Years ago, as a sophomore at the University of Tennessee, God began to burden me for the lost and challenge me to do what I had never done before—share the gospel. To this day, I still look back on those days as my longest spiritual growth spurt. As I faced the challenges of religious diversity, postmodern spirituality, and hardline secularism prevalent on the college campus, I was driven to a greater.
As it turns out, sharing Christ taught me more about Christ, prompting me to dig deeper into the Scriptures with a greater zeal for truth. Could it be that one of the keys to seeing spiritual growth among the church today is a new focus on evangelism. My hope is that God would use this project to encourage and equip the members of First Baptist Church to have regular evangelistic conversations and I fully expect that as we go, we will continue to grow.
INTRODUCTION
Wellum, God's Kingdom through God's Covenants: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants (Wheaton, IL: Crossway. Robertson, The Acts of the Apostles, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville: . Broadman Press. As detailed in 2 .chapter, a large part of the Apostle Paul's Areopagus concerns the Athenians' capacity for reason regarding God's testimony about creation.
The theological basis for an innate sense of divinity lies in the relational implications of God's image—the image itself is the defining label. On the one hand, some theologians emphasized the personal aspect of special revelation while neglecting the propositional aspect. On the other hand, it is possible to emphasize the propositional revelation while neglecting the personal.
It is noteworthy that the personal nature of God's special revelation emphasizes the necessity of the saving ministry of the Holy Spirit, which is next in consideration. A proper application of apologetics in evangelism requires a theological understanding of the Holy Spirit's witness to the gospel. Some theologians have mistakenly emphasized a luminous witness of the Holy Spirit to the truth of general revelation.
The inner testimony of the "Spirit of God" enabled them to embrace "the message of God." First, the unbeliever's understanding is enlightened when the Holy Spirit bears witness to the truth and modern relevance of God's Word. Illumination comes upon repentance when God shines "into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Most questions showed an average group confidence level between the middle and upper seventies. Further, the Holy Spirit saves exclusively by the special revelation of the Gospel; therefore, the evangelistic use of apologetics must deliberately target God's redemptive message.
Would Do Differently
Confidence Level in Apologetic Evangelism
I feel equipped to share the gospel with a person who doubts the existence of God because of the presence of evil in the world. I feel equipped to share the gospel with a person who claims that the resurrected Jesus is a legend. I feel equipped to share the gospel with a person who claims that many religions can lead to God.
I feel equipped to share the gospel with a person who claims the Bible cannot be trusted. I feel equipped to share the gospel with a person who claims that a loving God would never judge people for their sin.
Christian Orthodoxy Scale
The content of the curriculum adequately covers an introduction to each apologetic issue it is designed to address. At the end of the course, participants will be better able to share the gospel in a secular context. The confrontational nature of the Areopagus discourse becomes clear when Paul uses the language of personal commitment for the first time in his speech, proclaiming that "we should not (οὐκ ὀφείλοµεν) think" of God in terms of man-made images or idols ( Acts 17 :29).3 The mildness of his confrontation is remarkable, for Paul switches to the first person plural at the very point where he confronts personally—a tactful shift that results in "we ought not to think" as opposed to more forceful second-person confrontation - "you shall not think."4 Paul emphasizes that as "offspring of God" even Gentiles should rationally know that the divine being is not of a "lower order" than humanity.5 In fact, Paul cautions, "you should know better than to worship idols, and you have failed to worship God,” and then goes on to call for repentance in the following verse (Acts 17:30).
For example, regarding the reception of the gospel among Cornelius' household, Peter announces, "God gave repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles," even though they are described as having "believed" in Christ in the previous verse (Acts 11:17 ). -18). Understand the focus of this lesson: This lesson is primarily about an approach to confronting the sin of unbelief through the use of an Apologetic of Rebellion—an approach that aims to defend the reality of sin in regard to unbelief. Understand the concept of an apologetic of rebellion: An apologetic of rebellion is a confrontational, but loving, defense of the reality of sin—especially the sin of unbelief.
The Christian must willingly give reasons for believing divine truths (eg, the existence of God) and expect the unbeliever's rebuttal or pushback to bring irrationality to the surface. The Christian can show the irrationality of the unbeliever's claims by taking him or her to the "window", where it can be observed that real life does not work according to their view. The believer eventually continues to ask questions that increasingly probe the will; for example, the Christian might ask the stubborn unbeliever, "Do you think that some people might be willing to have irrational beliefs because they don't want to believe in the true God?" After discussing this as a hypothetical possibility for "some people", the believer should respectfully be more direct and ask: "What about you - is it possible that you hold these views because you do not want to believe in God .
At this point my thoughts were only of the unusual form of the Christian faith; I assumed no strange form in the rationalist mind. The Christian concludes his defense of the reality of sin with an explicit diagnosis of sin to the unbeliever. Chesterton's reflections led him to realize that sin is "a fact as plain as a potato"; he even went so far as to say that original sin was "the only part of Christian theology that can be really proved." 10 Although this is an exaggeration, Chesterton admitted that sin gave the mind a "strange form." The unbelieving preference for irrationality requires a biblical identification—sin.
By emphasizing the suppression of truth by unbelievers, this approach emphasizes the need for a Savior. By defending the reality of Jesus' resurrection, this approach defends the reality of the gospel. This lesson focuses on how to use apologetics of rebellion to emphasize the willful nature of unbelief and how to use apologetics of salvation to emphasize the historical truth of the gospel in contrast to other belief systems.
BE READY
The purpose of the evaluation process was to ensure that the developed Ready curriculum met a high standard of biblical faithfulness, scope, teaching methodology and applicability. At least ninety percent of the evaluation criterion was required to meet or exceed the adequate level, indicated by scores of three or above, before the implementation of the curriculum. This message is intended for all of you who attended the Clear Evangelism and Apologetics course.
I want you to know that, as a group, the surveys showed great progress compared to the ones you completed at the beginning of the course. Allow me to take just a moment to comment on one objection that has consistently scored the lowest—the question of the reliability of the Bible. That said, in practical conversation, instead of getting stuck in a never-ending vortex of these issues, it's often best to just point people to the evidence of the resurrection.
Then you can refer the unbeliever to resources that help answer their questions about the Bible; for example, the CSB Apologetics Study Bible has many articles and charts throughout the back about the reliability of the Bible. Finally, speaking of the CSB Apologetics Study Bible, I want to encourage you to make use of it. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the Acts of the Apostles and the letter to the Romans, 1–328.
The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas: Paul's Mars Hill Experience for Our Pluralist World. In A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Explanation of parables and expressive images of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Rhetoric and Oratory in the Greco-Roman World.” In The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, 5:710–12. Baptism in the Acts of Luke.” In Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ, edited by Thomas R.
