Thinking Like Jesus Series

OPEN: During a long and losing baseball game, the restless boys on the little league team began to question Ritchie, their assistant coach, about his attractive sister. How old was she? Was she going out with anyone...? Etc.

The head coach was beginning to get annoyed. Not only were they losing, but now he realized his boys didn’t have their head in the game. So he decided to put a stop to it. In his frustration he hollared at the boys: "When you’re in the dugout, you boys talk BASEBALL!"

There was silence for about a minute and 1/2... and then a voice from end of the bench called out, "So, Ritchie, does your sister play baseball?"

APPLY: Now that team may not have been motivated to win their baseball game... But they were motivated. Their minds were dominated by one tho’t... Richie’s sister.

That team had a passion that dominated their tho’ts and their conversations, and that passion - for Richies’ sister - gave life and excitement to an otherwise dull and depressing game. It made the difference between an experience that was dragging them down and one that would lift them up and make their lives worth living.

Paul tells us in Colossians - that we have a similar passion. A passion that makes our lives unique and exciting. And, it’s a passion that Paul says we must NEVER lose.

Colossians 2:6 "just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, CONTINUE to live in him...

Colossians 3:1 "Since... you have been raised with Christ, SET YOUR HEARTS on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God..."

Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ RULE in your hearts..."

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ DWELL in you richly..."

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, DO IT ALL IN THE NAME of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Again, and again, and again, Paul tells us REMEMBER our relationship with Jesus. Remember that He is Lord of our lives.

I. But (pause) how can I tell if Jesus really is the Lord of my Life? How can I tell if my relationship with Jesus is the way I/ He want it to be?

ILLUS: A little girl was on the way home from church, turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, the Preacher’s sermon this morning confused me."

The mother said, "Oh! Why is that?”

The girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?"

"Yes, that’s true," the mother replied.

"He also said that God lives within us. Is that true too?"

Again the mother replied, "Yes."

"Well," said the girl. "If God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn’t He show through?"

He would, wouldn’t he? He would show through ... but how do I make it so that Jesus "shows thru?" The best way to do it is to begin to "think" like Jesus thinks. To be motivated by the same goals and objectives that drove Jesus.

* I want to get to the point where I think so much like Jesus that my behavior becomes like that of those young boys in the dugout

* Where I get to the point where I can’t talk about much of anything else... I can’t think about much of anything else - except that which is what JESUS THINKS. I want to become passionate about what Jesus is passionate about...

II. Well, what is Jesus passionate about?

"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. John 3:16

Or, as Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:15 "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..."

That was what motivated Jesus... That’s why He came. That’s why He died. And that’s why He rose from the dead...

And so, if I’m going to THINK like Jesus - I’ve got to think about the sinners around me. I’ve got to think about ways of introducing them to my Savior Because those people are the ones Jesus is so passionate about

III. So... where do we start? How do we begin to "think" like Jesus?

Paul tells us - we start with prayer...

Look at Colossians 4:2-4 = “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”

Notice what Paul tells us to start out praying for: He asks for prayer for his team of missionaries. He asks for prayer to have

-opportunities to proclaim the mystery of Christ