Empowered Apologetics: Defending Faith with Conviction

"Let's begin this session with prayer shall we? Our Father and our God, you have set before us in the life of the church so many tasks which in and of ourselves we are not at all able to perform. You know our feet that they are of clay, our frames are of dust, and what treasure we carry; we carry in earthen vessels. You've called us to proclaim your word. You've called us to demonstrate your love. You've called us to ministries of mercy to those who suffer, to those who are widowed and orphaned or imprisoned. But you’ve also called us to this task not only of teaching but of defending your truth and giving a reason for the hope that is within us. None of these tasks could be performed at all without the presence and the power of your Holy Spirit." [00:00:39]

"Talk about an apologetic task. Moses is supposed to go to Pharaoh. He is an old man. That is Moses is. He's scraggly. He's been out tending sheep in the wilderness all these years. He's supposed to go up and somehow get an appointment with Pharaoh. I can hear the guards standing there saying 'who are you?' And he says 'my name is Moses I used to live here a long time ago. I've been exiled for many, many years. But I need to speak to Pharaoh.' To whom he says 'Well I was talking to this bush out in the wilderness.' I wonder how he ever got into see Pharaoh." [00:07:14]

"Miracles don't prove the existence of God. Rather miracles are God's proof authenticating His agents of revelation. Nicodemus had it right when he came to Jesus at night and said 'Teacher we know that thou art a teacher sent from God or you would not be able to do the things that you do.' Jesus said 'Believe me from what I say or from what my works say,' because these miracles were evidence of things only God can do to authenticate an agent or messenger sent from God." [00:09:44]

"In the first place it is not to tell the world that we are sorry that we are Christians. We don't apologize for being believers in Christ. The word apologetics comes from the Greek word apologia; which means literally 'to give a reply.' And its function in the early church was various. In the first instance we see the pattern of the preaching and teaching of the apostle Paul and the other apostles in the books of Acts. It was Paul's custom into every village that he went to go first to the synagogue and be involved in dialogue or reasoning and then to the Agora - the marketplace." [00:15:17]

"Saving faith involves real assensus where the mind is convinced of the truth of the proposition. Again, going back to James, remember that there are no creatures under heaven, more convinced of the data and of the truth of the data than the demons. Satan never goes through any periods of doubt and uncertainty of the identity of Jesus. He knows very well who Jesus is. And he has that intellectual assent to the proposition that Jesus is the Son of God. His problem is that he hates that proposition with all of his being." [00:36:24]

"Apologetics can explain the data. Apologetics can give you the rational defense of the truth claims of Christianity. And we are called to do that, to give the reason for the hope that is with in us. And we are to work to persuade men. However, the best arguments that we ever offer, however convincing they may be, can never change the human heart that by nature is hostile towards God, at enmity to God and dead to the spiritual things of God. Apologetics can never prove the sweetness of Christ to a pagan." [00:40:05]

"Calvin marshaled a list of what he called indicia - indications or evidences, objective evidences, for the Bible's being the inspired word of God. That is the consistency of its parts, the heavenliness of the matter, the antiquity of it, the loftiness of its ethics and all of these arguments that he gave. He made this observation, he said 'That these arguments in and of themselves were sufficient to prove that the Bible is the word of God.' Objectively they proved the case." [00:45:51]

"The most valuable role, I believe in the task of apologetics is to encourage the saints; to shore up the church. Just as the first concern that Moses had was 'How are your people how believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob going to believe now that this is what you want them to do?' And Moses was an apologist to his own people." [00:48:57]

"In our day, the two major articles of truth, the apologetics from the church must address with all of our might, and all of our ability are these: the existence of God, and second, the authority of the Bible. It may surprise you. You would have thought that I might say 'the single most important thing for apologists to prove is the existence of God, and then the second most important thing is the person of Jesus.' No, I say the second most important thing is the truth of scripture for this reason." [00:54:14]

"The existence of God, the existence of His word; those are the twin towers of the truth claims of Christianity that have to be defended cogently and compellingly in every generation and no generation needs it more desperately than our own. So let us not grow weary in seeking to defend the truth of the existence of a self-existent eternal being who has manifested Himself in creation and in history and in His inspired word." [00:58:46]

"Father we thank you that you don't leave us without your power, and without your truth. And we know that though people’s preferences change from generation to generation O' Lord that the constituent nature of our humanity has not changed. The way to our heart is through our brain. And we pray that we may be faithful in delivering your word to the mind, and that your spirit would then take it to the heart. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen." [00:59:16]