No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but 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 and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us. (Philippians 3:13, NLT)
My father was a football coach, and I love to hear great coaches speak to teams in an effort to motivate them to outstanding performance. When I hear a great pregame talk by a great coach, I get goosebumps, and it takes me back to listening to my father when I was growing up as he talked to his teams about competing.
When I was young, golf was a game of kill or be killed to me. Intensity and execution were key words for me when it came to competing. Golf, in many ways, has become a team sport as you listen to professional players talk about the team around them.
I recently came across a quick 3-minute video of coach John Gruden speaking to the University of Wisconsin football team. Maybe you saw it? If not, I highly recommend you look it up and watch it.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AAJSvDpSZW0
Coach Gruden is one of my favorite coaches. While I don’t always appreciate some of the colorful language that he uses, I love his intensity and dedication to his work.
As Christians, we need to have that same intensity and dedication to our efforts in fighting the battle against the enemy to proclaim Christ to others. Life, and the battle against the forces of darkness, is a team game. We have to work together.
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns (Philippians 1:6)
As I watched this video several times, it struck me that this was the way the Apostle Paul was motivating and encouraging the Christians in Phillipi. First, it is all about encouragement, and second, it is a quick and easy read. Like a great motivational pre-game talk, it is quick, to the point, and motivates us to act.
Watch this video again from a different perspective. Picture Christians sitting in a room getting ready to go out and do battle against Satan and the forces of evil. Satan has dreams to distract us from God and draw people as far away from Jesus as possible.
Our job is to end Satan’s dreams and become a nightmare for evil. We have to invest in our team and encourage our teammates every day. We have to communicate better with each other and share the Gospel more effectively with unbelievers every day.
Bob Rotella says that “Good is the enemy of Great”. Our efforts may be good, but to be great in evangelism, we have to be willing to do things that others aren’t willing to do. Increase our efforts every day, and the accumulation of our efforts will make us a nightmare for Satan and the forces of evil.
We all have to pound the rock together!
Prayer: Lord, give us a rock mentality and help us to pound the rock together every day against the enemy. Amen.