Real Christianity #110： What's The Best Way to Defend Your Christian Faith？
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Summary
The culture is becoming increasingly hostile toward Christians and biblical values. As the intensity rises, more and more of us will be required to defend our faith against those who challenge it. But how is that really done? Are we called to be capable of making an argumentation against every point of cultural contention? Do we need to know how to defend the scientific position for being pro-life, or the theological argument for traditional marriage? How do we understand gender? I m going to be answering a lot of these questions and how we should be looking at this as Christians.
Transcript
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Welcome to this episode of Real Christianity. My name is Dale Partridge, where each week
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I offer 15 to 20-minute answers to tough theological and pastoral questions. This is
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a 100% listener-supported audio ministry of relearn.org. And for those who don't know,
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our mission at relearn.org is to educate and equip ordinary Christians to plant biblical,
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confessional, and missional house churches. For more information, just visit relearn.org
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forward slash house. So if you haven't noticed, the culture is becoming increasingly hostile
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toward Christians and biblical values. As the intensity rises, more and more of us will be
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required to defend our faith against those who challenge it. But how is that really done? Are
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we called to be capable of making an argumentation against every point of cultural contention? Do
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you need to know how to defend the scientific positions for being pro-life, or the theological
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argument for traditional marriage, how to understand gender? I'm going to be answering a lot of these
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questions and how we should be looking at this as Christians. But before we begin, I want to just
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make two quick announcements for this episode. The first is about our program, our companion
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ministry, standinvictory.org. This is a wonderful program on how to break free from the bondage of
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pornography addiction or pornography use through the power of the gospel. If you are struggling
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with this. We've had hundreds, maybe even close to a thousand, but hundreds of people come through
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and the testimonies are just outstanding. And it's not because of our ministry or because of
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our program, it's because the Word of God and the power of the gospel and setting people free
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from the bondage of sin. You guys can check that out at standinvictory.org. Also, if you would like
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to support somebody who would like to enroll in the program but couldn't afford it, this is pretty
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common. We actually have a lot of people write us that they can't afford the program. We have a fund
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called the Stand and Victory Fund, and these are donors that have funded and offered donations to
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pay for somebody else to go through the program. The program is 50 bucks for three videos, three
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PDFs, walking them through this journey. If you would be interested in doing that, you could just
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go to relearn.org forward slash donate. And the way that we'll know that your donation is to go
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into the Stand and Victory Fund is just make it for $25.25 or $50.25. It's a pretty odd number,
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not many people donate that total. But if you make a donation of that total, we will earmark
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it and put it into our Stand and Victory Fund. The second thing I want to mention, COVID has
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caused thousands of Christians to explore the idea of house church. If that's you, we believe
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that the best place to start is by downloading our free PDF. It's called The Basics of Biblical
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House Church, and you can get that at relearn.org forward slash house. This isn't something that'll
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give you all the instructions, but it will lead you to the journey if you're interested in exploring
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that. We also have our program, you guys know, at stjustins.org, which is our full, robust
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training program for those men who might be interested in planting or shepherding a biblical
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house church. Let's get to today's question. It's from Luke in Gilbert, Arizona. I've been to
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Gilbert, so thank you for your question, Luke. He asks, Pastor Dale, recently I have been studying
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apologetics in an effort to give a defense for my faith as instructed in 1 Peter 3.15.
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However, there are so many issues to learn how to defend. Can you help me focus on which issues
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matter most? Hey, Luke, thank you for this question. For those who are listening, I'm going
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to read the passage of scripture that Luke referenced in his question. It's 1 Peter 3.15.
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It reads, but in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a
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defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with
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So the word defense in the Greek is apologion, and it's where we get our word apologetics
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Now, for a long time, I subscribed to the same apologetic ideology as, say, Ravi Zacharias,
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which is a cultural apologetic that props up or undergirds evangelism, as Ravi would say it.
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Meaning cultural apologetics are supposed to act in a way as a forerunner to the gospel.
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The intent is to answer all the harder cultural and quasi-theological or moral questions
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that are in the way of someone accepting or believing the gospel.
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And the reason I followed that method for so long was because I believed it was my job and your job
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to present a defense for the faith or persuade people to the faith is probably a better way to
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put it. I believed that salvation was a choice that was made by people who have free will.
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But the question I would ask you is this, is our will ever free? Jesus says in John 8, 44 to
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unbelievers, you are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.
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Second Corinthians 4.4 says, in their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the
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unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Finally,
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Ephesians 2.1-3 says, and you were dead. That word dead right there is nekros in the
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Greek, which means corpse, dead. There's no other definition of that, right? Just corpse or dead,
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dead body. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the
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course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work
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in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying
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out the desires of the body and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of
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mankind. So do unbelievers have free will? No. They have a will, but is it free? No.
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They have a will that's in bondage to sin and enslaved to the God of this world. That has
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been the natural and moral result of the fall in Genesis chapter 3, and this is why even our good
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works are viewed as filthy rags. Sin, we have to remember, isn't just an act, it's a condition
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that we're in. And so what I'm saying here is that when I believed I could persuade free will
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creatures to the kingdom of God. I didn't understand the biblical doctrine of sovereignty
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or total depravity, right? The idea of having free will and having a sovereign God is a bit
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of a contradiction in a philosophical manner. The only one who has a free will is God.
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So let me explain this doctrine of total depravity just quickly, which we could talk about this for
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ours, but I'm going to read Romans 3, 11 through 18. It says, none is righteous. No, not one.
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No one understands. No one seeks for God. Pay attention to that. No one seeks for God.
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Verse 12, all have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. Not one does good. Not
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even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is
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under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood
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and their paths are ruin and misery and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of
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God before their eyes. First Corinthians 2 14 says the natural person, that is the carnal person,
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the unbeliever, cannot or does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly
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to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. In other
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words, there's nothing that you can do or say to change the heart of another person. This is solely
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God's work. You may be able to convince them of a logical argument on a moral matter,
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but you cannot persuade a person to love God and come to Christ for salvation.
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This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, 6-7, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
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So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
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Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,
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let alone get to the kingdom of God, because you can't even see it.
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Now, this teaches us that God must first cause someone to be born again
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before they even can hear the spiritual arguments that you're presenting for salvation,
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This is why Jesus would often say, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.
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You know, basically, spiritual actions cannot occur before spiritual birth.
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I want you to just take this one to the bank in your brain here, okay?
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Spiritual actions cannot occur before spiritual birth.
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You can't exercise saving faith or genuine repentance, which are spiritual actions before
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If you could exercise saving faith and genuine repentance before being spiritually born,
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You've already done the thing that justifies you and saves you, which is have faith and
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And so, yeah, this is critical because you and I cannot birth new spiritual life in another person.
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How much input or decision did you have in your first birth?
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That's how much decision and say you have in your second birth.
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And our cultural apologetics will not influence that process whatsoever.
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No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
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This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.
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In other words, the only way a person can come to Christ is if the Father ordains them to come
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to Christ. And this is a major point I want you guys to understand here in regards to this
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question. God is the sole cause of a person being born again and a heart being restored to love and
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seek Him. And once you understand this in regards to this question, you'll realize that intellectual
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persuasion on cultural topics is not an effective or biblically mandated practice for evangelism.
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It's definitely not an alternative. It's definitely not a replacement. And I would say it's generally
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not as helpful as we might hope it would be. Now, I'm not saying that God has not used
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cultural apologetics in the grand plan of a person's redemption. He may have done that.
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I'm also not saying that we as Christians shouldn't present the logical and biblical
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evidence on moral issues like pro-life or gender or creation. These things are really good things
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to proclaim. Keep doing that. But I am saying that cultural apologetics has never converted
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one's soul and never will. I'm also saying that cultural apologetics will add nothing
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to your ability to convert a person to Christ. We might think that we're, because we're answering
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their concerns and questions around homosexuality, or we're answering their concerns around,
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you know, objective morality or whatever it might be, that we're actually moving things
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out of the way so that we can actually just get them to that place where we can persuade them to
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Jesus. That is not how it works according to Scripture. And basically, I'm saying don't
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confuse apologetics with evangelism. There is only one activity that the Lord has allowed us
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as believers to participate in regarding the conversion of souls, and that is gospel preaching.
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And we know this because Romans 10, 17 clearly states, faith comes from hearing and hearing
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The gospel message is the agent by which God has chosen to midwife his children, right?
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In other words, when we preach the gospel, we, in a sense, are acting as the voice of
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Christ calling his sheep to life. They're born again by way of the gospel that we preach.
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And he uses our words out of our mouths, which is they should only be the gospel,
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which is the word of Christ to bring about faith. And this is why Jesus says in John 10, 24 through
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30, the Jews then gathered around him and they were saying to him, how long will you keep us
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in suspense. If you're the Christ, just tell us plainly. Jesus answered them and said, I told you
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and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's name. These testify me, but you do not
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believe. Why? Because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they
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follow me and I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out
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of my hand. My father who has given them to me, pay attention that my father who has given them
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to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the
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Father are one. When we preach the gospel, those who have been granted salvation by God the Father
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will hear His voice through your gospel preaching, and they will follow Jesus, and Jesus will keep
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them. We are simply just the means by which God accomplishes his redemptive work. Now, what does
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that all mean in regards to your question about apologetics? It means that instead of learning
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all the sophisticated arguments against homosexuality or abortion or pedophilia or
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creation or morality, instead, focus all that energy and time, in my opinion,
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on learning the mechanics of the gospel. Seek to understand the gospel to such a degree
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that you can present it clearly and correctly in almost any circumstance. And, you know,
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instead of studying these philosophical ideas, grind the beauty of the biblical theological
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doctrine of salvation. It's what we call soteriology, right? So deep into your soul
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that you can communicate it, defend it, discuss it, morph it, use it, apply it as effectively as
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the Apostle Paul did. Be ready to speak with children or with bankers or with drug addicts
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or with the homeless or with the elderly. You don't need to change the message for any of these
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groups. You simply need to adjust the delivery. The message is the same. The method might be
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slightly different. And this is what that verse in 1 Peter 3.15 truly means is give the reason
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for the hope that's in you. And what's the reason for your hope? It's not because you can explain
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away the Big Bang Theory. It's not because you understand the argument for, you know,
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objective morality. The reason you have hope, it's the gospel. You have hope because of the gospel.
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Okay, what Peter is saying here is be prepared to present and explain and defend the gospel,
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the thing that gives you hope, and do that with gentleness and respect.
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They are an awesome tool to shift logical thinkers toward a more moral society.
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But changing minds will never change hearts. Only the gospel can change hearts. So if you're going
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to invest time and energy to learn all these sophisticated arguments, Luke, I would say,
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no, I would spend that time studying theology, understanding the gospel, so that you can better
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present the gospel to those people that the Lord puts in your path. So hopefully that answers your
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question, Luke. I know it was a long, you know, background and explanation to get there, but
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hopefully that was helpful for you. I'm going to leave you guys with a few resources that you can
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find on the post page for this episode at relearn.org. This is episode number 106, and it's
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titled, What's the Best Way to Defend Your Christian Faith? So a great book to check out
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is Conversion by Michael Lawrence. It's a little yellow book. The next resource is a book titled
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Expository Apologetics, Answering Objections with the Power of the Word. This is by Dr. Voti
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Bauckham, and I think is a great resource on what is biblical apologetics in difference to
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maybe a cultural apologetic that would be more like a Ravi Zacharias style. And by the way,
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I'm a major Ravi Zachariah fan in terms of I've really appreciated his ministry, so don't think
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that I'm throwing him under the bus. He's a fantastic man, and I've listened to probably
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several hundred of his podcasts over the years, and he has very fruitful discussions to be
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listening to, but I just think that this is important is that don't confuse apologetics
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with evangelism. Anyways, that's a rant. But the last resource I'm going to give is,
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it's a video, and it's called The Essentials of the Gospel, and it's by Paul Washer. Again,
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I think a lot of us need to understand, what are those essentials? Because the gospel is so big.
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What do I really need to talk to somebody about in order to present the gospel effectively?
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For those of you that are a regular listener to this show, thank you. We would just ask that you
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I think that's it for this episode. Hopefully this was fruitful and edifying for you all.
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My name is Dale Partridge, and I will see you next week.
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Thank you for listening to this episode of Real Christianity. If you're a regular listener to
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this episode of Real Christianity. We'll see you next Wednesday.