Randy Scott, Baseball Dad, Class of 2015 (Bot9 #106)

Randy Scott, Valor Baseball Dad, Class of 2015

Randy Scott is currently the Senior Pastor of INFUSE CHURCH in Littleton, CO.  Randy has planted and been the senior pastor of two churches.  Prior to becoming a Senior Pastor, he served on staff at several churches as a Youth Pastor for 14 years.  Randy has a real heart for the youth of today and that passion has opened doors for him to speak at youth retreats, chapels, assemblies and conferences.  He has led both FCA and Campus Crusade for Christ programs for several of the local high schools.  Randy has also served as coach and athletic director of several local schools both in the private and public sector. (He is also the proud father of Varsity catcher, Josiah Scott.)

As this season comes to an end and we take a look in the rear view mirror briefly before we push forward to finish, there has been much talk about two things: the brotherhood and the disease of me.  Those two messages must be lived out and applied and we need to pull together to fulfill our dreams in order to accomplish our goals as a Varsity Baseball team and as a Baseball Program.

Baseball is very much a team sport, and it takes each player doing their job in order for the team to succeed and win consistently.  Oh, there might be a star hitter or pitcher who can carry the team through a game or so, but an individual is only as good as the team around him in this game.

As the season winds down, we must be challenged once again with this truth.  Please let me challenge you with how destructive the "I" is to our destiny as a team.

Let me ask you what you think true “Satan Worship” is. Many of you will maybe talk about skulls, pentagrams, seances, sacrifices, and devil worship. In fact, the very word “occult” means hidden things.  Satan plays on opposites - anything that is good, Satanism reverses.  Satanists even memorize the Lord's prayer backwards.

I know many of you reading this are asking the question, “What does this have to do with baseball?” Let me make nine statements that could give you an even deeper meaning to the value and high priority of the brotherhood, and the unity and purpose for each of you both on and off the field. This is a revelation God gave me that has proven to have a life-changing effect on me as a person may it help to impact your life in everything you do.

1. Satan wants to be worshiped.

He first set himself up as God.  He wanted to be God.  He knew more about God than anyone else.  He was at the right hand of God leading the Praise and Worship of heaven as they honored God.  He was the Assistant Coach that wanted to become the Head Coach.  He was the Vice President who wanted to be President.  He was the father of all people who want to top the one above them and rebel to get it. He is the player on the team that doesn't value the brotherhood, but only cares that he is the one getting all the praise and glory.

2. He can't become King because he was defeated.

At Calvary, he really thought he was defeating Jesus when actually he was defeated.  So he is a defeated foe and he knows that.

3. He chooses the next best thing.

He wants to hurt God.  So because Satan cannot become king, nor God, nor the object of true worship, Satan chooses the next best thing - he wants to hurt God.  The devil hates God because God cast him out of heaven.

4. So the devil knows that the best way to hurt God is through His children.

As a father of five amazing children, I have a very strong  protective nature for each of them.  I would rather you hurt me, criticize me than you hurt or harm my children in any way.  Satan knows how much God loves His children.

5. Satan knows he can’t win your heart to him; you are saved and you are a child of God.

Those of you who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Kingdom through the Son, Jesus Christ, Satan knows that you can’t be won. However, he doesn’t stop there.

6. Since he cannot get you for himself, he wants you for yourself.

Listen, in other words he wants to get you from God. Since he can't get you to himself he wants you to yourself.  Have you ever seen the article of the man standing over his lover and he says: “If I can't have you then none will have you and then he kills his lover?† Well, that is the way Satan is.  He says to you and me, “If I can't have you, I want to keep God from having you.

Isaiah 53:6 says: “All we like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way”  You see Satan knows that if he can get you do what you want to do and live for the “I” or the “me” then you will not be doing what God wants you to do. Satan does not say, “Do my thing,” but he says, “Do your thing, you only live once, nobody can tell you what to do.” So if he can get you to live for the “Me,” then you can't do the Lord's will.  And that is the tragic thing about sin. Sin keeps you from being what you could have been.  Sin keeps people from reaching their potential.

7. Although he cannot get you for himself he wants you like himself.

Isaiah 14:13 says concerning Satan and his fall.  “You said in your heart, ‘I will’ ascend to heaven; ‘I will’ raise my throne above the stars of God; ‘I will’ sit enthroned on the mount of the assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. ‘I will’ make myself like the Most High (GOD)."

When we are selfish, “I want this, I want that, I deserve this, I deserve that, I want attention, I want authority, I want it to be about me, etc.,” we are doing exactly what Satan did. Selfishness is exactly the thing that brought him down.  There is not a single thing in the Bible that says the devil took drugs, got drunk, etc.  All Satan ever wanted to do was to make his own decisions - that is all he wanted, to satisfy himself.  I will, I will, I will, I will, I will.  That is why in a team sport like baseball the enemy loves it when we make it just about “ME” because when we do we are acting just like him.

8. The Self Gratifier is a Satan worshiper.

Sounds harsh, doesn’t it? But we know that we are a reflection of our teachers, coaches, and parents. If we reflect self-centered thinking, we reflect Satan. When we reflect others-centered thinking, we reflect Christ.

9. To the degree that you live for yourself is the degree with which you are filled with the spirit of Satan.

WOW, are you kidding me? People, this principle applies to every team sport. We each have a role and each are needed to make us champions. But this also applies to every facet of life. Families, business, schools, politics and, of course, baseball. It is hard because we are taught that our gifts and talents are from the Lord, for the Lord.  So we are driven to do and be our best.  But we also need to know that there is no “I” in team.

When I was in high school we had a pretty tired, old, worn-out baseball coach who was just “putting in his time.” The first words I heard him say were, “I have been coaching high school baseball for 26 years. Nobody I have coached has ever made it to any level of pro ball and hardly any have even played at the college level."

We immediately decided to bind together as a family and to play for the success of each other. What happened was we reaped unexpected results despite the coach's low expectations. You see we had a pitcher on our team that could throw 92 miles an hour, and because we played for each other and the success of the team, we benefited from scouts watching us because they would come to scout him. Several of us were able to play at those higher levels because of the decision to play as a "family."

As a father of a senior who is coming to the end of his high school baseball career, I know how my son has valued and gleaned and been pushed by his brothers in the baseball program.  From the dugout to the weight room to the field, it was those awesome friendships birthed out of adversity, pain, practice, and the great joy for the game that has meant more to him than anything else.

CLASS of 2015, set aside the “I” and the “ME” and let's go win a championship when no one thought you could!!!