Thursday, June 28, 2007

This is a FOOTBALL




I remember reading one time of the legendary football coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi. He is still revered as perhaps the greatest head coach of all time. In fact, ESPN named him as "Coach of the Century." His Packers were virtually unbeatable winning five titles in a nine year span (a far cry from the Packers today…my apologies to any ‘cheeseheads’ who may read this post).

One Sunday, however, the Packers lost to an extremely inferior team (you know, like the Eagles…no apologies to any Eagle fans who may read this post). Needless to say, these athletes came to practice the next day with great fear and nervousness. After the dismal way they had played, surely their beloved coach would be prepared to give them a verbal chewing out unlike any they had ever heard. They were preparing for what they were certain would be the toughest week of practice that they had ever endured.

To their astonishment, Coach Lombardi entered the meeting room without making a sound. He then calmly said to his players,

Men, today we go back to the basics.”

He then reached down and picked up a football. Holding it high into the air he continued,

Gentlemen, this is a football!”

Can you imagine that? Most of these big, bulky guys had spent the majority of their lives on the gridiron. Wasn’t this taking the “basics” a little too far? Maybe! But I have to be honest. Christians today are more Biblically illiterate than ever before. No wonder over half of those professing to be born-again believers when they enter a secular college come out on the other side denying their faith! No wonder so many people elevate their own human reasoning, the counsel of the world, or their past experiences over the truth of the Word of God! Sometimes I just want to look at believers and loudly declare,

Christians, today we go back to the basics.”

I then want to grab my Bible and hold it high into the air and continue:

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a Bible!”

And that is exactly what we are going to do over the next 3 Sundays as we start a new series we are calling “iBook”! Can we really trust our Bibles? How do we know that our Bible is not just a book written by men? What do we mean when we say that the Bible is “inspired”? Is this really a book from God? These are the important questions we will answer in this new upcoming series.

Join us July 1st, 8th, and 15th as we go back to the basics!

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