Football Sunday 2019

Case and Kimberly Keenum couldn’t understand why they were facing the challenges they were, but they trusted God’s plan, determining to be all in, refusing to allow any day to be wasted. They recognized that the love of God is so important, because when all is said and done, there really isn’t a whole lot in this world that we can trust. Kirk Cousins testified to how he trusted God when things didn’t make sense and he discovered the faithfulness of God.

What would it take for you to be all in to the life God is inviting you to live? Today is game day. What if you were taking the field like the Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, or Brandin Cooks, or Rodger, Robert, Justin, or Johnny? What would it take for you to be all in like the Patriots center, David Andrews, or Shaquille Mason, Rex Burkhead, Derek, Matthew, or Devin? What would it take for you to go all out in your pursuit of God?

That’s what God calls us to. He invites us in Proverbs chapter 3 to trust in him with all of our hearts, leaning not on our own understanding, but in all of our ways acknowledging him and he promises to make our paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6). He invites us into a life that is so exciting, a life that doesn’t always make sense, but it’s supernatural and so we can trust him in it anyway. The Bible says in Psalm chapter 56,

“In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid” (Psalms 56:4).

Today, you may be in the middle of circumstances that don’t make any sense to you, but Kirk’s story along with Demario, Case and Kimberly all point us to a God who is working in us, through us, and for his glory. The invitation of God today is simply to trust him as the author of our lives and watch him create good from everything that’s happening. That’s what Demario Davis testified to, that in spite of his mistakes, he experienced the unrelenting pursuit of God, and so, he began praying for a new heart and went all out in his pursuit of God.

Demario discovered that God was faithful, and you can experience the faithfulness of God too. You can trust God in your heartbreak and your disappointments, because he’s our anchor that holds in the strongest storms. He’s our strength, our strong tower in our worst battles, because the Bible tells us in Hebrews,

“He is able to save completely those who come to God through him…” (Hebrews 7:25).

And so, we don’t have to be afraid, because we have his word and we can trust him. That’s what makes faith in Jesus shine so brightly in our lives and in the lives of these players we’ve heard from today. You see, Jesus is so much bigger than the Super Bowl, his blood shed on the cross declared his title, his championship, and his resurrection proclaimed his victory. Today he’s still on the throne, he’s still Savior of the world, and so, no matter which team they’re on, each one of the players that we heard from today recognize that there is no other name but Jesus. He’s their focus, he’s their God and they’re more than conquerors through him. That’s what the Bible tells us, that,

“We’re more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Today, each of us can carry that same passion that these players are taking to the field as we move forward in our lives. We can keep our passion for Jesus burning so that everyone would know that we’re not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. And so, let’s stir up that passion in our lives, on the field or off the field, being committed to God, desperate to walk with him in our lives, our marriages, and in our communities. We need to keep some passion in our lives, seven days a week, just like it’s game day, where we go all out in our pursuit of God.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, but many times we save our passion for the things that we’re most excited about. And so, if your favorite team is in the game today, or maybe you’ve got your favorite pick you’re rooting for and they win the Super Bowl in the last second, it’s not likely that you’re going to clap politely and say, “That was great.” No, you’re probably going to jump up and down, you might yell and scream because you’re excited, you’re all in just like you’re part of the team, because you’re connected to them through your passion.

This morning, I want to assure you that our God is worthy of our passion and I’m certainly not going to shout louder for a team that doesn’t even know me than I am for the God who saved me. You see, Jesus is worthy of our passion, he’s worthy of our praise, and therefore he’s worthy of us making some noise in worship. In fact, the Bible says,

“My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you — I, whom you have redeemed” (Psalms 71:23).

And so, we’re invited to sing to him in song, to shout for joy, because the word of the Lord is right and true (Psalm 33:3-4). And yet, so many times we find ourselves being so passive with our faith in public and even in church as we worship. In fact, Jesus said that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, and I believe that one of the devil’s greatest schemes is to steal glory from God by shaming us into not bending the knee, not lifting our hands, not singing in worship, and certainly not professing our faith in public.

You see, the devil shames us into thinking that we’re not worthy, that the mistakes we’ve made are too great for the blood of Jesus to overcome, that his sacrifice is insufficient, and so he whispers in your ear,

“Shame on you, look at you still struggling with that sin. Who do you think you are lifting your hands in worship? Didn’t you hear what you said to your wife this morning, what you said your husband, how you’re treating your kids? There’s no way that God could love you.”

And yet, every single word the enemy says is a lie, because God has said...

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

And so, don’t allow the lie of the enemy to sack you, drive you back, shut you down, and keep you from pursuing Jesus Christ with passion, purpose, and commitment.

Jesus invites us to come, he invites us into a relationship, he invites us to come alongside of him and to walk with him. He calls us to bring the broken pieces of our fractured lives so that we could be made whole by his blood and that he would get all the glory. You see, we’re all in this together, we’re all on the team, and even though we come from different perspectives, even though we have different stories, it all includes the same Jesus. And that’s the power of the church, that we get to come together, coming alongside the Holy Spirit, building our lives, building families, and building the church. God has called each of us to be all in, to be participants, because the Bible says each of us are “like living stones being built into a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5).

And that’s the power of God’s love, it’s the power of the cross, the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. And so, no matter who you are, no matter how broken, hurting, lost, or lonely you are, Jesus is healing broken lives, he’s restoring broken souls, and the church is a spiritual house belonging to those who are spiritually broken, who need the blood of Jesus, and who need a safe place to heal.

That’s why Jesus invites us to come. He doesn’t invite us because we’ve got it all together. We don’t come to church because we’ve got it all together, we come because we need to get it together. And that’s only going to happen through Jesus Christ and a relationship with him, because the Bible tells us,

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

And so, I want you to know that Jesus is still healing, saving, and delivering. You don’t have to live with regret anymore, you don’t have to keep rehearsing your broken moments, because there’s healing available, there’s a miracle for you, and that’s the power of Christ and his church. The places that are dead are now being made alive by the blood of Jesus Christ.