How Can I Be Sure? Series

Question to be asked:

This question is really important to me. I’m wondering how you can be so confident that our way is the right way. With all the different religions in the world, all the different ways of interpreting the Bible, how can we be sure that we have the right way? Or does it even matter?

Well, does it even matter?

I want to make a note to everyone - this booth here is just a fun way each week to remind us of this series “I’ve got questions.” We’ve all got questions, don’t we? And just like Lucy Vanpelt isn’t really a source of answers to life, neither is anything that comes just from me personally - not really. My ongoing goal, as we share these questions that you’ve turned in, is that you’ll be like the Bereans that Luke mentions in Acts:

Acts 17:11 - Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

May the Lord make us all like those people in Berea. I can give you a Nichols’ worth, but the real answers are going to be found only when we examine the Scriptures!

Here’s this big question for today: How can I be sure? (or does it even matter?)

So, does it matter?

There is so much of life that doesn’t matter.

• Everything that has anything to do with TV or movies. Think about it: Are you going to look back on your life and wish you had watched more movies, videos, or TV?

• Is your car’s tire pressure accurate based on cold pressure right now, or was it checked when the tires were slightly warm? That could be the difference between 31 and 32 PSI.

• Chiefs or 49’ers? I know Brian Beck will be cheering for the Chiefs tonight. We’re even going to gather in Fellowship A to watch the game! But, when all is said and done, regardless of who wins, it really doesn’t matter in life.

• Before you put the biscuits in the oven, did you allow it to preheat to a full 350 degrees?

• Do you have the latest and greatest technology?

• Any question that begins with the words “Don’t you think…?” (That’s not a question - that’s the couched way of an opinionated person trying to get others to listen to what he has to say)

• Paper or plastic?

• Your high score on a video game. One of the points shot across the bow at our men’s Bible study last year was the problem of men becoming experts at things of no consequence rather than taking responsibility to lead and to invest in things that will last forever.

• What everyone else thinks of you

There is so much in life that really just doesn’t matter.

Akira Haraguchi, 69, in 2006 recited 100,000 digits of pi from memory. It took him 16hrs 30mins.

Ashrita Furman is a Guinness World Records record-breaker. Furman has set more than 600 official Guinness Records and currently holds 226 records. So, he holds the Guinness world record for the most Guinness world records.

Francis Chan writes, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” (Francis Chan - Crazy Love)

Lots of things don’t matter. But this question, “How can I be sure?” really does matter, doesn’t it?

1. This REALLY Matters

Your presence here today demonstrates that you have some interest in things that do matter. You at least suspect there’s more to life than just what you can hold in your hands now. We believe and teach that there’s an Eternal Creator, that we’re responsible to Him, and that there is an unseen, spiritual dimension to us that will exist forever somewhere. So, here we are, because we’d like to know about that and somehow be sure that we give that the right place in our thinking and in our lives.

Jesus said to Martha, who was anxious and troubled about many things,

Luke 10:41-42

…“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Mary was at Jesus’ feet, listening as He taught, rather than being captivated by anything else that was going on around her. She was focusing on what matters.

So, our search for what truly matters should reflect our belief that it truly matters.

Jesus told 2 short stories in Matthew 13 that I think are an illustration of this search…

Matthew 13:44-46

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.