SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning.
unknown: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: It is such a joy to hear the Christians of the world singing together.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know, you don't probably ever get to go to someone else's church very often and hear other people singing to the Lord, but as a pastor of another church, it is such a blessing to practice heaven.
SPEAKER_00: You know, in Revelation where it says that there's every tongue, every nation crying out, worthy is the lamb that was slain, and to hear your voices, which I will hear again one day soon.
SPEAKER_00: That we'll do this together, not separated.
SPEAKER_00: We'll do this together one day.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a Bible, would you turn to 1 Timothy chapter 4?
SPEAKER_00: We'll start in verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: And while you're turning there, let me just briefly introduce myself.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Matt, as you've heard, and uh I'm a pastor at Ovilla Road Baptist Church, and you're like, where is that?
SPEAKER_00: That is just south of Dallas, north of Waxahatchie.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're driving to Dallas on I-35, you're gonna go right by Ovilla Road.
SPEAKER_00: Take a left, about two miles, and there we are, right there.
SPEAKER_00: And this the Ovilla Road Baptist Church is the only church that I have ever served at.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord called me there at the age of 30.
SPEAKER_00: Uh no, I'm sorry, 33.
SPEAKER_00: And I was a football coach and I was a school teacher and administrator before that.
SPEAKER_00: That was the life that I thought that I was going to live.
SPEAKER_00: My dad started the school that I coached at, Liberty Christian School in Argyle, Texas, near South Lake Carroll.
SPEAKER_00: And we we were I coached or I played under him, played football, ran track.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we won state and track every year that I was in high school.
SPEAKER_00: We won state and football one of the years that I played, and we went to the playoffs, went deep into the playoffs or to the state championship every year.
SPEAKER_00: I graduated, went and worked at a summer camp.
SPEAKER_00: My dad told me, there's no future for you in ministry.
SPEAKER_00: You need to come and coach.
SPEAKER_00: And so I said, Yes, sir, I'll go, I'll go coach.
SPEAKER_00: And so went and did that and coached with him.
SPEAKER_00: We coached in a state championship together.
SPEAKER_00: I was had the privilege of coaching several players that went to the NFL.
SPEAKER_00: We've got the one one player went to Oklahoma, and Sam Bradford got to come to our school and hang out with us.
SPEAKER_00: He was a Heisman Trophy winner.
SPEAKER_00: Dad retired.
SPEAKER_00: They went through a couple of head coaches, and Jason Witten took over as the head coach of our school.
SPEAKER_00: And so that was a that's a neat thing.
SPEAKER_00: So my boys, my I have two younger boys and two daughters as well.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't know who Jason Witten was.
SPEAKER_00: They just know he's this giant man who coaches at the place we used to be.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's a lot of a lot of experience that I got to have coaching.
SPEAKER_00: Liberty being such a prominent athletic school, I got to be around a lot of a lot of athletes that were just really, it was really amazing.
SPEAKER_00: I taught Bible class at the school across the hall from a retired Major League Baseball player named John Wetland, who was the 1996 World Series MVP.
SPEAKER_00: And and so and John one day, I was walking in the halls and he said, Do you want to drive my Lamborghini?
SPEAKER_00: And I and I was like, Yes.
SPEAKER_00: And so he just threw me the keys and he said, Bring it back.
SPEAKER_00: And so I was going down I-35 on my way to Sonic and in a Lamborghini Diablo, and I look down, I'm going 115 miles an hour and had no idea.
SPEAKER_00: Just really cool experience.
SPEAKER_00: Through that experience, we had a lot of high, well, high-achieving athletes, high-achieving families.
SPEAKER_00: And so then I get into the ministry.
SPEAKER_00: I got into the ministry through a very strange way.
SPEAKER_00: It was it was through ultimately the Lord using my wife because we went to church every week.
SPEAKER_00: But my wife came to me crying and said, We need to get involved in church.
SPEAKER_00: I had no idea what she meant by that because we went to church every week.
SPEAKER_00: But we were the kind of people that walked into church and then we would we would sing, we would listen, and we would walk out.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't know anyone.
SPEAKER_00: We weren't involved in the church.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord used her in my life because I was like, I teach at a private school, I'm around Christians all the time.
SPEAKER_00: I do, I'm doing Christian things all the time.
SPEAKER_00: She said, That's not church.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay, honey, well, I don't know what you mean, but I'll I'll listen to you.
SPEAKER_00: And I submitted to my wife.
SPEAKER_00: And I went and went to a new member's class and read some books, and it ruined me.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't I realized I'm missing out on what it means to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: And so then the Lord used that through a series, a lot of series of other events, but uh my dad's untimely death and different things like that.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord called us from Liberty Christian School in the coaching lifestyle to being a youth minister at a small little Baptist church.
SPEAKER_00: I had eight kids my first Wednesday night, and I thought it was the greatest thing in the world.
SPEAKER_00: I can vest in eight kids.
SPEAKER_00: And then our pastor moved to another church, and the and the congregation called me to be the senior pastor of a Villa Road, and this is the only place I've ever been at, and it's the only place I ever want to be.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that when I die, I go through the roof of that church.
SPEAKER_00: So that's a little bit of my background.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read, let's read our text today.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: It says, if you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, being trained.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's a key word, trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine you have followed.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's a big verse.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna come back and talk about this one.
SPEAKER_00: It says this have nothing to do with irrelevant or irrelevant I can't say the word.
SPEAKER_00: I just my brain's going silly.
SPEAKER_00: Uh silly myths.
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, train yourselves for godliness, for while bodily training, here it is, is of some value.
SPEAKER_00: Godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
SPEAKER_00: Pause.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that we're gonna raise from the dead?
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know we're gonna raise from the dead?
SPEAKER_00: We're not just going to a ghost city with Jesus, that Christians, when Jesus comes back, we will raise bodily from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: We'll live on this earth, remade.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay to say heaven, but as long as you're using it in the short language for the new heavens and the new earth, which we're gonna live on.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna live for a bodily existence raised from the dead on this earth.
SPEAKER_00: Your best life is later.
SPEAKER_00: So that's what that's talking about right there.
SPEAKER_00: The life to come, and the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance for for to this end we toil and and strive because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the savior of all people, especially those who believe.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, as we are talking about your word, Lord, I pray that the word would be the main thing that is talking to us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that this preacher would get out of the way.
SPEAKER_00: That what we're talking about today wouldn't be opinions, but it would be the right application of your word two thousand years after it was written.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, I pray for the cultivation of the hearts of the people in this room.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray for the right words of this pastor.
SPEAKER_00: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: There's a really in in verse seven, in verse seven, it says, have nothing to do with irreverent.
SPEAKER_00: I said it right.
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
SPEAKER_00: My brain worked.
SPEAKER_00: For a second there, I couldn't throw to first.
SPEAKER_00: You ever heard about the the yips?
SPEAKER_00: When someone gets the yips, they just a pitcher can't make the throw to first base.
SPEAKER_00: I just got that, but I got it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm back.
SPEAKER_00: Have nothing to do with irreverence, silly myths.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, train yourself for godliness.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so in that time period, what this irreverent and silly myths would be, at that time period, there's a lot of different belief systems that sound that sound Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is dealing with a a group of people that are called the Gnostics.
SPEAKER_00: And the Gnostics and also the mystics, there's two different kinds of people.
SPEAKER_00: And what they would do is they would have flavors of spiritualness that sounded Christian, but they were actually not Christian.
SPEAKER_00: They were antagonistic to Christian.
SPEAKER_00: And it would, it would, it would pull these Christian believers away.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul's writing this letter to Timothy, a young pastor, and and he's telling him how to train people.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, hey, don't get caught up in those things that sound, that sound Christian, but that aren't Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Those things that have Christian flavor, but that aren't Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get caught up, don't get pulled off sides by these guys who are coming in and it makes and it sound like, oh yeah, you can do Christian things, but also be of the world.
SPEAKER_00: And so the Christian life, though, is about becoming like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, the Christian life is like becoming like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so, as parents, you're laying down gospel foundations for your kids when they're younger, right?
SPEAKER_00: Where y'all are doing this, right?
SPEAKER_00: We're laying down some gospel foundations because the Christian life is like becoming like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And then you're you're moving on and you're you're I you're doing some identity formation when they get older, right?
SPEAKER_00: We want to, we wanna, we want our teenagers to know what it's like to be identified as a Christian, who they are as people in Christ Jesus, because the Christian life is like becoming like like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so, like today, you're launching them into the world.
SPEAKER_00: You're launching these kids out today.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not launching, I mean, as a church, you're launching your graduates.
SPEAKER_00: So even if you don't have a graduate, as a church, I will tell my church the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: As a church, these kids are yours.
SPEAKER_00: You're launching these kids out into the world.
SPEAKER_00: But even if you don't have biological children that are graduating today, and even if you are older in the room and you have, you're an empty nester, or let's say you're a you're a several times over grandparent, you know, and you can say amen to this, you know that senior Sunday or graduation Sunday is just a testament that you don't have much time with those kids.
SPEAKER_00: They were just born yesterday, weren't they?
SPEAKER_00: And then now they're graduating, now they're gone.
SPEAKER_00: And so what that what senior Sunday, what graduation Sunday should do for us, grandparents too, you your grandchildren are only in this gospel foundation's identity formation before they get launched into adulthood.
SPEAKER_00: They're only there for a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: And so this message of training for godliness is for the entire church.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just for, I mean, if you're a single person, remember these kids are yours that you're launching out into adulthood.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're a Sunday school teacher, you're a discipleship leader of some kind.
SPEAKER_00: These kids that are launching out, these kids that are in junior high, these kids that are in kids' ministry, these are your kids, church.
SPEAKER_00: And so the Christian life is like it's about becoming like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So anything, anything that pulls energy away from that pursuit is dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: Anything that pulls energy away from that pursuit is dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me on this, even if it sounds religious.
SPEAKER_00: And so and so what we should do, we should avoid false teaching.
SPEAKER_00: Point one.
SPEAKER_00: We should avoid false teaching that has a religious flavor.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in my time of being a coach and being around very high achieving NFL Major League Baseball, uh there's a guy that plays for the San Antonio Spurs right now.
SPEAKER_00: He was one of my kids.
SPEAKER_00: Well, a close relationship with him.
SPEAKER_00: I used to, I don't anymore.
SPEAKER_00: His name's Luke Cornett.
SPEAKER_00: He was one of ours.
SPEAKER_00: And so, like, just being around that culture, and Luke's a great kid.
SPEAKER_00: He's he's a man now, but he's a good, he's always a kid to me.
SPEAKER_00: Luke's a great kid, but being around that, you see that there are some myths that we can buy into when it comes to youth sports.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I want to focus on today.
SPEAKER_00: As a pastor and as a former coach, one of the things that I'm gonna see is uh maybe an inappropriate or in unbalanced relationship to to youth sports.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're avoiding false teaching with a religious flavor.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, I'm gonna submit to you that there is a false teaching in the youth sports culture that has a religious flavor to it for Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I have four children.
SPEAKER_00: We play sports, I think sports are great.
SPEAKER_00: I love the Texas Rangers, I'm from Dallas.
SPEAKER_00: Love the Texas Rangers, they're better than the Astros, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_00: One's God's team, one is in Houston.
SPEAKER_00: But as a result of that statement, the Lord's probably judging me.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan, and we never win anything.
SPEAKER_00: I like the Dallas Mavericks, I'm from Dallas, the Stars, all of that.
SPEAKER_00: I am a sports guy.
SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you about the first myth.
SPEAKER_00: The first myth that people typically think about when raising kids, as far as sports is concerned, is this that physical training imparts lessons that are equal to Christian training.
SPEAKER_00: You'll hear you'll hear parents that'll say, I love having my kids in sports because it's training them to be men and women, the the the discipline that they're that they're being trained in, the the work ethic that they're being trained in.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: A good athletics program does train your sons and your daughters to be hard workers, to have a good work ethic, to do those things.
SPEAKER_00: But that is not the same as godly training.
SPEAKER_00: Look in in 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 8, it says that for while bodily training is of some value, so there's value there.
SPEAKER_00: It's valuable to have them learn how to discipline their bodies.
SPEAKER_00: It's valuable to have have them learn lessons like show up early, stay late, work hard.
SPEAKER_00: It's valuable to have them know, hey, if I slack, my team suffers.
SPEAKER_00: Those things will actually transfer over into church life.
SPEAKER_00: Those things are valuable, but let's go in the text.
SPEAKER_00: It says, but godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.
SPEAKER_00: And so, brothers and sisters, even though we we can we can dedicate too much time, we can dedicate too much time to our kids and practices, our kids with the select this or the select that, skipping church, skipping groups, skipping community, because we're like, well, they're learning good stuff, and I want them to have these good lessons.
SPEAKER_00: But we go back to what we said earlier, have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths.
SPEAKER_00: That is a that is a that is a myth.
SPEAKER_00: It's something that looks Christian, but it's not all the way Christian.
SPEAKER_00: You only have a little bit of time.
SPEAKER_00: You only have a little bit of time with your children.
SPEAKER_00: And you have to train them in godliness.
SPEAKER_00: The Babylon Bee, if y'all are familiar with this the satirical internet thing, they had a funny article and it said, kid walks away from faith, and parents are baffled.
SPEAKER_00: They had them in practice or they had them in church every time there wasn't practice.
SPEAKER_00: You know, kids pick up on our hypocrisy really easily.
SPEAKER_00: And and if I tell my kids, you can have one popsicle out of the fridge, right?
SPEAKER_00: You can have one popsicle.
SPEAKER_00: And if I get two popsicles, they're automatically like hypocrite.
SPEAKER_00: Why do you have two popsicles, Dad?
SPEAKER_00: You said one.
SPEAKER_00: And if I tell them that Jesus is everything in my life, that Jesus is the most important thing in our life, if Jesus is the foundation by which we live, and he is Lord of all, with my mouth, but with my time and my energy, I'm telling them the exact opposite.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is an add-on to my life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is a side hustle for me.
SPEAKER_00: Your kids, even though you say Jesus is Lord, and you have the bumper sticker and the fishes on the back of your car, and on the way to all of those practices in which you're neglecting the local church, your kids understand what is the most important thing in your life.
SPEAKER_00: And so that leaves us to myth number two.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian, that the Christian life, this is a myth, the Christian life can be fulfilled by abiding in Christ, but not his church.
SPEAKER_00: That's not true.
SPEAKER_00: See that John 15 says this, I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser.
SPEAKER_00: I am the vine and you are the branches.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever abides in me, I'm skipping down to verse 5 and 15, but whoever abides in me, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And if anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers.
SPEAKER_00: And the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned.
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to be to abide in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: So it talks about myth number two, that you can, the Christian life can be fulfilled by abiding in Christ, but not his church.
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to be abide to abide in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Well, did you know the number one thing that Christians are, the number one label for Christians in the New Testament?
SPEAKER_00: It's not Christian, it's not people of the way.
SPEAKER_00: The number one label for Christians in the New Testament isn't even believers.
SPEAKER_00: Then you know what the number one label that Paul and and the apostles they they label Christians like.
SPEAKER_00: If you look in your Bible, it's everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: The number one label for Christians in the New Testament, you know what it is?
SPEAKER_00: In Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, look at it.
SPEAKER_00: You'll when you scour your scriptures, you're gonna see in Christ, in Christ, in Christ, in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But to be in Christ isn't just your personal relationship with Jesus, because you have a personal, listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: You have a personal relationship with Jesus, but it is not private.
SPEAKER_00: It is not a private relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You have a personal relationship with Jesus, but in Christ are other people.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, we get baptized, we're baptized, Romans says this, we're baptized into his death.
SPEAKER_00: You have been crucified with Christ, that you no longer live, but Christ lives in you.
SPEAKER_00: But other people are baptized into him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus makes a point of saying that you, if you are in me, then you're in my church.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in me, then you're in my church.
SPEAKER_00: A Christian cannot be a Christian and be an honest, Bible-believing, obedient Christian and say it's just me, a podcast, and some worship music in the car on the way to baseball practice.
SPEAKER_00: What you're giving your kids is an irreverent, silly myth.
SPEAKER_00: You're not giving them the faith, the doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: Here's look look at this.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to look what Jesus says in Acts chapter 9.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul has been persecuting the church, and it says this.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as he went on his way, this is Paul, he approached Damascus.
SPEAKER_00: We know the story, but if you don't, let me just read it.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly a light from heaven shone around Paul.
SPEAKER_00: I like to tell my church it's like he got flashbanged off his donkey.
SPEAKER_00: And falling to the ground, he heard a voice, which is Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_00: He heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
SPEAKER_00: Who's Paul been persecuting?
SPEAKER_00: If you go back up in the it's he's Christians, he's pulling Christians out of the out of their homes, he's persecuting the church.
SPEAKER_00: And what Jesus is saying is, I'm so united with my church, I'm so united with my church that when you persecute the church, you're persecuting me.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's let's put that in the other way for us then to say I'm in Christ, I'm a Christian, but then neglect the church is to be anti-Christian.
SPEAKER_00: That's why your personal relationship with Jesus, if it's just that and not communal with the rest of the church, you're not actually practicing biblical Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: You're neglecting what it means, and it always has been to be Christian because we're buying into an irreverent and silly myth instead of training for godliness, and our kids pick up on that.
SPEAKER_00: To abide in Christ is to abide as in his church.
SPEAKER_00: Number four, then here's another myth that we we buy into that provision, that provision is the same as presence.
SPEAKER_00: That provision is the same as presence.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you are if you're if you're if our goal is to lay gospel foundations and to have identity formation and then to launch them into the world, if that's our goal, then that goal doesn't necessarily line up with provision as much as it lines up with presence.
SPEAKER_00: Now let me give you an example of what I'm talking about with with provision.
SPEAKER_00: Provision versus presence.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm gonna use I'm gonna use a statement here that's gonna sound really, really jarring, and I'm doing it on purpose, because I want I want to be jarring, but I also want to be kind.
SPEAKER_00: I love you.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a lot of lots, there's lots of modern, especially in the Dallas area.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not as familiar with Wimberly.
SPEAKER_00: The Dallas area, huge.
SPEAKER_00: I mean it's a Dallas is like the rich area of of Texas, I believe.
SPEAKER_00: We're all everyone's, you know, like diamonds and I call them the Lululemon soccer moms.
SPEAKER_00: Like they just like they just that's that's who we are in Dallas.
SPEAKER_00: And in that, in that culture, there's a lot of deadbeat dads.
SPEAKER_00: But they're but they're deadbeat dads that provide.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna use that word here.
SPEAKER_00: It says lots of modern deadbeat dads that provide all things for their children, their kids.
SPEAKER_00: Are in sports, they drive the nice cars, they have the nice clothes, they go to great schools, but these deadbeat dads, if I can use that word, they are believing the myth that provision is the same as presence.
SPEAKER_00: And because they're not present spiritually and they're not training spiritually, then they're orphaning their children spiritually in order to provide.
SPEAKER_00: And you have spiritual orphans.
SPEAKER_00: We do a lot of stuff with our student ministry, and one of the main drivers we have is that who takes care of the spiritual orphan?
SPEAKER_00: We call our student ministry adoptive youth ministry.
SPEAKER_00: We raise up members of the churches of our church to where when these kids are coming in, because they have high-functioning CEO dads who are orphaning them spiritually, then you're gonna have you have men of the church that are coming in and they're saying, Let me show you what it looks like to be like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And those dads are even telling these kids, no, you can't go to church because you've got the select coach said this thing.
SPEAKER_00: And and and those a lot of times we as parents, now I'm experiencing this too, there's nothing like watching your kid do something excellent, isn't there?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's nothing like it.
SPEAKER_00: It's just when you see your kid step up to the plate and just hit a nuke, when you see your kid juke someone out, break their ankles, and go score in football, and you're like, yes.
SPEAKER_00: It just makes you feel so great.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know the select coaches?
SPEAKER_00: I was talking to one of them, and this was at Liberty when I was when I was there, and he said, Yeah, I said, really, tell me, tell me how much money do you make doing this?
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, You wouldn't believe it.
SPEAKER_00: He said, It's big business, it's no longer and he said, you know, and he kind of leaned in and said, you know, all we have to do, all we have to do is just tell the parents their kids special.
SPEAKER_00: We know they're not gonna get a scholarship.
SPEAKER_00: Like the DNA is not working in their favor.
SPEAKER_00: Like you look at mom and dad's like 5'2, 5'3, and you're like, and so there's there's no way they're getting a D1 scholarship.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone's like, well, what about Wes Wilker?
SPEAKER_00: The reason you know about Wes Wilker is because he's an anomaly.
SPEAKER_00: All I have to do is go up to that dad and say, he's got an eye for the game.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not lying to him.
SPEAKER_00: Your kid's got an insulat, he's got an eye for the game.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, all of those parents will shell out thousands of dollars.
SPEAKER_00: They'll spend more money in and select fees than they will for the actual college tuition.
SPEAKER_00: And what I've experienced, so that's on that side, and what I've experienced, parents, also is this that because we build it up to such a degree that your kids are willing to go to subpar colleges in order to send out the tweet, I'm excited to be able to continue my baseball career at, you know, ITTT Tech School for the Blind or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: When they could have been just a good contributor to society by getting a great college education at Texas AM.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to tell you also this also, they just want to make you happy.
SPEAKER_00: They want to make you happy.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you, whatever you encourage in your children, they will think that's their future.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you encourage in your children, they will think that's their future.
SPEAKER_00: And so when a select coach comes up to you and says he's got an eye for the game, all of a sudden you think, man, this is great.
SPEAKER_00: And you're out there in the backyard throwing balls and batting cages and you're doing all the things, and what's your young kid who doesn't know any different?
SPEAKER_00: Your young daughter, who you're out there doing select, you know, you're doing hidden drills and you're peppering in the backyard, what they see is mom or dad is doing quality time with me, and they love me, and that love somehow is attached to this sport, and I need to do this sport in order to receive that love.
SPEAKER_00: And they're not old enough or mature enough to understand that that's not the case.
SPEAKER_00: What if, what if our love and affection was tied to discipleship in Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: What if after the game, instead of saying I'm proud of you because they hit a home run?
SPEAKER_00: What if it was after the game you said, I'm proud of you because of your character?
SPEAKER_00: I'm proud of you, but what about even more further than this?
SPEAKER_00: What if after the game you said, I'm I'm proud of you, regardless of what you do.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what I'm proud of?
SPEAKER_00: I'm proud of that you love the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I'm proud of that you share the good news of Jesus Christ with your classmates.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm proud of you because of the testimony that you are.
SPEAKER_00: What happens on that field has nothing to do with my time and affection and attention for you.
SPEAKER_00: So myth myth number five, I gotta go faster.
SPEAKER_00: Myth number five, our child, our children's desires and dreams for their lives then are more important than God's desires.
SPEAKER_00: See, when we're talking about our kids aren't there, they only know what you're giving them attention and affection for.
SPEAKER_00: And so we oftentimes will make bad decisions for our children because remember, we're supposed to be training them in godliness.
SPEAKER_00: We're laying gospel foundations, we're trying to launch them out.
SPEAKER_00: And so when our kids come up to me and they're like, you're like, what do you want to do?
SPEAKER_00: I have, I have a 12-year-old son, I have a 13-year-old daughter, 12-year-old son, I can do this.
SPEAKER_00: A 10-year-old son and another eight-year-old daughter, I think that's right, Lindy, right?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_00: They keep growing up and changing their ages.
SPEAKER_00: I don't my two boys, I'm like, what do you want to do with your life?
SPEAKER_00: And right now they both, I think they both want to be pastors.
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
SPEAKER_00: Because they see dad and they're like, hey, that's great.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I want to do what dad does.
SPEAKER_00: But there's so many other kids when you're when you ask them, what do you want to do?
SPEAKER_00: Because of the affection, because of the the the affirmation that they get from all of the things that they're doing, they only know I want to do the thing that I'm getting affirmed in.
SPEAKER_00: What do you want to do with your life?
SPEAKER_00: I want to be, I want to be a professional baseball player.
SPEAKER_00: And you hear that, and you're like, well, I I want to be a good dad and I want to support my children's dreams.
SPEAKER_00: And so because we want to, we want to empower our children, we want to be good parents, we want to do good things for our children, we're willing to throw everything in there because my child said, I want to do this for the rest of my life.
SPEAKER_00: Now, prom now, parents, let me let me just tell you why that is illogical.
SPEAKER_00: If your this is if your children came up to you and said, Dad, I don't want to be a boy anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be a girl.
SPEAKER_00: You would immediately, as a Christian, say, No, son, God's made you a boy.
SPEAKER_00: And you would also be alerted, I need to disciple you.
SPEAKER_00: It'd be all hands on deck, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because you know, you're too young to make life decisions.
SPEAKER_00: You're too young to declare what you want to do the rest of for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_00: See, your our children's desires and dreams for their lives are not more important than God's desires.
SPEAKER_00: And we wouldn't throw all of our all of our energy into our children saying, I want to do this for the rest of my life because they're too young to know any better.
SPEAKER_00: They have no life experience.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you wanted to be an NFL player?
SPEAKER_00: Then it changed into a fireman, and then it changed into something else.
SPEAKER_00: Think about the major you had in college as compared to what you do now.
SPEAKER_00: We don't run with that.
SPEAKER_00: We don't let our children dictate.
SPEAKER_00: So for while bodily training, 1 Timothy 4 8, for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this, and here's the end of this.
SPEAKER_00: As it holds promise for the present life, but also the future life to come, we can't entrust our kids' future to their desires.
SPEAKER_00: We have bought into the lie that their self-esteem is everything, and that the gospel, listen to this, and that the gospel has no power in this area of their life.
SPEAKER_00: We bought into the lie that our kids' self-esteem is everything, and that the gospel has no power in this area.
SPEAKER_00: If I don't throw everything into this, if they're not the best player on their team, then they're gonna have a bad life.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's not true.
SPEAKER_00: If they love the Lord, they will have their best life.
SPEAKER_00: Myth six, I'll go faster.
SPEAKER_00: There is more joy, that there is more joy in raising a successful athlete than a mature Christian.
SPEAKER_00: That's a myth.
SPEAKER_00: There's more joy in raising a successful athlete than a mature Christian.
SPEAKER_00: John 15 says, These things have spoken to you that my joy, Jesus says this, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
SPEAKER_00: And while it is incredible to watch your children spike a volleyball, hit a home run, score a touchdown, pin someone in wrestling, while that's amazing joy, brothers and sisters, don't believe the myth that that is better than raising Christians who love the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: See, we believe that we're gonna raise from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: We believe that we're gonna raise from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is where we put our hope.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we put our hope.
SPEAKER_00: If you look up the stat of how many kids that are in sports that get in the college and actually walk away from it, because they're like, I'm tired of it.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason that that shows you the reason, the only reason they're doing it is because of the affection of their parents.
SPEAKER_00: Get away from their parents, all of a sudden they're like, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: College is better.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to do this.
SPEAKER_00: Where are you putting your hope?
SPEAKER_00: We place our hope on the resurrection of the dead, and so first Timothy chapter 4, verse 10, then says this for to this end we toil and strive.
SPEAKER_00: Because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the savior of all people, especially those who believe.
SPEAKER_00: Let us then train, listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: Let us then train for the thing that we've set our hope in.
SPEAKER_00: Let us then train for the thing that we've set our hope in, and as Christians who are separate from the world, who have been saved out of the dominion of darkness and were in the kingdom of lights, that let us be people of light on a hill, not just minions in the machine of sports and culture, believing irreverent and silly myths.
SPEAKER_00: Let us move and look like we actually have hope that's set in something that's everlasting.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pour into our kids and say, look at me, children.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is better than baseball.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is better than this, Jesus is better than band.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is better than anything that you want to follow.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you and let you see that the Lord is sweet and good.
SPEAKER_00: As Psalm says, the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places, that in the Lord's presence there's fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: So our success as parents is not measured by stats or achievements or scholarships, but raising Christian disciples of Christ, children who abide in Him and are deeply devoted to His people, His church, and to Him Himself.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it means to be a successful parent.
SPEAKER_00: So let us then renew our commitment to Christ and to His church.
SPEAKER_00: Let us live as though we truly, let us live though as we truly believe that while physical training has some value, that godliness is of eternal worth in every way.
SPEAKER_00: Because in the end, and in every moment along the way, Jesus is better.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's some ways to reflect.
SPEAKER_00: Grandparents, are you showing your grandkids in every moment and every way Jesus is better?
SPEAKER_00: Now we're gonna we're gonna pray in a second.
SPEAKER_00: And the steps up here are open for prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And there are gonna be people up here from the ministry staff, be pastors up here.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe it's time for you just to have an honest conversation with them of like, Pastor, help me.
SPEAKER_00: Help me to look, help me to stop believing irreverent myths.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor, give me a plan.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor, I want to repent.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor, show me how Jesus is better.
SPEAKER_00: And I would encourage you, maybe that's your first step in the right direction of having these conversations.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray that that would be the case.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray.
SPEAKER_00: I pray for First Baptist Wimberly, for the people here that are your church, the saints that are called this church, that you would help them to be the church that you have called them to be, and you're already doing that.
SPEAKER_00: They're already such a great church.
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, I pray that they that they would be a light on a hill when it comes to this area of youth sports, of discipleship, that this would be the church in this area that's leading the way at raising young Christians.
SPEAKER_00: And so would you move in the hearts of these of these parents, these grandparents, these singles, these college kids to mobilize, taking care of spiritual orphans, but also to be taking care of their own children and to be raising them up in godliness.
SPEAKER_00: And that these people, that their heart will be aflame for you.
SPEAKER_00: Tangibly.
SPEAKER_00: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.