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I get a lot of religious content on my Facebook page. One of the issues I see addressed is how Christian believers can’t give an answer to why they believe what they believe. The blame for this is pastors that preach the scripture without giving adequate supporting evidence. Of course, there is a workbook you can buy that will solve the problem. I did not buy the workbook.

Two scriptures come to mind as I thought about this:

1 Peter 3:15

But in your hearts revere 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,

2 Timothy 2:15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

You must stop letting the preacher do all the studying, then spoon feed you. If you don’t have one you need to purchase a study Bible, an Old and New Testament commentary, a Bible dictionary, and an atlas of biblical maps. Then invite the Holy Spirit to join you in your studying, then come prepared on Wednesday evening as we study God’s Word together.

I did buy a book, “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel. Mr. Strobel was an atheist. Professionally, he was an investigative reporter. Here is a quote from Mr. Strobel.

“As far as I was concerned, the case was closed. There was enough proof for me to rest easy with the conclusion that the divinity of Jesus was nothing more than the fanciful invention of superstitious people. Or so I thought. It wasn’t a phone call from an informant that prompted me to reexamine the case for Christ. It was my wife. Leslie stunned me in the autumn of 1979 by announcing that she had become a Christian. I had married one Leslie—- the fun Leslie, the carefree Leslie, the risk-taking Leslie—- and now I feared she was going to turn into some sort of sexually repressed prude who would trade our upwardly mobile lifestyle for all-night prayer vigils and volunteer work in grimy soup kitchens. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised—— even fascinated—-by the fundamental changes in her character, her integrity, and her personal confidence. Eventually, I wanted to get to the bottom of what was prompting these subtle but significant shifts in my wife’s attitudes, so I launched an all -out investigation into the facts surrounding the case for Christ.”[1]

 

From Part 1 of the book, these are the topics of the different chapters.

• Eyewitness Evidence
• Testing the Eyewitness Evidence
• The Documentary Evidence
• The Corroborating Evidence
• The Scientific Evidence
• The Rebuttal Evidence

Mr. Strobel interviewed experts in their respective fields to obtain the evidence that not only changed his life but the lives so many others who read his book.

“So, on November 8, 1981, he says, “I talked with God in a heartfelt and unedited prayer, admitting and turning from my wrongdoing, and receiving the gift of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus. I told him that with his help I wanted to follow him and his ways from here on out.[2]

We have the benefit of the Word of God, and the research of godly men and women, and let’s not forget the Holy Spirit to help us make an educated decision when it come to receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The evidence is plentiful, if we are willing to search for it.

When Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, he was reminding them of the Gospel he had preached to them. They had received it and taken a stand on it. They were saved from their sinful way of life if they held firmly to the word Paul preached to them. But if not, they had believed in vain.

The Gospel we accept informs us that Jesus died on a cross for our sins. Three days later He rose from the dead. He was resurrected.

“Corinth was a Greek city, and the Greeks did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Most Greek philosophers considered the human body a prison, and they welcomed death as deliverance from bondage. This skeptical attitude had somehow invaded the church, and Paul had to face it head-on. The truth of the Resurrection had doctrinal and practical implications for life that were too important to ignore.”[3]

Verses 3 and 4 of the text is the central theme of the gospel. It provides a defense for Christianity.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

The phrase according to the scriptures is a reference to the Old Testament.

What Old Testament passage references Jesus dying for our sins?

Isaiah 53:5, 6

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah prophesied the birth and death of Jesus according to scholars between 570 to 700 years before it happened.

 

What Old Testament verse talks about Jesus’ resurrection?

Jonah 1:17

Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

We know that the fish spit Jonah out of its mouth onto dry land.

Jesus even references this verse in Matthew 12:40.

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

One of the proofs Lee Strobel used was that of eyewitnesses.

Our text says that Jesus appeared after His resurrection to Cephas, to the twelve, and after that He appeared to more than 500, then to James, all the apostles, then Paul says, “and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

What does abnormally born mean? It means that his was a special case. The other apostles saw Christ during his earthly life. Paul was in the next generation of believers- yet Christ appeared to him.”

1 Co 15:9-11

I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them —yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

God was able to use Paul after he had been guilty of persecuting the church of God. Because of God’s grace, Paul became influential to the church, especially to the Gentiles.

Whatever sin you were guilty of in the past, it carried the same penalty as Paul’s sin. God’s grace forgave Paul and it forgives us. I’ll end today’s message with this question, what kind of worker have you become because of God’s grace? We know what Paul did, what are you doing?

Study Questions

1. How confident are you when it comes to your understanding of the Word of God?
2. What resources do you have at your disposal to help you in your study of the Word?
3. What have you researched that has helped you in your life pursuits?
4. Do you spend all your study time in the New Testament, or do you spend time in the Old Testament as well?
5. The Trinity, Jesus’ divinity, Jesus’ resurrection, salvation by grace, and the authority of the Bible are the five tenets of the Christian faith. Do you struggle with any of them. Could you defend them according to the scripture?
6. Paul was a sinner just like us. He needed a Savior just like us. God’s grace propelled Paul to work hard at his calling for God. What about you?
7. Are we abnormally born?

[1] The Case For Christ, Lee Strobel, published by Zondervan, All rights reserved, 20, 21.

[2]Ibid 396.

[3] The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, NT, Warren W Wiersbe, David C Cook, all rights reserved, 492.

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