Super Bowl Sunday -2013

“Super Bowl Sunday -2013”

Hebrews 12:1-2

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL? The Day is finally here! San Francisco and Baltimore will meet in New Orleans for the finial game of the 2012 season. It’s been an up and down season for both teams. They each have had their struggles – but now they are in the big game. One of them will walk away with a trophy that says they are the best in the world. Whoever wins it will be elated! I’ve seen 300 pound grown men cry when they win it. I have seen football warriors weeping emotionally because they won the prize.

The money means nothing at this point. The endorsements and publicity and all the hoopla means nothing compared to winning that diamond encrusted football. It means they are the best team in professional football in the world! It is the highlight of their life. They are on the pinnacle right then and they are overcome upon reaching their lifetime goal.

There are a lot of fantastic men in the football hall of fame who never won that trophy. Men like Dan Marino and Dick Butkus and Earl Campbell and Eric Dickerson - who still holds the record for most yards in a season. How about Barry Sanders and Gale Sayers and Fran Tarkington? These guys were so good that they made the Hall of Fame but never won a Super Bowl. So to win that trophy is a fantastic blessing. I’m going to be watching! GO NINERS!

As I was thinking about the Super Bowl this week I couldn’t help but think how similar the Spiritual walk is with it. Let me take a few similarities and point them out to you.

First of all, there is a great crowd of witness watching. Our Scripture says,

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses...”

Everyone is going to be watching the game today. It is an American event. It is the most watched event of the year. TV, Radio, Internet – every kind of media in every language you can think of will be showing this game. Billions of eyes will be fixated on the game. More snack food will be sold on this day than any other. More beverages will be consumed than any other. More people will gather together than just about any other day of the year. There is going to be a “great crowd of witnesses” to this game.

There is a great crowd of witnesses to your life, too. Do you realize that you are not in this by yourself? In our Scripture we are reminded that there is a great crowd of witnesses; there is a crowd of people who have gone on before. I think they may be are watching us. I think they may be cheering us on. Jesus said,

“Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:8-10

Can you imagine that? Angels rejoiced in heaven when you repented and came to the Lord. Angels and maybe the citizens of heaven wildly celebrated when you prayed your ‘sinner’s prayer’.

Your life may have begun with a celebration. Some parents send out cards and pass out candy cigars and throw confetti and maybe a party when their child is born. But it is nothing like the celebration when you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Heaven rejoices.

But there is an ever bigger celebration promised in our future. Isaiah says,

“Those the LORD has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing;

everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” Isaiah 51:11

He says, “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.” Isaiah 65:17-18