Creation to Return - The Word in One Story

This is how we share the Word - orally through a story! More explanation to come.....

At the very beginning of time, God was there, and there was nothing else…only God. He spoke and by the power of His voice, he created the universe and everything in it. Then he decided to make a special creation—man. So, God created man and woman. He had a perfect relationship with them. He walked with them, talked with them, and took care of them, even created a special farm that was perfect for them to live in. Until one day, the man and woman disobeyed God, and they broke their relationship with God. They were separated from God.

The man and woman had children. Their children had children, and their children had children, until all the earth was filled with people. But, just like the first man and woman, they continued to be separated from God. However, God never forgot his special creation. One day, he spoke to a man named Abraham, and he told Abraham, “I am going to give you many descendants. I am going to make a huge people group out of them. They will be a people group just for me. And, I will bless the whole world through you and your descendants.” And, even though Abraham was a very old man, he believed God. God considered Abraham to have a right/good relationship with him because of his belief.

God kept his promise to Abraham, and Abraham did have a son, and his son had sons, until God had indeed made a huge people group out of Abraham’s descendants. Sometimes they followed God, but most of the time they were disobedient, just like the first man and woman. So, God would send spokesmen to the people to show them how they could have a right/good relationship with him.

One of these spokesmen was named Isaiah. Isaiah brought Abraham’s descendants a message of hope about a Promised Savior. He said, “We all like sheep wonder off the path of God and do what WE want. Doing what we want and not what God wants is called sin. But God says, ‘I am sending you a Savior who will take all of your sins on himself. He will be whipped and beaten. He will die because of your sins. But, I will give him life again. And, because of him, you can have a right/good relationship with me.’”

From that time on, they waited expectantly for this Promised Savior…and they waited…and they waited…. God did keep his promise to Abraham’s descendants. He sent this Promised Savior, Jesus, God’s very own Son. Jesus proved that he was indeed the Savior by performing many miracles and by healing people, and, just like in the story I told you earlier, even demons recognized his authority.

Not everyone recognized who Jesus was, but many people did follow him and knew what he said was the truth. Jesus taught his followers. One day he told them, “If you follow me, I give you eternal life. You belong to me. No one can take you away from me. God and I are the same.”

Those who did not believe in Jesus became very angry that he said that he and God were the same. So, they convinced the government to have him executed. And, just as God had said through Isaiah, Jesus was whipped. He was beaten. And, he died. But, just as God had said also through Isaiah, Jesus was given life again!

Afterward, Jesus showed himself to his followers, and he proved beyond a shadow of doubt that he had come back from the dead. For forty days, he taught his followers. He told them, “I will leave you soon, but when I do, I will send God’s Spirit to you. And when you receive God’s Spirit, you will receive power—power to tell everyone about me. So, go into the whole world and tell people about me. Teach them to obey what I taught you. And, when they believe in me, baptize them. Have them undergo this symbolic washing in water to show that they have become my followers. They have turned from their sins and turned to God through believing in me.” We call this symbolic washing, baptism. It is unique and a one time only washing.

One day, Jesus did leave them. He went up into the clouds right in front of their eyes. As they were watching all of this, two angels appeared and asked them why they were looking up into the sky. “Jesus will come back one day the same way he left,” they said.

From that moment on, the followers of Jesus waited expectantly for him to return. And they went everywhere telling people about Jesus. And when people believed in Jesus, they were symbolicly washed with water, what we call baptism, to show that they had turned from their sins and turned to God through belief in Jesus.

This is what followers of Jesus do to this day. They tell everyone about Jesus. Followers of Jesus then gather together. They meet together to worship God, learn about Jesus and take care of one another’s needs.

And this is what I do. I tell people about Jesus.