I am really excited this year about our theme which is “God’s Heart for the World.” Most everyone knows John 3:16 in that it says, “For God loved the…world…so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that…everyone…who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” As much as so many people know that verse, I think we tend to overlook those two very important words that tell us that God’s heart isn’t just for you and me but for every single person in the entire world; which has, or should anyways, have HUGE ramifications on how we choose to live our lives.
Throughout the school year, we’re going to split our time together into three parts, each of which exploring a different aspect of God’s heart. We’ll start with a look at God’s love for each of us and slowly broaden out to focusing on what God wants to do in the world. Let me quickly break down each section.
Part I: God’s Heart for You: September – December
This span will function very similarly to last year and focus on a topical approach of how God’s wants us all to live. God loves each and every one of us so much and has given us guidelines in His Word, not to ruin our fun or be mean, but to help us with getting the most out of the life that He has given each of us. Some of the topics we are already planning to discuss dating and sexuality but we’d really like to get your ideas as we continue to put this first third of the year together. (Suggestion cards)
Part II: God’s Heart for our Neighbor: January - March
This part is going to include a few things and will focus on God’s heart for us to be serving the people around us.
First, we will kick off this discussion with our weekend trip in January which will be a service weekend to either Boston or New York. (Check out the table)
Second, the teaching this month will actually be a DVD series called Faith Journey Maui. The series follows 9 high school students through a week long experience in Hawaii as they discuss questions like, "Is There a High Power?", "Why is there Suffering in the World?", and "Who was Jesus?" The catch is that all nine students have a different faith background which allows for some fantastic dialogue. We really want to encourage you to invite friends to these meetings as we will break into small groups afterwards and carry out the same dialogue in person.
Third, we will have at least two group meetings as well as some opportunities at other times for community service projects.
Part III: God’s Heart for the World: April - June
This section will turn back to discussions based on God’s heart for the world as a whole. We will be looking at topics like missions, going green, our purpose and part in God’s plan, how to share Jesus with people and more. This section will also culminate in our two mission trips being offered this summer.
For the rest of our time together tonight, I want to briefly just explain a couple of things and then I want to introduce this sections theme, God’s Heart for You.
1. Explain the Bible Readings – our desire is not that would leave Sunday nights believing anything we talk about because myself, any of our leaders or any of your peers “said so.” We want to help you wrestle through the issues of God, Jesus, the Bible and want to help you make a decision that you can defend and own. That is why we give you Bible Readings, so that you can take home the conversation we started and continue searching with what God says. Also, as we did last year, we will include a profile of a Nation who needs prayer that they will not only hear about Jesus but also that they would find food, medical supplies, water and more.
2. Prayer Request – we really want to be praying for each of you all throughout the year and at the end of each meeting we’ll be asking you guys for prayer requests. They can be for whatever you want – an upcoming test, problems in a relationship, an illness, anything! We also want to provide each of you with an adult in the church who will commit to praying for you each an every week. The only people who will see the prayer requests you submit are myself, Leah and then your prayer partner.
3. T-shirts – We are getting t-shirts for this year again. They printed on Friday and we should have them for you next week. There are two options…and they’re pretty cool.
Alright, with housekeeping out of the way, let’s dive into God’s Heart for You. For tonight, we are going to start in 1 Peter 2:4-10. (Read the passage and then ask the youth what they are hearing in the passage.)
What does this passage show us about God’s heart for each of us?
1. “You are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.” At first glance this might not mean much…who wants to be told that they are a stone. But the significance comes in the reference to the temple. What is the purpose of a temple, and specifically the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem? It was the place that God hung out and the place where people went to be in God’s presence. It was a location that everyone looked to and come to when they wanted to know more about God. So what does that say about us as God calls us the stone of his temple?
2. “What’s more you are priests…You are royal priests, a holy nation.” Again, some people may not want to be called a priest, especially nowadays but there is a real importance in that word. What was the purpose of a priest in Jewish culture? The point of the priest was to be a flash and blood representation of God to the people. They were to be a middle man between God and the people. They were supposed to take God’s messages and bring them to the people. What Peter is telling us in the passage is that that is our job now – to be a flesh and blood representation of God, to be the middle mad between God and others, to bring the message of God to others. What does that say about how God feels about us?
3. You are “God’s very own possession.” What does that say about how God feels about us?
4. The contrast in verses 7-8. Verse 7 and the beginning of verse 8 talks about people who reject God and the rest of verse 8 talks about the difference between those people and those who choose to follow God. What is the main difference? “They stumble because they do not obey God’s word.”
This last point is one that not many of us like. Obey is not a very fun word at all…it sounds parental, rules oriented and not fun at all. Why is obeying God’s word important to how he feels about us? Because if God thinks so highly of us that we are to represent him to others here on earth, then it only makes sense that God tells us how to live so that we display the image of God just right.
Think about the rules of all rules, the Ten Commandments. We hear that word and think boring God and His rules. We think that God is all about the do’s and don’ts and we get frustrated and turned off from God. But we need to understand why God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments and the significance they have in how God thinks about us.
Just before God gave the commandments, the Israelites had been living in slavery in Egypt. They were mistreated, worked to the bone and dehumanized. They cried out to God for rescue and He heard their cry and sent Moses to deliver them from the Egyptians and brought them out of Egypt. It is after all of this that God gives them the Ten Commandments. Listen to what author Rob Bell says about them. (Read pages 33-34 in Jesus Wants to Save Christians).
5-10 simply drive the point home even more as it throws out things that will break relationships and cause pain in other people’s lives.
As I said earlier, over the next three months were going to take a look at a number of issues and what God says about them. In many ways, we’re going to take a look at how God wants us to live. I really want to challenge us all as we have these conversations to not get caught up in the “rules” mindset that so many people do when talking about issues like sex, relationships, media or whatever else we talk about. But instead we need to understand that God has reasons behind what he says – first and foremost that he loves us and wants what’s best for us but also because he see such worth and value in each of us that he wants to use us to show the world who he is. Obeying God is not about some do’s and don’ts but instead it’s about sharing the heart that God has for you…with the world!
