Sermon Central
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More Of You In 2002 Pt. 2 Series
Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Jan 9, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: In 2002 we need to actively dispense more of God’s Grace, more Offerings to God, more Love, and more Forgiveness to others in the Body of Christ. Because the more G.O.L.F. we play the more we will impact our community.
More of you Lord in 2002 part 2
Thesis: In 2002 we need to actively dispense more of God’s Grace, more Offerings to God, more Love, and more Forgiveness to others in the Body of Christ. Because the more G.O.L.F. we play the more we will impact our community.
Texts:
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual£ act of worship.
10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, 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, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Introduction: The analogy of playing golf for the Lord. Last week we talked about how to approach the game of golf and apply the principles spiritually to playing G.O.L.F. God’s way.
G-Grace
O-Offering
L-Love &
F-Forgiveness
The golf ball represents your life. The flag on the course represents the mark to the entrance of Heaven. All that you are is represented in the goal-that flag marking entrance to Heaven. We need to play this tournament of life with our whole heart to get there and win. Lets review the lessons on how to approach the game of G.O.L.F God’s way.
*We have to have the right mindset
*Focus on the field of Grace
*Search for the perfect swing and understand that to find it we have to get ourselves out of the way.
*To reach the goal of the flag with the hole you have to seek it with your whole heart, mind and soul and that place where the perfect shot comes from.
*We need to not think so much about our shot by trying to analyze it but we just need to feel Him as we swing in the tournament of life.
*The last thing to do to play golf for the Lord is we need to understand that no one can take us there but the Lord himself.
Our series on playing G.O.L.F. God’s way will focus on the four things you must do well to get to the goal of Heaven. You must be able to focus on the game (We talked about this last week), then Drive (We do this by making offerings to the Lord), Chip (Is the love taps toward the goal of Heaven) and putt (This is the hardest and most difficult shot to make to put the ball of life into the hole which is the entrance to Heaven). To be a good golfer you must be able to use various clubs well to get the ball into the hole.
Have Golf clubs there to demonstrate and show the different clubs.
Last week we focused on Grace. Today we will focus on the Drive – the Offering stroke. Later on we will talk about chipping- the Love stroke and Forgiveness – the putt stroke. Remember the amount of strokes you take determines the score of your game.
But today we will focus in on the drive swing. It’s important to understand that the drive is your first swing on most holes. To play golf you have to make the decision and commitment to swing at the ball if you never do you cannot drive the ball. Lets look at this clip from The Legend of Bagger Vance on how we must decide to play before we can drive the ball in the tournament of Life.
Video Clip: Bagger shows up to convince Junuah to play.
Background: Many have asked him to play in the tournament but Junuah has repeatedly told everyone that he has lost his swing when in reality he has choose not to swing at the ball because of the trauma he experienced from the war. This local hero had a promising future in golf but he went off to war and his hopes and dreams are shattered on the battlefield of war. He loses all his men in a battle. They make him a hero but his mind makes himself a prisoner. This disillusioned young man turns his back on the world – until this mysterious stranger turns his life around. Lets look and observe.
