I Press On

February 25, 2026

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
-Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)

…First, I want to ask everyone to pray for the situation in Mexico.  At the time of this writing things are not well in many towns and cities there.  I won’t get into the details, but it’s a sad situation.

Second, I want to implore everyone to be optimistic and look to the heavens!  It’s too easy to turn on the news and think gloom and doom.  It’s too easy to look at the state of many churches in the western world and think negatively.  It’s too easy to let old sins creep back in or still wrestle with ongoing strongholds.  It’s too easy to not want to spend time with Jesus Christ.  It’s too easy to think Jesus is very distant from me and I’m too spiritually far away from his presence.  It’s too easy to think about giving up on God.

If you feel like you’re in a rut for any of these reasons (and others), let me remind you about Paul’s writings in Phil. 3:12-14.  Most scholars believe Paul wrote his letter to the Philippian church during his first imprisonment in Rome.  Even before getting to this low point on his journey, Paul mentioned a number of other tragedies he endured.  He said, “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea….” (2 Cor. 11:25).  I bet for whoever reading this, you haven’t gone through nearly as much as Paul.  I bet on so many of these occasions Paul must’ve felt very distant from everything and everyone, but he never mentioned anything about quitting.  How did Paul have this indominable spirit?  For those of you who are great reformed theologians, you probably know the answer is already found in the ‘P’ in our TULIP acronym where the ‘P’ stands for “Perseverance of the Saints”.  Let me also share these three passages:

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified (Romans 8:29-30).

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day (John 6:39).

These three passages tell me that God has handpicked his followers, he made his followers right with God the Father, he qualifies his followers, he enables his followers, he empowers his followers, he will glorify his followers, his followers will complete their mission, and he will never let them go – EVER!

Do you know how incredibly assuring and motivating this is?  So then how do we respond knowing these promises of Jesus Christ?  WE PRESS ON!

Jesus has given us everything we need to continue to press on!  Even when we don’t feel like coming close to Jesus and even when we think we’ve fallen too far away, we have to FIGHT for our faith and PRESS ON!  And I would even say when we don’t feel like getting close to Jesus, that’s when we have to double down and fight to get close to Jesus.  This means push ourselves and drive ourselves to read our bibles, pray, sing songs of praise, mediate on him, worship him and enjoy him!  The truth is, it’ll always be an uphill battle to desire Jesus because we’re so fallen as a people.  We have to fight for our love of Christ and we have to do it daily!

Dear Christians, PRESS ON because your goal is heavenward and don’t be fooled otherwise!  You are specifically chosen, fitted for citizenship in heaven and don’t you ever forget that!  Now PRESS ON, PRESS ON, AND PRESS ON IN YOUR FAITH!

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In a Foreign Place

February 18, 2026

4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
-Jeremiah 29:4-7 (NIV)

…So I’ve been away on vacation for a little bit.  I went to Bangkok, Thailand and at the time of this writing, I’ve come down with the flu and even some pink eye.  Flying for over 20 hours including connecting flights and dealing with the flu is not fun, and I’m quite thankful to be back.  I honestly struggle immensely with hot weather and my wife is probably always afraid that I may get a medical emergency relating to heat exhaustion or heat induced vertigo at any time (which happened to me before) - call me crazy but -20 degrees Celsius in the middle of winter and I love it!

Now upon hearing about Bangkok, some people immediately will ask, “Why there?”  At the end of the day, I’m a city boy.  I’m not such a huge fan of going to beaches or hiking through mountains or valleys.  I like going to different cities and exploring their streets, stores, restaurants and coffee shops.  Bangkok just happened to be a relatively affordable and safe place to visit, where I could get by with using English.  In Bangkok and believe it or not in, many retail workers understand some English there and many retail signs have English on them, and then when I was lost in translation, thank goodness there’s Google Translate on my cell phone (and cellular data packages are also affordable).   Sure, Bangkok has a lot of great amenities offered by many great international cities such as a well-developed subway system and sky train system (and transit costs are also cheap, including taxi or ride share costs).  It was quite easy to navigate the city if you ask me.  It’s also quite convenient in that at most places, I could pick up a passion fruit smoothy to combat the heat.  And although I really like authentic Thai food, seeing all the fun stores and ordering unique coffee drinks, admittedly I was very shaken and stunned throughout my whole short trip.

Why you ask?  Primarily I was shaken by the number of idols all around me.  It seemed like every few blocks there was a large and prominent Hindu shrine erected.  Most often the shrine was dedicated to Ganesha, the Hindu god of good fortune, wisdom, logic and intellect.  He’s typically depicted as having an elephant head and many arms while sitting or standing upright.  There was a large Hindu shrine right outside Central World - one of the largest shopping malls in the city.  There were Hindu shrines on top of the roofs of apartment buildings.  There was even a neon lighted Hindu shrine in the middle of a retail souvenir store in another mall.  It was just in my face and everywhere and it didn’t sit well with me at all.

Now leading up to this trip, I did a lot of research about sightseeing places and what to expect, but none of the YouTube videos I watched talked about all the shrines and rampant idolatry.  As a Christian it was very unsettling and unwelcoming if you ask me.  I felt spiritually oppressed in many ways.  And it’s now come to the point where my wife and I are completely okay if we never go back there ever again.  But now it got me thinking….Earlier today I watched a fantastic sermon on Jeremiah 29 by the late Voddie Baucham.  And what struck me the most was Jer. 29:4-7 in our text today.  During our Bangkok trip my wife kept joking saying, “This is the land of Sodom and Gomorrah”, in response to the idea of it being a land of comfort if you ask me.  It has cheap food, a good healthcare system (arguably the best in Southeast Asia), a good and affordable transit system, it’s safe, you can get by with English, the people are nice – a lot of things seem great there….BUT, it is a land of rampant and heavy idolatry, perhaps similar to Sodom and Gomorrah, but probably more like Babylon in our text.  I can only say Thailand needs our prayer help!  Pray that the gospel reaches them and others in the world!

And at the end of the day, I have this to say:  Wherever God has placed you in life, you better make the most of it!  In the case of the ancient Israelites and when they first were exiled in Babylon, many thought they’d be stuck in Babylon for just a few years and probably none of them thought they’d be there for 70 years!  Imagine 70 years of living in a land of foreign idols.  Now some of you may be thinking, “Okay Pastor David, but we’re not in Bangkok and we’re in the Greater Moncton Area, so that doesn’t apply to me.”  Oh no?  You don’t think the Greater Moncton Area, your home or your heart may have other kinds of idols?  At least with shrines, they’re physically obvious, but for us here, the danger comes from the unseen idols!  How many of us trust our bank accounts more than Christ?  How many of us love our families or loved ones more than Christ?  How many of us think more about how well and how comfortable we’re living here, compared to eternity with Jesus Christ in the heavens and the new heaven and new earth to come?

Therefore, I’ll say it again:  Wherever God has placed you in life, you better make the most of it!  As I still get to know a lot of you, I’m realizing many of you have come from a great distance to be where you are now!  Maybe you may feel like a foreigner or outsider and a bit uncomfortable being in a strange place or a strange land that you’re not used to.  Even if not geographically, maybe where you’re presently at in life, you’ve gotten to this point because you’ve amassed a lot of life experiences to be where you’re at presently and it feels different for you.  In this case, maybe you also feel a bit foreign to this stage of life.  Some of you reading this are probably wrestling with downsizing and you’re not used to it.  In the case of ancient Babylon (a land full of foreign idols and hardship) and foreign to all the Israelites, we have to first realize God placed them there!  That statement in itself must shock some of you.   I won’t get into the details at this moment, but know God is good and he has a greater plan than many of us realize and it’s all for God’s glory’s sake.  And in ancient Babylon, God instructed his people to settle down, raise families, live even in a hostile and foreign place (Babylon) knowing God sent them there.  But the most important part is this: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.  Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper!”  And if you think about it and no matter where we live on earth, we are all in exile in this earth and bound to our mortal bodies until Christ comes back to redeem us fully, whereby we are given new bodies in the heavens in eternity (2 Cor. 5:1-9).  And by default, I’m saying in many ways, the whole earth is under the oppression of foreign idols until Christ comes back to judge the world and create a new heaven and new earth after (Isa. 65:17, 2 Pe. 3:13, Rev. 21:1).

But we have a choice in the here and now!  Make the most of it no matter what circumstance you are in.  Live for Christ Jesus or live as the world does!  And even though there are temptations and idols all around us, as Christians we are not forced to live under bondage of these idols, because our bodies are living temples where the Holy Spirit dwells (1 Cor 6:19-20).  In this life, we will always be foreigners and in a foreign place, but our true citizenship is in heaven with Jesus (Phil. 3:20), and no matter where you find yourself and no matter the circumstance, make the most of it and pray for your city, pray for your home, pray for your household!

As for me, thank God I’m back!  It feels good to sleep in my own bed again, and it feels even better knowing Jesus Christ has me!  I love passion fruit smoothies, but I love Jesus more!

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