“Remember The Titans!!!”
[SHOW THE VIDEO CLIP AT THE END OF THE MOVIE OF THE VICTORY….
THE FINAL PLAY THROUGH THE CELBERATION
STOP RIGHT BEFORE THE GIRL TALKS]
Read Ephesians 3:7-21 (NLT)
Have you ever been on the edge of your seat…waiting in anticipation? You’re reading an exciting novel – the plot is coming together, you’re beginning to see what’s going to happen, you can hardly turn the pages fast enough - it’s all you can do to keep yourself from skipping a few or turning to the last one… You’re watching a suspenseful movie – it’s the final 15 minutes and you can’t wait to see how it’s going to end. It’s the fourth qtr your team just drove 60 yards down the field, there is 5 seconds on the clock, you’re 2 points behind, the balls on the other teams 15 yard line and your teams kicker who hasn’t missed a kick in this range all year is about to part the up rights… You’re at the airport, you haven’t seen the one you love in weeks – you see their plane land – you stand as the passengers begin to come out, you stretched your neck, strain your eyes, stand on toes looking for that familiar face.. You’ve been out to sea for months and you hear the sound of tugs pulling up alongside as your boat begins to tie up to the pier. It’s December 24th – you are 5 years old; and you in your bedroom staring at the clock… listening to every tick….
ANTICIPATION - We’ve all been there… On the edge of our seats… Pulse quickening… eyes intent… every muscle tightening… WHY? Because, we know that something real big & awesome is about to happen….
Let me tell you – That is how I feel right now about the Lord’s Church – here at 1294 Braselton highway. We are on the threshold of something incredible as a church…The plot is coming together; the movie is reaching it’s climax, the football is heading towards the uprights, the plane has landed – the passengers are coming out, the tugs are alongside, it is December 24th!
“Now glory to God who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of – infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes…”
PRAYER
The clip I showed at the start of my message is from the movie – “Remember The Titans!” is an awesome movie… The clip is from one of the movie’s final scenes.
Now, for those who don’t know – the movie – “Remember The Titans.” It is a true story about a school in the early 70’s that integrated. For the first time, you had blacks and whites on the same football team. And not only that, the school board brings in a black coach, Coach Boone to be the head coach, forcing the previous white coach, in his “hall of fame” season, to move down to defensive coordinator.
Like I said, great movie (you need to see it) – and about 2 weeks ago I felt led to use this movie as a springboard for my message today… You see, I had already designated this Sunday as some kind of ‘let’s get pumped’ message. AND what better way to do that, then with a great football movie.
Central Christian Church is a good church, I love it here. AND in all my 21+ years of being a Christian, this place is numero uno with me. And Central has had some pretty good seasons over the years, the last few have been especially awesome.
And in like manner, the Titans were a pretty good football team before coach Boone came on the scene, they had 15 winning seasons in a row, and had won a regional champion in Virginia. BUT coach Boone had his sights set even higher… He wanted to win the state championship.
That was an awesome dream – but understand, a dream like that just doesn’t happen (especially with all the obstacles they were facing at the outset) Now we know from that first clip, that they made it – that their dream became a reality…
But the question is - what led to that victory celebration on the field? Understand - the victory on the field didn’t come cheap or easy…(there was a cost, there was a price to pay…) OKAY, I want to show you another clip – but first I need to set it up…
Coach Boone takes the team to a college in Gettyburgh, Pa. for their summer training camp… They have just arrived and things are not going too well, a lot of tension, fights, harsh words etc… In this scene Coach Boone is telling them what it is going to take for them to achieve their dream and to do great things…
[Show The Clip…..beginning where coach Boone
says we will be perfect in every aspect of the game
to the last guy doing sit ups…]
Like I said – these guys were already a pretty good football team – BUT if they wanted to be a great football team there needed to be some changes…
Listen – Central Christian is a good church – I love it, it’s awesome, there is no place I’d rather be… BUT if we want to be a great church, if we want to take Central to the next level, we are going to need to change some things.
For weeks, that clip from the Titans has run through my mind, again & again & again – and I keep trying to grab something from it… We’re gonna change the way – run, eat block, win.
AND about a week ago, it hit me… FOR us to make the transition, from a good church, to a great church – we need to change, the way we think…
Question – Do you want Central to be a great church?
Do you want her to DO great things in the kingdom?
Do you want heaven to cheer us and satan to fear us?
Do you want to be able to have an awesome victory celebration at mid-field?
I know most of you do? Well, for that to happen, it is really as simple as A-B-C…
For Central to be a great church we need to first of all
Think Attitude
Paul wrote the following word’s from his jail cell;
“Does your life in Christ give you strength?” Does his love comfort you? Do we share together in the spirit? Do you have mercy and kindness? IF SO make me very happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and having ONE mind and purpose. When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life, BUT be interested in the lives of others…..(NCV)… Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…(NIV)” Phil 2:1-5
Repeat; Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus (MY…)
Things at camp were not going well for the Titans, the black players and the white players were still not getting along. AND Coach Boone knew that he was at an impasse, if he didn’t do something, if he didn’t get through to them, even though there would be 2 buses full of football players, here would be no team, when they left camp… So he wakes them up at 3 am and takes them on a run through the woods, bringing them to a battlefield….
[SHOW VIDEO CLIP…..beginning when they first stop at the battlefield
and end right after coach boone says if we do not come together here on this
hoolwed ground we will be destoyed like thye were..]
Listen - If we want to be a great church – WE must think Attitude, specifically 4 attitudes…The first is;
“Team FIRST….”
“having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and having ONE mind and purpose”
Listen - Coach Boone knew that if his guys did not come together, he knew that if they did not become one, if they did not unite, if they did not have one mind ‘team’ and one purpose ‘win’ they had no chance of being a great team. And in the clip we just watched he tried to motivate them by reminding that they were standing on hollowed ground…
Now – I’ve been around the block a few times when it comes to churches; and I’ve seen time & time again satan pull out AND use, his most effective PLAY - to hinder, stop, intercept and sack the church…
Do you know what that play is? The attitude of “me first” It’s the attitude where people care more about themselves then the team…I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen - little stupid personality conflicts…hurt the church (someone doesn’t talk to us, looks at us the wrong way, we don’t like their personality – they are too loud or too quiet, they say tomato…) And satan fertilizes and waters this little seed with assumption, negativity and innuendoes, until it grows into a redwood of division.
“If you keep on biting and devouring each other watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Gal 5:15
And this kind of stupidity, is not new, it is not unique to our day, in fact it was even going on in the church at Philip – Paul’s writes in Phil 4:2,3
“And now I want to plead with those two women, Euodia and Syhtyche. Please because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. And I ask you, my true teammate, to help these women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News,” (NLT)
Listen - If we want to be a great church we must have the attitude of Jesus – And let me tell you Jesus Christ was a ‘team first’ kind of guy (Jesus took, endured and went through all kinds of stuff – BUT He, never lost focus of his goal/mission.
Jesus had one mind ‘team’ – I and the father are one
And he had one purpose ‘win’ -
AND in light of Jesus, our example - “When we do things, let’s refuse to let selfishness or pride be our guide. Instead, let’s be humble and let’s give more honor to others than to ourselves. AND let’s not be interested only in our own life, BUT in the lives of others…”
AND let’s be like Paul who said;
“…we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ..” 1 Cor 9:12
This past Wednesday night 20+ adults thanked God for the unity we already have here at Central and prayed for God to make this unity even stronger. Listen – we need to come together, stay together, work together – AND if we can’t come together here on this hollowed ground…
Bottom line - It’s NOT about me – it’s about HIM…. (repeat)
When it comes to attitude, NOT only do we need to be thinking, Team – but we need to be thinking;
Excellence In All Things…
Remember, that first clip I showed where coach Boone said he wanted, his team to be perfect in every aspect of the game…
Listen – if we want to be a great church, that is the same attitude we need to have…Excellence in all things, our goal needs to be perfection in every aspect of the game…(Now we are not going to make you run a mile if you drop the ball – but perfection is to be our goal)..
“Whatever you do, DO well…” Eccl 9:10 (NLT)
“In all the work you are doing, work the BEST you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people…” Col 3:23 (NCV)
AND let me say that as a church we have this attitude of excellence in a lot of things…Our praise time, children’s ministry, student ministry, messages AND MANY OTHER THINGS – are awesome and are getting better all of the time…
Listen whatever you do – in this place; from keeping the nursery, cutting the grass, teaching a class, playing in the praise band, passing our bulletins, cleaning up after the carpenters café,
Let’s seek excellence in everyone of them… Let’s seek perfection in every aspect of the game…
Like I said, on the core things we are doing good, when people come inside the building – they find substance…. authenticy, joy, faith, love…We got the inside stuff going on…..
And I am proud that we have taken care of the inside of the cup as a first priority… And - we need to keep on striving for excellence there, BUT we also need a stronger focus on the outside of the cup.
I’m talking about the appearance of God’s house… This is God’s house and it should look better than our own houses… The landscaping, paint, .etc. Does it?
Remember what Haggai said to people who were supposed to be building God’s house;
“Is it right for you to be living in fancy houses while the Temple is still in ruins…” 1:4 (NCV)
Listen - how we keep God’s house, reflects how we feel about God…?
Guys I love this church, you love this church – we love God and it’s time for us to change the way we think about our ‘curb appeal…’ It time to let our building declare how we feel about God… Let’s keep it nice, make it better, pick up after ourselves
We are beginning to make these change; new tables, Lynn’s touches throughout the building - – carpets just cleaned $500 – we need to see those kinds of things as investments not simply an expenditure…
(talent Cliff needs your help)
2 ATTITUDES that will help us become a great church ARE – team first & excellence in all things…and a 3rd is :
“I’m Ready To Play”
“When you put on that Titan uniform – you better be ready to play..”
I sure hope you didn’t join this team to ride the bench or eat hotdogs in the stands.. Listen - if you are a member of Central, this is your team… And also understand this – the bible teaches in Galatians 3:27 that all of us who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. On that day YOU were saved, you - suited up for the game.
“When you put on Christ – you better be ready to play…”
And listen – for the team to be successful – every player needs to play. It takes more than a quarterback, an offense, a defensive or special teams – to win a championship it takes a team…
Paul in 1 Cor 12 talks about how each & every member of the body is important if the body is to function well, if the team to move the ball down the field against a strong opponent… Paul writes in Ephesians 4:16;
“Under His control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. SO when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love” (TEV)
And listen – it is only when all those who have suited up in Christ - get down on the playing field that will be able to have excellence in all things…
Together
Everyone
Achieves
More…
Are you ready to play? Do you want some more…
(Survey sheets)
The final attitude, we need in order to be a great church is;
“I’m Not The Coach”
[Boarding bus for camp – 2 white players come to coach Boone…Gary Batear]
Listen we are not the coach…we didn’t write the play book… Understand - it is not our place to tell Jesus how to run His team… “I’m not the coach…” “It’s Jesus Team…”
Think Attitude – Team First; Excellence in all things, I’m ready to play, I’m not the coach…
Think BIG….
“Now glory to God who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of – infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes…”
“For nothing is impossible with God..” Lk 1:37
About 5 years ago I attended a leadership seminar given by Dale Galloway. It was awesome! I even got some free books. And during this seminar Dale told the following story.
A bunch of fleas were hanging out on a blanket, just jumping up & down having a blast. And then someone came up and put a jar over them… Not knowing what happened they still keep jumping BUT after hitting their heads a few times – they got the message and stopped jumping so high. Though they still jumped they stopped an inch from the top of the jar… After an hour the person removed the jar lid…BUT the fleas never knew the difference, because they had fixed into their minds an imaginary ceiling… Though they could now jump higher they never did because of the imaginary barrier that they had placed in their own minds…
Listen - We need to remember that as a church of Christ the lid is off… we need to think big!
We need to remove all the self imposed limits, that we have place on ourselves… And for many of us that will require that we change the way we think…
It does for me… Let me explain, I’ve been a Christian for almost 22 years. And I have always been in small churches… And I’ve been preaching full time for almost 10 years – Central is my second ministry… My first, was in a church of less than a hundred… And Central had only about 80 when we began to work together 3 ½ years ago… And until one month ago I have always been the only full time staff member… I’ve never had a secretary… My point, I still struggle with thinking small… AND I didn’t even realize it until about a week or so ago… Let me explain.
Lynn had just come on full time and was setting up her office – and she needed to order things from Office Depot… (Now for those of you who don’t know – Lynn had worked at Mt Carmel Christian for years – they have an awesome multi million dollar building)…
Now remember – my history… small churches NOT much money… When I came to Central we had a huge operating debt etc.. Money was tight.. Bill collectors on the phone…” Okay this month I bought a 3 hole punch – maybe next month I can get a stapler…”
Well as Lynn was sitting up her office – making it look nice… ordering some things, I found myself saying to her more than once - in a joking way – “Hey you’re not at Mt Carmel Now.” And what I meant was we are just small church…I guess small churches can’t look nice, do that…etc….
Now I wish I could say that the first time I said that – I got it… BUT I didn’t. I do now…
Listen - the lid has been removed… “there ain’t NO lid…”
Central, it’s time to think BIG!!!
We serve, a big God, a huge – an almighty God who wants to do big things!! God things!!!
Therefore - let’s not – allow our own imaginary limitations, to limit a limitless God…
About 3,000 years ago – an entire army hid in the mountains – knees knocking, pulse racing, palms sweating because of the taunts and threats of a 10 foot giant named Goliath… The entire army including the King - were thinking small.
BUT then a big thinker stepped out from the crowd and while the small thinkers cowered in the shadows – David took on the giant… Listen to how Samuel recounts the story of this big thinker for God….
2 Samuel 17:45-51
Yeah baby!!!!
Church – it is time for us to change the way we think – it is time for us to think BIG!!!!
SURE those plans out in the visitor center are BIG!!! BUT we serve a BIG God!!!
Question - Do you think God wants to see it happen? DO you think hundreds of: lives saved; relationships restored, and believers sold out and on fire for Jesus Christ holding the truth of God’s word, is something God wants….
Listen – small thinkers ain’t going nowhere…they will continue to cower in the shadows
BUT for big thinkers, the battle is already won… “..for the battle is the Lord’s..”
Understand David won the battle before he even stepped onto the field. Because he had a big faith in an even bigger God…
Man, I can’t help but feel that we are on the brink of something in this place… I can’t help but feel that we are at the edge of greatness for God….
BUT it will not happen automatically – WE need to change the way we think – THINK ATTITUDE; THINK BIG
And we also need to:
Think Cross
Listen – Thinking Big is easy in a locker or team meeting… It’s fun in the comfort of a worship service to think big, to dream awesome dreams…
Yes, it’s easy to think about a victory celebration at mid field – BUT the how? Now that’s the hard part…. Understand - that for the Titans to earn the right to celebrate on the field as champions in 1971 - there was a HOW… hard work, blood, sweat, tears, sacrifice….
When Coach Boone said – we have to change the way we run, block…
He was saying we have to be willing to do whatever it takes to win… And in like manner, we as a church have to be willing to do whatever it takes for us to win. And that ‘whatever it takes’ has always been symbolized by one thing.
The how for the church and for the Christian, always happens the same way… Listen - for nearly 2,000 years… Victory is achieved – thinking big, becomes living big, when we as a church and as individuals think cross….
Why? because thinking cross – connects us to the power of God…
“The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it IS the power of God…” 1 Cor 1:18
Okay, what do I mean by thinking cross and how do we think it? Let’s look at a couple of scriptures to begin thinking this thing through….
“Then He said to all of them, ‘IF anyone would come after me, he MUST DENY himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Lk 9:23
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” Gal 2:20
“Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us FIX our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. CONSIDER Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
In order for us to THINK cross – we have to take 2 steps…First we must;
FIX Our Eyes On Jesus.
“Let us FIX our eyes on Jesus…CONSIDER Him who endured such opposition from sinful men..”
Listen – we can not think cross unless we fix our eyes on Jesus, unless we consider what Jesus went through, the pain He endured – the price He paid, the blood He shed, the sacrifice He made for the team, for us….for you
Understand - fixing your eyes on Jesus, will give you the proper focus, and it will give you the only sustaining motivation, that can take you to the next step in Thinking Cross…which is…
Deny Self
Unfortunately I can’t spend a lot of time on this – you might want to spend sometime this week – reflecting on what dying to self specifically means to you right now… BUT let me give you to quick things you need to do if you are going to die to self…
1) Recognize that you are dead… (“I have been….)
2) DO what ‘dead’ people do…
. Throw Off…. Anything that hinders & the sin that entangles…
. Run the race… Do what it takes, pay the price, live the life, make the sacrifice…
And KNOW this - when we THINK cross – we like Jesus will experience the joy that God has set before us…(here it is, do you want it?) Both NOW and in the live to come!!!!
I struggled with what to call this message – at first I didn’t want to call it “Remember The Titans” enc 374BUT then I decided, that is, exactly what I need to call it… Because that is what I want us to do as a church, REMEMBER THE TITANS –
I want us – to remember how a bunch of people, with different talents, personalities and backgrounds OVERCAME great opposition – and came together to do something incredible…
AND that is what we are – a bunch of different people, with different talents, personalities and backgrounds – coming together, empowered by God to do something incredible….
AND listen – there is a mid-field celebration in our future and it is going to be soooo sweet.
Revelation 7:9-17
