JR. Forasteros - December 31, 2017

New Hope for a New Year

To Be Continued

Christmas is such an intimate celebration – a time to gather with friends and family – that we often forget the global sweep of the story. But two often-overlooked encounters with the infant Jesus remind us of God’s faithfulness – not only to us, but to the whole world! As we look toward a new year, how can we be filled with hope at what God will do?

From Series: "To Be Continued"

Advent is the season in which we prepare to welcome Jesus into the world. It's a season of hope - the light has not come, but it is coming into the world. It's the time of day just before the sun peeks over the horizon. As we anticipate Jesus' birth, we come to realize that God's story didn't end at Christmas - it was only beginning. And the story is still being told today - a story of love, hope and promise. What does it mean to say that God is still telling the great story of love through us?

Discussion Guide     Manuscript

More Messages From JR. Forasteros...

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Rag n Bone Man’s “I’m Only Human” tells a fascinating story of a broken relationship. Or rather, it implies that story, since to listen to the song is to feel as though we’re listening to one side of the end of a long, painful conversation.

Again and again, he insists that, whatever happened, “Don’t put your blame on me… I’m only human.”

I’m sorry I couldn’t solve your problems. I’m only human.

I’m sorry I couldn’t figure it out. I’m only human.

I’m sorry I couldn’t be honest. I’m only human.

I’m no Messiah. I’m only human.

The song expresses a sentiment we’re all well-acquainted with: we’re not God.

We can’t save the world – we can’t even save ourselves. So be careful not to put too much faith in me.

There’s some truth to that. We do often tend to put too much faith in other people, which can lead to a lot of heartache.

But that’s not what this song is about. This song is a person who has let someone else down. A person who doesn’t believe in himself. A person who says, “I’m only human.”

Rag n Bone man believes that to be human is to be a failure. To be human is to let other people down. To be human is to be limited, small, insignificant, unworthy of trust or faith.

When’s the last time you let someone down?

Maybe you didn’t return that phone call, or didn’t make it to their house. Maybe like me, you live far away from family and couldn’t make it back for a holiday. Or you failed to keep a promise.

We’ve all been where Rag n Bone man is – feeling the weight of our human limitations. We’ve all wanted to shrug and say, “Don’t put your blame on me! I’m only human!”

Friends, I want to offer us a word of encouragement today. To be human is to be finite, yes, but when we shrug our shoulders and say we’re “only human”, we’re lying about what it means to be human.

Today, we’re going to explore what it means to be human, and we’ll see that while to be human is to be limited, it is not to fail. We’ll see that to be human is a sacred calling, and that God wants us to live tall and proud to be human.

To be human is to represent God in the world. That is our sacred calling. There’s nothing “only” about our humanity.

Join us Sunday as we learn what it means to be fully human.

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