Sermon Central
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Get Into The Game! Series
Contributed by Jeffery Anselmi on Aug 4, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: WE need to get off the bench and get into the game. Our faith will be what we want it to be if we will follow Paul’s formula!
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INTRODUCTION
„X I hoped everyone enjoyed the display our young people put on for us last Sunday. I hope that everyone who attended enjoyed the performance of the youth from Lori Hallat¡¦s church last night!
„X One of the things I hope you realized as you watched the young people last week and last night is that it took a lot of work to make those events happen. It took a lot of people doing various things to get the programs ready.
„X It took a lot of people who were displaying their faith and love for Jesus by doing something for Him.
„X I want have a question for you to ponder; it is one I have asked you before. How is your faith? Is it exciting or boring? Weak or strong? Hot or lukewarm?
„X I have something to share with you this morning that will help you grow like never before if you will pay attention and put what I have to say into practice.
„X One of the things that hurt us more than almost anything else is when we have a faith that does not cause us to invest ourselves in the things of God.
„X I want you to think about an athletic team. There are those who are in the game and there are those who are sitting on the bench and there are those who are in the stands watching with various levels of interest concerning what is going on.
„X The ones who are in the game are the ones who have been working hard and who are getting the most out of what they are doing. Most of the ones on the bench are striving to get into the game by putting in the extra work they need in order to get better. The ones sitting in the stands are living through the ones who are playing.
„X We have sort of the same thing when it comes to serving Jesus. There are those who are in the game, those who are sort of in the game and others who are trying to live their faith in the stands watching everyone else serve.
„X SLIDE #1
„X Today want to encourage you to ¡§Get into The Game.¡¨ We are going to look at what it takes for us to get into the game and to be successful once we are on the field!
„X Let us turn to Colossians 3:1-4 together this morning.
„X SLIDE #2
„X READ Colossians 3:1-4
„X SLIDE #3
SERMON
Getting into the game requires:
I. A FOCUSED MISSION (VERSE 1)
„X Verse 1 takes us back to Colossians 2:12
„X SLIDE #4
„X Colossians 2:12 (NASB) 12having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
„X Paul is not questioning whether we have been raised with Christ He is trying to remind us that we HAVE been raised with Christ.
„X Those who have been raised with Christ have a different set of expectations.
„X Once we are raised with Christ, we begin the work of conformity to the life of Christ.
„X The word translated ¡§raised up¡¨ literally mean to be ¡§co-resurrected¡¨.
„X SLIDE #5
„X Romans 6:3 - 4 (NASB) 3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
„X This verse reminds us that when we give our lives to Christ and are immersed into Christ, we are then commanded to walk in a newness of life!
„X We are told that SINCE we were raised with Christ, we are to KEEP SEEKING the things from above.
„X This means that we are to put in an strong effort, a persevering effort. We are called to be constantly seeking that which is from above.
„X Setting their ¡§hearts on things above¡¨ (3:1) meant ¡§striving¡¨ to put heaven¡¦s priorities into daily practice.
„X We are not seeking to just discover, it is seeking to obtain. The emphasis is not on the seeking but on the object being sought.
„X We need to realize that seeking the things from above is not chasing phantoms, but it is gathering treasures.
„X SLIDE #6
„X Romans 2:7 - 8 (GWT) 7He will give everlasting life to those who search for glory, honor, and immortality by persisting in doing what is good. But he will bring 8anger and fury on those who, in selfish pride, refuse to believe the truth and who follow what is wrong.
