Tina's Sermon - Intro

"The Story" Kick-Off sermon by the Rev. Dr. Tina Hosler

UPPER STORY / LOWER STORY

Romans 8:28 

In one little Midwestern town, Miss Jones had the distinction of being the oldest resident in town. So when she died, the editor of the local paper wanted to print a little article remembering this dear old lady, except he couldn't think of anything to say when he sat down to write the article. Miss Jones had never done anything terribly wrong. She had never spent a night in jail or had ever been drunk. On the other hand, she had never done anything significant.

With this still on his mind, the editor went down to the local café, and there he ran into the local funeral director. He too was having the same trouble. He wanted to put something on Miss Jones' tombstone besides "Miss Nancy Jones, born such-and-such a date and died such-and-such a date," but he couldn't think of anything to write either.

The editor decided to go back to his office and assign the job of writing up a small article for both the paper and the tombstone to the first reporter he saw. When he got to the office, he ran into the sports editor, who got the assignment. So somewhere in some little community in the Midwest there is a tombstone which reads:   

Here lie the bones of Nancy Jones,  

For her life held no terrors.

She lived an old maid. She died an old maid.

No hits, no runs, no errors.

It’s sad to think that is the way many Christians live their lives. They've never done anything terribly wrong, but they never accomplish anything significant for the Lord.  (Sermon Central: From a sermon by C. Philip Green, Take a Risk, 5/25/2012)  

Many people think their life is all about them and that their life doesn’t mean much in the big scheme of things.  A lot of people never realize that their story is part of God’s greater story.

Maybe you’ve never thought much about that before, but every one of our stories are part of God’s story.  As we kick off “The Story” today, we are beginning an amazing journey together.  And along this journey you are going to be asked to think about your story and you are going to see how your story fits in God’s story. 

Reflection: Chapter 1 ... SIN

"sin" (noun)  1. transgression of divine law: the sin of Adam

Beautiful place to live? 

CHECK.  

Food on the table? 

CHECK.

Work to keep them busy during the day? 

CHECK. 

A helpmate to keep them warm at night? 

CHECK.

A God who walks with them and talks with them? CHECK. 

Adam and Eve were so stinkin' blessed -- they lived in paradise in perfect fellowship with God. So why in the world would they want anything else? Why in the world would they give in to the serpent's temptation? 

Why bite the forbidden fruit? 

For that matter ... why do WE want something other than what we have? Why do we look around and long for a nicer car or a bigger house or a better paying job? 

In a word? One little, ugly word? SIN.

We humans are made in God's image ... but we are not God. The image of God can be seen in us, but it's like looking in a foggy bathroom mirror--it's there and we can sorta see it, but it's blurry and distorted. 

We are created to be like Him--but our sin distorts God's image and makes it blurry. And that blurriness means we are given the choice of how what to say and do. And that 7 times out of 10 ... OK, 9 times out of 10, we choose to disobey God.  

This blurry image makes our eyes rove and our hearts wander, coveting the house, spouse, servant, and ass of our neighbor. (See?) And it makes us want something other than what God has given to us and provided for us in our lives. 

Why would Adam and Eve want anything other than the paradise they had? Because they were broken bearers of a blurry image of God ... and in this event we call "the Fall," they passed that sin down to the rest of the race. (#thankyouverymuch)  

And now, we all live as exiles from Eden, longing for the day when, like the thief, we will be with God in paradise. 

QUESTIONS--feel free to leave your answer in the comments! 

On a scale of 1 to 10, how big of a problem is sin in your life? How often do you think about your sins? 

Do you feel like an exile from Eden because of sin?  What exactly does that feel like? 

Chapter 1: Questions

Creation: The Beginning of Life as We Know It 

Here we are--chapter 1 of "The Story!" We're glad you're checking out the blog as part of your reading time, and we hope you'll be able to make it to one of the classes that are being held each week.

We are especially interested in your answers to the "Digging Deeper" questions in the second section. If you don't mind sharing them, please comment on this post and let us know what's going on in that head of yours!  And, if you do some version of the "personal action," we'd love to hear about that too!


CHECK YOUR COMPREHENSION!
1. In what ways was life in the original creation different from life as we know it today?

2. Why did God create humans in his own image? What does this mean?

3. What was the root cause of Adam and Eve's sin against God?

4. Why did God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden?

5. Why did God bring the flood upon the earth?

6. What does this act of judgment tell you about God?

DIGGING DEEPER...
If you could take a walk with God, just like you would walk with a friend, what would you ask him? Why?

If God truly loved Adam and Eve, why would he throw them out of the garden?
Some have called this an "act of grace." Do you agree or disagree? Why?

PERSONAL ACTION
Take a walk outside and notice the beauty of God's creation--the sun, the trees, life! Thank God for making this amazing world. Talk to God as though you were two friends walking in a garden. Tell him about your life, your joys, and your fears. Thank him for the people in your life who have revealed his grace, love, and presence to you.

This is a safe place to be able to share questions and fears and doubts. You can post using your name or not, whichever you prefer. If you choose to respond to someone's comment, please be gentle with your words.  

Sermon: "THEN You Will Know ..."

[What follows is Allison's "The Story" kickoff sermon (on Ex 16:2-15) given at Frankfort Church on Sun, Sept 21, 2014.]  

Introduction  

A couple of weeks ago, we talked about how God’s people, called the Israelites, ended up as slaves to the Egyptian Pharaoh. And when they cried out to God to save them, God sent them Moses to lead them out of slavery.

When Pharaoh refused to let them go, God sent some plagues to help pharaoh change his mind--the frogs, the gnats, the darkness, the cattle diseases, the itchy sores on their bodies. Nothing worked.

Finally, God created the Passover and the Israelites were saved by the blood of a lamb just as we Christians are saved by the blood of THE Lamb, Jesus Christ. The awfulness of that last plagued convinced Pharaoh to let Moses lead the people out of slavery.

But that fickle Pharaoh changed his mind AGAIN and sent his army chasing after the Israelites. And God opened the sea for them to cross safely to the other side, away from Pharaoh forever.

So, you’d think after all these pretty miraculous things, the Israelites would trust God whenever life started to go in an unexpected and difficult direction.

Before when life was difficult, they cried out to God and he answered their cry. But now that they were free from that last difficult situation, they somehow managed to find OTHER things to complain about.

They forgot everything God had done for them in the past, all the ways he showed his love for them. 

They forgot about the big picture and only focused on their own little problems.

This morning, we’ll be reading about one of their little problems that was causing them so much grief starting at verse 2 of Exodus chapter 16.