We, as children of God, will know Jesus when He comes back and why He is here.  The world, on the other hand, will not know and for that reason, I am scared for them.  Not knowing God will be a scary thing for the unbeliever.

We have 2 choices: 1) Turn from our sins and accept Jesus Christ.  God’s son sent to forgive us and cleanse us so we can come to God clean and pure and live for eternity with our Heavenly Father.  This is how we became children of God.  Then there is option 2) Reject Christ, don’t obey, keep on living in sin.  If this is you and your stance, then no, you are not a child of God.  You, in fact, are a child of the devil.  1 John 3:8 When people keep on sinning, it shows they belong to the Devil.

When you are a child of God, you are hated by the world.  People, there are 2 teams here on earth.  Team G, that’s God’s team where Jesus Christ is our coach.  He provides all that is necessary to lead us to an ultimate win, an eternal victory that will crown us and save us a seat at the table of God.

Then there is Team D, that’s the Devil’s team and he has thousands of hell-bent demons just waiting to trip you up on the field, to rob you, steal from you, take your joy, and take your victory.  His team will lose and when they lose, there will be no rematch, no mulligan, and no other game to try and redeem your loss.  There might be trophies, prizes, temporal riches, worldly wealth, and beautiful things he will offer, but by comparison, there will be no matching up these 2 offers for one team will lead to life and the other to death.

You will need to choose to be on Team G and work hard to stay on it.  But, I will assure you this, if you are not saved and living in sin you will not need to do anything different than what you’re doing right now to be on Team D.  This is the team you were born into.  This is the team that is huge, innumerable, broad, and by the world’s standards the winning team.

So I say this if you are on team D, it is time to change teams.  You’ve been on this losing team for too long and the Lord is pleading to you right now, receive Jesus as your personal Savior and jump on His team.  The team with an eternal victory.  Team G has a very special quality.  Being on team G you are like I said earlier, children of Go, and your mission is to love.  I don’t mean just in your mind and heart.  I’m talking about in your actions.  When you’re out on the field playing against Team D, we must show them our love through our actions.  If they want to trip us up or shoot us down, we need to show them love.  If there are injured players on the other team, show them love, help them up.  If their team needs help scoring a goal, help them down the field.  If their fans have made a mess, show them love, and clean it up.  We are on a team of loving servants.  We already won the battle for eternal victory.  Now it’s time for us to show love to those who are traveling away from the eternal victory.  We must love and care for the hurting, the lost, the sick.  Show it with your actions for this is showing: 1) You are a true child of God and 2) That God is love.

Be careful when you’re playing on Team G.  There will be many from Team D trying to falsely come onto our team.  So you must know how to test their spirit, to show they are on the right team.  If their loyalty is to Jesus and they acknowledge that Jesus is the son of the living God who came to free us from sin’s grasp, then yes, they are on your team.  But if they do not acknowledge that, then you will know they are on the rival team and are looking to steal your teammates.  So, rebuke them and use all the power you have been given by Christ to call them out.

We can look at the church and its members how we would look at a team.  A team has a coach; the coach has a playbook that is there to help the team.  The coach has assistants that are there to encourage and help with practices and games.  Practices are there to strengthen the team.  Conditioning is there to strengthen the team.  Playing together as a team is the key to wins and winning.  Winning will lead to a championship, the ultimate goal of the team.

Now those who fall short need more practice or need to decide what team they are on.  The Bible says in Revelation 3: 15-16 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! 16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!”  You can’t straddle the fence as a Christian.  You’re either all in or all out.  If you’re in the gray area, you will be spit out and I’m sure that will not be pleasant.  Then there are those who are secretly there colluding for the other team, a spy is definitely going to be cut.  If a player is playing for the other team, and that player is there trying to pull players to go on that other team, or come against the coach, don’t you think that they would be called out and cut?

So by the standards of a sports team, so the church should be operated in even a stricter manner.  The church is the team, the coach is Jesus Christ.  His assistants are the pastors and helpers and the players are the people the churchgoers.  Let’s be careful to love one another, help one another, show people through-our actions of love and let’s be obedient to our calling to be Christ-like.  At the same time, be aware of the false profits, call them out, and expose them.  Don’t let them steal the sheep from the flock.  Be the guardian, but above all be the loving light God called you to be.

Joining this team, that is team G will be the best decision you will ever make and to be quite honest, you may not want to because it will change your life forever and if you’re not at a point in your life where you can be all in, then it would be better for you not to be in at all.  I encourage you today, pick up your Bible and get a good meal in, let God know you wish to be on His team.  Pour out your heart to him, decide to love Him with all you got.