During this morning’s Bible study rotation (during the storm), Gold team captain Eddie Paden gave opening remarks for son Nick Paden’s study on “Being a Faithful Christian While Being an Athlete.” Nick drew from his own experience of being a championship wrestler, while never comprising his faith in and obedience to the Lord.
Here is the outline from Nick’s lesson, followed by an audio recording of the class:
As we see from II Chronicles 13:1-12, we live in peace with God, but only when we obey Him. In this lesson, we’ll explore how sports are part of the world but we should not be part of the world; we should stay humble as an athlete; and we should keep God our #1 priority.
Don’t be “of the world“
- John 17:13-17
- Romans 12:1,2 – don’t be conformed to this world — do not conform to the evil of your teammates
- Ephesians 4:26,27 — be angry and sin not, even when angered by a bad sports play
- Put God first in all things in your life
Stay humble as an athlete
- When we become arrogant, we lose our peace and our dependence upon God
- Daniel 4:30-33 — King Nebuchadnezzar was arrogant and he was going to lose his kingdom
- I Peter 5:5 — God gives grace to the humble
- I Corinthians 10:12 — take heed lest ye fall
- The Beatitudes in Matthew 5 are full of blessings
- When we are humble, we have peace
- We should humble ourselves and we will be exalted by God
Keep God the #1 priority in your life
- We should focus on having a good character, not being a great athlete
- God should be #1 in our life, not athletics
- We should make time for God — don’t give Him your leftovers
- Psalm 46:10 — God should be exalted
- Jesus would pray early in the morning, and so should we. After all, we’re never as busy as Jesus was
- “Softball was never going to help me be a better wife or mother, but being a Christian will help me be a better wife and mother” — Katie Hall, compadre
- Godly discipline is more critical than athletic training. Put God above training and your teammates
- Physical awards and trophies profit nothing — they merely collect dust
- Matthew 10:32-40 — confess Christ before others, even as an athlete to influence your teammates
- Basketball player Scotty Reynolds was a faithful Christian — he would miss games if they conflicted with worshiping God. He would miss games on Sunday, or go play the last half of a game after Wednesday Bible study. He even taught teenagers’ Bible class instead of practicing with his team.
“Being a Faithful Christian While Being an Athlete” — Nick & Eddie Paden
Website: https://www.midwestsummercamp.com Blog Signup: https://www.midwestsummercamp.com/blog Text Alerts: text "@msc4kids" to "81010" Email: allthingsmsc@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msccamp Instagram: @allthingsmsc
