How to be a TEAM Player
Victory Together Series, Part 1_Extended Outline
Page 5
How to be a TEAM Player
Victory Together Series, Part 1
“Dear children, we must show love through actions that are sincere, not through empty words.” 1 John 3:18 (GWT)
Here’s a great question to ask yourself
If my life’s record of service was the only thing God could look at to determine if I should be entrusted with some heavenly role, responsibility, ministry,
whatever… how confident am I that He would do so?
We are here to serve God. How do we serve God? We serve God BY serving one another.
“Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.” Phil. 2:2 (NLT)
Why can’t I just serve God alone… my way?
A. Working together reflects the triune nature of God
B. Working together we accomplish more than we can alone
“Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.” Eccl. 4:9 (NLT)
What does it take to build a team?
Trustworthiness
One way we demonstrate trustworthiness is by being consistent
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with a lot.” Luke 16:10a (GWT)
Practical Application: List three areas that you need to be more consistent in life?
Encouragement
“Thereforeencourageone another and build each other up as you are already doing.” 1 Thes. 5:11 (HCSB)
Practical Application: Apply the 101 Percent Principle.
“The craftsmanencourages the metalworker; the one who flattens with the hammer supports the one who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, ‘It is good.’” Isa. 41:7 (HCSB)
Tim Sanders wrote a book a few years ago called, “The Likeability Factor.” In the book he mentions four things that make people likeable. One of the four is EMPATHY.
Now let’s distinguish empathy from some other similar, but very different, things. Namely, PITY – SYMPATHY – COMPASSION. They are all somewhat different. Check out this graphic.
Pity is essentially saying to someone, “I acknowledge your suffering or your pain.” It doesn’t make any emotional connection.
Sympathy is essentially saying to someone, “I care about your suffering.”
Empathy says, “I feel your suffering.” It doesn’t simply communicate that I feel sorry for someone. It communicates that I genuinely feel something of the pain they feel.
Compassion says, “I feel your pain so deeply I want to do what I can to relieve it.” When I give out of compassion I am giving at a significantly higher level than when I give out of sympathy. But here’s the thing about compassion. Sometime you just can’t relive the pain or the suffering no matter how much you give. There are some things we cannot make go away. You can’t assuage someone’s grief over losing a spouse or a child, for example. In that sense EMPATHY is, in my opinion, often more useful than compassion. I can always demonstrate empathy, regardless of whether or not I can actually ease your suffering or your pain in any other meaningful way.
“13Share with the saints in their needs… 15Rejoice with those who rejoice;weep with those who weep.” Rom. 12:13, 15 (HCSB)
Practical Application: Think of a few people close to you and ask yourself,
“how can I demonstrate greater empathy toward them.”
Attitude
What is Attitude? Generally speaking attitude is…
· Your disposition toward something.
· Your mental state relative to something.
· A reflection of what you believe about something.
It’s how you see the glass… “half-full” or “half-empty.”
“For as he [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he.” Pro. 23:7 (NKJV)
Attitudes reflect thoughts.
Stanford Research Institute did a study on the impact of attitude to a person’s success and concluded that the path to success is comprised of 88% attitude and 12% education. This is where that old saying comes from, “Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% attitude [what I do with it].”
The Bible is full of people who had bad attitudes and suffered for it AND people who had good attitudes and were rewarded for it.
Let me give you a few examples…
· Job had a bad attitude about going to the city of Nineveh to preach God’s love and grace. What happened to him? Swallowed up by a big fish!
· Jezebel had a bad attitude about God, God’s prophet, and God’s ways. What happened to her? Thrown out of a window by her own servants and eaten by dogs on the street.
· All of Israel except Moses, Joshua, and Caleb had a bad attitude about entering the Promised Land after coming out of Egypt. What happened to them? They all died in the wilderness.
Bad attitude = Bad result!
· David had a good attitude when preparing to face Goliath. What happened to him? He defeated the giant and was heralded as a hero of Israel.
· Daniel maintained a positive attitude when thrown into a lion’s den for a night for being faithful to God. What happened to him? God delivered him from the lions and gave him favor with the pagan king.
· Stephen maintained a positive attitude even when faced with being stoned for his faith. What happened to him? He saw heaven open for him and Christ standing at the right hand of God, as if to cheer him on in his faith.
Negative attitudes = Devastating results!
Positive attitudes = Supernaturally Great results!
Where do you want to be? Are you a Job… or a Jezebel… or are you a David, or a Daniel? The choice is all yours.
Attitude is a choice. It’s not an emotion and it’s not something anyone else can impose on us. It’s a choice we make about ourselves and our lives.
The best team players know how to maintain a positive attitude even in the toughest circumstances. It’s often the difference between winning and losing.
Practical application: Take some time every morning to read a personal
affirmation to yourself about your day!
“I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency]…” Phil. 4:13 (AMP)
Mission
“I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” Phil. 3:8 (ESV)
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” John 15:16 (ESV)
Practical Application: What role do you play on your church team today?
How can you serve the purposes of God in your church today?