CHARGER NATION: GAME #9
Charger Nation,
First off I
want to congratulate our 5th and 6th grade team for
winning last night in the semifinals of their playoffs. It was a great football game as they won at
home. Next Thursday night they play in
the championship game at home at 6pm. I
appreciate those men who lead those boys.
I appreciate the parents for letting their boys play the game of
football where so many life lessons are taught and applied.
Tonight is
homecoming at ELCA. I look forward to
seeing some people I have not seen in a while.
We are playing Mount Vernon and they are a much improved football team
from years past. They like to run the
football and I know we are excited to play a physical football team
tonight. The weather forecast looks
good—should be a great night for football and all the homecoming
festivities.
We are in
game week #9. These guys have been going
at it since the end of July. We have a
lot of injuries and guys banged up. So
does every team at this point. At this
stage in the season everyone is tired.
The great teams know how to push past this with their eyes set on
becoming the best team they possible can become. A great player knows how to push through the
monotony and find a way to get better and improve everyday. A great football player has a tough mind and a
strong mind. A great team has a bunch of
individuals who are mentally tough. And
I love football for this reason. We are
teaching young men to push past their comfort zone, to command their bodies to
do what it doesn’t want to do, and Win the Day!
Here is a
great quote we were discussing with our players this summer that is now
extremely applicable: “Do not let yourself talk to yourself, YOU must talk to
yourself.” When we told the boys this
they looked at me like I was stupid which happens a lot. I challenged the boys to think about what it
the quote was saying. In every person
there is a negative force speaking bad thoughts and bad ideas into us. This force is inside of us—it resides in
us. This person in us we must kill. It is a part of us so we cannot let our self
talk to our self. We cannot give this
person in us a voice. This voice yells
take it easy, your coach is dumb and doesn’t know what he is talking about, don’t
work hard, don’t pay attention in class, don’t do your homework, it is everyone
else’s fault but your own (blame everyone but yourself), people aren’t treating
you fair, please yourself even if it is a sin against God, God’s not really
real, and other crazy things. This voice
is in us every single day. It is whispering. For some people it is yelling. The dangerous thing is that for many people,
this voice has overcome and become the person.
As
Christians, we are completely aware of who this other person in me is. It is sin.
In every person there are two people.
For the Christian, there is Christ who dwells in you and then there is
the evilness of the flesh that still exists inside of us. While we are still here on this earth we will
battle this evil inside of us. For the
person that is not a Christian, that person was made in God’s image even if
they are rejecting God. So they have the
evilness inside of them but they have this longing inside of them that is for
Christ but they do not know it or they have rejected it. They long for something more but are totally
consumed by the sin of flesh. But still,
they understand there is something more and something better. They search for it but can’t find it because
they are looking in the wrong places and filling this longing with the wrong
things.
I had a
friend one time who traveling through Europe to find himself. As he stood in front of me and I wanted to
make a joke, I said I found you, you are right in front of me—don’t waste your
money. This person, he knew who he was
in the flesh very well. He obviously
didn’t think that is who he was. So he
wanted to find himself in Europe. It’s
Christ he was looking for but he spent a lot of money in Europe searching for
other things. If you find yourself
longing for something more, that what are right now can’t be all that there is:
You are right! It is Christ you are searching for!
“Abide
in me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you,
unless you abide in me. I am the vine;
you are the branches. Whoever abides in
me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do
nothing.” John 15:4-5.
It all
makes sense now. You cannot let your
sinful flesh talk to you and whisper to you.
You cannot listen! We begin to
listen one time and sin begins to overtake us and win us over to itself. We call this Creeping Softness at ELCA. People who have been destroyed by sin, began
hearing a whisper and feeling a pull from inside. They gave in once or twice, and then more,
and then more. This sin crept up on them
and then overtook them and made the person it indwelled in its slave. This is why we must talk to our self. But it isn’t me talking to me. It’s the Holy Spirit living inside of me
talking to me and leading my every step.
I must abide in Christ. The Bible
is clear: For apart from Christ we can do
nothing! We cannot be a man or woman
who impacts the world for God’s glory unless we abide in Christ. Christ must be in use and rule over us. He must be the voice talking to us. If not, we will find that the other voice,
sin, will creep up and make us its slave.
There is freedom as I make Christ the ruler of my life. There is only slavery and bondage if I allow
my sinful self to rule over me. Whether
you are a Christian or you are not a Christian, sin will always win apart from
Christ. You will always be longing to
find yourself if you do not have Christ. I challenge us all to live a life abiding in
Jesus Christ. For in this is power.
“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the
victory belongs to the Lord.”
Proverbs 21:31
Beat Mount Vernon!
Wholly for Christ,
Coach Gess
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