Apologetics & Debate: The Character in Debate

All right, we're live no, you know passing the torch intro

Apps should be back in here after he gets get the gets the streaming on on his So none of the cool music and whatnot

We're doing it on the striving fraternity stream yard because perhaps gonna get it set up in time

On his so he's gonna try to stream it to his Don't ask me what he's doing, but I'm sure he's got it figured out.

So we're gonna start with our class We'll pick up where we were from last week. So again, this class is on apologetics and debate

This is the second session where we're gonna look at the character of debate we're gonna still pick up a little bit where we left off as far as the introduction and So if you guys are watching this you haven't seen

The previous The previous court class that we did Well, I guess you can watch this one live and you can go back and watch last week's class

So this is an eight -week class. We're gonna be covering Basically, we said we're gonna cover the character of debate.

We're gonna talk about Harmonetics we're gonna talk about logic For those who are part of passing the torch if you're not part of it

Then you can go on Facebook and and join from there and learn more about passing torch But it is where a ministry where some of the older and I really don't like the fact that I'm in the older Category, I think that's just wrong but Where some of us older evangelists try to pass on?

Maybe I think I think I was invited in so I could pass on Mistakes made and so that people don't make the same mistakes

I made and learn from my blunders I think that I think that's what I'm here for But the goal of this is to be able to pass on from an older generation to a younger generation different things and skills as far as Apologetics and so the course we're in right now apologetics and debate

It is that because well a lot of apologetics is going to require some of the same skill sets as debate and so we're going through this and I The I think the way this class came about actually was

I do a live stream on Thursday nights called apologetics live If you want to join or ask questions there or watch it just go to apologetics live comm

But in that what I do is I Because that show is open to anybody what ends up happening is

Anyone can come in when they're prepared for a debate and I am NOT Which is really fun.

I actually kind of like that sometimes up. There's half so we'll bring mr. Hapsen and There goes haps he just that quick that he is a technology wizard and He was able to I mean that was maybe one second of haps and that was all that he could you know handle

He'll figure out how to get back in. I'm sure somehow And if not, we're just gonna make fun of haps until he does come in but One of the things that happens what people ask me all time with apologetics live is how how do

I prepare a show? When I might get a black Hebrew Israelite or an Orthodox rabbi or a

Muslim that they come in or an atheist We had last week and that guy didn't stay very long stayed longer than haps right there, but He didn't stay very long

He came in say claimed. He was an atheist. He wanted me to show prove to him

He said which which God do I believe in I said the God that exists and He said well, no, but Muslims they have a different God from the from you know from what you believe, you know

How do you know that your belief is right? What makes you you know, how do you what's your belief in God?

How do you come to that belief? I said the same way you do he goes what I'm an atheist.

I Said no, you're not I said you're suppressing the truth and unrighteousness

Romans chapter 1 He said well, how do you know that your belief in God is the right one?

And I basically said the same way you do you deny it in unrighteousness, but you know, he exists so he he

You know wanted to try to reason his way out of that But that worried there was a problem and I said to him where do you get an immaterial ability to reason if everything is just a material world and That is when we we are not sure but his his internet started to flake out and he said he was gonna drop out and come back in and he never came back in with our theory was one of the listeners theory was

My bandwidth is acting up meaning I have to run away from this conversation because I can't handle it so What happened there?

And this is one of the things now in that exchange. It was a short exchange I never resorted to insulting him, but I also never resorted to denying the

God that exists or Scripture one of the things I did that, you know, he was struggling with in it was the fact that I Know what

God has told me about him God has told me in Romans chapter 1 that every single person knows

God exists So what his tactic was to try to get me to pit the

God of the Bible versus the God of Islam Now, he probably is not a

Muslim. In fact, he said he's an atheist. So he's not a Muslim So does he care what the

God of Islam teaches? No, he's looking to try to make a debate and this is what happens in apologetics when we're doing apologetics this happens and so part of this course is going to help you to recognize

What people are really doing sometimes when they're asking questions was this gentleman that I just in the example

I gave was his purpose to really learn about the God of Christianity or the God of Islam No, his his purpose was to ridicule the

God of the Bible by making us to try to make some comparison between the God of the

Bible and the God of Islam and Try to say well, it's just your subjective opinion But see that's not what the

Bible says That it's our subjective opinion. My belief in God doesn't make him real and This atheists lack of belief in God doesn't make him not real.

He is real. In fact who even reason That there is or is not a

God Requires God right so right from the get -go. I know he's in my worldview denying his own worldview and What I do in this and I mentioned this last week

But what you want to do is to be looking at the premise of an argument Because that is going to tell you what you're really arguing against.

I was not arguing with him over the existence of God as much as the differences between the

God of Islam which doesn't exist and the God of the Bible which does exist and So I just bypassed that and get to the real issue

That he knows God exists the real God And We'll see if he shows up in the show next week and gets better internet if he doesn't then he probably did come in and Realize oops

This is a Christian that's not letting me get away with my tactics that work on others.

I'm going to run Not uncommon so Last week where we were if you're have your

Bible open we were in Titus and Titus chapter 1 and We were looking at the purpose of apologetics now we were in Titus 1 verse 10, this is where 10 and 11

This is where we picked up last week. So let me read that so that we have that and you can read along in your copy of God's Word but Titus 1 10 and 11 says this for there are many rebellious men empty talkers and Deceivers, especially those of the circumcision who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families

Teaching things that they should not for the sake of sordid gain So we we looked at last week in the class that the purpose of apologetics is not to win a debate

Not to show these great arguments you have it's not to get everyone to pat you on the back and say that was brilliant The purpose of apologetics is to shut the mouth of the ignorant to silence those who are upsetting whole families

That's what he's arguing is the purpose of apologetics We should be using the apologetic for the purpose of shutting the mouth of the ignorant

So that we can get to the gospel Okay, the purpose of apologetics is to share the gospel not to have a debate

And so that's really important because especially if you study

You know evidential apologetics When we do a lot of evidential apologetics what

I see a lot of people do when they're evangelizing is they get into the apologetics and they never get to the gospel and So you'll see this with guys that do open -air that have a lot of knowledge on Different topics and the mistake that we all can make

I'm including myself for a very good reason I've made the mistake plenty of times

In fact, my our evangelism team we use hand signals to communicate to the person who's doing street ministry

Who's doing this who's up on the box at the time? And we would have hand signals like you lift your hand in the air and that means hey raise your voice

Or we lower the hand down to say hey, you're too loud for the the crowd save your voice

And then we'd have one where you take your pinky and your thumb and you shake you stick that out

If anyone that does surfing they know it is that that's a hang ten That's to say get back to the

Ten Commandments You've been doing too much apologetics get through the gospel and yes, my

Team, even though I taught them that they would use that one on me quite often Because I would get into these discussions with people or maybe we're talking about fossil evidence or maybe we're talking about whatever it is and We're staying too long on Answering questions and not getting to the gospel

And so we have to remember that the purpose of the apologetics is to get to the gospel so it's it's to shut the mouth of the ignorant and So another thing we want to see is if we go down a few verses actually just one verse and read

Titus 1 12 to chapter 2 verse 2 is the second point so the first point or purpose of the apologetics is to is to share the gospel and shut the mouth of the ignorant a

Second is to defend the faith Okay. Now, let me be really clear with this by the way there is a difference between defending the faith in Christianity or at least there better be and defending the faith in other religions such as Islam Or or Mormonism or others that being in Islam?

It is Acceptable to Lie To protect the faith now as Christians we would say well if you're lying

Then you're not really protecting the faith because it's presenting a falsehood

To instead of presenting God now the idea there by the way If you ever if you ever hear of it it's called the

Kia and I actually had a debate with an imam addict at Montclair State University and a

Question was asked of me and I turned and to the imam and I said are you practicing to Kia right now?

And he stopped and he looked at me. He turned to the Muslim office and said The audience and said he understands

Islam and he dropped this question Because he got called out, right So to Kia is a practice where you can lie to defend the faith

You have other religions that do this as well where they they're gonna say well We're not gonna let you in on the full secrets, you know

Mormonism They don't let you on the full secrets until you convert and you're in the temple now We could tell you the full the full story so what you end up having there is a basis where They're not telling the full truth.

Well, we as Christians can't do that We cannot lie to protect the faith because then that's not a faith worth protecting the true faith is gonna be one that's based in truth and So if we don't have answers to something be honest and say

I don't know That's better than coming up with something that's wrong. Just so you feel like well,

I gave an answer That's what others do. That's not what Christians should do. So let's take a look

Titus chapter 1 We're just continuing through Titus with this but Titus says this in 1 verse 12 and I'm gonna read down to 2 verse 2.

He says one of themselves a prophet of their own a Cretan said

Cretans are always liars evil beasts lazy gluttons Let's just stop there and say for those who say that Paul was always this very polite guy

That he's quoting one of their own and that's one of their own saying this of the Cretans that are there that he's writing to Titus Where Titus was pastoring at at the time verse 13.

He says this testimony is true for this reason reprove them severely

So that they may be sound in their faith in the faith

Not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth

To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving

Nothing is pure Both their mind and their consciousness are defiled.

They profess to know God but in their deeds they deny him being detestable and disobedient and Worthless for any good deed, but as for you

Speak these things which are fitting for sound doctrine Older men are to be temperate dignified sensible

Sound in the faith in love in perseverance. He's gonna go on to say older women likewise and and so what he's gonna do is have lay out on a

Apologetic the pattern of discipleship older men to younger men older women to younger women

But what does he say here? He's saying that this is the goal of apologetics is

It's not just to shut the mouth of the ignorant But it is also to defend the faith even from those who claim to be brothers or sisters in Christ he's talking about these people and he's he's saying these people are liars and He's saying for this reason

He's telling Titus that Titus needs to reprove and that's a command in the

Greek and imperative He there to reprove them severely So when people say well you shouldn't judge another brother

That's not what Paul is saying here This is part of an apologetic ministry is to correct false teaching why well he says in verse 13 so that we could be sound in the faith

That's what apologetics should do it defends the faith. It protects the faith

So we have to recognize that When it comes to apologetics, we need to know first and foremost what the faith is to be able to defend it

Because he's speaking here to people who think they have the faith But their faith is got this

Jewish myths in there so you have a Jewish traditions being worked into Christianity and He he's seeing that as something that needs to be corrected and so he he lays out for Titus an importance that Titus should

Argue or defend for the faith now if we drop down to chapter 2 verse 6 of Titus he continues with this 6

From 2 6 to 8 says likewise I urge young men to be sensible in all things show themselves to be an example of good deeds

With purity and doctrine dignified sound and speech, which is

B Which is beyond reproach so that the opponent will be put to shame

Having nothing to say about us Now so he wants the older men who are sensible to teach these younger men to be sensible in such a way that People will have nothing they could say against the truth

Now, why does he say for this to be to the younger men? And this is the pop the idea behind passing the truth here.

It's the older men training younger men Why because well when we're younger men those of you who are younger you you may experience this but Those of us who are older and hopefully got wiser have passed on from this but when we're younger, we just want to fight with everybody

Everybody's wrong. We're right on everything. I mean I entered seminary thinking I had all the answers and I left seminary going

I got nothing but questions and That's what seminary is good for so help help students realize yet You think you have a little bit of knowledge and you think you know everything but there's a whole lot more

You just haven't thought about yet And that's what Titus is telling or Paul's telling Titus to train the older men to do

These older men are to train up these younger men To be sensible and I just love how he puts it

That where he says that the goal is that the speech that our speech is sound beyond reproach

But the purpose of that speech is that opponents those who are in Opposition to the truth of God's Word would be put to shame

Having nothing they could say about us Now, you know who I think of with that. I think of Daniel I mean you remember the account with Daniel where the the leaders were kind of jealous of Daniel and they're sitting there

How do we get rid of Daniel? They knew they could not do anything that Daniel was not going to do anything wrong

He was he was a man of such integrity. So they had to actually create a law Against the

Daniel's practices of his worship to God So that they can make a law that would make

Daniel be in the wrong because they knew Daniel's integrity that he was not going to be able to Do he wasn't gonna do anything that would be against his

God and therefore what do they end up doing? They have to try to create a way Because they knew he had such integrity

Yeah, their mouths were actually stopped in the end they were put to a shame as they were tossed into a lion's den so and fed to the lions, so as we see that the goal of the of the

Apologetics is going to be to defend the faith and and a lot of it is in how we speak

Paul says this to the older men to the younger men, but drop down in Titus chapter 2 down to verse 15

It says this these things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority

Let no one disregard you So the apologetics that we do is in our speech

Okay, which means I'm sorry, but if you say You know share the gospel and sometimes use words if you think that means that your lifestyle is sharing the gospel

Paul disagrees. You can't do apologetics by behavior

Now your behavior and this is what's the idea behind that quote? From I guess it's it's not original.

I don't believe with Francis of Sissi's, but that's where many people know it from but that idea behind the quote is that your actions must match your words and So that is what's being discussed at this point is that Paul is saying to Titus Train up men so that your your actions and words are in sync, but you must use words

You cannot do apologetics without words Now that so far we've talked about the purpose of the

Apologetics one was to share the gospel shut the mouth of the ignorant Two is to defend the faith from those outside the church and even those inside the church that would be teaching falsehood

Now the third is and this is in Titus chapter 3 if you look there in verses 10 and 11

Titus 3 10 and 11 and and this is sort of the method okay, and This is something we have to remember in in when we're doing apologetics.

He says That Paul says to Titus reject a fractured a fractious man after the first and second warning knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning being self -condemned in other words if you're sharing the gospel with someone and They are being just being divisive

Trying to cause fraction Within just after you warn them once warn them twice and then move on This is one of the things when we think about Apologetics There's different methods of apologetics, right?

We touched on a very briefly last week, but you have evidential apologetics classical apologetics and presuppositional apologetics

Now I've already said I do presuppositional apologetics. So I start with the position that God exists.

He has spoken Those are two things I'm not going to try to prove I don't need to prove them because God says that the person

I'm speaking to already knows these things God has made the knowledge of himself

Known to all men and he has written so I'm not gonna sit here and say let me try to prove

God Without losing using the Bible. Let me defend the faith and put the Bible on the side.

There are some apologists who do that They're usually in the evidential camp now

Do I think evidential apologetics is a sin? No, do I think it's wrong?

No, I think it has a purpose I think evidential apologetics is something that is very good to do within the body of Christ To encourage us in the truths and of God's Word and in recognizing what

God's Word Says so that we would be Sound in our doctrine.

That's a good thing But when we look at the apologetics and we examine this

We in classical by the way is kind of a mix between the two So I really think you you know, the extremes are kind of the precept pure precept and pure evidential

Classical tries to kind of use a little of both. So I mean some might accuse me of that with that definition of being classical but I just I Don't think that I haven't really seen a good example where classical is not

Evidential that uses the Bible as well But there you'll see classical apologists that are willing to give up That God exists though.

They'll be willing to try to make arguments to prove God exists God's existence is the axiom

Because if God doesn't exist You don't have an ability to reason because that's immaterial you can't have truth you can't have laws of logic

Morality knowledge all these things are immaterial and need an immaterial source So when we we have these not argue from position, they know

God exists They suppress that in unrighteousness. That's what Romans 1 says so When we look at these different positions based on which one you hold to may end up Influencing how you go about the debate because if I have a fractious individual

Someone who's just being divisive and I've warned them. I'm gonna warn him once I'm gonna warn him twice and then

I'm just gonna say Hey Thanks. Have a good day because I'm trusting in God's sovereignty if God wants to bring that person to repentance

He doesn't actually need me to do it But if I'm more of an evidential apologist and I think

I have to convince someone into the kingdom Well, it's gonna be very different I'm going to be arguing and arguing and arguing and arguing until they see things my way and That can be very offensive to the person so we always have to remember let the gospel be the offense not us

The gospel is offensive and we have to remember that But we have to remember that we want that to be the only offense.

We should not be the offense So and that's gonna lead us now into the character when we look at the character of debate

I've already touched on it a bit because the the way we conduct ourselves is going to affect

How we we view things, you know in in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5

Paul tells Timothy that he is to be an ambassador for Christ Now think about what that word means

When you are an ambassador for Christ you represent the king or the ruler that you're there to speak for and so if you're an ambassador for the

United States then when you're speaking you're speaking on behalf of the the country of the

United States the president of the United States and so he sends you there to speak on his behalf and So this is what we end up seeing we are to be now

I often share this story that I have a friend of mine who he when he goes to To the country of Jordan.

He has to be very careful When he goes he goes and visits some of his he's got friends

He went to seminary with who are there as missionaries and it's illegal to be a missionary and he goes and visits them

He's got to be very careful when he's in their home When he walks the streets

He knows that though. Nobody knows who he is Everybody is watching him and he's got to be very careful with everything

He does he has to know that if he if he does something People are watching him and he may do something even innocently and yet it could be a great offense within the nation of Jordan why is that because when my friend is in Jordan and He travels throughout the country

He is traveling with the guard from the king when he is in Jordan He stays in the palace of the king because he is a friend of the king of Jordan So he knows that when he is walking around the streets and he's talking to these missionaries

Even though nobody knows who he is Because they see the royal guard with him.

They know that he represents the king of Jordan and So he has to be careful with everything he does because he could accidentally create problems politically for the king of Jordan Now a side note of that is this a real interesting story

Is that this friend of mine who happens to know the king of Jordan happened to read in?

voice of the martyrs of three Jordanian Christians that were imprisoned because they were

Christian and Because they were Christian they had been put into jail they their livelihoods were lost their families lost their homes and they were destitute and The the king of Jordan was coming to the

States for an event that both of them were gonna be at and Think about this some guy in New Jersey of all states like it is where you know,

God would say what good could come out of New Jersey? Well, actually everything good comes out of New Jersey the things that stay are a real problem

Just saying but I'm I lived in Jersey most of my life Okay, but but no like you look at this and go what happened he wrote a letter to the king of Jordan The king of Jordan read that letter on his flight over to the

United States and where everyone was lining up to shake hands with the king The king turns to my friend and says

I read your letter on the way over here I will be taking care of that soon as I get home

The next time my friend was able to go to Jordan He got to meet with some of the families who were restored both

Financially and their livelihood and out of prison because some ambassador for Christ in New Jersey knows the king

You and I know the king and when we go around and we do apologetics and we do evangelism

Everything we do reflects back to the king. So we have to have a good testimony We have to be careful because if we act like a jerk on the streets evangelizing people think our

God is a jerk When we act like an idiot that's gonna reflect back to our

King, but if we're respectful Do we believe as Christians that God is respectful?

It is he hard obviously Jesus said some hard things to false teeth to the false teachers and and the religious leaders

But he didn't say that to those who were needy So he knew when to be hard and when to be soft and so we see that with Jesus We could see that God is gonna be hard at times

But we don't want God to we don't have a picture of God being disrespectful to people Talking down to people

Belittling people. Is that the way that we would want God to be displayed? the answer is no and therefore we have to recognize when we look at this that God when we're being his representative his ambassador as it says in in 2nd

Corinthians chapter chapter 5 verse 20, it says therefore we are ambassadors for Christ as Though God we're making an appeal through us

We beg you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God So We are ambassadors for Christ and it's as if God is making his appeal through you and I to the unbelievers

So we have to be a good representative of Christ an Ambassador represents the person he is acting on behalf of you and I act on behalf of Christ We're his ambassador.

So when we're out on the street We have to reflect Christ well and That's something we have to remember now a passage.

We can't talk apologetics Without turning to the passage where everybody turns to and that is 1st

Peter chapter 3 verse 15 Why does everybody turn to this passage?

Well simply put because this has the word apologia Or apologia, however, some want to pronounce it and this is the word we get for apologetics, so 1st

Peter chapter 3 and verse 15 now I'm gonna read the whole verse, but I'm gonna stop at the part where everyone usually stops and There's a reason people stop there and there's a reason you should not stop there.

So so let's look it says But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts

Always be ready to give a defense that word for defense apologia this is a defense a an argument okay, an

Explanation that's the idea of this. So he says but sanctify sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts

Always being ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you and people stop right there and People say we have to be ready in season out of season

We got to be ready when someone just challenges us we have to be ready to give an apologetic a defense for the faith to anyone who asks and That is true

But keep reading How do we do it yet with? gentleness and reverence

You see why so many people forget the next part because many that are out there trying to defend the faith are not doing it with gentleness and reverence

All right, and the idea of reverence is actually fear And now we have a negative view of fear

So let me explain fear for a moment because it might be helpful to you When we talk about fear the fear of the

Lord is beginning wisdom We know that passage there's you can go and do a search on the fear of the

Lord and see that we should be having a fear of the Lord Peter is going to talk about it throughout first Peter But when we think about that The question is why why should we what is fear because we think of fear as a negative thing

And the best way I could do this is to give an illustration now I think Anthony was was asking there for an illustration of this.

I think that's what he was trying to say he didn't how he was muted, but He was asking that and so I'm gonna answer his his, you know question

Because you guys are here and you're just being too quiet. But so What is what is a way of?

Explaining or illustrating fear that would help us. So here's Anthony. He's walking down the streets of New York City and You know,

Anthony give me a thumbs up are you are you married? Okay, he's married good.

So you and your wife were walking down New York City. Have you ever been in New York? Yes, you have.

Okay, so, you know, you should be scared. No, um Especially my Red Sox hat on Yeah That's a sports joke.

I get that I get that it's a sports joke. That's about as far as I get So The issue is is that what would happen you're sitting there maybe let's give a scenario

Anthony You and your bride are sitting there and you're having well, maybe it's a heated debate or a lightly heated debate over What color to paint a room?

Maybe you're gonna have a baby and You know, you don't want to know if it's a boy or girl You're trying to be surprised and your wife wants to Paint it pink in hopefulness of a girl and you want to paint it blue in hopefulness of a boy rather than just waiting or doing some neutral color and you're you're having a big discussion over this and You're it's it's getting heated and all of a sudden some guy sticks a gun in your belly and says give me your wallet

Anthony I have a question for you. Do you care any longer? What color to paint the bedroom?

Absolutely, not. Absolutely. Not. Why not? Because there's a bigger issue going on Because there's a gun in your belly, right?

We got bigger problems You have fear Okay, so what does that fear do for Anthony it?

Captures his hundred percent attention. He's no longer worried about what color to paint the room

He's not worried about how his 401k is doing. He's not worried about if it's gonna rain tomorrow

Because what fear does is capture our full attention That's the purpose of fear so when when we see in the

Bible that we should have a fear of the Lord That means that it should captivate our full attention so here when it says that we should be ready in season out of season to defend the faith to anyone who asks in gentleness and reverence a gentleness and a fear

Then we should that idea of that fear is that the fear is to captivate our attention

Do we have to have a gentleness? We have to be knowingly

Because here's the thing folks think about this when you're not prepared when Anthony's not prepared for that gun to be stuck in his belly and Be threatened to his wallet if he's not ready for it

He doesn't know how he's gonna actually respond right and So if he's trained himself for gentleness that surprise reaction will be gentleness

But if he hasn't trained himself for that Maybe anger would come out If he's if he's trained in self -defense maybe that would be the first response because what we train ourselves with is what we

Fall back to when surprised and so when he's saying here that we should be

Ready to give an account to anyone who asks it's idea How are you gonna respond when someone just they they jump at you now?

Here's the reality I tell this story when I do evangelism training but Basically, we had

I had I was in Freehold, New Jersey I was standing on a ledge and a guy comes up and he says, you know

Christians are stupid And I said, can you prove that and he said sure he asked me how many chromosomes are there in a human being and I?

Said 46. He's like how many from the mother? 23 how many from the father 23 he goes see that's how stupid

Christians are you can't divide 23 by 2 and My immediate response then was you're an idiot

That was the response of someone who is not trained to be ready in the defense.

I fell back to what was normal for me as a young believer was

You're you're insulting me as a Christian. I'm just insulting you right back. That was not a good behavior

Now I did exactly what Anthony would do because I I've known Anthony for a total here of about 40 minutes and so Being that we've just met but I know what

I know Anthony well enough Anthony would have done what what I did I would follow what Anthony did.

I Immediately realized I was wrong. I Repented and I asked the Lord for a second chance to talk to him and God is gracious because in came this guy

Right from my left side and he walks up and this is where Anthony and I differ Because Anthony would have conducted himself much better because he's part of this passing the torch and he's gonna learn from the ignorance

And the mistakes of an older idiot okay, and so as the guy comes in and he looks at me and says are you still stupid and Without any hesitation.

I looked at him and said are you still an idiot and He kept walking Well, some of you learn quicker than me so I asked the

Lord for a third time and yes The guy came a third time from the my right side and I realized him but I was ready this time

Because I saw him again. I knew what to do. And so now that I was prepared he comes up and As he comes up,

I jumped off the ledge I walked over him said sir The way that I spoke to you was rude and it was wrong and I ask your forgiveness

And he said well, you're still stupid and he walked off but I learned a valuable lesson that day about how to conduct myself and How careful

I have to be and I had to train myself and be ready for that person That's gonna hit you when you're not expecting it say something that you're not ready for maybe make fun of you

Maybe maybe they they learn something about you and they they're gonna try to embarrass you in front of people

I've had all those things happen Since that time that I mentioned in freehold and I've learned to get better with those

Because I've learned that I have to deal with gentleness and fear and that fear has to capture me

It has to capture my full attention so that I'm always ready at any moment To give an answer, but it takes training.

You got to train yourself for that You have to train yourself so that you are prepared but you know when we talk about the character

I want you to turn to Philippians chapter 3 and verse 18 and This is a passage

I find very important especially for people who are going to do apologetics anybody anybody

That is going to do what they call discernment ministries If you claim that you're doing discernment ministries, this is a verse you must memorize

Okay Because this tells us what so many that do discernment ministries are doing wrong these days a

Lot of people do discernment ministries. They're exposing people and they're doing it because they're getting attention. They're getting popularity

They're getting building a platform online. You can look there's countless examples You can look at you know,

Julie Roy's you can look at service Christy. You could look at a mirror in it a mirror multitude of different people out there that are trying to build a platform on Going after other people and a lot of times you have they'll do it right once in a while but then they start taking shortcuts and outright eventually outright lying to try to expose people and It's for attention

But that look at what it says in Philippians 3 18 for many walk of whom

I have often told you and Now tell you even

Weeping That they are enemies of the cross of Christ The character of the apologist is someone who will be weeping for the enemies of the cross

Not rejoicing. There are those that do discernment ministries that when they see someone that doesn't oh,

I got them I got a I got on a video. I'm gonna do on them. I got a podcast I'm gonna I'm gonna go expose us and often they don't even take the time to do the basic research to see if they're right

And when people correct them they're not gonna listen because that you're just trying to defend and You have that all the time

But are they weeping? Let me give you let me give you some examples of men that I know personally so I know these men in private and know that they they are

Acting out what Paul is saying here in Philippians men like Justin Peters Matt slick

Todd Friel These are men who I know that in private they pray for the people that they would call out publicly

You have somebody Who is looking forward to winning an argument in apologetics or?

You know doing discernment and they're they're looking forward to exposing somebody That's someone that's not following the behavior of Paul Always a great apologist but if he's if he's sitting there and Just not caring about their these people.

He's just gonna hey, I warned you about these people and their enemies the Christ He's gonna tear them down Was that the right character?

Is that a good ambassador? you see Paul in his Apologetic is a man who not only warns against the enemies of the cross of Christ, but he weeps for them

He's warning the people who are who might be led astray and he cares for them and he's weeping for them

But he's also weeping for those who are destined to a lake of fire Ray Comfort would be another example and Ray Comfort will always say

That your voice should show your passion for them Your your voice should have such a compassion for the lost that they know your passion.

They know you care about them I have seen in my own life in the life of Ray Comfort in the life of Justin Peters I've been out evangelizing with these men.

I have seen them share the gospel where people will come up to them and Say I know you really care about me

Because the way they share the gospel the way they handle their character in apologetics

I've always said the reason I do open -air evangelism is two reasons one to share the gospel in an unadulterated

Unwatered -down gospel message so it is presented rightly Correctly truthfully not leaving anything out

But I have a second purpose for doing open -air evangelism It is to get one professing atheist to tell another professing atheist to shut up That's right,

I want to get someone who hates the message of the gospel To tell someone who agrees with them to shut up.

Why why would they do that? they do that when they're looking at someone who is a professing atheist like them and They're seeing my character and their character and it's bothering them

That this person is being rude to me I've had this happen often. I Always tell the story of a guy.

We just call cowboy dude because he didn't want to share his name but I was outside of NYU New York University in Washington Square talking with one of the professors and He was he was a

Buddhist and we're arguing, you know, he's arguing. Well, we're both arguing arguments not a bad thing we're gonna get that we talk about logic, but we're we're arguing and discussing and doing apologetics and he's trying to argue that Christianity is wrong.

He thinks Buddhism is right He thinks that we don't die and have an immediate, you know that it's pointing on the man wants to die and then a judgment

He thinks we just go on and on and on so he's explaining all this and we're going back and forth but the way he's speaking in the way

I was speaking was very different and So what ended up happening was at some point?

Cowboy dude and just picture this guy. He's probably 250 or 275 pounds of pure muscle

He's shirtless, but wearing a cowboy hat. That's why we call him cowboy dude and cowboy dude

Walked up was so offended by this guy who doesn't agree with Christianity that he got in between me and the professor and He turned to the professor and said look you're out of line.

I have fought for this man's right for freedom of speech if you don't like what he's saying you need to just leave and The professor pokes cowboy dude in the chest and says

I don't got a problem with you, buddy And all of a sudden cowboy dude stuck his finger in the professor's face and said touch me again, buddy

And you are gonna have a problem with me and he marched The professor right out of the crowd now me being the very experienced

Evangelist that I am I sat there and watched this exchange and I'm like looking going.

I think a fight's gonna break out right in front of me and in the back of this crowd There's about 200 people's people even behind me all around and in the back is is my friend

Michael Stockwell a great open -air evangelist and Michael Stockwell is back there realizing.

Hey You're being an idiot. You're forgetting what you're here for. So he's in the back and I'm hearing him scream preach the gospel

And I'm like, oh, right. That's what I'm here for So I immediately go from what we just saw to preaching the gospel

And so an interesting thing that happened that day was earlier before we did the open -air

I was speaking to a Muslim who immediately judged me because I was said

I was Christian and he started Condemning me saying that I was forcing my beliefs upon him when all

I actually asked him is can you explain what your understanding of? Islam is Well, this guy comes up to me after that scene and he walks over to me and says

I need to Apologize to you. I said really he says yeah, you know,

I accused you of you know forcing your religion on me and all you did was ask me what my religion was and I just immediately jumped to a conclusion but watching how you handled that Buddhist guy.

I realized I Was wrong with you Now let me ask you something when you do apologetics, are you expecting to have that response

I am That's the reason I go out and do that Because I'm looking

For a way to to display my character in such a way that that is

The normal response. I want that to be the normal response

Now We might say well, hey, you know Andrew this is maybe a one -time thing where?

Paul did this later in life Okay. Well if you wouldn't mind turning to acts

Chapter 20 and what I'd like to do is read acts 2018 down to 21 and This is

Paul now, he's granted he is later in life here. He's but he's still before his time in jail

And so You know what we end up seeing is Here's him giving a warning to people

And so let's look at the character of Paul that he he has here for the

Ephesian elders Acts 20 verse 18 down to 21. He says and when they had come to him

He said to them you yourselves know from the first day I first first set foot in Asia how

I was with you the whole time serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with Trials which come upon me through the plots of the

Jews How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and Teaching you publicly and from house to house

Solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance towards toward God and Faith in our

Lord Jesus Christ Now, what is he appealing to he's saying guys you knew from the beginning.

I mean from the first time I came to Asia you knew that I was

Acting in all humility, but all humility in what situation look at the situation.

He describes He was in humility and with tears because there were trials What were some of those trials?

Well, he says he had plots from the Jews and in the book of Acts it records some of the plots I mean men who who took a vow of of You know of hunger to kill him

Now when you go out and evangelize and you're defending the faith how many of you have someone who is basically taking a vow a

Hunger strike to You know for your death. I Mean, so when we think about persecution, there's a little bit of a difference between what we call persecution and what

Paul actually suffered there are people around the world Christians around the world that do actually suffer that way, but For many of us in America, that's not us

But in light of those kind of trials He says that he didn't shrink away from Doing apologetics.

He didn't shrink away from declaring. What is profitable he teaching whether it's in public or going house -to -house

Doing it so that the Jews and the Greeks would come to repentance right both

Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and And it's interesting because he says he did this in all humility

Now when we get people I've seen this on the streets with people who are Well, they end up Doing open -air evangelism you get someone they start getting

Aggressive they start getting in in your face and you're struggling and what ends up happening people end up in that they start going

Well, you know They start returning that Aggression Paul says in all of his trials.

How did he behave? humility and tears You know one of the biggest issues

I see with Apologetics or apologists I should say is that there are not enough tears in their apology they don't have the

Apologetics that leads them to tears some do Good apologists will because they're gonna recognize not only are they an ambassador for Christ?

But they're gonna recognize also that look apart from God doing a work in my life the worst person

I might meet on the street I Probably was worse could have been worse than them

So the only thing that I can boast about is not me and anything I could do But I boast about Christ and what he has done and That's the difference.

And so when you have that mindset You're not caring about winning the debate.

You're caring that they hear the gospel Do you see this in Paul's in in these passages we see from Paul?

Paul's concern is sharing the gospel and when he has to confront people who are enemies of the cross

He does so with tears and What he says in Acts humility

So we should be defending the faith with a gentleness and fear

We should be doing it in all humility But we should be weeping weeping for those who are being deceived by falsehood weeping for those who are

Unbelievers weeping for those who are enemies of the gospel and are coming up and wanting to attack the gospel or even so Attack you for believing in the gospel

Paul says we have to stand strong We have to stand up. We can't just shy away from this.

We can't shrink away No in light of that he stood up and granted in America persecution is coming

Okay, I think we're probably only five maybe at most ten years away from our own government

Saying Christians, it's illegal to believe in Christianity Okay We'll see what happens in the next election

But I think I believe Christianity is on trial because if if it goes a certain way

They've already made it clear that they think Christians are domestic terrorists Well, that's what you're thinking is and that's what you're saying to get elected what you got to keep that going

So what's gonna happen? They're gonna have to outlaw Christianity and put everyone in jail And that keeps their votes the way they they want them to go

Anyway, right keep the people that vote against them out of the out of the voting pool but the thing is this as we start facing more and more persecution as Those that deny the truth of God's Word become louder and louder voices

The question is how are we going to respond? Are we going to train ourselves?

To respond in gentleness and fear and reverence to respond in all humility with tears

Are we going to be ready for it to answer anyone? Thank you that asked for us an answer.

Are we well These are the things that we have to practice for and if you are not out there doing apologetics, you're not practicing

You're not training yourself You could train all day in the mirror. You can sit and take your mirror and Give yourself really good arguments against Christianity and answer those arguments and I got news for you in your head

You win every debate. I Mean, there's no question you always win the debate

Because in your head you are never going to think of an argument that you never thought of before so you're only going to answer arguments that you have thought of and and people do this all the time and they get in their head and think of Preparing for how well, how might this person respond to this will be a response this how do

I do and people think through? How to do the debate in their own head and as they sit there and try to figure out how to Answer this or how to answer that?

They do these things But while they're doing it, they're never actually training

That training takes going out with people who are not in your head asking you things.

You weren't ready to answer To get asked something you don't know the answer to so that you go.

You know what? Let me go. I got to go and research that I don't know. Hey, that's a question I never thought of before Got to be ready to do that and If you are not out there doing apologetics, you're not really training

So, how do you know how well you're doing in your character in? apologetics

Well, you're gonna know Based upon the very simple fact of it's gonna be based upon how you

Respond to those that you meet on the street that catch you off guard All right, and so that is the character that we have to have in apologetics now next week we're gonna start looking into we're gonna spend three weeks looking into hermeneutics and Also, what

I will be doing is I will be putting together a quiz that haps will send out to those in the

Passing the torch Ministry, so if you're part of that group on Facebook, you'll be able to get that.

I will put away I'm probably gonna do it in a like a Google document and I'll I'll put that up next week so that we can you guys

Could see but just a short quiz To see how how well basically how much you've been paying attention

And so but it's really for this reason why why give the quiz? Part of it is really for your own knowledge to test yourself so don't go and like take the quiz and then go back and listen to the audio and You know, it's the idea of it is really so that you could see it'll be it'll be short and easy

The quiz is gonna be More multiple -choice type things tests are gonna be more usually like essay where you have to actually think through things

But it's really to test yourself to see how much you're learning how much you're getting out of it

And so as with everything the more we put in the more we're gonna get out And so I don't

I haven't seen too many questions in the live chat We're which is where most of the people are but for the students that have joined

Do either of you guys have some questions? Okay, I saw a head nod of no, so so next week same

For those who know me you're gonna really get shocked at this. Oh, you do have a question. Yes, sir With the tactics.

Yes So, I know sometimes teachers and professors don't always

Subscribe whole Completely with everything like that required text is

And so I was and I've watched your debates and stuff against, you know viciously defending Calvinism, and I loved it

I saw where you let him down the tulip without And so my question is

You know respectfully is the first two chapters of the book The author is talking about essentially

Being gardeners not so much harvesters Yes Any putting it leaving a stone in someone's shoe.

Yes, sir And so my question is to you because I really want to know He he he said it multiple times that in conversation if it's if spiritual matters aren't on the table

That you don't always have to get to the cross. You don't always have to share the full gospel and and I was like That's interesting so I want to know what your thoughts were it's it's a great example.

So Greg Greg is a friend of mine Okay, he stayed in my home. I've stayed in his home. I know him personally

We've discussed this as well and and some of the way we've gone out on the street And go to a restaurant shows our differences

Greg's model is and and the reason for the book Greg is an evidential apologist. Okay.

I'm a presuppositional So when I talked about how those differences play out, this is how it plays out.

So for example Greg we go to a restaurant Greg style and I think

I'll talk about it in the book and and the purpose reason I think that book is so good and reason I assigned it is because it helps you to learn how to navigate conversations

Okay Here's the thing Greg and I go to a restaurant Greg will always go to a restaurant and he will always ask the waiter or waitress his names

Because he wants to make that conversation as personable as and he will look to make conversations

Okay, he's always looking to make conversations and he's looking to figure what he could just drop as a nugget of truth to leave with someone but where Greg will ask the waiter or waitress their names and look for things he could spark conversation with I Go to a restaurant and I go beyond that.

See I'll ask the waiter or waitress their name and I'll say We're Christians If we're all

Christian, if not, I'll say I'm a Christian here at the table I say, you know, we're Christians at this table and in a moment

We're gonna be praying for our meal and we would like to specifically pray for you is when you come back with the food

Can you please give us something that we can pray for you for now, you notice the difference in those two

Greg and and here's the thing Greg and I go out We've we've been out together where times were what what will happen is

I I will get right into a gospel message I mean, I will walk down the boardwalk.

I see a couple guys. I Immediately start a conversation. I'm more used to that.

Greg is great when the conversation gets spiritual I'm more comfortable. I'm trained myself to Transition from the natural to spiritual you can go go on YouTube look for striving fraternities

YouTube channel There's a playlist called the spiritual transition game. I made a game out of transitioning from the natural world to spiritual world

We have several a couple dozen videos of me practicing that game explaining the game practicing it so you can see how it's done

And that's me training myself. Well, I start conversations. I Remember one time that for it for you young kids.

I mean they were maybe high school senior high schools, maybe young college and we

I Just started from a shirt. They were wearing boom jumped right into the gospel And then what

I did was they asked a question I just said, what do you think about that Greg and then he had that conversation

I walked off Right, and so the difference is is I'm I'm more even when

I've been on the radio He there was a comment once that he made to me because I was you know in studio with him on the radio

He had a guy call in and ask a question It is very interesting because during the break

Greg didn't pick up that the guy said he was an atheist But I did and Greg looked at me and said it's because you're more of the evangelist

You pick up on those things where I'm listening for the question, but you're just going right to hey the gospel

And so there is that difference that you're gonna see with with the two of us, right? I Agree that I'm not so do

I agree with everything? He said I think everything he said in that book is is is right I just as I think that we got to go beyond just putting a stone in someone's shoe

Right. He wants to leave them with a nugget to think about I want to leave them with the gospel And so so I just go a bit beyond him.

So in that sense, it's not that I disagree with him I just go beyond them. Thank you yeah, no problem, and so and So Put this comment up Fatima says that's really help a real useful difference to know so thank you for that and This person is from the

Philippines because they were at the Baha conference So that means that it is 9 a .m.

There for them watching so So, yeah, so what

I was started to say is Is When we before I'm trying to remember how we were closing out there because I was gonna

Insult myself because there was something I was gonna say that I did wrong, which is not unusual I do lots of things wrong.

I'm one things. I'm really good at you know, you guys are not as good Messing up as I am. But then hey, you have all these things you can learn from my mistakes.

So there's that advantage So so we'll we'll pick up next week we'll look at hermeneutics

I'll have a quiz for you. It should be an easy quiz It may it may be

I may not do just multiple choice We'll see but I think I'll have easy questions for that.

So that'll be next week Oh, I remember what I was gonna do I was gonna make fun of myself this way for people who know me and or Listen to my

Andrew rap words rap report podcast or watch apologetics live You guys will get a kick out of this because I was going to end by saying

We'll be on you know, same bat channel same bat time now for folks who don't get why that's

For some folks you get the reference that is from Batman from like, you know the 70s

And the reason that's such a shocker to my audience. My regular audience is because I'm pop culture illiterate

So many people are going Wow, he knows who Batman is I did actually watch that Batman where when he'd punch someone, you know

They just go pow because they can't actually show someone having getting punched in the face

Yeah, just like TV today, right? Yeah. No, no So, let's see

Yeah, so so my friend Andrew from down under he says Andrew is good at being wrong He's not wrong there

Fatima says I know several people who don't know how to approach their evangelism

So those two methods actually help So well, you're welcome.

And so with that folks, we'll see you next week Monday night at 8 p .m.