In 1958, Vince Lombardi became the head football coach for the Green Bay Packers. The Packers were respected only by a few people and had a tradition of losing. Lombardi believed he could turn them around with the lessons he learned as an assistant coach under Earl “Colonel Red” Blaik of West Point Military Academy. He would stick with simple blocking and tackling fundamentals. He expected strict obedience and dedication from his players. The story has often been told that Lombardi stood before humiliated football players in the locker room with the intense look they had come to recognize following a defeat. The room was silent. Lombardi held up a football. Then he declared, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” From then on, it was back to basics.

Ezra 3-4 – Heart Worship

Three years after becoming the Packers head coach, Lombardi had turned them into the dominant team in pro football. When the exiles returned to Palestine, the Jews were another group coming off years of defeat—seventy seasons in the desert! The community leaders knew for their team to win, they needed to strictly obey God and return to the basics of the faith.

What were the basics of their faith? For the Jews, it would have meant authentic worship, obeying the law, and living a pure life. For believers today, the outward forms of worship are still around, but they exist to draw us to the presence of God. The condition of the heart before God is basic to what is acceptable worship to God.

The Kingdom Coach and Athlete worship God through the outward forms of worship and the condition of their hearts before God.

Bible Memory Verse – “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” Ezra 7:10  (LSB)