Preached by Mike Underhill, 4/11/2010

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Singles Retreat 2010

When there is something you are excited about, you want to share it. With God it is the same way. He wants to share His Good News with us.

Matthew 25:21 Jesus said: “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” God will show us heaven if we are faithful disciples.God is hospitable. He wants to share with us.

Hebrews 11:16 “Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Threfore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” God has planned an awesome eternal life for us.

1 Corinthians 2:9 “However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceive whhat God has prepared for those who love him.’” God is fired up for us.

Fight the Good Fight

Paul preaching at the end of his life knew that God was waiting to share His happiness with Paul. 2Timothy 4:6-8: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Paul was a faithful servant. How do we fight the good fight like Paul?

1 Corinthians 8-9 “The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers: you are God’s fied, God’s building.” We will be rewarded according to how well we labor for the Lord. In fact, we are God’s fellow workers. When we “clock in” to work with God, we have to live up to His expectations.

The way we make a good working relationships with co-workers is to talk with them about our day – good or bad. And if we do not work hard, we get isolated from the other wokers. Holding back creates “weirdness”. We need to work together with the Lord with His same passion. We must work to share in His happiness.

Quiet Time alone is not sufficient. Disciples share with others to share in His happiness. When we don’t work we feel pain, then we seek worldly things to ease the pain. Then we sin, the heart gets hard, and we fall away.

We need to talk about our pain to heal throuh the disciplin and the Word. Don’t let sin take you out!

Philemon 1:6 “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” Sharing our faith helps us personally. When things are not where they need to be, we need to share our faith (not just inviting people to church). We need to get them into the Word of God. We share our faith to share in teh Master’s happiness.

Pslam 18:20-24 “The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. For I have kept th ways of the Lord; I have not done evil by turning from my God. All his laws are befrore me; I have not turned away from his decrees. I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin. The Lord has rewarded mhy according to my righteousness, accordin to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.” God rewards our righteousness when we live the righteous life. When life gest tough then it’s easy to get into sine. Don’t get on a spiritual roller coaster! We must rely on God.

John 3:19-21 Jesus said: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

Get open about your sin to get into the Light. Need to walk in the light to get rid of sin. When we are nauseous we purge to get rid of the illness; to feel better. It is the same with sin – purge it to feel better. Be a person of openness.

Genesis 4:6-7 “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.’”

If you do what is right you will be accepted by God. Be a disciple of courage. Confessing sin builds relationships.

Finish the Race!

1 Corinthians 9:24 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”

Make every effort to win first place for the Lord! Like Paul, run to win the ultimate prize, the Master’s happiness. It’s hard to run a marathon, but winners cannot give up. Make every effort to get the the finish line. Make a commitment to go all the way.

James 1:14-15 “But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, ti gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, give birth to death.” Satan entices, then through our desire we sin. Repent of sin if you don’t want death. Deal with enticement, desire, and sin.

Colossians 1:23 “if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.” Keep the faith!

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Be sure that we want to make disciples. Our faith will make it happen! Jesus can’t do miracles if we doubt, if we don;’t have faith.

2 Timothy 4:17-18: “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Paul fought the good fight and God took him home.

1 Corinthinas 13:1-3: “And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” Jesus’ love for us has saved us.

Romans 5:6: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” Love saved us from hell.

Categories: Campus Ministry, Sermons
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