The Pursuit Sunday
The Pursuit • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Schedule
6:45 am — 5 minute worship for the staff meeting
8:00 am? — 5-8 minute talk at morning Camp Council (monday - friday)
8:00 pm — 12 minute talk at evening Cap Fire (Sunday-Friday) — before the play)
Sabbath church talk
Theme Scripture
6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.
7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.
8 We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for?
#### Talk 1: The Betrothal – God Chooses Us First
**Daily Theme**: Before we did anything to deserve it, God chose us. His love is a gift, not based on our performance, and we’re invited to choose Him back.
**Daily Verse**: Isaiah 43:1 – “But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you… ‘Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.’”
**Skit Reference**: Act I, Scenes I–II (Pages 6–19) – Manuel meets Deci, helps her carry the jug, and declares his love, but she doesn’t fully grasp it, seeing him as a friend.
**Song of Songs Tie-In**: Song of Songs 8:6a – “For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave” – reflects God’s fierce, initiating love that claims us as His own.
Before we did anything to deserve it, God chose us. His love isn't based on our goodness, emotions, or performance-it's a gift that's been waiting for us since the beginning. The question isn't if we've been chosen, but whether we'll choose Him back.
Discussion Questions
• Manuel chooses Deci before she's done anything to deserve it. Have you ever felt like you needed to "earn" God's love? Where do you think that feeling comes from?
• What are some ways people try to prove their worth to God or others?
• What does it mean to be "chosen" by God?
• If you knew without a doubt that you were deeply chosen and loved by God, how might that change how you live?
Opening
Opening
Wow, I’m liking this Manuel guy. — A king that wants to know and serve his subjects! — That sounds like a good place to live. I’m curious what’s going to happen this week with that Braco character. It sounds like he’s going to really muck things up.
I noticed something about Manuel and Deci that seems to be really important—he chose her before she chose him. He even chose her before she did anything to prove she would be a good queen for the kingdom. Even Gabe had some uncertainty.
That reminds me of another story that I’ve read about in the Bible. Do you know the story of Abram and Sarai?
It starts out with them married and in love; but they couldn’t have a baby, no matter how much they wanted one. Then one day, God showed up and spoke to Abram much like I’m talking to you right now. He said, “Abram, you’re going to have a baby boy. In fact, you’re going to be the beginning of a great nation of people!”
You can read about that in Genesis chapter 12.
Abram and Sarai did end up having a baby… like 25 years later. His name was Isaac. Sarai was 90 years old when she had Isaac. That’s pretty wild all on it’s own, but remember, God told Abram that He would be the Father of a NATION of people. Oh, I can’t forget to tell you one important detail: God changed Abram’s name to Abraham to underscore His promise. His new name means “Father of a multitude.” But one son does not make a nation.
So… 40 years later Isaac got married and they had a baby named Jacob, and God told them that He had chosen Jacob much like He chose Abraham. God even changed his name to Israel to show that he was His chosen guy. Israel had 12 sons and then they had kids and grandkids and… well, you get the idea. It took 400 years but Abraham’s family finally grew to over a million people—a real nation. But there was a big problem—they were living as slaves in Egypt.
You probably have heard the story of God brining Israel out of Egypt with great signs and miracles. And you might even know that He met with them on a mountain wrapped in a pillar of cloud and fire. It was incredible. God had chosen Israel.
From our perspective, especially since we’re reading about it long after it happened, this doesn’t seem that special. But I want you to see this from God’s perspective, which we’ll find in the book of Ezekiel chapter 16.
Now, if you read this chapter you’ll discover that when God said what we’re about to talk about, Israel was not being good. They had been worshiping other gods and doing horrible things. So there is some negative context in what I think is a really beautiful story.
God starts out by saying,
3 …Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
Yep, that tracks. Abram and Sarai came from the same group of people that ended up settled in Canaan. They weren’t from any special line of kings. There was not especially interesting about them, except that they listened to God and believed Him. They were just Abram and Sarai.
Then God goes on to describe the origin of the Israelites as though they were a baby:
4 And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.
5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.
This is what Israel looked like to God. No one cared about them. They weren’t favored, in fact they were looked down on by the other nations. As their nation was being born it was in extreme poverty. They were refugees and slaves in a foreign land.
The next few verses describe God finding Israel, as though they were that abandoned baby in the field. He washed her and cared for her and helped her grow up into an adult woman—a full-grown nation.
Then he said something that might sound a little weird. He said, “one day, I walked by and noticed that you were old enough for love, so I wrapped my cloak around you and declared my marriage vows to you. I made a covenant with you and you became mine.” (Ezek 16:8, paraphrased)
God saw a seemingly worthless group of people and saved them from death, provided for them and protected them. And then, astoundingly, he said, “I want to marry you!”
That might sound strange for God to talk about marrying someone, especially a whole nation of someones. But think about it like this. A marriage vow is a big deal. It’s a lifelong commitment. And if you’re God and you live forever that means a marriage vow is an eternal commitment!
Listen to these verses:
5 For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.
1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
God is telling Israel that He is choosing to care for them, provide for them, give them a home, and live with them. That’s similar to what a husband does for a woman when he commits to marrying her—he provides for her and makes his home with her.
Was Manuel making a good decision in choosing Deci? I hope we’ll find out in the next few days.
And what about God? When He chose Israel was He making a good decision? Would Israel be a good “bride” for God? Would they be faithful to Him? Would they be a good royal wife at His side?
Here’s something you need to know. God didn’t chose Israel because they were guaranteed to be His perfect fit. He chose them because He loved them.
And that’s the same reason He choses you and me today.
In a beautiful book of the Bible called Romans, God compares us to the Israelites and he says, “just like back then, there is a group of people today that are chosen by grace. By grace because you weren’t chosen because of your good works.” (Romans 11:5-6, paraphrased) That group of people today is everyone who hears the Word of God and believes. We are chosen by God’s grace.
In Revelation 19 God repeats the idea that His people—you and me—are His bride.
When I was engaged to be married to my wife, Joelle, she spent quite a lot of time picking the perfect dress. And Revelation 19 tells about the bride’s clothes too, but God’s bride—His Church—doesn’t pick out her own dress. It says that God gives her a pure, white dress to wear.
You see, the best we can bring to God is about as valuable as a tiny little baby cast away in a field and rejected by everyone. We’ve got no fancy home, no bank account with lots of money, no beauty, no royal heritage. In fact, we don’t even have clothes to bring to the wedding. The Bible tells us that even our best effort at being righteous is like filthy rags. That’s what we can bring to the wedding—dirty, grungy, tattered and thin rags.
God doesn’t choose us because we have something to offer Him. He chooses us because He loves us. And because He loves us He gives us His own robes that are pure and clean and oh, so beautiful and comfy.
Do you feel like you’re worthy of being chosen by God? Maybe you’ve made some mistakes that you feel are too big to be forgiven. Or maybe you just don’t feel like you’re that special.
Here’s the good news, God has chosen you… not because you’re cool or beautiful or without fault, but because he loves you. He really, really loves you.
