Another inspirational worship service hosted by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) on PLAYERS Sunday at TPC Sawgrass. MC’d by FCA’s Matt Roop; music by the Jason Lovins Band; testimony by Web.com player Justin Hueber and his wife Sarah; and a sermon by Pastor George Powers from the Palm Valley Baptist Church made for an extraordinary gathering of Christians!
FCA Director Roop set the tone of feeling the presence of God’s blessings, glory, and amazing love; most evident in the beauty of TPC Sawgrass; by reading these three biblical verses:
The Jason Lovins Band played their inspirational song ‘The Grass is Greener’…
Psalm 19:1: “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
John 1:3: “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”
Colossians 1:16-17: “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
With Jason Lovins, an inspirational guy!
The Jason Lovins Band performed three songs including one that puts life immediately into perspective—The Grass is Greener—“this heart that sleeps will start to beat when it is given life with you.” If you don’t know this band or Jason Lovins’ personal spiritual journey please click on this link. For me, meeting him today and hearing the band play is proof-positive of the truth found in Genesis 50:20—“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”—Jason’s story is a remarkable example of God’s Power and Love!
Sarah & Justin giving their uplifting testimony to the Lord…
Sarah and Justin’s testimonies were testimonies of the love of God, the love for life and the love for each other. For professional golfers like Justin it is not simply play in college—then get tour card—and then play and win on the PGA TOUR for everyone. God realizes what we need to do to get better—“nothing is given in the game of golf; you have to go get it for yourself.” With many ups and downs; the questions of ‘why is this happening?’ and ‘why is this happening now?’ all came to Justin. They came and they went as Sarah and Justin’s faith answered the whys and showed the way.
With Sarah & Justin, an inspirational couple. Baby Jackson slept through the whole thing!
Sarah and Justin are a testimony to making long-distance relationships work and work out well. Living apart in Indiana and Florida; Justin golfing in Latin America were the geographical challenges. Sarah’s nursing career and Justin’s golfing career were life journey challenges. All were somehow managed so they could be together whether physically together or in different locations. Baby Jackson brought Mom and Dad together traveling on the tour over the last year or so. Now it seems as if everything worked out according to God’s hand and His timing!
In golf there are more lows than highs, more losses than wins and this is for everyone—no one wins more than they lose. Winning professionally, as Justin first did in 2015 after five years of grinding it out, is indeed fleeting. Was winning what he thought it would be? Finally you beat everybody but it does not last. There’s another tournament the next week…
“You do question it, and you do question God,” Justin added truthfully as Sarah shared her perspective of learning patience. As a nurse, her job is to meet and help people usually going through hard times. The faithfulness of God is what brought Sarah and Justin to where they are today.
With Pastor George Powers of the Palm Valley Baptist Church…
Pastor Powers, noting a golf game with his brothers yesterday and this being PLAYERS Sunday, gave us the acrostic—G.O.L.F.!
‘G’ is for ‘God’—Creator, Founder, Trinity—in Him was life; His Son Jesus Christ and the light of men—the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was God’s Plan A; not Plan B—John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
‘O’ is for ‘Obedience’—of the One Jesus to cover our sins and giving us victory over death! We are in the midst of the Lenten Season—40 days of preparation for the event that seals our eternity!
John 15:4: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”
‘L’ is for ‘Love’—God is Love! First John Chapter 4 along with First Corinthians Chapter 13 tell the story of love.
1 John 4:7: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
‘F’ is ‘Forever’—we ended with the Sinners’ Prayer—Jesus, I love you. I am a sinner. I accept You as my personal Lord & Savior. I believe what happened on Calvary; Your Resurrection & our eternal life. I want to follow you! All present saying ‘Amen!’
Psalm 136: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. …
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