Week 13 - Where is our Home?

 MONDAY — Read the passage with your team.

     3 Who may ascend the hill of the Lord ? Who may stand in his holy place?       4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.  5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior.  6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.

Psalm 24:3-6

     4 Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.  6 Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.        7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O Lord.  8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.  9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.  10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.  11 For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

Psalm 25:4-11

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

Why is that important?

TUESDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

1) What is required in order for a person to receive forgiveness and blessing from God (Psalm 24:4-5)?  Are your actions guiltless?    Are your attitudes and motives consistently right?  Is your life dominated by a desire to honor God, without any compromise to distractions and competing priorities? 

2) How, then, can you have any hope?  How does the psalmist hope to have the “sins of his youth” and his “rebellious ways” forgiven (Psalm 24:7)?  Do you attempt to gain forgiveness through “fixing” what you did wrong?  Can your efforts fix the condition of your heart?

WEDNESDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

3) Psalm 24:7-10 describes the triumphant return of the King to his city.  (“Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors; that the King of glory may come in...Who is he, this King of glory?  The Lord Almighty — he is the King of glory?”).  Have the “doors” and “gates” of your heart been opened to God?  It’s obvious that you cannot open those by your own efforts.  Who can open them?  Have you asked God to do so?

4) Psalm 25 shows us how to ask God to forgive our sins and fix our hearts.  For what does the psalmist plead, in verses 4 and 5?  At what point have you sinner too many times or too deeply for God to forgive (v. 11)?

THURSDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.

5) What truths about God does the psalmist declare (v. 7-11)?  Without this understanding of who God is, would the psalmist have desired for God to teach him?  If you struggle with an unteachable spirit, could your relationship with the Lord (and understanding of who He is) be part of the problem?

6) With whom — on your team (coaches, teammates) and in other settings (parents, teachers, friends, or others) — can you discuss your relationship with God?  Do you seek that encouragement and instruction regularly?  If the answer is “no one,” think today (right now!) of someone who you would trust to help you develop a teachable spirit before God….and do it!

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.