Game Plan | Part 4

We sing worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Yeah. Worthy is your name. Let's hear your voice and sing that. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is, worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Oh, worthy is, oh, never stop singing. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Oh, worthy is your name. Sing worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Oh, worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. We sing, so be exalted now in the heavens. As your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above all names.

Sing, be exalted now in the heavens. As your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above all names. So be exalted now in the heavens. As your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above all names. Be exalted now in the heavens. As your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above all names. Be exalted now in the heavens. As your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above all names. Be exalted now in the heavens. As your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above all names. Sing, worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. We sing, worthy, worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus.

You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Sing, worthy is your name. Sing, worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. Let's sing this. Trustworthy is your name. Trustworthy is your name. Trustworthy is your name. Trustworthy is your name. Trustworthy is your name. Trustworthy is your name. Trustworthy is your name. Trustworthy is your name. Jesus. Take us deeper, Lord. Take us deeper, God. Trust Him. Christ is my firm foundation. The rock on which I stand When everything around me is shaking

I've never been more glad That I put my faith in Jesus He's never let me down He's faithful through generations So why would He fail now? He won't No, He won't No, He won't I've still got I've still got joy in chaos I've got peace that makes no sense So I won't be going under I'm not held by my own strength I'm not held by my own strength He's never let me down He's faithful through generations So why would He fail now? So why would He fail now? He won't No, He won't He won't He won't fail He won't fail He won't He won't He never fails He won't fail He won't fail Because Christ is my firm foundation The rock on which I stand

When everything around me is shaking I've never been more glad That I put my faith in Jesus So He's never let me down He's faithful, He's faithful So why, so why would He fail now? He won't No, He won't He won't He won't fail He won't fail He never fails You're the one we put our faith in All our trust in Jesus This is the song we sing This is the song we sing of His goodness Rain came, wind blew But my house was built on you And I'm safe with you I'm gonna make it through Rain came But my house was built I'm safe I'm safe with you I'm gonna make it through Rain came Rain came with you But my house was built on you I'm safe I'm safe with you

I'm gonna make it I'm gonna make it Oh, I'm gonna make it through But it's not steady I'm gonna make it I'm gonna make it Oh, I'm gonna make it through Cause my house is built on you I seized my first foundation The rock on which I sit When everything around me's shaking Oh, I'll never back down And I'll put my faith in Jesus Oh, He's never let me down Cause faith falls through generations So why would He fail now He won't No, He won't He won't He won't fail He won't fail He won't So I want you to go to this main anchor text that we have And I'm gonna dig just a little deeper in something The power of the simplicity of following Jesus Christ I'm gonna just share some things with you But I want you to go to Philippians chapter 3 That's where we're gonna start So if you don't have your Bibles with you You can go to the app

Make sure you download the app everybody That's really critical to getting things here to help you grow in Jesus Christ Really get the app And just go to your app store And then when you get on that Pick Grand Rapids First Download that, it's really critical But I want you just to be able to take notes today In your app or take notes in your Bible Or whatever I want you to follow me in this Because what I'm gonna talk about today Or just in the game plan Is just winning habits People will say, well what needs to be done The gospel is really simple When it comes to truly being more than a conqueror And overcoming And you don't have to say, well those people are Because they've been serving God a long time Pastor Sam can, because you know He's been at this a long time Pastor Brendan, da da da da da He goes on and on, the litany of people I'm telling you that God does Extraordinary things through ordinary people When they just simply see The winning habits that God displayed to us It's the simplicity of the God How many of you are like

God didn't complicate all this Made it very simple And so I want us to go to What is the ultimate goal? What is the ultimate goal? There's a lot of things that you see A lot of things you want to achieve as a believer Your career path, whatever it is But what is the ultimate goal? And I think the Apostle Paul articulated it best And I just want to go to that first part Of Philippians 3.10 Okay It's simply this I want to know Christ I want to know Christ God doesn't want Just your attention What He's wanting is your affection So many of you Are trying to do do do do do If I can just get this done But it transcends Disciplines everybody It is this simple affection For Jesus Christ Every day of your life And that is the goal I want to know Christ Let's read this particular verse out loud

Come on, everybody join me, it's up on the screen Let's say it out loud together And make the enemy mad and soil himself Here we go, ready? Philippians 3.10, let's say it out loud I want to know Christ And experience The mighty power That raised Him from the dead This is not just about Our bodily resurrection As believers That's not just that. That is about the power of resurrecting things that are dead in your life now. That simplicity of knowing Jesus and pursuing. There are things that you think, I just feel dried up. I just feel like God doesn't love me. I just feel like I have no purpose. All those things that you feel dead, even your marriage, your walk with God, is directly related to your pursuit of just loving him and say, I want to know you because you fully know me, Jesus. Now I want to fully know you like you fully know me. And out of that is birth, the mighty power that you're really looking for, for the things you want to achieve. Because if it's just those things you want to achieve, then it's just discipline, discipline, make money, make money, make money, work hard, get up in the morning, just hustle, hustle, hustle, get the hustle culture. And you're still not satisfied. But when you pursue Christ, then the mighty power comes into you to be the student you really need to be, the attorney you really need to be, the mom and the dad you really want to be, the teenager, the single person you really want to be. And then out of the outflow of that, you know how to handle all those things that he's given you through his mighty power. You know how to treat them right. So what's the first thing he wants us to do is to what? Know him, just pursue him. And then look what he says, let's drop down to verse 13 of our text. He says, I focus on this one thing, forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race,

the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God through Christ Jesus is calling who everybody us. It's not just for you, the person next to you, not for pastor Sam, anybody else in here, the worship team, it's for you. He's calling us to finish the race. But what I love about this is these words of press on. You see all of these terminologies about athletics in this, that Paul the Holy spirit's given Paul to use. And so when you look at this, Paul, when he sees this from the, from the front of it, you're going to think, okay, I just got to get more discipline. I just got to get more disciplined, but Paul isn't just preaching discipline. Everybody, what he is teaching us is to be a real disciple, to pursue Jesus Christ pursuing. That means that discipleship really gets into you. And what we want when we desire the disciplines, yes, discipline is part, but it's not merely discipline. There's something that brings the birth to that discipline. And here's what it is. Paul is showing us that the discipline you're looking for is a direct outflow of your desire to know Jesus Christ. So stop beating yourself up because you don't have enough discipline. Go to the pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ and all the ways that you can discover who he is and what he wants from you. And out of this will flow the discipleship and the discipline you truly long for. So you can start escaping the guilt. I'm not good enough. I don't pray enough. I don't read enough. No, go after him and watch the mighty power. Start working the disciplines of the disciple that you really are to go after him. Are you tracking with me, everybody on this? Amen. Go after him. So the disciplines come out of that desire to pursue him and spiritual champions. Spiritual champions are not born. Okay. They're not born. Spiritual champions are grown. They are grown through the daily desire. I want to know him. Why would he pursue me like this? Why would he die for me? Why would he do all this for me? I want to know him. And out of that outflow, that discipleship with Jesus Christ is really going to come in a way you never dreamed. Because when we talk about game plan, there's things that really do happen. There are winning habits that are the outflow of that desire. That's really critical. And here's what I've understood about Jesus Christ. You don't drift toward Christ. You train toward him. You don't just drift. You don't just get saved and say, well, let's see what the church can do for me. Let's see if they can spoon feed me every morning. Let's see if pastor can, what he can do to impress me today. I didn't like the worship. I didn't like that what he said. No, no. You don't drift toward Jesus. Out of the pursuit of the desire, you start training toward Jesus. I can just promise you right now. Let me just say this. How many hope that the Detroit Lions go to the

Superbowl? Oh, we know it. We need more positive confession than that in here. Come on. How many want the Detroit Lions go to the Superbowl? I want them to go Superbowl. But can I tell you that for them to get there, they cannot escape the fundamentals. can do after they make a touchdown. They can do their little dance, but the little dance doesn't win the games. They can have all the lights and smoke and all the announcers and everything else, but can I tell you that when Dan Campbell talks to his team, he is always going to take them back to one thing, the fundamentals of the game. Before he talks about his Dan Gamble fourth down aggressiveness, where he's taking the risk, before all that, before all the tricks plays, let me tell you what he's drilling them about. He's going to talk to them about fundamentals of blocking, tackling, ball possession, ball security, and learning to communicate with each other. He's going to talk about the simplicity of those foundations because great teams will never outgrow those fundamentals of blocking, tackling, ball security, and communication. They will never outgrow them because the trick plays and the little dances don't mean anything unless you're handling the fundamentals. Can I tell you the same thing as spiritual believers, whether you've been seasoned and walking with Jesus Christ since Hector was a pup, or you just got saved today, can I tell you what's happening? Spiritual champions never outgrow the fundamentals that grow your faith because of your desire for Jesus Christ. They will not happen. They're there. I like what one leadership author said, and I believe this really applies spiritually. We do not rise to the level of our goals. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. I know a lot of people got all these spiritual goals. I want to do this. I want to do this, and even physical goals, career goals. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of the systems and the disciplines. You will fall to those things. Spiritual believers, they want to rise high, but you will fall to the level of those winning habits that come out of that desire to follow Jesus Christ. Can somebody say amen or oh me? One of the two. Amen. I want to just drop three simple but profound disciplines that you as a believer must have. You must have the winning habits. Here's the first one. Stay connected with the team. I want everybody to look around here for a moment. Those of you watching online, got your family that are believers there, just look around the room just for a moment. All of our online campus folks, look around with people watching with you. That's the team.

That's the team. You will not win and overcome if you're going to do it, you think you can do it outside of the body of Jesus Christ. It's not going to happen. You won't overcome. It's so simple. I want us to go to Hebrews 11 verse 25. There's a very powerful word that God, the writer of Hebrews, gives to the believers, the early believers there. I want you to see this. He says, let us, so that doesn't mean you're special. This is for everybody that calls herself a Christian. Let us not neglect our meeting together. They're talking about the gathering of saints together, as some people are doing that call themselves Christians, but don't want to connect with believers. They're doing it. That didn't just happen now, that happened then. Encourage one another. Don't pick on each other, encourage one another. That doesn't mean sign off on everybody's sin. So everybody's just do what you want. Encourage, provoke people to those good works. Encourage one another, especially now that the day of Jesus Christ, the day of his return is drawing near. You are not going to overcome and win as a spiritual champion, disconnected from the body of Christ and a local church. There's no way. See, now you can follow Jesus alone. And the reason I could, because some of you are following Jesus alone. You're the only person saved in your whole house. You're going to go back to a husband or a wife who doesn't know Jesus, resents you going to church, makes fun of it. You're going to parents or friends or a dormitory that there's nobody serving Jesus, but you, you can follow Jesus alone, but you will never spiritually mature alone. Never. God puts you in a family. God created us because he wanted a family. You are designed for community. You are designed for a family. So let me just read Ephesians chapter four in verse 15. Instead, this is what he talks. Look at the Apostle Paul talking to these believers in Ephesus. Look what he says. Instead, we speak the truth in love, growing in every way, watch this, more and more like Christ. who is the head of the body, the church. What is he saying here? It's that same thing he said to the Philippians. He says, the more we pursue Jesus Christ, the more we're going to grow in Jesus Christ. And part of it is that we are together. We speak the truth in love as a body, as a family, connected like your body is connected together. It says he makes the whole body fit together perfectly. So don't even resent the lint in your belly button. It's there for a reason. Don't resent everybody. Everybody's got a special gift. As each part, watch this. As each part does its own special work. Look at your neighbor just for a second and say,

I told you I was special. Tell him that. I told you I was special. Yes, you are special. Yes, you are. I know we're singing it tongue in cheek and you think that we're just kind of laughing here, but you have a special part in the body of Christ. We have to have you. You need us and we need you. There's something in you that needs to come out of you. You were created and designed by God and you've been put in the family of God. Watch this. To your own special work, it helps. Watch this. It helps the other parts. It helps the other parts grow. Some of you are brand new in Jesus Christ and you're going to help other people grow just simply by you staying connected. You say, I don't even know John 3, 16. I'm just now starting to get through the book of Job. You don't realize it, but as you're staying connected, you are helping other parts of the body grow so that the whole body is what? Is what? I don't go for church growth. I'm not a church growth pastor. I'm a church health pastor. If you will allow like a doctor to deal with your health, the rest will take care of itself. All I'm going to do is I'm going to keep… Our team is pressing for one thing, stay healthy in your walk with Jesus Christ. Keep people getting healthy in their walk with Jesus Christ. Challenge them to go further in Jesus Christ, to pursue Jesus Christ healthy. He says, so the whole body is healthy. Then what happens out of that health? What? Your marriage starts growing. Your personal life starts growing. You're full of what? Love. That means that as you're growing, you're not sitting there condescending. Look at other people and say, why can't you be more like me? Or why can't you be a little more like your older sister that she loves Jesus? You don't do that kind of stuff. You are so connected. You are encouraging the body to help you grow. You cannot do that outside of the community of Jesus Christ. This is probably one of my greatest concerns as a pastor, is that people are disconnecting just like the writer Hebrews said back then. It is the same problem now, that you will not grow to be what God wanted you to be outside of the family of God, the church family. You won't. In fact, I will tell you that if you start finding yourself wanting to distance yourself more. Now, I understand we go through issues. We're not trying to trivialize issues that go on, or things you got to walk through, or offenses you got to walk through with another person in your small group. That's all part of growing up. It's called a family. The moment you start seeing yourself disconnect from his family and you're starting to isolate

yourself, be wise. Could you listen to Pastor Sam for a moment? Be wise. You are getting set up to stop the winning habit that actually makes you a conqueror in Jesus Christ. You are being set up. I know this about Satan. His primary tactic against Jesus Christ followers, and even people that don't love Jesus, is to isolate them from other people, to isolate them from family. That's his primary tactic. Isolation is what he's saying. When you begin to start seeing yourself disconnect from other believers, soon it'll start the disconnect from God. You're not connecting with him. I'll probably spend more time on this point than any point, because this is what Satan is doing. As we see the day of Christ returning, he's going to put more division. Do you think that what you're seeing in our nation, this absolute divide where people can't even have enough respect to talk decent to each other, do you think that's an accident? That is all satanic tactic. That is all satanic tactic. Isolate people from people. You say, There are just some Christians I don't like. Me too. I just say, God, put them through the heline line. Do something to them. Me too. But I'm still commanded to be a part of the body of Christ. That's where the growth happens. That's where I learned to grow and learn about people, learn about Jesus. You say, I can go to heaven without going to church. Sure you can, but it was never God's intention for you to go to heaven just so you make sure you can get in, but you don't help the other body learn how to grow and be like him. That was not his intention. I promise you, God's strategy is to somehow get you connected in a family where you're growing in Jesus Christ. If you're starting to see that happen, where you're isolating, distancing more, I promise you it is a tactic of your adversary. That's the reason why we are so consumed with our growth track here. So you say, well, pastor, I don't know. Some of you might've been in this church a long time and you're still not involved, still not in a group, still not helping the other parts of the body grow. You really need to discover why God even put you in this church. I don't care if it was 50 years ago or five days ago. Why are you and I here? That's why we have the growth track. So if you're saying, pastor, I need to know my part. What does God want from me? Here's a way for you to get connected with Jesus more through the body of Christ. Sign up for Discovery 101. It's right there. That QR code just goes straight to that. We have a path. You go to Discovery 101. Some of you don't even know how this church was started.

You don't even know what we value. Don't even know what we stand for. May have been in this church for two years, still don't know. Go to Discovery 101 and find out God's part for your life in his work because God designed you to be connected. Then you can go to Serve 201. How do I serve others to make them grow? The path is real clear. And then 301 to understand the values of the word of God that is in this body of believers. If you're saying, I need to know the path, pastor, you're brand new today. You want to give your life to Jesus. Start today. Discovery 101. Everybody say Discovery 101. Or better yet, guys, some of you brothers that didn't hear yourself. Man, I just don't get connected well. There's a great fish fry I know that's happening. Fish, bluegill, fried foods. Y'all not doing salad or anything like that. No salads. It's a man's thing. No salads, huh? I want to keep my fish more than five minutes, okay? I want them done. No salads. So I'm very alarmed about something. This is a big, huge deal because people will neglect it who call themselves Christians, and they're going to neglect this as Jesus Christ. An offense will usually be the mechanism whereby you push yourself away. And so we turn to other things. I'll tell you one of my concerns as a pastor. I think AI is a wonderful product to bring productivity. There's going to be some great breakthroughs as a result of AI. We're coming into the advent of that, but I'm going to tell you there are some serious breakdowns that are going to happen because of AI that you need to be aware of. And I want to talk to the young adults, and I want to talk to the teenagers about this, because this is going to become an isolation tactic. It's great for productivity, helps you with research things. There'll be breakthroughs, but you're going to have to watch AI like never before, especially after the research that is coming out. So can I just give you a little bit of research? Y'all mind if I just kind of hold on this little thing just for a minute here, just for a second. AI is not going anywhere. It's here to stay. It can be very helpful, but I'm going to tell you the problem is that AI is the problems that are going to occur out of it. Pew Research said that now young adults, 30 years of age and younger, this is now, this is just, this is not long. This stuff's not been around. AI's been exposed to us relatively short time. It's that 20%, 30 years younger have used AI for emotional support. 7% of those 20 and 30 years younger are now using AI for companionship. 7% doesn't sound like a big deal to you, but that's in the millions in America that fast.

Let me tell you, we're sociologists, psychologists, and even AI developers are concerned. The most vulnerable group are your teenagers. And I'm going to give you the research, and it's going to shock you. Isolation. COVID already did it already to us. Now it's not, AI is not going to go away, but you have to be aware young people and say something else can't replace what God told me to be. And that's Connected with humans and people and the body of Christ So I was going to give it to you I think it I think it merits the time to take for it just right now I really do Common sense media just put out a survey a study 70% of your teenagers Have used AI companions chatbots. You don't know what chatbot. Just just go tell you they're using it as companions and And 50% of teenagers right now are using it on a regular basis and young people, you know what I'm talking about They're already using it 31% of teenagers. This is the most vulnerable group. They're concerned about 31% saying talking to AI is as satisfying as talking with a real friend 33% that's right now this it hasn't been out. Listen, this is pretty fresh 33% of teenagers have discussed serious personal issues with AI Instead of going to another person like a mentor a pastor or you as a parent. They're not even talking to you anymore AI will cultivate their worldview right under your nose And Here's what's alarming to psychologists to to sociologists and AI developers. Here's what's so concerning is Adolescence is the stage. It is the stage where people develop conflict resolution it's where they develop empathy for other humans and it's where they build the relationship skills and How to grow in relationships, that's when it starts But already when you have 33% talking to AI To get direction and not even talking to you or a pastor is an alarming thing and Satan says let's do this in

isolation Now why is it so far what's I a problem because AI AI has endless patience with you Those you've used it it has endless patience and it's agreeable with you It's always validating you. It's designed to read your algorithms and agree with you So it agrees with you. It's called sycophancy It's where you use It's where it's where you use flattery You don't challenge so you can So you can almost manipulate the person by giving them false flattery And here's another problem with it It never disagrees with you I've already disagreed with some of you in this sermon and you don't like it And it requires no mutual care and Here's the alarming part whether they're you're an adult or whether you're a teenager The higher daily use with AI Associated with the higher daily use they are seeing people with more loneliness greater emotional dependency on an AI and Less social interaction with people. I am telling you that as we get closer to the return of Jesus Christ There's going to be more reasons for you not to even to show up to church Because I want to have somebody in my life that agrees with everything and never challenges you Agrees with everything and never challenges me to be what God created and designed me to be All right Not an amen in the house here, so So I don't know if I'm doing good or not No, it's okay No, no, I'm just kidding. No, no, no So for parents, can I just drop something in for you? Because if they're talking to them about serious issues like bullying or gender identity

And they're not getting a biblical worldview If they're talking to a machine About depression and suicide If they're talking that that's a conversation you ought to be a part of You need to be a part of that conversation So this is not an endorsement of an app This is not an endorsement of an app But i've heard a lot of parents a lot of family my parents saying this has been a real helpful tool between me And my teenager. It's been a real helpful tool. It's called bark Brk bark, you might just want to go check it out bark like a dog bark Go check it out But what it is is you can actually put it to all the devices And then when they start going and asking questions of something in ai you are notified, not so you can jump your kid out, or they're listening to something on Spotify, or they get a text from someone that you can even set the perimeters of a certain text or an image that's sent to them, you can actually, so then what you do, it's not to jump them out, it's to walk alongside them and say, I know you've asked this question. So what did they say? What did the machine say? What did AI say? And then you come along and say, now let's talk about this. What does God say about what he says about you and what's your challenge you're walking through? It's not to jump them out, but it's to walk in tandem

so you grow great, godly people for Jesus Christ that overcome. So I'm just simply saying this, AI may stimulate, it may simulate conversation, but it was never created to satisfy the longing in your soul for heart to heart, open conversation, deep, deep conversation with Jesus Christ followers in the body of Christ. It can never replace that. It may answer it. Listen, it may answer questions for you, but only authentic relationships can shape your soul and help you grow and to be what Jesus Christ wants you to be. God designed you for community. Can somebody say amen to that? Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. I just feel like I need to stop here. I really do. I really do. You know, there's a Scripture in the bible. I can't find it right now, but I know it's there. Go ask AI, he'll tell you. I'm just kidding. Nobody is there, but it says God puts the lonely into families. God designed you to be a part of his family, everybody. Yeah, I love God, but I don't like his people. That's like me walking up to you as a husband and saying I really like you, but your wife's a jerk. Doesn't set real well, does it? I really like you, but your husband? Could you recommend a tic-tac to him? Doesn't really work that way. God puts you in a family to grow you. And I don't know what it is, but I feel like the challenge is, is Father, I want to pursue you, Jesus, with everything. And when you bring me, you bring me not just to you, you bring me into this family called the body of Christ. And I'd act as the Holy Spirit to speak to you, to say, Jesus, the more I get closer.

Listen, it's not about you getting in this house and I need you to show up. That's not what this is. It's that you are joined together, that health comes to the body and you grow in health and you grow in the love of Jesus Christ. That he actually works that in your life. And I don't know what it might be, maybe some of you, maybe there's something that the enemy's starting to push you away from your small group or you've never been in a small group. Or maybe there's even these inside of you where you've gone from church to church to church to church to church and I just can't find this church. And God is just simply telling you, well, quit trying to find all the perks. And won't you let my Holy Spirit tell you this is where you're supposed to land and I'm gonna grow you in this place.