The Gods We Grew Up With | Investigating God | Bryant Golden

This powerful exploration challenges us to examine whether we've walked away from faith unnecessarily by rejecting distorted versions of God rather than God himself. We're invited to consider six common childhood versions of faith that many of us inherited: Safety Net God who promises bad things won't happen to good people, On-Demand God who always answers our prayers exactly as we want, Hype God whose presence depends on our emotional experiences, Guilt God who controls through fear and shame, Anti-Science God who pits faith against reason, and Gap God who only exists in what we can't explain. The message draws from Peter's instruction to always be prepared to give a reason for our hope with gentleness and respect, and Jesus's own words that in this world we will have trouble. We're reminded of John the Baptist's story, a man of extraordinary faith who still doubted in prison, showing us that even the greatest believers struggle when reality doesn't match their expectations. The central invitation is to reconsider whether the God we stopped believing in ever actually existed in the first place, and whether there's room to rediscover a more robust, intellectually honest faith that can withstand adult questions and real-world suffering. The Main Idea: The gods we abandon usually never existed to begin with. The Jesus we left was too fragile to be of much help anyway. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We are an alternative to church as usual. Our Sunday worship service is approximately a 75-minute experience designed to introduce people to the message of Jesus and equip believers to live their lives in response to the Gospel while their kids enjoy one of our safe children's environments. Centerpoint is designed to meet you wherever you are on the journey whether you are just checking out the "church thing" or you are a committed Christ follower. Centerpoint is a casual environment that combines today's music with creative media and relevant teaching. We hope you will visit us at Centerpoint Church regardless of what your past church experience has looked like.