1 00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:04,800 It's certainly good to be here this morning with all of you and 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:08,039 as was mentioned we have visitors and we're so thankful 3 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:09,760 for your presence here this morning and. 4 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:14,040 I pray that something that can be said this morning that is 5 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:18,160 beneficial and edifying to the body of Christ and may help us 6 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:24,760 out in our daily lives this. Lesson I put together for me. 7 00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:30,000 This is something that I needed that over the past few weeks 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:34,720 noticed that there's things in my life, and maybe in your life, 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,960 that tends to consume us sometimes and overtake our 10 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,000 thoughts and our emotions or whatever. 11 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:48,680 It may be, and I'd never heard of a a a sermon on sports in and 12 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:50,880 of itself. So I started looking. 13 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:52,920 I started looking for a an outline. 14 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:56,960 And I found one that would that really, really helped me. 15 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:02,920 We're going to be studying in First Corinthians 10 and in 16 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:05,600 First Corinthians 10, so before 1st Corinthians 10. 17 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:11,720 Of course, we have chapters 8989 and in 10 specifically, it 18 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:17,920 revolves around the theme of idolatry and and how the 19 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,160 Corinthian church was to follow Christ in a culture that was 20 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:25,600 full of idols at that time. And that tendency for us, if 21 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:30,480 we're not careful, that tendency that that we can feel, you know, 22 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,600 maybe we we have that tendency today that to have idols around 23 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:35,000 us that we don't even know about. 24 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:37,960 You know, the meat that we buy at the grocery store is not 25 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:41,480 likely to have been offered to as worship up to some wooden 26 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,120 statues like it was back in the 1st century in Corinth. 27 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:47,400 So what does that, what does that mean for us? 28 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:52,720 Does that have an application for us today as far as idols? 29 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:59,720 There may not be, of course, wooden statues that we see or or 30 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:05,040 come across or golden figures around us, but our, you know, 31 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:08,440 our culture is filled with idols and it uses kind of the language 32 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:12,240 we see in Ezekiel 14. Our hearts are drawn to idols, 33 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:15,640 every one of us. The more thought about the 34 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:18,440 application, this text, the idols that stay, the more I 35 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:23,760 realized, you know, that I'd never heard a sermon on sports, 36 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:28,680 a sermon that equips us as Christians with what God says 37 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:33,080 about these types of things. It's a huge part of our culture, 38 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:37,600 in our lives. So I want us to see, does it? 39 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:42,120 Does having being a Christian have any unique effect on the 40 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:46,720 way that we approach sports today and how that transforms? 41 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:48,760 Of course, the way we view it as well? 42 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,960 Now, before we really get diving into the sports, I want to 43 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:59,000 quickly kind of summarize what is in First Corinthians 8 44 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,960 through 10. Quick summary, There's a clear 45 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:04,960 command that lies at the heart of these three chapters, and 46 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:09,200 it's summed up in chapters 10 in chapter 10, verse 14. 47 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:15,080 Paul said there, therefore, my beloved flee from idolatry. 48 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:18,400 So we see these three words, flee from idolatry. 49 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:21,520 And that is the central command of these three chapters. 50 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,760 Flee idolatry. Run from it just as you run 51 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:27,880 away. As we've been seeing before in 52 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,680 in some of the studies, you run away from sexual temptation. 53 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:35,160 You run. You flee at any hint of idolatry 54 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:36,480 from it. You don't flirt with it. 55 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,520 You don't play from it. And then of course then we see 56 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:44,200 in verse 14 that flee from idolatry. 57 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:49,400 And Paul gives 2 primary reasons why we must flee from idolatry. 58 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:54,160 #1 is because idolatry is inconsistent with the teachings 59 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,440 of the Bible. Paul starts talking about the 60 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:01,280 Lord's Supper, which is a a poignant illustration because he 61 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:03,600 was addressing the matter of foods that had been sacrificed 62 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:05,640 to idols. And what Paul said is that it 63 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,960 makes no sense for us to participate in this item of 64 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:14,160 worship that will partake in here in a little bit that 65 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:16,839 symbolizes Christ's body in the blood in the New Covenant and 66 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:21,680 then go into the world and in our lives, in our everyday life, 67 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:24,760 identify with something differently throughout the rest 68 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:26,840 of the week. It's inconsistent with what the 69 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:29,800 Bible teaches. We've been saved to worship God, 70 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:33,720 not to worship idols. And then the Christian 71 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:35,640 Corinthians were doing what they were. 72 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,400 They were doing what sometimes we tend to do in this room if we 73 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:43,640 look at this as just a. Ritual that we go through once a 74 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:46,720 week and then the rest of the week we go throughout it just. 75 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,160 Forgetting what we've done Sunday morning and throughout 76 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:54,120 the rest of the week and and that is very, very dangerous. 77 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,160 And Paul says we cannot have that kind of idolatry. 78 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,360 It's completely inconsistent with the gospel and is actually 79 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,920 an offense to to God. The severity of this text. 80 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,160 It comes to the head in verse 21 and 22 where we see that worship 81 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,960 of various idols is actually a worship of demons. 82 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:17,600 It says in First Corinthians 10/21, you cannot drink the cup 83 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:19,440 of the Lord and the cup of demons. 84 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:22,200 You cannot partake at the table of the Lord and the. 85 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:26,120 Table of demons. In other words, you can't turn 86 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:31,040 aside from the worship of God and worship demons and the 87 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:35,240 worship of demons. And then verse 22, it says shall 88 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,600 we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? 89 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:43,120 We need to understand that idolatry is extremely serious. 90 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:46,560 Even though it's rare to talk about sports. 91 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:51,360 I want to make it clear that God will have no competition in this 92 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:52,640 world. None. 93 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:55,960 He alone is holy. He alone is worthy. 94 00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:00,000 He alone is glorious and he alone is a God and and. 95 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,600 He. Everything is for him that we 96 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:08,440 do, and he is worthy of that praise. 97 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,600 So flee and run from idolatry. Run from it. 98 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,480 Now this command of what not to do, of course that we see to 99 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:19,760 flee from idolatry so don't worship idols, is then followed 100 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:26,680 by the text in verse 23 through 30 on what to do, Expectation of 101 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:30,200 what to do. Paul summarizes all these things 102 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:32,600 that he already said in chapters 8-9 and ten, and then he comes 103 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:35,480 to a conclusion in verse 31 of chapter 10 where it says so 104 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:41,360 whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the 105 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:44,600 glory of God. That is an all-encompassing, 106 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:48,320 consuming expectation that. Whatever you do, whatever, 107 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:55,200 whatever covers everything, whatever we do, do it for the 108 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:59,560 glory of God, Flee from idolatry in all of its forms, and then 109 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:01,720 glorify God in every facet of our lives. 110 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:06,600 Not to bring. We don't do it, of course, to 111 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:10,200 bring demons glory, not to draw attention to anything like like 112 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,200 it is a God, but instead to live and eat, drink, breathe, sleep, 113 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:17,000 work, play. Whatever we do, do it all to 114 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:24,000 draw attention to God, to give glory to God, and then to 115 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,760 connect this with everything else Paul's talked about here. 116 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:28,920 He helps the Corinthian Christians see how they can 117 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:32,280 glorify God. So how do we glorify God? 118 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:36,840 And Paul says to them, we will glorify God when we live for the 119 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:40,560 good of others. The whole point of the 120 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,880 discussion about food sacrifices in the previous chapters to 121 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,280 idols that leads up to this chapter, Chapter nine, was to 122 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:52,160 say you do what is best to do what is beneficial for the 123 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:55,480 building up of others. Whatever you do, make sure 124 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:57,200 you're building up somebody else around you. 125 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,440 Right after. In verse 32, he says give no 126 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:06,520 offense to Jews or to Greeks or or the Church of God. 127 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,800 Just as I tried to please everyone and everything I do not 128 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:14,280 seeking my own advantage but that of many but that of many, 129 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:18,400 that they may be saved, Paul said. 130 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,040 I'm laying down my life for the good of others, specifically 131 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:24,920 those in the church. In the very next verse, Chapter 132 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:30,440 11, verse one, it says imitate me just as I also imitate 133 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:33,799 Christ. That's Paul's desire. 134 00:08:33,799 --> 00:08:39,159 That's his desire to show others how to follow Christ. 135 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:42,240 He wants us to serve those in the church, but obviously not 136 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:46,240 just those in the church. Paul wants us to live with the 137 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,040 good of those that are around us. 138 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:50,320 You know that we come in contact with, you know, we're living for 139 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,840 everybody, not for ourselves. That was the whole point. 140 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:57,840 At the end of Chapter 9, I become all things to all people 141 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:00,440 that by all means that might be saved. 142 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:04,240 They make me saved. And then he says in verse 33 143 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:07,360 here, the purpose for which you were on the We're basically born 144 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:10,520 for what we're doing to enjoy God, to glorify God and spread 145 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,400 the gospel wherever we are and whatever we do. 146 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:19,400 And the beauty is to follow this living like like this is laying 147 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,480 down our lives for the glory of God by serving one another in 148 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:26,400 the church, by leading others to to Christ, we glorify God in 149 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,720 those actions that we do. Paul's whole point is to show 150 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:35,120 the Corinthians that this is where true life is found, joy is 151 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:39,240 found, meaning and meaning is found, and satisfaction is found 152 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:42,640 in focusing every single detail on our lives and living to the 153 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:47,680 glory of God by laying down our lives to serve others in Christ 154 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:53,360 and to lead others to Christ. So the the the point of First 155 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:59,120 Corinthians 8-9 and 10 is to flee every single point, every 156 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:02,280 single hint of hydrology that may be in our lives. 157 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:07,040 So, and everything you do, including including how you eat, 158 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:10,280 drink, do it all for the glory of God. 159 00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:17,680 So how do we watch and play sports to the glory of God? 160 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:22,320 How do we do that? First Corinthians 10, verse 31. 161 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:26,320 Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, whether we eat 162 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:29,320 or drink or play sports or watch sports, how do we do that? 163 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,880 For the glory of God, specifically, in our culture 164 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:39,560 that idolizes sports in a all consuming. 165 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:42,240 Way. How do we do that? 166 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:45,760 Listen to this illustration I came across. 167 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:49,840 Some of you may understand where this is coming from, some may, 168 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:52,920 you may not. But this is an illustration set 169 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:58,320 in Birmingham, AL. Imagine for a moment that you 170 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:02,200 live in another country, one completely foreign to this one, 171 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:06,040 and you have an opportunity, one fall, to spend a week in 172 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:10,480 Birmingham to come on a Sunday morning, and you observe many 173 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,800 people, maybe even most, slowly rising to make their way to a 174 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:18,400 building they call a church. They groggily approach that 175 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:20,160 building for some sort of ceremony. 176 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:23,920 Clearly whatever happens after at the beginning of that 177 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:26,960 ceremony is not particularly important because most of the 178 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:29,000 people don't come in till after it started. 179 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:33,280 And so you watch them fall in and begin to mouth the words to 180 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:37,480 a song, many of them almost expressionless, virtually 181 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:40,480 emotionless, after which they sit down and passively listen to 182 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:43,880 someone, talk to them for a time, a period, a period of 183 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:46,720 time. You notice people start to get a 184 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:50,520 bit fidgety, uneasy at that time for the ceremony to end 185 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:52,200 approaches and it's finally. Over. 186 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:56,360 They will quickly walk out, but as you walk with them, you 187 00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:00,600 listen to them and you hear many of them talking about something 188 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:02,640 else. They're talking to each other 189 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:04,880 about something that happened maybe the previous day. 190 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:10,400 They smile and they laugh as they recount another ceremony 191 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:13,360 that they've been to, apparently a bit more interesting than this 192 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:15,400 one. A ceremony that happens 193 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:18,720 apparently on Saturdays. In fact, the rest of the week, 194 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:23,080 they almost all hear people talking about this ceremony that 195 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:24,680 may be coming the following Saturday. 196 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:29,160 Even the people who were at the Sunday ceremony are strangely 197 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:32,160 silent about what they heard and sing about. 198 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,560 They're very enthusiastic about the Saturday and they can't seem 199 00:12:36,560 --> 00:12:39,480 to get here soon enough for that weekend. 200 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:44,800 So as you curiously your curiosity is piqued, you begin 201 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:49,120 to eagerly anticipate the coming Saturday ceremony with them, 202 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:50,920 that that then that Saturday comes. 203 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,200 Usually people wake up and leave their houses dressed in some 204 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,160 sort of outfit that they love to wear for these type of days, 205 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,840 maybe even drive out of the city, some in our W others a 206 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:03,920 couple hours South where they gathered together what they 207 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:07,560 called hallowed grounds for the Saturday ceremony. 208 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,560 They get there early for this ceremony, way early, where they 209 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:15,400 eat, drink and laugh and play not just with their family or 210 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:17,560 friends, but with couple complete strangers. 211 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:19,400 You've never seen a community like. 212 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:23,320 This and when it comes, when the time comes, they, all 10s of 213 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:26,440 thousands of them, enter a shrine together. 214 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:30,160 You can't think of another word for it, where they raise their 215 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:33,160 voices with passion to applaud some sort of assembly of 216 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:36,040 children they don't know. They play a game on a field. 217 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:39,360 As that begins, they shout and chant and sing until they 218 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:42,680 virtually lose their voices with far more passion than the 219 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:46,520 previous Sunday's ceremony. For sure, people don't look at 220 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:49,800 their watches at this ceremony. They're so engulfed with that 221 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:52,960 what they've seen because and experience and they actually get 222 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:55,520 excited when it comes, when it goes and what they call 223 00:13:56,120 --> 00:14:03,120 overtime, because going long in this time is a really exciting 224 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:04,360 game. That's what it means. 225 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:07,200 And the fun doesn't end after the ceremony is over anyway. 226 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:10,840 When the boys and everybody has cheering for the for when the 227 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:13,600 game and the celebration. When that is done, the boys come 228 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:15,200 out the celebration. Has only begun. 229 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,480 And the amazing thing is that it's not just the people who are 230 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:22,160 at the ceremony who are celebrating. 231 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:26,480 We've come to find out that back at in Birmingham, at home, 232 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:29,560 hundreds of 10s of thousands and thousands of other who couldn't 233 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:33,120 get there, stayed at home and watch this game on what they 234 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:35,760 call ATV. Though many of them are large 235 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:38,960 enough to be virtual movie screens, they're actually 236 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:42,240 designed that way to make the most of watching ceremonies like 237 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:44,640 this. And back in Birmingham, scores 238 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:46,760 of people have circled up together around their screens to 239 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:49,880 be part of the ceremony. From a distance, they too in 240 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:52,520 their homes are jumping up and down and high fiving each other, 241 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:55,320 celebrating the ceremony when it's over and when it's all 242 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:57,160 over. Late in the evening, almost. 243 00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:59,160 If there's nothing to prepare, be prepared. 244 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:01,120 For the next day, they go to bed. 245 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:06,400 So let's ask the question if. We were that. 246 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:10,600 Visitor from another country. And you came. 247 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:14,640 Into the city on this week during the fall, Which would you 248 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:18,440 identify as the religion that is most important to those? 249 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:22,280 People. As the religion that most 250 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:25,120 excites this people, as a religion that most consumes this 251 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:29,600 people, listen, we live. In a land. 252 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:33,880 Where sports war for our attention and our affections and 253 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:36,880 our devotion and our time and our money. 254 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:41,160 And it's not just college football that we just went over. 255 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:45,120 That's a glaring example. There are upcoming games today 256 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:49,080 and following weeks in the NFL. That many. 257 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:53,880 Feel are extremely important. All the professional sports as 258 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:57,200 well and children's sports, playing sports, watching sports 259 00:15:57,200 --> 00:15:59,720 and running, running our kids all over the city into the 260 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:01,960 state. And for the sake of sports, 261 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:06,400 whether it's football or golf, basketball, baseball, soccer, 262 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:09,160 CrossFit, running, biking, swimming, gymnastics, 263 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:12,680 cheerleading, or any number of athletic activities to which we 264 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:16,520 devote. So much time and our lives too, 265 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:22,960 and our families lives too. If we're not careful, we will be 266 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:27,000 too far removed from the church. We will not be too far removed 267 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,600 from the church in court. So we need to be careful. 268 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,240 We land. We're in a land that's covered 269 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:38,640 with church buildings and and filled with profession 270 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:41,480 Christians and and we are tempted every single week. 271 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,960 You know, we come here, we commute on Sundays only to dine 272 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:49,000 with idols every other day of the week. 273 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:54,440 And we must consider how to flee idolatry and to live every 274 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:57,960 single moment here in Bakersfield to the glory, God, 275 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:00,240 whatever we are doing. So what I want to do is I want 276 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,040 to look at some biblical foundations that affect the way 277 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:05,839 we view and understand God and the sports and idols in our 278 00:17:05,839 --> 00:17:08,000 lives. And then from there I want to 279 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:13,079 challenge us to do some personal examination in our own life. 280 00:17:13,079 --> 00:17:15,160 I want to, I want us to. I want to put some questions 281 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:20,400 before ourselves in some areas that we can examine, that we are 282 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:23,680 all to see if we're giving these emotions and all this attention 283 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:27,000 to to sports or something else that should really only be 284 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:32,080 reserved for God. I want to look at some biblical 285 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:35,920 foundations and I want to go through some practical 286 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:38,640 application just based on scripture to help us think or go 287 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,520 through OK, whether we eat or drink or play or whatever we do. 288 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:44,480 How do I play sports? If I don't play sports, I watch 289 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:46,800 sports. Is there a way that I can do 290 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:50,720 this for the glory of God? So the first biblical foundation 291 00:17:52,120 --> 00:17:58,040 sports are a good gift from a gracious God-given to us for the 292 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,400 glory of God. In First Corinthians 8 to 10, 293 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:04,760 especially in chapter 10, Paul's talking about how food is a gift 294 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:10,800 from a gracious God. Food is that gift from him given 295 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:12,720 to us for the glory of God. And he talks about how 296 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:18,640 everything God gives us is good and intended for God's glory. 297 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:22,160 The fact that we see in verse 26 He quotes from Psalms 24. 298 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:25,520 He says the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness. 299 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,280 And that's a prayer that would often have been prayed in 300 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:32,040 Judaism before a meal to acknowledge all his all the good 301 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:36,600 gifts that we that they had. So food is a good gift from a 302 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:39,000 gracious God-given to us for his glory. 303 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:41,920 So food is not bad enough itself. 304 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:44,760 Of course we know that. But the point was, it could be 305 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:49,520 used for the glory of God or it could be used in the worship of 306 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:54,000 idols. So similarly sports are not bad 307 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:58,240 in and of themselves on the you know, we we could argue On the 308 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,200 contrary, you know, sports, rest, recreation, have been 309 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:05,800 created by God for our good, for our enjoyment and for God's 310 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:12,640 glory and our enjoyment of them. God is God over everything, and 311 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:14,840 that includes some things that we may not think are so 312 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:16,880 insignificant. You know, everything that's good 313 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:18,560 is good because God made it good. 314 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:22,800 We need to understand that and everything and every good thing 315 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:26,200 is evidence of his grace towards us because we deserve nothing 316 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:28,920 good from His hand, because we are sinful people. 317 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:34,080 Yet God is gracious enough to give us those things and it's 318 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:35,720 given to us for the glory of His name. 319 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:39,760 Sports is a good gift from a gracious God-given to us for the 320 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:43,120 glory of God. But as soon as we introduce our 321 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:51,280 humanity, our our sinful ways, if you want to say, things get 322 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:55,680 very complicated, because the human heart tends to have to 323 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:59,560 take these good things and begin to worship and serve them 324 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:04,240 instead of the Creator who gave them to us in the first place. 325 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:09,680 In Romans one we see that God gave them over to sin where they 326 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,600 exchange the truth of God for the lie and they worship and 327 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:16,480 served created things rather than the creator who is forever 328 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:17,720 praised. And this is huge. 329 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:20,680 When we think of sin, we usually think of, you know, we think of 330 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:23,960 doing bad things like lying or stealing, cheating, whatever it 331 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:28,440 may be, and that is sin. Absolutely, those are sin. 332 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,680 But according to Romans chapter one, there's something a little 333 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:34,120 deeper here. Sin is not just doing bad 334 00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:37,560 things. According to Romans, one sin 335 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:42,000 includes taking that which is good and turning it into an idol 336 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:48,640 of worship. When you read Romans one, you 337 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:50,680 realize that this is a fundamental problem. 338 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:52,760 Problem. We turn good things into gods 339 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,800 that we worship and serve instead of the God who gave us 340 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:58,360 the good things in the 1st place. 341 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:00,320 And when you begin to realize the number of good things that 342 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:03,840 become can become a God, an idol in the human heart, we take 343 00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:06,040 things like. Love or material possessions or 344 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:09,520 a career work. All these things are good 345 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:12,560 things. But when our heart begins to be 346 00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:16,320 consumed by them, we begin to center around them, thinking 347 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:19,560 that this is where our joy or our fulfillment is. 348 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,840 This is what we are. Our identity is in our work. 349 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,840 Our identity is in our team, our identity, and is in whatever it 350 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:30,080 may be. That's where the problem lies. 351 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:36,600 And we start to slowly pursue these things instead of pursuing 352 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:37,920 God. And this is where we realize, 353 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:40,720 you know, when we think about idols, even idols in our culture 354 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,000 today, our mind. Immediately starts beginning of 355 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:46,840 thinking of bad things or bad idols, when in reality that 356 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,720 really is not really the case if we think about it. 357 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:54,360 Secondly, good things can become idols. 358 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:58,240 The reason things become idols in our lives, in our culture, is 359 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:00,880 because really they're really good things. 360 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:04,480 Are they not? You know the reason. 361 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,040 In fact, the more good they are, the greater. 362 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:09,640 They are. The more likely were to look at 363 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:15,400 them instead of looking at God. It's important for us to realize 364 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:17,480 this. Think about beauty. 365 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:22,200 Is beauty a bad thing? No beauty is a good. 366 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:24,720 Thing, but we turn it into a God. 367 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,360 We become a become a culture that agonizes of what we look 368 00:22:28,360 --> 00:22:31,120 like, what we spend spending all kinds of money, all kinds of 369 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:33,360 time, working out and eating right and wearing certain 370 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:36,160 clothes, even convincing ourselves that we look a certain 371 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:38,000 way. That we'll become happy. 372 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,000 None of these things are bad enough themselves. 373 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:43,640 Understand that working out, eating right, wearing clothes, 374 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,120 beauty itself, those are all good things. 375 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:49,120 But we tend to take the good things and turn them into the 376 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:53,800 ultimate things that captivate us and consume us almost. 377 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:56,720 Unknowingly. And then they'll control us and 378 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,640 and when we. We absolutely do sin when we 379 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:04,800 take sports, which is a good thing, and we turn it into a God 380 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,600 and an ultimate thing that captivates and consumes. 381 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,040 And and unknowingly begins to control us. 382 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:17,360 The real danger is here that good gifts make lousy gods. 383 00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:20,840 That's the next point. Good gifts make lousy gods. 384 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:27,640 Created things were never intended to provide the meaning 385 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:32,080 or identity or ultimate satisfaction of unending joy 386 00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:37,240 that we can only find in God. That was never the intent. 387 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:39,480 Of created things. Listen. 388 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:46,280 Idols always disappoint. Idols always disappoint. 389 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:49,600 Any honest person who has put energy or time or money and 390 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:51,800 affection or devotion towards sports. 391 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,320 Know that the sports act as an idol. 392 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:58,640 Will let you down. Listen to this. 393 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:02,720 Testimony from a man who has tasted everything that sports 394 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:08,880 has had to offer Tom Brady. Winner of seven Super Bowl rings 395 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:14,120 making multi $1,000,000, married to a supermodel. 396 00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:16,560 Lives in a mansion. When you name it, this guy has 397 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:20,480 achieved it in the NFL. Listen to what he said. 398 00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:29,680 Having an MVPMVP season? Undefeated in this season going 399 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:30,560 into the Super. Bowl. 400 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:35,880 He sat down and he had a an interview with 60 Minutes during 401 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,160 this season. This is what he said and I 402 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:43,800 quote, you can look this up, he said, why do I have 3 Super Bowl 403 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:45,160 rings? This was that time he only had 404 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:47,520 three. Why do I have 3 Super Bowl rings 405 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,720 and still think there's something greater out there for 406 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:55,120 me? The interview and interviewer 407 00:24:55,120 --> 00:24:57,360 asked him, well what's the answer then? 408 00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:02,120 What do you think that is? And he said, I wish I only knew 409 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:10,040 all the things that this guy has achieved, all the all the the 410 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:14,040 championships, all the rings, everything. 411 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,760 If he created that as an idol, it was not satisfactory to him. 412 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:27,120 If Tom Brady only knew how close he was to understanding what God 413 00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:30,240 can provide for him, could you imagine that? 414 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:33,480 Idols always, inevitably disappoint. 415 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,680 Far more serious, far more seriously. 416 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:42,280 They ultimately destroy. Satisfaction is to be found in 417 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:46,120 God himself, the giver of all the good gifts, gifts. 418 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:49,520 The Bible says, examine yourself, test yourself. 419 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,520 Examine our lives to see if there's any hint of idolatry in 420 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,960 in when it comes to sports, or anything that may be. 421 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:01,080 Becoming an idol. First of all, examine our heart. 422 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:06,280 I'm sure there's a lot of people in here today who said, you 423 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:08,760 know, I don't, this is not a problem in my life. 424 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:11,080 You know that I don't worship sports. 425 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,600 But you know, let's let's look at our lives and let's ask 426 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,280 ourselves a question. Is there anything else in my 427 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:21,880 heart that I'm living for, consumed with, focused on in a 428 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,760 way that should only be reserved for God? 429 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,120 Anything. Is there any hint of idolatry in 430 00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:32,600 my heart and life? And and and and I'm tempted to 431 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:34,520 go towards or have it consume me. 432 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:40,200 Some of you in here could. Could care less about sports. 433 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:42,960 You don't like sports. You don't watching or playing or 434 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:43,880 whatever. You want nothing. 435 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,320 To do with sports, but let me not to let me. 436 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:48,480 Encourage you to not sit back. Maybe a little. 437 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:53,720 Prideful over your lack of worship of sports, however, is 438 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,600 there. Anything in your lives? 439 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,040 That has a hold of your heart, your mind. 440 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:02,000 Like we're talking about here. We're sports. 441 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,480 So let's examine our heart. Remember, this is the 1st and 442 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:07,800 fundamental commandment that we've seen from Jesus. 443 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,480 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and 444 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:13,840 on your all your mind to examine your heart. 445 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:18,440 And is it set on sports in a way that may be unhealthy? 446 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:23,400 Maybe another way to ask this question, or a better way to 447 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,480 think through this, is a personal examination. 448 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:31,360 If if somebody wants to look at your life in a way, how would 449 00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:33,640 they? How would they perceive you? 450 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,480 What would they think that is most important to you? 451 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:40,680 What would they know as your priorities? 452 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,320 If someone else was to look at your life, would they observe a 453 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:45,720 person's heart and know that you're devoted to the Lord? 454 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:49,360 Or is your first priority? Who wins the game this 455 00:27:49,360 --> 00:27:53,400 afternoon? Well, they see some division 456 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:57,040 somewhere. What occupies your mind when you 457 00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:58,960 have nothing else to think about? 458 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:00,840 That's another question we need to ask ourselves. 459 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:04,280 What occupies your mind when you have nothing else to think, 460 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,760 think about? Are sports or related things 461 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:09,600 where your mind goes when you don't have anything else to 462 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:13,120 think about? Now, we know, of course, it's 463 00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:16,720 not obviously wrong to think about sports at all. 464 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:20,200 That's not the point. But is our mind preoccupied? 465 00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:23,640 Whether it's a team or an activity or sport that we're 466 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:27,080 involved with in, or something you do for your children or 467 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:32,040 taking them places, Does your mind default to sports in any 468 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:35,560 way? Also, examine our conversations. 469 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,120 What's on what? What What's on your mind comes 470 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,560 out of your mouth. What we think about comes out of 471 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:44,040 our mouth. That's what we're talking about. 472 00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:47,280 What are our What are our passionate conversations about? 473 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:50,600 Is this or that sport or this or that activity? 474 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,840 This team? Whatever you talk about, you 475 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:56,200 know, is there anything else that comes out of your mind or 476 00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:58,320 out of your mouth? What are your conversations 477 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:01,760 about? Of course, remember, again, the 478 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:04,040 key is that it's not wrong to talk about sports. 479 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:05,960 It's not wrong to talk about a good thing. 480 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:09,520 It's wrong to talk about a good thing like it's a God. 481 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:14,040 In our life. So this is where we need to do 482 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:17,200 the hard work of examination. As do I? 483 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:21,960 Do I spend an inordinate amount of time talking about sports, 484 00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,560 whether it's NFL, baseball, working out our favorite team, 485 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:28,760 whatever it is, Do I spend an inordinate amount of time 486 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:30,720 talking about sports in some way? 487 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:37,480 And then in what way do I do I talk about the sports? 488 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:40,720 You know, we say things like, I love this. 489 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,240 Team. I love OU. 490 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:50,840 I love Alabama or I love Auburn. I love the Dodgers. 491 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:52,720 I love the sport. I love college sports. 492 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,440 I love college basketball. We've seen things like I sure do 493 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:57,640 hope this about this team or I belong to this. 494 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:01,760 Team shouldn't we sing that those things about? 495 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:06,240 God. I belong to God I love God I 496 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:08,640 worship God. God alone. 497 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:12,760 Or are we taking those emotions that we should only be reserved, 498 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,400 that should only be reserved for God and putting them towards 499 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:17,880 something else? That's where we need to be 500 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,880 careful. You know, with the 49ers, you 501 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:22,640 know, most of you know, I'm the 49ers fan. 502 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:25,560 You know, I find myself saying like, yeah, we won. 503 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:30,400 We're going to the Super Bowl as if I had anything to do with 504 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:34,080 their season this year. You know what? 505 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:39,880 It's, you know, we need to be careful, not that it's. 506 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:42,840 Wrong in saying that kind of things, but we just need to make 507 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:45,560 sure that we're on the right path towards the right goal of 508 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:49,960 worshipping God. Examine our conversations. 509 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:52,840 Also examine your emotions, the sports. 510 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:56,720 Ignite your affection in an unhealthy way that causes your 511 00:30:56,720 --> 00:31:00,800 emotions to swing in such a way that you that you're sad or 512 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:04,920 grumpy or depressed, even angry, when you're when the team loses, 513 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:11,440 or your team doesn't do well at all, or maybe on the other side, 514 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:13,920 maybe you're feeling really good because they're doing really 515 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,840 well. Does your emotions swing because 516 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:20,320 of the team that you follow? Are you inordinately happy and 517 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:22,840 fun to be around just because you won, or just because your 518 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:26,040 team won? Will your emotions, your 519 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,840 happiness, your sadness, depend on the outcome of a game? 520 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:34,280 It may be that your heart is at least in some way consumed or 521 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:38,160 controlled by sports. If that is the case, examine 522 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:43,000 your use of money. Jesus said what your treasure is 523 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,040 there. Your heart will be also. 524 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:49,000 The principle here is as clear as can be. 525 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,680 Your heart follows your money. Your money is a sure indicator 526 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:55,960 where your heart is. So how much money do you spend 527 00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:58,720 on playing sports or watching sports or supporting teams 528 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:01,000 buying sports equipment or paraphernalia? 529 00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:04,880 I found out that the combined revenue. 530 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:10,480 Of the SEC and the Big 10 is over $2 billion a year. 531 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:16,920 That's two sports athletic conferences in college on the 532 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:20,840 Southeast and the Northeast of the of America, $2 billion. 533 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:25,400 And that is more than the gross domestic product of 24 of the 534 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:32,400 world's poorest countries spent on college athletics in a land 535 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,080 in in an area of the country that is covered. 536 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:40,400 With churches And just imagine what that number would be if you 537 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:43,200 would include what we spend on professional sports as well as 538 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,200 our sports for our own kids, money for leagues or equipment, 539 00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:49,240 private lessons, and sports in our own lives from golf to gym 540 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:51,640 membership. Again, it's not bad in and of 541 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:53,200 itself. These things are not bad. 542 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:55,360 It's not bad to spend money on sports. 543 00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:58,640 What we need to examine is how much we're spending on sports 544 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:00,560 and what that says about where our heart. 545 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:06,440 Is examine your use of time. An average week. 546 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:08,440 How much time do we invest in sports? 547 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:11,880 Playing real sports, playing fantasy sports, watching others 548 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:16,000 play sports, involving our kids in sports, watching ESPN? 549 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:19,280 On and on and on and on and on? How much time are we spending 550 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:23,640 for that? And then think about the time in 551 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:26,000 relation to the amount of time we spend in reading scripture. 552 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,600 That one got me. That's where I need to improve. 553 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:37,680 Getting into the scripture more and more than what we spend on 554 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:42,480 sports, praying, teaching our children God, teaching them 555 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,000 God's word, sharing the gospel, serving in the community. 556 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:47,480 These are questions that I think that we need to ask. 557 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:52,200 And then the last challenge we have here is to examine our your 558 00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:57,520 perspective, where you put your time, where you put your money. 559 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:00,160 And we think about it. What we what? 560 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:02,280 You talked about what you focused on, on sports. 561 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:03,480 Small ways. Big ways. 562 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,960 And we begin to forget, if we're not careful, that the grand and 563 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:12,199 global purpose of God. What is his purpose and 564 00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:16,159 redemption? Listen, it matter matters little 565 00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:22,560 who wins what game on a Saturday or a Sunday in any way. 566 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,280 It is insignificant if we are not. 567 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:29,880 Following God's will that He has given for us in the Scriptures, 568 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:35,600 don't let artificial battles on ball fields blind us from real 569 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:38,520 spiritual battles waging in the world. 570 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,960 What matters more? What matters more here? 571 00:34:42,199 --> 00:34:44,840 Praying and pleading for those here in Bakersfield, the USA, or 572 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:48,239 beyond to hear the gospel of Christ, Christ and realize that 573 00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:50,520 they need a savior. Or whether or not the San 574 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:54,000 Francisco 49ers win the NFC Championship today and go on to 575 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,159 the Super Bowl. What matters more? 576 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:01,000 We need God to help us realize what matters more and what, 577 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:03,280 ultimately, really doesn't matter at all. 578 00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:05,520 So we need to examine our perspective. 579 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:08,720 Examine your hearts, your thoughts, your conversations, 580 00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:11,680 your emotions, your use of money, your use of time, your 581 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:14,560 perspective on sports. Honestly asked the question Is 582 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:17,120 my attention to sports, my affection in sports, My 583 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:20,000 investment in sports, glorifying. 584 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:23,200 God. Is it glorifying God? 585 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:27,840 And if it's not glorifying God, then the immediate follow up 586 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:32,320 question is we're not glorifying God, then who are we glorifying? 587 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:40,440 So is it possible to glorify God in sports? 588 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:46,680 We've already established that sports is not a bad thing. 589 00:35:48,240 --> 00:35:53,440 And so, yes, I think there is a way to glorify God in sports. 590 00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:56,040 So how do we glorify God? With this good gift that he's 591 00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:59,960 given us? And there's a few different ways 592 00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:02,680 there that we can treat sports as a good gift that glorifies 593 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:05,040 God. Some of them are simple, so 594 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:06,560 maybe you just haven't even thought about. 595 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:10,440 And the first one is first, we well, you should use sports to 596 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:15,040 draw attention to God. So if you, instead of using 597 00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:19,520 sports to draw attention to the team or draw attention to us 598 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:23,120 personally, if we're playing sports, use it to draw attention 599 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:26,680 to God. Whether you or I step out onto a 600 00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:29,920 field or to a court or a course or whatever it might be in our 601 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:33,360 driving, our motivation is how can I? 602 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:38,040 Best exalt not myself not How do I get that lowest score on the 603 00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:41,120 course today? How do I glorify God in what I'm 604 00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:45,520 doing? And all of a sudden, every play 605 00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:46,280 carried out. Every. 606 00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,320 Swing we make every shot taken, every word spoken, every 607 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:54,480 interaction with your teammates or someone you're playing 608 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:57,800 against or whatever it may be. It kind of puts it into 609 00:36:57,800 --> 00:36:59,520 perspective. Of what we're trying to do 610 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:02,640 there, use the opportunity to draw attention to God. 611 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:05,360 Now I know I'm. Going to get a lot of Flack for 612 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,760 saying this in here. Because I know there's a lot of 613 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:13,320 sports fans in here, but the goal of playing sports is not to 614 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:17,560 win, OK? That's hard. 615 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:21,960 Got coaches in here. We have former players. 616 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:26,280 The goal of sports is not win, not to win. 617 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:30,600 Some of you may have had the responsibility or or the 618 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:33,000 privilege to coach, coach youth sports. 619 00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:37,680 I've coached our kids sports a few times. 620 00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:40,000 But there's a We need to understand that there is a 621 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:45,120 greater task at hand when we're coaching those kids the 622 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:47,800 responsibility to coach and teach these kids to learn the 623 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:50,200 game, to learn. How to trust their teammates, 624 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:53,040 Learn how to sit on a bench and be the best supporter of the. 625 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:55,920 Team We have to teach them what character looks like. 626 00:37:55,920 --> 00:38:00,200 We have to teach them how to win gracefully and to lose with your 627 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,640 head high and to not be sour about it. 628 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:07,640 You have the responsibility to show these teams discipline. 629 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:13,680 There was one of Kylie's softball teams when she was a 630 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:18,280 kid, just a local rec team to even Taylor was helping me coach 631 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,440 that year. We had a girl on our team who 632 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:22,600 was our pitcher. Her nickname was Skittles. 633 00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:27,440 I don't know how she got that name, but she was a good pitcher 634 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:30,840 for her age and she was actually the only pitcher we had on the 635 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:34,520 team. The only one in the last game of 636 00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:37,200 the season before we went into play offs, Everybody got into 637 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:39,600 play offs, but he was a one and done. 638 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:42,600 But. Last game of the of the season, 639 00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:44,760 she was pitching and she had a bad game. 640 00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:48,840 And she had a bad game to the point to where it affected her 641 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:54,720 emotionally in the circle where she was throwing pitches, 642 00:38:54,840 --> 00:39:00,000 yelling, screaming, I mean to a point where we had to pull her 643 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,760 out of the game. Because she was so far out of 644 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:06,960 control. One of the hardest things I had 645 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:10,040 to do knowing that she was our only pitcher. 646 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:14,640 After long conversations and good advice from my wife, we had 647 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:17,200 to sit her the next game. She was not our starter. 648 00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:22,200 That discipline. You have to teach those kids the 649 00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:23,600 difference between right and wrong. 650 00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:27,320 I don't remember if we won the next game or not. 651 00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:29,720 It didn't matter. The winning and losing did not 652 00:39:29,720 --> 00:39:31,440 matter. What matter was you're trying to 653 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:34,120 take an opportunity and teach a kid that maybe they're not 654 00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:37,480 learning something at home and you got to glorify God in that 655 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:44,040 instance. Is it to the glory of God? 656 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:47,080 Remember in? All that we do glorify God. 657 00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:51,320 God all. Famous quote from Eric Lydell. 658 00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:54,920 Some may know this guy showing a story of how he. 659 00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:58,560 He was a future missionary and a gold medalist runner in the 660 00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:04,000 Olympic Games, he said. God made me for a purpose, but 661 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:05,560 he also made me. Fast. 662 00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:10,640 And when I run, I feel his pleasure. 663 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:14,520 In other words, I run fast to the glory of God. 664 00:40:14,720 --> 00:40:17,840 That is the purpose of sports. But it's a purpose that can be 665 00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:19,400 quickly lost if we're not careful. 666 00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:22,200 So how do we keep that purpose central? 667 00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:27,720 One way that I found is we need to keep sports in its proper 668 00:40:27,720 --> 00:40:30,360 place. We need to keep. 669 00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:34,280 Sports in their proper place, far behind our family and church 670 00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:38,480 and a myriad of other things. We need to keep sports in its 671 00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:43,040 place. So where does sports fall upon 672 00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:46,920 our priority list? Men, ask your wives. 673 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:52,960 Do sports in any way show a hindrance to my love towards 674 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:55,240 you? And you just. 675 00:40:55,240 --> 00:40:56,680 Sit back and wait for the answer. 676 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:04,760 Then ask Are sports in any way a hindrance to your relationship 677 00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:07,880 with your children and your responsibility to your children? 678 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:13,160 There's more than it's more important than who wins the 679 00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:15,240 game. It's knowing what's going on in 680 00:41:15,240 --> 00:41:18,640 your child's heart. And shepherding and caring and 681 00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:22,120 teaching your child. If that means that you don't 682 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:26,080 know the stats the next day at work to talk about with your Co 683 00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:31,440 workers, then so be it. So what if you don't know who 684 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:33,040 won the game? So what if you don't know how 685 00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:35,160 many yards and touchdowns Christian McCaffrey had 686 00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:36,800 yesterday? Who cares? 687 00:41:37,720 --> 00:41:42,920 You're busy tending to your family, being where you ought to 688 00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:46,080 be, understanding your child's heart, understanding your 689 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:48,640 spouse's heart, and and tending to the things that are 690 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,080 important. To our lives. 691 00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,320 Back to Eric Lydell, the guy who withdrew from the race. 692 00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:02,720 This guy withdrew from a race that he was best at in the 693 00:42:02,720 --> 00:42:07,760 Olympics because his race. Was on a Sunday in the Olympics 694 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:09,640 every four years you only get this shot. 695 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:13,080 And he decided to not run that race that day because it ended 696 00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:16,480 up being on a Sunday. He refused to run in the 697 00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:19,320 Olympics. He made it clear that running in 698 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:22,440 the Olympics was not as important as worshipping on the 699 00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:25,640 Lord's Day. So is there anything good in 700 00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:27,480 sports? Of course, there's a lot of good 701 00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:29,920 things and it also comes from God. 702 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:35,440 Also express gratitude for God. So before we begin to play, any 703 00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:36,960 sport, whether you watch a sport. 704 00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:39,920 Before you begin to do anything sports related, pause. 705 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:45,320 Take a moment and maybe pray give Thanksgiving. 706 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:47,880 But let God know that thank you for giving me this opportunity 707 00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:49,240 to play sports. Thank you for giving me the 708 00:42:49,240 --> 00:42:52,000 gifts you've given me to play these sports, whatever it may be 709 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:55,640 when we give a gift to someone. You know, wherever we give a 710 00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:57,800 gift to maybe our child or to someone close to us. 711 00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:01,680 You know, we we enjoy seeing them enjoying that gift. 712 00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:06,600 Right. I think God's enjoys us enjoying 713 00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:08,920 the gift that He's given us, but we need to be careful not to 714 00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:12,680 enjoy the gift more than the giver we need to. 715 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:15,840 Give praise to God every time that we have that opportunity. 716 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:22,160 Honor your teammates. Team sports is not intended to 717 00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:25,840 be monuments to individual achievement, so we look for ways 718 00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:28,720 to build up and affirm and encourage and honor the people 719 00:43:28,720 --> 00:43:32,880 around us. This honors God, and it honors 720 00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:36,040 our teammates at the same time. Some of you may know the story 721 00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:39,960 of this lady here, this girl here, Sarah Tilchotzky. 722 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:41,120 I think I'll say your name right. 723 00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:46,280 Softball player for Western Oregon back in 2008. 724 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:49,320 Some of you may know this story, some of you may not. 725 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:56,240 This was a softball player from Western Oregon who had never hit 726 00:43:56,240 --> 00:43:59,760 a home run before the two runners on a strike against her. 727 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:03,920 She creamed one over the fence, knocked it over the fence during 728 00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:08,040 a 2008 playoff game, and when she began to run the bases, she 729 00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:10,360 realized that she had missed tagging first base. 730 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:13,360 So as she got to second, she realized that she needed to turn 731 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:16,080 around and go attack first base so this home run would count. 732 00:44:16,080 --> 00:44:18,120 Well, as she turned, she blew her knee out. 733 00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:21,960 She couldn't walk. She couldn't put any weight on 734 00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:24,960 it. So her team mates and the coach 735 00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:27,480 understood that if, you know one of her team mates helped her 736 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:30,680 around the bases, that the home run wouldn't count, or if they 737 00:44:30,680 --> 00:44:33,000 put a pinch runner in, it would only count as a single. 738 00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:38,320 So the opposing first baseman went to the Empire and said, is 739 00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:41,760 there anything that will keep us from helping her around these 740 00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:44,080 bases? Umpire said. 741 00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:48,640 There's no rule against it. So the opposing team picks up 742 00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:52,160 this gal who can't walk and helps her around every single 743 00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:55,560 base, touching the base with her good foot and the home run 744 00:44:55,560 --> 00:44:59,200 count. There's so much more things 745 00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:02,960 bigger than winning a game, honoring your teammates, even 746 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:05,000 the opposing team. How do you honor them? 747 00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:10,320 And when and when she was interviewed about this later on, 748 00:45:11,960 --> 00:45:14,960 this is what the opposing team player said in that first 749 00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:17,280 baseman that helped her. Said it's not about winning or 750 00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:19,360 losing so much as it was about this girl, she. 751 00:45:19,360 --> 00:45:22,280 Hit it over the fence and she was in bad pain and she deserved 752 00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:31,280 that home. Run amazing display of honoring 753 00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:34,480 team mates. Honor that glorifies God. 754 00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:40,040 Look for the opportunity to demonstrate honor and develop 755 00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:43,280 self-discipline. It's a good thing for sports to 756 00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:47,000 teach us how to work hard and to practice to achieve a goal which 757 00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:49,480 we turn it. It sets up, you know, all kinds 758 00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:53,560 of parallels between sports and the Christian life that we live. 759 00:45:54,680 --> 00:45:57,320 Develop self-discipline. Maintain self-control when your 760 00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:00,080 emotions get out of hand in a game where as a player, as a 761 00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:04,600 coach, as a parent or a spectator, and those emotions 762 00:46:04,600 --> 00:46:09,800 lead to yelling this or that or arguing, is that bringing glory 763 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:12,320 to God? When we do that, the fruit of 764 00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:15,400 the Spirit is what? self-control? 765 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:19,800 Galatians 523 That's one of the fruit of the spirit. 766 00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:22,640 So when something doesn't go the way that we hoped or that we 767 00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:26,000 have liked to, we need to glorify God by maintaining our 768 00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:28,960 self-control or modeling self sacrifice. 769 00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:34,600 Philippians 2/3 through. 8. Let nothing be done through 770 00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:38,680 selfless ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind. 771 00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:40,760 Let each esteem others better than himself. 772 00:46:41,160 --> 00:46:44,000 Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but 773 00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:45,520 also for the interests of others. 774 00:46:46,160 --> 00:46:50,280 Let this mind be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus, who, 775 00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:53,440 being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be 776 00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:57,080 equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. 777 00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:00,600 Taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of 778 00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:04,760 men, and being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled 779 00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:08,320 himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the 780 00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:12,560 death of the cross. Let our attitude be like that of 781 00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:16,320 Christ. Humble ourselves, Christ came 782 00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:18,400 here to serve. We read through God's word. 783 00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:22,560 We'll never we'll never see any athletic gifting, personal 784 00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:25,560 stats, championship games, trophies, anything like that. 785 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:30,080 Instead, we see things like humility and honor and 786 00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:33,880 self-discipline and self-control and self sacrifice imitating 787 00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:38,080 Christ. As parents, we must be 788 00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:40,080 particularly intentional with our kids. 789 00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:44,800 We think, of course, you know, we get into the habit of I've 790 00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:46,840 fulfilled my duty as a as a parent. 791 00:47:46,840 --> 00:47:50,440 You know, I've, I've, I've come to their games and I've cheered 792 00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:51,640 for him. That's all I need to do. 793 00:47:53,200 --> 00:47:57,560 That's the easiest thing to do. There's so much more than you 794 00:47:57,560 --> 00:47:59,280 know. We're called to to lead them and 795 00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:01,560 to teach them wisely. Maybe that looks like preparing 796 00:48:01,560 --> 00:48:05,160 our children to keep a biblical keep the biblical priorities in 797 00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:08,000 mind while they're playing the game, and after the game, maybe 798 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:11,120 encouraging. Their expressions, expressions 799 00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:13,600 of godly character more than we celebrate their skill or the 800 00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:16,560 final score. Every moment we have with our 801 00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:18,760 kids is a teaching moment and we need to make sure that we're 802 00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:21,400 taking advantage of those. Things those times. 803 00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:24,400 If we're not careful as parents, we're going to stand before God. 804 00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:27,160 They'll have all their trophies, they'll have all their 805 00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:30,280 achievements, they'll have all their stats, and then they'll 806 00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:33,480 burn up. Because we as parents have not 807 00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:36,720 done the duty that we need to do to teach them that all their 808 00:48:36,720 --> 00:48:40,960 satisfaction, all their pride and all their identity is in God 809 00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:47,800 and God alone. So in our life and our 810 00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:50,200 children's life, we need to prioritize what matters in 811 00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:53,240 eternity over what seems to matter here on earth. 812 00:48:53,240 --> 00:48:56,840 So if there's any hint of idolatry in sports or anything 813 00:48:56,840 --> 00:49:02,040 else in our lives, anything. God invites us to repent of 814 00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:07,240 idolatry this morning. We need to examine our hearts 815 00:49:07,240 --> 00:49:09,680 this morning and then days to come. 816 00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:12,040 And do we love God with? All our heart. 817 00:49:13,520 --> 00:49:15,600 Maybe there's one here this morning who needs to be. 818 00:49:16,160 --> 00:49:18,160 Baptized for the remission of their sins this morning. 819 00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:21,480 Maybe there's one who loves God with all their heart but hasn't. 820 00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:25,160 Take that final step. You know the the invitation is 821 00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:29,680 always out there for for us to to become a Christian, to 822 00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:36,040 believe that Jesus is who he is, to repent of our former ways to 823 00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:37,080 confess. The name of. 824 00:49:37,080 --> 00:49:39,600 Christ that he is the Son of God and be baptized for the 825 00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:43,280 remission of our sins we have brother Jean just get baptized 826 00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:47,600 here Wednesday night last week. It was a beautiful moment and 827 00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:52,880 and you could see the happiness on his face that he was now a 828 00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:56,720 newborn Christian in Christ. It was beautiful, really awesome 829 00:49:56,720 --> 00:49:58,400 moment. We can do that again today. 830 00:49:58,800 --> 00:50:00,800 If there's someone here who needs to just make a public 831 00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:03,600 confession in any way, or just ease the prayers of the Church, 832 00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:05,680 we ask you to come while we stand and while we see. 833 00:50:07,280 --> 00:50:10,320 We thank you for listening to our podcast put on by The Church 834 00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:14,760 of Christ at 2215 Plans Rd. in Bakersfield. 835 00:50:15,600 --> 00:50:18,920 If you would like any additional information or you would like to 836 00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:21,920 receive a free Bible correspondence course by mail, 837 00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:27,960 please e-mail us at info@churchofchristbakersfield.com. 838 00:50:28,720 --> 00:50:33,920 Our service times are Sundays at 10:30 AM and 5:00 PM and 839 00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:38,360 Wednesdays at 7:30 PM. Please make plans to join us. 840 00:50:38,840 --> 00:50:41,000 We would love for you to be our honored guest.