Treasure Hunt 1Sample

Our Goop for His Glory

Hook

Have you read the Treasure Hunt pocket-manga yet? (If not, click the link at the end of this plan.) Remember in the comic the boy getting tormented by bullies? The bullies grabbed his glasses, and he couldn’t see. Hikari tried to help, but…

What if someone you knew was getting bullied, what would you do? Imagine you are walking along one day and hear someone scream. When you get closer you see someone mistreating a classmate. What will you do? If you help you might be a target too. Are you going to avoid it? Are you going to face it? Will you be brave? Will you run?

We all want friends who will stand up for us. When we are in danger, we all want a friend who will fight for us. Fortunately, we have such a friend. Jesus is the greatest friend ever because He stood up for us, and saved us, even though it meant it would cost Him, dearly. It not only cost Him a lifetime, it cost Him his very life.

There is a short verse in the Bible that totally describes what He did for us…

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"He himself bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed."

1 Peter 2:24 (NIRV)

Look

What was the reason that Jesus went on the cross? 

So, He could take our sins, or the bad stuff—the spiritual goop—that we had piled on ourselves, and that stuff would eventually put us in hell.

But why did someone need to die?

Because sin is that serious! 

To get an idea how bad sin is, you need to understand something about God— God is holy. What is “holy”? Think of it like this. Imagine a sparkling white wedding dress—pure and perfect—sort of like holiness. Now, think of someone who has never bathed, coated in grime and grease, diseased, covered with crawling critters, stinking from oozing bandages, with snot hanging out, bad breath, and rotten teeth—the whole package. That is what sin is like spiritually. Think of that person tying to hug the bride in the pure white wedding dress. Yuck! No way! 

Now think of the Cross. It is the most famous symbol in the world. The Cross is where both God’s holiness, and God’s love, meet and intersect. The Cross was the most terrible thing, but it resulted in the most wonderful thing! Because of the Cross, your sin and death went to Jesus, and His holiness and life went to you. It was a big trade! Not a nice trade, not a fair trade, but Jesus did it because, for some reason, He wanted to save you!

And then on the third day, He rose from the dead, destroyed the power of sin, and as the Bible verse says, healed you.

Took

Take time every morning this week to thank Him for fighting for you, for going to the Cross, and for taking away your sin. Plus, every time you see a Cross anywhere, be sure to say to Him in your heart, “Thank you, Jesus.”

BTW, you ROCK!

Dr. Andy