If you are a sports junkie like I am, then you know what I am holding in my hand. Yes, it is a baseball bat, or softball bat rather. I have played baseball since I was a little boy, probably like most of you we started out playing stick ball or some variation. But as we grew up, our game became more sophisticated and so did our equipment. This bat cost me $150, probably the most amount of money I have spent on any sports equipment ever. As I was growing up and watching baseball, there was one thing that always caused me to question the game. Whenever a batter would hit a home run, it seemed as if he knew from the moment the bat hit the ball. And as the ball sailed out of the park, the batter would start trotting around the bases, with bat still in hand, enjoying the applause. It wasn’t until I was in Jr High that I realized how they knew they had hit a home run. You see, for those who don’t know, there is a spot on the bat that when you hit it just right, the ball goes soaring through the air. This place on the bat is called a Sweet Spot. This spot isn’t just on bats, it is on golf clubs, tennis rackets and other various sports equipment. This sweet spot is what you aim for each and every time you try to hit the ball, because you know if you do, good things are going to happen.
Each of our lives have a sweet spot. Each of us has something that we can do where we believe that all is right with the world and things are going to work out. This Sweet Spot in our lives is what Max Lucado talks about in his book "Cure for the Common Life". This sweet spot was given to us by God in order to do the work that He has called us to. If you look around the room, what do you see:
1. People who are into numbers, seeing things that no one else can
2. Girls with songs in their hearts, dreaming of being on American Idol
3. Stay at home mom’s who would never think of leaving their children to go to work
4. The writer, putting everything to paper so he can recall it all later
5. The pastor, some beginning and some at the end, thanking God for the ability to spread His message
God has gifted each of us with a unique talent. This talent is where we find our sweet spot. Ephesians 4:11-16 reads, "it was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
God has a purpose for you. Whether you believe it or not, you are special, God made you to preform a certain act and if you are to selfish to do it, then you will lose out. Our lives within our sweet spot allow us to flourish and to grow.
Show 3 Circles...
This image represents how our life interacts with God’s will. And once we find the area where our lives, our strengths and God’s will come together, we find our sweet spot. We find the calling that God has placed in our life. It can be teaching kindergartners the basics, or cooking meals for the homeless, or running a multi-billion dollar company, or running a small non-profit. God has called each of us to reach beyond ourselves to find what we do best. To find that one thing in our life that we are good at, above others. To find that one talent that we have where no matter why we are doing it, we are completely happy. God knows us, the Psalmists David tells us in Psalms 139:1-3,5
Psalm 139:1-3,5
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
God knows us enough to know what we would be good at. He knows the makeup of our bodies. The strength in our muscles. The knowledge in our head. He knows this before we are even born, so He knows what skills and talents to give us, so that we can do something that is totally in our sweet spot. Each of us are a part of the story of God. And we each have our own individual story that fits in with the rest of the story. This story started long before we were here and will continue long after we are gone. The Cure for a Common Life is to find your story.
S - What is your strength? What is it you are good at? Talk about you and your father
T - What is your topic? What do you like to do and where? Do you like working with animals or people or neither.
O - What are you optimal conditions? When are you at your best? Are you good when things are running smoothly or do you like to work under pressure
R - What about relationships? Do you like people or not? Do you enjoy working with others or by yourself?
Y - Yes - Is when it all comes together?
When are you most yourself? how much of your life is spent being something your not? Using Gods gift just isn’t about being good at someting, it is about finding pleasure not in how people see you but in how you feel while you are doing it. Most of our lives are spent trying to please people. When we are little we are trying to make mom and dad happy, when we get into jr and sr high, it is about our friends. When we get into college and the work place, we become about pleasing our boss. This is a waste of our gifts. God didn’t give us gifts to please anyone but Him and for us to find pleasure in doing it.
In his book Max Lucado looks at three major ways to Cure a Common Life.
1. Unpack your bags.
Each of you were designed with a talent to do a specific job. Like we look at earlier, some are teachers, preachers, mechanics, accountants, stay at home moms and the list goes on. How would a stay at home mom feel if she was force to be a mechanic? How would a teacher feel if they were made to run a business? If we don’t find our sweet spot and unpack the bags that God has given us, we will be just another statistic. A statistic that says 70% of all Americans dread going to work on Monday. 2/3’s of all american dread going to work.. This is an enormous figure. How many people at your workplace are like this? I know we have tons of people like that where I work. So many people are just working for a paycheck that they spend a good portion of their life, hating what they are doing, but feeling like they have no other option. God has given the tool necessary to do the job that He has called us to.
I never realized this when I first heard God call me to be a youth pastor. I hate talking in front of people. I dreaded it. I took speech class 3 times in college before I passed it,and this was one of the reasons that I didn’t feel that I had heard God right. I thought, "How could he be calling me to stand in front of a congregation or group of students, if I can’t even stand in front of my classmates." so instead of looking for that answer, I changed majors and thought I would become and accountant, because I was good at numbers. After 5 years, I realized that wasn’t were God wanted me and He called me back into the ministry.
This points to our second piece of having an Uncommon life...
2. Become a risk taker.
If you have ever been in business for yourself, you are a risk taker. If you have ever life a lucrative job to do some non-profit work, then you are a risk taker. We take risks all the time in our lives, when we drive on the interstate, sit in a chair, or walk downtown. We are taking risk. Some of us need to learn to take risks for God. We know what we like to do, we know what we are good at but we believe that we need to "make a living" first. God wants us to take risks. As a church we take risks and put our faith in God. As a family we take risks and buy the new house. God is wanting us to take risks for him because He has packed our bags to succeed.
When we risk our lives for God, He will take care of us. He knows what we need. He knows how we are going to make it because He is the creator of all things. When we take risks for Him, we are praising Him. We are saying, "God I love you so much and I put my entire life in your hands. As I step out on faith, I know you are in charge. Success or fail, I will still praise you." Taking risks is our part of our make up. Jesus is in perfect example of a risk taker. He challenged and pried and taught things that He wasn’t supposed to. He could have stayed in the carpenters shop with his father. But he took the risks and gave His life for us, so that today, we could take risks for him.
As we take risks for God, part of that risk is too...
3. Take your job and love it.
I love my job at Emdeon. I enjoy what I do. I work with some great people. I have a great boss that gives me freedom to do what I want. The company treats me well. But that isn’t where I want to be. God has packaged me for something else. He has called me to be in this church, leading these teens. Hopefully, one day he will call me to do it full-time, but until that day comes, I must take my job and love it. No matter how much I would rather be doing something else. Pastor Don talks about this all the time, and I push my teens in this direction also. But our life is defined by our testimony. Not just the words we speak, but also the actions that we do. If I profess to be a Christian, but still things from work, how does that look to those who see me. How will I be able to talk to them about Jesus if I am stilling paperclips from the supply closet. Does my boss see Jesus in me when he sees me surfing the web or talking on the phone while I am supposed to be doing other work.
Some of us are place in our companies by God. You have found your sweet spot and you are loving what you do. Take that job and love it. You might not have the best boss, or the easiest co-workers to get along with. But all the good things that you do for them, will make it easier if and when the time comes to share Jesus with them. Your life and the actions by which you live, give your testimony more than any words could ever do. And I will tell you, this is a struggle for me. I know I am supposed to be doing something else, so being at work isn’t the most exciting times and my heart isn’t in it, but I still have to put my best foot forward, because everyone in that office knows that I am a youth pastor and a Christian...
As I wrap this up, I want to give you one action point. Find your STORY. That is it. Take this week to ask God to show you what he has pack in our bags. Think about the things that make you happy and what you are doing. What are your strenghts and how might you use those to glorify God. Once you find that out, it might be risky on the next step. God may be calling you in a totally different direction than your life is currently heading. This can be frightening to everyone, but you must trust in God and ask Him to guide your heart and to open the doors in your life. Nothing is done that He doesn’t know about. Take this week and let God lead you through His STORY. Remember, in order to have an uncommon life, we must give our common lives to God and allow Him to work through us.
