THE STORY (script)

Scene 1 - Creation

Before there was anything else, there was God – Creator, the very essence of Love; a Being outside of Creation Who longed to have a “home” where He could be with the children He carried in His heart and where they could work together in the act of creating.

So He created the place that would be an “overlap” of sorts of 2 realms – His realm and the home His children would live in. God assigned humanity a special role in this place: we would be 'project overseers' who would care for, steward, rule and continue the 'creation project', working together with Him, unpacking all the potential He had put into creation. 

Scene 2 - The Mess

Unfortunately, His children messed up and created a huge mess. Humanity was deceived by an evil creature who had snuck into the realm with the intention of taking over the project, making it his own and making humanity his slaves. Through his clever maneuvering, and a few skillfully crafted lies, he convinced humanity that God was holding out on them and that they didn’t need Him; they could rule all on their own.

His plan worked. Humanity believed the lie. Instead of following the plot line of God’s Story, humanity tried to become the authors of The Story, and in doing so they broke everything, including themselves.

They shifted their trust from God to something created, and in doing so unleashed a powerful virus called sin. The virus began to infect everything of creation, including humanity. Instead of being rulers, they were now ruled over by a powerful force of evil making them and all creation slaves in its hold.

Creation was broken, humanity was broken, and the connection between God and humanity was broken. What was made to last forever now began a slow death.But God doesn’t give up. After getting humanity into a temporary safe place, He makes them a promise: “We’re going to be separated for a while but I have a Plan. And when I come back, I will make everything right again. I promise.”

Scene 3 - The Messengers

While He’s working on the Plan, He chooses a group of people who will be His Messengers – a special people who would be an example and continually remind humanity that God is good, He loves them, and is keeping His promise - His plan to make everything right again. 

Unfortunately, the Messengers weren’t great at delivering the promise to the rest of humanity. They were still broken and still captives themselves. God’s anger starts to heat up against the virus of sin and evil behind it all. His plan: gather it into one place and then deal with it all at once. 

Scene 4 - The Message

This He did when He came to earth Himself – Jesus, the ultimate Message of God’s love, forgiveness and hope; the Promise in flesh and blood. And the Promise was greater than anyone could have ever dreamed. It was at the cross that God revealed Himself in the most unimaginable way…He Himself would stand in the place of His loved creation…all the broken and dislocated pieces of creation and the broken and disobedient creatures called humans were, in Him, put to death…He absorbed it all. He took the entire virus of sin and the power of evil attached to it into Himself and in His death, destroyed it; His execution dealt the deathblow to the dark forces; evil’s hold on creation was broken – all of creation that was, and is and would be.

And in the greatest plot twist ever, He rose from the dead, establishing His power and authority even over death. What many had believed would only happen at the end of The Story was suddenly coming forward from the future into the present…

Scene 5 - Living the Message

There is a now a new reality – new creation – in which God says, “The virus of sin has been dealt with, I’ve regained rulership, nothing is separating us any more, everything’s starting brand new. In fact, it’s better because I’m not going to just be with you, I’m going to live in and through you by My Spirit in a brand new type of humanity called the Church; it will be a reflection of all that I am. Together we’re going to live out My Message by rescuing, restoring and reclaiming everything that’s been wrecked by the sin virus. We’re building for My Kingdom – the 'project' we were originally working on together; I haven’t forgotten about. It will one day be fully visible when I return and have all My kids together with Me again. And that’s when the real party begins!”