Listening is the Better Part - Audio
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Perhaps one of the most pressing issues of our day, and especially today, actually, today, it may, to some extent, be decided this afternoon, one of the really difficult questions that has been asked again and again in the last 15 years is the question, who is the greatest quarterback of this generation? The two contenders, at this point, appear to be on the one hand New England Patriots Tom Brady, and on the other hand, the now Denver Broncos, Peyton Manning. Who call that way? Tap hat, who do you want, who are you voting for? Peyton, of course, yes. All right, very good. I guess we could be Democratic here and take a vote, but that's not my style, a little more authoritarian, so I'm going to tell you who the greatest quarterback of the generation is. It's an interesting question, you know, I like to watch these, I don't really like, I don't have the patience for an actual football game, but I do like sort of the analysis and the storylines and the stats, and so I enjoy watching these shows where the two guys get up there and they fight about who's the best quarterback of our generation. Is it Peyton, or is it Tom? I just love to listen to him, and what I find so interesting is over and over and over again, they come up with two criteria for who makes the greatest quarterback, right? And the first criteria is the stats. Okay, now like Pat said, in this category, there's no question that Peyton Manning has done incredible things. If you don't follow football, what we're in the midst of watching this season and last season is somebody breaking records that nobody thought could ever be broken. A number of touchdowns in a season, yards past, overall number of touchdowns. Peyton Manning is just dominating, he is just throwing the ball, his receivers are catching it, and he is racking up stats that will probably stand for a very long time after he retires. And so a lot of people say, you look at that and you say, man, you just can't beat it. This guy is the greatest quarterback of the generation. And then the other man looks at him from across the studio and says, you fool. You foolish, foolish fool. Obviously, the most important issue when deciding the greatest quarterback of a generation is the number of Super Bowl rings. Now here, poor Peyton sadly lags behind a terrific Tom Brady who now has three rings and five appearances in the Super Bowl. So if you're the sort of person who says, Super Bowl rings are really the issue, then you have to go with Tom Brady. You may be asking, why are we talking about this? Well, granted, it is one of the most important issues of our day. But right here, there's a point to it. And the point is this, when you're deciding this, you have to think about what it is to be a quarterback, what it is to be great. And then you have to look at what contributes to that and you have to decide what is the most important factor. What aspect of being a great quarterback is the most important? What is it? What's necessary to be a great quarterback? I want you to think about this for a second. What's necessary? Now, I want to submit to you, I'm sorry, Pat, I want to submit to you that it would be very, very possible for a lone football player on the great iron to rack up amazing stats, to serve himself, to be focused on number one, you know, play the Kobe Bryant card, let's just become the guy all the time. And you could rack up stat after stat after stat after stat. I think it's the case that you might never come home with a ring. Whereas if you were the chronic quarterback who comes home with a ring, you by definition have to be the kind of person who what distributes the ball, submits to maybe a run offense, leans on your defense. You can't be the guy, you've got to be a part of a great team. And as the leader of that team, you have to be willing to make the sacrifices and the decisions that lead to great teams. So I want to suggest you that greatest quarterback of the generation has two aspects, stats and rings. But I think rings are necessary. I think rings are essential. And without them, you cannot be the greatest. Now it pains me because I hate Tom Brady and I hate the New England Patriots and so far is actually I feel like I'm betraying myself in my own heart and saying this. But I do think that today, and you know, the careers aren't over yet, but today if you had to ask me, I'd say Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of his generation. Why? Because Tom Brady has
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In this message, Pastor Tom asks believers to examine their motivations for good works, denying the urge to prioritize busyness - regardless of its merit - above time spent in relationship with the Lord.