The Game
2 COR. 4:8-9
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
TPT
Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out.
MESSAGE
You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives!
2 DIFFERENT TYPES OF GAMES
1. FINITE GAMES
2. INFINITE GAMES
FINITE – BASKETBALL AND FOOTBALL – KNOWN PLAYERS, SET RULES AND WHOEVER SCORES THE MOST IN THE TIME LIMIT WINS
INFINITE GAMES – KNOWN PLAYERS AND UNKNOWN PLAYERS, THERE IS NO FIXED RULES.
THERE IS NO END TO THE GAME IT'S JUST TO KEEP PLAYING
1. YOU HAVE TO TAKE STRATEGIC TIMEOUTS!
MATTHEW 11:28
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
2 COR. 12:7-10
7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2. TALK TO YOUR TEAMMATES
1 CORINTHIANS 1:10
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
TEAMMATES HELP YOU
1. CARRY THE WEIGHT
GALATIANS 6:1-2
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
TEAMMATES HELP YOU
2. SEE YOUR BLIND SPOTS 🏈
JAMES 5:16
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
3. ENCOURAGEMENT
3. TAKE TIME FOR YOUR TOUCHDOWNS
REVELATION 12:11
They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
WHAT IS STOPPING YOU FROM CELEBRATING?????
IM NO LONGER GOING TO LET________CONQUER ME
BUT IM GOING TO CONQUER _________ BY DOING___________
2 CORINTHIANS 4:17-18
17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
START FOCUSING ON YOUR DEVELOPMENT AND IT WILL GET YOU TO YOUR DESTINATION