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, please pull me out of my despair and anguish and help me hope in You. I know You are near and I know that You care. Thank you for being willing to rescue me and heal me. I pray You will work mightily in me and please help me worship You through the pain. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
A – ACCOUNTABILITY
Ask guys how their week was. Follow up on last week’s topic about “identity” and ask how they’re doing with keeping their identity in Christ.
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:
The Bills’ Despair
The weekend’s NFL Divisional playoff round delivered enjoyable games to watch and impressive performances by the league’s top players.
Most people expected the 49ers and Ravens to win since they are number one seeds and loaded with talent, and the majority thought the Lions had the advantage, as well.
While all three of these teams took care of business, the Packers, Texans, and Bucs can hold their heads high for their ability to overachieve this season.
We wrapped up the weekend with the much-anticipated matchup between the Chiefs and the Bills as Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes traveled to Buffalo for the first time in the playoffs. This game was epic and lived up to the hype once again, but this one was supposed to have a different outcome.
The Bills needed to win, and considering how well they’ve been playing and how incredible their turnaround was during the season, it appeared things were lining up for them to beat the Chiefs in front of the loyal “Bills Mafia.”
But unfortunately for Bills fans, a missed field goal, key dropped passes, a failed fake punt, and a defense decimated with injuries, ultimately led to a heartbreaking 27-24 loss.
Buffalo had their opportunities and if a few plays went their way, the result may have been different. Instead, fans are in despair, especially with it being the third straight season they lost in the second round of the playoffs, and the third time in four years the Chiefs knocked them out.
Understandably, Bills fans woke up today with anguish, misery, and gloom for having watched their team go another season without that Super Bowl win they so desperately wanted to experience.
Despite their emotions being real (I have empathy for all the Bills fans), we also know it’s just sports and that many people woke up today with immense despair and anguish about major life situations.
Misery and gloom are present because of broken relationships, a difficult job status, the devastating loss of a loved one, a health diagnosis, or countless other heartbreaking outcomes.
Whether in sports or life, despair takes over when hope disappears. Yet, as followers of Jesus, we don’t have to let misery, gloom, and anguish remain and dominate our emotions and outlook.
When we find ourselves consumed by pain, unhappiness, and discouragement, we must always turn to the Lord and allow Him to meet us in that place.
Psalm 34:17-19 (NLT) tells us, “The Lord hears His people when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.”
When we find ourselves filled with the despair that comes from life’s problems, we must ask as the Psalmist does in Psalm 43:5 (AMP): “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you restless and disturbed within me?”
We must also remind ourselves as the Psalmist continues, “Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my [sad] countenance and my God.”
When we face the losses of life, we can’t let despair win. Instead, let’s always keep our hope in the One who heals, comforts, and rescues.
I’m Bryce Johnson, and you can UNPACK that!
Further Scripture Reading:
“He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds [healing their pain and comforting their sorrow]” (Psalm 147:3; Amplified Bible).
“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10; New Living Translation).
Additional Thoughts to Consider or Emphasize:
- How connected are hope and despair?
Podcast-Listen/Watch:
Questions to Discuss:
- When it comes to sports, what loss has caused you the greatest despair?
- How do you respond to sports despair?
- What part of the Bills’ loss should cause the fans the most pain?
- How has God helped you overcome pain and despair in the past?
- How do you help others who are facing despair?
- In what ways are you feeling anguish and gloom this week?
- What time in your life was the longest season of despair?
- How have you experienced God’s comfort during pain?
- How and why can we still worship and praise God through heartbreak?
- What does it mean to turn to the Lord every time we face a devastating loss?
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:
- NFL Playoffs
- NFL coaching carousel
- Who are you rooting for now and who do you think will win?
- Will the Bills make it to the Super Bowl with Josh Allen?
- Should the Bills hire Bill Belichick?
