"The 20 Most Impossible Victories in Sports” is the title of
an article I came across this week.
“Impossible.
It’s a clear word that relates an easy-to-grasp concept. No wiggle room in the
definition. Spin straw into gold? Impossible. Reverse the aging process?
Impossible. Walk on water? Impossible (Except for one notable exception!) Yet
the 20 victories recapped in this article were also deemed impossible at one
time. Media hyperbole? Maybe. But perhaps something stronger than impossibility
was at work. The human spirit.”
Here are the top 5:
#5. Lasse Viren Wins the 10,000
Meter Final in the 1972 Olympics.
He was an unknown policeman from
Finland. He fell down during the race. He gets up, races back to the pack, and
wins. He sets a world record to boot.
#4. Yasuhiro
Kuba Survives to Tell the Tale.
His chosen sport is banzai
skydiving. It’s the insane sport of throwing your parachute out of the plane,
then waiting for a while before jumping without one. The trick? To catch up to
your parachute and put it on before you hit the ground. Kubo waited 50 seconds
before jumping.
#3.
Francis Ouimets 1913 US Open Golf Tournament Win.
Francis was a young caddie in a
sport dominated by the British and the Scots. The U.S. had no public courses.
It was a game played by the rich and famous. He took on the legendary Harry
Vardom and beat him.
#2. The
USA Defeats the USSR in the 1980 Olympic Hockey Game.
The Americans were all amateurs,
their average age was 22. They were playing the most powerful USSR national
team ever assembled. These were professionals. They played 11 months a year. A
year before the Olympics they had beaten the NHL All Star Team 6-0. Two weeks
before the Olympics they had beaten the USA Hockey Team 10-3 in an exhibition.
#1.
Erik Weihenmayer Summits Everest.
Why is this the greatest sports
victory when over 3,000 people have done it? Erik Weihenmayer was born with
retinoschisis. By age 13 he was totally blind!
In Colossians 2:6-15 Paul speaks of another “impossible
victory”. In fact, it’s the most impossible victory of all time. It’s a victory
so grand and so miraculous that its result has redounded to the eternal benefit
of people from Adam and Eve to you and me.
In the face of the unsettling news that false teaching had
begun to infiltrate the young church at Colossae, Paul reminds them and us of
the triumph of Jesus Christ at
Calvary. More than a historic win, this is a victory of cosmic proportions.
It’s a victory that can radically change your life forever.
We will dig into all of this on Sunday in a message
entitled: “The Triumphant Christ”. In preparation for Sunday you may wish to
consider the following:
1. What’s the message Paul is delivering in verse 6 by using
the word “therefore”?
2. Have you seen verse 6 before? Why did we pick it as the
foundation of our three-fold ministry at Hebron?
3. “See to it” is a famous Pauline line. What does it mean?
4. Why is “captivity” so dangerous in Paul’s eyes?
5. What is Paul warning the Colossians against in verse 8?
6. How does verse 9 expand on what Paul says in chapter
1:15-20?
7. How does verse 10 mitigate the threat of the false teachers?
8. What does Paul mean in verse 14 when he says that the “record
of debt” and “its legal demands” have been set aside by the cross?
9. What’s Paul view of the cross in verse 15?
10. What does this tell us about the purpose of the cross?
See you Sunday!
