(If you want, read through the summary below of what we learned but make sure to scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the RESPONSE WORK due for March 4th)

We ended chapter one looking at the incredible details of creation and we started chapter two with the FREAKING HUGENESS of Creation. Here's that clip...

The second chapter of God's Love Metanarrative (big word for story!), is from Genesis 3 and this is what we saw...

We read from Romans 5:12-14 and talked about some questions in couch groups. There's a lot of things that can come up when we think about this part of God's story. Did God set Adam and Eve up? Did the punishment fit the crime? Would we have made the same wrong decision? The sad part of this love story is that the perfect world and relationship God intended for us now was corrupted by sin and death.

But the story doesn't end there and as we continue to read in Romans, we learn that God had already started a plan in motion to restore that relationship through Jesus Christ. "Now Adam symbolizes Christ who was yet to come..." 
Read that hope from Romans 5:15-17 

We wrapped up our night looking at a powerful clip of God's love for each one of us...from creation, the introduction of sin, and the hope found in a restored relationship with Him:

The propositions (truth statements about God, ourselves and life) that we learn from this part of the Love Story:

• God desires a LOVE RELATIONSHIP with humanity. But love requires the FREEDOM TO CHOOSE. God did not create us as robots forced to love and follow Him. This is a great risk for God because we can choose to not love Him...But He does this because He wants genuine relationship.

• SIN is choosing to not TRUST GOD but to instead DISOBEY His way, even though His way is ultimately the best way for us to live and produces what is good for us. As love stories go, this is where God's heart is broken.

• Sin BREAKS RELATIONSHIP with God and causes the PAIN AND SUFFERING that now fills our world. Remember, everything was made GOOD originally and it is sin, not God that is responsible for the messed up things of our world.

• But God continues to PURSUE US with His ENDLESS LOVE and from the very point of separation from Him, He sets in motion a plan to win us back and restore us through Christ Jesus.
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RESPONSE WORK
(Complete and bring along your thoughts on March 4th)

• DIG

The word "righteousness" means "being right with God"...It is a word that comes up a lot in the Bible to describe the restored relationship we strive for with God. God gives His people the LAW in the Old Testament to guide them towards righteousness. We'll look at this more in depth in later weeks, but for now, read Romans 3:9-28 (You can click that link and read it online if you want!) and write down 2-3 main points that those verses make.

• TALK

Ask your parents to take a look at this week's blog page, and explain to them what you learned...Show them the fun videos and then ask them to answer this question: "How do we become right with God?" and "What's the point of doing the right things?" Get their thoughts and be sure to journal them.

• EXPERIENCE

Who do you love? How do you show them that love? Come up with at least one thing you can do to show that person you love them and then DO IT! Come prepared to talk about what it is that you did for that person and why.

• LIVE

How you live demonstrates what and who you love. Evaluate the things you do and say by asking yourself at the end of each day...What did the things I did today show about who I love and who I live for? Journal those thoughts if you can.

Week 1: Creation

We begin our journey through God's story at, well, the beginning! If I were to ask you to create an expression of yourself that represents something unique about your personality, what would you do? Would you use paint, pastels, write a song? What would that art say about who you are? God has done that with Creation.

God's Story: Genesis chapter 1 and Romans 1:19-20

What we learn about God:

1. God wants to be known by His Creation
2. Creation reveals God's character and qualities
3. God is good, as was His intention for everything He made

SOME of the interesting things we noted about the Genesis account:

• God created both male and female in His image
• God is a communal being: Three persons in one, the Trinity: "Let US create man in OUR image"
• Creation is REALLY REALLY HUGE and yet He cares for the small details of our lives
• God created with unique creativity and detail
• The Genesis account isn't intended to be a scientific blueprint of HOW but of WHO is the source of all creation
• Was it 6 literal days or a longer period of time?
• God placed humanity at the top of creation in order to take care of it...Are we doing a good job of that? 
• Our faith doesn't have to be without science and reason
• Creation and evolution at their core both come down to a faith or belief in something, not simple facts: Where did the Big Bang come from? There's still a need to believe in something even if you don't believe in God...The Christian claim is that God is the source of all things created.

Mankind knows the truth about God because He has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. 
(Romans 1:19, 20)

What qualities of God can we gather from the Genesis account? From observing nature? From looking at our own lives?

The Dials of Life:

We watched a clip from "Everything is Spiritual" which looked at the precise details of life on planet Earth.What reaction do you have to that crazy information? God is precise and very much involved in His Creation. 

What's the probability that all of that is random chance?

RESPONSE WORK

DIG

Go back over the story of creation in Genesis 1 and re-read Romans 1:19-23.

Make a list of your thoughts and questions about who God is and then post at least one comment on this blog page.

TALK

Talk with your family about how you see God working in creation, your life, and the world around you. Ask them where they God at work in their lives and the world. What questions do they have about who God is?

Secondly, take your list of questions about who God is and spend time asking them directly to God.

EXPERIENCE

Take a short walk outside this week and observe nature. Be specific and intentional about this time. What qualities of God can you see represented in the things you see. Spend at least 15 minutes on this walk and make a list of things you see in Creation and what it might reveal about who God is.

LIVE

So what might all of this mean for your everyday living? What have you learned about God this week and why does it matter to your life? What could, should, and would change in your life if the things God's Story claim about God are really true? Journal these thoughts.

THE BIBLE

At the beginning we spent time looking briefly at the Book we're studying to understand who God is...

Here's some thoughts to keep in mind:

1. The Bible is a collection of propositional truth: Truth statements about God and life that we can believe and trust because it comes from the source of all truth, GOD. These truths are what we intellectually engage and process in order to conform to God's truth.
2. The Bible is a communication of a love metanarrative: A story of God's love for us that started with creation and continues to today. We are apart of that story! This means we're part of an active relationship of experience and transformation by God's love.
3. The Bible points us to God, it is not God. 
4. The Bible is divinely inspired with human involvement: We must consider the Bible's personalities, genres, culture, and emotion, realizing that it always universally relevant.
5. Some verses about the Bible, in the Bible: Hebrews 4:12 and 2 Timothy 3:15-17