WEBVTT - The Missing Blessing (Jonathan Josephs) 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:06.120 Welcome to the Elevation Church podcast. Today, our Balentine campus 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:10.400 pastor Jonathan Joseph's has a message just for you entitled 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:13.520 the Missing Blessing. Thank you for joining us. We hope 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:18.880 you enjoy this message. What an awesome atmosphere of faith 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.680 in the House of God today. I feel it. I 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:24.200 feel it, I feel it. I have been so excited 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:25.759 to be able to get up here and share what 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.360 God has put on my heart for you today, and 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:30.680 it's just been burning within me. And I'm so glad 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:32.479 to see you here, Jerry, because I knew that no 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:35.400 one else I'm coming for you today, my man. I'm 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:38.199 excited about this word, and I hope that on some 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:40.760 level I've just been praying that it would resound within 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.559 you the way that God has been using this scripture 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:47.640 to really encourage me. Before we read our scripture and 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.319 take a seat in just a moment, I do want 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:52.320 to say what an honor it is to be able 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.400 to preach the word of God to you today, and 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:57.240 I'm so grateful for our pastor for giving me the 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:02.400 opportunity to do that. I'll say this though, well, I'm 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.560 certainly grateful to be able to preach today. The real 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:07.520 honor and privilege for me. The thing that I'm most 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:11.400 grateful for is that every weekend, usually for all three services, 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.000 that God would give me the opportunity to sit in 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:17.080 that seat right there and listen to the word of 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:19.960 God preached so powerfully. The reason that means so much 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.560 to me is that this spot right here is one 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.480 of the primary places that God speaks to me and 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:27.679 moves in my life. And I'm so grateful to be 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.520 planted in this house where God is moving in such 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:34.960 a mighty way. And I know you're trying to figure 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:36.720 me out if we have anything in common, but I 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:38.679 thought we'd at least agree on that that what a 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.440 privilege it is to be in the house of God. 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.040 I was glad when they said, unto me, let us 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:49.400 go into the house of the Lord. We're gonna be 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:53.360 looking at a scripture from Philippians chapter three today. I 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:55.880 love this passage of scripture. My key verse is gonna 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:59.120 be verse twelve, but for context, we need to start 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:03.280 in verse. This is the apostle Paul writing. He says, 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:08.799 I want to know Christ. I want to know Christ. 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:12.520 So much power in those five words right there. I 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.760 want to know Christ yes, to know the power of 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:18.919 his resurrection, and participation in his suffering, becoming like him 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.760 and his death, and so somehow attaining to the resurrection 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.639 from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:28.520 this or have already arrived at my goal. But I 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.600 press on to take hold of that for which Christ 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:37.720 Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.200 not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.040 But one thing I do. Forgetting what is behind me 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.920 and straining towards what's ahead, I press on toward the 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:50.280 goal to win the prize for which God has called 0:02:50.320 --> 0:03:00.160 me heavenward in Christ Jesus back to verse twelve. Not 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:02.600 that I have already obtained all this or have arrived 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.200 at my goal, but I press on to take hold 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:09.640 of that for which Christ Jesus to cold of me. 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:15.640 My title for today is the missing Blessing. The missing Blessing. 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:18.000 You can go ahead and be seated and thank you, 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.280 worship team. And I don't know, Choir, you might want 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:21.839 to stay up here the whole time and just bat 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:27.960 me up. When the Lord just began to speak to 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:30.560 me through this passage, just a couple of weeks ago. 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:33.400 It really did resonate with me on such a personal 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.360 level that I was almost hesitant to share it. You know, 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:38.360 not everything God speaks to you is meant to be 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:42.840 shared with everybody. But I felt really, really convicted that 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:46.120 this would be a word of encouragement for somebody today. 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.920 And I don't know how many of you would consider 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.880 yourself to be goal oriented people, goal oriented people. I know, 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.240 David is that was an obvious one. Maybe you wouldn't 0:03:57.240 --> 0:03:59.920 call yourself like maybe the most you do is, you know, 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.120 New Year's resolutions, and maybe that's it. One thing I've 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:06.720 found though, is that, well, we don't all necessarily consider 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:08.920 ourselves to have, you know, like a five year plan 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:12.200 and action steps. I think all of us, though, have 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:18.640 these ideas, goals, expectations, objectives of what we thought we 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.559 would have by now, or where we thought we would 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:25.480 be by now. Maybe it's in your relationships, maybe it's 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:29.200 in your finances. Sometimes we thought maybe it's just like 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:31.559 the relationship we had hoped we'd have with our kids, 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:33.920 and now we're dropping them off at college and we're wondering, 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:35.440 are they ever going to want to call? Us? And 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:39.360 I was talking to my dad earlier this week, who 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:41.560 was just sharing with me. I could tell he was 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:43.440 a little bit discouraged. He was getting ready to have 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.640 his annual meeting with his leadership team at his business, 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:48.520 and I could tell he was discouraged because he was 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:50.720 looking over objectives that they had set a couple of 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:53.359 years ago and just realizing that there are still some 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:57.480 things that they haven't achieved yet. And it really resonated 0:04:57.480 --> 0:04:59.400 with me because I feel that way all the time. 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:02.080 I feel like there are so many areas of my 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:04.480 life that as I look at it, it just feels 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:07.200 like I don't have it. It feels like I'm not 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.919 there yet. And the reality is I think for me, 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:16.520 maybe the underlying insecurity of my life has been what 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.960 I would have described as a feeling of inadequacy, like 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:22.560 I just don't have what it takes. I don't measure up. 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:25.400 I've always been around such amazing leaders that it was 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:27.599 so easy to compare myself to the way that God 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.760 had gifted them and blessed them and grace them. That's 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:34.280 so often I found myself feeling like I'm still missing something, 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:38.039 like God had left something out of my life. Now, 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.479 more than maybe inadequacy, the better word that I'm finding 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:46.000 to describe it as this feeling of incompleteness, like I 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:47.960 just don't have all the pieces, Like that time we 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:50.760 tried to put that Ikea wardrobe together and we didn't 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.520 realize there was two boxes we needed to grab off 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:56.360 the shelf at Ikea. And it feels sometimes like I'm 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:58.080 trying to put my life together and I don't have 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.400 all the pieces to work with. For me, it's so 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.800 easy to take a look at where I'm at in life, 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:09.440 and instead of recognizing how far I've come and all 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:11.599 the blessings that God has given me and all the 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:13.880 things that He's done. I don't know about you, but 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:16.560 I have a tendency to put all my attention on 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.279 what's still missing in my life, the places that haven't 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:21.160 wrapped up in a pretty bow, where I don't feel 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.159 like I had it all together? Am I resonating with 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:28.960 anybody today? So often it's like God has been doing 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.440 so much, and instead of actually thanking Him for what 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:34.880 he has done for me, I can get so fixated 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.919 and thus so discouraged by what I don't have. And 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.720 if I'm honest with you, the reason this passage resonated 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:43.560 with me so much is because this has been the 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.240 place I've been in for about nine months now, just 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:50.320 feeling discouraged, feeling like what Paul said, I'm not there yet. 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.800 I haven't arrived. I don't have it. And the crazy 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.840 thing is is that like, life is good right now, 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:01.120 life is I mean, we're in our tenth year of marriage. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:05.960 yeah that if you only you knew, that's good. We've 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.720 managed to keep both our boys alive and fed, Praise God. 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:15.000 Our youngest just turned two, and I finally just shed 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.560 the baby weight that we put on from pregnancy. And 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:21.760 that's a lie, you know. It's milkshake weight, and it 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.400 took two years. I think I'm doing well at my job. 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:29.440 I don't know way it's going good. Yeah, that's gone. 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:36.360 Things are so good, and yet despite all that, under 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:40.040 the surface, I still feel like there's something missing in 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:43.000 my life. I can still get so discouraged because I'm 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:46.320 acutely aware of just how far I still have to go. 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.280 Yeah yeah, And that can be such a dangerous place 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.200 to live in when we fail to recognize all the 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.320 blessings that God has given us in our lives. And 0:07:56.360 --> 0:07:58.680 for me, gratitude has always been a value that I 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:00.960 wanted to live, that I want to live by, and 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:02.920 it's something that I try to practice. But if I'm 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:06.360 not intentional, I can find myself so quickly slipping into 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.240 this place where all my attention is going into what 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:12.000 is still missing from my life rather than what I have. 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.840 And so, having been in this place for so long, 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.800 Paul's words really resonated with me when he talks about 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:22.600 this goal that he had, this objective that he had, 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.320 and he says, but I haven't already arrived at my 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.120 goal and I haven't already obtained it. I can sense 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:31.840 the frustration in Paul's voice because it resonated so deeply 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.400 within me. Now here's the thing. Paul is not talking 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:37.560 about some of the ambitions and goals that we all 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:40.480 have in our lives. Specifically, in this passage, he's trying 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.400 to point us to the most important goal or ambition 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:46.400 of this of them all. He's talking about knowing Christ 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:53.000 in this passage. For me, my relationship with God really matters. 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.120 It really matters. And yet I've been in this place 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:00.880 where I feel farther away from God than I ever 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:04.480 have before. Now, before you write, pastor step in an 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:07.040 email letting him know you're concerned about one of his 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:12.440 campus pastors. Notice I said the word feel. I've been 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:14.679 walking with God long enough to know that my faith 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:20.040 is not a feeling, and so I might feel far 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.480 away from God, but I know that God cannot be 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.240 far away from me. And I know that God can't 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:27.439 be far away from me, because the Bible says that 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.040 as I draw near to Him, he'll draw near to me. 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:34.120 And I haven't stopped moving towards him. I haven't stopped seeking, 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:37.120 I haven't stopped praying. So I might feel far away 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:39.680 from God, but I know I'm closer. And so what 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:42.760 Paul is saying, this is Paul, Paul, Paul. When it 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.800 comes to achieving our goals, this is mister seven habits 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:49.280 of highly effective people. Paul knew what it was like 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:51.440 to achieve. How do we know that because he had 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.640 a way of always talking about it. It's a little annoying. 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:58.840 In fact, earlier in Philippians three, he's even talking about 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:00.960 some of the things that he used to confidence in. 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:03.000 You know, how he had reached the top of the 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:06.200 ladder in terms of his religious order, and how he 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:08.120 was born into the right tribe and He even had 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:10.760 some weird flexes in there, like how he was circumcised 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.120 on the eighth day, and you're like, okay, Paul, cool cool, 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:19.280 And Paul is saying, despite all those things that so 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:22.880 many of us spend our lives pursuing after and chasing after, 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:25.160 he said, I came to realize, in fact the word 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.640 he uses, he says that they're all meaningless, insignificant in 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:34.600 comparison to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, Jesus my Lord. 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:36.920 He's saying, I know what it's like to reach for 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.760 all the wrong things only to come up and realize 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.360 that none of those things really mattered if I don't 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:47.280 come into a deep, intimate, real connection with Jesus the Christ. 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:50.720 And so he's trying to align their hearts into what 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.800 really matters in life. And for me, there can be 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:56.320 so many things that I can get discouraged about, but 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:59.400 I'm at this place where I'm saying, God, more than anything, 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:03.839 I just want you. And so today I don't even 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:06.400 have a clever sermon, and I don't have jokes planned out, 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:09.000 and I'm not trying to talk about five ways to 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:11.400 be a better leader, a better paarent, or five ways 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:19.400 to obtain peace. I just want Christ. When Paul said 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:24.000 those beautiful five words I want to know Christ, he 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:26.080 doesn't mean want in the way that you want your 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.520 steak cooked medium. Well, this is not like, oh, I 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:34.720 just want one. Translation says it a little bit more accurately. 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:38.559 It's saying Paul is saying that I'm determined. I'm determined. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:47.199 My one determined purpose, my singular ambition, my only worthwhile pursuit, 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:55.360 is that I would know Christ. Woh. The scary thing 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:59.200 is that this is the apostle Paul, who by this 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:01.960 point has been walking with Christ for at least a 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:06.600 few decades, who wrote, next to Luke the majority of 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:10.480 the New Testament Scriptures, laid out some of the most 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:15.400 profound theological arguments of the nature of salvation by grace 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:19.960 through faith. And here he is, at almost sixty years old, 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:27.960 saying I want to know Christ. Eh. If that's Paul 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:31.800 and he's saying that he still has this desire to 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:33.480 I'm like, wait, what do you mean you want to 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.880 know Christ? You don't know Christ. How many of you know? 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:41.360 There's a difference between knowing about Jesus and what Paul 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:46.600 is talking about, an actual, intimate connection and experience with Jesus. 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:48.720 That's what he means when he says I want to 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:52.640 know Christ. I spent a lot of money just sitting 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:57.000 in classrooms learning about Christ. But some of the most 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:01.720 profound revelations that I ever had about the nature of 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.080 God and who he is didn't happen in a classroom, 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:07.760 but in hospital rooms or on my bedroom floor when 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.480 I was crying out to him. There's a difference between 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:14.560 knowing about God and really having that connection with the Christ, 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:19.000 the one that's best described as mystery, and having this 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.800 relationship with Him that Paul says is ongoing. You See, 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.760 that's the nature about a relationship with God is that 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:29.600 He is so big and so holy and so majestic 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:34.240 and so awesome that I could spend my entire life 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:38.280 seeking his face and never come to the end of 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:45.959 who he is. Now, what that means is that as 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.360 we pursue God, the more we get close to him, 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.960 the more we become aware of just how big he is, 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:56.480 and the more we become aware of how great He is, 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.440 the more we become aware of just how far we 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:03.959 have to go. And now I realize why I feel 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:05.920 like I'm far away from God, because I've never been 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.000 in a place in my life where I had more 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:12.360 questions than I did answers, more doubts than I had certainties. 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:14.800 Because the more I see of who he is and 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:17.480 how he works and just how great he is, the 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.480 more I realize just how far I have to go. 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:23.280 And that's what's so encouraging about what Paul is saying 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:25.800 in this passage. He's saying, I haven't a rid. I 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:28.840 wonder this, would God be worthy? If he was that 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:32.440 easy to wrap up in our man made religion or 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:36.200 human constructs, or our own vocabulary of who he is 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:40.160 and how he works? Would he still be worthy? But 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:42.800 I know that He's worthy to be sought after with 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:46.240 my whole heart and my entire life, because no eye 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.560 has seen and no ear has heard of any gods 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:52.600 beside him, there is none like him. His ways are 0:14:52.640 --> 0:15:01.680 not my ways, his thoughts are not my thoughts, And 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.080 so I might feel farther, but I've never been hungrier 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:08.760 for his presence. I've never desired more to know him, 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:13.800 Paul saying, I want to know Christ. Sometimes that means suffering, 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:18.400 Sometimes that means the power of his resurrection. They actually 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.720 both go together one thing I'm realizing is that when 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.600 I pray for revival in my life, usually God first 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.600 has to sense death in some area, because there can't 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:31.600 be revival until I let something die. And so sometimes 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:33.760 where I feel like I'm in a place where things aren't, 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.760 where things feel like they're buried, like they're stagnant, it's 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.960 actually the answer to my very prayer because God is 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.480 getting to revive something in me, not that I've already 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.680 obtained it or already arrived at my goal. But here 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:50.080 is the key for me. When Paul says, but I 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:56.200 press on, but I press on, I had allowed the 0:15:56.400 --> 0:16:01.720 enemy to been discouraging me by making me aware of 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.360 all the things that I felt like were still missing 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:08.880 in my life. And yet Paul, as I read this, 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:10.920 As I read this pass it, it just hit me 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:14.280 so quick it like slapped me across the face. I 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.280 realized that Paul was saying that I haven't arrived at 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:20.960 my goal, I haven't already obtained it, but instead of 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:24.680 using what was missing in his life to discourage him, 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:29.560 he actually used it as motivation to keep moving forward. 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:34.360 So what I'm beginning to realize in my own life 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:36.680 and where this helped me and I want to make 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:39.560 sure I say this clearly because this is the crux 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:42.760 of the revelation of this message for me, is that 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.720 what's still missing in my life is actually the very 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:51.120 blessing that God gives me. Because God is not concerned 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:54.200 with my perfection. God is not looking for me to 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.160 have it all together. God is not requiring my life 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.480 to be wrapped up with a pretty bow on top. 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:03.280 The measurement of my faith is not my perfection, but 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:07.159 my perseverance. And God knows that if I had it 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:11.480 all together, if everything was complete, if I'd already arrived, 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.639 if I'd already obtained it, then what reason would I 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:21.320 have to keep going. What's missing in my life is 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:24.440 the blessing that God gives me to cause me to 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:28.119 not grow complacent, but to keep moving forward, to keep 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.480 seeking His face, to grow in my desire, to keep 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:34.919 chasing after Him, to keep pouring out my heart to 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:39.119 know Him. And so I was discouraged by what was 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:42.119 missing in my life, but I'm realizing that God is 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:45.359 not looking for me to arrive. The measure of my 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:49.119 faith is my perseverance. God wants me to press on. 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:55.560 This is a word for somebody today who's been frustrated, 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.440 who feels like they look at their life and feel 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:01.159 like a God so far to go? Good. God is 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.760 trying to grow you right now. There's more He wants 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.040 to show you. There's more he wants to do in 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:14.919 your life. He's not fitished yet. It's the blessing of 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:18.600 what's still missing in my life. One thing I realized 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:21.840 is that I've never seen someone grow complacent because of 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:25.880 what was missing. The only thing that ever causes us 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:30.040 to grow complacent is what we already have. And so 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:32.840 what's missing in my life, what I've yet to obtain, 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:35.919 is the very fuel that God gives me to compel 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:40.400 me to keep moving forward. But I press on, That's 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:44.200 what Paul said. But I press on. Paul, even this 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.920 far into his journey with Christ, he just knew there 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.919 was so much more to who this Jesus was that 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:55.280 he had yet to see. Just a couple of weeks ago, 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.360 I was up in Asheville, North Carolina with a few 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.240 of our other campus pastors. Four of us had gone 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:03.520 up to see the team up there, and on our 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:07.000 way back, we decided to go along the Blue Ridge 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:11.720 Parkway and drive up to Mount Mitchell. This is the 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:15.760 highest This point is the highest elevation in the continental 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:19.640 United States east of the Mississippi River. Do I get 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:23.800 that right? A lot of qualifiers. That's like, I am 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:28.720 the best staff member at Elevation Church who's from Canada, 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:32.760 whose name is Jonathan, who's over six feet tall and 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:34.800 isn't a musician. And you're like, yeah, yeah, I'll get 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:40.800 I'll give you that. So we're we're driving up the 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:43.879 Blue Ridge Parkway and we get to the top of 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:47.320 Mount Mitchell and it really is like, it's just it's 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:50.400 really beautiful seeing all these different mountain ranges and we're 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:52.920 up there and and it was really just a cool moment. 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.040 We had been just sharing a lot about all that 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:57.679 God had been doing in our life and in our 0:19:57.760 --> 0:19:59.960 church right now. It was just kind of like a 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:03.359 is a cool thing. But on the way up to 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:06.600 the mountain, we passed this like the spot where you 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.280 could pull over to, you know, like this scenic stop 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:10.800 where it's like, hey, pull your car over, take a 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.840 look at this. When we drove by it, I immediately 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:17.280 recognized it because just a couple years ago, when Anna 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.840 and I were driving down the Blue Ridge Parkway, remember 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:24.400 us stopping at this very point, and we looked out 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:27.080 and we said, wow, this is really pretty. And we 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:29.920 got back in our car and drove back the other way, 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:33.640 not realizing that if we just went another fifteen minutes, 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:36.840 we would have been way at the peak of Mount Mitchell, 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:40.679 seeing something so much more awesome, so much more glorious. 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:43.160 But we were content with how far we had come, 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:47.200 and we were unaware of just how great what was ahead. 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:50.760 So fast forward two years. Instead of getting to see 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.080 Mount Mitchell with beautiful Ana joseihs, I'm standing up there 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:57.960 with ugly Terry Bruce and Greg Bosh blocking my view, 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:02.840 ruining the beauty of God's career. Terry's gonna watch this 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:06.840 and be mad at me. Why Because I stopped short 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:10.639 because I was unaware of what awaited me. If only 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:13.720 we had pressed on just fifteen more minutes, That's what 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:16.520 Paul says. He says, I want to go heavenward, to 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:20.040 which God had called me. Now, it's important that I 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.360 point out when I talk about pursuing Christ this important 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:25.960 phrase that Paul uses when he says, I press on 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:30.160 to take hold of that which has already taken hold 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:34.159 of me. Paul is not talking about man made religion. 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:37.119 Paul is not talking about how somehow we need to 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:40.720 strain and make our way to God. He's saying God 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:44.159 has already gripped my heart with his grace. God has 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:47.720 already gripped my heart with his love and with his mercy. 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:50.920 So my pursuit of him is not to get him 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.879 to love me. But I chase after him because I 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:57.320 want to take hold of that which has already taken 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:01.959 hold of me. The words of John who said that 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:04.840 we love God because He first loved us. And the 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:08.199 more I realize just how much God loves me, just 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:10.560 how much he cared for me, just how much he 0:22:10.680 --> 0:22:13.960 was there for me, it inspires me, It moves me, 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:18.159 It compels me in Jesus' name, to chase after that 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:30.080 which has arm. It's the missing blessing. Paul says, I'm 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:32.359 not gonna let it discourage me, but I'm gonna press on. 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:36.040 And he says, Brothers and sisters, I do not consider 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:40.800 myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:43.840 thing I do. I don't know three points today, just 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:45.800 Paul's one point. He says, one thing I do. Touch 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:50.960 Your neighbors say one thing. One thing I do forgetting 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:55.840 what is behind and straining towards what's ahead. I press 0:22:55.880 --> 0:22:58.680 on towards the goal to win the prize for which 0:22:58.720 --> 0:23:02.040 God has called me heaven wording Christ Jesus. One thing 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:07.080 I do, I press on. I press on in the 0:23:07.119 --> 0:23:10.280 moments where I feel discouraged, in the moments where I 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:13.600 realize just how broken I still am, in the moments 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:16.160 where I realize just how much about God I still 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:19.119