Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20250525 - Answering Atheists - Jude 1:3

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#20250525 - Answering Atheists - Jude 1:3 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
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resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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Thank you, brother, good morning.
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Thanks for the warm welcome. Great to be back with you all.
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It's an honor to fill in for Pastor Ed.
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It's been a few years since I've seen you all though.
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Great to see all of you again. Let's turn in our Bibles to the
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book of Jude, second to last book in the Bible.
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You can find the Book of Revelation and then just turn
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back a couple pages. The book of Jude, I'd like to
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draw your attention to verse three.
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If you don't have a Bible, I'll have it on the screens here for
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you shortly and then we'll go ahead and pray as well.
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You there, book of Jude, verse 3.
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Notice what Jude writes. He says, Beloved, while I was
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very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation,
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I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend
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earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to
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the Saints. Let's pray.
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Heavenly Father, what a blessing to gather together here this
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morning in this place to worship you and now to turn our
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attention to Your Word. God, we ask for Your blessing
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upon this time. We pray that your Holy Spirit
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would encourage us in the faith that you would lead us into the
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truth. God, that you would equip us for
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evangelism and to do the thing that Jude mentions here to
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contend for the faith, work in that way, and then also just be
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Memorial Day weekend. God, we're thankful for the
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freedom of religion that we enjoy in this country.
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We know that it was purchased with the loss of many lives,
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People who are willing to lay down their lives that we might
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live and enjoy this freedom today.
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So God, we're thankful for their lives.
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We pray their lives would be a memory or a blessing and the
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memories of those who love them that you would comfort those who
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still mourn their loss. God work in their hearts that
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way. God, we love you.
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Bless this time. Now we ask in Jesus name, Amen.
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Amen. Have you ever?
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Tried to talk to a friend maybe? Or a Co worker, family member
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who wasn't a Christian about God or the Bible only to have your
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words blown out of the sky with an objection like there isn't
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any good evidence that God exists.
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How Can you believe that? Or maybe they said religions,
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including Christianity, are responsible for most of the
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world's wars, suffering and atrocities.
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Or the God of the Old Testament commanded the Israelites to
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commit genocide. How could you believe in a God
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that would do that? Or maybe they said the Bible
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condones slavery. It oppresses women.
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It promotes hatred of homosexuals.
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Many critics of Christianity Today have an arsenal of these
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kinds of conversation halting objections ready to unload at
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the first inkling someone's about to talk to them about
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Jesus. Have you bumped any bumped into
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any of these kinds of objections?
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If you've tried to share the Gospel with people in the 21st
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century, you certainly have. Well, when you face these kinds
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of objections, do you feel that you're prepared in those moments
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to contend earnestly for the faith, as we're told to do here
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in the book of Jude? What does Jude mean when he
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exhorts us to contend for the faith?
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Well, let's break it down. The word contend literally means
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to fight. The word earnestly means
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seriously or intensely. And that phrase, the faith,
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refers to the whole body of revealed truth contained in the
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Bible. So Jude, writing under the
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guidance of the Holy Spirit, instructs Christians here to put
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up a fight for the truth of God's Word.
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Now please don't misunderstand Jude.
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He's not encouraging you to get into physical fights with
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people. God no.
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Don't do that. We're instructed in Romans
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chapter 12, verse 18 to live peaceably with all Paul said, so
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far as it depends on you, Christian live peaceably with
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people. We're not to be getting into
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fist fights with people over theological disagreements.
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When Jude tells us to contend earnestly for the faith, he's
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talking primarily about countering the errors, the
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misconceptions and false teachings about God, not with
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fists and guns, but with truth. So contending for the faith
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really is just speaking the truth, answering people's
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questions about God, answering their objections to Jesus,
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responding to their criticisms about the Bible.
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But that's not always easy to do, is it it?
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It often takes preparation ahead of time, reading and research so
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that you can have some good answers ready when those kinds
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of questions and objections come up.
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Well, to help us all be a little a little bit better prepared to
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contend for the faith. What?
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I thought we'd. Do this morning is offer some
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concise responses to several of the popular objections that
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atheists and skeptics are bringing up in conversations
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with Christians today. My hope and prayer is that this
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will encourage you and your faith, but also leave you a
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little bit better equipped to dialogue with your non Christian
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friends. The first objection I'd like to
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address concerns the topic of slavery in the Bible.
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It's not uncommon to hear atheists today say that the
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Bible condones slavery and only evil, selfish men would ever
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concoct a book like that. How might we respond to that?
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Well, when someone brings this up with me, I'd like to point
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out to them that slavery was never part of God's original
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plan for humanity, and it wouldn't even exist if it
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weren't for mankind's sin. The Bible says to love your
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neighbor as yourself in both the Old and New Testaments.
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We're also instructed in the Bible to regard one another as
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more important than ourselves. Well, slavery wouldn't exist
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anywhere if people loved one another that way.
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A loving person doesn't kidnap people, lock them up, and force
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them to work without pay. That's terribly cruel and evil,
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and the biblical writers knew that.
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Kidnapping is actually a sin that carried the death penalty
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in the Old Testament. For example, Exodus chapter 21,
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verse 16 says whoever steals a man and sells him and anyone
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found in possession of him shall be put to death.
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There would probably be a lot fewer abductions today if
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kidnappers, when found guilty, were swiftly executed.
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But of course, we've done away with the death penalty in many
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states across our country, and society is paying the price
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today. The slave trade is alive and
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well in our country today and one of the reasons is because
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the penalties are not stiff enough.
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God gave the Israelites a green light to put kidnappers who
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traded people as property to put them to death.
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Another verse that made it clear kidnapping people and forcing
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them into slavery was wrong was found in Deuteronomy 24 verse 7.
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Notice that on the screen, if anyone kidnaps A fellow
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Israelite and treats him as a what slave or sells him, the
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kidnapper must die. In this way, you will purge the
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evil from among you. So the Old Testament made it
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clear that these activities were wrong.
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What about the New Testament though?
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Does it take a softer stand on the subject of slavery?
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Well, the answer is no. In the New Testament, enslavers,
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men, Steelers, or slave traders depending on your translation,
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are condemned right alongside murderers in First Timothy
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chapter 1, verses 8 through 10. So then why do some people
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believe that the Bible actually condones slavery?
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Well, I think it's because there are a handful of verses in the
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Bible wherein God gave the Israelites instructions on how
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they were to treat their servants.
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In biblical times, people could sell themselves to be servants
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to pay off debts. You couldn't sell someone else,
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that was a death penalty sin. But if you were indebted to
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somebody for thousands of dollars, you could sell yourself
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to them as an indentured servant for years to pay off your debt.
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So for. The oops got ahead of myself.
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So for those servants sakes, God gave the Israelites instructions
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on how they were to be treated. The instructions were actually
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given to protect and help the servants, not to harm them or
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keep them down. Paul summarized all of the
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Bible's instructions regarding these servants with these words
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in Colossians chapter 4, verse 1.
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He said Masters treat your bond servants justly and fairly,
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knowing that you also have a master in heaven.
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End. Quote.
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So the Bible never encouraged or condoned the horrific kind of
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slavery that involved kidnapping, selling and
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mistreating humans. You will not find that in the
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Bible. Well, our friend says Charlie,
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the God of the Bible, command of the Israelites to kill the
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Canaanites in the book of Joshua.
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A loving God would never do that.
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If someone brings the Canaanites up with you, you might ask the
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person this question. Have you read the Old Testament
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passages regarding the Canaanites?
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Often they haven't. They've just heard about the
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supposed genocide. If they do say they've read the
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book of Joshua, you might ask them this question.
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Do you recall what the Canaanites were doing that
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brought God's judgment on them? I can assure you of this, the
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answer will almost always be no. So then you might lovingly,
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humbly bring the person up to speed a bit on what the
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Canaanites were doing at the time of Joshua.
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The Bible tells us that they were an exceedingly wicked
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people who were sacrificing their children by fire to their
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God, Molech. They were also committing
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incest, adultery, polygamy, bestiality, witchcraft, and a
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variety of other abominable customs.
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So the Canaanites have become a dangerous, cancerous threat not
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only to their posterity and their neighbors, but to the
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Israelites. So God authorized the Israelite
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military to go in and put a stop to the wickedness.
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Just as he would do centuries later when he authorized the
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Assyrians and then the Babylonians to March into Israel
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and put a stop to the wickedness when the Israelites began
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engaging in the exact same activities.
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Peter said in Acts chapter 10 verse 34.
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God is not one to show partiality.
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He brought judgment on the Canaanites, but He also brought
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judgment later on on the Israelites.
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Friends, as you know, God created the earth and all of its
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inhabitants, so He has the right to do whatever He deems best
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with His creation. All life belongs to Him.
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Think back to World War 2. Most of us believe the Allied
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powers, which included the USA, had the right and even God's
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approval to go to war against Japan and Nazi Germany to stop
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the great evils they were committing.
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When President Trump came into office in 2017, he authorized
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our military to wipe out ISIS. Remember them?
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Remember some of the evil things they were doing, locking people
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up in cages and lighting them on fire and all of that?
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I think most Americans approved of that decision.
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Well, this raises a question. If human governments have the
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right to send in a military force to put a stop to evil
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doers, doesn't God have the right?
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Certainly he does. If our non Christian friends who
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are critical of the Bible today had been around at the time of
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Joshua and were aware of the great atrocities going on in the
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land of Canaan, I think many of them would have been an approval
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of God's intervention in that situation.
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I do find it a bit odd that atheists today commonly say if
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God exists he should intervene and put a stop to evil and
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suffering. In the book of Joshua we have an
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example of God putting a stop to some of the evil and atheists
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point to that passage and say a loving God would never do that.
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Hmm Seems to me that no matter what God does, people who want
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nothing to do with him find fault.
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Had he allowed the evil to fester there in Canaan, they
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would be upset about that. If he brings judgment down on
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Canaan, they're upset about that.
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The reality is, is oftentimes they just want nothing to do
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with God and they just try to find an angle to not like him.
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I don't like that he did that. And and I wouldn't like him if
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he did that either because I'd really just, I don't want any
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accountability to a maker, a creator.
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That's often what's going on with people who've rejected God.
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Well, the skeptic says, surely God doesn't even exist.
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If he did, he just appear to us in a public setting and prove it
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to the world. People who raised this objection
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overlooked the fact that God has already done this when he came
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to the earth in the person of Jesus.
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Jesus raised the dead, healed cripples, opened the eyes of the
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blind, proved he was God in the flesh.
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And what happened? Did everyone believe in him?
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No, they led him away and nailed him to a cross.
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One of the reasons God doesn't appear to people today is
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because He knows that wouldn't change their hearts, and God
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knows He's already provided enough evidence for His
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existence for those who truly want to know him.
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What evidence, someone might ask?
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How about the fine tuning of the universe?
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Or the mind boggling complexity of living organisms?
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Or the information we've discovered encoded into DNA?
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Or hundreds of fulfilled prophecies in the Bible?
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Or the historical evidence for Jesus's life, death, and
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resurrection? Just for starters, I agree with
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Norman Geisler, A tremendous Bible scholar who went home to
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be with the Lord a few years ago.
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He wrote this. He said.
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God has provided enough evidence in this life to convince anyone
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willing to believe. Yet he has also left some
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ambiguity so as not to compel the unwilling.
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In this way, God gives us the opportunity to either love him
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or to reject. Him without violating our
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freedom. End Quote.
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I so agree with that. I also agree with JP more than a
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Christian philosopher. In an interview with Lee Strobel
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a while back, he said something similar.
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I think he's worth quoting here. He said God maintains A delicate
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balance between keeping his existence sufficiently evident
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so people will know he's there, and yet hiding his presence
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enough so that people who want to choose to ignore him can do
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it. This way, their choice of
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destiny is really free. Anqua, God is so wise.
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He maintains that perfect balance.
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There's enough evidence there if you really want to know him, and
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yet he's hidden enough so that if you want to hate him and have
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nothing to do with him, you can freely exercise your will and go
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off in that direction. Another objection I've been
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hearing more lately has to do with the enormity of the
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universe. Atheists commonly say the
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universe is so vast it's foolish to think of God built a universe
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billions of light years across just to have a personal
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relationship with you. In other words, it's absurd to
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think that God would create all these other galaxies and stars.
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If our tiny planet was really the focus of His love, why would
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he create all those other planets and stars?
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Well, in response to that, I would first know that the
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enormity of something has absolutely no bearing on whether
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or not God exists. For God could have several good
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reasons for creating the universe the way He did,
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including the knowledge that His creatures would find a sky full
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of stars quite beautiful. That could be sufficient reason
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enough. He just wants you on a clear,
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dark night, away from the lights of the city, to look up and just
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be blown away. By the beauty of the heavens.
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That would be sufficient reason to have created them.
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In reality, I think the enormity of the universe, with all of its
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galaxies and stars proves to be more of a more of a problem for
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atheists. Why is that?
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Well, the world's leading atheistic authors and
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philosophers believe every star, planet and Galaxy in the cosmos
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spring into existence from what Richard Dawkins and Stephen
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Hawking said was literally nothing.
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Nothing, friend. That requires an enormous amount
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of faith, for we know by experience that nothing does not
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create anything. Can you imagine going home this
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afternoon and turning on the news and hearing the newscaster
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say nothing? Caught doing something on film?
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TuneIn at 11. See the footage.
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Why do you laugh? Because it doesn't happen.
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Never has happened. It can't.
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It can't happen. Well, our friend says the Bible
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was written by men. It's not trustworthy.
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I find it a bit humorous how often skeptics think they can
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just get the Bible out of the conversation by pointing out to
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you. Pointing out to Christians that
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the Bible was written by men like this is going to be some
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mind blowing revelation to us. And, and you know, I see why
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they, they say that perhaps because we're, we're always
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referring to the Bible as the word of God.
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So they think that we think that the Bible is as pinned by God
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himself. He wrote it.
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Well, that's not our view of Scripture.
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We believe that God superintended the writing of the
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Bible to make sure that what the authors pinned accurately
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reflected the way things really are.
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But these were inspired men, led by the Holy Spirit, to pin down
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the words that they pinned well. When someone brings this up with
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me thinking that just simply pointing out that men wrote the
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Bible and men make mistakes, so then you know it can't possibly
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be trustworthy. When someone brings this up with
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me, I like to point out to them that their conclusion does not
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follow logically from their premise.
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If what men write is automatically not to be trusted,
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we would have to throw out all kinds of things.
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Dictionaries, encyclopedias, automobile manuals, everything
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the IRS sends us written by men. Toss it out.
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Men are capable of communicating truthfully, especially when they
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have God's help, as the biblical writers did.
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Where did that paper go that I just tossed?
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Oh gosh, that's like the announcements for a next
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service. I'm going to get in trouble if I
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start tossing stuff around. Many people today who think that
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the Bible is not to be trusted because it's just a compilation
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of folklore and legends overlook the fact that there's actually a
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wealth of evidence for the Bible's trustworthiness.
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I have here in mind things like hundreds of fulfilled
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prophecies, thousands of archaeological discoveries, the
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Bible's incredible internal harmony, historical
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confirmation. We've unearthed in the ancient
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records of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans,
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scientific discoveries that have verified details in the Bible.
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The last time I was here, I did a whole presentation on those
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different scientific discoveries.
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There was a discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls back in 1947,
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which give us the assurance we have accurate copies of the
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ancient books of the Bible. There's the writings of
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historians outside of the Bible, like Flavius Josephus and
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Cornelius Tacitus, who verify dozens and dozens of details for
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us in the Bible. If you're unfamiliar with this
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kind of evidence for the trustworthiness of the Bible,
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I'd point you to our website, alwaysbeready.com.
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I've got lots of articles on that.
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I've written a book on the subject Scrolls and Stones where
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I lay it all. Out for you.
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And this is, this can be influential stuff if you're
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talking to a skeptic and you know, they don't think the
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Bible's to be trusted. Even just bringing up one or two
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archaeological discoveries can be pretty eye opening for them.
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A lot of them, a lot of non Christians today aren't familiar
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with this evidence at all. Well, our friends says after the
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Roman Emperor Constantine became a Christian in 8312, the Roman
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Empire took control of the Bible and tampered with its contents
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to better control the people. So even if it was trustworthy
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early on, it's not trustworthy now after Constantine got his
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hands on the Bible. There was a fictional novel that
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came out in 2003 called The Da Vinci Code that popularized this
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objection. I'm sure some of you recall the
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novel. It was a runaway bestseller.
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Well, the claim that popular that that book popularized was
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totally fabricated. There's no evidence at all to
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support it. If someone tells you that
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Constantine tampered with the contents of the Bible, you might
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ask them this question. How did you come to that
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conclusion? In other words, what evidence
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LED you to that conclusion? If you'll ask the person that,
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you'll probably get a blank stare back.
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Why is that? Well, because there isn't a
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shred of evidence that the Roman Empire tampered with any of the
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books in the Bible, and the ancient handwrits and manuscript
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copies of the Bible that predate the time of Constantine prove
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this to be the case. What do I mean?
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Well, we know what the Bible said Old and New Testaments
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before Constantine was even born around AD to 80.
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And when we compare the Bible we have and use today to those
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ancient manuscript copies of the Bible, we see that it says the
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same thing it said all the way back in the first, second and
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third centuries. All right, Charlie, but the New
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Testament authors stole the whole idea for Jesus's virgin
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birth and resurrection from ancient religions that were
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around prior to Christianity. There's a video that's been out
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there on the Internet for several years now called
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Zeitgeist. I'm sure some of you have bumped
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into it. This low budget video produced
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by a man named Peter Joseph has been viewed by millions of
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people now, and many viewers unaware of the errors in the
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video have had their confidence in the Gospels undermined by
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watching it. The video alleges that the New
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Testament authors plagiarized major details for Jesus life
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from earlier sources. Other religions there were
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around before the rise of Christianity.
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For example, the Zeitgeist video says the gospel writers stole
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the idea for a virgin giving birth to a child from the
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ancient religion of Mithraism. Well, I happen to know a few
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things about ancient religions, having spent hundreds of hours
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studying them and having taught college level courses on world
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religions. And I've researched the ancient
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Persian religion of Mithraism, and its deity by the name of
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Mithras was never thought of as having been born of a virgin in
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any of the ancient myths. The myths actually say that
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Mithras arose spontaneously from a rock inside a cave.
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Does that sound like a virgin birth to you?
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To suggest that the gospel writers plagiarized Mithraism
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regarding this is preposterous. The virgin birth of the Messiah
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was not plagiarized for Mithraism.
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It was actually the fulfillment of a prophecy given in the book
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of Isaiah Chapter 7, verse 14, six or 700 years before Jesus's
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birth. And many Bible commentators
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believe the virgin birth of the Messiah was prophesied as far
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back as Genesis chapter 3, where God seems to indicate that the
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coming Messiah would be born to a woman apart from a
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relationship with a man. But what about the resurrection?
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Did the New Testament author steal the idea for the
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resurrection as the Zeitgeist video claims?
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Well, again the answer is no. Jesus's resurrection was not
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borrowed from some other religion.
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It was the fulfillment of prophecies made by Hebrew
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prophets as far back as 1000 years before Jesus's birth.
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David riding around 1000 BC and the prophet Isaiah prophesying
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around 700 BC both foretold the Messiahs resurrection.
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They prophesied it would happen long before Jesus was even born.
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So, friends, you can be confident that the gospel
27:56
writers didn't plagiarize any of their ideas from ancient
28:00
religions. If you'd like to do a deeper
28:02
dive into that subject, I would again point you to our website,
28:06
alwaysbeready.com. We've got an A-Z menu on our
28:09
homepage. You can go down to the Z's,
28:11
click on Zeitgeist, and we respond to lots more of the
28:14
claims made in that Zeitgeist video.
28:18
All right, moving along, another objection we're hearing more
28:20
today concerns the Bible's teaching on the subject of
28:24
homosexuality. Critics of Christianity say keep
28:28
the Bible out of people's bedrooms.
28:31
What 2 consenting adults do is their business.
28:35
They have the right to do whatever they'd like to do.
28:40
Well, of course, Christians disagree with this position.
28:44
We do not have the right to do whatever we'd like to do.
28:48
Why is that? Well, the Bible makes it clear
28:51
in passages like Psalm 24, verse one, that say the earth is the
28:56
Lord's and everything in it, the world and all its people belong
29:02
to Him. And so because God created the
29:06
earth and all of its people belong to Him, he gets to set
29:10
the rules and establish the boundaries for human behavior.
29:15
Now of course we have the freedom to do what we'd like to
29:20
do. God created humans with free
29:22
will, but we don't have the right to do whatever we'd like
29:27
to do. God has declared certain
29:30
activities, including same gender sexual activity, to be
29:35
sinful. Not because he's a mean spirited
29:38
ogre who's bent on denying us pleasure.
29:42
No, God is the one who created human bodies with the ability to
29:46
experience pleasure. He's the one who created the
29:49
sacred covenant of marriage wherein that pleasure could
29:52
flourish. God has placed the boundaries
29:54
where they are because He loves us.
29:56
And being our designer, He knows what's best for us.
30:02
God's prohibitions against adultery, fornication, and
30:06
homosexual activity were never intended to take away from
30:11
mankind's happiness all of God. 'S instructions in the Bible are
30:16
there to promote human flourishing and to lead us into
30:22
a joyful life, a life that he can bless, a life that will be a
30:28
blessing to others, a life that will glorify him.
30:33
But Charlie, why do Christians persist in judging people when
30:38
Jesus clearly said not to judge? You know, if there's one verse
30:45
in the Bible that everyone on the planet seems to have
30:48
memorized, it's John Chapter 7 verse 24, or at least part of
30:54
the verse where Jesus clearly said do not judge.
31:01
I find it a bit humorous that people who don't even believe
31:03
the Bible still like to. Quote it occasionally when it
31:07
comes to judging, but may I put the whole verse up on the screen
31:10
for you? I want to show you how
31:11
mishandled God's word is today. Here it is John Chapter 7, verse
31:15
24, Jesus speaking. He says do not judge.
31:18
Is there a period there? No, He's not done.
31:22
Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with
31:28
righteous judgment. Would you look at that.
31:34
Jesus didn't forbid judging. He actually green lights
31:38
judging. As long as it's done properly,
31:43
it needs to be done righteously. And I'm so glad he didn't forbid
31:49
judging. Friend, you would be dead if you
31:52
weren't regularly making judgments.
31:56
About where to go, what to eat, who to befriend, what to keep a
31:59
safe distance from. And God knows that.
32:03
So Jesus says judge, but judge righteously.
32:05
Well, how do you do that? How do you make righteous
32:08
judgments about people and activities and and different
32:12
things? Well, Christians consult with
32:14
what God has already revealed in the Bible, and then we carefully
32:18
try to align our view, our assessment of a person or
32:23
activity with what the Bible says and seeing that God has
32:28
declared. Certain activities, good and
32:31
other sinful. Christians can rightly call
32:33
those activities what God calls them.
32:38
I never want to come down on the other side and give approval to
32:42
what God has disapproved of. If God calls something sin,
32:47
that's what I want to call it. It's not loving to say
32:50
otherwise. Well, try the Bible as
32:55
oppressive and harmful to women. If someone tells you this, you
33:02
might ask the person this question.
33:04
Have you studied the Bible? Now watch your tone.
33:07
I'm not encouraging you to be snarky here.
33:10
Have you read the Bible? Throw up your hands?
33:13
No, just just in humility, have you?
33:14
Have you read the Bible? If they say, well, yes,
33:17
actually, I have read the Bible. I've studied it.
33:19
Maybe I maybe they went to church even, you know, and
33:22
they've come to this conclusion that the Bible oppresses women.
33:25
Well, I like to follow up with this question then.
33:27
What passages did you find most oppressive?
33:31
Tell me about them and then see what the person has to say.
33:34
I've been studying the Bible now for more than 30 years, and the
33:37
conclusion I've come to is that God actually loves and cherishes
33:41
women. And millions of women who read
33:46
the Bible every day have concluded the same thing.
33:49
They've understood that the Bible says men and women are
33:52
both made in the image of God and are equally valuable and
33:57
important to God. They've read Paul's instructions
34:02
for husbands to love their wives even as Jesus loves them and was
34:05
willing to lay down his life on the cross for their sins.
34:10
They've read the passages where men are told to do nothing from
34:13
selfishness and to even consider women to be more.
34:17
Important than themselves. They've read about the
34:22
friendships Jesus had with women like Mary and Martha, and how he
34:26
even healed several women. They've read about women like
34:31
Ruth and Deborah, Priscilla and others who are portrayed in a
34:35
wonderful light. And they've understood that the
34:38
Bible condemns activities that hurt women, like physical and
34:42
emotional abuse, adultery, abandoning 1's wife, and rape
34:48
friends. If people follow Jesus's
34:49
teachings more carefully today, the world would be a much better
34:52
place for women. You can be sure of that.
34:58
Well, our Fred says religions, Christianity included, are
35:01
responsible for most of the world's wars, suffering and
35:05
atrocities. Unfortunately, religious
35:10
terrorists, greedy televangelists and child
35:12
molesting priests and others have done things that are
35:15
terribly hurtful to people. There's no denying that.
35:19
But there are two things I think critics of Christianity overlook
35:23
when they raise this objection. First, Jesus and his teachings
35:28
are not to blame for the evils people commit.
35:33
The evil things that people do go against Jesus's instructions.
35:39
Jesus taught us to love people and to treat others the way we
35:42
would like to be treated. For example, in Matthew Chapter
35:45
7, verse 12. Therefore, whatever you want men
35:47
to do to you, Jesus said, do also to them.
35:51
Do you want people to be friendly and kind and forgiving
35:54
with you? Well Jesus would say then you be
35:56
friendly and kind and forgiving with them.
36:01
This is often known as the Golden rule, treating others the
36:04
way you want to be treated. In Matthew 5 verse 44, Jesus
36:09
even said love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do
36:14
good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully
36:17
use you and persecute you. Imagine how much better off the
36:22
world would be today if more people did this.
36:28
So while religious people have certainly caused some suffering,
36:31
let's not lay any of the blame for the world's evils at Jesus's
36:35
feet. A second thing commonly
36:37
overlooked when people blame the world's suffering on religious
36:40
people is this. Atheist and non religious people
36:43
have caused a lot of suffering as well.
36:48
Richard Dawkins doesn't like to point that out.
36:50
In his books. He'll always bring up examples
36:53
of Muslim terrorists or, you know, some things that people
36:57
did in the name of Christianity long ago.
37:00
Overlooking the fact that Joseph Stalin out of Hitler and Mao
37:04
Zedong murdered as many as 100 million people in just a few
37:10
decades of the 20th century, that's far more than those who
37:15
are put to death by theists of any stripe over the past five
37:19
centuries. So it just isn't true that
37:23
religions are responsible for most of the world's wars and
37:26
suffering, especially Christianity.
37:31
Well, Charlie, I hear what you're saying, but it's a fact
37:34
that humans are the product of evolution.
37:39
It's a fact. They tell us.
37:42
Well, this is certainly not the case.
37:44
There are insurmountable problems with the theory of
37:49
human evolution. Can't get into all of them, of
37:52
course, this morning. But one fatal blow to the theory
37:56
of evolution is the fossil record.
37:59
The fossil record. If evolution really is the
38:02
explanation for all of life, the fossil record should show
38:06
continuous and gradual changes from the bottom layer to the top
38:11
layers. But it doesn't.
38:13
Nearly all groups of animals appear in the fossil record
38:17
suddenly, simultaneously with each other, fully developed, and
38:22
with absolutely no hint that they evolve from anything else.
38:28
Those facts are devastating to the theory of human evolution.
38:33
The fossil record is actually evidence for a global flood as
38:37
recorded in the book of Genesis, not evolution.
38:41
And the so-called apemen fossils that have been put forth as
38:45
proof of human evolution have again and again turned out to be
38:49
an embarrassment to evolutionists.
38:52
Consider a few of them with me. How about Piltdown mem Piltdown
38:57
man In the village of Piltdown, England, an amateur
39:01
paleontologist found part of a human skull and part of an ape
39:05
like lower jaw with two teeth. Scientists hailed the discovery
39:09
as a major missing evolutionary link between apes and humans.
39:14
For 40 years it was taught in schools as proof of human
39:19
evolution. 40 years until it was exposed as a colossal hoax. 40
39:27
years after the bones were put forth as evidence for human
39:30
evolution, a team of scientists at the University of Oxford
39:34
proved that the Piltdown skull belonged to a modern human and
39:38
the jaw fragment belonged to a modern orangutan.
39:43
It was also discovered that the jaw had been chemically treated
39:47
to make it look like a fossil, and its teeth had been
39:50
deliberately filed down to make them look human.
39:54
Piltdown Man was a forgery. Sorry kids, 4 decades in the
39:58
textbooks. But what about Neanderthal man?
40:02
If you're my age, you probably grew up hearing all about
40:05
Neanderthal man. More proof of human evolution.
40:08
But now, with the help of DNA technology, we've learned that
40:12
Neanderthals were just humans. Not ape men or ancestors of
40:18
modern humans, Just humans. How about Nebraska men?
40:24
Nebraska man is depicted in this artistic propaganda was based on
40:29
the discovery of a single tooth in Nebraska.
40:34
Pretty incredible what they can draw up for the museum exhibits
40:39
based on the discovery of a single tooth.
40:41
I would have walked past that exhibit and thought wow they
40:43
must have found the whole village in tools and stuff.
40:47
No, no, just just one tooth. Nebraska man.
40:52
Well they sold this off to the public as more proof of human
40:55
evolution until scientists came along years later and re
40:59
examined the tooth and learned that the tooth actually belonged
41:03
to a pig. What about Lucy unearthed in
41:10
Ethiopia? Collection of fossilized bones
41:12
was boldly proclaimed as the ancestor of all humanity in
41:15
newspapers, textbooks, on television shows and in museums.
41:19
But evolutionary researchers have more recently concluded she
41:23
should no longer be considered a direct ancestor of humans.
41:28
Surprise, surprise. How about one more Ida?
41:32
Sure, you heard about her A few years back, Ida was hailed by
41:36
the press as the missing link in human evolution.
41:40
They even referred to its remains as the eighth wonder of
41:44
the world. They always make these big
41:46
grandiose claims about it so that you'll click on the news
41:50
article or whatever. But Ida was more recently
41:52
reclassified as a small tailed extinct primate and ancestor not
41:58
of humans at all, but of lemurs. Oops friends, the fossil record
42:06
has been and always will be an embarrassment to the theory of
42:10
human evolution. And we know why.
42:12
Humans are not the product of millions of years of mutations
42:16
and evolution. We were created by God.
42:19
Your human body with its 206 bones, more than 600 muscles and
42:24
a heart that beats over 100,000 times a day is it pumps about 75
42:29
gallons of blood an hour through more than 60,000 miles.
42:33
A veins, arteries and capillaries in your body shouts
42:37
design from top to bottom. Friend, you are fearfully and
42:43
wonderfully made, the Bible says, by a loving Creator.
42:47
Isn't that a blessing to know? Amen.
42:53
And He created you so that you might enjoy a relationship with
42:58
Him, not only in this life, but throughout eternity in his
43:01
heavenly Kingdom. That's why Jesus died on the
43:04
cross, because of his great love for you.
43:07
The Bible says he died there in your place to suffer the
43:10
judgment you deserve for your sins, so that you could be
43:13
forgiven, so that you could be rescued from spending eternity
43:17
in hell and be brought back into a right relationship with your
43:21
Maker. But Jesus didn't stay in that
43:23
grave. Three days later he walked out,
43:27
and today he offers all of humanity the forgiveness of
43:30
sins, peace with God, and the free gift of everlasting life in
43:35
his eternal Kingdom. What a gracious offer.
43:39
God has made humanity. We don't deserve that.
43:42
We deserve judgment and condemnation for our sins, for
43:46
our rebelliousness. But God being rich in mercy, the
43:50
Bible says that. God, who's abounding the Bible
43:52
says in loving kindness, has made that the offer.
43:57
Instead, what a what an offer. How do you lay hold of it?
44:01
Jesus said whosoever believes in him will not perish but have
44:07
everlasting life. That's it.
44:09
God's done all the work. Jesus paid the price on the
44:13
cross and now God just wants you to place your faith in Jesus and
44:18
what he did and you can do that this morning.
44:21
God is a prayer away before you walk out of this place.
44:24
I would encourage you if you need to get right with God, pray
44:26
something like this in your heart.
44:27
God, thank you for loving me. Please forgive me for my sins.
44:32
I renounce them and turn away from them and I trust in Jesus
44:36
Christ to save me. Come into my life, be my Lord
44:40
and Savior if you'll do that. The Bible says whoever calls
44:44
upon the name of the Lord will be saved, so don't put it off.
44:50
For the rest of you who have already done that, as I trust
44:53
most of you have, may the God of heaven and earth empower and
44:58
embolden you to share the gospel and, when necessary, to contend
45:05
earnestly for the faith, as we're told to do in Jude verse
45:10
3. Amen.
45:14
Amen. Well, we covered a lot there in
45:17
40 minutes. If you'd like to review anything
45:19
I shared today, all of this presentation and lots more is
45:22
pulled out of my book. You're already familiar with it.
45:25
I guess It was the book of the month here a couple of months
45:28
ago. It's called One Minute Answers
45:29
to Skeptics. It goes through what I think are
45:32
atheist top 50 objections. We went through 10 or 12 this
45:36
morning. If you'd like to explore some
45:37
more ways to answer skeptics, that book would be helpful to
45:40
you, and I'll mention a couple of other resources.
45:43
Archaeological evidence for the Bible.
45:45
I recently updated this. This has more than 100 color
45:48
photographs in it and descriptions of different
45:52
artifacts that have again and again verified details in the
45:56
Bible. So if you want to see how
45:58
history aligns with the Bible, that would be a fun read for
46:02
you. If you stop on my resource
46:04
table, you'll also see that we have DVDs out there.
46:06
These aren't Hollywood documentaries.
46:08
They are videos of me giving live presentations in front of
46:11
churches around the country and a variety of topics related to
46:15
the defense of the faith. But maybe you're not a book
46:18
reader, more of a video watcher. But, you know, we know most of
46:22
you donated your DVD player to the Salvation Army probably 10
46:25
years ago. So we're continuing to put out
46:28
videos. And we have some out there.
46:30
I don't expect to sell even one, but we're putting them onto AUSB
46:34
Drive now. And you can stick that into a
46:36
television set if you'd like. Pull up any of the videos there.
46:39
You can stick it into a computer, watch the videos
46:42
there, or even transfer the videos onto your iPad, iPhone,
46:46
Android phone. We'll give you some simple
46:47
instructions on how to do that. And then also at my book table,
46:52
you'll see several fictional novels.
46:54
I've been writing a lot more fiction over the past several
46:58
years because I'm trying to create resources that Christians
47:01
can enjoy. If you like a good thriller with
47:04
suspense and mystery and intrigue and, you know,
47:07
fast-paced story, I think you'll enjoy any of these books.
47:10
But I'm trying to create resources that you can enjoy and
47:13
then pass on to your non Christian friend or family
47:17
member who would never come to church with you or never crack
47:22
open the Bible. But they might get sucked into a
47:24
novel titled mission to Mars or the Island and the Flame.
47:29
And as they work their way through that book, they're going
47:32
to encounter the gospel. And the defense of the Christian
47:35
faith. How do I pull that off?
47:37
I always place atheists in the story alongside my Christian
47:40
character. And so, as they're on the run,
47:43
or trying to solve some difficult dilemma or escape some
47:46
harrowing circumstance, the the characters are talking about the
47:49
big questions of life. Does God exist, What happens to
47:53
us if we die in this situation? Can the Bible be trusted And so
47:57
on. And so that is my goal with
48:00
these fictional novels. Those are some of the adult
48:03
ones. I've written several for the
48:04
teens in your life. If you have a 13 to 20 year old
48:07
young adult in your family who likes to read, same thing with
48:10
these novels. We've got them out.
48:12
At my book table, I'll highlight the Dakota Knox series.
48:15
This is a series of books. That follows the life of 17 year
48:20
olds that go over to Israel on a tour of Israel.
48:23
But there's a heist at the museum while they're there, and
48:26
archaeological artifacts go missing that verify details in
48:29
the Bible and they think they know who did it.
48:32
So and they're off and running and get into all kinds of
48:35
trouble. But if you've got a teenager who
48:36
likes to read, they would love that series.
48:38
And then I'm also writing books along those lines for the
48:41
younger kids, 5 to 12 year old. So if you've got young kids,
48:45
we've got a whole children's section out there at the table
48:48
as well. They're beautifully illustrated,
48:52
full color photographs and images.
48:54
In my heart for those books is to help to teach kids from a
48:58
very young age why we take the Bible seriously, why we really
49:02
believe God exists, why we believe Jesus rose from the
49:06
grave, why we believe the flood actually happened, and so on.
49:10
So thought I'd highlight those resources.
49:12
Let's go ahead and pray and we'll close with a song.
49:14
Heavenly Father, what a blessing to gather together in this place
49:18
and open up your Word. God, we do thank you that we can
49:21
have a reasonable faith. We haven't followed after
49:24
cleverly devised fables and myths.
49:26
There is good, intellectually satisfying evidence that you
49:30
exist, that Jesus rose from the grave and the Bible can be
49:33
trusted from cover to cover. So we're thankful for that.
49:36
Lord, we do pray that you'd help us to contend for the faith.
49:39
We don't want to sit on the sidelines as your word is
49:41
slandered and questioned and attacked.
49:43
So yeah, we need your help to do that better.
49:46
We pray you would help us fill us with your Holy Spirit.
49:50
Lord, we want to shine brightly for you in these last days.
49:53
Use us to that end. We pray and it's in Jesus name
49:56
we pray. Amen.
49:58
Amen. Thanks for letting me share with
49:59
you guys. God bless you.
50:02
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
50:05
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
50:08
For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
50:18
To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
50:21
live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
50:26
or download our free Calvary Church app.
50:29
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.