Beginner's Guide - Week 1

INTRO VIDEO

INTRODUCTION

5 MINUTES

Before we start today, I want to ask you a question: Have you ever tried to put something together without an instruction manual?

INTERACTIVE: In Pieces

[Pour out all of the pieces from your object onto the table.] Look at this! I mean, there are so many pieces and so many ways I could put this together incorrectly. Without an instruction manual [toss the instruction manual away from you], I don’t even know where to start!

It’s nearly impossible to figure out exactly the way something is supposed to go together without some instructions or guidance. Sure, we can get out all the pieces and make our most educated guesses, but in the end, what do we end up with? Usually a mess, right?

TELL A PERSONAL STORY

· When I was growing up, I was obsessed with Legos… I guess it continued into my adult years, as I have more now than I did then. But now, I am “buying them for my kids”

· Mom came home with a space set that I have been wanting… as I was so into anything space related at the time… including a cabbage patch spaceman doll. It was the galaxy explorer. Model #928. She had picked it up at a garage sale and they told her that all the parts were in there. So before I started the process, I counted out all of the 300 something parts to make sure they were all there, and… they were. I was so ready to get started.

· I dumped out all the parts on the table and put the guys together. Now the real fun could begin. That’s when I reached for the instruction guide… which was not there.

· I looked everywhere thinking I set it aside while I was counting, but nothing. I asked my mom if she saw it… my brothers… my step-dad… nothing. No guide!

· Now remember this is the days before the internet, so I just couldn’t look it up online – there was no online. I tried many times over the course of the next two weeks to put that thing together just by looking at the box. No luck. My friends in the neighborhood tried to help. No luck.

· I eventually gave up and began to scavenge parts for other Lego builds. I never put it together the way it was designed.

That’s the worst, right? Well, you know what else sometimes gives me that same frustrated, not-sure-how-to-do-it, maybe-I-should-just-give-up-feeling? Trying to connect with God. Sometimes when I come to church, or read my Bible, or sing during worship, or even pray, it feels like nothing is really happening. But when I look around at everyone else, it seems like they’re doing it 100% right. They’re in this really cool moment worshiping or connecting with God, and I’m standing there feeling like I missed out on the instruction manual.

And I’d bet a lot of you would say you’ve felt the same way before! Maybe you even feel that way right now! Well, that’s why we’re kicking off a new series today called The Beginner’s Guide to Connecting With God. Because while we’re maybe not all “beginners” at this faith stuff, sometimes trying to figure out what it looks like to really connect with God leaves us feeling a little bit like a beginner. Sometimes we just need to go back to the beginning and remember the basics.

But our hope is that by the end of these next few weeks together, we’ll all feel a little more confident that we can, in fact, find a way to connect with the God who loves us—even when we don’t necessarily feel like it!

TENSION

3 MINUTES

Let’s be honest: When it comes to our faith, there are a lot of times when we’re just simply not feeling it.

Maybe you’ve been standing here at church while we’re all singing and the worship music is playing, and you look around and see other students really getting into it. Maybe you see their hands raised or their eyes closed, and you think, “Is that what I’m supposed to be doing? Because even though I like this song, I don’t feel any closer to God while I’m singing it.”

Or maybe you’ve had that same feeling when you read something in the Bible or heard something here at church. Sure, you read it or listened to it, but it didn’t change the way you felt about your faith, your circumstances, or even God.

Maybe you're new to this whole following Jesus thing. And even though you know you believe, you don’t feel like much has changed in your heart. It has kind of left you wondering, “What’s next?” Everyone told you that becoming a Christian would change your life, but right now, nothing feels all that different.

Or maybe this is one of your first experiences at church, and you have no idea what to think about God. You’re not even sure you want to connect with God because you’re not even sure He’s out there!

No matter where you’re at with this whole faith thing, feelings like these can be difficult because they often leave us thinking that something’s wrong. If everyone else is connecting with God and feeling so different, why can’t we? What’s wrong with us?

Think about when it seems like God is showing up for people around us who are trying to connect with Him. What does it say about our faith if He isn’t doing the same for us? Is something wrong with our faith? Or worse, is something wrong with God?

If you’re one of those people who is struggling to connect with God (and honestly, I think we’re all that person sometimes!), then let me just stop right here and assure you of this: Nothing is wrong with you. Nothing is wrong with your faith. God isn’t ignoring you or not seeing you because of anything you’ve done or aren’t doing.

In fact, I want to show you today that there are so many ways to connect with God. He knows that each of us is unique, and because of that, the ways we connect with Him will look different from person to person, or even day to day! You see, God’s hope isn’t that we all connect with Him in the same way. His hope is that we’ll simply keep trying and keep showing up!

TRUTH

3 MINUTES

In the Bible, there's a book that was written by a guy named John Mark (though we know him today as Mark). Now Mark was a guy who spent time working alongside other guys in the Bible like Barnabas, and Paul, and Peter to tell people about Jesus.

Mark actually wrote a book of the Bible named… well, Mark. And in it, he recorded an encounter between Jesus and a group of religious leaders that I think can teach us a lot about what it means to connect with God.

In the story we’re going to look at today, a group of religious leaders were asking Jesus a lot of questions about faith. They were trying to trap Him into saying something that would get Him in trouble. In their day, the way you followed God was by obeying a bunch of rules and laws. And if they could get Jesus to break one of their religious rules, they could get Him in big trouble.

After Jesus had responded to a bunch of these religious leaders’ questions with great answers, an expert in the rules tried to trap Jesus, too. He wanted to know what command was the most important to follow. Jesus’ answer to the man’s question gives us great insight into what God looks for when we’re trying to connect with Him.

And here’s what Jesus said:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30 NIV).

Look at what Jesus did here! He didn’t say that worship, or prayer, or obeying the rules was the most important command (even though that’s what the law expert probably thought He would say!). Instead, Jesus pointed to one simple thing: love.

And that’s a great insight into what God wants from us when we try to connect with Him. The most important thing we can do when we want to connect with God is to simply love Him. Love Him with our hearts. Love Him with our souls. Love Him with our minds. Love Him with our strength.

In other words, we have to have a relationship with Him. Jesus says that having a relationship with God is the greatest way to connect with God.

But like any relationship, it’s sometimes going to feel like there are ups and downs. Think about the relationships you have with the people who are closest to you. Maybe it’s with a best friend, or a sibling, or someone in your small group. You’re really close, you spend a lot of time together, and you want to be around each other all the time. And then one day, you don’t. Maybe you get into a fight, or just haven’t had the chance to see each other in a while, or one of you develops a new interest or hobby. Just like that, it feels like the relationship has shifted. Does it mean you’re not best friends anymore? Not at all! It just means you’ve gotten out of step in your relationship. And one of the best ways to get back in step with each other is to spend time with each other.

And it's the same with our relationship with God. You see, spending time with God is a way to connect with God. It’s a way to love Him. So even when our relationship feels a little off or out of step, we can still show up to spend time with Him. Because sometimes, connecting with God is as simple as showing up. It’s as simple as spending time with Him.

Because spending time with God is a way to connect with God.

APPLICATION

2 MINUTES

In those moments when you don’t feel like you’re connecting with God or are as close to Him as you want to be, just keep going. Keep showing up. Keep trying. Keep making the effort to spend time with Him. I promise you, the more you show up to spend time with God, the more you’ll eventually see your relationship grow.

This week, I want you to just do one thing: Find a way to spend time with God. Maybe for you that means making time every single day to read your Bible, or pray, or write some thoughts in your journal. Or maybe it’s listening to some music or going on a walk outdoors. Maybe it’s just a commitment to show up here again next week! Whatever it is, I want you to make spending time with God a priority in your life. No matter what you feel or don’t feel, I want you just to commit to showing up. To spending time with Him. To seeing where your relationship goes. Because spending time with God is a way to connect with God.

Does that mean it’s always going to feel like this amazing, mountaintop experience? No. Does that mean your relationship with God is suffering when it doesn’t? Not at all!

In those moments when you feel disconnected from God, I just want you to keep going. Because the best way to reconnect is to keep going. Think back to what Jesus said was the most important thing. He gave us the path we’re looking for in our relationship with God: heart, soul, mind, strength, repeat. Keep going. Heart, soul, mind, strength, repeat. Keep showing up. Heart, soul, mind, strength, repeat.

LANDING

1 MINUTE

We’re going to spend time over the next few weeks unpacking what it looks like to love and connect with God through our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. But for today, I just want you to remember this: Spending time with God is way to connect with God.

And as I close, I want you to leave you with this question: What’s one way I can spend time with God this week?