GOAL TO WIN

( Phil 3:12-14)

Good evening everyone, I welcome and great you all in the name of our lord
and savoir Jesus Christ. Let’s all close our eyes and look to God and pray.
Let’s pray..
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to
you, O Lord my rock and my redeemer, Amen.
First of all, I thank our almighty God for giving me this wonderful opportunity to
stand and preach before you. Secondly, I thank our respected principal and
Chaplin mam, and all teaching and Non-teaching staffs, and my dear friends.
Especially I thank BD 3 friends for giving me this opportunity and helping me to
share the living word of God.

Every sport has a goal. The goal is the sole purpose for the game to be played.
The goal gives meaning for every move made and every step taken. So it is in
life, even, it means more to us, the theological community. Being called so it is
clear that we have a great goal. A goal which is before us, a goal which we
need to attain. In accordance to this I entitle my sermon as “GOAL TO WIN”
and the scripture passage for our meditation is Philippians 3:12-14, (which has
been read to us).

The city of Philippi at the time this particular passage of scripture was penned,
was considered the gateway to Europe, named after Phillip of Macedonia, who
was the father of Alexander the Great. Philippi was like a miniature Rome. By
evangelizing Philippi, this insured that the Gospel would be spread throughout
the Roman Empire. The Philippian Church was considered an ideal church,
which was grateful and generous. This letter serves as a spiritual love letter of
Paul, filled with warmth and gratitude. Even though this letter was written in the
midst of hardship, while Paul was a prisoner, it still shouts victory and joy,
because the words “joy” and “rejoicing” are used sixteen times in these four
short chapters.

In this letter Paul encouraged the believers of the church of Philippi to reach the
goal, a great prize of a supreme and Heavenly call of God which was set before
them. Paul used the analogy of a runner who focuses on the goal ahead of him.
This prevents distractions and stumbling. Paul’s spiritual goal is stated directly
here: “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Paul’s focus is on forward momentum, not prior mistakes. A person cannot

move ahead if their thoughts and vision are focused on the past. Paul has a
clear goal: being in heaven with the Lord. He looks forward to the ultimate
reward for his faithful service. This prize is to be with Christ. Paul writes about
the goal of pursuing Christ until he meets with Him after this life. This is a useful
focus for us theologians today as well.

We are a theological community, named after an interesting term which carries

much depth than its etymology. It also shows us what our goal is. The word is
“Theology”. It comes from the Greek words: theos (θεος), meaning “God” and
logos (λογος) or meaning “a doctrine, or study.” taken literally, means the study
of God which is to know Him more.

So in terms of studying God, or theology, our Goal is to know God in such a

way that results in Him being glorified in us. This is not an overly simplistic goal,
nor is it a goal that is impossible to attain. So our goal is to know God through
scriptures. Our goal in theology is understanding that the transcendent God has
revealed himself so that we might know him. Every time a Christian does
theology with the goal of knowing God, their life is changed from the inside out.
Knowing God brings about a greater knowledge of his holiness and our
sinfulness.
 Knowing God brings about a greater joy of his redemption of sinners
through Christ’s atoning death on the cross.
Knowing God brings about concrete hope of resurrection in destabilized
times.
These are theological truths that spark theological joy which overflow into a
bonfire of God’s glory displayed in the Christian. To apply theology to one’s life
is to glorify God. And our goal is to reflect God and strive for the fullness of life
in Christ for mankind.

In order to reach our goal we must do 3 basic things …

1. FOCUS ON THE GOAL.

 2. STRAIN FORWARD TO THE GOAL.

3. FINISH AND REACH THE GOAL.

1. FOCUS ON THE GOAL.

An Ancient Indian sage was teaching his students the art of archery. One day
the sage wanted to test the skill of Students in archery. so, he called all of them.
He put a wooden bird as the target and asked them to aim at the eye of the bird.
The first student came. He was asked to describe what he saw. He Said "I see
the trees, the branches, the leaves the sky, the bird and its eye… The sage
asked the Student to wait. Then he asked the second Student the Same
question. He replied, "I only see the eye of the bird." The Sage asked him to
release the bow, The arrow went straight-and hit the eye of the bird. So Always
remain focused on your goal regardless of the obstacles and you will succeed.
Focus is very important for achieving goals in life. There is no success without
focus. When we focus on problems, we loose your goal

The Bible says to set the Lord always before us, close to us as though He is at
our right hand, then we shall not be moved, nor our focus diverge from the aim.
We must look directly forward with a fixed purpose and our gaze must be
straight before us ignoring all side show distractions.( pro 4: 25 ) We must set
our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, ( col 3 : 2)
We must not shuffle along, but our eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things
right in front of us. We must look up on this above and be alert to what is going
on around Christ that’s where the action is. We must see things from His
perspective.

Most of the time we lose sight of Jesus when we focus on the Worldly, wrong
things. So, our focus must be on Jesus. We theologian must focus on Christ.

My focus is on You Jesus , I will not forget Your faithfulness

My soul will sing Your praises, My focus is on You, Lord
( Let’s lord sing together my focus is on you Jesus)
My focus is on You, Lord
My focus is on You, Lord
My focus is on You, Lord
 2. STRAIN FORWARD TO THE GOAL.

It is not enough to just have the focus , we have to move forward towards it.
Paul said “Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one
thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ
Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14).This means we are to move forward, not
backward.

About 150 years ago there was a great revival in Wales England . as a result of
this many missionaries came from England to northeast India to spread the
Gospel. The region was known as Assam and comprised hundreds of tribes.
The tribal communities were quite primitive and aggressive. The tribesmen were
also called head hunters .into this hostile and aggressive community . came a
group of welsh missionaries spreading the message of love, peace and hope of
Jesus Christ. naturally they were not welcomed . one welsh missionary finally
succeeded showing the truth of Christ to a man his wife and two children. This
man’s faith proved contagious and many villagers began to accept Christ angry
the village chief summoned all the villagers . He then called the family who had
first converted to renounce their faith in public or face execution. Moved by the
holy spirit the man sung his reply
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back

Enraged at the refusal of the man the chief ordered his archers to arrow down
the two children as both boys lay twitching on the floor. The chief asked will you
deny your faith you have lost both your children . you will lose your wife too but
the man replied again singing

Though none go with me, still I will follow;

Though none go with me, still I will follow;
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.
The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered his wife to be arrowed
down. In a movement she joined her two children in death. Now he asks for the
last time “I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live in the
face of death. the man sang

My cross I'll carry, till I see Jesus;

My cross I'll carry, till I see Jesus;
My cross I'll carry, till I see Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.
He was shot dead like the rest of his family but with their deaths a miracle took
place, the chief who had ordered the killings was moved by the faith of the man
he wondered. he realised his sin and he confessed and he declared I too
belong to Jesus Christ ‘ when crowed heard this from the mouth of their chief
the whole village accepted Christ as their lord and saviour.

As this true story says,

one man who knew nothing beyond the boundaries of his village became an
evangelist to the nation. He set God before him and never moved a shade from
God who was his goal. Even when faced with cruel death he was well- founded
in his goal and His faithfulness reflects in every word he spoke at the face of
death impacted his people turning their hearts to their only Saviour Jesus
Christ.

This is an significant lesson to us. We too must be urged by the goal achieving
life of that one man. Our knowledge of God reveals to us His mission for us in
this world, to preach salvific fullness of life through Christ Jesus and His gift of
eternal life.

Having this great goal set before us, whose reward is magnificent we must
strain forward to attain the goal which lies ahead. But the most important thing
is to not be dismayed by troubles, our focus must not be diverted by obstacles,
not to give up Christ but to strain and strive forward without turning back from
our goal.
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
No turning back, no turning back.

3. FINISH AND REACH THE GOAL.

The goal cannot be reached if the runner does not complete the race. Finishing
is a wonderful feeling. Jesus is the Author and the Finisher of our faith. When
we most prone to wander, when our faith wavers, Jesus works in our heart to
sustain our faith. He enables us to endure to the end.

Bible says ….
- Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one
receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.
- Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable
wreath, but we an imperishable one.
- So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air;
- but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I
myself should not be disqualified. ( 1 cor 9 : 24 - 27)
- In this world we will have trouble. But take heart because Jesus have
overcome the world.” ( john 16 33 )

At last Paul said .... I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have
kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7
Thou therefore endure a hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.( 2 tim 2 3)
unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single
grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit ( john 12 24 )
we can do all things through him who strengthens us. ( Phil 4 13)
parama alaippin panthaya porulukkaay
naan ilakkai nokki odukiraen
odukiraen naan odukiraen
Yesuvukkaay naan odukiraen -2

My dear brothers and sisters ... Always remain focused on your goal regardless
of the obstacles and you will succeed. Focus is very important for achieving
goals in life. There is no success without focus. The Student did focus on the
eye of Bird and hit it on the his goal and succeeded, And a man who set God
before him and never moved a shade from God who was his goal.. So as
theologian we have to focus on the goal, strain forward to the goal, the we have
to reach and finish our goal.

Once again I want to encourage all of you .. still we have time .

So, set your Goal first , and focus on the goal, strain forward to the goal , at last
we will reach and finish our goal.
My dear seniors i want to tell you .. now you are going one step closer to the
goal. Let’s keep our self growing more purposefully focused on Goal to
Win.
May God bless you through this short sharing . Amen .