I remember back in December 2005 when my father was struggling with Leiomyosarcoma when I began taking a greater depth look into what life really meant. All the while looking around myself at the greater aspects of life. About the same time that Tim Tebow entered into the picture. At that same time Tebow was inspiring me to become a greater man.
It’s amazing when a high school senior can change an adult’s outlook on life.
Vulnerability is not a sign of weakness, It is a manifestation of strength.
Tim Tebow recalling an amazing Biblical ‘coincidence.’
(John 3:16). For God so loved the world he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For The Divine love to the whole of humanity in its condition of supreme need, apart from himself and his grace, has been of such a commanding, exhaustless, immeasurable kind, that it was equal to any emergency, and able to secure for the worst and most degraded, for the outcast.
Tebow Time: was white washed out of the end zone for being a good man. Probably because he knelt down to pray and not during the national anthem to dishonor those that service the greater good of this country. To understand Tim Tebow we must go back to his roots where through his success in high school he once played an entire second half with a broken leg — ESPN aired a documentary that followed him through his senior year called The Chosen One: The story of his Senior year at Nease High School on and off the field, what the recruiting process was like for the phenom, and ultimately his decision to attend the University of Florida.
Regarded by many as the greatest player in the history of college football, Tim Tebow was born in the Philippines to Baptist missionaries. Before she became pregnant with him, his mother had contracted amoebic dysentery. During her pregnancy, the medications used to treat the dysentery caused a severe placental abruption, a condition in which the placental lining separates from the uterus.
The Tebows decided to carry the baby to term as abortion is against their faith. Tim and his mother appeared in a pro-life commercial funded by evangelical group Focus on the Family during Super Bowl XLIV (2010) which stirred national controversy.
Birthday: 14 August 1987, Makati City, Philippines
Birth Name: Timothy Richard Tebow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=sw7qX1TpdNQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7J9eFNu6RY
The family returned to the United States when Tim was 3 years old, moving to a farm outside of Jacksonville, FL, where he and his siblings were also home-schooled by their mother. Taking advantage of a state law which allowed home-schooled students to compete in high school sports, in 2003, Tim and his mother moved to Ponte Vedra so he would be eligible to play football for Allen D. Nease High School.
He was named Player of the Year as a junior (playing his last game that season with a broken fibula), and named Mr. Football his senior year after he lead Nease to the Class 4A title. On December 13, 2005, three days after Nease won state, Tim announced he would be playing for his parents’ alma mater, the University of Florida. Also a second documentary followed him from his last college game to being selected by the Denver Broncos with the 25th pick in the first round (It was entitled Tim Tebow: Everything in Between.)
To say he dominated at Florida is an understatement.
Tebow threw for 9,285 yards and 31 touchdowns, and rushed for 2,947 yards and 57 touchdowns (breaking Emmitt Smith’s school record, and Kevin Faulk’s SEC record) for 12,232 total offensive yards (breaking Danny Wuerffel’s school record).
He lead the Gators to 2 SEC titles and 2 NCAA titles, and was the first player ever to
rush for at least 20 touchdowns and pass for at least 20 touchdowns in a single season. Among the slew of accolades he received were the Sullivan Award, the Davey O’Brien Award, the Maxwell Award, the Wuerffel Trophy, the Chic Harley Award, the Wooden Cup, the Manning Award, the Campbell Trophy, also Touchdown Club of Columbus Quarterback of the Year Award, AP College Football Player of the Year, the SEC Male Athlete of the Year, and the Heisman Trophy.
However, pundits doubted he had what it took to make it in the NFL, and were shocked when he was taken 25th overall in the 2010 draft by the Denver Broncos. He became a sensation in 2011 when he took the 1-4 Broncos to an 8-8 record and the AFC West title, most of those wins coming in the last minutes.
“Tebowing” – a term coined to describe his habit of kneeling on one knee in prayer as he bowed his head and either rested an arm on the opposite bent knee or his elbow on the knee with his fist at his forehead – was aped by celebrities, and inspired a web page which received over 20,000 photos of people “Tebowing”. The Broncos beat the then- AFC champ Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the playoffs when Tebow connected with Demaryius Thomas for an 80-yard touchdown on the first play of overtime.
While Broncos fans were sold on Tebow Time, Broncos head coach John Fox and Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway were not. After which Elway signed Peyton Manning, Tebow was traded to the New York Jets. And a disastrous season followed as offensive coordinator Tony Sparano, and head coach Rex Ryan couldn’t figure out how to best-utilize him. He was released on April 29, 2013, throwing for 39 yards and rushing for 102 yards for no touchdowns in 12 games.
He signed with the New England Patriots on June 10th. As it carries two quarterbacks, as opposed to most teams, which carry three or four, he had his work cut out for him.
In 3 pre-season games, he completed 11-of-30 passes for 145 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions, rushed for 91 yards, and spent most of those games, literally, running for his life. His performance intensified criticism of his football acumen. He was released on August 31st despite owner Robert Kraft claiming he was rooting for him to make the team. In December, he signed with ESPN to be an analyst on its SEC Network, which launched on his 27th birthday.
The Christian doctrine of immortality cannot be understood apart from the right conception of the tripartite nature of men. Many think that man is a physical being only. There is a great danger of any man thinking thus of himself. In his desire to satisfy the needs of the body there is the tendency on man’s part to lose sight of the fact that he is immortal. There have been persons who have lived all of their lives either in ignorance or willful neglect of a life after death, but upon their death-bed they suddenly realized that they were more than physical beings.
There is an idea also that prevails largely today that man consists of only two component parts: namely, body and spirit. In the thinking of the writer this view appears to be one that might create confusion in the minds of any Christians. While soul and spirit are so closely related that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish accurately between them, there seems to be only one logical conclusion: namely, that “soul” and “spirit” are not the same.
The Bible does make a distinction.
Man is a triune being because he is created in the image of God. “God said, Let us make man in Our image” (Genesis 1:26). We know that God is a Trinity. The Holy Trinity is clearly set forth in the Apostle Paul’s benediction that closed his Second Corinthian Epistle: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen” (2 Corinthians 13:14). Our Lord Himself said, in what we call “The Great Commission”: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). Created in the image of God, man is likewise a trinity. He has a spiritual nature that is separate and distinct from the body in which it dwells.
The Spirit
The word “spirit” when used in the Scriptures has several meanings. Whenever the word “Spirit” appears used with a capital letter, it has but one meaning. It is the name of the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God. The word “spirit” spelled with a small letter may have one of several different meanings. It can have direct reference to the spirit of man which is as much a part… of the tripartite nature of man… as the Spirit of the living God is a Person of the Holy Trinity. Or it can indicate an evil spirit such as any agent of the Devil. We will confine ourselves here to the Biblical usage of the word only as it relates to the spirit of man, one of the three constituent parts of his being.
The threefold nature of man might be illustrated in several ways. Dr. Clarence Larkin uses three circles (Rightly Dividing The Word, page 86). The outer circle stands for the body of man, the middle circle for the soul, and the inner for the spirit. At this point it will be well to quote a portion from Dr. Larkin’s book:
In the outer circle the ‘Body’ is shown as touching the Material world through the five senses of ‘Sight,’ ‘Smell,’ ‘Hearing,’ ‘Taste’ and ‘Touch.’
The Gates to the ‘Soul’ are ‘Imagination,’ ‘Conscience,’ ‘Memory,’ ‘Reason’ and the ‘Affections.’
The “Spirit” receives impressions of outward and material things through the soul.
The spiritual faculties of the ‘Spirit’ are ‘Faith,’ ‘Hope,’ ‘Reverence,’ ‘Prayer’ and ‘Worship.’
In his unfallen state the ‘Spirit’ of man was illuminated from Heaven, but when the human race fell in Adam, sin closed the window of the Spirit, pulled down the curtain, and also the chamber of the spirit became a death chamber and remains so in every unregenerate heart, until the Life and Light giving power of the Holy Spirit floods that chamber with the Life and Light giving power of the new life in Christ Jesus.
It develops then that the spirit of man, being the sphere of God-consciousness, is the inner or private office of man where the work of regeneration takes place. Dr. James R. Graham says that the main theatre of the Holy Spirit’s activity in man, and the part of man’s nature with which He has peculiar affinity, is the spirit of man.
The Apostle Paul gives us the Word of God on this, a passage that is sadly neglected. Quoting from the sixty-fourth chapter of the book of the Prophet Isaiah, Paul wrote: But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. A great many people stop here, content to remain in ignorance. However, Paul continues:
But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:9-11).
Man in his unregenerate state comes to know the things of man by the operator of “the spirit of man” which is in him. If I have a will to know certain scientific facts, by my human spirit I am enabled to investigate, think, and weigh evidence. If I set myself to the task, I may become a scientist of world-renown and of great accomplishments. However, my human spirit is “limited to the things of man.” If I want to know about the things of God, my dead and dormant spirit is not able to know them.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).
The human spirit requires “the spark of regeneration” before there is an understanding of the things of God.
Man’s spiritual nature must be renewed before there is a true conception of Godliness. Only one thing stands as a guard at the door of man’s spirit, and that is his own will.
When the will is surrendered, the Holy Spirit takes up His abode in the spirit of man. And when that transaction takes place we will know it, for, says Paul: The Spirit Himself (meaning the Holy Spirit) beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God (Romans 8:16 R.V.).
Many people confess that they get nothing out of the Bible even though they attend church and read their Bibles regularly. Perhaps they do not know that they are not regenerated and that they need to yield their will to the Spirit of God so that He can renew their human spirits. The deep things of God never will be understood by the world outside of Jesus Christ.
No amount of religion or church activity can change the spirit of the unregenerate man. “Remember,” says Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, “if out of false charity or pity you allow men of material ideals and worldly wisdom to touch holy things, to handle the pearls of the Kingdom, presently they will turn and rend you.
The Bible says; “There is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding” (Job 32:8). Here we are told that it is the spirit of man that is given understanding. The materialist tells us that the spirit of man is the air that he breathes, and that man’s body is all there is to his personality. Such is not the case.
The spirit of man is his personality and it is that which differentiates him from the lower animal creation. If “spirit” meant merely “breath,” God certainly would not deal with it as a personality. He is called “The God of the spirits of all flesh” (Numbers 16:22), and “the Father of spirits” (Hebrews 12:9). It is by his spirit that the Christian both serves and worships God. Paul testified: “For God is my witness, Whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel” (Romans 1:9). Jesus said: “God is a spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).
The Soul
Man not only has a living soul but he is a living soul. The Bible says: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). We must be careful not to confound that which is truly spiritual and that which is merely soulish or psychical. We have seen that the spirit of man is the sphere of activity where the Holy Spirit operates in regeneration. Just so is the soul the sphere of activity where Satan operates making his appeal to the affections and emotions of man.
Satan knows full well that he dominates the psychical or the soulish man. Therefore he does not care if a man goes to a church where the Spirit of God is not in evidence. He knows that his victim is a creature of emotions, and it matters not if the emotions are stirred to sentimentalism or even to tears, just so long as man’s spirit does not come in contact with God’s Holy Spirit.
Personally, I believe that Satan would rather have man go to a modernistic church where there is false worship than he would have him go to a house of prostitution. The soul is the seat of the passions, the feelings, and the desires of man; and Satan is satisfied if he can master these. F. W. Grant has said that the soul is the seat of the affections, right or wrong, of love, hate, lusts, and even the appetites of the body.
Hamor said to Jacob, “The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter” (Genesis 34:8). Of David and Jonathan it is written: “The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul” (1 Samuel 18:1). These passages show the soul to be the seat of the affections. But as the soul loves, so it also hates. We read of those “that are hated of David’s soul” (2 Samuel 5:8).
It shall be even as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or as when a thirsty man dreameth, behold, he drinketh; however, but he awaketh, and behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite (Isaiah 29:8).
The soul of man, that is, his affections and desires, are never directed Godward until after the spirit has become regenerated. Man can never love God nor the things of God until he is born from above.
He may have a troubled conscience or be so stirred emotionally that he may weep bitterly, and still remain dead in trespasses and in sins. We do not feel that we are guilty of judging men when we state that some who have answered an altar call and shed tears never were born again. Man’s desires and affections are turned toward God when he realizes his sinful condition and God’s grace in salvation.
When the Spirit of God illuminates the spirit of a man with divine light and life, that man begins to yield his affections and faculties to God.
The Virgin Mary said; “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:46, 47). She could not extol the Lord in her soul until she had recognized God in her spirit as her Saviour. The initial triumph is in the spirit when Jesus Christ is acknowledged as personal Saviour.
In that immortal classic of the Psalms, David says: “He restoreth my soul” (Psalm 23:3). The Hebrew word translated “restoreth” is said to mean quite literally “turneth back.” At no time had David lost his salvation, but there were times when his affections and desires were turned from the Lord, as in the case of his sin with Bathsheba.
Having become one of the Divine Shepherd’s flock, he testified: “The Lord turneth back my soul.” The Christian who is enjoying unbroken communion with his Lord will then be able to say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name” (Psalm 103:1).