So we have before us a worksheet. If you look
on the worksheet next to the picture there, there's
a front and a back. The front says a ready defense
on the upper left -hand corner, and it has the
picture on the right, and it has the word list.
So all the blanks, if you see all the blanks,
they're all filled in with words from that word
list. So some of the words, you have the first
letter. Some you do not have the first letter,
and some of them repeat, and some do not. So
that makes it a little bit more enjoyable as
far as a puzzle goes. So you won't get too bored
and fall asleep on me while I'm talking to you.
All the verses are listed on the page, or at
least the meat of the verse that we need, so
we don't have to go use the Bible because it's
quite a few verses. So first of all, before I...
go into it at all. Does anybody know what the
definition of the word apologetics is? Going
once. So apologetics is the science of presenting
a reasoned defense for what you believe. So apologia
is the Greek word that means a reasoned defense.
Welcome. Come on in. Pull up a chair. Oh, Alex,
you might be supposed to be with the kids. Yeah,
you are. He's in memorization. He's in memorization
with Kishan. Oh, he doesn't go in until then?
So you don't go until Kishan goes, so he'll cue
you when to go? Yeah. A couple of worksheets.
You can pull up another chair and I can scoot
over on the corner. Okay, that'll work. Okay.
Anyway, so apologia is the Greek word that means
a reasoned defense. Okay? So if you look at that
first line, it says a ready defense. Then what
do you think might go in that blank? Where's
my one that has the blanks filled in? Okay, here
we go. Frank. Frank? Frank is not one of the
options. A faith defense, a teacher's defense,
a preparation defense. Oh. A universe defense.
How about a biblical lesson? A biblical lesson
on apologetics. That's what goes in the blank.
So that's how it's done. You can't mark it off
because biblical will probably be reused. Did
you get it? A biblical lesson on apologetics.
But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. To
sanctify is to set apart. So sanctify Christ
as Lord in your hearts. Always being ready to
make a defense to everyone who asks you to give
an account for the hope that is in you, yet with
gentleness and reverence. Okay, so the first
blank on that page is biblical, Dom. So this
is a biblical lesson on apologetics, and we've
just read the verse. And so the reference is
first what 315? Which one of those is a Bible
book? First Heavens 315? Yes, first Peter 315.
So apologetics is not about winning arguments,
right? It's a reason defense doesn't mean that
it's about winning arguments. Okay. And then
it says F, which is a blank, fully explaining.
So that's, yep, faithfully explaining. What's
the T, do you think? Truth. Faithfully explaining
truth. Defending the gospel. and honoring Christ
with our minds. Scripture never calls believers
to blind faith. Rather, it consistently calls
us to thoughtful, reasoned, and humble confidence
in what God has revealed. So, question. Does
following God make sense? By committee, I got
about one -third answering, and two -thirds not
answering at all. So does following God make
sense? Yes. How would you say that's true, that
following God makes sense? Because you've got
to believe in something. Okay, so you need to
believe in something. You're going to believe
in something. It may as well be something that
works. Okay, so that's a logical decision, right?
If God calls you to be crucified, does that make
sense? No, not all the time. I mean, if God calls
you to be crucified, Yes, you too. See how it's
kind of hard to say that that makes sense, right?
Because that's going to be the end of my natural
life. My body is going to die, right? But this
natural life is very short. So it makes sense
in view of eternity, in view of God's character,
in view of the truth about God. That's how it
makes sense. Otherwise, believing and following
God, like to somebody who doesn't know God, They
don't know the truth about God. Maybe they know
the Bible, but they don't believe it. They just
read it like it's a normal book. Or maybe they've
never even read it. Then following God doesn't
really make sense to them. So our job then as
Christians is to faithfully explain the truth
so that it can make sense. So that they can see
the sense that it makes to us as well. So scripture
never calls believers to blind faith. Rather,
it consistently calls us to thoughtful, reasoned,
and humble confidence in what God has revealed.
Then you have the Roman numeral one. You guys
need a pencil. Pencil? Fill in the blanks. You'll
retain it better if you write something. Apologetics
is something that we should be prepared to do.
If you're at a party, if you're on the job, if
you're at school and you run into somebody that
says that they do not believe that God exists,
you should be equipped with good reasons why
you believe that God exists. And I'm not trying
to pick on anybody, but you got to believe in
something isn't good enough because they're going
to believe in something else. Right? I agree
with that statement. You got to believe you're
going to believe in something. Maybe something
actually works. That makes logical sense to me,
but they're going to choose something else because
whatever that other thing is, it's going to apply
to their simple nature. It's going to meet their
desires. It's easier, right? Or whatever. So
they're going to choose something else most of
the time. So, the real thing that we're going
to gain before we're done with this page, both
sides, is to be able to make an argument that
God exists. But the apologetics is so much more
than that. Like, we should be able to explain
how we know that Jesus Christ died on the cross.
How we know that he came back to life three days
later. How we know that he believed he was God
in the flesh. And how we know that that's true.
We should be able to explain all of those things.
And if you can do those things, you're going
to be able to lead people to Jesus. Humbly, we're
not beating them up like, oh, you're so stupid,
you don't believe in God. Let me tell you all
the evidences and prove you wrong. We're not
going to do that. But for people who are actually
struggling with it, we should have the answers.
So this is a what kind of command? Say it again.
Somebody say it. Biblical command. It's a biblical
command. It's not an optional hobby. So it's
not a thing where you're going to go like, oh,
I think maybe one of these days I'll pick up
some arguments about how I know what I know.
It's not like that. It's a biblical command,
not an optional hobby. The apostle, who was the
apostle that we just quoted? Peter. The apostle
Peter assumes something important. Christians
will be questioned. If you live long enough and
live for Jesus, you will be questioned as to
why you're doing the stupid things that you're
doing. Why are you giving, serving, not getting
anything back for it? Why are you loving people
when they don't deserve it? Why are you being
kind? Why are you being patient? Etc. Okay? So
you will be questioned as to why that is. And
then we're told, always being ready, same reference
as above, to make a defense. 1 Peter 3 .15. The
word defense comes from the Greek word apologia.
A legal term meaning a reasoned answer given
in court. Apologetics is therefore not aggressive
or arrogant. It is prepared, thoughtful, and
respectful. Believe it or not, every time you
go to work, you're in court. Every time you go
to school, you're in court. Every time you sit
at the park and talk to a stranger, you're in
court. Whether or not your faith is real is being
tried, and whether or not you can show that it's
real is being tested. Every time you get into
a conversation. Okay? Other scriptures that reinforce
this same calling. Jude 1 .3, which says, contend
earnestly for the faith. Right. Contend earnestly
for the faith. Acts 17 .2 and 3, where Paul reasoned
from the scriptures. Everything he gave them
was biblical, logical, came right out of the
Bible, trying to convince people to believe.
2 Corinthians 10 .5, taking every thought captive
to Christ. Okay. So why something matters. What
do you think we're talking about with a P? Peter.
Nope. No Peter. Preparation. Why preparation
matters. So the world is asking real questions.
They don't want your dumbed down, super simplistic
answer. Like, why are you a Christian? Well,
because God saved my soul. I had a big day where
I gave my life to the Lord. I've never been the
same since. Those are truths. Don't get me wrong.
They're true, but they're not good enough for
a lost person to do anything with. They just
you saying, I believe because I believe that's
just cocky and arrogant to them. They want to
know what, what, why, when they ask you, why
do you believe what they're really asking is
why should they believe? Okay. So skepticism
is often starts with an S sincere, beautiful
skepticism is often sincere, not hostile. So
people are like, well, I don't know that I believe
in God. That's skepticism. They're debating whether
it's true or not. That's sincere to them. They
could say to you, oh yeah, I believe in God,
whatever. And just to try to get rid of you.
I've led a couple people to Christ over the years
who did that. The first thing that happened when
I talked to them was they said they believed
in God. And I'm like, well, that's great. And
you know what verse I'm thinking of is, well,
the angels believe in God. I'm sorry, the demons
believe in God. And they tremble. They tremble.
And they're not going to be saved. So believing
in God doesn't do you squat. In fact, the Bible
doesn't even say that. It says that. For a person
to have faith, you have to believe in God and
believe that he rewards those who seek him. It's
not just the believing in God that he exists.
Big deal, right? So this first argument that
we're helping them to believe, they're not being
stupid about it. They're being sincere, and you
could give them sincere answers that might actually
help them a lot. So believers are called to love
God with their minds. That's a reference from
Matthew 22, 37. Obviously, it's heart, mind,
and soul there, but minds are included. Prepared
believers strengthen the church. Very good. And
remove unnecessary stumbling blocks for seekers.
So we get stronger. If one of you gets everything
that I'm talking about tonight, then we'll have
at least two. And the whole church will be stronger.
If all of you get it, when we walk out of this
room, our church is going to be stronger. Does
that make sense? We're going to be able to answer
and have answers. And so I can't be with Jaden
when he's... you know, at home or in the neighborhood
or at the store or whatever. I'm not going to
be able to be with him all the time. God can,
but God's not going to give you every single
word you say. He's given it to you in the scripture.
You need to be able to do it. And so if you can
do it and I'm halfway across town and I can do
it, what if there are two people that actually
want to know at the same time? Jay can give you
one place and I can be in the other. What if
there's 10? Well, if we've all got it, we can
be in 10 places at once. That's what makes us
stronger. That and because we know we believe
in for good reason. Alright, Roman numeral two
there. Apologetics is a reasoned defense of what
we believe. Okay? The F is faith and reason are
not opposites. There are people that believe
you can't believe in God and also keep your brain
working. And that's not true. And reason are
not opposites. Alright? So then we got the next
one. Say it again. Sincere. Where? I got a B.
I got an F. A blank and an F. Oh, you're talking
about the first blank? Actually, it's biblical.
Yeah, biblical again. Remember, they repeat.
Biblical faith is trust grounded in... What's
the T? Truth, not belief without evidence. God
does not ask you to follow him blindly. If he
was going to do that, then he would just shut
your brain down at the moment that you get saved.
Or if he would have gave you one in the first
place, it would be so much easier to follow blindly
if you didn't have to think so much. Right? And
we think a lot. And so biblical faith is trust.
So we trust God grounded in truth, not belief
without evidence. So if somebody tells you, you've
got to believe God said this, and they tell you
to believe something that you know the scriptures
say the opposite, then you can say, oh, no, I
don't think so. Tim, we've got a seat right over
here for you if you want. I've got a paper for
you. I'm afraid you can cheat off my paper and
get caught up even if you want. Okay. Come now
and let us reason together, says the Lord, Isaiah
118. Jesus appealed to evidence. So regularly
throughout his ministry, Jesus used an argument
from evidence that people could see. One was
fulfilled prophecy. So in Luke 24, he talks about
the prophecies that he is fulfilling as he is
walking out following God. The next one is eyewitness
testimony in John 20. He appeals to miracles
as signs. He even says, if you won't believe
me, then believe the miracles that I do. So he's
given the evidences that are necessary. Biblical
faith. Biblical faith is trust grounded. And
then faith above it. Faith. Biblical faith. Okay?
Yep. So then we're down to, so you appeal to
evidence, fulfilled prophecy, eyewitness testimony,
miracles as signs. The apostles reasoned publicly.
They went around basically making these kinds
of arguments with people that they talked to.
You see it in Acts 18 .4, where Paul reasoned
in the synagogue, and Acts 26 .25, where words
of sober truth. So let's talk about what apologetics
is and what apologetics is not. So apologetics
is logical. So you can make an argument. You
can say, well, here's some evidence based on
this evidence. I expect you to believe this.
That's called logic, right? You base one thing
on another. It's scriptural. So it's allowed
by the Bible and promoted by the Bible, and you
can use the Bible to do it. All of those things
exist. It's honest, right? People ask you, why
do you believe what you believe? You can shut
them down or you can give them reasons. Make
sense? And it's humble. You admit, while giving
the reasons, that these are your reasons. These
are the reasons that I see. You can agree with
my reasons or not, but it's not going to change
what I believe. And you humbly accept that they
may or may not accept the same reasons that you're
giving them. And if they don't, okay, that's
fine. It's not really fine in eternity, but for
now, it's fine. Then apologetics is not hostile
debate. And hostile debate looks like this. I'll
be very clear about this. Somebody says, well,
that's like when my uncle and you're halfway
through the story and you cut them off because
you already know the answer to the question that
they're asking. That's hostile debate. You've
seen it in the presidential debates, right? They
won't let each other talk. So hostile debate,
you're cutting the other person off. You're answering
before they've really asked the question. You're
raising your voice to make your point, right?
It's hostile. We're not doing that. We don't
do that. Don't do that, okay? It's not intellectual
pride. See what I know? I know this. I've got
the right argument for that question. It's not
that. Don't do that. That's not godly. It's not
replacing the Holy Spirit. If the person you're
talking to is going to get saved, they're going
to get saved because God is saving them. You're
barely a part of the process. Now, you can be
a bad part of the process. So you're a small
cog, and you can be a bad small cog, which will
stop the whole machine. They're going to walk
away from you going, I'll guarantee you one thing.
Based on the way that guy is, I'll never be a
Christian. Or you can be a good cog that goes,
well, the Holy Spirit's already convicting you
to be a Christian and you could move in that
direction and you have some nagging questions
and I'll see if I can answer them. And that's
what we're called to do. So we're not replacing
the Holy Spirit. God's going to save them if
he's going to save them. And then it's not arguing
people into salvation. It is well said if you
can convince somebody to be saved. sometime later
someone will convince them to not be saved, which
means they were never saved in the first place.
So we're not trying to argue them to be saved,
okay? So our role then is to remove intellectual
obstacles. Only God changes hearts. So your arena
is the brain, the mind, which is not, they're
not the same thing. The mind and the brain are
not the same thing, right? The brain is kind
of part, it's the chemical piece, if you will,
of the mind. The mind is all the memories, processing,
logic. It's an emotional arena sometimes. It's
all those kinds of things. Okay? And so your
job is to influence or to open the way so that
their heart, convicted by God, can influence
their mind. Okay? We're in Roman numeral three.
Have fun listening to scripture. Oh, yeah. Okay.
So then it says in Roman numeral three, all creation
testifies. So we're going to talk about how we
know that God is real, and we start by realizing
that all creation testifies. So God's world,
the world around us, is an apologetic. It is
a reasoned defense for God's existence. And then
we have the H. The heavens are telling of the
glory of God, and their expanse is declaring
the work of his hands, Psalm 19 .1. For since
the creation of the world, his invisible attributes
have been clearly seen, Romans 1 .20. Creation
does two things simultaneously. Creation provides
an apologetic for God's existence. So it's always
arguing that God exists all the time, not meanly
or hurtfully or spitefully or overpowering, but
it's always arguing that God exists, giving us
a reason to believe that he exists. And we'll
talk about some of those things in a second.
And then it also testifies to God's attributes.
God's attributes beginning with the P. What's
the P? Power. Power. All right. And intelligence.
And the O. Did I give you the O? I didn't give
you the O. There is no O. Gosh, what's the O?
Okay, let's look over here. Order. It's order.
Yeah, I didn't give you an O, so you wouldn't
have got that one, would you? Power, intelligence,
order, and purpose. So these are the primary
attributes of God that creation testifies to.
God's not limited to those things. Obviously,
love, for example, is not on the list. But God
does have the trait of love. Pretty much is love.
But creation doesn't really testify to God's
love. But it does testify to his power, his intelligence.
If you start to believe in him, you could maybe
think of it testifying in love and like, well,
see how God gave us what we need and it's really
there and so on. But you would have to kind of
already be moving along the path some to get
there. So the design argument, evidence of a
personal, starts with an I, intelligent designer.
So realize that what we're about to look at now,
these things that we're going to look at, are
evidence that an intelligent designer exists.
They point to his power, his intelligence, his
order, and his purpose, but will they get a person
saved? Does a person get saved by God's intelligence?
No. Or order, or purpose, or power. What attribute
of God does save them? What is it about God that
gets people saved? Mercy, love. Say again? Kind
of. Yep. So the truth of God is that he loves
and he'll save you. by grace, by mercy, by forgiveness,
by love, right? But it's not his intelligence
or his order or his purpose. So if you manage
through creation to help a person believe that
there is a God, that doesn't mean they're going
to get saved. Now, sometimes it does happen.
There's a story about the Indian woman who was
running away from the tsunami, and she had heard
tales of the Christian God, and she knew Allah
because she was Muslim herself. And she cried
out to the Christian God. She didn't think Allah
would save her. She cried out to the Christian
God and said, if you'll save me, I'll live for
you forever. And God put in her heart, run to
the Christian church building. So she ran there.
And even though it was on lower ground, it never
flooded. And everybody that went there for safety
survived. And the higher ground mosque flooded
and everybody went there for safety died. And
she lived for God for the rest of her life. I
think she's still alive now actually preaching
for Jesus. But the point is. Sometimes it happens
because you really recognize God's power and
you're like, okay, now what do I do? Okay, God,
whatever you want is fine. Then God points you
to Jesus and you wind up saved. It does happen
sometimes, but these are not arguments that are
going to get people saved. They're arguments
that are going to help people believe in God.
Okay. All right. So the Bible teaches that creation
reflects intentional design. For example, in
Ecclesiastes 3 .11, he has made everything appropriate
in its time. So God set it all up and made it
work. Acts 17, God sets the boundaries, etc.,
etc. There's a bunch of them. So you're going
to the other side. Same missing words, however.
So I didn't put the list on the back. I was going
to, and then I forgot. So there you go. That's
what you get. Got what you got. Get what you
get. Don't throw a fit. Modern scientific observation
strongly supports this biblical truth. Beautiful.
Okay. And here we go. Number one, there's a thing
called the anthropic principle. Let me see if
I can actually do these well or not. I don't
know. Anyway, give it my best shot. The anthropic
principle argues that the universe is finely
tuned. That you is universe. A finely tuned universe.
I just saw a meme yesterday on Facebook. of a
guy who said he just found out that the sun is
exactly 400 times bigger than the moon and 400
times as far away. Exactly. That they're 400
and 400. And he was like, wow, that's awesome.
You know, that's a really incredible thing. And
there are lots of things like that, but actually
there's a really famous physicist whose name
I didn't put on here, but he says that the universe
operates with extraordinarily precise parameters
and that there are 32 parameters. that must exist
in exactly the right quantity, exactly the right
balance in order for life to exist? 32. Some
of them are gravity, electromagnetic force, nuclear
forces, the expansion rate of the universe. There
are 32 parameters that have to be perfect, and
they are perfect on Earth. And so far, they've
been found to be perfect nowhere else. So once
you get through that list of 32 things that have
to be exactly perfect in order for human beings
to be living on the Earth, A simple example of
this is if the Earth were six inches closer to
the sun, it would not support life. It would
be too hot, and the oxygen could not exchange
with the crust properly, and it would basically
burn up. It would burn to a cinder. And if we're
six inches further away, it would freeze to a
ball of ice in time. And so... We can find you
a seat over there by the house. We'll make a
way. We'll make a way. Did you get us an extra
one, Dom? Yeah. I had to go do Bible memorization.
We'll go this way. We'll all scoot this way.
He's coming to you. That'll work. We got you.
It's a team effort. Bottom line is if any of
those things are out of balance, life does not
exist, that argues for power, intelligence, order.
You see, that's a strong argument for that. If
any of these constants were altered even slightly,
life would be impossible. This leads to a powerful
conclusion that life is not an accident. The
universe appears intentionally structured for
life. So I'll go back to those blanks real quick.
I went kind of fast there. So it leads to a powerful
conclusion. Life is not an accident. And then
the universe appears intentionally structured
for life. Got them? And then I'll read the verse
here. The verse says, For by him all things were
created. And then there's that dot, dot, dot,
ellipses thing or whatever, because words are
missing in there. And it says, All things have
been created through him and for him. That's
talking about Jesus. It's Colossians 1 .16. So
fine -tuning points not merely to intelligence,
but also purpose. If you have a special feature
in your car, let's say seat warmers. So you know
what the purpose of seat warmers are. They're
not meant to just make you fall asleep while
you're driving, although they may help with that.
But they are meant to... deal with cold seats
in the winter. Someone thought, oh, wouldn't
it be nice if you'd have a seat warmer or maybe
a person had sore back, they could have warmth
in their back. Somebody intended that to be there.
If you got in your car and had seat warmers,
you wouldn't go, no one ever meant for seat warmers
to be in my car. You'd think someone meant for
them to be there. They didn't happen there by
accident. So whenever you see something finely
tuned, that means somebody intended it that way.
And that is an argument for knowing that an intelligent
designer created everything. Two, irreducible
complexity. Life requires simultaneous design.
So think just very simply for a minute. You have
predators and you have prey. So the animals,
they eat the animals, right? If one of those
does not exist, the other ceases to exist. If
predators don't exist, prey grows out of control.
Pretty soon there's not enough plants to support
them anymore. and then they begin to suffer pestilence
and disease and so on. And the whole environment
changes, and vice versa. Predators and prey have
to both exist at the same time. They have to
start existing at the same time and in some sort
of balance. They can be out of balance, but if
they're too far out of balance, they'll never
recover. That's one example, a simple one, but
there are a couple that are more. For example,
there's a thing called the bacterial flagellum.
Those are words you probably, it kind of sounds
like something you throw up. But anyway, bacterial
flagellum is the part of the bacteria that moves
it around. You would think it's like a tail.
But it's designed more like an outboard motor.
Now, mind you, these bacteria are single -celled
organisms. So these are not made of a bunch of
little Lego parts. They're a single -celled organism
with a very complex tail. This tail moves at
very high RPM rates, like higher than a speedboat
motor ever goes. And then on top of that, it
can go and... Forward and in reverse. What makes
it go forward or reverse? Considering it does
not have separate individual parts, how can this
be, right? There's nothing it could have evolved
up from. It's not other things that were put
together to make it. It had to be created in
that exact state in order to exist in that state.
That's the only way it could be because it's
not made of separate parts. If it had 17 parts
and they could be assembled, then you could say,
well, maybe, you know, By happenstance or whatever.
But because it doesn't have any separate parts.
It's just one thing. No parts. No separate cells.
It's one cell. The whole thing. The whole body
is one. Including the absorption of nutrients.
That's all one cell. And including the excretion
of nutrients that it doesn't use. All one cell.
And so how do you get that? There's only one
way you can get that. It has to come together
at the time of its creation. It's not assembled
from anything. So something had to make it that
way. That make sense? So it testifies to power
and order. Blood clotting mechanisms, cellular
machinery, and there's a whole bunch of science
that you could get into if you want. You want
to look up, just Google, you know, examples of
irreducible complexity. But basically, things
cannot be, they're things that could not be put
together unless they were put together in perfect
balance and already existing. Okay? All right.
Partial systems then provide no survival advantage.
If you had half of a single cell organism, you
know what you have? It's like yuck. It's like
a slime. It's a bit of nothing. It's worthless.
It has no value. It doesn't move forward. It
doesn't move backwards. It doesn't turn left
or right. It doesn't have a high RPM tail. It's
nothing. Theoretically. But that would be nothing
if the cell were ruptured and destroyed. It would
just be dead. Anyway, the point is... Partial
systems provide no survival advantage. So the
example that people use here is you take an old
-fashioned mousetrap. Have you ever seen one
of those? It's got a little wood block. It's
got the spring, and the bar goes back over, and
you've got the little tab that you hold it with,
and you put the cheese on the thing, and the
mouse steps on the thing, and it kills the mouse,
right, or breaks its leg. It's supposed to be
humane. It's supposed to kill it instantly, but
it depends on what happens. Anyway, what part
of that mousetrap can you take out and have it
still be a mousetrap? None. When it's loaded,
it's tense. It requires the arm. It requires
the latch. It requires the button that the mouse
is going to step on. It requires the wood. It
requires all of its parts. So if you take a part
out, you don't have a mousetrap anymore. So that's
what we're talking about. We're talking about
stuff that was created in such a way that there
are no parts that you can remove and still have
it work. And there are many, probably a thousand,
maybe infinite number if we could look far enough,
examples of that in creation. And so there's
only one way that happens. If it was created
that way. It didn't arrive that way after steps.
It had to be created that way. Okay? Random,
undirected processes cannot build systems that
require simultaneous interdependence. Now those
are big words, but basically it just means only
an intelligent designer can put something together
that depends on itself. That is whole. That is
not made up of independent parts. Okay? All right.
I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made. Psalm 139, 14. Three, the
nature of information. So mind produces meaning.
Okay. So I'm going to see who can I trick with
my question. Let's go with, I already picked
on Mike today. Haley, how much information would
you guess is saved on this page? Take a look
at it. Just what do you think? How much information
is on this page? Oh, what? That's what I thought
you'd say. The actual answer is none. There's
no information on the page. So where is the information?
If it's not on this page, where is it? So it
was in my mind. When I made the marks on the
page, I was thinking that if I arranged the letters
C, A, N, N, O, T, That forms the word cannot,
and it means cannot, and I know that people will
know what that word means, right? So this is
a transmission agent. The page, the dots, if
we were in Russia having the same Bible study,
it would not look the same. It would be in Russian,
right? Or wherever else in the world. So language
is a transmission agent, which is why when you
don't have the proper transmission agent, even
though you can think blue, the sky is blue, you
don't know how to say it in French. You're talking
to a French person. You say blue, and they think
you mean something slightly different, right?
Because blue in their language means something
different, right? So you need a transmission
agent to move the information from your mind
to somebody else's mind. For that, we use language,
okay? So if we have language moving information
from one source to another, then we must have
sources, right? We must have a sender and a recipient.
Or the sender is just talking to themselves in
a room all by themselves. No one else is getting
it. That also would be fine, but then the language
is not really serving any purpose. Maybe they're
talking to themselves. So they're sending it
out, they're receiving it, for example. Or they're
talking to God. They're sending it out, God is
receiving it. If Hannah and I are in a room and
we're talking, I'm sending, she's receiving.
Then when she talks, she's sending, I'm receiving.
That is the nature of communication. And the
language is the medium. So DNA is not merely
chemical. We have now mapped the human DNA, human
genome, they call it. It has language. It is
made up of individual parts. If you could write
in DNA, for example, you would know the parts
of DNA, and then you could write it on a page
and make it say what you wanted it to say. It
would be like learning. You could go in Duolingo
and learn DNA language, for example, which you
can't, but if you could, then you could write
things in DNA. You could tell cells how to act.
You could tell cells how to reproduce and things
like that. Okay, so DNA is not merely chemical.
It's information. It is a language -like structure.
It includes instructions. It has coding and error
correction. So when things are going wrong, it
knows how to fix itself. And when a cell is failing,
the DNA contains the code to fix the cell, to
activate the immune system response. If it has
one, not all of them do that kind of thing. Known
experience, information comes from a mind, not
from randomness. So if you take a carp and flop
it on a keyboard, you're never going to get the
word encyclopedia. It doesn't matter how many
times you flop the carp on the keyboard until
it dies, it's never going to form the word encyclopedia
because that's a random experiment and the odds
against that are too infinitely high for that
to ever happen. Now you might get the word I
or A, right? Because those are just one letter.
But it might also not have a space afterwards,
so it might be part of something else, that kind
of thing. But the point is, this information
that we're talking about comes from a mind, not
from randomness. Like a supercomputer. Yeah.
So in the beginning was the word John 1 -1. Did
I say something? You said something? Monkeys
and typewriters. Yeah. So they have often done
experiments with monkeys where they taught them
to bang the right keys even and make the right
words, or they just let them bang on a keyboard
long enough that they eventually did produce
words. But they're very limited, very limited
actual linguistic capabilities. People train
dogs to press the right color button on the floor
to get a bone. If they press the right, they
spell B -O -N -E. It's red, green, blue, whatever.
And they press those four, they get a bone. Do
you think that the dog has learned the word bone
because it learned to press the right thing to
get the bone? No, it hasn't learned the word
bone. It's just learned that those four letters
in a row results in a bone. But even that is
something. He's communicating at a very base
level. He wants a bone, right? As if there was
ever a time that a dog didn't want a bone. But
anyway, you get the point. Okay, so now we're
over in the last column, the last section. We've
got the U. The universe is not only ordered,
it is meaningful, pointing to a personal, intelligent
source. Okay, so we already have several arguments
for how we can conclude, come to that conclusion.
So if you get in a room and you're talking with
somebody and you're like, I don't really believe
that God exists. You say, well, why not? What's
your thought process? Well, there's not enough
evidence for God. Well, now you can, not in a
mean way, you can share some evidences for God.
You can say, well, this is how we know that there's
an intelligent designer. It's not going to result
in them getting saved. They might go, oh, yeah,
it does make sense there's an intelligent designer.
Then their next question might be, well, what
of it? And then you might need a little bit more
to be able to tell them how this intelligent
designer connects to Jesus, right? So we're in
four. So why randomness cannot account for life?
Random and undirected forces. So an undirected
force is something that someone is not controlling
which way it goes. Random and undirected forces
cannot produce specified complexity. So random
undirected forces can produce complexity. You
pile... straw in a corner when the wind is blowing.
And you look at it and you go, wow, the straw
is piled all over top of each other and some
of it's even kind of twisted together and something
put it there. So randomness can provide some
kind of complexity, but not a complexity that
is needed to be part of a larger system or depends
on other things. Does that make sense? So that
pile of straw is like if an animal needed that
pile of straw to survive, then the wind would
have to do that all the time, and it doesn't.
Or if it needed that straw to be a certain way
to survive, then the wind would have to do it
a certain way, and it doesn't. So specified complexity
is complexity that's needed by someone or something
else, and randomness cannot provide that. It
cannot generate meaningful information, like
the monkeys on a keyboard. You're not going to
get the word encyclopedia or a sentence or a
logical thought process or a book. It cannot
be presented by... just randomly pounding keys,
it's not going to happen. And then cannot explain
purpose driven systems. So even if randomness
could do something amazing, and I think it probably
has, right? Even if you could do that, it's not
going to explain how you have systems of things
that rely on each other that show purpose. Like
for example, predators that exist on prey and
only the predator and only the prey exist in
a certain part of the world and nowhere else
does that predator exist on any other prey. Nowhere
else does that prey exist except where it's as
part of the lunch, if you will, of the prey.
Things like that. That's a simple form, but there
are lots of other places that you can use that
same logic. Okay, so scripture affirms this intuition
saying he did not create it a waste place, but
for but formed it to be inhabited. Isaiah 45,
18. The evidence points beyond matter and energy
to a transcendent cause beyond the universe.
So why does it need to be a transcendent cause
beyond the universe? Based on what we've been
talking about, how does the evidence point to
something that is beyond the universe? Because
that's going to be the next question, right?
Somebody's going to ask, well, if God created
everything, then what? Who created God, right?
That's what everybody says. If God created everything,
well, then who created God? So no matter, let's
say, for example, you would say, well, God created
everything. Well, who created God? Well, Bob.
Bob created God. Well, who created Bob? Tom.
Who created Tom? Aliens. Who created aliens,
right? When you get to the end of the line, you
have to have somebody who started it. It's a
cause and effect thing. To have an effect, yeah.
To have an effect, you have to have a cause.
And you go effect, cause, effect, cause, back
to the beginning. And what's it going to be,
an effect or a cause? It's going to be a cause.
It can't be an effect because in order for it
to be an effect, it has to have a cause. That's
the definition of an effect. It was caused by
something. So you're going to go back to back
to back to back all the way to the beginning,
and you're going to come up with a cause. And
whatever that cause is, that's God. Make sense?
So they can argue who created God and say, well,
it doesn't even matter. Because if somebody created
God, whoever that is, that's actually God. By
asking me who created God, you're just accepting
that somebody had to have done the creating.
That's all you're doing. And that's the whole
argument. That's what we're trying to get them
to the point of saying is that somebody created
all this. So you need a transcendent cause that's
outside the universe because in order for it
to be inside the universe, limited by the universe,
it has to be an effect, not a cause. God is not
an effect. God is a cause. And so would be the
first thing. The first thing has to be a cause.
So that is a personal cause showing mind and
intention. Why does it need to be a personal
cause that shows mind and intention? Based on
what we've been studying, why does it need to
be a personal cause that shows mind and intention?
Can anybody answer that question? This would
be the equipping moment. Based on everything
we just went through, the intelligent designer
who created everything, evidence points that
they must be a personal cause, have mind and
intention. Why is that? Right. Because the evidences
that we just went through show intelligence.
Right? So a dog can be intelligent, not as intelligent
as, say, a horse. A horse can be intelligent,
not as intelligent as, say, a child. A child
can be intelligent, but not as intelligent as,
say, a man. Right? And so on. But the evidences
show intelligence. So we need that. Thank you.
Yep. Have a nice night. Yep. Have a good night,
man. So you need a personal cause, mind, and
intention. And then the next one says, and starts
with an I. An intelligent cause, design, and
order. And so if you look at everything that
we've been through, we talked about what part
of it did we talk about that it requires design
and order? Yes. But more specific. Pick one.
What part of everything we talked about requires
design and order? Say it again. Okay, so it's
a cause. Okay, I need something a little more
specific. I'm agreeing with both of you. I need
something a little more specific. Okay, how about
DNA as language? That requires design and order,
right? Someone created the language. Someone
is communicating to... The cells, right? How
about the irreducible complexity of design? Someone
had to put that cell together with that tail
motor thing that goes forward and backwards and
thousands of RPMs and the whole cell is just
one piece. There's no individual parts. Someone
had to do that. It had to be made in that state.
So that requires order and design, right? Okay.
That brings us to our conclusions. I would encourage
you to go back over these. So that if I or someone
would ask you that question, that you have answers.
That is the goal. So when you're in that conversation,
you have the answer to be able to say why you
believe that it's true. So apologetics leads
us to worship. Apologetics does not replace faith.
Beautiful. It strengthens it. Creation does not
save, but it points us to the Savior. So you
can worship a tree. Trees are awesome. but they
won't save your soul. You can worship a job.
You can have a great career and love it. You
can worship your family. You can have a beautiful
wife and children or a handsome husband, or as
the Spanish, guapo. You can do that, but that
won't save your soul. This is just a creation
leads us to worship the creator who then sent
his son, Jesus. For the foolishness of God is
wiser than man, 1 Corinthians 1 .25. So when
we engage in apologetics, we honor God with our
minds. We serve seekers with clarity. So people
who are looking for God, we give them the tools
they need to make the right decision, basically.
And we overcome barriers for them and that kind
of thing. And we proclaim a creator who has spoken
finally and fully in Jesus Christ. Understand
that for thousands of years before Jesus came,
creation was testifying of God. So what Bible
did... moses read that led him to jesus the new
testament did not exist the old testament and
it was actually moses wrote the first five books
right so he really wrote those five books so
the answer is he didn't have one he made one
he made one so he listened to the testimonies
of the people he heard the stories that were
handed down by generations he saw creation around
him A lot of people think that a lot of it came
from the stars. There are 12 major constellations
and they tell the story of the life, death, burial,
resurrection of Christ. The constellations do.
And so you can read the Bible in the stars if
you know how. And there's a lot more than that.
He could never see single cell organisms to know
about the flagellum. But he could see the way
ants struggle, the way clouds work, the way the
sun. hangs in the sky, and the moon rotates around
the earth. He could see the order and go, there
clearly is an intelligent designer. I don't know
how he wants me to be saved, but however he wants
to save me beyond this life, I submit myself
to him. That's all Abraham did. Abraham just
said, okay, God, however you want to do it. And
God already knew how he was going to do it. He
was going to do it through Jesus. And God said,
okay, you said however, so here's your however.
I'm going to save you through Jesus, who won't
be born for a thousand years, but that's how
I'm going to do it. And he did. And Abraham went
to heaven. And that's how it works. So we honor
God with our minds. We serve seekers with clarity.
We proclaim a creator who has spoken finally
and fully in Jesus Christ. And then notice that
our defense is not merely logical. It is Christ
-centered. So even though these things all are
based on reason, even though you're going to
give them some good reasons to believe that there
is an intelligent designer, fundamentally, our
relationship is with God through Jesus Christ,
his son. And so it could happen. We're going
to do more on other. And this is also the most
scientific, most laden with scientific terms
and things like that. The others won't be so
much that. But we're going to look at different
reasons why we know we believe different things
based on Scripture to keep giving you tools so
when you're in those conversations, you'll be
able to answer those questions. That's the plan.
Probably every other week, opposite faith for
us, we'll do that, and then we'll continue to
do the thing like we did this last week when
we had the kids in there. But ultimately, I'll
close with this illustration. Aaron and I went
to visit a guy who lived over on Old Curtis,
between Woodville and New Curtis, basically by
Myers. They had a pretty nice house. It was up
for sale, and he had come to one of our events,
and I prayed with him, and he filled out a visitor
card or whatever, so we went and visited him.
And he was a doctor. He was probably like 60,
and he was extremely intelligent. Like his vocabulary,
he was using regularly words that were hard for
me to understand, so I was parsing out some of
what he was saying. Aaron was kind of dazzled
by him because Aaron was a teenager at the time.
Young teen, like 13. And he asked me questions
I couldn't answer. like questions about the Bible,
questions about science, questions about literature.
And I answered what I could, you know, and I
was asking him to be saved. I shared the gospel
to ask him to be saved. He wasn't saved. And
ultimately, God led me to say, here's the bottom
line. I mean, I don't have an answer to every
one of your questions, but here's the bottom
line. Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for
sins and then rose again on the third day. Based
on that, what are you going to do about it? based
on that truth, what are you going to do about
it? And he said, well, I'm not sure I believe
that. And I said, well, I believe it with all
my heart. I've been changed. I've experienced
the Holy Spirit, whatever. And I can give you
some reason to believe it or whatever. But you're
asking questions I don't know the answer to.
It all comes down to this one thing. What are
you going to do with Jesus? We went back one
time later and saw him about a month later. And
in the interim, he had accepted Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior. We weren't there. But in
the interim, he had decided to follow Jesus.
And then he came to New Heights. We were meeting
in high school at that time. He came to New Heights
once, worshipped with us, made a public decision.
Let everybody know that this is a doctor for
60 years old, professional. Let everybody know
that he had made his decision to follow Christ.
And then he, and that was actually at the ICE
event, the day of the ICE event. I think it's
when he came, which was like an evangelism event
that we did, went around, talked to people about
Jesus. And then they sold their house and they
moved out of state. So I never saw him again
after that. But this is what I learned. The apologetics
will only go so far. Ultimately, it comes down
to what they're going to do with Jesus. But if
you can imagine somebody saying, well, I just
don't really know. Is there any evidence for
God? What is the evidence? You can't see God.
I can't taste him, can't touch him. I only believe
in things I see, taste, or touch, right? Then
you can use arguments like this to say, but there
is a good reason to believe. There is evidence.
If you deny all the evidence, then there's nothing
I can do for you, really. I can't really help
you. We'll talk some more when you're ready to
accept some evidence or whatever. But if you
would say you're willing to talk evidence, then
I'll try to give you some. Does that make sense?
Okay. So we'll be back. Questions? All right.
I'm going to ask a couple, and then we'll be
done. Okay. Without looking at the page. Don't
look at the page. Somebody give me one example
of irreducible complexity. I mentioned it at
least twice. What is something that is irreducibly
complex? I don't understand it. What is something
that has no smaller parts but is very complex?
Cell? Yep. Give me a little more. You got it,
Haley? Yep. Single cell organism. Bacterial legilum
is the actual words, but you don't have to remember
those words, but the tail of a single cell bacteria.
It's like an outboard motor, except it's part
of a single cell. Hundreds or thousands of RPMs.
Works in reverse, works forward, turns left and
right, but it's all part of a single cell. There
are no parts. All right. What is... Okay. Looking
at this page, Haley, how much information is
contained on this page? None. That's right. Very
good. So the information travels via the page
from my mind, if you will, through my keyboard
or whatever, through the page to your brain.
We could sit here and be like, you could go to
school and someone could teach you that the word
produce only has to do with fruits and vegetables.
And you might look at cannot produce specified
complexity and totally not be able to understand
that question. Like that doesn't make any sense
to me at all. How can that be produce? It's fruits
and vegetables. Cannot fruits and vegetables
specified complexity doesn't even make any sense
because you didn't learn the language the same
way I did. And that's the struggle that we have
as humans. And so we can all share in that struggle.
But the bottom line is DNA is the communication
of an intelligent being to the mitochondria,
to the center of cells. Interestingly enough,
by the way, when a cell replicates, the DNA in
the middle of the cell splits to make an exact
copy of itself. So it splits right down the middle,
reproduces the other side, and it becomes two
copies. So the new copy goes in the new cell,
and the old copy stays in the old cell. That
alone is... incredible evidence for an intelligent
designer to make that process. Why would that
ever happen? That doesn't make any sense. Okay?
I'll give you one more and then we'll be through.
All right. What is the relationship between faith
and reason? You don't have to get the exact words.
Just tell me. You can say it in your own words.
What's the relationship between faith and reason,
anybody? Perfect. They are not opposite. They're
not mutually exclusive. We believe. And once
you believe and start to see how it all fits
together, it makes perfect sense. Right? So the
truth is, if you're baffled, if you are a follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ and you're still a little
baffled, like people say all the time, God works
in mysterious ways. If the ways that God is working
are really, truly mysterious to you, then I would
probably dig in a little bit. Study your Bible,
listen to God, because it really isn't. It's
couched in God's love, his perfect design. Acts
17 says that God orchestrated where you live,
when you are, your challenges, everything you're
going through, all of it, so that you will grope
around for him. And having done so, you will
find him and realize that he was never far away
in the first place. That is a perfect design
for your life, not just for a moon and a sun
and stars, but for your personal existence. And
so it really isn't that baffling. 1 Corinthians
2 says that we are gifted with the mind of Christ.
So we know what we can think the thoughts of
Jesus, essentially. Now, it's growing. We grow
into it, right? You don't just all of a sudden,
boo, I get everything that Jesus has given me.
You've got to be renewing your mind, and that's
what Romans 12 says. And renewing your mind allows
you to know the good and perfect will of God.
And then when you know what God wants from you,
then you do what God wants, right? Because you
love him and want to be obedient. So there is
a process. We're growing into it. We can. And
it really isn't that baffling. He loves. He's
going the extra mile. He's doing miraculous things
to try to reach people for him. Okay. All right.
So let's close in prayer. And we'll be through.
And we've got to find some snackages before the
young ones come in here looking for a snack.
Chris, you want to lead us in prayer as we close?
Please and thank you. Sure. All right. Please
do. Lord, thank you for this time. Thank you
for everyone that's here. Thank you for the leaders
in the other room, the children, and the lessons
that they've learned. I hope that everybody in
here learned something and that we use this in
our daily life to bring people to you. In Jesus'
name, I pray.