The same game is a tricky game that takes your eyes off the screen and onto the player beside you.
The Nation of Israel was too busy playing the Same Game to realize they were uniquely gifted by God. They had God as their King and were given promises that could never be duplicated, yet they wanted to be like the other nations.
We often make the mistake of wanting to be like someone else, without fully understanding what that person is experiencing. The same game never reveals the cost, but only points out what we lack.
The truth is that you are special. God has given you unique abilities and purpose. If you spend life trying to copy others, you will miss out on the unduplicatable plan God has for you.

The Lame Games we Play 4: Same Game – Redemption Church Plano Tx from Redemption Church on Vimeo.
 
The Lame Game 4 – The Same Game
Sermon notes by Pastor Chris Fluitt
Redemption Church Plano Tx
 
Welcome to Redemption Church! It is a beautiful day in Plano Tx and I excited to be preaching the word to you today. Hello as always to each of you in the room and watching or listening online.
 
We are in the 4th week of our series – The Lame Games We Play.
Lame Games we Play
Life is filled with games that we should no longer play. We need to put the controller down and walk away when it comes to THE SHAME GAME, THE BLAME GAME & THE NAME GAME.
Those are the 3 games we mentioned in the first 3 weeks of this series.
Today I want to talk to you about the SAME GAME.
The Same Game
The same game is a tricky game that takes your eyes off the screen and onto the player beside you.
Winning the game in front of you is no longer enough, you need to be like the person beside you.
 
Every video game needs a controller. Controllers started off easily enough. There were the pong controllers that only had a wheel to control the paddle. There were Atari joysticks that had a direction stick and 1 button. Then along came the Nintendo and it had a directional pad, A & B buttons, and a start and select button. Things continued to get bigger & better with the NES Advantage that had an arcade like joystick, large A & B buttons, and TURBO BUTTONS!
There was this growing concern not to just have the gaming system and the game… you needed a better controller.
Then came along this…
The Wizard Power Glove
“I love the power glove. It’s so bad.”
Anyone know what this clip is from?  It is from a 1989 movie called The Wizard and is basically one long commercial for Nintendo. It features the Power Glove, and every kid wanted it. None of us even understood what it did, but that didn’t matter, we wanted to be like the bad kid in The Wizard. Kids came to school and would lie about owning the Power Glove. “Prove it. Bring it to school… show us a picture…”  This conversation happened at lunch every day.
The Same Game
The same game is a tricky game that takes your eyes off the screen and onto the player beside you.
Do you think our society plays the same game?
The major advertising marketing game plan is the Same Game – to prey upon our desire to be like everyone else.  Buy this new car… be like the people in the commercial. Buy these clothes… be like the models wearing them. Listen to this music… be like pop star.
The Same Game shows up in your Bible. Israel constantly plays the Same Game and it always got them in trouble.
1 Samuel 8:4 (NIV2011) So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.
1 Samuel 8:5 (NIV2011) They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” 
1 Samuel 8:20 (NIV2011) Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our bat...