SCORING

POWER VERSE

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Basketball

Most highlight films show some amazing made shots on the basketball court. No matter how it happens, when the ball goes through the basket, it counts as a score. That is the ultimate goal of the game, scoring more points than the other team.

In basketball, what is your ultimate goal?

• Is it to make every shot you take?
• Is it to win every game you ever play in?
• Is it to be the best player on the planet?

Life

In our lives, what is our ultimate goal?

• Is it to get perfect marks in school and be the best student?
• Is it to get the best job and make lots of money?
• Is it to make everyone around us perfectly happy?
• Is it to have the most friends?

All of us want 2 things at our basic core:

1. to feel loved
2. to feel significant (that we matter).

The Good News

The ultimate goal in my (Steve) life is be to be in a loving relationship with the one who made me…God is real…God is active today…God loves us…God wants us to know Him…God has made us significant.

How can this be, when He is the perfect God of the universe and we are so insignificant and unworthy in His world?

God provided an answer: His son Jesus.

1. Jesus was sent to us as fully God, so that we might get a picture of Him, and as fully man, so that God may experience our world. So, Jesus knows all there is to know about being human yet did not commit any wrong in God’s eyes.
2. God allowed Jesus to die. His only son? That’s right. Where there is wrong, it must be punished. This is a perfect world established by a perfect God. We deserve to be punished for everything wrong we ever did and will do. God allowed Jesus to take that punishment instead, allowing him to die.
3. But that’s not the end of the story. Jesus was raised from the dead. He is alive. This shows that Jesus has defeated death, and God accepted His son’s sacrifice in our place.
4. When we believe what the Bible tells us in this, when we trust God with our lives, when we believe that Jesus is who He said He was and ask Him to live our lives with us, we no longer are separated from God, but instead we have eternal life with God. We are forgiven for our mistakes (given second chances) and are also given love, joy, peace, and forever access to God. We become part of God’s family (the Bible says we are now called sons and daughters of God).

Shoot and score on the court, and be a member of God’s family in life.

To know and live life in love with God is our ultimate goal.