Say this with me…”expect the unexpected.”  You see, there is something about being aware.  Awareness is a powerful tool.  It is the first step in being proactive in winning the game of life.  In many automobile accidents, when the officer questions those in the accident, the response often is “I never saw it coming.”  I read an article last week that interviewed individuals who were the victims of scam artists.  It said that 96% of those victims say that they never saw it coming.  Nick Cunningham, the director of our high school ministry, told me that in high school, he played offensive tackle.  There was one particular play he’ll never forget…the quarterback broke through and was following behind as the blocker. Before the quarterback made it into the end-zone, Nick started celebrating - only to be taken out of the game. 

When we wake up in the morning after a great night’s sleep, the sun is shining, all is well, and we still need to wake up aware.  Being aware is the first step in strategically being pro-active and winning the game, because it’s often what we don’t see coming that can do the most damage.  Have you ever thought that you had made it?  Thought that you had made it or that you were well on your way?  Only to be blindsided by something you never saw coming?  We must be aware there is an adversary and this adversary never calls time out, never takes a break, and is always looking for a way to catch you off guard Being aware is the first play in our playbook under the section called “protecting the blindside.”  Why don’t you pray with me?

God, we gather here as part of Your team. We gather here that we might learn how to advance the kingdom and stay in the game until the final whistle blows.  We ask that You would open our eyes, ears, hearts and our understanding so that we might receive You afresh in a brand new way.  So let it be in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Sandra Bullock stars in the Oscar-nominated film called The Blind Side.  It’s the story about Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first-round draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.  Michael Oher is known for his unique ability not only you play offense, but to stay aware and be pro-active in protecting the “blind side.”  And I just want to remind you this morning that protecting the blind side is about more than just football.  Let me see if I can make it plain for you.  When you’re driving down the highway, everybody else does not have their hand on the wheel.  Protect your blind side!  Every person smiling in your face doesn’t have your best interest in mind.  Protect your blind side!  Everything that glitters isn’t gold. Today’s success doesn’t secure tomorrow’s. So every morning, learn how to be proactive and protect your blind side.  Because there is an adversary giving 100%, using people, places and things: trying to take you out: 100% of the time.  There are adversaries, so protect your blind side and be aware.  You see there are such things as angels and demons. The angels play for God and the demons play for Satan, and there is a war going on.  There is good news for us. We want to play on God’s side because it’s already been pre-determined that God wins!  So that is our objective.  We ought to be like Michael Oher and be able to say “I’m the best at PBS.” That’s not an acronym for the public broadcasting station; it stands for protecting the blind side! 

In the book of 1^st Kings, we have the story of the prophet Elijah, who by all practical purposes was in the game of life. He was on the angels’ side, coached by God, and was winning by a substantial margin.  Not only was Elijah on the angels’ side, he was also one of God’s star players. He was using God’s playbook following every play that God sent to him.  Let me tell you how the story began…there was a king, the King of Israel, his name was King Ahab.  He was playing from two books; he was playing from God’s playbook and he worshipped God, but he’d also set up idols, worshipping the god of Baal, god of sexual immorality. He was worshipping both gods, and it caused the people of Israel to go through a spiritual drought.  God had seen enough, so he calls Elijah in and says “Elijah, I want you to go to King Ahab and tell him there is going to be a drought.  Tell him the spiritual drought he has caused is now going to be followed by a physical drought and maybe I can get your attention that way.”  Well, Elijah follows the playbook; he goes and tells King Ahab that there will be a drought for three years.  God calls another play, “Now Elijah, I want you to do this.  I want you to go down east of the Jordan and there you will find a brook. I am going to provide water for you.”  And then God calls a strange play. Go says “Now I’m going to send by way of airmail - your food is going to come by way of a raven - and that’s how I’m going to provide nourishment for you.”  Some of us need to remember how God did this, because God did not send him to a five-star hotel.  Nor was his food provided on a silver platter, but God did provide.  Well, the brook dries up, and God calls another play, he says “Now I want you to keep going on to Zarephath, there I have prepared a widow and she is going to provide - even though she doesn’t know it yet - she is going to provide the rest of your needs until I call the next play.”  Well, Elijah goes to find the widow there, and he asks her for some water and food.  The widow says, “Here is some water, but I have nothing cooked.  All I have is a little bit of meal left, and a little bit of oil.  I am prepared to make a cake that my son and I are going to eat it and die.”  We all know people like the widow of Zarephath, where the glass is always half empty.  Everyday, they are going to be dying.  Elijah says “Look, this is what I want you to do.  Bake the cake and divide it into three pieces; one for you, one for your son and one for me.  And this is what’s going to happen. You see, I serve the God Jehovah Jireh and he is the provider.  He is going to supply all of your needs. When you can’t walk, he is going to carry you until you can walk on your own.”  So, he follows the playbook, and she follows the playbook, and everything is provided for. But then something strange happens. Her son dies.  She brings the son to Elijah and asks “What have I done wrong?”  And Elijah, this mighty man of God, prays for her son three times, being prostrate, lying over him and asking that God would bring back the breath of life.  And so Go does. 

Well, God then calls the next play and says “Elijah, now it’s time to go back to King Ahab; tell him that I’m ready to end the drought.  It’s time for a showdown. You tell him there will be no more time for playing from both books.  Tell him that you want him to gather all of the 450 prophets of Baal, line them up on one side, and Elijah, you line up on the other side.  Prepare an offering to your gods, let them prepare an offering and you prepare one, and the god that supplies the fire for the offering, will be declared God.”  King Ahab follows the instructions, and 450 prophets of Baal line up on one side. They gather the wood and the meat from the bull, and the false prophets began praying to this god known as Baal.  They pray into the noon-day, and about that time Elijah starts instigating.  He starts crying out, “Where is your god?  Maybe you need to pray louder, maybe he can’t hear you!”  So they do, they pray louder, and they start cutting themselves, thinking that the blood might somehow wake their god up.  Well, nothing happens and around evening time, Elijah starts preparing his altar.  He piles up 12 stones, representing the 12 tribes of Israel, and then he digs a trench around it. He gathers the wood and pieces of meat from the bull and puts it on top.  Then he takes 12 barrels of water and pours it on the meat, on the wood, on the soil, on the rocks until the water fills the trenches.  He steps back and says “All right God, provide the fire.”  Then God steps in, and the fire came from Heaven. It consumes all the water, it consumes all the meat, it consumes the wood, it consumes the rock, and it even consumes the soil where the offering stood.  And it is declared that God Jehovah is God. 

The false prophets are taken out of the game, they are killed. Then just when you think the game is over, just when you think evil has given up, just when you think it’s going to be a shut-out, the demons send in a woman called Jezebel.  How many know the angels and demons use men and women?  Jezebel tells Elijah that within the past 24 hours he has killed the prophets and within the next 24 hours the same fate will be his.  The enemy had conducted its own “on-side kick.”  In 1 Kings 19, we read that Elijah was afraid.  Sometimes, fear will set in, that is going to happen.  But, when fear knocks, don’t judge the look, follow the playbook.  Follow God’s book.  Fear calls Elijah to fumble the ball, and then he picks up the wrong playbook and the Bible says he ran for his life.  Now the enemy had possession, Elijah ran, and when he came to Beersheba & Judah, he left his servant there. Now he was vulnerable to all kinds of attacks.  The Bible says that he went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and right now we see that it’s halftime in Elijah’s life.

Well, it’s halftime in Elijah’s life; can I just review the first two quarters?  In the first quarter, Elijah was used by God and became one of the greatest running backs the world has ever seen.  God used him to stop rain from falling from the sky for three years - it was a touchdown.  Then God used Elijah to be the person who orchestrated fire coming down from heaven. It was a touchdown.  God used him to demonstrate that God’s food bank is never empty, even if he has to bring it by way of airmail or in unconventional ways.  He showed that power in life is not determined by the way things look, but power in life comes by following God’s playbook.   God used him to defy the law of supply and demand.  When demand was up and supply was gone, God still supplied all of their needs.  It was a touchdown.  God used him to raise the dead. It was a touchdown.  Just when he thought the game was over, that he had arrived in the final end zone of life, Jezebel hit him from the blind side.  She was used for demonic activity. When it should have been settled once and for all that God is superior, evil refused to die.  Just as it was true thousands of years ago, so it is today. 

You and I are going to max out and reach our full potential; we must learn how to be the best at protecting our blind side.  Being the best at PBS.  You see, the adversary as it pertains to Satan and demons, has more in mind than just being against you.  There is more at stake than just a design to oppose or resist your natural calling.  It’s more than a single Super Bowl. The enemy has an eternal goal, and the demonic activity is not concerned with truth. There is a strategy and a specific goal.  We find that strategy and that goal in John 10:10, where it says the enemy is in the game for one purpose and one purpose only. The demons go around like a roaring lion, to steal, kill and destroy.  Even though the enemy cannot do anything without your permission, the goal is to steal your joy, kill your hopes and dreams, destroy your commitment and, if possible, your salvation.  Thanks be to God, God also has a playbook. It’s designed for one purpose and one purpose only. So that you might have an abundant life. 

As in the case of Elijah, we see that conversion doesn’t save us from attack.  You might have been walking with God for one day, one year or ten years; but that doesn’t save you from attack.  The longer you walk with God, it provokes the enemy to locate your blind spot, and then hit you from the blind side.  So it was with Elijah at the height of his successes. He was attacked from the blind side, and he never even saw it coming.  What was Elijah’s blind side?  There were several things.  First of all, his blind side was created because he had forgotten that he was in the game.  If you’re breathing, the game’s still on.  He had first forgotten that he was still in the game, and then he forgot who the fight was against. So when the enemy attacked, he was unaware.  He never saw it coming.  Unaware, he picked up the wrong playbook. He turned to the page in the enemy’s playbook called pride.  He started reviewing his life, saying, “Ah, I deserve better than this.  Look at all I’ve done for God!  I deserve better! How did I get in this predicament?”  That led to the next page, which was called self-doubt.  That is one of the enemy’s main pages.  So he went to that page and it said, “You never had what it took, anyway.  You don’t deserve to be in the game.  Look at you!  God has deserted you and no longer needs you.  Look what you are up against, the odds are too great!  Don’t pick up God’s playbook, just take a look.”  Elijah closes God’s playbook, and goes to broom bush and lies down under it. He prays that he might die, having all this nonsense in his head.  Praying that he might die, he says, “God, I’ve had enough!  Take my life.  I am no better than my ancestors.  God, I’ve been very zealous for you, the Israelites rejected you, and they rejected your covenant, tore down your altars and put your prophets to death. I am the only one left.” 

You see reading and then playing from the wrong playbook always leads to the wrong conclusions.  Let me say that again!  Reading and then playing from the wrong playbook always leads to the wrong conclusions. Ginghamsburg, in this game of life you and I are in, there is something called adversity. Adversity simply means challenges.  Adversity, or challenges, in our life, is inevitable.  Protecting our blind side is understanding what Elijah had forgotten, and that is adversity is not optional, it is inevitable.  Part of our fallen state is thinking that we’ve already arrived, the game’s over, and I need no more help, I’m complete!  I don’t need to change.  That’s part of our fallen state. But the truth is, both God and Satan use adversity as a tool to bring about their different but desired objectives.  Adversity is in both God’s and the Enemy’s playbook but is used by both to bring about different things.  You see, adversity is used in the adversary’s playbook simply to bring about death.  That is the plan. 

A friend of mine, his name was Pastor Johnny Green, could preach you from sorrow into joy you never dreamed about, but Johnny had a challenge.  You see, Johnny was playing from both playbooks.  I didn’t know that at first, but when I was invited into his inner circle, I saw how he was living.  I saw that not only was he worshipping God, but he was also worshipping Baal.  There were other false idols and promiscuous living.  I saw it, and it damaged my perspective of Johnny. Regardless, several weeks later, I went to hear him preach.  I walked into the service, already determined to be judgmental. I had evidently read a page of pride.  I walked in knowing how he was living, decided to listen anyway, and had a revelation that I will never forget.  You see, when I left that worship celebration, not only was the congregation changed, I was changed.  And I said, “My God!  Look at that?”  I began to wonder: if God was able to use him when playing from both books, what would happen in this world, what would happen in the community, what would happen through Johnny, if he learned to put one book down?  And just follow God’s playbook? 

You see, the truth is, if the enemy can’t take you out, he will just try to dilute you down.  That is part of his playbook. The other thing that he does is try to indict us, telling us that we are not worth it, we’re not good enough, and we are too far gone.  The thing about Johnny Green is that we’ll never know what Johnny Green could have been, because he was taken out in the fourth quarter. He was taken out before we could have ever realized what it would have been like with Johnny just playing for God.  And that’s what the enemy does; he tries to indict us saying that we can never do it, we’re never good enough, and we can never play on God’s side.

My daughter is a gymnast. There are several levels, one of which is the elite status; and she has been in that business for nine years.  That is part of her calling Two years ago, she came back from Dallas, Texas from one of the best meets she’s ever had in her life. And the enemy had her reading from the wrong playbook. She came into my room and said “Dad, I’m just not good enough.”  This was after having the best meet of her life!  She is preparing to compete for the national team, and she said, “I’m not good enough. The other girls are just better than me.  They learn faster than me.  They are stronger than me…they’re this and they’re that.  I’m just not good enough.” She was reading from the Enemy’s book. I reminded her, saying “I know how you feel.  I know how the Enemy will come in and try to get you to read from his book.”  Once a month, I stand on the stage in worship, in the place where Mike Slaughter stands.  When I hit that top step sometimes, the enemy comes in and says “What are you doing?”  Then he hits me where it hurts. He says “There is a thin line between faith and crazy, and you crossed the line.  Who do you think you are?  Don’t you know that people travel from thousands of miles away just to hear Pastor Mike preach?  Don’t you know he travels around the world and people gather to hear the wisdom he has?  Don’t you know how many books he’s written?” The enemy just keeps on piling it on. But the same God that gifted him is the same God that gifted me. And the same God that gifted those other gymnasts is the same God who gifted you.  We all play on the same team.  So, you use the gift that God has given you, and you advance the Kingdom.    The enemy uses adversity to try and take us out, instead of advancing the Kingdom.  But, God uses adversity so that we CAN advance the Kingdom.  When the Apostle Paul grew stronger in Christ, the attacks didn’t stop. They increased.  The Apostle Paul talks about adversity being in both God’s and Satan’s playbook in 2 Corinthians 12:7-12.  Paul said “I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away.  But the Lord said, ‘Paul, I’ve gifted you.  Don’t be blind-sided; I use adversity not to take you out, but to advance the Kingdom.’  God also said ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’  Ginghamsburg, in God’s playbook, what lowers us to our knees allows us to understand that God has us in the game to advance the Kingdom.  And he uses it to better prepare us.  God created you. You were born for this. You were born to advance God’s kingdom and stay in the game until the final whistle blows.  You were born for this. Not only to be put in the game, but you were put in it to win it on God’s side. 

Several weeks ago, I was watching Jay Leno when Wanda Sykes was on as his guest. She said that her team had won the Super Bowl the last 8 years in a row.  I was trying to figure that out. She said this is how she does it; she calls it the four-second rule.  When there are four seconds left on the clock, whoever is winning, that’s her team. 

I don’t know how much time you have left on the clock. I don’t know what quarter it is. I don’t know what you perceive the score to be, but I do know there is enough time for you to be on the winning side.  Will you pray with me?  I would ask that our lay pastors come forward.

God we are grateful, and we are humbled to be on Your team.  Thank You for being able to use all of us, and loving us so that You’re always saying get back up and get back in the game.  God, I thank You for speaking to someone this morning who had been playing by the enemy’s playbook and being told it’s no use. It’s too late. There is too much against you, and you don’t have what it takes.  We thank You God, for reminding them that it’s not too late, that today is the day to join the winning side.  Thank you for giving them the willpower to understand that they can believe that You love them so much that You came in human form. Help them to believe that You’re strong enough that when Your Son Jesus died, you allowed Him to rise again, with all power in His hands.  And that same power that allowed Him to rise is the same power that gifted us and calls us to advance the Kingdom. Oh God, thank You for allowing them to believe that this morning.  And God, we thank You for touching the hearts of those who know what it is to play by both playbooks. They know what it is to advance and do things that are pleasing to You and call on You, but they still reserve the other playbook for personal, little idols.  We thank You, God, for letting them know that they don’t have to dilute their calling.  Today is the day, to pick up the one book, your book, to live out a calling, maximizing everything You created them to be.  And God, we thank You for those who have been running plays from the one book. But this adversity has come upon them, and the Enemy has been trying to tell them there is no use.  Thank You for reminding them that adversity comes to your choicest warriors.  That they haven’t done anything wrong and to stay in the game until the final whistle blows. God, we lift You up, and commit to being on Your team, in Jesus’ name, Amen.