We are over halfway through our seven weeks of A World Unbroken! We have been having some great discussions and hope that we have all been able to apply what we’ve talked about in our own lives and world.
Last Wednesday, we looked at the Promise episode. Since we didn’t do a write-up on this episode, here are both the Promise and Presence write-ups. Again, we hope these thoughts can help us all understand the Story of God a little bit better, whether we were at youth group for A World Unbroken or not.
Promise (Genesis 12:1-7)
Even as God looks at his beautiful creation and sees the brokenness and sin, God’s purpose remains. God wants a people who will work with God in creating and cultivating a place for God to dwell with those people. And so even in the midst of all the brokenness, God makes a promise to a man named Abraham: God will bless Abraham, making him into a “great nation” (Gen. 12:2) so that this nation of people will be a blessing to the rest of the world, showing the world how to once again live God’s ways.
Two summary points:
1) No matter what, God’s promise of love remains. “Though time may pass, and we will wrestle with God, though we may get lost in the desert place and find ourselves in the shadow of giants… no matter what we are still… his.” (from the video)
2) We are blessed to be a blessing. Just as Abraham and the nation of Israel was blessed so that they could be a blessing to the rest of the world, we follow along. We can never hoard the love and blessings of God - it’s always for the sake of the world.
Presence (Matthew 5-7)
We began last night with each person finishing the statement, “Jesus is …” Each of us finished the sentence with who/what Jesus is. Jesus is love. Jesus is hope. Jesus is clarity. Jesus is fulfillment. Jesus is peace. Jesus is the Lord. Jesus is the King.
And then, we repeated those statements but added something very important. Jesus is love… and love is with us. Jesus is hope… and hope is with us. Jesus is with us. It is the presence of Jesus that changed and changes everything.
We took a look at the birth, life, miracles, and teachings of Jesus last night. Jesus did and said some amazing things (and often amazingly challenging things!).
Jesus fulfills the promise made to Abraham, and Jesus is the person through which the promise can truly bless everyone in the world. As we live the way Jesus showed and taught us how to live, we become a people who live the kingdom of God on earth, showing the rest of the world what it means to live God’s ways.
Two summary points about Presence:
1) Jesus was just as human as each of us, and yet he taught as one who had authority, teaching and showing us how to be human.
2) As we live in the presence of Jesus in every moment, we strive to live the way Jesus taught us to live, especially through his words in the sermon on the mount, Matthew 5-7 (we read it last night - read it!).
Our prayer as we ended last night: God, may we always remember your presence in our world and in our own lives, and may we live the way you lived.
Amen.
Next Week: Satisfied.
