Our Purpose and His Purpose
Continuing with our 2016 Golf Season Preparation and our parallel posts relative to our Spiritual prep vs our golf prep....
Last time the question was; "Was this my purpose?
What do you mean; "my purpose?" I mean, was it what I believed the Lord wanted me to do?" in golf.
Last time the question was; "Was this my purpose?
What do you mean; "my purpose?" I mean, was it what I believed the Lord wanted me to do?" in golf.
I know this spiritual stuff is a bit annoying, as one prominent amateur golfer told me one time; "Bill, I don't want to compromise my golf with bringing my faith into it." My response was, first, dumbfounded, but, secondarily, "WHAT??" I'm not sure this fella was up on the call of our Lord when He said; "All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. (As you go) Go out into all the world and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them all of the things I commanded you to do. And, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (or world)." I was convinced that my conversion to a Christ Follower and my further understanding of His calling on my life; "To give the Gospel through golf." was a fulfillment of the command above.....
But, let's not get too serious about this, Bill, you might say. Serious? What could be more serious than where we will spend our eternal existence? First, I know, we have to believe that eternity, as it is projected to us in the Bible, is true. We either believe or not, but, if we say we believe as most of us do, then we might want to look more closely at what the basis of our faith says about God, His redemption of us through His Son, Jesus Christ, what He has done for us, how He expects us to live our lives through Him and what our future or eternity might look like. Right?
If you agree, then, preparation for the 2016 golf season may include a review of your calling, especially if you have a passion for the game of golf!!
I've been involved in a golf group called The Challenge Golf Association (CGA). The CGA was established as a community of golfers to enjoy each others' company, play some nice courses in our geographical area aaannnddd, to encourage golfers that are Christ Followers to become a bit more serious about the calling above; "Go into all the world...". The CGA provides a template to invite your golfing buddies who may not know God or are struggling in their understanding of their faith to participate in a few rounds of golf with the other CGA folks and, possibly, commit to learning a bit more about their faith in Christ. You can read up on the CGA by the links provided, but, since my involvement with Ron Potter and several of the other leaders of this group, I have committed to leading a group in the Nashville/Murfreesboro area of Tennessee.
Since committing to the CGA Nashville, I have been prompted to put together a way to pray for the ministry and for the work God wants done through this group. Here's my prayer;
Father, we are so thankful for Your life in us and how You have placed the game of golf as a desire in our hearts. At first we thought this desire might be a distraction from following and serving You, but You have opened our eyes to the fact that the fairways are ripe for the harvest (Matthew 9:36-38) and our passion for the game and our placement in our communities uniquely position us to evangelize and disciple here "as we go" (Matthew 28:19) out into our communities to draw others to You.
Father as we develop a strategy to win lost golfers and "teach them to do all the things You have told (us)" (Matthew 28:20), please prepare the hearts and minds of the men or women You would have us add to our group. Allow us to be patient yet watchful and reveal to those people You have prepared and You are calling to aid us in this endeavor.
Father, also, please prepare the pastors and their staffs in this area to desire to help reach and teach people who would recognize CGA as a model for evangelization and discipleship in their church, and, finally, Father, prepare people who have a passion for the game of golf to have a deeper desire to hear Your word, to be drawn by Your Spirit to hear about CGA Nashville and to experience a CGA outreach and be prompted to give their lives to You.
Help us to help them find You and surrender their lives to You.
In Your Name
Amen
But, let's not get too serious about this, Bill, you might say. Serious? What could be more serious than where we will spend our eternal existence? First, I know, we have to believe that eternity, as it is projected to us in the Bible, is true. We either believe or not, but, if we say we believe as most of us do, then we might want to look more closely at what the basis of our faith says about God, His redemption of us through His Son, Jesus Christ, what He has done for us, how He expects us to live our lives through Him and what our future or eternity might look like. Right?
If you agree, then, preparation for the 2016 golf season may include a review of your calling, especially if you have a passion for the game of golf!!
I've been involved in a golf group called The Challenge Golf Association (CGA). The CGA was established as a community of golfers to enjoy each others' company, play some nice courses in our geographical area aaannnddd, to encourage golfers that are Christ Followers to become a bit more serious about the calling above; "Go into all the world...". The CGA provides a template to invite your golfing buddies who may not know God or are struggling in their understanding of their faith to participate in a few rounds of golf with the other CGA folks and, possibly, commit to learning a bit more about their faith in Christ. You can read up on the CGA by the links provided, but, since my involvement with Ron Potter and several of the other leaders of this group, I have committed to leading a group in the Nashville/Murfreesboro area of Tennessee.
Since committing to the CGA Nashville, I have been prompted to put together a way to pray for the ministry and for the work God wants done through this group. Here's my prayer;
Father, we are so thankful for Your life in us and how You have placed the game of golf as a desire in our hearts. At first we thought this desire might be a distraction from following and serving You, but You have opened our eyes to the fact that the fairways are ripe for the harvest (Matthew 9:36-38) and our passion for the game and our placement in our communities uniquely position us to evangelize and disciple here "as we go" (Matthew 28:19) out into our communities to draw others to You.
Father as we develop a strategy to win lost golfers and "teach them to do all the things You have told (us)" (Matthew 28:20), please prepare the hearts and minds of the men or women You would have us add to our group. Allow us to be patient yet watchful and reveal to those people You have prepared and You are calling to aid us in this endeavor.
Father, also, please prepare the pastors and their staffs in this area to desire to help reach and teach people who would recognize CGA as a model for evangelization and discipleship in their church, and, finally, Father, prepare people who have a passion for the game of golf to have a deeper desire to hear Your word, to be drawn by Your Spirit to hear about CGA Nashville and to experience a CGA outreach and be prompted to give their lives to You.
Help us to help them find You and surrender their lives to You.
In Your Name
Amen
This isn't perfect. This isn't something of huge magnitude. This is only an effort to use the passion for golf and love for Jesus Christ to introduce Him to other golfers and, if they are interested, to join with them and help them experience "... all that (He) commanded us to do."
Thanks for visiting and reading.
Do you agree with this and what are your thoughts?
In Him
Bill
email me
Thanks for visiting and reading.
Do you agree with this and what are your thoughts?
In Him
Bill
email me
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