DOES GOD REALLY CARE ABOUT SPORTS?...Some Thoughts Shared in Chapel at CU

DOES GOD REALLY CARE ABOUT SPORTS?
7 Reasons I Think He Does…
Reflections from a life-long sports junkie…

A FEW NUMBERS TO CONSIDER…
*163 million people watched the 2011 Super Bowl while only 132 million people voted in the most recent presidential election of 2008.
*The 50 highest-paid athletes earned a combined $1.4 billion, or $28 million average in 2010
*Over 2.5 billion people watched some of the action on the field in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa
*In 2006, Americans spent over $17 billion dollars on tickets to sports contests and $90 billion dollars on sporting goods, over double what was spent on books. ($42 billion) The magazine Sports Illustrated sells as many copies in a month as To Kill a Mockingbird has sold since it was published in 1960.

REASON#1: We find joy in doing what we were created to do...

ROMANS 12:6-8: In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

REASON#2: We experience community as we cheer our teams...

HEBREWS 10:25...And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

REASON#3: Sports offers a dynamic place of Kingdom impact and witness through the influence of the athletic platform...

I CORINTHIANS 9:22-23...I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

REASON#4: Real character is modeled and displayed in the crucible of competition...

I PETER 1:7...These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

REASON#5: We get to reflect on what we are truly passionate about and the level of engagement we have with certain things in our lives in comparison to others...

COLOSSIANS 3:2...Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things..

REASON#6: There is great learning and growing thru the challenges and risks and disappointments found in athletics...

ROMANS 5:3-5...We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment.

REASON#7: We often come to the realization that all things are spiritual and each thing in our lives matters to God

COLOSSIANS 3:17...And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

NELSON MANDELA on SPORT:
"Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down barriers. It laughs in the face of discrimination.“