Untitled Sermon

Hello! My name is Harrison and I am the youth pastor here at the Quarry church. How are you guys doing today? Anyone excited to be done with school? Anyone really like school and is sad that school is ending? Anyone got any fun plans for the summer? Well I hope all of you are signed up for text updates through remind because we are going to do all sorts of fun things over the summer! Like volleyball Sunday Nights, boat day, hang out at bertrum, bonfires, and tons of awesome stuff so make sure you get on remind so that you get QSM Text updates! Anyways, can anyone tell me who these guys are?

They were famous for being some of the smartest people in human history. Greek philosophers. Super smart. Literally, they were some of the smartest people to walk this planet. Think, who are some of the smartest people today in the world. Shout it out. You got Elon Musk, Jeff bezos, Bill gates, Aaron Rodgers. Now think of all the smartest people right now, these people for there time were just as smart. The height of human thought. And they encouraged others to learn and discover new things! As a matter of fact, they influenced their entire country of Greece and molded this culture of people that wanted to learn new things. And believe it or not, Luke talks about this in the bible in Acts. Turn with me to Acts 17: 21

Acts 17:21 (ESV)

Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

What did the people in Athens like doing? They liked talking about new things. Who here likes chatting about new things? That’s what we all do. We love to chat about new things.

Stuck in the Cycle of New

This is what humans do. We get into this cycle of new things. Who’s the next new football player. Whats the next new tik-tok dance. Whats the next new song. We are in this cycle of new things, and God is screaming at us saying: Hey! Stop throwing your life away! There’s always gonna be a new flavour at Culvers. There’s always going to be a new fashion trend or music to listen to. But theres a God described in your bible that never grows old. We are always searching for something thats new, but we don’t even realize, we are in a news cycle. We are just like Greeks Acts 17:21

There are two types of people

People stuck in the cycle and People free from the cycle

And we like new things. Like anyone pumped for the new stranger things? Anyone pumped for the new obi wan show? We like New because it’s entertaining. People get sick of one thing then they move onto the next thing because it’s new. We are entering into the summer, it’s going to get really hot. Why are people excited about the summer? Because their sick of the winter. Winter was cool for like 2 seconds. Now we want to go jet skiing and hang out on the lake. The new things just keep coming and it’s endless. College, anyone going into college? sports, anyone playing summer sports? High school. Anyone finishing up with middle school going into high school? Theres always gonna be new things, and I don’t want us to get lost in the next new thing and lose site of the God who infinitely better than the next new thing.

Why is God Better?

Acts 17:24 ESV

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,

Shout out a famous song, anyone? Who sings that song? Do you think it’s more awesome to listen to that song on your phone, or to have that person perform that song live right in front of you? Exactly! Why do we think that God is boring? We pick up our bibles and think, this God ain’t that special. The reality is, wait, if God creator of everything, including really good music, why would we think God is like some God who isn’t fun. God created everything, and he owns everything. He’s not just in some man made temple. What do you think of when you think of God. here I’ll give you 10 seconds, let it come to your mind. What comes to mind when you think of God. ....... Okay times up. Whatever you just thought of, throw it away, it doesn’t even come close to describing the greatness of who God is, he’s by definition can’t be boring. Minecraft is fun, but I get bored after 10 hours of playing. I’m sure tik-tok is fun, for like 2 seconds and then your brain is fried. God, the creator of fun, the creator of entertainment, we thin k he’s going to be boring. Common. God is better

Acts 17:25 ESV

nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

You need God, He doesn’t need you

Who here can tell me who the greeks worshiped? Yes! The greek gods. Who were some of the greek gods? Yeah, it was thought that Athens was known as the city of Idols, statues everywhere. There was also an estimated 10,000 people in Athens, anyone want to guess how many statues they had around the city? 30,000. In a city of 10,000 people they had 30,000 statues Crazy. What they would do is serve these idols, they’d give something to the Gods and they’d give something back in return. We do this all the time today. Everyone worships something. We watch sports, we buy our favorite football players Jersey, they get the money. We watch the youtube video, we play super smash bros on the Nintendo switch, they get the money and we get to be entertained. This is why God is great, he doesn’t need us. The clothing companies that we worship need us, the youtube stars that we worship need us, the bands and actors and actresses that we worship need us. God doesn’t need us!

God is ALL-Sufficient - Doesn’t need help existing

On the other hand, I need a lot of help existing. Ask my wife Natalie, hey Nat, when was the last time I made food for myself. Exactly, I would die without Natalie. Jk, I make a mean scrambled egg. But seriously, can a person function on their own? Can a persons brain work without God? No! God is bigger than you could ever imagine. He doesn’t need us. We are the ones that need him for life because he’s the sustainer of life. And watch this, John Piper Quote: God doesn’t say help wanted, he says help available. He doesn’t need us, but he offers to help us and thats a beautiful thing. Okay, so next thing

Someone might say, yeah, God sounds like he could be awesome. But the only way I can know for sure if God is real is if he reveals himself to me. Watch this...

Acts 17: 26-28

Acts 17:26–28 ESV

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

....they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.....

God is NOT FAR FROM US - He makes himself known

Why is God better? Why is God great? It’s because God, believe it or not, is not far off in the distance. Actually, he’s really close. God is what you call a broadcaster. Someone say Broadcaster. God broadcasts himself throughout the Universe. Atheist say, if God is real, why doesn’t he just tell me he’s real. Why doesn’t he just show me a sign. You know why he wont show us signs, it’s because he’s already showing himself all over the universe. Romans 1

Romans 1 (ESV)

(Men by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.) For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them..... So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God.....

Anyone ever try to push a beach ball under the water? What happens? The ball always comes back to the surface. How do you keep a beach ball under water? You got to keep your hand there and continue pushing it under water! The person who doesn’t believe in God is like a person who says beach balls aren’t real while they hold a beach ball under water. It’s like someone who says, if God is real, why doesn’t he show himself to me? It’s like, yo, he keeps showing himself to you, you just keep trying to shove him back into the water. If you would let go, and let the truth rise to the surface, you would realize you’ve known all along that God is real.

Paul even says,

even some of your own poets say, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

It isn’t a secret that God exists, even your own famous poets know that their is a God. Remember, Athens Greece, the smartest people on the planet. Even your famous poets know deep down that their is a God. This is why Paul says this in Acts 17:30

Acts 17:30 (ESV)

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent....

Ignorance is not an excuse. God commands all people to repent because the Jesus that rose from the dead is coming back to judge everyone. And it’s our Job to go and tell people that God is not that far off, stop pushing the beach ball under water and recognize that there is a God who created this whole universe, a God that allows you to live, and you know it!

But the bible says in Luke 16:31

Luke 16:31 (ESV)

‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

Literally, the bible says that people can see Jesus rise from the dead and we’re still not gonna be convinced. You could literally witness a dude rise from the dead and still be stuck in the cycle of life. Let me say that again, you could have literally been at Jesus’ tomb 2,000 years ago, see jesus rise from the dead and still not be convinced Jesus is God. You could have literally witnessed God rise from the dead and been like, aight, that was cool. Time to start binging Netflix again and scroll endlessly though tik-tok. Like seriously. We will never see the greatness of Jesus until God actually first does a work in your heart. You don’t have to enter into the summer or into this next stage of life looking for some new information to satisfy you for like 5 days and then move to the next new thing. Caught in the cycle of life. Jesus is the better option, If you want to be free, free from the cycle of life, yo need to be satisfied in Jesus more than anything. and he calls everyone to turn from their sin and put their trust into him and he promises to change you and to take you out of that cycle. Lets pray.