Welcome to The Legacy Men's Bible Study
Everybody wants their life to mean something. Maybe you find yourself at a fork in the road today, and you’re asking yourself, “Which way should I go?”
Isaiah 30:21 says, “and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”
I'm going to ask you to turn right this week to a place called Utopia, where an eccentric old golf pro and rancher named Johnny Crawford will help us with this question. How? By teaching us to look differently at our past choices in life, and our direction for the future.
Solomon once wrote: “A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren” (Proverbs 13:22). What is this inheritance? Is this what you will be remembered for? Is this what your legacy will be? What will people say about you when you’re gone? What will your life have really stood for? In our culture, a high premium is placed on success, achievement and performance. For many, this is what controls their life. It’s what they think is most important. In our Bible study series, a young man's performance at golf is what he has been taught is most important in life – a game, sounds a little silly for some. But, what's most important in your life? Is it a game, a bank account or maybe what's written on your business card?
Johnny Crawford will ask, "How can a game have such an effect on a man's soul?" You might be saying, "That's not me!" Maybe for you, it's been money, achievement or just success in life. Someone also once said that...
"The saddest day in a man’s life is the day he succeeds and it lets him down."
Consider this, at some point in life you probably thought there was something more important than God - maybe you still do. Does it matter? Well, it did to Luke Chisolm, a talented young golfer set on making the pro tour, when his first big shot turns out to be a very public disaster. Luke drives away thinking his career in golf is over, and then he comes to a fork in the road, turns right and finds himself unexpectedly stranded in Utopia, Texas. "You have got to be kidding me!"
“Spend seven days with me in Utopia, and you’ll find your game.”
Luke Chisolm Thought
His Career Was Over
Until His Life
Took A Detour
Click Here
This series of Bible study has four lessons taken from the movie:
- Building a Legacy
- See it
- Feel it
- Trust it
How do we build a legacy? Its starts with a foundation of TRUTH.
Bible Study: Deuteronomy 6:1-15a
This first study is about the importance of building our lives on a foundation of obedience to God and, in turn, leading future generations to build on that same foundation.
- In the movie, "Seven Days in Utopia" Johnny will say that the secret to the game of golf is how you build a Grip, stance and swing; how much you practice, and how well you keep your eyes on the ball.
- In our study in Deuteronomy this week, Moses will say that the secret to life is how you build a right foundation, how much you teach each day while going through life and how well you keep your focus.
- The game in the movie is an analogy of life itself. This series of lessons is not about golf, it's about performance in life and what that means to God and how God can be honored through our performance.
Johnny and Moses are not far a part.
- BC Inabinet and the Hendley family - legacy
- Bobby Jones - "It was said of him that he played the game with integrity."
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Bob Jones IV says the game of golf has a spiritual side that rests in the fact that it calls the player to have a tremendous level of integrity at the smallest level of their life. If you are standing in the woods and cause the ball to move and no one is there to see you, will you call a penalty even if it costs you the U.S. Open? Which is what happened (in 1925) to my grandfather. Perhaps the best golfer in history, Bobby Jones was in the rough, not the woods, at the 1925 U.S. Open when he reported that his ball moved as he addressed it. Without that one-shot penalty, he would have won outright. Instead, Jones finished in a tie with Willie Macfarlane, and lost in a playoff. He scoffed at praise for his sportsmanship. "You might as well praise me for not breaking into banks," Jones said. "There is only one way to play this game."
- It starts with a foundation of truth.
I. THE GRIP, STANCE AND SWING – DEUTERONOMY 6:1-5
1 “This is the command—the statutes and ordinances—the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess. 2 Do this so that you may fear the LORD your God all the days of your life by keeping all His statutes and commands I am giving you, your son, and your grandson, and so that you may have a long life. 3 Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 “Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Johnny asks Luke why he gripped the club the way he did and Luke told him, I don’t know, just feel good I guess. Wrong Answer: Johnny said that the first step is to Find Some Conviction – why did Johnny say this?
- Hardest challenge you will face in life is that casual comment by someone, anyone, about how you should be doing things.
- If you don’t have conviction about where your foundation is, then that casual comment will take you out of your game and erode your confidence.
You need some conviction - Johnny said, “I need to know why you do the things you do, from the grip to the follow through.” Why did Johnny need to know this?
- Luke needed a foundational understanding of why he gripped and swung the club the way he did. This would become the core belief to his game.
- How would conviction apply to your job?
- Core beliefs: Mission & Vision of the company, Safety Goals, Sales goals
- We have to have a conviction about why we do what we do in our jobs.
What does Moses say was the first step in building a right foundation in life?
- Following God’s commands. Obedience to God’s laws – striving to be obedient produces results.
- God’s greatest command: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength – seeing God with an awe-filled reverence makes for a long and prosperous life.
- From Johnny’s perspective – we need to have some conviction about why we are really here, what’s our purpose in life. Why do we do what we do in life? Love God and follow His instruction has to be our core belief.
What would you say is the most important thing you could teach your children? What was most important to Moses?
- “Life is but an attitude” … To be able to communicate … To look out for #1 … Life is what you make of it … Do as I say, not as I do … Make a lot of money … “How can a game have such an effect on a man’s soul?”
- Does what you teach have eternal significance?
- Faith in God – Love God and obey His commands.
- Each generation of believers is to teach God’s ways to the next generation. Parents are especially accountable for teaching their children faith. Those who love God are to love Him with all they have and are.
- How to keep these convictions in balance – proper alignment, perspective, and priority.
II. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE – DEUTERONOMY 6:6-9
6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
How would you compare the game of golf to life? Why is golf such a good business social?
- In a recent New York Times article, columnist Thomas Friedman compared golf to life. He said that golf is the sport most like life and explained that “baseball, basketball and football are played on flat surfaces designed to give true bounces. Golf is played on an uneven terrain designed to surprise. Good and bad bounces are built into the essence of the game. And the reason golf is so much like life is that the game — like life — is all about how you react to those good and bad bounces”.
- Do you ever master the game of golf? Sanctification takes a lifetime as well.
- Learn more about a man in 4 hours on the golf course than any other place.
A legacy doesn’t just happen – why? What needs to happen day-by-day to build a good legacy?
- Like golf you have to practice everyday.
- Has to be developed over time. It has to be lived.
- Focus on your conviction about God and life. Keep your spiritual foundation solid so your influence on younger believers will not be compromised.
- Walk the talk!
What did Moses say we were to do with God’s Word?
- Parents are accountable for sharing their message with their children.
- Teach while you go about life.
- Share with our fellow man.
- Thoughtful people who humbly go about doing the right thing are contagious.
How can we physically display God’s Word today and why is this important?
- Memorizing Scripture is valuable only insofar as we live it out. We today, like the Israelites, are to share our life message through daily interactions.
- Our family learns more by our lifestyle at home than by the public persona we put on at church or community events.
- Repeated godly actions definitely help more than preachy words. Practice what you preach.
- Carrying religious objects should not be designed to elicit recognition or praise for yourself but to remind you of your commitment to love and obey the Lord.
- How can we display God’s Word through what we do in life? Golf – Bubba Watson
III. KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE BALL – DEUTERONOMY 6:10-15a
10 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would give you—a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build, 11 houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, wells dug that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. 13 Fear Yahweh your God, worship Him, and take your oaths in His name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you, 15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God.
Why is keeping your eyes on the golf ball so important? How would this apply to life?
- Distractions can be deadly. Johnny talked about the casual comments taking us out of our game. In golf it is critical to any good shot that you keep your eyes on the ball.
- Keeping your eyes on the mission, vision, safety goal – having a passion or conviction for them.
What might cause the Israelites to forget God when they enter the land of Canaan? Is it easier to forget God when things go well or when troubles come?
- When the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, they inherited great wealth. They also faced great temptation. If they took their eyes off of God then there would be great peril. Moses said to remember God through obedience. Take their eyes off the ball.
- The greatest temptation is to forget, to not need or depend on God.
- Times of material blessing are also opportunities to remember God. We can thank Him and work with Him to use those resources wisely.
- Fearing God is the key to this process. Once we forget or ignore God we set ourselves up for failure and heartache. In such surroundings it would be easy for the Israelites to forget that with privilege comes responsibility.
- Also remember that we too have "other gods" around us, maybe not like the Israelites, but anything that you consider more important than God - is your god! And the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God.
"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."
-Stephen Covey
-Stephen Covey
Conclusion: God commands that each generation of believers must pass on the faith to the next generation and to those they influence. Faith is not transmitted through the genes. It must be lived and shared by professing Christians.
This is the foundation for building a legacy!
Prayer of Commitment
Lord, teach me Your ways; and help
me teach others Your Word. Amen
We hope you enjoy your first Bible Study here in Utopia. We will watch a segment of the movie for the next four weeks as we work our way through this series on legacy. Be in prayer for our Bible Study Group and how God might be speaking to you through this series. Bring a friend and join us in this weekly detour. Hope to see you in Utopia on Thursday!
In His Love,
David
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