We live in a time of extraordinary spiritual openness, yet find many people don't want to define who or what God is. What if you could guide someone from ambiguous spirituality to a personal relationship with Jesus? How would you navigate conversations with people who are spiritually open yet skeptical of religion?
This is Provoke and Inspire's Quick Hit, where we recap full length conversations surrounding events happening in culture today, all while asking the question, “what would Jesus think, and what would he want me to do about it?”
Today, people are spiritually open but they're skeptical of religion, and while this can be encouraging, it can be very hard to take someone like that from a vague spirituality to a specific faith. In this episode, I'm going to talk about how we can answer those questions and lead someone to Jesus. What's up, guys? This is Ben Pierce from Provoke and Inspire, and today is another quick hit episode where I take something from culture and I ask the question what would Jesus do and what would Jesus think? This content is enjoyable and inspiring for you. Consider sharing this with someone, subscribe if this is on a channel of some kind, and leave us a rating and a review. That helps increase the exposure of the podcast, and we'd very much appreciate it. As always, this podcast is part of Stiger International, a worldwide missions organization that mobilizes all followers of Jesus to reach the people in their life who would not walk into a church. We need you to get involved. For more information, you can go to Stigerorg S-T-E-I-G-E-R O-R-G. All right, let's go.
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Andrew Huberman is a brilliant neuroscientist and globally influential podcaster. He covers a range of topics from depression to sleep, and his combination of scientific insights and down-to-earth attitude have gained him worldwide fame, and apparently he believes in God. In a recent interview, he explained that the complexity of the brain simply demands the existence of a higher power. That said, he is unwilling to define who or what God is, and is emphatic that religion is deeply personal and should never be pushed on anyone. Andrew's brand of spirituality perfectly captures the predominant mindset of culture today. It's increasingly rare to find hardcore atheists, but you won't find many committed evangelical Christians either. The viral belief system of our day is a vague spirituality which, more than anything else, seems to be defined by a lack of definition. Many of you have someone like Andrew in your life. They're spiritually open, but unwilling to define their beliefs further. The question is how do you share Jesus with someone who seems both open and closed at the same time?
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I had a conversation recently that provided some crucial insight. I was talking to a guy named Matt after one of our evangelistic concerts in Argentina. I asked him what he thought of our show and he said he was inspired by our message. Matt was very passionate about theater and he wanted to use his platform to help people. I asked him if he believed in Jesus and he said he was spiritually open but didn't believe in anything specific. I felt like I should challenge him and I said you know, I think what all people long for most is a deep connection with other people. I felt like I should challenge him and I said you know, I think what all people long for most is deep connection and relationship. He agreed. I continued.
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This is especially true when life gets hard and we experience suffering. When I go through something difficult, I don't need the idea of a person, I need the real thing. I need someone who will listen and cry with me and understand what I'm going through. In the same way, it's not enough to know God in an abstract way, like a subject or a philosophy. We need a relationship with a real person. I explained that Jesus came to earth, died and came back to life to restore our connection to God. We shared how only he can fully know us and understand everything that we're going through and give us hope through it all. I asked him if he wanted to know Jesus in the way that I was talking about and he said yes, I can feel what you're saying.
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We prayed together that Jesus would come into his life the way he had come into mine. It was a profound experience, while people in our lives might be resistant to absolute truth and to find spirituality. They're hungry for something real. We've bought into the lie that objective truth and love are mutually exclusive and therefore accepting everything as equally valid is the right approach. But, just like with my friend after the show, if we take the time to expose the emptiness of ambiguous spirituality and we invite the Holy Spirit to demonstrate his power, people will respond. We live in a time of extraordinary spiritual openness. People are experiencing the hopelessness of materialism and are hungry for something more and more than ever, we need to be gentle with people's doubts but clear with what is true. My prayer for Andrew Huberman, for Matt and for those like them is that in their spiritual curiosity they would find the courage to push past the superficial, encounter the living God and surrender fully to the only true source of life and peace.
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All right, well, that's it for Provoke and Inspire Quick Hit. Hope you enjoyed it. Please share it with someone. If you did leave a rating and review on this content. And, as always, thank you for being part of our story and our journey. We'll continue to bring you relevant cultural content and answer the question how can we be faithful for Jesus outside of the church. That's it. Talk to you next time, thank you.