The Movement Begins Series

The Movement Begins!

In the beginning God (the One who is, and was and is to come) created EVERYTHING… HE created;

• Galaxies – millions of them

• Stars – trillions

• HE created our planet and He filled it with breath-taking beauty… sunrises, sunsets, oceans, mountains, rivers, streams, forests… what an incredibly beautiful planet we live on.

• AND LISTEN – not only did God fill this planet with breath-taking beauty, He also filled it LIFE…

I MEAN – everywhere we look there is life… plants, insects, animals, birds, fish… UNDERSTAND – even if put a shovel to the ground and put the dirt under a microscope it would be teeming with life.

AND – on day six he created man and woman (the crown of His creation… the VERY REASON why everything come into existence in the first place)… HE - created them in His own image and likeness.

AND HE – placed them in a garden paradise and they had an up close – personal and intimate relationship with them… Yeah, as crazy as it sounds, GOD would literally take walks with them in the cool of the morning.

MAN – that had to be so awesome…

I MEAN – just imagine what it must have been like… living in a world like that…

Experiencing intimacy with God like that

YEAH – things were good, VERY good. BUT – unfortunately they did not stay VERY good, for VERY long…

YOU SEE – even before Adam and Eve made it out of the 3rd chapter of God’s 1,189 chapter story… THEY - screw up everything (not only for themselves, but for us as well)…

THEY – disobey God… THEY – take that bite…

AND – because of their choice sin, death and separation enter God’s perfect world.

BUT LISTEN – that is only part of The Story (our lower story)… YOU SEE - long before the first couple sunk their teeth into that forbidden fruit… GOD – already had a plan to set things right… (His Upper Story)…

A PLAN - to remove the distance… A PLAN - to give death, sin and separation - a crushing, lethal and defeating blow.

MAPLE GROVE…

LIKE – I have said over and over again throughout our journey through The Story (Through God’s word)…

Since the dawn of creation the overriding theme of human History has been God’s passionate pursuit of a prodigal people. Has been the story of a loving God doing whatever it takes (and I mean, absolutely whatever it takes) in order to bring people back to Himself.

AND TIM/LAURIE – God’s plan to ensure that HIS passionate pursuit of us His prodigal people, would one day reach HIS desired endgame - was a 3 phase plan…

AND – so far, our journey through The Story has taken us through the first two.

Phase One – The Nation Of Israel

Understand through Abraham God built a nation that would begin to show the world what the One True God was like.

A NATION - that was to be different, and to live different than the rest of world.

AND – for 2000 years God shapes and prepares this nation for the coming of the Messiah (Christ) BY…

• Giving them His Law… words, commands, decrees on how to live

• Building them a temple (a place where His presence will dwell)…

• Introducing a sacrificial system so that a sinful people could approach a holy God.

• Teaching them about holiness, sin and that obedience leads to BLESSINGS and that disobedience and chasing after things other than God lead to consequences.

YES – for 1400 years God tries to shape this nation… and it is not an easy task. I MEAN – as we saw in our own journey through The Story… you just kind of get to this place where you’re like, “Man, nothing seems to be working for God’s people.”

• God gave them the Law; but they couldn’t keep the Law.

• He gave them a temple, but many times it was either forgotten or treated with contempt

• He gave them kings, and the kings are proud and disobedient.

• He sent His prophets with words of encouragement and a call to return to Him, but nobody listened to the prophets.

AND - there just seems to be no hope for these people.

AND MAN – I gotta tell you, as we went through this part of The Story, I think we all - eventually got to the place where we were just getting tired of the Old Testament… I MEAN - it started to really wear us out…

AND – do you know what that is exactly the point… The Old Testament – the Old Covenant. We just get tired of it. It doesn’t work. Because it is all designed to point to Jesus, because He is our only hope. He is the only One who can save.”