The SECRET that Powers Notre Dame QB: Riley Leonard

it's fall and football seasons here last week we just experienced an exciting opening weekend with a couple of upsets but more importantly one powerhouse Notre Dame showing who they are mopping the floor with Texas A&M but what's more intriguing to me is the faith of their starting QB Riley Leonard let's do a deep dive to see how Riley ticks and what Riley believes and maybe we can learn a few things let's see what we can do here today on way and word [Music] we back way in word knowledge every session we don't take losses we only learn lessons I ain't your pastor but I might preach to you today we are going to talk about Notre Dame you know it's been college football time the fall is my favorite season and there's so many reasons why one it gets a little cooler I like what I call hoodie season some people call it thick boy season fat boy season I call it hoodie season I like to wake up and put me on a nice fresh hoodie to wear throughout the day but also there are many other things that happen holidays happen school starts back up all kind of sports happens mainly football now while I am a huge NFL fan I'm a Oakland Raider fan Las Vegas Raider fan Los Angeles Raider fan I also like college football and I like to watch college football I love some prime time college football and one thing that I saw this weekend is I saw Notre Dame mop Texas A&M give them the business and while a lot of the touchdowns came from the running backs and come from other places one big magnifying glass has been put on their quarterback newly acquired quarterback from Duke University Riley Leonard he comes with much fanfare people have been following him a lot of these Notre Dame fans think that he is the key to getting that Championship this year and he might be he really might be I want to talk about his faith I want to talk about his background things that makes him tick and through talking about his background talking about uh what he believes in maybe we can glean from his lifestyle a couple of things and then you know how I do we'll see what's going on with him and then we'll beep be beep back it up into the Bible because he is very outward about his faith um so last Saturday at TM game he had a cross on his face and eye black he wears a scripture on his wrist Matthew 23:12 we'll get into what that means we'll understand what that means in this video video today just hold up hold your horses he's made a couple of comments throughout the pre-season that leads me to understand that he is a man of deep Faith even at such a young age and that is good I love when people display their faith they're not scared they're not scared to put it out there and he's one person who obviously is not scared I'm going to go over a couple of clips that show his faith on display and then we'll talk about that really amazing scripture on his wrist Matthew 23:12 see what that really means because it means a lot and it can teach us a few things today but before that let's get into one of these clips yeah um it hasn't been easy uh kind of a lot of UPS ups and downs right you know you going to last year um with a really good team you know play really well and then a couple injuries sneak up on you which I haven't had before in the past um then you know it's kind of like a complete 180 a lot has changed since then but I've grown a lot uh both physically and mentally um you know of course mentally I think you know maybe you know my faith has kind of gotten me through all this I think you know the way I see it is like maybe this is protecting me from something worse you know maybe if I don't have to get this second ankle surgery something worse happens to me so I kind of have that you know faith-based mindset of like you know God's Got Me God's in control control and like I always say like if I knew what God knew I wouldn't be asking any questions at all and I wouldn't be hesitating um in his decision so yeah I've grown a lot for over the past six months it's one of the clips it's one of the clips that he uh showed he he went through a couple of injuries he um has been bouncing back from them in injuries but the one thing I love where he said there is you know God has been guiding my steps so he's over talking about these injuries and he was saying that he's went through a lot of rehab went through a lot of Trials tribulations but he said you know God is ordering his steps God got him and he even say you know I don't even know like maybe if I didn't have these injuries I'll end up somewhere even worse than where I am uh but he's like God got me and I am persevering I like that I like his outlook on the fact that God is omniscient which means he knows everything he's omnipresent he's everywhere and he's ordering his steps even when the future looks bleak even when things look bad he says that God has him and God is carrying him through the hard times and actually mapping out the path to the Future for him total Reliance on God I do love that and that kind of shows me a little insight into who Leonard is let's go to another clip I want to show show you just to get a little bit more perspective on them one of the biggest bragging points about this team is we have like 40 guys show up to our Bible study on sometimes on on every Thursday and that that's really a credit to them it started with like five guys but it's grown to like 40 and uh this team is just so close and and everything that we do we do as a unit so I kind of I like how he went about this question I'm not sure what the question was maybe the question was what can you brag on when it comes to this team I'm not sure what the question was but here's the thing like Notre Dame there's so many bragging points they have a great running game they have a great o line they have a great dline they have a great defense they are top five but he uses Bible study as his greatest bragging point the biggest braging point he had was at one point they had a Bible study of Five Guys then they got a Bible study of 40 guys because in his mind regardless of what happens on the field regardless of the touchdowns regardless of the stats regardless of the Championships that people who are getting closer to God in fellowship with one another is a high achievement in his mind and I love that I love that take and so going back to the game there was a article that came out on Fox news that mapped out kind of his faith on display for the first game like I said the eye black with the cross and then on his wrist he had Matthew 23:12 so what is Matthew 2312 what does Matthew 23:12 say well it says this in the Bible it says but those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted now that's a very interesting scripture those who exalt themselves will be humbled those who humble themselves will be exalted and this is coming out of the mouth of Jesus to his disciples to other people around but what is the context of this scripture because right away when you see it it can somewhat be confusing so what if somebody exalts themselves they'll be humble but if you're humble you'll be exalted when will you be exalted how will you be exalted why are these people who exalt themselves being humbled and I think he uses the scripture to show like how much of a humble person he is but when you look at the bre ity of the scripture passage it actually really Maps out how God sees a servant and right out the mouth of Jesus I want to go and I want to look at Matthew chapter 23 and we're going to read 1 to 12 we're going to break it down we're going to chop it up see what thus says the Lord but for real like see what thus says the Lord in the Holy scriptures but also also see what thus says Lord like Jesus is Talking In this passage he is spitting fireb bars word up to any battle rappers out there the bars are hot when he's talking In this passage one it's one passage that is just scathing to a certain group of people so all right we'll we'll start here uh Matthew 23 1 to2 let's just read verses 1 to 4 and then we'll break that down so here is Jesus criticizing the religious leaders I'm reading from the New Living Translation you know I like reading from the New Living Translation just to get Point by point I don't want to get too deep I ain't gonna be long I'm GNA be strong all right so Jesus criticizing religious leaders let's look what he says then Jesus says to the crowds and to his disciples the Rel the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses so practice and Obey whatever they tell you but don't follow their example for they don't practice what they preach they Crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden so right away who is in Jesus's crosshairs it's the Pharisees the Pharisees are the teachers and religious leaders that are roaming about throughout the life and Ministry of Jesus within Judea within Israel within the Roman Empire and their Central function as it shows back in the laws of Moses was to deliver and keep the law was to teach people the law were to adhere to and ensure that the people are adhering to the law but the problem is these Pharisees es have did something what I call crouching the laws they have made the law of Moses remarkably unbearable to people but on top of that and more H hypocritical is they have put people under laws that them themselves are not even following in many many aspects so they are the religious leaders but yet they are putting these laws on people uh but giving them no Grace and the and also not even living the laws themselves so I love what he says here he says okay y everybody needs to know the laws of Moses the talet the five books of the Bible the other history books the Old Testament all they need to know those things hear what the Pharisees teach you because they are positioned in the spiritual situation of priests amongst many people but don't even do the things they do because they are hypocrites and what he say here practice and Obey whatever they tell you but do not follow their example and he leads to show what their example is and how it's just not uh the way that people who are trying to follow Jesus or who trying to follow God is not the way that they should carry themselves and so if you go to verses 5 to 7 he starts talking about the things Pharisees do now as I read this it reminds me of things even religious leaders in America do I mean I hate to say this but Christianity in America is in shambles in many ways and a lot of it is the faults of the religious leaders who say they are followers of God who say they are the holders of the word who say they are the practice and teacher they are the practitioners and teachers of the word but when you see how they interact and what they do the word and their actions don't always correlate so let's go to verse 5 to 7 let's see what this says so everything they do is for show who is Jesus talking about he's talking about the Pharisees everything they do is for show and on their arms they were extra wide prayer boxes with scripture verses inside and they were robes with extra long tassels so let's just go back real quick so the extra long prayer boxes they're called filteries I think that's what they're called fies let me make sure I got this right so what are feries sometimes called tein are small leather boxes containing portions of scripture worn by conservative and Orthodox Jews during prayer services felies are worn in pairs one felter is strapped on the left arm and one is strapped on the forhead of the Jewish men during work weekday morning prayers the word fctory come from the Greek word meaning Safeguard protection amulets so these things have been commissioned to be warned by the priests by the Pharisees the religious Elite but the problem here that Jesus says is they do these things for show and how they they wear extra wide prayer boxes so not only they just wearing like your garden variety fctory they want them Philip pect felter they want those Rolex filteries they want the big ones because when you walk around with a big felter or with these big pray boxes it lets people think that you got more Holiness inside of you you that you are a more esteemed and Pious and holy and should be esteemed so so he says they do is for show like they could just wear a regular prayer box man come on wear a regular prayer box bro but they don't they wear a big one so you can see so you can look at them and say oh how religious how great how awesome are they what Great Men of God they are so they wear these extra wide boxes and if they we in that extra wide box in their head they it's it's that's a wrap he ain't catch me wearing a whole bunch stuff on my head but I mean I guess they got to do what they got to do to show who they are and he says uh uh go back to verse five they wear these extra Rod prayer boxes with all these scripture verses inside and they're wearing robes with extra long tassels so they're walking around in these robes you got to realize everyone else is probably in regular clothing but they're they're walking around in their Pharisee clothing the robes with the tassels and the prayer boxes you know because they want to be they want to be seen he says they're doing these things for show they're not doing it for some type of Pious demeanor or or to please God they're doing it to get a claim and to get accreditation from men and to get praise from men and so there is a part of the Bible where it says those people who do things for the praise of men you'll get your reward on Earth but that kind of thing does not get rewarded in heaven but when you do the will of God you'll be rewarded in heaven so let's go back to verse six verse six and they love to sit at the head table of Banquets and in the seats of Honor in the synagogue so they love sitting at the head tables they love to be in the front of people they love to be in the front with all the attention on them and I think sometimes I see this in churches I see this in places where the pastors and the religious Elite in the church they want to be front and center in certain aspects they want to have a special table they want to have a special roped off seat they want to have a almost Throne likee seat in front of all of the parishioners to say hey I'm set apart even set apart from you all who've been set apart by God but I'm being set apart from the set apart and I want to make sure that you see that and then verse seven they love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplace and they love to be called Rabbi that I they it didn't say they love to be called Rabbi but they do love to be called Rabbi and um you know this goes back to just them wanting exaltation even using the pious Empower of God to enhance their own position amongst the populace and so then if you go down to verse 8 to 12 and we're almost at the verse the quarterback from Notre Dame lik so much verses 8 to 12 don't let anyone call you Rabbi for you only have one teacher and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters so right away God is saying I'm sorry Jesus who's God Jesus is saying you know don't don't walk around here and let people will exalt You by calling you Rabbi you are are equal and in verse n don't address anyone on this Earth as father for only God in heaven is your father and don't let anyone call you teacher for only for there for you have only one teacher the Messiah so you know don't when we talk about these words Rabbi teacher father what he's really trying to hone in on is don't let these titles make you think you're higher than other people who are part of my family who are children of God who are people of God who are Christ followers who are Christians don't let these things make your chest puffy don't allow these things to go to your head don't think that you have a special anointing that Jo blow in the Pew who accepted Jesus when he was 25 but because he's a plumber he don't rightly divide the word in front of a crowd don't make these things make you think that you're higher than that person and now 11 and 12 make more sense since you saw one to 10 the greatest among you must be a servant see in order to get the accolades from your heavenly father it's not how boastful and how big you are on this Earth it's how great you serve your common man how great you serve others so the greatest among you must be a servant and then verse 12 for who exalts themselves now and who's he talking about the Pharisees the people who want all this attention on this Earth whoever exhausts themselves now they're gonna be humbled later they're gonna be humbled in the afterlife they're going to be humbled at the time end of days they going going to be humbled in Heavenly places if they even make Heavenly places but the people who feel humbl the people who are humbled the people who are servant right now those are the people who will be exalted in Heavenly places who don't care about their positions and and their uh how they are at church and what roles and auxiliaries they lead at church and they don't care about none of that they care about serving each other and those people will be exalted so then if I take it all with way back and I think about the quarterback one reason we know the quarterbacks of every team is because the TV camera is on that person all the time because that person at least touches the ball every time the ball is snapped if they're on offense so that person gets a lot of attention and one thing I could see about Leonard Riley having that on his wrist is that he doesn't want to be boastful because he's in an important position on his team he don't want that to get him the big head he he doesn't want that to uh cause him to feel like he's elevated amongst his teammates that he wants to always be reminded that he's a servant no matter what he's a servant he's a child of God and that's why in my opinion the clip about the biggest brag is all these people come to Bible study it comes straight from this verse here where he's reminded that no matter what kind of pig skin he's throwing no matter how many many millions of people are watching him play football no matter how much Fame and Glory he'll get that he's a humble servant that cares about the word of God being preached to other people and that's all I got like I said I was't going to be long like comment and subscribe hit the Bell as well so you will always get one of my videos if you want to hear more about some of the crazy insane things Elon mus says about him being a Christian and how I don't agree check out this video video right here no matter what I love you all we're on the road to 500 subscribers if you are watching this and you made it this far Please Subscribe with all that I love you all way and word out [Applause]