INTRODUCTION
• PLAY “I RUN” VIDEO CLIP
• SLIDE #1
• I have enjoyed examining the “Amazing Race” with you over the past three week! Today we are going to conclude our examination of the “Amazing Race” by taking a look at the concept of Racing to Win!
• In October of 2002 Herm Edwards then coach of the New York Jets got a little heated in a press conference.
• A reported asked him a question about the game, and Edwards responded by saying that you PLAY TO WIN THE GAME. YOU DO NOT PLAY TO JUST PLAY THE GAME. YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME.
• Edwards in this classic rant continued to repeat that you play to win the game.
• Why are you running the race? Are you just playing to play or are you racing to win?
• There is a big difference between racing and racing to win. If you watch any of the professional sports All-Star games, you see an example of playing just playing. If you watch a Super Bowl or World Series you are seeing people playing to win.
• Racing to win means that we will have to take our game to a whole new level. It amazes me to see what an athlete can do when they are playing to win or racing to win.
• Michael Jordan goes out on the court sick with the flu and puts of 30 or 40 points to win a game.
• Your whole life will be about how you handle the challenges you face in life. Will you be the type of person who takes on the challenges of life head on with all you have or will you be the type of person who crumbles under the pressure.
• If you are Racing to Win, you will be determined to over come the challenges.
• In the 1988 World Series against the Oakland Athletics, Kirk Gibson saw only a single plate appearance, but it was one of the most memorable and oft-replayed in baseball history. Gibson had severely injured both legs during the League Championship Series and had a stomach virus. He was not expected to play at all.
• In Game 1 on October 15, 1988 (at Dodger Stadium), with the Dodgers trailing by a score of 4-3, Mike Davis on first, and two out in the ninth inning, manager Tommy Lasorda inserted Gibson as a pinch hitter.
• Earlier, the TV camera had scanned the dugout and Vin Scully (the legendary Dodger announcer who was calling the game with Joe Garagiola for NBC) observed that Gibson was nowhere to be found. According to legend, he was in the clubhouse undergoing physical therapy and saw this on the television, spurring him to get back in the dugout and tell Lasorda he was ready if needed.
• When Gibson received the news that he would pinch-hit, he went to the clubhouse batting-cage to warm-up. Suffering through such terrible pain in his knee, it is said he was wincing and nearly collapsing after every practice swing.
• Surprising everyone, Gibson hobbled up to the plate with Scully commenting, "Look who’s coming up!" He was facing future Hall-of-Famer Dennis Eckersley, the best relief pitcher in baseball at the time. Gibson quickly got behind in the count, 0-2, but received a few outside pitches from Eckersley to work to a 3-2 count.
• On the sixth pitch of his at bat, a ball, Davis stole second. The A’s could have walked Gibson to face Steve Sax, but chose to pitch to him.
• With an awkward, almost casual swing, Gibson used pure upper-body strength to smack a 3-2 backdoor slider over the right-field fence. He hobbled around the bases and pumped his fist as his jubilant teammates stormed the field. (Wikipedia)
• The things we have covered, knowing where you are going, racing with a partner, and running with perseverance do not mean much if we are not intent of Racing to Win.
• This morning I want to take a little time to look at how we can Race to Win.
• We will be in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 this morning as we look at Racing to Win!
• SLIDE #2
SERMON
In order to win the race you must have:
I. THE RIGHT ATTITUDE (24)
• One of the things that will determine how we compete in the race of faith or in any game is our attitude.
• What would happen to a team if they went into a game THINKING we did not have a chance to win? What would happen if you went up to bat thinking you had NO chance of getting a hit?
• You would be setting yourself up to fail wouldn’t you?
• Listen to what verse 24 says again. (READ) (RUN IN SUCH A WAY)
• SLIDE #3
• 1 Corinthians 9:24 (ESV) Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
• I want you to catch the phrase “run that you may obtain it”.
• The Greeks had two great athletic festivals, the Olympic games (every 4 years) and the Isthmian games (every 2 years). The Isthmian games were held at Corinth and were therefore intimately familiar to those to whom Paul was writing.
• The readers understood that it took a special attitude to be able to compete
• Do you know that your attitude can determine if you can win the battles of life, the battles with temptation? If you feel helpless to whatever temptation you face, you will give in and the constant giving in will eventually destroy you.
• Your mindset should be one in which losing is not an option, it is not acceptable, you run to win, you play to win.
• SLIDE #4
• 1 John 5:4-5 (ESV) For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
• Do not let your attitude defeat you before you even start.
• How many times have we gone into a situation defeated before we even got started?
• WE can have an attitude of confidence when we run our race because greater is He that is in me than he who is in the world! 1 John 4:4.
• Having the right attitude is one of the most important things we can have in life.
• I visited Mary-Alice Prentice this past week. She has brain cancer if I understand it correctly. She has had part of a tumor removed and now she is going to have radiation. She is also in her 80’s I believe.
• Mary-Alice is not home feeling sorry for herself, she has the attitude that she is going to defeat this with God at her side.
• When you go for a job interview, if you walk in with the attitude that you are not going to get the job, you will not get the job.
• I ALWAYS felt that if I got an interview, I would get the job, and I would be disappointed if I did not get it.
• Notice back to verse 24, Paul says that in a race, all runners compete, but only one receives the prize, run in a way that you will win.
• Those who are running to win play be the rules, they do not cheat. Too many people today as we have seen in Baseball have been cheating so they could win.
• You cannot cheat God. Once again, this goes to attitude. If we possess the right attitude, we will run like God wants us to run, the right way, following His ways.
• In a game or in a race there is but one winner, but the great thing about the Amazing Race we are a part of, is that we can ALL win!
• Run with the right attitude, it will take you along way in the race!
• SLIDE #5
In order to win the race you must have:
II. THE RIGHT TRAINING (25)
• How good would we be at anything if we did not practice or train?
• How good would you be if you spent just a little time practicing or training?
• What if you decided to play softball, you decided that you were going to practice basketball instead of softball?
• One of the great lessons of athletics is that you only get out of something what you put into it. If you try to do something with minimal effort and energy, you will not get much out of it.
• The same is true with ANYTHING in life. If you put a minimal effort into a marriage, the marriage will not be very good.
• SLIDE #6
• Let us look at verse 25
• 1 Corinthians 9:25 (ESV) Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
• In verse 25 we are told that EVERYONE who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.
• If we are going to be successful in our race, if we are running to win, then we need to train properly.
• In the time of Paul, typically, for ten months prior to the games, the athletes-in-training denied themselves many ordinary pleasures in order to prepare and be in top condition for the competition. Each put forth his greatest effort during the contest.
• An athlete would avoid ANYTHING that would hurt them and their performance. On the other hand they would devote themselves to EVERYTHING that would help them to win the prize. They would never let up.
• In verse 27 Paul says he disciplines his body so that he would not be disqualified from the race, setting aside all else in order to win the prize. Everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize.
• The coveted prize, and the honor accorded with it, meant the world to these athletes. They would give up everything else in order to obtain it.
• A contestant who failed to meet the training requirements was disqualified. He could not even run, much less win. Paul did not want to spend his life preaching the requirements to others and then be disqualified for not meeting the requirements himself.
• Paul pointed to the self-control of runners. They must make choices between good and bad. Christians’ choices are not always between good and bad. At times we must even give up something good in order to do what God wants. Each person’s special duties determine the discipline and denial that he or she must accept. (Life Application Bible)
• Right training means that we will have to have the self-control to make the right choices. Do I watch TV 24/7 or do I take some time out of the day to read and study the word. Do I spend some time in prayer? Do I spend all my time doing fun things for myself or do I give some of my time to serve the Lord and others?
• When you think of your relationship with Jesus, that relationship is a two-way street. You have to make an effort to learn more about Him and you have to make the effort to communicate with Him, to spent time with Him, to make room for Him in your life. That takes training and discipline.
• If I want to get is some other shape than round, I need to discipline myself to make good choices and only eat a few donuts.
• What are you training for now? Are you staying away from things that hurt your ability to win the race?
• SLIDE #7
In order to win the race you must have:
III. THE RIGHT FOCUS (26)
• What would happen if a team sent players into the field all those players decided that they were going to wear I-Pods out on the field.
• Last week Rach had her first game, what if she while she was playing second base she started texting a certain young man?
• Would the team do well? Why not? Lack of FOCUS.
• Look at verse 26 with me.
• SLIDE #8
• 1 Corinthians 9:26 (ESV) So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
• In the passage, we are told to run in such a way that you may win. We are also told that the athletes Paul was speaking of were putting all this time and effort into winning a wreath made of leaves that would turn brown and rot away someday.
• These people were focused on what they were doing.
• Do you notice that when you are focused you do thing better?
• Paul said as he ran the race of faith, he did it with focus and purpose. He was not boxing without aim.
• When we play the game, we play with the purpose of winning; we are focused on doing what we need to do so that we have a chance to win.
• If those folks were so focused to win a pine wreath, how much more focus should we put on our race?
• There is more to this life than living and dying. There is more to this life than just working and getting stuff. We have an eternity to face. It is my prayer that not one of us faces that eternity without Jesus.
• In life it is easy to put all of our focus in the wrong places. It is not evil in itself to make money, to own things, but when these things is what our life is all about, our focus is off.
• Look at what Jesus said.
• SLIDE #9
• MAT 6:19-21 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
• Where is your focus? To be able to Race to Win, we need to focus on the prize!
• I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:14 (ESV)
CONCLUSION
• What race are you running right now? Are you running the rat race of the hectic life or are you running the race for heaven? I will promise that if you will run the race for heaven, the rat race becomes much easier and tolerable.
• Jesus wants you to cross the finish line! Are you willing to do your part? He did His by dying for your sins. God loved you so much that He sent Jesus to pay your sin debt, a debt you could never pay on your own!
• I have ALWAYS told Rachel, you leave it ALL on the field. Meaning you give it ALL you have. Put Jesus left it all on the field for you.
• Do you want to be a winner? Then have the right attitude, combine it with the right training and the right focus and you will be a winner in life.
• SLIDE #10
• This is what I want to be able to say at the end of my race.
• 2 Timothy 4:7-8 (ESV) I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
• Let’s fight the good fight together, let’s run together to WIN!
