We are all in on this! We have a Bible reading plan. I don’t know how many are reading it, but that’s between you and God. However, 10,656 of you have downloaded it, and we are grateful for that—amen! We are studying Jesus, and I will be teaching about Him all the way to Easter, and maybe even beyond. So let’s move to part three of this series. I want to go to Matthew chapter 14:22. It says this: «Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.» Y’all know I don’t usually wear these suits; my feet are hurting right now! I should have brought my flats. I feel like a woman in heels! Woo! Every King Sunday, I put on a suit, but my God today—amen! Pray for the preacher.
All right, verse 23: «After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.» I want to stop the reading of the Scripture there and talk about the subject we have this time together—family, I want to talk about «GOAT Talk.» Clap your hands—11:45—GOAT talk! Many of you who are part of this spiritual family know, and you know because I’ve repeated it regularly, that I am an unapologetic, unashamed Michael Jordan fan. I’m talking about Michael Jeffrey Jordan. I’m talking about a six-time NBA champion, my God! I’m talking about a six-time Finals MVP, a ten-time scoring title champion, a five-time regular-season MVP—Sir Michael Jordan! Yes sir! I’m talking about a 14-time All-Star—Sir Michael Jordan! I’m talking about one-time Defensive Player of the Year—yes sir, Michael Jordan!
I not only admired Mike growing up, but as I played basketball in junior high, high school, and even in college, I didn’t just like Mike; I wanted to be like Mike! Yes sir! I tried to wear my shorts like Mike, I tried to run like Mike, and even at 15, I shaved my head like Mike. I stuck my tongue out like Mike. And even though I tried to run like Mike, look like Mike, shoot my free throws like Mike, wear my shorts like Mike, and wear my socks like Mike, there is one thing I couldn’t do like Mike: I couldn’t play like Mike. There are several reasons I couldn’t play like Mike, and I won’t go through the list. Still, I will highlight one reason that I think is incredibly important and uniquely relevant for all of us in this room.
I could not do what Mike did on the court because I wasn’t doing what Mike did off the court. I couldn’t do what Mike did in public because I wouldn’t do what Mike did in private. I couldn’t get the results Mike got because I wouldn’t put in the work like Mike did. Isn’t that just like life? Yes! We operate under the illusion that we can obtain someone’s results without putting in their work. Woo! That is, in fact, an unconscious and unintentional underemphasis of the law of sowing and reaping. The sage named Solomon put it this way in Proverbs chapter 20:4: «Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest, they look but find nothing.» My God! They are finding nothing because they didn’t plant anything! Did you hear what I just said? They’re trying to step into harvest season when they never stopped to plow!
I can’t expect to reap if I’m not willing to sow! And maybe for some of us, 2025 is not harvest season; maybe for others, 2025 is plowing season. Perhaps for some of us, 2025 isn’t the time to go outside; maybe 2025 is the time to go inside and put in the work. Because goats move in silence. If you’re willing to plow in private, then you’ll be able to reap in public. Am I talking to anybody who is making a decision, even as you sit in this sacred space, that this is the year you’re getting ready to plow? You’re getting ready to put the work in because God has done what He’s done in your life. You’ve been half plowing, just kind of plowing. If you’ve been able to accomplish this with half plowing and partially plowing, what could God do if you put your hands to the plow and don’t look back?
This may be our season to go inside in private and then, at the end of the year, pop out in public and say, «Look what plowing has done! I put the work in private; now I’m popping out in public!» And just as it is with Michael Jordan or LeBron James—whoever your GOAT is in the game of basketball—so it is in the game of life. Yes sir! Because the GOAT in life is not James or Jordan! The GOAT of GOATS—yes, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the prototype of God’s ultimate intention for humanity—the manifestation of human flourishing! The one that God sent to us to show us not just how to be like Him but how to be human as He intended. The one who is the embodiment and fullness of the expression given by the church father Maximus Confessor, who said, «Christianity is a completely different way of being human.»
