Before the Snap | Chad Herold

Please drive the feet and drive this motion. [music] Your world is a lamp unto life for you. Your way is the only way for me. It's a narrow road that leads to life that I want to be on you. It's a narrow road that the mercy is on. This is where all you're from. I'll take you at your home. If you said it, I'll believe it. I'll see how good it works. If you start it, you're completed. I'll take you at your home. 'Cause you've got all your problems. If it's wrong, then the chaos fell in. Well, I know 'cause I've seen it in my life. It's a narrow road that leads to life that I want to be on. Oh, it's a narrow road and the tide is high. 'Cause you're part of your life. And I'll take you at your home. If you said it, I'll believe it. I'll see how good it works. If you start it, you're completed. I'll take you at your home. If you said it, I'll believe it. 'Cause I'll see how good it works. If you start it, you're completed. Oh, I'll take you at your home. 'Cause you've got all your problems. You've got all your problems. You've got all your problems.

If you said your love will never give up. You said you're crazy. It's always enough. You said your heart would never forget. Or if it's like me. You said I'm saved. You called me yours. You said my future's full of your hope. You've never failed. So I know that you'll never fail me. If you said your love will never give up. You said you're crazy. It's always enough. You said your heart would never forget. Or if it's like me. If you said I'm saved. You called me yours. You said my future's full of your hope. You've never failed. So I know that you'll never fail me. And I'll take you at your home. If you said it, I'll be leaving. I've seen how good it works. If you started your completed. Oh, I'll take you at your home. If you said it, I'll be leaving. Oh, I'll see how good it works. If you started your completed. Oh, I'll take you at your home. 'Cause you're good on your promise.

You're good on your promise. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. Oh, I'll take you at your home. ♪ Spirit of God, your ear ♪ ♪ You have ♪ ♪ All above you ♪ ♪ And I break over my heart ♪ ♪ I am healed by your stress ♪ ♪ Your blood declares that I am free ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I break ♪ ♪ Calling of the power of heaven ♪ ♪ I grow free ♪ ♪ Everywhere before the gift is made ♪ ♪ My grace is the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, yeah ♪ ♪ I draw from your name found to you ♪

♪ The seed of me has no right to come ♪ ♪ In my family ♪ ♪ Oh, the no-steer and unto God's name ♪ ♪ No matter the circumstances that cross ♪ ♪ I feel my destiny ♪ ♪ 'Cause in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I break ♪ ♪ Calling of the power of heaven ♪ ♪ I grow free ♪ ♪ Everywhere before the gift is made ♪ ♪ My grace is the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I know ♪ ♪ All the power of me reigns ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord ♪ ♪ Let me teach you everything free ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ So I will not be ♪ ♪ I will not be ♪ ♪ When the end of me comes near ♪ ♪ I'm the door free for my life ♪ ♪ It's the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ I will not be ♪ ♪ I will not be ♪ ♪ 'Cause in all me of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides ♪ ♪ My blood ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ in y'all ♪

♪ No love ♪ ♪ No love ♪ ♪ Where do they go here ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ On the door free for my life ♪ ♪ It's the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I will not be ♪ ♪ I will not be ♪ ♪ 'Cause in all me of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides ♪ ♪ My blood ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ in y'all ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ My blood ♪ ♪ Calling on the Lord ♪ ♪ I will not be ♪ ♪ I will not be ♪ ♪ Every world ♪ ♪ Everyone before this is made ♪ ♪ What's great ♪ ♪ Is the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Is the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I know ♪ ♪ On the power ♪ ♪ Fear and darkness ♪ ♪ We must go ♪ ♪ Every peace you have dreamed ♪ ♪ Our whole ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪

♪ My Jesus ♪ ♪ Is the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ (audience applauding) ♪ Hallelujah ♪ (audience applauding) ♪ There was no way ♪ ♪ 'Til you made me ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Grace and form grace ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve ♪ ♪ To be seated ♪ ♪ Even though I couldn't hurt ♪ ♪ You gave it ♪ ♪ Sing out y'all ♪ ♪ Who am I ♪ ♪ That you keep me on ♪ ♪ You're my God ♪ ♪ Just let go ♪ ♪ Oh my life, give me that I remember ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm just so grateful for you ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Holy holy ♪ ♪ There's only one ♪ ♪ Hey, I give you glory ♪ ♪ For all that you tell ♪ ♪ And even though I don't deserve it ♪

♪ You did it ♪ ♪ Hey, you did it so hard ♪ ♪ Could you do it ♪ ♪ You did it, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, whatever ♪ ♪ That you give me ♪ ♪ You're so grateful for you ♪ ♪ I'm just waiting for you ♪ ♪ I'm really grateful for you ♪ ♪ I'm just waiting for you ♪ ♪ I'm so grateful for you ♪ ♪ Oh, oh my life ♪ ♪ You've been right here by my side ♪ ♪ Yeah, I'm just waiting for you ♪ ♪ I'm just waiting for you ♪ ♪ I'm just waiting for you ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, oh my life ♪ ♪ You keep me out of my time ♪ ♪ Just waiting for you ♪ ♪ Oh yeah, just waiting for you ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you've been right here by my side ♪ ♪ Way too crazy, just great ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ All the grateful people in the house, clap your hands ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh hey ♪ ♪ And I ♪ ♪ I'm lifted full of my hands ♪

♪ 'Cause you gave me tears after chance ♪ ♪ I ♪ ♪ I'm giving all that I have ♪ ♪ 'Cause you gave me tears after chance ♪ ♪ Singing all y'all ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ I'm lifted full of my hands ♪ ♪ 'Cause you gave me tears after chance ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears after chance ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, am I ♪ ♪ That you keep me on your mind ♪ ♪ 'Cause you gave me tears after chance ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ 'Cause you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ 'Cause you gave me tears ♪

♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ 'Cause you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪

♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪

♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ ♪ Oh my life, you gave me tears ♪ as I hold this responsibility carefully. And so for all of our friends, most city, West End, Ramsey Unit, online, I'm gonna ask all of us here at Richmond just to lean in to what I think God wants to do. And I wanna start not with a story or an analogy and all of that, I wanna just start by reading some scripture. And I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but if you've ever been someone that goes, man, I really wish I could hear the audible voice of God. I really wish I'd just hear God speak to me. I don't know what I do, I might freak out a little bit, but gosh, that would be so cool. I have news for you. There is a way that you can hear God's voice audibly anytime that you want. And it's by reading his word out loud. When we read the Bible, we are reading the words of God written to us. And so I wanna start by just doing that. I just want God's word to wash over us, to prepare us for what we're going to talk about. This passage comes from 2 Timothy, chapter four, Paul's writing to young Timothy who is becoming or is a pastor of this area, and he's writing at a time when false teaching

and oral traditions are starting to seep their way into the church and he writes these words and it's a great setup for us today. He says this, for the time is coming. When people will not endure sound teaching, but have itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves. Teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. And I don't want us to be a church that does that. I don't see us there, but I know there is always a challenge when culture in the world are pushing in on us first individually and then also corporately as a church. And so I want those words to ring true in our ear and it's gonna set us up for where we're going. We are in a teaching series right now called The Locker Room. And the idea is we're referencing football and this you could really do any sport, but really referencing football. And what we're talking about is this idea that we do not want to be players in the game, that either get comfortable in the locker room that we never enter the field or comfortable in the stands watching that we never enter the field. And what's happened in the modern churches, there's a challenge where it's easy to enter into a building and to think this is where I find God. And then when I leave, I wait until I get back into the building so that I can find God.

And we wanna challenge that thought for you, for us as a church, as a whole and individually. We wanna challenge you to say, no, no, no, the locker room is more like the church where we get charged up, we get ready, we get healed, we get corrected, we band together for encouragement, we come to God with our needs, but then we walk out the doors onto the field, which is the mission field to go and live for him. We don't want the church to be locked into the walls, we wanna be out there. And so the whole series is based on this concept. And so what we're doing is taking little pieces of the church and just talking through them, wrapping our minds around them, re-wrapping our minds around them. And today we're not going to do anything profound, but it is incredibly important. And it is so important that we don't confuse the locker room with the field. I thought this would be fun to show you. These are pictures of the actual Houston Texans locker room. And that cool, look at that. How nice is that? Wouldn't it be tempting to just hang out there? I mean, when you start to think about the pressure of playing in front of thousands of people and possibly messing up or making the city upset with you, maybe you feel that way right now? Like, wouldn't it be more comfortable to just sit

in that chair and eat one of your uncrustables? You know, they serve about a thousand uncrustables, a season to players, you know that? Like, grab your little pacifier, your uncrustable, sit in the chair and just be cool because I don't gotta deal with the pressure out there. And there is that same challenge and concern we could have. And we don't wanna do that. Man, we wanna use this place wisely for God, wisely for him in our lives and then go. And so this is the concept we're chasing after now. And every team, every locker room, there is an aspect of this that is vitally important. And that is that every locker room has a leader. Years ago, I was serving as a student camp over the summer and for one week I had a group of high school seniors in my condo, and so I was their leader, I was there to encourage them, challenge them, and keep them in line, wrangle them in. And this group of seniors wasn't just any group of seniors, they were unique in that they had all together just won the Katie High School State Championship. And so they came in with some swagger, as the young people say. They weren't afraid to let you know that's who they were. And so I had my hands full, it might have been by God's divine order or by the church's desperation, but somehow they landed in my condo. And so a couple of days into their retreat, they informed me, hey, we're going down to the flag football, the sand flag football tournament down on the beach, and we're about to cook everyone. And I said, that's great, good luck, don't come back unless you win, because you literally want to stay tall. Good luck. So they left, and I didn't go watch, I had some other things I was doing, and I got back

to the condo early and was anxiously awaiting their arrival, and in walk the guys, head down, quiet, I couldn't get them to say anything to me, but I figured out what happened. Later on, I went down and talked to one of the leaders, I said, dude, tell me what happened on the beach. I mean, I thought they would get, he's like, me too, he's like, dude, it was awesome. He's like, they went out there, they thought they had it locked down. They walked out with confidence, with swagger, but he said the problem was, they were all trying to be heroes. No one wanted to work together. They were trying to make one hand, he catches and throw these amazing passes. And without paying attention, they ended up losing, and they didn't just lose to anybody. They lost to freshmen from their very school. He said, it was awesome, and I was like, and now I got to live with it. But here's what's crazy. What happened? They didn't have a coach. So you can have all the talent in the world. You can have the best players in the city, but if you don't have direction, if you don't have a vision, if you aren't rallied together under a unified passion and purpose, you will just run confused and in circles, and eventually it will fall apart. And so what we want to bring back to, what I want to realign for us today is that the church, we have a head coach, we have a leader, and his name is Jesus Christ. Now, listen, we have an amazing senior pastor. We have an amazing board and executive team and staff. We have all of that, but I need you to hear me clearly. They are not in charge, Jesus is. They are under his authority, because I'm a part of that, we are under his authority. Now, listen, we have a senior pastor that loves and follows Jesus. I can tell you I have seen it with my own eyes. We have one of the best boards you will find.

Our executive team is amazing. Our staff is incredible. God has gifted us. We have been blessed. We have amazing leaders, but listen, if the church, if the leadership, stop following Jesus, what awaits for us is chaos, confusion, and disorder. So we can't have that. Now, some of you are going, why are you saying that to us, say it to them? Well, some of them are in the room, so we're saying it to everyone. But also this is important for us, because here's the deal. The church is not just the building, it's the people, and you are the church. You and I come together to make up the church, so here's the deal. We need the leadership that's been put in, quote unquote, an office to lead well. We need our people to be chasing after Christ, too. If not, guess what's going to happen? You're going to start complaining about something or asking for something that comes out of your own desire, not out of the passion of our leader, Jesus Christ. And so it's on all of us to keep our eyes and our lives locked on him so that he is the true leader from the top down, all the way down to your small group, to your ministry, that you're serving into the place that you're serving, we need him at the front. And it's a challenge. Can I just confess to you, as a leader, I've been doing this almost 20 years, pastorally, there have been so many seasons where I've operated out of my own strength and my own direction, because God gave me just enough to make that work. But it always falls short. [BLANK_AUDIO] continue to learn this hard way. And so what I'm saying is we gotta pray for each other, we gotta pray for our leaders, but we must all band together and never forget

that we have a head coach and it is Jesus. Now, let's talk about God for a minute. God, one God, three persons, three distinct functions, all equal and being. We call this the Trinity. Complicated thing, but a beautiful thing. Let me try to give it to you in an analogy that my, I have to say this up front, anytime you use an analogy or an illustration or an example of the Trinity, eventually it always falls apart, all right? So if anyone ever gets up because I have nailed the perfect, it's water and air and it always falls apart, okay? So this one will too, but this is gonna fit into our series. So let me share it with you. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Let's think about it in football terminology, NFL team. God the Father is like the owner, the general manager. He or she has established the team in the context of the world, has established the team, sets the purpose, draws the people, then comes God the Son. This is Jesus Christ. He has been established as the head of the church. He is the head coach.

He's the one that goes, all right, we know where we're headed. Now let me show you how we're gonna get there. I'm gonna give you the vision and Jesus doesn't just watch from afar. He walked the same earth that we did. He came as an example. He came with the mission and he ran the ultimate play. He went up on the cross and died and rose again so that we could have life. And so our head coach is what we would describe in the football world, a player coach. He's done it both. He's a great example. And then we have the third persona of God, which is the Holy Spirit. And this easily connects to the idea of a play caller. You think about an offensive play caller. They are constantly getting plays put together so that they can execute the vision of the head coach. And we get a taste by looking at this in football terminology of how God works. One God equal parts unique in function. Now where it falls down is that it's one God, not three different people like we see in the NFL. It's not three different gods. It's one God. So maybe more realistically would be like me coaching a flag football team, which I do. Oftentimes I have help, but sometimes it's just me. On those days, I'm the general manager.

I'm the head coach and I'm the play caller. And I'm terrible at all three if we're just being honest. And so that's but actually more accurate theologically. But I want you to see this picture because this is important for us to understand within the church and how we are living this thing out. Jesus is the head coach put in place for us to follow. Now here's what's important. We must understand where this comes from. What does scripture have to say about this? There's an amazing passage that we should all mark down when it comes to understanding Jesus as the head of the church. It comes from Colossians chapter one, verse 15. And it says this. He is the image speaking of Jesus of the invisible God. The first born of all creation, for by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is bore all things. And in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the first born from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent. Now this is like three messages right here. But let's just look at a couple of things because we wanna make sure we wrap our mind around. One of the first things it says is that Jesus

is not only holding the church together, he's holding the world together. That his hands are not only leading but also holding it together. Can I tell you, we have a wonderful and brutal example of this in our own church history. When we had a sudden change of leadership, we did not see the church fall apart. We didn't even see the church take a step backwards. We actually took a step forward in that season of unknown. Why? Because man wasn't in charge. It wasn't from anyone before or anyone after. It was Jesus that was holding it together. This is why he can tell us, my church will not fail. You probably will fail 'cause you're all imperfect people pointing at me first, but my church will not fail because I'm the one holding it together. This is why we wanna keep Jesus at the front because if we do it out of our own strength, The second thing it says is that Christ is the head of the church. So just a reminder, it's not the senior pastor, not the board, not the elders, not the staff. It is Jesus who then underneath him puts these leaders in place and says, "Follow me as I lead your church." This is so vital for us. This is vital for our staff. This is vital for those that lead ministries. If you want to do something for the kingdom,

with your small group, with your kid minister, your student ministry, whatever it is you're serving, chase after Jesus. He's the one that's got the vision. Some of you have some human ability, and that's wonderful, but it's only gonna go so far. If we want this church to have power, and if we want this church to make an impact, it's gonna be chasing the vision of our head coach. And then it says, "He is supreme. "Everything serves his purposes." And I want to talk for just a moment. To those of us in any of our rooms that are not followers of Christ. Maybe you're here, but your church hurt. Maybe you're just curious, or maybe somebody drug you here, and you cannot wait to get out of here. I want to say something to you. Jesus, who a scripture just said holds the world together, the one that holds the galaxies together. That same God wants to hold your life together. That same God sees you amongst all of these crowds in all of our rooms, and it could feel like nobody sees me. I'm just sneaking in the back and sneaking up. I'm telling you, there is one who sees you in the discod. He sees you for who you are. And he says, "I love you so much that I've made a way "to come meet you right where you are "if you're willing to accept." And he says, "Your life won't be perfect, right?

"Cause all the Christians can say, "Hey man, it ain't perfect, "but he will hold your world together. "He will draw you close, and he will forgive you." We use the church word of sin. What that means, all the stupid things you've ever done that I've ever done in my life. He says, "I bring those, I wash them, white as snow. "I move them as far as the east is from the west. "I make you, Corinthians tells us a new creation. "Only God can do that." And that God, and so if you're pushing him away, I get it, I understand. I've had season to that myself, but I'm telling you, this God has extended his hand to you. When no one else maybe is, and he loves you, and he's drawing you, maybe even today, you might say, "Man, what would it look like for him to be my leader?" I'm telling you, it will change everything. It won't be perfect, but it will change everything. Now let me talk to those of us that are following Christ because we have a big challenge. We have a big challenge in the church today. Do you know the difference between a good feeling and an encounter? It's the focus of your worship. The difference between a good feeling and an encounter is the focus of your worship. What we run the risk of in the church today is we show up to church and maybe we wouldn't say it, but subconsciously in our mind, we're showing up

and we're hoping to be entertained. Man, I hope they sing my song. I hope my girl is is up there. There she is, oh, she's doing her thing, love it. Oh, this way, it's not Liz, but that's okay, it's okay. I'm just gonna sing and pretend I'm, it's okay. Oh, oh, oh, I'm here to see my guy. Chad number one, it's confusing, I know. I'm here to see Chad number one, but then you showed up today and it's Chad number two. You got the backup QB on this thing. Whoa, wait a minute, can God even speak through him? Is this just a filler? What are we doing here? Or maybe you came to church and God, man, you just had a bad week. Just had a bad weekend, so you're hoping that church's gonna make you feel good. Or maybe you need something. So you're coming in with your needs and your request. Now, hear me carefully. None of these things are bad in their proper order. We should come to church with our request for God. Those are good things, that's part of why we meet. We should come to church when things are good and bad, looking for reprieve, encouragement, hope, inspiration. We should come to church to enjoy God using men and women that he is supernaturally gifted to build up the body of Christ. But when those things get in the way of worshiping him, we have a massive problem.

We cannot show up for a good singer or a good speaker because all you're gonna get is a temporary good feeling. But when you show up to meet with God, you'll have an encounter. When you show up to meet with God, he'll change everything. And here's the other thing, what we have to be so careful of, and I wanna challenge you in this. I wanna challenge you in this is that when you come in, no matter what you're caring, I want our first thought when we gather us to church to be sacrificial worship. I need something, I need a job, I need help, I need a spouse, whatever, whatever. Before I ask, I'm laying down and I'm worshiping him for who he is, not what he's done. And I'll let everything else follow behind, "Man, let Liz sing, that's great, just don't get caught in the voice." Get caught in the words. It's hard. It's hard. But it's so important. This is how we keep the church on track. This is how we stay focused. Here's some things we do within the church, practically, so you can see it. How do we keep God at the center? Let's talk about worship for a minute. The songs that we sing, our team, Chad, oh, I wasn't going to say Chad 3, but that sounds bad. I'll give him Chad 2, Chad straighter, Ariel, they are our worship leaders, our global worship leaders. They spend hours pouring over the music. Do you know they do not just open up Spotify and go, "Oh, that looks like a cool song, plug and play."

No, they study with their Bibles, they look at the songs and the words and the theology and they ask the question, "Is this accurate from Scripture and is this edifying to God?" Because that's all we want to do is to lean into that. And so these songs have been thought through, prayed through, why? So that we can stay in line with God. We say in the church world, the global church world, show us your songs and we'll show you your church's theology. This is a massive deal for us. The second thing, these are our nights of worship and prayer coming up on October 1st, right? We gather and we say what, hey, whoa, whoa, before we ask and we're going to ask because that's why we're coming. We're going to worship God, we see you for who you are. If you don't give me another thing, you're still worthy. But Lord, I do come today with some hurt, with some pain, with some needs. I come wanting to pray for my friends, my brother, my sister, my family members. It's a moment for us to realign with God and then to pursue him for the things he desires. The other one I'm thinking of is communion. Do you know when we take communion, it is such a sacred thing? Did you know that? I think if you didn't grow up in the church or if you're new to church, you might probably think it's weird. We start talking about blood and body and I'll be honest. It is weird when you don't understand the context, but communion is one of these sacraments. It's one of these special things that we get to do. It's the moment that when we pause to remember Christ, we are first reminding ourselves what this whole thing is all about, but then we're using it as a time to lean in with him for those that are feeling a little distant from God. It's communion that is our opportunity to link back in, to surrender back, to confess sin, to seek him.

So we have these moments throughout what we do so that we keep God the center and the last one is we preach the scriptures. We teach the scriptures which sets us up beautifully for the second part of what I want to say. We have been given a vision from the head coach. And just like in football, it comes in the form of a playbook. And that playbook is this guy, the Bible, the holy Bible, the set-apart text, the words of God given to us so that we can figure out how to live this life, how to move forward as he leads. We've been given a vision. If you've ever watched a football game, I think this is fascinating. You'll see, especially in the NFL, they have a big old play-call sheet. You ever seen one of these? They always cover their mouths so no one sees what they're saying. I don't think it actually works with the 1800 cameras in a game. But anyway, so they have a play-call sheet. What they've done is they've spent time studying and preparing and who's going to go where and who's going to do this and who's going to do that. But what you may not know is on every play-call sheet, there's what they call the first 15. Every offense in a felt college, they will establish the first 15 plays that they're going to run in a game. It's been thought through, decided upon every detail. And they run those plays. You start the game. They don't have to think what the first play is. They already know. And they run those 15 until they get punched in the mouth, whether they got sacked or they fumbled or Nico Collins got hurt, whatever it is, until something happens where those don't work. They go. That's fascinating about that.

Not only are the coaches leaned into that, but the players are leaned into that. The players learn, memorize, that order those plays so they know what they're supposed to do in the locker room before they head out onto the field. Guess what they're doing? They're going back over the first 15. They're reminding them of the things we've already talked about. This isn't new. We're just reminded you, babe. When we go out there, we're focused on this, we're looking for that. This is how it works. And yes, one of the things we're gonna do in church that's so important is that we say lift up his playbook that we teach through, talk through, pray through, read through, discuss through his playbook the Bible so that we know where we're going and we know what he desires for us to do. Where does that come from? Let me read it to you. In that same area of scripture, I read the original passage at the beginning. Second Timothy three, these are the words. All scripture is breathed out by God. You know what's kinda cool? You see the Trinity pictured out there, by the way. Pretty cool. All scripture is breathed out by God. He has given us these plays, right? This is our playbook. It says it's profitable for teaching. It teaches us what?

It teaches us about doctrine, about mission, teaches us about worship, how to pursue holiness. This is what the Bible does. He says it's for reproof. What is that? That's a exposing sin and false teaching. It's also for correction. Like a coach maybe on the sideline critiquing technique, the scriptures are there to correct us when we get off track. It's also there for training in righteousness. Repeated patterns of scripture in our life will develop godly habits. It leads us to righteousness as we continue to absorb. It changes our heart and our character. And then it says that the man or woman of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. The Bible, God's playbook, is to be taken within our lives so that it can have a transforming effect. And so part of the church is that we keep the Bible essential to who we are and what we do so that we stay on track with our leader. This is so vital. Now remember what I read to you at the beginning. Let me read it to you again. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but have itching ears will accumulate for themselves, teachers to suit their own passions or desires and will turn away from listening to the truth

and wander off into miss. He says, there's a day coming when you're not gonna be enjoying the Bible anymore because it doesn't meet you as you wish it would. You're gonna go find other things that'll make you happier. Other podcasts, other books, other things. Maybe even from some Christian authors and connections but it won't be the Bible. And he's saying we've gotta be careful because if we put the Bible aside we are surely going aside sooner or later. You know what the problem I think and I just wanna make kind of a blanket statement. I think the biggest problem in the American church today is not that we're rejecting the Bible. It's how we just don't read it. I think that's globally as like corporately we kind of got away from the Bible at times and I'm not necessarily saying, here I'm just saying kind of the church as a whole but I say 100%. Remember the church is what? The building or the people is the people. What's really happened is the church, the people of God have gotten away from reading the scriptures. Let me just ask you and I mean this in no condemning way I'll let the Holy Spirit do what He wants. Let me ask you a question. If you're a hard copy Bible person,

how does your Bible look? Is it a little dirty, little worn down or is it dusty? Maybe you're digital, right? That's a safe way to go. Okay, great. I dare you to open up your screen time and compare your Bible app to any other app, particularly your social media. Now I'm not, listen, I'm not here to make you feel bad. I just wanna bring this out. We have the Word of God in our hands. You know, there is a time when you couldn't even get the Bible in your hands that you could die for having the Bible in here. There are places in the world right now like that. We have more Bibles out that we have access to and we still don't read it. And what is the Bible, the Word of God? And then here's what happens a lot of times in the church. We come to the church because we go, oh well good, well they're gonna do that for me. They're gonna speak to me and they'll do it great and they'll teach me and it'll be good. And listen, that's a huge part of the church. I don't wanna discredit that. I mean, we spend 40 minutes of an hour on that. I get it, but here's what happens if you're not careful. You'll get comfortable with that and you'll stop going to meet with God on your own. You'll wait for us to go up on the mountains

and meet with God and then you'll wait to see what we have. When God's saying, I could do that with you too. You can go up on the mountain and meet with me. You can hear my voice. I will lead your life, but we gotta create space for that to happen. And so of course as a church as a whole, we don't wanna adhere from this, but I'm talking to you as an individual. I'm talking to me as an individual. You know my big challenge, can I just confess? Can I confess? I think it's good. I'm really good at being in my Bible when I'm getting ready to preach. I'm not so good when I don't have a sermon coming up. I'd like to say I am, I'd like to say I nail it, just like all of us, but I have my own struggles. And it's messages like this, 'cause just so you know, when I get up here to share, God's doing this work in me first, I'm just sharing with you the overflow of what He's messing with me on. And He's always messing with me. I was like, can you just leave me alone? Can I just have one year where things are just good? No, 'cause it's for correction and reproof. He doesn't kick us, that's just me, that's how my personality is. But I'm just like, stop, stop, stop.

Okay, I'll read my Bible, you're right. I mean, this is a challenge, guys. But we have an opportunity to meet with the Father. So what does this look like in our church? This is the things we wanna be focused on. Number one, we preach and teach the scriptures. In our services, in our kids' men, in our student men, in our senior adults, whatever it is, we want the scriptures to be lifted up. That's very, very intentional for us. We wanna equip people to study the Bible on their own, right? We don't wanna just say go, do it. We wanna try to help you with that. We have different things that'll happen throughout the year. We've got Master Life together at some campuses. We've got how to reach your Bible as a class you can take to learn. We've been with our first graders over at Most City. We're doing first grade Bible, where we're giving them maybe one of their first Bibles or maybe their first Bible ever and just showing the parents how they can do that together with their kids to try to equip them. That we wanna get you everything you need so that you can go do this on your own. The other thing I'm thinking about is reading scripture out loud. We did it at the beginning. We do those in service.

We do that a lot at night of worship and prayer. Man, we wanna keep doing that. We wanna keep lifting up God's words. By the way, can I go back to something really quick? If you're a small group leader, I got a little challenge for you. I wanna encourage you lovingly, just encourage you. Be sure that your small groups are not only rooted in outside studies. Find some time, some pockets, where you can just talk about scripture with your group. Where God's word can be the only thing. I think it's so valuable to have other people speaking into us and writing and all that 'cause it helps us to unpack it. But we just wanna make sure that His word stays at the center. So that might be a cool thing for you to try as a group. Maybe take two or three weeks and then we're just gonna read some scripture and we're gonna talk. We're gonna ask God to just do something special. We want to keep the Bible central to everything that we do. The other one is our church, our principles, our core values as a church. They all come out of the scriptures. Relevant teaching from the Bible. We wanna be engaged in worship. We wanna all serve.

We wanna all have our place. We wanna go reach the lost. We wanna be a place that someone that doesn't know God could come in. It'll never feel super comfortable, but we want them to feel okay here so that they might have a chance to encounter the living God that could change their life forever. These are the values of our church. So these are ways that we keep God at the center, but here's the thing, it cannot stop only at the church. What we do with the Bible, both in the corporate and on our own, we are not just here to gather information. We can make you, I can make you smarter in the Bible and you still be the same person. We've gotta let God's Word start to transform us and then we take it and we start executing it out in our life. And that's the ultimate goal. You can become very smart and I'll tell you, the smarter you get with the Bible, the more risky it is to become self-righteous, to be able to point out all the things that are wrong with people and forget that you are just as guilty as anyone else. That is me too. And so we do wanna gain information,

but let's let that information lead to transformation. That is so vital. Now here's the good news. 'Cause some of you are going, man, I feel the little charge here to like read the Bible more and I don't know where to start. And sometimes I open up this book and things are a little crazy and I'm not quite sure what to do and how to do this, I have good news for you. You are not alone in that endeavor to walk with God and to open up his scriptures. Remember we talked about the Trinity toward the beginning? That third person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, it is a gift that he is there to guide, to empower, to open our minds to things that God is doing. I think about it like this. Remember we use the illustration of the offensive coordinator. If you ever watch a football game and you watch the quarterback get into the huddle, what he's doing is he's giving plays to his teammates, plays that the coach had worked on. This is the vision and this is how we're gonna execute it. And the quarterback shows up to a huddle. And I don't know if you've ever heard, I'm about to show you in a second. If you've never heard a couple of plays that is said in the NFL, it is crazy.

Let me just show you just for fun. Look at this, this is Joe Burrow giving some plays. Those left 35 Wichita Macho toe on one. Dice right, F fly, whiskey Brady. Dice right numbers, three jet Spielberg on one. Trey right closer, Karate can, 12 dual alert booty on one. on the turbo, on the turbo. Some of us are like, that's what it's like when I read the Old Testament. I don't get it. I'm like, I heard short. I think, I don't know, what do I do with this? I don't know. Here's the good news. Just like on the field, someone is there symbolically in our ear, guiding us on that endeavor. Did you know in the NFL, I heard, showed this video without audio. And the quarterback's helmets, this is from our Texans, men, our boys, they put these radios in the quarterback's helmet. He's the only one, it's the one with the green dot, if you ever see it on TV. He's the only one that has it, but in his helmet is a radio, and it's going to the offensive coordinator, so that he can give them the play, so that they'll know what to do.

And sometimes, often times, they'll not only give the play, but they'll give a little bit of instruction along the way, to make sure they see it. Now, I have a small clip, it's really hard to hear, but that's kind of the point. Listen to this, just for a second. - All right, back, it's first and 10. Here's the score, 80. It's 34, 30, 80, and touchdown. You cannot get in the field bridge, we only have one time out, all right? You got three rights, emotional career, and I'm losing, for making sure you motion lower, make sure he's set. They've been flexing a lot, make sure you understand they're going to cover two, all right? We'll learn your pressure here, your hot ground, just to your left. It's turbulent within the slot. No sacks, you cannot do 80 sacks. Here we go. Did you catch it? That's a lot. And then he's got to turn around and go give the information to the players. They got to get on the line, they got to run the play. And now I get it right, 'cause that's the Cowboys. Ah, dang, I see you. (audience applauds)

Now listen, here's where that little thing, that's kind of cool, makes sense. In the NFL, the way this works, is the offense of coordinator only has 25 seconds to talk to the quarterback. And then at 15 seconds left on the playcock, the NFL, not the teams, cuts the broadcast, and it goes to silence. The quarterback is not allowed to talk about, he has no microphone in his, he can only hear. And as you heard it here, it's not good quality. In fact, if the stadium is loud, that's why you hear these guys covering their ears, they're trying their best to hear something because it's so loud. This is a wonderful picture of the life that we're in. The world, we are in, it's so noisy. It's so, there are enemy fans, and we're not turning people into enemies, but there's enemy fans out there trying to yell and scream and make it so loud that you can't hear your play coming in. And then when you do get the play, right, you have to know the play. To us, that's a bunch of random verbiage that makes no sense, but to them, they know because they've studied. They've absorbed those plays. They know when they get that call exactly what they're supposed to do. And that's what we are talking about here today.

That first, we have a leader, but second, he's giving us a playbook. We gotta know that playbook so that then when we enter back out into the world, we have the strategy on how to go. And the more we spend time in the playbook, the more we absorb it, the more it starts to make sense, the more we start to see it play out. And then here's the thing, remember how it cuts off at 15 seconds? Why do they do that? Because they want the player to actually be the one to make the decision when the time comes. And the same is true for us. God is there leading us every step of the way, but at the end of the day, he's given us free will that you will still have to choose. You will choose what you're gonna do. You will choose if you give your life to him. You will choose if you run his play or don't. But he is there. You are not alone. Man, that should empower us today. And so as we leave, I want you to think about every door that you walk out of at all of our campuses, all of our places, it's like a tunnel. You're exiting the locker room tunnel and you're walking out onto the field. We have a leader, we already know.

We've got a playbook, we know what to do. Now we get to go out and live it out. Don't let the church be where it ends. This is not the finish line. It's the launching pad for us to be charged up, inspired, healed, to worship, to get right with God so that we then go out into the world and we live for him. I want our church to have power. I want our church to make impact. The only way we're going to do it is if we keep our eyes locked on our leader and we trust his playbook every step of the way. That's our heart for this place. Man, can you imagine what could happen? Could you imagine? Father, right now I just ask. We've got it in the rooms, the sizes that we have. There are so many different people, so many different places, so many different stages. So God, I just ask you to meet us right where we are. If we're new to this, well it'd help us not be overwhelming but be inspiring that there is something out here for me to go chase. There is opportunity for me to grow with you. and yet we're feeling a little bit of that weight. We're feeling a little bit of that conviction. God, would you forgive us where we haven't handled this well and align us, God, so that we can honor you?

Father, I pray for each campus, each representative, Lord, that you would be our leader. From church, member, all the way up to senior pastor. God, we are thankful for our leaders. We have been so blessed to have our leaders, but Lord, help us all to never let anyone else take control but you. We want to honor you. God, be with us as we go. May your word come to life in our lives and in our groups and in our ministries and in our campuses. God, that is our hope. Father, we love you. We thank you. We walk out into the world and pray we live in a way that honors you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.