Focus 3 | The Faith You Find
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Consider this ice breaker as you gather for the Spotlight.
If you could teleport anywhere on earth, where would you go right now?
If you could teleport anywhere on earth, where would you go right now?
See what this Spotlight—and series—is focused on.
Tap on the words "Focus 3" in the image below to read this Spotlight's summary.
Tap on the words "Focus 3" in the image below to read this Spotlight's summary.
Let’s talk about moonshots.
Listen to this audio clip when you’re ready to begin today’s Spotlight. (And welcome, by the way! It’s great that you’re here!)
Listen to this audio clip when you’re ready to begin today’s Spotlight. (And welcome, by the way! It’s great that you’re here!)
“Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said. ‘One can’t believe impossible things.’
‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’”
-Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Do you believe impossible things?
Most people—even those who aren’t religious—believe a few things that are technically impossible. Everybody—no matter who they are—believes a plethora of things for which they’ve never personally seen proof.
Name something technically impossible that you believe to still be real. (If you’re in a group, feel free to share your answer. Flying solo? You can just think it over yourself. )
Discover why humans are prone to faith. Sociologists and historians suggest that the quality that leads human beings to hold beliefs is the very same quality that led them to figure out fire and medicine: Humans comprehend cause and effect. Therefore, humans think that if they see something, it must have a cause and it will have an effect.
Engineering new knowledge based on causes and effects has led humans to make decisions, develop technologies, and repeatedly distinguish our species from every other. But this ability—to theorize based on cause and effect—is a double-edged sword. It’s the source of all your questions, even if it wasn’t meant to be.
What if the purpose of humanity’s ability to comprehend cause and effect is not (exclusively) answering questions and gaining knowledge, but (primarily) leading us toward faith?
Welcome Perspective
Any animal can understand true things,
but faith—that’s next level.
Any animal can understand true things,
but faith—that’s next level.
Remind yourself of your questions and their extra weight.
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
Psalm 139:1
If God is omniscient (knowing all things) then he knows all about you. If God is omnipotent (having all power) then he doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do because nobody can force him to do anything. Therefore, if Psalm 139:1 is correct and he knows you, it’s because he wants to know you.
So far in this On Letting the Almighty Answer series, it’s been suggested that God uses the questions people ask as opportunities to exercise the relationship he has with them. For every person, no matter who they are, the questions they have about life, the universe, and everything are opportunities to connect further to God. This is true whether or not those questions get answered if the goal is not “to find answers to every question” but rather “to develop a loving and interdependent relationship between God and you.”
Grab paper and a writing utensil (or open your favorite note-taking app) to get started.
Follow these steps by using the questions you asked/submitted during the first week of this Spotlight Series.
Psst... Keep your list of questions and burdens nearby, as you’ll be referencing them soon.)
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
Psalm 139:1
If God is omniscient (knowing all things) then he knows all about you. If God is omnipotent (having all power) then he doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do because nobody can force him to do anything. Therefore, if Psalm 139:1 is correct and he knows you, it’s because he wants to know you.
So far in this On Letting the Almighty Answer series, it’s been suggested that God uses the questions people ask as opportunities to exercise the relationship he has with them. For every person, no matter who they are, the questions they have about life, the universe, and everything are opportunities to connect further to God. This is true whether or not those questions get answered if the goal is not “to find answers to every question” but rather “to develop a loving and interdependent relationship between God and you.”
Grab paper and a writing utensil (or open your favorite note-taking app) to get started.
Follow these steps by using the questions you asked/submitted during the first week of this Spotlight Series.
- CLICK HERE, opening the link in a new window/tab, to see the questions submitted
- Scroll to the bottom of the page (to the comments section)
- *Note that you must be logged in to see the comments section
- Identify which questions resonate most with you, writing them down
- Then take note (literally) of the extra weight those questions bring along
Psst... Keep your list of questions and burdens nearby, as you’ll be referencing them soon.)
Listen to this song that asks questions and responds with faith.
Faithful by Him + Her is written to remind you that God is faithful even when it seems like what’s happening isn’t evidence of his faithfulness.
Listen with your list of questions and burdens close by, so you can think about how this particular concept speaks to lists like these—lists that everybody, including you, has.
Faithful by Him + Her is written to remind you that God is faithful even when it seems like what’s happening isn’t evidence of his faithfulness.
Listen with your list of questions and burdens close by, so you can think about how this particular concept speaks to lists like these—lists that everybody, including you, has.
Apply scripture to your questions.
First, click below to listen to the reading of Psalm 139:1–18. (You can also read along with the text below the audio player.)
First, click below to listen to the reading of Psalm 139:1–18. (You can also read along with the text below the audio player.)
Psalm 139:1–18
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Now, follow these steps to complete this exercise.
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Now, follow these steps to complete this exercise.
- Grab your list of questions and burdens from the exercise a few minutes ago.
- Click to listen to the instrumental music below (if you’d like some thinking music and a way to know how much time you should take for this exercise).
- While listening, comb through and connect verses from Psalm 139:1–18 to the various questions and burdens from your list, using the length of the song as the exercise’s duration.
Listen to (and sing along with) this song about trusting in God.
Questions are good, because they are gateways either to new answers or to new faith (which are both even better than questions.) While the human need to arrange and understand cause-and-effect has a funny way of making answers seem better than faith, consider this: faith can when answers can’t.
You are a limited being, so here’s the truth: you’ll never have every answer (this side of existence. We can talk about the other side another day.) Every person, whether believer or skeptic or something in between, runs out of answers at some point and must, at that point, put some trust in something. It’s OK to trust, at the same time that it’s OK to look for answers.
Questions are good, because they are gateways either to new answers or to new faith (which are both even better than questions.) While the human need to arrange and understand cause-and-effect has a funny way of making answers seem better than faith, consider this: faith can when answers can’t.
You are a limited being, so here’s the truth: you’ll never have every answer (this side of existence. We can talk about the other side another day.) Every person, whether believer or skeptic or something in between, runs out of answers at some point and must, at that point, put some trust in something. It’s OK to trust, at the same time that it’s OK to look for answers.
Worship Perspective
Discovering trust is both the risk
and reward of God’s invitation.
Discovering trust is both the risk
and reward of God’s invitation.
Interact with this presentation to consider what God has for you.
The Bible’s story of Job is remarkable. Pain, doubt, questions, misinformation, and faith are all met with the same thing: The answer of the Almighty. In each part of this series, you’ll walk with a different character from the story through their thoughts.
You heard from Job during the first week of this series (you can check that out here). You heard from his terrible friends during the second week (you can check that out here). Now, hear from a young man named Elihu. Finally, you’ll hear from the voice of God.
(Also, if you’d like an excellent, quick summary of Job’s story, click here.)
Can you find the faith in these words? Before you interact with this image, get out some way to take notes—hopefully, one you’ll continue to use for the remainder of the Spotlights in this series. As you interact, write down one or two ways Elihu refuses to give up on trusting God even though his friend Job is suffering. (In other words, when he sees Job’s suffering, how is he using faith to explain what’s going on?)
The Bible’s story of Job is remarkable. Pain, doubt, questions, misinformation, and faith are all met with the same thing: The answer of the Almighty. In each part of this series, you’ll walk with a different character from the story through their thoughts.
You heard from Job during the first week of this series (you can check that out here). You heard from his terrible friends during the second week (you can check that out here). Now, hear from a young man named Elihu. Finally, you’ll hear from the voice of God.
(Also, if you’d like an excellent, quick summary of Job’s story, click here.)
Can you find the faith in these words? Before you interact with this image, get out some way to take notes—hopefully, one you’ll continue to use for the remainder of the Spotlights in this series. As you interact, write down one or two ways Elihu refuses to give up on trusting God even though his friend Job is suffering. (In other words, when he sees Job’s suffering, how is he using faith to explain what’s going on?)
“I have sinned, I have perverted what is right,
but I did not get what I deserved.”
Job 33:27
Elihu’s statement here is exactly what God hopes people learn about his treatment of them. Cause-and-effect (I fail so I lose) doesn’t apply here! The faith-full relationship of God and a person changes everything.
Discuss the impact of this change by hovering over (or taping on) the images below for guidance in comparing what Elihu said in Job 33:27 with Jesus’ words. (Could Jesus have said the same thing?)
but I did not get what I deserved.”
Job 33:27
Elihu’s statement here is exactly what God hopes people learn about his treatment of them. Cause-and-effect (I fail so I lose) doesn’t apply here! The faith-full relationship of God and a person changes everything.
Discuss the impact of this change by hovering over (or taping on) the images below for guidance in comparing what Elihu said in Job 33:27 with Jesus’ words. (Could Jesus have said the same thing?)
Consider how questions and knowledge are like bridges and islands.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 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. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
Acts 17:24–28
The difference between something that can be known and something that has to be believed is the same difference as that between what God created and what he was trying to communicate through the creating work.
Hopefully, you’ve already started considering this (in the previous Spotlight) in terms of a bridge.
Watch the video below to review the metaphor of the bridge. For each part of the bridge that is highlighted, consider how the car on the bridge is supported as they travel with their question. (Note: The video has no sound.)
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 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. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
Acts 17:24–28
The difference between something that can be known and something that has to be believed is the same difference as that between what God created and what he was trying to communicate through the creating work.
Hopefully, you’ve already started considering this (in the previous Spotlight) in terms of a bridge.
Watch the video below to review the metaphor of the bridge. For each part of the bridge that is highlighted, consider how the car on the bridge is supported as they travel with their question. (Note: The video has no sound.)
Today, put the metaphor into the context of a group of islands connected by a series of bridges.
Watch this video (again, no sound) to start visualizing such a system.
Watch this video (again, no sound) to start visualizing such a system.
Discuss: As people travel from island to island, over bridge after bridge…
Answer these questions, once you’ve established what you feel each part of the image represents:
- What part of that system seems most analogous to questions?
- What part of that system seems most analogous to answers?
- What part of that system seems most analogous to faith?
Answer these questions, once you’ve established what you feel each part of the image represents:
- Did you decide that the islands were the answers because they were solid? Why might a person tend to think of answers as more solid than faith?
- Do you think God considers question+answer a more powerful formula than question+faith?
- What happens if you reconsider the metaphor, switching the answers and faith metaphors you chose?
Learn Perspective
Knowledge can help get you from belief to belief—
but not vice versa.
Knowledge can help get you from belief to belief—
but not vice versa.
Let’s inspire hope as schools reopen.
Here is a list of promises God has made about kids and education:
Children are inheritance from the Lord. They are a reward from him.
Psalm 127:3
See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
Matthew 18:10
I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.
Isaiah 49:25
Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6
But in a time like this, how are we supposed to speak hope into the conversation about the future of kids and education?
Write a tweet. (Well, sort of…)
Inspired by God’s promises, compose a tweet (less than 280 characters) about your hope for kids post-pandemic. (Don’t worry, it’s not a real tweet.)
Type it out in the comments section below and press submit. (If you’re doing the Spotlight in a group, share what you composed with the group before submitting.)
Here is a list of promises God has made about kids and education:
Children are inheritance from the Lord. They are a reward from him.
Psalm 127:3
See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
Matthew 18:10
I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.
Isaiah 49:25
Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6
But in a time like this, how are we supposed to speak hope into the conversation about the future of kids and education?
Write a tweet. (Well, sort of…)
Inspired by God’s promises, compose a tweet (less than 280 characters) about your hope for kids post-pandemic. (Don’t worry, it’s not a real tweet.)
Type it out in the comments section below and press submit. (If you’re doing the Spotlight in a group, share what you composed with the group before submitting.)
Meet our non-profit partner this month.
The Center on Reinventing Public Education is a local organization working hard to answer the questions that the pandemic has brought to education.
The Center on Reinventing Public Education is a local organization working hard to answer the questions that the pandemic has brought to education.
Watch this press panel discussion about reopening schools.
The Center on Reinventing Public Education recently held a press panel to discuss issues facing schools, children, and education processes as things reopen.
Follow these steps before pressing play on the video below…
The Center on Reinventing Public Education recently held a press panel to discuss issues facing schools, children, and education processes as things reopen.
Follow these steps before pressing play on the video below…
- If you’re doing this Spotlight in a group, set a timer for four minutes.
- Each group member should watch any four minutes of the presser they would like.
- When time is up, share what your portion of the video discussed.
Discuss: What did you hear that the professionals are thinking about as they navigate school reopenings that you weren’t considering?
Feel free to submit a prayer request by filling out the below form.
(If you choose to make your request public, you'll see it display in the Current at the end of the Spotlight along with anyone else who did the same.)
(If you choose to make your request public, you'll see it display in the Current at the end of the Spotlight along with anyone else who did the same.)
Pray through your requests—together—as a group.
After submitting your requests in the above form, take some time to share with your group whatever requests the group might have for this week.
After submitting your requests in the above form, take some time to share with your group whatever requests the group might have for this week.
Serve Perspective
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
Theirs is the kingdom.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
Theirs is the kingdom.
Listen and meditate on this song as we close this Spotlight.
Sing along with (or listen to) this song to close out this Spotlight.
Feel free to sing along or simply listen. Do what makes you comfortable—but do whatever helps you focus on the song's meaning best.
Feel free to sing along or simply listen. Do what makes you comfortable—but do whatever helps you focus on the song's meaning best.
Farewell Perspective
In the eyes of God, believing is the good part—
knowing is the crutch.
In the eyes of God, believing is the good part—
knowing is the crutch.
Let's wrap things up by taking a look at what's Current at Illume.
Tap on the buttons in the frame below to see what’s currently happening at Illume—information on everything from current and upcoming online content to live events and opportunities to serve in the community can all be found here.
Tap on the buttons in the frame below to see what’s currently happening at Illume—information on everything from current and upcoming online content to live events and opportunities to serve in the community can all be found here.
Posted in On Letting the Almighty Answer
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