(May 18, 2019) Can I Trust My Bible? Introduction (Part 1)

[Music] well guys the way this just materialized if you don't mind me sharing with ya I just you know you're like the only family I got besides my immediate family so I just want to tell you how this materialized a little bit back in 1986 I got saved in 89 in my honeymoon but in 86 I used to play a lot of basketball knows this guy that was playing with a lot of college athletes would come back and play in this court and there was this guy and I met him for the first time I met him through a friend of mine buddy Ricky DeVito who's that's craziest never met anybody crazy in the last man um anyway Ricky introduced me to this guy Ralph when we went to have some pizza after after we play then he said to me Ricky tells me a Jewish and I said yeah and he said man you're so lucky and you know all I thought was the pogroms the Inquisition's Holocaust the expulsion 'he's lucky wow I never heard that ever and I didn't know at the time but he was a devout Christian yeah he got seriously crazily saved and still involved and he said you know you should you should really read the Bible and I said you know obviously being very secular you'd get incredibly defensive right so I bowed up a little bit like why and he said it's the Word of God and I said how do you know that and he goes it just is now I Got News for You sweetheart 99% of you can't defend it and I'm not pointing any fingers it's not being taught I get it and it's something that one would not study on their own it's a beautiful thing to have faith and to just just accept it as the word of God but listen to me very carefully your children go to church at you and synagogue because they have to for the most part come 18 they go to college okay college professors are working for Satan now you might be a college professor say I'm a believer I know I'm it's called hyperbole Yeshua is it all the time it's an exaggeration to make a point don't be too technical wait a minute rabbi I have a friend of Wheaton College ease about believer okay you got me just loosen up a little bit it won't kill you breathe so um but for the most part college campuses are poison for believers and they're very good they're antagonist to the faith and they're exceptional at it they know how to tear down your kid's faith so quick that your kid's gonna start to go now your kid probably wants to ask you mom dad how do we know the Bible really is authentic it is the Word of God but they're afraid too they're afraid too this is the thing though most you won't have an answer so I started to do I didn't know what it was called at the time but I started to bullets is there some research out there because when I wrote the book that God wanted me to write I didn't consider it a biography I was just writing what God told me but you guys a lot of you guys read it how do you know it's true how do you know I was raised Orthodox maybe I made it up because it sounds really cool write all the docs you get saved well you trust me but that's not good enough there are ways to determine when you read a textbook at school there are ways to determine the authenticity of a piece of literature there are ways to determine whether a literary document is authentic you can go to the Bronx and you go to Auntie Amish and look on the records and see Meyer and Marion Hershberger's members you could see that I was bar Mitzvahed in 72 by rabbi SEF self you can go to the projects talk to some neighbors you can authenticate things and there's a system on how to do it the Bible is a literary document and because there's so much evidence it deserves to be authenticated and your children deserve to know why it's legit so I feel like God told me to do this this course now I'm not it I know people call me a teacher and a theologian on this look I'm just a guy who loves God a lot and I spend every day with them that's all I got for you now I wasn't sure if God wanted me to do this so let me just tell you another quickie little story I bought a pair of sneakers very expensive pair of sneakers you know sneakers aren't cheap anymore I was telling my kids converse when I was a kid was the sneaker Chuck Taylor Congress they would $9.99 okay 99 and my father would never buy them for me we'd go to Corvettes like Alexander's covet sanaa cloth store and the sneakers were a regular down the basement where the line didn't match up and they were dollar ninety-nine that's what I wore I would never get a pair of Converse well now sneakers good sneakers if you really want good sneakers for your feet there are a hundred and twenty five hundred fifty bucks that's what they are okay so I bought these sneakers size 13 and I didn't know as you get older sometimes your feet get bigger anybody know that now also I don't know if you've noticed but when you get into you 80s and 90s men's ears grow like summer squash and and okay can I get a witness Billy and and your wife shrinks so if you two are married and you should make it to your 90s you'll be able to go to the movies and buy just one ticket because you could put her in your ear and then take her out when you get inside the theater but I found out my foot is now a 14 so you know I'm gonna give him away I'm not gonna take him back I'm gonna give him away I love giving stuff away I'll be honest with you i I can't outgive God I just love it I just love it I'm not into garage sales give it away to somebody who needs it what are you gonna make $167 you sitting there for eight hours I'm your garage sale really anyway so this morning I hear the Holy Spirit speak a name of somebody in the synagogue to give them to and you know he happens to be Asian and let's face it Asians have small feet when's the last time you met an Asian with a size 13 but I asked Roxanne to contact this person just just ask him what sizes footers don't nothing more and she texts me back and says a13 so two things happen with that one he knows that God's got him on his mind you follow it's not any gift thing I have it's not a gifting I have I don't know if you get that God's got the gifting and he gifts people how he decides we have no control over that it's all him but also God let me know that this thing is on target for now because things are changing very rapidly guys you're gonna have to learn how to defend your faith you must my kids I went over this with them I would never tell them just read the Bible because it's the Word of God I'll lose them when they're 18 no question about it because these antagonists of the faith are out there and they're good and Satan knows how to say did God really say you hear me nothing's changed same old dragon so we're gonna do this thing alright they always ask me what a title is I have no titles for messages I don't even know if I have messages I just spend time with the Lord and try to you know hear what he wants me to say I don't know how well I do with it who knows only he'll know I'll find out when I sit with him one day but I don't know what you want to title this is the Word of God really the Word of God can I trust my Bible whatever you like but whatever whatever question you asked can I trust my Bible is the Word of God really the Word of God the answer to this question will not only determine how we see the Bible and its importance in our lives but it will change everything it will change everything if the Bible truly is the Word of God then we should cherish it we should study it and most of all we should obey it if the Bible truly is the Word of God then to dismiss it is to dismiss God himself if the Bible is truly the Word of God then we can know who God is what he is like what we can expect of him and what he expects of us if the Bible is the Word of God then it is the final authority for all matters of faith religious practice and morals period here's the $64,000 question how can we know that the Bible truly is the Word of God and not just a good religious book so we're gonna go on a little trip and I'm a little disappointed because the way I see it it's gonna build it's gonna build and build and build till they at the end just I don't know it's gonna be explosive you know so the beginning starts off a little I got to give an introduction this week and I know you want to get to the good stuff we gonna but you see the biggest question I have is why is it so important to defend it see if if you don't know why then it doesn't matter how people always ask how do we celebrate Passover what exactly do we celebrate where do we celebrate it what do we do doesn't matter if you don't know why the why is the question you follow so I'm gonna try to establish the why and then we'll get into the how is that sound the rights that sound fair alright there are many skeptics today more than ever who doubt the very existence of God or they attack belief in the God of the Bible attack you you see it right I'm not on really social media I'm on Twitter but I don't respond back to if you're wondering I will never respond back I don't want to get into a social media debate it's a horrible forum everything is misunderstood in a short sentence and misunderstanding leads to all kinds of eels so you'll never hear what I'm putting out there somebody asked me they said when you spend time in the morning and you hear something from God when you put out there takes me 10 seconds because I'm gonna spend time in the morning right that's it I'm not going to converse with you and when you write something idiotic like a lot of you do about taking a scripture out of context and you write back to me something you're totally missing the point totally missing it but that's okay have fun there are people now on the attack this is America people came here the constitution of Bill of Rights in order to have religious freedom did we shoot ourselves in the foot I don't know you got to give people religious freedom the crazy thing is we're the only religion they want to take our freedom away from which is crazy because it started with us and we were nice enough to go okay you can come and do your religion now they want to stop ours that's unacceptable to me okay and I'm not just gonna sit on social media and write it's unacceptable I'm gonna let people know they're on the attack seriously on the attack Satan is not defensive in Israel they have a defense force God asks us to be what defensive some of you are offensive no good Satan is offensive he's on the offense you follow that's what's happening today there are tons of critics today who attacked the inspiration and inerrancy of our Bible there are also many false teachers I don't know if you're aware of this but a ton of false teachers out there who promote false doctrines and deny the key truths of biblical faith they deny it guys we are now dealing not with the enemy on the outside of the church but the enemy inside the church so many lukewarm believers now who are interpreting the Bible their own way and basic doctrinal truths are no longer truths people in mainline denominations voting on things and you wonder what are you voting on that should you vote on whether we should murder or not so why are you voting on any other sinful issue that you think we can now get away with and some of you sit in those churches and you go well that's not me sweetpea you're connected you're an accomplice you know what happens when you're with a buddy who you don't know too well and you don't know that the buddy has drugs guess what when the cop comes you're getting arrested too you're called an accomplice so don't tell me you're part of the denomination that's doing things against the Word of God I'm part of the mga because I want to be under Authority but let me tell you something the day the MJ gets wacky by by MJ a a because ultimately I'm under God's Authority I want to be accountable because it's proper but when that accountable function gets dysfunctional see you bye-bye take care good care less I say goodbye real easy I'm the easiest goodbye person you've ever seen in your life my house burned down right now be like okay who cares who cares apologetics is a branch of theology that gives proof for our beliefs in the Bible basically it's it's a Greek word that means to give a defense very fancy but it means to give a defense we get the word in our language apology people think apologies to being say sorry go to Webster's and look up the word apology you'll find out it means to give a defense so although you want to be defensive you've got to be careful you got to be careful your approach really you do and I've learned this by making a lot of mistakes so I want to help you not make the mistakes that I made the key verse the classic verse if you talk to apologists there's probably three very famous apologists today Josh McDowell is one he wrote a book that you do not read by the fire it's 750 pages and each page is meaty it's not like he tells some silly story for 10 pages and then gives you a verse and then you've got Ravi Zacharias who if you're not a PhD you won't understand them but he has a calling he's on college campuses Ivy League schools combating what these kids are hearing and God has blessed them and then you've got a guy Norman Geisler who's only written a hundred books on the subject yeah those are the three Biggie's today okay your rabbi is not an apologetic expert not even close but if I'm on a plane for an hour you better believe I could defend my faith if somebody says to me well the Bible is just written by men what's your answer well no it's not it's inspired this it says so right in there what you're giving internal evidence doesn't work it's the weakest kind of evidence there is so the classic verse for these apologists is first Peter 3:15 now although this verse I just you know me I'm big on context I you got to read before after I can't begin to tell you how many times I hear a what he call them that traditional musician contemporary said this song comes from Colossians 2:14 I'm like seriously you made a song about one verse you got it you can't read a verse you can't without reading it in context it's it's poor I don't know how to say this nicely it's poison okay so what's happening this letter that Peter is writing he's running about two major things one is he's trying to encourage the believers in the Diaspora like James wrote who are being persecuted every single one of the believers in the first century being persecuted to a certain extent okay - he's writing about he sees God is telling him there's false teachers on the horizon like wolves waiting to go in for the kill they gonna go into the faith in Reckitt they're gonna tear apart the Bible wreck doctrine and they're coming he sees him on the horizon and he's warning them about false teachers he's saying they're coming so although this verse is talking to believers in the Diaspora about being persecuted this particular verse this verse is also very applicable to our everyday life okay it says treat the Messiah as holy as Lord in your hearts semicolon what grammar is important Wow it's copy live while remaining always ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you yet with you milling in fear first and foremost I cannot read that verse without dealing with what's before the semicolon I know you just want to get to the defense part but you can't defend your faith unless you have that part down pat that's why it's a semicolons attached first and foremost the most important thing is that the Messiah is Lord of your life that has to be set in stone what does that mean that means she has lordship what does that mean that means he should dominate every area of our lives dominate dominate our possessions dominate occupation dominate our library reading dominate our marriage you don't control the marriage and either do you God does and our spare time what I thought our spare time I can get away from my spare time I need clothes it's all that away from him I got things to do here you can't sit around and meditate but in my spare time that's my hobby nothing should be excluded okay agreed sounds a little heavy I know nobody's got that down pat neither neither but we got to agree on the truth right so that's let's let's start there now once you have that it says while you have that always not some of the time now I'm going to go well today's my you know today's day I knock on doors I'm gonna knock on doors and I'm gonna be an evangelist today stop that it's not that it's always always ready your shoe is always talking about readiness and in his speech 97 verses on the last days Matthew 24 25 97 verses he was like be ready that's the first thing he said be ready be ready so always ready to give a defense now what does this say read the next thing with me to anyone who asks you why are you defending it no you can't just jump up to somebody get in their face and stop defending the faith if they didn't ask you that's out of place do you know I have never I see things all I've been here 17 years I see your families I see I go over your house I would never never even never never say word of correction unless you invited me in not into your house into your life hey rabbi I got this question about my marriage with otherwise I would never say anything why I don't have the authority to you mean you're a rabbi you have the authority no I don't you know how many times people come here they used to and they'll come up to me after service and the goal well what I think you need to do I'm sorry who are you when's the last time you held the hand of somebody dying here when's the last time you came here and cried at the wall for the people who are you what nerve what audacity are you kidding me I would never do that I don't have the authority to get involved in your life unless you ask me to that says to anyone who asks if they don't ask you out of place if you out of place that won't be in the anointing it's not gonna work now your kids want to ask but they're afraid to they just are so they'll go with the flow you know the statistic seventy five percent of all children that leave the youth group leave Church and God and they don't come back three quarters three out of four that's George Barna he's the statistician of lost answer USA Today did a poll and they agree so we can agree something's wrong always ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you to explain the hope that is in you let's look at that word defense apologia we get the word apology it means to speak in defense speak give a reason statement some reasoning there's gotta be some logic involved in all this we're very logical reasonable human beings but we should be or an argument but not what do you mean you don't believe that's not really a good argument and it says give a defense for what the hope look at this word help s in the Greek it means it means the expectation of good or evil but for the believer this word specifically when it's used for the believer it means the joyful and confident expectation and let me just highlight joyful some of the most unhappy people I've ever met a devout believers they're miserable their marriage is miserable and their kids are miserable I know some of you want to slap me because you're miserable happy people don't run around slapping people now I know some of you in difficult situations you married a believer and now they're not such a believer well they changed I'm not being insensitive but I'm saying you've got to do all you can to be a joyful believer don't fake it to you make it either find out why you're not joyful with God what is he not doing for you and then tell him see if you get an answer all I know is the Lord sent his best heavens best for Earth's worst and I am thankful there is no excuse for the believer that's all of us for the most part I would think to be completely unable to defend his or her faith the Bible doesn't give us a way out rabbi I never learned this here we are like my mom would say it's never to the only Thomas to ladies when you close your eyes every believer every single solitary believer in this sanctuary should be able to give a reasonable presentation for his or her faith in Messiah Yeshua I called a friend of mine who is very high up in the largest denomination in the United States Southern Baptists he's a wonderful guy and he is incredibly well known I'll leave his name well for now I said to him last night he takes me back right away I said how much apologetics is being taught he goes it's almost nil he said that's why people don't know in the church anymore what they believe they don't even know what they believe anymore and I said why is that he goes I don't know because clearly everybody that goes to a seminary I didn't have the opportunity and a lot of times I feel at a place I just don't feel right I'm not educated you know just not so but I know I've talked to people to go to seminary I want to know what they learn and they all take a course on apologetics because they have to be confident in their faith well my thinking is if you learned it in a seminary what why are you not teaching the people had to be confident in their faith I mean apologetics to me becomes I think they should just apologize to you so not teach an apologetics now some do don't some do and I have done this before but a lot of you are new so we're gonna do this and then we'll have it the technology can compile it and then we'll have it so you can go back to it or could share with a friend right you know you know what our copyright is its your right to copy no charge some people get mad when they come to the synagogue I'm thinking did you did anybody charge you to get in it's free man and you're complaining we didn't ask you to pay for the AC now does every believer need to be an expert in apologetics not even close some of you feel like I'm not qualified you expertise that's strong that takes years yeah like guys Lee's been at it for 50 60 years you don't need that you just need enough so you wouldn't you're sitting with somebody at a park of them and you mentioned the Bible ago that's written by men you just need enough 30 40 minutes give a little internal evidence a little external evidence hit him up with some bibliography a little prophecy and bam their head will spend maybe we don't need to be an expert but this is what I think every believer should know what he or she believes why he or she believes it how to share it with others and had to defend it against lies and attacks is that fair what do you think that would be wouldn't you want that for your children wouldn't you want them do you you believe is I know I'm a believer and all I wanted for my kids I thought my oldest was gonna be a prophet I mean this is what I wanted for my kids I did my best to teach them I'm sure I made mistakes along the way but I did my best I could sit before God and say I did my best I tried my hardest but you want your kid to know what they believe you want them to know why they believe it why do you believe what you believe I don't know my dad told me I don't know that's what they told me in church that's not good enough that's crazy talk now even though first Peter 3:15 is the classic verse for defense apologetics that's what they use all the time I want to show you this some others too okay look at Philippians 1:7 now again I don't want to take this out of context this was the first church congregation fellowship whatever you want to call it in Europe remember Paul was on the second missionary journey act 16 old sudden he's gonna go the East and the Holy Spirit arrests him and says go west now I don't know if you've noticed but it's been going west ever since it started in it whether it's thought where did the faith start Israel and then it went west and it's been going west ever since and where is it now it's showing up in some of the Islamic countries and where is it going to finish they're gonna get a double dose so says Joel why do they get a double dose because the firstborn it's what what is the firstborn get a double portion man be nice play nice according to the Scriptures yeah there's a revival coming to Israel like you've never seen and then at the end of that at the end of that cause it will come through tribulation Messiah takes this wrong this is all good for us it's so good and it's so beautiful to see how it's moving as far as the East is from the West biblically beautiful perfect we're right on target things aren't out of control things are very much in control spiritually I here believes all the time things are so out of control not for me uh-huh things that in control things aren't upside down their right-side up for me if Shu is perfect timing it's perfect I'm just along for the ride man and a good ride it is so this is the first congregation was found in Europe remember remember the first believe it what was her name good she had a girl's name good she was the sella of fine purple lady uh yes the original Victoria's Secret right so this place had a very special heart and Paul's life and he was writing from prison and he was trying to encourage them because again guys first century everybody's persecuted nobody's sitting in a sanctuary like this they're all being persecuted and he loves them he visited them he loves them and he's sending them a letter of encouragement right you don't see any complaints in that letter rejoice rejoice rejoice rejoice he's in prison they're being beaten but he says this beautiful thing in verse 7 it says it is right for me to think this way about you because if you read the verses before he's saying I have joy every time I think of you whenever I pray I have joy I think of you you are in my heart because to have you on my heart I'm just connecting the dots so whether I'm in Chains he's in prison right now when he's writing this he says so whether I'm in prison or defending that's not saying I'd like to defend right he's saying you know he could have said anything he says I'm either armed in Chains defending or establishing the good news meaning acting like an evangelist sharing the faith all over you are all sharing with me in this privilege it's a privilege to defend the faith some people do I have to why are you saying that you get to be a spokesperson for God and defend the faith and you think that's arduous what a privilege what an honor man are you kidding me well let's look up this word to make sure we're on the same page defending what do you know apologia the same word that the apologists use in their classic verse in 1st Peter 3:15 there's gonna be a little classroom but forgive me I don't want to make it too academic but know this ok you're sure was a teacher not a preacher and we need teaching in the church today we don't need another rah-rah-sis-boom-bah you can do it so again speech and defense a reason statement same definition of course okay Paul refers to the defense of the Gospel as the Ministry of answering the critics this is this is apologetics and he's saying it's a major part of his ministry men of Athens wherever he goes he's gonna get critics from the Jewish synagogue from the Gentile pagans he's gonna get hit up he's got to come he just can't say well because it is or I met somebody that knows them it's not it's not good it's not gonna work these people of philosophy these are Greeks they invented philosophy men Aristotle Socrates BC they love their philosophies and their ideologies on life in their worldview he's got to come up with something God deserves that he's given us a ton of evidence it's all out there now this is where 2,000 years on the other side of this you know how much evidence we have now compared to what he had ah man man oh man so we seen in Philippians look at Titus for a minute Titus is a young man who's heading up a congregation trying to find elders in the island of Crete he's under Paul Paul is one of his disciples okay and he this letter these are the pastoral letters first Timothy second Timothy and Titus you want to be a pastor you've got to know these letters okay he says to tie this he must meaning the pastor the lead of the elder an elder an elder doesn't have to be the chief elder the pastor the rabbi any elder he must hold firmly to the trustworthy message that agrees with the doctrine he must hold firmly to what the Bible says and he must believe that Yeshua is the Messiah the this letter was written but the New Testament wasn't compiled yet she's talking about all the Messianic prophecies you've got to believe that it points to yoshua so that by his sound teaching what does an elder supposed to do teach it's all over the Bible he will be able this is what he's supposed to do he's supposed to have the ability a teacher a preacher a pastor is supposed to have to exhort to encourage exhort means to Mohnish to teach doctrine to encourage when people are down hey you're getting beat up for the faith praise the Lord your reward is great in heaven don't be down and out also and also exhort ation is great but also be able to refute those who speak against the faith this is classic apologetics look at this word refute it's not the same word as apologia but look to find fault with I'm sorry that's wrong I can't let you get away with that and then correct it you ever see people in meetings I see them in court means oh we can't do that then they say is that's not gonna work buddy what will work you mean alternative stop being so negative and tell me about everything that won't work come up with something that will or shut up why do they say shut up because your top jaw doesn't move so shut up so in titus one speaking to elders leaders in the faith it states that apologetics is a requirement for congregational leadership you've got no business leading the congregation if you can't defend the faith again you don't have to be an expert I mean look how many leaders are out there today and they have no expertise that's a that's a joke I want you to notice go back to that verse will you please if you wouldn't mind thanks so much take a look at that verse now do you see anything mentioned about physical prowess today these clowns on TV they're like Jack LaLanne they're like models you know today you can't be a meteorologist if you don't look right I don't care how will you tell the weather how do we buy into this that you have to look a certain way in order to have expertise do you see anything about their physical prowess okay what about educational attainments you gotta have a PhD to be an elder you see anything in there just tell me I missed it I might have missed it I'm open okay anything about social status you got to be connected what about business acumen business acumen is a fancy word to understanding business so we see nothing about nothing is said in this verse about physical prowess educational attainments social status - business acumen meaning you could be a defender of the faith and not have any of those going for you okay here's what I want to share with you you could be a hunchbacked street sweeper unpolished unsophisticated and uneducated and still be qualified to be an elder of a congregation because of your spiritual stature when people say that today oh he's got the goods he's connected give me a break he's an elder he's a deacon based on what when's the last time he fasted and cried out to God but she's connected you know what he's not connected to it is not true as it's sometimes suggested that the same qualities that make a man successful in business also fit him for leadership in the church the church is not a business it has become a business even the best of them I'm here 17 years I have no idea what a budget is thank you for the water break this is this is the bottom line and I'm sorry that I'm not going off on a bunny trail I just cannot see a scripture like this about leadership and just talk about just apologetics the true leader of a congregation is deeply involved in the spiritual life of the congregation by his instruction exhortation encouragement and of course rebuke and correction if there is no rebuking correction something is radically wrong with that congregation so we heard about what it means to be a leader they have to be an apologist Paul said it was a major part of his ministry he was he was the quintessential apostle and then look at Jude for a minute this is Yeshua's half-brother we say you know there's only one chapter but if we put you through you might think it's the third chapter so it's the third verse and this is a very small letter write a page and it's power-packed power-packed jude was Yeshua's half brother why half brother same mother different father he lived with him he knew him he was raised in the synagogue he was incredibly versed in Torah why because his mother was chosen because she was so close to God so he was a devout devout religious Jewish man he starts to write this letter out about how excited he is to share about our faith right like we come together man isn't it great to be saved hallelujah what brethren you know we get excited we get excited to fellowship he says dear friends I was busily at work writing to you about the salvation we share when all of a sudden like out of the blue out of the blue the Lord just took his hand said dude we got to go a different direction we got to go different direction all of a sudden when I found that necessary meaning he was compelled by the Holy Spirit - right urging you to keep contending present progressive not contend once in a while what's going on in Jude what's going on in Jude is that what Peter saw on the horizon the false teachers and the false doctrine it's here already Satan psycho Satan doesn't sit around and play video games like some of you he's hard at work man and guess what there's more unity in his kingdom that they will ever be in God's kingdom until you schewe comes demons don't argue with each other they have a mission and they stay on target locked and loaded they're ready all the time and they are on assignment and you know what demons do they obey said so sad urging you to keep contending earnestly for the faith which was once and for all passed on to God's people let's look at this word it's a different word than apologia Greek word but it means to strive and debate to dispute earnestly so here we have a guy's first century right out of the gate attacks were being made on the sacred deposit of the Word of God efforts were already underway to whittle away at fundamental doctrines God's people must stand uncompromising Lee I'm here to tell you as you being God's people you must stand uncompromising Lee for the inspiration inerrancy authority and sufficiency of God's Word do you notice can you go back to that verse please dear you see what I once and for all the reason why I italicized personally once and for all because it says once and for all and not once upon a time you hear what I'm saying the Bible of doctrine is complete nothing more can be added if it's new it's not true and if it's true it's not new and when some teacher claims to have a revelation which is above and beyond what is find in the Bible we reject it out of hand now with all this being said and I I i I'm trying to be really nice in fact I wrote a note to myself be nice but if you think I'm not going to get excited about compatible and his cohorts you're flipping crazy look at this point I don't care what excites you let me let me say that again I don't really care that's your business okay I know what my business is right here and and it doesn't matter if I'm excited by God or not because this is so not about me so not but I can't explain to you in words Webster didn't give me enough to explain to you how freaking excited I am about God and how good he's been all of us now with that being said it comes the nice part okay let's go back to our original scripture we're almost done first Timothy 3 feet of 315 forgive me it says treat the Messiah's holy is Lord in your heart we went over that while remaining always ready to give a defense anyone who asked you to explain and we are going to do that this is the foundation we are going to go over internal evidence for a week external evidence for a week we're going to go over bibliographical evidence we are gonna go the prophetic evidence and then you're gonna graduate and then if you want to get deeper and become an expert on apologetics you can the materials out there but you're gonna be equipped and that's what the Bible tells me I'm supposed to do equip the Saints for ministry and this is part of the ministry not just rah-rah-sis-boom-bah with some tight jeans on and a big fat watch and have this cool band with a smoke machine and tell you how much God loves you you could stay home for that sorry Thanks I'm not sending out another letter of apology this week I'm not I'm not gonna do it now these other words that we highlighted a part of a part of apologetics with humility and fear let's just take a quick look at these words okay humility it's a mildness of disposition I don't know how are you doing that catagory but when I'm when I'm one-on-one with a person you wouldn't believe it you'd be like is he putting on an act who the heck is that guy here I'm dealing with my family I'm dealing with believers I'm dealing with mature people and the Lord's going for us but when I'm out there with the lost oh it's so it's so there's not a place I go to in town that doesn't love me the church can't stand me but the secular world loves me because I'm always under right everything with sick love if I talked to somebody fresh smoker and I come back two months later I go how's your mom doing they're like you remembered yeah yeah because you gotta legitimately care you can't fake it just to it just to put a notch on your belt people you can't fake it anymore with people don't you realize that people don't trust nobody anymore they trust nobody they're like well I know she's been my mother for 60 years but I don't trust it with my kids I don't beg mothers mildness at gentleness meekness meekness doesn't mean weakness it's very misinterpreted meekness means I came troll power I'm gonna come at you like a warrior but I'm gonna come at you with a tender heart you can be a tender-hearted warrior it's it's doable and then fear of course Phobos in the Greek is reverence respect essential you've got to be an apologist for the sense of or not an apologist to win an argument or prove yourself right you know many people I know read the Bible all wrong rabbi are you saying out of context you saying out of order no I'm saying with the wrong attitude you're reading it to find information to support your theology or you're reading it to find information to come against somebody else's man that's antagonistic that's ugly how about reading it to get God to change you would that be neat so this is something reverential when you when you're in a when you're sharing like when you're being an apologist it's awesome rabbi use the word I'm allowed to write man yeah yes you should have some aw you should be in some aw what you're doing God's allowing you to defend him huh God's allowing you to defend his word and maybe win a soul to Messiah or at least plant some seeds man if that's not awesome you tell me what is what and and he would let me do this you think you don't know me from what you don't know me at all well we'd love to get to you so you think we're gonna go out to lunch and you're gonna know me I do not feel qualified at all this kills me to come here I hate this part I don't feel qualified at all not even a little and people say you're a great teacher and I just laugh if you only knew how many times I cried to God said when are we gonna put this when is this gonna come to an end or any so I can I can feel normal about myself the second part of 1st Peter 3:15 that we just read is often ignored defending the faith should never involve being rude angry or disrespectful while practicing apologetics we should remain strong in our defense don't go the other way well they don't really really mean it so I'm not gonna defend it what I mean you can't talk about my mother and get away with that you think you're gonna talk about my god and get away with that so so we have to remain strong in our defense but at the same time act like you schewe in our presentation if we win a debate but turn a person further away from Messiah by our attitude we have lost the true purpose of apologetics it is not enough for an apologist to have a knowledge of Scripture he must love people to the goal of the apologist is not to win arguments but to win people to a knowledge of the truth that will set them free we must never forget anytime we operate in the faith that God's desire is that none should perish let me let me finish off with a few scriptures okay Ezekiel 18 verse 23 and 32 the reason why we put those in there it's because one's asking in question and the other one is answering it okay Ezekiel was called the son of man that's how God referred to him son of man is a beautiful Hebraic term it means a total servant of the human Kingdom Yeshua referred to himself as son of man in Luke because Luke was a gospel written to the Greeks to show humanity in its imperfection and then to show you manatee in its perfection in Yeshua and he referred to him he loved to refer to him not his son of God he loved to call himself the son of man I came to serve and so God speaks to this prophet Ezekiel and he calls him son of man which is really a compliment and he says to Ezekiel he asked him a question it's rhetorical do I take any pleasure at all and having the wicked die meaning for somebody to die in their sins got a shill in their sins asked I don't know Elohim the Lord God wouldn't I prefer that he turned from his sins and lives because maybe the profit was getting a little too full of himself I don't know I don't want to speak against Ezekiel but sometimes you know anointed people could be annoying people and so maybe he was just you don't want to listen well we declared judgment on you remember should we call down fire yoshua what spirit are you of same thing we can all get a little crazy right come on come on how many of you are in a bad mood somebody's not listening you just like just like to give him though raise it halfway oh not me rabbi sure I know you always have it together so he asks him a question then he answers it so that's what a rhetorical question is he says I take no pleasure in the death of anyone anyone who dies says I don't know Elohim so turn yourselves around and live repent that what sort of means turn around okay first Timothy 2:4 Paul is speaking to his son basically a spiritual son in the faith and he says he wants meaning God all humanity to be delivered and come to the full knowledge of the truth God is purposely extending the time of grace so all men will have the opportunity to be saved and then one of the best-known verses in the entire Bible you guys have been raised in the south and raised in the church I've never heard it but when I got saved I read it I didn't know it was the most important one it says in John 3:16 for God so loved the world not the world system when he says the world he means people God so loved the world that He gave His only an unique son so that everyone you see the halls and the everyone's you see how all-inclusive it is who trust in Him may have eternal instead of being utterly destroyed now this states the gospel is clear and simply is any verse but we always set aside the next verse look at the next verse that's our last verse of the day so God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world so you can't judge the person that you're defending the faith - that's not your job man that's not your job the last I remember reading in the Bible your shoe is looking for witnesses not judges right now I'm not an attorney but I know enough to know that that's a different position God is not a harsh cruel ruler anxious to pour out his anger on mankind you and I are living proof his heart is filled with tenderness towards man and he has gone to the utmost cost in order to save them people rightly refused to believe something without evidence and they had that right since God created human beings as rational beings he expects them to live rationally and to look before they leap that's rational Norman Theo Geisler who was a Christian systematic theologian and Christian apologist par excellence he's the guy this is what he says in a quote because we have to look before we leave because we want some evidence this does not mean there is no room for faith guys there has to be some dimension of the Holy Spirit but listen to me you cannot talk somebody into the kingdom because if you could then somebody could talk them out so there has to be some dimension but he says this does not mean there is no room for faith faith plays a part but God wants us to take a step of faith in the light of evidence rather than to take a deep in the dark people deserve that so we're gonna break this down the next few weeks it will be online whatever you call that on the line I always think on the line with my mother hung close but this is what I want you to look at this last slide but today Chauncey Sanders is a military expert and a historian with without an equal yeah he's an historian he wrote a book called the introduction in research and English literary history and this is this is the gold standard to find out if anything you read is legitimate a textbook the New England Journal of Medicine a biography how do you know there has to be some test reliability right I mean most of us don't care we read some magazine I read okay how do you know it's true three tests test one this goes weakest to strongest and this is how we're going to build internal evidence what the document claims for itself so we're going to go over what the document claims how many authors written over a time span we're gonna go over it okay and I think we're gonna do internal and external evidence in one week but I haven't gotten the orders yet so I'll find out two and this is a biggie this is historicity external evidence how does other manuscripts how does history books hieroglyphics steel stones manya how does it agree science how does it agree in corroborate what our Bible says and I'm telling you I'm just gonna touch on it there is more proof external evidence for the Bible than any other book all volumes of books in the world so when you get an ignorant willful buffoon that says it's written by men it's because they did not do any study ignorant not stupid because most of them intellectual ignorant means ignoring the truth willfully rabbi how can you say that cuz it's true you say a lot worse behind closed doors at least I'm willing to come out and say it God sees it all sweetheart he sees it all I have nothing to hide a man who has nothing to hide hides nothing I'm not gonna be a certain way here and then a certain way in my house but then my kids are gonna know I'm full of it and I'm never gonna let my kids think that I will go to the grave and when I go they'll say my dad was crazy but he was serious he was serious when it came to the Lord he was legit that's what I want that's what I want them to say in my funeral my dad didn't get it all right but he was not one way in church and one way at home and one way at vacation like some spiritual sips of Fredericks that I know and I don't want to know your life story because I know if there's a guy pushing around his wife and he's raised his hands in worship we're gonna have a talk be who you are all the time be authentic be genuine be real some people might not like you but at least don't know what they don't like how many marriages didn't work out because so-and-so always open up the door for you and now you 10 feet behind them external evidence how the document aligns itself with facts dates and persons and we have a lot but I'm again I'm we're just gonna scratch the surface three most important bibliographical evidence the textual tradition from the original document to the copies manuscripts that we possess today how many years since you know if if there was a car accident and - you saw the accident when separate rooms we'd probably have different stories what about if a hundred of you went into the hundred different rooms what if you went into different rooms a hundred years later the Bible has thousands of manuscripts copies eight thousand copies eight thousand of the New Testament and they all agree except for a little bit of grammar and a little bit of spelling the Masoretic text written by the mazarites textual tradition of them the greatest scribes ever and we find the Dead Sea Scrolls that's written in 920 the Dead Sea Scrolls a 250 BC and Isaiah 53 totally agrees that guys this is the Word of God now there's one more there's one more that is my personal favorite that will be after the bibliography the bibliographical evidence and that's prophetic evidence why isn't there prophetic evidence in there because most documents have no prophecy so why would he have that listed when you read a textbook there's nothing prophetic about it right but the Bible has eight thousand three hundred and fifty seven prophetic scriptures so you better believe I'm gonna use prophetic evidence because that's the one all these other like you know you might stroke your bed and go wow wow when I go with a prophetic evidence you're gonna eat the carpet that's gonna be like Oh what do we have here and then when it's all done the next time you open up your Bible you're gonna see light come off it it's gonna shake it's gonna be electric it's not just gonna be something that you read and then throw in your nightstand you're gonna read it kiss it and place it in the safest place so what do you think you guys ready [Applause] we're gonna have some fun I promise to be nice and when it's when the smoke clears you you will feel really different I think I think God's up to something I'm just trying to follow the cloud guys this is not my idea no way I didn't just say hey I think I'll teach you about our apologetics no and again I am NOT an expert not even remotely close please don't I'm not I have enough stuff to empower you again that should you need to defend your faith you will have some ammunition in your arsenal or remember defensive not offensive nobody likes that and it doesn't work I mean a lot of people are being offensive how's that working well I'm just gonna let them know where I stand God so loved the world let's stand up together I love you I will say I will try to get the Scriptures out for next week earlier than Friday okay so for those of you that would like to study and get a jump-start you can may the Lord bless you and keep you may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you I made a love lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace and the name of the principal peace issue the East Muradin 0.0 Valeska yes I don't know oh no Bella huh yeah Sam [Music] watch loan guys I love you

Channel: Getzel

Views: 8,641

Rating: 4.8823528 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, trust, apologetics, hope, defense, humility, Hershberg, Norman Geisler, Chauncey Sanders

Id: FlM9y4IUT84

Length: 67min 21sec (4041 seconds)

Published: Fri May 24 2019