Untitled Sermon (5)

Week 1

Week 1

Text:

Topic(s): Creation, Creator, Relationship with God, Personal God

Big Idea of the Message: God is the all-powerful creator of heaven and earth, and yet still desires a personal relationship with us.

Application Point: Rather than viewing God as some sort of supernatural force or impersonal object to make our lives easier or more comfortable, we should pursue a personal relationship with him.

Movie: The Voyage of Doctor Doolittle (scheduled to release April 12, 2019)

Sermon Ideas and Talking Points:

1. Base on the book The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting, this film tells the story of a doctor (played by Robert Downey Jr.) who can speak to animals.

Even though he is a human being, and the animals he’s around are, well, animals, Dolittle cares for them anyway.

This acts as a fitting illustration of God’s love for us.

God is God and we are mere human beings.

Yet, God still desires a personal relationship with us (“God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” ).

2. Consider opening your message by asking students about their favorite films. What makes a film good or bad?

3. In this speech, Paul quotes the Cretan philosopher Epimenides (vs. 28) and the Cilician Stoic philosopher Aratus (vs. 28).

This is a fitting example for a series that uses films as illustrations for scripture.

Sometimes, we can use other sources to help people understand the message of Jesus.

4. “What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it—the fact that He knows me.

I am graven on the palms of His hands; I am never out of His mind.

All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me.

I know Him because He first knew me and continues to know me.” - J.I. Packer

5. The documentary The Director and the Jedi chronicles the work of Rian Johnson as he directed The Last Jedi.

As noted in the trailer to the documentary (https://youtu.be/L376bLr_xso), because of the sheer scope of the project, the crew, producers, and actors had to trust Johnson’s vision in order for the film to be successful.

In that same sense, this series is about trusting our director, God. We are not creator, we are creation.

The good news is that God wants to know us anyway!

6. Life in the Roman Empire during this time revolved around pagan worship.

However, this devotion was often compelled by selfish ambition.

Rituals were constructed and practiced because this brought blessing from the gods.

Paul’s speech examines the living God, the creator of heaven and earth.

In our world, do we see God as just a pathway to comfort and blessing?

Or do we worship him because he is the creator of the universe?

Encourage your group to ask themselves if they’ve made gods out of money, popularity, or sex.

7. Pursuing a relationship with God means taking time to get to know him. Encourage students to take time daily to pray and read Scripture.