PLAN TO WIN!
I Corinthians 9.24
S: Church Purpose
Th: Plan to Win!
Pr: INTENTIONALLY PLAN TO WIN!
?: How? How do we win?
KW: Movement
TS: We will find in our study the movement we must make in order to fulfill our plan to win.
Type: Proposition
The ____ movement is…
I. PREPARATION
II. ATTITUDE
III. RUN HARD
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Be disciplined about living the Christian life – Christlikeness
• Be determined to win – don’t be willing to settle for anything less
• Be a winner – win people to Jesus
Version: NIV
RMBC 06 January 08 AM
INTRODUCTION:
Testimonies:
Elizabeth
• A year ago, you were preparing for a very special event – which was? [Thoroughly Modern Millie]
• What did that involve? [acting, singing, dancing]
• What preparations had you made? [voice lessons, dance lessons, played lesser roles in three preceding musicals]
Ryan K.
• Not too long ago, I was at your house for a special celebration involving you – which was? [bowled 300 game]
• More recently, you received another honor – which was? [super 7 athlete of the week]
• How did you get so good at bowling? [preparation, practice, etc.]
Give these kids a hand for helping us out today, for they have demonstrated the ability to be a winner.
The Scripture passage we are considering today speaks of being a winner.
And it was written by the apostle Paul.
We often refer to him, but only occasionally study him, so let me offer some background.
First I want to say that…
1. Paul was in.
Paul was in.
He was in the family of God now as a believer in Jesus.
He referred to himself as…
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God.
But he was not always a believer.
When we are first introduced to him, he is known as Saul.
He was born in Tarsus, which is a city in modern day Turkey.
He was born into the tribe of Benjamin.
He was very well-educated, trained as a Pharisee.
He trained under the famous rabbi, Gamaliel.
Though Jesus was very critical of the Pharisees, there were some things about them that were good.
They were the experts in the Hebrew Scriptures.
They were obedient and faithful to the Old Testament Law, and they were actually the religious conservatives of their day.
But they had no room for Jesus, that is for sure.
And as the fledgling church came to be, Saul was out on the forefront, leading the way to see that Christians were persecuted and put into jail.
In fact, it was Saul that is in charge the day that the godly deacon, Steven, was stoned to death.
Then Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus.
The Light of Christ was so intense and bright that Saul was blinded.
And when he regained his sight, he had absolute clarity about who he was.
He had been a man who was literally going down the wrong road in life, then in a flash of light, his entire life was not only turned around, but he gained a focus, a drive and torque that he never had before.
Saul became Paul…
…a servant, called as an apostle, and set apart for the Gospel of God.
Our theme verse for 2008 is found in I Corinthians 9.24…
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. (NIV)
ILL Clip of race from Chariots of Fire
Let’s take a moment and watch a clip from the Chariots of Fire…
Note this – every runner we just saw ran for the prize.
As we said before, Paul was in.
He was in.
He had become a member of the church – the family of believers.
And to use his own analogy…
2. Paul was in the race.
For Paul’s listeners, the analogy of a race was something they would readily comprehend.
Not only was Corinth in Greece, the founder of the Olympic games, it was the location of the Isthmus games that were held every two years, featuring boxing, races and chariot races.
The idea of races and competition was very much a part of the psyche of the Corinthian.
So in application to his own self…
3. Paul was in the race to win.
He expresses what we all know when it comes to athletics.
The purpose of participation is to win.
You don’t enter the race with the purpose of coming in last.
I enjoy how Eugene Peterson translates this verse in The Message:
You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. (MSG)
Everyone runs.
One wins.
Run to win.
That is simple, isn’t it?
And I think that it has tremendous application to us as a church as well.
I believe God wants us to run to win when it comes to our prayerful dependence on Him.
I believe God would have us do well when it comes to our worship of Him – that we would express our love of Him.
I believe He would want us to succeed when it comes to our community here at Randall – that we would have relationships that are characterized by grace ad love.
I believe He would want have us victorious in holding true to His Word – proclaiming its timeless truth.
I believe He would have us champion the task of making committed followers of Jesus.
I believe God would have us be advocates of doing all things well – being excellent for Him.
I believe that God have us be effective in seeing men and women, boys and girls, making decisions to follow Jesus.
I will give you a clue…
As we just went through that list, those were our six-plus values that we are working to clarify.
You will be hearing more about them as the deacons are close to being finished with the initial wordings, then the advisory council, then the boards, and then they will become a part of us.
I am very proud of our leadership right now because they are not looking to shift blame.
Together, we are taking the responsibility to get our church going the right direction.
We are planning to win.
You see, we can do church right.
We can be what the Lord wants us to be, if we…
4. INTENTIONALLY PLAN TO WIN!
Intentionally plan to win!
We don’t have to be ineffective.
We don’t have to be mediocre.
God has given us the ability to achieve success for His kingdom.
This is the point of Paul.
Everyone runs.
One wins.
Run to win.
So join me, please.
Let’s plan on winning.
Let’s move forward.
Let’s discover the movements we must make in order to fulfill our plan to win.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first movement is PREPARATION.
In the following verse in I Corinthians 9, Paul says that…
1. A runner has to be disciplined (I Corinthians 9.25a).
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training…(NIV)
An athlete practices.
They are disciplined.
They go into training.
They do this because they know they must improve.
They must be better if they intend to win.
We can do the same thing.
We can do the preparation that is needed.
As believers, our training is getting ourselves connected to God.
We want our spirits connected to the Spirit of God.
We want our ears connected to His voice.
So, how do we do that?
• Praying
• Reading the Bible
• Studying the Bible
• Worship – corporate and privately
• Stopping and listening
• Connecting with other believers – fellowship and encouragement
• Serving others
This is just the beginning list of the ways that we connect with God.
You see…
2. The Christian must be disciplined regarding Christlikeness.
If you have spent anytime close to me over the past two years, you know that my increasing burden for the church is that we are not deliberate enough when it comes to living out our faith.
We tend to let the Christian life happen to us instead of being deliberate about living it day after day.
This is why I have been asking our leadership – staff, deacons, other board members, and now advisory council members – to join me in what I have been calling “Operation Formation.”
“Operation Formation” is the development of spiritual growth plans.
Spiritual growth plans are a mechanism to improve in a certain area of your life that will lead you to Christlikeness.
It is a mechanism that gives you direction and purpose.
It is a plan.
It is a plan to win.
Though I have been asking those in leadership to meet with me, I encourage anyone to join me in this.
Anytime an individual in our church decides to live the Christian life more seriously, then as a church, we become as a church better prepared to becoming the type of church God is calling on us to be.
Here is a word that our Buffalo Bills can use…
Vince Lombardi once said…
“Winning is a habit and so is losing.”
Consider that for a moment…
Attitude…
It is really important, isn’t it?
Well…
II. The second movement is ATTITUDE.
1. A runner must want to win.
What good is any athlete if they do not want to win?
When I was coaching soccer, I possessed a sure fire philosophy of winning, which I put this way.
I would tell my team that every time that they score more goals than the other team, they are guaranteed to win.
Profound, right?
Seriously though, one of the characteristics I appreciated in my players is the “want-to.”
They would play hard.
They wanted to play well.
They wanted to be better on the other team.
And they would do what it takes to see it accomplished.
I always found that the “want-to” attitude a much more valuable characteristic than natural skill.
In application to us, we must remember that…
2. The Christian’s focus is not comfort.
If it is our attitude to come to church to get our needs met, then we are misreading what it is to win.
This would be running all wrong.
It would be like running a race at my own pace.
Or running, but purposely lagging behind.
Or showing little concern for the finish line.
Or running halfway, then quitting.
That is all about attitude.
Why is it that if we will settle for nothing less
than number one in the arena of sports, why do we as believers will settle for just being a Christian?
Why do we fight to climb to the top of the corporate ladder, and then we will settle back and seek mere comfort in our Christianity?
We start saying…feed me…serve me.
It is because our attitude is not to win.
It is at best, merely to finish.
III. The third movement is RUN HARD.
ILL Win (H)
Once there was a millionaire, who collected live alligators. He kept them in the pool in back of his mansion. The millionaire also had a beautiful daughter who was single.
One day he decides to throw a huge party, and during the party he announces, “My dear guests…I have a proposition to every man here. I will give one million dollars or my daughter to the man who can swim across this pool full of alligators and emerge unharmed!”
As soon as he finished his last word, there was the sound of a large SPLASH!! There was one guy in the pool swimming with all he could…the crowd cheered him on as he kept stroking. Finally, he made it to the other side unharmed.
The millionaire was impressed. He said, “My boy that was incredible! Fantastic! I didn’t think it could be done! Well, I must keep my end of the bargain…which do you want, my daughter or the one million dollars!”
The guy says, “Listen, I don’t want your money! And I don’t want your daughter! I want the person who pushed me in that WATER!”
Well, we discover that motivation is powerful, don’t we?
In the same way…
1. A runner must be motivated to run well.
When you are running in a race, it is a matter of running like you are supposed to.
If it is a sprint, it is an all-out run, from beginning to end.
If it is a long distance race or a marathon, you pace yourself, so that you will have the energy to finish well.
2. The Christian must possess the initiative to live kingdom priorities.
We have been put in the race.
We don’t have an option for that.
But how we run, well, that is up to us.
We don’t want to be caught in a rat race…
…running in circles
…or climbing a ladder that does not lead anywhere.
We want to be effective.
This is where we need to pay attention as a church.
So, when we know that we are not being effective, it is time to evaluate, make adjustments, change anything that is not producing the desired product.
And we are always to remember…
We have an adversary that delights in nothing other than our living meaningless lives.
If he can keep us out of the game for God, he will do it.
CHALLENGE:
1. We must be convinced that anything less than winning is failure.
I know that sounds harsh.
But Paul’s instruction is “run to win.”
Practically, this means that we take responsibility for where we are now as a church.
We pray.
We evaluate.
We think.
We pray.
And we don’t point fingers at each other.
We pray.
We stay connected to God.
We live deliberately for the Lord.
And we allow our leaders to lead, because that is the task God has given them.
Because…
2. We can win.
When Jim Walton spoke last week, he reminded us of our great past.
We have had success in the past.
But we have also learned that past success does not guarantee our present success.
God still wants us to win.
We can win.
We just need to pay attention to what He wants us doing now.
You see, it is more than we can win.
It is…
3. We must win.
There is too much at stake!
Hear me!
There are people dying without Jesus.
We have an urgent mission.
We must win…
4. We must win people to Jesus (I Corinthians 9.22)!
Paul describes his urgency and his plan with this…
I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. (NIV)
SBP
Sam talks about the Super Bowl Party
So what can you do today?
1) Understand you are in the race, and your instructions are “run to win.”
2) Discipline yourself – get connected to God; I will be glad to help you with that or point you to someone who can; we need strong runners!
3) Be determined to win – this is attitudinal.
4) Run hard – connect with people so to connect them with God – that’s winning!
Are you ready to go?
Clip of Beginning of race
PRAYER
For Further Study: Proverbs 11.30; Jeremiah 29.11; Matthew 5.16; Philippians 3.12-14; II Timothy 4.7-8; Hebrews 12.1-3; I John 5.4
BENEDICTION:
Let’s plan to win…let’s not settle for anything less…for we can win…we must win…we must win people to Jesus!
Now may the God of peace equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral:
Brown, Maurice You Can Be a Winner for God
Bryant, K. Michael Keep on Going
Durbin, Paul Honorable Mention
Facemyer, Shane Running the Race to Win
McFadden, Dave Our Church: A Bunch of Winners or a Bunch of Whiners?
Morrell, Doug The Secret to Winning
Schaeufele, Mark Running to Win
Wood, Ed The Goal to Win
