Facing the Giants Study Guide Part 2

Does God care about football?

In the locker room….

Coach Taylor: "10 bucks to the person who can tell me who won the state championship a decade ago."

Football Player: "Walker Jennings"

Coach Taylor: "No."

Football Player: "North Metro."

Coach Taylor: "Stop guessing you know it or you don’t...How about 5 years ago?"

Football Player: "Richland"

Coach Taylor: "That was 3 years ago. You can't remember can you? That leads me to ask a couple of questions. What's the purpose of this team?"

Matt: "To win ball games?"

Coach Taylor: "Then what?"

Matt: "We get a trophy and people talk about us"

Coach Taylor: "Maybe for a while. Then what?"

Matt: "I don't know. Get a scholarship, play for college, and coach Little League."

Coach Brady Owens: "What are you gettin' at Grant? You think we're just wasting our time?"

Coach Taylor: "If our main goal is to win football games then yes."

Matt: "You don't want us to win games?"

Coach Taylor: "No. Not if that's our main goal. Winning football games is too small a thing to live for and I love football as much as anybody. But even championship trophies will one day collect dust and be forgotten. It's just that so far all this has been about us. How we can look good. How we can get the glory. The more I read this Book, the more I realize life's not about us. We’re not here just to get glory, make money, and die. The Bible says that God put us here for Him. To honor Him. Jesus said the most important thing you can do with your life is to love God with everything you are and love others as yourself. So if we win every game and we miss that, we've done nothing. Football then means nothing. So I'm here to present you a new team philosophy. I think that football is just one of the tools we can use to honor God."

Brock: "So you think God does care about football?"

Coach Taylor: "I think He cares about your faith. He cares about where your heart is. If you can live your faith out on that football field then, yes, God cares about football, cause He cares about you. He sent his son Jesus to die for us so we could live for him. That's why we're here. But see, it's not just on the football field, we've got to honor Him in our relationships, in our respect for authority, in the classroom, and when you're at home alone surfing the internet. I want God to bless this team so much people talk about what He did. But that means we're gonna have to give him our best in every area, and if we win, we praise Him. And if we lose, we praise him. Either way we honor Him with our actions and attitudes. So I'm asking you, what are you living for? I've resolved to give God everything I got. Then I'll leave the results up to Him. I wanna know if you'll join me."


Questions:

What was Coach Taylor trying to prove by offering $10 to the one who could name the state champion ten years ago?

Think about what you spend your time doing right now. Will it matter in ten years?

Does God really care about the little areas of our lives?

If life is all about bringing glory to God, how can what you’re doing bring Him glory?