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, thank you for sending Jesus to defeat sin and death so I can experience freedom and salvation. Please help me put away sin and live a holy and obedient life by the power of the Holy Spirit. I pray I won’t lose focus, take my eyes off Jesus, and become prideful or self-righteous, allowing sin to creep back in. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
A – ACCOUNTABILITY
Ask guys how their week was. Follow up on last week’s “fear” topic and ask them if they could identify and overcome areas of fear.
Also, it can be an opportunity for guys to share any struggles or challenges from the week that need to be confessed or 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/CONTENT
Talk about weekly content that connects sports to life and faith.
UNPACKIN’ IT DEVOTIONAL CONTENT:
Top Teams Put Away Their Opponent
The NCAA men’s basketball tournament has gotten off to a tremendous start with multiple overtime games, tight finishes, and one buzzer-beater from Colorado. We’ve seen some fun first-round upsets from surprising teams like Yale, Oakland, Grand Canyon, and Duquesne.
As we look at the Sweet 16 teams remaining, however, the majority are top seeds and top programs. All four of the No. 1 seeds and No. 2 seeds are moving on to next weekend.
Also, 12 of the Sweet 16 teams are seeded 1-4 with the other four being Gonzaga, San Diego State, Clemson, and NC State.
While we enjoyed many competitive games over the weekend, most top teams didn’t just win – they convincingly put away their opponent. UConn put away Northwestern 75-58, Duke put away James Madison 93-55, Purdue put away Utah St. 106-67, Illinois put away Duquesne 89-63, and San Diego St. put away Yale 85-57.
Despite the game going to double overtime, Creighton still put away Oregon by 13 points, 86-73. Michigan State and UNC had a tough matchup for a while, but eventually, the Tar Heels put away the Spartans with an 85-69 win.
The key for most of these winning teams was getting the big lead, not letting their opponent hang around, and not allowing them to catch up or get close by being careless or cocky or lackadaisical.
Even the teams that had the big lead early, couldn’t just think they were in the clear and then lose focus or not try as hard. Instead, we saw the top teams keep their foot on the gas, continue to distance themselves and destroy their opponent. The last thing they wanted to do was give the other team a chance to get back in the game.
As we reflect on the number of teams who had blowout wins, put away the other team, and advanced to the Sweet 16, there’s a parallel to how we as followers of Jesus “put away” sin in our lives.
Thankfully, Jesus sacrificed His life on the cross on our behalf, saving those who put their trust in Him from the penalty of sin which is death.
He also “put away” the power of sin as Hebrews 9:26 (TLB) tells us, “…He came once for all, at the end of the age, to put away the power of sin forever by dying for us.”
When we place our faith in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit, we rely on Him to help us distance ourselves and “put away” sin. The following verses give us great encouragement (emphasis added):
“Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness…” (James 1:21; ESV).
“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander” (1 Peter 2:1; ESV).
“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25; ESV).
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” (Ephesians 4:31; ESV).
“When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11; NLT).
The key for us as we grow and mature in our faith and become more like Jesus is we “put away” sin and don’t let it hang around or allow it to “catch up or get close” by being careless or cocky or lackadaisical.
Even when we have a “big lead” and are confident we aren’t going to let that sin “back in the game,” we can’t just think we’re totally in the clear and then lose focus or not try as hard to continue to destroy the sins that are trying to “come back.”
Instead, we must keep our foot on the gas, distance ourselves, and take “blowing out” and defeating sin seriously. The last thing we want is to give sin a chance to get “back in the game.”
Today, let’s not forget that Jesus put away the power of sin through His death and resurrection and we now rely on His power within us to help us put away sinful attitudes, behaviors, and mindsets.
I’m Bryce Johnson, and you can UNPACK that!
FURTHER SCRIPTURE READING:
Ephesians 4:27 (AMP): “And do not give the devil an opportunity [to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harboring resentment, or cultivating bitterness].”
Genesis 35:2 (ESV): “So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.'”
James 1:21 (ESV): “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS TO CONSIDER OR EMPHASIZE OR OTHER DIRECTIONS TO GO:
The importance of a coach calling a timeout after his team has made a few careless errors and has allowed the opponent to score a couple of baskets in a row. Likewise, we need to call a timeout and make adjustments to get back on track if we’ve become careless or sense temptation is getting stronger. A timeout means we must go to God’s Word, pray, or call a friend.
PODCAST-LISTEN/WATCH:
QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS:
- What winner most impressively put their opponent away?
- What challenges does a team with the lead face when it attempts to keep its distance from its opponent and put them away?
- When you’ve put away sin you used to struggle with, what allows it to creep back in? Being careless, cocky, or having a lackadaisical attitude?
- Why is it so important we rely on the power of Christ to help us put away sin?
- Why should we put away sin and keep it at a distance instead of allowing it to stay close or “get back in the game”?
- What strategies have you implemented to put away sin and keep it away?
- What sins has God helped you put away?
- What does it mean to be confident yet humble…when we don’t have to lose the lead and let certain sins back in our life, yet also acknowledge a comeback is possible if we lose focus, so we must continually put it away?
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 that is going on. Save the conversation about the sports topic from the devotional for later.
THIS WEEK’S SPORTS HEADLINES/TOPICS:
- The wins and losses of March Madness.
- What is your favorite round of the tournament?
- What team do you think will win now?
- Shohei Ohtani gambling controversy.
- NFL is set to have Christmas games on a Wednesday.
