Ready for the word? We’re going to read in Exodus 17:8-13. This is found in the NIV. And it reads like this:

“The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.’ So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. And as long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning. But whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.”

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for today. We thank you for your word. And I pray that you do what only you can do. I pray that I get out the way and that you start to just move in and through every single location, those watching online. We need you to show up because if you don’t show up, nothing happens. So we thank you and we love you, in Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen.

So I’m a big fan of debates and I like watching a lot of different things. And my wife’s like, “You need to turn that noise down.” But I like watching what I watch. And there’s a debate going on right now in the National Basketball Association—that is the NBA, everyone. And it is based on ring culture.

And ring culture, this debate is simply this: saying that if you have not yet won a championship, it can no longer put you on the pantheon of other great players. Your level of greatness is diminished. If you’ve never won a championship, your legacy, who you are—it doesn’t matter how great you’ve been of a player. If you haven’t won it, you’re not that great.

And of course, like all arguments, there are those that are for, there are those that are against. I don’t want to belabor you by saying every single argument back and forth. But what I want to do is I want to tell you those that are against it. Here is their main argument against why ring culture is not a good debate. They say this: In order to win an NBA championship, you can’t win it alone. It’s a team accomplishment.

And if you did not know this, for those who don’t know sports, basketball is a team sport, everybody. In basketball, in order to reach the highest pinnacle, in order to see success at the highest level, it takes every single person on the team. And I completely agree with that sentiment. It doesn’t matter how tall. It doesn’t matter how strong. It doesn’t matter how fast. It doesn’t matter how gifted. It doesn’t matter how talented you may be. **No one wins alone.**

You could be the best thing since sliced bread. No one wins alone.

You also have people who would say, “But wait a second, Pastor Jesse. There are individual sports.” And you are correct. But I would tell you that there is still team in that. Coaches, mentors, parents—no one wins alone.

And here’s the truth. It’s not only true in sports. It’s true in life, marriage, parenting, work, friendships, and ministry. No one wins alone.

But I know sometimes people may think, “Well, I’m actually better on my own.” If that’s you, you don’t need to raise your hand in the air. Okay? Or you also have it this way: “It’s just easier if I do it all by myself. If I want it done right, I’ll do it myself. I don’t have time to train someone else to do it. Other people just slow me down.”

Maybe you said this, maybe you’ve heard it. I know I’ve said it and I’ve heard it, but it is a lie. No one wins alone.

In fact, if you insist on doing everything all by yourself, here is the harsh reality: You actually limit what God can do in and through you.

So now that I got your attention, for the remainder of my time, I want to show you why no one wins alone. The passage that I read, we read about Exodus 17. We read about Moses, Aaron, Hur, and Joshua.

They had been in slavery for 400 years. They get freed from slavery, cross the Red Sea. Moses leads the people out of slavery. He produces water in the wilderness two times. Also, manna and quail come from heaven. And now they’re faced with the battle. And just to point out here, they probably haven’t fought in a very long time. And now they’re faced with something they’ve never been faced with before.

And so Moses tells Joshua, “Gather some people together and tomorrow I’m going to go on the hill. I’m not going to fight. You’re going to fight. And I need you to lead the people in the battle with the Amalekites, but I will take Aaron and Hur with me on top of the mountain, on the hill.”

And when he had his hands lifted and raised, there was a correlation with the battle. Every time his hands were lifted, there was victory being won. And his hands got lowered, it actually went the opposite.

Let me put a little insert here. You know, sometimes on Sunday, like we are here today, when you lift your hands, things start to happen. In worship, you might be down here. You’re not feeling the worship like you should. But it’s the same fact—because you have not yet lifted your hands and surrendered, God can do something with your worship.

And then for others of you going, “Moses, you couldn’t hold your arms up the whole entire time?” Try to hold up your arms for the whole worship set. You tell me how you’ll do on that. Okay.

And what I love about Aaron and Hur is they saw Moses getting tired and winded. So they leapt into action. They put a rock for Moses to sit on, one on one hand and one on the other. They understood that there was significance with hands being raised and hands being lowered. And when they came together, no one wins alone. God bless them.

And here’s the reality. Even though Moses is a giant in the faith, he needed a team. He needed a squad. He needed a crew. He needed trusted people in his corner to fulfill what God intended for him to do.

And I think sometimes you could have the right people on the bus, but not have them in the right seat on the bus. You can’t just select random people to be in your inner circle. Moses was very selective on who he chose to be with him in this scenario.

If we fast forward into the New Testament, Jesus was the same way. The crowd he didn’t choose, but the twelve he selected. And the three—Peter, James, and John—he also chose. You can’t choose the crowds, but you can choose the twelve. And you can choose the three.

And so to give you that, they were not some random people. Aaron was actually Moses’ brother and he was meant to be the mouthpiece to speak to the Israelites and Pharaoh. Hur, we don’t read much about Hur, but Hur is, or supposedly, Moses’ brother-in-law. And you hear later on in scripture that he was actually a trusted leader. And then Joshua—Pastor Nicole did a brilliant job last week—he was the successor of Moses. They were not random people.

Just imagine with me. You have millions of people about to go into battle. Moses goes, “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe—you will do.” Silly, right? But that’s what we do. We allow anyone just to get around us. And we wonder why we can’t overcome the battles that we have. You have to be selective. You have to choose wisely because no one wins alone.

Here’s a little insert. Some of us are loyal to a fault. “Well, they’ve just always been with me.” Okay, but are they good for you? We need to choose the right people in our life.

And so what I want to do here—since we can’t be selective and if we want to fulfill all that God has on our life, we need to choose the right people. Here’s the first thing you need to know:

## Choose people who will fight with you.

Not fight you, but fight with you.

In the passage we read, Moses told Joshua, “Choose some men. Not all men, but go out there to fight.”

What I love about this, again, I stated it earlier, they had not been in a battle forever. But when you got people who will fight with you, “I don’t know what we’re doing. I don’t know what hill we’re climbing, but I am with you.” There was no hesitation. They were in heart and soul.

It reminds me of a passage of scripture also found in the Old Testament. You can read it in 1 Samuel 14 where there’s an armor bearer to Jonathan. And this is what the armor bearer tells Jonathan: “Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.”

The right people, no matter the battle, will fight with you.

What I love is once a year we have Vision Weekend and I look forward to it every single year where Pastor Kevin gives the theme, the vision for the year. We’re downloaded from heaven what he wants to see God do in and through the church and he speaks it on the behalf of that. And we’ve heard “Builders and Fighters,” we’ve heard “Live Like a Leader,” we’ve heard also now this year “The Year of Uncommon Favor.”

You know what? People will fight with you going, “Whatever is in your heart, the vision, I want to play a part in fulfilling it. You want me to be a builder? You want me to be a fighter? Let’s do it. Live like a leader. I can do that thing. Year of uncommon favor. I’m believing with you, Pastor Kevin.”

That is people that we need to choose who will fight with you because no one wins alone.

You know, my favorite type of people that fight? People with prayer. “I know it’s not just a physical battle. It’s a spiritual one.” When people shoot me a text going, “I’m praying for you,” oh, it means the world to me.

I remember maybe about a year and a half ago, two years ago, we had a staff rally and Pastor Sheila gathered all the names of all of the staff children and she put them on a screen. It was so powerful to see all the children’s names from the staff. And she goes, “We’re going to pray for every single child.” And then what she said is, “What I need you to do is then grab two or three names and for the remainder of the year, I need you to pray for them.”

You know what that is? Fighting with you. They may not be my own, but I’m praying with you. I’m believing with you. I’m fighting with you.

We need to choose people who will fight with us.

## Secondly, you need to choose people who will keep you steady.

Not shaky, steady.

We read in that passage—the scripture I’m given reference again—it says that Moses got tired and when Aaron and Hur came along his side that they kept his arms steady until sunset.

It doesn’t say how long the battle was, but if it was until sunset, it was quite some time.

You know what you don’t need? You don’t need people in those moments in time who are just fickle. You don’t want people who freak out. My favorite type of people are those who say, “Everyone stay calm,” and they’re not calm at all. That’s the type of people you do not need in these situations.

But Aaron and Hur were calm. They were looking. They were watching. “Hey, hey, something’s going on with Moses’ arms. We’ve got to jump in action. We’ve got to keep him steady because he can’t do it himself.” So they came alongside him and they were proactive.

That’s the type of people that we need to keep you steady.

You need people that when life throws you a curveball, they will remind you that everything is going to be okay. “We’re going to figure this thing out. I’m by your side.”

I remember I have three children. My oldest will be six this year. He has one missing tooth, not by choice, by accident. And I was doing what I’ve done since he has been born. I’ve cut his hair since he’s been born. I give him a little fade, line him up, all those things. And he was done. He was excited to be done with his haircut. And so he was on the chair and he jumped up off the chair and instead of landing on his two feet, he did a straight face plant right on the floor and he started freaking out.

And I wanted to freak out too. Blood everywhere, but I needed to keep him steady. “Son, it’s going to be okay. It’s going to be all right.” His tooth was dangling. I’m no dentist, but I just pulled that thing right on out.

And with some consoling from dad, some loving from mom, and a little Otter Pop, he was good to go.

But imagine replaying that situation going, “Oh my goodness, son. I don’t know what to do.” Would it have helped him? I need to keep him steady.

You need to choose people when life gets hard that will keep you steady. No one wins alone.

## You also need to choose people who will cheer for you.

There is this incredible story in Major League Baseball of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2022. They were two wins away from winning the World Series. They almost had got it as a team. So in that offseason they go, “We are on the cusp of winning the World Series. We need to make one more move.”

And there was a big free agent on the market by the name of Trea Turner. They go, “If we can pick him up, it will turn things around.” So they actually got lucky and they got Trea Turner—11 years, $300 million. Jesus, that’s incredible.

And Trea Turner joined the team. The fans were ecstatic and excited. First season out there, horrible first half of the season. What he was getting paid, it was not turning out. And what’s interesting about fans, they’re with you when they’re with you. But when things go awry, they’re not with you no more. And Philly fans are known to be some of the worst, hardest fans out there.

They were booing Trea Turner, the guy who was supposed to take them over the hump. There was a man named John McIlwain who had been a Philly fan since he was young. He decided to go on social media and say, “Hey, everyone, this weekend, it was August 3rd of 2023. Instead of us booing Trea Turner, can we give him a standing ovation every time he comes up to bat this weekend?”

And he said these exact words: “My boy is in his head. He needs some love right now. Not some hard love, but he needs some love right now. And so this weekend when he goes up to bat every single at-bat, can we give him a standing ovation?”

Here’s what you need to know though is that actually John McIlwain had suicidal thoughts before that. And people came to his aid and cheered him on. He goes, “The same way it was done for me, I want to do the same for Trea Turner.”

And so that weekend they responded. I got a video for you to check out.

[Video plays with commentary about the standing ovation for Trea Turner, culminating in his three-run home run]

They say that weekend his season turned around. From having the worst start of his career, he had the best two months of his career. Two months, 16 home runs. The Phillies got on a hot streak. They didn’t win the World Series. Almost got there. But everything turned around.

All Trea Turner needed was someone to cheer him on.

Your words of encouragement could turn it around for other people. Your praise and cheering could help someone believe for more in their life—that they don’t have to settle, but that God has more for them.

We don’t need people that are competing with you. You need people who are excited for you. You need people when your prayer gets answered, they’re celebrating, but their prayer hasn’t been answered because they’re cheering you on.

You need to choose people who will cheer for you.

Personally, this is my sweet spot. I’m an encourager all day, every day. And let me be very honest with you. I never thought it was a good thing. I’m like, “Encouragement? That’s it?” But encouragement goes so far.

I forgot to mention that after that weekend, Trea Turner actually purchased 12 billboards in Philadelphia that said, “Thank you, Philly.”

One thing that I love to do as an encourager is I just get these moments where I get gratitude for certain people that are on my mind, on my heart, and I’ll just pick up my phone, find them on my phone, and just start recording an audio. It could be a minute, it could be two minutes, it can be five minutes. I just let it rip.

And there’s always a response back. But the thing that always stands out to me is that you will see on an iPhone—on Android, I don’t think it works because Androids are not the phone to choose—is that nine out of ten times, possibly ten out of ten times, you will always see “kept.”

Why? Because we need encouragement. We need someone to cheer us on.

So let’s not be people who withhold praise. Let’s be celebrators. Because reminder, no one wins alone.

I want to share one more passage of scripture before I go into the last people you should choose. The following chapter, Exodus 17 to Exodus 18, Moses gets visited by his father-in-law, Jethro. Jethro comes to Moses and he starts to celebrate all that God has done in and through him. But then he gets to see a day in the life of Moses and he goes, “Moses, what are you doing?”

There are millions of people that are gathering from morning to sunset to meet with Moses. Moses’ job was to judge, to be the person to go, “Yeah, no, I don’t know about this,” to make every single decision. And Jethro sees this. And this is what Jethro tells Moses: “What you are doing is not good. You and the people are going to get worn out. This work is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone.” Because no one wins alone.

So he tells Moses, “You need to pick capable men who are trustworthy”—again, not random selection—”and appoint them over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.”

And what does Moses do? He listens and does exactly what Jethro told him.

## Lastly, you need to choose people who will challenge you.

“God, don’t you bring up challenge?”

You need people who will challenge you, to call you out, to call you higher. They’re not meant to be a thorn in your side. They’re meant to be an advocate, to speak truth to you, to mentor you, to make you better. Their honesty, directness, whatever you want to call it, is meant not to harm you, but to bring out the best in you.

We all need people who will challenge us. Not some of you, all of us. But here’s my question: What gets in the way of allowing someone to challenge you?

Was it a bad experience in the past? Does it need to be packaged perfectly? “Give me that conflict sandwich. Encourage me, conflict, encourage me.” Can it only come from specific people?

Whatever your reason may be, I think it all comes down to one thing: Pride.

Let’s just imagine with me. What if Moses let pride get in the way that day? Millions of people he is leading and if pride would have got in the way, just imagine with me, things could have turned out a whole lot differently.

What if Moses said back to Jethro, “Are you saying I’m not good? Are you saying I can’t do this?” Or how about this? What if he talked back to Jethro and kept doing things his way? “Do you know who you’re talking to, Jethro? I’m him. Parted the Red Sea. I did that thing and you want to tell me…”

Here’s the truth. Pride will stop you from growing in your life and leadership. Proverbs 16:18 says this: “First pride, then the crash. The bigger the ego, the harder the fall.”

And I’m passionate about this subject because I’m preaching to myself. I am not a team player by nature. I want to win and I want to win alone. And pride is something that I have dealt with my whole entire life. Have I gotten better? Absolutely. But it still creeps its head back up.

Let me prove it to you. Last year we were doing Life Lessons of Mr. Scrooge in December and the location pastors had the opportunity to communicate and it was my weekend to communicate on happiness. Sunday I was going to preach. By Thursday of the week I’m going to preach, I want to have my message kind of locked in, all of my notes. And I had hit a wall and I was trying everything I possibly could to get the message together.

And about midday Thursday I get a text message from Pastor Kevin. “Oh Jesus, why?” And he said, “I’m so pumped to hear you preach this weekend. How’s it going? Do you want some help?”

Everything in me wanted to say, “No, I don’t need help.” If he would have been on the other side, you would have saw the bubbles. Me trying to figure out what to say, what not to say. And I just sat and I go, “I would love your help.”

I’m not done yet. The story gets better. He goes, “I’ll give you a call shortly.” We hop on the call. I start to tell him what I want to do with the message. He starts giving me his ideas and I go, “Pastor Kevin, I need to tell you something. There’s two reasons why I didn’t want to ask for help. Number one, you’re asking me to communicate this weekend and if I can’t do it on my own, it goes to show that I’m incompetent to do what you asked me to do.” Insecurity.

“But here’s the second one that’s really, really bad. I didn’t want to ask for your help because I want to write it by myself. So when people applaud and people’s lives get transformed and changed, I want to get the credit. I don’t want no one else to get the credit.”

“But I know this to be true, PK. If I write it on my own, it will be good. But if your eyes are on it, it will be great. If I do it on my own, the message will hit a couple of people. But if I allow you to help, it will hit so many different people. So what do I want? Do I want the applause or do I want an outcome?”

And I’m telling you that day—I’m not telling you this story just to tell you—something happened, something shifted because I got honest. I don’t want to limit God what he can do.

And I believe the same is true with every single one of you here in Tacoma, online, DuPont, Bellevue, Yakima. But here’s the question: Will you allow yourself to be challenged by the leaders in your life? And when they challenge you, will you listen? Will you walk in agreement with your leaders no matter what they tell you? It is because they love you. They want to help you.

Can we be like Moses who was humble enough to do what Jethro asked him to do? He went to work building a team that could better serve the people.

Big things happen when you swallow your pride. God works in and through us when we swallow our pride. No one wins alone.

So today you may be leaving going, “I got to reevaluate who I choose to be in my life.” For others of you, “I got to eliminate some people.” For others of you, “It’s letting people in.”

No matter what it be, I want to end today with two prayers. We’re talking about challenge. I want to challenge you. If you struggle with pride, there’s many different forms of pride. But as I’ve been talking, you go, “You are speaking directly to me.”

That same day when I confessed that there was pride, something happened. Humility started to creep inside of me. You have to take action.

So here in Tacoma, Bellevue, online, Yakima, DuPont, if you struggle with pride, I want you to take action. I’m going to ask you to be brave. I’m going to ask you to shoot your hand up in the air and my hand will be up with you. And I want to pray for you because I believe when you do one of these, God starts to work on the behalf and say, “I want to be team.” And that starts the process.

So if that is you, you’re going, “You’re talking to me.” On the count of three, can you just shoot your hand up in the air if you deal with pride? My hand’s with you. I want to be used by God. I don’t want to limit God. I want to see God working and through me, in my family, in the church, and every facet, every area.

Here in Tacoma, hands are raised. I believe in Yakima, DuPont, Bellevue, online. Thank you for your honesty. I believe in this moment you’re going to walk out differently.

Father, I pray for every hand that is lifted. We cannot do it on our own. We are meant to be team. No one wins alone. I pray that today humility starts to creep in. Pride starts to exit and that they would allow people to come in. God, I pray that you would start to do an incredible work. I believe that every facet of their life will look differently today as they allow people in. They will no longer hit a lid for some reason. Why was the lid there? Because pride was in the way. Let pride get out the way and you intervene and do what only you can do. Pride has no place. Humility come in and do what only you can do. And the wins that are going to come are going to be incredible and extraordinary. Why? Because no one wins alone. Thank you for loving us and even in our brokenness, in Jesus’ name I pray.

And secondly, every eye closed, every head bowed. I want to cheer for you because there’s some of you today who have not given your life over to Jesus. And I’ve been talking about no one wins alone. No matter how good, no matter what you do, how many people you help, you can’t win this on your own. His name is Jesus who was willing to die on a cross to give his life for us. And that if we accept him, our lives will be forever transformed and changed. And today is your day for salvation.

And for some of you, you’ve walked away. You have not followed Jesus for quite some time. Today is the day you get back right. So that is you saying, “I no longer want to do it alone. I need you in my life.” And you want to surrender your life to Jesus. On the count of three, I’m going to ask you to shoot your hand up in the air here in Tacoma. All of our locations receiving you. 1, 2, 3.

You’re signifying that I want to give my life to Jesus. You can’t do it alone. Thank you for those hands. Thank you for your bravery. And here in a moment, we’re going to say a prayer together. I believe hands are raised in Bellevue, DuPont, Yakima, online.

I want every single person to repeat after me, but especially those who raised their hand. Say this:

“Lord Jesus, welcome to my world. Forgive me of all my sins and come into my life. I boldly declare today you are my leader, my Lord, and I won’t be the same again, in Jesus’ name.”

Can you, church family, help me? Can we cheer on all of those today across every location, online, that said yes to Jesus? Welcome to the family of God!