Introduction - God's Heart for You

we started and continue searching with what God says. Also, as we did last year, we will include a profile of a Nation who needs prayer that they will not only hear about Jesus but also that they would find food, medical supplies, water and more.
2. Prayer Request – we really want to be praying for each of you all throughout the year and at the end of each meeting we’ll be asking you guys for prayer requests. They can be for whatever you want – an upcoming test, problems in a relationship, an illness, anything! We also want to provide each of you with an adult in the church who will commit to praying for you each an every week. The only people who will see the prayer requests you submit are myself, Leah and then your prayer partner.
3. T-shirts – We are getting t-shirts for this year again. They printed on Friday and we should have them for you next week. There are two options…and they’re pretty cool.

Alright, with housekeeping out of the way, let’s dive into God’s Heart for You. For tonight, we are going to start in 1 Peter 2:4-10. (Read the passage and then ask the youth what they are hearing in the passage.)

What does this passage show us about God’s heart for each of us?
1. “You are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.” At first glance this might not mean much…who wants to be told that they are a stone. But the significance comes in the reference to the temple. What is the purpose of a temple, and specifically the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem? It was the place that God hung out and the place where people went to be in God’s presence. It was a location that everyone looked to and come to when they wanted to know more about God. So what does that say about us as God calls us the stone of his temple?
2. “What’s more you are priests…You are royal priests, a holy nation.” Again, some people may not want to be called a priest, especially nowadays but there is a real importance in that word. What was the purpose of a priest in Jewish culture? The point of the priest was to be a flash and blood representation of God to the people. They were to be a middle man between God and the people. They were supposed to take God’s messages and bring them to the people. What Peter is telling us in the passage is that that is our job now – to be a flesh and blood representation of God, to be the middle mad between God and others, to bring the message of God to others. What does that say about how God feels about us?
3. You are “God’s very own possession.” What does that say about how God feels about us?
4. The contrast in verses 7-8. Verse 7 and the beginning of verse 8 talks about people who reject God and the rest of verse 8 talks about the difference between those people and those who choose to follow God. What is the main difference? “They stumble because they do not obey God’s word.”

This last point is one that not many of us like. Obey is not a very fun word at all…it sounds parental, rules oriented and not fun at all. Why is obeying God’s word important to how he feels about us? Because if God thinks so highly of us that we are to represent him to others here on earth, then it only makes sense that God tells us how to live so that we display the image of God just right.
Think about the rules of all rules, the Ten Commandments. We hear that word and think boring God and His rules. We think that God