Who Do You Believe? The Father Of Lies Or The Father Of Truth?

Illus: I heard a very famous preacher one time say, (I want mention his name but if I did many of you would recognize his name immediately) He said this “I have never been discouraged a day of my life!”

That statement shocked me when he said that because such men in the Bible as:

• John the Baptist got discouraged.

• Elijah became very discouraged.

• King David got discouraged.

I know that preachers are not suppose to lie but this preacher who said he had never been discouraged a day in his life I find that hard to believe.

I cannot imagine why he would make such a statement!!!

Illus: This famous preacher makes me think of a minister who noticed a group of boys standing around a small stray dog.

• “What are you doing, boys?”

• “Telling lies,” said one of the boys.

• The same boy said “The one who tells the biggest lie gets the dog.”

• “Well, when I was your age,” the shocked minister said, “I never thought of telling a lie…NEVER!!!”

• The boys looked at each other and finally, one of them shrugged his shoulder and said, “I guess he wins the dog.”

Every day we hear people say things and we have to decide do we BELIEVE what we just heard.

Let me illustrate…

Illus: A man was buying two bags of dog food at Petco, and a lady behind him asked whether he had a dog or not.

He thought what did she think I had—an elephant?

Since he wasn’t busy, he thought he would have some fun with her for asking such a silly question.

• He told her no, I didn’t have a dog, but I was starting back in on the Purina dog diet, although I ended up in the hospital the last time I tried it.

• However on the bright side, I lost 30 pounds.

• I told her it was a perfect diet: It is nutritionally balanced, so you just load your pockets with Purina Dog Chow, and eat one or two nuggets whenever you get hungry.

• She asked me why I ended up in the hospital. Was it because dog food is not meant for humans?

• I told her, “No, I stopped in the middle of the parking lot at Petco to scratch my fleas, and a car hit me.

• Petco won’t let me shop there anymore.”

Telling lies also make me think of…

Illus: The school teacher that had a young boy on her class that was constantly late for school and what's worse is that he always had a big lie explaining why.

The teacher tells the principal that she has had it with his exaggerations.

The principal tells her to send the boy to him the next time he shows up late. He will tell the kid a lie so big that he will never tell another one.

The next day, the boy shows up 2 hours late.

The boy says, “I was 2 hours early today so I had time to fish in the pond on my way to school. I caught a 17-pound bass and had to take it home. If I didn't clean it and freeze it, my mom would've been angry. That's why I'm so late”

The teacher promptly takes him to the principal's office and explains the story to the principal.

The principal tells Johnny about his own trip to school that day. He said, “I was walking to school on the trail through the park today when I heard something behind me. I turned around and was shocked to see a giant grizzly bear behind me. He was 24 feet tall and had 6-inch fangs. He was going to attack me! Just then a little dog ran out from the bushes, jumped up and attacked the bear. The little dog killed the bear and then ate the whole bear right there in front of me.”

What do you think of that, young man?"

The boy replied, “Oh yeah, that's my dog Sparky. That's his third bear this week."

Teachers hear some big lies but also I am not sure you know this but a preacher hear a lot of lies on why people do not attend church.

Some of these lies are really astounding.

Remember in Luke 14:18-20 And they all with one consent began to make excuse…

• The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. (Of course Sunday is the only day he can do this!)

• And another said I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. (Of course Sunday is the only day he can do this!)