Week 2- Honoring God As Creator

 MONDAY — Read the passage with your team.

   1 O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. 5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

   23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:1-18; 23-24

What does this passage have to say about honor?

Why is that important?

TUESDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

1) The book of Genesis tells the account of God’s creation of the entire    universe, including men and women in His own image to rule over the creation.  Psalm 139 describes a very personal part of the creation.  What do verses 13-16 teach you about God’s creation of you?

2) Re-read verses 17 and 18.  What is the Psalmist’s reaction to a God who intimately created and knows him?

3) Is it possible that God intentionally created every aspect of your being, but doesn’t care how you use your athletic gifts?  Is God’s intent in your   creation “precious” to you?  How should you react to this understanding?

WEDNESDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

4) God is your creator, but does His role in your life end there?  What kind of daily relationship does God maintain with you (v. 7-12)?  If you attempt to run from God, or if you are ashamed of your faults and try to hide your life from Him, or if you find yourself in the midst of struggle or fear or   threatening circumstances, where is God (v. 11-12)?

5) Does the truth that God is with you at every moment — knowing every thought, seeing every action — cause you to fear or rejoice?  Why?  What is the Psalmist’s reaction (v. 6)? 

THURSDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

6) These amazing truths about God cause the Psalmist to honor God.  He honors God with his words, bursting with the greatness of God.  What truths from God’s word, wonders from His creation, or evidences of His work in your life cause your heart to overflow with honor for God?

7) Honoring God only begins with words from the heart.  What also follows, if you truly desire to honor God (v. 23-24)?  Have you asked Him to    reveal “any offensive way” in your athletic thoughts and habits, and are you considering those things regularly — so that you’ll be ready to see what God shows you?

FRIDAY — Discuss sport applications of honor, and pray together.

· Ask your athletes to briefly reflect on what they’ve learned about honor this week, and to repeat some of those things.  (Remind them of some of the Biblical truths about honor you’ve discussed, if necessary.)

· Ask your team, “Based on what we learned about honor this week...What does an honorable athlete do?”  Do not settle for vague answers; challenge your athletes to go beyond general qualities of an honorable athlete, and to determine what those qualities look like in action.

· Add the results to your team’s list of descriptions of the “honorable athlete”, and be sure the list is displayed somewhere that is constantly visible, as a reminder to the team.

· Pray together as a team.  Encourage your athletes to pray for your team’s growth in regard to the discipline of honor — especially in relation to some of the issues and challenges that you discussed together this week.  Challenge them to also ask for forgiveness, when applicable.  Give time for athletes to request prayer (regarding honor or anything else), and pray together.