A few weeks ago I was at Wednesday night church and they made an announcement about a bible study called "Defending the Faith". I immediately felt an urging in my spirit to sign up. I had heard it announced several times, but this night I knew that it was a class I should take, so as soon as church ended I went and signed up. I knew if I waited until the next day I would talk myself out of it. Monday is our homeschool co-op day which usually leaves me worn out, I also knew Andy would be out of town for at least the first 2 classes which means I would need to work out childcare, and although I didn't know it at the time, it is also going to conflict with Knox's flag football practice. But, I signed up and made the commitment....and was introduced to apologetics.
Tonight was our first class. Andy's parents happily agreed to watch the kids for me, which made it very easy to have that aspect taken care of.
Just to backtrack for a minute....this morning I decided to continue on in 1 Peter and I when I came to 1 Peter 3:15 I stopped and was struck with the thought that this was exactly what my class tonight was all about.
"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect"
I kept thinking about that verse throughout the day and it was getting me excited about what was to come tonight. I want to be prepared. I do have hope, but I want to be able to clearly share that hope with others.
Well, wouldn't you know it, that's the verse our teacher opened with tonight. I wanted to raise my hand and let him know that God led me to that very verse this morning in preparation for this class, but I decided it probably wasn't the time to share that. :)
But, it did confirm for me that I was there to prepare. I want to dig in more. I want to know how to engage with unbelievers and those who are deceived. And I want to do this with gentleness and respect as it says in this verse.
I took pages of notes tonight and want to share a few of the points.
He said it is so important to be building up our spiritual muscles. I need to be spending time in the Word and with God through prayer. John 14:6 says "Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Since Jesus is the only way to the Father, then I need to know Jesus.
Then he began to share about Paul in Acts 17 going and speaking to others on their own turf, in the meeting of the Areopagus. I have never even heard of Areopagus! But apparently it was full of the philosophers of the day. Paul established a line of communication with the audience and then moved from their world to Christianity and gave them Truth. At this point our instructor Mark stopped and said something that really hit me. He said that it's not enough to know "about" Him, we need to "KNOW" him every second of every day.
I've always believed that you are the best example of Jesus that people can see. Yes I mess up, as I've already blogged about several times :), but I want to be real and to share with others about what Jesus has done in my life and is doing in my life. I don't just want to tell someone a good verse to read, I want to tell them how a verse changed me. I don't just want to tell someone a prayer request, I want to tell someone how God answered my prayers. I don't just want to read verses to my children about God being love, I want to shower them all day with God's love. And as I was sitting and listening tonight, God was putting faces and names in my mind of people that I don't just want to care about and have a nice friendship with, but people that I want to share Jesus with.
A realization hit me tonight. I don't have to be perfect to be used by Him! Of course I know that perfection isn't possible. If it was, we wouldn't need a Savior. But, I guess I keep believing that I need to be more mature in the Lord, or know more verses, or.....something. But, what I realized is that all I need to be is willing.
We are just called to give the message.
"And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power."
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
It's not up to me. It's not my power or my words or my knowledge....it's all God. It's His power that saves. It's God that works through us.
So that brings us back to what is apologetics?
According to Wikipedia:
Christian apologetics is a field of Christian theology which attempts to present a rational basis for the Christian faith, defending the faith against objections.
So I want to leave you tonight with something Nancy Pearcy wrote in her book Saving Leonardo that our teacher shared with us.
Many people operate as though the definition of faith were, Don’t ask questions, just believe.
They quote Jesus himself, who taught his followers to have the faith of a child (Mark 10:15).
But I once heard Francis Schaeffer respond by saying, “Don’t you realize how many questions children ask?”
We are surrounded by so many with questions and as our teacher kept saying tonight, they are stuck. For me it all goes back to 1 Peter 3:15
...Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have...
May I be prepared, willing, and ready to allow God to do a work.
No comments:
Post a Comment