More “In Christ” Quotes

"There is only one place where we are right with God and that is in Christ Jesus"

"Pray with the realization that you are perfect only in Christ Jesus."

-Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest, June 21)

Want to help?

This site is a labor of love for Christ as I am led by the Spirit. If you have an interest in this concept of evangelism tool-making and encouragement and have creative skills with images, graphical powerpoints, infographics, mobile apps and want to join me in building this site, feel free to contact me at fpnole@evangelinformatics.com .

Apologetics

/Apologetics
13 06, 2016

Defend Your Faith With TLC

Was your journey to faith marked by skepticism? Lots of questions and doubts blocked your way to the truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified? And was there someone God used to walk you through some of those questions and doubts? Maybe they did not even answer your questions, but managed to point you to what your real question was that had you “kicking against the goads” in the manner of Saul of Tarsus. My experience was one of quite childlike faith, that even though a student of the sciences in a time when naturalism and evolution had become mainstream, I did not question the existence of God. Interestingly, this very thing that seemed to clear the way towards my faith in Christ as God in human form come to save lost sinners, is the very thing that has made it difficult for me to defend my faith and the existence of God to others. Evangelism to me was restricted to a gospel presentation using bible verses, which are certainly necessary in most cases for true understanding and faith in Christ, but leave a prominent gap in reaching people skeptical of things such as the reliability and authority of Scripture as the word of God, let alone the existence of God in the first place. In recent years, I have made more concerted efforts at obeying the call of 1 Peter 3:15 to “always be prepared to give the reason for the hope that you have”, including being prepared to speak with skeptics of belief in God and the Christian faith.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with all gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15

A tool I would like to introduce here is something I developed after recently learning of a framework for engagement of people on matters where opinions might differ. This tool is called the Triple Layer Cake and as the name implies, this tool involves learning about 3 layers and of course, the icing on the cake. Our 3 cake layers include engaging people on the following levels:

  • Theoretical
  • Artistic/Expressive/Existential
  • Prescriptive

Put differently, these layers can be described as follows:

  • Thinking
  • Feeling
  • Doing

If I stack 3 layers of cake on top of one another by themselves, there is not a whole lot of appeal to that image—but if I put icing between each layer, and then cover the 3-layer stack with icing, now I have something I can sink my teeth into. Noted Evangelist/Apologist Michael Ramsden calls this fourth vital part of the cake

  • Being

Various beliefs and belief systems can be broken down into Theory and/or Thoughts, Feeling and/or Experience, and Doing or Dogma. For example, a physician will have studied certain theories (e.g. germ theory of disease), had certain experiences (e.g. cared for a patient with bacterial sepsis), and done certain things in the practice of their profession (e.g. prescribe Antibiotics for a Staph infection). The same could be said for someone of a specific religious faith. A Muslim will think certain thoughts (e.g. infidel theory), have certain experiences (e.g. Haj, Mecca), and do certain things (e.g. Ramadan fasting). However, when it comes to the Christian, applying the 3 layers of engagement just does not satisfy what it truly means to be a Christian. I may have Christian thoughts (e.g. God created the world), experiences (e.g. Baptism), and dogma (e.g. Thou shalt not steal), but the profound uniqueness of Christianity comes from the icing on the cake, Being. And that Being clearly relates to the very person Jesus Christ. Christianity without God/Christ is nothing more than “morally structured” humanism and is illogical according to true settled atheist standards. So how do we investigate (taste?) this “icing on the cake”?

Was Jesus Christ a legitimate person in history?

Even the most liberal of religious academics would have to admit to this historical truth.

Was he crucified?

Once again, the biblical AND extrabiblical evidences make it a significant leap of faith to deny the historical validity of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Did Jesus experience Resurrection?

Now we are into the realm of the miraculous, not just historical events. And a miraculous event goes against our natural belief inclinations as informed by our day to day experience, or lack thereof when it comes to the miraculous. And this is not lost upon biblical writers such as Luke, Paul, and John. Paul tackles the issue head on by declaring in 1Corinthians 15:20, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead!” And John has this to say concerning Jesus in the opening of his first epistle:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—1 John 1:1

Scripture states that in Christ “all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9), and G.K. Chesterton described it in this way, “What was a circumference, became a point.” When it comes to man seeking God, he has been given exactly what is needed in the being of Jesus Christ. Man should not settle for wandering aimlessly around the layered circumference of thoughts, feelings, and religious actions, but indulge in Jesus- the only true, focused, and eternal source of faith, hope, and love that “makes the cake”.

Tool Downloads:

TLC Tool Card

Triple Layer Cake Slides PDF

TLC Powerpoint

 

TripleLayer2

25 12, 2014

“Prophesy–Who will save you?”

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Hebrews 1:1

In an age of reason, science, and relativism, a belief in prophecy, both spoken and fulfilled, is likely hard to elicit from most people. I would describe prophecy as foreknowledge of actual events being revealed to man through the inspiration of men by an omniscient being. I was taught very early in my studies of the Bible to break the bible into various sections. There is the obvious Old Testament/New Testament division, but the 39 Old Testament books can be further divided into the Books of the Law, Books of History, Books of Prose/Poetry, Major Prophets, and Minor Prophets. 17 of the Old Testament books fall into the Major or Minor Prophet division. The Old Testament can be reliably understood to be available and complete by 250 B.C. I’ll admit that even though that was over 2250 years ago, it seems quite unnatural to me for there to have been periods of time when an omniscient being would provide concentrated inspirational foreknowledge to a small people group in a small corner of the world. So what factors make me a believer in the truth of biblical prophecy? What discussion or evidences might pique the interest of a non-Christian regarding biblical prophecy both revealed and fulfilled? I cannot provide comprehensive answers to these questions for it is a matter of ongoing learning for me. But as I have been pondering this aspect of biblical truth, I have stumbled across some material that I hope might solidify belief in biblical prophecy among believers and provide the evangelist with some organized thoughts and content so that the rich history of fulfilled biblical prophecy especially regarding Jesus Christ (God with us, Messiah, and Lord) might become a viable evangelism tool even in this skeptical age.
In the book Betrayed, Stanley Telchin, from a traditional Jewish family, recounts his journey comparing the Hebrew Old Testament with the English version, looking to find all the erroneous translations, and convince his daughter to turn away from this false Messiah called Jesus whom she had discovered. An important part of his investigation involved answering some critical questions:
-Do I believe that the Jewish Bible (The Tenach) is the divinely inspired word of God?
-Does the Bible prophesy about a coming Messiah?
-Is Jesus the Messiah?
His intense spiritual journey of study, solitude, and contemplation result in resounding Yes, Yes, Yes answers. His scholarly yet personal endeavor confirming the validity of translation of prophecies from the Jewish to English Old Testament should allow for confidence to the Christian unversed in Hebrew when confronted by the skeptic on issues of translational integrity and authenticity.
A distinct transition takes place once the life and teachings of Jesus begin to be documented. The very first sentence of the book of Hebrews clearly presents this transition by stating that “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” (emphasis added) A critical turning point in history ordained by God places us on the other side of the bulk of Christian prophecy (but certainly not all prophecy as one considers the book of Revelation as well as the passages on new heaven and earth in the book of Isaiah). This could be illustrated by considering such cultural artifacts as gas street lamps, horse and carriage for long distance travel, and film cameras. In the same way that human invention brought new modes of light, transport, and photography rendering prior methods nearly obsolete, God has appeared in human history as Jesus, our Emmanuel, speaking for Himself rather than through the prophets. The appearance and person of Christ provides all the evidence I need to overcome the seemingly “unnatural” placement of biblical prophecy in time in relation to my place in time. Put in another fashion, I don’t sit around doubting the existence of gas lamps just because I have lived my entire life in an age after the discovery of electricity, therefore I should not doubt the existence and relevance of prophecy just because I have lived my entire life in “days he has spoken to us by his Son”! The decision one must make about the existence and person of Christ cannot be minimized. Consider this verse from Acts 10:

To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Acts 10:43 KJV

Biblical Old Testament prophecy is ultimately about Christ and Peter clearly states the reason for the prophecy is to point people to believe in Christ as the answer for their sin problem. Jesus Himself pointed out that some would “miss the boat” when it comes to understanding what the Law and the prophecies were pointing to when He stated the following:

 

'You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.' John 5:39, 40 ESV

Do not refuse to come to Jesus! It is my hope that the attached Prophecy Evangelism tools help you see the wonderful trail left by the prophets leading to Jesus Christ the Suffering Servant, and repent of the sin for which he gave His life, trusting in Christ alone for salvation. Are you further interested in the specific prophesies related to the Suffering Servant? Or in just how significant it is that so many biblical prophecies were fulfilled in the life of one man? If so, then that is a good thing because it reveals a mind open to God’s ways which are not our ways and would have been called “uncommonplace” by Sir Robert Anderson:

'The minds of most men are in bondage to the commonplace facts of their experience.'
The Coming Prince by Sir Robert Anderson

Stay tuned as I further explore these issues of biblical prophecy next time but make sure to check out one of the most famous prophecy links of all as performed by Linus taken from the book of Luke giving fulfillment to the Isaiah 9:6 verse in the photo montage above. Wise men still seek Him!
Ei_Tree_small

 

    View Prophecies HTML Table   

View/Download Fulfilled Prophecies as PDF

View/Download Fulfilled Prophecies as Excel File