Focusing on the Future - Lesson 3 - Reaching Forth

The goal of this 13 week session …

We do not need to be caught between the tension of the person we have been and the tension of the person we want to be. We can move forward without discouragements, without being lazy and always keeping our eyes on the goal. We are going to attempt great things for God and expect great things from Him.


‘We can move forward…’
‘…reaching forth unto those things which are before…’
As we read in Philippians 3:13

We would all agree that we have not yet attained the goal God has set for us.
We look for that which is in the future.
So if we haven’t yet attained the goal He has set for us
we better at least be pointing in the right direction.

We can picture a person who is so eager
that his hands and body are stretched to lay hold of it.
Or that of a racer who leans forward as they are approaching the finish line.


1Corinthians 9:24, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.”

We must make those things in the past spur us on to greater things
which are to come in the future
and not allow them to hold us back.

‘I’m too tired, I’ll run tomorrow…’
‘Yeah, but you don’t know what I’ve been through…’
‘That’s easy for you to say, you got it easy…’

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.”

‘…press toward the mark…’
Press: to push, depress, to force down, bear down on, compress or to squash.
The opposite would mean: to pull

It means to move rapidly and decisively toward an object.
This again gives us the idea of a runner straining
with every ounce of energy he possesses.

Imagine being an Olympic runner…
Training your whole life or a good chunk of it for this one race…
Your career will be decided in a few moments…
No second chance…

This shows determination in one’s life.
Christianity should be foremost in our lives.

Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Do you fit God into your life, after your busy day, if there is time
or do you fit your life into the day He has planned for you?





We ask God to help us through our to-do list each day.
We ask Him to give us strength for all the things we have planned
For ourselves and our family.

Did we pray before we put together our to-do list.
Did we do everything God asked of us?
Why do we expect Him to bless these things He didn’t tell or ask us to do?

You tell your child to clean their room…
Before they are done they ask to do something else…
‘Can I go outside?’
‘Can I have a snack?’

Or they don’t ask they just start watching TV without finishing their assignment.
It fills your heart with joy doesn’t it?

Luke 9:23-24, “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.”


Matthew quotes it a little more boldly…

Matthew 10:38, “And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.”


And Luke…

Luke 14:27, “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”


‘…press toward the mark…’
It is a mark on which to fix the eye, or
“the distant mark looked at, the goal or end one has in view.”
We need to be determined…
Not side tracked…

The mark is our goal…
‘What do you want me to do God…’
Not, ‘God please bless this, I really want to do this…’

The race is toward our Heavenly calling.

Titus 1:2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”

He are hopeful that we will have a paycheck on Friday.
Would you work as hard if there was a 50/50 chance of getting a paycheck?
Would you work there?

How should that promised hope press us on?




II Timothy 1:9, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,”

What do you believe your High Calling is?





Hebrews 12:1, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”

What holds you back when you try to run?





Hebrews 10:36, “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”


The only way to receive the crown of life
is by becoming and then living the Christian life—
reaching forth and pressing toward the mark.

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