Teams win.  Teams have good players, but those players do best when they play together as a team.  We saw it recently in the NBA Finals.  We also saw it in this year’s Super Bowl.  (Read the blog I posted about Seattle on February 12, 2014.)

The Miami Heat had three of the biggest names in basketball.  They acquired some other super stars.  They had won two years in a row.  This year San Antonio was determined to win – and they were going to do it with team play.

It was amazing to see the number of passes that San Antonio made before they took a shot.  On some possessions the ball never touched the floor before a San Antonio player shot it.  Most of their high shooting percentage was the result of so much team work in passing that a team member was left unguarded.

Boris Diaw had one of the best quotes.  He said, “This series was a battle between one-on-one basketball against team basketball.  I am proud that team basketball won.”

Team play was also demonstrated in the World Cup Soccer competition.  Germany didn’t have the high paid – high profile players that other teams had.  But they won – and they did it with team play.

People working together create a winning atmosphere.  That is true in sports – in business – in church – in families – and in all organizations.

A choir sounds best when all members are on the same page singing the same musical score together.  Look at the songs in the Book of Revelation – not one of them was a solo.  The twenty-four elders sing and cast their crowns before His feet, the united voices of countless angels echo the message, every living creature in heaven and earth and under the earth and all that is in them is joined in one song.

The ones who are victorious over the beast are given harps and a voice to sing.  In every case multitudes of people or angels unite in the same song with absolute unity, with one voice.

To defeat a team, or a church, or a nation – sow the seeds of disunity.  That can be more detrimental than most any weapon in any person’s arsenal.

Look at what happened a few months ago in the Ukraine.  The masked, pro-Russian militants who took over government buildings in eastern Ukraine were utilizing a century-old Russian military strategy known as maskirovka.  This Russian strategy literally is translated as “disguise.”  It employs deception, misrepresentation, disinformation, etc. to sow confusion and frustration.

Russian militants are not the only ones using that strategy – you see it in our nation – in our churches – etc.

A team divided against itself can’t win.