GOD'S WORD SHOWS ME I NEED A SAVIOR

GOD’S WORD SHOWS ME MY SIN & NEED FOR A SAVIOR

Unbroken egg

Small glass bowl

Duct Tape

Nails & Hammer

Glue Stick

Wipes or towel

White board & markers

Write (but hide - rewrite of Romans 3:23 - see below)

I’m going to write a set of words and I want you to figure out how what they have in common

RACECAR	DEED	LEVEL
		POP
EYE		RADAR

This kind of puzzle is called a “palindrome.”  You are able to read it forwards and backwards, and it still says the same thing.  It’s like you spell it and then unspell it but both work!

What kinds of things can you do, and then undo?

Tie a shoe

Make a pile of things

Give someone money and get it back

I want a volunteer to help me discover if this is something I can do and undo:

Thank you, xx.  Let’s move to where everybody can see us.  So we have here a clear bowl, and an egg – correct?  Okay – I’d like you to break this egg.

(volunteer breaks egg)

Good job, right everyone!  Let’s give her a hand.  (Applause)

Okay, now xx, I’d like you to put it back in the shell and make it just like it was before you cracked it.  Can you just use your hands to get it back in the shell?  (have her scoop it into the shell)

Okay, now it’s obvious we have a problem – what is it?

We need to make the shell whole again.  How can we do this?  Maybe a few things in this bag can help.

(Have bag with:

Glue stick

Duct tape

Nails and hammer

Be kind of dramatic trying to duct tape, or hammer it closed, or glue stick – finally, just have the person admit – it can’t be done.

Thank you, volunteer!  Here’s a way to clean off your hands.

So why wasn’t xx able to make the egg just like it was before?

There are just some things you can’t “undo” once they are done.   You can’t “fix” it again. 

Unless we have a time machine, we can’t “undo” what we’ve done. That’s the way the universe is made.  When things happen, they can’t be undone. 

Sometimes this is nice.  I have 2 children, and I am so glad they happened and can’t somehow be “undone.” 

But sometimes things happen that aren’t nice, and unpleasant things happen as a result. 

You are smart enough to know even now that our world is wonderful in many many ways, but there are some ways that it is rotten.  We hear about pollution - how this beautiful world is being poisoned by the garbage we humans produce and don’t get rid of properly.

You hear all the time about horrible things people do to one another - murders, wars.  Even in your own life, there are things that aren’t wonderful.  People get angry and hurt one another.  Things get broken or stolen. 

Maybe even you have sometime hurt someone else with your words or what you’ve done, and even if you really wished, it, you can’t take back your words or what you’ve done. 

In fact, there are very few things we know for absolute certainty, but one thing I do know - every person who has ever lived, and that includes every one of you here - has done something wrong.      

In your START ZONE, you learned a Bible verse that tells us this.  It’s in the book of Romans 3:23.  Now when I wrote this down, I got confused and may need a little help to get God’s words right.  Who can help me?

FOR JUST A FEW HAVE MADE MISTAKES AND FALL SHORT OF BEING A NICE PERSON.

ROMANS 3:23.

Let’s get this right.  Who can look up Romans 3:23 and help me fix this? (Call on several children - have each one correct one thing wrong with the verse - erase the error and put the right word in as they help you)

ONE REASON GOD GAVE US THE BIBLE IS TO SHOW US THAT EVERY ONE OF US HAS A PROBLEM, THE PROBLEM OF SIN.

Now we could fix the verse, couldn’t we?  We erased the mistakes and put in the right words.  But the problem with doing things wrong (sin) is that there is no eraser that can make them go away.  There is no such thing as a “sin eraser.”  Sin isn’t like a dry erase marker. 

Sin is like this broken egg, once we sin, there’s nothing we can do to “undo” the sin. 

Now this is bad news.  I'm not someone who likes to hear bad news - are you?  So why would God want us to know this?  It’s because of one big reason.   Until we know the bad news, we won't understand the good news.  Until we know we are sinners, we won’t see why we need to believe in Jesus.

Let me tell you the story about Nicolas.  Nicolas was a boy with lots of energy and one day, while doing tricks on his bike, he hit the curb and flew through the air.  He landed on his leg.  In the hospital they took an x-ray and sure enough, one part of the bone was here, and another there.  The doctors said - It’s broken and you must be in a cast for 6 weeks to let it heal.

Nonsense, said Nicolas.  It looks almost like the other one.  I don’t believe you.  You just want to make me feel bad.  And so Nicolas jumped off the table to stand on his feet, but what happened?

He collapsed in a heap.  "My leg isn’t broken!"  But no matter how he protested, it didn’t change the fact that his leg was broken.

Your leg isn’t broken, but sin breaks something more important than a bone.  It breaks the relationship we have with God.  It is so awful that God cannot be close to someone who sins.

Now what would you think if God knew that each person sinned, but didn’t tell anyone?  That would be awful, wouldn’t it?  The doctor had to tell Nicholas his leg was broken so it could be healed.  And so God had to tell us this bad news.

Now if that were all there was, it would be bad news indeed.  I’m a sinner, you’re a sinner, and there is nothing we can do to “undo” the sin we’ve done.  There is no eraser in this world big enough or powerful enough to make that sin go away.  But the very good news is – that’s NOT all there is!

Next week, we will look at the last reason why God gave us the Bible.  And I’ll tell you what it is tonight::

GOD GAVE US THE BIBLE SO WE CAN SEE THAT WE NEED A SAVIOR, AND THAT THAT SAVIOR IS JESUS CHRIST.