Playing With A Snake

Playing With A Snake

Watch the video "Worlds Largest Dead Snake" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wEDiCHsZSg

Opening Question: What is the first thing you thought of when you saw the snake? Where you surprised when the snake struck? Why? Aren't snakes made to strike?

Read "The Boy and The Rattlesnake Story"

A little boy was walking down a path and he came across a rattlesnake. The rattlesnake was getting old. He asked, "Please little boy, can you take me to the top of the mountain? I hope to see the sunset one last time before I die." The little boy answered "No Mr. Rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you'll bite me and I'll die." The rattlesnake said, "No, I promise. I won't bite you. Just please take me up to the mountain." The little boy thought about it and finally picked up that rattlesnake and took it close to his chest and carried it up to the top of the mountain. 

They sat there and watched the sunset together. It was so beautiful. Then after the sunset the rattlesnake turned to the little boy and asked, "Can I go home now? I am tired, and I am old." The little boy picked up the rattlesnake and again took it to his chest and held it tightly and safely. He came all the way down the mountain holding the snake carefully and took it to his home to give him some food and a place to sleep. The next day the rattlesnake turned to the boy and asked, "Please little boy, will you take me back to my home now? It is time for me to leave this world, and I would like to be at my home now."

The little boy

carefully picked up the snake, took it close to his chest, and carried him back to the woods, to his home to die. Just before he laid the rattlesnake down, the rattlesnake turned and bit him in the chest. The little boy cried out and threw the snake upon the ground. "Mr. Snake, why did you do that? Now I will surely die!" The rattlesnake looked up at him and grinned, "because that's what rattlesnakes do and you knew what I was when you picked me up!" 

• If you play with a snake what is eventually going to happen? You get bit! Same with sin, yet too often we don't take our sinful nature that serious. We play with sin and temptation in this way by seeing how far we can go with out being caught or suffering a consequence.

The bible says that sin is serious! To God it's a matter of life or death!

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Satan wants you to become comfortable with your sin. To think its really not that bad. That you can handle it. That it really does not lead to death.

• In what way does Satan use the world to deceive us into thinking that certain sins are not really that bad?

1. Sexual immorality.
2. Sex before marriage.
3. Lying and cheating (white lies...etc).
4. Abusing Alcohol.

• What sins are you playing with or maybe not taking that serious? If you viewed that sin the way God does as a matter of life and death would you still do it?

• What about allowing our selves to be put in compromising situations? In what ways can we put our selves in situations that will tempt us to sin?

1. Hanging with the wrong friends.
2. Unhealthy dating relationships.
3. What we watch on TV.
4. The music we listen to.

• What ways or things in your life do you need to change this week that are tempting or hindering you from obeying Gods word?

Proverbs 14:12

There is a way that seems right to a man, 
   but in the end it leads to death.

• How does this scripture relate to what we are talking about?

1. We can't trust our feelings.
2. We need to follow Gods way and not our own.
3. Our way will lead to destruction.
4. Gods way leads to life.

Galatians 6:7-8

 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

• How does this Scripture relate to what we are talking about?

1. Sinful nature leads to destruction.
2. We cannot play with sin and expect to not reap destruction.
3. God created his word to save us from ourselves (sinful nature).
4. If we sow to please God and not ourselves we will have eternal life!

Challenge: To stop playing with sin and to see it the way God sees it as a matter of life or death! What decisions are you going to make today to get more serious about the sin in your life?