Contend Pt.2 Why Do We Believe? Series

March 17, 2013

Love does. CONTEND pt.2 // why?

Good Morning! Why do we believe?

We want our church to be a place where answers are found and people not only believe but can explain why they believe.

It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild.

Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets.

When he looked at the sky, he couldn’t tell what the weather was going to be.

Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.

Also, being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"

"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded.

So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.

A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it going to be a very cold winter?"

"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it’s definitely going to be a very cold winter." The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find.

Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"

"Absolutely," the man replied. "It’s going to be one of the coldest winters ever."

"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy." How can we be sure about God?

Seriously, why do we believe?

I know some of you are like me... You were raised in a church and even though some of you may have been in and out of church for a while...

Some of you cannot ever remember a time where you didn’t believe...

You just always have...

Others of you had time in your life where you didn’t believe at all... Then ultimately something happened... Your eyes became open and you believed...

I want to be careful this morning to not discredit FAITH...

Faith ultimately is what ultimately has brought us to belief...

Faith is hard to explain... It’s hard to explain because it came from God... It’s a gift.

Some of you in this room pryer to today, the only answer you may have for someone when they ask you about it is... I just know it’s real... Or I can just feel it... You might even say, I wish I could explain it to you, but I can’t... It’ s just there and it’s real...

This is beautiful! Truthful! BUT... you knew it was coming... Just because that may be the truth does not mean that we shouldn’t search and seek how to help others who don’t know understand...

God has given us so much to work with! It’s amazing how much truth is out there that backs up what we believe in...

From Science, to archeology, to the bible itself there is so much truth...

Today I want to point out 4 keys of proof... Can I promise that if you are an atheist in here today that you will automatically become a believer? NO.

Can I say if you really take this to heart today if you are an atheist it will make you question why you are an atheist? Yes.

Can I say to everyone in here who struggles with sharing with people why they believe that this will help you? Yes.

Above that I would say that we live in a culture that is growing intelligently, educationally, and intellectually... We need to be ready... We need to give proofs.

We need to be able to contend for the faith in which we hold more dear than life itself.

1. CONTENDING FOR GOD.

The Universe exists and is real. Every rational person must admit this point.

If it did not exist, we would not be here to talk about it. So the question arises, “How did the Universe get here?” Did it create itself? If it did not create itself, it must have had a cause.

Let’s look at the law of cause and effect. As far as science knows, natural laws have no exceptions.

This is definitely true of the law of cause and effect, which is the most universal and most certain of all laws.

Simply put, the law of cause and effect states that every material effect must have an adequate cause that existed before the effect.