What a good-looking crowd. I'm so glad that all of you are here. Good to have you here on this Friday night. What a treat it is for me. I love the title of this two-minute warning. Are you aware of the fact that the two-minute warning got started in the NFL because they had no clock? There was no clock. Just like in modern day soccer, if you watch Premier League soccer over in England, they don't have a clock. The time is kept by the referee. And they invented the two-minute warning so that the referee could come over to the coaches and say, coach, you've got two minutes left. And it is an interesting, friends, that here we are. I have no idea how much time we have left, but we still have game, don't we? I'm so glad you're here tonight. What a good-looking crowd. This is exciting, especially in California, of all states, to have a Bible thing like this. Unbelievable. You guys are a miracle. What a blessing you are. I bring you greetings from South Carolina. And I don't know if you heard, but UCLA did a study a number of years ago, and they found out that one out of every three Californians is ugly. Now let me tell you how that works. If you would look at the people on either side of you, if they look okay, you're the problem. Understand how that works? And I'm teasing, that is so made up. But good to have you here tonight. I'd like you to do me a favor. Would you all stand? Would you all stand and would you do me a favor? When I count to three, I'd like you to give me an amen, all right? And it may be an amen that your favorite football team will score a touchdown tomorrow according to how well you do an amen, all right? So think of your favorite team and just give me a good, and when I count to three, give me a good, hearty amen. Are you ready? One, two, three. Now, I've got a question for you. Did that hurt? No. Feel free to do that anytime I'm preaching. And I'm sure Brother Goetz would appreciate it, too. Let me tell you why. Two things happen, gentlemen, when you say amen, even if your little wife is standing next to you. Two things happen. You're telling everybody that hears you, even if it's a soft amen, you're telling everybody that hears you, I agree. That's good. That is truth. I identify with that. Yes, that's good. Thing number two that happens, you're telling the preacher, sick him. And we like that, we like that. Are you aware of the fact that the preacher feeds off the congregation just as much as the congregation feeds off the preacher? Let's have fun together, amen? Let's have fun together. Let's have a word of prayer and then you can be seated. Before we pray though, would you do me a favor? Would you look at your neighbor and just say, wow, I'm glad you're here. All right. Okay, let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for a great crowd tonight. Lord, I do pray that this service tonight with Brother Getch, with Brother May, Lord, may it be provocative in that we provoke one another into love and good works. Lord, I pray that a whole lot of godly men would be sharpened through both of our efforts tonight. Thank you for this conference. What a treat. And I pray that each and every one of these men will take it and use it as best they can. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen. You may be seated. I told you in the first session that your Bible is full of parables. Remember what a parable is? It's just nothing but a picture. And what I would like to do, we've got kind of a sports theme going with this conference, and so I thought this would be really appropriate. But what I'd like you to understand tonight, men, and what I'd like you to focus on while I'm preaching is the fact that God, through His men, said, Christian, I want you to look at a world-class athlete and learn some lessons. Now gentlemen, please note I said world class. I'm not talking about weekend hackers like us. I'm talking about the guys and the girls that are at the top of the heap. I mean the best of the best. God says I want you to look at their lives and learn some principles from their event. Isn't that interesting? I find that kind of interesting. Evidently God's a sports fan. Because he said, I want you to look at an athletic event and learn all kinds of lessons. And gentlemen, there are many references. I know many of you know that. There are many references we could go to in the Bible that talk about the sports scene. But what I'd like to do is I'd like to take you to one of my favorites. It really doesn't jump out at you at first until you really study it, but it's found in Philippians chapter 3. Would you be so kind as to turn that with me please tonight? Philippians chapter 3. And I want to show you an athletic metaphor that the Apostle Paul gives us. Philippians chapter three, what a unique letter Philippians is. I'd encourage you to memorize it. It's only four chapters long. I did years ago. It's a wonderful, wonderful book. Evidently, there's a very unique and special relationship between the Philippians and the apostle Paul. But here in chapter three, you have a sports metaphor, Christians. that starts in verse number 12. But before I read it, can I just give you a warning? There are many, many principles in this paragraph, far more than I'm going to allude to tonight. I'm only gonna hit four. There are many more than that, and you preachers know that. But I'm just gonna hit four for the sake of time. I think there are four biggies, and I think there are four things that need to be said to men all the time. And as we're looking at these four things, please note that a couple of them come at you, come at us, in what I call couplets. In other words, it's repeated twice. Gentlemen, whenever the Bible does that, it's always an alert to you that it's a didactic nature passage. The word didactic means to teach. Paul really wants you to get this. Let me start over. Not Paul, but God, through Paul, really wants you to get this. And so a couple of these principles, it's gonna repeat and I'll show you. In fact, three of the four repeat themselves. But let's look at the first one tonight, could we please? Verse number 12, where the Bible says, verse number 12, chapter three, Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect. Then, gentlemen, jump down to verse 13. He says the same thing again. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. Would you look at me, please? What the Apostle Paul is alluding to there, gentlemen, is a feature, a principle that every good athlete knows, and that's this. They are always still hungry. They're never satisfied with how many trophies. They're never satisfied with how many victories they've had. They always want more. What Paul is telling us here is that when it comes to this athletic event called Christianity, Paul is saying, I'm not there yet. I'm not as good at this event called Christianity as I'm going to be. I want to get better. I'm not satisfied with where I'm at. Gentlemen, this is Paul, who makes the rest of us look brain dead when it comes to theology. Paul's saying, I'm not there yet. What fascinates me about this, men, is the fact that do you have any idea how old Paul was when he penned Philippians 3? He's in his late 60s, we believe, and he still had an attitude. I'm not there yet. I'm not as good at that book. I'm not as good at this Christian living thing as I want to be. I want to get better. I'm still hungry. As G. Campbell Morgan used to say, there's always an element of divine discontentment in the heart of a growing Christian. Not one of you here tonight should be satisfied with where you're at spiritually. I don't care how much education. I don't care how many decades you've been saved. Every one of us need to keep an attitude. I am still hungry. I am not satisfied. I want more. Gentlemen, this first principle, this hunger, is the driver to everything else in this analogy. It all begins with your hunger, your desire to be better for Jesus Christ, to grow, to not be satisfied with where you're at spiritually. Now, having said that, let me give you an example. Gentlemen, many years ago, and I know I'm gonna turn some of you off with this illustration, but stay with me anyway, would you please? A number of years ago, I had to move to New England. And when I moved to New England, it was in the late 1900s, early 2000s, I moved to New England. And I used to, I enjoy listening to sports radio. I'm a sports fan. I kind of enjoy it. It's kind of a hobby. And I remember when I moved to New England, I would turn on sports radio and here's what I would hear. Oh, this could be the year for the Patriots. We've got a great quarterback called Drew Bledsoe, and it's looking good. Oh, it's looking good. And oh, folks, I heard it over and over. Oh, this could be the year. We had a good last season, and we almost made the playoffs. And this could be the year. Oh, yeah. This could be the year. I mean, gentlemen, the buzz in the air was good. And the season started, and the Patriots got into a game against the Jets. And it was at Foxborough. And a linebacker broke through the protection and hit Drew Bledsoe so hard, he cracked a couple ribs, ruptured his spleen, and broke a leg. I mean, it was a major collision. They had to carry him. It was in the second quarter. They had to carry him off the field. And they put in a backup that nobody cared for. And this backup came out there. And gentlemen, he stunk. He was terrible. The pages got killed. And all that week on sports radio, here's what I heard. Nobody can cry like a New England fan. It's not fair. What are we going to do? I heard that all week. They played the next game, and that backup came out and stunk. And they got massacred, and again for another week. It's not fair. What are we going to do? Well, the next game came, and that backup came out and didn't look too bad. And the Patriots narrowly won. So for another week, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, e They made the playoffs with this backup. And during the playoffs, they kept getting better and better, and nobody saw this coming in the entire nation. Nobody saw this coming. The Patriots made the Super Bowl. They were going to be playing what was called back then the St. Louis Rams, referred to as the greatest show on turf. The Patriots were about a 10-point underdog, but they came out in that Super Bowl, and friends, you know the rest of the story. The Patriots won a major, major upset. And here's what you heard in New England. I was there in the middle of it. Here's what you heard. Tom Brady, he the man, he the man, drew blood soap, and they traded into Buffalo. Tom Brady, he the man, he can have my first born, we love Tom Brady. We love Tom Brady, Tom Brady, Tom Brady, Tom Brady. Well, let me tell you what happened. That following summer, they went to training camp, and ESPN stuck a microphone in Tom Brady's face, and they said, Mr. Brady, you've won it all. You're only 22 years old, you've won it all. What more is there? And here's exactly what he said, man. I don't know. What more is there? I've won it all. You hear what's happening, gentlemen? He lost his hunger. He lost his drive. You know what happened? The Patriots didn't even make the playoffs the next season. And for the first time in his life, hear me carefully, for the first time in his life, Tom Brady experienced losing, and he got his hunger back. Gentlemen, what a picture of you and me. Every one of us has experienced losing. We know what it is to fall to sin. And if you're the right kind of man, oh, it bugs you. And you know what it does? You know what it ought to do? It ought to drive you to your knees. It ought to drive you to this book. It ought to drive you to drive where I say, I want to get better. I'm tired of getting beat. I want to win. I want to grow. It all starts, gentlemen. It all starts with your hunger. And I realize here tonight, I am looking at men. It's been a long time since you memorized a new verse. It's been a long time since you've had devotions. I am told, well, I'll save that for later, but I want you to understand, it all begins with our drive, with our hunger. And that, when I have the right kind of hunger, then I'm naturally gonna do number two. Would you look at your Bible? Look at verse 12. He says, not as white or tainted or already perfect. Watch this now, watch this. But I, next two words out loud, man. That's one Greek word. Let me show it to you again. Jump down to verse 14. I'm gonna show you the exact same Greek word again. Are you with me? Amen if you're alive. All right, watch this. Verse 14. I, what? Same word. There you have a couplet again. Let me tell you what that word means. It means something that none of us like. I'm going to be very fortunate if I don't have things thrown at me. But what you need to understand, Christian man, is that you're going to be what God wants you to be. You've got to follow after. You've got to press. Let me tell you what that word means. It means what you mean when you and I say discipline. Oh, what a cuss word for many. Discipline. Gentlemen, you've got to be disciplined. Paul told a young man by the name of Timothy, Timothy, you can't be godly without discipline. Gentlemen, you must be disciplined. And I'm saying this to men because let me tell you what happens in the local church. Most of the discipline happens to be with the women. I read a statistic not long ago that said 90% of all the reading done by a local congregation is done by the women. I'll tell you why. Reading is hard. Reading means you have to sit your can down in a chair somewhere and just stay there and read the whole thing. It takes discipline to read. It takes discipline to read your Bible. I have a good friend who was in the ministry and made it a goal in his life to read the Bible through once a month. Oh, it took him a couple hours a day, but he disciplined himself. Gentlemen, anything that is quality always takes discipline. They talk about in the sports world that when a player gets so good, they fall in love with the process. What's the process? Discipline. Getting into the workout room, being the first one at five in the morning to be in the workout room, being disciplined, being very careful about what I eat, very careful about what I drink. If I'm a world-class athlete, friend, gentlemen, you're not gonna find a picture of LeBron James drinking a Coke. Is there anything wrong with Coke? No, I love Coke. Love it. By the way, did you hear about the guy that guzzled eight Coca-Colas? He burped seven up. Some of you will get that tomorrow. You're not going to find a picture of whatever smoking a cigarette. Do they have convictions against those things? No. They just know that's going to hurt their game. That's going to hurt their event. Gentlemen, are you connecting the dots? Now that you're saved, There's going to be things that you're going to have to say, no. I know I'm not going to do that. And yes, I'm going to do that. Yes, I'm going to spend time with her. No, I'm going to say no, young people, to that video game so I can have my devotion. It takes discipline. And nobody likes discipline. But after a while, like an athlete, you start to enjoy the process. You start to look forward to devotions. You start to look forward to memorizing more of God's Word. And you start to fall in love with that process. Gentlemen, I'm talking about a world-class athlete. That's the way they are. And that's the way God wants you to be. You're very careful about what you let in your life. You're very careful about what you look at. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them, it turns out. It will not cleave unto me. We were careful about what we watched. We're careful about our thought life. I'm told, as I shared earlier today, I'm told that 70% of you have dabbled in pornography in the last month. It takes discipline to say no. It's a very powerful sin. It takes discipline to say, no, I'm not going to let that in my life. No, no, no. Gentlemen, you can't be the right kind of Christian and not have a good, no, no, no, and yes, yes, yes. Coming back to Tom Brady, I know you're sick of him. He's been on the sports scene for over 20 years, but what a phenomenal athlete. I don't know if you know this, but Sports Illustrated a couple years ago had a huge multi-page article about his discipline. The guy is nuts. He's been an example to every team he's played on. He's an example to the NFL of what it takes to really master your event. To give you an example, he's never out of bed, even during the off season. He's never out of bed past nine o'clock in the evening. At five in the morning, he's always the first one, even during off season, in the workout room. He will not touch alcohol, even though he's as unsafe as a skunk. He will not eat ice cream unless it's made out of avocado. He is very, very disciplined about what he has in his diet. Gentlemen, how much more notorious ought you to be because you're playing for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. How much legendary ought you to be about how careful you are about the music you listen to, about what you watch on your media, about what your thought life is like. God wants us disciplined. He told us you cannot please me without discipline. Discipline is a theme all through scripture from cover to cover. Your ability to say no to the flesh, because your flesh will always fight you spiritually, saying no to the flesh and yes to the spirit. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is? So a disciplined man says, no, I'm going to crucify the flesh. God has called every one of you to be a murderer. You're to kill the flesh. Let me tell you why, man. Your body will always fight you spiritually. Yet so many decisions we make are based on the body and what makes us feel good. And we need to understand that that's probably going to take you down the wrong road. And that bugs you if you're a real believer. That really bugs you because you want to be the kind of heaven class athlete, which is far better than world class. You want to be a heaven class athlete and play the king of kings and lord of lords. Let me show you the next one. I want to move on, because I really want to get to number four and spend some time there, OK? Number three, watch this. This is not a couple, but I want you to see it. Verse 13. Everybody with me? Are you awake, guys? All right, verse 13. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. Next word out loud, gentlemen. Forgetting. Forgetting. Say it out loud. Forgetting. One more time for Grandma. Forgetting. Now, let me tell you what that means. Every great athlete is taught, forget the last shot. Forget the last stroke. I play a lot of tennis. They always talk on major TV when they're showing a tournament like Wimbledon, how those players are coached to forget the last shot. They hit the last shot in the net, they hit it long, they hit it wide, forget it. It's all about the next point. Keep your focus in front. It's all about the next shot. Gentlemen, every great athlete is a good forgetter, but you would be amazed, gentlemen, how many Christian men are paralyzed because they have not learned how to forget the past. Something happened that was negative, something happened that was positive, and they never got past it. How tragic. I lived in New England, as I've told you already, for a number of years. I became a Boston Celtics fan. I've been to many of their games. I even got to go to a World Championship game one time because somebody gave me a ticket. What a blessing. But I want you to know that those Celtics are good. And they were in a playoff series one year with the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers had a Hall of Fame guard by the name of Allen Iverson. Do you remember him? Allen Iverson was amazing. But Allen Iverson was very what they call ball-centric. In other words, he never saw a shot he didn't like. And they came to Boston, and they got into a series with the Celtics. And I was watching this on TV. And Allen Iverson came out there at the Boston Garden and absolutely stunk. Every shot he put up is what they called a brick. It would bounce off the air and doink, doink, doink, doink. After the game was over, the Celtics killed him. And after the game was over, during the press conference, they asked Allen Iverson, Mr. Iverson, what's the problem? Bad pizza? Girlfriend breakup? What's going on here, buddy? And all he would say, gentlemen, over and over and over again, all he would say was, wait till the next game. Wait till the next game. Wait till the next game. Oh, come on, Mr. Iverson, give us something. That's all he would say, wait till the next game. Well, a couple days later, the next game came. It was at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. And Allen Iverson came out and shot the lights out and killed us. What a picture, gentlemen, of you. Isn't it interesting? Every one of you, including your speaker, every one of us have things in our past that we're ashamed of. Oh, I would turn every shade of red, and I don't do that easily. But I would turn every shade of red if you knew the stuff I got into when I was younger. You're the same way. Every one of us have what we call skeletons in our closet. You know what God says about it? Forget it! It's in the past. It's under the blood. Forget it. Stop thinking about it. Stop bringing it up. As far as the East is from the West, I will remember your sins. No more. Forget it. It's all about the past. But you would be amazed at how many Christians will not give out a trap because years ago, somebody made fun of them. Or years ago, something negative was said about them. Oh, or they taught a Sunday school class and it didn't go so well. So, oh, time to turn the church over to the younger generation. That is unbiblical. That is unbiblical. Nowhere in the Bible does it say, turn the church leadership over to the young people. Let me tell you what the Bible does tell us. that the early church found its leadership and found its pastor in all the seasoned saints. Gentlemen, you are never too old for game. You're never too old. But the Bible says, forget the past. And gentlemen, there's kind of a flip side to that coin. Many of us, maybe all of us, Have trophies. I mean, we lent some to the Lord 23 years ago. We got trophies in our trophy case. But the Bible says, forget it. I'm glad you got those trophies. Good to have a trophy. Good for you. But that should never, gentlemen, never, ever, ever, Mr. 70-year-old, should never be your focus. The Bible says, forget the past. It's all about, you've got more gain. You've got more gain. You've got more gain. I feel bad sometimes. I go to a lot of churches all over this country, and very often I'll go to a church, and the congregation's primarily made up of older Christians, and I'll hear this. Oh, Brother Mike, oh, you should have been here 20 years ago. Our parking lot was full of buses. We had all kinds of young people. We had a Christian school. We were thriving. Oh, you should have been here. Gentlemen, I don't say this, but I think it, I wanna say, who cares? Who cares? I'm glad, I'm glad you got that. I'm glad those trophies are there, but it's all about church. It's all about pastor. It's all about congregants, the next game. You got more game. It's all about the future. God has given you more time. The game's not over. The game's not over. You don't have a two-minute warning yet. No, you still got more game. In the Bible it says, forget about the past church. It's all about the future. I don't care how your congregation is made up. I don't care what you've got in your past. You've got more game, gentlemen. You've got more game. Play the game. It's all about the future. You've got more game. If you've got another breath, you've got more game. One of the greatest soul winners I've ever seen was my father-in-law. He was still leading nurses to the Lord on his deathbed at the age of 87. Gentlemen, you got more game. Don't give up. Forget about the past. I'm glad you got good stuff. I'm sorry about the bad stuff, but the Bible says forget it. It's all about more game, more game, more game. Gentlemen, don't quit. Get back in the game. You're not going to find in your Bible the word retirement. Not in there. You got more game. You got more game. But let me get to point four. I need to hurry. Watch this, gentlemen. Oh, I love this. This is so rich. Watch this. Verse number 14. Are you with me, gentlemen? Watch this. I pressed toward the mark for the prize, for the high. I pressed toward the mark. Did you see that word mark? How is that ever significant? Now let me show it to you again. Jump down to verse 17. Now watch this, gentlemen. Watch it carefully. This is so rich. Brethren. So he's talking to Christians. He's talking to you, gentlemen. Brethren. Be followers together of what men? Me. And mark them, there's that word again, same word, and mark them which walk or live so you have us as an example or an example. Would you look at me please? Let me tell you what Paul's talking about. This is, gentlemen, this is so rich. Have you ever gone into a teenager's room who's into sports? It might be a young lady, she's into soccer or volleyball, basketball, whatever. It might be a young man, he's into football, you know, whatever. Have you ever gone into a teenager's room that's really, that they're very active in sports? Invariably, what do you see on the walls? Posters, why? Why? I remember when I was in high school. I was a big Seattle Supersonics fan. In fact, my parents took me to a game for my birthday at the age of 12. I loved the Seattle Supersonics. Some of you have never heard of them because they became communists and moved to Oklahoma City. But I was a big Seattle Supersonics fan, and I remember I was in a store one time looking through the posters, and gentlemen, don't do that anymore. It's pornography. Back in the 70s, it wasn't bad. And I was looking through these posters, and boom! There was a huge two-foot by three-foot poster of my favorite Seattle Supersonic. His name was Spencer Heywood. How many of you remember him? He's in the Hall of Fame. Phenomenal power forward. And there was a picture of him, and it was a beautiful shot. It was a perfect time shot, where he's in the corner of the key arena, where they played there in Seattle. He's in the corner, and he's doing a jump shot. And he had what they call in basketball, beautiful form. The ball was on his fingertips, he was elevated, his elbows were in perfect form, he was about to release it, and they shot that picture just right at that precise moment. I fell instantly in love with that poster. I bought it. I took it home and I put it up on my bedroom wall, and I'm not ashamed to admit, I had every centimeter of that poster memorized in my mind, and I would go out to the driveway and I would try to imitate. Imitate Spencer Haywood. Now, I didn't come close because I'm white, but I did my best. I tried to imitate that. Let me tell you what happened to that poster. This is free. Let me tell you what happened to that poster. When I started packing to go off to Christian College, I was going to a college 2,500 miles away. The first thing I packed was that poster. It's the first thing I unpacked when I got to college. I put it up on my dorm wall. My roommates loved it. It stayed up there all year. At the end of the year, my hall monitor, who was a good friend of mine, he had gotten me out of all kinds of demerits. I should have gotten shit by the kids, but I didn't because of my hall monitor. He was a real friend of mine. He came into my room. He had turned down a basketball scholarship to come and study for the ministry. He's a good friend of mine from California, by the way. And he came into my room and he said, Mike, What are you going to do with that poster? I went, Lee, you can have it. Oh, thanks, Mike. And he took it. Never saw it again. But gentlemen, what a picture. Please stay with me now. Come here. Come here. Come here. What a picture of you and me. The Bible's telling you there in verse 17, have posters on the walls of your mind of Christians that you look up to. By the way, men, that's why the qualifications for a pastor are so high in your church, because by virtue of their position, they are poster material. And God said, I want you to have a life that's poster life so that people can watch you. And gentlemen, what Paul is saying is you should, everyone, I don't care who you are, should have posters in your mind of great men and great women that you can kind of imitate. That's why it's so good, Dad, to read missionary biographies of these great men that gave their lives for the Lord Jesus Christ. They become posters when you read those books. And so Paul is saying, have posters. And you know what Paul says? It fascinates me. There's what he says. He says, can I be one of them? Can I be one of them? That's Paul talking. Can I be one of your posters? Paul, kind of arrogant. Why would Paul do that? And may I remind you, men, he's doing that under inspiration of heaven. Why would God allow him to say that? Because Paul knew that when it came to fallen humanity, he was probably one of the most closest things to being Christ-like you will ever meet in human flesh. Paul said, be like me. Gentlemen, would you chew on that for a moment? What would Paul be like if he lived where you lived? If he worked where you worked? If he went to school where you go to school? If he went to church where you go to church? What would he be like? That's God's will for you. That's God's will for you. But here's the problem. I wonder how many of you men, young, old, in between, I wonder how many of you are like a big shot athlete I heard about. Let me tell you about it. Years ago, my father-in-law, who is one of my heroes, he's with the Lord now. I preached his funeral a couple of years ago. What a godly man he was. But he, for a number of years, was a PR man for a very large boy's home in South Carolina. It was his job every year to organize a big banquet where these multimillionaire givers who helped to support the boy's home would come and have a banquet. And it was my father-in-law's job to organize that banquet and bring in a speaker. My father-in-law used to teach in Bakersfield at one of the high schools and was a very well-known journalist. He was now living in South Carolina. He was the PR man for this boy's home. And he got the bright idea. He happened to be friends. You'll like this, Californians. He happened to be friends with Tommy Lasorda. Tommy Lasorda could often be spotted in Greenville, South Carolina, where I live, because his mother lived there. So my father-in-law got on the phone one year. He had the bright idea. I wonder if I could get Tommy to be our speaker at that boy's home banquet. He called Tommy Lasorda and said, hey, Tommy, this is Bob. Got a question for you. He said, Tommy, we cannot afford to fly you, but I know you come to Greenville often to visit your mother. Is there any way, Tommy, that you could coincide a visit with your mom and be the speaker for our banquet? Tommy immediately jumped on and said, Bob, I would love to. And he did. My father-in-law met him at the Greenville Spartanburg Airport. They drove to the banquet, and they had a chicken dinner. And Tommy Lasorda got up to speak. And let me tell you, man, what he said. You'll find this interesting. He got up and said, ladies and gentlemen, when I was in sixth grade, I was a school crossing guard in Philadelphia. I hated it. I hated it. Helping this snot nose kids across the street, I hated it. Because often it would be raining, it'd be snowing, it'd be hot. But he said, I did it all year because I knew the reward was we got to go to a Philadelphia professional baseball game. And I loved baseball. He said, the end of the year came, they went to the game, and Tommy said, I had a brand new pad of paper, I had a nice sharp pencil, and back then, we're talking probably the 40s, gentlemen, they used to let boys stand in the tunnel where the players came on and off the field to get autographs. Tommy said, I got there nice and early, and I got a couple of autographs. But there was one particular autograph, Tommy said, that I wanted of a big shot slugger. He wouldn't say his name. A big shot slugger. He said, so at the end of the game, before the game was even over, can you imagine a sixth grade boy doing that? He said, I left the game early. That's hard. I left the game early, though, so I could get a good spot in the tunnel so I could get that autograph. Tommy said, I got a good spot. And after the game was over, Mr. Big Shot came down the tunnel. And Tommy said, I stepped out in front of him. And I said, please, sir, can I have your autograph? And Mr. Big Shot took his hand and shoved little Tommy out of the way and said, get out of my way, kid. I don't have time for that now. Tommy said, I was crushed. I was hurt. Eight years later, Tommy Lasorda is a hot little rookie, standing on a pitcher's mound, pitching one of his first Major League Baseball games. And who should step up to bat? Mr. Big Shot. Had no idea who Tommy was. Tommy said, I got the signals from my catcher. He said, I wound up. He was left-handed, I'm right-handed, so I'm backwards with this illustration, but you understand. He said, I wound up, and I threw a fastball for his head. He said, every time he got ready to bat, he said, I did nothing but throw heaters at his head. The guy hit the dirt many times. It was almost a fight. Every time Mr. Big Shot got up to bat, Tommy said, I did nothing but throw fastballs for his head. After the game was over, Mr. Big Shot came up to this rookie, Tom, and said, son, what is your problem? What did I ever do to you? And Tommy said, sir, years ago, you didn't have time for me. And today, I didn't have time for you. And Tommy went on and said this. Gentlemen, I want you to hear this. He said, when I became the manager of the world champion Dodgers, I would sit all my new players every spring, all my new players down in a room, and I would tell them that story. And I would finish with this. You are now a Dodger. And as long as you're on my team, as long as I'm the manager of this team, you will take time for the fan. They are the reason you're here. I went to a Cubs-Dodgers game one time at Wrigley in Chicago. As is customary in Major League Baseball, the home team came out to warm up first. The Cubs came out. They were so stuck up. I was standing next to a guy who played minor league for the Cubs. He knew the first baseman, Berkley. Kept calling out, Gracie, Gracie. Gracie did nothing but ignore us. They were so stuck up. They left the field. Out came the Dodgers. They were so friendly. They interacted with us. I watched Oral Hirscheiser. Remember him? Hall of Fame? Oral Hirscheiser snuck up behind his manager, Tommy DeSoto, grabbed his baseball cap and tossed it to a fan that was asking for him to stand. They were fun. And I'm happy to announce tonight the Dodgers won that game. I share that story with you tonight, men, because I'm wondering how many of you are like Mr. Big Shot? When it comes to your Christianity, you're all about you. If I want to drink it, I'm going to drink it. I don't care who's watching it. Some of you crybabies need to grow up and realize that it's a privilege to be watched. You should welcome their stare. You should welcome their studying. You should welcome their gaze, because it gives you an opportunity to holding forth the word of life. It gives you an opportunity to be salt and light. It gives you an opportunity to be, you should welcome their gaze. You should welcome their stare. But I wonder how many of you are like Mr. Big Shot. Leave me alone. It's my life. If I want to stay home Sunday night, I'm staying home. If I want to stay home, I'm staying home. If I want to watch it, I'm going to watch it. If I want to drink it, I'm going to drink it. If I want to go to that website, it's my business, leave me alone. You arrogant, self-centered, selfish, so not what Jesus Christ wants, Christian. You should have every desire to be poster. God's called every one of you, gentlemen, do you hear me? God's called every one of us to be poster material. Those of you that are retired, I guarantee you there are younger men watching you. Oh, so that's what a retiree is like that loves Jesus Christ and has discretionary time to give to himself. I want to be like that someday. Every one of you who retires ought to want that and aspire to that. Those of you that are married, you men that are married, I guarantee you there are single adults in your church, there are teenagers, there are college students watching you. Oh, so that's what a Christian marriage is like. That's what a godly man, that's how a godly man treats his wife. I want to be like that. Those of you that are in college, I guarantee you there are teenagers watching you. Oh, so that's what a college age guy is like that loves Jesus Christ. He's not about partying on Friday night and Saturday night. He's all about living. I want to be like that. Every one of you high schoolers, I promise you, there are elementary kids watching you. Oh, so that's what a teenager's like that loves Jesus Christ. I want to be like that. Gentlemen, every one of us should have a desire. I want to be postal material. You said that desire. I hope that God will convict your heart. Would you bow your heads, please, and close your eyes?