Yeah, come on, great to see you today. You look great, you sound great. Why don't you just tell your neighbor how good they look right now? You look good, you look good, oh, you look good. Well, listen, god is good. Welcome all of our guests today. Thank you for joining us. A little bit of celebration.

Last week we baptized 23 people in the 11 am service Such an incredible time registered to be baptized. So we prepared them and walked through with them and had their baptism certificates ready and we started baptizing. And at the end of baptizing those 16, seven more people stepped up and said they wanted to be baptized in their church clothes. They didn't want to wait for us to get the shorts and t-shirts ready for them. They just went all in and, man, I'm telling you, god is moving in this house. So if you're a guest today, thanks for joining us. We always say there is no place like this place, near this place. So this must be the place and we're glad that you found the place and we hope you feel right at home and you felt the presence of the Lord, and I am ready to preach God's word. Are you ready to receive it today?

The year was 2012, and we had just moved to Oak Park. Our family and we were just settling in, getting used to life in Oak Park, you know, driving two blocks and stopping at a stop sign or a red light every two blocks. We didn't do that in Houston. Once you get out of the neighborhood it's all 90 mile an hour Houston. And so we were getting used to that and we are kind of a baseball family. So we signed Elliot up for baseball and as we got them all registered they said well, there's a draft coming up. I was like, okay, great, that that'll be fun. And then they said and actually we need a coach, maybe you want to coach? I was like, okay, sure, why not? I would get to know families, get to know parents. And so I decided to coach that year Elliot's I think it's like 10 year old baseball year.

And so we go to this, I go to this little local place, meet all the other coaches and we start the draft and they have this board of names up and I'm coaching for the first time in this area. So I have no clue. Any kids I don't know one kid I don't know. I rarely know any of Elliot's friends Like he was in fourth grade. He was like just Dad, do whatever, just get whatever you want. And I was like okay.

So looked at the draft board and I saw Elliot's name on there. I thought, well, that's who I'll pick first. Obviously is my son, I will pick my son. And so we start the draft. And I was like the third or fourth pick and the first pick went and the second pick, and then the coach before me in the third pick was like I'm going to take that kid, elliot Colgrove. I was like time out, time out. That's my son. I feel like I should already have him on my team and start the draft from there. Just saying it just seems like a good idea for me to coach my son. Otherwise I'm not coaching Because I don't love kids, I love my wife. So I'm going to draft my son. And so we worked it out and I got to draft my son and we had a lot of fun playing baseball here in Oak Park. But it's really it was one of those things for Elliot where it was like it was kind of cool to see a bunch of people want Elliot to play on their team, because the coach behind me was like, well, I was supposed to pick him. My son told me to pick Elliot and so it just went all the way through. But it's really the year I learned that you have to understand and know that you are valued and chosen and you are a part of a draft like no other. Why don't you turn to your neighbor and say, hey, I'm going to be a number one pick and turn to the other one and just say I need this more than you need this, I need this more than you need this.

Today we kick off an all-new series entitled Game On. We spent the last couple of weeks with this all-in idea going all-in, and I just was thinking I almost preached another week of all-in and just said all-in for everyone. But I felt like the way the schedule is working and the way the timeline is, we're going to run from now through October. October 12th will be Vision Sunday, as we cast a vision for 2026 here for Free Church and I want to cast it early so we have a chance to catch up with it and run with it, and so that's coming October 12th. But today I'm going to start this series called Game On and it's as you might expect. It's got a bit of a football theme to it, because is there any better season than the fall season? Amen, we got a football coach on the front row and football is. This is a great season because baseball is wrapping up into playoffs, football has started and is in full swing, college and pro Basketball's right around the corner, hockey's right around the corner. Is there any better time for SportsCenter than right now? That's just my own opinion. It doesn't make you saved, but it makes you close. So, game on.

We are going to dive into this series and I want to bring up the key verses for this, because you're going to see something very incredible. Let's read this passage of scripture in Ephesians, chapter 4. Now, these are the gifts Christ gave to the church comma. You could put team there. This is Christ gave these gifts to the team, or he gave a team to the church, however you want to describe that, but it's this. The apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers how many know that every good team needs to be covered in every single area? Have a great quarterback but don't have any wide receivers you get a problem. Have a great quarterback but don't have any wide receivers you got a problem. Have a great quarterback, a great wide receiver room but not have an offensive line. You got the Bears. No, just kidding, just kidding. You knew you knew it was coming. So a great team requires all of the positions be filled. Watch this.

Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and to build up the church. So that's why at Free Church we say every member is a minister, everyone is a tenant in some area and every task is important because we all have a part to play on the team Game on. We don't just show up and we're not just spectators. Now, when I go see football teams, I'm a spectator. I don't have any part to play in that game. But in this house you're not just a spectator. We are part of the team and everyone is important. Every task is important, Even you. And everyone is important. Every task is important, Even you. Preaching with me is important, makes me a better preacher, or at least it makes it more fun. So their job is to build up God's people to do the work of the church. So it's not just my responsibility to do all the work. I'm to help equip you to do the work that is helping declare God's promises and fulfill his purpose here on this earth. Let's keep reading.

This will continue until we all come to such unity. Man, that's a great word for our, for our culture right now unity. And we're gonna have to keep working church till we come, church till we come to unity. And when we come to unity Brother Carlos spoke about it at our team rally when we come to unity, there is a blessing. That's on that, there's peace and prosperity. That's on unity we will change.

The Bible says when the righteous people prosper, the city prospers. And part of the prospering that we are a part of is when we're walking in unity. Anything more than a vision is division. And if we could get singular purpose in what God wants to do on this earth through this church, nothing is impossible. But we're going to continue to do this until we all come to such unity and then that unity rings out to our neighborhoods. So we're come to such unity and then that unity rings out to our neighborhoods.

So we're gonna do this, such unity in our faith, knowledge of God's son, that we will be mature in the Lord, so much to preach in this, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we'll no longer be immature like children, we won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. Like you get in God's word, you get in God's house, and social media doesn't have quite the same impact on you as it does on other people. We don't just swipe right and swipe up and down until we find a pastor that preaches what we wanna hear. We listen to God's word so that we're not tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with new clever, with lies so clever they sound like the truth. I mean we look at social media and everything that's on there like it is the in fact truth and there's like it's never been edited, never been clipped, never been doctored up, like I don't know what's AI and what's real any longer when you're watching social media. I'm sorry, I'm just trying to.

There's just a part of pastor of me that's just want to lean in on us a little bit, as we are part of this team, and realize game on. It's not time for games, it's time to go. Let's get ready to do what God's called us to do. Instead, we'll speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly as each part does its own special work. It helps the other parts grow so that the whole body fit together perfectly, as each part does its own special work. It helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. Let me just tell you this If you're not willing to be a part of a growing environment, you're holding the environment back. If you're not growing, you're holding the environment back. Growing, you're holding the environment back. So that is that's what I'm preaching about over the next four weeks, that whole passage of scripture. And today this is what we'll walk away from in this series.

Game on Number one get on the team. Number two get with the plan. Number three get in the game. Okay, don't shout me down, it'll be better. It'll be better if you shout me down, but it'll be good by the time we get to the end of it.

But today is draft day. Everybody say draft day, draft day, today's draft day. And I was thinking about draft day because a couple of years ago, our beloved Bears, your beloved Bears, had a number one overall pick, number one pick, and they drafted this wonderful quarterback, caleb Williams, number one pick overall. The thing about draft day is the number one pick isn't always the greatest person to be picked, and you know how. I know that Because this next one was the third pick overall, not a number one pick overall. How, how, how, but all he did is win. He is the GOAT. I don't care what anybody else says, not just of my generation. He is the standard setter. And then, a few years around that same time, another guy went not number one, not top 10, not first round, second round, third round, fourth round. He finally was drafted in the sixth round. And this guy also a GOAT because all he did was win.

Number 12, tb, tom Brady. You don't gotta like him, but he's a winner, not a number one pick. And then two years ago in that well yeah, 2022. In 2022, this guy was called Mr Irrelevant because he was the very last pick of the entire draft, number 262 in the entire draft. They call him Mr Irrelevant because nobody thinks he's going to do anything. Irrelevant because nobody thinks he's going to do anything and all he does is, in his rookie years, lead his team to the NFC championship and, in his sophomore season, lead his team to the Superbowl. All that to say, you can be the first pick or you can be the 262nd pick, it doesn't matter. You were picked, and my hope for you today is that you understand how much value you have, how you are the apple of God's eye, and when God looks at a draft board, your name is always on the top and you know what. It is possible for God to choose every one of you first, because the capacity for God to love is different than the capacity for us, and he picks you and he chooses you, and you are a prized possession to our God, and I want you to just realize how much you were designed to be a part of not just a team, but a part of this winning team or the winning team.

Let's look at pastor scripture for this series and for this message today, draft day. Check this out. Paul writes in Ephesians 1, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who blessed us in heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. By the way, you can say well, I don't know if I'm ever going to be that great of a Christian. Well, listen, it's not really on you to be a great Christian, because it is God who blesses you with every spiritual blessing, every spiritual blessing. So if you would walk around With the attitude that I am blessed, that I am spiritually blessed, and stop Selling yourself short, you will walk with a different attitude and a different confidence. It's a God confidence that I walk with. So he says this, for he Chose us, he drafted us. So he says this through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves.

So I heard somebody say this the reason why he can put you on top of the draft board and every single one of you will be a number one draft pick when it comes to God designing and choosing you, is this because when he looks at you, he's looking through the son, jesus Christ, who went to the cross to bridge the gap for your life. He doesn't just see you individually, he sees his son in you. That's better than you just responded, but you don't have to respond, you just need to let it sit for a minute. You've been chosen, you've been adopted, you've been drafted, all to the praise and the glory to the one he loves the most. So God's been recruiting you and you've been on his mind since the very beginning. I know this because scripture tells us that he loved us so much and he showed us that love and that Christ died while we were yet sinners. I know this because, from the foundation of the world, the lamb was slain and you are already planned with purpose in that moment. The lamb was slain and you are already planned with purpose in that moment. And if you could just know how valuable you are, because I will tell you this, I think the enemy knows how valuable you are, and it might not always be popular to talk about the enemy we face in our life, but the enemy is real. He is not an equal to God. He's been cast down and he's already been defeated. But in this time he has the ability, as the accuser of the brethren and as the father of lies, to disrupt the purpose and design of your life by distracting you, making you busy, make you focus on other things, make you listen to different voices, and his design is to get you off track. Because he understands how valuable you are. And if I could just spend a minute declaring God's promises over your life this morning at this nine o'clock service.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 1 and 20 that every single promise is yes and amen through Jesus Christ. Our pastor in Dallas used to sing this song every promise in the book is mine, every chapter, every verse, every line. I'm trusting in his love divine because every promise in the book is mine. And then he would go on to say mine, mine, mine, jesus is mine. I wish I could sing to sing it Because you need to understand the promises of God are yes and amen for your life and there is nothing that can stop the word of God spoken over your life, declared over your life, from being fulfilled in your life.

Declaring his promises over your life is this the promise is there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The promise of this that you've been made competent through the Holy Spirit. You're wondering can I get this together? Can I complete this? Yes, because the Holy Spirit has already made you competent and you can walk with that competent confidence. You need to understand you will not be ashamed and you will not be disgraced. It is a promise of God that you will not be ashamed or disgraced in this life. It is a promise of God that you have not been given the spirit of fear, but you have been given the power and of a sound mind. It is a promise to you that our God always causes you to triumph. The promises of God are yes and amen in our life. If you would start rehearsing those promises in your life, I promise you it would change your perspective on the situations that you're facing.

Julian said it today the name of Jesus is above any other name. It is above the name of cancer. It is above the name of cancer, it is above the name of divorce, it is above the name of fear, above the name of any sickness, above the name of any addiction. The name of Jesus, spoken of your life, will do what it's supposed to do. You just got to lean in on the promises God has for you. You are valuable, you are a part of this team.

He's drafted you, he's chosen you, he's picked you, he has hand picked you. He had a purpose in mind, like when I drafted Elliot, I knew. I knew Elliot was going to be my shortstop. I knew it Not just because he's my son, because he's capable, and we worked on ground balls and we worked in the batting cages and we did all that stuff. I knew I could put him there and trust him and I knew I could put him in situations where he would succeed. And as a coach, I loved putting him even in difficult because of the confidence I had in him. And that's what God is saying to you today. He's put you in a spot. It seems tough, but he knows you're going to make it through it. He put you in a spot Seems overwhelming, but he's not going to put more on you than you can bear, because he already gifted you with every spiritual blessing to get through it. Spiritual blessing to get through it.

You get yourself in the mirror in the morning and you tell yourself I am God's chosen, I am God's elect, I am God's first draft choice. I am where I'm supposed to be. I will say what I'm supposed to say. I will do what I'm supposed to do. I will influence people for the purposes of God. In my life, every promise spoken of my life could be fulfilled today because I walk in the confidence of God. So Paul says this I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the hope to which he has called you. My prayer is that you understand the hope to which God has called you, the hope to which God has purposed in your life, the hope to which he has set in front of you as an indicator of his goodness over your life, the hope which he has set before you as an indicator of his power and providence in your life, the hope that he has set before you as a way to show you that his way is a better way. His thought is a higher thought and if you can turn your attention on him, your problems will decrease as he increases. So what do we do? What do we do with this information that we're drafted? Well, number one, you got to answer the call. You got to answer the call. You see our draft day. Some of the draft picks will be right there in the arena and their name will be called. They'll go on stage. Others are at their homes with their families, and a few years ago, when the Minnesota Vikings drafted JJ McCarthy, my nephew Robbie was there in the room sitting with him, celebrating with him, and when the Vikings called him to let him know that he had been drafted, he was right there to see that moment. You gotta answer the call. You gotta answer the call.

In 1944, the Philadelphia Eagles all right, fly birds. What do they say? Go birds. Everybody pretends to be an Eagles fan. Now listen, my brother, you know, my brother and I. I always say, if I get in trouble, because my brother did it and we've been lifelong Detroit Lion fans. I hope he's watching right now because he'll appreciate this. We've been lifelong Detroit Lion fans and I'm kind of like a fan through thick and thin. My heart has been hurt over and over and my entire life has been a disappointment when it comes to the Detroit Lions. Like just when you think they're going to be good, they decide not to kick a couple of field goals and they lose an important game, just stuff like that my entire life. Well, my brother finally had enough of it. He is now an Eagles fan, which he's a winner. So what can I say? Like championship and all that jazz. So anyway, I love you, my brother. I love my brother. And um, what did I say?

Oh, 1944, the Philadelphia Eagles, with, like the, with a fourth round draft pick, picked a fullback from Syracuse University by the name of Norm Michael. 1944, julian, they picked this fullback from Syracuse? Well, nobody ever. They couldn't get in touch with him on draft day. And 55 years later, norm Michael realized by looking at an old report of draft day stats that he was drafted into the NFL and he never got the call. He never answered the call. He never played one down in the NFL. You got to answer the call. Is what I'm saying. Don't be Norm Michael. You got to pick up the phone.

The Bible says behold, I stand at the door and knock and if anybody will open the door and let me in, I'll come in and I'll live and have fellowship and have dinner in your life, in your house, in your home, in your neighborhood. That's what Jesus says. You got to answer the call. You got to answer the call. He picked you chose you before any of the days of your life were lived out. He already knew the moment that you would step onto this earth, the purpose you would live by, the way you would live it out. And he's just saying listen, all you gotta do, it's all set, psalm 139,. Read that chapter Every day, planned out and written in a book before you lived it out, but all you gotta do is answer the call.

First, timothy 2 says this. This is good and pleases God, our Savior, who wants look at this all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. All people. God's got a plan for all people. Let the whole world know that God's got a plan for their life. But you gotta answer the call. How do you answer the call? Well, it's the call of salvation. You gotta confess in your heart what you believe in your mouth. You gotta answer the call. You gotta be baptized. You gotta let everybody know it's putting on the jersey for this team when you get baptized, and we baptized 23 last week. We're going to baptize again November 16th, and so we want you to start planning now. If you've never been baptized, we need you to put on the right jersey and let's all go on this team, get on the team, answer the call and then the last thing, as I close, the last thing is not only do you have to answer the call to be drafted, the last thing, as I close, the last thing is not only do you have to answer the call to be drafted, but then you've gotta commit to player development Because you're drafted, because God has a plan and you're great and you're all that and the bag of chips. That's why you were drafted.

But we have to grow. We have to get stronger. We gotta grow in maturity. I read that till we all come in the unity of, and we all come into a maturity of knowing the immeasurable riches, the glory that he has in store for us. We have to grow and I'm just quickly gonna give you five things that you need to grow in. Number one you need to grow in prayer. We pray first. We pray first. We got to grow in prayer. If anything, if we're ever to be anything as a church, it's because we're a praying church. There's no reason why we all shouldn't be. Some of you are already working and probably can't get to a phone or a computer or anything, but most of us, at 6 am, should join the Wednesday Zoom prayer call, not because it saves us, but because it makes us a part of a team, unified in our approach and declaring God's promises over our life.

But we need to grow in prayer. We need to grow in God's word. We need to get God's word in us. The Bible says his word. Have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee? And you know what? The old days of Sunday school. You know, I was born on Sunday in church the next Sunday. I didn't miss a Sunday, and we grew up memorizing scripture. Do I remember, by word and by verse, every single scripture that I had memorized all through those years of Sunday school? No, but there's a lot of them that come to memory because I did memorize it. Furthermore, the reason why we think note takers are history makers is because when you write something down, the weakest ink always outlasts the strongest mind. So if you're just listening to God's word, you're a hearer of the word. But when you start to write God's word and grow in God's word, you become a doer of God's word and then you're no longer deceiving yourself. That's just God's word. So we got grow in prayer. We gotta grow in the word. We need to grow in fellowship with other believers. Down in the lobby we got a little screen set up and one of our small group leaders will be down there to just help you find a group. We're a couple weeks into small groups. It's one of our greatest seasons yet. Last week, the first week, eight out of 11 groups met. We had over 126 people in those groups. That number's just going to grow as all the groups start to meet over the next couple of weeks.

But listen, I'm going to tell you we got to grow in fellowship with other believers. Why? Because we're a part of a team and a team needs to be together, train together, learn together, grow together, love one another, love others together. We need to grow in spirit led living Like we need to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. If you're led by the flesh, life's going to be difficult and it actually. The scripture actually points the way that living after the flesh will lead, and that's not good. It's not a good finish, I can tell you. But following after the spirit, being spirit led, how do I get being spirit led? How do I my spirit led? You've got to really you. Just, you have to release control of your life to the holy spirit to guide you and lead you and in fact, all that I'm telling you right now we teach in freeway which today is freeway after the commit, but we are going to commit to every Sunday and as long as we're in town, we're going to be in service and pretty much they've done that and I can't tell you how their life is flourishing. Why? Because we're growing together.

There is a benefit to membership Belonging. We'll teach you the path to discipleship. It's these things. I go in a little more detail in freeway and then we'll teach you how to to discipleship. It's these things. I go into a little more detail in freeway and then we'll teach you how to be a leader in the church and how to help us make a difference. But we need to grow in these areas and if you've never done freeway, I'm gonna invite you to get on the team. Go with us on this journey, go all in with us. And I would say you have time to go get a snack. We'll start at like 1245. After this service, you have time to go get brunch and still come back, or you can stay and hear this message again. Then you can almost out-preach me because you know you can bet your neighbor like $10 what year it's going to be.

I'm just saying the last thing is we've got to grow. Grow in giving, giving of our time, our talent and our treasure. Player development. You gotta commit to those things. You gotta commit to those things. We're gonna quit with you. We're gonna help you. Freeway's one of the spots. Small group's one of the spots making a difference. I'm the dream team, one of the spots. I'm just telling you it's time to get game on attitude. No more games, but game on. We're on the winning team and we're going to live like it. Can you receive that word today?