SHARING YOUR FAITH IN A
SKEPTICAL CULTURE
ACF Adult Sunday School
2019
Session 2: Can Mankind
Live Without God?

COURSE OUTLINE
Session 1 – Jan 13, 2019: Can I Argue Someone into Heaven?
Session 2 – Jan. 20, 2019: Can Mankind Live Without God?
Session 3 – Jan. 27, 2019: Am I Prepared to Give the Reason for My
Hope in Christ?
Session 4 – Feb. 3, 2019: Can We Trust the Biblical Accounts of Jesus?
Session 5 – Feb. 10, 2019: How Do We Know What We Know?
Session 6 – Feb. 17, 2019: Does Christianity Have Convincing Answers
to Today’s Most Pressing Issues?

COURSE OBJECTIVE
The goal of this course is to:
Help us become more responsive, confident, and capable labourers
in the Harvest.
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the
workers are few.” Matthew 9:37
Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the
harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields,
that they are white for harvest.
John 4:35

SESSION 1: CAN I ARGUE SOMEONE
INTO HEAVEN?
This session we explored:
How are people saved anyway? (Really believing, and persisting)
What kind of culture do we find ourselves in? (Diverse, biased
against Christianity)
What are the most common barriers to being open to God in our
culture?
This session’s takeaway:
Understanding God’s design for the church’s part in saving the lost
and how that looks today. (Knowing them and Communicating:
speaking truth, in friendship, and example/deeds)

TODAY’S CULTURE
What kind of culture do we find
ourselves in?
Multicultural
Multi-faith
Secular
Popularization of “the death
of God” and a willingness to
accept the ramifications
Seeing is believing (only
natural explanations)
Religious pluralism (all paths
lead to God)
Antagonistic towards
Christianity
Jesus is a myth
Eye-oriented (listens with its
eyes..)
Emotion driven (..believes with
its feelings)
Others?

SESSION 2: CAN MANKIND LIVE
WITHOUT GOD?
This session we explore:
What do people want out of life?
What four elements define a person’s worldview?
What is the message of the Gospel and how does it answer our
needs?
This session’s takeaway:
Understanding God’s design for human fulfillment and how
the Gospel answers this.

WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT OUT OF
LIFE?
To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the
law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under
the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the
law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from
God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having
the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have
become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might
save some.
1 Corinthians 9:20-22
When you think of the culture around you, when they can’t get what
they would wish for, what do they want out of life?

WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT OUT OF
LIFE?

WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT OUT OF
LIFE?
What does a person’s pursuit for fulfillment tell us about the
person?
Belief structure.
How they make sense of the world they’re in. (The “WHY?”
question.)
Or that only personal satisfaction matters..
Worldview.
People need a foundation and one that is satisfying.

WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT OUT OF
LIFE?
What four elements make up a worldview?
1. Origin
2. Moral structure or reference point
3. Meaning
4. Hope/future

WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT OUT OF
LIFE?
Table Discussion
How might understanding “worldview” help in engaging with
our culture?
Unless you’re engaging at the foundation, you might not affect
any shift.
People are motivated to leave a flawed foundation.
Keep in mind: It’s not a science.

WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT OUT OF
LIFE?
Can you describe what Christianity offers for each part of its
worldview?
1. Origin
2. Moral structure or reference point
3. Meaning
4. Hope/future
Which of these do you think people tend to look for most?

WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT OUT OF
LIFE?
“You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until
they can find rest in you.” Augustine of Hippo
“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can
satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for
another world.” C.S. Lewis
“I am absolutely convinced that meaninglessness does not come
from being weary of pain; meaninglessness comes from being
weary of pleasure. And that is why we find ourselves emptied of
meaning with our pantries still full.”

WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT OUT OF
LIFE?
What does the Bible say about human fulfillment?
What a person desires is unfailing love; better to be poor than a
liar.
Proverbs 19:22
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come
that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves
and breakers have swept over me. Psalm 42:7
If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But
with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence,
serve you. I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his
word I put my hope.
Psalm 130:5

WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT OUT OF
LIFE?
What does the Bible say about human fulfillment?
God is the source of it.
We don’t have God. ..without hope and without God in the
world. Eph. 2:12
A person needs to be connected/reunited with God. How?
So faith comes from hearing.. Romans 10:17a (Salvation
depends on Communication. God is already at work at this, are
we joining Him?)
Communicating what?
The “Gospel”. (Mark 16:15)

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THE
GOSPEL?
Table Discussion
How do you describe the Gospel? What do you find challenging
about explaining the Gospel?

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THE
GOSPEL?
How does the Bible describe the Gospel?
“Good news”
You can have reconciliation with God!
You are free to be back on good terms and have an ongoing
relationship with God who loves You!
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself
through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,
not counting their trespasses against them, and He has
committed to us the word of reconciliation. 1 Corinthians 5:18-
19

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THE
GOSPEL?
How does the Bible describe the Gospel?
You can have reconciliation with God.
3 Elements of the Gospel:
1. Human Apartness (Nature, death, rebellion)
2. God’s Action (Love-driven, justice-upholding)
3. Human Acceptance (Choice, foundational, trade)

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THE
GOSPEL?
What are the 3 elements of the Gospel?
1. Human Apartness (Death, rebellion, nature)
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins..
Ephesians 2:1
..following..the spirit who is now at work in the sons of
disobedience.. Ephesians 2:2
..among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying
out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Ephesians 2:3
For as in Adam all die.. 1 Corinthians 15:22a

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THE
GOSPEL?
What are the 3 elements of the Gospel?
2. God’s Action (Love-driven, justice-upholding)
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his
Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he
loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive
together with Christ.
Ephesians 2:4 (Romans 5:8-9)
The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving
iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty.
Numbers 14:18

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THE
GOSPEL?
What are the 3 elements of the Gospel?
3. Human Acceptance (Choice, foundational, trade)
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he
gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon
Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words
of eternal life.
John 6:67-68
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man
found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had
and bought that field. Matthew 13:44

TODAY’S CULTURE
What kind of culture do we find
ourselves in?
Multicultural
Multi-faith
Secular
Popularization of “the death
of God” and a willingness to
accept the ramifications
Seeing is believing (only
natural explanations)
Religious pluralism (all paths
lead to God)
Antagonistic towards
Christianity
Jesus is a myth
Eye-oriented (listens with its
eyes..)
Emotion driven (..believes with
its feelings)
Others?

TODAY’S CULTURE
Table Discussion
In what ways does a disciple go out into this context differently?
In what ways the same?
They have different worldviews. Different barriers in the way.
The Gospel has not changed.

TODAY’S CULTURE
What are the most common barriers to being open to Christ in our
culture?
Pain and suffering
Hypocritical Christians
Lack of understanding
Misinformation
 About Christianity
 False alternatives
1 Jn 2:16 (— the desires of the flesh,
the desires of the eyes,
and the pride of life— is not from the Father but from the world. )

TODAY’S CULTURE
Table Discussion
In what ways have you encountered these or other barriers in
the people you come in contact with?
How did you approach these barriers? What did you learn?

CONCLUSION
Can mankind live without God?
No.
Why not?
God is the only source of human fulfilment.
How can I help others see this?
Understand their worldview and communicate the Gospel.
What is the Gospel?
Good news about fulfilment:
1. Human Apartness
2. God’s Action
3. Human Acceptance