- Good morning, everybody.
It's great to see everybody here tonight or this morning.
Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
We can go ahead and find our seats.
We'll go ahead and get started.
Sunday morning, let's go ahead and get started.
And for our first song, we'll start in song number 223,
Springs of Living Water, song number 223.
Everybody sing it out on the first.
♪ I thirsted in the barren land of sin ♪
Nothing satisfying there I found, to the blessed cross of Christ one day I came.
Where springs of living water did abound, the springs of living water.
So they satisfied, drinking the springs of living water.
All the ways and blessings of the path, the springs of living water.
Won't you come today to count, and there is flowing the righteous to the waters.
Here is now the springs of living water.
Grace week for Psalm, if you remember I quote this whole chapter.
Make sure you're working on that.
We have our service times, Sunday mornings at 10.30 a.m.
Spanish service every week at 30 p.m.
Sunday evening at 5.30 p.m.
And Wednesdays we've been going through the book of Romans at 7 o'clock p.m.
We're almost done with that study as well.
Our church-wide soul-warning times there all meet here at the building in Cedar Hill.
And our regional soul-warning times meet at various locations throughout DFW.
So wherever you are, there is likely a soul-warning time near you.
When you're done with your soul-warning maps, please return them in the bin.
If they're completed, put them in the completed bin.
Otherwise, put them either in the van or the single slot, or you could give them to me, that's fine as well.
Make sure you're continuing to port your salvations to your soul-warning captains.
Also on the right, we have all of our prayer needs there, our expecting ladies listed there, as well as our weekly prayer list.
And if you ever want to have a prayer request in the Bulletin, please send those in weekly.
We update them every week, so if you want them to stay longer, make sure to let us know how long you'd like those in the Bulletin.
On the back, we have our upcoming events. We have a baby shower.
All ladies are invited to a baby shower in honor of Natasha Zermeno and our baby girl on Saturday, September 30th, from 1230 p.m. to 230 p.m. at the church building.
Please RSVP to Lauren Milstead and bring a side dish or dessert to share.
And Ms. Natasha is registered on Amazon, so you could go ahead and shop for her there.
Our fall swap is also going to be led by Ms. Natasha Zermeno, and that's going to be Saturday, September 23rd.
So anything you have of value at home that you want to bring, please do.
And if you just want to pick stuff up, you could do that too, and more than welcome.
Our upcoming events listed there, after those two things, we have our neighborhood barbecue that we're doing on October 1st,
we're just inviting everyone from the area to come to church, and afterwards we're going to feed them with hot dogs and hamburgers
and just have a good time, and hopefully it's a good opportunity to get lots of people saved,
people that wouldn't maybe normally come to church.
So make sure you're ready to preach the gospel that day, and there was an email sent out for those that are willing to help.
I think we have enough barbecues now, so you don't have to worry about bringing those, everyone's gotten that taken care of,
but there will be an email for those of you that signed up with more instructions to come on that.
We also do have flyers for those at the front there for soul winning, feel free to hand those out.
At every door we ordered a ton, so even if you go soul winning far away from our church, still go ahead and hand those out, it's no problem.
On October 12th through 15th is our Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship, definitely looking forward to that,
and there's some handouts in the front that have a detailed schedule for those events, so if you don't know what the schedule is,
we're not going to be announcing that publicly, but you can go check that out on the sheet up there.
October 31st is our Texas chili cook-off, and November 4th is going to be our Abilene, Texas, soul-winning marathon.
I know that's kind of a ways out, November 4th, but there already is a sign-up sheet up front for that,
so if you know you're coming to that, go ahead and sign up for that as early as possible.
That would help us in planning for food and all that stuff. It would be greatly appreciated.
All right, well, that's it for announcements. Let's go ahead and go to Psalm 148. Psalm 148. Psalm 148.
Plates are being passed around. Turn your Bibles to Hebrews, chapter number Hebrews, chapter number 10.
10, the Bible reads, "For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers their unto perfect.
For then would they not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God.
Above when he said, Sacrifice an offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither had his pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering often times the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.
From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Whereof the Holy Ghost also was a witness to us, for after that he had said before,
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord.
I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.
And having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised.
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works,
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is,
but exhorting one another in so much the more as ye see the day approaching.
For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation,
which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy,
who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite under the Spirit of grace.
For we know him that hath said, "Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense," saith the Lord;
and again, the Lord shall judge his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,
but called to remembrance the former days in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions,
partly whilst ye were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions,
and partly whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.
For ye had compassion of me and my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods,
knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and enduring substance.
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God,
ye might receive the promise, for yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Father God, we thank you so much, Lord, for the services that we have today,
and I pray that you just fill Brother Dylan Oz with the Holy Spirit,
and just help him to preach with clarity of mind the message you've laid on his heart, Lord,
and also help us to receive the message. Soften hearts in the room, give us ears to hear,
so that we may apply the sermon to our lives and serve you better.
We love you, and in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen.
Alright, great to see everyone this morning, and thank you Pastor Shelley for the opportunity to preach.
Pastor Shelley is preaching at the church plant in Oklahoma City this morning,
so it's good he's able to visit them. I'm very excited to preach for you guys this morning.
So we're here in Hebrews chapter number 10, and let's start reading in verse number 24.
The Bible says, "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works,
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is,
but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching."
Notice the language that's used in this passage of scripture.
It's clearly talking about a group of people, right?
Saying, "Let us consider one another, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves."
And so, of course, you know, God created us with the desire to have a community.
He created us with a desire to be around other people,
and that's partly why he created the New Testament local church,
so that we could be around other people.
And, you know, Christianity, serving God, it's not like it's just a one-man show.
It's not like it's something you just do by yourself.
That's why people that just live out in the middle of nowhere and they only just watch the live streams,
you know, God's not really pleased with that because God created us to be around other believers.
And in a lot of ways, Christianity is kind of a lot like playing on a team sport.
Who's ever played on a team sport before?
Lots of people.
So a lot of people immediately understand this.
Who's at least watched a team sport before?
Everyone, right?
So everyone pretty much knows what I'm talking about.
You know, in a lot of ways, a church is like a team.
And this morning I want to compare the Christian life to that of a team.
The title of my sermon this morning is "Christianity is a Team Sport."
Christianity is a team sport.
Now, a lot of men in this church, we're a part of a team.
We do a team sport together.
And last Friday night, our team won, finally, about time.
And it was really great because our team was working, we were working together really well as a team.
It wasn't a one-man show, it wasn't a one-man effort.
Our team worked really well together and because of that, we won the game.
Now, I'm going to be comparing a lot of baseball analogies this morning.
That's because I grew up playing baseball.
You could just plug in whatever sport you played or whatever team sport you're used to,
but that's what I played growing up, so that's just kind of a lot of the examples that I'm going to use.
But when we think of Christianity as a team sport,
there's a lot of ways that are similar in sports to Christianity in the sense of being a good team player.
The same characteristics and attributes a really good teammate has in a physical sport
are the same character attributes that you could have in Christianity that would make you a good team player in a local church.
And so I want to go over a couple of those things that would make you a really good team player.
Number one, go to Ephesians chapter number five, Ephesians chapter number five.
The first thing that makes someone a good team player,
whether in a physical sport or in the local New Testament church, is following your coach's instructions.
So number one, follow your coach's instructions.
So in baseball, there's kind of a hierarchy of leadership.
So you have the head coach, which is the general manager.
Underneath him, you'll have other coaches. You'll have a hitting coach.
You'll have a pitching coach. You'll have an outfield coach.
You'll have an infield coach. You'll have a base running coach, right?
And there's basically a system of authority that goes from the general manager.
He's the top dog. He makes all the decisions.
And under him are other people of authority that have specific realms.
Now, it's very important to listen to your coaches.
Because think about what kind of chaos there would be on a baseball field
if everyone just played whatever position they wanted.
They just went in the batting order, whatever they wanted.
Everyone wants to be the first batter.
Everyone wants to be the pitcher.
You've got five people standing on the pitcher's mound.
No one's out in the outfield. You've got two catchers.
It would just be chaos, right?
Well, it would be the same thing in the local New Testament church.
And you see a lot of churches today, they're just in chaos
because they have a breakdown of leadership.
They're not following the leadership structure of the Bible.
Ephesians chapter 5, you know, the Bible teaches that we have a general manager.
And that is Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ in the local church.
That's our general manager.
Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as, notice this,
Christ is the head of the church.
And he is the savior of the body.
Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ,
so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
And so the Bible is making this comparison here saying,
look, in the same way that a wife submits to her husband in all areas
is the same thing that the church submits to the Lord Jesus Christ in all areas.
So he is the highest level of authority on our team, our team called Christianity here, right?
Jesus is our general manager. He's the highest authority.
He makes all the decisions, and every single person that is saved is under his authority, every single one.
Now how is it, practically speaking, that Jesus is our authority?
Because just about every church will tell you, "Oh yeah, of course, Jesus is the boss.
Jesus is the head of the church." But I'm telling you, very few churches actually practice putting Jesus as the head of the church.
Go to John chapter number one, John chapter number one, John chapter number one.
John one one, the Bible reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Skip down to verse fourteen. It says, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
How is it in practice that we make Jesus Christ the head of our church?
Because Jesus isn't here physically to preach the sermons. He's not here physically to lead the music and lead the soul winning and do everything.
How do we submit ourselves unto him? It's by submitting ourselves to the Bible.
He is the Word of God. He is the Word made flesh.
And if Jesus Christ is going to be the head of our church, we have to submit ourselves to every single thing the Bible says.
You say, "Well, doesn't every church do that?" No, because not every church even believes that we have the Bible.
Most churches hold up an English version and they say, "Well, this is kind of close to what Jesus actually said."
But really you have to have the original manuscripts to know what Jesus said.
We reject that. We reject original manuscript onlyism.
We say, "Hey, we have all of Jesus Christ's words perfectly right here.
We have his game plan. We have the batting lineup. We have the defensive schematics.
We know exactly what the coach wants and it's our job to follow what the coach says."
That's what makes a good teammate. Not someone that just does whatever they want.
Not someone that just plays whatever plays they want or play in any position they want.
No, it's the one that listens to the coach. That's a good teammate.
And in Christianity, if we want to be good teammates on this team,
we need to listen to our general manager, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, part of a coach's role is to make decisions.
There's multiple roles that a coach has, but one of them is to make decisions.
It's to say, "Hey, you're playing in this position. You're playing in this position.
You're going to bat in this position in the lineup."
And apply that to any sport, that's part of a coach's role.
Well, Jesus has done that for us. He's told us how to have church.
He's told us how to go soul winning. He's told us how to raise kids.
He's told us how to have a marriage. He's told us how to conduct ourselves on the job.
He's made the decisions for us. Our coach has already made the decisions.
It's our job to follow the coach's instructions. That is going to make a good teammate.
Because when you don't follow the coach's instructions, you have utter chaos.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 14. 1 Corinthians chapter number 14.
Let's start reading in verse number one. It says, "Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue," just a foreign language, "speaketh not unto men, but unto God, for no man understandeth him.
Howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries." It's saying, look, if I get up here and speak a foreign language that none of you know,
God still knows, but it's not going to profit you guys. You guys aren't going to understand.
Verse 3, "But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort.
He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifyeth himself, but he that prophesieth edifyeth the church.
I would that ye all speak with tongues, but rather that ye prophesy.
For greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret that the church may receive edifying.
Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?
And then pay attention to this part. It says, And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
So look, Paul is comparing preaching here to someone that would give a distinct sound with a pipe or a harp.
And sometimes you see in the Bible, trumpets are used to call an assembly together,
whereas other sounds of trumpets are used to go to war.
And it's really important to have a distinction in the sounds so that everybody, the whole team is on the same page.
We know, hey, I heard that trumpet, it's time to go to war.
Or I heard that different sound of a trumpet, it's time to gather ourselves together in an assembly.
It's really important in a church that the word of God, that the preaching of God's word is a certain sound
so that we as a team are all on the same page from our coach.
And thank God we have the perfect, pure, unadulterated word of God in the King James Bible
to where this is a certain sound right here.
We know exactly what Coach Jesus has told us, and we don't have to wonder or guess what our instructions are.
And so that gives us the opportunity to be good teammates by following our coach.
And if you're ever preaching the Word of God, it's really important that you're very clear in what you're saying
so that people have a direction to follow, where people aren't wondering, what does this guy believe?
You know, this guy just preached on end times prophecy and I don't know if he's pre-trib or post-trib or mid-trib or a-trib or whatever, right?
It's confusing sometimes listening to preachers. You know, you listen to some preacher preach
and it's frustrating when you don't even know what he believes.
You know, it's one thing if you know what he believes but you just disagree with him.
I'd rather have that than walking out of church being like, "What did this guy even want to say?"
Right? Wouldn't that be frustrating? Playing for a baseball team and your coach is just like,
"Yeah, you could pitch or you can, you know, you could go to left field or whatever you want."
It's like, "Coach, where do I go? You got to tell me where to go." Right?
And so Jesus has told us we need to make sure that when we get the opportunity to preach
that we're being just as clear.
So that's one important aspect of a coach's role is to give instruction.
Let's keep reading in this chapter. Look at verse number 27.
It says, "If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two or at the most by three,
and that by course, and let one interpret.
But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church,
and let him speak to himself and to God.
Let the prophet speak two or three, and let the other judge.
If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.
For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.
And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
Notice this, for God is not the author of confusion,
but of peace as in all the churches of the saints.
You know, God has given us really specific rules on how to conduct a church service.
Why? Because God's not the author of confusion.
He's got a specific game plan. He's got a lineup that we need to follow.
And churches that don't follow this, there starts happening some really confusing things going on.
What could be something really confusing that would happen in a church that's not following the Bible?
Well, I don't know. Why don't we read the next verse?
It says, "Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak,
but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also sayeth the law.
And if they will learn anything at home, let them ask their husbands at home,
for it is a shame for women to speak in the church."
You know, I'll show you a church that's not following the game plan of their coach
It's any church that has a woman pastor any church that lets a woman preach a sermon from behind the pulpit. That's confusion
That's not being a good teammate because you're not listening to the instructions from your coach coach. Jesus said no woman
You're not the pitcher in this game. You're not the quarterback in this game
No a man is going to be the preacher a man is going to be the leader a man is going to be the pastor and
When you get outside of that, you're no longer following your coach
And you're acting like a bad teammate and it's confusion
You know my brother-in-law one time went soul winning with this guy who ended up revealing himself as a Calvinist and ended up getting kicked
Out of church just like an unsaved heretic, but he went soul winning with this guy and this guy had a soul winning map
He's out soul winning. He got the instructions from his coach pastor Thompson pastor Thompson said here's the map
Here's where you go soul winning and he went out with my brother-in-law and he's like, yeah
Ripped it up. He's like, I'm not really a map following kind of guy. It's like what what's wrong with you, man?
What a terrible teammates what a terrible teammate you are when you can't follow your coaches instructions
And it doesn't matter if you like the instructions
It doesn't matter if you like your coach when your coach tells you to do something
It's for a reason and part of a coach's job is to give instructions give direction to the team
And when you're off doing your own thing, the team is gonna suffer, right?
Hey a left-handed hitter comes up to plate you shift the outfield this way because lefties pull the ball now
I'll do whatever I want. Okay, boom the balls hit right past you and now they're hitting doubles and triples and home runs, right?
There's consequences in physical sports for not listening to the coach and there's consequences in church for not listening to the coach
You think God's gonna bless a church that has a woman pastor. No, God's not gonna bless a church
That's disobeying his commandments good. Ephesians chapter number four
You know, we talked about how the Lord Jesus Christ, he's like our general manager, but you know
There's other there's other coaches in the Christian life as well. Ephesians chapter number four. Let's read verse 11
It says and he gave the he there's Jesus and he gave some
Apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
What's the reason for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ?
So the Lord Jesus Christ, he has some coaches under him right remember how I said like in baseball
There's a general manager and then there's other coaches under him
So how's the authority structure work in the New Testament Church?
You have the Lord Jesus Christ and under that is the pastor of the local New Testament Church
Go ahead and turn to for 2nd Timothy 4 and I'm gonna read for you
Hebrews 13 verse 17 it says obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves
For they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief
For that is unprofitable for you
So, you know, I know we're using carnal illustrations of a sport here
And it sports are nowhere even close to as important as the local New Testament Church, but just think about how this makes sense
Right, so you have the general manager in baseball
Then let's say that you're on base
You have a base running coach and his job as you're running the bases is to tell you whether or not to run to home
Or to stop because he could see the outfield and he could say oh if I send you home
You're gonna be safe or if I send you home
You're gonna be out and I'm gonna tell you to stay back
So notice the job of a pastor it says is to watch for your souls, right?
So the job of a pastor the pastor cares about you. He wants you to succeed spiritually
Hey, he wants you to cross home plate and score run
He wants you to do well in your marriage and in your walk with God and in all areas of the Christian life
And so it's our it's for our benefit to obey our pastor
Why cuz the general manager put him in that position the Lord Jesus Christ put our pastor in his position of authority and notice
It says that they must give an account, right?
If I'm running the bases and my coach sends me to run home and I get thrown out whose fault is that the coach's fault, right?
So it's a very serious and very heavy
Responsibility to be a pastor because he's gonna be the one that has to give an account to God someday for all the decisions
That he made so what would be just annoying and not beneficial at all is if we're just constantly giving our coach problems
Constantly backtalking our coach constantly second-guessing his judgments. No, what's profitable for us is just to obey our coach
He already has a stressful enough job all of its on his shoulders. He's the one that's got to stand before God someday
You know what? It's our job just to obey him and it's always gonna be for our benefit
You know, I talked about how one of the roles of a coach is to make decisions, right?
But here's another role that they have both in sports and in church notice
It says in 2nd, Timothy 4 - it says preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke
Exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. So what's another role of a coach? It's to correct things that are wrong, right?
So what does a good baseball coach do?
He makes the lineup he tells people what they're doing and where they're going
But you know what else he does is he corrects issues, you know, if anyone's ever watched a baseball game
Have you noticed how the coach will just like randomly call a timeout and he'll walk to the pitchers mound and everyone will have
A meeting in the middle of the game. Usually what's happening is the coach is coming out and he's saying hey pitcher
Here's where your mechanics are sucking and you're not realizing it right now
So fix this issue fix that issue and then the pitcher fixes it and usually does a lot better, right?
Because we often can't self correct our own issues
Where we often can't self diagnose ourselves and see what we're doing wrong
Sometimes we need a coach to videotape us and say hey, this is what's wrong with your swing
This is how to fix it
And it's the same thing with a pastor his job is to preach the word of God to reprove
Rebuke and exhort and sometimes it's up to his job. It's his job to say like hey, that's not how you raise your kids
You're doing that wrong. Hey, that's not how you have a good Christian marriage. You're doing that wrong
Hey, that's not how you conduct yourself out soul winning. You're doing that wrong or hey
You didn't preach a good sermon here. You did that wrong. That's part of a pastor's job is to say here's what you're doing wrong
Let me help you fix it. That is a coach's job
And if you're gonna be a good teammate, are you gonna just bristle at the coaches, you know feedback?
It's like oh, I know I have a 100 batting average and I know that my hitting totally sucks
I know I've never played before but I'm not gonna listen to the coach. He doesn't know what he's talking about
I'm not gonna let him correct me. It's like hey, I know I've been saved for two years
But I'm gonna preach about why every single pastor that's ever been ever existed in the old IFB is terrible
Even though I've been saved for two years. It's like that's prideful. That's not being a good teammate
You know you very likely don't know more than your coach in physical sports
The reason why you're a player the reason why you're under a coach is likely because he knows more than you and hey there
But they're bad coaches out there. Hey, if you have a bad pastor
Why don't you go to a church where there's a good pastor and then obey what he tells you to do?
listen to his instruction and listen to his
Corrections, you know, we all have plenty of problems every single one of us
We all are sinners. We all have tons of things wrong with us
and sometimes we need people's help to point that out to us and
Allow ourselves to correct those issues when you have a good coach and you listen to them
It's gonna make you a better player on the field and in the team of Christianity as well
So number one follow your coaches instructions number two how to be a good team player is
Esteem others better than yourself go to Ecclesiastes chapter 4 esteem others better than
Yourself, you know growing up. I had a really really great coach the best coach
I ever had his name was Troy and you would always tell us
Hey play for the name on the front of your jersey
Not on the back of your jersey because the worst teammate that you could ever have is the guy that's just super prideful
He's only in it for himself. He wants to be the star
He doesn't want his team to succeed because he just wants all the glory for himself
And you know, I really loved this coach that I had because if anyone ever showboated or gloated or bragged about anything
He would punish us for it. It's like he taught us and you know baseball isn't really like this anymore
But he taught us a baseball is a gentleman's game. If you hit a home run, just run the bases
Don't sit here and do cartwheels and backflips and throw the bat in the stands, you know
I like football
But one thing I can't stand about football is like every little thing that they do good
They gotta do backflips and spin the ball around and act like it's some sort of circus show
Just because it's like yeah, you gained five yards
How cool but it's like what was supposed to make baseball different is it doesn't matter how good you did
You're supposed to just be having even-keeled attitude. You're not supposed to be prideful
You're not supposed to be showboating because it's better
You're a better teammate when you esteem your teammates better than yourself
You're a better teammate when you want all your other teammates to do good on the field to hit home runs
To make the great plays you're a good teammate when you want them to succeed not just yourself
And it's the exact same thing in Christianity
You know you want in it both in baseball and Christianity you want your teammates to be as skilled as possible, right?
I want all my teammates to be as skilled as possible because we're gonna win more games that way
I want all my teammates to be as skilled as possible that way when I have a bad day
And I will and that way when you have a bad day, and you will your teammates can pick you up
You know baseball is a really humbling sport because there's times where you could hit the ball super hard right on the nose every single
Time but you hit it right to someone out out out
You just have you know bad luck or you have a bad day
You don't do anything you don't succeed and your teammates if they're good
They could pick you up and even if you have a really bad day your team can still win if the whole team is skilled
Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 9 it says two are better than one notice Christianity is a team sport
Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor for if they fall the other will lift up his fellow
But woe to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath not another to help him up again if two lie together
Then they have heat but how can one be warm alone?
And if one prevail against him two shall withstand him and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken
Look, I think this scriptures is backing up what I'm saying
You know, it's good to have people in church where we all know how to preach the gospel
We all can help in different areas of Christianity that way if you fall someone else can pick you up
That way if you're not doing good the church can still do great
Because we have a church full of really good people go to Philippians chapter number two
But you know, no one likes the prideful teammate. No one likes the teammate that's in it for himself
That's in it for his honor and his glory and no one likes the fellow church member. That's prideful either
Nobody likes a prideful person. It doesn't matter how great you are. If you are prideful. No one likes that
It's not fun to be around. It's not fun to be around someone that's boasting about their abilities
You know, it's really awesome to be around is a super super skilled person. That's humble enough to help you, right?
That's great to be around. That's fun to be around. Look at Philippians chapter number two verse three says let nothing be done through strife or
vain glory. What's vain glory? Here's the definition of vain glory.
Excessive elation or pride over one's own achievements. Just picture the football celebrations, right?
That's that's the vain glory, right?
Excessive elation or pride over one's own achievements abilities, etc
Or boastful vanity. The Bible saying don't do anything with vain glory. It's unseemly
It's not cool. It's not fun to be around. No one likes that teammate and no one likes that brother or sister in Christ either
That's someone that's super prideful. It says but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
Better than themselves. What does that mean?
it means that in your mind you're fully convinced that your teammates are better than you and
That you want your teammates to be better than you and you want to develop them and you want them to get better
Why for the sake of the team?
Why because we should be playing for the name on the front of the jersey not the back of the jersey, right?
Hey, we should be playing for the kingdom of God. That's our team not for brother
Dylan Oz not for insert your name, you know
We're playing for the Lord Jesus Christ for his honor for his glory and below that. Hey, we're playing for steadfast Baptist Church, too
That's the team that we're reflecting in our conduct
But it shouldn't be for ourselves for our own glory for our own honor
No one likes that verse 4 it says look not every man on his own things
But every man also on the things of others, you know
That means that when you show up show up at a game you're thinking how can I help my teammates get better today?
That means when you're showing up at church, you're not thinking. Well, what could church do for me today?
What can I get out of the programs today? You actually ask yourself? How can I help the church today?
You know one thing that is awesome about steadfast Baptist Church
That is really special to this church is how many people want to help out here
It seems like we have more people that want to help then we even have work to do sometimes not always but sometimes people are like
Hey Dylan, what can I help with? I'm just like, I don't know. Everyone's running around and taking care of everything
It's great. That's a good problem to have, you know people here
They want to help out the team and we need to always have that attitude and never be in it for yourself
Notice verse 5 it says this let this mind be in you notice which was also in Christ Jesus
You want to know who the ultimate team player that there ever was was the Lord Jesus Christ
Ultimate team player why because he is the best at everything. He is the number one all-star. He's the MVP
He's God in the flesh
He has the right to showboat and brag because every time he steps up to the plate
He's jacking it out of the fence every single time if he's the quarterback every single time
It's a Hail Mary touchdown
100% of the time if he's the corner its interception pick six every single time the Lord Jesus Christ is on the field
But did he come here on earth and assert his dominance and assert his authority?
No, actually he let himself get spit in the face. He let himself get slapped
He he was like dumb like a lamb right before pilot
You know he could have he could have showed pilot whose boss, but you know what he humbled himself
Why because he esteemed us better than himself because he said hey my teammates all these people that are gonna believe on me someday
I love them, and I want them to succeed. I want them to go to heaven, so you know what I'm gonna
Do I'm gonna lower myself and allow myself to go through all this evil for the betterment of my team
Jesus Christ is the best team player that there ever was notice verse 6 who being in the form of God
Thought it not robbery to be equal with God because he was equal with God amen verse 7
But even though he was equal with God he made himself of no reputation
Meaning he wasn't on the ESPN highlight reels everyone didn't have his Jersey everyone wasn't buying his Jersey
No, you know what? He was hated and despised and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men
You know, Jesus Christ was humble
He was a humble man, even though he had every reason to boast and you know for us when we are jacked up
We have tons of problems. We're sinners. We say stupid things. We do stupid things. We think stupid things
Why do we have the right to be prideful? We don't right? Hey, we strike out all the time
We walk hitters all the time. We miss ground balls and fly balls all the time. We suck all the time
So there's no reason to be prideful. There's no reason for us to lift ourselves up
No rather we should esteem our teammates better than ourselves and not think you know
Like the the prideful one you guys probably know
Oh, I do 95% of the soul winning at this church if you think that you're an idiot
You are an idiot pride. You're a prideful person if you think that you know
Who's another good team player was Moses go to numbers chapter 11 numbers chapter 11. I'm really thankful
I had that coach as a child because you know, I didn't even grow up in church. I didn't grow up around Christianity
I didn't hear what the Bible taught about pride or anything like this
But I had this coach that would punish our team for showing pride
It's like I'm thankful that I learned from that guy
You know, we should definitely be teaching our children the same thing as well numbers chapter 11 says this and Moses went out and told
the people the words of the Lord and gathered the 70 men of the elders of the people and set them round about in the
Tabernacle and the Lord came down in a cloud and spake unto him and took of the spirit that was upon him and gave it
Unto the 70 elders and it came to pass that when the spirit rested upon them
They prophesied and did not cease notice Christianity is a team sport Moses here
The spirit was taken from him and put on these 70 guys
Why because it's not all about Moses of course Moses is important and Moses deserves honor and respect, but hey
It's not all about him
Why because it's a team effort verse 26
But there remained two of the men in the camp the name of the one was Eldad and the name of the other me dad
and the spirit rested upon them and they were of them that were written but went not out unto the tabernacle and they
prophesied in
The camp and there was a young man and told Moses and said Eldad and me dad do
Prophecy in the camp and Joshua the son of none the servant of Moses one of his young men answered and said my lord Moses
Forbid them. So what's happening here? There's two guys that are preaching
They're prophesying and Joshua who is the servant of Moses? You know, I think Joshua's heart was in the right place here
He cared about his master. He wanted to protect his master. He honored his master and he's saying hey Moses
It's your job to be preaching. Why are these other two guys preaching, right?
I think his heart was in the right place, but notice what Moses said in verse 29 and Moses said unto him
Envious thou for my sake would God that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them
Moses didn't want to be the only good player on the team
He didn't want to be the only guy that was hitting home runs
He didn't want to be the only guy that was skilled for the team saying hey
What God that all the Lord's people were prophets why because our team is gonna be stronger, right?
What if we only had one person? Let's just pick a random church, right? Let's just say Faithful Word Baptist Church
What if there was only one person in that whole church that could preach a sermon what happens when pastor Anderson gets sick?
What happens when pastor Anderson has something come up and can't preach?
Well that kind of sucks for the hundreds and hundreds of people that are there that want to hear preaching from God's Word, right?
No, what we'd rather have is we'd rather have a strong church where everyone has something to bring to the table
Everyone's improving themselves. Everyone's skilled where it's not just one person why because Christianity is a team sport
Christianity is a team sport
Go to first Samuel chapter number 18
I'll read for you in Romans 12 Romans 12 10 says be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in honor
Preferring one another rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep notice this
You know this person's caring about their teammates more than themselves if their teammates are rejoicing. They're rejoicing with them
Hey, if the teammate hits a great hit we're excited and if another teammate has a bad day. Hey, we're sad with that person
We're gonna try to pick that person up
We're gonna try to encourage that person and not just disparage them or discourage them because they had a bad day
Here's an example of a really really bad teammate and that was King Saul King Saul was not a really good team player
Especially in this portion of scripture in first Samuel 18 verse 6 it says and it came to pass as they came
When David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine that the women came out of all the cities of Israel
These are the fans
Okay
Singing and dancing to meet King Saul with Tabaret's with joy and with instruments of music and the women answered one another as they played
And said Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands and Saul was very Roth
So was he excited when his teammate did good or was he envious because he wanted all the glory himself, right?
He was Roth and the saying displeased him and he said they have ascribed unto David but ten thousands and to me
They have ascribed but thousands and what can he have more than the kingdom and Saul?
I David from that day forward and it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul
And he prophesied in the midst of the house and David played with his hand as at other times
And there was a javelin in Saul's hand and Saul cast the javelin for he said
I will smite David even to the wall with it and David avoided out of his presence twice
Hey, you want to know what a really really bad teammate is is when you do something good
You hit a home run and you come back into the dugout and your teammates trying to clob you in the head with a bat
I don't really want that teammate on my team, right?
I'd rather the teammate that's excited when I do good and I can be excited when they do good and where it's not this
Competition between us for glory rather. It's hey is the team winning then I'm happy that's all that matters, right and Saul
He shouldn't have been so insecure here and allowing himself to get so bitter
He should have said well
I just need to get better then not hating his brother not hating David to the point where he's literally trying to murder him
That is a bad teammate. You know, sometimes
Unfortunately, you see this in Christianity where people will get bitter because one person got a little more salvations out soul-winning
Than you did or one person preached a better sermon than you did or one person's getting more
Recognition about something than you did and if you ever start to feel envy creeping up in your heart
That's something you have to check immediately because that's gonna lead you to being a really bad teammate a really really bad teammate
Go to Romans chapter number 12
So number one to be a good teammate
You got to follow your coach's instructions number two
You need to esteem others better than yourself and number three you need to utilize your talents
Utilize your talent not everyone has the same skills. Not everyone has the same talents and you know, I grew up
I played baseball for about 15 years and I was a decent hitter. But honestly, I was not I was never a great hitter
I was never the type of guy that was just hitting home runs
I was never the type of guy that was just a power hitter, you know, I was just a decent okay hitter
There was always plenty of guys that were much better than me at hitting
But one thing that I did better was pitching and I wasn't I'm not saying I was a great pitcher
But I'm saying I was a better pitcher than I was a hitter and so know what I did is I focused my time
I effort my energy on becoming a better pitcher. I was a hundred and fifty five pounds in high school
I'm not gonna be hitting out of the park anytime soon
It doesn't matter how much I try to be a home run hitter at a hundred and fifty five pounds
It's probably just never gonna happen
So would it have really made a lot of sense for me to just be like I don't care that I'm a hundred fifty five pounds
I have to be the home run hitter for our team. No, that would have been stupid, right rather
It's like okay. I'm better at pitching than I am at hitting
So why don't I develop that skill because that's gonna be better for the team and in Christianity?
It's the same thing. Not all of us have the exact same skill sets
You know, not all of us can play the guitar
Not all of us can play the piano not all of us can song lead or whatever
What it really makes sense is just like I have to play the saxophone. It's like well, do you know how to play the saxophone?
No, why do you have to play the saxophone then? It's like I have to be a missionary to Japan. Do you speak Japanese?
No, but what I have to be the cleanup hitter
It's like can you hit the ball never done in my life?
Why it doesn't make any sense look at Romans chapter 12 verse 4 for as we have many members in one body
It's a team sport. Amen and all members have not the same office notice. We don't all have the same office
There's one pastor in our church can't all be the pastor can't all be the head, right?
We can't all be an usher. We can't all be a safety team member. We can't all be the sound guys
We can't all be the preacher
There's different roles in church and not all of us are gonna have that same role verse 5
So we being many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another
Having then if you don't mind underlining in your Bible underline this gifts differing having then gifts
Differing we have different gifts and abilities according to the grace that is given to us whether prophecy
Let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith. Hey, if you're good at preaching preach
Amen, we need preachers in this world
But if you're not good at preaching not saying that you can't try to develop that and work on that and practice and stuff like that
But look, there's some people that are just never going to be preachers or pastors
It's never gonna happen for some people and that's okay. Some people are never going to be the home run hitter and that's okay
Can you be a good shortstop? Some people are never gonna be a good pitcher. That's okay
Can you be a good catcher?
Some people are never going to be one thing they need to focus on what they're good at notice it says or ministry
Let us wait on our ministering. Are you good at serving other people?
Well, then serve other people put all of your heart your energy your time your effort into serving other people with zeal
If that's what you're good at or he that teaching on teaching, you know, some people they're really really good at expounding the Bible
They're really really good at showing, you know pastor Shelley's really great at showing the pictures of Christ in the scripture
You know, he's really great at teaching that stuff. Let's let him teach that stuff
What does it make sense to let some guy up here and teach that doesn't know how it doesn't make any sense. It says
Or he that exhorteth on exhortation he that giveth let him do it with simplicity
He that ruleeth with diligence he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness
You know, what is this basically saying is saying hey, whatever your gift is
Whatever you are good at that is what you should be putting your heart time effort and energy into and not trying to be something
That you're not and not trying to step into areas that you're not good at, right?
And of course, you know as you grow up you're kind of putting your foot into different
Areas to see what you're good at and that's fine
You know praise God for the person that stands up and tries to preach for the first time
Praise God for the person that tries to song lead for the first time praise God for the person tries to learn an instrument
Hey, we should be trying to do things but there comes a point where you realize like hey
This is what I'm good at and this is what I'm not good at. So let me focus on what I'm good at
Let me be the best video editor. Let me be the best song leader. Let me be the best hitter
Let me be the best second baseman. Let me be the best first baseman wherever you are
Whatever your role is in the church do that really well, you know
We have a lot of really skilled people in this church
We have a lot of people that help out behind the scenes that are really skilled that help us a lot
You know brother rich your great video editor, you know are the videos that he makes is just fantastic
It's great that he was able to you know learn skills and having worked in that industry in the world and then apply that to the
Local New Testament church, right? That's a great thing when you could apply your skills to the work of the Lord
We know the world likes to say that
Diversity is our strength. Have you ever heard that before?
Versity is our strength and here's what they mean by that
It's so great when we have in America Hindus and Muslims so great that we have, you know fags and
Trannies and straight people and it's so wonderful that we have
Communists and fascists. Isn't it great? Just makes us so strong that we have so much diversity. Look, that's garbage
That's garbage. You know what unity is our strength when it comes to our mission
Following our leader following the game plan being a good teammate
Unity is our strength. But you know what you know when diversity is our strength diversity of skills is our strength
Sure, diversity of offices is our strength diversity of just different strong shoots suits that people have
Yeah, that can be a strength
But only when we're working together in synergy around a common goal and around common beliefs, you know in America
Diversity could be our strength if we all said, okay. Here's the King James Bible. Here's what we're following
Here's the Constitution of the United States
Hey
Then diversity can be our strength if you're from another nation and you want to rally yourself around the King James Bible
And the Constitution of the United States and our culture in America and you have you know
Some different things you could bring to the table from other countries great that could be a strength for America
But it's not a strength for America to bring Hindus in here, you know, Vivek Ramaswamy or whatever running for president
It's not a strength to have that Yahoo running for the president United States
Makes me sick that conservatives are even considering voting for a Hindu in our nation. That's gross
That is not diverse that that type of diversity is never a strength, right? But differences of skills. Amen
That is a strength. It's great when you have on a baseball team a guy that's super super fast
That could be a pinch runner and still bases and it's great to have a big, you know
Jason West that could just knock it out of the park, right when he hits
It's great to have that type of diversity. But hey, we have all one goal win the game, right?
We have one goal here and that is to further the gospel of Jesus Christ to disciple people to get them baptized
That's our goal. And so if you have different types of skills that could help us accomplish that we welcome that diversity
Hey, we welcome it when people can speak Greek and Spanish and Russian and English and Chinese
To preach the gospel. Hey, we may be speaking in a different tongue. We know we're doing we're all speaking the same message
That's the type of diversity that is a strength go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 12 1st Corinthians chapter number 12
Sometimes people could get envious that they really want to have a certain skill or a certain position that they don't and they're they're
Discontented with the skill or the gift that God has given them and they may feel that they're not as important
To the team because of that but look at 1st Corinthians chapter 12 verse 14
It says for the body is not one member because Christianity is a team sport, right?
But many if the foot shall say because I am not the hand. I am not of the body
Is it therefore not of the body, you know, would it make sense to say like well, I'm in the outfield
I'm not pitching so I'm not on the team. What? No, we need an outfield
We need someone to throw a ball in with the balls hit out there
We need someone to catch the fly balls out there, right? It's like, oh, I'm the foot. I'm not the hand
So I'm not part of the body. It's like no, but I like my feet
I don't about you. I like having feet it'd be not cool at all to have no feet glad we have feet
Okay, verse 16 and if the ear shall say because I am NOT the I I am NOT of the body
Is it therefore not of the body? Well, you know, I just play the piano and I'm not the preacher
So I'm not really a part of the team. It's like no, it's great to have a piano. It's great to have musical instruments
It's great to have a safety team. It's great to have ushers. It's great to have video editors. It's great to have preachers
It's great to have song leaders
We need all those things together and when you take out one of those it hurts the team and you ought not to think
That well, whatever I do. It's not as much in the spotlight as preaching and so it's not as important wrong
It's all important. You know, I like having my ear, right?
And if the ear shall say because I'm not the eye I'm not of the body is therefore not of the body verse 17
If the whole body were an eye, wow, that would be ugly
Where were the hearing if the whole were hearing where were the smelling now?
Have God set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him
Look God's given you your talents and abilities as it has pleased him
So it's not right for you to be discontented with the role that God's given you in life
Don't be discontented that you're a woman and can never be a pastor. That'd be a wicked thought to have right?
Hey, think of it like wow, I get to raise up the next generation of Christians. Wow
We're living in a really wicked time and I have an extremely high
Responsibility of teaching these children the right ways of the Lord in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation
Don't don't be discontented with your role. Hey, if you're here to greet people that are new
You know what be happy with that role and do it well and do it unto the Lord
If your job is to help out behind the scenes with some project
Hey do that with all your might do that with zeal and be happy doing it go to what verse did I just end on?
18 18 okay look at verse 19, and if they were all one member where were the body?
But now are they many members yet?
But one body and the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee nor again the head to the feet
I have no need of you, and then I love this verse here
It says nay much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are
Necessary right so the Bible you know the words right in front of your face is saying hey
you think you have a feeble position you think that it's not as important the Bible says it's necessary and
Every single part of your body is necessary, and you don't really realize that until you lose a part, okay?
You know I had a really big surgery when I was 16
I tore my bicep my rotator cuff and my labrum a really really bad surgery
And I didn't realize that your shoulder affects how you walk
Because it's like I had this shoulder surgery and every step is just like crazy pain
I didn't realize that when you have shoulder surgery, you can't even lay down and sleep
You have to sleep sitting up for like three months like man. I didn't know my shoulder affected how I could even lay down
I didn't know that hey your shoulder you you can't even like open a door. You can't open the fridge
you can't really do anything just because your shoulders out and obviously, you know shoulders is a pretty important part of your body, but you know
I've even heard of people who have lost like a toe and you may think like oh a toe is not important
But your toes give you balance it's like you lose a toe and that affects how you walk for the rest of your life
Every single part of your body is important. It's the same thing with church
You know when when one member, you know gets backslid in or leaves the church, you know
That hurts the team that hurts the team and you may think like, you know, oh, no one will miss me if I'm gone
Nobody needs me here at said fast Baptist Church. That's not true
That is not true because you know what every single person man woman boy girl that is saved should be doing
They should be out soul winning and there's people in this earth that only you can reach
There's too many lost people out there for just me to give them the gospel
There's too many lost people out there for just Ben or the soul winning captains of our church to get them the gospel
No
We need an army of soul winners to do it and if we don't have those people those people will go to hell
And so you think oh, I'm not that important. No, you're very important and you when you quit on the team
It hurts the team if we have you know, the best pitcher in baseball, but we have no teammates behind him
What's gonna happen when the ball is hit? It's gonna be an inside the park home run every single time, right?
Same thing with Christianity. You may not think that your position is that important, but it is it absolutely is
Go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 9
So you know Christianity is a team sport and to be a good team player in this sport
You need to follow your coach's instructions. You need to esteem others better than yourself
You need to utilize your talent number four
You need to work hard as an individual you need to work hard as an individual because even though
You know games like football and baseball even though they're team sports. It's a team comprised of individuals, right?
It's a team comprised of people of specific skill level, right and you know as an individual if I want to do
What's best to much for my team? I need to be constantly developing my skills because that's gonna help my team
I need to be careful what I eat because that's gonna affect how I play
I need to make sure that I'm exercising and working out because if I'm stronger, I'll be a better athlete
That'll help my team same thing in Christianity, you know
Developing yourself as an individual is going to help the team at large
Now Paul in 1st Corinthians 9, you know, we've been talking about how Christianity is a team sport
he kind of describes here more of an individual sport a race and
Sometimes races can be team sports too, right if it's like a relay race or something like that
But Paul's describing more of an individual sport here. Look at 1st Corinthians 9 verse 24
It says no you not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize
so run that ye may obtain and every man that striveth for the mastery is
Temperate in all things now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we and in corruptible
So notice he says if you're running in a race people that are striving to win people that are striving for the mastery
What do they do? They're temperate in all things. What does it mean to be temperate?
Here's the definition of temperate. The first definition is moderate or self restrained
So you're you're holding back what your flash what you want to do. You're restraining yourself
And the second definition is moderate as regards to indulgence of appetite. I think that's kind of funny or passion
Especially in the use of alcoholic liquors now the best athletes in the world
They're the most temperate people you'll ever find. In fact, I've heard that NFL players
They'll wake up at like 4 a.m. In the morning. They'll work out super super hard
They'll eat a ton of food and you'll have to do they'll go right back to sleep so that their body can recover from that workout
Why do they go to sleep in the middle of the day so they work out again in the evening and have the benefits of two
Workouts in one day. That's pretty temperate, right? That's restraining your flesh and of what you want to do
You're just waking up. You're working out. You're going to sleep. You're working out. You're going to sleep
It's like that's pretty intense right athletes will track how much water they drink. They won't drink sugary beverages
They won't eat desserts. They'll they won't drink alcohol. Why because they're striving for a physical crown
They're striving for the mastery of whatever sport and they'll be temperate
They'll self-restraint themselves for trying to win that prize
So think about this in the Christian life shouldn't we also be temperate when we're striving for an eternal prize?
Because you know baseball doesn't matter football doesn't matter and soccer dead sure doesn't matter, right?
That's for sure those things don't matter, but you know it matters serving God matters
The local New Testament Church matters, and you know what who cares if you're temperate
So you could be the best athlete on ever and you could win the World Series
And then that gold can corrupt someday and be burned in the earth and your own soul go to hell who cares about that
That's worthless. It's vain. It's meaningless
But what does matter is the souls that we get saved as a church what does matter is the lives that are changed here the
Marriages that are changed here the child rearing that is blessed here that stuff matters
And so us as a team because we want to better the whole team. We need to be temperate
We need to restrain our fleshly desires and say no
I'm not gonna allow myself to commit fornication so that I can be kicked off the team because that hurts the team
No, I'm not gonna come out allow myself to commit adultery because that's gonna hurt the team
I'm not gonna allow myself to be lazy and never go soul winning because that is gonna hurt the team
And so just like a professional athlete or a soldier is gonna be very template temperate and be very disciplined
We should be more disciplined than them because they're doing it for no reason for a vain reason
But we're doing it for eternity
Verse 26 says I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight
I not as one that beat at the air
But I keep under my body and bring it into
Subjection less that by any means when I preach to others
I myself should be a castaway notice Paul has conquered himself
He has put himself in subjection meaning when Paul wakes up on Sunday morning. He's not wondering if he's gonna go to church
He's gonna get up and go to church when his soul-wanting time rolls around. He's not wondering if he's gonna do it
He's just gonna do it when he's needs to read the Bible
It's not whether or not he's tired or whether or not. He would rather do something different
It's just hey
He's gonna put his body in subjection and do what needs to be done
Why because he's being temperate and he's caring about his individual development as a Christian just like hey
If I want to help my team in baseball, I'm gonna be putting in the practice on the tee
I'm gonna be putting in the practice in the bullpen or whatever to try to get become a better player
Look you you'll help the team if you learn the soul winning verses if you memorize them, that'll help the team
That'll help you individually
But by you being a better soul winner that's gonna help the team as well by you being a better soul winner by you
Learning to have better people skills. Maybe it'll help people come to church
You know if you develop yourself and you're not as weird and awkward out soul winning people might actually want to come here
Okay, so that's you developing yourself and that's helping the team as a result and there's lots of ways that we can do this
But you know being a consistent soul winner
Memorizing scripture learning how to preach learning how to song the all these things that are developing
You are also developing the team and that is something that a good teammate does so to recap here
You know Christianity is a team sports. Not a one-man show. It's not just Moses. You know, it's not just whoever's preaching
It's all of us. We're all important in the work of God and how do we become great teammates number one?
We follow the coaches instructions number two. We esteem others better than ourself number three
We utilize our talent and number four we work hard as individuals and with that. Let's have a word of prayer Lord
Thank you for this day, and thank you for the King James Bible. Thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ
And that we have clear direction from him
I pray that we would all humble ourselves and follow the authorities in our life
Lord Jesus Christ and our pastor and just pray that you'd help us to be a cohesive team here at said fast Baptist Church that we
Would have unity around our mission around our leadership and that we would just strive to be better teammates
We love you in Jesus name we pray amen
116 song number 116 he leadeth me song number
116 song number
116 he leadeth me everybody sing it out in the verse