(ill) My Grandaddy told me some good advice one time that Yogi Berra could have been proud of. He said: "It doesn't matter what you're doing, if you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing."

We're going to wrap up the series of messages that begin this new year by talking about priorities, and what the Bible says about them. I thought this was a very appropriate message for Super Bowl Sunday, especially when I saw an interview with one of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week who was asked what their new coach Jon Gruden had done to get them to football's ultimate game. Warren Sapp said, "Coach brought us a seense of focus. He showed us what it meant to be concentrating on doing the right things."

You get to the Super Bowl by doing the right things. Simple and brilliant. There are 28 other NFL teams made up of 45 men each; 120 Division I college football teams, most with over 70 players each; over 250 Division II and NAIA college teams, with collectively over 15,000 players; 6000 high school teams made up of hundreds of thousands of players, and over 1 million kids playing Pee Wee and middle school football. But only the 90 guys on the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Bucs will play in the Super Bowl.

T/S: It's the difference between winning the big prize and playing the game. And in my life, I don't want to be satisfied with just playing the game. Call me competitive if you want. Maybe it's ego. In any case, I like to win. And when I realized that the Super Bowl of life - the ultimate reward that our existance has - is found in a life lived in Jesus Christ, I wanted that.

The Apostle Paul did too.

There are no trophies that will compare to the crowns God gives out in heaven. No championship ring that will be sweeter than His voice beckoning us to "Come faithful friend, enter into Your Father's rest." And if the prize is so great, I want to be doing whatever is takes for my life to be one with Jesus'.

Notice the distinction there. You don't win the Super Bowl of life by calling yourself a certain name.

(ill) I am a longtime and die hard fan of the Dallas Cowboys. I spent 7 years of my childhood in Texas when Tom Landry and Roger Staubach were larger than life heroes - on and off the field. I had Dallas Cowboys posters, pennants, T-Shirts and caps. I had a lot of Dallas Cowboy football cards. I watched almost every Dallas Cowboy football game on TV.

But none of that made me a Dallas Cowboy.

T/S: Calling yourself a Christian, owning Christian T-shirts, listening to Christian music, even going to church ? doesn't make you a Christian. Your life has to be lived in Christ. Why do I say that? Because Jesus said that.

What does it take to win then? Warren Sapp was right -- do the right things.

In keeping with today's Super Bowl motif, let me offer three Biblical strategies for winning the Super Bowl of life.

In football, on offense, the goal is to keep moving the ball forward until you score. That's not a bad life philosophy either. Keep on moving in the right direction and the right things will happen. Jesus gave us some instruction on the direction to move.

The end zone of life is Christ-like-ness. To be like Jesus. And that happens only when we imitate His example and follow His ways. Our strategy is to keep following Jesus as our priority, our focus.

• Follow Jesus at any cost.

Let's recognize that the obstacle to keeping Jesus as our priority is selfishness. Christianity is the antithesis of selfishness. Jesus came in humility and self-sacrifice, so to follow Him is a challenge for you and me to embrace those same virtues. And life tends to work better when we do.

(ill) A young Lt. In the Army was in front of a vending machine trying to find the right coins, and asked a Private who was on the mop bucket detail "Private, have you got change for a dollar?"

"Sure, buddy."

"Buddy!" the Lt. Exclaimed. "Do you see these stripes? I'm an officer! Now let's try that again. Private, do you have change for a dollar?"

"No sir!"

T/S: If you want to get things done, you have to do things the right way! Christ's way. And that means putting aside any right that you think you have to yourself. In our country where we hold rights so precious and dear, this is sometimes difficult.

When drivers cut us off, we don't have the right to respond in anger. (Vengaence is mine)

When people are gossiping and saying ugly things about us, we don't have the right to say ugly things back. (Tame your tongue.)

When we are making out our family budget, we don't have the right to leave out God. (It belongs to Him)

Jesus' promise is that to trust Him by living our life this way, guarantees our reward.

A good offense in football keeps the defense guessing what's coming next. Expect a run on first down? If they are expecting a run on first down, keep the defense off balance by throwing a play action pass. Jesus offers life advice that matches good coaches' philosophy: Keep the opponent off balance.

Selfishness is the obstacle to following Jesus, and not so coincidentally, it is the chief pursuit of worldly life. The pursuit of happiness has been taken to absurd extremes in modern America. The tolerance for every person to believe whatever they want to believe, and act almost anyway they choose to act has become the dominant value in American culture.

So go against the flow. Give your life away. As a rule, not an exception. That's the only problem I have with Random Acts of Kindness Day, is that it promotes the idea that being kind and unselfish is OK only once a year! If you really want to let your light shine, and throw Satan off, start looking for creative ways every day to give yourself away.

Look for people who are down, to whom you can give encouragement.

Look for people that are lonely, to whom you can give some companionship.

Look for people who are in need, to whom you can give assistance.

Look for people who are lost, to whom you can give Jesus!

Keep giving yourself away. Keep following Jesus, who gave so much of Himself away, that His very life was offered for you and me. But He rose from the dead, and offered us His new life so that we could have a never0ending supply of Him in us to share with others. Give Jesus away!

If the offensive priority of following Christ is to keep doing the right things, the defensive strategy is clear: don't do the wrong things.

Let's don't make this too difficult, OK?

(ill) I was trying to enhance our computer's performance the other day, and I got this message on the screen: You must upgrade your download software before you can download your upgrade software.

T/S; Do what?!? Rather than muddy the water with all the reasons why we do what we do, let's keep this simple. If following Jesus means giving up the right to myself, and Satan's goal is to distract me, he will do it by tempting me with things of the world.

You have to love the right stuff. And avoid the wrong stuff. Pleasure, power and possessions. That's the world's equation for happiness. But example after example prove the bile right, when we are told that the things of this world don't bring or buy us peace, joy or love. Those are only available by living in and through Jesus Christ.

So when temptations are placed before you ? resist. Focus, not on your weakness, but on the One Who is strong enough for you. Focus on the goal. And resist. Because resistance I the name of Jesus always beats back the attack of Satan.

Nothing demoralizes another team like a goal line stand. The backbone of our Christian defense is our faith in Christ, that he overcame the devil and death when He died and rose again. Our baptism into His life, gives us that same resurrection power, so that our faith is stronger than our weaknesses. Our goal line stand is a strong faith.

Close games are often decided by special teams- the kicking game. And the kickoff coverage teams. Guys that excel on special teams are fanatical. Most kickoff coverage teams have one player - called the runner or the kamikaze - who takes off down the field as fast as he can run. His job is to get up speed and then throw his body into as many of the opposing players that can. I've seen 6 year old boys have similar attack plan.

The idea is -sacrifice yourself for the team, by ginving it your all. Run and attack with reckless abandon. Chase the action with selfless courage. Leave no effort on the bench, but play your hardest and your best.

What would America look like if the 200 million Americans who claim to be Christ-following Christians lived their lives with that kind of radical commitment? If we started living like Jesus in our marriages, in our workplaces, with our children? Not only what would happen to our world ? but what would happen to my world if I started living like that?

Winning the Super Bowl is about doing the right things, having the right priorities. And the best priority is God's plan and purpose for your life. Your total life. That's not the life for super-Christians, that's the life God intended to be natural for all believers. Go back to the beginning, are you totally sold oout to Him? Do you know Him personally and intimately? Or are you giving Him portions of your life playing games and hoping for the best?