Is Christianity True?
Dr. Tim Rivers | April 27th, 2025
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Transcription
Are you glad to be here today? I'm so glad that you're here. Last week, what an amazing Easter Sunday that we had. It was a full house. We were opening every space available, our overflow rooms, just making space in the cafeteria even, serve Team Central. And we're so thankful that so many people came. The greatest win is that people heard the gospel and got the chance to respond. Amen. But we can't pull off really any weekend, and especially a big weekend like that, without the help and the generosity of the serve team. Can we just give it up for all those, come on, who served, who pitched in, come on now. So grateful, so thankful for everyone that serves, for giving their time and effort. And let me tell you, if you're not serving yet, I invite you to become a part of the serve team. It is fun, it's enjoyable. There's so many areas you can get involved in, whether it be media, creative, opening doors, seating people, kids, tech. I mean, there's so many opportunities. Get in where you fit in, and let's all serve here in the house of God, amen? Today we're kicking off a new series called Unapologetic.
And this is kind of a play on words, because one, it is a series where we're going to explore apologetics. And apologetics is just a Greek word, it comes from the Greek word apologia, where we get the English word apology from. And really apologetics or apologia is a two, it has two words within one. Apo means away, and logia, which comes from the Greek root word logos, which means word. So literally apologia is defense of something with words. So Christian apologetics is the defense of the Christian faith. Now we're going to talk about this here in a moment. What we're not trying to do is become versed in apologetics to go beat people up. Stab them up with the truth. How many of you is that? Well, there's the sword of truth, I'm going to go lob some heads off. No, the goal of apologetics is to gain an understanding about what you believe. And so for the next several weeks, we're going to nerd out. Any nerds in the house? If you're not a nerd, welcome to the nerd convention for the next several weeks. But it's going to be a very good time. Could you stand to your feet?
Let's go to the word of God. Our opening passage is going to be found in 1st Peter 3, the book of 1st Peter 3, verse number 15. 1st Peter 3, verse number 15. Here's what it says. But in your hearts, honor Christ, the Lord is holy. Always, somebody say always.
Always.
Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone. Somebody say anyone.
Anyone.
To anyone who asks you for the reason, for the hope that is in you. Yet, do it with gentleness and respect. And somebody say amen.
Amen.
Lord, we're so grateful, so thankful to be in your house as we explore your word, as we go a little deeper. I pray that you would give us ears to hear, a heart to receive, a mind to understand what you would say to us. Help us, God, to grow in knowledge and understanding. Let there be rhema, God. Let there just be revelation from your word that teaches us more about you. We give your name the praise, the glory, and the honor. In Jesus' name. And everybody say amen.
Amen.
You may be seated. Apologetics. This is going to be a really fun time. We are going to go deep and we are going to use big words.
So I just want to prepare you for that. Here's my encouragement for you as we go through the next several weeks. Have a Bible. Have notes pulled up. Whether you're writing down on a piece of paper or you're putting this in your phone. But I really encourage you to notate, to take notes of what we talk about. And then explore it further in your own studies. We don't have the time to dig down deep and spend hours per topic. So I want to give you kind of a high level view of each one of these topics. And then I want to give you some resources at the end that you can go explore the topic even more. Read some books. Do your own study. But you as a Christian should be able to dig out the word on your own. And so what we're going to do today is we'll get started. And then you go dig a little further. Is that alright? Let me ask you this question. Have you ever received a gift or a present from someone that you really, really enjoyed? It became your favorite. You loved it. You appreciated it. But you had no clue as to how it worked.
I remember when I first got my Jeep. I've always wanted a Jeep. And there was a particular type I already had set in my mind. I had my Pinterest board, I had all the Instagram handles that I was following about Jeeps. And I already knew exactly what I wanted. So when I got my Jeep, I got exactly what I wanted. Black on black on black, 2 1/2 inch lift, 35 inch tires. I even got the vanity plates for it. Ambassador. And when I First got my jeep. I was like, man, now I'm part of the jeep culture. Because I got the jeep, I'll be rolling around. I'm an official jeeper. I had people leaving ducks on my hood. I was like, I'm an official jeeper. And that was until a real jeeper asked me about the equipment that I had on my jeep. And people who are real jeepers, they know about the intricate details about their jeep. And I remember the first time someone came up to me and was like, hey, man, do you rock crawl? I said, nah, I just take the path that's already. I stay on the road. And, you know, they say, hey, what PSI do you run when you walk across the PSI?
What is PSI? They started asking, what's your death ratio? I don't know. I just like the car, you know. What amps do you run in your J7580? I just made that up by the way, I know somebody out here was really judging me in the moment. Doesn't he know it's a J590? But the truth is, I love my Jeep. I'm not gonna get rid of it, but I don't necessarily know all the inner workings. I just know that I love it. And when people ask me, oh, I love it, I'll say, I love it because I love it. As ambassadors of Christ, as Christians, we've been given a gift. We've been given such a precious gift. And many in this place that are Christians, we enjoy being Christians. Yes, you will have some highs and lows. Yes, you're going to fight the devil. Yeah, you're going to go through some pain. But you would not be a Christian if you didn't believe that it was doing something in your life. So most of us would agree that we are Christians, we believe in Christianity. But how many could actually explain to somebody why you're a Christian?
Somebody who doesn't, who isn't a Christian, maybe has doubts about Christianity. When they come and ask you, why do you act the way you do? Why are you so bought into the hope that's in your life? Could you actually answer that question? This is what Peter says in 1st Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 15. He says, Everyone who is a believer should be prepared to make a defense. Now, again, there are a couple ways you can look at the word defense. Some people think that the word defense is like, I'm on the defensive all the time. And you've met these people. You're walking down the street and they're like, hey, you going to hell? And you're like, no, actually, I'm a believer. No, you're not. Like, yes, I am. Next thing you know, you're in a fight because they're trying to convince you that you're not saved. So the goal of what we're going to do is not to try to convince people that they're lost in order to practice our apologetics on them. The goal is to be ready. The word defense literally means to ward off an attack, meaning that when Christianity, when your faith is being pushed against, do you have the tools necessary to provide a defense for it?
That's why you kind of see the courtroom scene. Because literally, apologetics is you making a defense, you making a case for Christianity. You are literally, as it were, a lawyer, a defense lawyer, making a defense, building a case, preparing a case for those who are trying to prosecute against Christianity. So that's the goal, is that all right, so the question that we're going to answer today, here's the first topic. There are many topics we could tackle, but the first topic we're going to tackle today is this question, Is Christianity true? Is Christianity true? Now, how many in this place believe that Christianity is true? Good. Now, there may be some in here that you have questions about whether it's true or not. And we welcome you here to explore in a safe place. And I want to build a case and present my findings to you. Is that all right? So the way we're going to do this is we're going to answer three big questions to come to the conclusion. The first question that we're going to ask ourselves is this. Does truth exist? Does truth exist? Now, this is very important because there are really two views on truth.
One is what we would call absolute truth. The second is relativism. Now, why are we going to explore this? Because in the culture today, everybody is living their truth. Like, how many have heard within the last month even one of your friends who is not acting. And you're like, hey, I don't think you should do that. And they're like this, I'm just living my truth. And you go like, no, I don't think that's a good thing. And they go, no, that's your truth. But this is my truth. The culture right now, right, has bought into the idea that what's true for you is not necessarily true for me. So this is what we call subjective truth. This is the idea, the ideology, that truth is only relevant to the person who thinks it's true. Now, Relativism is a fancy word, and it literally means is the belief that there's no absolute truth, that only truths that a particular individual or culture happened to believe. So relativism says that what's true for me, that's not necessarily true for you. Now here's an example of relativism or subjective truth. I, Tim Rivers, believe that cookies and cream ice cream is the best flavor of ice cream facts.
Do I have any other believers in the house? We're living in our truth. I don't know how you can make a defense against cookies and cream ice cream. Now, that's my truth, but there may be someone in here who thinks that vanilla flavor... Anyone believe that vanilla flavor is the superior flavor? You're living in your truth. Falsely, but you're living in your truth. What's true for me about ice cream is that cookies and cream is seriously the best ice cream, but it may not be true for you. And guess what? That's a subjective truth. Vanilla may be true for you, but cookies and cream is... And we can do that. There are some things that are just subjective. Dr. Pepper versus Coca-Cola. Y'all about to get in fights around here. Chevrolet versus Ford. This will really get you messed up. Cowboys versus the Chiefs. Some of y'all are like, that's not subjective. Relativism is subjective truth. It's literally the mindset that whatever you think is right is right to you, but not necessarily right to anybody else. The opposite of relativism is what we call absolute truth. And absolute truth are statements or beliefs that are true for all people at all times, in all situations, and cannot be changed.
An absolute truth is a claim that the truth that is spoken is objective, meaning that it cannot change, and it is irrelevant based on the person's knowing or consciousness. Does that make sense? So basically, here's an objective truth. 2 plus 2 equals... You can't change that. It's mathematically impossible to come up with your own answer. Now, you can believe all day long that 2 plus 2 equals 5. You're wrong. Because mathematically, it doesn't make any sense. 2 plus 2 equals 4. Here's another objective truth. Or absolute truth. The Earth revolves around the Sun. Well, you may be like, no, I don't believe that. Okay, that's fine. You don't have to. But scientifically, it's been proven that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Guess what? There are no round squares. That's an objective truth. That is a fact. The Luca trade was a mistake. Objective truth. Fact. I had to slip that one in there. Here's the thing. Before we can build a defense for the truth of Christianity, we have to establish, first and foremost, that there is such thing as absolute truth. That there is such thing as an objective truth.
Why is this important? Well, look at the culture. In fact, look at the church in general. Because many Christians have unwittingly bought into the postmodern ideology that Christianity may be true for me, but it may not be true for you. And what ends up happening is when you do that, then everyone's reality is their reality. And if that is true, then what are you actually believing? Right? So what we're trying to do is we're trying to use apologetics, which uses logic and reason and science and biblical truth. We're going to merge those together to show that there is absolute truth and that Christianity is true. So, number one, is there such thing as truth? The answer is yes. We all can agree, whether you're secular or you're a biblical scholar, you're a scientist. Most all that are in higher education and learning agree that there is such thing as absolute truth. Okay. Now that we've established that, the second question we have to ask ourselves, and this is the big one, does God exist? Now, I don't have hours and hours to explain this, so what I'm going to do is I'm
Basically going to give you, there are two ways that God reveals himself. There's what we call general revelation, and general revelation is nature. There are some natural things that prove the existence of God. God in the scripture itself says that doesn't nature itself teach you? There are certain things about the natural world order that just prove the existence of God. Now, some people may not understand yet that God is Jesus, but they at least are aware of a presence of a God. So one way that God reveals himself is through general revelation. The second way that God reveals himself in theology is what we call special revelation, and special revelation is when God reveals himself in a supernatural way that is very personal to you. For instance, you drive down the road, you get in a car accident, the paramedics show up, they're like this, we have no idea how you survived, and you go, it had to have been the Lord. That's a supernatural happening. You die diagnosed with cancer, you go through all the treatments, and the doctors say, I'm sorry, but you're not going to survive this. Somebody comes, prays for you, you get healed, you're like, it's a miracle.
That's special revelation of the existence of God. What I would like to do is I want to look at general revelation, and I want to look at three really powerful logical suggestions of God's existence. Now, I'm going to use big words, because big words combine an entire phrase, but I'll explain what they are. So the first argument that pushes toward the existence of God is what we call a cosmological argument. A cosmological argument, and that simply means that everything that has a beginning had a cause. If you were in science class, this is a principle that we call cause and effect, meaning that everything that happens had to have something that caused it to happen. So even if you believe in the Big Bang Theory, that somehow there was a cosmic explosion that happened, and the universe came to be, even if you believe in the Big Bang Theory, you still have to believe that there was a big bang. There's a cause and effect. So we have to believe that something caused creation to happen, something caused the universe, something caused the earth to come into existence, something caused the sun. Whatever caused the creation...
And everyone agrees to this generally, whatever caused creation has to, by nature, be outside of creation, outside of the limits of time. Again, if you're a person that believes in a Big Bang Theory, you believe that it happened at some point. Well, what existed before that caused it to happen? So when we talk about the cosmological argument, the cosmological argument is that whatever created what we see now stands outside of time, outside of space, and cannot be made of the thing that was created. No human has ever created a human. So this is proof that there must be a God. There must be something more powerful, someone more great, someone that stands outside time that caused all this to happen, which leads us to the second argument. And this is what we call a teleological argument. That's borderline speaking in tongues, y'all. Every design, this is what it means, every design has a designer. Now, why is this important? Well, there's too much intentionality behind the universe. The universe is too complex to think logically that it just happened. The human body is too complex to just assume it takes more faith to believe that there isn't a God than to believe that there is a God.
Because when you look at the complexities of everything that's in the universe, the way the planets work, the way the stars work, the way the earth revolves around the sun and it spins on its axis. In fact, scientists all agree that the oceans are less explored than space. And we used to explore a lot about space, but we still don't know that much about space. Ain't nobody been to Mars, but we know it exists. No one's been to Jupiter to get more stupider. I couldn't help myself. I just went to elementary school just for a quick second. But the reality is, when you look at the cosmos, when you look at how intricate and detailed that you as a person are, think about it. Think about the fact that how your body works, the fact that blood flows through your veins, the fact that you have small and large intestines and that your bones are structured to where you could do all this cool stuff, the fact that your brain works, the fact that all these details in your, there is no way that this just happened. So the teleological argument concludes that everything that has been designed has a designer.
And as a Christian, we believe that that's God. Which leads us to the third question, or the third argument, which is the moral argument. And here's what we're saying with the moral argument. Every law has a law giver. Now, what do we mean by the moral argument? Laws do not just magically begin. There has to be someone who has created the law. There has to be a lawmaker. Now, most people, now here's what we say. We have the argument, and just when you're talking about the moral argument, is this: Every person has within them innate a moral law. Most people around the world, no matter where you are, whether you're in the recesses of the jungle or you're in the big city or you're in Japan, you're in Germany, wherever you are, most would agree that there are certain things morally that we just instinctively know are wrong. Murder, lying, stealing. If you have small children, you know this to be true. You don't have to teach your two-year-old that certain things are wrong. They look at you and instinctively know, no one's told me this is wrong, but I feel like this is wrong.
And I'd like to try that. Isn't that amazing? I love when now we have a three, a five, and a nine-year-old, and what I love is when people who have smaller children are starting the first one and they start to discover, and like a year and a half, this child is rebellious. And I'm like, oh, it gets better. The truth is, instinctively inside of you, you have a conscience. Who designed it? Who gave you a moral compass without ever being taught morality? It is just instinctive within you. Moral laws that have been given to you as Christians, we believe God is the one that gave it. So when you look at these three main arguments that are just general arguments, it points to what? The existence of God. It points to the existence of someone who is outside of space and time that has made all this happen. Now, for some who are not Christians, they would agree with you. As Christians, we believe that the God of the Bible is that God. So that moves us into our third question. So we've answered the question, is there such thing as truth?
The answer is yes. The question then, the second question is, is there a God? The answer is yes. Okay, now we're asking the question, is Christianity true? Because as a Christian, we believe that God is Jesus. So the basic fundamental belief of Christians is this. Jesus Christ is the son of God who lived a sinless and perfect life, died on the cross for the sins of humanity, and rose from the dead. You can find this in 1st Corinthians 15, verse 3-5. It's a really good summary. Paul gives us a very good summary of the basic belief of Christians. Now, how do we know that's actually true? That's the question that we're asking today. Is Christianity true? This is what I would say. We have to evaluate the Christians' foundational beliefs, and those are these. Scriptural reliability, prophetic fulfillment, evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We just celebrated that last week. And the testimonial evidence. We're going to break these down. First of all, scriptural reliability. This word, the scripture, says about itself that it is the inspired word of God. The Bible says that about itself. Now, what does history say about the Bible, though?
Well, most all scholars, secular and biblical, agree that the Bible, particularly the New Testament, is one of the most well-documented ancient texts in the world. All scholars agree to that. Most scholars agree to that. There are almost 5,700 ancient Greek manuscript copies. This far surpasses any other ancient text. The average ancient text copies are 7 to 8. The one that has the most outside of the Bible is 64. So think about this. The reliability of scripture means that the scripture has been copied down so many times that when you cross-reference it, it just gels together. You have the parallels of the gospel. Guess what? This is John writing. This is Matthew writing. This is Luke writing. This is Mark writing. Their own account. And yet when you read them together, they make perfect sense. But not only does the scripture say that about itself, but due to the number of documents that we have, and we can cross-reference them, archaeology finds proof of the scriptures. Even to this day, they keep finding stuff that was written down in a manuscript 2,000 years ago.
Just to give you a couple, the Pool of Bethesda, which was discovered in 1911, can be found in John 5:2. Pilate's stone, they discovered in 1961, which you can find in Luke 23:1-25. The Dead Sea Scrolls, they discovered in 1947. You got to go read up on the Dead Sea Scrolls and how much they affect our understanding of the Scripture. So the Scripture of Reliability, and I'll give you some resources at the end, is very, very strong, even just from a historical perspective. Second point is prophetic fulfillment. I love this one because what sets Jesus apart from any other religion is that Jesus said of himself, I have not come to destroy the law, but I have come to fulfill it. Okay, what do you mean? What is the law? The law were the Scriptures that the Jews used in their lifetime, essentially the Old Testament. And when Jesus came, he said, listen, I come to fulfill them. Now, you can go and document all these prophecies foretelling about the Messiah that is to come, and what you will find out is that Jesus conservatively, conservatively, Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies foretold about him hundreds of years before he came.
It would be difficult just to fulfill one. It would be a miracle to show up hundreds of years later and be like, I just fulfilled that prophecy, much less 300. I'm going to give you nine, just 9 out of the 300. I'm just going to give you nine that you can go look at for yourself. The time of his birth, Daniel 8 and 9. He would be born in Bethlehem, Micah 5, verse 2. He would be born of a virgin, Isaiah 7, 14. He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, Zechariah 11, verse 12. He would be mocked, Psalm 22, verse 7 through 8. He would be crucified, John 3, verse 14. His hands and feet would be pierced, Psalm 22, 16. He would be beaten, Isaiah 53, 5. Now, this passage, we quote it all the time. He was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised. Put me in E flat. Did you know that passage was written 700 years before Christ came? He would die with the wicked but would be buried with the rich, Isaiah 53, verse 9. Listen, the likelihood of fulfilling one of those would be a miracle.
The likelihood of fulfilling nine is one in one octillion. Y'all don't even know how many zeros are in an octillion. I had to look it up and count for myself. 27 zeros. Here's another one. The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We came and celebrated last week. But not only was Jesus crucified, but he rose again on the third day. This is what distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. All other religions have a burial plot, a guesstimate of where their Messiah, their prophet is buried. In Christianity, we believe that Christ raised himself from the dead. Now, you may say, do I actually believe that? Listen, multiple lines of evidence in both secular and Christian literature support the resurrection of Jesus. Now, there are five major events that both secular and Christian scholars agree happened during the time of Jesus. Number one, that Jesus was killed by crucifixion. Number two, that the disciples of Jesus really believed that Jesus had resurrected and appeared to them in a resurrected body. Now, this is how amazing Jesus is. When Jesus resurrected, he didn't just appear to one and be like, hey, man. He didn't just appear to the 12 and be like, hey, homies, what's up?
Literally, the Bible says that Jesus appeared to more than 500 after his resurrection. After Jesus Christ resurrected, he appeared in the 500 before he ascended. Now, it is very hard for 500 people to tell the same story. One or two is hard enough. 500 all corroborating the same story. You saw him. So did I. You saw him. So did I. Listen, they were so convinced that they were willing to die for it. The greatest proof in the personal life of the individuals is that they were willing to die for it. Let me tell you something. If I have any doubt, any reasonable doubt about anything, and somebody comes to me and puts a gun to my head, you best believe. I was wondering anyways. I agree. I have some doubts, man. Let's go grab some barbecue, man. Let's forget the whole thing. But if you are willing to be crucified, hung, put in with some gladiators, eaten by lions, crucified upside down, beheaded, put in boiling water, ostracized to an island, put in prison multiple times, you believe that. You believe that. Number three, the conversion of Paul. We have historical accounts that Paul, formerly known as Saul, was a persecutor of the Christians until he had that encounter when Jesus actually appeared to him post the resurrection.
And it literally converted his life, the post-resurrection conversion of James, the brother of Jesus, into a believer in Jesus. Before the resurrection of Jesus, James and all the other brothers of Jesus actually doubted the divinity of Christ. They actually doubted the resurrection. And yet, after Jesus appeared to them, they became believers. Here's point number five, the empty tomb of Jesus. History agrees that there was an empty tomb. Non-Christian historians cannot deny the fact that the Romans and Jewish literature shows that there was an empty tomb. Now, they try to explain it away. I mean, even in the scripture, you'll find they said, who stole the body of Jesus? Who rolled the stone away? This is crazy, guys. And even the Romans put their soldiers in front of the tomb. And I'm not talking about some guys ain't got no weapons. These were the Navy SEALs of the Navy SEALs who were there to stand guard in front of the tomb because they assumed there was going to be this reaction from the believers in Christ to steal the body away. And yet, they ran off scared. An earthquake came, rolled the stone away, and the tomb is empty. That proof is so powerful that in Acts chapter 4 verse 18, Peter and John are brought before some of the Pharisees who were wanting to persecute them.
And this is what they charge them in verse 18. So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. So you would think if you're in prison, you've been beat up, you're starving, that if you have any doubt at all, you're like, hey, make it stop. I won't mention him again. But this is their response. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you got to judge that. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. That's evidence of the resurrection, which leads into my final point, testimonial evidence. Because I can give you logic, I can give you the apologetics behind it. But you are a limited person. You have a limited capacity for logic. We all do. We're finite beings who don't understand everything there is to understand about God. In fact, if you could figure out everything about God, that would make you God. Great is the mystery of godliness. There are some things within the Christian faith, most things, that are mysterious.
So as you explore the truth of Christianity, you have to understand this, that while you can have historical evidence, you can have philosophical arguments, you can have scientific reasoning, you can have logical explanation, Christianity still requires an element of faith to believe its truth claim. And here's the cool thing about the Bible, the Bible tells you that about itself. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1, without faith, is it possible, please God? Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. How do I know that Christianity is true? Well, I can give you all of this evidence that's found in history and logic and understanding, and I can give you the apologetics, but the greatest proof that Christianity is true is your life. It's called an evidential testimony, an evidential witness. What would make somebody wake up on Sunday morning? Well, you could be at home eating breakfast, get your clothes on, comb your hair, brush your teeth, please brush your teeth, put deodorant on, please put deodorant on, get in a car and come to church. It's because something transpired in your life that transcends logic, reason.
You know that your life has been... How do you explain when your life has been totally transformed by the power of the gospel, except your life is a living testimony? That's why Paul says, I don't come to you with eloquent words of man's wisdom, but I come to you in a demonstration of the power of the gospel. Sometimes you may not understand it, but you just got to come and experience it for yourself. How do I know that the gospel is true? Well, there's a lot of proof logically. There are a lot of apologetics, but at the end of the day, the greatest proof of the power of the gospel and the truth of Christianity is when you experience it for yourself. When you give your life to Christ and you test it out, you're like, well, I got to understand it first. No, you don't. You're among people that haven't figured it out yet. That's why we're doing this series. But one thing I can't do is I can't deny what's happened in my life. When I gave my life to Christ, I can't deny my personal experience. I can't always explain it. I do my best.
I went to seminary. A long time. But that's not what makes me a Christian. My logic and my understanding doesn't make me a Christian. You know what makes me a Christian? My experience. The fact that I believe these things, and I tested it, and it worked. It worked. I believe my prayers are answered. I believe he walks with me on the road. I believe my life has been transformed. It's the greatest proof of the truth of Christianity. I believe it's your personal testimony. So what happens when you're in a court of law? Prosecution is coming. They made their case. And then the defense comes, and they make their case. And the judge is like, you got anything else? We got all the reasons. We got all the logic. We got all the cases. We have all the references. You got anything else? What do they do? Yes. We'd like to call a witness. That's when everyone gets nervous. If you ever watch the court scene, when do people get nervous? When the witness comes. They're like, listen, I can't explain to you how fast he was going.
I can't tell you what he did with the steering wheel. I can't tell you the tire tracks. But I can tell you what I've seen and what I heard. And the most convincing evidence in a court case is eyewitness accounts of what actually happened. And here's the thing. At the end of the day, your witness closes the case. I just wanted to hit this. But it really does. It closes the case. Now you may be asking the question, all right, how do I become a Christian? And how do I experience this for myself? We're going to dig into it next week. Oh, I can't wait. Bring your friends. Bring those who are on the fence about Christianity. But hopefully you have been equipped with some arguments, some defense to plead the case that you have for Christianity. But remember, the greatest witness that you have is yourself. How your life was transformed. Because believe me, the people around you who have seen your life transformed are like, ain't nothing but God. Only God could have done this. Amen. Can we stand to our feet? Let's pray. Thank you, Lord God, so much for your word. Thank you for your reign, my revelation.
I pray, Lord God, that as we consider your word, as we consider what you have for us, that we would walk in truth, that our lives would be completely changed and rearranged, that we would have confidence to stand firm and to speak boldly about the hope that we have in our hearts and in our lives. We give your name the praise, the glory, the honor, because you're worthy of it. In Jesus' name. Hey, before we are dismissed, would you do me a favor? Just close your eyes, lift your hands. It is so important that when we hear the word of God, that the word of God is planted into good soil. And the way we do that is we just consider the word of God. We ask God, God, plant this word deep in my heart so that it may bear fruit in my life. So let's do that for just a few moments. Let us let the word of God seep into our hearts as we have a time of just worship and reflection.
God, I look to You. I won't be overwhelmed. Give me vision to see things like You do. God, I look to You. You're where my help comes from. Give me wisdom. You know just what to do. You know God. And I will love You, Lord, my strength. And I will love You, Lord, my shield. And I will love You, Lord, my rock. Forever all my days, I will love You, God.
Lord, we're so grateful, so thankful for your word. Let it grow deep into our hearts and help us to bear fruit of it. Put people in our path that ask us for a reason for the hope that is within us and help us to have the boldness to share what we have discovered. In Jesus' name, everybody say, Amen. Amen. Amen. Hey, listen, I want to give you some resources. There's a QR code that's going to pop up right now, and this is going to give you three books that I recommend on the topic that we covered today. One is called Who Moved the Stone by Frank Morrison. One is called Reasonable faith : Christian truth and apologetics by William Lane Craig. And then Simply Christian by N.T. Wright. And here's my encouragement to you. You are wise. You are mature. Eat the chicken, spit out the bones. Any of the resources that we present to you, I'm not cosigning on all these authors, but there's really good information, and it'll just help you grow in your understanding of the word. Amen. Prayer team, if you would, please come.
As the prayer team is coming, if you need prayer for anything at all, meaning if you need somebody to pray with you for your faith or you have a situation in your life or something that you need to work through, come get prayer. This is why they're up here, but don't leave out of here. If you need prayer, don't leave out of here without getting prayer. We love you so much. Invite somebody to church. We'll see you here next week. God bless.
