Intro to Apologetics

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Welcome to our fall semester!

7-9pm each Wednesday night at the church

Games, teaching, small groups

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Introduction

We are starting a brand new study tonight on apologetics

We’re going to do things a bit differently

Normally, we’d divide up into our 2 groups for Bible study - a middle school group and a high school group

But for this series, we are going to all stay together for our teaching time, but still divide up for small groups

Jesse and Corey will continue to lead high school small groups, and Yen and Rick will lead the middle school small groups

We’re going to have a full room, so I’ll need your help on a few things

Keep your cell phones put away

Bibles are in the back on the bookshelf

Better yet, bring your own Bible!!!

Help minimize distractions & be respectful

Talking, throwing stuff across the room, opening windows, please be respectful of the other students here who want to learn

Respect yourself, respect others, and respect the space

Take notes & engage!

This is meant to be interactive and its meant to help your walk

Bring a notebook if you want, take notes, engage, don’t just half listen but challenge yourself to grow in these areas

I’ll try to keep things interesting with videos, pictures, & interaction - I don’t want this to turn into a college lecture series

Question tub

We are going to cover a lot of topics over the next few months, but if you have any questions that come up that don’t get answered, or if you ask a question in your small group that stumps a leader, write it down and put it in the tub, we’ll do a Q&A night at the end of the series

Other guidelines

Don’t be afraid to ask questions

If you have the question, someone else has probably wondered that too

With that being said, my job isn’t to have all of the perfect answers to every question. You will stump us as leaders.

Our job is to present the best evidence that is available. We may have to go do some research on some different questions and come back the next week. And other questions we won’t be able to explain (i.e. How can God be 3 persons but just 1 God?? IDK - faith!)

We’ll learn together on those hard ones

Prayerfully consider the things we’ll talk about

This goes with the engage one, take these things to heart, commit yourself to wanting to learn and explore and I guarantee God’s going to do a work in your heart

Lesson - Intro to Apologetics (1 Peter 3:15)

Apologetics - what in the world is that?

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Why do I believe in Christianity?” or “Why do I believe in the spiritual things I believe?”

If you haven’t, those are great questions to ask yourself

You might be here and you have wondered those things before. Maybe you’ve asked your parents or tried to look things up online. You want more than just an experience, you want evidence that what you believe in is true and its relevant - it matters

Maybe you’ve looking for answers and you haven’t found any and its caused you to question your faith

Maybe you’re here though and you’re saying to yourself, “It doesn’t matter. Everyone is going to believe what they want to believe. We’re all going to the same place anyways”

No matter where you fall on the spectrum, this study if for you.

We are going to explore some big questions in this series

What is truth?

How do I know that God is real?

Is Jesus really who He said He was?

Can I trust what the Bible says?

Do science and God contradict each other?

Do all religions believe in the same thing?

Is the Bible outdated?

Why does any of this Christianity stuff matter? Is it relevant for today’s culture?

What is apologetics then?

The word “apologetics” comes from the Greek word “apologia” which means answer

Apologetics is simply getting answers to these big questions

When I was in high school, my parents gave me a book called, “Don’t Check Your Brains at the Door”

It talked about how as Christians, we don’t have to throw away our brains to follow Jesus

Its not just a feeling, or an experience, its truth. We can be confident in that, confident in our faith

Mark 12:30 NIV

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Jesus says that we can love Him with all of our mind - there is truth in what we believe

The world will say, “How can you believe the stuff in the Bible is true? Its just a bunch of outdated, irrelevant stories”

But we can have confidence that the Bible and what we believe is more than just a story

The basis for the study of apologetics is found in the NT book of 1st Peter

Peter wrote to a church that was under intense persecution

The Roman government & society were against Christianity. They blamed Christians for a lot of what was wrong in the world

The city of Rome, the capital of the known world, had just been burned to the ground, and Caesar Nero blamed it on the Christians (history tells us it wasn’t, and in fact, it could have been Caesar himself who did it, but that’s another story for another time...)

The economy and trade were being turned upside down by Christians. The primary views on sexuality and gender and identity were under attack by this new sect called The Way.

You have a major cultural difference between the world and Christianity, the government is against it, people are questioning why this Jesus guy is relevant at all, even hating and attacking Christians for their beliefs

During this time, six million Christians would be killed, or martyred for their faith.

They would be fed to lions, nailed to crosses, ignited as human torches, or boiled alive in oil.

To be willing to endure all of that on such a mass scale, these Christians had to have been absolutely convinced that what they believed was real - why would you die for a lie?

In that atmosphere, Peter writes this:

1 Peter 3:15 NIV

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,

The word “answer” here is also translated “defense” in other Bible translations, but the Greek word used is that word apologia that we talked about before

Many Christians think apologetics = arguments. Like a defense lawyer preparing their case so they can make an argument for Jesus

So when their teacher or professor or friend or parent tells them the Bible isn’t true, they can stand up and argue against that and prove the world wrong

But I want to challenge you through this series that apologetics doesn’t matter if you are going to use it to argue with your friends

Peter says we should be prepared with an answer, an apologia, as a reason for the hope that’s in us.

That’s what we’re going to study are those answers, those reasons that we can be confident that what we believe is true, its reality

4 Key things to remember as we go through this series

#1 - Jesus has to be real in your life first

Peter says be ready to give an answer for the hope inside of you

He doesn’t say be ready to give an answer for what your parents told you to believe, or what your youth pastor told you to follow

But give an answer for your hope

I believe 3 fundamental truths about human beings

One - Every human being has an emptiness inside

We were all born with a hole inside of our hearts - every person you go to school with, every person in your family, every person in your neighborhood

We try to fill that hole with different things

Accomplishments, activities/passions, knowledge, money, attention

We’re trying to find meaning & purpose in life

“Why am I here, what’s my purpose?”

That quest comes directly from this hole b/c something key to our existence on this earth is missing

Two - Every person is lonely

Another way we try and fill that hole is through relationship

We look for earthly relationships w/ friends, w/ family, w/ a boyfriend or girlfriend, to fill that hole

You might be scoffing at that - “I’m not lonely!”

One of my favorite movies is the Lego Batman movie - don’t judge me! That movie is stinking hilarious

The premise of it is that Bruce Wayne, I mean Batman, is a loner and claims to not need anyone around him.

Alfred confronts him on this one day and says he’s really looking for is relationship

Batman ignores him and decides to watch a movie, a romance in this case - Show Lego Batman clip

Batman laughs at how lame those lines are, “You complete me” but then looks around and realizes how lonely he really was

We are all the same in a way. We look to earthly relationships, but those don’t fill the void

To paraphrase the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal (you might have heard of him in your science or math classes), “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every [person] which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ”

Three - We all feel guilty

No matter how hard you may try to deny it, every single one of us know that we’ve failed, that we’ve made mistakes, that we’ve hurt people. And we feel guilty inside

You may not show that guilt at all. You might be the most confident person in the entire world. But deep down, I bet you’d admit that you feel that guilt

The answer to these truths is Jesus

#1 - God created us with that hole in our heart, but the shape of the hope is Him (Genesis 1 & 2)

#2 - He desires a relationship with us to cure our loneliness, He is a Friend who will never leave us (John 15 & Deut 31)

#3 - He came to set us free from our guilt (Rom 6:23)

He knows that we messed up/sinned, He knows that we can’t remove our sins by being good, we need God to save us.

So God sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay the price for our sins, and He died on the cross and rose again back to life.

So what He offers then is hope to the 3 things that plague us

If you’re here tonight and you’ve never given your life to follow after Jesus. To fill that hole in your heart, to cure your loneliness, or to get rid of your guilt, do that tonight, before you leave. Talk to me, talk to a leader, we’d love to tell you how to give your life to Jesus

#2 - Jesus needs to be your Lord

“Lord” is a title, not His Name

For Jesus to be Lord of your life means He is the King of your life, your heart. He’s not just a part of your life, He should be everything

If I were to ask some of you to describe who you were, what things might you say?

I’d say things like, I’m a pastor, I’m a husband and a father, I’m a runner. I climb mountains.

Ask students to shout out things they’d say to describe themselves

All of these things are a part of my identity - of who I am

Running is just a part of my life. My job is just a part of my life

We think Christianity is the same thing. Its just a slice of the pie, one of the many things we are

But for Jesus to be your Lord, that means He is everything

And having Jesus as your Lord means that you should see the world not through your own lens as a 15 year old soccer player/high school student/aspiring musician, you see the world through Jesus

We would say you have a Christian or biblical worldview - you’re big picture in life is Jesus

Everyone has a worldview, a way in which you look at the world

Every worldview then will ask some big questions

Where did I come from? Why am I here?

What is the meaning of life?

What is the source of truth?

To be a follower of Jesus, that means He needs to be Lord, which means you’ll have a biblical worldview

The way in which you look at the world will be through the Bible

Apologetics is important b/c it will give us confidence that the Bible is true, there are no errors or big contradictions, and that the Bible is relevant to today’s culture

I want to have some confidence that this thing that I’m going to base my big picture of life on is real, it’s not made up

#3 - You need to train yourself

1 Peter 3:15 tells us to “always be prepared” to give an answer for the hope

We should know why we believe what we believe

I want you to stop and think about this for a minute - if you call yourself a Christian, why are you a Christian?

That question has been asked a lot by different researchers and authors, and do you know what the #1 most common answer is?

B/c my parents were or b/c I was raise as a Christian

No one you know will ever want to become a Christian if your answer is b/c my mommy said I should be

In our youth group, one of the biggest things we want you to walk away with is a personal faith in Jesus

This is the time of life where you need to make your own decision about following Jesus, and to do that I think its crucial that you know why you follow Him

But the why takes some learning and training, which leads me to my final point

#4 - As you show the hope that’s in your heart, you show that you follow Jesus and your life is directed by Him, people are going to ask why

Apologetics is not training so you can argue the case like we talked about

We should all seek to live out what we believe

Here’s a way to think about this - I need a volunteer who is going to be brave

Talk about what they would do if they believed there was a gift card in the envelope vs if they didn’t really believe it

Evidence vs faith vs certainty

If you really believe that Jesus has forgiven you of your sin and freed you from your guilt and filled that hole in your heart, you should live that out

Not as a bible thumping goodie two shoes that is super judgey, but as the hands and feet of Jesus

People should see your love for Jesus, not your love for the rules

They should see your compassion for others, not how you judge them

They should see you serving and caring for others, not just caring about yourself

If you live that way, people are going to ask why

You tell them that Jesus has changed your heart and forgiven you of your sin and guilt, and that He has given you purpose and meaning in life.

Then when they ask, “How can you believe any of that stuff is true” - then you tell them the reason, the answer, the apologia

You do that with gentleness & respect

Not to argue, not to win a debate, not to be right, but respectfully, gently, with love for the other person

So we’re going to get into these reasons this semester and help build your confidence on why this is all real

Small Groups

Every week, we are going to break into small groups and talk about what we’ve learned

This is a chance to open up and share what you’ve learned, what’s on your heart, ask any questions you might have, share prayer requests, and pray for one another

We’ll break up into separate high school and middle school groups

Small groups are a safe space to share - we’re not going to judge each other or be hard on each other

Don’t take what you hear and spread it around school

If someone opens up about a struggle or something challenging that’s going on at home, don’t go tell the world

Participate! You’ll get more out of it if you do

Separate high school & middle school groups, then have those leaders break into further small groups

Small Group Questions

Have you ever asked yourself the question “Why do I believe what I believe?”

What are some ways you’ve tried to answer that question?

Does the “why” matter to you? Do you care about knowing whether your faith is true? Why or why not?

Have you ever felt that you had to throw your brain away to be a Christian? Why or why not?

What are some of the big spiritual “why” questions you’ve asked or wondered before?

Leader note, please do not answer these questions, but write them down and give them to Matt at the end of the night. Let students know we won’t answer them tonight but we will try to in our series this semester

What do other students at school think about Christians and Christianity?

Why do you think they feel that way?

What does is mean for Jesus to be Lord? How does that look in your life?

Do you think other teenagers care more about you proving Christianity is true, or do they care more about you showing your Christianity is real? Make a case for your side?

Read 1 Corinthians 8:1b. Why is it important to show Christ’s love in your life and not just know all the facts?

1 Corinthians 8:1b (NIV)

1 ...But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.

Prayer Requests & Group Prayer