Overview/advice about lesson.
Opening question(s)
How is God?
The best way to convince someone of the existence of God is to get that person to a place where they will experience Him.
I have to admit that I am a bit of a crier. I am not a weeper, or a sobber, or a wailer, but when I have a reason to be sad, or even really just emotional, you will probably see me blinking a lot, maybe sniffing, trying to scratch my nose in an effort to discreetly wipe away tears. I cried openly at the end of Deep Impact, that disaster movie with Morgan Freeman as the president. I went to the movie with a guy friend of mine, and he cried too. We promised to tell no one, so I can’t tell you that his name is Anthony Stump, or that he and I are Facebook friends, or that it would be really hilarious for you to send him messages teasing him for crying in a movie theater several years ago…
Carl’s sermons make me tear up sometimes. I like to joke that he only has a few tricks but, man, they’re good tricks. He starts sharing about how this and that person has gone above and beyond serving at Mosaic and it moves me. He does the thing where he talks about how this and that person will one day talk about how Mosaic helped her in her time of need, and I sniffle. He tells a story like the one he told at the end of the night last week, with the baby dying and the parents needing some sort of consolation, and I get caught up in it.
I want to be careful, though, to distinguish between experiencing emotional upheaval and experiencing God. Emotional upheaval can lead a person to a place where they can experience God, but it is not the same thing as experiencing God.
And that principle holds true with logic as well. Logic, “proofs” of God’s existence, are wonderful tools. They can be used to convince someone of the possibility of God’s existence and, at times, that is the only thing holding a person back from experiencing and then accepting God. However, proving God’s existence is not the end-all or the be-all method of conversion. There are a lot of instances when you should not even mention them. People have been convinced of God’s existence, but no one has ever been argued into heaven.
The best way to convince someone of the existence of God is to get that person to a place where they will experience Him.
That is why we encourage you to bring your friends to church. Every week, groups of people who believe in God get together and sing praise to God and share communion and listen to someone teach us a bit more about how to be like God. Every week, in some shape or form, God shows up. Sometimes we’re looking in the wrong place and we don’t see Him. Sometimes, we aren’t looking for God and He is just so obvious that we see Him anyway. Sunday morning service is an excellent place to get someone who does not believe in God. At the very least, over time, they will pick up some tools that are handy when they do find themselves looking for God.
Sunday morning isn’t always the best place, though. Sometimes, the best place to bring someone you are trying to convince of the existence of God is a Growth Group. (Your friends and all doubters and seekers are welcome here.) Sometimes, the best place to bring a person to get them to experience God is nature. (I can’t speak for whether they are welcome there.) Sometimes, the best place to bring a person to get them to experience God is simply hanging out with you, in a pub, over a Guinness.
I have experienced God in a dugout. I have experienced God in a book. I have experienced God sitting next to a dumpster in the parking lot behind my college’s freshman dorm... It was a clear night my first year of college. I took a walk, all torn up because, drama of dramas, I was not sure about my major. I sat down on the ground and prayed. I emptied my mind and asked God for an answer. And in that moment, I heard God. I experienced God. I felt a presence that I have always acknowledged but so rarely trusted. I re-became a Christian.
The best way to convince someone of the existence of God is to get that person to a place where they will experience Him.
We will get into this later in this group, but I do not believe in coincidences. I believe in a God Who is in control, so I believe that nothing happens by chance. In fact, I made up my own word to describe those times when circumstances happen in just the way they need to happen for God to get God’s way. Ready for it? God-incidence.
There are as many places that will allow someone to experience God as there are people who need to experience God. For each person, each experience of God will be in some way unique. However, if there is a person in your life who needs to experience God and if you are aware of that, their experience of God should not be completely different from your own. Your involvement in the life of someone who needs to experience God has not happened by chance. It is a God-incidence.
The best way to convince someone of the existence of God is to get that person to a place where they will experience Him. I am not telling you that as purely as a final point to wrap up the discussion. I am telling you that because it is our job to find ways to put people in the places where they will experience God. The God-incidence in our friends’ lives has already happened. You met the guy at work. That one family moved in next door. They are your kids.
Someone has to get them to a place where they will experience God.
Go ahead and do it.
Files coming soon.