Ezra Byer - Having a Faith that is Grounded

Introduction
As we get ready to close out this 2009 year and enter into 2010, I specifically wanted to address our group here in Powerline about a topic that has steadily been rising to my attention over the past couple years and has now reached a point of such significance in my life that I am just busting at the seams to share it with you tonight.
I positively love speaking to you all because you are an intelligent group of adults who have enough commitment and love for God that you have called in to learn more about Him on this call tonight. As stated already, my topic this evening is “Having a Faith that is grounded.” So let’s take a look for a couple minutes on this subject.

Main Body
NAU John 3:12 "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Over the past couple of years, the nations of Canada and the United States are growing increasingly pagan in regard to Christianity.
• In 1962 prayer was removed from public school.
• Currently in the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and Vermont, marriages for same sex couples are legal and performed daily.
• As of 2003 there were 1.3 million porn websites in the United States. A survey taken in 2001 revealed that 37% of pastors in the US struggle daily with porn and a survey taken in 2005 revealed that over 50% of men in a typical church congregation view porn at least once a week.
• Each year there are around 50 million abortions worldwide with over 1.5 million coming from the US

You could debate these statistics but it is quite obvious to see that there has been a radical spiritual decline in North America over the past half-century.
But why is this the case? Let’s take the US for example, the greatest Christian nation on earth. People in the US live in a time when Bible tools, seminaries, and Christian TV/radio shows are at an all time high – yet if you ask anyone in America today they will tell you that the nation is declining spiritually.
Why is this the case? Let me explain why I believe this is happening. I believe the reason why we are losing many teens and adults out of our churches today is because there is a severe lack of Christian individuals who are adequately prepared to defend their faith. Let me explain…
Over 85% of Christian teens in the United States (and probably higher in Canada) today currently attend a public school. That leaves only 15% who either Home school or attend a Christian School. In the public schools, what are these individuals being taught?
• They are being taught Evolution and billions of years.
• They are being taught that the Bible is only a good moral book but is not scientifically accurate
• And they are being taught that people need to be tolerant of every religion and whatever you believe is for you and whatever I believe is for me

Sadly, most Christian Sunday school leaders, pastors, and small group leaders do not do an adequate job of preparing their kids/teens for what they will face in the world and let me explain why. If you were to go up to your average Sunday school teacher like Mrs. Brown and ask her what she teaches in Sunday school, she would probably say “Bible Stories.” After all, that is what little Johnny and Susie wants to hear. And then you ask her if she teaches such things as the Biblical view of astronomy, anthropology, geology, etc… and she will most likely say no.
So as a result, if kids/teens/adults can’t go to church to learn a Biblical view of astronomy, physics, and biology, etc… where are they going to go? That’s right; they are going to go to their public schools! Public school explains things such things as dinosaurs, millions of years, fossils, etc… and when teens or kids in the public schools bring their problems to their teacher – what is the response that they often get? “I’m not quite sure about that Johnny but trust in Jesus anyway!”
And the poor teen or adult is left scratching his head and saying, “Well, since the church can’t give me the answers that I need, I am going to go to the school and get the real answers.” They are left with the impression that the church is about myth and Bible Stories and that the only place to find real facts is at school.
After all, when you look up the word “Story” in the dictionary, it simply means a fairy tale or fictional account. People in the world today, both old and young, are being taught a mindset that says the Bible’s cosmology is wrong because it teaches that God created the earth and not the “Big Bang,” the Bible’s geology is wrong because it argues for a 6,000-10,000 year earth and not millions of years, and the Bible’s biology is wrong because it says we were created from one man and one woman and didn’t evolve over millions of years.
Sadly, the response of many Christians to these accusations is just to say, “Well, I ain’t got that much learnin, but I know you should trust in Jesus because He lives inside of my heart!”
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that a person who is not learned in defending their faith is worthless because I know of many Godly individuals who don’t know a whole lot and have made a powerful impact in the world for God.
But I do believe what Luke 12:48 says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” God has given most of us much more than other people in history or individuals in our world today. And I would argue that to go through life not knowing how to defend your faith properly and not knowing how to teach others will leave you looking very poorly on the day of judgment when God asks you to give an account of your life.
You need to know how to defend your faith in the areas of biology, geology, anthropology, and others. If we simply focus on Christian morals and teaching against things like abortion, homosexuality, and pornography without giving a reason for why we can believe the Bible in the first place, then our message to individuals will be like fluff.
I believe that our message of holiness is correct and let me give you my short explanation for this world’s existence…

Ezra’s Defense
I believe God created the world in six literal days and not over billions of years. I believe that God created a perfect world of no death in which man could live. But man damaged that perfect world by eating of the “Tree of Life” and thus bringing sin into the world. Because of this separation from God, God sent His only Son Jesus into the world and had Him die on a wooden cross.
But my basis for everything that I believe is that Jesus rose from the dead and three days later was seen by hundreds of eyewitness testimony and was documented very soundly with historical evidence in over 24,000 historical documents – much more than any secular writing of that day.
I believe that Jesus is coming back one day to take all those to heaven who live for Him and choose to repent and ask forgiveness for their sins, and who choose to enter into a relationship with God and continue in that relationship until death.

Conclusion
I conclude with the verse that I read in the opening…
NAU John 3:12 "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
People will never believe the heavenly things that we teach unless we have the earthly facts in place. We must make sure that our faith in God has substance and is not just a faith that is built upon generational teachings or raw emotions! God has given us an amazing amount of resources that can be used to equip us to teach others and we should not take that for granted. Will it take a lot of hard work on your part to get yourself competently equipped to take on some of these issues? YES!

How to get equipped
You must develop a library full of resources. And here are some suggestions for how you can start.

Resources
• Good Study Bible!
• Answers Books – Ken Ham
• YouTube videos by Ken Ham, William Lane Craig, Ravi Zacharias, etc…
• MP3 Player and put the Bible on it (KJV recommended)

There are many other things that you can do but the point that I want to leave you with is that it is vitally important for you to have your faith completely grounded God’s Word. We must give answers for why we believe it and we must give answers for what it teaches.
I encourage each of you to do as I Peter 3:15 commands us to do, “...always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.”
Let’s make a commitment in this coming year of 2010 to set some goals that will help us be better equipped to defend what we believe.

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Pastor Joe Smith on the call this week!

Pastor Joe Smith will be speaking on the call this Sunday on the topic of "Overcoming Difficult Circumstances." You will not want to miss this!

Knowing God's Will - Joel Byer

*The key to knowing God's will is knowing God.

Psalm 40:8

*It's not so much as being perfect, but seeking God.

Psalm 119 David sought after God and was called the man after God's own heart.

*We all want answers, but if we seek God, God is too good to not show his will.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Q&A

1. How do you know 100% it's God's will and not your own?

A. As we focus on God, there can be that steady growing assurance on your heart of what you should or shouldn't do. Be honest with God. God where the peace goes.

2. How can we be sure that we're hearing God's voice and not the craziness of this world?

A. God is a gentle shepherd, but the devil drives us along. Listen to the gentle promptings.

3. How do you differentiate between impressions and God's will?

A. There are always good causes, but God's will gives more assurance.