Our tennis team won a big match Tuesday and this weekend we hope to compete for a state championship. The young coaches get on the courts with the players and work them hard. I’m an old coach. I gather the team at practice and say, “OK guys, listen up. Friday we play __________ in the semi-finals. I know our opponent because we’ve faced them in past years. This is what they are going to do: 1 – ____________, 2 – ___________, 3 – ______________ Understand?” I filled in the blanks and gave this speech because I know if we are caught off guard by the things our opponent usually does, we’ll be at a disadvantage.<\/p>\n
It should not surprise us that a couple of thousand years ago, God had His apostles write similar encouragements to Christians, knowing full well we would need important warnings and wise council. You’ll want to read the entire passage below, but if you just examine the first four statements and think about the world of sports today, you’ll recognize the power of prophecy. The stakes are much higher than a tennis match…<\/p>\n
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud…” II Timothy 3:1-5<\/p>\n
“Listen up, friends. The devil is going to hit you with all his might as his time draws to a close. Recognize his tactics! Selfishness, greed, pride… these are a few of his weapons. My Word and My ways defeat the enemy. Remember My teachings: Die to yourself. If you want to be first, choose to be last. Don’t save up treasure on earth… its not going to last. Lay up for yourselves treasure in Heaven! Give… be generous… think of the needs of others. Be humble… as I am humble. Don’t puff up and brag about things you do or what you know. Instead, take up the towel of a servant and be content to wash feet. If I, your Master, lived this way, shouldn’t you?”<\/p>\n
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:10-11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our tennis team won a big match Tuesday and this weekend we hope to compete for a state championship. The young coaches get on the courts with the players and work them hard. I’m an old coach. I gather the team at practice and say, “OK guys, listen up. Friday we play __________ in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-judgment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1652,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions\/1652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}