Read Romans 1:20
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
Count off by threes (exercise requires three groups)
Now your challenge is that your best friend says they will not believe in God unless they are given proof.
Each group is to:
1. Pick a note taker and presenter
2. Discuss your specific topic (15 minutes)
3. Look for the proof (evidence that the apostle Paul says we all have been given
4. Be ready to come back together and convince us, pretending that we are that friend
Group Number One: You are to look for the evidence or proof in the physical world around us.
Group Number Two: You are to look for the evidence or proof in the lives of the people around us.
Group Number Three: You are to look for the evidence or proof in the Bible.
Group One Ideas – The World
1. The magnitude of the universe and the insignificance of man. Looking up at the stars at night.
2. The order of life. From the smallest single cell to the plankton, to the fish of the sea, to the birds, to the animals of the earth, to humans themselves, each is in service to the one below. Are we to conclude that humans are at the top of the pecking order, top of the food chain, and there is none higher?
3. Would not the highest order of life and intelligence be One of peace, One who creates, One who is love? Is that mankind? What in recorded history has ever been created by man from nothing? What has man created that has endured or functioned throughout recorded history without man’s continuing care and intervention.
4. The creation of life. The birth of a child.
5. The lack of proof for evolution. Do we find the skeletons of one-eyed mammals, three-eyed mammals, and horses with six legs or two legs? What we find when we dig is the remnants of a master plan and design that mankind struggles to understand.
6. DNA – has proved that all of mankind has descended from a single man and woman.
Group Two Ideas – People
1. Think about miraculous changes in people that new faith in Jesus has brought about. Example would be Paul, knocked from his horse en route to persecute Christians, changed forever to one of the greatest servants of Jesus. Any modern-day changed lives you know?
2. The “Know God, Know Peace; No God, No peace.” Have you seen people who are at peace even though there are catastrophes in their lives?
3. The silent voice (Holy Spirit) that gives mankind its conscience.
4. Work of the missionaries – unbelievable hardship in the name of Christ.
5. Mankind’s corrupt and sinful nature. There must be a better plan.
Group Three Ideas – Bible
1. The history and accuracy of the prophets and their predictions.
2. The substantiation of Biblical history from archaeology.
3. The lives of the apostles. Men that would die for Christ.
4. Christ and His life.
5. Psalm 119 – The psalm is written in Hebrew with the first eight verses beginning with the first Hebrew letter Aleph. Nine through sixteen begin with Beth. This pattern goes on, as there are eight verses for all of the 22 letters totaling 176 verses. This is equivalent of writing a poem that has each verse start with one of the letters of the alphabet. The psalm (or poem) also uses words to describe the Word of God. The words uses were:
Law – 25 times
Testimonies – 22 times
Ways – 7 times
Precepts – 20 times
Decrees – 22 times
Commands – 22 times
Judgments – 19 times
Word – 23 times
Way of … – 27 times
Faithfulness – 1 time
Righteous and Just (hendiadys) – 1 time
Only 3 verses 84, 122, and 132 do not reference God’s Word.
Now how does that prove God’s existence? No person could write a poem that would last 6,000 years – a poem that made sense to hundreds of generations that began each verse with the letters of the alphabet (in order) and repeated the same topic (the “Word” of God) 189 times. Since its creation, psalm 119 has been used as proof that our Bible is the “inspired Word of God.”
Closing Poem Titled “Knowing”
When we in our bumbling way
Over eons of time and
After exhausting effort,
Stumble over a truth of nature
Wrought from all time,
An infinitesimally small grain of Your truth
In a vast universe of truths,
We nod knowingly,
Connect the dots of DNA and
Pride ourselves for having knowledge.
Understanding escapes us.
“What in the World!” we say,
And in our limited, blind way do not consider
What not of this world.
~Author: Andrea Samson