Who’s Your Crew? Part 2 | Jentezen Franklin

open your Bibles to Psalms 133.

verse 1 everybody read it out loud

behold how good how pleasant it is for

brethren

to dwell together

in unity

here in Gainesville we have late Lanier

and during the Olympics in Atlanta they

had the rowing Sports on lately Lake

Lanier is a beautiful rowing Center here

and nations from all over the world came

in

the sport of rowing is called and is

known as Crew c-r-e-w That’s what I’m

going to preach on for just a few

minutes this morning

who’s your crew

it’s it’s funny to me that a sport is is

so dependent upon the crew not the

superstar that they actually call it

that crew

it’s a long skinny shell of a boat

that’s only 24 inches wide huge huge

guys with muscles and weighing hundreds

of pounds up to 1800 sometimes two

thousand pounds on 24 inches they can

barely get their rear ends in the seats

is totally dependent upon the only way

you can be the best in the world in that

sport is that you have the right crew

the man sitting there is the little guy

he’s he’s the coach of the team he has a

megaphone and he’s screaming orders he’s

facing forward they look like it’s going

that direction but it’s going the other

direction they can’t see where they’re

going they have to contr completely

trust his voice completely trust his

voice

in describing in one one book called The

Boys in the boat about nine young men in

the pursuit of Olympic gold in 1936 in

Berlin Germany at the Olympics they said

that if you want to know how difficult

that is to do as a team

get eight golfers and ask them to stand

on the log in the water that’s only 24

inches wide Place their ball down and

take golf clubs they must swing at

exactly in in sync exactly with one

another hit the ball at the exact same

time and hit it in the same direction

with the same amount of force and then

do that every three seconds for six

minutes and that’s how hard it is

to do Olympic professional style rowing

there’s really no comparison in sports

to the necessity of perfect teamwork

other than the sport called crew

they said that every muscle in your body

when you are rowing is being used every

muscle group is involved quads biceps

triceps deltoids hamstrings hands every

part of your body only a race only lasts

six minutes because it takes so much out

of the people who do it that the human

body can’t take much more than that they

almost pass out when they’re finished

with six minutes of doing what that does

to every muscle in your body

it’s unbelievable

a well-conditioned rower like you just

saw would consume pound for pound the

same amount of oxygen as a racehorse

which is eight liters of oxygen per

minute

the average athlete professional

football someone like that who’s running

wide open would consume four to five

liters of oxygen per minute but in this

sport for six minutes

they take in eight liters of oxygen per

minute it burns through their body their

muscles are screaming their bodies are

in pain and even though they’re in

excellent condition they there are cases

where they have bone fractures and

ligaments torn because of the exertion

of energy and strength and force

sport demands that everyone

participate exactly as a team as a crew

if one person is off if one paddle goes

in late if they’re not synchronized in

complete Unity it costs them seconds

precious seconds

and the text said how beautiful

it is when God finds families and people

and marriages and and and and churches

that dwell together Nations that dwell

together in unity

God wants our churches our families our

relationships our marriages he wants us

to see it as a crew that has the right

attitude that can flow

no other sport demands the complete

abandonment of self this is the key

there are no stars in rowing

there are no Michael Jordan’s there are

no superstars no one person is the key

it’s a team

what if we begin to understood stand

that even in our relationships what if

we begin to realize that we’re so much

more powerful of a family if everybody

is engaged and we’re listening to the to

the boss at the end of the boat telling

us what direction to go by the way he

has the rudder he decides the Direction

all they do is they just go at his

command

no stars it’s a team effort it’s

synchronized it’s like an orchestra like

a symphony

they said that when a coach is picking a

crew

he does not want clones

he does not want someone who’s the same

size and same structure because some

people have shorter arms but they have a

stronger core and it’s going to take

every muscle in the human body and some

people have more power in their legs but

maybe they’re weaker with their arms but

they complete each other and the

unification of that crew makes it so

profound and so powerful that it can do

things that it could never do by itself

because the biggest concern

is they said usually a professional team

can get up to 40 to 45 Strokes

in one minute it’s pretty powerful that

is and they’re doing it synchronized

together

but there’s something called swing

and when the group gets in absolute

Unity when their timing is just perfect

when everybody’s depending on everybody

and they’re not doing their own thing

and they’re not going along and doing

what’s right in their eyes and I don’t

care what anybody else thinks but when

they are a beautiful unit a beautiful

crew they then enter into what they

describe they called it poetry it’s

almost like the ship begins to lift out

of the water and they call it swing and

it literally begins to Glide so fast

that even though the front running team

may be going 40 44 sweating totally oh

oh so much so much that when you hit

this thing called swing in a boat in a

row boat

you can sometimes you won’t find it at

44 or 40. you can hit it at 32 or 33 but

because everybody’s in unity now they’re

all doing their thing over there and

they’re just going but but this group

hits Unity

and boom something happens and they’re

they look like they’re just kind of

relaxing but they’re in unity and there

they go they said they will soar

pass that’s how they win if they can hit

swing

in the book of

John chapter 6 the disciples are in a

boat and they’re toiling

and they’re rowing

and the Bible said

the wind was bad

and they were not getting anywhere

you know why you’re not getting anywhere

because Jesus is not on your ship

but then when they saw him walking on

the water here’s the key they willingly

received him into their boat

as long as you’re saying I don’t need

you I’ll make it on my own and the winds

are blowing and you’re just trying and

trying and you might get a little bit

and the wind blows you back and you get

better and you then you have a relapse

and you get this and you get that but

there’s something called swing when the

Holy Spirit comes when Jesus steps on

your boat I’m not talking about joining

a church I’m talking about you

personally encounter Jesus and surrender

your life to him suddenly you don’t even

have to try like they try there is a

swing and there is a victory across the

finish line that the cross has already

bought and purchased

[Applause]

watch this though and when they re

received him willingly

immediately the boat was at the land

where they were going

you understand they were five miles out

at Sea the Bible says that they were in

the middle and that’s five miles in the

Sea of Galilee but when Jesus stepped on

in the middle of a storm as soon as he

stepped on immediately they hit they hit

swing

and the boat was on dry land Jesus can

get you through

your storm

clap your hands and praise him right now

she got a willingly receive it

[Applause]

now I want to close with this

so

This Crew

in this book

was from Washington University in 1936.

they go to Berlin Germany they beat Yale

they beat all these other teams

and they go to participate in the

Olympics Hitler of course was

having the Olympics and he was using it

as propaganda

he was using it as

to show the superiority

of his race he was a racist he was a

demonic evil evil evil man

and it was all a big show

and Germany had won five medals gold

medals in

the races but now they came to the most

important one and it was the eight man

including the coach nine people

and they said that there were 75 000

fans

and the night before the Team USA was to

go out and go against Germany they were

the two biggest competitors the other

nations were there but they were the two

and Hitler really wanted to see America

lose

and so the night before one of the main

people one of the oarsmen got sick very

very sick and the coach had just about

made the decision to replace him with an

alternative and the whole team got

together I love this

see this symbology here the whole team

got together and they went to the coach

and they said coach

we’ve never hit swing with any of the

alternatives

that we’ve had the Magic Moment hit with

this guy

and he’s sick he’s weak

but we want him on the boat

we don’t just want people who got it

together we don’t want just people at

Peak Performance we don’t just want

people who know how to get it done in

their winners

but we want this guy who’s sick

he’s weak

he could hardly they said hardly hold

his head up

but the whole team watched the crew said

we want him on the boat we’ll make up

for his weakness and we’ll get him going

you just get him in the seat and we’ll

we’ll take care of it from there

yeah

I don’t know who you are but I want you

to know there’s a seat for you on this

ship right here and you may be weak and

you may be struggling and you may be

having all kinds of issues but you know

what all of us have been there and all

of us need the grace of God and I tell

you this somebody help me and somebody

helped you and if they could help us we

can help you and together we can do what

you can’t do on your own

and watch this they get out there and

they they actually have the footage of

this but they said that at the beginning

the coach could not hear the crowd was

screaming so loud the coach could not

hear the sound so America goes

immediately to last place out of all the

nations and Germany to First and they

hold that position all the way to almost

the very end of the race

and they said oh Hitler walked out right

before the race started

and he walked out and he looked out and

he had his binoculars

and the crowd was going crazy high

Hitler Heil Hitler and they were

Deutschland dorschland Germany Germany

Germany 75 000 in bleachers and there

was the finish line and here comes

Germany and they said Hitler was up and

he was watching he was hitting his knee

and he was laughing and he said we’re

going to win but suddenly the coach saw

something that nobody else saw and he

actually slowed the team down a little

bit and they hit swing

and right at the end of the race when it

looked like it was impossible they hit

it and all those other teams are doing

this and here comes the USA and they’re

just

and they went right through and they

said that the coach couldn’t hear to

give the commands that P the the rowers

couldn’t hear so he just started

pounding on the on the boat as loud as

he could and he and he would tell him

what tempo to go and they hit swing and

when they did he’s edged out in the USA

won

and this is what I like they said Hitler

took his binoculars

and put them down

and turned around

and walked away you loser

I want to see the devil do that

[Applause]

families where somebody’s on the boat

you know you may be weak you may have a

struggle with something just get on the

boat invite willfully Jesus to get on

the boat get in a good crew let us come

alongside if he wouldn’t give up on you

we’re not gonna give up on you

America

God’s not playing games here this

morning

the Gospel of Jesus Christ a simple

little message like this can change your

destiny

and he doesn’t just need strong people

but he loves to take people where they

are

and wash them in his blood

and cleanse them

set them free it’s not rules and

regulations

it’s a relationship with the one who is

your coach who believes in you more than

you believe in yourself

thank you

but it never happens until you willfully

receive him into your boat and

immediately

things begin to change

The Peacemaker has to come to a family

and when he comes and you invite him

into the division

then The Peace Speaker will stay say to

the storm be still

this family’s going where I destined for

them to go

foreign

bowed every eye closed

if you’re in this room today and you’d

say Pastor Jensen

I’m tall in and I’m rowing and I’m

trying but the winds are so heavy and

contrary

struggling

who’s your crew

who you listening to more than him if

you’re not listening to Jesus you’re in

control of that boat

but the moment he steps on

immediately

he declares victory

and Satan takes his binoculars and he

was just looking forward to a train

wreck

he was looking forward to something that

he would to kill steal and destroy but

the moment you put you you decide to put

Jesus on that boat and listen to him he

puts his binoculars down

and he talked turns and walks off

wherever demons walk off to

because when Jesus finds a heart that is

one with him

he declares

blessing there the text said Psalms 133

there he a man’s not cursings

blessings

there’s a supernatural Force called the

blessing and when it hits your life I’m

not telling you something I learned I’m

telling you something I have experienced

there is a blessing that the cross has

provided it’s a plus not a subtraction

sign it’s a plus sign it’s a positive

thing when you find Jesus

Pastor I’m far from God I want to know

it I want to know him like I’ve never

known him I need him on I want to

willfully receive him unto my ship

pray for me if that’s you boldly lift

your hand right where you’re standing

boldly beautiful beautiful hands at

every campus just keep it high just keep

it high and unashamed

amazing every one of you that raised

your hands slip out of your seat and

come stand right down here don’t talk

yourself out of it come on I’m the coach

I got the megaphone

get out get out get out get out get out

get out

every one of you who came forward this

is the most important decision you will

ever make in your life

so pray this prayer the church is going

to pray it with you at every campus

they’re going to pray this prayer

God brought you here

God wanted you to hear this message and

he wanted you to hear that song

he’s not done with you yet

[Music]

he’s not done with me yet

there’s so much

[Music]

throw your hands up and say Jesus

say it out loud everybody Jesus

I receive you

as my savior

Wash Me

cleanse me

I willfully receive you onto my vote

I’m forgiven

I’m born again

I’m cleansed by the blood of the cross

and now you’re going to write the rest

of my story

and it’s good let’s worship now come on

you’re not done with me throw those

hands up all over this building

pray for your families receive the

blessing this morning

[Music]

Lord I pray for families

I pray for reconciliation I pray that

communication lines that have been torn

Satan will put his binoculars down

[Music]

[Music]

in marriages this morning let him

restore that Unity between husband and

wife he can do it

[Music]

he’s not done with me you mean that God

means it too

[Music]

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