Knowing the Bible

Pause Intro

So what did you think of that video? Can you relate to the way it described your life? If so, it’s no surprise. Just like the video said, you’re overcommitted, over-involved, and over-stressed. You have virtually zero time to relax. And when you do, if you’re like the average American teenager, you’re picking up some sort of device with a screen and engaging in social media or other entertainment. I mean, this is a pretty accurate picture, right?

It’s fun being involved in these activities, isn’t it? Sports are fun. Band is fun. And hanging out with your friends playing video games or going to the movies is fun. But added to your commitments of everything you have going on, this puts you under a great deal of pressure. And this affects every aspect of your life.

I’m here tonight to ask you one simple question: How does your overcommitted life affect your relationship with God? Simple question, right? Maybe. But the answer to that question could literally change your life.

Here’s another question for you: What happens when you hit the pause button on any one of your devices? It seems self-explanatory, right? Hitting the pause button momentarily stops the action. And if you start to read the Bible with the idea of hitting pause in mind, you’ll find it’s full of occasions when someone hit pause and made time to be alone with their God.

For the purpose of this event, we’ll define hitting pause as “Seeking God in silence and solitude through prayer and Bible study.” Now that’s a good sounding definition. And we’ll break it down a ton over the course of the event. But the task in front of us tonight is to understand exactly why hitting pause is so important.

Hitting pause means seeking God in silence and solitude through prayer and Bible Study.

Why is it vital to seek God? Why is it so important to continue to get to know God, deeper and more personally? Isn’t it enough to simply believe? Isn’t it enough to love God, or at least love the idea of Him?

So what did you think of that video? Can you relate to the way it described your life? If so, it’s no surprise. Just like the video said, you’re overcommitted, over-involved, and over-stressed. You have virtually zero time to relax. And when you do, if you’re like the average American teenager, you’re picking up some sort of device with a screen and engaging in social media or other entertainment. I mean, this is a pretty accurate picture, right?

Why is it so critical that we make the effort to continue to learn more about God and His ways?

Let’s find out . . .

First and foremost, God created us with relationship in mind.

All throughout Scripture we see evidence that God created us to know Him and be in relationship with Him. This first shows up in the first two chapters of the Bible.

Turn to . Explain that this passage records God’s actions on the sixth day of creation.These verses record the account of God creating humans.

Genesis 1:26–30 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Read aloud.

Then, say something like: Not only were humans the only part of God’s creation made in His image, they were the only created beings whom God actually interacted with.

In verse 28 it says that God blessed the man and woman and that He spoke to them.

We see the same thing in verse 29. In fact, almost a dozen more times in the next two chapters we see God addressing Adam and Eve directly.

This is unique among the ways God interacts with the rest of His creation. And it shows that God truly did create us to be in relationship with Him!

Nowhere in the Bible do we see it implied that we could somehow come to a belief in God, and then stop growing our relationship with Him. We were literally created to be in relationship with the Creator.

This isn’t the only place in the Old Testament where we see God’s intent to be in relationship with us.

Explain that when God was reaffirming His promise to Abraham in , God made an amazing claim to His unique desire to be in relationship with His children.

Read aloud.

Then, say something like: In God’s perfect plan to provide salvation to all who will believe in Him, He called a nation of people to Himself. The Israelites would be God’s chosen people. And here we see God speaking to this awesome relationship. He said, “I will be their God.” This was God showing His desire to have a relationship with His people.

Genesis 17:7–8 CSB

7 I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you. 8 And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.”

In God’s perfect plan to provide salvation to all who will believe in Him, He called a nation of people to Himself.

The Israelites would be God’s chosen people. And here we see God speaking to this awesome relationship. He said, “I will be their God.” This was God showing His desire to have a relationship with His people.

Finally, God’s desire to be in relationship with us is seen most perfectly in Jesus Christ.

Read aloud.

John 14:6–7 CSB

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Here Jesus did two things.

1. First, He identified Himself as the only pathway to forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God. But He did something more.

2. He brought in this idea of relationship. He said, “You know me, and therefore you know God!” Jesus revealed what Scripture attests to: it’s not only possible to know God, it’s how God desired it all along.

Transition Statement

So, getting to know God more through hitting pause isn’t just a good idea. It’s actually how we were designed to interact with Him. But there’s another reason that speaks to why it’s so vital to know God.

God expects us to grow closer to Him.

Read aloud.

Hebrews 5:11–14 CSB

11 We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. 12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. 13 Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.

You sense the author’s frustration here? It’s expected that the longer we have a relationship with God, the more knowledge of God we’re supposed to have. It’s completely unacceptable in the eyes of the author of Hebrews for these Christ-followers to be so immature. He compares them to babies who can’t eat real food but must drink milk. The author expects some steak-eaters, but instead finds Christ-followers who need to be fed with a spiritual bottle.

As God’s children, we ought to want to live like our Father.

Explain to students that because of our love for our Heavenly Father, we’re called to live according to His character and His ways.

Explain that here, we see Paul passing along some simple but powerful teaching.

Read aloud.

Ephesians 5:1–2 CSB

1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

Then say something like: Paul called us to imitate God, to literally act and live as if we were patterning ourselves after God Himself.

Paul said the motivation for this is based on our relationship as children of a perfect and loving God.

That’s an awesome command, isn’t it? But let me ask you a question:

How can we live like God if we don’t know what that looks like? We can’t imitate a pattern or model if we don’t know what the pattern or model looks like. We can only truly live like God if we know Him.

Seeking God through prayer and Bible study is God’s plan for our getting to know Him.

And when we know God, when we truly grow in our knowledge of Him, our lives are never the same.

Closing Transition Statement

If you’re serious about having a life that counts for something, a life that’s full of meaning and purpose, it’s possible. But it takes a commitment to making time to grow closer to God. That’s what this event is all about.

W are excited about what God is going to do in and through you this weekend. Inform them that you want to leave them with a challenge from Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

excited about what God is going to do in and through them. Inform them that you want to leave them with a challenge from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Read aloud.Then say something like: Can you feel Paul’s passion for Christ coming through all these thousands of years later? Paul longed to know Christ! He wanted his life and even his death to be given over for the sake of Christ. Paul looked forward to the eternal life with God that he knew was waiting for him. And Paul was clear here: he was not content with his relationship with God in the past. He was passionately committed to growing even closer to God, learning more about Him, and living out God’s ways. My challenge to you is to approach this event, and your lives, with this same passion. Commit yourself to knowing God. You’re going to walk away from this event with all the tools you need to know Him more. It’s up to you to put them to use.

Read aloud.

Philippians 3:10–14 CSB

10 My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, 11 assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. 12 Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

Then say something like:

Can you feel Paul’s passion for Christ coming through all these thousands of years later?

Paul longed to know Christ! He wanted his life and even his death to be given over for the sake of Christ.

Paul looked forward to the eternal life with God that he knew was waiting for him.

And Paul was clear here: he was not content with his relationship with God in the past.

He was passionately committed to growing even closer to God, learning more about Him, and living out God’s ways.

My challenge to you is to approach this event, and your lives, with this same passion. Commit yourself to knowing God. You’re going to walk away from this event with all the tools you need to know Him more. It’s up to you to put them to use.