Winning
Notes
Transcript
Winning, Vince Lombardi said , winning isn’t everything it is the only thing>
Paul basically said the same thing
TEXT:
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
Today we live in a world that is afraid to win, afraid to go the distance. We are OK with losing
In Israel the world is pressuring them to quit, let it go - don’t worry about winning. take the loss. Give room for the enemy. After all they are people to.
We have our children in sports and when their young we don’t want to keep score, we don’t want to pressure them or have someone feel bad. Winning makes the other person or team feel bad and we cant have that.
It is all about having fun. It boils down to as long as your happy. Its OK to lose.
Its OK to Settle for second best, why do we settle with losing?
Who wants a second, third or fourth best life.
Could you imagine going up to your wife and saying I just settled for you, your all I could get. You were number 9 on my top 10. She would kill you.
Seriously !
TODAY, Lets start by asking a simple Question
WHY DO PEOPLE FAIL TO WIN
1. LACK OF DESIRE –
THEY DON’T WANT TO WIN.
THEY HAVE NOT SEEN ENOUGH VICTORIES TO GET THEM EXCITED ABOUT WINNING. So mediocre is OK. A 50/50 season is good enough.
Losing every 2nd game is just fine.
Coming in second third or fourth place is always where i want to be.
Ask any Nascar driver on that final stretch or last turn if second place is good enough. NEVER.
In the NHRA the dragster or funny car that comes in second place is officially called the loser.
THEY HAVE BECOME SO USED TO LOOSING THEY GAVE UP WINNING (MAYBE EVEN AS A CHILD) Every kid should get a trophy.
That takes root in us and we go through life thinking that as long as we are having fun its ok to lose.
We wonder why we don’t have any victory in our lives, why we never win
We need the desire to win.
"to desire" in the Scriptures usually means "to long for," "to ask for," "to demand," and may be used in a good or bad sense
You can desire bad things or you can desire good things
Do we long for revival - YES Do we ask for it - Yes we do - Do we demand it - No we don’t. That is the difference between winning and loosing.
2. LACK OF A PLAN
Eph 1:9-12
9 God's secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure.10 And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ — everything in heaven and on earth.
11 Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago.
12 God's purpose was that we who were the first to trust in Christ should praise our glorious God.
If you don’t plan to succeed , you have planned to fail. There is no professional sports team that goes into a game without a plan. They all have a plan.
God had a plan at the beginning. Check out Genesis. God had a plan of salvation, by sending His son, God has a plan for the future, marked out in Revelations and elsewhere in scripture.
God gave you a written plan, it is called the bible.
We operate best when we operate in the plan.
When the spys came back and gave the report of the promised land. 10 of them said it was not going to work. After Moses read them the riot act. they decided the next day to muster some troops and go in outside of Gods plan. They were defeated.
So what is your plan?
Is it in writing? Can you spell it out in a sentence or two?
3 LACK OF DISCIPLINE
Isaiah says, Isa 50:7
7 "For the Lord GOD will help Me; Therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set My face like a flint , And I know that I will not be ashamed.
Paul says he buffets
27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
How bad do you want it ?
This is probably one of the biggest ones
Can we discipline what we eat, can we work out and get healthy, can we discipline our mouths not to say stupid things , can we discipline our minds so not to think stupid things.
at times - Discipline is saying no when others are saying yes
4. LACK OF TRUST
4 We know you were there for our parents:
5 they cried for your help and you gave it; they trusted and lived a good life.
It is saying we don’t trust you anymore.
Martin Luther said - Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain
Paul says in
Phil 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
It means I am inwardly certain or convinced
Illustration - A mother, struggling to cope when a family member is diagnosed with a devastating illness, finds hope and strength when her small daughter pulls her close and whispers, "Trust Jesus."
"Everyone finds themselves hopeless and sorrowful at times, Everyone experiences disappointments, even despair.
You have to get to a place of trust.
5. LACK OF DARING
If you wait for the perfect weather, perfect circumstances, perfect timing, You will probably be waiting your whole life.
Dare to be great.
Dare to win.
Greg Laurie preached a sermon called dare to be a daniel, Dare to eat vegetables instead of the kings delicacies.
Dare to say no I am not going to bow down to this idol.
Dare to speak the truth in love.
6. LACK OF DESTINY
You feel like the future has been erased.
That is what is happening in America.
The enemy has beat you down so much you dont have the strength to hope for a future anymore.
You need to memorize Jer 29:11
11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
7. LACK OF POWER
I had the illustration of the terracotta army
We are not a terracotta army
We are not a valley of dry bones.
1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones.
2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry.
3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”
4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’
5 “Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life.
6 ‘I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.
9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.” ’ ”
10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’
12 “Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.
13 “Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people.
14 “I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord.’ ”
8. LACK OF COMMUNITY
You cant win alone!
In community you win
It does take a village - AMEN
Dream Center and Tommy
CONCLUSION
