What about the overall team performance (draw a line next to the midline on the right side of the paper) is it going to improve, go up, or is it going down? (everyone agrees it is going down).

(Draw an arrow down from the new line and claim, “your team is going to die,” and write the word DEATH.)

 

Where do you think God is in all this? (write down what the coaches say but be sure to add in the two below if they do not mention those).

Does God care for you in this situation? - “NO”

Does God even recognize you exist? - “NO”

 

When I look at all of these things I realize that I was living in this prison. I call this prison LIVING BELOW THE LINE. (Write “living below the line”). This is where I see all coaches and even Christian people are living. In fact, each and every one of us is living a life below the line under constant frustration, disappointment, anger etc. You cannot deny this. I have never met someone who could claim that they never lived below the line.

 

Question – Do you want your son or daughter playing for a coach who has broken relationships, full of sin and flesh and living below the line? (crowd usually has a resounding and unanimous “NO”). But yet this is what we do!

 

Testimony Opportunity:

(Share a testimony from your life that connects with what you have just taught about living below the line, but do not include how it was resolved. You’re just sharing an example of the problem.)

 

(At this point we have taken the audience to the bottom of the valley. This is where they need to be until tomorrow. They need to sit here and ponder their lives, how they have been living. The veil is being lifted and they need to see the reality of their lives past, present and future if everything were to stay the same.)

 

I have taken you on this journey, this path. I have taken you from where you came in today and walked you down into the bottom of the valley. It is important that you receive this because unless you understand your situation in life you will never desire and seek the transformation necessary for you to be taken out of this prison. So do not try to take your thoughts into tomorrow. I want you to remain here until tomorrow.

 

(This is the time to allow for questions – I have discovered that the best way to answer a question is with a question. For example, a coach may ask,” How do you get out of this prison?” You can answer, “Have YOU ever tried and what happened when you did? They usually respond back, “I had joy and peace, but they did not last.” And I answer back to them, “Sin and flesh are like gravity that always pull you back down!”)

 

(This is the best time to break into small groups.)

 

Small Group Breakout – Questions to consider

• How do you see your actions, thoughts and emotions living below the line?

• Have you ever tried to get out of this prison and if so, how long did it last?

• What are you experiencing today, what are those chains that keep you below the line?

 

Supporting Scripture (You can write the verse reference on the chart and/or read your choice of verses to the audience)

 

• Romans 7:1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?

• Romans 7:5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

• Romans 7:21-25 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

• 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

• John 8:23-24 He (Jesus) said to them, You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. That is why I told you that you will die in (under the curse of) your sins; for if you do not believe that I am he [Whom I claim to be-if you do not adhere to, trust in, and rely on Me], you will die in your sins.

• Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

• ​Ephesians 2:3 Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

• Matthew 6:1 Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then your will have no reward from your Father who is in Heaven

• Proverbs 11:2 When swelling and pride come, then emptiness and shame come also, but with the humble (those who are lowly, who have been pruned or chiseled by trial, and renounce self) are skillful and godly Wisdom and soundness.