Sermon Central
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A Win, Win Situation Series
Contributed by Mark Sutherlin on Apr 26, 2001 (message contributor)
Summary: A decision to live for Christ is a win, win situation, we cannot lose...anything!
A WIN, WIN SITUATION...
April 23, 2000 –
INTRODUCTION
A. MAKE MISTAKES, HERE’S COUPLE.
1. Francie Davidson worked as a naval nurse when a young recruit was brought in with a severe injury.
a. he routinely prepped him for surgery and gave him a release form to complete. The young man anxiously questioned her about signing it. But she was emphatic about him doing so.
b. Finally he relented and she looked at the form again and realized it was a request for an autopsy.
2. One particular four-year-old prayed, “And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.”
B. SCRIPTURE SAYS THAT WE WERE MADE ALIVE IN CHRIST, OBVIOUSLY INDICATING WE ARE DEAD UNTIL WE COME TO THAT POINT.
1. Wish there were ways to produce that aliveness...we have tried to manufacture mechanically that aliveness, but it has to come from within every believer.
2. Christ aliveness should vividly affect our aliveness. Aye?
C. FROM THE BOOK, A STILL MORE EXCELLENT WAY, A YOUNG COUPLE HAS STRUGGLED MEAGERLY FOR YEARS AND FINALLY THE TIMID HUSBAND GETS UP ENOUGH COURAGE TO ONE DAY ASK FOR A RAISE.
1. he told his wife that on a particular Friday he was going to end the day by going into the bosses’ office and requesting a raise he felt was deserved.
2. Naturally he was nervous and apprehensive. Toward the end of the day he went into the bosses’ office and requested the raise and to his pleasant surprise the employer readily agreed to the raise and gave him a bonus as well.
3. When he arrived home he noticed the dining room table was set with the best dishes. There were candles burning. His wife had prepared a festive meal. He thought to himself, someone at the office must have tipped her off. He went into the kitchen, told her the good news they kissed and then sat down to a delicious and wonderful meal. Beside his plate was a beautifully lettered note, which read, “Congratulations, darling! I knew you’d get the raise. These things will tell you how much I love you.”
4. they enjoyed the meal together. When his wife got up to get the dessert he noticed a second card fell from her pocket. He bent over, picked it up and read, “Don’t worry about not getting the raise! You deserved it anyway! These things will tell l you how much I love you!”
D. EASTER IS LIKE THIS, IT GIVES US A WIN, WIN SITUATION! PAUL’S INCREDIBLE WRITINGS TO THE CHURCH AT PHILIPPI ARE PENNED IN CHAINS: 1:7,13,14,17!
1. To live is Christ, to die is gain is actually a statement of his predicament: to live would be to their benefit, to be executed would mean he would be with Christ. Vs. 1:21
2. The benefits of life, the benefits of death – a win, win situation. Vs 1:22-26
TO LIVE IS CHRIST!
Vs 1:21
A. ACTS 3:7-10
1. And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his angles were strengthened. And with a leap (the first act of healing) he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
2. And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened.
B. THE EMOTION OF EASTER
1. The finding of an empty tomb the message of Christ being alive, set the heart in motion
2. Seeing the Risen Christ elevated to the heart to places it had never been before.
C. IN A DENICE THE MENACE CARTOON, GINI, THE LITTLE ITALIAN GIRLS SAYS TO DENNIS.
1. “Pretend someone put ice down your shirt.” Dennis complies in animated motion.
2. “Now pretend that your shoes are on fire.” More wild motions on the part of Dennis. Finally Dennis asks, “What do you call this?”
3. She replies, “It’s disco dancing.”
D. PAUL IN CHAPTER ONE
1. His thankfulness and joy over the past
2. His joy with the present, in chains and still presenting the gospel
3. His joy of the future!
E. THE STRIKING WORDS, “TO LIVE, CHRIST” (CHRISTOS) “TO DIE, GAIN (KERDOS) EPITOMIZE PAUL’S LIFE SINCE DAMASCUS.
1. Once Paul was apprehended by Christ Jesus, Christ became the singular pursuit of his life.
a. Christ – crucified, exalted Lord, present by the Spirit, coming King.
b. Christ – the name that sums up for Paul the whole range of his new relationship to God: personal devotion, commitment, service, the gospel, ministry, communion, inspiration, everything.
