2 Peter 1:5-11 (NLT)
5 In view of all this, make every EFFORT to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. 8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.10 So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.
E F F O R T
E xperience
F aith
F ire
O ffering
R elationship
T enacity
E = EXPERIENCE
You really don’t truly learn until you get on the field.
2 Timothy 1:9 (MSG)
God, who first saved us & then called us to this holy work. We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it.
Just as you learn how to swim by getting in the water, you learn how to do God’s work by stepping out and doing His work.
I learned to pastor a church by stepping out to plant a church.
Get some experience by stepping out.
Use that experience to contribute to Team Jesus.
Proverbs 20:30 says, ”Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways.”
2 Corinthians 1:4 says, ”God helps us in our troubles, so we are able to help others who have all kinds of troubles, using the same help that we ourselves have received from God.”
Life experience can be more beneficial than sheer knowledge.
F = FAITH
Hebrews 11:6 ways, “Without FAITH it’s impossible to please God.”
Romans 10:17 says, “FAITH comes by hearing…”
It takes faith to face your fears.
We gotta believe…and we gotta do.
James 2:17 says, Faith without works is dead.
Nothing lives in the Dead Sea because there’s no outflow.
F = FIRE
Philippians 2:13 says, ”For it is God who works in you, inspiring both the will and the deed, for his own chosen purpose!”
2 Timothy 1:6 says, …fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. (i.e. stir it up)
O = OFFERING
God has been molding and shaping you for ministry since before you were born.
Job 10:8 says, ”Your hands formed and shaped me…”
Psalm 139:14-16
“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous… You were there while I was being formed… You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe.”
1 Corinthians 7:7b says, “…Each man has his own gift from God…”
1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (NLT)
4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. 7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
Every great team needs leaders.
Every great team needs followers.
R = RELATIONSHIP
We focus on relationship. Not rules!
Romans 12:4-5 (NLT)
4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
James 3:18 (MSG)
You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoys its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.
Galatians 6:1-2 (MSG)
1Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. 2Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law.
A. RockChurch is a fellowship.
Acts 2:42 says, “They continued steadily learning the teaching of the apostles, and joined in the fellowship.”
B. RockChurch is a family.
1 Peter 3:8 says, “You should be like one big happy family, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds.”
C. RockChurch is a Body.
We are a body — not a business!
We are an organism — not an organization!
Romans 12:4-6 says, “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We each have different gifts according to the grace given us.”
6. Tenacity (don’t quit, not defined by sin, loss)
It’s not how hard you fall. It’s how you get back up.
There will be pain. How will you respond?
“Don’t let a game (loss) define you but how you live your life.”
-Assistant Coach Terry Eidson
*These are the notes from our series Movie Madness, where we are focusing on a different movie for four weeks. This week’s message and inspiration comes from the film, When The Game Stands Tall.
