IMAGINE WEEKLY WRAP-UP 02.16.11

2 weeks ago, we summed up the series in one simple statement: You are never more like Jesus than when you are reaching out to the hurting and lonely. You could be reading your Bible every day, spending an hour per day in prayer and never miss church or youth group, and you can STILL miss the point of what it means to be a Christian. The word Christian actually means “to be like Christ.” Ephesians 5:1 says that we are to be imitators of Christ. So, basically, if we are not becoming more and more like this guy we read about in the Gospels, we are fooling ourselves with our faith.

Tonight we read Matthew 1:18-25. Now our goal tonight was not to journey into the birth of Jesus Christ. It was to talk about the life they lived after the birth of Jesus. In first century Jewish culture, it was absolutely shameful to have a baby if you weren’t married. As Mary’s pregnancy began to show, you can just imagine the gossip that transpired in Nazareth. People had no idea that she was carrying the son of God in her womb; they just knew she wasn’t married, and she was having a baby. So Mary was definitely not the most popular person in her village. The same would have been true for Jesus. He would have been known as an illegitimate child. He would be seen as a child born in sin. Now I wasn’t there, so I’m guessing, but I bet He was the kid that was always getting bullied. It’s very likely that Jesus’ childhood was not that great and it could have been downright horrible.

Here’s the whole point: We don’t have a God who only knows what it’s like to be powerful; we have a God who also knows what it’s like to be weak. When you are feeling like you are an outcast or not worth anything, you can pray with certainty that Jesus knows exactly how you feel and will be with you to help you through it.

God has placed us on this earth to be His hands and feet and to do what Jesus did. We get to help bring hope to people’s lives. When we got started,I had the students write a note to a suicidal friend—that’s an incredible example of how we are supposed to live all the time. You may never get the chance to write someone a note before they do something drastic, but you certainly will have many opportunities to speak into the lives of people who are hurting. But the reality is, we usually miss these opportunities. Jesus didn’t miss them. And if we are called to be “imitators of Christ,” then I think we need to learn to see the world through His eyes.

This week I ask that you guys will team up with Imagine Student Ministries and commit to praying for our youth throughout the remainder of this series. I trust that God is going to continue to do awesome things in our youth group.

Live. Love. Reach..

-Pastor Jesse Garcia