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?

Facing the Giants Study Guide Part 1

I've already given my review of Facing the Giants. I showed it to my Sunday school class and they all loved it as much as I did. In order to glean all the wonderful lessons it contains I went on a search for a companion discussion/study guide. That has been easier said than done, so I decided to create my own study guide. I'm posting it here for anyone who wishes to use this movie as a teaching tool. Almost all the quotes from the movie were captured by my daughter ClassyCassie. (Thank you, Dear!) I'll be posting these in segments as there are quite a few lessons to be learned.

Open Doors

Mr. Bridges, the gentleman who has been praying over the students' lockers for six years, has a word from the Lord for Coach Taylor. It comes from Revelation 3:7 & 8: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.

Questions:

What does Mr. Bridges mean by this statement?

How does that apply to our lives?

Praying for Rain

Coach Taylor to Mr. Bridges: “I admit to you I have been struggling. But I’ve also been praying. I just don’t see Him at work here.”

Mr. Bridges: “Grant, I heard a story about two farmers who desperately needed rain. And both of them prayed for rain. But only one of them went out and prepared his fields to receive it. Which one do you think trusted God to send the rain?”

Coach Taylor: The one that prepared his fields for it.”

Mr. Bridges: “Which one are you? God will send the rain when He’s ready. And you need to prepare your field to receive it.”

Questions:

What does it mean to “prepare for rain”?

How does this apply to our every day lives?

Is there some area of your life you've been asking God to take care of? How are you "preparing for rain"?

Facing the Giants

Ok, so our family is a little behind the times as I'm sure we're the last people to have seen Facing the Giants. I've heard the story was good but the acting was bad; I also knew it was another one of those underdog-makes-good movies (which seem to be in abundance). For those reasons I didn't race to the theater or the video store. I figured I'd get around to watching it eventually. Well, eventually came around and now I feel the need to throw my thoughts into the movie critic arena.

I seriously doubt any of the actors will receive Academy Award nominations, and it was another underdog-makes-good movie. However, as Cassie (my 15 year old) put it, "The acting isn't very good, but by the end of the movie you don't really care because the story is so good." How true! And while it may be another "Cinderella" kind of story, it is unlike any you've ever seen before. When things go bad, God gets the glory. When things turn around and start going well, God gets the credit and the glory. (You just won't find that in a Disney movie!) The movie's message is clearly "With God all things are Possible", and by the end your faith is reaffirmed, and you have confidence that God can indeed do anything. The God of Facing the Giants is real and intimately active in the lives of His children.

I think one of the most important characters in the story is the gentleman who walks the halls every week praying over the kids' lockers asking God to raise up a generation that loves Him. His prayers seem to be the catalyst for all the miracles to come. (Hmm? I wonder what would happen if we diligently prayed for our youth that way and that consistently....)

If you are finding yourself low on faith, then you need to see this movie. It is blatently "Christian" and pulls no punches about it. As a matter of fact, I do believe it received its PG rating because of its Christian message. Isn't that a refreshing change?

~ Drewe Llyn