Ground Zero - Wk1
September 12, 2021

Good Grief

Week one - “Ground Zero”
Nehemiah 1 and 2, 2 Corinthians 4:1-10


Ground zero is the primary place of

.

Ground zero is also the primary place of

.

*It can be both - we don’t have to separate pain and joy, destruction and restoration, frustration and initiative

Nehemiah’s story - he sat down to weep and pray, and then he went back to rebuild

Two reactions to devastation:
1. Those who want to skip the weeping and “do something”
2. Those who can’t figure out how to get up again

  • Both are a way of avoiding the tension of life and death - Jesus holds

Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. —2 Corinthians 4:1

We need to find ways to live in this world without losing our hearts


5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. —2 Corinthians 4:5-10


In the midst of life, we are in death - how do we hold both?
verse 10 - we carry both the death of Jesus and the life of Jesus

The treasure we have is a hope in Jesus that holds both life and death

“Good Grief”. Like Charlie Brown, we throw up our hands - we are done.
As people of faith, we grab hold of Jesus.