Super Bowl Christians
I Cor. 9:25
Intro: For a lot of players it’s just great to get to play in the “Super Bowl” but for others who have been there and lost in the past, just getting there is not the goal. They want to be champions. I’m afraid Christians are that way too often times, we’re just satisfied with being in the Super Bowl, just satisfied to be a Christian, instead of being Champion Christians. To be Super Bowl Champion Christians just like in the game being played this evening, you have to have three aspects to win with. We start with an effective;
I. Offensive Plan One of the famous sports phrases by someone is there is no “i” in team, and that’s true. But from my suggestion for our Offensive plan there are 4 “I’s” to have a successful plan that would help you be a “Super Bowl Champion Christian”
In every football game there is always a coin toss to decide who gets to start on offense or on defense and I just believe it says something about your confidence level when you, say, “hey we want to be aggressive in our plan, we don’t want to be that of reaction but action.” So in our Super Bowl, my recommendation is that we start on Offense. And when we do that, I think there’s no better way then to start the game off and…
A. Go Deep --On offense the QB will call a pass play and sometimes he’ll tell his receivers to go deep, run way down the field and I’ll throw it to you, he tells them go deep.
1. We in our Super Bowl to be champions we need to go deep or (immerse yourself in the Word of God) get deeper and deeper in His word.
2. II Tim. 2:15 “Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
3. Psa. 119:11 says, “thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might no sin against thee”
4. But also our team needs to
B. Run Hard or Run with (intensity) or strength
1. Josh. 14:7-12 Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. Jos 14:8 Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God. Jos 14:9 And Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God. Jos 14:10 And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spoke this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. Jos 14:11 As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Jos 14:12 Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spoke in that day;
C. Keep Getting Up (insistence) meaning perseverance
1. Illus. One of my favorite players in the NFL was Earl Campbell of the Houston Oilers back in the 70’s, early 80’s. He’d run the ball more then anyone I had ever seen, and took some ferocious hits, but even late in the game, while he might be slow getting off the ground and you didn’t think he’d make it back to the huddle, kept getting back up, he kept going til the game was over.
2. Vince Lombardi once said, It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up.
D. Go for the Score (intention)
1. “Well done my good and faithful servant”
2. I Cor. 9:25 “and every man that striveth (used in athletic games) for the mastery (the prize) is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.”
3. To be a Super Bowl Champion Christian you have to have an Offensive plan, but just as important is to have a…
II. Defensive Plan Eph. 6:10-18
A. Defend against the run and the pass (of Satan) Satan came after Jesus with many attacks and he comes at us in the same way as he did with Jesus. He comes with…
B. The Reverse (deception)
1. In football the reverse is when the QB gives the runner the ball and he starts running toward this end of the field and next thing you know when everybody on defense is running that way, the runner gives the ball to another guy who starts running the opposite way. Its deception on the opponents part to get your defense off balance. vs. 11 (nasb) says, Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes (trickery) of the devil.
C. The Sweep of (discouragement)
1. Asaph wrote in the 73 Psalm (NASB) as he became discouraged by seeing the evil prosper, But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped.
2. Satan does everything he can, to discourage a Christian. I told Alex and Justin this morning after church, Satan is coming to tempt them and to mess with them big time, to try and knock them off their course.
3. Psa. 59:1 David said as Saul sent those as they watched Davids house to kill him, “Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.”
D. Up the Middle (doubt) that he causes
1. The good thing is up the middle is the hardest place for a runner to run because that’s where most of the players on defense are. We as Christians have our fellow brothers and sisters to help us in those days of our struggles with doubt.
2. We talked about this Friday, I don’t know of any Christian that has never had faith failures. But that’s what the church is for, is to help those doubting God’s love, His presence, His compassion.
E. Watch the pass (darts) that he’ll throw
1. Eph. 6:16 “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”
2. In the biblical times the military would use bows and arrows and would put a material around the broadhead and then light then material before shooting it. Not only was it deadly if you got hit but even if you didn’t the fire would spread. So it had double the effect.
3. Satan shoots his fiery darts at us also. We need the shield of our faith to put out and stop those darts from the devil.
F. But at all costs, Defend the goal, Jude wrote, Contend for the faith which means to agonize or
III. Special Teams
A. Special teams are those players who have special capabilities, such as field goal kicker, punter etc. I believe in every church God has equipped us with “players if you will” with special skills called spiritual gifts.
1. You know a lot of players look at their position on special teams as insignificant and often these are players that don’t start on offense or defense, but a kicker can win a game just like a qb. The one who blocks for the punter is just as important as the running back who scores a td.
2. The same is the case with the special gifts given to each church member. Some look at themselves as insignificant in the function of the church but that’s not true.
3. These special gifts Paul says is for the good of the team, But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
4. Jesus needs you and the entire team to be champions
B. If the church is Christ’s body, which she is, and He has given to each member of His team a special gift or gifts, then how can we be defeated.
1. Paul said, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Conclusion:
2. See a lot of people are just happy to make it to the game, but the difference is like Joe Namath once said, “If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?”
3. Through Christ we can be Super Bowl CHAMPION Christians, so lets go out there and WIN!!!
