If you don't know me, if you're visiting, my name is Niels, one of the elders here.
It's, yeah, welcoming you more formally.
It's great to be with you.
It's great to bring you God's Word.
In a moment, in a moment, Cecilia is going to read.
If you've been doing our Bible reading plan that started off, we started the year with
Philippians.
It's just nice to have this really encouraging New Testament book at the start of the year.
It's a great letter, one of Paul's favorite churches.
And so I thought, why don't I speak on that?
So in a moment, I'll be speaking on Philippians 3, this wonderful chapter of Christian basics
that will be good at the start of the year.
But Cecilia is going to read for us in a moment.
Let me first pray.
Father, thank you that you are the God who speaks, the God who loves us, the God who comes into
our life.
Pray that you would speak to each one of us now as Cecilia reads.
And we hear those words that you spoke back then, that you're still speaking now.
And as I then try to explain it, speak to each of our hearts, no matter where we are at,
no matter what this year has been like so far for us.
Please speak to us, encourage us, and help us to press on with you.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Today's scripture reading is Philippians chapter 3, verse 1 to chapter 4, verse 1.
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.
To write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and is safe for you.
Look out for the dogs.
Look out for the evildoers.
Look out for those who mutilate of the flesh.
For we are the circumcision.
We worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh.
Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also.
If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.
Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews,
as to the law, a Pharisee, as to Sil, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish.
In order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,
but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith,
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings because, like him in his death,
that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own,
because Christ Jesus had made me his own.
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own,
but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
I press on towards the goals of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Let those of us who are mature think this way,
and if in anything you think otherwise, God will review that also to you.
Not only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Brothers, join in imitating me,
and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
For many, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears,
walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their end is destruction, their God is their belly,
and glory is their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we await a saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body,
by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for,
my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
This is the word of God.
Amen.
Great. Thank you for reading, Cecilia.
And so, yeah, there's a lot in this passage.
We're not going to look at everyone, everything,
but wonderful things here.
Now, Christianity is, I think, it's the weirdest religion in the world, right?
If you have spent time with people from other religions
who are serious about their religion,
you will notice how different it is.
And what is the big difference?
Well, it's grace, isn't it?
The fact that it's not about what we do.
It is about what Jesus has done.
And most religions, you know,
Islam has the five pillars of Islam that you need to do to get to heaven.
Or in Buddhism, there's the eightfold path.
And I don't know the number for Hinduism,
but, you know, there's things that you need to do.
And yet, as Christians,
well, we believe it's all about what Jesus did, right?
It's he lived a perfect life.
And if we trust in him, we get that counted to us.
And everything we've done wrong,
Jesus died for it.
We don't have to make up for it with good things, right?
And so there's no laws to give.
There's no pray this many times a day,
not do this, do that,
no offerings.
And that's a wonderful thing.
I mean, we see it here in this first half of this chapter, right?
What is the,
this is the Apostle Paul writing,
and verse 9,
this is what it's like to be a Christian.
Verse 9,
to be found in Christ,
not having a righteousness of my own,
that comes from the law,
but that which comes through faith in Christ.
The righteousness from God,
that depends on faith.
I'm right with God.
I'm accepted by him,
purely by faith in Jesus,
by what he has done,
and not by my own efforts in keeping the law.
He's writing about people who,
you know,
Jewish people who said,
no, no,
you need to keep the law to be a Christian.
And he says,
well,
I'm more Jewish than anyone.
I'm more law keeping than anyone,
but that's all rubbish.
No,
we need Christ.
Only he can make us right with God.
But that's a wonderful thing.
I mean,
and once Jesus has done that,
it's great.
If you're a Christian,
I hope you know that,
right?
If you feel tempted,
you know,
to prove yourself,
yeah,
on Instagram,
or at work,
that you know,
no,
I'm already accepted fully by God.
It's a wonderful thing.
But then,
how do people respond?
When you say that,
well,
if I share this with religious people,
that,
you know,
Jesus has done everything.
You can go to heaven
just by trusting him.
They always say,
but then,
why should I be good?
Why should I make any effort
to pray,
to be holy,
right?
You're already accepted.
You're already righteous.
You already got in.
What's the point,
right?
You know,
why do that?
It's a good question.
I mean,
the New Testament
asked that question,
right?
Famous chapter,
Romans 6,
shall we continue to sin?
Because we are not under law,
but under grace,
right?
It is a very good question.
Maybe that's something you wonder.
You're here as a visitor,
or you're not a Christian,
and that seems so strange,
right?
That you're already fully accepted.
Why would you do anything?
I mean,
the logic makes a lot of sense.
I mean,
silly example.
Back when I was at university,
I studied electrical engineering,
and there was a subject I had to do
called electrical circuits.
And anyway,
there were four tests.
Yeah.
And I had to pass three out of four.
So I passed the first three,
and then what did I do?
Well,
I stopped going to lectures,
right?
And then for the exam,
I just went in,
and I wrote my student number
and the date,
and then when the exam started,
I handed in my paper
and went out.
Why would I,
right?
I've already passed.
That makes sense,
right?
I've got so much better things
to do than this,
right?
Doing an exam,
I've already passed.
You can see the logic.
Well,
why isn't,
how about Christianity then,
right?
If Jesus has already done everything,
what should we do?
So,
as we start a new year,
I thought that's a great thing
to preach on
at the start of 2025.
And what does
Paul say?
Well,
the thing is,
we are not there yet.
The thing I want to preach on
is 3.12 to 4.1.
And a few times he says,
we are not there yet.
Verse 12,
not that I have already obtained this
or am already perfect,
but I press on
to make it my own
because Christ Jesus
has made me his own.
Brothers,
I do not consider
that I have made it my own,
but 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 upward call
of God in Christ Jesus.
You can hear it.
I press on
because I'm not there yet,
right?
I haven't obtained it yet.
I'm not perfect yet.
And it seems so contradictory,
right?
Aren't we perfect in Christ?
Just when you trust in Jesus,
you're perfect.
Well,
there's,
the difference is between
in status
and in practice.
Right?
In status
and in practice.
Christ has given us
a status.
And we are right with God.
We belong to him.
Verse 20 talks about
our citizenship
is in heaven.
Right?
Citizenship talks about,
you know,
legal and rights
and those kind of things,
right?
So,
so legally,
yeah,
we belong to Christ.
We,
we're citizens
of heaven.
But Paul is thinking
of practical reality.
Right?
He's thinking of
knowing Christ
and being like him.
Of our thoughts
and words
and deeds.
And the thing is,
that hasn't changed yet.
Right?
Paul says,
I'm not yet perfect.
I'm not there yet.
Right?
Having a legal status
doesn't change
your life.
We still have a lowly body,
not yet a glorious body.
We're not yet fully like Christ.
I mean,
a silly example,
what makes a Hong Konger?
You can talk about
a legal status,
right?
And so,
in that sense,
I'm a Hong Konger.
I've been here
eight and a half years.
I'm a permanent resident
of Hong Kong.
I'm a real Hong Konger.
Except,
I don't really look like
a Hong Konger,
right?
When it's 20 degrees,
I still wear shorts
and t-shirts.
I still don't know
how to fill in
the dim sum menu.
You know,
I want to buy lunch.
I want to order,
I want to say takeaway
and they give me lemon tea.
If you can work that out.
Those red envelopes,
for years,
I thought they were called
light cheese.
Right?
Yeah,
red,
named after the fruit.
That's what I thought
until someone corrected me.
I'm not a Hong Konger,
right?
In status,
yes.
In practice,
no.
But,
it's the same thing
with Christ.
Paul says,
that's me.
I have Christ.
I have the ID card.
Yes.
But,
in practice,
I'm still earthly.
In practice,
I'm not yet who
I want to be.
I'm still not like Christ.
But,
I want to be.
And,
and God wants us to be,
right?
God doesn't want us
to just give us
a new legal status
and then for the rest
we stay the same
old,
sinful people.
No.
God wants us
to be transformed.
He wants to make us
all we can be.
He wants to make us
like Jesus.
Isn't that the most
wonderful thing?
And,
it's not just that,
you know,
God wants it.
Hopefully,
we want it.
Right?
We don't want to be
the people that we
used to be.
We,
we want to be
different.
We want to be like Christ.
We want to be
more loving
and more holy
and more other-centered
and more devoted.
Right?
We want to live for Christ
like,
anyway,
like Paul does,
but even more.
Paul says,
I want to do more.
Right?
But that's the thing.
We should want it.
Right?
Hopefully,
we want it.
I mean,
going back to
electrical circuits,
the problem is
I just wasn't
interested.
Right?
I wanted to do telecoms
and this was just
an obligatory,
irrelevant subject to me,
so I had no interest
in it.
If I really was
passionate about
electrical circuits,
of course,
I would go to the lectures
and try to do well
in the exam,
even if I didn't need to
because I was interested.
So,
the person who says,
well,
hey,
if Jesus has done
everything,
I don't need to.
That person doesn't
want to be holy.
They have no interest
in knowing Jesus.
They just,
why should I?
Well,
they don't want to.
But ideally,
as Christians,
yeah,
the right thing is that
we want to be different.
We want to know Christ more.
We want to pursue Him.
We want to love Him more.
Right?
We want to be like Him.
And that is
the Christian life.
Verse 15,
Paul says,
let those of us
who are mature
think this way.
Yeah,
we're not there yet.
That is being
a mature Christian
is having this mindset.
Which is kind of weird,
right?
Because you think,
if I'm mature,
I've arrived.
And Paul says,
well,
mature means being immature.
Mature means
knowing that you
have not arrived yet.
Yeah?
But that is
what Paul wants.
So,
I don't know,
how do we see ourselves?
I hope we rejoice
in our salvation.
I hope we rejoice
that we have Christ
and we have His righteousness.
Right?
We are fully accepted
and yet,
as Christians,
I hope we want to,
we want more.
Right?
We want to know Christ more.
We want to change.
We want to be more loving.
We want to be more patient.
We want to
please God more.
We want to
live a life
that reflects Him more
here in the world
around us.
Or do we want to stay
the old sinner
that we used to be?
But then,
what do we do?
And Paul says,
well,
I press on.
Right?
Press on like Paul.
Three times he says it,
right?
Verse 12,
I press on
to make it my own.
Verse 13,
I strain forward
to what lies ahead.
Verse 14,
I press on
towards the goal.
I press on.
I pursue.
I mean,
Paul,
he used to pursue Christians
to put them in prison,
right?
And now he says,
no,
I'm pursuing Christ.
I'm pursuing my goal.
I run.
I strain forward.
The idea is
this race
where there's the finish line
and he's running ahead
to try and get the finish line.
That's what Paul was doing.
Even though he's very careful,
look,
this is not me achieving
my salvation,
right?
It is still grace,
right?
Verse 12,
I press on
to make it my own
because Christ Jesus
has made me His own.
Jesus has already
made me His own.
Jesus has already done it.
He's brought me to Himself,
but now I want Him.
I want to pursue Him.
He's pursued me,
but now I pursue Him.
And that's,
yeah,
so we are saved by grace,
but Paul wants it.
What does Paul mean?
Yeah,
just knowing Christ,
being like Him,
right?
Seeking to grow
through reading
and praying
and becoming more loving
and holy
and,
you know,
looking for ways
to love people,
looking for ways
to spread the gospel,
looking for ways
to,
you know,
do all the stuff
that,
if you've read Philippians,
you see Paul do,
right?
If you've read
the first two chapters,
so many things
about gospel centrality
and about putting others first,
all that kind of stuff.
Now,
we read that
and maybe you think,
well,
Paul is this crazy maniac,
right?
I mean,
this is Paul.
Paul is,
he's a bit nuts.
He's a super Christian
and I'm just ordinary.
But actually,
Paul says that
this is for all of us,
right?
Verse 17,
brothers,
join in imitating me
and keep your eyes
on those who walk
according to the example
you have in us,
right?
Follow my example.
Follow those who are like me,
people like Timothy
and Epaphroditus
who we read about
in the,
if you've read chapter two,
right?
Now,
that shows that Paul
doesn't mean
do exactly what I did.
I mean,
think about Paul,
right?
He planted
over 20 churches.
He wrote half
the New Testament
and he says,
okay,
imitate me.
It doesn't mean
that we should do
exactly the same thing
as he did,
right?
We can't.
No,
he's thinking about
a mindset,
a mindset
that we want to grow,
a mindset
that we want
to press on.
I mean,
standards don't really work.
I mean,
standards are a problem,
right?
Because either we think
we've met them
or we think
we can't meet them,
right?
Maybe if the standard
was,
okay,
read the Bible every day
and pray two times a day
and then you've done enough.
I mean,
when you've done that
then you just think,
hey,
that's fine,
I can relax now,
I've done everything.
That's not right.
That doesn't help.
Or you think,
I could never do that
and you despair.
No,
Paul doesn't think like that.
I mean,
clearly it's not about
a standard,
right?
Otherwise,
Paul would have met it,
right?
Surely if it was about
a standard,
Paul could have said,
I've done enough,
right?
I mean,
he met Jesus
on the road to Damascus.
He's an official apostle.
He planted over 20 churches.
He's now in prison
and he says,
hey,
every single prison guard
has heard the gospel from me.
Surely if anyone has done enough,
it's Paul.
But he says,
I'm not there yet.
I press on.
So,
of course,
the real standard is Jesus.
If you're like Jesus,
then you can relax,
right?
If you're perfect,
but we're not.
No,
it's just a mindset.
A mindset that,
hey,
we want to grow.
We want to press on.
No matter where you're at.
And I think it's so helpful
that he just says,
one thing I do,
forgetting what lies behind.
Verse 13.
I just,
I forget what lies behind.
I strain forward.
I just,
I want to press on now.
Because we find it so easy
to look forward,
to look back.
But Paul says,
hey,
don't worry about the past.
Don't think about the past.
Maybe some of us,
oh,
back when I was a student,
then I did a lot of evangelism.
And so now I can relax.
Maybe,
you know,
before I had kids,
I was a CG leader
and I was on the music team.
And so I've done my bit
and now I can relax.
But that's not Paul's thinking.
Paul says,
I press on.
So don't think about
what you did in the past.
Are you pressing on today?
Right?
Today,
are we,
are you trying to grow?
Are you trying to become more loving?
Are you pressing on
and knowing Jesus?
Or we look back in despair.
Maybe it's the start of the year
and you've looked back at 2024
and you feel like such a failure.
I'm so useless,
right?
I've struggled to pray.
I've struggled to read.
Every quarter,
I start a Bible reading plan
and I give up
and I'm just useless,
you know?
Paul says,
forget what lies behind.
Don't worry about that.
Can you pray today?
Can you press on today?
Can you read something today?
Right?
It's a mindset.
How can we press on today?
Because God knows
all of us are different.
Some people,
they're young
and single
and fit
and maybe you,
you have a big family
and a very demanding job
and,
you know,
that's different.
And one person
is a very young Christian
and someone else
has been a Christian
for decades,
right?
Pressing on looks different
for each one of us.
Don't compare yourself
with others.
Don't,
you know,
maybe you're a young Christian
and this year
you want to read
one of those big
Old Testament books.
that's a great thing
for you to do.
Someone else,
maybe you've read the Bible
cover to cover 15 times.
I mean,
for you there would be nothing.
Is there something else
you can do?
How can we press on?
And for each of us
there will be things
we can do.
Maybe there are sins
we can fight.
And we can pray.
We can read something.
We can find ways
to serve Christ.
We have gospel decisions
that we can make.
Right?
But is that our desire?
Are we seeking to grow?
Hey,
we're in Christ.
We have His righteousness
but we want to be
more like Him.
So,
this year,
2025,
right?
Let's say
I'm not there yet.
I want more of Christ.
I want more holiness,
more love.
What can I do?
How can I keep running?
How can I keep straining?
forward.
And that matters.
It matters,
I mean,
partly for ourselves,
partly for the world,
right?
We want to shine like stars.
We want people
to see Jesus
in our lives.
Of course,
we want our lives
to more and more
radiate His beauty
and glory.
Although Paul also says,
he goes on
in the same passage,
by the way,
that pressing on
is also safe.
And why?
Well,
Paul wants to warn us.
I mean,
he does a lot of warning.
I mean,
he warned them about
Judaizers who tell you
to keep the law.
You don't need that.
But he also says,
watch out for fakes.
Watch out for fakes.
Verse 17,
brothers,
join in imitating me.
Keep your eyes
on those who walk
according to the example
you have in us.
For many,
of whom I have often told you
and now tell you
even with tears,
walk as enemies
of the cross of Christ.
Keep focused
on people like me
and people like me,
but watch out
for those people,
right?
I'm telling you,
I'm warning you,
don't follow them.
Now,
what kind of people?
It doesn't give much detail,
but we can work out
a few things,
right?
I mean,
certainly,
he's saying,
watch out for these people
who say,
they say they are Christians.
Christians.
I mean,
I think the Philippians
know that there's a difference
between those who follow Jesus
and those who don't,
right?
They see persecution,
they've been converted.
They don't have to watch out
for that they're in danger
of following those
who don't know Jesus.
So,
there will be people
who say they're Christians,
but verse 19,
their end is destruction,
right?
These people
are not with Jesus.
They're not going to heaven.
So,
they seem to be fake.
But why not?
Well,
the problem
is their life,
right?
They walk as enemies
of the cross of Christ.
Walking
is the Bible word
for our daily life,
our normal
day-to-day behavior.
And that behavior,
he says,
it's enemies
of the cross,
right?
They are denying
the cross
by their lives.
And why?
I think
they're saying
that sin doesn't matter.
Right?
Verse 19,
their end is destruction.
Their God
is their belly
and they glory
in their shame.
Who is ruling
their life
is their belly,
their stomach,
their physical desires.
That is their God.
That is the one
ruling their life.
They glory
in their shame.
They do shameful things
and they're proud of it.
They glory in it.
I think
their mind
is set on earthly things.
Their focus
is just this world,
right?
Rather than
our citizenship
is in heaven.
So it seems
these are people,
yeah,
they're living
this indulgent,
sinful lifestyle
and they think
it's fine.
They think
it's normal.
And that is wrong.
And I think
that that makes sense,
right?
Because
that is how we started.
If Jesus
has done everything,
then
I don't need to
do anything.
I can just live
however I want.
Well,
it's the opposite
of pressing on.
No,
Paul says
that that's not right.
If people like that,
they're fake.
It's very tempting though.
That's why he warns them,
right?
Maybe you find it hard
to be a Christian
and you're in your office
and here's this other person
and they say
they're a Christian
but they,
you know,
they're completely dishonest
in all their business dealings.
They just live for pleasure
and you're having
a hard time
and you think
in a way
it would be nice
to be like this person.
But Paul says
no,
that's a fake.
That's someone denying the cross.
They're focused on earth.
We are citizens of heaven.
That's our focus,
right?
We pursue Christ
unlike them.
I don't know
if that's something
that's tempting for you
but that is Paul's warning.
You know,
press on
because you want to be safe.
Now,
I know I get two responses
when I say that.
Some of you will say,
hey,
but aren't we saved by grace?
Surely we're not saved
by what we do
and so they are not condemned
by what they do.
How can you say it's fake?
Well,
the thing is,
yes,
we're saved by grace.
We're saved by what Jesus has done
but Jesus doesn't just give us a status,
right?
Jesus comes into our life.
Grace changes us.
It gives us new desires.
He gives us the Holy Spirit
who wants to make us holy
and so Christians
want to be holy
and a Christian
who has no desire
for holiness,
well,
is there a Holy Spirit in them?
That's the question
the Bible would ask,
right?
Are they,
yeah,
is there really grace at work
if there's no change
in desires?
And the other response
that people say
is people are worried.
Hey,
my life isn't great.
You know,
I look at my life
and it's so rubbish.
I'm really not pressing on.
Am I a fake?
Right?
I know that sounds very tricky
especially because
Paul does seem to distinguish
between some people,
right?
In verse 15,
he says,
let those of us
who are mature
think this way
and if in anything
you think otherwise,
God will reveal that also to you.
So there are some people
who are not pressing on
and Paul says,
hey,
God will sort you out.
He's not worried.
Well,
there's other people,
yeah,
in verse 18
where he's really
telling with tears
don't be like them.
I think it's good to remember
it's not about a standard,
right?
It's about a mindset,
about a direction.
It's not about
have you reached this standard?
No,
what is the direction
of your heart?
Right?
Do you want to know Christ more
even if you don't know
him very well now?
Do you want to know him more?
Do you want to be more holy
even if you're not
very holy now?
Do you want to press on?
If you don't want to,
if you're happy as you are,
if you don't want to change anything,
then it's a problem.
But if you want to,
even if there's not much
pressing on yet,
I think
Paul isn't worried about you.
Just keep pressing on.
That's the thing,
right?
It's just staying safe.
Keep pressing on.
That's the best way
to know,
you know,
just press on.
It's like with exercise.
How much exercise
is enough,
right?
We want to be fit.
We want to make sure
our heart is okay
and those kind of things.
We want to do some exercise.
Maybe you don't know
if it's enough or not.
The best way
is just keep doing exercise,
right?
Don't think,
well,
I'm going to stop
just in case I've done enough.
No,
let's keep going.
And so Paul says,
just press on.
It's good.
It's great.
It keeps you safe.
But ultimately,
staying safe
is not the main thing,
right?
Look,
who do you want to be?
That is what this passage
is asking,
right?
Do you want to be someone
and your God
is your belly?
Do you want your stomach
to be your God?
That's who controls my life.
Or do you want Jesus
to be your God,
right?
Do you want him
at the center of your life?
That's much more beautiful,
right?
That is his beautiful love
and glorious holiness,
right?
You want him to be
in your life,
right?
Surely you want to be
like Paul
rather than like
one of these people
indulging themselves.
And that is who
you will be,
right?
Jesus is committed
to you.
Jesus says,
Paul says,
our citizenship
is in heaven
and from it
we await a Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will transform
our lowly body
to be like
his glorious body
by the power
that enables him
even to subject
all things
to himself.
Jesus is going
to make
the whole universe
his and he's going
to make you
fully his
one day
when he comes back
and your lowly body
will be changed
to his glorious,
to be like
his glorious body.
But that power
is here now
today,
right?
Jesus,
he would love you
to be more holy,
right?
If you want to know
him more,
he is there
to help you.
But if you want
to beat that sin,
he is there
to help you.
You can know
more of Christ now
with the power.
He is more powerful
than your sin.
He is more powerful
than your cold heart.
He can do everything.
So,
let's press on.
In this new year,
by the Spirit's power,
let's press on.
Let's pursue Christ.
Let's try
and become more like him.
Maybe,
no,
let's talk about it later,
over coffee,
over lunch.
Hey,
what are things
that we can do?
How can you know me?
You're with your CG members.
What do you think
I should do this year?
How can I press on?
What are things
that are not helpful
that I should stop doing?
How can we help
each other press on?
Don't keep going.
And even if
the past few days
were rubbish,
let's press on today.
Let's make this
a wonderful year.
Let's make 2025
the year
where we keep pressing on,
where we keep pursuing.
Christ
for his glory
and for the good
of the whole world.
Why don't we pray together?
Lord Jesus,
thank you for making us
your own.
We didn't deserve it,
but you came down
and you
will
one day
make us like you.
Father,
we want to press on
this year.
Help us to follow Jesus.
Help us to see
what we can do.
But yeah,
help us see
how wonderful it is
to know you more,
to know Jesus,
to become like him.
Help us press on.
Help us to watch out
for those who would
lead us astray.
Help us to keep
running the race.
And would you
be with us?
By your spirit,
would you
keep changing us,
make us more
and more like Jesus,
which is a wonderful
thing.
We need your help
with that.
We can't do it
by ourselves.
But thanks to
you and your spirit
and your grace,
we can keep
running the race
this coming year.
And so we pray
this in Jesus' name.
Amen.