An Encouraging End-of-the-Year Message This Year ~ For Next!

From: Malachi 3 Selective Verses…

“God Wants Our Best”

(Things That God Will Not Accept)

Opening:

I want to begin today’s message with a couple of questions:

1. Why would a Christian withhold from God?
2. What circumstance could a believer ever experience that would result in them robbing God?

While you are considering your answers let me offer a few addendums:

1.      [Deuteronomy 10:14] says, “Heaven, the higher heavens, and all that is in the earth belongs to God.”

2.      [Psalm 24:1 which follows Psalm 23] says, “The earth is the Lords, and all that it contains.”

This tells us that it is God who gives us all things that we have, there is nothing that we have [n-o-t-h-i-n-g], that we can say is not God’s property. So, again; since it is God who allows us to have the things that we have, why would we withhold the best of our stuff and give God the worst or least of our stuff, and expect Him to like it?

We could run those thoughts over and over in our minds, but the only true conclusion that we could come to, is if a Christian is robbing God of both quantity and quality; their concept of God has to be badly warped…

They can’t know Him as [Lord and Savior] and not offer Him their best…

Context: [The Book of Malachi is the last O.T. words before God is silent for 400 plus years…]

For context and clarity of chapter 3, we need to connect chapter 2:17…

Notice that this verse says, “The people of God had wearied the Lord with their words…”

Stay with me now, “God” who created supports and sustains the entire universe, God with whom there is not a bird that falls to the ground without His knowledge of it, God who keeps the stars, in their sockets, the planets in their solar system, seas in oceans, brooks in their banks, vegetation for all animal life, God He who keeps the food change for animals circulating, God who waters the ground with rain, God who leaves snow on the mountain tops in one season so that there will be water in the rivers in another season, God who keeps the laws of gravity and thermodynamics functioning, and all while dealing with the daily disturbances designed by the devil—and yet none of these things weary Him. But the one thing that does is the skeptical and offensive words, which come from His people…

*Have you ever considered that?

Think about that just another minute: “Making sure that there is enough metal and steel, oil, gas, and water in/on the earth doesn’t weary God. Making sure that there are enough organisms, micro-organisms, vegetables, fruits, and plants to sustain both human life and animal life doesn’t weary God. But what runs God’s patience short is His people’s ungratefulness…

Observation:    [Read verses …this is a continuation of God’s list of complaints…]

Besides the obvious robbing God of both quantity and quality, this chapter shows us many things that are unacceptable to God… Now let me put this disclaimer out there for all of the bible scholars who will scrutinize this message; I am fully aware that we [N.T. believers] cannot apply these particular promises to every believer today, but there are certain principles and applications for every believer today, and it is those things that I want to point out for our consideration.

V. 2:17) tells us that God will not accept us [His people] changing their views on God’s justice; us [His people] acting and being oblivious to our sins; us [His people] losing faith in Him and having a skeptical attitude towards Him. And that God really has a problem when we/us [His people] confuse our moral distinctions by calling evil—good…

You know why many professed Christians rename and label what is obviously evil as good? It gives them a way of excusing and explaining away their sins.

v. 3:7b) tells us that God will not accept us [His people] pretending to be ignorant of our waywardness.

v. 3:8-10) tells us that God will not accept us [His people] thinking that both quantity [here] and quality [1:7-14] are not important. Many people give and satisfy themselves or rather quite their own minds by thinking God will accept anything from them because He knows their hearts. Listen, we the church may accept anything; your worst and not your best, but as evident by these Scriptures—God won’t…

God didn’t accept this in the O.T. and God didn’t accept it in the N.T. and God will not accept it from us…

God doesn’t accept us who belongs to the church [body of Christ] failing to adequately the church…

And neither God doesn’t accept us who belong to the body of Christ holding back our best, or misappropriating our best out of self-interest and He never will… When we put these three verses together they tell us when we [his people] hold back from giving God our best, we consequently deprive ourselves of all the good things God would otherwise give us…  In other words, we shut the windows of heaven…

v. 3:13a) tells us that God will not accept us [His people] in conversation with other believers speaking harsh things/words that contradict God’s promises, to or about His people…

v. 3:13b) tells us that God will not accept us [His people] being spiritually insensitive and acting as if we are ignorant of our sins…

v. 3:14) tells us that God will not accept us [His people] functioning as if there are no benefits for serving God [useless/unprofitable/of no advantage to serve God]. And the reason so many of them felt like this is because they were not immediately blessed with favor from God…

Listen; don’t become presumptuous with/about God…

Don’t presume that you’ve been faithful in carrying out God’s requirements when you’ve been faithless…

Don’t presume you’ve repented of your sins when you haven’t…

Don’t imply that God hasn’t kept His word/promises—because He has…

And don’t concern yourself with things that don’t concern you—[in this text it was the prosperity of the wicked]…

Summation:   

In summation don’t doubt the justice and mercy of God…

If you are functioning like this, if any of these points/principles apply to you, then you’re not giving God your best and what you are giving Him is unacceptable…

The Bible says in 2 Cor. 9:7 that God loves the cheerful giver… But in that same verse prior to saying this, God says, “Let each one do just as He has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion… Now this is not an excuse to give God less happily, it is a reminder that if we’re going to give God our best and not junk we will need the joy of Jesus operating fully inside of us…

You do know that Jesus wants you to have His joy in so that your joy can be made full… Personally I think that only empty Christians are even half-full Christians are the only ones who withhold from or rob God…

Conclusion: 

Let me close by describing the joy of Jesus so you’ll know if you have it or not…

Listen, the joy of Jesus is not in having possessions, or positions it’s found in the Person of Jesus Christ.

The joy of Jesus requires at least two conditions: submission and service and when we offer the best of those to Him, Jesus personally sees to our joy being made full/complete…

Jesus doesn’t offer partial joy; if you have it you have it all…

The joy of Jesus is not a passing emotion like happiness… Happiness depends on happenings…

The joy of Jesus is not effervescent; it’s not a high emotion that rides on the crest of a fatuous wave…

The joy of Jesus is as real at the graveside as it is at a fireside… [Do you have it???...] ® …

The joy of Jesus does not evaporate under the heat of adversity…

The joy of Jesus does not collapse in the presence of calumny [slander, defamation, false accusations]…

The joy of Jesus does not wither at the onslaught of calamity [misfortune, fatalities, or catastrophes]…

The joy of Jesus does not panic in the presence of perfidy [disloyalty, two-facedness, backstabbing, double-dealing]…

The joy of Jesus does not sour under the test of poverty…

The joy of Jesus does not die at the cruel hand of tragedy…

The joy of Jesus does not misfire in the presence of misery…

The next time you give to God consider all those things and you will give cheerfully, your best gift…

[Giving to God is not just about stewardship [us], but it’s about ownership [God]

As always...Now go and do your own homework!

"Why I Don't Believe In Modern Day Prophets!"

When "super spiritual" people want to introduce me to a "new word from God", or a "new way" of handling the things of God. I always tell them; "No Thank You [...God's old Word and His old way is still working find for me]."

When you understand [Hebrews 1:1-3] then you understand there is no need for any "new revelation" about God or what He is doing...

The writer of Hebrews affirms that Christ is the full revelation of God. He tells us that Christ fully revealed God by being fully God. In other words; we can see in Christ everything we need to know about God… I don’t know if you know what else that means so let me make it clear… Since God has presented His complete revelation in the Person of His Son / Himself, why in the world does He need any other faulty form to speak for Him [including man]? This is why I know that the Bible rejects all modern day so called prophets/prophetesses. Why would God let anyone come and speak in fragments [secret codes, mysteries...etc] about prophecy, when God has already given us and presented to us His complete revelation in the Person of His Son / Himself. This establishes for us that Jesus is superior to every previous form of revelation. Jesus Christ is the full expression of His Father God…This is why He said; “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” [John14:9].
Jesus Christ Is The Best Gift Ever! Quit running after false prophets and teachers who at best could only have partial revelation—but no new revelation, because the complete revelation is found in the presentation of who Jesus Christ is…

Quit letting folk tell you that God is doing a new thing and only few people are privy to it. Everything you need to know about what God is doing, and is going to do has been revealed in The Person of Jesus Christ.

If you’re going to follow anyone, follow someone who is following Jesus and doesn’t need to come up with a "newer way, a better way, or a more comfortable way... because He [Jesus] is the only way to God. [Jesus] is the full expression of God.  
He is the Best Gift Ever! And if you have Him as your gift, you have the Best Gift Ever!

Watch out for folk, who promote any other gift greater then the Gift of Jesus!
Jesus is the gift that makes you forget about all the other gifts, because He is The Best Gift Ever!

Go do your homework on [Hebrews 1:1-3]
:~) Guarding The Truth...Until He Comes

F.Y.I...Everything A Believer Should Know About Peace

This is an adaption from a sermon I preached to our congregation.

THINK ABOUT THIS…Peace on Earth—Now? “No-Way!” 
Christ’s 1^st Coming brought a sword—Christ’s 2^nd Coming will bring ultimate peace.

Supporting Scriptures:

Luke 2:13-14; Matthew 10:34…

 “F. Y. I.

(Things You Need to Know about Peace…)

Opening Statement:

This message probably could have been entitled “War and Peace.”

If you as a believer have ever wondered why people very close to you that you love appears to hate you—then this message is for you.

If you as a believer can’t believe that folk very close to you that you love don’t love God like you love God—then this message is for you.

If you as a believer don’t understand why the place you live is more like a war zone, instead of a peaceful home—then this message is for you

On last week I introduce us to the peace of God in [Philippians 4:7…Read it]…

That tells us that the supernatural peace of God not only surpasses all comprehension but it transcends all human intellectual powers, all human analysis, all human insights, and all human understanding. So even if you were smart enough to find the peace of God you wouldn’t be smart enough to figure out how to have the peace of God—apart from God.

So, today I want us to look intently at this “peace” so that as believers we can be certain that we have God’s peace and not the peace that “Hallmark” and other Christmas card companies are promoting this time of the year…

What we must know about God’s peace is this; “Although it is not on earth now, it can be in us now.”

According to [Romans 5:1] there is peace in the heart of the ones who believes, but as far as the world is concerned [as far as peace being on earth—now], this text will show us that there is nothing but division on the earth—now…

The real truth of the matter is; if Christ had never come to earth in the form of a man, the earth would have gone on in unity [gone on in the pseudo peace/man-made peace] that doomed everyone for hell. But when Christ came a war broke out.

Context:

What we have here in the verses in Matthew is known as a mashal; a paradoxical saying, a religious allegory, which sounds unbelievable!

A mashal conveys a meaning other than the literal obvious meaning.

What Jesus says here with this mashal causes the hearers and readers to be startled and shocked into disbelief.

The natural and logical reaction to this mashal would be; “How can this saying be true?”…Especially since…

[Isaiah 9:6] tells us that Christ is the ‘Prince of Peace’

[Matthew 5:9] tells us that Christ is the One who pronounces a blessing on those who make “peace.”

[Romans 5:1, 8:6, 14:17] tells us about the peace that God gives believers.

[Luke 2:14 and a host of other Scriptures] tell us in the strongest terms that Jesus is the ‘Bringer of Peace.’

So how can this be true? “That He didn’t come to bring peace on earth,…but a sword.”

It’s true because the idea expressed here is the consequence not the primary intention…
[Let me make it Plainer…]

In the Bible often consequences are expressed as if they were the primary intention…

Let me make that a little clearer: When my children were teenagers I would often express consequences that were not my primary intentions… For instance, often I would tell them; “When I get home I’m whooping everything with a behind—if the house was not cleaned-up.” Now whooping every behind in my house was never my primary intention—it was never my aim, but that would be the consequences if my house was not cleaned when I got home.

Well, what Jesus does here is describes the direct result/consequences of His coming to earth as if it were His primary intention… The sword and war was not Jesus’ primary intention, but they would be the consequences.

The Lord was saying, “On the one hand, I’m a Prince of Peace, but on the other hand, there’s going to be war.”

Observation:

Jesus knew that His intervention in history [His Birth and His public ministry] was going to split and fracture human relationships, He knew that His discipling would paint a target not only on Him, but on all who would truly be followers of Him, so in this text Jesus the Son of God was preparing the disciples and us [if you will] for those experiences …

Listen, being positive, successful, and sensitive to sinners won’t give you the peace of God…

Just knowing verses in the Bible and not the God of the Bible will create confusion and doubt about God’s intentions.

Because in [Matthew 5:9] Jesus not only promotes peace in a sense, but He pronounces that “peacemakers” will be blessed. But in this verse in [Matthew 10:34], Jesus announces that His mission on earth would not cause peace, but rather hostility (a sword)—even between the closest of family members… [Matthew 10:21], But Jesus was not saying that He would intentionally divide families. What Jesus was saying was that loyalty/allegiance to Him would cause some of his followers to be hated by their own family members, because of their disbelief of who God is and what He demands.

Now the Jews in Jesus’ day had things that contributed to their confusion… For the most part, because of their oppression, they were looking for a political deliverer; they were looking for a King that would usher them into the eternal kingdom of righteousness and peace. Can I just ask a question here? “As it pertains to Jesus; What Are You Looking For?”

The Jews in Jesus’ day being human—they wanted to see what they thought they had understood about their coming king, they wanted a peacemaker… they wanted what Isaiah had called Jesus [the Prince of Peace]. They wanted what Solomon had said about Jesus’ [worldwide peace and abundance…Psalm 72]…

And because at this point of Jesus’ ministry some of the disciples had begun to experience inner peace like never before—they no doubt expected their peace to grow in intensity as long as they were with Jesus…

[Now that shouldn’t seem foreign to any of us, because there are people even today, who are under the delusion that because they profess Christ they shouldn’t have any problems as long as they professed Christ.] Well, this text is going to prove to us today just how wrong that type of thinking is. Also, this text is going to show us that when we preach the truth about Christ and the truth about His kingdom, and the truth about just how lost people are, people are not going to fall at our feet and say they love it and that they want more. In other words, when people are told the true cost of discipleship they will more than likely initially reject it… Jesus knew that this would be the disciple’s situation and He knows it will be our situation so just like with the disciples Jesus wants to prepare them/us for the rejection and suffering that we will encounter as we live as true disciples of Christ…

So, notice how Jesus prepares them/us as believers; “He tells them/us that our enemies [because of our willingness to openly identify with Christ] will be members of our own household…

Now it’s not that we don’t’ like them or that they don’t like us, what causes this conflict in even the most intimate of human relations [family] is one has received the peace of God, while the other continues to reject God’s offer of peace.

Listen, a believer’s commitment to Christ should be so profound and far-reaching that any relationship that endangers that relationship must be sacrificed if necessary. [Note that husbands and wives are not included here]

Folk may not want to hear this, but true genuine faith not only creates division between one race and another, one person and another, one church and another, true genuine faith when it is being lived out even brings division in a family, if there is a family member [are someone like family to you] who refuses to believe the Bible and fully accept Jesus as both Lord and Savior—there is going to be a division between you and them. [It’s unavoidable]…

In other words, in order to cling to Christ, it may mean that you have to let go of family members who reject you because you won’t reject the gospel.

*You do remember the story of Cain and Abel right? Well, the “sword” fell between them, and the cleavage was so great that Cain couldn’t stand it—so he murdered his righteous brother Abel…

Look at the word “A sword” I believe the word sword is used to emphasize the gravity of our persecution…

The word sword tells us that in addition to having bitter opponents here “on earth,” as true followers of Christ, we must expect “the sword.” The very opposite of peace and a symbol of war…

We must expect to be lied on…

We must expect to be talked about…

We must expect to be cheated…

We must expect to be mistreated…

We must expect troubles and trials; even from folk within our own household…

But you say Pastor I’m not built like that—to which I would respond neither am I, but since I’ve been born again,

Since I’ve been crucified with Christ and it’s no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, when someone in my family or, church family, or just someone like family does me wrong I don’t look to get even, I look for the peace of God… [Philippians 4:5-8]

Because in all those things God gets all the glory…

Speaking of Glory… Let’s See The Connection….

*[Luke 2:14] tells us that when God gets glory from His people [believers], they in return get God’s peace—not on earth but within themselves…

Not peace like any other, but a peace that surpasses all human comprehension…

A peace that offers reconciliation between God and man…

A peace that offers a pleasing parallelism as to what happens in the highest with God and on earth with men…

Summation:

So don’t be discouraged by wars and rumors of wars…

Don’t be discouraged by what you see and don’t see…

Don’t be discouraged if when you tell someone the truth about Christ if they still reject His offer of salvation…

Don’t be discouraged by the fact that God forces people to make decisions that separate them one from another…

…Because at the 2^nd coming of Christ [guess what] a perfect king who rules a perfect kingdom will establish perfect peace on earth—and that perfect King who rules a perfect kingdom who will establish perfect peace on earth—will not do it Himself, but the perfect peace that will be established on earth will be ushered in and sovereign-ly sustained by the Prince of Peace…

But for now, during the intervals of His two comings, the gospel that brings inner peace not world peace…

For now, during the intervals of His two comings, the gospel that brings individual peace, not international peace…

For now, the gospel that gives all believers a peace that surpasses all comprehension that guards our hearts and mind in Christ Jesus—will also be the cause of us being misunderstood, maligned, and mistreated by anybody who does not believe—including those nearest and dearest to us…

Do you see where I’m going with this point?

If you’ve ever wondered how someone who claimed to love you—could openly mistreat you, maligned you, besmirge you and they claim to love you… I’m not saying this, but Jesus is saying this; “If someone near to you or dear to you, or even if someone is in the church with you, is at war with you and regularly mistreats you or talks bad about you, because of your faithfulness—maybe, just maybe they are not a believer and if they are not a believer that’s the best you can expect from them…”

Conclusion:

I want to close this message with looking at Luke 2:13—prior to verse 14…

What I like about verse 13 is that it tells us that just as soon as one angel began to make his announcement, about Jesus—all of a sudden an entire army of angels descended and stood with the one…

I like to think this shows us just how we should be as it relates to talking about our Savior…

If folk of all races can come together and stand together for a local high-school sport team that won a State Championship and say nothing but wonderful things about them…

Then as church we should be standing together and saying wonderful things  about our Wonderful Savior…

We should be looking for opportunities to go and show, and to go and tell others about God’s goodness and not looking for opportunities to stay away or at home and enjoy His goodness alone…

My last point is this:

Listen, if somebody is going to speak for you—make sure whoever speaks for you—knows you….

See, God sent angels to speak for Christ—because they had been associated with Christ in heaven before He ever came to earth…. They knew of His, glory, His riches, and His majesty… This is why they could say what they said with confidence…

Do you see where I’m going with this?…

When I get to heaven I only want One Person speaking for me:…Etc…Etc…

Because Jesus who died for me, and set me free is the only One who will have both the knowledge and confidence that I belong in heaven…

Are You Ready For Some "Football?"

This blog is actually an adaptation of sermon notes preached on the Super Bowl Sunday 2010
New Orleans “Saints” vs. Indianapolis Colts
Taken from [Luke 24:1-8]

A “Super-Bowl” Sermon

“The Greatest Contest—Ever”

(...God vs. Satan—Who Do You Think Is Going to Win?)

Opening Statement:

I thought that since everyone’s mind is already in Super-Bowl mode already, that I would take advantage of  this opportunity and talk to you about The Greatest Contest—Ever…a cosmic conflict of epic and eternal proportions.

Today all around the world folk will be watching the Super-Bowl. It is estimated that more than 100 million people will be watching the live game and the same amount or better will be recording the Super-Bowl to be watched later.

And out of all of those people, you would be surprised as to how many really even know the rules and signals of football. But because it has been hyped as the greatest one day sporting event by its sponsors—all available eyes will be focused on this contest between two football teams.

I can only imagine how many times today—during the span of the game that folk will inquire as to;

“Who’s Winning and What’s the Score?…”

This sermon could be as short as me saying that; God’s Word says the devil loses…So, who do you think is going to win? But since we live in such a skeptical society, I thought I’d better lay out the facts about this contest so that as a Christian you’d be educated and equipped to tell people why you believe what you believe about God, Satan and spiritual warfare… so I’ll be using familiar football language and metaphors along with Scripture to get you as excited about God and His victory over Satan—as you and others are and will be excited about the Super-Bowl.   

*Can you believe it? But right now—before the contest even starts, they are people so confident that the team that they have picked is going to win—that they have put financial wagers on it.

They are people so confident that the team they want to win is going to win, that they have painted their faces, their team’s color, they are wearing their teams color, they are even planning to ridicule, make-fun-of, and insult everyone who doesn’t believe, what they believe about the success that their team is going to have…

I find that interesting that people can be so confident, cocky, and certain about football and the Super-Bowl…

But some of those same people lack having confidence and being certain that God can’t defeat Satan…

*Now I said I find it interesting—but God finds it insulting that folk will get excited about a temporary champion, when He is a permanent-eternal everlasting champion…

I pray after this presentation you will be as excited about God as you will be today while watching the Super-bowl.

Contextual Points:

In this contest between God vs. Satan

Kick—off [Genesis 3:15]

Half—Time [Calvary/Graveyard…Luke 24] Everything in life leads to or away from the Cross—Half-time…

2 Minute—Warning [Rev. 19… 2^nd Coming of Christ] As believers we won’t be around for this so I’ll stop at halftime today

End of 4^th quarter and—the Game [Revelation 21:10]

Observation:

Every year during the two weeks prior to Super Bowl there’s a lot of trash talking between the two teams—about what they are going to do to each other and with each other on the field…

Well, even though God did something similar—I feel it would be irreverent for me to call it trash talking, but both God and Satan engaged in some “I Wills”-talking…

Satan [Isaiah 14… declares 5 “I Will’s”] and God [Genesis 3:15… declares 1 “I Will”]

Notice that it doesn’t matter what we declare, no one and nothing can stop what God declares.

With that look at what verses 5-8 says in Luke chapter 24

READ SCRIPTURES HERE

 Today at half-time they are going to review all of the exciting, game-changing and scoring plays…

So,  me not wanting you to miss any of God vs. Satan, game-changing and scoring plays I thought we’d spend a little time reviewing some of them.
And like the commentators on TV, I’m going to do my best to be as descriptive as I possibly can…

HALF-TIME PLAYS IN REVIEW …

The first notable play by God that we will review is when God created the world which included the entire angelic host Gen. 1. [God Scores]

Satan’s response to that is he rebels and encourages a third of the angels to follow his foolishness. [Satan moves the ball but no score]

The next highlighted play is God creates a man named Adam who is not an angel—but lesser than an angel, to rule over earth. In other words, God goes to the bench and brings in a scrub, a 2^nd-string player. [And guess what? God scores again]

Satan’s response to that is—he’s goes after the cheerleader and tempts her to mess-up the only player on the field. [Satan doesn’t score with that move but God now has an injured player on the field an play was halted]

God shows just how powerful He is—by telling the opposing team [Satan] what His next play was going to be… God tells Satan that through Eve another man would be born that would redeem mankind, so Adam and Eve began to have children—Cain and Abel. [God scores again]

Satan thought when God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain that Abel had to be the fulfillment of God’s prophecy for redeeming mankind—Abel had to be the number 1 draft choice that was going to be a threat to Satan’s team…So Satan put murder in the heart of Cain and Cain kills Abel. [For the first time, Satan looks to be in field-goal range]

God blocks the punt of Satan by sending in a substitute Seth; another man-child of Adam and Eve who would reintroduce the godly linage and now according to Gen. 4:26 men began to call upon the name of the Lord again.

[God scores again but this time from deep in Satan’s territory]

Satan now is thoroughly confused because he don’t know who has the ball—he don’t know who the righteous seed is, that is going to redeem mankind because there are hundreds of thousands of men on the face of the earth, and since he couldn’t be sure which son was the righteous seed, he just corrupt the whole human race. [During this entire contest this is the first time it looks like Satan is going to score he’s on the goal line, but he doesn’t score]

Because God still had one righteous man named Noah who still had favor in God’s eyes, Noah listens to God and even though it doesn’t seem like the right call, he builds an ark, a big boat on dry land, which would provide salvation for Noah and his family while preserving the righteous seed. [Not only does God scores but with this play He sets a record for the longest scoring drive in all of history]

After all the unrighteous people are destroyed with the flood, and the world is being repopulated through Noah’s family Satan gets him a number 1 draft pick named Nimrod, who lead a world movement that tried to declare its independence from God by building the Tower of Babel [Gen. 11]. [Even God said that since they had so much unity that might be able to pull off what they were planning—but once again God stop the drive and Satan was unable to score]

The next season God drafted a Heisman trophy winner named Abraham they eventually end up calling him “The Father of Faith” because of his moves on the playing field. And with that one man God build a nation that would obey Him.

After God acquire Abraham, and did what He did with and through him, every Heisman Trophy Winner from there on wanted to be on God’s team; Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses. After Abraham there was never a season where God didn’t have at least one Heisman Trophy Winner on His team. God was scoring every time His team had the ball… [God scores from every place on the field, in the mountains, in Egypt, Jericho, Jerusalem, Canaan, Babylon, in a valley, in a sea, on a river, in the wilderness—it didn’t matter where God’s team was they always scored when they listened to God]

Listen, God had ran the score up so much that for 430 years in between the Old Testament and New Testament, God didn’t even send in any plays, so even when God wasn’t coaching, Satan’s team was moving the ball but they weren’t scoring…

Satan tried to score in Bethlehem, by calling a play to kill all the baby boys that were a couple of years old, but once again no score—he missed…

So Christ become a young man and Satan now knows that this is who God is going to redeem all of mankind with so right after Jesus wilderness experience Satan tempts Jesus [Matt. 4:1-11]. But he puts no points on the Celestial Score Board. What you must know about this is, that prior to this point in the game of history every play was played on God’s side of the field, but now every play is played on Satan’s side of the field.

Satan realized that before half-time came he had to put at least one score on the board—or people wouldn’t see him as a worthy opponent. So he gets drastic, instead of continuing with the contest by beating, or out-maneuvering God, Satan tries to end the contest by killing God’s on Son, Jesus Christ. He must have thought that this would end the game and God would not bring the rest of the team out after half-time if he could somehow kill Jesus the Son of God.

Well, right before the end of half-time, he did, [Jesus died]… Satan was successful in killing Jesus…

But…I needed for you to know this; because what the devil thought was the end of regulation time, was just half-time…

The devil thought he had won—when Jesus died… But Jesus’ death was God’s way of proving that we who are “In Christ” are more than conquerors, and we win…Who wins? We win!…

—The “Saints” win…

We don’t have to guess who wins—we know who wins…

The “Saints” Win… Not the New Orleans Saints, but the New-Birth-Saints-in-Christ…

*God said He would win in Genesis, God show us who He would win with in Matthew, Satan knows that God is the winner at Calvary and the Graveyard, The entire world comes to know that God is the winner in Revelation.

And each of us [who are In Christ] comes to know that God is the winner the day we accept Him as our Lord and Savior!... [Romans 8:37]…

That’s another interesting point: Today there are people who live in other cities, states, and countries—who are rooting for, teams and they don’t even know anyone on the team—not even the equipment manager, but if the team wins, they are going to be shouting “We win!” –I don’t know about you, but I’m so glad that I can say with confidence “We win!”

I can say “We win!” Because being “In Christ” means that Christ is in me, so when He wins and as He wins, I win also, so I can really celebrate each victory—unequivocally… And guess what? Everyone on my team knows my name… The Owner—God knows my name, The “Head” Coach—Jesus Christ knows my name, and even The Equipment Manager—The Holy Spirit knows my name.

Summation:

The reason why I’m not going beyond half-time today is because the first half of this contest should have shown you that God wins…

I don’t know what the record is for Super-Bowl half-time comebacks in the NFL, but what I do know, is that one of the greatest comebacks that ever happened—happened in a graveyard and not a football field…

Things you should have noticed…

*There is no wild-card games are any divisional playoffs with any lesser ranked opponents…

*There is just one contest between two contestants and they are God and Satan…

*There will be no tie or sudden-death; this contest will end at the end of regulation time…

And finally, in this Greatest Contest Ever there were no fumbles or turn-overs on behalf of God, whenever Satan got to the ball to move it—it was as a result of a hand-over, not a turn-over…

I know it looks like some time that as a result of some fumble you made, that the devil is going to score, but that’s not the case—for folk “In Christ.” If devil is being successful with moving you up and down the field of life. If it seems as if the devil is being more victorious with you than God is…
Just remember if you are “In Christ” it wasn’t a fumble, it wasn’t a turn-over, it was a hand-over.

Don’t be surprised by a hand-over, because just like with Peter if the devil asks for permission God might let him use you for a while, but only for a while.

Conclusion:

I want to close with this; it is said that some folk are more interested in the commercials that air during the Super-Bowl than the actual contest… Because the sponsors are aware of how many people are watching the contest that the sponsors invest a great deal of their budget into the brief commercials…

Well, I got news for you, that business idea is not original with those sponsors, because God, way back before this contest between Him and Satan began, God had decided that every child of God who would trust Jesus Christ as their Savior would be used as advertisement for Him during the contest, so God invested not some of His budget but all of His budget in His Son, and His Son in-turn invested it all in us…

Why do you think Jesus who is the Light of the World said to us, we are the light of the world?… [End]

*Keep returning to this blog site, soon I will list like in football the penalties that the church incur when it gets penalized by church members not playing by the rules…

Penalties like:  [false starts, illegal procedures, their acts of encroachment, holding, chop blocking, blocking in the back, clipping, making illegal contact, face masking, illegal celebration, unsportsmanlike like conduct, roughing the preacher, and last but not least…delay of game].