Weekly Content for P.A.C.K. Meetings
P – PRAYER
Pray for your time together. Ask God to give you open hearts, open ears, and a willingness to be open and honest with each other.
Wrap up your time together by having guys share any additional personal prayer requests and pray specifically for one another.
You can also pray this prayer as a follow-up to the topic:
Heavenly Father, forgive me for not always representing You well, but I pray You will strengthen me as Your ambassador and help me honor You by the way I live and love. Please speak through me, shine through me, and empower me. I pray that people see You and praise You and know You. Thank you for allowing me to participate in Your mission and plan. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
A – ACCOUNTABILITY
Ask guys how their week was. Follow up on last week’s topic about “handling success” and ask them if they had any additional thoughts about depending on God during fruitful seasons.
Also, it can be an opportunity for guys to share any struggles or challenges from the week that they need to confess or be held accountable for.
If married, ask how everyone is intentionally serving their spouse…and if a parent, what the biggest challenge is right now.
C – CONVERSATION
Talk about weekly content that connects sports to life and faith.
UNPACKIN’ it Devotional Content:
Even though the game of basketball is a team sport, the NBA has been built around the stars and key players who have carried the league forward as ambassadors. Specific players have been considered the faces of the league, and the spokesmen, and have represented the sport to the world.
Each era has relied on different players to have that role and some names that come to mind are Bill Russell, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, and Shaq.
Over the past 10-20 years, we’ve seen LeBron James lead the way as the face of the league, along with Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, and more recently, Giannis Antetokounmpo. These are the guys who represent the NBA and who most fans identify and connect with when thinking about the league.
One of the conversations at All-Star Weekend was about the future faces of the league, and who would accept the responsibility to grow the game, demonstrate what the NBA is all about, and continue to shine a light on the league.
The key guys can’t just be concerned with themselves but must embrace what it means to honor the game, bring awareness to what makes the NBA so great, and play in a way that garners more interest.
Yet, as important as the “faces of the league” are, every NBA player carries the responsibility as an ambassador because they are a member of the league and the NBA family forever.
Since these players are who the fans see, how they carry themselves and represent the league matters. Ultimately, it’s not just about how great they are on the court, but it’s about what they do to lift up the NBA and the sport of basketball.
Similarly, as followers of Jesus, every one of us is an ambassador for the Lord and is His representative as we honor Him and lift Him up in the world.
As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:20 (AMP), “So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we [as Christ’s representatives] plead with you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.”
We are the ones people see and hear, so are we shining a light, carrying on the tradition of the Gospel? Are we continuing the mission of Jesus, and being His hands and feet to the world?
Matthew 5:15-16 (NLT) tells us, “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
Do people see Jesus in us?
Do we represent Him well with the way we live and love?
Do we demonstrate what it means to follow Jesus?
Do we bring awareness to why God is so great?
Are we helping to grow the world’s understanding that God loves, saves, and calls us to repent?
God doesn’t need us because He’s perfect and powerful on His own. But, He invites us to join Him in the work He’s doing and when we’re willing to step up and take on the responsibility as His “spokesman,” He will speak through us.
People will connect with us and be drawn to us because Christ lives in us and they will see His love and transforming power shining through.
Ultimately it’s not about us, it’s about Jesus and people knowing Him and following Him. We just need to represent Him as His ambassadors and point people to Him.
Today, as we embrace this opportunity, thankfully, we don’t have to do it alone or in our own strength, but rather through the power of the Holy Spirit.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8; NLT).
I’m Bryce Johnson, and you can UNPACK that!
Further Scripture Reading:
1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV): “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
Ephesians 2:10 (AMP): “For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].”
Additional Thoughts to Consider or Emphasize:
- As followers of Jesus, we are all ambassadors, not just our pastors.
- As followers of Jesus, how we live and how we communicate with others determine how we represent God to them.
- We aren’t perfect ambassadors, so we must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and not our own strength.
- People are watching us, so are we causing them to be interested in knowing more about God?
- It’s not about us being great, but showing others how great God is.
Podcast-Listen/Watch:
Questions to Discuss:
- Who do you think will be the new face(s) of the NBA moving forward?
- Who are some of the players that have been the greatest ambassadors for the game?
- How have the players in the NBA caused you to be more or less interested in knowing about the league and following it?
- Before you started following Jesus, what role did ambassadors play in you becoming interested in knowing about God?
- How do you normally view your role as an ambassador for Christ?
- In what ways is being an ambassador for Christ intimidating?
- In what ways has your life caused people to ask you about Jesus?
- What does it mean to be the hands and feet of Jesus?
- What does it mean that Jesus shines through us?
- What holds you back from fully embracing being an ambassador and telling people about Jesus everywhere?
K – KICKING Around Interesting and Relevant Sports Stories and Topics (You Can Start With This)
Go around the room as each guy shares a thought, a hot take, an observation about their favorite team, or a big story going on. Save the conversation about the sports topic from the devotional for later.
THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES:
- What NFL offseason storyline is most intriguing to you?
- What veteran QB switching teams could make the biggest impact?
- What NBA team do you think will have the best second half?
- What sports are you following the closest now that the football season is over?
- Have you watched any recent sports documentaries?
