There’s a wonderful story about Jimmy Durante, one of the great entertainers of a generation ago. He was asked to be a part of a show for World War II veterans. He told them his schedule was very busy and he could afford only a few minutes, but if they wouldn’t mind his doing one short monologue and immediately leaving for his next appointment, he would come. Of course, the show’s director agreed happily.But when Jimmy got on stage, something interesting happened. He went through the short monologue and then stayed. The applause grew louder and louder and he kept staying. Pretty soon, he had been on fifteen, twenty, then thirty minutes. Finally he took a last bow and left the stage. Backstage someone stopped him and said, “I thought you had to go after a few minutes. What happened?”Jimmy answered, “I did have to go, but I can show you the reason I stayed. You can see for yourself if you’ll look down on the front row.” In the front row were two men, each of whom had lost an arm in the war. One had lost his right arm and the other had lost his left. Together, they were able to clap, and that’s exactly what they were doing, loudly and cheerfully.
If we would work together in our churches, we would be able to accomplish so much for the body of Christ. Will you be a team player?
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Monday, March 13, 2006
TEAM
How many of you have ever been part of a team? Now, how many of you have ever been on a team that was great … a team that performed really well? Okay … now how many of you have ever been on a team that really stunk. I mean, it just reeked … you couldn’t win unless the other team just didn’t show up.You know … the same kinds of things can happen right here at the church. We are a team. And unless every single person pulls his or her weight, the team suffers. So, as we keep moving toward the Finish Line, we need to learn about the importance of Being Part of a Good Team.
Friends, relationships are vitally important in the life of the church. In fact, the church was created to be a community of interdependent people. Romans 12:5 tells us … 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
And many of us are familiar with Proverbs 27:17… 17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
In the summer of 2002, nine miners were trapped for three days in a water-filled mine shaft in Quecreek, Pennsylvania. After their amazing rescue, the miners said that they “decided early on they were either going to live or die as a group.” The 55 degree water threatened to kill them slowly by hypothermia. According to a news report, they came up with a plan: “When one would get cold, the other eight would huddle around the person and warm that person, and when another person got cold, the favor was returned.” “Everybody had strong moments,” miner Harry B. Mayhugh told reporters after being released from the hospital. “But any certain time maybe one guy got down, and then the rest pulled together. And then that guy would get back up, and maybe someone else would feel a little weaker, but it was a team effort. That’s the only way it could have been.” In a special worship service that took place a couple days later, ten helmets were placed on the altar at a church, representing the nine miners and God. They faced incredibly hostile conditions together—and they all came out alive together. (Adapted from “Teamwork Helped Miners Survive Underground,” CNN.com (7-28-02) and www.preachingtoday.com).
What a great illustration of the body of Christ! God created you to be in fellowship with one another. God has called us to, and expects us to, work together as a team. How are you doing on your part? Are you faithful in giving? Do you have a ministry? Do you reach out to the people around you, or are you still too caught up in your self? Let me challenge you today, get in the race! We need every single member of this team to be active, faithful, and effective.
Friends, relationships are vitally important in the life of the church. In fact, the church was created to be a community of interdependent people. Romans 12:5 tells us … 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
And many of us are familiar with Proverbs 27:17… 17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
In the summer of 2002, nine miners were trapped for three days in a water-filled mine shaft in Quecreek, Pennsylvania. After their amazing rescue, the miners said that they “decided early on they were either going to live or die as a group.” The 55 degree water threatened to kill them slowly by hypothermia. According to a news report, they came up with a plan: “When one would get cold, the other eight would huddle around the person and warm that person, and when another person got cold, the favor was returned.” “Everybody had strong moments,” miner Harry B. Mayhugh told reporters after being released from the hospital. “But any certain time maybe one guy got down, and then the rest pulled together. And then that guy would get back up, and maybe someone else would feel a little weaker, but it was a team effort. That’s the only way it could have been.” In a special worship service that took place a couple days later, ten helmets were placed on the altar at a church, representing the nine miners and God. They faced incredibly hostile conditions together—and they all came out alive together. (Adapted from “Teamwork Helped Miners Survive Underground,” CNN.com (7-28-02) and www.preachingtoday.com).
What a great illustration of the body of Christ! God created you to be in fellowship with one another. God has called us to, and expects us to, work together as a team. How are you doing on your part? Are you faithful in giving? Do you have a ministry? Do you reach out to the people around you, or are you still too caught up in your self? Let me challenge you today, get in the race! We need every single member of this team to be active, faithful, and effective.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Finish the Race
Philippians 3:13 (NIV) 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Paul says there is one thing that he is focused on and that is to press on toward the goal to win the prize. That one thing actually has two parts.
First Paul says, “Forgetting what is behind”
I find in my aging process that forgetting what is behind is getting easier and easier. …
Our past can become the biggest obstacle to our future.
Failure, sin… For Paul, his past consisted of being a murderer. Do you think that Satan every tried to discourage Paul by reminding him of his past?
Second, Paul says, “Straining toward what is ahead”. It’s not a leisure walk in the park. You can feel the intensity in the words that Paul chose. “Straining”. It’s an all out effort. A battle filled with moments when we think, “It would be easier to quit.
I'd like to take your mind back to October 20, 1968. I invite you to come with me to the Mexico City, Olympic Stadium. The time, 7.00 P.M. The closing ceremonies had just been completed. The spectators and athletes, still warm from the euphoria of the celebration, were gathering their belongings to leave the stadium. Then the announcer asked them to remain in their seats. Down the boulevard came the whine of police sirens. From their vantage point, many in the stadium could see motorcycles with their flashing blue lights, encircling someone making his way toward the stadium. Whoever it was, he was moving slowly. Everyone remained seated to see the last chapter of the Olympics take place. By the time the police escort got to the stadium, the public address announcer said that a final marathoner would be making his way into the arena and around the track to the finish line. Confusion was evident among the crowd. The last marathoner had come in hours ago. The medals had already been awarded. What had taken this man so long? But the first sign of the runner making his way out of the tunnel and onto the track told the whole story. John Stephen Akhwari from Tanzania, covered with blood, hobbled into the light. He had taken a horrible fall early in the race, whacked his head, damaged his knee, and endured a trampling before he could get back on his feet. And there he was, over 40 kilometers later, stumbling his way to the finish line. The response of the crowd was so overwhelming, it was almost frightening. They encouraged Akhwari through the last few meters of his race with a thundering ovation that far exceeded the one given the man who, hours earlier, had come in first. When Akhwari crossed the finish line, he collapsed into the arms of the medical personnel who immediately whisked him off to the hospital. The next day, Akhwari appeared before sports journalists to field their questions about his extraordinary feat. The first question was the one any of us would have asked, "Why, after sustaining the kinds of injuries you did, would you ever get up and proceed to the finish line, when there was no way you could possibly place in the race?" John Stephen Akhwari said this: "My country did not send me over 7,000 miles to start a race. They sent me over 7,000 miles to finish one."
I personally started that race on a summer night when I was 10. That’s when I invited Jesus into my heart. I do not know when I will cross the finish line, but I am determined to do just that. I fix my eyes on Jesus, my savior, best friend, encourager, coach, Lord.
FINISH THE RACE!
Paul says there is one thing that he is focused on and that is to press on toward the goal to win the prize. That one thing actually has two parts.
First Paul says, “Forgetting what is behind”
I find in my aging process that forgetting what is behind is getting easier and easier. …
Our past can become the biggest obstacle to our future.
Failure, sin… For Paul, his past consisted of being a murderer. Do you think that Satan every tried to discourage Paul by reminding him of his past?
Second, Paul says, “Straining toward what is ahead”. It’s not a leisure walk in the park. You can feel the intensity in the words that Paul chose. “Straining”. It’s an all out effort. A battle filled with moments when we think, “It would be easier to quit.
I'd like to take your mind back to October 20, 1968. I invite you to come with me to the Mexico City, Olympic Stadium. The time, 7.00 P.M. The closing ceremonies had just been completed. The spectators and athletes, still warm from the euphoria of the celebration, were gathering their belongings to leave the stadium. Then the announcer asked them to remain in their seats. Down the boulevard came the whine of police sirens. From their vantage point, many in the stadium could see motorcycles with their flashing blue lights, encircling someone making his way toward the stadium. Whoever it was, he was moving slowly. Everyone remained seated to see the last chapter of the Olympics take place. By the time the police escort got to the stadium, the public address announcer said that a final marathoner would be making his way into the arena and around the track to the finish line. Confusion was evident among the crowd. The last marathoner had come in hours ago. The medals had already been awarded. What had taken this man so long? But the first sign of the runner making his way out of the tunnel and onto the track told the whole story. John Stephen Akhwari from Tanzania, covered with blood, hobbled into the light. He had taken a horrible fall early in the race, whacked his head, damaged his knee, and endured a trampling before he could get back on his feet. And there he was, over 40 kilometers later, stumbling his way to the finish line. The response of the crowd was so overwhelming, it was almost frightening. They encouraged Akhwari through the last few meters of his race with a thundering ovation that far exceeded the one given the man who, hours earlier, had come in first. When Akhwari crossed the finish line, he collapsed into the arms of the medical personnel who immediately whisked him off to the hospital. The next day, Akhwari appeared before sports journalists to field their questions about his extraordinary feat. The first question was the one any of us would have asked, "Why, after sustaining the kinds of injuries you did, would you ever get up and proceed to the finish line, when there was no way you could possibly place in the race?" John Stephen Akhwari said this: "My country did not send me over 7,000 miles to start a race. They sent me over 7,000 miles to finish one."
I personally started that race on a summer night when I was 10. That’s when I invited Jesus into my heart. I do not know when I will cross the finish line, but I am determined to do just that. I fix my eyes on Jesus, my savior, best friend, encourager, coach, Lord.
FINISH THE RACE!
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