Ready with a Reason
Ever get in an argument with someone about Christianity?
Or someone say you can’t trust the Bible?
What did you say?
Afterward did you say, “Oh I wish I would have said this_________!”
1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
1. Always be prepared/ready
2. Make a defense (apologia)
3. Reason for the hope
4. Do it with gentleness and respect
Ready with a Reason
1. Always be prepared/ready
Awake! Alert, recognizing there are opportunities all over the place
2 Tim 4;2
WHY? About life and death.
2. Make a defense (apologia)
We are in a spiritual battle – need to be ready to play defense;
Not enough to have answers and know answers, we need to engage in the battle
Need to Make a Defense!
3. Reason for the hope
If someone asks why you have hope, what would you say?
Our hope is heaven, Jesus paid my sins, account paid in full
But WHY do you have hope?
Jesus changed my life;
Jesus changed my friend’s life
God is the ultimate Promise Keeper and is faithful
TESTIMONY
Revelation 12:10–11 (ESV)
10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
EXPERIENTIAL REASONS
YOUR STORY BELONGS TO YOU!
OTHER REASON – character of God –
God is creator, God’s fingerprints are all over creation
God is just – he will bring the wicked to judgment
God is loving – he desires none should perish
I can trust a God that is all these things.
MORAL LAW- must be a moral law giver
Christianity is the religion that best corresponds to reality
Christianity has the best answers for life’s problems
DNA code for each human is 3billion letters long, it is a digital code and evidence for design. I am not a product of random chance, but a creation of an amazing Creator.
I have examined the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus and convinced it happened, validating the claims of Christ.
I see biblical prophecy being fulfilled in modern times; things that were thought impossible yet predicted by the Bible coming to pass
8 prophecies about Jesus – silver dollars 2 feet deep in the state of Texas
4. Do it with gentleness and respect
We have the best answers, we have the answer (Jesus the way the truth and the life)
GOAL TO WIN THE AUDIENCE NOT THE ARGUMENT
We need to contend for the faith (Jude 3) but be careful that we are not contentious.
(2 Timothy 2:24)
When we walk away, do people feel lectured or listened to and loved?
Key Point – QUESTIONS provide answers
If someone asks you, “Tye, so why are you a Christian?” – what would you say?
I could say:
Christianity is the religion that best corresponds to reality
Christianity has the best answers for life’s problems
DNA code for each human is 3billion letters long, it is a digital code and evidence for design. I am not a product of random chance, but a creation of an amazing Creator.
I have examined the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus and convinced it happened, validating the claims of Christ.
I see biblical prophecy being fulfilled in modern times; things that were thought impossible yet predicted by the Bible coming to pass
“Tye, so why are you a Christian?”
I ask, “John, why do you want to know?”
“well my grandfather died last week after suffering from Alzheimers for 3 years. He didn’t recognize anyone for the past 18 months and it has been really hard. I don’t understand why if God is real, why would he allow such suffering for grandfather and my family?”
All those other “reasons” are pointless.
Talk about the love of God, sin in the world, God going to work everything out
“Tye, so why are you a Christian?”
I ask, “John, why do you want to know?”
“I was raised Catholic but only went on Christmas and Easter. I found it boring. But now I feel like I’m floating through life aimlessly, wondering if there is more to life.”
QUESTIONS provide answers
Also, when I just make statements, it is easy for people to reject or argue the statement, but if I can ask questions that lead people to realize the contradictions in their worldview, it makes them more open to what I have to share.
A mind convinced against its will is of the same opinion still.
Pebble in their shoe.
Knowledge, wisdom, skill
Knowledge – know the facts about your faith, reasons for faith
Wisdom – knowing what to say or where to in the conversation (Holy Spirit-led)
Skill – learning the tactics to guide the discussion; learning how to ask the right questions to get to the right answers
Luke 24:44–47 (ESV)
44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
Holy Spirit is the one who wins the person
Overarching principle- Holy Spirit what do you want me to say to this person?
The Holy Spirit does the persuading
2 Corinthians 5:20–21 (ESV)
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
What is success?
Swing for the fences, or just get a hit?
Gardener vs. harvester;
1 Corinthians 3:6–9 (ESV)
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
John 4:35–38 (ESV)
35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
THE GREATEST APOLOGETIC?
John 13:35 (ESV)
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 17:23 (ESV)
23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
RESOURCES FOR MORE
Tactics – by Greg Koukl
Street Smarts by Greg Koukl
Evidence that Demands a Verdict – Josh and Sean McDowell
Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe The Big Book of Bible Difficulties: Clear and Concise Answers from Genesis to Revelation
NEXT STEPS?
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