A Complete Season

**Title:** A Complete Season"

**Podcast Summary:**

In today's episode, we explore powerful analogies from sports and farming to illustrate key principles for sustaining dedication and zeal in ministry throughout the week, not just on Sundays. Drawing inspiration from athletes like Peyton Manning and insights from farming, this discussion emphasizes the importance of consistent practice, maintaining motivation, and the dangers of complacency in spiritual life.

**Key Insights:**

1. **Practice Pays Off:**
   - Inspired by Peyton Manning's quote shared through Marvin Harrison, "They pay you to practice. The games you play for free," we delve into the notion that real preparation happens outside of the main events. In ministry, this translates to the personal spiritual work done outside of church services, highlighting the importance of consistent spiritual discipline throughout the week.

2. **Avoiding Complacency:**
   - Complacency can sneak into ministry just as it does in professional sports, where routines become autopilot, diminishing the quality and passion of service. It's crucial for ministers, especially bivocational ones, to actively engage in their roles and not just coast through responsibilities.

3. **The Importance of Feedback and Adaptation:**
   - Like athletes reviewing game tape and adjusting their strategies, ministers need to be open to feedback and self-reflection. Honest, constructive criticism is vital for growth, helping avoid the stagnation that comes from operating within a comfort zone.

4. **Seasonal and Continuous Effort:**
   - Drawing from farming, where seasons dictate the rhythm of work but continual effort is necessary, the analogy is made to ministry needing persistent effort even when immediate results aren’t visible. This continuous sowing and nurturing is what leads to a fruitful harvest.

5. **Engagement and Response in Worship:**
   - The importance of active participation in worship is likened to an athlete being engaged during a game. Just as an athlete's performance is crucial on game day, a minister's or congregant's active engagement during worship is essential for a vibrant church life.

**Conclusion:**
The episode wraps up with a powerful reminder from 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, urging ministers to run their spiritual race with the intention to win the eternal prize, emphasizing disciplined training in every aspect of life. This not only ensures personal spiritual health but also enhances the collective worship experience and effectiveness in ministry.

Listeners are encouraged to internalize these analogies and reflect on their own spiritual practices, ensuring they are not just going through the motions but actively growing and contributing to their faith community.

Transcript

To combine some sports analogies and maybe some farming analogies to hopefully encourage you to not just finish the race, But to finish well, let's get started.  I came across a quote from Peyton Manning  judging by the grammar used He was still playing at the time So the quote is old  if you're not aware Peyton Manning is a hall of fame nfl quarterback for the Indianapolis colts and a few years with the denver broncos  You do not need an understanding of football to appreciate what i'm about to share.

So don't tune me out just yet Give me a minute. Give me more time to let you down. And then you can tune me out. Just not yet.  The quote is actually Peyton quoting  arguably his favorite receiver, Marvin Harrison. So this is a quote of a quote.  Here it goes.  Marvin Harrison always had a great quote, Manning said. 

He said, they pay you to practice. The games you play for free.  I always thought that was a great quote because it's easy to play the games. Everybody can get excited to play the games,  but are you willing to pay the price and sacrifice in the months of March through September?  I still enjoy that part of it.

That's why I'm here. Peyton Manning.  Obviously, Marvin Harrison was not being literal,  because their contract said quite the opposite. They got paid for the games.  He was talking about motivation and dedication,  but I immediately thought about how this can relate to the ministry or church life in general. 

It's easy to be spiritual on Sunday while in the house of God, but can you maintain the dedication throughout the week?  You know, can, can you maintain what is required to make Sunday special on Monday and on Tuesday and on Wednesday and Thursday? Can you put forth that effort  throughout the week? It's easy to get hype when the music is going and the preaching is there.

Yeah. When that presence is there. Hallelujah. I'm feeling it.  But what about when you're all alone?  Can you still live for God?  But those are the easy points to make.  And that's not what this, today's lesson is about. I want to dig a little deeper at why someone would not practice as hard during the week. 

Complacency is a factor.  They get things in such a pattern that everything runs on autopilot.  I've seen, now I've been bivocational my whole life.  So every, every perspective I have is going to be from a bivocational perspective.  Standpoint  I am if you are a young minister that is already what they call full time your own staff you're paid somewhere  come talk to me I'll put you on the podcast and you can teach me about it.

Okay  I'm telling you what things are like as a bivocational you have a job  and then things get  In a, in a pattern, you do this, you do that, you do this, you do that, you do this, and you do that, and you do this, and you do that, and eventually it gets on autopilot, and  you don't have to put any thought into it,  especially if it's a, if you're not the only one, if you're part of a team, they know their role, they know what they're going to do. 

People tend to get there at the same time. They tend to do the same thing. Even though we sing different songs, it tends to be the same order of service. You know, we do so many songs, pray so many songs, offering so many songs, pray whatever your order of service may be.  It's, it's not hard to get into that rut,  especially if the young minister is not playing a major role. 

If they're not the one preparing the message, if they're not the one having to get the order the service together and pick out the songs, if they're just a team member,  man, that's really easy to  coast, if you will.  Newer ministers are tempted to really only crack down. When they've been asked to preach or to perform. 

Oh, you know, that's true.  Don't give me that. I feel  I can see you now. No, that's not true. Please.  Sometimes when,  when I was a younger minister, the only time I would study the Bible is when brother Aldridge would ask me to preach  and I'm just being honest. I was so busy with work. So busy with my family  and you know, you know what?

I thought that counted. Well, I'm  studying.  No, I wasn't.  Preparing for a message is not the same thing as studying the Bible as a child of God.  I was blessed with a prison ministry where I would preach every month, every Monday,  so I would do it consistently. Yay. I have an active. Bible study with, you know, Bible study life.

No, that's not the same  because I'm, I'm only doing it for the sake of the performance, you know, so I could dig up this message,  but where is the desire to dig out a nugget for just me? Where is the desire to get deeper into God's word so I can get closer to him so I can understand his word.  There needs to be a hunger. 

Now that's another adversary of dedication. Loss of appetite.  I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings here, but you know, which kids are the pickiest.  The ones who have it the best,  the starving kids, they can't afford to be picky. They're hungry and they're going to eat.  It don't matter if it's a vegetable, it don't matter if it's a mushroom, if it's a cucumber, they're hungry and they're going to eat. 

If your kids are picky,  that means you've been, you've provided well. And it's not an insult.  I'm just saying the ones who have it best  tend, can afford to be pickier. 

How does that relate  to my message today?  Sometimes.  We get too comfortable  and we get too cushy  and we just, we lose that hunger to push.  Marvin Hagler, a former professional boxer has a wonderful quote.  He said, it's hard to wake up and do road work at 5 a. m. If you're sleeping in silk pajamas.  He was referring to sometimes you get too successful and the money's there and you're just not, the hunger is not there to get up and do what you got to do  because you're too comfortable. 

I don't know. I don't really want to get up out of this bed and  go train and run and do everything.  And ministry can be like that.  You don't want to, how can a young minister have it too easy? Well, you don't want to ruffle feathers. You don't want to work too hard.  Now, again, I feel like I'm treading waters here, but I feel led to put it there. 

If a minister doesn't have to work for their success,  I'm not, I'm not against nepotism  at all, but  I told my kids.  When they were growing up, that if they wanted to pursue the ministry, I would ask them to change churches at some point, because they need to get out from under my shadow  now, that's just my preference.

I'm not saying that's a law that every minister should, but my point is, if you never get out from under your dad,  well, that's hard  that that puts that young minister has to work that much harder to make sure that he has  worked for that success,  because I have seen ministers never get up from under their dad  and they never had to work for that success. 

It was like that kid who lost her appetite and they were picky eaters. Things were handed to them.  A young minister could  be have it too cushy by not having anyone give them real feedback. Nobody wants to hurt their feelings. I had a Rosetta Watson that would tell me my preaching stunk that night.  If you don't have anyone to tell you, you stunk it up.

You are not blessed.  You need real people in your life. That'll tell you, ah,  good, good try. Good thought, you know,  but no, you need someone to be honest with you. That's not rude. You need honest feedback. Someone that can help you grow.  Maybe the young minister has built a world that's so comfortable that their ministry is about protecting their way of life. 

They, they don't want to  ruffle the, if they're in youth ministry, they're more worried about offending the parents. You know, they're more worried about offending of kids, friends, and  you know, they're, they're more worried about ruffling feathers than they are about actually ministering.  And pastors fall into this trap by trying not to run off the tithe payers. 

We, we build a life around our.  comfort zone  and we lose that hunger to dig in and work.  Meanwhile, God is calling you to have a complete season, not just a good game.  Notice that word season. In Peyton's quote, he mentions the off season.  That's where they work on their weaknesses  in football that they change what needs to be corrected They watch film  in lots of film and even more film  And they get up and they work on that if they've got a tendency to do one thing they work on that tendency They  critique themselves and they get coaches to critique them and they work on their weaknesses  Now here we got to be careful with that analogy because we  in a real  church environment  We're not in a performance based environment.

Now, some churches have become performance based. I'm not talking about them, but in a real church environment, it's spirit led and it's not performance based. We're talking about a lifestyle.  So when I'm talking about changing things that need to be fixed, I'm talking about convictions  and people don't like to be convicted anymore. 

They don't want  information anymore. They just want affirmation. They want to be pat on the back and say, you're doing good.  And they don't want to know what they're not doing good, but that doesn't help you grow.  Here's a little farming analogy.  Nothing grows in the off season.  In ministry, we're all about the harvest. 

You know, we, we don't mind a little sowing and planting,  but we don't like  the weight.  We don't like to continually sow it. Because it's work with,  with no visual  outcome.  We, we plant a seed. We want to watch it grow right now.  We, if we plant something, we want something that grows quickly, not like that avocado that takes forever to grow,  but sometimes that's what you're dealing with. 

And, and that's what is  required for a good harvest. You have to continue to sow that. That's what's required for a complete season. That's what's required for a good game.  You cannot have a harvest on potential.  It's not like you can go out there and look at the ground and say, boy, that's good dirt.  And just watch it grow because it's good dirt. 

No, you're going to have to work that field.  Athletes don't become champions on potential. Now they can at high school.  Oh yes. At a lower level,  they can have a good season  because they don't have good competition  and maybe,  maybe that's what the enemy does with some of the saints. Let's win a few battles based on their competition. 

Let them build up their ego because of their potential,  but you can't win at a high level  on just potential  because at a high level, everyone's good and everyone is training and everyone is prepared.  We have too many ministers that are trying to wing it on their potential. They know they can sing. They know they can play.

They know they can preach. They know they have charisma,  but they don't practice. They don't study. They don't stay holy.  And then they get discouraged during the seasons when nothing grows. They don't have that same gusto. They lose motivation because it's not as exciting.  Going back to Peyton's quote,  it made me think of someone else. 

Some of y'all are not going to know who I'm talking about, but the Razorback fans are going to light up. And they may even disagree with me. Okay. This is just my opinion.  Peyton's quote made me think of a former Razorback quarterback named Robert Johnson,  Mike, how in the world that make you think of Robert Johnson,  because it was the opposite. 

Robert Johnson was so good at quarterback. They moved him to wide receiver.  He had three years to make a difference at quarterback.  Don't, if he was so good that they moved to wide receiver, obviously you see what I'm saying? He, he did not succeed at quarterback. Why did they give him so long?  Because of his potential because he practiced like a Heisman winning quarterback  during practice.

He was awesome. He made his throws. He was, he had timing, man. He was brilliant on the field during practice,  but come game time,  he just could not move that offense. 

So let me talk to the people who think they live right but come to church so dead You're basically just a stain on the pew.  God requires a complete season from you  You may have a man me in beginning of the podcast when I was talking about people, you know Can you put in your dedication throughout the week?

But let me step on your toes for a little bit you have been bought and paid for as well We are commanded to sing and to play our instruments and to make a joyful noise  Where's your voice during worship?  Where's your amen during preaching?  Oh, we don't have to say amen. And amen is in agreement with the message.

When congregants say amen during a sermon, they are expressing that they agree with it. They agree with what's being preached. When's the last time he told that preacher you agree with when he's preaching? Yes, I believe this is true. I agree with this.  It's an affirmation of that truth. It signifies that you're listening.

It encourages.  The preacher, it lets them know and it helps him do more. It's a participation in worship. Where is your amen?  Sometimes amen is a spiritual response and it's spontaneous. The  spirit will just prompt you when you're like, yes, I need the response. Where is your response?  Ah, maybe you don't have a spiritual response. 

Maybe that's the problem. Maybe you're living so holy all week, but you're dead on church services.  Maybe your holiness is dead as well.  But back to Robert, I don't know what happened with Robert Johnson  on game day. I don't know.  Did he get scared?  Did he, you know, did the pressure get to him?  I don't think so.

He was a competitor.  Fairly decent wide receiver. I mean, obviously he  didn't have the. Experience there as other receivers, but he was athletic enough to  make a difference and catch some balls here and there. But what maybe he was a predictable quarterback and other, you know, the defense can scout them out and read them like a book.

I don't I don't know. Okay. He was an incredibly athletic kid.  His team loved him.  He was respected. He won the Paul Eels award because of his attitude,  but attitude aside, work ethic aside, no matter how hard he worked, he just couldn't get the job. Can  you imagine if that is said to you on judgment day? 

That's why you have to give them a complete season.  I don't care how hard you work during the season, during the week, the off season, you better show up on game day as well.  In closing,  I'm going to read you first Corinthians nine 24th through 27.  I'm going to read the new living translation.  Don't you realize that in a race, everyone runs.

But only one person gets the prize.  So run to win.  All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.  So I run with purpose in every step.  I am not just shadow boxing.  I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. 

Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others, I myself might be disqualified.  You better train yourself at all times.  It doesn't matter how strong your ministry is on church day.  You must train and prepare for a complete season. 

I appreciate everyone for listening. I hope this blesses you. Help me get the word out. We need more followers. We need more subscriptions. I need to get, get it out there.  Thank you. Hope you have a blessed day. God bless.