I went to church with my mom recently and thought the pastor did a beautiful job addressing the recent Supreme Court decision.  Ellis Orosco spoke of his time in high school, playing wide receiver on the football team.  Success in that position, he said, meant “keeping my eye on the ball.”   He compared the recent Supreme Court decision to a “bleacher fight” in the stadium as opposed to the “real game.”  Ellis told his congregation that “the game” was winning souls for Christ and those on the team needed to stay on the field if they wanted to win.  He told the congregation that recent news could cause the Church to “take their eye off of the ball” and possibly lead them to that fight under the bleachers. The congregation and I applauded Pastor Ellis’s focus.

It’s time to get back into the game.  I often quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 when I’m speaking.  The verse: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  I usually say, “the key to that verse is found in the first three words – If MY people.”  The morality of our nation and the blessings of God are dependent upon the actions of God’s people, not those on the other team.

God’s “team” has been involved too often in the bleacher fights, instead of playing the game on the field.  It is easier to pick the smaller battles when we think we have already lost the big game anyway.  It was good to be reminded that regardless of the score, the team belongs on the field, doing their best to win the game – until the final buzzer sounds.

Our job today, tomorrow and every day that is to come, is to take the love of Christ and his gospel message to a lonely world that feels unloved by most.  Our testimony is important and the answer to the immorality in our culture will be found in proving that God’s word is always true.  God always blesses his people when they are blessable.  Those blessings are the powerful proof that God exists.  Our words should honor and glorify our great God, who hears our prayers, forgives our sin and heals our land.

So, it is time to launch our own campaign in a world that needs to remember there is a God who loves everyone and has offered every sinner salvation through faith in his Son.  We will see our world begin to change when we see Christians leaving the bleacher fights and returning to the playing field.  But every team needs a game plan, a campaign.

The word campaign means “an organized course of action to achieve a particular goal.”  Campaign when used as a verb means “to work in an organized and active way toward a particular goal, typically a political or social one.”  Christians need to get organized again and develop a winning strategy.

The first strategy probably involves recognizing the flat-screen voices in our homes that teach messages opposed to God’s word.  Satan has always been subtle, entertaining, convincing and able to speak just enough truth to influence and convince. 

For example, my generation allowed programming into our home that showed and romanticized sex outside of marriage.  Most of the children grew up to have sex before marriage, even if raised as “church-goers” with Christian principles.  The television normalized the sin and children accepted what they saw in the programs they watched with their parents.  Now, sex outside of marriage is not only considered normal, it is actually endorsed.  Most of our young people believe they should live together so that they can know whether that person is whom they want to marry.  

The standard for sex outside of marriage changed in one generation.  The ads on our televisions, the programs that are available for my children to watch with their children will normalize homosexuality now and will teach our grandchildren to believe that people should have sex with whomever they want to, regardless of their gender.  

The score would indicate that we, as Christians, are so far behind we are going to lose the game.  Except for one thing; I’ve just described the bleacher fights – not the game.  Our Bibles are full of stories of people who were transformed by the love and salvation of faith.  In fact, that is every Christian’s story.  The book of Revelation assures Christians that we will be in the final game and when it is over, we will be crowned the champions.

The question today is this:  Are you fighting under the bleachers or are you playing the game on the field?

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