DAY 1 – Who God is
Notes
Transcript
Opener
Opener
Okay, detectives! As Penelope said, we’ve got a lot of work to do if we are going to help our client understand who God is. This is a great big task, but as I look at who is here tonight, I think I’ve got a group that is up to the task. Am I right?
There are a hundred different skills that a good detective needs to be successful. Do you want to be a good detective?
Great! One of those crucial skills required to unravel a mystery is interviewing eyewitnesses. Who can tell me what an eyewitness is?
Very good! Now, our situation is very unique because we have a lot of witnesses who claim to know what God is like, but they are all dead!
Don’t let that discourage you, though. Even though we can’t talk to them directly, we can still interact with them indirectly because they were also great writers. In fact, we have a collection of their writings here tonight. Amazingly, we have 66 books and letters that were written by 40 different witnesses. Isn’t that amazing?!
Now, we don’t have the time to read the writings of 40 different witnesses, but I have narrowed our list down to 5 or 6. How does that sound?
Yea, I thought you would like that better. Now, here is some advice for your training tonight. In any investigation, there is usually one witness who saw the most and other witnesses who saw only bits and pieces. If our witnesses were alive, we would put them in separate rooms and ask each of them to tell us what they saw, then we would compare their stories and see if the details are the same. The one thing we DON’T want to do is just rely on one story. Why do you think that would be a bad thing?
That’s right. If we only have one account of a story, then we can’t know for certain that they are telling the right version of the story. We need many different accounts to compare, don’t we.
So, your job, should you choose to accept it, is to interview these witnesses by reading what they wrote down and see if their stories line up.
Moses - The Primary Witness
Moses - The Primary Witness
Our primary witness tonight is a guy named Moses. Who knows who Moses is? Moses was a man who lived thousands of years ago and was used by God to bring His people out of slavery in Egypt and was tasked to bring them to the land in Israel that God wanted to give them. Do you think he is a pretty good character witness to who God is? Yea, I think so, too. Here is what Moses had to say about God when God was giving him the 10 commandments at Mt. Sinai:
4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Okay, now… who can tell me what Moses said about God? What is He like?
1. Merciful
2. Gracious
3. Patient
4. Love
5. Faithful
6. Forgiving
Very good! You have just interviewed your first and primary witness! What great detectives!
Corroborating Witness
Corroborating Witness
Now, you are going to spend the rest of the evening comparing Moses’ story to other witnesses. We call this corroborating the story from the witness, which is a big word that means that you are confirming the truthfulness of what he says.
I’m going to help you with the first one right now, but after that, you will need to help each other confirm Moses’ story with the other witnesses.
Let’s start with a guy named John. Does anyone here know a guy named John? Yea, that’s right! John was one of Jesus’ 12 disciples and actually wrote down the story of Jesus life (called a Gospel). But, did you also know that he wrote other letters to churches he was familiar with? Yep! He wrote three other letters on top of the Gospel of John. Pretty amazing, right?!
Well, in his first letter, John wrote this:
Love - John
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
So, what does our second witness corroborate? Which one of God’s attributes given to us by Moses is represented here? That’s right, love! And this makes a lot of sense because in John’s gospel, he tells us that he is the one that Jesus loved.
Okay! Now you know the skill that you need, and you know how to go about interviewing your witnesses.
Good luck tonight, detectives, and Godspeed!
All Eyewitnesses to Moses’ Claims
All Eyewitnesses to Moses’ Claims
Merciful - Paul
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
Gracious – Nehemiah
31 Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.
Patient - Peter
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Love - John
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Faithful - Paul
24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.
Forgiving – David or The Chronicler
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.