Week 1 - Teachable Spirit vs. Promises of the World

MONDAY — Read the passage with your team.

     1 "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.  2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.  3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.  I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

      6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.  7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.  Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.  8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.  9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:  it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.  13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.  This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."

Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-13

What does this passage have to say about a teachable spirit?

Why is that important?

TUESDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

1) In this passage (especially verses 1-3), God is encouraging us to listen to Him (be teachable) and to resist the empty promises on which we often waste our time and money.  What are some of those empty promises?

2) How do we listen, instead, to God (v. 6)?  What does it mean to seek God?  What does it mean to call upon God?  What does a person’s attitude have to be like in order to even want to do this?

WEDNESDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

3) When we do desire to be taught by God and by the godly people in our lives, what will we discover (v. 8-9)?  Has there been a time when you have realized that you knew so little compared to other people, let alone to God?

4) Have you ever said, when your coach was instructing you, “I know, I know, I know”?  Were you really listening?  When you realize that you don’t know it all, how do your attitudes, words, and actions change — toward your coach and toward your teammates?

THURSDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

5) An unwillingness to listen to another person’s opinion or suggestion can demonstrate a lack of trust.  Do you ever disregard other people in this way?  Do you often act as if your way is the only correct way?

6) Do you ever respond to God in this way?  What do verses 10-13 teach us about trusting God?  How should that change your attitude toward God’s instruction?

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

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

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

· Add the results to your team’s list of descriptions of the “teachable 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 a teachable spirit — 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 teachability or anything else), and pray together.