WEBVTT 00:00:09.449 --> 00:00:14.289 Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is 00:00:14.289 --> 00:00:16.589 an international church in Bangkok, Thailand, 00:00:16.750 --> 00:00:19.809 with dozens of nationalities worshiping together. 00:00:20.109 --> 00:00:22.989 We invite you to connect with us from wherever 00:00:22.989 --> 00:00:27.190 you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our 00:00:27.190 --> 00:00:31.030 mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed 00:00:31.030 --> 00:00:35.929 by this week's sermon. Do you remember the first 00:00:35.929 --> 00:00:39.329 Bible that you ever got? I know, there was a 00:00:39.329 --> 00:00:41.549 time in which the Bible didn't look like my phone. 00:00:43.670 --> 00:00:49.049 I remember my first Bible. It was black leather 00:00:49.049 --> 00:00:52.829 with gold, beautiful. And as you open it, fine 00:00:52.829 --> 00:00:57.390 paper, beautiful print, and the words of Jesus 00:00:57.390 --> 00:01:01.289 were all in red. And I was just seven years old. 00:01:02.509 --> 00:01:04.989 That was a birthday gift that I got that time, 00:01:05.109 --> 00:01:09.129 and I remember it. Because it was so beautiful. 00:01:09.510 --> 00:01:11.629 I almost didn't want to open it because it looked 00:01:11.629 --> 00:01:16.450 so fragile, you know. And I had the privilege 00:01:16.450 --> 00:01:20.870 of growing up in a home where my parents followed 00:01:20.870 --> 00:01:24.870 the Lord Jesus. They themselves were not Christians. 00:01:25.549 --> 00:01:28.310 All their lives. They in fact grew up in homes 00:01:28.310 --> 00:01:30.909 where the parents did not know the Lord. But 00:01:30.909 --> 00:01:33.109 as teenagers, both of my parents came to know 00:01:33.109 --> 00:01:34.650 the Lord independently. They met each other. 00:01:34.650 --> 00:01:36.870 They married. And that's how our family began 00:01:36.870 --> 00:01:40.569 from there. So I was born in a Christian home. 00:01:41.730 --> 00:01:44.650 But it was a congruent one. My parents believed. 00:01:45.189 --> 00:01:48.769 They followed Jesus. And they walked the talk. 00:01:50.859 --> 00:01:54.280 So from the beginning, I was taught about Jesus. 00:01:54.459 --> 00:01:57.299 I was taught about the Bible. I would read my 00:01:57.299 --> 00:02:02.159 Bible. And I was fascinated by the world of the 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:06.159 Bible. I never had to question anything because 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:08.000 everybody around me believed the same thing. 00:02:09.139 --> 00:02:13.139 Then when I went to college, I studied a bachelor's 00:02:13.139 --> 00:02:16.159 degree in Bible studies and music. So I spent 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:20.580 four years of my life in my early 20s. studying 00:02:20.580 --> 00:02:25.379 the Bible in the context of academia. And that 00:02:25.379 --> 00:02:29.639 was so insightful. I learned so much, and it 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:33.759 was great. But after that, the Lord opened the 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:36.680 door for me to get my master's in theology at 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:39.400 an institution in the U .S. called Dallas Theological 00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:43.520 Seminary. And it was a great place to go and 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:46.379 study theology. But something happened then that 00:02:46.379 --> 00:02:52.060 I never anticipated. I had a faith crisis. And 00:02:52.060 --> 00:02:55.020 to that point, I had never even thought about 00:02:55.020 --> 00:02:59.240 questioning the Bible. But it happened then. 00:02:59.939 --> 00:03:04.180 And it's because I was in a stage of having to 00:03:04.180 --> 00:03:06.939 study much more in depth. I was studying theology, 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:11.689 not just Bible. And at that moment, What you 00:03:11.689 --> 00:03:14.389 start doing is that you have to engage in so 00:03:14.389 --> 00:03:17.090 many topics, read so many books, and then you 00:03:17.090 --> 00:03:19.389 have to study Hebrew, you have to study Greek, 00:03:19.469 --> 00:03:21.509 and you write what is called exegetical papers. 00:03:21.750 --> 00:03:24.330 You take a passage from the Bible, you translate 00:03:24.330 --> 00:03:27.310 it from the original language, and then you have 00:03:27.310 --> 00:03:31.389 to start translating. And you realize that there 00:03:31.389 --> 00:03:33.370 are some words that can be translated one way 00:03:33.370 --> 00:03:36.330 or the other. And it depends on context. And 00:03:36.330 --> 00:03:38.949 there are decisions that are made by people who 00:03:38.949 --> 00:03:42.909 translate. That I did not know about. I thought 00:03:42.909 --> 00:03:44.789 the text was what it was. And that's what the 00:03:44.789 --> 00:03:47.090 Bible says. I didn't realize that there was an 00:03:47.090 --> 00:03:49.870 element of human interpretation in the translation. 00:03:50.370 --> 00:03:53.750 And then secondly, I never even had thought about 00:03:53.750 --> 00:03:55.909 how did we get the Bible. I just had a Bible 00:03:55.909 --> 00:04:00.050 and it looked nice. But I never had to spend 00:04:00.050 --> 00:04:03.569 time thinking, well, but how did we get the text? 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:06.719 And that's when I discovered that there were 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:09.300 manuscripts, some manuscripts that had been copied 00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:11.439 throughout centuries, and that some manuscripts 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:15.159 have variances. And it's like, what? Variances 00:04:15.159 --> 00:04:20.199 in the text? How does that work? So in that moment, 00:04:20.459 --> 00:04:23.560 I had to start looking at the Bible that I grew 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:27.839 up believing in. And for the first time, I started 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:32.769 wondering, how do I know this is true? How can 00:04:32.769 --> 00:04:37.629 I trust this thing? Does God even exist? Or I 00:04:37.629 --> 00:04:39.509 believe in these things because I just inherited 00:04:39.509 --> 00:04:41.769 them, and I grew up in a Christian home, so I 00:04:41.769 --> 00:04:43.550 just believed it because my parents told me. 00:04:45.569 --> 00:04:47.769 Never in my life it occurred to me that in my 00:04:47.769 --> 00:04:50.310 mid -20s, as I was doing my master's, I would 00:04:50.310 --> 00:04:55.350 have that experience. So I remember that I talked 00:04:55.350 --> 00:04:57.290 to a couple of classmates and professors and 00:04:57.290 --> 00:04:58.649 said, you know, can you pray for me because I'm 00:04:58.649 --> 00:05:03.009 going through a faith crisis. And I had their 00:05:03.009 --> 00:05:07.550 support. It was a time of engaging in understanding. 00:05:08.550 --> 00:05:12.009 Because I realized that doubt, as it's put in 00:05:12.009 --> 00:05:16.569 theology, is faith -seeking understanding. So 00:05:16.569 --> 00:05:18.389 going through that process of doubt, it was not 00:05:18.389 --> 00:05:20.370 opposite to faith. It was just part of the journey 00:05:20.370 --> 00:05:26.069 in my life of moving from belief to conviction. 00:05:27.470 --> 00:05:31.240 What do I mean by that? The way I put it is like 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:37.480 this. Imagine that I'm given this gift of Legos. 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:40.259 For those of you that have kids, you know what 00:05:40.259 --> 00:05:44.339 Legos are, right? So I have this beautiful toy 00:05:44.339 --> 00:05:46.500 that is all made up of all these little parts 00:05:46.500 --> 00:05:49.800 and I like it. It's so nice and my parents give 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:54.540 it to me. So I have it and I enjoy it. But one 00:05:54.540 --> 00:05:58.439 day somebody came and took that beautiful toy. 00:05:59.769 --> 00:06:02.449 threw it on the floor. And now all the pieces 00:06:02.449 --> 00:06:06.889 are all over the place. And now it's my job to 00:06:06.889 --> 00:06:09.589 have to figure out how the pieces go together 00:06:09.589 --> 00:06:13.189 so I can build it. That will require understanding. 00:06:13.490 --> 00:06:15.110 Before, I didn't need to understand anything. 00:06:15.250 --> 00:06:19.350 I just had to enjoy it. But now, I had to understand 00:06:19.350 --> 00:06:21.970 it in order to build it. And that is what was 00:06:21.970 --> 00:06:24.389 happening in my spiritual journey at that moment. 00:06:24.790 --> 00:06:28.470 I was moving from belief, a system that I inherited, 00:06:29.449 --> 00:06:33.009 To now having to put it together and realize, 00:06:33.189 --> 00:06:35.490 do I believe this or do I believe that? Where 00:06:35.490 --> 00:06:39.269 does this go? How does this connect? And that 00:06:39.269 --> 00:06:43.370 process was disorienting. It was hard, but it 00:06:43.370 --> 00:06:48.629 was worth it. Because when we have belief but 00:06:48.629 --> 00:06:52.930 not conviction, we can't just work in this place 00:06:52.930 --> 00:06:56.470 of just following God, but, you know, from a 00:06:56.470 --> 00:06:59.620 comfortable place of distance. And we don't engage 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:01.379 with things because we don't know and it doesn't 00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:06.379 matter. But when you cannot avoid it, and you 00:07:06.379 --> 00:07:08.699 have to engage with it because you are in crisis, 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:12.339 and you need to know the answer because you want 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:15.699 to understand, then suddenly you start developing 00:07:15.699 --> 00:07:21.060 conviction. And when conviction is born, it's 00:07:21.060 --> 00:07:23.839 like a solidity, a foundation that is developed 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:26.680 that takes your journey with the Lord to another 00:07:26.680 --> 00:07:36.279 level. That journey is what taught me this important 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:38.360 spiritual lesson that I want to share with you. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:48.339 And that lesson is that the Bible is truth. And 00:07:48.339 --> 00:07:50.500 that I am a follower of Jesus, not because I'm 00:07:50.500 --> 00:07:58.279 religious, but because Jesus is truth. And until 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:02.060 we understand that, we will continue approaching 00:08:02.060 --> 00:08:05.439 the aspect of following Jesus or identifying 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:08.540 as a Christian as a matter of opinion rather 00:08:08.540 --> 00:08:12.259 than as a matter of truth. And what I discovered 00:08:12.259 --> 00:08:14.519 in my journey of wrestling through these things 00:08:14.519 --> 00:08:18.379 was a whole framework that has to do with what 00:08:18.379 --> 00:08:22.379 we call epistemology, the study of what is true. 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:25.980 Let me take you, for instance, at the beginning. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:30.379 Of the process of thinking through some of these 00:08:30.379 --> 00:08:33.679 things. The very last chapter of the book of 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:36.879 Isaiah. He is the prophet that was telling us 00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:38.779 everything about Jesus the Messiah that was going 00:08:38.779 --> 00:08:42.080 to come. We studied those prophecies at the end 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:44.559 of the year, last year. In the Christmas season. 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:48.440 Well he finishes his book. The very last chapter 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:54.480 which is chapter 66. With this. This is Jesus 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:59.179 and this is God speaking to people. And God says 00:08:59.179 --> 00:09:02.220 something that is very significant for anyone 00:09:02.220 --> 00:09:07.080 that is seeking God. God says, look, I created 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:11.519 everything, even you, so what do you have to 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:14.700 give me really nothing because I created everything. 00:09:15.179 --> 00:09:17.639 But if you want to know what pleases me, let 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:21.379 me tell you what pleases me. And he says this. 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:25.340 These are the ones I look on with favor. Those 00:09:25.340 --> 00:09:29.320 who are humble and contrite in spirit and who 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:33.980 tremble at my word. Two things that matter to 00:09:33.980 --> 00:09:37.259 me, God says, are you humble? Are you teachable? 00:09:37.419 --> 00:09:40.440 Or you think that you are the person with all 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:44.159 the answers and that you know better? And when 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:46.399 you encounter my word, do you take it seriously? 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:54.080 Or you disregard it? For God, it matters whether 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:56.720 we have a humble attitude and whether we engage 00:09:56.720 --> 00:10:01.580 with his words seriously. That's why he says 00:10:01.580 --> 00:10:06.279 this in this section. I love those who tremble 00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:09.080 at my word, that take me seriously when I say 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:11.919 it, they hear it, and they take it to heart. 00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:19.399 So God wants us to take his word seriously. But 00:10:19.399 --> 00:10:21.480 one of the things that we discovered at the beginning 00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:24.759 of the ministry of Jesus is that he found people 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:27.860 that were religious, but they were not taking 00:10:27.860 --> 00:10:31.059 God's word seriously. And these religious leaders 00:10:31.059 --> 00:10:34.200 that he encountered called the Pharisees. He 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:36.679 engaged with them one moment in conversation, 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:40.299 and he said to them, if you believe Moses, you 00:10:40.299 --> 00:10:48.460 would believe me, for he wrote about me. The 00:10:48.460 --> 00:10:50.940 problem here is that since you do not believe 00:10:50.940 --> 00:10:55.120 what he wrote, how are you going to believe what 00:10:55.120 --> 00:11:01.279 I say? These people were supposedly serving God, 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:05.879 but they were not believing the word that God 00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:09.320 had given. Did you pay attention to what Jesus 00:11:09.320 --> 00:11:14.299 said? Let me read it again. If you believe who? 00:11:15.340 --> 00:11:19.649 Moses. You will believe me because he wrote about 00:11:19.649 --> 00:11:23.649 me. What did he write? What did Moses write? 00:11:25.289 --> 00:11:28.269 Do you know the answer to that? Well, he wrote 00:11:28.269 --> 00:11:33.669 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 00:11:33.690 --> 00:11:36.690 The first five books of the Bible. That's called 00:11:36.690 --> 00:11:41.490 the Pentateuch. And Jesus says, look, Moses wrote 00:11:41.490 --> 00:11:45.799 these first five books. And if you believe what 00:11:45.799 --> 00:11:48.279 he wrote, then you will believe me. Because he 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:51.279 wrote about me. The Bible says that Jesus is 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:54.139 a God who became a human like us to bring salvation 00:11:54.139 --> 00:11:57.059 for us. That he is the creator of the world. 00:11:57.220 --> 00:11:59.460 Well, who wrote about God creating the world? 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:07.100 Moses. In Genesis. Jesus says, Moses wrote about 00:12:07.100 --> 00:12:09.639 me. If you would believe Moses, you would believe 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:11.399 me. But you don't believe me because you don't 00:12:11.399 --> 00:12:14.620 believe Moses. And he points out to the reality 00:12:14.620 --> 00:12:19.500 that some people may be wanting to follow God, 00:12:19.700 --> 00:12:22.600 but the problem that is holding them back is 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:28.639 unbelief. They may have the word, but they don't 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:34.000 believe it. And that is the stage I was in. I 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:37.399 was in a stage of faith crisis. Do I believe 00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:42.019 this or not? And as you start engaging with interpretation 00:12:42.019 --> 00:12:44.679 of different things, there are so many opinions 00:12:44.679 --> 00:12:48.720 about everything that you experience something 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:52.139 that I call paralysis by analysis. It's like, 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:54.460 well, I believe this. And you start researching. 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:56.159 It's like, what, there are like 10 views about 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:59.220 this? Which one is right? All these arguments. 00:12:59.340 --> 00:13:04.000 It's like, paralyzed. I don't know what I know 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:09.639 anymore. And that place. Can lead people to saying, 00:13:09.659 --> 00:13:13.480 I don't know and I don't care. But that's not 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:18.679 taking God's word seriously, is it? So I remember 00:13:18.679 --> 00:13:23.600 that in that stage, I had to go through this 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:28.759 wrestling. And that wrestling is a healthy wrestling 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:31.940 because now you have to spend time understanding. 00:13:33.419 --> 00:13:37.629 And you have to understand it. Because at the 00:13:37.629 --> 00:13:43.110 core, what we are talking about is truth. And 00:13:43.110 --> 00:13:45.929 Jesus said that truth was going to set us free. 00:13:46.250 --> 00:13:49.330 Jesus is not interested in opinions or diversity. 00:13:49.750 --> 00:13:55.509 Jesus is interested in truth. That's why when 00:13:55.509 --> 00:14:00.250 he prays for us, his followers, from the very 00:14:00.250 --> 00:14:03.419 beginning, There's a moment in which he prays 00:14:03.419 --> 00:14:05.340 for the apostles and he says, I pray for them 00:14:05.340 --> 00:14:07.539 that they will be one, that they will be united. 00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:13.100 But in this section, he says this, I have given 00:14:13.100 --> 00:14:16.899 them something. What did he give them? I have 00:14:16.899 --> 00:14:19.940 given them your word. He uses the word logos 00:14:19.940 --> 00:14:24.980 in Greek here to talk about the word, which means 00:14:24.980 --> 00:14:28.019 the revelation of God. God, I have given them 00:14:28.019 --> 00:14:32.549 your revelation. I have given them your word. 00:14:34.409 --> 00:14:37.950 And the world has hated them, for they are not 00:14:37.950 --> 00:14:41.210 of the world any more than I am of the world. 00:14:41.769 --> 00:14:45.769 My prayer is not that you take them out of the 00:14:45.769 --> 00:14:49.269 world, but that you protect them from the evil 00:14:49.269 --> 00:14:53.149 one. They are not of the world, even as I am 00:14:53.149 --> 00:15:00.279 not of it. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word 00:15:00.279 --> 00:15:07.740 is truth. And this is what Jesus prays, and in 00:15:07.740 --> 00:15:12.580 this prayer, he frames everything to this concept 00:15:12.580 --> 00:15:22.519 of epistemology. It's an issue of truth. I don't 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:24.799 know if you've ever been feeling sick, but when 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:27.120 you feel sick, typically you go to the doctor. 00:15:28.269 --> 00:15:31.370 Let me ask you something. Are you interested 00:15:31.370 --> 00:15:33.789 in the doctor's opinion or are you interested 00:15:33.789 --> 00:15:37.950 in truth? Yeah, I know you're interested in truth. 00:15:38.750 --> 00:15:41.070 If you go to one doctor and he tells you one 00:15:41.070 --> 00:15:43.570 thing and you go to a second doctor and she tells 00:15:43.570 --> 00:15:46.090 you a different thing, now what are you going 00:15:46.090 --> 00:15:49.870 to do? Which one are you going to choose? Most 00:15:49.870 --> 00:15:51.710 likely you're going to get a third opinion to 00:15:51.710 --> 00:15:55.049 see which one is accurate, right? If you go to 00:15:55.049 --> 00:15:58.529 a third opinion, Is this person matching some 00:15:58.529 --> 00:16:02.149 of the others? Because you want truth. You don't 00:16:02.149 --> 00:16:06.110 want just opinion. And when we're talking about 00:16:06.110 --> 00:16:09.629 believing in God, following Jesus, we're not 00:16:09.629 --> 00:16:12.529 talking about religions as opinions. We're talking 00:16:12.529 --> 00:16:17.490 about truth. And therefore, when we engage with 00:16:17.490 --> 00:16:22.850 truth, we have to remember that truth is true 00:16:22.850 --> 00:16:26.700 because it's factual. And it correlates with 00:16:26.700 --> 00:16:31.399 reality. And one of the things that we find from 00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:34.259 the very beginning of Christianity is not that 00:16:34.259 --> 00:16:39.480 just Jesus framed following him as seeking truth 00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:44.460 and believing in truth, but his followers, the 00:16:44.460 --> 00:16:49.460 apostles, They wrote about these things and salvation 00:16:49.460 --> 00:16:51.820 and the things that were going to happen in the 00:16:51.820 --> 00:16:54.179 future and all of these things from a perspective 00:16:54.179 --> 00:16:58.240 of conviction that this was true. And that's 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:01.460 why they were following. Let me give you an example. 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:04.859 The Apostle John, who wrote the Gospel of John, 00:17:05.059 --> 00:17:08.299 and who also wrote 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, three 00:17:08.299 --> 00:17:09.900 letters to Christians, and he wrote the book 00:17:09.900 --> 00:17:12.200 of Revelation. So this was one of the apostles 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:13.779 that wrote several of the books that we have 00:17:13.779 --> 00:17:17.150 in the Bible. When he begins the first letter 00:17:17.150 --> 00:17:23.789 of John, he writes it like this. That which was 00:17:23.789 --> 00:17:28.869 from the very beginning, from the very beginning 00:17:28.869 --> 00:17:31.589 of history, there's something that we're telling 00:17:31.589 --> 00:17:36.230 you about. And that is something that we have 00:17:36.230 --> 00:17:42.250 heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which 00:17:42.250 --> 00:17:46.180 we have looked at. And our hands have touched. 00:17:47.099 --> 00:17:52.079 We are telling you about this person. And this 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:58.039 we proclaim concerning the word of life. This 00:17:58.039 --> 00:18:02.519 was a title given to Jesus. What John is saying, 00:18:02.579 --> 00:18:06.200 look, we are telling you about Jesus because 00:18:06.200 --> 00:18:11.539 we have heard him. We have seen him. We have. 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:14.440 Touched him. What we are telling you is true. 00:18:14.779 --> 00:18:23.180 We experienced it. We are not making it up. So 00:18:23.180 --> 00:18:26.319 you can see that from the very beginning. The 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:28.960 people that taught us and wrote about these things. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:31.579 They wrote from a place of saying this is fact. 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:34.599 That's why I'm teaching you. And that's why you 00:18:34.599 --> 00:18:37.059 need to believe it. Because it's true. If you 00:18:37.059 --> 00:18:39.119 don't believe it you will be deceived. Believing 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:42.940 something else that is not true. Well, how do 00:18:42.940 --> 00:18:45.500 you know? Because I saw it, I touched it, I was 00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:54.220 there. There was a man who did not believe in 00:18:54.220 --> 00:18:57.279 Jesus, who did not believe that God existed. 00:18:58.259 --> 00:19:01.819 He was just a professional with his wife, both 00:19:01.819 --> 00:19:06.920 of them agnostics. And he was enjoying his career 00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:10.400 as a lawyer, as a journalist, and one day his 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:14.420 wife, proclaimed that she had become a Christian. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:22.099 What do you do when you are an agnostic and your 00:19:22.099 --> 00:19:25.940 wife says, I'm a Christian now? Well, he did 00:19:25.940 --> 00:19:28.799 everything that any loving husband would do. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:33.839 I'm going to try to rescue you so that you will 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.859 not be brainwashed because you're in a cult or 00:19:36.859 --> 00:19:40.140 something. You know, and we know the truth that 00:19:40.140 --> 00:19:42.319 God doesn't exist and all that Christian stuff 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:48.099 is nonsense. It's myth. So he decided to start 00:19:48.099 --> 00:19:51.440 researching and getting involved as a journalist, 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:53.420 as a lawyer, with all the techniques that he 00:19:53.420 --> 00:19:58.259 had learned. His name is Lee Strobel. And at 00:19:58.259 --> 00:20:00.200 the end of this journey, of this process, he 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:04.569 started discovering that the things... that he 00:20:04.569 --> 00:20:07.569 thought were just myth, did not happen, this 00:20:07.569 --> 00:20:11.190 Jesus thing was not true. All of that actually 00:20:11.190 --> 00:20:16.089 was verifiable through history. There were records 00:20:16.089 --> 00:20:18.430 in history. There was archaeological evidence. 00:20:18.609 --> 00:20:20.309 There were all of these different things that 00:20:20.309 --> 00:20:26.529 suddenly led him to believe that what the Bible 00:20:26.529 --> 00:20:30.450 said about Jesus was true. And he became a follower 00:20:30.450 --> 00:20:33.900 of Jesus just like his wife. And eventually he 00:20:33.900 --> 00:20:36.759 wrote many books. One of the famous ones was 00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:39.960 The Case for Christ. One of the latest ones that 00:20:39.960 --> 00:20:44.859 he wrote is God Real. It's written to help teenagers 00:20:44.859 --> 00:20:47.700 that are going through asking questions. They 00:20:47.700 --> 00:20:50.579 want to know if this is really true or not. Or 00:20:50.579 --> 00:20:52.440 I believe it's just because my parents told me. 00:20:58.700 --> 00:21:06.519 An agnostic person From the U .S. Thinking that 00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:10.599 none of these things really happen. And realizes 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:14.000 that actually, after all, they are true. And 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:21.200 because they are true, I must believe it. Let 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:24.480 me tell you the story of the Apostle Paul. Because 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:26.200 the Apostle Paul was not a follower of Jesus. 00:21:26.299 --> 00:21:28.940 He persecuted Christians. But the reason why 00:21:28.940 --> 00:21:31.140 he became a follower of Jesus, he says, is because 00:21:31.140 --> 00:21:34.220 Jesus appeared to him. The resurrected Jesus 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:37.380 appeared to him. And that's what turned his life 00:21:37.380 --> 00:21:43.039 around. He thought that Jesus was a fake. And 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:45.160 there's a moment, as he's teaching people about 00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:47.160 Jesus, that he realizes there are some people 00:21:47.160 --> 00:21:49.200 that are saying that Jesus did not resurrect. 00:21:49.500 --> 00:21:51.500 That that's fairytale, that those things don't 00:21:51.500 --> 00:21:55.059 happen. So as he's engaging in that conversation, 00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:59.519 he says, okay. Just for the sake of argument, 00:21:59.900 --> 00:22:02.819 let's say that Jesus really did not resurrect 00:22:02.819 --> 00:22:08.380 and all of that is made up. If that's true, he 00:22:08.380 --> 00:22:11.380 says these words. If there is no resurrection 00:22:11.380 --> 00:22:15.619 of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 00:22:16.460 --> 00:22:21.000 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching 00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:27.349 is useless. And so is your faith. You are wasting 00:22:27.349 --> 00:22:31.250 your time. If Jesus is not real. And if Jesus 00:22:31.250 --> 00:22:36.509 did not resurrect. Then we are wasting our time. 00:22:36.650 --> 00:22:39.609 And not only that. But let the world have pity 00:22:39.609 --> 00:22:43.349 on us. Because we are the most deceived people 00:22:43.349 --> 00:22:45.910 in the world. Believing a lie of something that 00:22:45.910 --> 00:22:48.730 never happened. If only for this life we have 00:22:48.730 --> 00:22:52.049 hope in Christ. We are of all the people must 00:22:52.049 --> 00:23:00.829 to be pitied. But then he says, but the resurrection 00:23:00.829 --> 00:23:05.549 did happen. And Jesus is alive because I saw 00:23:05.549 --> 00:23:11.130 him. So I don't believe in the resurrection because 00:23:11.130 --> 00:23:13.690 it sounds cool. I believe in it because it's 00:23:13.690 --> 00:23:19.349 true. And because it's true, I believe it. During 00:23:19.349 --> 00:23:23.589 the 1800s, there was a whole movement in the 00:23:23.589 --> 00:23:27.380 Christian... colleges and academia and universities. 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:33.500 Because remember during the 1800s, the area of 00:23:33.500 --> 00:23:36.119 Israel was not open for archaeological digs. 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:41.660 It was a political time of empires. Therefore, 00:23:41.740 --> 00:23:45.799 during the 1800s, they didn't have any much archaeological 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:48.579 discoveries or things, information, data that 00:23:48.579 --> 00:23:52.660 corroborated the Bible. So many people started 00:23:53.769 --> 00:23:58.190 Thinking maybe that didn't happen. Maybe this 00:23:58.190 --> 00:24:01.369 Jesus thing, the resurrection, angels, miracles. 00:24:01.890 --> 00:24:04.890 We know that that doesn't happen. Miracles don't 00:24:04.890 --> 00:24:07.849 happen. But the Bible is full of all this stuff. 00:24:08.230 --> 00:24:12.069 So what started happening is that there was a 00:24:12.069 --> 00:24:15.930 movement in theology called liberal theology. 00:24:16.990 --> 00:24:19.329 It's called liberal theology not as an insult 00:24:19.329 --> 00:24:22.569 to the people. Oh, you're a liberal. It's not 00:24:22.569 --> 00:24:27.420 that. Liberal theology in those terms meant that 00:24:27.420 --> 00:24:30.779 people that consider themselves Christians did 00:24:30.779 --> 00:24:35.480 not believe that the Bible was historical. And 00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:39.460 therefore, they thought the Bible was myth. They 00:24:39.460 --> 00:24:41.259 still wanted to believe in it, but now they had 00:24:41.259 --> 00:24:45.180 to reinterpret everything. Maybe it's metaphorical, 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:48.420 maybe symbolic. And from that way of thinking, 00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:53.119 There was a whole movement that started reinterpreting 00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:57.259 the Gospels. And there was a way of thinking 00:24:57.259 --> 00:25:00.700 that Jesus was a real person, but then he became 00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:04.579 Christ through the myths of religion. So this 00:25:04.579 --> 00:25:09.140 phase from Jesus to Christ was a phrase used 00:25:09.140 --> 00:25:13.859 much later by a group of academicians that were 00:25:13.859 --> 00:25:16.839 liberal academicians, don't believe the Bible 00:25:16.839 --> 00:25:21.890 was true. And they created something that is 00:25:21.890 --> 00:25:25.210 called the Jesus Seminar. If you're in the U 00:25:25.210 --> 00:25:28.089 .S., typically during Easter season or Christmas 00:25:28.089 --> 00:25:32.910 season, places like PBS, Discovery Channel, and 00:25:32.910 --> 00:25:35.349 all of these places are going to show one of 00:25:35.349 --> 00:25:38.029 these videos. And the moment you see from Jesus 00:25:38.029 --> 00:25:40.170 to Christ, you know, oh, those are those guys. 00:25:42.789 --> 00:25:46.690 What they thought was Jesus was a real person. 00:25:47.230 --> 00:25:52.289 But all of this is mixed with myth. So you have 00:25:52.289 --> 00:25:55.470 to remove the myth in order to find the real 00:25:55.470 --> 00:26:00.069 Jesus. And that was the academic way of thinking 00:26:00.069 --> 00:26:05.670 in the late 1800s. And there was a guy at the 00:26:05.670 --> 00:26:08.250 beginning of the 1900s, his last name was Morris, 00:26:08.470 --> 00:26:12.809 who was an agnostic, an academician, but he was 00:26:12.809 --> 00:26:15.549 fascinated by the life of Jesus. So he decided 00:26:15.549 --> 00:26:19.880 that he was going to research in his academic 00:26:19.880 --> 00:26:22.819 work the last seven years of the life of Jesus 00:26:22.819 --> 00:26:26.140 because he wanted to prove something. And he 00:26:26.140 --> 00:26:28.779 writes it later. Let me tell you his words, what 00:26:28.779 --> 00:26:32.279 he said. He said, I wanted to strip it of its 00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:36.359 overgrowth of primitive beliefs and dogmatic 00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:41.000 suppositions. Like, I wanted to remove all the 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:43.579 mythology out of this Jesus so I could really 00:26:43.579 --> 00:26:46.660 find the real Jesus. Because I wanted to see 00:26:46.660 --> 00:26:49.279 this supremely great person as he really was. 00:26:50.839 --> 00:26:53.000 He was approaching it from that perspective. 00:26:53.339 --> 00:26:55.980 This cannot be true. Resurrection doesn't happen. 00:26:56.180 --> 00:27:00.880 Angels, forget it. God becoming man. Jesus born 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:04.200 of a virgin. Come on, that's fairytale. We are 00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:06.380 rational people here. We know those things don't 00:27:06.380 --> 00:27:11.259 happen. So in the process of doing his research. 00:27:15.180 --> 00:27:20.019 He became a Christian. He became a follower of 00:27:20.019 --> 00:27:22.480 Jesus because the evidence that he found was 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:26.880 so overwhelming that he realized, wait, this 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:31.240 is not myth. This really happened. And that's 00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:33.599 when he wrote this famous book, Who Moved the 00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:37.359 Stone? And this is the book that he wrote to 00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:40.339 share what had convinced him that the resurrection 00:27:40.339 --> 00:27:43.599 actually had happened. And Paul says, yeah, it 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:47.799 did. That's why I believe it. Because it's true. 00:27:48.019 --> 00:27:55.720 Not because it's nice. Let me tell you about 00:27:55.720 --> 00:27:59.500 the life of the Apostle Peter. Because the Apostle 00:27:59.500 --> 00:28:02.019 Peter was not a follower of Jesus at the beginning. 00:28:02.039 --> 00:28:04.740 He was a fisherman. But then he became a follower 00:28:04.740 --> 00:28:06.700 of Jesus. And his understanding of who Jesus 00:28:06.700 --> 00:28:11.299 was grew with time until the time of the resurrection. 00:28:11.619 --> 00:28:13.579 And he became one of the key leaders in Christianity. 00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:18.960 He writes to Christians in 1 and 2 Peter. And 00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:21.700 he starts telling them about salvation, about 00:28:21.700 --> 00:28:23.759 who Jesus is, what it means to follow Jesus. 00:28:23.880 --> 00:28:26.960 He tells them about the future, how the world 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:29.880 is going to be destroyed by fire. He talks about 00:28:29.880 --> 00:28:34.240 all these different things. But just like John 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:37.920 and Paul, he also speaks about these things as 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:41.519 factual, as like, I'm telling you because it's 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:46.230 true. But there's a moment. in which he points 00:28:46.230 --> 00:28:51.309 us out to Moses again, to origins, and to eschatology 00:28:51.309 --> 00:28:56.710 all at once. And he says this, guys, you have 00:28:56.710 --> 00:29:00.910 to remember that in the last times, there's going 00:29:00.910 --> 00:29:04.589 to be many people that will stop believing the 00:29:04.589 --> 00:29:11.990 word. And they deliberately will forget something. 00:29:12.410 --> 00:29:15.859 What will these people forget? That long ago, 00:29:16.099 --> 00:29:20.460 by God's word, the heavens came into being, and 00:29:20.460 --> 00:29:24.119 the earth was formed out of water and by water. 00:29:24.740 --> 00:29:28.599 Wait, wait a second. Are you talking about the 00:29:28.599 --> 00:29:32.059 writings of Moses? What does the Bible say that 00:29:32.059 --> 00:29:36.180 God created by speaking, and that he separated 00:29:36.180 --> 00:29:39.039 the waters from the waters? What does that say? 00:29:40.460 --> 00:29:46.529 Which book? Genesis. Which chapter? Peter is 00:29:46.529 --> 00:29:49.009 saying, look, I want to tell you something that 00:29:49.009 --> 00:29:52.789 Genesis 1 says. In the future, people won't believe 00:29:52.789 --> 00:29:58.710 it. And not only that, then he says, by these 00:29:58.710 --> 00:30:02.450 waters also the world of that time was deluged 00:30:02.450 --> 00:30:07.190 and destroyed. Wait, what are you talking about? 00:30:07.269 --> 00:30:09.910 Are you talking about the flood? Which book says 00:30:09.910 --> 00:30:16.609 that? Genesis, the writings of Moses. They are 00:30:16.609 --> 00:30:20.630 going to forget and stop believing that the world 00:30:20.630 --> 00:30:25.789 of that time was destroyed by water. And by the 00:30:25.789 --> 00:30:29.869 same word that destroyed that world by water, 00:30:29.970 --> 00:30:34.289 the present heavens and earth are reserved for 00:30:34.289 --> 00:30:37.710 fire being kept for the day of judgment and destruction 00:30:37.710 --> 00:30:42.009 of the ungodly. The same word. It's telling you 00:30:42.009 --> 00:30:44.109 that the past happened and the future is going 00:30:44.109 --> 00:30:46.349 to happen. And it happened because it's true 00:30:46.349 --> 00:30:48.809 and it's going to happen because it's true. But 00:30:48.809 --> 00:30:52.230 people are going to stop believing it, Peter 00:30:52.230 --> 00:30:55.630 says. Imagine, he wrote this at the very beginning 00:30:55.630 --> 00:30:59.829 of Christianity. And when I read that, it's like, 00:30:59.849 --> 00:31:04.009 wait, Peter, you are telling me that I need to 00:31:04.009 --> 00:31:08.450 believe what Genesis says? Because, no offense. 00:31:09.710 --> 00:31:13.829 Apostle Peter, but we live in a time of science. 00:31:13.890 --> 00:31:17.569 You didn't. So you were more likely to believe 00:31:17.569 --> 00:31:21.109 myths, but we know better today that those things 00:31:21.109 --> 00:31:33.589 didn't happen. Or did they? There was a Chinese 00:31:33.589 --> 00:31:39.420 scientist who studied science in China. and then 00:31:39.420 --> 00:31:44.299 went to the U .S. to get his Ph .D. His author 00:31:44.299 --> 00:31:48.680 name is Li Cheng. His actual real name is Bing 00:31:48.680 --> 00:31:53.220 Cheng Feng. And he wrote a book called The Song 00:31:53.220 --> 00:31:57.559 of a Wanderer. It was originally written in Chinese 00:31:57.559 --> 00:32:00.599 and then translated into English. And it was 00:32:00.599 --> 00:32:05.059 fascinating because as a Chinese scientist, he 00:32:05.059 --> 00:32:07.900 was an atheist, and when he moves to the U .S., 00:32:08.359 --> 00:32:13.759 To do his Ph .D. He himself is an atheist scientist. 00:32:13.940 --> 00:32:16.059 But the difference in the U .S. is that he starts 00:32:16.059 --> 00:32:18.500 meeting all these Christians. And they start 00:32:18.500 --> 00:32:20.500 befriending him. They start talking to him about 00:32:20.500 --> 00:32:25.900 Jesus. They give him Bibles. He says, no, I don't 00:32:25.900 --> 00:32:28.440 believe in those fairy tales. You know, all that 00:32:28.440 --> 00:32:31.779 stuff. I'm a scientist. We know that Christians 00:32:31.779 --> 00:32:37.480 believe in myths. It will be ridiculous for me. 00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:41.920 As a highly educated scientist, to start believing 00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:45.140 the Bible and becoming a Christian? Of course 00:32:45.140 --> 00:32:47.940 not. So he spent years collecting the Bibles 00:32:47.940 --> 00:32:50.240 that people would give him. And one day he started 00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:55.420 attending a Bible study with his wife. And slowly 00:32:55.420 --> 00:32:58.680 he started realizing, wait, I never knew that. 00:32:58.839 --> 00:33:04.539 I never heard that. So he started engaging in 00:33:04.539 --> 00:33:09.509 his research as an atheist scientist. And he 00:33:09.509 --> 00:33:11.269 realized he had never read the Bible because 00:33:11.269 --> 00:33:14.670 he assumed all of this was wrong. But he started 00:33:14.670 --> 00:33:17.470 discovering that the history of science, most 00:33:17.470 --> 00:33:20.769 of the original scientists were Christians. And 00:33:20.769 --> 00:33:23.849 he couldn't understand why Christians would be 00:33:23.849 --> 00:33:27.910 smart like that. How could a scientist be a Christian? 00:33:28.109 --> 00:33:30.910 It didn't make any sense. So he writes, since 00:33:30.910 --> 00:33:33.730 I claim to be a scientist and scoffed at Christianity, 00:33:34.150 --> 00:33:36.869 it never dawned on me that the scientific method 00:33:36.869 --> 00:33:39.509 itself practiced today was actually developed 00:33:39.509 --> 00:33:42.829 by Christians. They believed that the one true 00:33:42.829 --> 00:33:45.430 God created the universe and that it had order 00:33:45.430 --> 00:33:47.990 and could be understood. And he realized that 00:33:47.990 --> 00:33:52.529 many of the scientists that shaped his understanding 00:33:52.529 --> 00:33:55.869 from past history, they themselves were Christians 00:33:55.869 --> 00:33:59.099 and that's why they became scientists. He had 00:33:59.099 --> 00:34:05.059 assumed that true science was atheist. So it 00:34:05.059 --> 00:34:09.159 was through that journey that eventually, just 00:34:09.159 --> 00:34:13.280 like the other guys, the evidence became compelling, 00:34:13.420 --> 00:34:15.380 compelling, compelling, and he himself became 00:34:15.380 --> 00:34:18.980 a Christian. And that's why he wrote the book, 00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:23.239 The Song of a Wanderer, to summarize his research 00:34:23.239 --> 00:34:26.820 as a good academician, you know, very systematically. 00:34:27.789 --> 00:34:30.929 This is what I discovered and this is what convinced 00:34:30.929 --> 00:34:35.610 me that Christianity was true. And then he shares 00:34:35.610 --> 00:34:37.690 his story of how he came to believe in Christ. 00:34:39.110 --> 00:34:43.230 Fascinating. There's another story that is even 00:34:43.230 --> 00:34:46.829 more fascinating to me. And that's an Australian 00:34:46.829 --> 00:34:53.030 academician as well, Dr. Ron Neller. He has a 00:34:53.030 --> 00:34:57.300 PhD in fluvial geomorphology. If that sounds 00:34:57.300 --> 00:34:59.980 like a mouthful, you never heard that title before, 00:35:00.059 --> 00:35:04.960 I hadn't until I learned about him. He is a scientist 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:10.159 that specializes on studying how water affects 00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:15.519 the ground. That's basically it. There's a whole 00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:22.320 career for this. So he spent 30 years of his 00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:26.559 life in this career as an agnostic. He was a 00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:30.039 man that was taught to believe that the earth 00:35:30.039 --> 00:35:33.139 was billions of years old, that everything happened 00:35:33.139 --> 00:35:36.480 through slow erosion, and that God didn't exist, 00:35:36.800 --> 00:35:39.500 and that Darwinian evolution was true. That was 00:35:39.500 --> 00:35:45.460 his worldview as a scientist. So for 30 years 00:35:45.460 --> 00:35:48.599 of his career in research, He had the privilege 00:35:48.599 --> 00:35:51.099 of traveling the world. He was in Europe, he 00:35:51.099 --> 00:35:54.739 was in Asia, he was in Australia, he was in different 00:35:54.739 --> 00:35:58.260 places. So he got to experience the study of 00:35:58.260 --> 00:36:01.599 the geological record and the effect of water 00:36:01.599 --> 00:36:03.739 in all of these different countries during a 00:36:03.739 --> 00:36:05.960 season in which the satellite technology was 00:36:05.960 --> 00:36:08.679 being developed. So he was not only able to see 00:36:08.679 --> 00:36:11.019 lots of places in the world, but he was able 00:36:11.019 --> 00:36:14.139 to start seeing big sections from satellite imagery. 00:36:15.050 --> 00:36:17.769 And through that, he started realizing that the 00:36:17.769 --> 00:36:20.989 data that he was discovering did not match the 00:36:20.989 --> 00:36:24.789 worldview that he had been taught. And he started 00:36:24.789 --> 00:36:27.829 realizing that the data showed that there had 00:36:27.829 --> 00:36:31.989 been a catastrophic worldwide event damaged by 00:36:31.989 --> 00:36:37.429 water. And he started bringing up some of these 00:36:37.429 --> 00:36:40.170 things that he was discovering and the incongruency 00:36:40.170 --> 00:36:44.739 that this data was showing. In his academic context, 00:36:44.980 --> 00:36:47.880 and his friends would say, okay, that's all fine, 00:36:47.980 --> 00:36:50.360 but please don't go that route too much because 00:36:50.360 --> 00:36:56.179 you're starting to sound like a Christian. And 00:36:56.179 --> 00:36:59.239 then he read the Bible, and then he read that 00:36:59.239 --> 00:37:01.619 the Bible said that there was a global flood 00:37:01.619 --> 00:37:06.900 that had happened. And at that moment, he started 00:37:06.900 --> 00:37:10.539 realizing that, wait, this matches the evidence 00:37:10.539 --> 00:37:17.550 that I see. So he became a believer in the global 00:37:17.550 --> 00:37:21.869 flood and in the historicity of Genesis, but 00:37:21.869 --> 00:37:24.469 not a believer of Jesus. He was still an agnostic. 00:37:25.030 --> 00:37:28.550 God might exist. And he says that the resistance 00:37:28.550 --> 00:37:32.570 to follow Jesus was because he knew that going 00:37:32.570 --> 00:37:35.230 the extra mile and now becoming a Christian meant 00:37:35.230 --> 00:37:39.630 committing academic suicide. You cannot be a 00:37:39.630 --> 00:37:42.969 well -respected scientist. in the academia and 00:37:42.969 --> 00:37:46.889 be a Christian at the same time. So it was safe 00:37:46.889 --> 00:37:51.469 to remain an agnostic. So one day with a friend 00:37:51.469 --> 00:37:56.329 from university, they decided both, she was an 00:37:56.329 --> 00:37:58.969 atheist, they decided that they needed to disprove 00:37:58.969 --> 00:38:02.809 that Christianity was true by going to a church. 00:38:04.469 --> 00:38:06.670 So they decided to visit the church that day 00:38:06.670 --> 00:38:10.769 together to disprove Christianity. And at that 00:38:10.769 --> 00:38:15.110 moment, they come out of that service as Christians 00:38:15.110 --> 00:38:19.190 followers of Jesus. He says, I don't even remember 00:38:19.190 --> 00:38:22.309 what the pastor was preaching that day, but I 00:38:22.309 --> 00:38:24.929 had an encounter with the Holy Spirit that transformed 00:38:24.929 --> 00:38:28.710 my life. And from that point on, not only I became 00:38:28.710 --> 00:38:30.429 a Christian, my friend became a Christian, and 00:38:30.429 --> 00:38:35.070 not only that, but she became my wife. And today 00:38:35.070 --> 00:38:39.039 he works. now after his years of career for his 00:38:39.039 --> 00:38:42.900 career, he works part of a ministry called Creation 00:38:42.900 --> 00:38:45.280 Ministries. You can find their information in 00:38:45.280 --> 00:38:48.280 creation .com. But it's a group of scientists 00:38:48.280 --> 00:38:51.780 from lots of different fields that through scientific 00:38:51.780 --> 00:38:54.699 research and evidence started pointing them to 00:38:54.699 --> 00:38:58.679 the fact that what they read in Genesis was congruent 00:38:58.679 --> 00:39:03.619 with reality. And every one of these scientists 00:39:03.619 --> 00:39:06.030 have their own journey. But the journey is the 00:39:06.030 --> 00:39:09.610 same. They had a worldview that was challenged 00:39:09.610 --> 00:39:12.809 by the evidence. And the evidence corroborated 00:39:12.809 --> 00:39:15.849 what the Bible said. And that led them to eventually 00:39:15.849 --> 00:39:27.269 follow Jesus. Why? Because it is true. It was 00:39:27.269 --> 00:39:30.050 a group of geologists that came together. These 00:39:30.050 --> 00:39:33.380 were Christian geologists. So we need to let 00:39:33.380 --> 00:39:36.659 people know about the data that is on the geological 00:39:36.659 --> 00:39:40.500 record that shows the evidence that there was 00:39:40.500 --> 00:39:44.400 a global flood, a catastrophic event that shaped 00:39:44.400 --> 00:39:48.780 the landscape of the world. And they created 00:39:48.780 --> 00:39:51.019 this documentary called It's Genesis History, 00:39:51.239 --> 00:39:53.639 Mountains After the Flood. You can actually find 00:39:53.639 --> 00:39:58.019 it in YouTube and watch it for free. The reason 00:39:58.019 --> 00:40:02.530 why these things matter It's because in the search 00:40:02.530 --> 00:40:06.630 of wrestling with things and engaging with the 00:40:06.630 --> 00:40:10.429 Bible and taking it seriously, it's an invitation 00:40:10.429 --> 00:40:14.769 of engaging with truth. And truth is not an issue 00:40:14.769 --> 00:40:18.190 of opinion. Truth is about epistemology. It's 00:40:18.190 --> 00:40:22.130 the study of what is really true. Is this true 00:40:22.130 --> 00:40:25.829 or this is true? How do I know? Well, the way 00:40:25.829 --> 00:40:31.699 we know is because truth Is congruent with reality. 00:40:33.119 --> 00:40:36.480 And because the Bible is congruent with reality. 00:40:36.639 --> 00:40:40.159 Because Jesus is congruent with reality. Then 00:40:40.159 --> 00:40:44.699 we follow him because it's truth. There was an 00:40:44.699 --> 00:40:47.960 author that wrote a whole book on this topic. 00:40:48.340 --> 00:40:52.159 Total truth is the name of the book. Her name 00:40:52.159 --> 00:40:56.809 is Nancy Percy. If you are someone that is. If 00:40:56.809 --> 00:40:58.449 you consider yourself more like an intellectual, 00:40:58.750 --> 00:41:03.849 someone that is more in the academic world, someone 00:41:03.849 --> 00:41:07.849 that is into philosophy and concepts, history 00:41:07.849 --> 00:41:12.949 of ideas, this book is a must. It's the best 00:41:12.949 --> 00:41:17.190 book I've read. She does an amazing job of bringing 00:41:17.190 --> 00:41:19.869 the development of thought. It's a book of, I 00:41:19.869 --> 00:41:22.650 would call, like Christian philosophy, how the 00:41:22.650 --> 00:41:26.510 thought of worldview has developed. And to the 00:41:26.510 --> 00:41:28.949 point we are today and how Christians have to 00:41:28.949 --> 00:41:33.170 wake up to the fact that Christianity is not 00:41:33.170 --> 00:41:37.130 just an opinion about myths and potential religions 00:41:37.130 --> 00:41:39.989 that are all the same. Christianity has always 00:41:39.989 --> 00:41:44.050 been and remains a topic of truth. It's a worldview 00:41:44.050 --> 00:41:53.329 that we believe in because it is true. There's 00:41:53.329 --> 00:41:57.699 so much more to say. But this study will end 00:41:57.699 --> 00:42:01.820 here. Because what I wanted to share with you 00:42:01.820 --> 00:42:07.760 is this. In the spiritual journey of following 00:42:07.760 --> 00:42:11.840 Jesus, it requires that we engage with truth. 00:42:12.059 --> 00:42:16.619 That's the invitation of Jesus. And in that invitation, 00:42:17.019 --> 00:42:20.239 you at some point will wrestle with things that 00:42:20.239 --> 00:42:25.710 you don't understand. And that is okay. But in 00:42:25.710 --> 00:42:28.690 my journey, what I have discovered through my 00:42:28.690 --> 00:42:30.949 personal research, through the lessons of all 00:42:30.949 --> 00:42:33.889 the people that I have learned from, is that 00:42:33.889 --> 00:42:37.349 the Bible, I can trust it because it's true. 00:42:37.550 --> 00:42:39.869 I may not understand everything. There may be 00:42:39.869 --> 00:42:41.829 different interpretations about details here 00:42:41.829 --> 00:42:44.710 and there, but the Bible is not a myth. It's 00:42:44.710 --> 00:42:48.539 a record of history that you can trust. And you 00:42:48.539 --> 00:42:51.679 can build your life upon. And the Bible says 00:42:51.679 --> 00:42:55.079 that you and I are sinners. That God created 00:42:55.079 --> 00:42:58.500 us. He loves us. Jesus became a human so that 00:42:58.500 --> 00:43:02.360 he could pay for our sin. And give the way for 00:43:02.360 --> 00:43:05.320 us to experience salvation and freedom and relationship 00:43:05.320 --> 00:43:08.800 with God. And that to follow Jesus is the only 00:43:08.800 --> 00:43:12.239 way of walking in truth. Because Jesus is the 00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:16.030 truth. And therefore if you are seeking God. 00:43:16.190 --> 00:43:18.909 If you are in a journey of wanting to understand 00:43:18.909 --> 00:43:21.630 more. You are in the right place. Because here 00:43:21.630 --> 00:43:25.650 we want to walk with you. Creating safe spaces 00:43:25.650 --> 00:43:28.429 where you can engage with the wrestling. Because 00:43:28.429 --> 00:43:32.150 what we care about is truth. Truth that will 00:43:32.150 --> 00:43:41.289 set you free. If you are a child of Christian 00:43:41.289 --> 00:43:45.949 parents. Where you have grown up. Learning about 00:43:45.949 --> 00:43:50.210 the Bible and Jesus from birth. At some point 00:43:50.210 --> 00:43:54.929 maybe. You will question things. Maybe you will 00:43:54.929 --> 00:43:59.210 never question anything. But I'm here to tell 00:43:59.210 --> 00:44:00.849 you as someone that went through that journey. 00:44:04.829 --> 00:44:10.570 What you have received. Is truth. And you will 00:44:10.570 --> 00:44:13.269 have to engage in your own journey. But don't. 00:44:13.440 --> 00:44:18.199 Let go of the truth. You will meet people that 00:44:18.199 --> 00:44:20.539 will make you think that to be a follower of 00:44:20.539 --> 00:44:24.239 Jesus is to commit intellectual suicide. That 00:44:24.239 --> 00:44:26.840 you cannot be truly an intelligent person and 00:44:26.840 --> 00:44:28.940 be a follower of Jesus at the same time. And 00:44:28.940 --> 00:44:31.599 believe in the Bible at the same time. They are 00:44:31.599 --> 00:44:38.389 wrong. So here I am. telling you, encouraging 00:44:38.389 --> 00:44:41.869 you, grow in your relationship with God. Make 00:44:41.869 --> 00:44:44.409 the belief that you received your convictions. 00:44:44.809 --> 00:44:47.550 And whatever that journey takes you to, and whatever 00:44:47.550 --> 00:44:50.289 crisis you may experience, Jesus is with you 00:44:50.289 --> 00:44:54.449 through it all. And if we can help you in any 00:44:54.449 --> 00:44:57.449 way in that journey, we are here to walk with 00:44:57.449 --> 00:45:00.730 you. Not from a place of superiority, but with 00:45:00.730 --> 00:45:05.050 a place of humility. We know what it's like to 00:45:05.050 --> 00:45:08.519 wrestle. So I'm going to invite you to stand 00:45:08.519 --> 00:45:17.239 up with me. And I want to ask you, if you're 00:45:17.239 --> 00:45:19.139 in a place where you perhaps are facing doubts 00:45:19.139 --> 00:45:22.059 about God, about the Bible, about following Jesus, 00:45:22.239 --> 00:45:29.199 pray to the Lord what this man told Jesus. I 00:45:29.199 --> 00:45:34.230 believe, help my unbelief. Meet me in this place 00:45:34.230 --> 00:45:38.809 of doubt Lord. And lead me into all truth. Because 00:45:38.809 --> 00:45:41.070 I know you care about truth. And that's what 00:45:41.070 --> 00:45:44.670 I want. Lord I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus. 00:45:45.989 --> 00:45:48.869 That you will guide us. And protect us from the 00:45:48.869 --> 00:45:51.449 attacks of the enemy. That you will also protect 00:45:51.449 --> 00:45:54.690 us from deception. That you will protect us from 00:45:54.690 --> 00:46:00.690 falsehood. But lead us into truth. I ask you 00:46:00.690 --> 00:46:03.340 Lord for my friends. Who are in that place of 00:46:03.340 --> 00:46:10.039 wrestling. Help them wrestle. Don't rush their 00:46:10.039 --> 00:46:14.139 journey. Let them wrestle for as long as they 00:46:14.139 --> 00:46:18.179 have to. Until that journey brings conviction. 00:46:20.119 --> 00:46:24.039 Because it is conviction Lord. That will bring 00:46:24.039 --> 00:46:28.159 the power for the future you have for them. And 00:46:28.159 --> 00:46:33.349 for those of us. Who have children. Help us lead 00:46:33.349 --> 00:46:39.269 them in a way that invites understanding. Give 00:46:39.269 --> 00:46:43.150 us wisdom to know how to teach them your ways. 00:46:45.250 --> 00:46:48.730 Thank you for your truth that has set us free. 00:46:49.849 --> 00:46:52.050 We love you and we pray in the powerful name 00:46:52.050 --> 00:47:18.530 of Jesus. Amen. If God is calling you to support 00:47:18.530 --> 00:47:21.090 our ministries, you will find giving options 00:47:21.090 --> 00:47:24.969 on our website. And remember to join us next 00:47:24.969 --> 00:47:26.630 week. God bless you.