2. Philippians 3:12-13
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,

3. Philippians 3:14-17
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.17 Join together in following my example, brothers and

4. Philippians 3:17-20
sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven..

5. Proverbs 3:5,6,7
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil. NIV

6. Proverbs 3:5,6,7
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. NLT

7. Maturity is having a mind set on the values, priorities and perspectives of heaven and refusing to fully rely on our own understanding.

8. We live in a battleground and we get wounded.

10. I’m betrayed
I’m rejected
I’m stupid

11. I’m betrayed

12. I’m rejected

13. I’m stupid

15. If we don’t stop the marbles from going down those old chutes, we won’t be free to give and love.
We will live from old narratives, reading from old scripts instead of the script of Jesus - God’s Truth!

16. Chutes cause us to be tempted to continually bring the past forward into present day relationships.

17. Part of the battle that we face living in this time is to not live in the past, out of our hurt, and ultimately out of shame.

18. Jesus has written us a new script.
(But we have to learn it!)

19. Isaiah 61:1-3
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion

20. Isaiah 61:1-3
—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

21. Paul shows us how to live from the perspective of a broken world with our hope from another, in the present life powerfully and confidently.

22. How do we live forward out of Jesus’ script?
1. We learn the new scripts by meditation.

23. The Word of Scripture should never stop sounding in your ears and working in you all day long, just like the words of someone you love. And just as you do not analyze the words of someone you love…

24. …but accept them as they are said to you, accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart, as Mary did. Then ponder this Word long in your heart until It has gone right into you and taken possession of you.
Dietrick Bonhoeffer

25. If we are faithful to the Word we will be drawn more deeply into relationship with God and have His perspective on our relationships with others.

26. How do we live forward out of Jesus’ script?
2. We cement new scripts by faith, not sight.

27. 2 Cor 5: 7-10, 14-17
For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is

28. 2 Cor 5: 7-10, 14-17
due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
...For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

29. 2 Cor 5: 7-10, 14-17
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new has come!

30. By faith, we can get to the place where we regard no one from a worldly point of view.
By faith not sight, we can get to the place where we don’t allow the past to define us and others.

31. Hold onto your marbles!!
Live in the present and reality, live forward. LIve by what your faith tells you, not what your eyes and ears and senses tell you.

32. To believe in Christ’s rising and death’s dying is also to live with the power and the challenge to rise up now from all our dark graves of suffering love. If sympathy for the world’s wounds is not enlarged by our anguish, if love for those around us is not expanded, if gratitude for what is good does not flame up, if insight is not

33. deepened, if commitment to what is important is not strengthened, if aching for a new day is not intensified, if hope is weakened and faith diminished, if from the experience of death comes nothing good, then death has won.”
Nicholas Wolterstorff