TITLE: Be a Team Player

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TITLE Be a Team Player

• TEXT Ephesians 41-7
• THEME God wants you to operate in His church as
  a team player.

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Stars

• Every sports team has its starsthe John Elways,
  Wayne Gretskys, Michael Jordans. The fans may
  not grasp it, but the players themselves
  understand one basic truth about team sports
  stars wouldn't be stars without the support of
  the team

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Neil Amstrong

• "One small step for man..." will be remembered
  for generations.

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Neil Amstrong

• "One small step for man..." will be remembered
  for generations.
• Neil Armstrong was only one of 218,000 people
  involved in that single project. He may have
  gotten most of the glory, but he will be the
  first to tell you that it was a team effort.

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Ephesians 411-12

• It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to
  be prophets, some to evangelists, and some to be
  pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for
  works of service, so that the body of Christ may
  be built up

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Ephesians 41-7

• 1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to
  live a life worthy of the calling you have
  received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle be
  patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make
  every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit
  through the bond of peace.

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Ephesians 41-7

• 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you
  were called to one hope when you were called 5
  one Lord, one faith, one baptism 6 one God and
  Father of all, who is over all and through all
  and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace has
  been given as Christ apportioned it.

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Ephesians 42-3

• Be completely humble and gentle be patient,
  bearing with one another in love.

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Three key words

• Be humble

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Three key words

• Be humble
• be gentle

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Three key words

• Be humble
• be gentle
• be patient

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Key Question

• What attitudes are required for the church to do
  its work?

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1. The team is more important than me (humility).
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TEAM

• ME

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Kenneth Wuest

• Humility is the lowliness of mind which comes
  from a true estimate of ourselves. Humility is
  built on the awareness of Christ.

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Philippians 23

• Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
  conceit, but in humility consider others better
  than yourselves.

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Tommy Lasorda

• Kirk was willing to do anything to winbunt,
  sacrifice, walk, whateverbecause the team's
  win-loss record was always more important than
  his own batting average. This is the attitude of
  a team player.

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Two options

• Either "Here I am!"

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Two options

• Either "Here I am!"
• Or "There you are!"

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Key Question

• What attitudes are required for the church to do
  its work?

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2. My job is to encourage others (gentleness).
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Don Shula

• He encouraged his players to get in the habit of
  encouraging one another on the fieldbecause
  that's how champions play. Don Shula went on to
  become the winningest coach in the history of the
  NFL

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Old Saying

• It's true man doesn't live by bread
  alonesometimes he needs buttering up."

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Meek

• The word gentle (or meek) in Greek was used to
  describe taming a high-spirited horse. It is
  intended to increase the value of the horse to
  its master.

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Greg Norman

• "There's no need for me to be cynical anymore. I
  never thought I could reach out and touch people
  like that. And the extraordinary thing is that I
  did it by losing."

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1 Thessalonians 511

• Therefore, encourage one another and build up
  one another, just as you also are doing.

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Key Question

• What attitudes are required for the church to do
  its work?

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3. I will not give up on anyone (patience).
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Patience

• Paul tells us to be patient with one another for
  the simple reason that no person is a lost cause.
  We are to keep believing in them, keep
  encouraging them, until they come around.

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Patience

• Paul expressed this same attitude in the book of
  Philippians... I am confident of this, that he
  who began a good work in your will carry it on to
  completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
  (Philippians 16)

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The Disciples Were Fallible

• James and John were ambitious
• Peter was impulsive
• Simon the Zealot was impatient
• All of the others at one time or another showed
  cowardice, lack of faith, jealousy, and spiritual
  thick-headedness.
• Yet, Jesus kept them all (with the obvious
  exception of Judas, who betrayed Christ, then
  killed himself without seeking forgiveness).

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Problem

• It's hard to work as a team when you have to
  listen to a bunch of honking criticism. We need
  to be patient with the other players on our team.

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Key Question

• What attitudes are required for the church to do
  its work?

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4. I will strive to keep unity on the team (one
body 4-6)

• We are one body.

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4. I will strive to keep unity on the team (one
body 4-6)

• We are one body.
• In life, at home, in the church, we must develop
  an attitude that says, "This is a team sport, and
  I'm going to be a team player."

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APPLY TO SPECIFIC AUDIENCE

• 1. God never intended for you to make your
  spiritual journey alone. Spiritual maturity
  happens in the context of community. In order
  for us to work in community, or as a team, we
  need humility, gentleness and patience.

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• 2. Unity is essential for the growth of the
  church. Unity comes from sharing key values,
  purposes and goals in common. We share the same
  Lord, Faith, Baptism serve the same God.

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APPLY TO SPECIFIC AUDIENCE

• 3. If unity is absent then we either have the
  wrong attitudes or conflicting purposes values or
  goals. These must be reconciled before unity can
  proceed. Paul will address is provides
  leadership next week.

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APPLY TO SPECIFIC AUDIENCE

• 4. We must work as a team if we expect to have an
  impact in our community or our world.

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Concordia College Mural

• Throughout the building, you can hear people
  whispering, "See that little green spot below the
  camel's foot? I painted it."
• Every year in the middle of the summer in
  Moorhead, Minnesota, thousands of unknown,
  ordinary people paint a tiny insignificant tile.
  Six months later, the result is a spectacularly
  beautiful masterpiece.

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