace and to let grace govern my thoughts. I wonder, what things do you need to forget? What things do you need to leave in 20, 25? What things have no business controlling your future? Is there a way that you can use that metacognition, that forgetting what lies behind and say, I'm, I'm going to leave that right here. I'm going to think about the way that I'm thinking.
You know, when you start doing that, you give the enemy nowhere to go because it stops. By the authority of God's word saying we are commanded to forgive. It's a beautiful thing. And you could absolutely forget what needs to be forgotten. Here's the second key that we see. Paul says this one thing. I do, I strain forward.
Here's number two. Reach forward with expectation.
Reach forward with expectation. So we expect God to move. Why? Because it's his nature. Our God is not a passive God. But God loves.
Let me say it this way. God loves when his people depend on Him. Did you know that? God loves for you to depend on Him. He doesn't train you to be all self sufficient, otherwise you'd never need Him. But when we can, we can look forward with expectancy. We realize that I expect God to move it's not that I just expect great things to happen. I expect God to meet me there. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. It's the same God he was in 2025. He's the same God in 2026. He absolutely wants me to put my hope in him. And when I put my hope in him, something beautiful happens in my own mind, in my own life. This is what psychologists would call hope oriented cognition.
This is where you start looking for the future. And this is not just an emotion hope, but this is a pattern of thinking about the future. When you think about the future, when you process things that are, that are, that are still yet to come, I wonder, does that drift you towards a negative place or towards a positive place?
And let me take it a step farther. Do you trust that God is in the future? That God can take care of you better than you can take care of yourself? That is hope oriented cognition. And it changes your attitude, it changes your outlook, it changes the way that you process. It makes you a more positive person because you recognize God has always taken care of me and he wants me to depend on Him. I'm in a safe place when I'm dependent upon God. That's not a difficult place to be. It's the safest place you could ever be. When we put our hope in God, Paul says I'm straining forward to what is ahead. I love that the words that he's using in the Greek language, it's not just I'm pressing forward or I'm trying to get through the bad time.
It's literally the picture of an athlete that has their eyes fixed on the goal that is reaching out for the finish line. This is, you know, all the muscles are engaged, all the thoughts are fixed on just this thing. The mind is clear of anything. But finishing this one thing, that's a beautiful thing. When Paul talks about reaching forward, straining forward with expectation, with, with hope, realizing that what is behind me I can forget and what is in front of me is what's most important. That's great. When you think about what's coming up in 2026, he talks about how, how much, how, how important it is for us to strain forward to what's ahead.
I love the scripture. In Philippians 4 he says this. My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. I love that he doesn't, says my God probably will. He says he will. That's a promise from God. God's going to supply all of your needs. And I love how it says according to his riches in Christ Jesus. So that's more than just your financial needs or your family's needs. He's saying everything that is important in your life was already taken care of on the cross. What Jesus Christ did for you is the single most important need that, that you will ever have. And if you can trust God that he has taken care of the most important things, then it's really easy for us to strain forward with hope and expectation in the things that are not that big of a deal.
Now it may be important to you that you have a good job or that your family's stable, but those are small things in comparison to your eternity. So if we can trust God with the biggest and most important things, it's much easier for us to let the daily things that our mind wanders to God. Are you going to take care of me? You're going to meet these needs? It's much easier to let him have those things. When you have hope oriented cognition, when you're able to strain forward to what is ahead, forget the past and strain forward. Here's what we know is that Paul's saying that reaching, reaching forward. Reaching isn't passive, but it's leaning forward, expecting God to meet us in the future.
Now here's the thing about, like even me and my wife, we both reach forward differently. My wife is very much a planner. I'm very much, let's just do it. So I'm more, I'm much more impulsive.
She wants to know like the details. I'm like, I don't care about the details. Let's just figure it out on the way. You know, jump out of a plane and we'll build a parachute on the way down. She's, she's not that kind of person. We have different ways of processing.
She's a planner. I'm more instinctive, but, but it shows us like we have different ways of reaching forward. We're not all the same. But the question is, are you doing with hope? Are you doing it with expectation that God is going to meet you, then have to look like everybody else.
But it needs to be full of hope. God loves when his people depend on him. Let me say it this way. Reaching forward is hope with an outstretched hand, hope with an outstretched hand. And that's the picture that he's given of a runner straining forward right there at the finish line.
This is how you finish well. You have hope for what's coming. Paul knew this. At the end of his life, he's sitting in prison. He knows that the emperor is about to have him beheaded. He understands that the end is very near. But his hope is in something beyond this life. His hope is in the future that God has promised him. And your hope is going to be the same way. Here's the last thing I want to end with. Number three, Press on together.
Paul says, this one thing I do, I strain for it. I press on.
Those are wonderful words. Press on. Now, I want to encourage you to press on together. When Paul says, I press towards the goal, he's saying, this one thing I do, this one step I take, this one is the most important thing.
And so as he's talking about that, he shows us something important that we need to know. That pressing on isn't about speed. It's just about staying in step.
It's not about how fast you get there. It's not about how quickly these things happen, how quickly I can get the results of what I need, and how God's gonna meet all my needs right now. No, no, no, it's not. It's not about the speed. It's just about taking the next step. He says, I press on to the upward call, to the price, to what Christ has called me to. I take a step.
This one thing I do this, what I'm responsible for is to take a step of faith.
You're going to be held responsible for the same thing. When God has given you this hope, when you're forgetting the past, some of these things are going to be up to you to be willing to take God at his word and to step forward into 20, 26 in faith.
So I think it's important that we don't worry too much about the speed of the results, but we just take a step forward by faith. Because pressing forward to get together, it's going to make us stronger.
You're not alone.
Paul understood he wasn't alone. He's part of the body of Christ. He may have felt alone, but he's writing letters to the. To the church to encourage them so that we can press on together. And I love how the Lord has worked that out in my own life. For those of you that know my story, I was.
I was a single dad for a while, and that was not my choice. I didn't. I didn't want to be divorced.
I didn't want my family to fall apart like it did many, many years ago. And so walking through a season of being alone and feeling alone was very difficult for me as a hard thing to process through. And having to be single is One thing. Having to be single again is another.
It's a hard thing to have to walk through that stage of life and to feel like you're alone and you're forgotten and that nobody cares about you, that you're unlovable. I understand.
And Paul understands. Jesus understands. And here's the thing. If you're feeling that way, you're in good company.
You're in good company. If you're walking through some tough days during this holiday season, you're in good company. Because Jesus understands. Paul understands. I understand. There's others that have walked through that too, and we've been able to overcome. That's not my life anymore. Because God redeems. He helps.
He calls us to press on, no matter what we may be facing. Paul was walking through a lot of difficult things. I've had to walk through some difficult things. You're walking through some difficult things. But we press on towards the prize of what God has called us to do. We press forward with purpose. And that's a big deal for those of us having to walk through a difficult season. Pressing on means you don't have to have everything figured out. Me and my wife will press on in different ways.
She loves to encourage me when my motivation is low, and it helps us to press on together. She's a natural born encourager.
You know, she's. She's pressing on when I haven't even had the ability to make the first cup of coffee in the morning. But. But I'm thankful that we can. That we can press forward together. It's a beautiful gift from God. It's not about how fast you get there. It's just about whether or not we depend on the Lord as we're pressing on. Pressing on means I don't have to have everything figured out. I don't have to do it all right now. Just have to take one step, one step of faith. So here, here, here's something important to remember. I want to close with this thought. God doesn't bless perfection.
He blesses movement.
He's not asking to be perfect. He's just asking you to move.
So whether that's in a period of metacognition where you're going to start thinking about what you're thinking about if you're going to start maybe the second part of processing through more hope when you look at the future, or maybe it's just about pressing on through the difficulty and taking one step of faith. Just remember, you don't have to have it all perfect. You don't have to have it all figured out. It's not about speed.
You just have to be willing to try.
You just have to be willing to try.
When we talk about finishing out this season well and pressing forward into what God has for you, there's some. There's some wonderful things I believe that God has for you in this next season. You keep moving because God has called you forward.
I believe that your best days are not behind you, they're in front of you. Because God is there waiting in this next season to take you to deeper depths and higher heights. I want to finish up right there, if it's okay. Would you. Right where you are. Would you. Would you do me. Do me a favor? Would you bow your head and close your eyes? I want to pray for you.
Let me pray. Father, I just thank you. I thank you for your word. And even though it's a scripture that we've read so many times, Lord, it's got new life. There's some new things in it. You're showing us, Lord, how to finish well and how to reach forward with hope for the future, how to press on through whatever maybe we might be stuck in today.
Lord, I pray that you'd bless my friends, Lord, with the ability to finish out this season well and to believe you for good things that are happening in the future. Lord, you're a good God and you take good care of your people.
Father, would you bless them, encourage them, strengthen them, provide for every single one of their needs? Would you help them to rest in this holiday season?
Ask this in the name of Jesus.
And now, my friend, if. If you're watching this today and maybe somebody even shared. Shared this with you on social media, I want you to know that if you don't have a relationship with Jesus, if you've never submitted or surrendered your life to him, you need to. It's a big deal. Or maybe, like me, you were raised in church, but you've gotten away from God with your decisions, and you feel like I'm. I'm so far from home, I need to come back to a relationship with Jesus, you are right. You need to. And if that's you today, I want to help you the same way that somebody helped me one time. If you need to make a decision in your relationship with Jesus, I want to ask you to pray this prayer with me. I'll tell you what to say, but it's a prayer of repentance.
Pray with me right where you are.
The prayer goes like this.
Jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.
I believe that you came and died and I believe that you rose from the grave so that I could have life and forgiveness for all of my sins.
Jesus, would you please forgive me.
I've messed up but right now I give my life to you.
If you save me, if you forgive me, I'll give you the rest of my life.
Thank you for loving me.
In Jesus name, Amen. If you prayed that prayer, if that was you that you prayed that prayer, repentance and accepting Christ into your heart and to be the Lord of your life, I am so proud of you. I would love to be in contact with you and to give you some things that will help you understand what just happened in your heart and what God might have next for you. So there's a, there's a number appearing on that screen right now. Would you text me, text the words I pray to that number on the screen and, and I would love to be able to bless you those free gifts. It's a free gift to you. Also as we're finishing up, if you're looking for end of the year taxable tax write off or a tax donation, we would love, love, love, love to be able to experience what God can do through your generosity at High Ridge Longview. So there's several ways that you can give. You can give highrichlv.com give. It's always a blessing when you do that. You can do it on the Church center app. If you have the Church center app, we have the High Ridge Longview app. Or we can always just take it if you want to mail it in. But our website is a great way to do that as well. Thank you so much for your generosity. You guys make it possible for us to, to just stay home and give our staff a rest. These guys work hard all year long and it's a beautiful thing to be able to give our staff a rest. So thank you for that. Thank you for being so generous. I appreciate it very, very much. And so from my family to yours, I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas. I can't wait to be able to see you in the next New year. So don't party too hard.
Enjoy your time. And let me just say from, from my family to yours, hey, Happy New Year. God bless.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening.
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