Your Number One Priority. Christ

Thanks for joining us today. Such a pleasure to have you with us. I'm Phil Pringle. This is my podcast where I'll be sharing the Word of God, which will strengthen you, inspire you, equip you, and empower you for life. Let's go.

So the title of what I'm talking about is This One Thing. And when we read in Philippians 3.7, you read Paul's declaration that there is one thing that he is going to pursue. And it's important that we understand what the one thing is that we want to pursue in our life, because that will mean we will sacrifice for it. We will devote ourselves to it, give it attention, spend money on it. And whatever the one thing that ascends above every other priority, that's the thing we we're living for.

Paul said, that one thing is Jesus for him. And that one thing for all of us should be exactly the same, that there is one thing I am pursuing, and that is to know him. Now, the word know, when he starts to talk about know, that word know is not like intellectual knowledge. It's not like, I want to know the theory about God. I want to understand the theology, the logical understanding of why we believe he's there. He's talking about the experience.

And every single one of us need to have in our lives a living experience with the living God so that we can say we know him. If a person says he doesn't exist, we say, well, that's funny because I know him. And he knows me. I know he knows me. It's not an imagined thing. Because our spirit has come alive, and our spirit is that organ of our life that knows God. When that's not alive but covered in sin or darkness, it's dead. Therefore, there's no awareness of God. And we live in three universes.

We live in a physical universe, which we're immediately aware of. Stars, that universe, that is mostly called that. but then there is a spiritual universe we live in that's invisible to these eyes, but it's nevertheless real and possibly even more real than the physical because it is eternal. It never stops. And in that spiritual universe, we are under the influence and affected by various forces and find ourselves doing things, sometimes manipulated if we've yielded to negative things.

But we'll also find ourselves being influenced by the Holy Spirit, by the presence of God. And our spirit man connects with God, bonds with God as we spend time with him. And Paul said this one thing, because he knew that if you are involved in many of the other things in your physical universe, it can dilute that experience that you're meant to be having in your spiritual universe in terms of connecting with the Father.

And so there are times like when we come to fasting and prayer that we dial down the physical experience in our life so we can dial up. Our spiritual focus and spiritual attention. And when we get focused, we get power. There's no doubt about it. If you are spending your energy on 100 different things, and one of those things is the thing you really think is important, you're going to find you've only got 100th of the energy that should be getting 100% of your energy.

And that's definitely something I found over this reflective time that I need to weed out the things that I don't need to do because they're stealing energy from the thing I need to do. And you're not going to do the thing you need to do as well if you're doing all the other things that other people could do. So they become disciplines and steps of faith as well, that you're trusting others to do that kind of thing.

But Paul is saying in Philippians 3, 7, whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. He's not saying I was living this horrible life with drugs and crime and stealing and and lying, and I gave it all up for Jesus. I mean, that's good if we do that, but he's saying, no, I had a really good life. All the things that were really positive in my world, some things that I would value and hold on to, they weren't as valuable as Jesus.

They were valuable. They were gain for me. It was to my advantage to hold on to them. And he's talking about his own personal righteousness, the list that goes before him, His heritage, his family life, his upbringing. He was educated under the finest of educators of his day. He had all of these things. He had like doctorates coming out of his ears. He was a very intelligent man. So all of that, I counted as loss because none of it was as valuable as Jesus.

Once I had tasted Jesus, once I had looked at him, once I had encountered God and experienced him. It made me laugh at all the other stuff that I thought was important. It made it seem so irrelevant in comparison to the majesty and the utter glory of experiencing God. And then in verse 8, he says, indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. There's a surpassing worth of knowing him in our lives.

Now, we can be tempted to think, oh, that's the apostle Paul, for goodness sake, as if if any of us could even attempt to ascend to that level of spiritual living, or else if we allow for that, then we tend to think, well, that's for ministers and the people who are called, people who are doing things like preaching and pastoring.

But actually, this is for every single one of us to be walking God units, to be people People who are carrying God with us so that other people are going to experience the Spirit of God on them, affecting their composure, affecting their mind. For want of the presence of God, people are taking pills, doing all kinds of things, because He can put a peace inside of you, a fearless courage inside of you, an intelligence and insight inside of us that far surpasses anything else this world can offer.

While we're reaching out to this world and ignoring God, we will find ourselves bereft of all that insight, of all that wisdom that could pour into our hearts and lives every day. And then he says, for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. Translation is more like dog dung. I count them as dog dung in order that I may gain Christ. I have suffered the loss of all things. He is not being a martyr here or seeking sympathy or self-pitying. I've given up so much.

He's saying, no, no, that's an intentional, on purpose act of mine because I wanted to have Jesus in my life. And I know that if I had my world cluttered up with so many other things that I am valuing, that I want, that I find, if I'm all cluttered up, I'm not going to actually be able to hold on to him and experience him. He won't share my heart with others that want to be equal levels.

And I know that from my own experience when I will lift up my eyes to look to God, whatever pops up there, I know I need to deal with that. If I'm trying to listen to God and I hear some other thing, I know I need to deal with that.

If there's anything between me and the Lord, it's not something that I'm just going to tolerate and live with. I need to deal with it. If it is a condemning voice, I need to get a hold of my faith and say I'm justified. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. Thus says the Lord. Every voice that rises against me in judgment, I will condemn. And so it might be the devil trying to accuse you of something. It may be some other thing that we're just protecting in our life.

It might be a grudge that we're holding just comes up. And we know that that is something that I've got to actually count as loss and write it out of my system. system? Why would I hold on to that when it's preventing me from touching this? Is there anything of value from a grudge to a sin to an addiction to a whatever that's worth holding on to that's exceeding in value of actually experiencing God? Because while I'm looking for these experiences, I'm going to dumb down my ability

to actually encounter Jesus himself. self. Then he says in verse 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings becoming like him in death. You know, looking through this, he's got resurrection and sufferings on an equal balance. And instead of complaining about our pain, maybe we could treat our pain as a friend every now and then, because it'll take us into places with Christ that nothing else can.

If we could say, thank you, Lord, for this moment, you'll find that some Some of the most close moments you have with God are in your darkest valleys. You may find that some of the times of closeness to God are when you're feeling the worst of pain. And it's not just all about being happy all day long. There are moments that are deeper than that in your own soul. And don't be thinking that Jesus is just going to lead you through the happy lands all day long.

Perpetual sunshine only makes deserts, friends. You know, I take those photos in the morning sometimes and post them up on Instagram. When it's a clear blue sky, I don't even bother with the photograph. It doesn't matter if the sun's shining on this. it just doesn't look great to me. It doesn't look exciting. It takes clouds to make it look exciting. Then I've got a really interesting photo because then the sun is glowing and there are beams everywhere.

And so the mixture, it's not only that, but there are times when you're going to feel the pain of following Jesus as much as the pleasure and the joy. But even in the pain and in the suffering, you'll find there's joy in the darkest of nights if you're in the presence of God, if you've got an encounter, a relationship with the Lord.

And that word, I'm so hesitant to use it, a relationship with the Lord, because it is used so easily and casually. And it's a theory in most people's minds. It's a hope. It's an imagined reality. Hope he's around somewhere. I'm going through my life every day, get up, go to work, and I hope he's there. Or it's like, I imagine he's there. I'm in the Bible college. It says he's with me all the time.

I don't actually feel it, and I'm a little nervous to stop, still my spirit, and look to God and find him, because I'm not sure about that. That might be making me a little too vulnerable. He might talk to me about something I don't want to hear. There is something stirring inside of me, but I'm not sure about that. You You know what? When Jesus talked about discovering himself, in Matthew 13, verse 45, he says, The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.

Every one of us are in search of valuable, something of value in life. Who on finding one pearl of great value went and sold all the others, which is beautiful. He didn't sell all his pearls and then go off trying to find the big pearl. Jesus is happy for you to come to him as you are with all your other pearls, sometimes with a whole lot of junk, a whole lot of mess as well. He says, come as you are. And that's not just for a person who's coming to Jesus for the first time for

salvation. That's for all of us all the time. Come as you are. Because when you taste that, goodness, it's like tasting a mango for the first time in your life. No one apple is going to pass these lips ever again. I've tasted and seen. I wrote the book Hope because I keep coming across people People who seem to be despairing about their future, lacking a sense of purpose, not energized by a vision. And hope is something that God infuses into us the minute we meet him.

We have a positive anticipation about the days to come, rather than a sense of foreboding. In fact, he is known as the God of hope. So once you're connected with God, you definitely connect with hope, discovering the reason that you are here, discovering your purpose in life. And so I wrote this book with that in mind to help people find their pathway in this life. You can pick it up at philpringle.com or at amazon.com. You can download the e-book or order a physical copy.

Every Bible character had this experience with God and wanted to relate it to others. All of what we read in Scripture came out of encounters with God. I was on the banks of the River Cheba and I saw visions of God. That all these writers experienced something and then conveyed it to us so that we would get on the same page. Unfortunately, sometimes we read the words as history or as theology and don't touch the experience.

John writes to the believers in 1 John 1 verse 1. He says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard. He's talking about Jesus. And we have seen with our eyes. We've looked upon. We've touched with our hands concerning the word of life, concerning Jesus. He was manifested to us. I've looked into his eyes. I've heard his voice. I've touched him and he's touched me. me. I want to write to you about that, he says, so that you could fellowship with us, so I can get you on the same page.

And every single one of us here are invited by Jesus into that same great feast, that supper, where we fellowship, where we connect with him throughout our whole day. And before I finish this message, I'm going to give you three really simple, easy little steps for every single one of us to be people who practice the presence of God. To be people who walk close to the Lord, to be people who are affected in our composure, our conversation because of that presence.

One of the convictions I've had in these last few weeks of just spending a lot of time reflecting and meditating and in prayer is that sometimes we are expecting from people something they cannot deliver because they have not got that connection. So that is why I'm so motivated today.

To call on every single one of us to renew that connection, to make sure that we've got the fountainhead of all Christianity, to make sure that we've got that core of our belief system alive inside of us, that we're not just going through motions, hoping for someday our Christian life to have some sense of enrichment or fulfillment in it. Because all it's all about is about Him, deep at the center,

at the core. all, and every single one of us need to take the intentional initiative to actually make that happen. Whether we were born into a Christian family or not, you still are called on to make it a personal experience that you're having with the Lord. He says, that which the Father, in verse 3, sorry, 1 John 1, 3, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you. So whatever experiences I'm having with the Lord is what I need to share with other people to draw them into that.

If I'm just echoing somebody else's message, then that's all it is, a message. It's not an experience. And I'm going to be walking in water that's too deep for me, my feet aren't on the ground.

I need to have something that is coming out of my own heart, out of my own spirit. And when you share that with people, it's undeniable. to them. So, like I say, all these Bible characters, they reduce their focus to the one thing above all other things. And once that was in place, the conveyance of Christ came through it all.

David said in Psalm 27, verse 4, one thing I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. Why did I want to go to church? To see God again. Because in that place, it's a safe place where I can worship, I can lift my hands. I find it difficult to do it in the office.

Challenging to do it on the road, amen. Or if I'm just standing down on the beach, it's difficult to do it with all those sunbathers around. But I come into the house of God, I'm at liberty to do that, and I can look and see the Lord and refresh that vision again. Luke 10, 42, Martha's complaining about Mary's devotion to worship, to spending time with Jesus. She's upset. She's got that Protestant work ethic. Accelerator flat to the boards. You got to work. You got to work.

You got to work. You got to work. Who cares about Jesus? I got to work for him. I got to work for him, for him, for him. I'm just doing all these things for him. He's around somewhere. I don't know where he is, but this is all for him. When you're in that attitude, you're going to get real cranky with other people, real upset with all the people who aren't doing stuff like you do for him.

Why don't those other people get with the program and understand why they should be doing what I'm doing here. A work, performance-based Christianity is always going to put you in trouble. Not that I'm against hard work. I believe in hard work, probably a little too much, but it's not in place of grace, and it's not in place of worship. And if I've got a choice in any moment, worship's going to come first.

And Mary's there playing the guitar with the the hippie beads on and, oh, Jesus, I praise you. She's out there with her time efficiency studies and. To get Jesus to rebuke her. How manipulative can we become when we want God to be our hitman for us? Make her. Well, when are you going to make these people conform to what I think they should be doing? I don't care about your will. It's mine that's important right here. So Jesus says, but one thing is necessary.

One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it won't be taken away from her. There's one thing that's necessary and she's doing it.

Philippians 3.13, one thing I do, Paul says, forgetting what lies behind, straining forward to what lies ahead, the prize of the high calling, Jesus. What's the prize? What's the greatest thing you could win in life? This, what I'm talking about right now. There's not a greater thing you could win in this life. You can go for contracts. You can go for gold medals. You can go for the highest entertainment award.

You can go for the best deal in the office. You could go for the greatest achievement in politics or whatever. But I'm telling you, none of it is equal to value to Jesus himself and connecting with him and living in his presence. And he is accessible to every single part of every person in this life. life. So we find ourselves strangely blind and deaf to the Lord. There's a long story here that would take too long to read, but it's such a good story.

It's about two disciples after the resurrection of Jesus, but they don't quite believe that he's risen from the dead. They did see him die, but there's stories about him rising, but now he's gone and they're depressed and they're having a depressing conversation. They're having a negative conversation. They're not believing. And so they walk for seven miles from Jerusalem to a town called Emmaus. Emmaus means hot baths. They were going to the spa, as depressed disciples do.

So they're on their way to the hot baths. Talking about all these depressing things that they've given up their whole life. And now the sigh is gone. And the stranger turns up walking beside them. And they said, he says, why are you so sad? And why do you have this kind of conversation? And they said, well, haven't you heard? It's justified. Our negativity is justified. We're going to defend it in Jesus' name. Amen. And we all do that. Well, you're not going through what I'm going through.

I'm justified in being a negative, miserable person. Why would we want to do that?

But they do it. Like, it's a human condition. So he starts giving them a Bible college system. He was the original C3 college lecturer. He takes them on a seven-mile Bible study from Moses through all the prophets. Thoughts, can you, of all the things that I might have wanted to do with Jesus, I think that if I was given one thing, it might have been that. As he just, page after page after page, given you this Bible study about himself, and still he didn't get it.

After seven miles, a Bible study about Jesus, being given by a lecturer, Jesus, they still didn't know that this was Jesus. How could we be so blind? How could we be so deaf? We're listening to that same voice. I guess what I'm saying is that he's closer than you think. Maybe he's been talking all week. He's walking with you. Not maybe. He's walking with you. He's there in your house. He's there when you're asleep. He's there when you're afraid.

He's there when you're feeling sad. He's there when you are talking negatively. He's there. And if we would just turn our eyes to experience him, we might find our entire being is transformed. So finally, they did recognize him when he started to eat something with them. And then he disappeared. He said, well, now you've seen me, I'm gone. But they said at the end of that Bible study, how our hearts set on fire. We started cold at the end of that Bible college.

We were on fire. That's the kind of Bible college you want to go to. That's why Jesus comes to C3. Amen.

So I want to finish with this little story because I think this is something that happens for all of us, but this is such a dramatic story. This is like one of the most graphic stories, I think, that I know of in Scripture because I can't understand how it happened. It blows my mind that this happened. Mary, as a virgin, gives birth to the Messiah.

Her husband has a dream, angels, prophecies from ancient people, all miracles happening in cousins and all kinds of things going on with the birth of this child, so you would think now that you've been entrusted with the care of the messiah who will bring salvation to the entire world you're not going to let him out of your sight right. She loses him for three days i've lost one of my kids for less than three hours and my head was spinning.

I mean, it is a horrific experience. Joseph and Mary lost Jesus for three days. Do you know why? It says in Luke 2 verse 44, but supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey, but when they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for him. And after three days, they found him in the temple. It's a good idea to go to church if you're feeling a little lost or feeling distant.

But those words at the beginning of that verse, they supposed he was with them. I know people who've grown up in Christian environments, grown up in a context that would say, yes, I'm a Christian. But it's not an experience with Jesus that they're having. It's a supposition. It's an imagination. I think he's with me. I hope he's with me. The theology says he's with me. but I couldn't say I know God, that I look into His eyes.

I told you at the beginning of this message, I was going to give you three really simple steps to take every day for every one of us. Whether we're a butcher, baker, candlestick maker, or an Indian chief, it doesn't matter. All of us are able and should do this to invoke and invite Him. Into our lives. The first one is before you do anything, look up, just look to Him. Say, Lord, I invite you into this. I'm going to see this client right now. I've got this patient coming into the surgery.

Lord, I'm a vet. I've got to look after a dog. I look to You. Lord, I'm going shopping. I look to You. I'm going to the mall. I look to You. And He'll say, Say, go to David Jones. Don't go to there because you'll get a better deal here. He'll talk to you. That was not an ad for any. That was not like some position ad. I was just rambling. Out to buy a car. You get unctions. Yes, no, this way, that way. Just invite them in. Lord, I commit my way into you. Don't do that at the beginning of 2020.

Say, Lord, I commit 2020 to you. See you at the end of the year. Amen. That's not walking with God. Walking with God and saying, I ask you to come in. I'm going to church today, Lord. him. He's not going to say go anywhere else. He's just going to say, yeah, right. I know him. Amen. Even, you know, like what I do today, Lord, I'm going to work. I'm going to look for this new job. I'm meeting this person. I'm going to try this course. Look to him and be prepared to do what he says.

Be open to him talking so that you can hear. He might not say anything. You're good. You just keep walking. And I would find that that's pretty regular, because you're on the right track. He doesn't need to say anything. So it's not, it's generally when you're going to go right or left. They say, oh, this way. But then that's the first thing. The second thing, Key, is to while you are doing it, look to the Lord to give me strength, give me wisdom, Lord, here.

You can do that without even saying that. You're talking to the client, but on the inside, you're going, oh, just help me. You might be witnessing to your neighbor, Lord, just help me. You don't go, hi, I want to tell you about Jesus. Lord, help me tell this person. You do it on the inside. And the third thing is when you've done it, look to the Lord again and say, thank you. So that doesn't leave a lot of space where he's not involved in your life, right?

Yeah, if you say, yeah, but that would mean that he's sort of in my life ever, all the, exactly, all the time. It's called abiding in Jesus. It's living, walking with God. And if you were to make, of all the pursuits you have, I know we're just out of February and we could still, I can just sneak in a message about what to do in the coming year.

I would say, make this one thing, your highest pursuit, that you will walk with God, that you will have Jesus at the center of your experience, that you will walk in Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name. You know, so as I close, let me just pray for you. Maybe I could ask you to close your eyes, cross the hall. And there may be some of you who've never, never asked Jesus to come into your life. Or maybe you did some stage, but you definitely relate to this morning's message.

You say, well, I'm not experiencing God anymore. I've drifted. I'm not close to Him. Maybe you do come to church every week. You're a good person, but you're not sure you're going to heaven. You're not sure of your salvation. In a couple of moments, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand.

If that's you, if you've never asked Christ into your life, if you're unsure about going to heaven, if you're a long way from God, if that's you, in a couple seconds when I ask, I want you to put your hand high in the air. So right now, if you've never prayed a prayer saying, Jesus, come into my life, or if you are away from God, or if you're just not sure about going to heaven, right now, friend, wherever you are, would you put your hand up, please? Put it up high. Thank you, I see your hand.

Thank you, I see your hand. Thank you, I see you're here. Is there. I'll wait just another couple seconds for anybody else. If there's one more person, would you please raise your hand? Thank you, Lord. Amen. Can I ask us all just to stand as we come to a close here right now? Those of you who raised your hands, one of our team are going to, give you some material to help you follow Jesus. and they might pray with you as well or your friends who brought you could pray with you.

But I definitely want you to pray this prayer with us all right now as we come to a close. Can we say these words together? Dear God in heaven, I ask Jesus Christ to come into my life. I ask to be born again. Cleanse me from all sin. Make me your child. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Hey, thanks for jumping on this podcast today.

It's been a pleasure sharing with you. Check out more content on Instagram or on my YouTube channel. Just search Phil Pringle. Or else you can go to my website, philpringle.com, and check out my latest books, artwork, and my blog. Look forward to talking again soon. See you then.