“Level Up Week 1”
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Today: Level Up Week 1
Question at your table: What is your favorite memory from 2013?
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We all want to go to the next level in our lives
5th grade – 6th grade / child – adult / little league – playing for your school / last chair – first chair
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This series is how we are going to go to the next level in our lives
Follow us on Instagram @theMSMtv to join in the Level Up Challenge: each week we’re going to challenge you to take a step towards the next level
Today to start 2014 we want to show you who God is through the Bible to help you go to the next level in your life
Becoming an adult means that you stop letting others think for you; you start having convictions that something is true and you start to act on it
If you have a conviction you can fly, you jump off your bed and fly
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Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand.They encircled the throne and the living creaturesand the elders.In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb,who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earthand on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throneand to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!” The four living creaturessaid, “Amen,”and the eldersfell down and worshiped. Revelation 5:11-14
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Hold on to that picture; now think about the Christmas story. The character of God in the Christmas story is the Messiah that is promised in the Old Testament
God isn’t going to save us from a distance; he’s coming down on our level
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.An angelof the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.Today in the town of David a Saviorhas been born to you; he is the Messiah,the Lord.This will be a signto you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peaceto those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:7-20
Think about the other room we find God in; a manger
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“(Mary) will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:23
We have a God who came down from the throne room to here
What is God trying to communicate to you and me?
1. God is a servant. All other religions say come serve me, God served us
You might think Christianity is all about serving God, you must understand that first you must be served by God
2. God pursues us
All fairy tales are about a purser saves the day, chases after you
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There is no greater depths in the world that Jesus went to from Heaven to earth
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3. God is a relational God and creates relational people
You’re going to have to step over the line of awkward because some of the best relationships come from going past the awkward
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You have to leave your comfort zone to go to the next level
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Leveling up is all about us recognizing that we can join God in these things: Serving, Pursuing, and Relationships
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, becamehuman!Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. Philippians 2:5-9
Final thought: The way we follow God will ultimately decide our next level