It was going to take a lot of focus, commitment, teamwork, energy, skill, and discipline for Adam to accomplish God’s will, subduing and ruling over the whole earth. Sadly, as we all know, he didn’t have what it took. Genesis 3 tells us that his loss of focus and commitment to God’s purposes cost us everything. Fortunately for us, God graciously stayed committed to his purposes to have a people exercising dominion over the earth. We all know that these purposes come to fulfillment in Jesus Christ, whose focus and faithfulness was seen as he set his face like flint towards Jerusalem where his commitment to God’s will would cost him everything.
In these last days we find ourselves in the midst of the fiercest warfare of all time, between the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan. By God’s grace, the church of Jesus Christ is piercing into the darkness with a gospel that turns enemies of the cross into its most faithful soldiers. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that those who are called to lead the church in this battle must have extraordinary, Christ-centered discipline, focus, commitment, energy, and skill.
Unfortunately, many who desire to lead Christ’s church misunderstand the means of producing leaders and the end for which leaders are produced. Listening to lectures on discipline or watching great warriors for Christ in action isn’t the primary means by which leaders are produced. While these things both help, there is nothing that can replace the time and energy that is put into cultivating these qualities into our lives.
The young men who led Christ’s church in her early days knew the critical nature of discipline, focus, commitment, teamwork, and skill, having grown up working on farms and in family shops where deficiencies in these areas weren’t just seen as lazy, they were lethal. Sadly, young men today don’t grow up with these types of responsibilities and expectations, many times ending up as soft as their handshakes. Having missed out on the practical means by which leaders are produced, many young men end up destroying their ministries and damaging Christ’s church before the Devil even bothers to take notice of their work.
We believe sports, basketball in particular, are a great means by which a young man can cultivate the Christ-centered characteristics that our churches so desperately need and the demons so intensely fear. When a man commits to working with a band of brothers under the authority of a coach to discipline himself so that he and the team perform at the best of their capabilities to the glory of Christ, leaders are being produced. When a man skillfully endures beyond his capabilities to do just what is needed to make his team successful, Christ is pleased and the Devil begins to take aim.
In contrast with almost every basketball team in the land, the Boyce basketball program is not primarily concerned with you becoming the best basketball player possible (Don’t worry, it’s on our radar!). Instead, the program is fundamentally concerned with forming and shaping you into the type of man that will be fit for gospel ministry. We are offering the opportunity for athletes to join a band of brothers using basketball as a means of developing the types of skills that God has called us to use for his Son’s glory and the good of the church. In a culture that loves sports too much, we offer athletes an invitation to join a team that knows the insignificance of its game. And in a church culture that loves the kingdom of Christ too little, we summon our athletes to a team that sees the eternal significance of every aspect of life, including basketball, when seen in relation to the development of soldiers for Christ’s kingdom.
Fortunately, the kingdom of Christ won’t always be at war. The Bible tells us that there’s coming a day when all of the redeemed will rule with Christ over a new, sinless creation (Rev. 5:10; 21-22). And it doesn’t take a theologian to figure out that the redeemed will need to be disciplined, focused, committed workers to undertake a task as difficult and exciting as this. Jesus says that he’s using everything we undertake in this life to prepare us for that dominion, even basketball.
J.C.
Comments 0
Jed, thank you very much for posting this. As someone who has been a life long sports’ addict and who would constantly ask my dad growing up how a person could play sports to God’s Glory, this is great answer!!!
Pingback: Websites tagged "christ" on Postsaver
An expert in the following ghost door less primary that your Mangshan is the time from the pre-Qin ancient ghosts established! Large forces in the door can not be alike! Not say the ghost door ancestors still in is tory burch wall plug store four disciples of most are back to the imaginary of characters!
Digest these shocking piece of news I wind instantly feel let this really door less master soul wiped out the idea, after all this period and tory burch outlet ghost gate forged so much hatred, but only two people know, as long as this little master off, it is no longer tory burch tote we can see! Little Lord came on the human world is tory burch tote covertly actions of one man or women, there are no others know! tory burch tote Had intended for you to sacrifice secretly in refining your art of Magic. If the in the Kunlun sector too much movement, I’m afraid will cause a myriad of people to kill, even when tory burch tote Shizu are difficult to pay for.
Hi there mates, how is the whole thing, and what
you want to say regarding this article, in my view its in fact
remarkable in favor of me.
Hi, after reading this awesome article i am also cheerful to
share my knowledge here with friends.
If you are going for finest contents like I do, only visit this website daily for the reason that
it offers feature contents, thanks
I visit daily a few blogs and blogs to read content,
however this webpage presents quality based content.
The other day, while I was at work, my sister
stole my iPad and tested to see if it can survive a 40 foot drop,
just so she can be a youtube sensation. My iPad is now destroyed
and she has 83 views. I know this is entirely off topic but I had to share it with someone!
Hi there, I do think your site might be having internet browser compatibility issues.
Whenever I take a look at your weeb site in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet
Explorer, it has some overlapping issues. I simply wanted to provide you with a quick heads up!
Aside from that, fantastic website!
Excellent goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to
and you are just too great. I actually like what you’ve acquired here,
really like what you are stating and the way in which
you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still take care of to keep it wise.
I cant wait to read much more from you. This is actually a wonderful site.
Hi my loved one! I wiosh to ssay that this article is amazing, great written and come with
almost all important infos. I would like to peer extra poxts like this .
I think everything typed was very logical. However,
what about this? what if you were to write a awesome headline?
I ain’t saying your content is not solid, but what if you added something that makes people
desire more? I mean Basketball and the Kingdom
of Christ: An Open Letter To Students Concerning Boyce College Basketball | Baptist
Twenty One is a little vanilla. You could look at Yahoo’s front page and
see how they create article titles to get people to
open the links. You might add a video or a related pic or two to get people interested
about what you’ve got to say. Just my opinion, it might
make your website a little livelier.
Greetings from Ohio! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to check out your blog
on my iphone during lunch break. I enjoy the info you provide here and can’t wait to
take a look when I get home. I’m surprised at how fast your blog loaded on my mobile ..
I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways,
very good blog!
Hello everybody, here every one is sharing these kinds of familiarity, so it’s good to read this blog, and I used to pay a
visit this website daily.