Parenting on Purpose // Pastor Chuck Colegrove // Oct. 11th

Listen, I'm ready to preach God's word.

Are you ready to receive it today?

The year was 1992.

It was just before we were to be married, and we had to travel with Urshana's family for um uh for a funeral.

And so we left from, we were living in Grand Rapids, Michigan, left from there, went to Louisiana for a minute with all of her family, and then on the way back, stopped to spend a couple days with her brother uh back in Memphis, Tennessee.

And when I met Urshana and then I met her brothers, I knew this was the family I wanted to be a part of because, first of all, she was beautiful, so that's number one.

Number two, her brothers were really, really good basketball players.

Uh one played collegiate ball and uh in Arkansas, and then the other played for the University of Arkansas, and uh started as a freshman and then played professionally in the Dominican Republic and on teams throughout the states here.

And so I thought, man, we're gonna have some basketball-playing kids in the future.

And um, so I was like, this is a great family.

And we got to Memphis on this particular occasion, and my brother-in-law, the older one, Carl, said, I've we're gonna go play some ball.

And so we got our gear and started driving through Memphis and then made it all the way into like the back streets of Memphis, and we pulled up to the most rackety-looking gym, and uh, I don't even know if the whole roof was on it.

I feel like there might have been part of the roof missing, and we walked in and there was a collection of collegiate and professional basketball players in there, and it was me and my brother-in-law Carl and my brother-in-law Phil.

And so we picked up two other guys and started playing five-on-five, and we started winning games.

And the more games that we won, the more people showed up at the gym.

It was like there was a beacon call going out, that there was good games happening, and the better players needed to show up.

And so we're playing.

Now, I want to just remind you, I I've told of my limited high school experience in basketball.

It was mostly on the bench, although I was the leading scorer in warmups.

So I've told you that before.

And so here I am on this court with a professional basketball player, a very highly skilled collegiate basketball player, a couple of guys that I don't know, and then me.

And I'm definitely the one lowest on the totem pole.

But I knew this.

I knew enough about basketball.

If I would just move around a little bit, they would forget about me on the defensive side, and I could go right to the basket, and one of my brothers-in-law would send me the right pass, and I would just make layup after layup after layup.

And literally, I would I didn't score all the points, but I scored so many more points than you would imagine just because I was a role player, just happy to be on a team with such great players on it, and I understood the concept.

Just be where you're supposed to be, and you'll get the ball, and you can score.

It's the year that I learned no matter the place you play on the team, you are important to the team, and you can be a 10 in the area or the role that you're supposed to play.

So turn to your neighbor and say, Teamwork makes the dream work.

And to the one you've been ignoring all service, just look back and say, this one thing.

But the reality is sometimes it's hard for us to adopt God's priorities in our life because we are we are so busy in all the things that we think are important.

Got real quiet in here.

What I'm saying is there are things that we think are important that are really outside of God's alignment and design and priority for our life.

And the more we get to line up with God's priorities, I think the greater impact we will have in the world around us.

So remember, we talked last week, David, Psalm 27 and 4.

One thing I desire, one thing I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

And we talked about how we have this desire within us.

Like this is a desire we want to develop, is to love God's house and dwell in God's house because it is in God's house where his presence exists most fully and powerfully.

So today we're gonna go into the New Testament and we're gonna talk about Paul.

And in Philippians chapter 3, this is what it says Philippians 3 and 13.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do, there you go, one thing.

You can circle it, underline it, one thing I do, forgetting what is behind me, straining forward toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Jesus Christ.

Everybody say one thing.

And then say this I press on.

Spoiler alert.

Spoiler alert, this is what Paul is saying.

I want to know Jesus, and I want to become who he has called me to become.

All right, let's close the service.

Let's Paul saying, listen, there's one thing forgetting what's behind, I press on, and this press is to know him fully and serve him fully.

Because if God is not my first priority, I can become a slave to everyone else's expectations.

You hear me say it a lot.

If you don't create your own values, somebody will create them for you.

And so you want to establish your values based off of God's word, founded upon his promises, established in his purpose, for his house, and then you just get this laser sharp focus to know that this is where I'm headed.

I'm gonna press on.

One thing, I press on.

I press on.

So let's look at what Paul does.

He says this first of all, if you're gonna press on, first of all, you don't look back.

Don't look back.

He says in verse 13, says, one thing I do, forgetting what is behind me.

Listen, I just want to preach for a couple of seconds about what's behind you.

And I know we spend a lot of time worrying about and regretting the decisions we've made in our past.

That we we we wish we could go back and do it differently.

If I could be 20 again all over, I would there's a few things I would do.

So we're all in that boat.

We've all been there, we've all made decisions back there that we don't really fully appreciate right now.

Because listen, I'm different than I was when I was back there.

But Paul is telling us we gotta forget what's back there.

Not that it wasn't meaningful, that not that it wasn't significant, but listen, I'm gonna tell you what, we spend so much time focusing on what is behind us, and really the only life you're ever gonna live from this point on is in the future.

You can't go back and do it over again.

You can correct it, but you're not gonna go back and live it again.

You get one shot at this thing called life.

So don't look back.

I almost told the story of the one day when I drove out of our driveway, headed to my parents' cabin in northern Michigan, and I was gonna bring my own TV so I could watch the lions lose again on Thanksgiving Day.

And I pulled out of the driveway.

We had a pretty steep hill, and the TV kind of fell forward, and I reached back, looking back to fix the TV and steady it so it didn't fall and break, and I pushed it back, and as I was looking back, I ran smack into my neighbor's car.

Totaled their car.

Extremely significant damage to my car because I was looking back.

Paul says, don't look back.

Now, here's the thing.

I know I just preached about three minutes about looking back toward your mistakes and towards the things in your life that you didn't have control over, or the spaces that you came from, or the people that were around you.

I know I spent two or three minutes preaching about looking back at the stuff we think we really captures all of our attention, but I want to tell you something.

Paul was talking about not just looking back at our past mistakes and our past habits, but look at this.

He says in verse uh four, he says, though I myself have reasons for such confidence, if someone else thinks they have reason to put confidence in the flesh, I have more.

Hashtag here's the flex moment.

Paul's about to list out his credentials that make him seemingly better than everybody around him.

He's like, listen, if anybody has a reason to be confident, baby, I got a reason to be confident.

He's like, I was circumcised on the eighth day, which was Jewish law, by the way.

Thank God for the New Testament of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews.

Like, he had all the pedigree.

He is a number one, like checking off all the boxes.

He says this, in regard to the law of Pharisee, meaning he not only knew the law, he could recite the law, every single one of the laws he could say from memory, because he had been trained in the highest house.

Look at he says, as for zeal persecuting the church, as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

He'd be like, What was that one maybe?

We bad, we know it.

We bad, we show it.

Like he was flexing all of the things that set him up to be the kind of person that the religious world thought he should be.

And you know what he says?

He says, actually, stop looking back at what you think makes you great.

Because you're looking at your past to make you great, and you will never build the new future for the new you, the new creation.

He says, whatever, whatever I thought were gains because of my pedigree, actually, I count as loss now.

I'm done looking back.

I thank God for what's back there.

I thank God for every lesson learned.

I thank God for every opportunity.

But listen, I don't want to look back anymore because when I'm looking back, I don't have the potential to look towards the future.

No future is ever built staring at yesterday's trophies.

Austin, I almost called you to bring your uh state championship ring today so we could show it off.

Austin coaches for Fenwick High School and they won the state championship last year.

I would imagine, I would imagine that's on display somewhere.

Travis, I'm sorry.

Man, strike that from the whole recording, please.

Travis, I'm sorry.

I don't even know why I called you Austin.

Two rings in the house for him coaching and for his son playing.

And uh I imagine they're on display.

Um I have a few trophies from my past, but guess what?

Not one of them's on display.

You know why?

Because that day was fun when it was there.

It's not a state championship.

So you know what?

A little league trophy means nothing today.

All I'm telling you is what you think is so important today pals in comparison to the responsibility of tomorrow.

You can write that one down.

Because we need to stop looking back.

Number two, we need to look ahead.

We stop looking back, we look ahead.

Paul uses the analogy of athletes straining towards what is ahead.

A prize, a finish line.

When he says this to the church in Philippi, we should all know that there, the athletes knew they were gonna receive a crown.

And he says, You're running for a crown.

There's a big difference between running from and running to.

Think about it.

When you're running from something, it's usually out of fear, it's out of worry, it's out of pain, it's out of what might be, but when you're running to, you're running with an expectation.

I know I'll be received, I know I'll be welcomed, I know I'll be uh lifted up, I know I'll be high five.

I'm running to the prize, I'm straining forward for what God has in store for me.

I want to I want to just say that many of us live within the framework of the minutiae of failing.

So sometimes we step back because we don't want to fail.

But I'm telling you, like an athlete today running the Chicago Marathon, striving and straining to make it to the finish line.

Listen, even if you stumble while you're straining forward, at least you're failing forward.

If you're afraid of failure, don't move backwards because then you're falling backwards.

Just keep straining towards the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ.

And fall forward.

We're all gonna fall.

We're all gonna fail.

We all make mistakes, but at least have the heart to keep straining forward and failing forward, knowing that your eye is on the prize of what God has in store for your life.

It's gonna be better than what it was.

You're better.

Your days ahead of you are better than the days behind you.

So we spend so much time worrying about failure, but listen, pressing on towards the prize is worth it.

Yes, it is.

In verse 6, in verse 6, he says this as for zeal, persecuting the church.

You know what's interesting to me?

Like the very same passion that Paul had to persecute the early church and to take out the people who were proclaiming the gospel, once he has this miracle transformation moment on the road to Damascus and his life is changed forever.

Guess what?

He has the same passion for preaching the gospel to every nation.

You see, the thing is, God doesn't want to remove your passion, he wants to redeem your pursuit.

You're still gonna be passionate, you're still gonna have zeal, you're still gonna have fire inside of you.

So don't worry about what it used to be.

Strain towards what it will be.

Man, I wonder what it would look like if we pursued and looked forward and looked ahead the way we used to pursue the things back in the day.

Don't let me preach for a few moments about the things we used to pursue with everything we had in us.

I imagine if Paul said it today, he'd be like, I went out later than all of y'all.

I stirred up more trouble than all of y'all.

And now Paul's preaching so long that people literally die while he's preaching.

Same passion, redeemed pursuit.

And some of you used to be so good at pursuing all those things back in the day.

I dare you to have something stirred inside of you that says, with that same passion, I'm gonna pursue God's word, I'm gonna pursue God's purpose, I'm gonna declare his promise, I'm gonna see my generation change, I'm gonna see the lineage of generations following me change because I have one thing that I desire, and that is I will press on.

Somebody needs to stir up the gift inside of them that was placed in you when the hand of God was imprinted upon your life back when you were in your mother's womb.

You see, you're not just another story, you're a part of his story, which makes you a part of history.

Stir that gift up.

Make the pursuit of the finish line of what God's called you to do.

I want to know Jesus fully and I want to serve him fully.

The last one.

So we don't look back.

We look ahead and then we look around.

We look around.

Uh-oh.

Everybody okay?

My God.

That was Hoshana, by the way.

That was all right, she's okay, everybody.

She's she walked, she walked the rest of the way out.

So all right, what was I saying?

Don't look back, look ahead, and look around.

And I think it's pretty important for us to understand that who we're running with is just as important as where we're running to.

I mean, I know it is a broken record.

My kids have heard it all of their lives.

Show me your friends, I'll show you your future.

Listen, I'm gonna tell you, you got to get around people that are running for the same thing.

You got to get around people that are running to the same thing.

It will be so much easier.

I was thinking about Marathon Sunday and all the marathons that I've run, three, three of them by the way, started and finished.

Listen, it it wasn't because I was such a great runner, it's because of the people around me were all running for the same thing.

They're all trying to finish, and then you You got people on the sideline that don't even know you that are like, and you put your name on your jersey and they're like, go jump.

And you don't think it would have an impact on your life.

But much like the cloud of witnesses watching us and cheering us on, exterves you to keep running forward with the people that you're running with.

Paul says, I think it was in 317.

What is that in description 317?

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters.

Just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.

Meaning, look around.

Look around at who you're running with.

None of us look the same.

None of us respond entirely the same.

But we all have one mission.

It is one thing we will do, and that is we will press on together.

Ephesians chapter four.

Ephesians chapter four.

Verse three, make every effort to keep yourselves united in the spirit, meaning keep running together.

Make every effort to keep united in the spirit.

I preached about that last week.

And we need to, we're gonna have differences, we're gonna say things that aren't right, we're gonna mess up, but we'll put a hard hat on and we just keep moving forward.

So make every effort to live united in the spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

Alright, then that's verse three.

Then we jump over to verse 16.

Oh no, verse 7.

However, he has given each of each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Jesus Christ.

So you've been given this gift.

Watch this.

And he makes the whole body fit together perfectly.

As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

It doesn't matter how you finish if the people around you don't finish with you.

Look around.

Who you're running with.

Encourage one another.

Spur one another on.

Back to my opening story.

Be the role player and just be in the right place at the right time with the right thing to say.

Not everybody is gonna get a stage, not everybody is gonna get a title, not everybody is gonna get a budget.

But I'm gonna tell you something.

If you'll be where you're supposed to be, you're so important to helping us finish well and finishing strong.

Every part does its own work so that the body will keep growing and will be fully mature and finish well.

I could say it like this.

You need a mission that drives you.

At free church, the mission, we want to help people know God.

Help people find freedom.

Help people discover purpose and help people make a difference.

You need a mission that will drive you.

You need a destination that directs you, that draws you.

A destination says, Listen, my gaze is fixed on what is in front of me, the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ, that I may hear, well done, good and faithful servant, that my family running with me will hear, well done, good and faithful servants, that our church family will hear together, well done, good and faithful servants.

You need a destination that says, listen, it might be the highway, road sign, heaven, or bust.

You need a destination, and then you need a team that depends on you.

I've shared this data in Freeway since we've started having Freeway, which was the first full month of church life back in October 2012.

14 years, I don't know how many times I've said this, but I will tell you, most people make a decision to come back to church within the first two minutes of walking onto the property.

Far before they get to hear my incredible preaching.

Thank you, thank you.

I didn't say that for that, but far before they get to experience the powerful worship and the baptism of the Holy Spirit just being poured out over this house.

Most people walking up onto those patio stairs, finding their way to a front door, are already making up their mind if they'll ever come back.

That's why every person, every member is a minister of the gospel, whether you preach it or not, every member at Free Church is a minister.

And every task is important, meaning sweeping the front.

Sean Weakless probably left already.

He has other responsibilities once the Sunday hours start rolling along.

But Sean, first of all, got a great report.

He's in remission today.

Amen.

Answer prayers.

Sean, how you doing?

He's like, uh, it's not a good week, PC.

I'm like, well, what happened?

He said, Well, they've they've canceled my Medicaid.

So he's like, I can't, I can't even go back and get the next treatment until they figure it out.

And I said, Well, let me ask you, you you have somebody helping you.

Miss Kathy is helping them.

And so he said, Yeah, Kathy's helping me.

We're getting, she'll get it sorted out.

She's filled out all the information.

I was like, Well, we're just gonna pray.

We prayed.

We prayed as a team, we prayed all through the week.

Walk in this morning, I said, Sean, how's your week?

He said, I got good news and good news.

He said, The good news is they've reinstated my Medicaid.

I said, Another answer to prayers.

The other good news I already told you, he's in remission.

Let me tell you why that's significant.

Sean will ride his bike here and he's done this for 14 years.

When we met at the theater, he served, he would take tickets for the movies, but when we started, when we launched in the theater, we served a little breakfast for our team because we had to get there so early to set up, and Sean would show up and have a little breakfast.

And then he would just sit in his work uniform in the hallway.

I was like, Sean, why don't you just come into service?

You don't have to sit out here.

So he started coming to service.

I'll never forget when he raised his hand to make a decision to follow Jesus.

I think I can count on my hands the number of times he's missed in 14 years.

Most of it's for Comic Con.

It says, it's one thing.

It is this one thing, but can I tell you something else?

Every Sunday he comes before any of us get here and he gets the leaf blower and he sweeps off the patio, blows off the sidewalks.

In the winter, he shows up on his bike and he starts shoveling.

Oh, guess what?

Over 14 years, he's been one of the most faithful givers to free church, and I say all of that to say because so many people would overlook that moment, but it is vital.

And look what we get.

We get the most fun-loving, most generous.

I bet he's given almost every one of you around here a gift.

A comic book, a card, a flower.

He brings cookies for our team every Sunday.

I don't know if anybody eats them, but he brings them every Sunday.

Brings pancakes.

I'm like, Sean, you gotta, you're too generous.

Stop.

But most people would overlook.

Because they're like, oh, I'll never be on the stage.

But I'm telling you, he's lived such an incredible testimony for God's purpose on his life.

A role player just willing to be a part of the team.

And that's that's what I'm asking for you today.

So many of you are already serving in other areas in capacity for prayer team, host team, safety team, tech team, worship team, coffee team, kids team.

But some of you are not serving yet, and I I just came to compel you with this one thing: don't look back anymore.

No excuses, nothing that would limit you from being a leader in this house, and nothing that really makes you fit to be a leader in this house except for the grace of Jesus on your life that He chose us.

And he had a plan for our life before we knew it, and I believe the plan is in this house.

So don't look back, look ahead, and then look around.

I think everyone in this house should be serving on a team that helps us on Sunday.

And the more people that are serving on team, the more people we can facilitate in this house.

You want to go to two services again?

We gotta have more people serving in kids.

We need more host team.

Listen, this is not this is not like a do or die moment.

We're making it, but listen, what would happen if we all said one thing?

I'm gonna press on.

I'm gonna know Jesus fully and I'm gonna serve Him fully.

Can you receive that word today?