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Welcome to Kingdom Bound Church at 74 Kelly Road Extension in Middlebury, Connecticut. We gather for worship at ten A.M. on Sundays. Now, today's episode is gonna be quite a doozy. It's going to well, it's gonna be challenging. And um, and so I'm gonna get I'm gonna get right into it. So the topic I want to talk about is when Sunday sports collide with Sunday worship. Ooh, this is gonna be a good one. So let's talk about something that hits a lot of Christian families right now in the calendar. Sunday sports. Travel teams, league games, tournaments, practices that spill into the Lord's day, that pressure is real and the social cost is real. And the temptation to treat church as the flexible item on the schedule is strong. Now, uh we we need to speak clearly here, uh, not with not with guilt trips, but with scripture and a high view of what God has actually called his people to do. Now, the gathered worship of God's people on the Lord's day is is not one option among many. It is a divine priority. And Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 through 25 says, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Now, that is not a suggestion for when the schedule is light, it is a command tied to the health of our faith in approaching in the approaching return of Jesus Christ. The early church gathered on the first day of the week, Acts 20, verse 7 in 1 Corinthians 16 2. They did so because the risen Lord had claimed that day. We gather because he is worthy, because we need the means of grace, and because we are members of a body that is incomplete when we are missing. Now, parents, and I am a parent, so this lands especially on us. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 4 tells fathers not to provoke their children to anger, but to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Deuteronomy 6, verses 6 through 7 commands us to teach God's words diligently to our children when we sit in the house, walk by the way, lie down, and rise. One of the primary ways we do that is by making the Lord's day gathering non-negotiable in our homes. When we consistently choose sports over the assembled church, and notice I said that consistently we are catechizing our children, whether we are aware of that or not. We are teaching them by our actions that Jesus is important, but not quite important enough to rearrange the schedule. We are training them that the body of Christ is optional when something more exciting or socially advantageous appears. Now, here's the danger. The danger down the road is quiet and cumulative. A child who grows up watching church get bumped for games learns that worship is a preference, not a priority. Over time, the habit of neglecting the assembly becomes, well, normal. The friendship that should have been formed in the church are formed elsewhere. The ordinary means of grace, the preached word, the Lord's Supper, corporate prayer, the accountability of the saints. Well, they're treated as intermittent rather than essential. And many young adults who drift from the faith did not leave because of one dramatic crisis. They left because the church was never weighty enough in their home to hold them when others when other loves grew stronger. Making church optional for our kids is not neutral. It is formative and it often forms them away from the very thing that can sustain faith for a lifetime. Now, a high view of the church protects us here. The church is not a spiritual extracurricular, it is the household of God, the pillar of truth. We get that right out of 1 Timothy 3.15. It is the place where Christ walks among the lampstands, Revelations 1 through 3. It is the primary context in which we hear the word preach with authority, receive the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and practice the quote-unquote one another's. Love one another, be kind to one another of the old of the New Testament. Sports can teach teamwork, discipline, and resilience. Those are real goods. But they cannot do what the gathered church is designed by God to do. When the two conflict, the lesser good must yield to the greater. So what do we do when the conflict comes? So that's the real thing, right? First, decide the principle before before the pressure hits. Don't don't wait until you're in the middle of it. Make it a settled conviction that the Lord's Day gathering comes first. Second, uh communicate early and clearly with the coaches. Many, many of them will respect a consistent boundary even if they do not share your faith. Third, be willing to pay the cost, missed games, missed opportunities, social friction. And that cost is real. I'm not denying that. But it is a small it is small compared to the cost of teaching our children that Christ is secondary. I would say fourth, if a team or league regularly demands the Lord's day consistently all the time, it may be time to find a different team. Your child's athletic future is not more important than their spiritual formation. Now, I said consistent here. I have kids that play games, um, but it's it's not every Sunday. Sometimes they do it. And if it comes to a point where it's many, many Sundays during that season, you know, I'll tell them that then we need to do something that's gonna supplement this. We need to talk about this, we need to figure out a way to be protective here. You know, so so I'm not saying that this is easy, but this is a conversation worth having and looking at what scripture says. This is hard to hear in a culture that treats youth sports like a high religion, believe it or not. But Jesus is still Lord of the Sabbath, and he is still Lord of the schedule. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. That's Matthew 6, 33. Put the gathering of the saints back in his proper place. Your children are watching. More importantly, the Lord of the church is watching. Give him the day that he claims and trust him. Trust him with the rest. Our time is running out, and like I said, this is not an easy conversation, um, but it's definitely worth having and and pondering uh the consequences and the repercussions of whichever decision is being made here. That is it for now. I look forward to our time next time that we gather together on here.