Fight The Good Fight - Opponent #2: Self

VIDEO: FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT (LYRIC VIDEO)

CHAMPION VIDEO:

MAIN SLIDE: FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT

SCRIPTURE SLIDES:

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

2 Timothy 4:7-8 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the LORD, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

LAST WEEK

We need a new definition of what it means to win:

NOT A ME WIN, BUT A GOD WIN

Let’s use the word PUNCH as an acrostic.

P – BE AT PEACE IF POSSIBLE

U – UNLEASH THE POWER OF LOVE

N – NEGOTIATE

C - CONFRONT them with truth (speak the truth in love)

H – HIT THEM WITH LOVING REJECTION

Today we get into the ring with another adversary, another opponent, and this one is tougher than the first.

Before we meet our next opponent, let’s hear from another real pro boxer about how a person can have everything but still feel empty, still be empty. Meet Manny Pacquiao.

PICTURE OF MANNY

“I come from nothing,” he said. “My family had nothing, so when I was seven or eight years old my mind was already matured to make money, to find food. I used to take the old bread from a bakery, take it home, scrape off the mold and the crust and then we’d cook it. That’s how we ate. There were some days when we had just one meal, many when we had none.

Manny Pacquiao is the first and only eight-division world champion and is considered to be one of the greatest boxers of all time. The Filipino professional boxer has won eleven major world titles; also he is the first boxer to win the lineal championship in five different weight classes. Besides boxing Pacquiao is a politician, currently serving as Senator of the Philippines.

Pacquiao He is also a senator in the Philippines, one of 24 who help run the country. He turned 40 Dec. 17. You have to be 40 to be president of the Philippines. The next presidential election is in 2022. Some polls project Pacquiao as the winner.

He was at the Staples Center this past week and he’s training for another fight. Pacquiao trained much of early January at Wild Card Boxing gym, where he always trains for fights in the U.S. Most of the wall space in the gym is occupied by pictures of Pacquiao. Near one is a quote from George Foreman: “Sure, the fight was fixed. I fixed it with my right hand.” That is boxing’s attitude. This is boxing heaven.

But Manny’s heaven really in the gym, or in politics, it’s his commitment to Jesus Christ that drives him to help people. Manny Pacquaio revealed in one of his testimony sharing how hearing the voice of God in a vision led him to Christ.

“I want to let the people know that there is a God who can raise people from nothing into something. And that’s me. I came from nothing into something.” – Manny Pacquaio

PLAY 2 VIDEOS OF MANNY BACK TO BACK

So we hear from Manny who speaks of a change on the inside because of Jesus. This is a good story of a changed heart. Which is the perfect time for us to reveal our next opponent.

Opponent #2 is harder than our first fight. Our first attempt to FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH was with others. But today, our second opponent is the fight we have with SELF. This is a harder match.

AND NEXT WEEK and the week after the bouts get harder still. But today WE FIGHT SELF

Picture of Self in Mirror

UNCOVER A MIRROR

As believers it is our goal to set aside self and become like Jesus in our character.

To speak, live, feel, go, love, serve and act in every way as Jesus did and does. But becoming like Jesus, now that is a daily bout.

BUT SELF GETS IN THE WAY.

Self is complicated, layered, protected. SELF does not always go easily. And we need SELF to go in order to make room for the Christ in you.

We talk about our selves too much:

self confidence

self assured

self reliant

how about MORE

self denial

self control

MATTHEW 16:24 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

The Bible speaks of our SELF as troubled by SIN, OLD NATURE (EARLIER YOU), LOVE OF THE WORLD and THE FLESH. There are more words and descriptions of the our SELF, but as you can see it is a formidable adversary.