Apologetics Acts: Part Two

Good afternoon everyone, it is once again a privilege to open the word for you again, continuing on my two part sermon looking at apologetics, the art and science of explain what we believe and why we believe it. And we have been going through two sermons by Paul in the book of Acts, his sermon to the synagogue in Antioch Pisidan, in modern day Turkey, and in the Areopagus in Athens, in modern day Greece. And we used these two examples to apply to the two different groups that we Christians interact with in today’s society. You have the churched, the Bible-believers, those who have some part of Christianity right, and then you have the pagans, those who have never heard of anything to do with the Bible, God, Jesus Christ and the way of salvation. And when you hear me use that word pagan, don’t assume I’m using it in a derogative or negative sense. G.K. Chesterton said of his friend and debate opponent George Bernard Shaw, an atheist and a socialist, that ‘he is a pagan, and like many other pagans, he is a very fine man.’

So, we learned three key principles this morning, 1, that of respecting the image of God in your hearer, 2, building bridges of parts of truth that you can both agree on, and 3, we looked at the need to understand the values and presuppositions of the one who you are communicating the gospel too. So we will continue looking into these principles of communicating the gospel to help you explain and proclaim the truth faithfully and accurately, for the glory of God and the extension of His Kingdom.