Stage 2
Introduction: The following is the second phase in a series of missional Bible studies to engage your teammates in key discipleship issues that athletes encounter. A Missional Discipleship Cycle (below) refers to a sequence on how to engage scripture through hearing the word, respond actively to what you have heard, and debrief & interpret how you (and others) responded in mission. In this series, we will be looking at critical topics for athletes to go deeper with God and be challenged to grow such as identity, lordship, and racial tensions with specific invitations for you and your teammates to engage these issues. 1. Mission Luke 4:31-44 C H R I S T I A N F E L L O W S H I P 2. Identity Philippians 3:1-11 3. Evangelism Acts 8:26-40 4. Lordship Mark 10:17-31 5. Spiritual Formation Mark 6:30-44 6. Breaking Chains Mark 5:1-20 7. Racial Tension & Social Justice Acts 6:1-7
Missional Discipleship Cycle for Athletes Mission Luke 4:31-44 Debrief/ Interpret: Debrief & Interpret last week s challenge Review: How was last week s challenge for you? Where were you stuck, afraid, surprised, excited? Where did you experience God? Learn: What are you learning about yourself, God, others? What might God be teaching you or your community? Apply: What is your next step? How do you apply this to your life? Introduction: The account that we will be looking at tells of a very full day of ministry for Jesus in one of the early days of His public ministry. It also reveals something important about how Jesus viewed the ministry that He had been sent to do something that ought to affect how we view and carry out our own ministry as well. Warm up question: What would you think of a teammate who liked working out so much (because of how it made him feel or because of how others might think highly of him) that he spent all of his time in the weight room and never actually competed? Hear the Word: Read Luke 4:31-44 Observation & Interpretation 1. In this busy day on ministry in Capernaum, what kinds of things did Jesus do? 2. How did the people of Capernaum respond to Him and the things He did? 3. Why did the people try to keep Him from leaving them (v.42)? [Note: Mark 1:36-37 tells us that even Jesus disciples seemed to think that it was a good idea for Him to stay.] 4. What good might have happened if Jesus would have decided to stay? What good might not have happened? 5. What does His response reveal about His heart and His understanding of the purpose/calling for His ministry?
[Note: Jesus showed His love for the people of Capernaum by later returning to that city to minister to the people there (e.g. Mark 2:1-12; Luke 7:1-10, etc.)] Summary: In what turned out to be a very full day of ministry in Capernaum, Jesus took time to show compassion and to demonstrate His power in meeting the needs of many people in that city. However, because of His heart for all people and His understanding of what He was sent into the world to do, He didn t stay in Capernaum even though the people wanted Him to and even though there was probably a lot more ministry He could have done in that place. Application: We, too, have been sent into the world for the purpose of ministry (John 17:18, 20:21). Therefore, as we follow Jesus in ministry into the places that He has sent us (e.g. our teams, the athletic community of our school, etc.), how ought Jesus example in this passage influence what we do and who we should seek to minister to? Active Response/Challenge: 1. This week in your team Bible study, take time to make a list of teammates who aren t involved in it regularly (or even at all). Identify who might know each of these people best, and make a plan to invite these teammates to the next study. [Note: If certain teammates have been asked multiple times and have consistently not come (and/or have expressed strongly that they don t want to come), make a plan of how those in the Bible study can reach out to these teammates as a witness to Jesus.] or 2. This week in your weekly inter- team gathering (Bible study, Core Meeting, Large Group Meeting, etc.), take time to make a list of teams that are not represented in it regularly (or not at all). Make another list of people on these teams who people in your group know. Make a plan to invite these fellow athletes to your next meeting
Missional Discipleship Cycles for Athletes Identity Philippians 3:1-11 Debrief/ Interpret: Debrief & Interpret last week s challenge Review: How was last week s challenge for you? Where were you stuck, afraid, surprised, excited? Where did you experience God? Learn: What are you learning about yourself, God, others? What might God be teaching you or your community? Apply: What is your next step? How do you apply this to your life? Introduction: The writer of this passage, Paul, is a Jewish man. Before he knew Christ, Paul lived his life to follow the religious laws for the Jewish people, and felt that his relationship with God was based on how well he followed these rules. This informed his identity as a Jewish man. Circumcision in particular, set Jews apart from the rest of society, and an was extremely important piece of what it meant for a Jew to be considered a follower of God. Warm up question: As an athlete, what things make you feel valuable? What gives you a sense of identity or accomplishment? Hear the Word: Turn to Philippians 3:1-11. Read the entire section. Observation and Interpretation Verses: 1-3 1. Why does Paul tell the church at Philippi that he is writing to them? 2. Who does he tell them to watch out for? What specifically is dangerous about these dogs? 3. How does Paul redefine circumcision for a follower of Christ? 4. Why is putting confidence in physical circumcision dangerous? Verses: 4-6 1. If anyone could have confidence in their own ability to follow the rules, it was Paul. What things does Paul list as reasons he could have put his confidence in the flesh/himself? 2. In verse 6, what did Paul base his righteousness on? Verses: 7-11 1. What does Paul now consider a loss? Why? 2. What does Paul gain from knowing Christ? 3. How has Paul s understanding of righteousness changed (vs. 9)?
Application 1. Why is it easy as an athlete to place our identity in our sport? How does this eventually fail? 2. How can we put our identity in Christ rather than our sport? Why is this more secure than putting out identity in anything else? Active Response/Challenge: 1. Share your story with a teammate about what you are learning about identity. 2. Ask them about how they are doing as a college athlete and where they place their identity. 3. Invite them to next week s bible study.
Missional Discipleship Cycles for Athletes Evangelism Acts 8:26-40 Debrief/Interpret: Debrief & Interpret last week s challenge Review: How as last week s challenge for you? Where were you stuck, afraid, surprised, excited? Where did you experience God? Learn: what are you learning about yourself, God, others? What might God be teaching you or your community? Apply: What is your next step? How do you apply this to your life? Introduction: As the early church is growing, Philip hears from the angel of the Lord to go do down to the the desert road. For Philip, this is all he knows, so he goes. Not sure of what he will find when he arrives, he hears God and responds in faith to go. Warm- up Question: Has there been a time when someone (e.g. coach, trainer, teammate) has told you a piece of wisdom/information, and responded to it, without knowing the end result? Hear the Word: Turn to Acts 8:26-40. Read Entire Section Observation 1. What do you notice or observe about this story? a. Where does this take place? Who is there? What is going on? b. What observations can you make of the dialogue in the passage? Or what makes up the content of the dialogue? c. What emotions are present? d. What questions come to mind? Interpretation 1. How would you characterize the communication between God and Philip? How is it similar and/or different from the way God communicates with you? 2. What was significant about the Eunuch and the fact that he was coming from Jerusalem? (See also Isa. 56:3-7) 3. Obviously, this passage does not contain all the words of the conversation Philip had with the Ethiopian Eunuch. How do you see the conversation progressing from the question in 8:34 all the way through the good news of Jesus Christ? 4. Both the Eunuch and Philip go on their way, rejoicing and preaching respectively. How do you think each has been changed as a result of their encounter?
Application 1. From the passage, what do you think is your responsibility in sharing your faith with others? What is God s responsibility? 2. Like Philip on the road, where are the different places have you heard God? Then, where have you heard God and responded? (e.g. locker room, church, during games/matches/meets) Active Response/Challenge: Meet with 2-3 other athletes (or small group) this week for two meals and talk about how you are hearing from God about your life or your team. (This might be new to some. Part of walking in faith with God is knowing your Father s voice) Prayerfully think of one teammate or other athletes who might be asking the same question as the Ethiopian ( Please! Tell me more about Jesus! ) and take one step in clarifying who Jesus is to them. o Maybe this is explaining a confusing passage or scripture for them. o This could be asking what questions they have always wanted to ask.
Missional Discipleship Cycles for Athletes Lordship Mark 10:17-31 Debrief/ Interpret: Debrief & Interpret last week s challenge Review: How was last week s challenge for you? Where were you stuck, afraid, surprised, excited? Where did you experience God? Learn: What are you learning about yourself, God, others? What might God be teaching you or your community? Apply: What is your next step? How do you apply this to your life? Introduction: This passage talks about an interaction of a young, wealthy man who genuinely came to Jesus asking one of those deep, life questions. Warm up question: Have you ever been asked to give up something that you cared about? What was the reason? Or did the reason feel valid or worth what you had (or were being asked) to give up? Hear the Word: Turn to Mark 10:17-31. Read the entire section. Observation 1. What do you notice or observe about this story? a. Where does this take place? Who is there? What is going on? b. What words are repeated? What emotions are present? c. How did the young man respond? Jesus? The disciples? Interpretation 2. What questions come up for you in this passage? 3. Imagine the perspective of the young man. What was significant about the question he asked Jesus in v. 17? 4. What was important about Jesus response in verses 18-20, then again in verse 21? What deeper question or issue in this young man s life was Jesus pointing out? [Note: Jesus mentioned some of the commandments, but take note of the ones He left out as well] 5. What does Jesus promise for those who do make the decision to leave behind all you have for the sake of Him and for the gospel? (v.21 & v.29-31)
Application 6. What are ways that you are rich, or have an abundance of wealth, talent, or opportunities? Are there ways in which you relate to the young man in this story? 7. What might Jesus be saying to you about your life - especially about those areas of your life that occupy your heart or what you hold as the greatest value? This could even be relationships, athletics, or school. What does it means to trust in Jesus fully, allowing him to occupy the primary place in your heart and in your life? Summary: The young man in this passage came with a real question, seeking answers on what must he do to inherit eternal life, but what Jesus ultimately challenged him with was not what he must do, but a matter of where his heart was. Jesus identified and asked him to give up what was holding the primary place of value in his life (what was lord of this young man s life). For this young man, his great wealth occupied the primary place in his heart; the cost of giving up this wealth for eternal life was too great. Active Response/ Challenge: 1. What occupies the primary place in your heart? Money, friends, talent, a relationship (girlfriend/boyfriend), sports, being successful, school? Would you ever be willing to give up what holds this primary place in your heart if Jesus asked you to? 2. Share with one other person in the Bible study, or in a small group, what is holding you back from giving Jesus the primary place of lordship in your life. Write down any barriers, fears, or hesitations you have, and spend this week praying and asking God to address each fear or barrier you have.
Missional Discipleship Cycle for Athletes Spiritual Formation Mark 6:30-44 Debrief/ Interpret: Debrief & Interpret last week s challenge Review: How was last week s challenge for you? Where were you stuck, afraid, surprised, excited? Where did you experience God? Learn: What are you learning about yourself, God, others? What might God be teaching you or your community? Apply: What is your next step? How do you apply this to your life? Introduction: In this account, Jesus sees the weariness and fatigue of his disciples. They just returned from a long ministry trip (Mark 6:6-13, 30). Jesus invites them to a quiet place for rest. However, on their way, they encounter more people in need, in fact, thousands. Jesus cares for the crowd spiritually, but when it comes times to care for them physically (food), Jesus challenges the disciples to meet the need. To their amazement, the disciples realize they have enough food to give! Jesus steps in and teaches them an important lesson on the importance of spiritual formation. Warm up question: Have you ever been given what seems an impossible task? Have you ever been in a game or in a situation where you are just worn out and have NOTHING left to give? Or even, the game goes into overtime and even more is being asked of you than you have to give? What do you do? What have you done in that situation? How did it turn out? Hear the Word: Turn to Mark 6:30-44 Read the entire section. Observation: What do you notice or observe about this story? Where does this take place? Who is there? What is going on here? What words are repeated? What emotions are present? What are the needs? What are the challenges? How did Jesus respond? How did the disciples respond? What were the outcomes? Interpretation: 1. What was the significance of the main things you and other observed? 2. Though they were tired and hungry, why do you think Jesus brought took them away to get rest only to led them to even more people who were in need and hungry? a. When they pointed out the physical needs of the crowd (hunger) why do you think Jesus responded the way he did? You give them something to eat and What do you have? What point do you think he was trying to make?
3. What is the spiritual significance of Jesus asking the disciples to give of what they had to feed the crowd, Jesus multiplying it and then giving it back to them to distribute? a. What lesson in spiritual formation do you think the disciples took from this story when they were faced with a need they could not meet but in the saw God Satisfy both the crowd and themselves? Summary: The disciples were tired and they were hungry and Jesus showed them he was aware of their needs and wanted them to recover. But in their neediness, engaged them with the needs of the world to reveal they didn t have what it took to meet those needs. Only he did. This demonstrated the need the disciples had for spiritual formation, their lack of ability to do things in their own power and they need to go to Jesus to meet their own needs and the needs of others. Application: How might you be like the disciples in this story? What are the spiritual or physical needs that you are experiencing at the moment? (Need for healing, need for rest, need to be spiritually filled, etc) What are the physical and spiritual needs of the those around you that you are aware you can t meet? How does this story show you how to meet those needs for yourself and others? Active Response/Challenge: Do you have a need that you are trying to take care of yourself but keep coming up short? How is Jesus inviting you to come to him to get your needs met? Can you take a 2-3 hour chunk of time this week and give this to Jesus. During this time, journal, pray, read scripture and ask Jesus to meet this specific need. [Note: Some athletes find that it is more helpful to go for a walk, or to go outside in nature to do this, but try to keep focused on Jesus, and asking Him to meet this specific spiritual/physical need that you can t meet.] Do you see the needs of those around you that you have come to realize that you can t meet? What do you need to give to Jesus in faith and what do you hope to receive from him in order to see these needs met?
Missional Discipleship Cycles for Athletes Breaking Chains Mark 5:1-20 Debrief/ Interpret: Debrief & Interpret last week s challenge Review: How was last week s challenge for you? Where were you stuck, afraid, surprised, excited? Where did you experience God? Learn: What are you learning about yourself, God, others? What might God be teaching you or your community? Apply: What is your next step? How do you apply this to your life? Introduction: In this story we are going to encounter a man that has literally been chained up and left to die. With no hope and in desperate need, Jesus comes to deliver this man that everyone else has given up on. A definition to note in this passage: a legion was known as 4,000-6,000 Roman soldiers. Warm up question: Have you ever had a bad habit or compulsion that you couldn t break? (I.e. for a basketball player- maybe your technique for shooting was wrong, or you struggle with counting every calorie you eat, maybe even an eating disorder) How did you try to break it? Hear the Word: Turn to Mark 5:1-20. Read the entire section. Observation, Interpretation, 1. What do you notice or observe about this story? What emotions are present? What questions come to mind? 2. Where does this take place? Who is there? What is going on? 3. What is the man like in this story? What has happened to him? 4. How does the man respond to Jesus? Who is responding the man or the unclean spirit? Who is in control of this man s life? 5. How are the people treating him before and after? 6. Contrast what Jesus did for the man vs. what the unclean spirit did to the man what does this comparison show us about Jesus? (He wants to set us free from the things that torment us) [Note: A tricky part of this passage is when Jesus told the unclean spirit to leave, and it didn t right away, why didn t that work? It seems like the demon is worshiping Jesus but actually he is trying to get the upper hand by using Jesus name and giving a command adjure or in the NIV in God s name don t It was thought that if you knew
someone s name it gave you power over them and that is why Jesus asks for the name of the unclean spirit. ] 7. How do the people in the town react to what Jesus did for the man? to the pigs? Why do they want Jesus to leave? 8. What do they value more? Pigs or people? 9. Why doesn t Jesus let the man come with him? Application Are you tormented or distressed by something you can t control or have a teammate that is? (Give people time to journal on the back of their manuscript about the thing that Jesus might want to set them free of. You can download Set me Free by Casting Crowns to have them listen to as they journal or reflect since it is a song that goes directly with this passage sung from the point of view of the man with the unclean spirit.) 1. Have you ever witnessed a family member, teammate, or even yourself struggling with an addiction or compulsion? How did it affect this person? 2. What might Jesus want to set them or you free of? 3. In this story, the people from the town seemed to initially care more about the pigs that drowned. What are your pigs? What are the things you value over the spiritual needs of your friends or teammates? (Jobs, grades, money, relationships, your sport, playing time) If you were going to value people over pigs what would change in your life right now? Active Response/Challenge: 4. If you have a teammate struggling with an addiction or compulsion, print out or hand write three scriptures that share about how much Jesus loves and cares about them, and give them to this person, and ask them if there is anything you could pray for them this week. (Scriptures on love: Psalm 139: 13-18, Isaiah 40:28-31, Romans 6:6-7, Zephaniah 3:17, 2 Thess. 2:16-17).
Missional Discipleship Cycles for Athletes Racial Tensions & Social Justice Acts 6:1-7 Debrief/Interpret: Review: How was last week s challenge for you? Where were you stuck, afraid, surprised excited? Where did you experience God? Learn: What are you learning about yourself, God, others? What might God be teaching you or your community? Apply: What is your next step? How do you apply this to your life? Introduction: Here, we take a look at the early church in Acts and we witness a pretty serious injustice. Even the church that was the most chronologically connected to Jesus had problems. Let s take a look at how this church s leadership addresses this problem. Warm up Question: Being a collegiate athlete, and a college student comes with a lot of perks - what are some of those perks? Have you ever seen a big situation that just felt wrong, but you felt incapable of changing it? Hear the Word: Acts 6:1-7. Read the entire section. Observation 1. What do you notice or observe about this story? a. What people groups and characters are involved? b. What is the tension? What is the conflict? c. Who was in leadership in this situation? How did they respond? What do they prioritize? d. What resulted? Interpretation 2. Is there a theme among the newly appointed distributors of food? a. (All the names of the appointed are of Greek origin) 3. Why do you suppose the Twelve appointed these people in particular? a. (Greek problems? Lay down power to the Greeks so they can find/employ a Greek solution)
4. How might it have felt to be one of the appointed seven? - to be named a leader out of the people group that is being oppressed? Application 5. Who are the marginalized on your team/campus? 6. What power, privilege, or status has God gifted you with as a college athlete? 7. What would it look like for you as a college athlete to lay down that power and privilege for the marginalized? 8. How is this example of the early church inviting us to interact with social injustice? Summary: In this passage, we see the Hellenistic Jews being ignored and left for hunger in this early church community s food distribution, most likely cultural tensions between Hellenistic Jews and Hebraic Jews lie behind this oversight. The Hebraic Jews, who have leadership and power in this situation, have awareness enough to know that God has called them into different responsibilities. In genuine interest for this problem being solved, the Hebraic leadership dissolves their own power in this situation over to the oppressed group, the Hellenists. From there, the Hellenists, who understand the systematic problem more fully, are empowered to create a more full resolution. And what results is God s word spread further, followers multiplied, and even priests became obedient to Christ- hood. For context, for the Hebraic Jews to try to solve the Hellenist Jews problem, might be like hiring a track & field coach to show basketball players what s wrong with their jump shot; they don t fully understand the problem, and therefore, cannot create a full solution. In relation to the racial climate in our nation, this might look like White leadership in our country giving voice and platform to Black leadership to help our country engage with the racial tensions and really implement different policies and perspectives, such as the #BlackLivesMatter movement. People don t like to give up power, status, or privilege, but we can start at smaller scale on our teams and on our campus, and hope that God will do miraculous larger scale work with what we have to offer. What could happen if we respond in a way in which we voluntarily lay down our power, privilege, or status in order to empower a minority voice on our team, or in the athletic community? Active Response/Challenge: Take time this week to pray now, and ask God to show you people on your team or in the athletic department who feel marginalized. Ask them if there are places that they have seen injustice on campus or the team, people mistreated or overlooked on campus or in the athletic department." Those who are the marginalized What will you do to help them feel the love of Jesus? How can you make them feel more welcome on this campus or your team?