E3 2017 | GS 1 | "Expository Apologetics: Part I" | Voddie Baucham

well it is indeed good to be here and um I am grateful for the opportunity to share not only God's word but particularly this topic on this subject that means so much to me let me just give you a little background on the whole idea of expository apologetics so great grace family Baptist Church we planted the church in 2006 and our immediate goal was to be a reproducing Church a church planting Church and so we started trying to raise up men and train men to send out as as Church Planters and um in the midst of that process one of my fellow Elders this is several years into the process one of our fellow Elders who had come through the process I was teaching one day and and he came afterwards and said why don't you teach us that and I said what is that he said that Thing You Do say what is that thing I do so for the next really for the next several weeks we just started talking about um this this process and really what we ended up talking about um was the way that I uh look at scripture and teach scripture and and preach which is where the whole idea and name expository apologetics came from um you know I I'm I'm always thinking in terms of apologetics when I preach I'm thinking in terms of apologetics I believe that every sermon ought to be an apologetic sermon um and the only way that you understand that is if you understand the way I'm defining apologetics and we'll get to that here in in this session um but we are always always confronting unbelief amen we're always confronting unbelief and I think one of the mistakes that we make is we come into the pulpit and we think that what we're confronting is misbehavior right and so we preach to behavior don't do this do that well I'm convinced that we behave in accordance with what we believe and if I preach to behavior and Don't Preach to belief people may amend their behavior temporarily but they will not amend it permanently because they will eventually go back to behaving in accordance with what they believe so what we have to do is attack the wrong believing that is leading to wrong behaving amen somebody okay we've got to get to the root and not just the fruit and if that's what I'm doing in my preaching if whatever you know when I'm looking at indicatives and imperatives in scripture and when I come to those imperatives I want to lean hard on those imperatives but I want to get to the root I want to get to the indicatives that lead to those imperatives so that I can now press hard there so that I can say not only is this where we're going wrong in our behaving but here's the believing that's wrong that keeps leading us to this behaving believe differently folks that's apologetics that's apologetics and we ought to be doing that every time we preach every time we preach not to mention the fact that there are always people in our midst who are listening to what we're saying and saying I don't believe that prove it and we ought to we ought to whenever we're preaching here's here here is here's a statement that I'm making right here's a proposition that I'm putting forth it better not come from me if you can't say Amen you ought to say ouch it better not come for me it better be coming from the text and if it is I better be able to prove it right that's apologetics folks okay it's apologetics and when we tweak our thinking this way it changes the way that we prepare our sermons it changes the way that we that we read the scriptures and I have to confess that this is this is something that I came to mainly because of the way that I came to Faith I didn't grow up in the church I didn't grow up around Christians I didn't grow up around Christianity um I was you know born and raised and Drug infested gang-infested South Central Los Angeles California born in 1969 so that puts me you know coming of age in the early 80s and Drug infested gang-infested crack cocaine infested drive by shooting invested Los Angeles raised by a single teenage Buddhist mother I never heard the gospel until I got to University so when I came to Faith it wasn't you know yeah all these years of my training in Christianity and going to Sunday school and this that and the other it was you know a guy came to me and he tried to to go through the four spiritual laws and realize I didn't have enough background information for that to make sense to me so he had to back up and and and he was you know he had he had come to um the locker room and he kept probably can't believe this but I played football in college and he had come to the locker room to talk to me and he was you know this Green Bay Packer fan from Wisconsin and uh whatever and uh so you know he realizing that he's got to get more basic you know um he he does his best Lombardi you know when Lombardi's like man this is football right this is a Bible and that's where we started and we spent three weeks with him just teaching me basic things me asking questions and him answering those questions if you couldn't find the answers to the question he would go and find the answer to the question toward the end of our time together he would take me to find the answers to the questions so I like to say I was being trained in apologetics before I was converted right so admittedly this is a this is a more natural thing for me because I did come to the Bible as one saying yeah I don't believe that prove it and so when I'm preparing to teach when I'm preparing to preach I I'm still thinking about that guy right because he's out there and he's saying prove it I don't believe that and as a presuppositionalist I'm I'm not when I say prove it right I'm not saying I'm going to you know get into your world view and prove it from your worldview I I'm going to prove from my presupposition right I'm going to prove that this is what the Bible says that this is what God says and of course we've been conditioned to from all the other approaches to apologetics out there is we've been conditioned to that you know well what about the person who says I don't believe the Bible and the other approach is to apologetics you know they basically say well you know if a person doesn't believe the Bible then what you have to do is you have to go to something else so that you can bring them back to the Bible yeah I'm I'm not doing that here's the way I look at it there are two nights who meet along the way their opposing Nights from opposing kingdoms they dismount one draws his sword and the other looks at him and says I do not believe in thine's sword night number one has a couple of options option number one he can resheath his sword and begin to wax scientific and philosophical about the danger of his sword and why his opponent ought to believe in it I like door number two just cut him eventually he will believe or it won't matter but that's not our approach it's amazing how now I we've been fed these approaches to apologetics that basically have us saying you know we pull out our Bible somebody says I don't believe in the Bible so we go okay I'll put away the Bible what here's what you've just said here is the authority and they say I don't believe in that Authority I believe that there are authorities that are higher than that one or more important to that one or at least equal to that one and if the minute you close your Bible you say you win I agree I agree that there's a higher authority than the Bible or at least Authority that's equal to the Bible I'm saying no I don't agree with that I don't believe the Bible well good for you so what the Bible says is I told you I don't believe in the Bible yeah exactly and I'm telling you that I don't believe in your presuppositions but you're not giving up yours so I'm not giving up mine what I'm going to do is I'm going to demonstrate that mine are consistent and yours are not so what the Bible says huh all right so let's start what time I'm supposed to finish this session 10 15. all right we're good so let's define apologetics first Cornelius van till writes apologetics is the Vindication of the Christian philosophy of life against the various forms of the non-Christian philosophy of life I love that definition it's the Vindication of the Christian philosophy of life against the various forms of the non-Christian philosophy of life everybody else is arguing the same thing they're just arguing various forms of the same thing there's the Christian philosophy of life and there's the non-Christian philosophy of light there's not the Christian philosophy of life or the Christian worldview and then the Buddhist or the Hindu or the Islamic or the Pagan or the atheist but no they're just there's the Christian and there's the non-Christian that's the world there's us and there's them amen that's it there's one truth and everything else is falsehood and this is about the vindication of the truth against the various forms of the not true that's apologetics let me give you this working definition apologetics is merely knowing what we believe why we believe it and being able to communicate that to others effectively knowing what we believe knowing why we believe it and being able to communicate that to others effectively that that's it that that's apologetics plain and simple um you know when we look at the very text from which we get the word apologetics they're in First Peter 3 15. that that word apologia that it means a reasoned response right always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you okay know what you believe know why you believe it right and then we're to give that answer in a particular way gentleness and reverence right so we're to be able to communicate it effectively if I don't know what I believe I can't answer if I don't know why I believe my answer will be insufficient what do you believe well I believe this why do you believe that well just because that's not apologetics right and we there is a way we have to answer it has to be Winsome and it has to be effective and all of these things are important in apologetics know what you believe know why you believe it and be able to communicate that in a Winsome and effective way if any one of those things is missing then you're not doing apologetics you're doing a disservice to our Lord amen God forbid we don't know what we believe but there's enough of that going around right God forbid that we don't know why we believe it there's way too much of that going around God forbid that we know what we believe and why we believe it but don't care enough to prepare ourselves to communicate it in a Winsome and effective manner all of those are important our view of apologetics and this is where the problem comes in We Believe number one that apologetics is for elite Christians We Believe apologetics is for elite Christians the elite of the elite the Green Beret Navy SEAL Marine Force Recon Delta Force Christian right you got to be all of that that apologetics is for those people and the rest of us just sit in awe as they march by shh here come the apologists right we do we believe that they're like another class of Christians we believe that apologetics requires knowledge of science philosophy logic debate history and everything else that you can imagine right and whatever it is that you have you believe apologetics requires the stuff that you don't and we don't engage why well I'm not an elite Christian and I don't have all of the knowledge of all of these things that apologetics requires and after all I mean when you hear people talk about apologetics you know you just go away going wow that guy's brilliant he knows everything I could never do that thirdly we believe that apologetics requires knowledge of rural religions Cults and heresies all world religions all cults and all heresies if you don't know all that stuff then you can't do apologetics finally we believe that apologetics requires an edge of confidence even arrogance don't look at me like that you know it's true we believe you know apologetics we think that you got to be a little you know a little a little little just a little arrogant just a little just a little it'll be an apologist right this is why teenage boys love apologetics they do they do you just you know want to be an apologist really I believe you because all you do is argue with your parents all the time right everybody's wrong and you're right you've learned 15 facts and you think you're the smartest dude in the whole world now you want to go do apologetics go home you put these things together and this is why most Christians either feel like they can't or or they don't want to engage in apologetics who wants to who wants to be that guy right and there are a lot of Christians who who really have a problem with apologetics in the current age because in the current age we wrestle with the 11th commandment and the 11th commandment is Thou shalt be nice and we don't believe the other ten this is why you can say things and I you know so I'm not a fan of social media but I use social media as a petri dish kind of put stuff out there see where people are and how they respond I don't necessarily want to fix it I'm just trying to find something out until I put something out there and I watch people respond and it happens and there it is and I'm like boom there's my point just proved it everybody's like well you're just going to let that go I'm like yeah I want to prove a point there it was and I can't tell you how many times I've said something about a contemporary issue I mean you name it you talk about you know homosexual reality transgender or this or this whatever and you throw the thing out there and there are the people there are the 11th commandment Christians who come and every problem that we have in the world is a result of Christians not being nice enough we just it just sounds so offensive the way you said that and I'll bite but only to prove another point and here's here's the point to that one fruit I come back and I say you know I just I think it's very interesting um I brought up the people who are engaging in this sin that was so heinous that God destroyed Twin Cities with fire and brimstone and they're shaking their fists at God and flaunting their sin and you're more offended by me confronting them than you are by their debauchery how does that work and it it's true folks that's the age in which we live the 11th commandment Christian is more offended by you planting your feet squaring your shoulders lifting your head high and saying the Bible says that sin than they are by the debauchery of our age they look at the sin and debauchery of our age and they want to come bowing and genuflecting and weeping and wailing and apologizing for Christians not being nice enough over the ages and they that's that's their response no offense whatsoever there's nothing in them that wants to get up on their hind legs and say no foreign sin and then they're ready to go to battle because that's the only battle worth fighting Christians not being nice enough and by the way not being nice enough but like manliness is not nice enough amen I mean you stand up and read Romans chapter 1 and you just you're that that wasn't nice but that was God what are you what are you talking about and here's the result here's the result imagine this scenario I'm opening my Bible and I'm going to preach on um adultery um no but listen before I I get to my text before I get to my sermon I just want to say that I have dear friends who are adulterers and I I love adulterers and we should all love adulterers I am not here today you know to to to bash adulterers they are people made in God's image and and and adultery is that's exactly how y'all would be looking at me if I started my adultery sermon like that right or whatever else what are you what are you talking about but every time a pastor gets up and preaches on homosexuality his sermon dies the death of a thousand qualifications because you got to start with now listen I love homosexuals I believe God calls us to love homosexuals I don't believe it what is that about that's about the 11th commandment Christian because that Pastor could stand up and preach about a thousand other sins with no apology pound the pulpit and thunder forth the word of God and even be a little mean a little nasty about it and nobody will write anything but you get on homosexuality transgender right and I mean all of a sudden you apologize 999 times but there's one time when you made a statement that you didn't qualify with love and sappiness and that's what they're going to write you about so engaging in apologetics in that context oof a lot of people have just figured why bother well we bother because it matters we see apologetics throughout scripture and a number of different forms in the Old Testament we see apologetics but you have to really understand the worldview of the ancient near East to understand the way apologetics is being done in the ancient near East for example when even when Nations went to war it wasn't just a Syria going to war with Egypt it was the Assyrian Gods doing battle with the Egyptian gods and whoever won proved the supremacy of their gods amen this is why you defeat a nation and you sacked their Temple and take off you know all of the artifacts take away all the artifacts from their Temple because symbolically what you're saying is our God just defeated your God Amen so in that context Exodus chapter 9 and verse 16. we look at the plagues and the purpose of the plagues what's the purpose of the plagues because what would you think you would think that Israel is under the boot of Egypt therefore Egypt's gods are all-powerful and Israel's gods are weak right Exodus 9 16. but for this purpose I have raised you up to show my power so that my name may be proclaimed in all the Earth that's the purpose of the plagues they were wondering why why the first nine why the first nine man you just needed the last one amen let's just get this over with let's just do it let's be done with it but you had the first nine plagues addressing Egypt's worldview and their theology all along the way but why if you're just gonna wipe them out why do you need to address their worldview and their theology because God wasn't just getting Israel out of Egypt he was getting Egypt out of Israel their worldview had been affected and some apologetics needed to be done and in case you don't believe me just look at what happens when they get out what do they do they go build a golden calf because there's still a lot of Egypt in the Israelites for Samuel 17. 46-47. David Goes to battle with Goliath and in many ways he was doing apologetics this day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head how about that for the 11th commandment Christians huh David wasn't nice amen neither is his descendant who sits on the throne Jesus is not nice he's coming back with a sword on his thigh fire in his eyes he's coming back to wreck some stuff y'all he is not coming back lowly Jesus Meek and Mild where the lamb across his shoulders he's coming back as a conquering king and a warrior and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth that the Earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into my hands folks notice just like in Egypt this is not just so that the Philistines could know but so that the fearful Israelites who for 40 days couldn't find a man among them to go and fight the Israelites who had chosen a king because he was Head and Shoulders taller than all the rest of the Israelites a man who physically would have been a match for Goliath Psalm would have been somewhere along the lines of I don't know six six big dude especially in that era and you're going yeah man but you're Goliath he's like eight feet tall right exactly let's go to the NBA most of the greatest players in the NBA are right there in that slot right six four to six nine there's bigger dudes but they get to a certain size and it's hard for them to walk into bubble gum at the same time so you give me a Michael Jordan sized guy with some skills that song against a big lumbering Giant I'm taking the I'm taking six six over eight feet all day every day and twice on Sunday right as long as you don't let him grab you right so physically Saul had a tremendous chance but he didn't volunteer to go fight so not only did God need to do apologetics with the Philistines again here he needs to do apologetics with Israel remember what I said earlier when we preach to our people we're doing apologetics huh Isaiah 37 20. so now O Lord Our God save us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord we could go to the Book of Daniel and the Book of Daniel the first half of the Book of Daniel is all about apologetics what happens God brings Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to defeat his people and take them off into captivity in the ancient near East what that means is Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Gods are superior to Israel and Israel's gods and over and over and over again in the first half of the Book of Daniel God is saying to Nebuchadnezzar you defeated my people because I chose that you would do that but I'm still God let us not eat what they eat right why because God is God no we're not going to Bow before the statue throw them in the fiery furnace not only do they not die they got help in there why because God is God throw Daniel into the lion's den they don't eat him why because God is God so over and over and over again in the Book of Daniel we have apologetics not just so that Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar could know that they have not defeated the god of Israel but also so that Israel will know you're in captivity but your God is still God and just like Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 29 he's going to bring you back because he never stopped being God so so we see apologetics here in the Old Testament another thing that we need to see is this apologetics is not just for the elite Christian we see apologetics for example as a requirement for pastoral Ministry Titus 1 9. he must hold firm the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound Doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it that's every Elder that's every pastor that's not Elite pastors trained in apologetics that's anyone who assumes the mantle amen not only that first Peter 3 15. and we may look at this we'll look at this more carefully tonight but in this section Peter has gone from the general to the more uh specific and now back to the general and he's talking to all believers here 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 that's all believers all believers are called to know what they believe why they believe it and to be ready willing and able to communicate that effectively all believers all Christians Jude Jude 1 and 2. Jew the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to those who are called beloved in God the father and kept for Jesus Christ May Mercy peace and love be multiplied to you now who's this for for those who are called beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ um not only is this a a sort of rabbinical teaching tool repeating something over and over again but he repeats three times talking about the same group of people and also not only is he repeating three times talking about the same group of people but in this triple you know repetition we we have a trinitarian formation a formulation those who are called we'll leave that for now beloved in God the father so he had the father kept for Jesus Christ you have God the son so who who's the one who calls God the spirit those who are called by the spirit loved by the father and kept by the son this is a trying reference to the Trion God but to whom is the writer referring I I don't know whom has the spirit called the elite of the elite whom does the father love just those with special training whom does Jesus Keep folks this is all of us amen if it's not all of us then only some of us have assurance this is all of us this is all of us but to what is he calling us beloved although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints so to whom is he speaking all Christians and to what does he call us apologetics contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints this is also a primary not a secondary issue it's a primary not a secondary issue notice that he said although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation right here's an apostle into the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who says I was eager to write to you about salvation but instead I'm ready wait a minute he was gonna I was going to write to you about salvation but there was something of such importance that either I'm not writing to you about our common salvation anymore which I don't believe that for a minute or this thing that I'm talking to you about is part and parcel of writing about our common salvation but regardless of which formulation you take this is a primary not a secondary issue this is a primary issue that rises to the level of our common salvation but why look at what he says for certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ why is this of such significance it's of such significance because there are those who have crept in they are those who have crypted they're they're in Among Us they're in our ranks and having crept in Among Us there's two things that they're doing one they turn Grace into lawlessness and two they deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ in other words they're perverting the gospel they're perverting the gospel this answers a couple of questions number one it answers why apologetics is primary and not secondary amen and number two it answers why not necessarily nice not necessarily nice not harsh not sinful not even mean but the text says that we're to agonize greatly and the root word that he uses here is a word that is associated with wrestling in the arena we're to fight where to go to battle where to go to war this ain't chess it's not checkers This Is War that's the illustration that he uses here he doesn't say that we're you know we're to strategize we're to uh uh where to do what wrestlers do what Warriors do when they go to combat with one another do they violate the rules are they unethical no they're not they're also not nice amen excuse me I'm going to take you down now oh please go right ahead no that's not the picture here but why why because you can't be saved by a perverted gospel that's why we're defending the honor in the Name of Christ and the truth of the Gospel that's why we're going to battle here because if they're perverting the gospel and people are believing a perverted gospel then they've believed in vain as Paul would say in First Corinthians 15. because a perverted gospel won't save you're not saved by your sincerity amen if if I give you my my phone number right and and I'm like okay fine here's here's my phone number give me a call then you say hey yeah I gotta my buddy wants to call you too can I can I give him your number yeah sure if you give him a number that's one digit off does his sincerity and dialing matter huh I'll give you my email address and you're like you know I I just found out yesterday I've been emailing some stuff to my doctor when I come back to the States I usually try to go through Houston some time to go and see my doctor and um you know I emailed him some stuff and he said I don't have that I don't have that and I went and looked on my contacts and I had one two letters just misplaced right just two letters misplaced and he didn't get my email that's what this is about God is not God is Not hidden himself he he said here I am this is me this is how you know me here's who I am here's where I am here's how you find me and we're proclaiming the gospel and we're saying here's who God is here's where God is here's how you find him and there are those out there while we're proclaiming here's who God is here's where he is here's how you find him there are people out there saying actually he's over here imagine you you leave here today and after the session is over and you hey man how you doing you got your name tag on what are you doing yeah you know we're at this conference and you know we're listening to this guy this um this voodoo something footy something and they go wait votey bakum ah yeah that's it voted by wait wait the votibakum it could happen and they're like the voting yeah man I guess you know whatever you know yeah Vivaldi welcome really he said wow wow that is awesome I can't believe I mean he's here in Detroit yeah you sure it's the body bakum I mean how many can there be right hey yo yeah a little short white guy from Mississippi at this point you've got two choices kind of like the night right at this point you could go well that's your interpretation or you say nope you're actually talking about somebody else that's what we're dealing with here God has said this is who I am and there are people out there going well actually and overwhelmingly the world has chosen to respond that's your interpretation but folks God is not running for God amen he was the only one around when the votes were cast there's never going to be a recount he's God he is who he says he is and no one has the right to recast him or reinterpret him and that's why we fight because Souls Souls Hearts take here that's our passion that's our desire and that's why this is a primary issue that that's why it's something that's not negotiable the time that we have left if that's apologetics what we do and why we do then what about expository apologetics this is not about preparing yourself to defeat Christopher Hitchens in a formal debate right I mean if you know if you want to more power to you but those types of things don't come around very often and quite honestly tend to have limited impact that's not what this is about this is about you taking seriously your duty and your responsibility as a Christian and know what you believe and why you believe it and to be able to communicate that to others in a win some and effective way and so with expository apologetics there's three key characteristics this needs to be biblical needs to be simple it needs to be conversational it should be biblical simple and conversational right um let me take a stab at this the biblical side the limiting and limited nature of the Gospel is what allows us to approach apologetics from a Biblical perspective and when I say the limited and limiting nature of the Gospel I mean for example the Canon is closed we're we're not getting new revelation I know there's some people who would disagree with that but you know I respect their right to be wrong um for the sake of time I'll just give you these references Deuteronomy 4 2 Deuteronomy 12 32 proverbs 30 verse 6 Hebrews 1 1-2 revelation 22 18 right all of these don't add to my word passages um again we're not getting new revelation we have God's revelation the Canon is closed therefore there are a limited number of things we believe that's number one there's a limited number of things we believe number two there are a limited number of objections that can be raised number three there are a limited number of objections that we need to answer and number four our source for those answers is the Bible since the Bible is where they come from that's the great benefit of this approach to apologetics it's not you need to know everything about everything okay and and I'm not saying that it's wrong and that it's never profitable for example to learn about a particular movement or a particular when when we're doing pastoral Ministry especially there are things that encroach on our territory and it's incumbent upon us to learn about those things so that we can respond very specifically to them right amen that's different than saying apologetics equals knowing everything about everything so that you that that that's different okay if there's a limited number of objections to the gospel message and those objections have been answered in the scriptures under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit then the clearest most appropriate and most powerful response is that we can give to people's objections is the responses that we find in Scripture I am not responsible for defending what I do not believe I am not responsible for defending what I do not believe I'm also not responsible for defending heresy and I'm not responsible for defending assumptions or straw man in other words you know somebody says well you know well why do you Christians believe whatever if it's not what I believe I'm not responsible for defending that amen I just kind of go yeah that I don't believe that well but you know there's people out there who ain't talk to them I don't believe that here's what I believe it's kind of like when somebody comes to you with a charge against Rome right well you Christians and you know in the in the Inquisition and everything yeah I wasn't there wasn't me wasn't my people right um yeah let's talk about what I believe okay do you see this I'll end with this I was in um Oregon was it Oregon State University which is Corvallis maybe that's where Oregon state is and I've been invited up there I was doing some preaching in the area was invited to come to the campus and um on the campus they just wanted me to come and talk about the validity of the Bible for about 30 minutes and then do a q a so I get there and there's this campus ministry that's um you know got everything prepared and I'm walking around and there's just there's Flyers up and there's these little dinky Flyers you know come listen you know Dr Brody brockham address you know validity of the Bible none of that and like so what else have you all done like nothing we just built these flyers and I'm just sitting there going because I mean if I'm on campus and I'm passing who is this guy what is you know I mean it's Oregon this is It's Oregon there's so you know they've got this Student Center and booked and everything and so I go to the back this back room in the student center and just as honest as I can be guys I'm praying but I'm praying that the Lord will just give me wisdom um for how to minister to these students when their event flops and they come back to get me and they're like we're ready and I walk out it is wall to wall and I looked at the guy and I said where'd all these people these people these are the stupid yeah I told you how you probably needed a bigger space right you know and so I I do my thing for half an hour and I again I just living and ministering in Texas I've been spent my adult life in in Texas and my Ministry life in Texas and you know you do a an event like this in Texas and first of all students are not going to show up and if they do you know they're basically gonna be asking the kind of questions that are designed to show off their own intelligence and whatever 30 minutes about the Bible it's history and validity and open it up for questions for the next two hours and we've got Baha'i wiccans um you know Muslims Buddhists and the questions are just as honest as the day is long I had a blast so we finish and afterwards we're getting ready to go to eat and the students you know who organize this thing we're all riding and everybody's just looking straight and nobody's looking at me nobody's talking and I'm like guys what'd you think oh my God that was awesome and that was it everybody's just like yeah that was awesome I'm like well you know talk to me about it and one of the guys in the back kind of goes to be honest we're a little intimidated right now he said why dude you didn't have the questions ahead of time you stood there for two hours these people ask you questions and he answers your questions and they were dude it was awesome and I sat there and I went so you realize that they're only six to eight categories of questions that anybody could ever ask you about the Bible and if you have a working knowledge of those six or eight categories it doesn't matter where you are in the world nobody's ever going to ask you a question that you won't be prepared for if they do it'll be something outside of the Canon of scripture and you don't need to answer it there you go huh yeah you realize Systematic Theology texts all have the same categories because there are a limited number of categories and therefore a limited number of questions that you're ever going to have to answer because we're answering what we believe based on what God has revealed of himself in the Bible I didn't have to answer the Baha'i about everything that Baha'is believe I just had to answer the person from the Baha'i faith based on the question that they asked about our faith and if somebody from the Wiccan religion tells me that as a wicked they believe this well it's going to be something because they're a rip-off right no they have no original thoughts they're a rip-off and a perversion of biblical truth well if I know the category of biblical truth that they've ripped off and perverted I can respond to their religion the first time I ever hear about it and all of a sudden the lights came on oh know what you believe know why you believe it and be ready and willing and able to communicate that in a Winsome and effective manner that's it now we'll get into the specifics of how we do this right how we prepare for it we'll get into all that but for now just have the big picture okay just have the categories and let go of the ridiculous idea that apologetics is only for the elite of the elite Delta Force Green Beret Marine Force Recon Navy SEAL Christian it's not it's not praise God for those types of people amen because they can they can take it to a whole nother level on some very specific issues and we thank God for that amen but if we had the mindset that that is apologetics and only that well then not only are we neglecting our duty as Christians but we're also leaving people in our sphere without answers when we're supposed to be prepared to give them to them I've gone over my time my apologies but I flew here from Africa man I'm sure that's worth five minutes huh let's pray father thank you again we rejoice and we are grateful help us to wrap our minds around these things and to be eager to pursue them to the glory of Christ amen

Channel: Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary

Views: 108,899

Keywords: dbts, seminary, Detroit, theology, e3conference, pastors, apologetics, evangelism

Id: b3svqyyID8Q

Length: 61min 25sec (3685 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 06 2017