“Ready – Break!”
If you have your bibles I want to read several passages of Scripture that will kind of serve as a foundation for our study today…
The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." So Abram left, as the LORD had told him…”
Genesis 12:1-4
The LORD said to Moses, "Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders." So at the LORD’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites….They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan." Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." Numbers 13:1,2, 26-33
“Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?"
He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.” John 6:1-13
[Prayer - Lord you are an awesome and powerful God. You love your people. You care for your people. You challenge your people to believe in you and in your power. You call them to live a life of adventure, of reckless abandon for you.
And Lord you are the same today as you were then – you never change.
Help us to see Lord that as your people, as your church – that your desire for us is far greater than our personal care and comfort – you desire a life of conquest and adventure that blesses the nations and brings honor to you. Father fire up your children today – change us – move us by your spirits power..]
Later on today in San Diego – football players from Tampa Bay and Oakland will put on their pads & uniforms, walk into a packed stadium, and before much of the world, not only to play a football game, but to fulfill, to live a dream. A dream to play in and win the Super Bowl.
AND LISTEN - this dream was born long before the 2002 season ever started – YOU SEE - this dream was born the first time these guys walked onto a field and put on a uniform when they probably in elementary school.. AND - that played a major part in getting them to where they are today. LISTEN UP, GET THIS (because it could change both your life and the world); NEVER – underestimate the power of a dream… NEVER, ignore, neglect or belittle the power of vision…
For instance, in 1774 a leader named John Adams boldly declared his vision of a new nation, a union of thirteen states independent from the parliament and the King of England. Against great odds, his words came true. Within 2 years of his prophetic proclamation, the United States of America was born.
In 1789 William Wilberforce stood before the British Parliament and eloquently cried for the day when men, women and children would no longer be bought and sold like farm animals. Each year for the next 18 years his bill was defeated, but he continued his tireless campaign against slavery. Finally, in 1833, four days before his death, Parliament passed a bill completely abolishing slavery.
In the late 1800’s, 2 brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright announced that “the age of the flying machine,” had arrived. Ten years of disappointing experiments followed. But on December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made history when their small biplane lifted off the sandy beach. In Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The age of air travel was born.
In the early 20th century a dynamic industrialist named Henry Ford stood in front of his ragtag band of employees and vowed to make automobile transportation affordable for the average American family. The nation laughed out loud. But barely 15 years later, millions of Ford’s Model T automobiles had been bought and sold at a cost of just $290 each.
In South Africa in the 1960’s Nelson Mandela dreamed of the day when the apartheid that had oppressed the black people of that nation for so long - would end. Mandela stood before his capturers and they told him that if he keeps this up, it wouldn’t be pretty and that he could lose his life – Mandela said…Ending apartheid is a cause for which I will gladly invest everyday for the rest of my life and a purpose for which I am fully prepared to die…” What a dream/passion/what courage. AND - in 1994 after 30 years in prison not only did apartheid come to end, but Nelson Mandela became the President of South Africa.
AND – who can forget 1963 – Dr Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and painted a picture of a world without prejudice, hatred or racism. “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Although Dr King did was cruelly assassinated, his dream lives on. Forty years later his passion still guides a nation as racial barriers continue to fall…
QUESTION – what did these men all have in common – they all had a dream, a compelling vision. Bill Hybels defines vision this way; “Vision is a picture of the future that produces passion.”
FOR – Henry Ford it was a picture of a future where a Model T was parked in the driveway of every butcher, baker and candlestick maker. FOR – John Adams it was a picture of a future where America was a free and independent nation under God. FOR – Dr King it was a picture of a future where 2 children, one black and one white – would sit across each other on a see saw and be oblivious of the color of each other’s skin.
FOR – may who will step between the chalk lines in San Diego today, it was a picture of future where they would be holding up, the Lombardi trophy – singing, “We are the champions…. And packing their bags for Disney World.”
TODAY – a want to talk about a dream… AND – it’s not a dream about; Model T’s, air planes, financial security - or the Super Bowl – it’s a dream about the church…. About this church… About Central…
BUT – before I attempt to paint a picture about that dream, there 2 other things I need to talk about first…
What The Church Is…
NOW – the best place to tell you what the church is – is the word of God.
And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence. Eph 1:23
The church is the body of Christ…
In Ephesians 5; Paul after talking about how a husband is to love and care for his wife – AFTER commanding husbands to love their wives, the way Christ loves the church; he makes this statement…
This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. Eph 5:32
AND Paul writes in 2 Cor 11:2;
I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. For I promised you as a pure bride to one husband, Christ.
The church is the bride of Christ…
In the book of Romans Paul records these powerful words of God;
For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Romans 3:23 (NLT)
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NLT)
As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. "For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
Jesus spoke this words to a Pharisee named Nicodemus;
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son
LISTEN – the world is in serious trouble… without Christ they already stand condemned… And they can know unless someone tells them… That’s why;
The church is the hope of the world
In his book Courageous Leadership – Bill Hybels tells a story of how in a San Juan airport he encountered a violent 10 year boy who literally was smashing a younger boys head into the concrete… He stop them, but then had to board his plan.
As he sat on the plan the Spirit prompted him to not let go of that picture, but to try to figure out what in the world could possibly change the direction of this boys life; He thought about the government – but decided it couldn’t do it. YOU SEE - Government can’t change a human heart, it can’t turn hatred into love. It can’t bring abut repentance and forgiveness, reconciliation and peace. The he writes;
I scrolled through every other option I could think of, considering what they had to offer. Business can provide sorely needed jobs. Wise educators can teach useful knowledge of the world. Self help programs can offer effective methods of behavior modification. Advanced psychological techniques can aid self understanding. AND all of this is good. But can any of it truly transform the human heart?
I believe that only one power exists on this sorry planet that can do that. It’s the power of the love of Jesus Christ, the love that conquers sin and wipes out shame and heals wounds and reconciles enemies and patches broken dreams and ultimately changes the world one life at a time. And what grips my heart everyday is the knowledge that the radical message of that transforming love has been given to the church.
That means that in a very real way the future of the world rests in the hands of local congregations like yours and mine. It’s the or it’s lights out. Without churches so filled the power of God that they can’t help but spill goodness and peace and love and joy into the world, depravity will win the day, evil will flood the world. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Strong growing communities of faith can turn the tide of history – they can! Don’t bother looking elsewhere the church is it.
The church is the hope of the world
JUST – one more passage about the church; After he made the great confession – Jesus said to Peter;
“Now I say that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the powers of hell will not conquer it..” Mt 16:18
The church is an unstoppable force
NOTHING – can stop not even hell itself… AND – if you want to see a picture of this unstoppable church in action - you only have to turn to the book of Acts… NOW – we spent about 1 ½ studying this explosive book about explosive people. The really were an unstoppable force. From 11 scared men behind locked doors – they formed a community of believers that literally turned the world upside down.
This church – these people, were radically devoted to God and his word. Whatever God told them to do, they did. Whatever God told them to stop doing, they stopped doing. Wherever God told them to go they went… AND – when the government told them to stop talking about Jesus or die – they literally choose death – and thousands died.
This church – these people, loved each other in radical kinds of ways. They took off their masks and shared lives with one another. They laughed and cried, and prayed, and sang and served together in authentic Christian fellowship… Those who had more shared with those who had less until socioeconomic barriers melted away. People related to one anther in ways that bridged gender and racial chasms, and celebrated culture differences.
Acts 2 tells us that this community of believers, this church, offered unbelievers a vision of life that was so beautiful it took their breathe away. It was so bold, so creative, so courageous, so dynamic that they couldn’t resist and Acts 2:47 tells us that the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved…
This church – these people were an unstoppable force that transformed their world one life at a time… WHAT the church is; the body & bride of Christ/the hope of the world and an unstoppable force…
Where Has Happened To The Church…
I want to read a few quotes from – The Book, An Unstoppable Force daring to be the church God had in mind, by Erwin McManus. For those of you who read the last S.A.L.T. homework this should sound pretty familiar;
The life of the church is heart of God. The heart of God is to serve a broken world. When Jesus wrapped a towel around his waist, he reminded us that only he could wash away sin. The church cannot live when the heart of God is not beating within her. God’s heartbeat is to seek and save that which is lost. The church exists to serve as the body of Christ, and it through this commitment to serve that we are forced to engage our culture.
The serving that we are called to requires direct contact. You cannot wash the feet of a dirty world if you refuse to touch it. There is a sense of mystery to this, but it is in serving that the church finds her strength. When she ceases to serve the world around her, she begins to atrophy. In pathology, atrophy is the wasting or decreasing in size of any part of a body.
When the church refuses to serve the world, she begins to waste away. She finds herself deteriorating, withering, and losing her strength. Like a muscle that has been locked away in a cast, the church shows the signs of atrophy that become evident when the cast is removed. It is difficult to ignore the reality that the church has lost significant muscle tissue. All around us, we find the evidence that the church of Jesus Christ in contemporary society is not what she once was…
If only we could summarize the problem of the American church by simply saying that most churches are not growing. But it’s worse than that. Even to say that churches are declining and closing their doors is not to speak of the real tragedy. This may seem strange, but the real tragedy is not that churches are dying but that churches have lost their reason to live.
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America’s best atheists are children of the church. It is rare to find a person who is a passionate enemy of the church who has never had contact with her. The diminishing influence of the American church on American society is not simply because fewer people are going to church, but fewer people are going to church because of the diminishing influence of Christ on the church itself…The indictment that we must receive is that the Christian faith as we express it is no longer seen as a viable spiritual option. Masses gave the church a try and left wanting. We accuse them of not wanting to surrender to God; they accuse us of not knowing him. People are rejecting Christ because of the church! Once we were called Christians by an unbelieving world, and now we call ourselves Christians and the world calls us hypocrites.
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The church became a refuge from the world rather than a force in the world. Predictability and stability became dominant themes. The cultural environment became comfortable, and the gospel shifted from a church “on mission” to a church that supported missions….
In both traditional and contemporary churches, the member became the customer to whom the product was tailored…
We’ve been taught that we are the center of the universe, and we evaluate everything on its ability to meet our needs. Some of the best communicators of the Scriptures who I know have had people leave their churches for the express reason that they’re not being fed. I know that we are sheep of God, and sheep require the Shepherd to feed them, but there must come a time when we become shepherds who feed others.
Is it really about us being fed? I think it might be important to remember that over 60% of Americans are overweight or even obese. Is it possible that this is also true in the area of personal spirituality? Are we too much about us getting fed and too little about exercising our faith?
Too many of our statements about the crisis in the American church center on the superficial arena of style and neglect to go to the core issue of self. At the core of so much of the resistance the church is facing is the preservation of selfishness and self-centeredness. It is one thing to have a preference; it is another to demand that one’s preferences be honored above the needs of those without Christ.
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What has happened to the church…
The church has become a refuge from the world rather a force of change in the world… It’s become a place we can hide from an unbelieving and sinful world…
The church has lost it’s reason for living… And now believes it exists to fed and care for itself – to make it’s members comfortable and happy… And not to take the message of Christ to a hell bound world…
The church has become the main reason the world rejects Christianity – why? BECAUSE has had so little effect on the lives of those who attend… Those words of McManus sting, “We accuse them of not wanting to surrender to God; they accuse us of not knowing him”
The church has become full of people who support mission BUT who forgotten that they themselves are on a mission from God…
Tragically is many ways and in many places – the church, the unstoppable force has been stalled, the body of Christ has been thrown into paralysis, the bride has remove her wedding garments and the hope of the world has become a city hidden on a hill…
The Dream – An Acts 2 Church…
When I look at Central – I see two churches. FIRST – I see the church that we are and I thank God for that picture… LISTEN – I am so grateful for the church that we are… Over the last 5 years, Central has brought into greater focus for me – what the church should & can be.
NOW – ‘church’ has been a part of my life in one or another since I was a small child…
As a kid; church was a place that my mom made me go on Sunday’s – it was a place where every now & then I put on a robe and lit a few candles.
As a teenager; my mom stopped trying to wake me up. church was totally irrelevant to me; church was place where strange people went - people who were absolutely against fun.
As a young adult; church was a place where I both met and began to learn about Jesus. It was a place where the bible started to come alive to me. It was a place where I met good people and served a little here & there. But it was not a place where I was ever really encouraged or shown how to get to know Jesus…or how to change the world one live at a time.
As a pastor in East Tampa; church was a place of frustration, a place ruled by the opinions and traditions of men rather than the Spirit of God. It was a place where people where more concerned about the clothes someone wore then the condition of their heart. It was a place where worship was dead, leaders were stagnant, dreams were crushed and changed was fear.
BUT – despite all that mess, God still placed within my heart a dream of what his church could be… AND – while he placed that dream in mine – he also placed that dream in the hearts of some leaders at Central, especially Len McDade and Ryckie Fernandez.
NOW – you need to understand that the dream was not in total focus - but we knew that the Lord’s Church, that the bride of Christ, that the Hope of the world, that this unstoppable force should & could be something more the what it was..
AND - five years after God teamed the three of us up – my experience of the church is so much better. The picture of what the church should be continue to get clearer…. I love what the Lord has done in and through us in the past 5 years.
I am thankful for the heart felt & energized worship that we have here – a worship that though we have an awesome praise team – is pleasing to God, NOT because that, but because of how we worship out there… I am thankful for the growing hunger for God, the many prayer warriors, the workers, the servants heart, the joy, the acceptance of all people… AND – I am thankful that so many are taking their spiritual growth seriously – and have at least expressed a desire to be accountable.. YES – when I think of Central I see a picture of who we are (and I’m thankful) – BUT I also see a picture of who God wants us to be… Jesus spoke these words in John 4:35;
“Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! vast fields are ripening all around us and are now ready for the harvest.”
Everybody needs Jesus! Everybody has a right to know what we know. AND LISTEN – people today are searching today an unprecedented thirst are searching for more!
AND – I say what a great time it is to be the church! LISTEN - we are so fortunate to be living in this moment of history where people are looking for the answers to life like never before. What a time to be the church…
The Spirit and the bride (whose the bride?) say “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” Rev 22:17
When I look and dream of Central’s future; I see a place where the beaten, the tuned off, the weary and the broken are put back together again… AND - I see place where people with fears & skepticism about organized religion can come as they are – and discover maybe for the first time that they really really matter to God! And find new & living hope in the person of Jesus Christ.
AND FRIENDS – Jesus will never turn away a thirsty person who is humbly seeking after him.
Dick Alexander, Raw
It’s a word I never liked
Raw carrots are too hard
Raw oysters too slimy
Raw humor is too dirty
Raw skin is too painful
In fact raw applied to anything human sounds painful
But we live in a world of raw human need
It’s all around us
Do you ever wonder how many people struggle with homosexuality in your church
How many alcoholics
How many families with incest
How many addicts, how victims of violence and abuse
Will they find help
With the raw human need touching us every day
The church can scarcely afford business as usual
In practice many traditional churches view their mission
As holding Sunday services
Satisfying the members and doing a little good here & there
Such churches are on the way out
Within a few years they will be dinosaurs
Not because their doctrine is bad but because they lost their mission
Only churches serious about rescuing the hurting will survive and make a difference…
AND FRIENDS – I dream of a church like that. I dream of a healing fellowship where the unchurched hundreds, even thousands; where the raw/broken/beaten/ and hurt can be healed. I dream of a place where the discouraged can be lifted up – a place where people looking for love, can find the unconditional love and grace of God.
I dream of a church that will totally outgrow our new worship center – 2,3,4 services every weekend, services full of believers and seekers alike who are learning to become worshippers and who are growing together in the knowledge of God. AND - who are being equipped & empowered to live life and to go out into the world and dispense the grace of God that they have just received…
I dream of a building/a gym – that house our student ministry… A place where hundreds of student pile into every Wednesday night and throughout the week… And find a place where that let’s them no that no mater how messed their life is that there is a God in heaven who loves, who thinks they’re pretty special and wants to do great things with, in and through their lives… A place that brings hope, healing, power and purpose to this next generation….
AND - I dream of a church that has become an authentic Acts 2 community… A church that not only worships together on Sunday but a church that does life together. A church of 10-20-30-50 or more small groups, that meet in homes, restaurants, schools campuses, office buildings, parks, class rooms, hall ways wherever – but real communities… where masks are taking off, and we quit pretending… we get real and we get better – we grow more like Christ. Rea communities where we ask the tough questions – they help us become fully devoted followers of Christ!
I dream of a church full of people who are no longer hunger or thirsty ever again, because they came to Christ and springs of living have welled up inside of them… I mean you can see it their face – you hear in the way they talk and you observe it in the way they live!
AND - I dream of a church where the burden for the lost is so real – that instead of laying awake a night worrying about how to pay the gas bill or if we’ll pass the test – we lay awake at night worrying about reaching the people who we know that are lost. YES – I dream of a church where the most important thing in the lives of every believer – (and you can see it in the way they use their time, their talents and even their money) is to seek and save the lost… I mean it consumes us - we see their faces before us constantly – we know their need – we feel their pain – and we tremble at the though of them leaving this life without Jesus!
I dream of a church with a burden like that – a place where we people pull me aside not to talk about who hurt their feelings or what they don’t like – but a place where people pull me aside in tears and ask me to pray for their lost family member or friend!
AND - I dream of a church that breaks out of the walls of this fortress and becomes a visible force in this community… Meeting real needs healing real hurts in the name of Jesus Christ. Divorce ministries, substance abuse and recovery ministries, crisis pregnancy centers, prison ministries … I dream of being a church that has such in an impact on this community that we were ever to close the doors – the hurting, the lost, the seeking – of this community would not only notice but rise up in protest…to notice…
I dream of a church where every member has found his or her god-given talent and is using with passion and joy to build up the kingdom of God…
I dream of a church that takes risks, steps out, that puts it all on the line… that prays bold prayers, fears God, is open to the Spirit and lives courageous life’s of adventure for God…
I dream of a church full of people who like – Abraham say; “Lord even if I don’t know all the details, even though I don’t really know where I am going – yes I will leave my family and all I have - to go with you..” people who like Joshua and Caleb realize – “that God’s church was not meant to merely exist in the wilderness of mediocrity – people who see the land of promise and want to conquer and fear no giants… a place full of people who like the little boy who gave up his lunch - who even though the need is so great bring all they have to Jesus trusting him to multiply it…and fed the multitudes…
I dream of being a church that when the world looks at us, they know there is something different here – that something is going on that can not be explained by human reasoning or effort… To be a church where God adds to our number daily those who are being saved…
SO – are you fired up! are you ready!!!
AND LISTEN – I know that these dreams for Central are not just mine – YOU SEE - I know that a passion burns today in this church to be an Acts 2 church, to be the church God wants her to be like it has never burned before! YES – the number is rising of the people of Central who are no longer content to GO to church, they want to BE the church… and there is a huge difference between the two.
IMAGINE – if today in Super Bowl XXXVII, all your favorite team did all game was huddle… Wouldn’t you think that there was terribly wrong with your team? I mean every time they get the ball all they do is stand in a circle, holding hands, firing each other up calling the plays. BUT they never broke the huddle. How long would you watch? Would they win the game?
LET ME TELL – you something…The world watches Christian across this country, file into churches, Sunday after Sunday AND THEY NOTICE – that Christian huddle a lot. I mean we hold hands we fire each other up… We talk about highlight film clips from the good ol’ days. We try to create intricate new plays that we might just get around to running some day… AND – they notice we talk about the other team that’s huddle down the street, that doesn’t play the game like we do, and they hear us argue about what the pep band is playing and what we should be wearing into the huddle.. And they hear us complain how we don’t have enough players and they see how we spend most of our time worrying about the upkeep of the stadiums we huddle into.
AND – all the while this is going on there is a hell bound Christ-less world saying, wondering – yeah I know you can huddle but can you play the game!
Central the world is watching us and watching you an they are wondering…
Do they make difference?
Do they hold out hope?
Do they spread the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Do they feed the hungry?
Do they clothe the poor?
Do they take care of the unfortunate?
Do they administer first aid to wounded souls?
Do they do CPR on broken hearts?
Do they walk with integrity?
Do they leak at the seams with a contagious joy?
Do they love the unlovely
Do they really love their families?
Do they really love each other?
Do they really love their God?
Do they really love me?
Oh they huddle – but can they play the game… Are they for real!
FRIENDS – we come hear every week – and we have some of the most inspiring, challenging, uplifting huddles in all the world.. For years I dreamed of being a aprt of such a huddle – by now a great huddle is no longer enough for me…
FRIENDS - when we are done huddling we need to put our hands in the middle and say “Ready Break” and go public with the good news of Jesus Christ!!!
That is what the church is to be – and I dream of a church like that….
OKAY – now it’s time for the final point in your outline – if you are a football fan is probably very familiar… It’s something Chris Berman says as he does commentary of high lights from the past weeks games
We Could Go All The Way…
Back in the summer of 2002, 32 NFL teams dreamed of going all the way. AND – to them going all the way – was going to and winning the big dance – Super Bowl XXXVII. AND – 2 teams have made it. AND KNOW THIS – they didn’t get there just because they wanted to be there real bad… LISTEN – every NFL team knows that if it is even to have a chance in going all the way - certain things need to be in place…(a defense, offense, special teams, coaocjes, a running game, passing game… etc Sometimes it takes years to get all the pieces in place;
IN LIKE MANNER – if we are to go all the way as a church ceratin things need to be in place…
The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
Is 55:10,11 (NLT)
READ – scripture and talk about 9 things YOU need to do as a member of this team so we can go all the way and fulfill that dream…. It would happen without these things in place… They are our running game, passing game, special teams…
If YOU….
Practice Spiritual Disciplines
Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Spend your time and energy in training yourself for spiritual fitness. Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next. 1 Tim 4:7,8 (NLT)
Die To Yourself
And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 2 Cor 5:15
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal 2:20
Live Out What You Already Know
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:22
Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. James 4:17
Use & Develop Your Gifts For The Church
Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. Eph 4:16 (NLT)
So I ask you to make full use of the gift that God gave you… 2 Timothy 1:6 (NLT)
Give God Your Best
Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you. Dt 16:17
If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving--large or small--it will be used to measure what is given back to you. Lk 6:38
Pray
The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.
James 5:16 (NLT)
Love Like Jesus
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 1 John 3:16-19
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Cor 13:4-8
Have Faith In God
I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ’Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. Mt 17:20
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-- the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith
Embrace Your Mission/Love The Lost
What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!
All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others… 2 Cor 5:17-19 (NLT)
