From Pastor Paul

It was the first day of basketball practice at Wingate High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Coach handed a ball to each player.
 

“Boys,” he said, “I want you to practice shooting from the spots you might expect to be in during the game.”
 

One of the boys (who was pretty much there as a substitute for the star players - in fact he was substitute #12) immediately sat down on the bench and began shoot the ball toward the basket from there.

You might say that boy didn’t expect to get to play much. And I suppose he was just trying to get a laugh out of his teammates. But there are some people who sit on the bench, because that’s where they’ve gotten used to being. They never strive to much more than that - because they don’t believe in themselves enough to put in the extra effort and practice to change their status. And because of that: they’re always going to sit on the bench.

It’s as if we’ve made Christianity into a spectator sport. We just sit back in church and listen to the music, and the sermons and never really get involved in the game. We need some Christians today to get off the sidelines and get on the front lines. There is a special position that God has for all those who are in Christ, but we will never discover it as long as we watch safely from the sideline. We need to put action to our faith and get involved in ministry opportunities and be about the business of “Making disciples for Christ for the transformation of the world.”

See You Sunday,

Pastor Paul