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2017-2018 Locker Room Talks Coach Introduction

One of the greatest responsibilities and privileges of coaching is sharing weekly devotions with players.

Before or after each practice, coaches will lead a five- to eight-minute devotion. Our devotion strategy is

focused on teaching the character of Christ through the virtues he modeled. By focusing on how Christ-

likeness is displayed in virtues, your players will see a very practical example of how Christ can be a relevant

and a real part of their everyday lives.

Devotions will cover three virtues. Each virtue will be taught for three practices and will be highlighted by

one verse. Instead of hearing ten verses in a season, children will be learning and spending time on one

verse for three straight weeks. The chart below shows the virtues and their corresponding verses for this

season:

Practice

Number Virtue Verse

Week 1 None ("Get to

Know You" time)

How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.

Psalms 119:9 (NLT)

Weeks 2-4 Honesty The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who

are trustworthy. Proverbs 12:22 (NIV)

Weeks 5-7 Patience The end of a matter is better than its beginning. So it's

better to be patient than proud. Ecclesiastes 7:8 (NIrV)

Weeks 8-10 Kindness Do to other as you want them to do to you. Luke

6:31 (NIrV)

Last Practice

of the season

Gospel

Presentation

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only

Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have

eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)

Send the Week 1 verse to your team in an email before practices begin and give them an opportunity to

share it at your first practice. The other verses can be given out at practice and emailed to parents. You will

have an incredible opportunity this season to enrich the lives of children through the sport of basketball and

through your actions and attitudes. Each team needs a “Cross-Trainer Coach.” This person can be the head

coach, assistant coach or another parent on the team. The Cross-Trainer Coach needs to invest the necessary

time to the Locker Room Talk so they will be God-centered and intentional. It is important to read through

each devotion well before the practice so that the necessary preparations can be made. Regardless of whom

the Cross-Trainer Coach is, the head coach of the team needs to make sure that the devotions are done

correctly. Remember, it is you the coach, who can make the biggest difference!

“How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.” ~Psalm 119:9

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Locker Room Talk

Devotion 1

Bottom Line: Get to know each other and introduce the stars. INSTRUCTIONS: • Gather the players together and get them to sit in a circle. • Let’s have some fun! Everyone has heard of superheroes, right? Maybe your favorite superhero is someone like Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman. If you had just one superpower you could have, what would it be and why? The only thing you can’t choose is the power to do anything you want. It has to be something specific like being super strong, super smart, having super vision or whatever. Ready? Let’s see what superpowers everyone would like to have! (Allow each player to tell about their power.) • Be sure each player gets a turn to share. Dialogue: That was fun! Getting to know each other better is something that we’ll do a lot of this season. As a team, we’ll work hard to encourage one another to do our best at practices and games! As you play games during your PSO Basketball Season, you will be rewarded afterward with different colored stars that each means something special. Your actions, attitudes and words on game day will determine what star you will get. These are the game day stars and what they mean: • The blue star represents EFFORT: What does it mean to show effort? It means working hard to try your best at all times. • The gold star represents SPORTSMANSHIP: What does it mean to show sportsmanship? It means treating the people you play with and against the same way you want to be treated. You show respect for yourself, your teammates, opponents, the referees and the coach. You play fair and follow the rules. • The gray star represents OFFENSE: What should you do when you play offense? The offense is responsible for scoring points. This means doing your best while trying to move the ball forward together as a team to score a basket. • The red star represents DEFENSE: What should you do when you play defense? The defense is responsible for preventing points from being scored. This requires staying with the player you are guarding and moving your feet to stay in good position to prevent a basket. • The white star represents CHRISTLIKENESS: What does it mean to be Christlike? Being Christlike means to do your best to imitate Jesus in every way – through words, attitude and actions. It means loving others and following God’s Word in the Bible; choosing God over the temptations in the world around you. Before or after each practice we will have a devotion time. We will learn about God and learn a verse from the Bible together. During this time you will have a chance to earn a green star. • The green star represents SCRIPTURE LEARNING: What is a Scripture? Scriptures are verses from the Bible. How can I learn scripture? At different practices this season I will give you a practice card that has a Scripture verse on it. Memorize it, think about it, and talk about it with others. Come prepared to say it during practice and learn more about it! Our team is going to have a great season! Let’s pray and then get back to practice. (Lead the team in short prayer as you thank God for all the players and a great season ahead.)


7

Locker Room Talk

Devotion 2 – Honesty Introduce: • Virtue: HONESTY - Choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do. • Scripture Verse: The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy. Proverbs 12:22 (NIV)

Bottom Line: You can lie so much that it’s hard to remember what’s true.

Value Lesson: Raise your hand if you have ever told a lie. Wait a second. All of you without your hands up—come on! Are you being honest right now? Everyone at some time or another has probably bent the truth a little. Maybe you were afraid that if you told the truth, you’d get in trouble. Or maybe you were afraid the truth would hurt someone’s feelings. Today we’re going to spend some time talking about honesty. Honesty is choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do.

I would bet that you don’t wake up in the morning and say, “I’m going to tell a whole bunch of lies today!” In fact, I’ll bet when you’re first tempted to lie that most of you try hard not to. And I would also guess that the first lie you tell usually isn’t a big one.

Let’s say your mom comes in to find that someone has left the backdoor wide open and your cat is nowhere to be seen. When she confronts you to ask if you were the one, your stomach does a flip remembering a few hours earlier when you ran outside with your skateboard in one hand and your helmet in the other—no hands left to shut the door. But that scary look on your mom’s face makes you lie and say, “Nope, definitely not me, Mom. I did not leave the door open.” Not satisfied with your answer, your mom asks again—giving you the chance to come clean. But instead of being honest, you tell another lie. You blame the incident on your brother. And to really make sure she believes you, you go one step further to say you’ve been inside playing all day.

So one lie leads to another. That’s almost always the way it goes. Like a snowball rolling down a mountain, growing bigger and more dangerous with every rotation, one little lie turns into one giant mess—a mess so big you have to keep lying just to stay ahead of it. And pretty soon, you’re so mixed up in your cover-up that you’ve forgotten what’s true and what’s part of your made-up story. You’ve forgotten that all this effort is for something as small as leaving a door open.

But God has a better way. He knows that when we lie, we break trust with the person we’ve lied to. And if you can’t be trusted, you lose friendships. You disappoint your parents. Even your little brother ends up hurt. So it’s always best to start out telling the truth. But that’s not easy. So why don’t we pray and ask God to help us with that this week?

3rd-6th Grade ONLY Prayer • Thank God for reminding your team how important it is to start out by telling the truth. • Ask him to help your players be truthful in words and actions so that the people they care about can trust them. • Thank him for the reminder that one little lie can lead to a whole lot of trouble.


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3rd-6th Grade ONLY

Interaction Questions

In what way is a little lie like a snowball rolling down a giant mountain?

How does it make you feel when you’ve told so many lies just to cover up one thing?

Locker Room Talk

Devotion 3 - Honesty

Review: • Virtue: HONESTY - Choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do. • Scripture Verse: The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy. Proverbs 12:22 (NIV)

Bottom Line: When you are truthful and make things right, you build trust.

Value Lesson: As you guys probably remember, we’ve been talking about what it means to be honest. You and I have a choice every day to tell the truth and be honest in our actions. But sometimes we’re tempted to bend the truth or flat-out lie to get something we want.

There’s a guy from the Bible who knew all about being dishonest. In fact, dishonesty was sort of his job. See Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Back in those days, everyone hated tax collectors because they were thieves. They’d charge people more money than they really owed and then pocket the extra money for themselves. One day, Jesus was on his way to Jericho—where Zacchaeus lived. Zacchaeus had heard about Jesus and wanted to see him for himself. Now if you’ve heard this story before, you might remember that Zacchaeus wasn’t very tall. In order to see Jesus, Zacchaeus climbed up in a sycamore tree. When Jesus walked by, he looked up at Zacchaeus in the tree and said, “Zacchaeus, I’m coming to your house today.”

Well, of course, everyone who heard this couldn’t believe it! Zacchaeus was one of the most hated men in Jericho. No one wanted to be his friend, much less go to his house for dinner. Of all the people Jesus would choose to spend time with, he was going to visit this thief’s home! I imagine even Zacchaeus was surprised. But that meeting changed everything. The Bible tells us that Zacchaeus immediately knew he’d been wrong. He decided to give half his wealth to the poor and to pay back anyone he owed four times the amount due! Whoa, talk about a complete change of heart!

This true encounter with Jesus shows you and me that it’s never too late for any of us to begin to be honest. Even if you’ve really messed up, even if you’ve made a mess of things, there’s still a chance to make things right. Because in the end, honesty is always the wise choice. And when you do choose honesty, you can begin to build trust with the people you’ve hurt. Just like Zacchaeus, we can choose to be truthful and make things right; we can choose to start earning the trust of those around us

3rd-6th Grade ONLY Let’s thank God today that even when we mess up, we can still turn things around by choosing to be honest. Prayer

Thank God for never ever giving up on us.

Ask him to forgive your players when their dishonest, just like Jesus forgave Zacchaeus.

Ask him to help your team make things right when they we mess up so that they can be trusted by the people around them.


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3rd-6th Grade ONLY

Interaction Questions How do you think the townspeople of Jericho reacted when Zacchaeus showed up on their

doorsteps with four times the amount of money he owed them?

Just like our memory verse says, God “delights in people who are trustworthy.” Why do you think that is? Who else might enjoy being around trustworthy people?

Locker Room Talk

Devotion 4 - Honesty

Review: • Virtue: HONESTY - Choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do. • Scripture Verse: The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy. Proverbs 12:22

(NIV)

Bottom Line: When you are not truthful, you can hurt the people you care about.

Value Lesson: Can anyone tell me what we’ve been talking about the last two practices? (Pause for responses.) That’s right, honesty. We’ve learned that honesty is choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do. I’ll bet if I asked each of you, you would say that you’d prefer that your friends tell the truth, right? But did you know that God has an opinion on it? There’s a very clear verse in the Bible that tells us exactly how God feels about honesty. Proverbs 12:22 (NIV) says, “The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.”

Did you hear the first part? God “detests” lying lips. “Detests” is a really strong word. Think about something you really dislike, like brussel sprouts or homework on the weekends. Now multiply that dislike by about 100. That would get you close to what “detest” means. God detests it when we lie. And do you know why? Because God knows that when we lie to others, it breaks that relationship. He knows that when you aren’t truthful, you can hurt the people you care about.

But thankfully, that’s not all God has to say on the subject. There’s a second part of this verse. God delights in people who are trustworthy. “Delights” is another really strong word. Think about something that makes you really happy, like ice cream sundaes, or scoring the winning point or Christmas break. Now multiply that feeling by 100. That is what it means to “delight” in something. And the Bible says that God delights in you when you choose honesty over dishonesty. Your relationships grow stronger. You become someone who is trustworthy.

So what kind of friend would you rather be? What kind of relationships would you rather have? And how would you prefer God think about you when it comes to being honest? I’d certainly rather have strong relationships with people who trust me. And I’d much rather know that God is delighted with me for choosing to be truthful.

So why don’t we ask God to help us choose honesty this week?

Prayer • Thank God for giving us the Bible to show us how to live. • Thank him for reminding your team how important it is to choose to be honest. • Ask him to help you to choose honesty this week.


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3rd-6th Grade ONLY


Have you ever discovered that someone you care about has lied to you? How did it make you feel?

“For every good reason there is to lie, there is a better reason to tell the truth.” Do you agree with this quote by author Bo Bennett? Why or why not?

Locker Room Talk

Devotion 5 – Patience

Introduce: • Virtue: PATIENCE - Waiting until later for what you want now. • Scripture Verse: The end of a matter is better than its beginning. So it’s better to be patient than

proud. Ecclesiastes 7:8 (NIrV) Bottom Line: Trust God while you wait. Value Lesson:

“You’ll have to wait until you’re older.” “No dessert until you eat your dinner.” “Maybe you’ll get it for Christmas.” Do you ever feel like all you do is wait? Waiting can be hard. Most of us just want what we want right when we want it! That’s when we need patience. Patience is waiting until later for what you want now. But what if you looked at things differently? What if instead of always wishing for what was coming next, you decided to be happy about where you are right now? And what if you went one step further and tried to see what you could learn by waiting? I’ll give you an example on the basketball court. What if our entire team decided we were tired of all this practicing every week? What if instead of taking this time each week to practice, we just headed full force into the game, hoping for the best? Do you think we’d play well? Do you think our team would succeed without putting in the work and waiting until we’re ready? My guess is probably not! The truth is, we need practice time on the court. We need to run drills and work together as a team to become stronger and better on the court. While it might seem like more fun to just play the game, the discipline and patience it takes to practice will ultimately help us to play better when it’s time for the game. God created us to learn new things—to grow and become better. Having patience means that you understand it takes time to learn new things. And in the meantime, God wants us to trust him even when we want to rush ahead, even when we want it now and even when we don’t love waiting. We need to trust God and see what we can learn while we’re waiting. Prayer • Thank God for reminding your team how important it is to trust him. • Acknowledge you want to be patient and not rush ahead of what he wants you to learn. • Ask him to help your players to practice patience this week.


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3rd-6th Grade ONLY

Interaction Questions Are you waiting for—or looking forward to—something now? Share with the group.

Why is it important to wait for that thing? What could you learn while waiting that you might never discover if it happened right away?

Locker Room Talk

Devotion 6 - Patience

Review: • Virtue: PATIENCE - Waiting until later for what you want now. • Scripture Verse: The end of a matter is better than its beginning. So it’s better to be patient than

proud. Ecclesiastes 7:8 (NIrV)

Bottom Line: When you think you can’t wait, don’t forget what’s true.

Value Lesson: Can anyone tell me what we started talking about last week? (Pause and allow a child to answer.) You got it! Patience—waiting until later for what you want now. Sometimes it’s easy to think we know better. Sometimes we choose to be impatient because we just can’t wait!

There’s great example of this from the Bible. Moses had led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt through some pretty amazing circumstances. Now they were wandering in the desert, heading for the Promised Land. All this wandering was getting old, and the people were frustrated. They were tired of all this traveling, and Moses was gone - again. He was up on Mount Sinai, talking to God.

They didn’t want to wait on Moses. They were ready to get wherever they were going. So they told Aaron, Moses’ brother and sort of second-in-command, “Let’s make our own god. This guy, Moses, the one who brought us out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” In other words, he’s not coming back fast enough for us so let’s take matters into our own hands!

They took all their gold jewelry, melted it in the fire, and Aaron molded that gold into a golden calf. And here’s the really crazy part. Once their golden cow statue was complete, all the Israelites started bowing down and worshiping it as if it was a real god! Can you believe that? Their impatience led them to take matters into their own hands in a crazy way!

When Moses came down off the mountain and saw them carrying on, knowing that they had completely disregarded what God—the real God—had done to save them, he was furious! Their impatience led them to completely forget what they knew to be true! They had seen God save them, they had watched in amazement as he parted the Red Sea and provided food for them to eat in the desert. But in that moment, they forgot everything they had seen God do and they let their impatience take over. You and I can learn something really important from this crazy story. When you think you can’t wait, don’t forget what’s true. Don’t be like those Israelites who decided their way was better.

When you feel yourself starting to become frustrated and impatient, ask God to help you remember this lesson. Why don’t we ask God to help us with that right now?

Prayer • Thank God for the lesson your team learns from the example of Moses. • Thank him for being in control and knowing what will happen in every situation. • Ask him to help your players choose patience this week.


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3rd-6th Grade ONLY


Have you ever been glad you waited for something instead of getting it right when you wanted?

What might be some reasons God wants you to wait for something?

How does it change things when you think about the times God has taken care of you in the past?

Locker Room Talk

Devotion 7 - Patience

Review: • Virtue: PATIENCE - Waiting until later for what you want now. • Scripture Verse: The end of a matter is better than its beginning. So it’s better to be patient than

proud. Ecclesiastes 7:8 (NIrV)

Bottom Line: When you think you can’t wait, don’t lose your cool.

Value Lesson:

Raise your hand if you have a brother or sister. Awesome. Keep your hands up. Now raise your other hand if you’ve ever had trouble being patient with your brother or sister. That’s what I thought. Okay, you can put your hands down.

Isn’t it crazy how the people we should be the most patient with—our families—are the people we’re sometimes the most impatient with? Maybe your sister is taking too long in the bathroom. Or maybe your brother still won’t let you have your turn with the video controller. Or maybe you’re tired of your mom saying, “We can go once your brother wakes up from his nap.” Whatever the situation is, we could all use a little more patience.

Have you ever gotten so impatient that you flew off the handle? Have you ever gotten so mad because you had to wait on someone that you did something you shouldn’t have? I know I certainly have.

Tell the children about a time in your own life when you were impatient with someone and lost your cool. Remember to give an age-appropriate answer for your audience—a story from your own childhood would probably be great!

The Bible has something to say on the subject of patience. Ecclesiastes 7:8 (NIrV) says, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning. So it’s better to be patient than proud.” Sometimes when we’re impatient, it’s hard to see the end of the situation. What if in my earlier example I could have hit the fast forward button to see how I was about to overreact and fly off the handle, hurting the people I care about? What if I could have seen what I was about to do before I did it and chose a different way to respond? If I could have seen the end of the matter, the end of the situation first, I know I would have chosen to respond differently.

Patience teaches us a lot of important lessons. Choosing patience always protects our relationships with others. When you’re patient with your family, or with your teammates or friends, you’re putting others first. So remember this week, when you think you can’t wait, don’t lose your cool.

3rd-6th Grade ONLY

Prayer • Ask God to help your players to stop before they fly off the handle and think about the best way to

respond—in a way that is patient and kind. • Thank him for always being patient with you.


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3rd-6th Grade ONLY

Interaction Questions Who in your life shows you patience or waits on you? How would it make you feel if that person

lost their cool and stopped showing you patience?

To whom is it most difficult for you to show patience? What is one way you could decide to be patient with that person?

Locker Room Talk

Devotion 8 - Kindness

Introduce: • Virtue: KINDNESS - Showing others they are valuable by how you treat them. • Scripture Verse: Do to others as you want them to do to you. Luke 6:31 (NIrV)

Bottom Line: Do to others what you want them to do to you.

Value Lesson: Today, I want to spend a few minutes talking about kindness. Can anyone tell me what kindness means? (Pause to allow one or two children to respond.) You guys gave some great answers! Kindness is showing others they are valuable by how you treat them. Has anyone ever heard of the “golden rule?” Can someone raise their hand and tell me what the golden rule says? (Pause and allow a child to answer.) Great job! The golden rule basically says to treat others the way you want to be treated! Jesus said it this way in Luke 6:31 (NIrV), “Do to others what you want them to do to you.”

If you think about it, this one rule will cover any situation when it comes to knowing how to treat someone with kindness. I’m going to give you a couple of scenarios and then I want you to raise your hand and tell me what you would like for someone to do for you if the situation were reversed. Here we go:

Scenario #1—A new girl begins attending your school. She dresses differently than everyone else and has trouble speaking English. How would you want to be treated if you were the new kid?

Scenario #2—You’re sitting in the cafeteria with all your friends when you see a younger kid come out of the lunch line, trip and accidentally drop everything that was on his lunch tray. How would you want to be treated if you were the kid who had tripped and spilled his lunch?

Scenario #3—Your little brother comes and asks you to play with him again. But you’re playing your favorite video game. How would you want to be treated if you were the younger brother?

You guys gave some great answers! My challenge to you this week is to put the golden rule into play. Whether you’re here at practice, at home with your family, or at school—I want you to stop and think, “How would I want to be treated in this situation?” When you have an answer, your challenge is to follow through and do it! But it probably won’t always be easy. So why don’t we pray and ask God to help us with that this week?

Prayer • Thank God for giving us the golden rule to help us know how to treat others. • Ask him to help your players remember how they would want to be treated and then treat others

accordingly. • Thank him for always showing kindness to us.


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3rd-6th Grade ONLY

Interaction Questions • Why is God’s opinion of us so much more important than the opinions of the people around us? • What are some reasons being right is better than being popular?

Locker Room Talk

Devotion 9 - Kindness Coach: If this is your last practice of the season, DO NOT use this devotion. Instead, use the devotion entitled “Last Practice.”

Review: • Virtue: KINDNESS - Showing others they are valuable by how you treat them. • Scripture Verse: Do to others as you want them to do to you. Luke 6:31 (NIrV)

Bottom Line: Treat others the way Jesus would treat them.

Value Lesson: Did anyone practice the golden rule this past week? Who took my challenge seriously? What happened? (Pause as a child or two responds.) Great job! Last week, we talked about what it means to show kindness. Kindness is showing others they are valuable by how you treat them.

Do you know who the best at showing kindness was? Jesus! One day, people started bringing little children to Jesus for him to bless them. But the disciples, Jesus’ friends, decided that this would be a waste of his time. I suppose they thought it was more important for Jesus to be teaching and healing all the adults. So the disciples began to tell these moms and dads to take their kids somewhere else.

When Jesus heard this, he became angry and said, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t keep them away. The kingdom of heaven belongs to people like them.” Then he spent time listening to and talking with those children. The Bible even tells us that he took them in his arms, just like your mom and dad did when you were little.

A big part of showing kindness is choosing to give those around you your time and attention, just like Jesus did with those little children. By listening to what your friends have to say or by spending time playing with your little brother or by actually focusing on the conversation you’re having with your parents around the dinner table, you show others how valuable they are to you. When you choose to give your time and attention, it makes your relationships and friendships grow stronger.

That’s what Jesus did. That’s our challenge this week: to treat others the way Jesus would treat them. It means choosing to remember that everyone deserves your time and attention. Even if you’re busy, even if you’d rather do something else, even if you don’t necessarily think it’s all that important. In every situation, in order to show kindness, we need to treat others as Jesus would treat them.

Let’s pray and thank God for sending Jesus to show us how to live.

Prayer • Thank God for this story from Jesus’ time on earth. • Thank him that Jesus chose to spend time with the people around him and showed them that they were

important to him. • Ask him to help your players treat others with the same kindness that Jesus did.


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3rd-6th Grade ONLY

Interaction Questions Who in your life do you find the most difficult to give your time and attention? • What is one way you can show that person your kindness this week?

Locker Room Talk

Devotion 10 - Kindness Coach: If this is your last practice of the season, DO NOT use this devotion. Instead, use the devotion entitled “Last Practice.”

Review: • Virtue: KINDNESS - Showing others they are valuable by how you treat them. • Scripture Verse: Do to others as you want them to do to you. Luke 6:31 (NIrV)

Bottom Line: Treat others as if they belong to God. Value Lesson: As you all know, we’ve been talking about what it means to show kindness. The first week, we talked about the golden rule that says that we should do to other people as you want them to do to you. Last week we talked about our greatest example of what kindness looks like: Jesus. Today, I want to look at kindness from a different angle. I bet we’d all agree that it’s easy to show kindness to the people you care about. But I want you to think about the people in your world who are really hard to show kindness to. Maybe it’s the bully at school. Or maybe it’s the kid who just really bugs you. Or maybe it’s your younger brother who always wants to hang out with you but when he does just ends up wrecking whatever you’re doing. The truth is, there will always be people in your life who are hard to show kindness to. But guess what? God doesn’t pick and choose who he thinks deserves his kindness. Instead, he extends kindness to everyone. Do you know why? Because everyone is important to God. He made you and everyone around you. Even the people who bug you or are mean to you—are valuable to God. And while you might not be able to control what they do or how they treat you, you always have a choice when it comes to whether or not you show kindness to them. Remember, everyone is important to God, and we should treat others as if they belong to God. Since everyone is valuable and important to him, then everyone deserves our kindness, too.

Let’s pray and thank God for showing us what it’s like to show kindness to everyone. Prayer • Thank God for this important lesson today on kindness. • Ask him to help your team to treat others the way he does and show kindness to everyone. • Thank him for loving us even when we mess up.


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3rd-6th Grade ONLY

Interaction Questions • What can you do this week to show kindness to someone who is difficult to be kind to? • How do you think showing kindness to even the most difficult people could change your heart

and theirs? •

Locker Room Talk

Devotion 11 – Last Practice Coach: If you are a 3rd-6th Grade coach, be sure to pick up the SHOT bands for your players at the PSO Front Desk before doing your devotion. These bands are a part of the Gospel Presentation.

INTRODUCE: • You are part of God's Big Story! • Scripture Verse: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall

not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)

Bottom Line: God loves you and gave us Jesus to trust and follow.

Virtue Review: We’ve had a GREAT season! It’s been so much fun watching each of you become better players and better friends with each other! We’ve learned a lot about basketball…but we’ve also learned a lot about ourselves and about others. Think about the things that we’ve learned during our huddle time this year. Do you remember the three virtues we’ve discussed? What were they? (Allow players to answer the question.)

First we learned about Honesty. Honesty is choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do. We learned that many times when we tell a lie, we try to cover it up by telling another one and another one. However, if we stick with telling the truth the first time, we can build trust between ourselves and others. More importantly, when we are truthful, God delights in us and helps us build strong relationships with friends and family.

Then we learned about Patience. Patience is waiting until later for you want now. Sometimes it’s hard to have patience when we want something now. However, God says that if we trust him and wait, there is so much he can teach us. Also, when we are impatient and decide not to wait, we can forget what is true and what God wants in our lives. Another great lesson we learned about patience is that it can protect the relationships we have with others, such as our friends or siblings.

We also learned about Kindness. Kindness is showing other they are valuable by how you treat them. Our verse about kindness is also known as the “golden rule.” We should always try to treat others that way that we want to be treated. To take that one step further, we should treat others the way that Jesus would treat them. Why is this important? Because we learned that everyone is important to God, and that even though it’s hard, we should treat them the way he would treat them.

Listen to this week’s verse, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 (NIV).

We have all made mistakes. The Bible tells us that because of sin, we are separated from God. But because God loves us so much, he provides a way back to him. Our verse teaches us that this way is through his son, Jesus. He sent His only Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life on earth and then pay the price for all of our sins on the cross. And because of that act of forgiveness, we can be with God forever.

I've got something else to tell you. Did you know that you are part of God's BIG STORY? That's right…he has a BIG STORY and each one of you are in it! He has a special plan for you and your life. It's gonna be great!

Let's pray to God and thank him for all he's done for us.

Prayer: Thank God for an awesome season!

Thank God for teaching us about Honesty, Patience and Kindness. Thank God for sending his son Jesus for each one of us and always forgiving us when we mess up.


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*3rd – 6th Grade Coaches: At this point skip to the Gospel presentation unless you know that you will have another practice to go over it. If a player makes a decision, please let the PSO staff know about it.

Locker Room Talk

Devotion 12 – Gospel Presentation

What kind of SH T do you have at getting into Heaven?

In the game of basketball, as with any sport, there are many prizes to win. We want to set our eyes on Heaven as

the ultimate prize. Philippians 3:14 says, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me

heavenward in Christ Jesus.” “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his

face from you, so that he will not hear,” according to Isaiah 59:2. This separation applies to all of mankind.

Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That means that we have all fallen short

of the ability to go to Heaven on our own. That’s a big problem! The good news though is that God loves us so

much that He wants to help us even though we are still sinners. He provided that help through the death of his son

Jesus on the cross. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still

sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus took our punishment, paid the debt for our sins, and conquered death by rising

from the grave. Because of this He offers us the gift of eternal life with Him in Heaven. Romans 6:23 says, “For

the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” There is nothing that we can

do to work our way into Heaven. If the good things we do could somehow get us to Heaven then eternal life would

not be a gift. Ephesians 2:8-9 says it this way, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not

from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” However, the knowledge of this is

not enough. We don’t have the gift unless we take or receive it. John 1:12 says, “But as many as received Him, to

them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” So how do we take this free

gift? We do this by confessing our sin to God and declaring that we want Jesus to be Lord of our lives. Romans

10:9-10 & 13 says, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him

from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your

mouth that you confess and are saved…For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” If you have

never prayed and asked Jesus to come into your heart to be Lord of your life and you would like to do that today,

pray a prayer like this with a sincere heart:

“Dear Jesus, I know I am a sinner and I need a Savior. I believe you died on the cross for my sins. I turn from my

sins and ask that You please forgive them. Come into my heart and be Lord of my life and help me to follow You. I

love You, Jesus. Thank you for loving me first. Amen.”

Once we have taken this incredible gift, we want to tell others and spread the good news of Jesus. Acts 5:42 tells us

that the people in the Bible did just that. It says, “And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did

not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” However, you need to know that just like we have opponents

in the game of basketball, we realize that there will be those that oppose us when we tell others this good news. It

is not our job to fight with them but to simply and compassionately speak the truth and leave the rest up to God. 2

Timothy 2:25 says, “Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading

them to a knowledge of the truth.” Our hope in our future is a confident hope. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is

confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” We also need to realize that becoming a

Christian does not mean that our life will be easy. Sometimes life is hard, but God will give us the strength to

handle anything that comes our way. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens

me.” As we discussed, the good things we do don’t earn our way into Heaven, but since God has shown us grace

and given us this great gift of eternal life with Him, we should show Him our love by living a good life and doing

good things for His Kingdom. As it says in Philippians 3:16, “Let us live up to what we have already attained.”

Pure Shot and the SHOT Bands are a ministry of Pure Way Discipleship, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit

organization. For more information about this organization visit our website or email us at

[email protected]

www.pureshot.net (Our website is currently under construction. Please email us with any questions.)

©Copyright 2005 Pure Way Discipleship, Inc.

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