Practice Helps Me Become a Better Player | The Playing Field
The Playing Field
Practice Helps Me to Become a Better Player
John 4:35 (ESV) 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.
SOUL TATTOO: The practice field prepares me for the playing field.
“Consistent practice elevates my excellence to new heights.”
“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success
Mark 8:34-45 (NIV) “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.’”
We’re called to be more than believers we’re called to be ‘becomers’, becoming more like Jesus.” Pastor Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands
I.) Coaching my ONE:
Crowd: Come and see.
Family: Come and join us.
Disciple: Come and grow.
Minister: Come and serve.
All: Come and die.
Mark 8:34-45 (NIV) “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.’”
II.) In the game and rounding the bases:
John 8:31-36 (NIV) “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendant and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be free?’ Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a so belongs to it forever. So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’”
“Don’t give up! God wants us to be free indeed!”
A.) The struggle with freedom is real.
Romans 7:15 (NLT) I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate.
Romans 7:21-24 (NLT) I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
B.) I have to decide to be “Free Indeed”.
Proverbs 28:13 (NIV) Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
1 John 1:9 (NIV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
James 5:16 (ESV) 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
III.) Training for me, “The Johari Window”:
A.) Arena: I know and you know.
Matthew 23:5 (NIV) “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long.”
Matthew 23:27 (NIV) “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.
B.) Mask: I know, but you don’t know.
I will always stay as sick as my secrets.
Psalm 32:3 NLT, 4-5 NIV) When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’” C.S. Lewis
Colossians 4:12 (NIV) Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.
C.) Blind spots: I don’t know, but you know.
Proverbs 27:6 (NIV) Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.
Hebrews 3:12-13 (NIV) See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
- I may not be able to fix your problems, but I promise not to let you deal with them alone.
D.) Potential: I don’t know, and you don’t know.
Proverbs 27:17 (NIV) As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
1.) We’re better together.
SOUL TATTOO: The practice field prepares me for the playing field.