To discuss and clarify the clear choice that Jesus presented to us – to accept
Jesus Christ as your saviour and follow God, or not to.
Need To Take/Have
This document
Slinky black bag
Whiteboard and pen
Red and blue sweets
Rough Outline
This is a rough outline of what I will say and do in the talk. Of course, everything
will be explained more simply and in more detail. After all, this is just an outline!
To start off with we’re going to watch a clip from The Matrix. Has anyone
seen it?
For anyone who hasn’t, the idea is that the entire world that we see is actually
virtual reality, and robots are keeping us under control to feed themselves. However, some
people have found out about it and broken out.
On the clip you’re about to see, Morpheus who already knows about this is about to
offer Neo the chance to find out more about it.
[Watch Clip - The Matrix 24 mins - 28 mins from the start of the film]
Now, towards the end of that clip Neo had to do something, anyone spot it?
He had to make a choice. And tonight, we’re gonna be thinking about the choices we
have to make.
Can anyone think of a choice they have had to make recently, and also whether you made
the right choice? For example, recently I…… Can be anything really…from
something simple to something hard.
[harvest responses, trying to bring in idea of whether the choices were good and
whether they were bad]
Now, sometimes we make good choices, sometimes we make bad ones. However, the bible
tells us that there is one certain choice we can make which it promises us will be a good
one, and we’ll come on to that a bit later. However, choices aren’t just good
and bad, they also can be easy or hard.
Now, in my slinky black bag I have a load of choices that we could have to make. And
what we will do is stick them on this easy-hard line (drawn on whiteboard) depending on
how hard we think they are.
[Start offering people chance to pick a choice and say whether they think it is hard
or not. Stick in decided location on the easy-hard line.]
Now, as you can see, sometimes it is very hard to make choices.
Would you say that the choice Neo had to make in The Matrix was difficult?
[debate it, try and come to a "yes" and find reasons why]
Morpheus was offering Neo the truth – the truth about his life. However, it was
something big that was going to change Neo’s life forever.
And this is exactly like God! Does someone want to read something?
[Get someone to read truth, light, way quote]
John 14 verse 6 - Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes
to know God, but through me."
Like Morpheus, Jesus said that all He was offering us was the truth. And if you accept
what God is telling you, it will change your life for the better!
However, this isn’t really an easy choice to make. Where on the easy-hard line do
you think it should go?
[Hopefully it will get somewhere near the Hard end]
Choosing whether or not to have God in your life is hard. However, I along with other
Christians, believe that God knows what is best for us. God wants to give us all the best
life possible. He loves us and cares about us. But when God created you, he gave you free
will to make that choice.
It is like how Morpheus really wanted Neo to choose his way, but respected his decision,
and we’re going to do something like that now.
In a minute I am going to give all of you, a choice of two pills – a red pill and a
blue pill, and I want you to think of the blue pill as saying that you want more time to
think things through – you don’t want to make a decision about God yet.
And the red pill as saying to God that you are interested in Him, and that you want to
take a step closer to knowing the truth. Just like Neo did, you want to wake up –
understand that you have a special purpose on this earth, know what you were created for.
The choice is yours. So, behind this whiteboard thing are bowls with the 2 different
colour pills in. They both taste nice, honest – and you can suck them rather than
swallow them too!
So, if you come one at a time, behind the whiteboard, choose a pill and go. Everyone can
do it in secret and so on. If you don’t want to, or don’t think you are ready to
make a choice yet, you don’t have to either.
[set things going, let each person choose their pill on their own]
OK, we’re almost finished there. Some of you may have made a big choice there
– may still be a bit confused about things and so on. So, if you want to talk to
anyone about any of this, that’s what me, Nige and Rachel are here for.
OK, so let’s pray. You can pray about anything you want – if you want to say
something to God, you don’t have to say it out loud or anything like that. We’ll
pass round the holy (pick nearest amusing item, e.g. the whiteboard ;-)) and if you want
to say a prayer, feel free.
After prayers, I’ll say a final one about the stuff discussed tonight and for
safety until we meet again, then we’re done.
Choices List
Choosing what clothes to wear to a party.
There are two people dying. You can save one or the other. You have to choose which one
to save.
There are 2 things you want to buy but you can only afford one of them. You have to
choose which one to buy.
Choosing whether or not to jump off a 10 meter high wall.
Choosing what job you want to do when you are older.
Deciding whether to tell a lie to your best friends mum to stop them getting them in to
trouble.
