Why Can't I Win? #1
The Plague of Humanity • Sermon • Submitted
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The Plague of Humanity:
The Plague of Humanity:
#1 Why Can't I Win?
#1 Why Can't I Win?
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Illust:
I remember my 1st year of ministry. I went on staff - lots of dreams of great flourishing successes… This was going to be great.
I was the youth pastor, and after a few months of being on staff, the school year kicked off and the pastor at the time wanted me to take over coaching the boys basketball team. There were several problems with this scenario...
I hated basketball
I didn’t know basketball
I couldn’t play basketball (nothing has changed in all these years)
I definitely didn’t know how to coach...
The team already had a coach - Bro. David Nolan’s mom - Brenda was the coach -
Because she wasn’t a man, the pastor didn’t want her to coach the boys - but she was definitely the better man for the job… she knew what she was doing...
We had a small group of boys and the school was small - so we didn’t have the options of tryouts and cuts - the talent pool was almost as low as the coaching talent.
I was a wrestler, I played catcher and 2nd base in baseball growing up… but basketball????
Our first 2 or 3 years - we didn’t win more than 2 or 3 games… I was terrible…
Opposing coaches would be calling out different defenses, offensive plays - They would have time outs and they would grab their whiteboard and break down the positions and give instruction on what the players should do…
I would grab my whiteboard and draw a line to the hoop and say - PUT THE BALL IN THE HOOP...
I was pitiful, I was humiliated, I studied books and plays and practices… but no matter what I did, it didn’t seem like I could win...
Sometime life is that way...
The Christian life...
Marriage...
Child rearing...
you go to the hospital - and after 17 hours of listening to whining (lol just kidding) they hand you a naked baby…
what do you do with this???
where is the instruction book?
how do you turn it off???
mute....
Career...
Friendships...
Finances...
The Plague of Humanity:
The Plague of Humanity:
#1 Why Can't I Win?
#1 Why Can't I Win?
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Pray:
Before we look too far into the message, we have to define what does a win look like?
In basketball - it looked like what every other team had…
The scoreboard was always higher on their side...
It looked like fun -
They were all jumping up and down at the end of the game when the buzzer went off
They were smiling when the teams would line up and shake eachother’s hand...
The coaches would always say “Great job, better luck next time”
Great job - what are you talking about - that was terrible!!!
It looked fulfilling -
They other teams just seemed like everything was good in their world
In this life - there are obstacles that we are going to face that just seems like there is not going to be a win...
If it’s not a win it’s a:
loss
If I’m not a winner - I’m a:
loser
I take everything personally - I love deeply, I care deeply, I hurt deeply...
Those boys would run their hearts out - do their best - and we would walk away with another loss -
The loss wasn’t the boy’s fault - It was my fault as a coach - I was out of my element - I was outclassed on every front....
But in life, there is not a scoreboard...
There is not a win/loss chart
there are no statistics and percentages that we can calculate to determine if we are winning or losing… and our win’s do not define us any more than our failures define us...
But our:
view
perspective
understanding might not be as clear and concise as we think it is...
“you can’t see the forest, because of the tree’s”
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
#1 Why Can't I Win?
#1 Why Can't I Win?
let me tell you tonight that you can win and you probably have already had many win’s.
You don’t know what a win looks like?
Your race
Your strengths
Your potential
How do you win when you play yourself?
I have heard people talk about playing themself in chess - or a card game...
how can you play yourself without cheating???
you know the strategy of you and your opponent… it’s you...
In life - we are not against anyone else
no competition
no competitiveness
A win does not come by passing someone else...
A win does not come by out performing any other person
A win does not come by a success in one area for 1 season...
6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
In a hs bball game - you have 32 minutes… 4 - 8 minute quarters...
you know how much time you have
you know where the sideline and endlines are -
you have the boundaries
The Lord is the one that sets:
the length of the race
The latitude of the race
The longitude of the race
the landscape of the race
Why Can’t I Win?
You Don’t Know What a Win Looks Like
You aren’t at the finish line
you can’t win if your not at the finish line
You are not there...
It’s not time to declare the score yet...
The buzzer has not sounded yet...
There may be many decades before you
There may be years
It might be months
It may be days...
But we are still here - It’s not time to check the score...
As the years went by, our teams got better and we had some great years - my coaching got a little better… but the seasons became winning seasons...
We even were good enough to where we made it into the championship game…
Those years we would have some guys that would run by the scorers table and ask the statistician - How many point to I have? How many steals? How many rebounds?
As a coach, I would bench guys for checking stats and personal scores during the game -
We would celebrate the scores and the accomplishments - team and individual AFTER the game was over...
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
Keep on the course
Keep on running
Don’t quit
If you get knocked down - get back up...
When it’s hard
When it’s unbearable
When you can’t see the:
purpose
When you can’t sense
divine providence
#1 Why Can't I Win?
#1 Why Can't I Win?
You Don’t Know What a Win Looks Like
You Aren’t at the Finish Line