God’s team gets the win

People used to make jokes about the Dallas Cowboys being “God’s team,” but it’s really “Jerry’s hobby.” 

I’d like to say that everyone would say last Sunday’s Dallas Cowboys game was incredible. But, we used to pastor in Atlanta, and I’m sure there are a lot of our friends there who would disagree. So, let’s just say most people would say the Cowboys/Falcons game was amazing. 

Believe it or not, that game inspired this blog post. 

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Cowboys play with less energy than they played in the first quarter. They looked like they had not slept the night before, or that all of them had the virus. It was beyond frustrating to watch! 

Then they woke up. 

They played like a different team and had one of the biggest comebacks in history. I don’t understand why they seemed asleep in the first quarter, but I hope they figure it out a little earlier for next week’s game. 

The team looked depressed, and I wondered if there had been disagreements among the players. There is a lot of pressure on some to kneel and a lot of pressure to stand. There are people who are first string and others who want to be. What kinds of discussions or disagreements take place before a game? 

At some point, everyone in a Cowboys jersey decided to agree they were there for one reason: to win a game. 

And they did. 

It’s time to win 

God’s family is diverse. We don’t vote the same, look the same, or agree on the kind of music we want to hear. Some dress up, some dress casually, and some don’t have the luxury of making a choice. When we get to heaven, there will be unity all the time. 

Until heaven, we are all different. 

Most of the rhetoric these days is about the divisions among people. We spend a lot of time discussing our differences. But what about our commonalities? There are a lot of things all of us know are true. I think it is time to focus our thoughts in that direction. 

The Cowboys aren’t “God’s team”; Christians are. What if we are in the fourth quarter of human history? 

One thing is certain: we need to win the game. 

It’s time to take some chances 

According to an NBC Sports column, there was about a 6 percent chance that the Dallas Cowboys were going to recover that fourth-quarter onside kick. But, they took the chance because it was their only chance of winning the game. 

Is it time for God’s team to take some chances, even if the percentages aren’t on our side? 

According to one survey, 97 percent of people come to faith in Christ before the age of thirty. After thirty, the number of people who accept Christ as their Savior drops to just two percent. 

Don’t read further until you allow those numbers to sink in into your soul deeply and profoundly. 

God’s team is playing like the Cowboys in the first quarter of Sunday’s game. 

We are flat, lifeless, depressed, and completely out of the game. But here is a thought that should matter. The Cowboys only had a 6 percent chance at recovering the onside kick—but they did. They won Sunday’s game because they took a chance at the impossible. 

Are Christians today even attempting to buck the odds and take a chance? 

Biblical history is about attempting the impossible 

  • God created everything and everyone out of nothingness. All that is needed is God. 
  • God brought the floods and spared only a few. The only thing crucial is faith.
  • God provided a holy land to people who could never have conquered the enemy. God’s Presence was the only power they needed.
  • God disciplined those he loved, and they lost the land. Life eternal is always more important than the comfort, wealth, and safety of our earthly lives.
  • God sent his Son. Human beings were never going to choose his laws, so he allowed them to choose his forgiveness.

This could be the fourth quarter of the game. Is it time to attempt the impossible? 

Mary was just a teenage girl when the angel came to her and told her she was going to have a baby. She knew it wasn’t “possible.” And then the angel told her, “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). I think that if the angel Gabriel brought a message to Christians today, it would be to remind us that we serve the God who has always made the impossible happen. 

We know the truth; we just need to trust the truth. 

Mary knew there was a 0 percent chance she could be pregnant. She also knew that if it were God’s will, it was 100 percent possible. 

We need to trust God instead of percentages. 

Trust what is certain 

Trust God’s sovereignty. 

Our news reports will be filled with percentage points and polls. Trust that God will remain in charge, regardless of any election. 

God told the prophet, “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (Isaiah 46:9–10). 

Pray, vote, and trust God to accomplish his purpose. He will. 

Trust that everyone you see is destined for heaven or hell. 

The Bible makes it clear, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). 

It isn’t our job to hope a person will go to heaven. It’s our job to make certain they understand their choice. Christians need to return to their first priority. We are disciples of Christ, called to make disciples of others. Nothing is more important than that priority. 

Trust that Christians will win. 

Have you felt like God’s team is losing the game? 

I wouldn’t have given the Cowboys any chance of victory last Sunday. Actually, I don’t give them much of a chance next Sunday. They are human beings, and every game is an uncertainty. 

Christians don’t need to ever doubt the outcome of their lives. For every person who has put their faith in Christ “will be saved” (Romans 10:13). 

We have a 100 percent chance of victory because Christ assured the outcome. 

Celebrate your victory 

I’m grinning right now as I type, thinking about the way Dak Prescott, the Cowboy’s quarterback, left the field jumping with joy, wearing a huge grin on his face. He had achieved an impossible victory. Nothing else mattered. 

What do our faces look like today? 

If people see us, will they know we are victorious?

Trust the outcome of the game, not what appears to be true according to the clock. Satan’s goal is to convince us to believe his statistics, not God’s. He is really good at convincing unbelievers, especially those who have reached their thirtieth birthday. We need to tell people the truth. 

We need to live like we just won the game! 

Evangelism is living with the truth of God and sharing it with others. What if our generation is living in the fourth quarter of the game? 

We need to play the game with that intensity. It’s time to win. In fact, we already have—so let’s make sure others join our side of the field. 

God’s team is going to win, and it will be a great celebration very soon. 

P.S. Have you signed up for my bible study, Foundations of Faith, yet? It’s not too late, we just released lesson 2!

Visit https://www.janetdenisonbiblestudy.com/ to sign up for this study, if you’ve already signed up you can login and access the newest video too.

God’s Grading System

I just finished a great book by Larry Osborne titled Mission Creep: The Five Subtle Shifts That Sabotage Evangelism & Discipleship.

I marked that book up! It is underlined, starred, and, in several spots, I just wrote “WOW” or “Yes.” (I’m lending my copy to a friend, so I didn’t write “oops” and “uh-oh” by the truths I fall short of.)

That book said so many things I have believed, taught, written about, or debated—and often not lived up to myself. It’s good to read a book that resonates with your spirit and important to read books that insist Christians aim at the right target.

Here’s one startling truth I learned: God gives every Christian an A but wants us to work for an F.

Yes, you read that correctly.

What kind of student were you?

Did you look forward to report card day, or did you dread it?

If you’re like me, you probably did a little of both.

Grades matter, but only if they help us know how to improve. As a schoolteacher, I sometimes had to give a lower grade than I wanted to. I always worried that a child would think This is who I am instead of This is who I should work to be. Sometimes I wanted to wrap my arms around a child and tell them how much that C in math didn’t matter.

The world’s standards of success

We got used to grades early in our lives, and most of us have carried the concept of a grading system since then. Our resumes were put into stacks. The A stack received interviews. The B stack might be considered for other jobs. The C stack got a nice form letter thanking them for applying. Everyone else’s resume went into the shredder.

The football team has an A team, a B team, and a bunch of benchwarmers who get a jersey but little playing time. There are corner offices and cubicles at the office. There are preferred accounts at the bank and those that get charged a monthly fee. There are neighborhoods with bars on the windows and others with guards at the gate.

And, if we aren’t careful, Christians grade other Christians with the world’s standards of success instead of God’s.

What does God’s grading system look like?

The great joy of our faith is also the great weakness.

All of us know that we earned an A grade the minute we professed our faith. But, a lot of Christians settle for the A when they should have been trying to earn a D. We have been aiming for the wrong grade. As a result, the numbers and commitment levels in our churches are declining.

  • A = acceptance. The minute you became a Christian, God gave you that A. Jesus said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). But God has a different grading system than the world does. The next step is to earn the B.
  • B = biblical. Jesus said to obey “everything that I have commanded” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus used the word everything for a reason. Unless you believe every command of Scripture, you can’t earn the higher grade. All of us should want to get that C.
  • C = cooperative. God gave us his Holy Spirit so we could communicate, commiserate, and cooperate with God’s holy presence in our lives. The Holy Spirit will never contradict God’s biblical teaching. Jesus said we are baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). The Christian who earns a C is the Christian who walks with the power of God’s word, guided by his Spirit. That kind of spiritual journey earns us the next grade.
  • D = disciple. Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). It isn’t difficult to know if you are earning that coveted D from God. Disciples make disciples. Who is going to heaven, closer to God, stronger in the Lord, or more committed to their calling because you are a disciple of Christ who makes disciples of others?
  • F = Finished. Of course, the highest grade any of us will ever earn is that F. All of us should wish for the moment we are able to bow our heads and echo Jesus saying, “It is finished,” meaning, “God, I did what you commissioned and gifted my life to accomplish. I have been your disciple.”

The problem with Christianity in America is that most people just want the A.

As a result, that is the grade most of us have settled for in our lives and in the lives of those around us. We interpret the Great Commission backward. We’ve become content with an A and acceptance is only the beginning.

Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18–20).

The hope of failure

Jesus told us to work for the D because, one day, we will get handed an F. In God’s grading system, an F means we have passed with flying colors.

I wonder if that is what Jesus meant when he said, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (Matthew 20:16). I think it’s what God meant when he told Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8). We don’t think like God; therefore, we are content with that A.

But God is looking forward to handing us that F. Let’s make sure we have earned the D first. Make sure you are clawing your way to the bottom. That’s where you will find the other disciples at work: with Jesus.

“Well done, good and faithful servant” can be translated: “You earned the F!”