Apprehended

Philippians 3:3-14
A study that came out in November 2010 found that wandering minds make people unhappy. The study found that people spend about half their time thinking about being somewhere else, or doing something else. The researchers tracked 2,250 people using an iPhone app that contacted them at random intervals to ask how happy they were, what they were doing, and whether they were thinking about it or something else. They found that 46.9 percent of the time the people were thinking about something else, and as a result were unhappy.
“A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind,” wrote psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University in the journal Science.
●We need purpose in life to be happy.
●Our thought life usually determines our happiness
Do you have a goal, and is it the right one? Does your goal coincide with God’s purpose for you?
Paul shares in this passage the keys to reaching our goal of a closer relationship with Christ.

EVALUATION-
Paul is writing from a Roman prison. He is being held because of his faith in Christ.
Yet Paul says that there are still things lacking in his own spiritual life.
He isn’t perfect. He hasn’t reached his goal yet.
Before we can get to where we are going we need to know two things: where we are and where we are headed We can’t chart a course without those two bits of information.
In order for us to succeed in service and know Christ more intimately, we need to honestly address where we are right now.
First and foremost, have we come to salvation? Has there been a point where we received faith?
Earlier Paul tells us that he had to realize that he couldn’t have confidence in himself.
Even though he was considered a good man compared to others, he was doomed by sin.
9 He realized that his own efforts at righteousness weren’t good enough.
The only way a person can go to heaven is by receiving the righteousness of Christ by faith.
2 Corinthians 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Paul then must face the fact of his own flaws and admit that he has some growing to do.
It is humbling, but necessary for us to take this inventory and realize that we aren’t perfect.
To admit we still struggle with selfishness and sinfulness.
There are still things God has called us to do that we haven’t started.
Are we part of His church? Are we serving as we should be?

EMANCIPATION-
In doing this inventory, we may reach the same conclusion Paul did.
There are some things that can hold us back, if we don’t release them.
There are sins and hurts in our past that can enslave us and immobilize us.
Paul said that in order to move forward, we must bury the past.
We have to forget what lies behind us in order to seize what lies ahead of us.
For many, it is difficult to release what has become so prominent, so much a part.
We don’t realize that the past that hurts us we have smuggled into the present.
By doing so, we continue to allow it to have power and control over us.
Paul had to let go of his potential achievements and pedigree.
4-6 He had been an impressive figure in the Jewish political and religious scene.
But he had to also let go of the sin that God had already forgiven.
1 Corinthians 15:9 "For I am the least of the