Leon Fontaine - Get In The Game
I was teaching in the southern hemisphere of the planet at different conferences, and happened to run into some people who were officials in rugby, and they asked me if I wanted to come and watch an All-Blacks game. And didn't, you know, they know who they were and so westernized over here. Famous, famous rugby team. And so they, they actually had a seating with the players. And so we were sitting right behind them. And we were seated actually with, or behind but in the same section as the injured players. And so I was just watching this game unfold and two coaches. And, you know, whatever they were, defensive coaches, or offensive coaches. I don't know how they divided that for rugby. But there were coaches there training and plan, and all the stuff that was going on.
And I noticed, and I was just watching and God began to speak to me about this. He said, "Take a look and learn from this when it comes to the church". You see, the church if you, if you look at a lot of the messaging of churches on television, it's always messages to the wounded, the hurting, the broken hearted, the marginalized. The, you know, those dealing with shame, struggling with issues. That's important. And God just said, "You'll notice all the top coaches aren't working with the injured section". Injured section has doctors. When you pay people that much, you got doctors. Physiotherapists working with them. The goal being to get them back on the playing field. But the top coaches were working with the team on the field. And He said, "The church has become just a hospital".
Where you just keep, just keep people in the wounded bench. You know, massage their leg, get them a stool. Someone get them a coffee and a milkshake and just leave them in the wounded list. But the whole goal of looking after the wounded is to get them on the field. And the gift and skills and the things that's within them using them to advance the cause for that rugby club, or in our case for the kingdom of God. And so we're going to talk a little bit today. And some of my messages, like, I call them shooting holy cows. Because a holy cow is a belief that has pervaded the church and it, it's like we're on spiritual birth control pills. We don't give birth to anything. We don't see anything changing in our world. Where is the church? Oh, I don't know. We gather in a building and keep to yourselves. Oh, is that what Jesus said? Not.
One of the teachings that has really hurt the church is something Jesus said that was horribly misunderstood. He said, "And the meek shall inherit the earth". Now, the word the way we use the word meek in our modern vernacular. It would mean powerless, no real influence, no one to worry about. He's meek. And is that what Jesus meant? Because I can't find powerless people in the Bible. Not Moses, not David, not Solomon, not Joshua, not Paul, not Peter. These guys upset countries and turned around cities and healed the sick. And nobody killed Jesus. He said, "No one takes my life. I lay it down when I'm ready". And that's what He did. So where does this meek come from? So we need to look at this word and we need to understand and say, "What does it mean in a biblical place? How are the meek going to inherit the earth if we just huddle in little defensive prayer meetings and that's all we have to do". Just pray. God's going to look after the re...and if it happens, it's God's will.
I had a guy talked to me. He was a religious leader. And he looked at me one day and he says, "You know, isn't it horrible the violence on our planet"? I said, "I hate violence. I abhor violence. I don't like it in our families, our homes, our streets". And I said, "But I have no problem using it". His eyes got really big. "To protect my family, my home". He did not agree with me on that. He say, "Oh, no, no, no, no. We, you know..." And so there is a doctrine, for every mile of truth is two miles of ditch. The one ditch on this word meek is being so passive that we have religious groups that you could go punch them, and just steal stuff from them, and they would just hang their head and go, "You know, the Lord wills. Whatever, the Lord wills". You can go in there and take their kid, kidnapped him. And they'll just pray for you as you walk out the door. I kid you not.
Then we got the other extreme. They're out there screaming obscenities and carrying placards and cursing people for specific sins. And you kind of go, "Ouch". Like, could somebody represent Christ properly? You see, Jesus sent His disciples out one time and He said, "Don't take an extra coat. Don't take money. Don't take, you know, just go and you're going to be looked after". Now, let me read you another verse so few people seem to be aware of in the Bible. Let's go down to Luke 22:35. So Jesus says to them. This is just before He goes to the cross. "When I sent you out with no money bag, or knapsack, or sandals, did you lack anything"? They said, "Nothing". God supernaturally looked after them, bless them. All right. Jesus says to them, "But now," I love the word but now. "But now let the one who has a money bag take it and likewise a knapsack, and let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy a sword". And they said to Him, "Jesus, we've got two". "Good," He said. What? That's what Jesus said? That's what Jesus said.
Now, when you take a look at the territory that these disciples had to walk through to bring the gospel to the then known world, as they walk through bandit-covered areas, and I mean, mountains and deserts and wild animals. Paul taught about how many times he was with wild animals, had been attacked and shipwrecked and all the stuff. And they didn't bring along sword... Now this word sword is the word they would use for the short Roman sword that is the weapon. They became famous for as they hid behind a plank of shields and then they had stabbed. It wasn't to butter their toast on the campfire. What was it? It was a defensive, protective weapon. Animals, bandits. There's just no other way to look at this. Well, I disagree. Good for you. But let's take a look of what the Word says, all right?
So Jesus says, "Good. That's enough. Two will do". It doesn't make sense to me that I would stand by and it defies every man in the place to go, "Oh, you'd like to take my wife. Lord, I don't like this but it must be Your will". Really? Most the guys in this church, you dead. Like, you're just done. So is Jesus really wanting us to be this passive? Let's say that was true. Whoever a policeman in here has messed God because you carry a gun. You use handcuffs. And its work to wrestle a guy to the ground and handcuff him. Its work sometimes to take out people who are bent on killing the public and your job is to protect them. And that's our defense against people who would love to kill, steal, destroy children money, property. And the police, they're out there to protect us.
Oh, but if you're a Christian now, you would be in sin if you're a policeman. But I have a ton of great men and women who literally carry guns and that they work in this area. It would be a sin to be in the army, if you're going to believe this teaching. So we can't protect Canada, can't protect it from Hitler, can't protect it from anybody. Well, if we're not going to protect our country, are there evil people out there running countries who if they know that if they come in and take the country. We're all going to go, "Guess, it's God's will". It's just a ridiculous doctrine. And it's made Christians lazy because all you have to do is hide in your church and pray and let's just see what happens. You can't find that in the Word. And some of you who've been raised in certain religious sects, where this passivity, this passiveness has been taught and ingrained in you, and it is wrong.
I'm going to encourage you to go ahead and pick up a, Vine's Concordance. You can get different Lenski's commentaries. You know, Olive Tree. Just take a look at the word praus. Which is the word, the Greek word for the word meek. Now as you, as you take a look at this word the way it was used back then. Meek was not an exterior appearance. It was not, bless you. The guy must be a Christian. Look at him. He walks like one. No! And, you know, in a Christian world, if you walk straight. My grandpa taught me, "You, stomach in, chest out. Walk like a man". And if I didn't, he'd slap my stomach, bash my back, and make my posture come out. And then you walk amongst church people and go, "Go, go. We're praying for you so you don't get proud". You're going to go like pride is a heart issue, not an exterior issue. Meek is a heart issue, not an exterior issue. And so you can't see someone's meekness by their physical posture.
Can you imagine if you went to a Christian brain surgeon who was meek? And he just said, "Oh, we're going to try our best, the Lord willing. Will you pray? It's all in God's hands. And, you know, bless you. We'll be praying". Then you got this guy over their cussing, swearing. You know, and he says, "I've done a thousand of these things. Yours is going to be easy". Just confidence plus. I'll take this guy any day. Like what is with us that we develop this attitude that meek means weak. Okay, don't write me letters about this. Rabbits aren't exactly a powerful animal. You know, they don't hurt anybody. I got a lot of rabbits in my yard. They come and go, and they're, they're cute. But they've never attacked me. They've never stared me down from the bush. They've never stalked me down my driveway. They're rabbits. They're, no power, no ability, nothing, and they just hop away. And so you can't call a rab, you can't call a rabbit meek. I'll explain to you why.
The word meek means power under control. You see, Jesus was meek. And if meek meant powerless, no influence, no power, no ability, etcetera. Then you could say, "Jesus is the rabbit of Judah". But He wasn't the rabbit of Judah. Thank you. He was a lion of Judah. A lion, now if you've got a meek lion, that's cool. Because he can take out twelve men in a second. I mean, this thing is power plus. So Jesus was meek. And a meek Jesus didn't mean He was powerless, or had no influence. In fact, they couldn't even take His life. He said, "No one takes my life. I lay it down when it's time". They tried. He'd walked through the whole crowd. No one laid a hand on Him. Now this Jesus, how much power did He have? Well, He said, "I could call right now legions of angels to just destroy the world. Take you out". But He didn't. He had power, stunning power. But meek meant, see, to be meek is a product of the recreated spirit.
And when you go to Galatians 5 and you look at what Holy Spirit within you, and you become born again does, He produces fruit, results. What are those results? You'll be confident. You'll be filled with courage, peace, joy, love, self-control, patience. What's really cool when you study this out, is the word praus in the Greek, which is meek, is what the Greeks called their warhorses when they were completely trained. Now in those days, they would teach a warhorse to go into battle and take things out. They put armour on their heads with spikes. They protect their chests from arrows with strong armour. And when these horses came in, when they were fully trained, and a meek horse or a praus horse was a warhorse that was instantly obedient to the rider regardless of even its own peril. It would charge right into spears. It would give up its own life. Because it had been trained so well, it was instantly obedient to the rider.
And this is telling you and I, that as a follower of Christ to be meek is to have all the power of heaven at our disposal. Because as He is Jesus, so are we in this world. Jesus said, "The things that I do, shall ye do also". But Jesus is the Lord of our lives. He's the one that guides us and leads us and sends us in directions and tells us what to do and how to do it. And so when we become instantly obedient and we trust Him and respect Him at our disposal is an increase of the gifts of the Spirit, and the influence that comes with rising up in government, rising up in medicine. The church of Jesus Christ, every one of you are gifted and God has placed gifts in you. And they're not to sit around, you know, being meek.
Meek means the giftedness, the power, the development of God. Christ within you is to go into the world, Mark 16:15 says, and to share the gospel. You'll lay your hands on the sick and they shall recover. You'll tread upon the lion and the asp and the adder and the snake. If you eat any deadly thing, it will not hurt you. You'll speak with new tongues. You'll cast out devils. No demonic attack, no demonic strategy will take you out. This is a stunning person of God! Not meek.
Let me read you what the Bible says about a trained warhorse. It's, it's stunning. Habakkuk 1:8, "Their horses also are swifter than leopards, fiercer than evening wolves. Their horsemen spread themselves and press on proudly. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle that hastens to devour".
Job 39:19, "Are you the one who gave the horse his prowess and adorned him with a shimmering mane? Did you create him to prance proudly, strike terror with his royal snorts? He paws the ground fiercely, eager, and spirited. Then he charges into the fray. He laughs at danger, fearless. He doesn't shy away from the sword. The banging, the clanging of lances and quiver. They don't faze him. He quivers with excitement, and at the trumpet blast charges at a gallop. At the sound of the trumpet, he neighs mightily, smelling the excitement of battle from a long way off, catching the rolling thunder of the war cries".
Power under control. If God is going to use his church to touch nations, industries, governments, healthcare, education, arts and entertainment. And He begins to, and He begins to raise you up with gifts and callings. And the gifts of the Spirit work in your life in huge success. Our track record is no better than the world as people begin to follow themselves as they get money or power or influence. But we need the church of Jesus Christ to be truly meek, a work of Holy Spirit. That all the power and the authority that God begins to bring into your world because of Holy Spirit on the inside of you. And you understanding how to pray in the spirit, how to get into God's Word. That in the midst of crisis, in the midst of someone, you know, dissing you and trying to get you mad, trying to get you upset. Because when leaders are angry, when they're upset, when a leader has any extreme emotion, he makes bad choices.
Did you know that according to the Word of God in Proverbs 31, Bathsheba speaking to Solomon, her son. She says this, she says, "My son do not drink. It is not for leaders to drink. Give it to him who is dying, not to a leader who's making decisions". I'm not saying it's a sin to drink. I'm just saying isn't it interesting? That when it comes to anything that would cloud your judgement from alcohol to marijuana to prescription drugs to whatever. If you've got pleasures you can't control, so you're always going after them. Your leadership will be compromised. So meek is a work of the Spirit of God. That when the dust settles, you're just standing there saying, "I knew it had to. I work for Christ. I work for the King of kings and Lord of lords".
So if I'm in healthcare or government, wherever I am, I take my marching orders from Christ, and He works with me and He sees me through it. I get my, and the fruit of the Spirit is powerful because where the gifts of the Spirit or your calling gift begins to rise up. Where you don't have the meekness, the fruit of the Spirit, you will cause shipwreck. You will misuse the power, the authority, that you've been given. So we truly must begin to love the word meek as it is and pray the men and women in office politically. That the men and women who handle money and jobs and careers and unions and healthcare and premiers and mayors and leaders and all that goes on. No wonder we're supposed to pray for leaders because it is a work of Holy Spirit within a born again believer.
That really will allow a leader to go to the highest levels of authority and influence if they will maintain this meekness of spirit. Which is not powerless. It's not you don't have influence. It's that you can't be antagonized into pride. You can't be antagonized into anger. You can't be pushed till you're just ticked off and I'm going to show you. Wouldn't it be an awful leader if he uses the resources, if he uses authority and power to build his own little kingdom to do his own little thing. That would be a horrible leader, because leaders are meant to lead people with a, with the spirit of a servant heart.
Jesus said, "Let him who desires to be great be the servant of all". This is an issue of meekness. That I have been given gifts and abilities. Now, you can say, "Well, I'm not a leader". You are all leaders. You're leading your marriage. You're leading your kids. You're leading at your job. You were bringing influence at your company. The entire church of Jesus Christ, all of us are called to use His gift, His ability flowing within us. And the end does not justify the means. What this is saying as far as the teaching, accurate teaching of the word meek, is that the means is as important as the end. It's how we do it is crucial. Can't say, "Oh, it's a good cause. Bless God, I had to do what I did". The Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches to stay in faith, confident, Christ-centered. He'll give you the strength. He'll give you the ability. He'll raise up what you need. He'll bring in leaders. He'll bring in people.
Every person wherever you are and whatever you're doing. This is what is beautiful about truly being meek. If you'll have an amazing ability to trust and believe God by faith. And you'll walk places that few people could. This ability to be able to handle more and more, more fires, more issues, more successes, where you're not going home stressed out, freaked out, can't eat. All you can have is yogurt. And you can't make a marriage work, can't keep your kids going because you're just so... you literally you stay and walk in the love and the peace of God regardless of how much you have to maintain, contain, and move on for Him. Meek. Hope it changes your life. Let's pray:
Father, today I ask, that in all of us we would desire Your Word and Your Spirit. That we truly could be meek like Jesus. And that wherever we are called and gifted, anointed. That Father, we would rise up, unafraid, and see great fruit in our lives.
Every head bowed for just a moment. I want to close my message down in a powerful prayer. It's a prayer that I once prayed. Others in this auditorium I've prayed. But there are many here that haven't yet. It is the prayer of inviting Christ into your heart. See, people can talk about God helping them and being around them. They might go to church. They might be a good people. But that's not the issue. The issue is God will never push Himself into your life. He will never force Himself into your life. He will come in and be your Lord and Saviour only if invited. He's giving you true freedom. But when you recognize that He sent His Son God, to die on a cross and take your sin, take your place, the curse of the law, and He exchanged His life for yours. It made me love Jesus all the more. Let's play this out loud confidently. Just say:
Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus. He died in my place so I could be in your family. Jesus, come into my heart. I accept the salvation. You are my Lord, and I'm following you for the rest of my days. In Jesus' name, amen.