Is God Real? - Week 2

Does God Exist? Part 2

Last week we started our new series called Is God real and we looked at how we know whether or not God exists. We imagined that we had a friend who didn’t believe in the existence of God but he believed that we were here because of some big bang that happened billions of years ago. This is the stuff they teach you in school right. Billions of years ago, gasses that came from nothing collided and out of this big bang, out of chaos, came all of this order. Of course, the question we should always ask ourselves is where did the gasses come from? Who or what caused these gasses that came from nothing and who or what caused these gasses to collide and explode?

People who believe in evolution believe in a thing called Random Chance but Christians believe the creation of the world did not happen out of random chance but out of the loving choice of a God who made us to do life together. Christians believe that God created the heavens and the earth. Of course, the question that always comes up is who created God.

Let me blow your mind again. We think everything has to have a beginning and an end because we live in the confines of time and space but God created time and space and he is not limited to time and space. God lives outside of time and space thus making him eternal. God is the alpha and the omega, that means that God is the beginning and the end because he created the beginning and he tells us in the book of Revelation how it is all going to end. And how does God know how it is going to end…because he has seen the end because he lives outside of time and space. Is your mind blown because mine is?

I know you have slept since the last time we were together so let’s recap what we would say to someone who does not believe in the existence of God.

EVERY EFFECT HAS A CAUSE

Atheists believe the Universe had a cause. The big bang. Christians believe the first cause was God. God created the heavens and the earth.

Let me show you the difference between the two.

Evolutionist believe that no one plus nothing equals everything.

Christians believe that God created everything.

Because every effect has a cause.

2. EVERY CREATED THING HAS A CREATOR

When you look at a smart phone do you think that phone happened by accident or do you think there was a bunch of people who put their thinking together and over years of research put that phone together for you to enjoy? Did that phone just happen or did a bunch of someone’s put that phone together?

3. EVERY DESIGN HAS A DESIGNER.

Your body is so complex.

Your ability to think and reason didn't just happened from a cosmic bang billions of years ago

God made you for his plan and for his purpose and that brings us to what I want to talk to you about today.

WITHOUT A MAKER THERE IS NO LASTING MEANING FOR LIFE.

Have you ever given that much thought? In the Old Testament there was a man named Solomon who went on a quest for meaning in life apart from God. The book of Ecclesiastes is his findings.

Let me give you a little background to who Solomon was.

Solomon was the King of Israel for forty years. He was the son of King David. Solomon was also the richest person to ever walk the face of the earth.

In Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 he records his conclusion to his quest for meaning and then the rest of the book is how he came to that conclusion. This is what he says,

Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." 3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?

Solomon’s conclusion is at the end of the day "everything is meaningless." Solomon tried everything.

Education: I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 1:12-13

Alcohol and Drugs: I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly--my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. Ecclesiastes 2:3

Sex: Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

Work: I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. Ecclesiastes 2:4-5

Solomon was a workaholic. His house took 13 years to build. He had an army of people who were the best and brightest architects that the world knew at the time. He used the best materials available on planet Earth. Solomon built a temple for God. In addition, he built six cities that we know about and he built the walls around the city of Jerusalem.

He built all that stuff and at the end of the day he looked at everything he had done and he said,

I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well--the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. Ecclesiastes 2:8-11

Tom Brady in 2005 after he had already won three SuperBowls at just the age of 27 said he really didn't find happiness in football. He had everything that every young kid dreams of. He had the money, the highest accolade an athlete can ever receive, a model wife, and kind of sounds like Solomon doesn't it? But, he still felt like nothing gave him lasting joy. At the end of the interview he explains what did give him the most hope was loving relationships, but still he was looking for something. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TA4_fVkv3c

Solomon got to the point in his life where he wanted something that would last. He wanted to give his life to something that mattered and he found that doing all this stuff apart from God was meaningless.

Did you know that Godly men and women who have gone on before us had one desire in their life? It was their greatest prayer. They just wanted to be with God. Why? Because God made their seemingly insignificant lives significant and he wants to do the same thing for you and me.

I believe that God wants to take our ordinary, plain vanilla life and make it extraordinary. How?

I want you to imagine that tomorrow morning you wake up and open your eyes, and there’s God sitting right next to your bed. And God says, "I want to spend this day with you. And you say “OK”.

As you go through your day you find your whole outlook on life is different. You find you’re just not troubled or anxious about anything. You go to school and one of your friends opens up to you and tells you about some real serious problem and he looks at you and says I don’t know what to do so you pray a quick prayer and God begins to speak through you words that help your friend out in a time of need.

God can take an ordinary day or an ordinary conversation and make it extraordinary.

He can bring meaning to every job and every task. He can bring meaning to every relationship and to every decision.

That is what Solomon found out. After trying everything without God and coming up empty this was his conclusion as to where meaning in life comes from.

He writes, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them"—

School without Jesus is just books and homework but school with Jesus is the opportunity to make a difference in a lot of people lives. Heaven and hell are in the balance.

Work without God is just a weekly paycheck, but work with God reminds you that you are doing something significant for the kingdom of God.

God adds meaning and purpose to our life, and doing life without God, Solomon says that is like chasing the wind. Today I want us to compare a hamster running on a hamster wheel to Ussain Bolt running for a personal record in the olympics (Pull out a hamster wheel and stopwatch). Think of this hamster wheel, those little jokers will sprint for hours on this thing, usually at 3 AM when everyone is trying to sleep too. But, whats the point? They're going nowhere in life. When we do things in life that are not going after God, we're missing the point of why we were created and getting no where with our choices. Sure, we're active, sure we might even can feel good about ourselves, but we're going no where. Instead think of Ussain Bolt who is an 11 time world champion and holds multiple historical world records. Or even think of a time you went for a run and got a Personal Record, to see things like this happen you have to give it your all, and beat your best time. That really gave you meaning, it was the total opposite of running on a hamster wheel, you had a purpose to your action. That is like running with a mindset on God in every choice. You can truly run with a purpose. So based off our conversation on whether or not we want to fulfill God's purpose for our lives today or not. Ask yourself this question, do you want your life to be a never-ending repetitive cycle of sadness...on a hamster wheel? Or running with a reason and purpose that God created you for?

Remember your creator in the days of your youth because every aspect of our life can have new meaning and purpose because we are doing it with God.