Guidelines in Following Jesus (Philippians 3:12-16) – Russell McCollough

Welcome to CROLCC, we are so glad you are here worshiping with us.  Last Sunday was a great Sunday, we had the opportunity to witness eight brothers and sisters being baptized as we celebrated Easter. We call them brothers and sisters because when we are following Jesus together we are a family. Baptism is simply a “public declaration of a new association.”  The significance of the water originally was simply washing away the past, the old identity, the old way of life and essentially coming to a new identity, a new way of life.  Therefore when a person decides to get baptized, he or she is simply saying I am willing to associate myself with Jesus, I am willing to follow Jesus.  Like we said last week, baptism is simply a beginning, and we are so excited to follow Jesus together with all of them.

Today we are so happy to have Pastor Russell with us.  We became friends when we first worked together on the Luis Palau Festival three years ago.  I love hanging out with him, he is very genuine and he “tells it like it is.”  I have learned quite a bit from him and he has been such an encouragement to me and our church.  I have asked him today to talk about following Jesus, and I am guessing he probably has been following Jesus for a while now.  Perhaps Pastor Russell will have a few pointers for all of us as we continue on this journey of following.

Moving Forward

It is often times easy to be distracted in following Jesus.  But the apostle Paul urges us to let go of the past and keep marching forward.  Would you commit in doing that today?  Remember, you can’t follow Jesus when you look backward.

Discussion Questions

1. Talk about a time when you decided to start something but you felt like you never finished, what happened?  How about a time when you finished something you started?

2. Have you ever been distracted by a “Pickle on the Pants (i.e. something trivial)” in following Jesus?  What did that distraction cost you?

3. Read Philippians 3:12-16.  What does it take to run a good race in following Jesus? What is the “One Thing” we must remember?

4. What do you need to focus on currently and what do you need to let go as you continue to follow Jesus?  What can this group do to support you?