Get In The Game
“The Believer Has Been Equipped”
Good morning and thank you for choosing to worship with us today here at Central.
It is our desire that you enjoy the warmth and fellowship of the people of God, that you have a life changing experience with God, and that you discover the plan He has for your life.
Let’s make our profession together, this is my bible, God’s holy word, it is a lamp …
Humor:
“She Bought Me Another Dog” Pepper Rogers, coach of UCLA’s football team suffered through a poor season back in the 1970’s. He came under intense criticism and pressure from alumni and fans. Things got so bad that he felt as if all his friends were gone. “My dog was my only true friend,” he said. “I told my wife that every man needs at least two good friends–and she bought me another dog.”
VIDEO CLIP
Opening Statement:
The job of the church is not to impact the church, but our job is to impact the world.
It’s like a huddle in a football game. 70,000 people don’t pay $50.00 a ticket to watch the Texans huddle. What if you went to a Texans game and for 2 ½ hours you watched 11 men stand in a circle and talk? That’s not what you paid for or why your there!
67,000 people pay $50 a ticket to see what is the difference the huddle makes. What they want to know is, after having called the play in the huddle, does it work on the field?
The challenge for the church is not what we do when we call our play in our Sunday morning huddle, but what we do when we leave our huddle and head to our Mission field.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 27 NIV
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
You may ask, pastor, how does all of this apply today?
Verses 8-10 remind us that the believer is equipped.
Verses 11, 27 remind us that EVERY BELIEVER is equipped, that we are a part of the body of Christ, and that it is time to “GET IN THE GAME.”
You do not want to get in the game without being properly equipped.
Ephesians 6:13
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
1. We Need to guard our minds.
If we are going to get in the game, we are going to be butting heads with satan, therefore we need our helmet.
Have you ever seen someone who has had their bell rung, they can’t think straight, they can’t make proper decisions; they loose the ability to make good use of their minds.
As believers, if we are going to get in the game, we must guard our minds.
Whatever you allow into your mind is what will come out when it gets squeezed.
Romans 8:6-7 NIV
The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
In the armor of God, our minds are guarded through salvation.
How can this be? How can you just change?
Because whoever is in Christ Jesus is a new creation.
A new creation is just the same as a new born baby.
Babies do not have un-Christ like characteristics of flaws.
They are not natural born thieves, immoral people, alcoholics, drug addicts, cursers, killers, or any other bad characteristics.
I’ve never been to the hospital and seen a new born baby with a cigar sticking out of its mouth.
Non Christ like flaws happen when people stop guarding their mind and begin entertaining wrong thoughts, ideas, and persona’s.
What is the best way to guard our minds?
ILLUSTRATION
Goodyear. Strainers, filters.
They must be changed out and cleaned. Water blasters.
They best way to guard your mind is to allow the Holy Spirit to clean it out on a regular basis.
If our mind is not guarded, it will become filthy, plugged up, and will eventually fail us.
We must guard our minds, but also ….
2. We must guard our hearts.
Shoulder pads and flank jacket.
Proverbs 4:23 NIV
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
The heart is the center of the body and is the tool that transports life sustaining blood to the rest of the body.
It is the wellspring of life because life is in the blood which is pumped through the heart.
Oxygen is carried through the blood.
In the transplant classes that I attended many of those in the class were there for a heart transplant.
Their hearts became diseased and defective and without a new heart they will not survive.
Christ’s vicarious death on the cross guarantees a new heart to everyone who believes and receives Him as their Lord and Savior.
We must guard our heart because satan is always trying to give believers heart disease.
A diseased heart cannot and will not function properly.
1 Peter 5:8 NIV
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
I love watching documentary shows, such as things on the Discovery channel.
I see when they show the lions in Africa.
They hunt down one in a herd of antelope, Wildebeest, or Impala that are hurt or wounded, and chase down their prey and they will gang up on the prey and destroy it.
They never devour it until they destroy it first.
That is who the enemy operates. The forces of Hell will gang up on a wounded or hurting believer, chase them down relentlessly, destroy their faith, and then devour them.
Guard your heart so that he cannot find a wounded one, a hurt one, one who is struggling and is not strong in their faith and gang up on you, destroy your faith and devour you.
We must guard our heart, guard our heart, but how will we understand how this is done.
Someone who is in the game knows the word.
3. Guard the Word.
If you are going to get in the game plan, it will not happen unless you know the playbook.
God has given us the playbook for the game; it is the word of God.
When the QB calls a play in the huddle, he calls an abbreviation from the play book.
He does not explain the details of the play; you are supposed to have that in your memory.
If you do not know the playbook, you will never be in the game.
When Paul is basically passing on the baton to a young man named Timothy that he has mentored, he tells him this.
1 Timothy 6:20-21 NIV
Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21 which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith.
Keep that which is committed to thy trust.
Every believer is a trustee, and it is a treasure committed to his trust, which he has to keep.
Guard the playbook the written that is committed to your trust.
Why is the playbook, the word of God so vital to guard?
Psalm 119:11 KJV
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Psalm 119:105 NIV
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Psalm 119:133 NIV
Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.
Helmet – Guard your mind.
You have been given the mind of Christ.
Shoulder pads – Guard your heart.
It is the wellspring of life.
Playbook – Guard the word of God.
Thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin.
ALTAR CALL
Maybe you’re here today and you are not in the game.
