Survival Game.... (15-20 min)
As we compare your answers to the experts, how much more does the importance of what you pack for a trip mean to you. This exercise helped us to understand the important uses for everyday household items. Most of those supplies can be found around your house, but all are common things we take for granted.
While you think about that game for a minute, I want you to think about your life and how God has packed you with certain skills in order that you will find fulfillment in Him and what He has prepared for you. Each of you has been given a certain set of skills to do a certain ob at a particular time. Some of you are good at English, math, computers, sports, taking care of people, making friends, handy work and any number of things. God gave you those gifts and skills to glorify Him, even before you were born.
Worksheet: On your worksheet, fill in section I
I AM _____________ a coincidental collision of particles
_____________ an accidental evolution of molecules
_____________ soulless flotsam in the universe
_____________ "fearfully and wonderfully made" and "skillfully wrought"
The Psalmist David says in Psalms 139:15-16, "15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. " David knew what he was taking about. God had worked in his life and had made him an example of being packed for a certain purpose. The shepherd turned king had given his life to God at a young age, and God had fulfilled him. I want us to look at two(2) lives to see more how this happens.
The first is an Egyptian price. he excelled in the ways of the court. As he grew up, his connections within the kingdom grew also. He was a maser of the ancient land. He studied at the feet of the world’s finest astronomers, mathematicians and lawyers. he displayed an affinity for higher learning and an allergy to injustice. One of Moses’ first appearance was when he witnessed an Egyptian guard beating a Hebrew slave and ended with him killing the guard and trying to hide it. Shortly after that, he was called Prince and Judge by 2 Hebrews who were fighting and he stepped in to helped, being accused of his murder. Right after that, Moses split to the desert where he is shown defending the young daughters of his future father-in-law from some obnoxious shepherds who were bothering the girls at a well.
Moses’ life was laid out for one reason and one reason only. He was made to lead God’s people out of Egypt and away from Pharaoh. His connections and ability to get in with the Pharaoh gave him a great advantage or other people. His knowledge of history and law was later used by God to help write the Torah (1st 5 books of the Bible) and to write the Hebrew law. Moses’ life was packed for a specific reason. God made him to fit a certain purpose and as Moses fulfilled that purpose, God smiled at what he had done.
Fast forward 2000 years, as we look at our next example. Born a Roman citizen, he was groomed as a scholar and lover of the law. He studied at the feet of some of the finest teachers in Rome. he followed the Torah with razor-sharp precision and loathed those who didn’t. At an early age, he aligned himself with the Pharisees, who themselves were perfectionist about following the Scripture and the laws. he was described by some as zealous, when defending the law. he even protected that law to the point of persecuting those who believed otherwise.
But all of that changed as Saul watched the stoning of Stephen. Here was a man who was dying because he was a Christian, and Stephens passion for Christ, intrigued Saul. On his way home, God gave Saul a new name and a new purpose. Paul went from being the churches biggest enemy to being its biggest missionary. his knowledge and citizenship made him the perfect person to take the message of Jesus to the Romans and Gentiles. He knew their hearts and he knew how to show them that they needed to change.
Both of these men were packed for a purpose. Both were groomed from birth for greatness but both needed some nudging from god to point them in the right direction. Their part in God’s story wasn’t clear to them until they encountered God. One was in the desert staring at burning bushes and the other was on his way home and say a bright light and loud voice, but both knew at once they needed to change. Moses and Paul found fulfillment in their passion. DO YOU?
Do you know your part in God’s STORY? Have you found your sweet spot.
I know that some of you are sitting there saying, "Man, I got time until I have to figure that stuff out. I am only in high school. That stuff can wait till I get older and out on my own." You can’t be further from the truth, God’s purpose does not have an age limit.
TELL STORY OF JERRY’S BOY (backpacks and homeless)
Each of you need to find your story. Max talks about reading your life backwards and looking at how you responded in situations and finding those things that make us happy and bring Joy to God. I know that some of you are already thinking about the big time jobs you will have, where you will make big time money and be big time happy. Let me tell you from experience, if you aren’t doing what God has packed you for, you will never be truly happy, no matter how much money or success you have. I know that is an incredibly stupid way to think, especially in a world that tells us that the more stuff we have, the better of we are. God has bigger plans for us, than just collecting stuff. He gave us a purpose and a plan that will give us happiness beyond anything we can buy.
As I wrap it up, I want you to take home your worksheets and find your story. Go through each piece and write down your gifts and situations. I want to read this verse to you, and you have probably heard it before. I Corinthians 12:12-27 says, "12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don’t need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don’t need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." In the first section of "Cure for the Common Life", Max shows us how to upack our bags by reading our life backwards and studying our story. We must remember to not be greedy with the gifts God has given us. Sometimes it is easy to think that we are the ones with the mad skills and great style but it is the God who gave us those gifts and that style.
