Life 101

Preached at a Service for High School Seniors.

Ill--In the summers we always played basketball @ YMCA. One game playing Ebenezer BC. 2 minutes left in last quarter. Score tied. They go down make basket. We come back and make basket. They call a timeout with 30 seconds to go. Out of time out EBC runs play and scores. We came down the court & passed to my buddy on wing. He was a great three point shooter. He had already hit three or four shots that day. So when he caught the ball I just knew we had the game won. The clock began to click. 4 seconds he held ball... 3 seconds he hunkered down on the ball... 2 seconds the Crowd screaming—coach is screaming shoot shoot shoot... 1 second by thise time two EBC players are guarding him now. He just holds it. Buzzer sounds. We lose. Our whole team is disappointed. He runs over to the ref and Tries convince ref he got fouled. He had the potential to win the game to do something great but he did absolutely nothing with what he had.

I was thinking as I prepared this message of all the Books never been written (songs never sung, businesses never started, Presidents never elected, Laws never passed, & Souls never saved) all b/c people did nothing with what they had been given. You are about to step into the real world. Where the rubber meets the road. its game time. However you want to say it, you are going be challenged to use what you have been taught.

So this morning I thought what we would all do here today is Step into classroom. So if you have your text books open them up to 1 Peter 5:6-7.

Read 1 Peter 5:6-7.

How many of you disected a frog when you were in School. It was pretty cool getting to take him apart and see what was inside. Well, we are going to disect these two verses and see some powerful principles that are jammed inside of them.

PLACE YOUR LIFE UNDER GOD’S HAND (vs. 6)

SCR?Humble under mighty hand

Humble

How are you humble?

• It is Not Self Pity "oh my life is terrible, I’m sick, Nothing is good in my life so therefore I’m humble"

• It is Not Downing yourself "I’m not good at anything—I really don’t have any talent therefore I’m humble"

• It is Not being weak "oh what are going to do, we have no power, we are victim, we are humble’

• It is Not being poor "I cant buy anything nice b/c the Bible says I’m supposed to be humble—I’ve got to live in a hut—eat beans"

Being humble really has nothing to do with any of those attitudes. Humility is all about taking the focus off yourself and placing it on God.

Ill<>< Just for a test Today when you leave see how long you can go without focusing on yourself. I Tried yesterday longest I lasted was about 15minutes. It is tough man.

What if everyone came to church focused on God & not focused on themself…WOW...Can you say spirit filled service.

Do you know who the Most Humble whoever lived was. Hint it is found in Numbers 12:3. it was Moses. The funny thing about this is Moses wrote this. How can a humble man write that he is the most humble man on earth. It is because the focus was not on himself but on God.

You see when you focus on self world get smaller & smaller, and humilty goes out the door. When you focus on God your world gets larger & larger & humility becomes a way of life. And the Peter says it this type of humilty that we are to portray as we get under God’s Mighty Hand.

Mighty Hand

I can hold a baseball in my hand pretty comfortable. Some people can palm a Basketball but I never have been able to. But God’s Hand. God’s Hand. It can hold the whole world. He not only has the whole world in his hand, he orchestrates the galaxies and cosmos. And all Peter says we are to get under his hand. Pretty simple

Ill<>

There those that choose not to live under God’s hand. They don’t trust God lead & Control their lives so they live above His mighty hand. They make all the calls in their life. They are the boss. They know what is best. Some of them may hope that God we bless what they do but they make the decision on their own. It is like God I’m going to do this please bless it. That is living above Gods hand. There are others that sorta place their lives beside the hand of God. God and them are partners. They work together. They are buddies. They kind of allow God some input on what they need to do but they do not allow God to have total control. That is living beside God’s hand. Peter is telling us allow God total control. Allow God to make the decisions.