God’s Not Dead: Godly Decision

Making
Patrick Sherrill
Opening: Choices you make today can have consequences for the rest of your life.
Who will I date? Will I go into the military, get a job or go to college? Will I follow my
friends down the wrong path or do the will of God? Will I drink/do drugs/have sex
before marriage, or stand strong in the face of temptation? These are all decisions
that you already may have had to make or may have to make in the future. What will
you do? To whom will you turn for support? Let’s take a look at a decision Josh had
to make and whether the decision he made was pleasing to God.
Watch God’s Not Dead (Start time-0:23:21-End Time-0:32:32) (9:11 min.)
*(Clip not available with lesson. Watch God’s Not Dead to take advantage of this
lesson.)

Discussion Questions
1. According to Josh, what was the decision he faced? (Whether to defend God, drop the
class, write, “God is Dead,” on a sheet of paper or commit academic suicide.) Do you
think this was a hard decision for Josh to make? (Answers will vary.) Would this have
been a hard decision for you to make? (Answers will vary.) Kara said the following to
Josh: “The decisions you make have real consequences.” What were some of the
consequences for Josh that came from his decision to defend God? (His decision caused
problems between him and his girlfriend, eventually leading to their breakup.
Additional stress and workload at the start of his freshman year.) Do the decisions you
make come with consequences? (Yes.)

2. Pastor Dave said, “You’re here because that still, small voice inside you isn’t happy
with the choices everyone else wants you to make. All you have to decide is whether
you’re willing to listen…It’s not easy, but it’s simple.” What do you think Pastor Dave
meant when he said, “It’s not easy, but it’s simple,” when talking about Josh’s decision?
(Answers will vary, but may include something such as the following: Just because
something is simple to do doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. There is nothing hard
about sitting down and taking a test, but preparing to make a good grade on that test
isn’t easy.)

3. Name some of the people who were trying to influence Josh’s decision. (Pastor Dave,
Kara, his parents.) Is having others influence our choices and decisions a good or bad
thing? (It can be both.) Explain. (It all depends on who we allow to influence our
decisions.)

4. Making decisions that are pleasing to God is a four-step process. Read James 1:5.
According to this verse, what is the first step in the process of making decisions that are
pleasing to God? (We should ask God for guidance. This is done through prayer and
study of His word.) Read Proverb 15:22. Step two in the biblical decision-making
process includes soliciting advice from others. Should we solicit advice from just
anybody when making decisions? (No.) Name some positive characteristics of a person
who would be good to turn to for advice in making God-pleasing decisions. (We should
solicit advice from people who are strong in their faith and have made good decisions in
their lives. We also need to be able to trust that person.) Read Luke 14:28-30. What is
the third step in making good decisions? (We should gather information that will help
us make a good decision.) Read Proverb 3:5-6. What should be the last step we take in
making decisions that please God? (We should trust in God and follow His will.)

5. We have learned that to make God-pleasing decisions, we should do the following

four things: Seek the guidance of God through prayer and His Word; seek godly counsel
from godly people; gather information that will help us make a good decision; and
finally, we should trust God and follow His will concerning our decision. Did Josh follow
these steps as he made his decision to defend God? (Yes. Josh followed all four steps.) Do
you always follow this plan as you make everyday decisions in your life? (Answers will
vary.) Do you think you would make better decisions if you did follow these steps for
making decisions? (Answers will vary.) Is God normally a part of your decision making
process? (Answers will vary.)

6. Read Genesis 35:1-15. What decision did Jacob have to make in these verses?
(Whether to follow the Word of God and move.) What did Jacob choose to do?(He chose
to follow the Word of God and move to Bethel and build an altar there.) Did he make the
right decision? (Yes.) Did Jacob benefit from the decision he made? (Yes. The people in
the surrounding cities did not pursue them due to their fear of God. God also blessed
Jacob and said nations and rulers would come from his descendants.) Do you benefit
from the good decisions you make? (Yes. Many times, good decisions spare us pain and
heartache. Others also may trust us more because of the good decisions we make.) Can
you name some other good decisions that were made by people in the Bible? (Some
good decisions from the Bible include Ruth’s decision to stay with Naomi related in Ruth
1:15-16; David’s decision to spare Saul’s life in 1 Samuel 24:4-7; Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego’s decision not to serve the king’s gods or worship the image of gold he had set
up in Daniel 3:16-18.) What’s the common thread we find in these stories where good
decisions were made? (Ruth, David, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s faith in God
played a big part in the decisions they made.)

7. Read Genesis 3:1-24. What decision did Adam and Eve have to make in these verses?
(To eat or not eat the forbidden fruit.) What did they choose to do? (To disobey God and
eat the forbidden fruit.) Did they make a good or bad decision? (Bad.) What were some
of the consequences of their bad decision? (Pain in childbirth (v. 16); a cursed ground
with thorns and thistles (vv. 17-18); death (v. 19); animals had to be killed to make
clothing for Adam and Eve (v. 21); they were banished from the Garden of Eden (v. 23)).
What are some of the consequences of the bad decisions you make? (Bad decisions can
lead to pain, heartache, punishment and lack of trust from people we love.) Can you
name some other bad decisions made by people in the Bible? (Sarai’s decision to offer
her maid Hagar to Abram to sleep with so he could have children; Abram’s decision to
sleep with her (Gen. 16:1-3); Aaron’s decision to make the people of Israel a golden calf
to worship (Ex. 32:1-4); David’s decision to sleep with a married women, Bathsheba (2
Sam. 11:2-4). What don’t we find in these stories where bad decisions were made? (God
was not a part of these bad decisions.)

8. Christian author Elizabeth George said, “Little choices determine habit; habit carves
and molds character which makes the big decisions.” Do you believe the little choices
you make affect the bigger decisions you make in your life? (Answers will vary.) If the
little choices we make everyday affect the bigger decisions in our lives, are the little
choices we make a big deal? (Answers will vary.)
9. Read Acts 3:19. Many times in life, our bad decisions lead us down the road to sin.
Does God forgive our bad decisions that lead to sin? (Yes.) Though God forgives you, do
you still suffer earthly consequences for your bad decisions? (Yes.)

10. Will you commit to make sure God is involved in the little and big decisions in your
life? (Answers will vary.) Will you commit to encourage others to make their decisions
after turning to God for guidance? (Answers will vary.) When your bad decisions lead to
sin in your life, will you choose to turn to God for forgiveness? (Answers will vary.)

Closing Thought
Your decisions are such important parts of your life. The decisions you have made in
your past have made you into the person you are today, and the decisions you are
making today will affect the person you become in the future. God wants you to make
good decisions and gives you the tools to do so. Prayer, God’s Word, advice from people
of faith, and trust in God and His will for you always should be part of your decision
making process. May God continue to guide you as you make decisions that bring glory
to Him and make you into the young person He wants you to be.

“For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding”
(Prov. 2:6).

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without
finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5).

“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed” (Prov. 15:22).

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the
cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and
are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person
began to build and wasn’t able to finish'” (Luke 14:28-30).

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all
your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3:5-6).

“Then God said to Jacob, ‘Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to
God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.’ So Jacob said
to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Get rid of the foreign gods you have
with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to
Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress
and who has been with me wherever I have gone.’ So they gave Jacob all the foreign
gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at
Shechem. Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so
that no one pursued them. Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is,
Bethel) in the land of Canaan. There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel,
because it was there that God revealed Himself to him when he was fleeing from his
brother. Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside
Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth. After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God
appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob, but you
will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.’ So he named him Israel. And
God said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a
community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.
The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your
descendants after you.’ Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked
with him. Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he
poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. Jacob called the place where
God had talked with him Bethel” (Gen. 35:1-15).

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the
garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden,
and you must not touch it, or you will die.”‘ ‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said
to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and
you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the fruit of the
tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom,
she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he
ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so
they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and
his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of
the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord
God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I heard You in the garden, and I
was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ And He said, ‘Who told you that you were
naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’ The man
said, ‘The woman You put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate
it.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said,
‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’ So the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you
have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on
your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between
you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and
you will strike his heel.’ To the woman he said, ‘I will make your pains in childbearing
very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for
your husband, and he will rule over you.’ To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your
wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat from
it,” cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all
the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the
plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to
the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.’
Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. The
Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord
God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not
be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live
forever.’ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground
from which he had been taken. After He drove the man out, He placed on the east side of
the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the
way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3:1-24).

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of
refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19).