Remember The Titans!

“Remember The Titans!!!”

[SHOW THE VIDEO CLIP AT THE END OF THE MOVIE OF THE VICTORY….

THE FINAL PLAY THROUGH THE CELBERATION

STOP RIGHT BEFORE THE GIRL TALKS]

Read Ephesians 3:7-21 (NLT)

Have you ever been on the edge of your seat…waiting in anticipation? You’re reading an exciting novel – the plot is coming together, you’re beginning to see what’s going to happen, you can hardly turn the pages fast enough - it’s all you can do to keep yourself from skipping a few or turning to the last one… You’re watching a suspenseful movie – it’s the final 15 minutes and you can’t wait to see how it’s going to end. It’s the fourth qtr your team just drove 60 yards down the field, there is 5 seconds on the clock, you’re 2 points behind, the balls on the other teams 15 yard line and your teams kicker who hasn’t missed a kick in this range all year is about to part the up rights… You’re at the airport, you haven’t seen the one you love in weeks – you see their plane land – you stand as the passengers begin to come out, you stretched your neck, strain your eyes, stand on toes looking for that familiar face.. You’ve been out to sea for months and you hear the sound of tugs pulling up alongside as your boat begins to tie up to the pier. It’s December 24th – you are 5 years old; and you in your bedroom staring at the clock… listening to every tick….

ANTICIPATION - We’ve all been there… On the edge of our seats… Pulse quickening… eyes intent… every muscle tightening… WHY? Because, we know that something real big & awesome is about to happen….

Let me tell you – That is how I feel right now about the Lord’s Church – here at 1294 Braselton highway. We are on the threshold of something incredible as a church…The plot is coming together; the movie is reaching it’s climax, the football is heading towards the uprights, the plane has landed – the passengers are coming out, the tugs are alongside, it is December 24th!

“Now glory to God who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of – infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes…”

PRAYER

The clip I showed at the start of my message is from the movie – “Remember The Titans!” is an awesome movie… The clip is from one of the movie’s final scenes.

Now, for those who don’t know – the movie – “Remember The Titans.” It is a true story about a school in the early 70’s that integrated. For the first time, you had blacks and whites on the same football team. And not only that, the school board brings in a black coach, Coach Boone to be the head coach, forcing the previous white coach, in his “hall of fame” season, to move down to defensive coordinator.

Like I said, great movie (you need to see it) – and about 2 weeks ago I felt led to use this movie as a springboard for my message today… You see, I had already designated this Sunday as some kind of ‘let’s get pumped’ message. AND what better way to do that, then with a great football movie.

Central Christian Church is a good church, I love it here. AND in all my 21+ years of being a Christian, this place is numero uno with me. And Central has had some pretty good seasons over the years, the last few have been especially awesome.

And in like manner, the Titans were a pretty good football team before coach Boone came on the scene, they had 15 winning seasons in a row, and had won a regional champion in Virginia. BUT coach Boone had his sights set even higher… He wanted to win the state championship.

That was an awesome dream – but understand, a dream like that just doesn’t happen (especially with all the obstacles they were facing at the outset) Now we know from that first clip, that they made it – that their dream became a reality…

But the question is - what led to that victory celebration on the field? Understand - the victory on the field didn’t come cheap or easy…(there was a cost, there was a price to pay…) OKAY, I want to show you another clip – but first I need to set it up…

Coach Boone takes the team to a college in Gettyburgh, Pa. for their summer training camp… They have just arrived and things are not going too well, a lot of tension, fights, harsh words etc… In this scene Coach Boone is telling them what it is going to take for them to achieve their dream and to do great things…