Matt Shaw Shares How Faith in Jesus Christ Matters More Than Major League Baseball Success

[00:00] Charlie Kirk believed courage and

[00:02] conviction still matter. He wanted every

[00:04] Christian to stand firm in their faith

[00:06] no matter the cost. That's why the voice

[00:08] of the martyrs is offering you a free

[00:10] copy of extreme devotion. Inside are

[00:12] true stories of Christians in places

[00:14] like China, Iran, and Nigeria who

[00:16] refused to deny Jesus Christ even in the

[00:19] face of imprisonment or death. Charlie's

[00:21] passion was to see that kind of faith in

[00:23] all of us. Get your free copy today at

[00:25] vom.org/charlie.

[00:27] That's vom.org/charie. org/chart.

[00:36] >> The Chicago Cubs select Matthew Shaw. He

[00:40] goes by the name of Matt Shaw. MLB

[00:42] pipeline showing him some love and he

[00:44] just been running to TripleA. And he's

[00:46] gotten better throughout the year.

[00:47] Charlie, he was someone that I met at

[00:49] the apartments in Arizona. Was one of

[00:51] the biggest Cubs fans I ever met. He

[00:53] texted me after every game. He had a

[00:54] great win for the Cubbies and he was

[00:56] super super supportive. obviously

[00:58] someone who's really faithful. Um, so we

[00:59] connected on that front. You're playing

[01:01] in the best league in the entire world

[01:03] against the best players in the entire

[01:04] world. Really doesn't get better than

[01:06] that.

[01:23] Hey everybody. Um, I'm so thankful to be

[01:25] here. um you know and uh my wife and my

[01:29] family over there and and I'm very

[01:31] blessed for them and to have known

[01:33] Charlie.

[01:35] Um but something that that people may

[01:37] not know about Charlie and I and

[01:39] something that I've spoken on a lot is

[01:42] for my relationship with Charlie,

[01:44] everything was about our faith in Jesus.

[01:47] Um

[01:53] and for me I feel a very similar way. My

[01:56] faith in Jesus is everything that I am.

[02:00] It's guided me and put me in the

[02:03] position that I am in today, especially

[02:06] to come up and talk to a bunch of people

[02:09] who get the opportunity to learn about

[02:11] healthcare, which was great.

[02:14] And more importantly for me, I'd love to

[02:16] talk about my experiences

[02:19] and why I'm in the position I'm in

[02:22] today.

[02:24] So for a long time in my life, I wanted

[02:27] to be a professional baseball player.

[02:30] And that started from when I was a

[02:32] really young kid and I worked hard and I

[02:36] grinded through

[02:39] um you know played high school, college

[02:40] and then eventually made my way to

[02:43] professional baseball. And during that

[02:46] time I read a lot of books. You know I

[02:50] thought that was going to kind of help

[02:51] me put me in a good position. and I

[02:53] wanted to absorb knowledge. Um, and the

[02:56] more that I read, you know, I kind of

[02:58] learned what it takes to be successful,

[03:02] right? And and these books say, you

[03:05] know, work hard, be disciplined on and

[03:08] off the field, no matter what you're

[03:10] doing, you know, be focused

[03:14] and and inevitably it said work harder

[03:16] than the rest of the people. And I was

[03:18] like, great, I can do that, right? I I

[03:21] can I can work hard. I can eat right and

[03:25] sleep and all those things. And for a

[03:28] long time, that's what I believed my

[03:30] purpose was in life was work hard. You

[03:33] know, live the American dream of being

[03:36] able to accomplish what I put my mind

[03:39] to.

[03:40] It wasn't until college where I started

[03:43] to realize that being a professional

[03:48] baseball player, working hard, all these

[03:50] things, they just didn't fulfill my

[03:53] heart.

[03:55] And you know, it it started there for my

[03:59] journey and learning about Jesus. And my

[04:03] wife who's sitting over there was

[04:05] extraordinarily helpful for guiding me

[04:07] in the direction

[04:16] And the reason I wanted to come here

[04:18] today was because I've been praying a

[04:21] lot about the opportunity to disciple

[04:23] people and to show them the love and the

[04:27] joy that I feel in my heart and to

[04:29] spread that to everybody whoever has the

[04:32] opportunity to listen. And so I I saw

[04:35] this opportunity as somewhere where I

[04:38] could come up on stage and tell people

[04:41] whatever out the world wants to tell you

[04:43] is successful and that's going to bring

[04:44] you joy and peace in your life, which is

[04:47] work really hard, get a great job and

[04:50] you're going to feel fulfilled. And in

[04:53] my experience,

[04:55] you work really hard, you get a you have

[04:58] a great job, and you follow your

[05:00] passion. That's important extremely.

[05:03] and you follow your passion, you figure

[05:05] out a little bit about who you are and

[05:07] who you want to be. And I think that's

[05:09] absolutely an amazing thing. But I think

[05:12] what you miss on is the fulfillment

[05:15] piece, something that we were made to

[05:18] do, and that's to have a relationship

[05:20] with God. So, as I went through and I

[05:24] realized this that I needed to have this

[05:27] relationship with God and I learned

[05:28] about God and I grew in my faith, it

[05:32] came very clear to me that I had been

[05:34] missing a lot of things along the way. I

[05:38] had been missing how I treat people. I

[05:41] had been missing the way that I talk,

[05:43] the way that I learn, the way that I

[05:45] interact with the people around me. And

[05:48] the more I learned about Jesus, I was

[05:51] very surprised,

[05:53] you know, from kind of a a a 50-foot

[05:56] view. I see Jesus and it's like, "Oh,

[05:58] he's this good guy. You know, that's

[06:01] what he's all about. You know, he's

[06:02] about morals and all these things." But

[06:05] I never quite could comprehend until I

[06:08] started learning the amount of love that

[06:10] Jesus had in his heart. And I think that

[06:13] was the biggest piece for me that

[06:15] changed the way I looked at a lot of

[06:17] things. Jesus went to all these people,

[06:21] all these people, different people in

[06:23] different areas of life, and different

[06:24] walks of life. And what he wanted to do

[06:27] was show them, that no matter what they

[06:30] did in the world, good or bad, that

[06:34] without him, you're always going to be

[06:36] missing something in your life. And

[06:38] that's exactly how I felt. I I'm not

[06:41] saying this because it's something that

[06:43] I read. I'm saying this because I

[06:46] experienced this. You know, I I I grew

[06:49] to the top of my game and and made it to

[06:51] the major leagues. And I'm sure there's

[06:54] people in this room who are going

[06:55] through similar things. They want to

[06:57] just get to that next goal, that next

[06:59] thing in work, wherever they're at. And

[07:01] that's what they look forward to the

[07:02] most. But what I'm saying is no matter

[07:05] how far you go along that ladder, you're

[07:08] still going to be missing something

[07:09] innate in your heart. And it's that God

[07:12] craves a relationship with everybody

[07:15] here. And I think that's and I think

[07:19] that's what Charlie

[07:21] and I talked about was that God craves a

[07:24] relationship with everybody. And he does

[07:28] that through this intimate love that he

[07:31] has for all of this. So, so God asks us,

[07:35] right? He says the first thing he wants

[07:37] us to do is love God with all our

[07:39] hearts. The next thing he wants us to do

[07:42] is love our neighbor. And the last thing

[07:44] he wants us to do, and this is just a

[07:47] very simple threegoal thing to what I

[07:51] believe and what what God tells us, is

[07:53] to love our enemy. And that's a very

[07:56] difficult piece to take hold of is to

[08:00] love your enemy. Because what does that

[08:01] mean? Does it mean that you're going to

[08:03] go and hug the people who might not

[08:06] agree with you or hate you or act malice

[08:09] towards you? Not necessarily.

[08:11] But what it means is that when people

[08:14] act a certain way towards you, it's

[08:17] because they have hate in their heart.

[08:19] When they act hateful towards you,

[08:22] right? My wife and I, we get hateful

[08:25] messages all the time. And and I've been

[08:27] praying about what I should do about

[08:30] those messages. And usually I just

[08:32] ignore them. I say, "You know what? Like

[08:34] it let's just not even get involved.

[08:36] It's probably for the best. You know,

[08:38] we'll just kind of ignore the messages

[08:40] and move on." But what I've realized and

[08:43] the way that I've grown is that I need

[08:46] to show the same love that I have for my

[08:48] neighbor and for God to those same

[08:51] people that have hateful and and hateful

[08:54] messages towards me. And that's

[08:56] something that my wife and I pray a lot

[08:57] about. And we think about how can we

[08:59] look at these people, any people who are

[09:03] against us and my faith and Jesus, and

[09:07] show them that I'm not trying to I'm not

[09:10] trying to change their mind about some

[09:12] complex issue. What I'm trying to do is

[09:15] show them that the same love and the

[09:18] same joy that's in my heart, I want to

[09:21] show them that they can have that, too.

[09:23] Because the truth is when you love your

[09:25] enemy, you're not trying to change their

[09:28] mind. You're trying to show them that

[09:30] the reason that everyone here in one way

[09:32] or another feels blessed. The reason

[09:35] that everyone here for one way or

[09:37] another is thankful for the many things

[09:40] that God has put them in their life. You

[09:43] can look at your enemy and say, "Hey, I

[09:46] just want you to feel thankful for the

[09:48] things that are in your life. I'm not

[09:50] trying to change and reinvent the wheel

[09:51] here. That's God's job, right? My job is

[09:54] disciple and to guide and to say, "Hey,

[09:58] I'm very blessed." And I want to show

[10:01] you guys the same feeling that I have.

[10:03] So, I just ask, and it's kind of a

[10:06] challenge to everyone here. Everyone

[10:08] here, we're here because you love

[10:11] America and you want you want your

[10:14] children, your family, your

[10:16] grandparents, everyone to have a good

[10:18] America. But how can you do that if

[10:21] you're not fulfilled in your heart with

[10:23] what we're meant to do and have a

[10:26] relationship with God? You'll find

[10:28] yourself start swinging and missing

[10:31] quite frankly when you have

[10:33] conversations with people who don't

[10:35] agree with you. I just saw here maybe 5

[10:38] minutes ago or 10 minutes ago people

[10:41] arguing about something. I'm not sure

[10:43] what it was. And the bottom line was I

[10:46] looked at those two people and one of

[10:47] them's red in the face. They're arguing

[10:48] about something and I would bet a lot of

[10:51] money that that person had no idea what

[10:54] the other person was saying. They're

[10:56] just they're in such a a moment where

[10:58] they're they're arguing about whatever

[11:00] it may be. And the truth is we need to

[11:03] first look at ourselves and say, "Hey,

[11:06] am I am I actually providing an

[11:08] environment where I could have this

[11:09] conversation with someone?" I mean, you

[11:12] look at Jesus's life and his ability to

[11:15] talk to people and he went on so many

[11:18] different events and areas in his time

[11:20] and spoke to so many different people

[11:23] because all he wanted was peace and joy

[11:26] and love, which inevitably ends up being

[11:29] the foundation for everything that we

[11:32] believe in. If you have that peace and

[11:34] love and joy, you're going to talk about

[11:36] a safer environment for your children.

[11:38] And you're going to talk about a

[11:40] community where people can talk about

[11:42] differences and not argue about them to

[11:46] the point where people are getting hurt,

[11:48] people are getting murdered, right?

[11:50] Nobody wants that. I mean, we look at

[11:53] Charlie and he was a great example of

[11:55] someone who had a lot to say and a

[11:57] beautiful message about Jesus and he got

[12:00] murdered.

[12:02] So I ask you all today, not just for

[12:05] your sake, but yes, for everybody's

[12:08] sake, to when you have conversations

[12:11] with people, look at them in a different

[12:13] way. You can be sympathetic. You can be

[12:17] loving even if you don't agree. And I

[12:20] think that's an important thing my wife

[12:22] and I noticed when we got these hateful

[12:24] messages and we were figuring out what

[12:26] we wanted to say. And we said, you know

[12:28] what? I think what we need to do is we

[12:31] need to respond and we need to pray for

[12:33] these people because we love them

[12:36] because we want to show them that in our

[12:39] hearts we're not trying we're not trying

[12:42] to cause problems in different people.

[12:45] We're actually trying to find the

[12:46] solution which is Jesus. And that the

[12:50] peace and the joy he brings into my

[12:52] heart and my wife's heart and my

[12:54] family's heart is something that we want

[12:56] for everybody. And everybody should find

[13:00] that because we're meant to have a

[13:03] relationship with God. And so when I had

[13:06] this opportunity to come here, I thought

[13:08] the most important thing that I wanted

[13:10] to share to people if I had the chance,

[13:13] which I've been blessed to be able to

[13:15] come up here, is that my love for Jesus

[13:19] is the first foot that I step forward

[13:22] when it comes to my interactions with

[13:24] people. It's not truth. It's not like

[13:26] I'm going to try to tell you what you

[13:28] should and shouldn't believe. I'm saying

[13:31] listen, I understand where you're at.

[13:32] And we're all at different parts of our

[13:34] life. So, it's important for me in my

[13:37] life to try to listen to people and say,

[13:40] "Hey, this is where you're at. I love

[13:42] you. I don't know you." And I want to

[13:45] guide you so you feel the same peace and

[13:47] joy in my life and your life. And so,

[13:50] when I step that first foot forward,

[13:53] that's Jesus. I just hope that people

[13:55] who have conversations with me anywhere

[13:57] on here, you know, on the baseball

[14:00] field, in life, no matter where I go,

[14:03] that I love them and I and I and I want

[14:05] the very best for them, just that I've

[14:07] had in my life with my beautiful wife

[14:10] and I and my family. And so I just ask

[14:12] you the very same thing that when you

[14:15] talk to people and you step that foot

[14:16] forward, is it in your heart? Do you

[14:20] have love and understanding and saying,

[14:22] "You know what? The very best thing for

[14:25] you is that you have a relationship with

[14:28] God and you feel the same things for

[14:30] me." It's not that you agree with me,

[14:32] cuz trust me, we're humans. We're going

[14:34] to disagree a lot all the time. We will.

[14:38] And that's okay. Because at the end of

[14:41] the day, when you disagree with someone,

[14:43] you're not disagreeing with them and

[14:45] saying, "You know what? We disagree, so

[14:46] I hate you." Which is easy to do. It

[14:49] really is. But when you disagree with

[14:51] someone, you disagree with them and you

[14:54] understand

[14:55] that what they're talking about, they

[14:57] believe it. And that's okay because at

[15:00] the end of the day, you just want them

[15:02] to feel the love from God. And that

[15:04] manifests in so many different ways.

[15:07] Look at your lives. Look at the ways

[15:09] that God has blessed you in so many

[15:12] different creative ways. It's all unique

[15:16] to each and every one of you. So, I ask

[15:18] that you look at people with the same

[15:20] light that God looks at you. And now

[15:22] we're going to do a short Q&A. But thank

[15:24] you guys so very much and God bless.

[15:35] >> Thank you so much.

[15:41] >> Yeah.

[15:43] >> Hi Matt.

[15:44] >> Hey. How are you?

[15:45] >> Go Cubs.

[15:46] >> Let's go.

[15:48] comes.

[15:48] >> By the way, I'm wearing your jersey.

[15:51] >> Thank you.

[15:52] >> And I I bought it because I wanted to

[15:54] show you how proud of I was of you for

[15:57] going to Charlie's memorial.

[16:00] And I glad the Cubs had your back. Um

[16:04] I'm not happy with the way that Mets

[16:08] announcer called you out and wasn't

[16:11] reprimanded, but you stood tall. And I

[16:15] just want to know how you've been able

[16:16] to be so courageous with your support

[16:20] for Charlie and the conservative cause

[16:23] when so many people in media and in

[16:27] sports

[16:28] think differently and don't understand

[16:31] your point of view.

[16:33] >> Yeah, great question. Thank you for

[16:34] sharing. Um, obviously Jesus and my

[16:38] faith has been something that I've

[16:40] always stepped forward in and I have got

[16:43] a lot of backlash for that in my

[16:45] relationship with Charlie. Um, and you

[16:47] you mentioned courageous and you know

[16:50] it's something that I very much so

[16:52] believe in is that it's not me who's

[16:55] doing all these courageous things,

[16:57] right? You know, I'm a sinner. I make so

[16:59] many mistakes. Um, you know, those are

[17:01] the beliefs that I have. And I believe

[17:03] that God has blessed me with the ability

[17:06] to come out in front of people and just

[17:08] share my testimony and share my faith

[17:10] and share my belief because he loves me

[17:13] so much that no matter how much hate, no

[17:15] matter how much people might disagree or

[17:18] argue with me or or go on TV and say,

[17:20] "Ah, he's the worst." It just doesn't it

[17:23] doesn't change who I am and what I

[17:26] believe in. And it doesn't change how

[17:28] I'm going to interact with that guy the

[17:29] same that I'd interact with anybody else

[17:32] because that's what Jesus did and that's

[17:33] what he told me and showed me. And so I

[17:36] just hope for you and your beliefs and

[17:38] what you believe in that again, even

[17:41] when people say terrible things about me

[17:43] or terrible things about Charlie or

[17:45] terrible things about anybody, you just

[17:47] show them grace and love because in

[17:49] their heart, yes, they're they're angry,

[17:52] but you want to get them to a point

[17:54] where they too see the peace and the

[17:56] love that they can have with God and

[17:59] with Jesus.

[18:01] >> Thanks. Thanks. Thanks, Matt.

[18:04] >> Hey, Matt. My name is uh Bentley Love.

[18:07] I'm from uh Dallas, Texas. And after I

[18:11] graduate college, I hope to work in

[18:13] sports media one day. So maybe I'll get

[18:15] to interview you. Uh but what kind of

[18:18] advice would you have for me in going

[18:21] into a field where people don't tend to

[18:24] talk about their faith as much or the

[18:26] fact that they're conservative? How

[18:27] would you kind of uh suggest that I go

[18:31] about that?

[18:32] Yeah, I think the most important thing

[18:34] that you can do in media is get to know

[18:37] the people that you're talking to,

[18:39] right? We have some people that might

[18:41] come in and out here and there, ask

[18:43] questions, and they can kind of

[18:45] manipulate what we say, but your job is

[18:47] to get to know the person. So, when

[18:49] you're writing the story, you have

[18:52] everything about who they are, and you

[18:54] can maneuver that into a story. Like,

[18:56] that's what good media is, right? is

[18:58] taking what they say but understanding

[19:00] who they are and tying those things

[19:02] together to show the bigger public a

[19:05] picture of what they're all about. And I

[19:07] think that's easily misconstrued. So I

[19:10] just I encourage you and first of all,

[19:12] God bless you and good luck with

[19:13] everything you're going through. But I

[19:15] do encourage you very much to get to

[19:17] know the people that you're talking to.

[19:20] And even if they don't necessarily talk

[19:22] about what you're talking about, you get

[19:23] to know them and understand where

[19:25] they're at. and you're going to be able

[19:26] to use your beliefs to guide them just

[19:29] as much as you're guiding your stories.

[19:39] >> Hello, Mr. Shashaw. I wanted to say that

[19:43] your speech was absolutely incredible

[19:45] and reflective of the gospel. And I like

[19:48] how it reflected the love of Christ and

[19:51] how we were supposed to show grace to

[19:53] our enemies. But there's a lot of

[19:56] controversy with how we're supposed to

[19:58] properly apply it. So, do you think 1

[20:02] Corinthians 13 is a more accurate way of

[20:06] showing the love of Christ?

[20:09] >> I wish I had a photographic memory of

[20:12] what first Corinthians 13 was. But what

[20:15] I can say is that through my experiences

[20:18] with people who might not like me or in

[20:20] sometimes who might hate me, who would

[20:23] identify themselves as definitely

[20:25] opposition to me. I would say that the

[20:28] most important thing as you said is to

[20:31] first show grace, right? And understand

[20:33] where they're at. But at the end of the

[20:35] day, what you're trying to do is through

[20:37] your experiences and the love that you

[20:40] felt in your life, can you show them

[20:42] that same very thing and how it's

[20:44] manifested in their lives?

[20:49] All right.

[20:51] Yeah. What's up, Matt? How's it going?

[20:54] >> Hey, there you are. Okay. So, uh, let me

[20:57] let me just say as a lifelong fan of the

[21:00] back-to back World Series champion, Los

[21:03] Angeles Dodgers,

[21:08] let me just let me just say that uh, it

[21:10] it takes great courage for you to come

[21:12] out and just support Charlie, you know,

[21:15] um, as a Cubs fan. You know, back home,

[21:18] you'd be surprised there's some Dodger

[21:20] fans that also happen to be MAGA. Uh

[21:23] what would you say to those um that say,

[21:25] "Oh, you're you can't be a Dodger fan

[21:28] and be MAGA and all that crap." You

[21:29] know, what do you what do you think

[21:31] about it? Yeah, I would say that the

[21:34] most important thing is that you're a

[21:35] fan of Jesus.

[21:42] And if you can remember that above all

[21:44] else, that you're a fan of Jesus first,

[21:47] then yes, you could be a Dodgers fan as

[21:48] well.

[21:57] I

[21:57] >> think we're going to do one more

[21:58] question here, guys.

[21:59] >> This will be the last question.

[22:02] >> Hi, Matt. My name is Camden, and I have

[22:05] a question. How do you share Jesus with

[22:09] your fellow teammates?

[22:12] >> That's a great question, Camden. Thank

[22:13] you for sharing and having the courage

[22:15] to get up there.

[22:21] Would you believe that it is not a very

[22:24] easy thing to do always, Candon? You

[22:26] know, there's a lot of people in the

[22:29] locker room who, you know, they're

[22:32] trying to be the best baseball player

[22:34] they can be, right? And that takes a ton

[22:37] of time and energy. And so the best

[22:40] thing that I can do isn't to talk to

[22:42] them and and disciple them, but it's to

[22:45] show what my beliefs look like in my

[22:47] life. And sometimes it's not a

[22:49] conversation, but it's simply the light

[22:52] that you shine around to other people.

[22:54] And because of how much love you have

[22:57] for other people and for Jesus, it's

[23:00] going to show them, hey, maybe this is

[23:02] something I'm interested in. Maybe this

[23:04] is something that can provide me

[23:06] fulfillment in my life. And I hope that

[23:09] for everyone and I hope it for you,

[23:10] Camden. And thank you guys so much for

[23:13] having me. We love all you guys. God

[23:16] bless. Thank you. Thank you.