God Is Closer Than You ThinkCurriculum KitSix Sessions on Experiencing the Presence of GodThe story of the Bible is the story of God's desire to be with people. God is extending himself,stretching out to reach us, to fill our lives with his presence. Every moment of your life is like a pagein a Where's Waldo? book. God is there, the Scriptures tell us-on every one of them. But theease with which he may be found varies from one page to the next.In this six-session Zondervan Groupware" video curriculum, award-winning author John Ortbergserves as guide and interpretive leader for experiencing the presence of God in everyday life. Withhis engaging and humorous style, Ortberg transforms our view of God's presence from one thatmay seem hidden or distant to one that is closer than you think.The curriculum kit is designed for churches to use as a spiritual growth campaign. It includes a sixsessionsmall group participant's guide, a six-session DVD (with a thirty-two-page leader's guide)featuring John Ortberg teaching, a CD-ROM (with sermon resources and promotional materials),and one copy of the hardcover book.The participant's guide, Small Group Edition DVD, and book are also sold separately.

God Is Closer Than You Think Participant’s Guide
Copyright © 2005 by John Ortberg
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
ISBN-10: 0-310-26639-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-26639-6
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International
Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used
by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or
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Interior design by Michelle Espinoza
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Session 1
God’s Great Desire
for People
The story of the Bible isn’t primarily about the desire of people to
be with God: it’s the desire of God to be with people.
John Ortberg

Questions to Think About
1. It is one thing for us to talk about how much we want to experience
God, but how much do you think God wants to be with us? In what
ways do you know God desires a close relationship with you?
2. The Bible says that God reveals himself to us. In what ways can we
see, hear, feel, or otherwise recognize God’s presence? When does
God seem most real to you? What seemingly ordinary things in life
have made you aware of his presence?
3. Is it possible for God to be with us here on earth, every day, at every
moment—and for us not to be aware of it? Explain your answer.
8 God Is Closer Than You Think
Video Observations
How close is God?
God looks at us through the eyes of a father
Jacob’s story—God shows up where you least expect him
The message of the “bear” story: God is always with us
May the Lord’s face shine upon you
Session 1: God’s Great Desire for People 9
Video Discussion
1. How did you relate to the scene of John Ortberg speaking from
the top of the tower as being a visual image of the way many of us
view God? What other visual images or word pictures would you
use to describe the ways in which we view God?
2. When we think of God as being far away, how does that view
impact our relationship with him?
3. What did you think or feel when John Ortberg talked about God
looking at each of us with the loving eyes of a father, like the father
with his son’s photograph on his screensaver?
4. What if God is really all around us—and we don’t realize it? What
might we be missing if God, like the adult bear snarling at the mountain
lion, really is closer than we think?
10 God Is Closer Than You Think
5. Michelangelo’s fresco of Adam and God in the Sistine Chapel represents
the perspective that the Bible is about God’s desire to be
with people rather than our desire to be with God. In what ways
does this perspective change your perception of your relationship
with God? What practical difference might this new perspective
make in your life?

Group Exploration
1. The story of the Bible is the story of God’s desire to be with people.
He extends himself, reaching out to us today just as he has since
the day he created Adam. Let’s explore together God’s desire to
be with us and the impact it can have on our lives.
a. What does the psalmist David say about God’s knowledge of
us and his actions toward us? (See Psalm 139:1–10.) What
does this reveal about God’s desire for relationship with us?
b. Psalm 89 gives us a picture of the kind of relationship God can
have with his people and his people can have with him. Read
verses 15–17 and 19–28 and note some of the qualities of a
close relationship with God. Part of this psalm refers specifically
to David, who had a remarkable relationship with God,
but use the images in this psalm to discuss what a close relationship
with God might look like in our lives today.
2. In the video, John Ortberg shared stories that illustrate the heart,
character, and commitment of a loving father—the father who kept
his son’s photograph on his screensaver, the story about the bear
cub. In what ways do the following Scripture passages show us that
God is our ever-present, loving Father?
12 God Is Closer Than You Think
Scripture Passage God as Our Father
Psalm 145:17–19
Psalm 46:1–3
Psalm 32:8; Isaiah 42:16
Psalm 103:8–14
James 1:17
Session 1: God’s Great Desire for People 13

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Excerpted from God Is Closer Than You Think: Six Sessions on Experiencing the Presence of God by John Ortberg
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