Discovery Church

RITES OF PASSAGE – PART THREE

 

rites-of-passage-1

Here are the talking points to this message.

Rite of passage is a celebration of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group or season to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society.

What’s Your Biggest Regret? (Nobody Wants To Admit The Worst One Of All) Video
 
“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. 13 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:12-14 ( NIV)
 
 

1. Live in the Moment and Measure in the Decade.

Forgetting what is behind (to a point) and straining toward what is ahead”. vs. 13
Time is measured in minutes, but life is measured in moments, experiences and seasons.
Your destiny is hidden in your history!
 
FOUR THINGS WE CANNOT RECOVER.
* A stone after it is thrown.
* A word after is is said.
* A opportunity after it is missed.
* Time after it is gone.
 
We dont want to live in the past, but we certainly want to learn from it.
 
 
2. GOD IS ALREADY THERE.
 
Psalm 139:16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
    you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, God—you’re breathtaking!
    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
    I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
    you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
    before I’d even lived one day.
 

3. YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF TO BE YOURSELF.
Most of us live our entire lives as strangers to ourselves.
There never has been and there never will be another YOU –
FINGER PRINT
VOICE PRINT
EYE PRINT
LIFE PRINT

vs. 13, 14 But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
 
Yes, you owe it to yourself to be yourself ….Or even more important, you owe it to the one who designed you and destined you to be you!
God loves you and all of your tattoos!
. “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.” John Muir

4. YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF TO NOT GIVE UP ON YOURSELF.
“Let there be light.” those four words are still creating galaxies at the outer edge of the universe.  God is still shaping to person he originally had in mind.

 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:14 (message)
 
Our true identities get buried beneath the mistakes and missed-steps we have made in the past.  Who we are meant to be get lost in the insecurities we’ve acquired and the lies we’ve believed.  
We are held captive by others expectations !
We are uncomfortable in our own skin.
We spend way too much emotional, relational and spiritual energy trying to be who we are not.
WHY? – because it’s easier and we think it’s safer. But, trying to be who we’re not amounts  to forfeiting our spiritual birthrights!
IT’S NOT THAT WE ARE JUST LYING TO OURSELVES…..SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY WE END UP LOSING OURSELVES.
 
If you are still breathing, God hasn’t given up on you….So don’t give up on yourself.
Remember, it’s never too late to be the person you might have been.
 
In The End …Your creator  says.
 
“BE MINE” and please Be  yourself!

 
God would like to introduce yourself to yourself.
There never has been and there will never will be anyone like you . But that isn’t a testament to you. It’s a testament to the God who created you….Some never discover the God- given identity that makes them unlike anyone else.
 
You were created an original….please don’t live life as a copy.
 
Romans 12:2 Mold me, Shape me, until I think like you Lord.
I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jer 31:3). 
Jesus once said “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13

God’s love is unconditional, His love is eternal, His love is effectual, and His love rescues us from the wrath of God that our sins had brought.
“I can’t make you love me, but you can’t keep me from loving you”
and thankfully that is true and proven true in Scripture.
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