We Serve The Same Focus Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: Oct 02, 2014

Date Preached: Oct 05, 2014

Where Preached: OPBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Series Title: We Serve the SAME God

Sermon Title: We Serve the SAME Focus!

Sermon Text: Colossians 3:1-17 [ESV]

Introduction:

A young boy by the name of James had a desire to be the most famous manufacturer and salesman of cheese in the world. He planned on becoming rich and famous by making and selling cheese and began with a little buggy pulled by a pony named Paddy.

After making his cheese, he would load his wagon and he and Paddy would drive down the streets of Chicago to sell the cheese. As the months passed, the young boy began to despair because he was not making any money, in spite of his long hours and hard work.

One day he pulled his pony to a stop and began to talk to him. He said, "Paddy, there is something wrong. We are not doing it right. I am afraid we have things turned around and our priorities are not where they ought to be.

Maybe we ought to serve God and place him first in our lives." The boy drove home and made a covenant that for the rest of his life he would first serve God and then would work as God directed.

Many years after this, the young boy, now a man, stood as Sunday School Superintendent at North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago and said, "I would rather be a layman in the North Shore Baptist Church than to head the greatest corporation in America. My first job is serving Jesus."

So, every time you take a take a bite of:

Philadelphia Cream cheese,

sip a cup of Maxwell House,

cook a pot of Macaroni & Cheese,

spread some Grey Poupon,

stir a bowl of Cream of Wheat,

eat the cream out of the middle of an Oreo cookie, or

serve some Stove Top stuffing

You need to remember a boy and his pony named Paddy… this boy’s name? James L. Kraft… He decided to serve God first and focus on his calling as a believer and God blessed and prospered his efforts.

Now this is not a story about the ‘name it and claim it’ health and wealth prosperity gospel… it is a story about a man who had the right focus in his life!

With the right focus comes right actions and right actions equal obedience to God’s calling. Obedience pleases God and God has promised He will honor those who honor him…

Up to this point in his letter, Paul has been setting the stage for how believers should live out their faith in the world. How does the world see you living your faith?

Our Scripture this morning is Colossians 3:1-17 and in this passage we find Paul emphasizing a FOCUS in serving God. Up to this point, Paul has taught that:

We have been called to the SAME team… God’s Church

We are being led by the SAME leader…Jesus Christ

We are all fueled by the SAME purpose…Making Christ known!

Today we are going to look at how Paul shares that we all called to serve the SAME focus…

In my short story about James Craft I told you that he had the ‘right focus’… and you may ask, ‘what do you mean when you say, ‘the right focus?

Well, the word focus can be defined as a ‘concentration’ on something or giving specific attention to a project or job… it can also be defined as a specific point of emphasis on a particular subject or thing…in other words those who ‘focus’ on something KNOW it intimately…

For the purpose of our message this morning I am going to define ‘focus’ as knowing WHO you are and HOW you are called to live for Christ, as you live out your life in this world.

In other words, when I mention focus this morning is about you knowing your ‘job or responsibility’ as a believer and then putting that knowledge into practice in your life!

Another way to see the word focus is found in a football team. On a football team you have the coach who is your leader. The football team’s purpose in each game is to score touchdowns and to prevent touchdowns. However the FOCUS for the team in each game is different for each player.

The focus for a football player is HIS job. The focus for a FB player is knowing WHO he is on the team and doing what he is called to do to see the purpose achieved!

Knowing WHO you are and knowing what you are called to do is like the football player who knows where he is supposed to line up and what he is supposed to do on each play… in other words knowing your position and knowing where to line up and your job!