(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we're here in Matthew Chapter 5, we're going to finish our series on principles of competition and we're going to look at ungracious winners. And so the first week we had this sermon series, we just had an introductory series about competition. We showed that our lives are filled full of competition. Last week we looked at sore losers and we started with that because you do more losing than winning and whenever you start something new, you start by losing. You're not the best when you start something new. But what I want to look at today to finish this series is ungracious winners. And in my opinion, an ungracious winner is worse than a sore loser. The reason why is if I compete versus somebody and I beat them and they're a sore loser, at the end of the day I already won. So it's like no big deal, you want to be a sore loser, it just makes you look bad. But when somebody beats you at something and then they rub it in and they mock you, it's like you already won. Why are you trying to just talk down and I mean just, you know, it's not that big of a deal. At the end of the day it's just a game, it's not that big of a deal. So I believe an ungracious winner is worse than a sore loser. Now, look at what it says here in Matthew 5. Point number 1, what's the problem with being an ungracious winner? Because it's rude and offensive to the person who lost. It's rude and offensive to those that you beat. Matthew 5 verse 10, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, as independent fundamental Baptists, we stand up for the truth, we preach hard, and we get persecuted sometimes. But some people have this idea, if I'm persecuted it must be that I'm doing everything right. Look, if you're persecuted for righteousness sake that's a good thing. But if people don't like you because of your attitude and because you're rude and because you're arrogant, then you're not being persecuted for righteousness sake. I mean, if you win competitions and you're always arrogant and mocking people and people don't like you and they never want to play against you because of your attitude, you don't get rewards in heaven for that, okay? You're being persecuted for being a jerk. You're not being persecuted because of righteousness sake, okay? Look at verse number 23. Verse 23, therefore if thou bring thy gift to the elder and there are members that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave thee thy gift before the order and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift. And the idea here in the Sermon on the Mount that what he's saying is, before you make a big offering to God and a big sacrifice or devote something to God, make sure you're right with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Make sure that you don't have anybody who's against you and you haven't done anything because of your attitude, make sure you're right with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Now look, I don't know of this being an issue at our church, but it's always better to preach preventative maintenance, right? I mean before your engine just completely explodes in your car, I mean it's better just to get it checked every once in a while when you have minor problems, make sure something major doesn't take place, right? As far as I know this is not a major problem, but you know we do have a lot of competitions around here, it's important we keep the unity at our church. Go to Romans chapter 12, Romans 12, and look even if you don't struggle with these things, I promise you every kid in this room they struggle with this. It's born into kids to basically be an ungracious winner and a sore loser. That's just the way it is, right? My son will always say, you know, I win, Christabelle loses. It's like yes, you can outrun your sister, you're older. It's like of course you can outrun her, right? But it's just kind of built into people, and the Bible speaks about the pride of life, it's just something that just comes out naturally, you don't think about it. And when you're, you know, basically being a bit arrogant or talking about how great you are, what you're doing is criticizing those that you beat. It's a very rude thing to do, it's just basic manners, and it sounds very basic, but you know what, grown adults struggle with this. If you've ever watched pro sports, this always takes place, right? We talked about last week with a sore loser, a guy loses in a fight, I don't want to make any excuses, but I had two torn ACLs, I tore my rotator cuff, you know, I had a concussion and migraines, and you know, I couldn't train for months, but I didn't, but you know, I'm not making excuses, right? That's the sore loser, right? But then the ungracious winner is the person who wins, and then they interview him, and he talks about, yeah, you know, I knew he wasn't good enough to beat me, I'm stronger, I'm faster, it's like you already won, like why are you mocking your opponent? What's the reason for that? But that always happens in pro sports. When they interview the winners, they usually mock their opponents and say how much better they are, they're not respectful to the person that they played. So look, if this is so easy and nobody struggles with it, why is it grown adults struggle with this? Why is it pretty much every pro athlete, you can see the pride inside of them as they speak about how great they are or they make excuses when they lose. Romans 12 verse 15, Romans 12 verse 15, and the Bible reads in Romans 12 verse 15, rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. And as we talked about last week, you know what, if you lose at something, you know, don't dwell on yourself, just, you know, be kind to the person who won and rejoice with those that rejoice, right? But realize that if you win at something, realize the person's not happy that they lost. So instead of just talking about, yeah, you know, I won, I'm the best, you know, actually care about your brother or your sister in Christ. And this is very true inside of a church setting, but you should take this idea outside of church as well and be a gracious winner. Don't be obnoxious. Don't be my abon. Go to 1 Peter 3, 1 Peter 3. I still remember as a kid just ungracious winners that I came across in my life. And, you know, I don't have a lot of memories from my childhood, but I still remember those things. I remember I played on the soccer team and, you know, I was living in Bridgeport and we didn't have a lot of soccer players around the area. So you had a fall rec league, but during the springtime was the competitive travel league where you're traveling from state to state and playing and everything. But we didn't have a lot of players around the area, so we didn't have a lot of players to select for our team. And you can call me sexist all you want, but I'm just saying we had a few girls that were starting on the competitive soccer team. You're not going to beat the best teams in the state when you have some ladies on your team, right? There's obviously, and if you're offended by that, then this is just the wrong church for you. There's an obvious athletic difference between men and women. You're not going to see ladies in the NBA, right, in the WNBA, not in the NBA, right? And so we just had a limited, and I'm saying that just to say we had a limited group of players to choose from, so basically we're trying to get anybody to play, anybody to play during the fall rec league, just try to get them to play with us. When we played against this team, Huntington, that were the state champions, they beat us by 11 goals in a soccer game. But I remember it's not just that they won, but this is what their goalie did during the game. Just drinking water. It's like how rude could you possibly be? I mean, it's obvious you're going to beat us. We're just happy if we scored a goal, and it's just super arrogant, and it's like what's the purpose of that? And you know, people look at that and they think it's no big deal, like, well, you know, they won, so they get, no, I mean, that's just called being rude. It's called being prideful. You realize eventually it's going to fade, because two years later we beat that team. We got players from Buchanan and Clarksburg and Fairmont, and it's like you look real good when you win, and look how great we are, eventually those people are going to fall. Nobody's on top forever, so there's no purpose to just be arrogant when you're doing well. First Peter 3, verse 8. See, this sermon series is like therapy for me. All the ungracious winners that are, you know, etched in my mind that I'm angry about after 20-some years, right? First Peter 3, verse 8. The Bible reads. Finally, be all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Love his brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary wise blessing, knowing that ye are thereunto called that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good, let him seek peace and ensue it. Look, we stand up for the truth, we fight for the truth, but we should seek after peace in our lives. We should not be trying to get in arguments, so the things we say out of our mouth, we better be careful what we're saying. Be careful with your attitude. And look, I get it, if you win at something, you're happy. Everybody likes to win, right? Nobody likes to lose. You win, you're happy, right? But be very careful about how you present yourself after winning something. Go to John 15. John 15. John 15. And look, if you adults don't struggle with this, then, you know, praise the Lord for that, but make sure you teach your kids how to be good losers and gracious winners. Right? I mean, if your child loses at something and they start making excuses, you should stop them and say, you know, no, you know, you don't have that attitude. You lost, just admit it. It's okay to lose. And if they win at something, make sure they're not bragging about it and rubbing it in. Because I can just imagine here at our church, you know, as our kids, you know, get older at our church, you know, we've got a lot of kids at our church now in a few years, they're going to be the ones that are doing chess and table tennis and darts and everything, and I can just imagine these kids, they win, they're going to be like, yes, I'm the best. Right? We should teach our kids this at a young age so they can basically have a good attitude. Because this is not an easy thing to do. When you win, you want to tell everybody about it. Right? You want to go on Facebook and say, guess what? I won. And when you lose, you want to feel better about yourself so you want to make excuses. Right? This is just what comes naturally as people. John 15, verse 17, the Bible reads, these things I command you that you love one another, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you love the world, the world would love his own, but because you're not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hated you. Look, it's one thing if the world hates you. Right? We expect that. We expect, yes, YouTube's going to give us a strike for preaching the truth about the homosexuals. That's expected from the world. But look, if your brothers and sisters in Christ do not like you, I mean if you come to me several times and just tell me about how so and so doesn't like me, so and so doesn't like me, so and so doesn't like me, the problem is not them. The problem is you. And this sounds very basic, but look, honestly, the people who have kicked out of church, they actually had conversations like that with me, just all these people that they had problems with, but it was never their fault. Never their fault, even though half the church didn't like them. It's a lot of people keep saying I'm arrogant. I mean if everybody says you're arrogant, maybe they're not all right. I mean if somebody's coming to you and telling you that and it's happening, I mean the problem is you, you have to just face the music and realize that. I mean if every, because look, I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. I love the people at this church. And one thing that's amazing about church and about serving God, people come from very different backgrounds. I mean people came from a lot of different backgrounds before they got saved. They did a lot of different things, a lot of different interests. I mean church is a very unique thing because you go to your workplace and people have similar stories. You go to your workplace, they had the same types of jobs, the same types of careers, the same types of college classes or whatever, similar backgrounds. But in church, we come from very different backgrounds. There's people in this church where I'm just like man, if it weren't for Christianity, we probably just wouldn't have a whole lot in common because there's just not much similarity. But you love that person in Christ. I mean it's like they're your twin brother, even though you don't have a whole lot in common with them other than the fact that you want to serve God and go soloing and stand up for the truth because this is far more important than anything else. Look, make sure you don't destroy your friendships at this church. And look, if somebody has a problem with you at this church because of something you said, even if you don't think you're at fault, you know, just get things right with your brother or sister in Christ. Don't allow bitterness to creep into you or to them. It's just going to lead to bigger problems. Turn your Bible to Esther 5. There's a common expression in the U.S. I'm not really sure if it's common here, but there's always a bigger fish in the sea. And the idea is that, you know, fish will oftentimes eat smaller fish. And you got a big fish that comes along and eats like 50 fish, feels all powerful and everything, then all of a sudden he gets eaten by a bigger fish. And what I'm saying is this, maybe you are the best at a church at something. You're not the best in the world, though. Right? You might be very good compared to, you know, your peers at this church. You're not the best in the world. And what if you're really good at something, you always win, and then we get somebody saved, Al Sol winning, they start coming to our church, and they're a grandmaster or whatever, right? It's like none of us are ever winning a chess game. Right? And what I'm saying is this, no matter how good you are at something, there's always a bigger fish, there's always somebody better. You know, I remember growing up in Bridgeport, you know, I majored and started in engineering and I went to math in college, and you know, when you're majoring in engineering, it probably means you're pretty good at math, at least in your hometown. Then you get to college and you realize a lot of people are good at math. I mean, a lot of people know how to do this. A lot of people took calculus in high school. Right? A lot of people took AP exams and things like that. It's not just me, because once you major with people in a similar area, there's a lot of people that have that experience. And you realize, okay, maybe I'm not that special. I'm also studying and really trying hard to pass my exams and do a good job. When in high school, it seems so easy in those classes. Right? There's always a bigger fish in the sea. Now, notice what it says in Esther 5. Now, we talked about this last week, and I just want to drive home this point, that the sore loser and the ungracious winner are the same. And what I mean by that is everybody who's a sore loser is an ungracious winner. And everybody who's an ungracious winner is a sore loser. This is the way it works. Notice what it says in Esther 5, verse 9. Then when Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart, but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate that he stood in an upward move for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. In a small rubble, Haman is the loser against Mordecai, because Mordecai refuses to bow down to him. Now, Haman beats everybody else, but Mordecai has the upper hand on him. Verse 10, nevertheless, Haman refrained himself, and when he came home, he sent and called for his friends and Zaresh his wife. And Haman told them of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. So basically, Haman is speaking to his friends and his wife, and he's like, look at how much money I have. Look at how powerful I am. Look at how great I am. Is this the sort of person that you want to be friends with? Nobody wants to be friends with this person. He doesn't actually have any friends. And we can prove that, because later on in the story, once he gets in trouble, they're just like, you know what? He's the one who made a decision to try to kill Mordecai. They just kind of distanced themselves. You say, what? Well, I mean, the friends stick it closer than a brother, the Bible says. These are not real friends. Why are they friends with him? He's powerful. He's rich. The Bible says if you have money, you have a lot of friends. But it doesn't mean that they're real friends. It doesn't mean that they actually care about you. And why is it he doesn't have friends? Well, I mean, he that hath friends must show himself friendly. Look at how much money I have. Well, you're not really showing yourself friendly. You're saying you're more powerful than all your friends. He's literally talking to them, and he says, I'm advanced above all of the princes and servants, including you. He doesn't say, including you, but it's implied. I'm better than everybody else. This is the last person you want to be friends with in real life who always talks about himself and how great he is. Verse 12, Haman said moreover, yea, as to the queen, did let no man come in with the king under the banquet that she had prepared but myself. And tomorrow am I invited under also with the king. So once again, he says, no other man is invited to the banquet. I'm sorry, guys, you're not invited. I got invited, no other man. And he's literally speaking to his friends and saying this. Verse 13, yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. And what I'm showing you is this. We see Mordecai or Haman pouting about how he lost. We also see him bragging about how great he is. And what you're seeing is the ungracious winner and the sore loser, it's one and the same. Look, the same person that does an interview after getting knocked out and makes all of these excuses is the same person that will mock their opponent after they win. That's the way they are, right? And people say things like, well, when they win, they're really confident, but when they lose, they always respect their opponent. And then all you have to do is wait a couple days later and then all the excuses are coming out. It's not reality. The ungracious winner is also a sore loser. That's the way it works. So if you struggle with being a sore loser and you wanna make excuses when you lose, you're gonna be the same person that's obnoxious when you win as well. Turn to Proverbs chapter eight, Proverbs eight. Point number one, what's the problem with being an ungracious winner? Well, it's offensive and rude to the loser. Now, I will say this, that you know what? When I was in college, I played basketball a lot and we'd play with our friends and everything. And when you're close friends with someone, there's kind of good-natured joking, right? But you gotta be very careful with that because sometimes it can go too far. It's okay to make a few jokes and laugh about it and everything, but you gotta be very careful and sensitive and perceptive when you're starting to really annoy the person. Because you know what? I lost at basketball all the time playing my friends. You win some, you lose some, and when you lose, they make fun of you about how they hit that game-winning shot over you or whatever, and you know what? It's funny for a little while, but it's like a week later, hey, you remember that shot? It's like, dude, it's like, get over it. It's not that big of a deal, right? And it's just taken too far. So it's okay to joke about it a little bit, but it can definitely be taken too far. We gotta be very careful with that, okay? Point number one, it's offensive or rude to the loser. Point number two, why is an ungracious winner foolish? Because the prideful get brought low. So there's no point of talking about how great you are because eventually you're gonna fall and then you look like a fool. It says in Proverbs 8, verse 13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance in the evil way, and the forward mouth do I hate. Look, people that are ungracious winners and are just mocking their opponents, what it's showing is their pride, right? They wanna let everybody know, look at how great I am. I beat you, I'm better than you. By the way, it's also pride when it comes to being a sore loser. You lose at something and you gotta make that excuse because you don't want people to think that somebody's better than you or they deserve to beat you. It really comes down to pride when you're looking at sore losing and being an ungracious winner, but the Bible says God hates pride. The arrogant person, God, can't stand. And I think if we're honest, all of us to some level of degree struggle with the topic of pride. I mean, I can just say as a person that naturally in my flesh, if I'm good at something, I want people to know it. And that's the wrong attitude. I'm just saying that's just the way naturally I am. If you're good at something, you want people to know it. Right? So it's something we all need to work on. Even if you don't majorly struggle with this, I promise you, you struggle with pride to some degree. You need to be very careful about your attitude. Go to Proverbs 11, Proverbs 11. Proverbs 11. Proverbs 11, verse one. The Bible says, a false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. When pride cometh, then cometh shame, but with the lowly is wisdom. See, the Bible says when you get fearful of pride, next that's coming is shame. Next that's coming is you get brought low. You say why? Because eventually you will lose. And when you lose, everybody will rejoice because you're arrogant, you're obnoxious, and they don't want you to win. I mean, that's reality. I mean, people that are arrogant athletes that talk about how great they are, everybody's rooting for them to lose because of their attitude. I mean, fighting's the great example of this because fighters are very arrogant usually, and because it is very much a competition and a battle like we're talking about. But it's like, you know, there's these videos of these fighters that would, they're boxing, and they're a lot better than their opponent, so they put their hands behind their back. Right? And then they're just like, you know, hit me, hit me. And it's like, choo, choo, choo, right? Not like that, because I'd probably be out, right? I don't really know how to box. But there's videos like that of guys, they just put their hands behind their back, they're just mocking their opponent, then every once in a while they're just like, choo, or whatever. And it's just like, look, everybody's just waiting for that person to get knocked out. They can't stand that person. I remember many years ago, it's like, and look, I'm not advocating watching the UFC, but, you know, I used to watch the UFC back in the day, and I remember like the great champion of the UFC that was unbeatable, like the greatest ever, was Anderson Silva. Right? And I mean, he was unbeatable, and he would mock his opponents. I mean, he would just be like, woo, just dancing in the ring. And then it's, I remember watching it live, and then this guy, Chris Weidman, just knocked him out. And I literally thought he was just faking it still when he was on the ground, like he was just, it was part of the act or whatever. But that video's probably been watched a billion times, because people couldn't stand that guy. It's like, yes, you're very good. Yes, you're the best. But eventually, cometh shame. That's the way it works. Go to Proverbs 14, Proverbs 14. Proverbs 14. Proverbs 14, verse three. And you can look at so many verses on pride, I'm just showing you the verses here in Proverbs real quickly. But it says in Proverbs 14, verse three, in the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them. The Bible says that the foolish person is filled full of pride, a rod of pride. Look, you don't want that to describe your life, that you're filled full of pride. And if you are an ungracious winner that does not respect your opponents after you win, what it's showing is that you're struggling with pride. That's what it means to be an ungracious winner. You want to let everybody know how great you are, it's because you're prideful. That's what it shows. And here's what's foolish about it. If you win at something, people are gonna congratulate you, well done, right? But as you start to just talk about how great you are, what's gonna take place is the opposite where nobody's gonna congratulate you. Nobody's happy for you. Everybody's rooting against you because of your attitude. Go to Proverbs 16, Proverbs 16. Proverbs chapter 16. As I said, I don't know if this being a major issue at our church, but we do have a lot of competitions around here, I'm sure in the future it could be an issue though. Right, this is something to be reminded of, but I especially will tell you that with kids, maybe your kids are too young where you can realize this, but I learned this a while ago with my son, it's like okay, this is a real issue for kids. At a young age, they struggle with these basic things of being a good loser and being a gracious winner. Naturally, when they lose, they wanna make excuses, right? And when they win at something, they're not usually the most gracious naturally. It's something they have to be taught at a young age. Proverbs 16 verse 18. Pride, guilt before destruction and in haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoiled with the proud. Obviously verse 18 is a very popular verse. Even outside of Christianity and the Bible, people quote this all the time. Prideful person falls, they'll say pride, guilt before destruction, right? Or they'll quote it loosely correctly or whatever. But this is a very famous verse, but it's true. If you're a prideful person, look, that's gonna come before the destruction. When you win at something, great. But eventually you're gonna fall. Eventually you're gonna lose. It makes no sense to brag when you're winning because you're not gonna win forever, okay? Go to Proverbs 27, Proverbs 27. Proverbs 27. Proverbs 27 verse two. The Bible reads, let another man praise thee in not thine own mouth, a stranger in not thine own lips. And what the Bible says is, you know what, let somebody else praise you for how good you are at something. Do not praise yourself, okay? Look, we do competitions around here and somebody wins at something and people congratulate them. It's fun, everybody has a good time at everything. Nothing wrong with that. But imagine if somebody wins a competition and then they just go to our group chat and this has not happened as far as I know. And they say, hey, I just want to let everybody know, in case you missed church today, I won, right? In case you weren't sure, I'm the one who won, right? I mean, what would your reaction be? You'd be like, what is wrong with that person? I'd probably get 10 private messages. Hey, can you kick that person out of the group chat rather stucky? It's like, why are you bragging about your victory? I mean, let another person praise you. It's like, yes, you won at something, don't praise yourself though. And this is something a lot of people struggle with. You hear people that will always talk about how great they are and you just think in your head, hey, let another man praise you, right? You don't have to talk about how great you are, okay? Good Isaiah 16, Isaiah 16. And one thing you can do before you talk about how great you are at something, why not just tell everybody what you're really bad at? Right, because we're all bad at things, right? I mean, we're not good at everything. Nobody's the best at everything. There's plenty of things that you're not gonna be good at. I can just say that the last game I would ever wanna play would be Pictionary. You say, why? Because I'm terrible at that game. It's like, I can't even think in my head how to draw something. I would have to see a picture and try to copy it in my head. I would just sit there literally with a pen or a pencil for like a minute and be like, I have no idea. How do I draw a dog? I mean, I don't know. I mean, all the animals, and they would all just look like humans. You know, the face, two dots, the thing. Maybe the tail in the end might, you know, people would think it's a dog or a monkey or something. I might get somebody to pass it. I can't draw, right? I'm not good at Pictionary, right? What I'm saying is this. It's just like, we tend to wanna tell people everything that we're good at. We tend to avoid mentioning the things that we're bad at. Why don't you start with all the things that you're bad at rather than just bragging about all the things that you're good at, right? Look, let another man praise you. If you're good at something, let somebody else praise you. And here's the reality. If you're good at something, you don't have to let people know because they will know. Right? If you're good at something, people will realize it. Somebody will praise you and people will be aware you don't have to praise yourself because people are gonna find it out that you're good at something. I mean, if you're really good at something, people will be aware of it. And look, if nobody's aware of it, maybe you're not as good at it as you think, right? Maybe your skill is just not quite as high as you think. Maybe you're not the best at it, right? Go to Isaiah 16. Isaiah 16. Yeah, an example we had of someone who's at a church before, they're not here anymore, but they had like this soul-wanting event and they like told all the people, like our family are the greatest soul-winners. We can get more people saved than anybody. And it's like, well, it's funny because nobody else would have that testimony about you. Maybe you're not that good at it. And what an arrogant thing to say, right? There's one thing to brag about being good at, you know, a sport or a game or something like that. Nobody can go soul-winning like me. It's like, what in the world? Like who would say something like that? I mean, you're doing a spiritual thing and you're sitting here bragging about you and it's like, hey, just, you know, lengthen your gospel more than two minutes and you know, your numbers will come down quite a bit, right? But what I'm saying is, if you're actually really good at something, people will let you know. I mean, people will tell other people. I mean, if you are, just using that example of soul-winning, if you are really good at soul-winning and you have a really good gospel presentation, other people will tell other people like, hey, so-and-so, their gospel's really good. I learned a lot of things, it was really clear. I mean, people will say it about you. If nobody says it, maybe it's not that good. Maybe you're not that great at it. Isaiah 16, verse six. Isaiah 16, verse six. We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud, even of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath, but his lies shall not be so. Now, this is not about an individual, but I want you to think if this was about an individual and if this is what would describe you. Let's say, for example, you know, somebody is, you know, we have a lot of online listeners, and let's say, for example, you know, they come to our church or they visit our church and you meet them, you introduce yourself, and then in their mind, they're thinking, oh, I've heard of this person of being filled full of pride. Right, I've heard of the pride of Franklin, right? Or I've heard of the pride of Ronald. I've heard of the pride of, it's like, what a terrible testimony, right? It's not true with these guys, right? But I'm just saying, if that's what people would say about you, it's just like, oh, yeah, I've heard of this person. Well, I've heard of their pride, right? You know, I know this person. Yeah, they're a really prideful person. That's the one thing I know about them, right? What a terrible testimony. And look, this is reality for some people. Some people have a reputation of just being arrogant. Some people have a reputation of just having a lot of problems and a lot of problems in their characteristics and attitude that's not a good testimony. You don't want that to be described about you, right? What you want described about you is just being a humble person that loves God and everyone gets along with. That's what you want as the testimony about your life. Turn in your Bible to Daniel 4. Daniel 4. Daniel 4. Daniel chapter 4. And of course, we're going through Daniel on Sundays, but kind of, and I don't wanna get too much into this because obviously I'm gonna preach through Daniel 4 here soon. But Daniel 4 is a great example of this. You have this man, King Nebuchadnezzar, and he is literally the most powerful man in the world. More powerful than anybody else, right? And in our modern day, if you're trying to say who's the most powerful man, there's not really a consensus answer. Some people might say Joe Biden. Some people might say Vladimir Putin. Some people might say just whatever conspiracy of people that rule the world behind the scenes, the black pope and all these different things. And I don't really know, but what I'm saying is it's not a consensus. During this day, if you were to ask who's the most powerful man in the world, King Nebuchadnezzar, right? No question, he ruled the world. And notice what it says in Daniel 4, verse 30. The king spake and said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? He's talking about look at how great I am, verse 31. While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee. So here's this man who says, look at how great I am, and God's reaction, okay, well, let's just take it all away from you, right? Go to verse number 37. Verse number 37, and this is after Nebuchadnezzar gets saved and he realizes, you know, he gets humbled. He says in verse 37, now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all whose works are truth and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. So I want you to realize, at the end of the day, if you are really good at something, God gave you a natural ability to be good at it. Now I'm not saying you didn't work hard at it, but I am saying you do have a natural ability, right? See, they say this all the time to kids growing up, and I don't like this because it's just not true. They'll tell kids, you can be anything you want to be. That's a lie. You can't be anything you want to be. What do most boys want to be here in the Philippines growing up? They want to be in the NBA. They want to be a pro basketball player. Well, here's the thing, you're probably not going to be tall enough. And look, you might think I'm tall. I'm not tall enough to be in the NBA. Unless you're six feet, the chance of making it, I mean, unless you're just incredibly athletic and incredibly skilled, you're not going to make it. Right, you look at guys that are short, like, you know, Steph Curry, he's like this tall. Right, I mean, he's short compared to Shaquille O'Neal. He's not short compared to us, I mean, he's like this tall. Right, I mean, a big difference. I mean, you have to just have an amount of height just to make it. Not only that, you obviously have to have athletic ability and skill and things like that. Look, most people are not born with that sort of ability, and they can literally practice for eight hours a day. They could not become one of the best players in the world. They just don't have that ability. Now, don't misunderstand me, because people that are successful at something, they worked hard at it. Even if it's a secular thing, I'm not saying that's necessarily a good thing, but I'm saying they worked hard to get where they are, but they also have a natural ability. What I'm saying is, yeah, Nebuchadnezzar's powerful, but who's the one who gave you that opportunity? I'm sure Nebuchadnezzar was smart, but he still had opportunities to succeed. He still had an opportunity to be in power, so it makes no sense to say, look, I'm the best at something. Yeah, because God gave you an ability to be good at it. It's not like you did it in your own flesh on your own. Anything you're good at, God gave you an ability to be good at it. Go to 1 John 2, 1 John 2. I had a pastor that gave this example in a sermon one time, and the pastor was actually a false prophet, but it was a good example, so I'm still going to give the example, but he was talking about how there's this man who was like a CEO of a company, and he was like 40 stories in the air, part of this huge building, and he like owned like the whole building basically, very powerful man and everything like that, and there's a person who was like on the ground 40 stories below, and he was acting like really arrogant and prideful. They were doing some sort of game or something, and the thing is the guy on the ground looked really good to everybody around him. He's unbeatable. He can beat everybody at this, but the guy like in 40 stories in the air, to him it looked like just an ant because he was so small, and it just looks so foolish for him to be arrogant, and look how great I am and everything, and it's kind of like look, we might think we look special in the eyes of people around us, but realize God is a lot higher than 40 stories in the air. I mean when he looks down at us, we're not even an ant. We're like this little speck that's nothing. Even if you're the smartest person in the world, God looks down at us like okay, I mean I gave you that ability, and obviously you're not as smart as God, right? I mean you're nothing in the eyes of God. I mean so to be arrogant it just makes no sense. You look like a fool in the eyes of God. I mean especially as it means nothing. It's just a game. It's just a competition. First on two, verse 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. See the world does not teach you that being prideful is a bad thing, right? I mean the world will lift up prideful people. They'll interview them. They'll give them an opportunity to shine in everything. I mean if somebody's winning at sports and everything, and they're really arrogant, I mean the media doesn't care. They'll interview them, and they'll love that person while they're successful, and then when they fall they'll forget about it, right? The world does not teach being prideful is a bad thing, but you know what? The Bible teaches prideful is a wicked thing to be filled full of pride. Go to Proverbs 29, Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29. And the reality is if you're a prideful person, you're not gonna be able to hide it. You say why? Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth's speaking. You just can't help but talk about yourself. You just can't help but talk about how great you are. I mean if you're a prideful person, you're not gonna be able to hide it. If you're an ungracious winner or a sore loser, you won't be able to hide it. It's gonna come out. You're gonna do the best you can to not make it obvious and everything, but it's just gonna kind of come out because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth's speaking. Point number one, the problem with being an ungracious winner is it's rude and offensive to the person who lost or the people that lost. Number two, the prideful get brought low. Number three, which is the same as last week, if you are an ungracious winner, it will prevent you from getting better at something. And let me show this to you in Proverbs 29 verse 23. Proverbs 29 verse 23. A man's pride shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. See the Bible says someone who's prideful, the pride will actually bring somebody low, right? If you're a prideful person and an ungracious winner, that's actually gonna cause you to get lifted up and think you're unbeatable, and then that's when you're gonna fall. Let's say if you have the attitude of respecting your opponent and realizing you could've lost, things went your way, you're gonna keep trying to improve to get better because you don't wanna lose. But if you're an arrogant person who thinks you're unbeatable, an ungracious winner, look, your pride is gonna bring you low. And eventually a bigger fish comes along, or eventually other people train and get better at something, eventually they're gonna be better than you. Turn to 1 Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians 10, 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12. The Bible reads, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Now, obviously the main application you'd make for this is with sin. If you think that you're basically untouchable and you'll never sin, don't put yourself in a situation where you could end up committing a major sin or doing something wrong. Make no provision for the flesh. But you could still apply this to competition as well. And if you think you're unbeatable and you'll never lose and you're better than everybody else, well, take heed lest you fall. I mean, eventually you're gonna fall. Eventually you're gonna lose. You're not gonna be the best forever. You need to realize, hey, I'm also capable of losing. I need to keep getting better at something if I wanna keep winning. Go to Acts 2, Acts 2, Acts chapter 2. See, point number one is it's rude or offensive to the loser. Point number two, the pipe will get brought low. Point number three, the problem with this is it prevents you from improving. So, in conclusion to the series, you might ask this question, well, why do we even have competition if there's all these problems associated? Okay, well, first off, our lives are filled full of competition, right? We talked about that in the introductory sermon. Our lives are filled full of competition. I mean, you apply for colleges, you're competing against other people. You're competing for scholarships. You wanna get better grades and win those scholarships, you're competing. You apply for jobs, you're not the only one applying for that job. You're competing against other people, right? Competition is part of our lives. I mean, serving God, we're competing, right? Not competing against each other, but we're competing against our own flesh to try to walk in the Spirit and deny our flesh. Look, competition is part of our lives. It doesn't really make sense to try to just completely avoid competition because it's part of our lives. You can't avoid it. But as I said during the first sermon, there's this mentality where basically everybody gets a trophy, everybody gets the same prize. It doesn't make sense because that's not the way it works in the real world. If 100 people apply for one job, they don't get 1% of that job. One person gets the job. There's one winner. There's not 100 winners. When we do competitions around here, usually we have one person win, they get a reward, nobody else does. You say, why? Because one person gets the prize, right? That's what the Bible says. That's the way competition works. So what's the purpose of having competition? Well, I mean, here's the purpose of having competition. Number one, it's fun, right? Competition is fun. Doing games, it's fun, right? I mean, I love competing, right? We play games around here. You know, last week I played chess, I played table tennis, it's fun. It's fun to compete, okay? Anyway, what it does, it's actually a good source of fellowship. Notice what it says in Acts 2, Acts 2, verse 41. Acts 2, verse 41. Acts 2, verse 41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized in the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls. So in Acts 2, 41, it tells us that 3,000 people got both saved and baptized, okay? Now, probably a lot more than 3,000 got saved, but 3,000 gladly received his word, and the proof was that they got baptized. Obviously, you don't have to be baptized to be saved, but if you really love God, then you're gonna follow in that step. Verse 42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. And the Bible mentions they continued, and one of the things it mentions is doctrine. Look, doctrine matters. And to a lot of churches, doctrine means nothing. It's like, believe whatever you want. I mean, you believe in eternal security, I don't. Ah, no big deal, we both believe in Christ, right? We got like 55 different Bibles in church, but it's okay. I've been a part of church where the pastor has read from like six different Bibles in one sermon. It's confusing. It's weird. Doctrine matters. What we believe matters. And look, the primary reason why most people come to this church is because of what we teach, what we believe. Now, look, I hope this isn't the case, but if you think I'm an obnoxious jerk or whatever, you're still probably gonna attend because of the doctrine. Right, I mean, you're here because you believe in salvation by grace through faith, and not only the doctrine, but you believe in soul winning. Now, here's a church that's going out, winning souls, and doing something for God. Look, doctrine and what we stand for matters, but that's not the only thing that matters. It also mentions doctrine and fellowship. Fellowship is actually a very important thing. Look, churches should facilitate some fellowship at the church. One of the things it mentions here is in breaking a bread. Well, what's that referring to? It's referring to just having lunch together, having a meal together. One of the best things we've done to help our church grow is just people bring their lunch and they just eat at church. Very basic, nothing major, but I will say this. The way I know that someone really wants to get on board with our church, the way I can determine that is when they start eating lunch with the members of the church. That's the way I know. That's when they really wanna get on board. You say, why? Because they're developing friendships, they're getting to know people, they're talking about things. That is always what happens when somebody's new and they wanna get on board. Once they start just with the fellowship, that's really when they get on board with stuff. One reason I like to have games in competition is I believe it brings people together. It gives hobbies that we have in common. I mean, I think it's great that we're able to do a lot of things at this church. I mean, you're welcome after church, after sowing everything, you can set up the darts, you can set up the table tennis, set up the chess boards. We got other games. It's fun. It helps with fellowship. It helps you connect with people and be friends with people. Now look, we're not forsaking the preaching and the sowing for games. That would be a problem. But at the same time, realistically we're not gonna live our lives 24-7 just sowing, prayer, Bible reading. It's actually okay to just have fun and fellowship together. Anyway, games and competition are a good way to do that. It's a good way to bring people together as long as there's no sore losers and ungracious winners. Because that's when you start having problems. That's when you break up the unity of the church and it goes from being a good thing to a bad thing. Verse 47. Verse 47, praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added the church daily, such as should be saved. Look, the people that really got on board with church, they believed in the doctrine and they got involved in the fellowship. Both of those things. Both of those things are very important. Turn to one last place. Turn to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4. Ephesians chapter 4, verse number 11. Ephesians 4, verse 11. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now the body of Christ is in reference to a local church. So for example, this church, Verity Baptist Church Manila is a local body of Christ. Now one of the key things about a body is a body, the parts need to be together, right? This is a different church than Verity Baptist Church Pampanga. It's a different church than Verity Baptist Church Bicol. Now of course there is some level of connection between them, people know each other and things such as that, but they are different churches though, right? The church that we had yesterday, I mean, none of you are apart, except me, my wife, my family with Verity Baptist Church Pampanga, right? It's a different body. We have this individual body of Christ and look, it's important for this body to be connected. Just as your body needs to be together, the members of a church need to be together and connected and united as well. It says here in verse number 13, so we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Then in verse 16 it says, from whom the whole body fitly joined together. So the Bible speaks about being united, being fitly joined together. Look, I think this is an underrated aspect of a successful church, just being united together. Just being on board and together as one as a church. One reason why we have very clear doctrine is the doctrine actually unites us when we have very clear doctrine. Now of course you don't have to believe every single thing I say, but there are certain key things, certain key doctrines that are non-negotiable. Certain things where it's just like if they teach something else, it's just like it's completely different than what we teach. And look, we allow people to be at our church that believe different things, but if you're spreading around some other doctrine against what our church says, it's like that's not acceptable. I mean, imagine if somebody came in and said, well, let me explain to you just another way to look at eternal security. We're eternally secure because we persevere as saints. It's like, you know, get out of here. I mean, I'd probably be more sympathetic to, I mean, Calvinists, I'm less sympathetic than anybody too, right? There's no doctrine that annoys me more than that and everything. We need to be united as a church. And look, if people are teaching different things, how can you be united? If people in the church are arguing about different things, you're not gonna be united. But that's with doctrine. Same thing with fellowship as well. If we have fellowship events, and all of a sudden there's all these problems and people fighting and getting mad at one another because they lost or they won and they're upset about it, you know, it's actually gonna destroy the unity of the church. We're not gonna be united together as one. Look, this might seem like a very basic thing. And look, I preach all manner of sermons, right? And we just got a strike from me preaching about the truth about the homosexuals. You say, Brother Stuckey, this is not hardcore enough. We can only afford one strike at a time, okay? But it's very basic, but we do have a lot of competition around here. We need to make sure that it's a good source of fellowship and it doesn't lead to problems. You say, how do you do that? Well, if you win at something, be a gracious winner. Congratulate the other people. You know, you played a good game. And look, realistically, like when I used to play soccer, the protocol, as I said, was you go through the line and say, good game, good game. Sometimes it felt awkward because every once in a while, you really beat the opponent really bad. And it felt kind of weird, you know, playing, like we played a team in high school and they were a very new team. They didn't have many players. We won, I think it was 21 to one, okay? It was a blowout. And it felt weird going through the line saying good game and good game because, you know. But what I'm saying is to the best of your ability, if you win at something, even if you win by a lot, you know, just try to be respectful and everything. Don't lift yourself up. And if you lose at something, just congratulate the person who won. It's not complicated, but if we don't apply this, it will destroy the unity of our church. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today. And I ask you to continue to bless our church. Help us to be united as a church and help us to have strong unity. Help us have great fellowship. Help us not to be sore losers. And help us learn to be gracious winners, God. And help us to teach this to our children. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.