For the last 4 weeks we have been going through a series called "The Wonders of God". The first week we looked at several scriptures (Job 38-41, Psalm 113, Psalm 145,) that talked about what a wondrous God we serve. We focused on Deuteronomy 10:21 which says, "He is your praise and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome works your eyes have seen." (HCSB) The Israelites had seen many times and situations where they needed a great and mighty God to come and act because the strength and works of man would not have been sufficient. They asked for this, and according to this scripture they had seen His works with their own eyes.
I asked the students several questions. I asked them why they believe that our God is a mighty God of Wonders? Is it just because they have been told that? Or is it because they have read that in the Bible? Or is it because they have truly seen the wonders of God as the Israelites had? Do our lives reflect that we believe that our God is great and mighty? How?
Then I challenged the students with this question that will be the platform for the rest of this series... "If we really believed that our God was great would we not ask great things of Him?" What have we asked of God lately? For the next (and past) several weeks we will be looking at some of the incredibly difficult (even impossible) issues facing our world today and looking at it through the filter of this question. I want to present some information that maybe we don't hear about too often. I also want to present some of the people and organizations that are attempting to get involved in these issues...people that are truly asking great things of God!
We have already spent one week talking about poverty (hunger, poor sanitation, lack of drinking water, communicable disease, etc) around the world. Another week we talked about the persecuted church around the world and last week we talked about the impact of the AIDS epidemic around the world especially in Africa. The bottom line is that these issues are WAY to big for any of us to do anything about them. Because of that most people throw their hands in the air and ignore them. But, as Christians, if we do that what does that say about our beliefs about our God? Is He not big enough to impact these issues? Of course He is...and maybe, just maybe, He wants to use some of us...even our teens... as His vessel to bring that impact into these issues.
We have talked about how God is using organizations like ONE, WorldVision, and Feed the Hunger to make an impact on poverty. We talked about the underground church and how an organization like Voice of the Martyrs is making a huge impact for these people. Last week we talked about how God is working (RED), AIDSLink and Mike and Carolyn Ennis with Rafiki Foundation, to shine the love of Christ into a horrific situation.
We will continue to look at some of these issues each week leading up to the Global Impact Celebration November 3rd-7th. It is my prayer that these students would see that our world is full HUGE issues, but more importantly that our God is big enough to reach into those situations and make an impact through people that are willing to obey and surrender everything to Him. Are we willing to ask Him to use us that way?
Remember, to check back each week as I will try to give you a synopsis (briefer than this) of what we are discussing on Wednesday nights.
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