Believe In God Or Believe In A Dog Series

EXCUSE SERIES #1: BELIEVE IN GOD OR BELIEVE IN A DOG

iNTRO: On the board, I am going to make to ask the students to give excuses as to why their classmates do not give their life to Christ.

THE QUESTION: WHY DO SOME PEOPLE NOT BELIEVE IN JESUS?

After I get the list on the board (and I really am curious as to what the youth say on this—I may even take the list and use it to plan more lesson in subsequent weeks), I am going to transition.

TRANSITION: ABOUT BELIEF: Here’s the deal, people can believe all the things that they want to believe. I was reading a story this week from Yahoo News about a man who believes he should have been a dog, so he lives his life in such a manner. He wears a mascot costume, eats Pedigree dog food out of a bowl, and enjoys Milk Bones. True, wearing a full costume, 48 year old Gary Matthews who wishes to be called Boomer. His 68 year old neighbor calls him a “really nice guy.” His sister who lives in California has disowned him. And Gary….er…Boomer…cannot remember the last time he was on a date.

SO PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED TO BELIEVE ANYTHING THEY WANT TO BELIEVE, IT’S A FREE COUNTRY. BUT HERE IS A HARD LESSON ON LIFE:

IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU BELIEVE IF WHAT YOU BELIEVE IS WRONG!

GARY MATTHEWS IS NOT A DOG.

MOREVER, THERE ARE A TON OF PEOPLE WHO RATHER LIVE LIKE DOGS THAN FOLLOW GOD. THEY MAKE EXCUSES, SO FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF THE REASONS….REASONS WHY THEY HAVE NO EXCUSE.

REASON #1: THE BIBLE

BIBLE VERSE: ROMANS 1:16-20

16 " For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good news) of Christ, for it is God’s power working unto salvation [for deliverance from eternal death] to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrender and firm reliance, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,

17 For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith.

18 For God’s [holy] wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder the truth and make it inoperative.

19 For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God [Himself] has shown it to them.

20 For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification]. (Romans 1:16-20)

I know this is pretty straight forward, but the first and primary reason we are without excuse is because the Bible tells us that we do not have an excuse.

For the doubters on the Bible’s credibility, let’s simply ask some questions (I could go into thousands here but it’s not the main point of the lesson).

A. What are the odds of the Bible stating hell is in the center of the earth and then science proves that the center of the earth is hot?

B. What are the odds of the Bible mentioning a worldwide flood and then having archeology absolutely confirm this as true?

C. What are the odds of the Bible stating that the Messiah would die on two pieces of wood and then Jesus dies on the cross hundreds of years later? Remember, there was no execution devise at the time consisting of two pieces of wood when the prophecy was written.

D. God told Abraham that his descendents would be as many as the stars in the sky. This was told to an aged old man. Yet, he had a child. What are the odds of this prophecy coming true? Moreover, science at the time of this prophecy and for the next 1000 years actually falsely numbered the stars in the hundreds. So, that fact makes this prophecy even more remarkable.

(Leaders, there are more on this in the appendix, but you get the idea).

REASON #2: CREATION

BIBLE VERSE: PSALM 19:1-4

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows and proclaims His handiwork.

2 Day after day pours forth speech, and night after night shows forth knowledge.

3 There is no speech nor spoken word [from the stars]; their voice is not heard.

4 Yet their voice [in evidence] goes out through all the earth, their sayings to the end of the world. Of the heavens has God made a tent for the sun.