First Day

The first of day of school.  The emotions of this day are all over the place.  A few years ago there was a great commercial that summed up two responses people have on this first day.

 For some parents back to school is the most wonderful time of the year, but for other’s its not.  Do you remember the first day you dropped your child off at kindergarten

or maybe that day you dropped them off at college.

For parents the first day of school can be filled with great joy and sorrow or maybe the feelings are fear and anxiety.  For students it’s the same.  You might be like those kids in the commercial and dread the first day of school but other children are excited to get back and students at every level are filled with fear and anxiety about the first day in a new grade or a new school.  Will I make friends?  Will I succeed?  Will anyone eat lunch with me in the cafeteria?  

The first day of school can be a challenge, but the challenge of first days is not limited to students and parents.  Do you remember the first day on a new job?  There may have been great joy and excitement as you began a new career but you might have felt fear and anxiety as you stepped into a position that was unfamiliar.  There is fear and anxiety in new jobs.  Can I do it?  Will I be successful?  Will people like me?  Will anyone eat lunch with me? Isn’t it interesting that some of our fears and anxieties never change.

There are other first days that cause stress and uncertainty.  How about the first day you held your new child?  Can I really do this?  Or the first day you brought that child home and you were really on your own.  Or the first day of retirement when there is nothing on your calendar for months on end.  What will you do?  What will fill your days?  Will anyone want to each lunch with you?  Again some of our fears and anxieties never change?

No matter what first days we face, we can learn how to face them with faith by looking at Jesus’ first days.  There was his first day on earth, the first day of ministry, the first day after his resurrection and the first day of his church and as we look at these first days we find what’s needed to make it through ours.

The first thing that happened on the first day of Jesus life was that angels found a group of shepherds and gave them a message.  This is from Luke 2:10-12.  From the very first day, God had a plan for Jesus.  He was born into this world to be the savior, Christ the Lord.  Now granted, Jesus didn’t hear this message when he was born, but because it was recorded we know that those shepherds must have shared what they heard with Mary and Joseph who over time shared it with Jesus.  From the first day of his life, Jesus was told that God’s plan for him was to be the savior.  Jesus always knew that God had a plan for him.

On every first day we face we need to remember that God has plan for us.  God has a plan for us in school, in sports, in the band, in our dorm, at our business, with our families and in our retirement.  God has a plan for us and we need to step into our first days confident in God’s plan and purpose.  We need to tell our children that God has a plan for them in the classroom and on their teams.  We need to send our children to college with the encouragement that God has a plan for them at school and in life and that we stand with them as they search and prepare for it.  We need to begin new jobs confident that God has bought us to this place and time for God’s purpose.  Even in retirement God has a plan for us and it’s important to seek out that plan because it’s more than just reading and watching tv or watching the grass grow.  

All of us have a God given plan and in his book, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren says that we all have a purpose or mission that is shared and a mission that is specific.  The shared mission we all have is to be part of the church which shares the love, grace and truth of Jesus with others.  Together we are called to the purpose of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world and the most important way we do this is by being part of the body of Christ that loves the serves the world.  This is part of God’s plan we need to share with our children as they start school.  They are part of a church where we are all called to love others and treat others well and speak kind words to them.  While we all share in this mission, we also have a specific mission.

Our specific mission is to be used by God in the unique way God has created us.  The purpose of some may be to teach and lead the children and we need to pray for our teachers who face their first day tomorrow.  The purpose of some is to care for the needs of our children in the schools, so those who drive buses and vans, those who cook and clean, those who provide support services to children need our support and prayers.  The purpose of some is to lead a business or lead in our community or government.  The purpose of some is to work in health care or finances, or to work in retail, service industries or higher education.  God has called each of us to a specific purpose and as we fulfill that purpose we find meaning.  On our first days we need to remember that God has a plan for us.

We also need to remember that on every first day we face God is says to us, You are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.  This is what God said to Jesus on his first day of ministry which took place at his baptism.  The baptism of Jesus is the first time we see Jesus as an adult in the gospels and it marks the beginning of his public life and ministry and on that first day as he comes up out of the waters of the Jordan River it says… Luke 3:22
You are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.

No matter what first day we are facing, this word brings us much needed encouragement.  New beginnings bring challenges and uncertainty, it raises questions about our competence and ability and during those times of doubt we need to know that we are God’s children, that we are loved by God, and that God is pleased with us.  Students, as you head off to school where you may hear harsh and critical words from others, remember that you are loved by God.  If you are starting college and entering into a world that will challenge your faith and world view, remember that you are a child of God who is loved by God.  If you are starting a new joy or any new beginning, remember that God is pleased with you and loves you.  This is a message we need to hear on first days and every day.  

These words were said at the baptism of Jesus not so much for the benefit of the crowds who really didn’t know what was going on but for the benefit of Jesus.  On this first day for Jesus he needed the reminder of God’s love and if Jesus needed to hear this, how much more do we?  We not only need to hear it we need to share it.  We need to communicate this message to your children, share it with friends and use it to encourage coworkers.  If we are willing to share this message then at every stage of life we will hear these words that bring us encouragement and strength.  You are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.

The third thing we need to know on our first day is that God will not abandon us on the second or third day but that God will walk with us every day and that is what we learn from the first day of Jesus’ resurrection.  Staying in Luke’s gospel, the first resurrection appearance of Jesus was not at the empty tomb but along a road from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  Luke 24:13-15.

Jesus walked with them that day and he listened to their hopes and dreams, their disappointments and fears.  As Jesus walked with them he taught them the truth of God’s word and encouraged them by taking time to eat with them and bless them and it was during the evening meal where their eyes and hearts were opened.  Luke 24:28-32.

The first day of Jesus resurrection was spent walking with his followers and Jesus appeared to them many days after that so as we face the uncertainty and anxiety of our first days we need to remember that God is here to walk with us and God will keep walking with us.  As God walks with us he listens to us, he takes the time to lead and teach us and then he also is willing to open our hearts and minds so we can truly see him with us.  We do not face any new beginning alone; God is there to help us on the first day and to help us every day.  The question is will we take the time to look to God and lean on him for help?

The final first day I want us to consider comes from the book of Acts which was also written by Luke, and it comes from the first day of the new church which was carrying on the work of Jesus.  Acts 2: 1-4.  The first day of the church was a day of power.  It was a day when God’s power was given to the followers of Jesus so they could do everything God had planned for them.

Our first days are also marked with God’s power.  The power of God is with us.  Jesus was the Savior of the world through the power of God.  Jesus ministered to people in the power of God.  Jesus rose from the dead through the power of God.  The church fulfilled its purpose and shared the news of Jesus through the power of God.  Every important first day in Jesus life was marked by the power of God and we will be able to make it through our first days because the power of God is with us.  If you are stepping into a new job find confidence and courage in the power of God.  If you are stepping into the unknown of retirement you can do it because God’s power is with you.  If you are starting in a new grade or in new school you can make it through because the power of God is with you.  The power of God is with us.  .

Tomorrow is a first day for students but we all face first days in life and as we do we need to learn from Jesus’ first days that
• God has a plan for us.
• We are God’s children and we are loved by God.  
• God will walk with us.
• The power of God is with us.



Next Steps
First Day…

First day of school… First day of college… First day on a new job… First day of retirement… First day as a new parent…
What thoughts and feelings did you have on these first days?  What first days are you facing right now?
What has helped you make it through your first days?

Read about what happened on four first days of Jesus’ life.  What lessons can you learn from these first days?
• Luke 2:1-20
• Luke 3:21-22
• Luke 23:13-35
• Acts 2:1-12

On all your first days… remember
1. God has a plan for your life.
• How can you be part of the shared purpose God has for all of us as part of the church?  Find one way to connect with the church this fall that will help you fulfill this purpose.
• Identify the specific purpose God has for you.

2. You are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.  Write down this message from God and read it every day.  Share this message with others, especially your children.

3. God walks with us each day to listen, talk and encourage.  Take time to experience God’s presence with you.  Read God’s word and listen to Him in prayer.  Accept God’s offer of grace and love.

4. God gives us power to accomplish his purpose and plan.  Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit so you can do all you want to do and all that God is asking of you.

The Games - The Thrill of Victory & the Agony of Defeat

The Olympics are always a great source of images and stories that define for us the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.  This week we saw it again.  We saw this thrill of victory with Usain Bolt's amazing three-peat in the 100m race and we saw this agony of defeat with the reigning Gold Medal diver from Russia doing a belly flop.  There have been other agonies of defeat this summer, the gymnast who broke his leg on the vault which was too gruesome to show.  There have been bike crashes, slips and falls on the balance beam and false starts in racing, but the truly defining moment for the agony of defeat doesn’t come from any Olympics.  You may not know Vinko Bogataj’s name but you know his agony if you watched any sports on Saturday afternoons during the 70’s and 80’s.

Vinko Bogataj was a very young Yugoslavian ski jumper who wiped out on his first jump and then had this complete fail on his second.
This one jump defines for us the agony of defeat but that single moment was not the end for Vinko.  That day he actually wanted to go back up and try the jump again, but the doctors and trainers said no. Because of his well-documented fall however, Vinko became a worldwide sensation and at the Wide World of Sports 20th anniversary celebration Vinko not only received a standing ovation but he was the most soft after athlete for an autograph.  In fact, it was Muhammad Ali, the greatest of them all, who was the first one who wanted Vinko’s autograph.  The agony of his defeat led to the thrill of victory.  And by the way, do you know who won that competition?  Have you ever seen his jump?  No, and that’s my point.

The lesson here is that the thrill of victory often comes only after the agony of defeat.  Do you remember this miracle minute in sports?  The miracle on ice was a miracle because for 20 years the Russian’s had beaten the US in international competition and so at the 1980 Olympics no one gave the young American team any chance of winning.  It was through the agony of so many defeats that this thrill of victory came not only to these men on skates but to the nation that watched.

And then there was the agony of defeat we saw in the 1988 winter Olympics by the speed skater Dan Jansen.  Dan was favored to medal in the 500 and 1000 meter races, but after hearing that his sister Jane had died of leukemia that morning, Dan fell during both of his races and was out of competition.  In the 1992 Olympics Dan was expected to medal again but came in 4th in the 500 meters and 26th in the 1,000.  In the 1994 Olympics, Dan was again the odds on favorite to win the gold in the 500 meters because he had set world records in that event leading up to the Olympics, but he came in 8th.  In the final race of his Olympic career, the 1000 meters, not his specialty, Dan was not expected to medal but he came in first!

The thrill of this victory came for Dan because he had known and been through the agony of defeat.  The lesson again is that the thrill of victory often comes only after the agony of defeat and this isn’t just true in sports it is a lesson we need to learn in life.  The success and victories we experience are made more meaningful and significant because we have experienced failure but the reason we are able to experience these victories is because we did not let the agony of our defeat be the final word of our lives.  If our failures define us – we know only defeat, but if we tell ourselves that our failure is not final then our life is not futile and the thrill of victory is there for our future.

So, where have you experienced the agony of defeat in your life?  I’m not talking about where you have had to persevere through some hard times I’m talking about where you had to pick up and start all over again.  Maybe it was watching a business you poured your heart into struggle for years and then finally go under.  Maybe it was getting called into the boss’s office and told you were being laid off again due to a downturn in business.  Maybe it was realizing you had to go back to work after retirement if you were going to make ends meet.  For some the defeat is the inability to overcome an addiction that is destroying them body and soul or hearing the doctors say that the cancer has returned.  Many have experienced defeat in relationships, in school and in life.  Where have you experienced the agony of defeat?  

Wherever that pain has come from, you are not alone because God knows this pain.  Jesus, who was God in the flesh, experienced the agony of defeat not once or twice, but many times during his life.
In the beginning of John’s gospel it says that Jesus came to his own people but that they did not recognize him nor receive him.  This happened when Jesus returned to his home town of Nazareth to teach and preach and while the crowds were amazed at what Jesus said, they were skeptical and in time not only rejected Jesus but drove him out of town with the intent to throwing him off a cliff.  Luke 4:29.  The agony of defeat for Jesus was real.

Jesus was rejected by his hometown and despised by the religious leaders.  He was called a heretic by the teachers and even his friends struggled to support him.  In the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus felt the pain of loss looming on the horizon he asked his closest friends to watch and pray with him, but they all fell asleep and then one of his own disciples arrived and betrayed him with a kiss and when Jesus was arrested by the religious leaders his friends abandoned him.  The agony of defeat for Jesus was experienced that night when he was thrown into a pit, tried before the religious leaders and Roman rulers and sentenced to die.  The agony of defeat was experienced when Jesus was flogged and beaten and then forced to carry a cross.  Then agony came when Jesus was nailed to that cross and hung there to die.

Jesus knows all about the agony of defeat but he never let that defeat define him and he knew that defeat would not be final.  Jesus knew that through his defeat would come the thrill of victory.  Jesus did not give into the defeat he experienced because he knew that through the agony would come the thrill of victory over sin and death.  When defeat, failure and loss enter our lives we need to ask ourselves what we are going to do with it.  Will we give in and give up and allow that defeat to define who we are and how we live or will we choose to look for the victory that can be ours in the end.  Jesus shows us the way.  The agony of defeat can lead us to the thrill of victory
The apostle Paul tells us this in 1 Corinthians 15:54b-58.  It is because of this victory of Jesus that we can find victory in our lives.

What is it about looking to Jesus that helps us experience victory?  Let’s look to Rio for some answers.

Standing 2,329 feet over the city of Rio de Janeiro is the statue Christo Redeemer.  At 98 feet tall it is the fifth largest statue of Jesus in the world and for 75 years it has stood as a symbol of Christianity.  There are two things you may not know about the statue.  The first is that this Jesus is blind.  While all statues have stone eyes, there is absolutely nothing in the space where Jesus eyes should be.  There is just blank stone.

It is a little unsettling when you see it up close and many people think this is how God lives – blind to our problems.

If we think God is blind to our defeat and pain then we will never make it through to victory.  If God doesn’t see us our agony then our defeat will define us, but God sees our pain and He knows our failures.  Jesus said that a sparrow does not fall to the ground without God knowing about it and that the very hairs of our head are numbered.  God see our lives and sees our defeat and pain and God is at work to redeem those moments.  In Romans 8:28 it says God works for the good in all things for those who love Christ Jesus.  Whatever agony of defeat you have experienced has been seen by God.   God was with you and God will see you through it to victory.

The second thing you may not know about this statue is that carved on Jesus’ chest is a heart.

Again, many people think this is what God is like; having a heart of stone, but quite the opposite is true.  Jesus’ heart beats for us and his love is what sees us through the agony of defeat to the thrill of victory.  Romans 5:8.  God loves us so much that when he sees our defeat he sends Jesus to suffer the consequences for us so that we might live.  God’s love for us can see us through all the agony of this world.  Paul said that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.  Romans 8:35-39.  The heart of Jesus beats for us and God’s love leads us to life and victory.

What turns the agony of defeat into the thrill of victory is knowing that we have a savior who not only sees our pain and knows what that it’s like but loves us enough to endure the cross so that we can emerge victorious.

While sports provides some amazing and fun stories that show us what the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat look like, where we need to see this kind of spirit at work is in changing the hearts, lives and destinies of people.  Carissa Phelps, no relation to Michael, was a young girl living in central California when she became a victim of human trafficking at age 12.  Abducted and used by a friend to provide sex for money, Carissa lived on the streets for months before she ended up in a juvenile detention center where she met a counselor named Ron Jenkins.  It was Ron and a math teacher who helped Carissa overcome her early defeats and experience the thrill of victory.  Carissa graduated with honors from Fresno State University and went on to receive a Law degree and an MBA from UCLA.  She gave up a lucrative career in private equity firms to go back to the streets to help other girls find victory through their defeats.  Here is part of her story.

Carissa Phelps

We have all experienced the agony of defeat; you may be going through that pain today.  If we give up, then the defeat will define us, but if we keep going with our eyes on Jesus then we will find victory.  God came to us in the person of Jesus who has eyes to see our pain and who has a heart that loves us unconditionally.  It is through the agony of Jesus’ death that we can experience the thrill of victory and new life.

While the Olympics may be coming to an end, our race of faith continues on so let us, forget what lies behind and strain toward what is ahead.  Let us press on toward the goal and win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus our Lord.   Let us run with perseverance the race set before us.



Next Steps
The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat

1.  Name an agony of defeat that you have experienced during your life.
• Has this failure defined you?
• Has it led to the thrill of victory?

2.  Think back to a thrill of victory you have experienced.  What defeats and failures did you have to go through to get there?

3. What 2016 Olympic story can inspire you to victory?  What other stories of victory through defeat can motivate you to keep going?  Search for stories of victory that can be used as a source of strength for you and others.

4.  Take time this week to note where you need to experience the thrill of victory.
• Outline what it will take for you to experience victory.
• What past defeats do you need to overcome?
• What defeats might you face as you keep going?

5.  What keeps us going is knowing that Jesus does NOT have blind eyes nor a stone heart.
• Name the problems that Jesus sees in your life today.
• How does knowing this give you strength and peace?

 6.  Jesus has a beating heart of compassion that loves you.
• Read Romans 8:15-39
• Read 1 John 4:7-8
• How can this love give you strength to persevere?

7.  Reach out to one person who needs your help to overcome the agony of their defeat.

The Games - Perseverance

Michael Phelps, Katey Ladecky, Simone Biles and every other athlete competing in this summer’s Olympic Games is a testimony to perseverance and endurance.  They have all overcome obstacles of one kind or another to get where they are and every one of them could give us inspiration and instruction on how to persevere.  Some athletes have had to overcome difficult family situations like Simone Biles who was raised by her grandparents after her mother gave up her children due to substance abuse.  Simone could have allowed those problems to define her but she worked through them to become the most decorated women’s gymnast and now the gold medal winner in the women’s individual all around.

Every athlete has to overcome injury or accidents in their journey to the Olympics and some have had to deal with emotional blows and tragic loss.  Nowhere is this kind of endurance seen more clearly than with this year’s refugee team made up of 10 athletes who have persevered through incredible hardship and the loss of their homes and nations.   One of the athletes on the refugee team is the swimmer Yusra Mardini, a Syria refugee who literally had to swim part of the way from Turkey to Greece in order to find life.

Yusra Mardini

All the members of the refugee team share similar stories.  There are runners who trained by racing through refugee camps without shoes and athletes who found strength and courage to survive through the sport of Judo.  These athletes have endured through incredible hardships due to war, poverty and disease and they have persevered to compete with the best in the world not just for personal glory but to be a witness of courage and hope for their nations.

Perseverance and endurance are not just required to be an Olympic athlete, they are necessary for all who want to follow of Jesus.  Being a Christian is not easy, it never has been and Jesus told us from the very beginning that it was going to be hard.  If we go back to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Jesus said, Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you become of me.  Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven.  Matthew 5:11-12a

Jesus never promised that following him would be an easy road, quite the opposite, it was going to be a narrow and hard road and if we are going to make it through in this race of faith we are going to need to persevere and endure through hardships and suffering.  We will not have to endure the threat of being beheaded during worship or forced from our homes like our brothers and sisters in Syria and Iraq, but we will be facing more and more persecution for our faith as our culture drifts farther from God.  People are losing their livelihoods because they are choosing to follow their faith and conscience in how they operate their business.  People are losing their jobs and positions in the community because they want to pray in public and every day many of you may face persecution if you want to even talk about your faith in the work place.  We can choose to give up the race of faith or we can learn to persevere through the persecution and hardships.  If you want to persevere, then I want to offer three steps we can all take to help us keep going.

The first step is to Surrender to God.  Michael Phelps is one of the greatest athletes ever.  He has competed in 5 Olympic Games, he has won gold medals in four of them and has more gold medals than anyone else.  While what we often see during the Olympic games is an all American boy with a big smile who succeeds at every turn and with every stroke, the reality is that Michael has faced some difficult times and has had to learn to persevere.  After the London Olympics you may remember the well documented and publicized problems Michael faced with alcohol and drugs and for many of us it looked like he was going to be another amazing athlete who allowed the glory and fame to ruin his life.  But that is not how this story ended.  Michael learned how to persevere through the pain and overcome the problems of his life and he did it by surrendering.  Listen to Michael’s own words from an interview he did with ESPN.

Michael Phelps

Did you hear him say it?  He had to surrender.  Michael had to surrender control of his life to others when he entered into the rehab but in time he learned that what he really needed to do was surrender his life to God, the one who created him, the one who had a purpose for him and the one who saved him.

When we face trials and problems in life and when we struggle in our faith we don’t persevere by relying upon our own strength.  That’s what Michael had been trying to do for many years and as far as that got him in life, it wasn’t enough.  There comes a point in all our lives where our own strength is not enough to keep us going.  The only way to endure will be to surrender to God.  The apostle Paul talks about this kind of surrender, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

We don’t know what this thorn in the flesh was for Paul, but it was an obstacle in his life and on his own he wasn’t able to get past it or overcome it so what he does is surrender to God.  He comes to God saying that his strength is not enough but that God’s grace is.  Paul states clearly that in his weakness or in his surrendering to God he becomes strong or maybe a better way to say that is that God becomes strong in him.  In Philippians 4:13 Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who Christ who gives me strength.

We can persevere through all things in life and in faith but not on our own, we only persevere when we finally and fully surrender to God.  For many people that moment comes when we hit rock bottom and have nowhere else to turn, but it doesn’t have to get to that point in our lives of faith.  If we surrender to God today and everyday then when trials come we will endure through them because the strength of God will already be there to help us.

I have shared before that the moment of surrender in my life came my sophomore year of college when I faced problems and pain that I couldn’t overcome myself.  Trying to work through things on my own got me nowhere and it was sitting on a bench under Beaumont Tower on the campus of MSU that I heard God say, Andy, with me there is life and without me there is death and that choice is yours.  I wanted life and I wanted the fullness of life so I surrendered to God that day knowing there was no other way to get it and I’ll be honest, I still struggle everyday to surrender my will to God’s will, but I keep at it because I know that it is only in surrendering that I will find life and the strength to endure in life and in this race of faith.

I want to invite you today to once again surrender yourself to God.  If you want to run the race of faith and if you want to stand strong in faith when the difficult days come, the only way you can do it is to trust in the strength of power of God.  If you can’t remember every doing this in your life, I want to invite you to pray and tell God that you are ready to stop trying to life live on your own and that you are going to give yourself fully to him and that you are going to allow God to lead and direct you in life.  If this is unnerving for you – good, it should be, it is a scary step, but it is the only one that ultimately will help us make it through.  If you have surrendered before, great, do it again today and if surrendering to God doesn’t scare you – it should because God wants to do more in you then you ever imagined.  This is not something we do lightly, we should do it with a certain amount of fear and trembling because my guess is that God wants to do more in all of us then we ever thought or imagined.

Prayer

Surrender is the first step to enduring in life and faith and it leads us to the second step that can help us endure which is to See trials as opportunities.  James 1:2-4, 12.  When James wrote this, people understood trials and problems as an evil to be avoided at all costs, which is often how we see trials today, but James turns that idea on its head to say that problems are really just opportunities for us to grow in faith and to experience God’s grace and power.  Now this doesn’t mean we should go out and look for problems, but we don’t need to look for them because they will be there.  Jesus said, each day has enough trouble of its own.  When trouble comes we need to look at it differently than the world does and learn how to choose joy in the midst of the pain.

Paul knew how to do this, when he was in prison with Timothy they were locked up and instead of giving in to their situation they surrendered to God, choose to be joyful and sang.  Acts 16:22-31.  Paul and Silas had a choice after they were flogged and imprisoned, they could have given up and cried out in anger and frustration to God, but they didn’t, they sang and prayed and it was by choosing joy that they were able to endure and overcome.  

Choosing to rejoice in the face of problems helps us persevere and joy is a choice.  Happiness depends upon what is happening around us, but joy is a choice and joy comes every time we fully surrender to God.  Joy is listed as one of the fruits of God’s spirit which we don’t work to produce but is a byproduct of allowing God to dwell within us.  When we are filled with God’s spirit then problems always become opportunities for God to be glorified and for our faith to be strengthened.  What problem are you facing today and how can you turn it around to see it as an opportunity?

Financial setbacks can be opportunities to simplify life and set Godly priorities.  Family problems can be opportunities to learn how to love and forgive.  Even emotional and physical pain and suffering can be opportunities for us to experience God’s grace and power and for us to live more fully for God.  Please don’t misunderstand me and think that pain and problems as sent by God or caused by God, they aren’t, they are often just symptoms of our broken and sinful world, but every painful situation is an opportunity for us to choose joy because it is an opportunity for God to be glorified.  When we see the problems in life as opportunities we find the strength and grace of God to persevere through them.

The third step to help us persevere is to Surround ourselves with others.  We can’t endure if we are standing alone.  We can’t see problems as opportunities on our own – we need encouragement.  We need teammates.  Again the Olympics remind us that no one competes alone.  No one wins the race by themselves, we all need help and it’s when pain and problems come that we really need to rely upon one another.  Paul and Silas were able to sing in jail because they had each other for encouragement and support.  Even Jesus invited Peter, James and John to pray with him in the garden the night he was betrayed and arrested because in his time of greatest trial he didn’t want to be alone.  As we heard last week, we need people on our team.  As the author or Hebrews says, we need to surround ourselves with a great cloud of witnesses so we can run the race of faith.  We need teammates who can help us run when we are tired, hurt, empty and the end of our strength.

Let me close by showing you what this looks like with another Olympic image.  This is from the 1992 summer games in Barcelona where Derek Redmond was favored to win gold in the 400 meters.

Derek Redmond

What more can I say.  When we surround ourselves with others – we are able to persevere.

There are steps we can take to persevere in life and faith, we can
• Surrender to God
• See problems as opportunities and choose joy
• Surround ourselves with others.

 
Next Steps
The Games – Perseverance

What Olympic story have you heard this year that has inspired you to persevere?  Check out the stories of the Olympic Refugee Team athletes who are competing in the games.  Go to olympic.org  or unhcr.org.

1.  Surrender to God.  Read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 and Philippians 4:13
• If you have never surrendered control of your life to God, do that today.
• Surrender to God every day using this prayer of John Wesley.
I am no longer my own, but yours.  Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you, exalted for you, or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing: I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.  And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours. So be it.

2. See Problems as Opportunities.  Read James 1:1-4, 12
• Name a problem you are facing today that God can use as an opportunity to grow your faith or the faith or others.
• Choose to be joyful in the face of your pain and problems.  Joy is a choice we can make every day.


3. Surround Yourself with Others.    Read Hebrews 11 & 12
• Who is on your team?
• Whose team are you on?

The Games - Teamwork

Friday the Olympics began and one of the most amazing things to watch is the parade of nations.  With all the problems our world faces, it is great to see so many nations gathered together in peace for some healthy competition.  Between all the commercials on Friday night, one of the things the parade of nations showed us was that every Olympic athlete competes as part of a team.  Even the nation of Tavula, which only had one athlete, came with a team

 and this year there was even a team made up of refugees which should be a symbol to us that every athlete is part of a team.

Swimmers and runners which are more individual athletes are part of at team and they work together to push each other to be the best.  Being part of a team is also essential for us in life and in faith.  We need teammates if we want to run the race of faith to our fullest potential.

Today we are going to look at three specific things that teammates do for us and as we discuss each area I am going to ask you 2 specific questions.   You can find these questions on your next steps if you want to follow along.  The two questions are these:
Who is on your team?  And Whose team are you on?  

Before we start thinking about who is on our team to help us run the race of faith, let’s just think about who is on our team in life.  Who is on your team?  Parents?  Husband?  Wife?  Brothers?  Sisters?  Friends?  Co-workers?  Coaches?  Teachers?  Who is on your team?  And whose team are you on?  Just as we need the support of others so others need our support.  We are not supposed to live life alone.  Even those who are the most introverted need teammates

God created us to be part of teams.  When God made Adam he looked at him and said it is not good for man to be alone.  Because we are created in the image of God, we have been created to be in relationship with others.  God is relational – Father, Son, Holy Spirit – so we were created to be in relationship with others and that is not just a husband and wife.  We were created to be part of a family, a community and yes a team.  Teamwork is essential to life and it is essential to living life the way God calls us to.  

Even Jesus shows us the need for teammates.  What was the first thing Jesus did when he started his ministry?  He didn’t go out do things alone; he called people to work with him.  So even Jesus knew he couldn't do it alone, he needed a team and so he called the disciples, but it was more than just the 12.  In Luke 10 it says Jesus sent out 72 people to preach in the surrounding towns so Jesus had a team in ministry.  Jesus also needed homes to stay in and people to feed him as he traveled.  Jesus needed a team of people who would be there to support him.  Jesus had many people on his team and he was part of their team.  Actually, Jesus is on all of our teams!

So in life and in faith we need teammates and on each of our teams we need people to do three specific things.  We need someone who will encourage us, we need someone who will challenge us and we need someone who will help us.

We all need someone our team who will encourage us.
1 Thessalonians 5:11. The Greek word for encourage is the word paraclete which is the same word we find in John 14 for the Holy Spirit.  The word is defined as someone who walks along side of us and it is most often used in a legal setting so might be seen as a defense attorney.  A defense attorney is that person who is there to speak for us and defend us.  The encourager on our team is the person who walks with us in life and faith and cheers us on.  If you don’t have an encourager in life and faith you need to get one because they will help us do more than we thought we could and they will motivate us in ways no else can.

A study was done to see just how much encouragement motivates us and what they did was have people stand in buckets of ice water.  As you can imagine, people got uncomfortable very quickly so got out of the bucket.  Then they brought in some encouragers who cheered people on and what they found was that people could stand in the bucket of ice water for twice as long as they could when they were alone.  We can do more than we ever thought we could when we have an encourager.  Sometimes just the thought of having a cheering section can motivate is to do new things.

My niece has recently become active in cross fit which is a kind of cross training program.  She told the story of a cross fit competition she attended in Houston where a woman did very well during the entire program and all she had to do to best her personal time was do hand stand push up against a wall within three minutes.  The problem was that she had never done one.   When people in the gym realized what was going on, everyone stopped what they were doing and ran to cheer her on.  They encouraged her as much as they could and while she couldn’t do it, she knew she had all the support of all the people.  They were on her team.  When my sister heard the story she said it made her want to do cross fit just to have that kind of a team.  Who is on your team?   And whose team are you on?

The second person we all need is someone who will challenge us.  Hebrews 10:24.  The word spur means to provoke, but in a good way.  We all need people who will provoke us to love God and love others and even love ourselves so we can be at our best.  When I lived in Altoona I had a roommate who was involved in campus ministry at Penn State Altoona and we not only tried to encourage one another but we also challenged one another and one day he truly challenged and provoked me.  

I had struggled to set good limits on my time so had ended up working 7 days a week for weeks on end.  I hadn’t taken a day off in a long time and I wasn’t planning on taking one that Monday because there was always something that needed to be done.  My friend said, Andy you have to take a day off – you need some Sabbath rest and you do not need to go into work today.  I wasn’t going to listen to him until he told me that if I decided to drive to work he was going to lay down on the driveway behind my car.  I didn’t believe him so started to go to my car and he went with me and stood behind it ready to get down on the driveway.  We argued for awhile, but I finally gave in and realized, he was right.  I didn't need to work that day.  He was my challenger that day and while I didn’t like being provoked, he was 100% right.

We all need to someone who will provoke us to love God and others and care for ourselves and we also need someone who will hold us accountable to do good deeds and serve God.  If you don't have someone to do this, get someone on your team to provoke you, and when you are asked to help on someone else’s team, don’t say no, just do it.  Who is on your team?  Whose team are you on?

The last person we all need on our team is someone who will help us.  Galatians 6:2.  Carrying someone else's burden requires time and energy.  Helping is often an inconvenience because we have to sacrifice ourselves in order to do it.  Are we willing to set aside our own lives, schedules and agendas in order to truly help someone else?  One of the most moving examples I ever saw of this came from a woman names Rose McCommons.

Rose was a recovering alcoholic and committed to her ministry in AA.  Rose was good friends and sponsor for another woman in the church named Kathy.  When Kathy’s grandmother died many of us were concerned it would cause her to start drinking.  When I attended the viewing,  Rose was there and I overheard her say that she was going to be there for Kathy.  Kathy said “thanks” and kind of shrugged it off but Rose said, No, I mean I am going to be HERE for you.  I will be sitting here this afternoon and then I’ll go with you and get some dinner and tonight I will be back here and be with you until the end.  After the viewing is over I’ll go with you to your home and then tomorrow I will be back and sitting right here.  I am HERE for you.  

I was so moved by Roses words because I realized that’s what it looks like to really help someone.  She was willing to sacrifice her time and energy to be there for Kathy.  She was going to carry her burden and help her through the hard times.  That’s teamwork.  We all need someone who will carry our burdens and we need to be willing to carry the burden of others.  So let me ask you again.  Who is on your team?   Whose team are you on?

The church was never supposed to be a social gathering of casual acquaintances, or a group of people who came together once a week to worship.  The church was to be a team of encouragers, challengers and helpers.  We need teammates and while we can find them in many different places, this is a great place to start looking because we are all looking to run the race of faith, but we can’t be teammates if we aren’t willing to get to know one another and we can’t really know one another unless we are willing to get into some kind of small group to build those relationship.  So let me be a challenger on your team today and suggest you begin to build a team by joining some kind of small group where you can get to know others.

You can join a Sunday School Class or Bible Study but you can also join a team and sing in the choir or ring in the bell choir.  You can find teammates by serving in children or youth ministry, or you can be part of a mission team and serve at the Blessing of the Backpacks, go on a mission trip to Clearfield, or be part of a team that serves locally at the FaithCentre.  Please, don’t go through life alone and don’t try to run the race of faith by yourself, you will get tired and you will fall down and you will want to give up.  We all need a team to help us.  

There is power in a team!  We can do more than we ever thought we could when we are part of a team, so let me ask one more time.
Who is on your team?    
Whose team on you on?  




Next Steps
The Games – Teamwork

1.  Who is on your team to Encourage you?

Whose team are you on as an Encourager?

An encourager is someone who walks alongside someone and cheers them on.  1 Thessalonians 5:11


2. Who is on your team to Challenge you?

Whose team are you on as a Challenger?

A challenger is someone who provokes us to love and good deeds and holds us accountable to running the race of faith. Hebrews 10:24, 12:1


3. Who is on your team to Help you?

Whose team are you on as a Helper?

A helper is someone who willing sacrifices to carry someone else’s burdens.  Galatians 6:2