LeBron James
LeBron James
  • INTRODUCTION: Last week, in Cleveland, Ohio, home to the worst-ranked National Basketball Association (NBA) team in the country, next year's entire season's home game tickets sold out in one day! What happened to turn the NBA upside-down like this? A high school basketball player, LeBron James, who hasn't played a single professional game yet, has signed a sponsorship contract with Nike for $90 MILLION because Nike believes he's the next Michael Jordan--the most influential basketball player in the world (and who was paid $2.5 million by Nike when he started). LeBron James may take the Cleveland team to six NBA championship wins like Michael Jordon or he may suffer a season-long injury his first game... who knows?

    So why do people go crazy over potential or great sports athletes? Wise military leaders? Amazing singers and movie stars? ...and why NOT when the name "Jesus Christ" is spoken?

  • Ask yourself: what is your reaction when the name, "Jesus Christ," is spoken? Do you dismiss Him as a fictional character in just another book? Is He just another person who has some priority in your family on Sundays? Do you tremble in fear?
  • Colossians 1:15: Since the beginning of time, God has been seen by no man and his thoughts not heard by man; but His Son, Jesus (referred to by the Bible as the Bible, wrapped in flesh, who walked the earth), is the gateway for man to begin to comprehend both what God looks like (Genesis 1:27 and 9:6) and what God thinks (just read the Bible)--can global sports heroes or great government leaders do this?

  • Colossians 1:16: General Tommy Franks, allied commander of Operation Iraqi Freedom, has great power behind him and has directed much to change of face of Iraq by successfully removing Saddam Hussein and his party from power. However, consider Who gave General Franks his power...
  • Stop and think for a moment how God made it possible for your eyes to see, your ears to hear, the ability to taste ... to experience life's pictures like the vastness of the Rocky Mountains, the roaring waters rushing over Niagara Falls, to the "infinitely" tall trees of California
  • God holds all things together and doesn't allow anything to come to pass He doesn't wish
  • Colossians 1:18: It's critical to note that God's Son, Jesus Christ, was the first person ever to be raised from the dead
  • Galatians 2:20: Because Jesus died for you, you may not only have eternal life after this world but, if you accept Him (become saved) while alive now, you'll also live a successful, earthly life as Jesus literally lives within you
  • 1 John 3:1-3 and Colossians 1:27: Hope purifies your life; it's (in the Greek) the certainty of Jesus working in your life.
  • God knows some of us in life have trouble knowing how to get through life without knowing the final outcome (like when you read the first few pages of a mystery and can't resist going straight to the end page to find out where the author is going with the story); therefore God tells us the end of the story
  • The troubles we face in life for believing and professing in Christ will add to your waiting treasure in Heaven and will be worth it when Jesus finally comes back to get you (1 Thessolonians 4:16-18)


    CLOSER
  • Colossians 1:27: So why do you so many people today run to their favorite sports players, military leader or the great rhetoric of government leaders instead of Jesus Christ? Because these people are not saved and thus have not been disclosed the great accomplishments and truths about Jesus Christ

  • Last week in Cleveland, an unproven "savior" was declared as the next Michael Jordan and the building that housed the team with the worst NBA record became next season's complete sell-out in one day; LeBron James might range from either being the next Michael Jordan and take Cleveland to six NBA championships or suffer a season-long injury his first game--who knows?
  • Movie stars, singers and sports players come and go--some displaying unprofessional attitudes and getting into trouble with the law; what kind of role model is that?
  • So who's your publicly proclaimed role model?