Excuses! We Are Full Of Them!

Excuses, We Are Full Of Them!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

ACTS 22:16

Well if I get to it I will get to it. I just did not feel like getting up this morning and going out to that church full of hyprocites, I mean who do they think they are? I just got in at 2 this morning and I know they will understand I have to get my beauty sleep. I go up and was just to tired to come to church today, but man that beach was nice…

Today we are going to dig a little deeper into the field of excuses. I have a phd in excuses and most of us do, right? What we will do over the next few minutes s take the idea of making and offering excuses to the next step. Especially directed towards those who do not believe Christ as their Savior yet and to those that do have Jesus as their Savior and offer excuses of staying out of church, etc., and to help each of us in witnessing to others.

The Scripture focus for today is pretty easy and comes from one verse. Turn with me as we go to Acts 22:16.

We see in this one verse of Scripture Ananias asking Paul “And now why are you waiting?”

Family why does one wait? Why does on wait until it is to late? Pretty simple it boils down to excuses….So let’s explore this idea of why people wait and put off the Lord.

2

First the famous::Not now, but later, just give me a while

Did you know that procrastination or excuses is one of satan’s most powerful and greatest weapons?

Every time we offer up an excuse to the Lord, satan gets a kick out of it and scores a point. Satan loves to shout for joy each and everytime, and it is the devil’s goal to use his power upon us in the area’s of excuse making.

A 6 year old’s excuse…”I am to young to know about God.”

A 14 year old’s excuse..”I am to busy at school to think about God, besides that everyone picks on me if I go to your church.”

A 19 year old..”I am to busy at college and way to smart to think about Jesus, who did you say He was”

A 34 year old..”I am to tied up with my children, ball games, soccer, work, just to tired for Jesus right now and besides that you all are hypocrites.”

A 45 year old..”I am to tired after working all week, and I have a race to go to this weekend and a football game next weekend.”

3

A 50 year old…”I am to worried right now, man retirement and grandkids”

A 62 year old….”God, well I don’t know what you want from me but tell Him I am just to tired.”

An 80 year old…”I did not need Him the past 80 years.”

And then comes death sometime unexpected in the 20’s – 60’s and then the excuses we have made turn into sorrow for family members as they know your excuse for not accepting Christ as Savior has turned to a firey ending of Hell.

Let me ask you these questions. Saved or unsaved….When it comes to making decisions about or for Christ, about or for your church relationship think about this…

Your house is on fire, do you stay in it or leave?

You have a deadly disease, do you treat it or not?

Most would answer to leave and treat. But when it comes to our soul we treat it like it is second class. Let me tell you what Matthew says about the soul. Matthew 10:28 states, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

4

If you are not saved and you know that it will take Christ to save you from Hell why delay. If you are saved and church and God are second class, but you know that these two

combined will make life easier to live, why keep making excuses against both?

The second excuse we like to offer is..”I Don’t know enough.”

You know that statement is true. You don’t know enough when you are unsaved, but once you ask Jesus into your heart as your Savior, you gain instant knowledge of the saving power that Jesus has just performed in your life. I hear this excuse all the time. I don’t know enough about this or that. Ask someone else. It does not just apply to those yet saved, but even those saved who shun away God in areas of service in the church by saying, “I don’t know enough.”