Why I Believe - Rethinking Apologetics for the 21st Century, Part 2

If you're a Christian between the rock and a hard place when it comes to defending your faith. Here's the question, how do you help your kids, your friends and the people you care about.

Know what is really true and do it in a way that's not offensive but absolutely not compromising.

That's today's date with welcome to this edition of living only you with your favorite survival to this feeling discipleship program motivating Christians to live what Christians thanks for joining us as we continue our series why I believe the last time Chip identified some specific examples of how this progressive culture is distanced itself from God and biblical morality in this program will explain the ways we should respond in these difficult and if you're wanting some more practical advice on what that looks like stick around after the message trigger some additional thoughts project.

Okay, here is now with the second half of his message rethinking apologetics in the 21st century. Yesterday the moral climate in the values of major institutions, education, medicine, the media, they reinforced our values. I'm a little older than some of your members a kid that you know if you got in trouble, you know at school. Your parents found out about it because the values of the school were pretty much the same as mom and dad today a high school student cannot get an aspirin but can have an abortion without their parents knowing the media at the sports the institutions of the tech companies where I live in the Silicon Valley and the in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Their values are absolutely antithetical to what historic traditional biblical or Christian values are and so today the moral climate of these institutions ridicule our faith and make it more and more difficult for kids because it's politically incorrect, but now you get punished.

There was a day where it was unpopular but now you are punished you step up as a student in the University and say I believe in Jesus. I believe in the Bible you're viewed as what planet are you on you step up in a high-tech company and say I'm a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

I actually believe the Bible is true that Jesus is the way the truth and the life you are. I mean you are some weird person and yet that's exactly what it was like in the first century. So here's what I want to tell you and this is my last observation before those institutions would re-enforce our beliefs and our living in a world that is far more like the first century than the last century and Christianity did something in the first century and the answers to how to respond when Christianity in your faith is ridiculed is already available now can ask you to do something right now, I'd like you to open your Bibles to first Peter and I want to tell you that first Peter was written to a group of people who if you think you're getting persecuted. I mean they were blamed at this point in time for burning down Rome. They were viewed as antigovernment. They were viewed as the problem and more and more what I hear is the problem in America is Christians in their absolute values and their dogma. So what did God say in the first century that allowed them to have an apologetic the transform the world Rodney Stark in his excellent book the rise of Christianity and the triumph of Christianity talks about sociologically, not the Holy Spirit, not God's power, but just sociologically, what in the world could happen that an itinerant preacher with 12 followers who when he died only had about 120 faithful followers who made outrageous claims that were anti-to the to the Roman government. That was a polytheistic world and he claims he's the way the truth and the life. How in the world could that itinerant preacher there's no printing press. There's no satellites right not note. Note no selection chips note, no computers, no videos. And yet, in less than 300 years by 313 A.D. that little group of followers called the way, later to become Christians were more than 50% of the known population of the Roman Empire. Think there's something radical about their lives.

There is about 60 million people in the Roman Empire bite 313 A.D. it's estimated 33 million were devoted followers of Christ. I think the answer is right here. Now don't get me wrong. Classic apologetics is really important, but they need to be repackaged. Listen to what God would say through Peter to a group of people persecuted. First of all, he opens it and says to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia minor, Bithynia and other words it is.

This is for everyone in an Asian Asia minor and then he says to them, my grace and peace be with you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy. We are born again. Get this to a living hope protected by God's power we have an inheritance that's imperishable that will not fade away, reserved for us in heaven and he goes on to say in this you greatly rejoice, even if now for little while your distressed by various trials. Here's what I want you to get the early church had a living hope was powerful.

They really believe there was a eternal life, and that they lived in this temporal time and so that shaped everything they believe they had an inheritance now, especially in the world was a very crude and difficult world of much suffering and so these people had hope that they clung on to in the midst of great difficulty great persecution. He goes on to say, fix your hope fully on this grace and this hope this following of a living God, not a religion, not a set of principles. It was set on him in the living hope he says therefore gird your minds for action. So it starts and we don't use that word a lot but a Roman soldier would have a long robe and when he was ready to go into battle. He would take his belt like this and have take it and he would tuck it in and he would gird it. He would say be sober.

Here's what I want to do. You need to get ready.

You need to think in a different way. You need to be sober in your thinking. You need to get ready to go after.

He says you're in a battle and then he goes on to say after this hope, and you are ready to think in a completely different way focused on God's grace than what it is what he says. As obedient children, do not be conformed any longer to the former lusts that were yours and your ignorance but like the holy one who called you, be ye holy also in all your behavior. So what he's saying is first and foremost, you can't look at this life is your home you're an alien you're a stranger. Second, when you have this hope we have an eternal perspective that happens deep in your heart, your behavior, you become a holy person not holy as in weird holy is in loving and pure and moral and then look at verse 22 piece Down since You in Obedience to the Truth Have Purified Your Souls.

For Sincere Love of the Brethren, Fervently Love One Another Because You Been Born Again by the Word of God.

So Notice This Apologetic Its First This Place.

My World Is Not about Just the Noun Just the Happiness and How My Life Turns out, and How My Kids Get into Which Score MI Upwardly Mobile Is First and Foremost, I Have a Faith, It's Rooted in Eternity That Leads to a Holy Life That Leads to This Fervent Love. This Is Not about Just Being in a Small Group This Is This Is Your Kids Growing up in the Inner World and Your Friend Saying That You Love One Another.

You Give Your Time You Give Your Energy You Give Your Money You Care about People You Care about the Marginalized. The Early Church Were the Ones Would Take the Infants off the off the Garbage Dumps.

The Early Church Was the One to Help the Leper, the Early Church Crew. According to Rodney Stark Because in the First 80 to 130 Years, There Were Three Major Plagues That Went across the Whole Roman World, and Everyone Ran to the Hilt, Especially the Wealthy and Christian Stayed Willfully in the Cities and Served and Many of Them Died and Their Names Are Recorded As Marchers. They Were Martyrs Who Died to Save the People Ministering to Them through These Plagues. Ronnie Starts Observes That the Never Huge Major Metropolitan Cities That the Only People That Were Left Were Christians Who Survived or Unbelievers Who Were Nursed Back to Health Your Christians See It Wasn't Their Reasons It Was Their Life. It Was Their Lot with Their Dedication and I Will Tell You That Where I Live, the Nuns, If You Will, Non-Religious Affiliation in Silicon Valley 70% of the People from All over the World. It's the Most Diverse Place Is the Most Intelligent Place and What I Can Tell You We've Had the Privilege of Doing When We Have Loved People When We've Helped the Immigrants When We Helped You Do Things in the Schools. We Serve the City When We Help Those in the Homosexual Lifestyle and Driven Them to Their Doctors Appointment and Cared for Them Rather Than Judge Them. Do We Hold to the Truth Absolutely, but a Radical Love Is What Marked the Early Church Holy Lives Radical Love Eternal Perspective As You Open to Chapter 2, He Says, Therefore, Get Rid of All Malice and Guile, and Hypocrisy and Envy, and Slander like a Newborn Baby Long for the Pure Milk of God's Word and by It You May Grow. Did You Hear the Attitudes They Weren't Telling Rome What They Ought to Do. They Weren't Saying We've Got to Have Our Rights Get Rid of All Hypocrisy. Get Rid of This Anger Stop Posting Things about This Group or That Group. Stop Blaming Because Your Lips to Be Lips of Praise and Encouragement You Hold to the Truth You Live the Life and Then He Says You Become These Living Stones and You a Movement Occurred in the Early Church Where They Became the Source of Solving Some of the Biggest Problems in the First Century and They Cared for People That Hated Them They They Returned Good for Evil As They Were Marched into Stadiums, Arm in Arm, They Would Sing Praises. Praying out Loud. God Please Forgive Those Who Are Killing Us. It's It's a Faith That I See When I Go to China.

It's a Faith That I'm Saying When I Travel in the Middle East and It's the Resurgent the Apologetic of the Faith That We Need in America Today. Your Kids Are Not Can Be Followers of Christ Because You Sent into Christian School and You Go to a Building and Everyone Sits and Listens to Someone Talk and They Hear A Few Songs and Whether It's a Small Little Church or a Mega Church. I Will Tell You, Your Kids Are Bombarded Your Friends Are Bombarded with a Worldview That's Completely Antithetical to Scripture, and What Is Going to Take Unapologetically Ready for This. Here's the Number One Apologetic. It's Your Life It's a Holy Life with an Eternal Perspective That's Radically Loving and Then in Chapter 2, He Was on to Say That This Builds in near This Chosen Generation, Your God's Vehicle Puts Not a Political Party Is Going to Change the World. You're at a Group of Priest Your His Kingdom Operational Agents to Make a Difference in Any Says Are You Ready for This.

I Urge You, As Aliens and Strangers Just like You Don't Belong Here to Abstain from Fleshly Lusts, Our Morality, We Can't Speak Words and Tell People How They Ought to Live Our Morality, Especially in the Area of Sexual Purity.

It Begins with Us, Not Judging Other People. He Goes on to Say, Then This Gets Wild Submit Therefore to the Government That Even When the Wrong He Said to You I Want You to Submit to the Government Every Institution You Will Be the Best Citizens in the World, Not the Whiners Not the Complainers, Not the Blamer's Not the People That You Know Say You Know the Government Did This to You Know That This Political Party Did This One to Blame the Media Here in Its Higher Education. Here, the Early Church Understood It Was the Positive Message of Their Life and They Hold to the Truth but They Were the Best Citizens the Kindest People. They Were the Most Winsome Fact, He Would Even Go on to Say, What Credit Is There If You Suffer for Doing What's Wrong, but When You Suffer for Doing What Is Right. Not Claiming Your Rights.

This Finds Favor with God, for You Were Called to This Purpose. Since Christ Also Suffered for You, Providing You an Example to Follow His Steps to Understand What It Looks like When Everyone Knows When Things Are Unfair When You Respond in a Good Way When a Boss or or a Meeting or a Neighbor or Situation When It Is so Unfair and It Is so Wrong and They Meet Someone Who Models Christ Likeness Don't Don't You Understand That's Powerful and That's What Jesus Did and so He Says to Us.

Here's the Core of Your Apologetic before You Give Them Reasons before They Want to Sit down and Ever Ask about the Hopeless and You Know What They Need. They Need to See the Kind of Life That Saying What Makes You Take. I Was with a Google Executive Recently and I Were on a Plane Riding Together and He's from a Hindu Background like Most Hindus, like Most Buddhists, like Most People in, and Islam. And like Most Christians Don't Practice Their Faith Okay That There There Culturally That like Most Use It. And so What We Really Practices Upward Mobility, Getting Ahead Getting a Good Education That Will Tell You This about Every Person He Really Cared about His Wife.

He Wanted to Be a Good Dad. We Had a Conversation for an Hour and 1/2 on a Plane and You Know What I Didn't Start with, Here's the Five Reasons Why Believe the Bible.

I Want You Know Jesus Is the Only Way and Here's All the Reasons for It.

He Didn't Want to Hear Any That He Actually Said to Me You Know This Sounds Kinda Crazy Because I Mean You Super Well Educated.

He Was Superbright Because I Don't Really Get like Christianity, Islam, I Don't Even Know the Basic Story Could You Tell It to Me and I Did and Prefinished I Start Talking about 40 Years of Marriage I Start Talking about You Know Some Struggles, Big Struggles, but That I Have Some of My Kids and How God Worked and What the Principles Were and What I Believed in Why I'm Telling You an Hour and 51 Minutes into That Flight over That Time.

This Guy I End up Handing Him the Book. Why I Believe, and Instead of Him Feeling like I'm Right and You're Wrong You Know What He Felt like He Felt like Someone Put His Arm around Him and We Were Sitting on the Side of the Table, and Truth Is on That Side of the Table and There's a Loving God That Has Truth That Wants to Help Him Be a Good Dad Wants Him to Have a Great Marriage Wants to Help Them Invest in His Kids and That There Is Truth. That's Sustainable and and Verifiable, but He Wasn't Ready to Hear Any of That until I Listened until I Loved Him till I Didn't Judge and He Gave Me All You Know I Think As Long As You're Sincere. It Doesn't Matter What You Believe. I Said That's a Really Interesting Statement and We Walked down That Path Logically and I'm Going to Tell You Little by Little by Little. What He Realized Is He's Heard All This Mantra of Our Day, but He Had Really Thought It through.

He Didn't Know What He Really Believe or Why He Same Human Needs That Everyone Has.

That's Where We Began. I Love It Even Tells Us to Let Our Family Life Demonstrated. He Says Wives in Chapter 3. This Is How to Respond to Your Husband and Then Hey Husbands Are. This Is How You Respond to Your Wife and This Is so Radical. I Meet a Woman Was Just a Piece of Property to Be Used and Abused, and He Says Live with Your Wife Is in an Understanding Way. She's a Co-Where the Grace of God and Then He Says to Sum It up.

This Is a Great Passage Because It's the Actual Context. He Says Here Here's What I Want You to Know, to Sum up, Let All Be Harmonious and Sympathetic. Brotherly Kindhearted and Humble in Spirit, Not Returning Evil for Evil, or Insult for Insult.

Can You Imagine If We Just Applied That to Social Media Loan Not Evil for Evil, or Insult for Insult, but Giving a Blessing Instead for You Were Called for This Very Purpose Why That You Might Receive a Blessing and Then That Passage Talks about That Blessing and the Kind of Life It Produces and It's That Kind of Life That People Will Say, Oh, Would You Tell Me the Hope That Then You Can You Tell Me How Your Family Looks like This. Can You Tell Me How Your Life Is Working like That Because Here's What I Know People Can Say Whatever They Want.

You Don't Have To Believe in Gravity. You Jump off a Four-Story Building. I'll Take What the Results Are about the Same of Someone Is That I Believe Gravity This Person Says I Don't Believe in Gravity. They Both Jump off. You Don't Have To Believe in How What God Says about Relationships.

You Have To Believe That Jesus Is the Only Way You Don't Have To Believe That I Will Tell You When You Violate the Principles of the Kingdom of How God Has Designed Life to Work Than What You Have Is Destruction and Heartbreak. We Have the Highest Suicide Rate in the History of America, Especially among 13 to 17-year-old Girls and Middle-Age People. Those Who Are Struggling with Sexual Identity Issues, Whether Transgender Was Homosexuality Give Again High Suicide Rates Were Living in a Day Were What Christians Need to Be and to Become Our First and Foremost Godly Loving Kind and Winsome Because Here's the Deal, Classic Apologetics Assumed That We Were Living the Kind of Life. The People Were Asking about the Hope Is in You Now. You Anybody Asking You That What Your Hope Is Your Life That Different Can I Be Very Gentle but I Want to Start Our Time Be Very Direct.

Have You Unconsciously Unconsciously so Huddling You Willfully Done It Somehow Thought That Just Going to Church, Intellectually Believing If You Fax Praying a Prayer Is Really Gonna Cause Your Family, Your Kids, Your Neighbors to See Christ As the Most Attractive and Powerful Reality in All the World and If You're Concerned about Your Children. If You're Concerned and and Feeling Intimidated by What's Happening in Our World. Stay with Me Is More Than a Talk about This New Apologetic That Starts with Your Life and How, Then, We Use All Those Facts and All That Truth in a Winsome Way to Put Our Arm around People to Really Help Them Understand and Them to Accept and Understand That There Is a God Who Cares about Them. You Know, the Mandate Hasn't Changed Going to All the World and What Preach the Gospel. That's What God Wants to Do NS and through Us.

Father I Pray Right Now for Every Single Person That You Would Give Them a Moment of Truth to Analyze and Evaluate Where They're at in the Relationship with You but I Pray That We Would Grasp First and Foremost That Our Lives Have To Scream the Love of God and the Truth of God before Mouse Can Speak about the Same. Would You Guide Our Time Would You Help Us to Be Christians Who Really Live like Christians for Your Glory. Jesus Is Application for This Message. Thinking Apologetics. The 21st Century from a Series Why I Believe. Let Me Ask You How Confidently Can You Answer Questions about God and the Bible. You're Pretty Sure of Yourself or You Feel Unprepared. Wishing You Would've Paid a Little More Attention in Sunday School.

Through This Six Part Series Chip Will Help You Better Understand the Bedrock Concepts of the Christian Faith and How You Can Communicate the Truth and Engaging Ways to Others of You Want to Learn More. Let Me Encourage You to Check out Chip's Book. Why I Believe, or the Small Group Resources. These Are the Perfect Tools to Help You Go Deeper. For Complete Details, Go to LivingontheEdge.org the Chip Ingram up or Call AAA 33360030 before We Go Any Further Trips with Me in Studio Now to Share What's Been on His Heart Recently. Chip Will Thanks so Much Dave.

I Want to Take Just A Few Minutes to Talk about Something Really Important. God Is Been Using the Ministry of Living on the Edge in Incredible Ways We Been Growing and Reaching Folks like Never before and You're an Important Part of That. Your Gifts to Living on the Edge Make It Possible for Us to Be Present in Places That without You. We Simply Couldn't Be Many of These Places Are Extremely Dangerous to Proclaim the Name of Christ in Your Gifts Make It Possible for Us to Reach People in Desperate Situations, You Know Right Here in the United States.

I Can't Tell You How Many Emails and Letters I Received That Somewhere in That Letter or Email. It's like I Was on My Way to the Abortion Clinic or I Was Planning to End My Life, for I Was about to Give up on My Married Your I Was Giving up on God Because of Something Terrible That Happened to Me but Then I Started Listening to My Drive to Work or My Neighbor Gave Me This Book or I Found Your Happen You Know This Series on Overcoming Emotions or Whatever It Was God's Catalyst to Begin a Total Transformation My Life.

These Things Aren't Happening Because of Chip Ingram or Even Living on the Edge There Happening Because God Is Working in and through Those Who by Faith Respond and Obey Him. You Know We Can't Do Anything Alone Is Because It's Not God's Plan for Any of Us. We Are in This Together and Living on the Edge As God's Ministry Is about You and Me Doing Exactly What God Calls Us to Do and so I Would Ask You First.

Would You Really Pray for the Ministry. And Second, Would You Pray Specifically about Partnering at a Deeper Level and Partnering with Us Financially. Do Whatever God Leads You to Do and Let Me Say in Advance. Let's Keep Pressing Ahead and Thank You Very Much. Thanks Chip Well If You're Already a Financial Partner. Thank You. With Your Help Living on the Edge Is Ministering to More People Than Ever before.

But If You're Benefiting from Chips, Teaching, and Haven't yet Taken That Step. Now Would Be a Great Time to Join the Team to Send a Gift or Become a Monthly Partner Go to LivingontheEdge.org or Text the Word Donate 741 41 That's Donate to 741 41 or Visit LivingontheEdge.org Hapless Nurse Just Helped Donate without Here Again Is Trip with Some Final Thoughts As We Wrap up Today's Program. You Have Been Thinking about Those Believers in the First Century That Peter Was Encouraging to Know That Their Faith Was Radical. Her Faith Was Practical and It Was Lived out in the Everyday Life and Dynamic Ways and Their Fate Was Contagious.

Despite All the Persecution It Was like It Caught on like Wildfire. And Finally, Their Faith Turned the World Upside down and It Got Me Thinking Is My Faith like That Is My Faith Radical. Do I Really Believe That God Does Miracles That I Can Trust Him for Everything. It Is My Faith Practical. Am I Helping Meet Real-Life Needs of a Real People Were Did Somehow along the Way. It Got Transferred into Going to Religious Services and Just Trying to Be a Bit More Moral Is My Faith Contagious Are People Asking You and Me about What Makes You Tick and Tell Me about Your Marriage. Tell Me about Your Parenting. Tell Me Why You Work like This. With That Kind of Attitude You Know the Overwhelming Truth Is That Our Children Are Leaving the Faith Because the Faith They'd Seen in Many of Our Homes and Churches Is Not Attractive. Our Consumer Christianity Has Asked to Little Not Too Much of Them and Turning to Jesus As the Self-Help Genie for a Happy Life Misses the Mark. This Generation Longs for a Fate That Makes a Real Difference. The Cost Something That Changes the World, Not Simply Makes Us More Comfortable.

Is That What They're Seeing in You and Me You See Real Change. It Starts with You and It Starts with Me.

What Would It Look like Beginning Today for You to Have a Radical, Practical, Contagious Faith That Makes a Difference. Great Showing Strip Thanks to before We Go. Let Me Remind You of an Easy Way to Listen to Our Extended Teaching Broadcast Here Chip Any Time on Amazon's Alexa Echo and Echo.Just Say Alexa Open Living on the Edge and You'll Hear That These Extended Teaching Any Time You Want Well for Chip and Everyone Here, This Is Dave Drewry Saying Thanks for Joining Us for This Edition of Living All BH