More of you Lord in 2002 part 2
Thesis: In 2002 we need to actively dispense more of God’s Grace, more Offerings to God, more Love, and more Forgiveness to others in the Body of Christ. Because the more G.O.L.F. we play the more we will impact our community.
Texts:
Romans 12:1
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual£ act of worship.
Philippians 3:10-16
10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Hebrews 13:15,16
15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Introduction: The analogy of playing golf for the Lord. Last week we talked about how to approach the game of golf and apply the principles spiritually to playing G.O.L.F. God’s way.
G-Grace
O-Offering
L-Love &
F-Forgiveness
The golf ball represents your life. The flag on the course represents the mark to the entrance of Heaven. All that you are is represented in the goal-that flag marking entrance to Heaven. We need to play this tournament of life with our whole heart to get there and win. Lets review the lessons on how to approach the game of G.O.L.F God’s way.
*We have to have the right mindset
*Focus on the field of Grace
*Search for the perfect swing and understand that to find it we have to get ourselves out of the way.
*To reach the goal of the flag with the hole you have to seek it with your whole heart, mind and soul and that place where the perfect shot comes from.
*We need to not think so much about our shot by trying to analyze it but we just need to feel Him as we swing in the tournament of life.
*The last thing to do to play golf for the Lord is we need to understand that no one can take us there but the Lord himself.
Our series on playing G.O.L.F. God’s way will focus on the four things you must do well to get to the goal of Heaven. You must be able to focus on the game (We talked about this last week), then Drive (We do this by making offerings to the Lord), Chip (Is the love taps toward the goal of Heaven) and putt (This is the hardest and most difficult shot to make to put the ball of life into the hole which is the entrance to Heaven). To be a good golfer you must be able to use various clubs well to get the ball into the hole.
Have Golf clubs there to demonstrate and show the different clubs.
Last week we focused on Grace. Today we will focus on the Drive – the Offering stroke. Later on we will talk about chipping- the Love stroke and Forgiveness – the putt stroke. Remember the amount of strokes you take determines the score of your game.
But today we will focus in on the drive swing. It’s important to understand that the drive is your first swing on most holes. To play golf you have to make the decision and commitment to swing at the ball if you never do you cannot drive the ball. Lets look at this clip from The Legend of Bagger Vance on how we must decide to play before we can drive the ball in the tournament of Life.
Video Clip: Bagger shows up to convince Junuah to play.
Background: Many have asked him to play in the tournament but Junuah has repeatedly told everyone that he has lost his swing when in reality he has choose not to swing at the ball because of the trauma he experienced from the war. This local hero had a promising future in golf but he went off to war and his hopes and dreams are shattered on the battlefield of war. He loses all his men in a battle. They make him a hero but his mind makes himself a prisoner. This disillusioned young man turns his back on the world – until this mysterious stranger turns his life around. Lets look and observe.
Note reference to Bagger’s Statement – “All there is and was and will be!” Compare with Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
T.S.- Junuah never would have been in the tournament if he had decided not to make the commitment to swing at the ball. Life’s war trauma’s will always try to keep us out of the Tournament of Life. But let’s look at what must happen to drive that ball on the first hole.
I. The Drive is the offering the sacrifice that sets you one step toward you goal of the hole.
a. It also sets you up to make the next two shots (The chip and the putt).
b. A proper drive swing is your goal. This swing is the picture you are looking for searching for.
i. Illustration: Jig Saw Puzzle - To achieve this drive swing you need to think of a jig saw puzzle. This picture on the box is your desired goal. But to get to this picture you have to put all the pieces to the puzzle together to get the desired result. The Picture!
ii. The same is true in golf in achieving a proper drive swing.
1. The drive swing is the swing that helps to close the distance between you and the hole.
2. To achieve a proper drive you must do 6 things.
a. You have to decide you are going to hit the ball.
i. In the game of golf it takes only a second and a half to decided to swing and follow through with the swing and hit the ball.
ii. Yet this decision affects you game of golf drastically so you want to make sure you hit it right.
iii. You can never play golf if you never hit the ball.
1. Ill. Hit the plastic ball!
b. You have to have the right circular motion to hit the ball squarely on the face of the club.
i. You do not want to hack at it.
ii. Drive down into it. –demonstrate.
iii. You want a nice circular motion that is undisturbed. It releases and follows through the ball in direction of the flag.
1. Key here is to understand that the ball is not the focus the swing is.
2. Many golfers try to sneak up on the ball.
3. Others try to attack it.
4. Neither approach is the way to approach the ball with the drive swing.
c. The third important part of the drive swing is your grip. Bagger talked to Junuah about his grip several times because it is important.
i. Golf pro’s tell us we must have a finger grip to drive good.
ii. They say it’s like skipping a rock you have to use you fingers and not your palm.
iii. They also tells us that you hands become the face of the club if your hands are not in the right position then neither is the face of the club.
d. The fourth element to a good drive swing is your stance.
i. It must be an athletic stance. Could demonstrate by having someone push you to show if your balanced and set.
ii. The key is to be balanced and set in a good position. Which means:
1. You must keep your chin up.
2. Your weight must be on the balls of your feet.
3. Your feet firmly planted on the ground with proper balance.
4. Must bend your knees slightly so you are not rigid.
5. Make sure you are in the right position distance wise away from the ball so you can hit it squarely.
a. Not to close or to far away just right in accordance with you club length.
e. The next piece of the puzzle is the alignment of your body to the ball and the hole.
i. You must place the ball in line with the hole if possible or in the direction where you want the ball to land.
ii. Aim is vitally important. You must aim toward the hole.
iii. Also aim in direction your hitting.
1. Demonstrate how some people golf, they turn because of where their ball went. Wrong thing to do.
f. Learn to learn from the master teachers in golf. Be teachable. Then once all the pieces of the puzzle are there you commit to hit the ball and you swing.
i. Your golf swing will be about 100 miles an hour. It should crack as it hits the ball and speed toward the goal. At the end of the shot you should be closer to the hole.
1. Side note if someone gets in the way of the ball –don’t yell four-Yell “FOUR HIM!”
T.S.- We have learned a little about how to drive the ball today in the natural game of golf but now lets look at step two in playing G.O.L.F. for the Lord.
II. The second step in learning how to play G.O.L.F God’s way is the offering swing.
a. The offering swing is very similar to the drive swing in golf. You have to learn to do 6 things right to get the ball closer to the goal – The flag which marks the entrance to Heaven.
i. First you have to commit to making the offering swing to hit the ball.
1. Philippians 3:10-16
10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his , becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
2. Sad to say but many in the tournament of life fail right here in the beginning because they never commit to swing at the ball.
a. Today many do not want to commit to offering swings.
b. They do not want to sacrifice.
c. They do not want to give.
d. They do not want to serve God.
e. They do not want to follow God’s direction.
f. They do not want to play G.O.L.F.
i. The offering swing is the key to getting closer to the flag.
ii. To make an offering is to make a sacrifice.
iii. It’s defined as an action by Webster. It’s not a thought but an action.
iv. Of course anything that’s an action requires us to make a commitment to it.
1. Today we have a society that wants caring without commitment.
2. I care but I do not want to be committed to the cause.
3. I will support you verbally but with no action.
4. Thoughts on commitment!
a. Illustration of what the man in Colorado said.
ii. The second piece to the puzzle you need to have is the right circular motion in your swing.
1. Bagger said, “The Rhythm of the game is like the rhythm of life.”
2. Is your swing choppy?
a. Do you hack at the ball of your life.
b. Do you attack it as an enemy?
i. Don’t drive down into it!
ii. Swing through and let it fly!
c. Do you try and sneak up on it?
d. Are you too focused on you ball of life to the point it messes up your swing.
e. Your swing is to be centered on the field - on the flag marking Heaven not on you life. Is it?
f. The ball will go where you send it with your swing.
i. Will you life go more toward the goal?
ii. Or will it go in a direction away from the hole?
g. You need to swing through the ball and go toward the goal.
i. Don’t let anything hinder your motion in the drive.
1. 2 Peter 3:15-18
15Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. 18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
ii. Don’t be distracted –swing through!
1. John 4:35 5Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
2. Hebrews 12:2 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
iii. The third thing you need to learn to do is to grip the driving club correctly.
1. The grip is the key to the swing. Remember Bagger’s comment to Junuah, “They say a man’s grip on his club shows his grip on the world.”
2. How’s your grip?
a. Is it clutching intensely the club driving your life. Are you stressed as you squeeze that club.
i. Is your palm getting in the way!
b. Is your grip to loose on the club.
i. So loose that the club could move in your hand when you swing and send your ball off in another direction.
ii. Are you too unconcerned about your grip for driving that ball of life in the tournament.
iii. Have other things got your focus?
iv. Is your mind on other things?
c. Or is you grip in the right place.
i. Is it in the right place does your hand feel where His hole in his hand was? You know the one the nail made for your life.
1. Describe where they believe the nails where placed in Jesus’ hand.
ii. Knowing where the nail hole was on Christ should help you get a good grip so you drive the ball right at the hole.
iii. I Thess. 5:21, 22 1Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22Avoid every kind of evil.
iv. I Timothy 6:12 12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
v. Hebrews 10:23-25 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
3. Your hands will direct where the shot goes.
a. Are you hands in the right position doing the right thing in this game of G.O.L.F.
b. Or are they distracted doing something they should not be doing which will affect your golf game.
4. Have you thought that maybe the driver club the one wood represents the cross. The head of the club is the cross and the shaft is the Word of God ( The Bible) which directs the hands and the face of the head.
a. It tells you how to swing and when to swing.
b. Your grip is to be on the Word and the Cross.
c. Illustration: Hold up club with no head. Hard to hit the ball with out the head on.
iv. The fourth element to a good driver shot is your stance.
1. How do you stand in relation to the ball and the target (The Flag).
a. Is your stance a balanced one. Or are you leaning forward too much. Maybe you are leaning backward too much.
i. Can someone come along and knock you off balance and mess up your shot.
ii. Key here is balance!
2. Is your chin up when you swing?
a. Or is it down and sour?
3. Is your weight distributed properly on each foot?
a. Or is one foot and leg bearing all the weight.
4. Do you freeze over the ball and choke?
a. Or do you hit knowing God’s grace and protection are with you.
b. Does fear grip your stance or grace?
5. Do you bend your knees a little to have a little agility, a little flexibility or are you stiff and rigid like a Pharisee?
a. The Pharisee’s were rigid and stiff and it affected their G.O.L.F. game.
i. They could not even recognize the master golfer.
ii. They could not get close to the flag or the hole.
v. The fifth thing we must do right to hit the driver well is to have ourselves aligned correctly.
1. Are you aligned with the goal in mind?
a. Is your body in line with the goal of Heaven?
2. Are you aiming at the goal-The flag-Heaven?
a. Many are not even aiming right!
b. To get to the flag you have to aim at it.
c. Focus on it and hit in that direction.
i. Illustration of golfer who keeps aligning himself in the direction his missed shot went before. It messes up his direction toward the goal.
3. 2 Cor. 13:11 11Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
vi. The sixth important point to playing G.O.L.F. God’s way reverts back to point one you can know all the pieces to the puzzle but you have to commit to swinging the club.
1. Learn from the master teacher and then swing at the ball.
2. Romans 12:1 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual£ act of worship.
3. You will be amazed at how your golf ball of life will soar toward Heaven when it’s driven the correct way.
Conclusion:
You must do 6 things well to hit a drive right toward the flag of Heaven
· You have to decide you will swing at the ball by making it an offering to the Lord.
· You have to use the right circular motion and swing with out allowing anything to distract you. Don’t drive down at the ball follow through with your swing and swing through the ball and watch it sail along.
· You have to make sure your grip on the club is correct. It can’t be to tight or to loose it has to be just right.
· You have to make sure you stance is firmly planted on the ground and balanced so no one can knock you off balance so when you swing the ball goes where you send it. Make sure you keep you chin up and be flexible.
· You must make sure you body is aligned with the flag marking the entrance to Heaven. Aim is very important in G.O.L.F.. Aim for the goal and go for it!
· You have to decide to learn from the Word and the Master and then incorporate it into your swing and by all means swing through the ball of life and watch it soar toward the goal of Heaven.
