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 then pray specifically for one another.
You can also pray this prayer as a follow-up to the topic:
Heavenly Father, I pray You would help me identify anything in my life that is holding me back from thriving and living the life You’ve called me to. Please give me the strength to let go of fear, worry, and bitterness and replace them with joy, peace, and hope. Thank you for Your grace and forgiveness. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
A – ACCOUNTABILITY
Ask guys how their week was. Follow up on last week’s topic and ask how guys made changes and how God moved personally. 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.
C – CONVERSATION
Talk about weekly content that connects sports to life and faith.
UNPACKIN’ it Devotional Content
Let Go
The NFL regular season is officially over and that means two things: the playoffs start this weekend and today is “Black Monday.”
For some coaches and general managers around the league, today is the day they are officially let go, and their team gets rid of them.
During the coming hours and days, it will be revealed which franchises are parting ways with their coaches and what GMs are being relieved of their duties.
So far, the Commanders are moving on from head coach, Ron Rivera, after four seasons…and the Falcons have cut ties with head coach, Arthur Smith, following three straight 7-10 seasons.
We are waiting to see if the Bears want to start fresh…whether the Patriots will decide to go in a different direction…and if the Titans decide to take a new approach.
Teams that got a head start on letting go of their head coaches were the Panthers, Raiders, and Chargers, and today in Carolina, GM Scott Fitterer was also dismissed.
It’s a tough day for everyone involved, but franchises determine that the coach and/or GM is holding the team back and by removing them the team is freed up.
As we hear the news of firings across the NFL today, let’s consider what needs to be “let go” in our own lives. What mindsets and behaviors are holding us back and need to be removed?
For some of us, it’s time to part ways with the bitterness and anger we’ve been hanging onto far too long.
Ephesians 4:31-32 (NIV) tells us to, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
For others, we need to dismiss worry, cut ties with stress, and part ways with fear.
For many, we must get rid of the idols in our lives and move on from anything that has replaced God as our greatest passion.
Thankfully, because of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can go in a different direction and take a new approach as we align our lives with Him and follow His path for us. As we seek Him, we can ask Him to enable us to let go of any sin that is holding us back.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT) says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”
Today, as franchises are evaluating the status of their coaches and GMs, let’s evaluate anything in our lives that causes us to lose, go in the wrong direction, and need to be “relieved of their duties.”
It’s difficult to tell sin, fear, anger, bitterness, and worry they are being “let go,” but we’ll experience freedom as God renews our minds and transforms our hearts with a fresh start.
I’m Bryce Johnson, and you can UNPACK that!
Further Scripture Reading
Romans 12: 1-2 (English Standard Version):
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Ephesians 4:22-24 (Amplified Bible):
“…that, regarding your previous way of life, you put off your old self [completely discard your former nature], which is being corrupted through deceitful desires, 23 and be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude], 24 and put on the new self [the regenerated and renewed nature], created in God’s image, [godlike] in the righteousness and holiness of the truth [living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation].”
Additional Thoughts to Consider
- What memories from your past do you need to let go?
- What do you replace fear, worry, bitterness, and stress with?
- What pain do you need to part ways with and receive healing?
- What kind of immaturity do you need to dismiss?
Podcast-Listen/Watch
Questions to Discuss
- What coaching change is most intriguing to you?
- What teams do you think still need to make a change?
- What team has the most desirable coaching vacancy?
- How hard do you think it was for some of these owners to let go of their coach?
- What mindset or behavior do you know you need to let go of?
- What is something you have let go of in the past and are so glad you did?
- What is the hardest thing for you to let go of: bitterness, anger, worry, fear, or stress?
- What is holding you back in life?
- In what ways has God helped you experience freedom by letting go of previous sin patterns?
- What role do you play when it comes to getting rid of whatever is holding you back?
- What is God’s role in helping you let go, move forward, start fresh, and renew your mind?
K – KICKING Around Interesting and Relevant Sports Stories and Topics (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:
- National Championship game in college football
- NFL Playoffs
- NFL teams who were eliminated from the playoffs
