The church

The Team – Fourth Quater

September 7, 2024 by Bill 473 Comments

“If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;” (Isaiah 1:19)

We’ve been looking at aspects of a sports team compared to our church team. You can see the first two articles on my blog at https://roadrevelations.org. This week we’ll look at the coach. A sports team has a head coach and some assistant coaches who work together to plan and orchestrate the success of their team. The head coach has the final say on team practices and rules. And, as the verse above says, if players are obedient to the coach and his rules, they have a much better chance of a good outcome. God is our Head Coach and He has assistants, Pastor Wayne and others, who take us through the steps to success. But we have to follow His commands; we have to follow the rules. Those “rules” are in God’s playbook, the Bible. And we can talk to Coach at any time.

As I remember in high school, we had training rules; healthy rules we had to follow to be ready to compete. Things relating to alcohol, tobacco, bed time, school work and behavior. There were consequences if we broke the training rules and went back to our behavior before the season. “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,” (1 Peter 1:14). Coach God has training rules and consequences for us too. Again, we must be familiar with His Playbook and follow it.

Training and practice is hard for athletes. The coach will put them through some grueling activities to strengthen them and get them in shape to face the opponent. They have to persevere and “hang tough” to make it to game time. In the game of life, God will require us to go through some hard training so we can make it from “glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12). The commitment required by athletes is hard but necessary. Our commitment to God will be hard but, oh, the rewards will be fantastic.

So, are you on the Team, committed to God, ready for training, suited up for the battle and supporting your Teammates? You can sign up today or renew your commitment.

The Team – 2nd Quarter

August 31, 2024 by Bill 31 Comments

Let’s look at some more aspects of our team.

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Ephesians 6:11). Football players are given equipment to wear for protection against the blows of the opponent. As God’s team, we have been offered, (our choice to accept), six pieces of armor to protect us. (Ephesians 6:14-17). Imagine a football team without pads. Ouch! And verse 18 says to pray. I remember, when I coached JV girls basketball, I had the players come to the bench with one minute left of warm-up time where we knelt and prayed the Lord’s Prayer. Team prayer is important. Our church, team, comes on Monday nights for team prayer. And we must pray individually, every day.

Another difference between a team and the fans is who’s in each group. Imagine if a timeout was called and the coach asked 11, 5 or 9 people from the stands, depending on which sport it was, to come onto the field or court and face the opponent. Disaster! People in the church are gifted in different ways to support the team. We need to know our giftings and serve/play in them so, together, we can defeat the opponent. Speaking of support, how bad would it be for the team if one player was mad at a team member and refused to block for them, or in basketball not set a screen or field a baseball? It would hurt the team. As the church team, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12). I got a vision once of a large wagon in the front of the pulpit at our church with many church people in it. Our Pastor was at the front holding the handle trying to pull the wagon forward. He couldn’t, it was too heavy. Then, several people got out of the wagon and helped him pull it forward. That is help and support. Are we willing to get out of the wagon? “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (Galatians 6:10).

There will be a few more thoughts on this topic next week. GO TEAM JESUS!

The Team

August 24, 2024 by Bill Leave a Comment

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:4-5)

Being a former coach, I get lots of revelations about how athletic things line up with or contrast with Spiritual things. God gave me several “ideas” related to this at our Monday night Prayer Time at church this week.

The Bible says we, as Christians, are all gifted in certain ways to help God’s Kingdom. As the above verse says, we are all also one body, gathering, people, church…team. We each have a talent that can build up “the church”. But again, as a coach, I can see this in different ways. Are we on the team or are we just a fan? In the arena of sports, both are important. I think it is in the church also.

Those who are on the team have made a special commitment to the team, the coach and their teammates. They go through hard training directed by the coach and his game plan in order to improve, be successful and win the game. The fans in the stands are not “on the team” but support those who are on team. They go to the game, wear the jersey and cheer for those on the field or court, but they are not required to make the commitment the players have. It’s harder for those on the team than it is for the fans but the rewards are greater. The players appreciate the fans as “the great cloud of witnesses” spoken of in Hebrews 12:1. They encourage them to go for the win. We all need that.

In the church, everybody is not gifted to preach, teach or sing. But all can support those who are gifted in those ways. Giving is another gift that we all can use whether it’s money, time or using our gift to “give” for the betterment of the church body. We also can encourage each other. If you don’t feel like you’re a part of the “team”, maybe you haven’t made the commitment to ask Jesus into your heart. That’s the first step. Then ask God to lead you in how to help the “Team”.

Our Team

August 4, 2024 by Bill 2 Comments

When we hear the term, “our team” or if someone asks us what our team is, what do we think of? Do we think of a sports team, especially if we’re playing on one, a work team or our family? What about our church team? Do we think of all the folks at our church as a team? Let’s look at this.

“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12). I recently saw an FCA statement that said, “There is no “I” in team”. On a sports team, each player has a job to do and the success of the team depends on each player doing their part. Can you imagine the quarterback and center on a football team facing the defense alone? Or what about a point guard in basketball coming down the court by themselves? I also thought, “There’s no “I” in church.” What if a church’s pastor was the only one on the “team”? No teachers, no praise team, no prayer team, no church employees, no givers, no volunteers. Poor pastor! I once got a vision during prayer time of our pastor, up front, trying to pull a large wagon with several church people in it. He couldn’t budge it, too heavy. Then, several people got out of the wagon and helped the pastor pull it. Success!

We are all gifted in some way to help the church, “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.” (Romans 12:6 NLT). These gifts are given to us to help the church, the body of Christ. (If you don’t know what your gift is, search, “Spiritual gift assessment” on the Internet and answer the questions.)

We’re all on the “team”, not in the stands, and many of us are “doing” things already. So, what can we do for our team? Here are several things: Pray, join the Prayer Chain or Sunday morning team, give tithes and offerings, volunteer for the food distribution or other projects, offer to be on the Praise Team, assist in Sunday School, be a greeter. God will lead you into one of these or give you another assignment. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Go team!

Why Do We Go To Church?

November 20, 2021 by Bill 1 Comment

As I was driving to church last week, this question came to my mind; “Why do we go to church?” So, I started thinking of all the reasons we go to church: To hear good preaching, to learn, to praise and worship God, to give an offering, to pray, to serve, to encourage others, to get forgiveness, to get saved, to be delivered from sin and for the fellowship. Also, it has been commanded of us, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25 NLT). We’re supposed to go to church. We know that the pandemic has given most churches the option for their people to “attend” online and many have been doing that. There are situations where that is a very good thing but I’m hearing that many are choosing the online option when they really could attend in person.

So, getting back to why we go to church. As I went over and thought about my list, I realized something important: Of all the reasons I could think of as to why we go to church, I realized that all of them could be done without going into a building with other people…except one. We don’t have to go to the building to pray, to give, to worship, to encourage others, to serve, etc. We can do those things, really, anywhere. But the one thing we cannot do without “assembling together” is fellowship. We can do all those other things online or in other places but, without getting together physically, we cannot experience the true joy of fellowship. Watching church online doesn’t give us the opportunity to talk, share stories, shake hands or hug, (if allowed), pray for someone or just say hello with a real smile.

I look forward to going to church much more than I do watching church. I’m glad for the opportunity to come to church with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Enjoy all it has to offer, especially the fellowship.