Sermon Illustrations

HIGH ON THEIR HUDDLES

One of my favorite preachers is Dr. Tony Evans in Dallas. Some years ago I heard him give the following description of the purpose of the church service. He said, "In football they have a huddle, the goal of the huddle is to give you thirty seconds to call the play; that is why they give you a huddle. (At a professional football game there may be) sixty thousand people watching you huddle, they don’t mind you taking thirty seconds to call the play. They under-stand that you have to get organized, you have to know where you are going to go, the ends need to know where they are going to go, the quarterback needs to know where he is going to go, and the backs need to know where they are going to go. A huddle is a necessary part of the game.

But let me inform you if you do not already know, sixty thousand people do not pay $40 a ticket to watch you huddle. They want to see if their team can overcome the opposition who is daring them to snap the ball and move the down the field to score. What they want to know is does your practice work?

Now what Christians often do is get high on their huddles. We gather together on Sunday morning...and we go nuts over the huddle! We say, "Boy did we have a huddle!!! My quarterback can call plays better than your quarterback." And boy do we go off on the huddle. But what people don’t seem to understand is; that the huddle is so that we can play the game. The effectiveness of your church cannot be measured by how well you do on Sunday morning...The test of the church is what it does in the marketplace. What we need today is churches that are representative of Jesus Christ not only when gathered but when scattered. (disseminated).

[Dr Tony Evans. “The Power of God’s People.” (Sermon, 1987 – Church Growth Conference – Prestonwood Baptist Church, Dallas, TX)]

Related Sermon Illustrations

Related Sermons