Unstoppable
Notes
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Intro
Intro
What makes a person unstoppable
What makes Russel Westbrook unstoppable?
Focus
Tell me a time you were focused on something
Faith
Tell me a time you had faith, you knew for sure something would happen
Fight
Tell me a time you had to really fight to make something happen, not fist fighting but fighting through hard times, or trouble
Do you want to be an unstoppable force for Christ? Then you must have focus, faith, and fight
Focus
Focus
is our last chapter in the book of Acts. What is the book of Acts all about? Being a witness for Christ! This was all the disciples focus in Acts and especially Paul!
What was Jesus’ focus while he was on the earth? Look at Jesus’ focus was to fulfill God’s will
What is Paul’s focus in ? Proclaim the Gospel to all people.
Where did he do this? Malta and Rome to Jews and Gentiles
What is your focus for this upcoming school year?
Our focus needs to be something simple like Proclaim the Gospel to all people. Maybe it could be obey God! Maybe that should be our focus.
Now that is very broad and has many parts to it so then we must narrow it down. How am I going to obey God? Read my Bible everyday, be obedient and respectful to my parents and teachers, be kind to all people at my school, be at church, share my story of how God saved me
There are steps along the way we must set up and do in order to achieve what we are focused on.
Example
Every team or person that competes such as football, softball, cheer, ping pong, baseball, basketball, etc should be focused on winning.
Take our high school football team, they should be focused on winning the state championship. That is their focus but they must take small steps along the way. There is summer lifting and conditioning, preseason practice, schoolwork so they are eligible to play, staying out of trouble both in school and out of school, then there is the regular season games, the playoffs, and very last is playing in the championship game
We must set a focus of being obedient to God, and then determine what steps am I going to take to accomplish what I am focused on.
Faith
Faith
Last week Paul was given a promise in the midst of the storm. What was that promise? That Paul would go to Rome and nobody on the ship would die.
Paul had faith that this was true! Think back to what Paul was focused on which was being a witness for Christ to all people. Why was he focused on that? Because he had faith that Jesus was the only way a person could be saved from the punishment of their sin, he had Faith that Jesus really was who he said he was, he had faith that if people didn’t believe and trust in Jesus Christ then they would be condemned to Hell forever separated from the love and joy of God!
Paul had faith that allowed him to stay focused. to stay locked in. to stay on track.
Paul’s faith in Jesus, Paul’s faith in God, and faith in what God was doing through him is what made Paul unstoppable when it came to sharing the Gospel! If he had freedom he would share with anybody around. If he was arrested he shared with the guards, if he was on trial he shared with the judge, if was before rulers and officials he shared with them. Why could he do this? Because of the faith he had! Even when times were hard, even when people didn’t believe. He had faith and was not stopped because he knew God was true because he knew Christ was sacrificed and rose again so that people could saved from their sin and have a restored relationship with God.
Example
In high school I played basketball and baseball. In basketball I wasn’t that good. I could play defense and rebound. Didn’t dribble well and didn’t shoot well. So when I would take a shot I didn’t have much faith it was going to go in and most of the time didn’t. But on defense I had practiced and worked hard enough that I had faith I could stop anybody I guarded.
Now I love baseball! I had played since I was four and loved it. In high school when I would get up to bat I had faith I was going to get a hit every time. When I was pitching I had faith that I was going to get every batter out that came up. Now did I? No. But that faith allowed me to succeed. That faith I had allowed me to be a hitter people didn’t want to face, a pitched people didn’t want to face. My faith in my basketball defense allowed me to be the best defender on our team, but my lack of faith in my shooting ability allowed teams to not guard me.
That faith was in myself, which is why at times I still failed. Paul’s faith was in God and God never fails. Our faith should not be in ourselves because we fail. Our faith should be in God! If we are going to be unstoppable Christians with a focus on obeying God in all areas of our life, then we must have faith in God and in Christ alone. Nothing else! Not ourselves, not other people, nothing but God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Faith that studying God’s word is the most important thing you do everyday. Faith that being obedient to parents and teachers is more important that you trying to prove you’re right. Faith that church involvement is more valuable that involvement in sports, or band, or cheer, academic team, or anything else. Out of all those what is the one you will be able to do the longest? Church, and out of all those what is the only one with eternal value? Church.
To be unstoppable we must have faith, and faith in the right things. Not faith in ourselves, not faith in our friends, faith in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
Fight
Fight
What does it mean to have fight in you? Not anger, mad fight, but the good kind of fight?
It means when things get hard, you keep going, when times are tough, you work harder, it means that no matter what happens we will keep trying and stay focused on our goal.
Did Paul have fight?
He was beaten, stoned, whipped, arrested, threatened and if we would have stopped sharing the Gospel it all would have stopped. But why did he continue? Because he had fight!
In chapter 28 he had discouraging moments when the Jews didn’t believe. So did that make him stop and forget his focus? No, he kept sharing with anybody who would come to his room.
In fact did being arrested and not able to leave a room keep Paul from sharing the Gospel? No! He invited people in, he told them to tell others, he shared with the guard who watched him! He kept fighting to be witness to all people no matter what! Do you have that kind of fight?
Example, another high school story
My junior year of basketball go play our district playoff games in Boyton, Ok. Boyton had all super athletic kids, all were either 6 foot to 6’4” they would rotate two and three guys at a time so they never got tired. We on the other hand had only 2 players over 6 foot, our slowest player was our point guard and we only played five people. So the game continues
We had a baseball tournament where we were going to play four games. First game I was going from second to third and started to round third and my coach tells me to stop with the serious look on his face so I stop fast and my ankle rolls so bad that the ball of my ankle touches the ground! It hurts! I fully tear two ligament and strain the third one. So it hurts but I can’t do any more damage if I keep playing it is just going to hurt. So my coach tapes it up and I stay in finish game one. Game two that same day it’s my turn to pitch. Every time I throw all my weight is landing on that ankle. Next day I play center field and the team we played hit it seemed like ever ball in the outfield. We get done with all four games and my ankle is the size of a softball and hurts! But I was able to fight through the pain because I wanted to win. Now that pain is nothing Paul went through but if sports or anything is that important to us that we will play even if it hurts then we should be able to fight through anything to obey God and share his Gospel. One of the most important things that determines if a person will be successful is fight, determination, grit. Doesn’t matter what it is in if you want to be successful you must have fight in you! Would Paul have been successful if he stopped the first time people threaten him? What about Jesus? Hanging on the cross, God sending out all his punishment for your sin, my sin, the punishment and wrath of God being poured out on Jesus and he fought through until he said it is finished. He fought through the beatings, the thorns pressed onto his head, the nails driven through his wrists and ankles, God’s anger and wrath he fought through all of that to fulfill God’s will and provide a way for us, you and I to be forgive of our sin. He suffered and died for your sin so that you may live. Are you willing to fight for him?
Closing
Closing
Maybe you came here tonight and have never heard the message that by his sinless life, death on the cross and resurrection that Jesus offers forgiveness of sin and a relationship with God. If you have never believed and trusted I pray that tonight you would take that step. Believing and trusting in Jesus Christ is the first step toward living in obedience to God.
If you have taken that step then tonight I want your to answer, what is the next step for you to live a life that is obedient toward God? Is it reading your Bible? Respecting and obeying parents? Making church more of a priority? Being respect and loving to all people not just your friends? What if your next step in becoming an unstoppable Christian? You must have focus on obeying God, you must have faith in God alone, and last you must fight? Are you willing to fight? Are you willing to keep focus? If you are God will use you to impact your school so much that nothing will be able to stop you from sharing the Gospel and obeying God