What is the True Favor of God? | Pastor Greg Ford + Gee Scott Jr Sermon | One Church Columbus

What's up, everybody?

How are you doing today?

Good to see you.

My name is Greg.

This is G.

Scott Jr.

Would you make him welcome today?

Well, we're going to be uh teaching together and uh excited to be here and excited about uh sharing some of the things we've been talking about um in private.

Now we're gonna share it with everybody.

Um before I get into it though, I want to give you a little bit of backstory, let you know something going on.

So some of you will recognize G maybe for a couple reasons.

One, uh he's uh uh last year graduated, but not after not until after they won the national championship.

So he's the national champion for Ohio State and uh played um played there, yeah.

But if you've been at the church, you'll probably remember in July of 24, G preached a message at the church here that I would just so encourage you if you if you haven't heard it, is so worth going back.

You can go to our website or you can go to YouTube and you can watch it.

But that came about through conversations we had had and just uh growing to growing in our faith.

And um, I was gonna be out of town that summer for four weeks, and I was having guests come in, and so I asked G if he would be one of the speakers, and so he agreed to do that.

And uh, when he did his message in the third service, a bunch of his teammates came to support him, and uh, he had been leading a Bible study for for a while with the team, and a bunch of those guys came, and then a bunch of them ended up being baptized, uh, 12 or 15 or so of those of those uh teammates, and it was just really, in some ways, a uh a demonstration outwardly of what had been happening behind the scenes and kind of a revival and uh um just a move of God on the team.

And so, hold on one second.

We good?

Yeah, we're good.

All right.

Um, so somebody in our church, we had a couple that was here, and they're big documentary people, and uh they never made a documentary, they'd never made a video in their lives, but they were just watching, and they went home and they were like, somebody needs to tell this story.

Like, there's all these sports documentaries about whatever, and they're like, but you know, it's really cool what God is doing on this team, and someone should tell it.

And they're like, but they never made a video, and so they kept at it.

And how many of you know there's a difference between good ideas and god ideas?

Like there are ideas you're like, okay, that's cool, and then it kind of goes away, but it wasn't going away.

They kept saying, like, someone should do this, and they were in that vulnerable position, which is like, we don't know how to do this, we're gonna need to depend on other people, we're gonna have to get help and build a team, and they just decided this was theirs to do, and so they so they did it.

And of course, you know how the season played out last year.

I mean, it was a heartbreaking loss in Oregon, and then the loss to the team up north at home, and all hell's breaking loose, and there's people trying to plant the flag, and people are fighting people who are trying to plant the flag, people getting pepper sprayed, and I mean it was like a horror movie, and then you know, everybody's confused, and uh there are demons on the field, you know, all this stuff.

And then, and then, of course, the team pulls together and goes on this playoff run.

So they caught all of that and and um put it together with you know, never before footage and um conversations and people essentially talking about when whether you're uh you know winning or losing, how does your faith actually show up in your life?

And of course the story ends up being amazing, and so they pulled it together and it's now being distributed on Amazon Prime, which is amazing.

There they they got a hold of it, and so now I I wanted to share it with you one, it's just uh one of those beautiful things where you know something comes together and it just really was a God plan.

It wasn't even like anybody master planned it, it was like got God planned it, and then they documented it.

And I think I think it's a beautiful um picture and way to share the gospel uh in a way that is very uh palatable, even for those that may not even, you know, think they're looking for it.

And so I thought they did a beautiful job with that.

And also, I do want us to, I want to encourage somebody today who, like Matt and Marley, who were the the couple that did this, maybe there's something that God has been putting on your heart to do, and there's always reasons to talk yourself out of it.

Hey, I I've never done that before, I don't know how to do that, I'd need so much help.

And we can't do every idea that we have, so we're not even suggesting that.

But sometimes there is something that's just not going away, and you have a sense that that this is something God has for me to do, and I hope uh that you you'll be encouraged today to take that step of faith.

Gee, you lived that thing, man.

What was that whole experience?

What was that like for you?

Yeah, man, it was um it was truly awesome.

Like you kind of alluded to um when we initially began, you know, putting the story together and we're in the works of creating this thing, it was never about telling this cool story of this national championship run.

That wasn't the intent of it.

It was a recognition by people in this congregation that there is this football team that have this zeal and this, you know, this external, you know, evangelistic hearts towards the gospel.

And they're sharing the gospel and they're making the kingdom of God the priority in their lives and in a in a world where you can glorify a lot of things, they're choosing to glorify God.

And so we so that's where it started.

And what was really cool was to see it then, you know, progress into this national championship run, which why is that significant and awesome?

Is I believe that we're in a situation now where this story is being able to be heard around the country and maybe reaching further using the medium of a national championship.

You know, some just you know, the national championship was just there to maybe, you know, people want to hear the story, but I think it's a great um, you know, device of ministry to be able to reach people that maybe we wouldn't have been able to reach um if it was just a gospel, you know, doc uh documentary.

And I think especially in a world where the youth and the generations are constantly clinging to what's cool.

I mean, if you remember, even at a time in your life where you all you wanted to do was fit in and be cool, right?

But I think what's really cool about this is being able to change the narrative of what's cool.

You have your favorite Ohio State Buckeyes going out and you know, glorifying their father in heaven, you know, before millions of people.

And so I think that was that's also a really thing, uh cool thing that you know, reason to be a part of it was just changing the narrative a little bit of what's cool.

And it's awesome that I mean still to this day, it's like every day we're hearing, we get back testimony of you know how people were encouraged by watching the documentary, but also just encouraged, you know, watching this football season and the way that we went through the whole season and kept God at the center of it.

Um it was just awesome to be a part of it.

And you know, not only that he get God obviously worked in us and the life's life-changing transformations that happened in this team, um, but almost more importantly, what he was able to do through it to for the thousands and thousands um to be able to witness.

Because we believe that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.

So to be able to share these testimonies um widespread and use football as our kind of like our um our vehicle to get it done was really cool.

I love it.

Um let's start talking here about um the concept that I think we well we all would have going on in our lives, which is our identity, uh, how we see ourselves.

Um I think often when we think about when you you know you hear people sometimes say that they, you know, man, I I have a self-hatred, or you know, we're trying people learning to trying to learn to love themselves or uh self-awareness is something that is a big topic.

And so you think about identity is how I see myself and even how I perceive that others see me based on how they've treated me or what they've said.

And so when it comes to you know that image that I have of of myself in my mind, often people populate that with um their greatest successes and or their greatest failures.

So if you have a significant role, if you're a leader of some sort, or you have a lofty title, often it's hard to see yourself or for others to see you outside of that title.

Um if you have won something or you're successful, that that becomes often a person's identity.

Uh and then the the inverse is true.

If if you failed big time, uh often it's hard to get past that.

It's hard to see yourself beyond the person who blew it, the person uh who has regrets or the person that that failed and embarrassed themselves.

Um when I think about you, I think of you know, a lot of people when they say, gee, Scott, they think it's hard for them to think of you separately from uh number 88 on the Buckeyes, and and you know, being in such a prominent um position, and then on top of that, now you add a ring, uh a national championship ring.

And of course, we know it's unhealthy to tether ourselves that that closely to it.

You got to know who you are beyond all the stuff.

How have you navigated through where you have these sort of overt things that want to attach themselves to how you see yourself and how others see you?

How have you uh been able to have a healthy relationship to your own identity?

Well, this is something that I believe is very, very important.

It's something that I'm very passionate about because it's near and dear to my heart and it's a big part of my testimony.

I think one of my biggest obstacles in life and my trembling, if you you know hear the testimony throughout the documentary, was this association of my identity with the football game that I played.

And so what I've learned on the you know on the other side of this thing, and which has been very, very, you know, very important.

I think we can, it's important that we all kind of you know find how this can relate in our own lives.

But there has to be, and again, before I say it, it's easy to for us to talk about it, or it's easy to hear it and feel it in this moment, but getting to a point where there's a disassociation between what we do and who we are.

And even if it's just this much of a gap, I think it's very important that we do that.

Because the more that our identity gets intertwined with what we do, the more the ebbs and flows of our lives are ultimately predicated on our performance or our ability to do good.

When, you know, we'll talk about it more here in a moment, but like where the value of our lives actually aren't found in what we can do.

We've actually already have been deemed worthy before we can do anything for God, right?

And there's two reasons actually, specifically, just to kind of make it more practical, um, as why this is so important, is number one, is this journey called life, um, as many of you may know very well, is not gonna go um exactly the way that we anticipate it.

We all have these great plans, right?

We're gonna do this by the by by 28, I'm gonna have this, and by 35, I'm gonna be married with this many kids, and this is what I'm gonna do.

And, you know, the Bible says, for many are the plans of a man, but it's God's will that prevails, right?

So many are the plans of us, but it's God's will that ultimately happens.

And sometimes they don't, reality, expectations versus reality don't always align.

And so going into it, making sure that our identity is not wrapped up in what we do is very, very important.

If you look at the life of, um, if you look at the life of Joseph, right, he has these dreams and these aspirations of the man he desires to be.

Right?

Nowhere on his bingo card or nowhere you know in his life spreadsheet of what he has anticipated is he gonna be sold off into slavery by his own brothers, right?

He's sold off into slavery, or and then and then in the same breath, he's also accused, falsely accused of you know, sexual misconduct by Potiphar's wife.

These aren't things that he has anticipated.

Look at the life of Peter, right?

When he's walking out onto the water in great faith towards Jesus, he doesn't have an anticipation he's gonna begin to sink, right?

He doesn't have an anticipation that later he'll ultimately deny Jesus three times.

These aren't things that are on, obviously on the um the desired wish list of for things to happen.

But what I've grown to learn not only in scripture, but in my own life, that on the other side of these things is a version of yourself that grows in proximity with the Lord.

And oftentimes he'll use those very things to draw you near to him.

And I think it's I think it's very, very important to um be able to recognize that.

I mean, if you look at Peter, even in that story when he when he drowned and Jesus pulls him out and they get back in the water, what do all the disciples say?

They say, Wow, you really are the Son of God.

You really are who you say you are.

And so sometimes it takes the other side of these things to ultimately grow closer to the Lord.

And then the second thing is I think there's a um there's a false um, what would be the word, um, expectation for on the other side of fulfilling the things that we're striving for is this sense of fulfillment.

And, you know, news fly, I mean, even in my own life, if you even take a look at my own life, I remember being, you know, in middle school, all I wanted to do one day was play varsity football.

And I thought if I played varsity football, if I was a starter on varsity, I'd be the man and I'd be good, right?

But then I get it done, it's like, well, I gotta go play division one football, I gotta keep doing this thing.

And then I get to the point where I'm able to play division one football, but then it was like, well, now I gotta be a starter, right?

There's all these things that these desires, then I become a starter, well, now we gotta win a national championship.

And there's all of these things, it's like it doesn't stop.

And then before you know it, now I gotta be in the NFL.

And I get to the NFL, it's like, well, now I gotta make a team, now I gotta be a starter.

It just doesn't end, right?

And what I want to emphasize with this is are these things that I was striving for unhealthy?

Were these things bad?

No, it's okay to have desires and passions, but I think where the problem is, is when your identity is wrapped up in your ability to achieve these things, and you feel less than because you're not able to achieve, I believe that's where the true problem is, right?

And then if you look at, you know, last thing I'll say is there's a story, and I encourage you guys if you get a moment, you know, later today to check it out.

Um, Tom Brady's in a he's doing an interview.

This is many years ago, it was after he won his third Super Bowl, and he's doing this interview, and um the gentleman asks him in the interview, he goes, you know, Tom Brady, how does it feel to win your third Super Bowl?

And you know, when you watch it, it'll it'll send a chill down your spine.

He responds to him and says, Um, there has to be more than this.

And he says, word for word, this is it.

You know, it feels good, but this is it.

And I think for just a quick moment, we can, if you just kind of wrap your mind around that, and in our humility, not no disrespect, but on a worldly standpoint, I mean, how many of us are gonna reach the worldly statue that Tom Brady maybe met in life?

I mean, he can have the private jet, he has he's won the Super Bowls, he has the money, he can buy the car, he can get whatever he wants.

But here he is on the other side of achieving all of these things, and he's still longing for more.

I mean, I hope that to a certain extent that has to be a wake-up call, that my fulfillment is not found on the other side of these things.

And what I believe it is, is we have a we have a God-sized hole in our hearts that we attempt to fill with the things of this world, and when we ended up getting it, we're confused of why do I not feel full?

Well, it's because you weren't created in the image of being an NFL player.

You weren't created in the image of these things that we strive to do.

You were created in the image of God.

And so when you come and you surrender your life to Christ, then and only then can you truly be able to operate from a place of fulfillment and say, I you can look at the cross and say, it is finished, right?

Everything I can do now is just overflow.

That's really good.

Um, you know, I so if you look at the life of Jesus, right?

We look at, if you look at Matthew 3, this is this awesome moment in Jesus' life.

He's getting ready to go launch into his life's work, so to speak.

He's been in preparation and now he's getting ready to go produce.

And in Matthew 3, 16 and 17, it says, After his baptism, uh, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were open, and he saw the Spirit of God descending on, descending like a dove and settling on him, and a voice from heaven said, This is my dearly loved son who brings me great joy.

Right?

So the power of this is in the context because Jesus has not gone and actually accomplished anything significant yet.

He's not walked on water yet, he's not turned water into wine yet, he's not done the sermon on the mount, he hasn't died on the cross, he hasn't done any of that.

Um, he is just simply, he's getting ready to do that.

And so it's on the front end of that that this affirmation from God, from his heavenly father, is setting his identity as a foundation because son, you're gonna have high highs and low lows, right?

You're gonna have you're gonna have confetti and you're gonna have conflict.

And in in the highs and lows, something has to keep you grounded, something has to be a solid foundation for your life.

So that so the Heavenly Father says to Jesus, before you've won the national championship, before you've been magna cum lade, before you got the the promotion or the job or the important, you know, whatever the culture said was important, he's setting his value, he's setting his identity.

He's he's giving his approval.

This, here's who you are.

When they love you, here's who you are when they hate you.

Here's who you are when they worship you, and here's who you are when they crucify you.

You're my dearly loved son or dearly loved daughter, and you bring me great joy.

Because if you think about it, what is the allure of all these things that you might want to chase, whether it's a trophy of some sort, whether it's a some sort of emblem of success, is if in my mind the jury's still out as to whether I have value or valuable, if I'm worth it, if I'm successful.

All right, we're we're chasing not only success and value, we're chasing the feeling of success and value.

What we really want is fulfillment.

And that fulfillment, right, is based on a foundation that starts with the idea that my value can't be taken away by anybody because it's not given to me by them.

You can't take something away that you didn't give me ultimately.

The gift that we're given of who we are is given to us by by God.

So the interesting thing about that is chapter three ends with the word joy.

This is my dearly loved son who brings me great joy.

So this is this great affirmation.

You turn the page to Matthew 4, and verse 1 says, And Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the enemy.

He fasted for 40 days and became very hungry.

So what you see is Jesus, although you know he's has essentially the favor of God, he's in right relationship with God and has the approval of God.

He has to now go through hardships.

And this is where I think often people can, it can become very confusing because you're going, man, if I if I'm in right relationship with God, why am I, you know, how come the doors aren't opening?

Right?

And that's one of the things that I have so appreciated and frankly been encouraged by watching your life, is your life from a front row seat has had a lot of volatility, right?

It was everything from what you shared when you shared your testimony of when your mom died and what you went through there from your hard, your your challenges in terms of your career sort of not taking exactly the trajectory you thought it would take.

And then I've seen you go get a national championship ring, then I've seen you get signed by an NFL team and then waved and then signed again and waved again.

And last week, literally last week, we were meeting and talking and praying and looking at scripture and uh praying about today, and in the middle of it, he gets a call from the Houston Texans.

Hey, get on a plane, we want to try you out.

He's like, he's like, Man, you might be on your own at the I might be going to the Texans, goes there uh and and and doesn't get signed, right?

So you the idea of uh I think it would just be such a missing of the point to look at this, to look at your your story and to see, oh, the ring, and and if I could just have a ring, and if I could just, you know, whatever the ring is for you, to think that, you know, there's some there's some pot of gold at the end of some rainbow that's ultimately going to m quench the thirsting of your soul.

And and what what I've seen you and I've I've learned and been inspired by watching you is in the highs and lows, you keep coming back to this foundation that even though a door slammed in my face, even though uh I wasn't chosen for this, or I was chosen and then they changed their mind, um, that you've continued to find your stability, uh, your your emotional, mental, spiritual health in your identity as a son.

Yeah.

Well, I think one thing that's very important, and especially, I feel like after watching, you know, this documentary, um, you know, you see what happened in this team.

Um, I remember I had buddies come to me and say, Man, we gotta start, what did you guys do?

We gotta start praying more if we want to start winning some games or all that kind of stuff.

And I think, you know, as a result of all of these things, I think what can start to happen is you can start to build um, quite honestly, an unhealthy relationship with the reality of this God that we serve, right?

That like close proximity does not correlate earthly the way we would deem success in a worldly way, right?

And I think so oftentimes I think that's something that a hump that maybe we have to get over, that we associate you know, good circumstances.

I got the job promotion, man, God is good, right?

But then when I get fired from that job, God became less good, or is this the still the same God?

Then it's why me, God, right?

Right.

Or by that logic, we would have to then say God was better to Ohio State than they were in Notre Dame.

God's a better God for Ohio State than Notre Dame.

And I think you know, not only is that a misrepresentation of the God that we serve, I think that's extremely detrimental to the believer.

I think you start having false expectations of what God should do.

God, I did the church thing, you're supposed to give me the money.

I did the thing, now you got to do your thing, right?

And it's this transactional relationship that we want to avoid that we just want to be able to, he just wants to be able to commune and be close, and he's using all of these things.

I mean, going, let's let's take a step back to the the Joseph story, right?

He sold, like I mentioned earlier, he's sold not by anybody, but by his own brothers, right?

He gets sold by his brothers, then later he's in a more favorable position in life.

Fast forward in the story, he's in a more favorable position.

His brothers then come back to him at some point, don't recognize him initially, and he says, Yes, I'm your brother, the one that you sold off into slavery, right?

And what he does is he grants them forgiveness, and he ultimately says, You guys, uh something along the lines of in Genesis 45 that you know you guys had intention of selling me, but God was the one who sent me, right?

You had intention for evil, but God took that evil and he made it for good, right?

And so many of us, we have you know earthly masters that are ahead of us, whether it's a you know your your boss, your CEO, or in my case, a a general manager, whoever the case may be.

And sometimes to the sight, it may feel like these people have this sovereign control over me.

But I think constantly reminding yourself is who truly is the God of my life?

That my boss is not the God of my life, that there is a sovereign God that works above all of these things, and he's working them all together ultimately for my good.

So I say all that to say is it getting to a point where we can disassociate good things with man, God is good, and then maybe not so favorable things because God's not good.

And we see through Joseph there that on the other side of a quote unquote bad thing, what we would deem is bad, right?

Don't let one of y'all babies go to prison.

You know, like we we we go freaking out, right?

But but I think being able to stay surrendered um to the will of God, even though, right?

Whatever fill in the blank, even though this, I'm gonna stay faithful, even though this, I'm gonna stay faithful.

I just lost my job, I'm gonna stay faithful, right?

I I think that's why that's why this and and especially iron sharpening iron relationships are so critical because when you're in the middle of rejection in real time, right?

Uh it it is it does not feel like growth, it doesn't feel like a holy moment.

When when, you know, again, like what you were saying, it can feel so much like in a position where my destiny is in somebody's hands.

So I've got this GM.

Now the reality is the GM has authority and power over that contract.

Right.

So they have power over this opportunity, but they don't have power over your destiny.

No.

The boss may have the power to take the job away, but the boss can't take your purpose away.

Somebody in in a in a relationship who you love has the power to walk away from you, but they can't take your value away from you.

Right?

But that's so hard to register in real time because all it feels like is a door just slammed in my face and it's echoing, and and I have a draft of air that just hit me, and and I'm getting on the plane and I'm flying home feeling like I blew the opportunity, or I'm calling a loved one, going, I'm sorry I couldn't, and you're feeling like you're letting people down, or whatever it might be.

And even again, these people who have some version of temporary, finite earthly power sometimes feel more powerful, and we make them more powerful in our minds than they are.

But to be able to have the presence of mind to regroup and to go, you know what?

You you might hold the keys to this opportunity, but you don't hold the keys to my future.

Ultimately, I my my life is in God's hands.

And so what I think it does is it causes us to shift from a belief that I have created uh a vision for my life, uh, I've got my uh uh dream board, and this is where I'm going, and I'm just gonna manifest it, and and I'm gonna try to you know ask God, Lord, I've already got the vision, I just need you to be the conduit.

And and so we try to force things, and then if they die, then we're shattered because like what in the world?

Now we're in a huge crisis, versus what you're talking about creates a flexibility on I have a totally different attitude towards closed doors.

I have a totally different attitude towards losses or defeats or things that have been taken away, or even feelings that I'm not empowered, right?

Where I'm feeling weak.

Um, it makes me think of the verse in James 1, verse 2, it says, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

James 1:2

And that's just one of those verses that almost feels like hyperbolic.

You're like, dude, come on, like how am I going to be joyful and cheerful when there's trials of many kinds?

It feels like almost like you have to fake uh being joyful in trial.

Yeah, you know, I'm too blessed to be stressed.

You know, I mean, I just dare somebody to try it, though.

In the face of a trial, I dare you just to start praising them, right?

But but the idea is like it's it's a really deep verse, uh, actually, few verses.

So it says, consider it joy when you face trials.

If you just stopped there, it wouldn't have the depth.

If you keep reading, it says, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

And then the next verse, verse 4, says, Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not like anything.

In other words, God has put everything in you that's supposed to be there, but some of it needs developed, some of it needs drawn out, and so it says that the idea that it's often suffering or trials or testing that will cause those things to emerge and become what they're supposed to be.

So let's revisit what we've just said.

One, if my identity is in, I'm his dearly loved son who brings me great joy, whether it works out or doesn't work out.

Whether you walk out on me or you stay or you go, I have a foundation beyond you, beyond any opportunity, beyond any resource.

Okay, so that's settled.

And then on top of that, I know that uh even when those doors shut, God is ultimately the one guiding my life.

And then uh also I understand that just like Jesus went from the affirmation to the wilderness, often I'm going to part of my development process is going to be challenges.

It's going to be wilderness, it's going to be things that are going to irritate my flesh, it's going to frustrate me uh naturally.

But when I see that based on the foundation of his love and my identity, I'm not reeling, I'm not cascading.

I have something solid, and I see that those hardships actually deepen me.

It strengthens my character.

It's part of my development.

Now you start to have these things when they emerge, I have a sense of anticipation or joy because I go, okay, wouldn't have picked this, wasn't on my bingo card, but now it's right in front of me.

And I've now I've been down this road before.

I've seen the way that God uses these things to transform my character, right?

To pull things out of me.

So now, again, it's not that it's ever pleasant to your flesh, but in in the process of maturation, I start to learn these things are necessary and important for God shaping me into who he wants me to be.

Amen.

I mean, I mean, I know somebody's testimony is I wouldn't even be here right now.

I wouldn't even be in this room if it weren't for some of the scars that I had to go to to ultimately turn to the gospel.

Like I don't know about y'all, but I don't know, I don't know if you guys would want to meet the person I'd turn into if I got everything that I wanted, right?

We pray for God and He's supposed to just give it to us.

I don't even, I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't even want to meet that person, right?

And so like ultimately these things, you know, are used, like you said, to strengthen our faith and ultimately grow us into the man or the woman that you know God has ultimately caused us to be.

I think you know, we we talked about this side of you know God having the sovereign control, right?

And how we should stay surrendered to that.

Um, you know, I think we should talk about just for a moment, like what does it look like on the other side of that coin?

Because I think you can live on one side of the coin, and I think that's easy just to kick back and why why don't why do I need to leave the house?

If God got in control, I can just you know I can just sit out and just veg out, right?

Um but what does the other side of that you know kind of look like?

Where does the motivation, where does the passion come from if you know God is in control and how do those two things kind of coexist?

Yeah.

I I think that's a great question because I I think it often it's often we tend to live on the fuel of fear or having something to prove or anger or a lot of these things that drive us, right?

If I'm afraid that if I don't make X amount of money or I don't ever get to the top of some mountain that I have in my head, then I'll be have no worth and no value, all right.

That you can thrive off that energy, right?

That will get you up in the morning and keep you up late at night because you're afraid of who who I am if I don't get there, right?

So if if you have to be a national champion, or you have to be the greatest ever, uh otherwise your life is pointless, okay, that fear can drive you.

And so I think often people are afraid, well, if if I had if now it's all settled and I'm in right relationship with God and I have nothing to prove, then would I even have any drive?

And I think it's a complete misunderstanding of the ecosystem really that God's created for us to live in.

So if you look at the word worship, okay, in the Old Testament, um, it's it's used, the word's used about 171 times, and it's the word worship literally means to bow.

So what you'll see in the Old Testament is um there are these different rituals around worship that would include someone physically bowing.

Well, what's the point of physically bowing is I'm putting my physical posture in a position of a heart posture.

I'm submitting myself to God.

But you see in the Old Testament, so much of their worship and their ceremonial law was built around rituals of worship.

When you get into the New Testament, that that same word that's used in the transliteration from the Hebrew into the Greek is the word proscaneo, and it basically again means to bow down.

You see it about 50 times in the New Testament, and uh about 26 of those are in the gospels, and it's when people would approach Jesus, recognize him to be deity, they're or you know, from God, and they would bow to him.

And then you see it in the book of Revelation where it talks about, you know, in all this imagery, bowing down at the thr the throne and all of this.

Only one time is it used in the epistles, which are describing to us what you know the principles of the kingdom of God, and it's it used one time for a guy who essentially bows down.

What you see in the in the epistles, in Paul in Paul's writing, James's writings, Peter's writings, John's writings, a lot of what they're writing is helping us understand worship, but it's broadening it out beyond uh liturgy.

It's nothing wrong with liturgy, liturgy is great.

Bowing before God is still appropriate.

You you may be worshiping at a certain point, you feel a need to do that, and that's beautiful, that's wonderful.

Um we sometimes lift our hands, we we sing songs of worship, we take communion, we have these different liturgies.

But what you see in the New Testament is it's broadened out from just like a physical bowing into the idea that things like the temple, which was the place you went to worship, and the priest, who is the one who helped you worship, we are actually the royal priesthood, and we are the temple.

So you see actually, look at look at this language when you think about worship.

Uh Romans 12, 1 says, Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.

Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable.

This is truly the way to worship him.

Alright?

So, what is he doing?

He's taking Old Testament sacrifice language.

This is something you would have done as a liturgy or something that you would have done in the temple as a ritual of worship.

And he says, Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Really, what God wants, other than you to just go bow down or you to just do the ritual, is for you to have a heart transformation and for you to see that your act of worship isn't just what you do in the temple, you are the temple.

So now everything you do with your body is your act of worship to Him.

It says in verse 2, don't copy the behavior customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Then you'll learn to know God's will.

In other words, then you'll learn to know what to do, what your act of worship is, which is good, pleasing, and perfect.

So, so let's let's bring it all together.

If I start from a foundation that I'm his dearly loved son, who brings him great joy, and and I and I'm not working hard to try to earn his favor.

I'm not out here going, if I can just win enough, if I can just be important enough and successful enough, then God will be proud of me.

No, just like the Father says, before you do any of that, here is my approval.

Why?

Because you're my child.

You are made in my image.

I love you at your highest moment, your lowest moment.

So if I have that established, now I start to understand even the hardships are things to be used for God's glory.

And now my work, my life's work, becomes an act of worship.

Why would I go play hard on the field?

Because it's an act of worship to God, not because I'm trying to get something I don't already have.

Now I'm actually doing it from the ultimate place of freedom because win or lose, I have his approval.

He's with me.

And so it's not coming from a place of fear, it's coming from an act of worship.

So think about now your life and think about what is your what what do you worship God with?

For some of you, it may be your your math skills, some of you it may be uh your business acumen, some of it um it may be your people skills or your leadership talent or whatever it might be, what whatever it is that you you uh have skills that you can use for the glory of God as an instrument, this is your opportunity to worship God and to do it from a place of freedom.

So where are we should be the most motivated because what we're doing is not trying to earn favor or salvation, it's ultimately from a place of freedom, and it's an act of worship.

Come on, amen, amen.

Give it up for that.

So I want to I want to show you a clip.

This is actually uh spoiler alert, this is the end of the documentary.

So the you know, the it's a three-parter.

Um they do a bunch of clips of football and all this and different testimonies and all of this, and and so you can kind of get caught up almost in the in the sports element of it.

And I thought they did a great job at the end of saying, let's not just have this be another entertainment thing.

What what is the point, okay, of this?

So they asked that question at the end.

I want to I want to share that with you.

The real story here is how the gospel can radically change lives.

And I'm curious from your perspective, I guess.

What would you say to someone watching this that maybe doesn't know Jesus?

What would you want them to know?

I would hope they would see a testimony of what it looks like to live your faith out in the real world in a way that's not obnoxious.

Football is temporary, this game is temporary, like it eventually, everything that we accomplish, like, although we accomplished great things, it eventually go away.

Um, the greatest thing is what Jesus accomplished, what he did on the cross.

Man, in this in this uh Christian life, we fall short all the time, every day.

But God, being rich in mercy, gave his son for us and has redeemed us.

So many times we want to make it about all these do's and don'ts, but it's not.

It's about done what Jesus has done for us.

Seek the Lord while he may be found, and you will find that he's not looking for you to be like anybody else, he's just looking for you to trust him with everything.

You know, whether you are able to identify it or not, there's gonna there's a longing that is in your heart, that's in your soul for something that this world cannot fulfill.

Um for me, I tried to fill that void with football.

And I think for a lot of my teammates, it was the same way.

We try to fill that void with football, and we try to chase this ultimate fulfillment, this ultimate happiness, the idea of success in this world.

And um, you get to a point where you always want more, and whatever you have is not good enough.

And even once you reach the pinnacle and you reach your dream and you think you have everything, there's still something that's missing.

Just for a moment, if you could put all of the third-party relationships to the side, and maybe dedicate yourself and ask yourself the same question that I asked myself.

God, if you're truly there, like I can even you can even say this prayer.

God, I know I've been distant from you.

God, I know I should have been serving you lately more than I have, and I've been distant, and I've been acting in a way, and my behavior is not right, and I know this.

But if you are truly there, I want a relationship with you, and I want to know if you're real.

You know, Matthew 7 says, if you knock, the door shall be opened, if you ask, you shall receive.

Um, if you ask, if you ask the Lord to come into your heart, he's not gonna leave you standing there.

There's not a direct correlation between God's favor and external rewards, like national championships.

The guys joke with me, like, man, my teammates start praying if we want to start winning like that, and it's like, uh, I wouldn't encourage you to go with to him with that heart posture, because that's not God.

God is just as good as if we would have lost.

And I'm in a position now, I stand here today, and I don't know the exact reason why my mom is gone, or I don't know exactly the reason why me and my father lost a relationship during that time.

I don't know why my football career was hurt the way that it was, and I was broken, and I was so depressed, and had the anger issues that I had.

I don't know why, but I do know as a result of all of those things, it truly broke me down to the lowest point that I can possibly get to the point where I felt like I didn't want to even be on this earth anymore.

And it caused me to look to the one who can give me everlasting joy and peace.

And he has granted that to me.

And um, you know, it it really brings me back to the verse that I write on my iBlack every game in Romans 8.28.

Um, and we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God.

And it doesn't say that all things are good that happens to those who love God.

It doesn't mean you win a national championship.

It doesn't mean you keep all of your family members, because death is inevitable.

It doesn't mean you get all of the favorable things in life.

He doesn't say all things are good that happened.

He's saying all things are working together for one common good.

Giving your life to Christ and using this platform for his glory is going to be something much bigger, much more valuable, much more eternal than a trophy or confetti.

The redemption of my life has come from the gospel message, and that's what that's what sincerely has changed my life.

I mean, just to be honest, I know that I'm associated with a football team, but this football team didn't change my life.

Jesus did.

And I think for all of those who has been changed on this team, it has not been a result of a football game or fans.

It's been by the glorious strength of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the redeemer, and he is the one who makes people new.

Amen.

Could you stand up on your feet?

I want to invite our prayer team to come down, and in a moment we're gonna close in prayer.

But I I want to take a moment to invite you.

Maybe some of you are here today, and you uh you've had either a significant success or a significant failure that has started to take over your mind.

And it's all you see when you look in the mirror.

It started to distort your view of yourself or God, or maybe both.

Maybe you're walking through a wilderness season or you're walking through something difficult.

It feels like you know God's abandoned you, and and yet maybe that's the very thing that God's doing to draw something out of you.

And instead of allowing frustration to dominate your emotions and your mind, to allow God to give you a different look, to look at it again, to see something more, see something different.

Maybe you're you're here and you find yourself like so low in motivation, it's maybe you're even falling into depression where uh you've had such a significant loss, or you're in a place where you go, I I I can't find any any drive to move forward.

And I want to encourage you today.

What we were talking about is our lives being a an act of worship, whatever, whatever you're doing.

Maybe that was the word for you today.

But whatever you're walking through, our team is here to serve you.

And so before you leave, I I think often uh when it comes to coming forward for prayer, I was talking to somebody the other day who was like, Man, I need it to go up so bad, and I just kept talking myself out of it almost like they were worried of some kind of stigma of walking out.

Listen, that's that's what that's what we do, that's what we're here for.

Prayer's not the least we can do, it's the most we can do.

This is the least judgmental group of people you've ever met.

With we have a few judgmental ones, but they're second service, third service.

These people are pure, all right.

So you can come up and share, you know, what whatever as much or as little as you want to, frankly, and and to bring it to the Lord.

And so if God's timing the word up today with your life, don't take that for granted and take that step of faith.

If you're watching online, by the way, we have a team for you as well.

G, would you?

Close this in prayer?

Absolutely.

If you just bow your heads, dear Lord Jesus, Heavenly Father, first and foremost, I just want to thank you.

I want to thank you for what you've done on the cross, Lord.

I thank you for your redemptive nature.

That when you come when we come to you, even with our brokenness and with our wounds, you have the ability to make us brand new.

And you take those graves and you turn them into gardens, and you can make us new and give us a joy that we couldn't quite find in this world.

And Lord, even as that video was just playing a moment ago, I looked around the room and I saw a few people with tears going down their faces.

And I pray even right now, Lord, that you just may remind them that you are the God that is near to the brokenhearted.

That they don't need to look any farther than the cross.

Maybe there's somebody this is their first time hearing these kind of things.

And they're interested and they don't know where to turn.

Lord, I just pray that you just right now just may meet them where they are and give them a joy, give them a peace, and an understanding that in the midst of a trial and in the midst of not understanding, and in the midst of all of the things that may be going on, that they can find comfort in you.

For you are the one that gives us rest.

In a world where we can look all over the place of rest, the more advanced our society gets, Lord, the more places there is to turn for rest.

We have AI, we have all of these things, we have everything convenient, ways to get food, we have everything to just cater to us, but yet we're living in a society that's statistically one of the most anxious and depressed societies that there's been generations in general, Lord.

And I just ask that you just may remind my brothers and sisters that they don't need to continue to turn to the things of this world.

Lord, like your word says, that anyone who continues to drink of the waters of this world will continue to thirst.

But it says, anyone who drinks of me shall never thirst again.

Because the water that you offer, Lord, is living water.

It doesn't perish.

The race can end, and they can find true peace in you.

You also say, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

So, Jesus, right now, whomever that may be, I'm here today, Lord, allow them and give them the strength to turn their gaze from whatever they were looking to to find fulfillment in, and allow them to turn their gaze unto you, Lord.

And I pray that you just do what you do, God, for you are who you say you are, Lord.

So we just love you, Lord.

We praise you, and we thank you.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.