We can approach a church service as our opportunity to serve the Lord through what we are doing during our gathering, or we can go to a church service with the expectation that we are going to be served by the Lord. We usually hold one approach as our predominant understanding of what is occurring when we gather. There is a church service order called the Divine Service. This is an order of service typically used within Lutheran traditions. Its name was mentioned in Episode 28, but not much was shared about what actually transpires in a Divine Service. So for this episode, Andy interviews Pastor Jaime Nava of Good Shepherd Lutheran in Yucaipa, CA, to learn more about what the Divine Service is and why Jaime thinks it is the best approach to sharing the Gospel during our church services.
Show Links:
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church - Yucaipa
Episode 28 of Reconnect which Sparked the need for this Episode
The Divine Service - An Explanation at Steadfast Lutherans
An Explanation of the Divine Service for Laypeople by Lutherans Online
Andy and Ben take a look at a video God or Absurdity posted that demonstrates what they call" an excellent summary of presuppositional apologetics".
The video is a splice of two episodes of "On the Box" featuring Mark Spence answering the question: "What is presuppositional apologetics and how is it used?" In the process of answering this question, Mark discredits the use of evidential apologetics. He does this because he says the nonbeliever will discredit all evidence that is presented for the existence of God.
Andy and Ben disagree with Mark Spence on some of his points about evidential apologetics and they agree with him on some of his points about presuppositional apologetics. Together, they make a case for using both presuppositional and evidential apologetics when sharing and defending the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Show Links:
God or Absurdity
"On the Box" Video on Presuppositional Apologetics
"Martyrs Read Joel Osteen Tweets" Video
God or Absurdity - "Other Religions" Page Featuring Contradict!
George and Andy take a quiz from ChurchPop that makes them decipher if a selection of lyrics are from a secular love song or a contemporary worship song.
This quiz leads them to ask if it’s a problem if the lyrics to a song intended to be sung to Jesus could just as easily be sung to your girlfriend.
Other questions are also addressed:
Why is there music and singing in worship services? Is there a Scriptural reason to support singing when Christians gather for worship?
What should we expect to see in the lyrical content of songs intended for worship?
Should worship be viewed as a time that God comes and serves us, or a time that we come together to worship and praise God?
Should there be a different standard of lyrical content when singing to God corporately or by one’s self?
Andy has noticed what appears to be a thrust to have the songs and bands in services be something non-Christians or non-Church-goers wouldn't mind hearing. This means the band in a way has become an outreach component. Is this a good approach to sharing the Gospel? And if this is the intent of some services, are the “Jesus is my Girlfriend” songs missing the mark of their intent for evangelism?
George and Andy both pick a song they have heard recently in a worship setting that has rubbed them the wrong way lyrically and they explain why. Their intent with this podcast is to promote Christians to evaluate what the purpose is of singing as a body of believers and to lead them to think about what they are singing when they gather in their local church bodies.
Visit AndyWrasman.com and check out the post for Reconnect Episode 28 to access show links to the quiz they took and the songs they discuss.
Andy and Wes discuss Law and Gospel.
0:30 – Law and Gospel Intro
2:35 – What is God’s Law?
5:20 – What is the Gospel?
6:40 – When does a person need to hear Law? When does a person need to hear the Gospel?
10:00 – Public preaching of God’s Word needs both Law and Gospel.
14:20 – Don’t weaken the Law of God.
18:30 – The Law found in the Sermon on the Mount
20:55 – Can we meet God’s standard in this life?
25:00 – God’s Law is written on all men’s hearts.
27:00 – Knowing that God’s Law is written on the hearts of men, most adherents of other religions are likely already in terror of God’s Law and need to hear the Gospel, not more Law.
31:20 – Christianity has both Law and Gospel. Other religions just have the Law.
35:00 – What is the Hermeneutical principle of distinguishing Law and Gospel in a Scriptural text?
52:00 – Closing words
Psalms 32:6-7, 89-8-11, and 74:12-17 are some examples of raging sea images within Scripture. The raging sea is depicted as being chaotic becuase of a great sea monster!
Andy connects this imagery and understanding of the sea with the Gospel of Mark's repeated references to the sea that contains multiple sea crossings that were marked with chaotic storms that were stilled by Christ. What occurred before and after these crossings is also significant. This episode's sermon is meant to encourage you as we are called to be fishers of men, entering into the chaotic sea of this world knowing that the sea will one day be turned to glass before the throne of God. The place where men from every nation, tribe, and language shall praise the Lord.
Show links:
Hangzhou International Christian Fellowship
Andy interviews Mary Eady, author of Letter to a Friend: Yoga, and staff member of TruthXchange.
Mary takes a strong stance that Christians should not partake in Yoga. Listen to find out why! Will you be persuaded?
Andy is in the process of turning his book, Contradict - They Can't All Be True, into an audio version. Here's a sampling of the work in progress as he reads the first chapter. The influence of Hinduism in the West with its connections to religious pluralism is addressed, which leads perfectly into next week's episode asking the question, "Is it OK for Christians to do yoga?"
I (Andy) have recently noticed, on the Contradict Facebook page I administer and on other pages, that most posts on homosexuality speak just the Law of God ( i.e. his standards, commands, and expectations). The Gospel is typically missing.
I took a photo of a gay wedding cake and then added the text, "Jesus died for this sin too!" off to the side of the image. With this single statement the Gospel is proclaimed, and at the same time homosexuality is still shown to be sinful.
Jesus is the Savior of all adulterers. I am one of them. To clarify, in Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount", he defines adultery as any lust. He defines murder as hating anyone. Jesus essentially shows us that we all have broken God's Law, that we are all sinners in need of divine redemption. He provided that redemption through the shedding of his blood for our sins, through his life, death, burial, and resurrection.
"To share or not to share?" That is the question. In this episode George shares why he chooses to abstain from sharing religious posts on social media sites, while I share why I am in full support of such posts. To close George shares four Facebook posts pertaning with homosexualty and wants to know if I'd share them or not. Putting the Law and Gospel principle into action, I decide to share or not to share.
To learn more about Law and Gospel watch the videos with Law and Gospel in their titles in the following playlist I created on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS-hGmUdPsUnbaRFbrhQqhy9zj-h5mwub
Christian apologists typically favor a specific approach to defending the Christian faith. These approaches, or methods, are numerous and each school of apologetics touts its top apologists as the best models to follow when training in apologetics. It’s not uncommon to see advocates for certain schools of apologetics debate why their chosen method is superior. J. Warner Wallace however argues that we don’t need to argue over which method is the best, but instead says we need to embrace and train in all of these various schools of apologetics. He calls this training in Mixed Martial Apologetics!
Andy asks Wallace to name and explain some of the branches of Christian apologetics and when he thinks they are best utilized. Andy closes by sharing arguments he has heard against such a mix-bag approach to apologetics, asking Wallace to make a case for Mixed Martial Apologetics.
J. Warner Wallace is the author of Cold-Case Christianity and God’s Crime Scene. Wallace’s many resources for training in Mixed Martial Apologetics are available at his site, coldcasechristianity.com.
George shares his paper, "Qoheleth: The Search for Meaning in Life", with Andy.
Solomon's method for searching for meaning in life is one to consider. His conclusion is one we should all the more consider. With such an endearing topic, Solomon truly is a preacher for our day. George and Andy make some connections to how we can take Solomon's search for the meaning in life and use it as a tool to share the Gospel with those who are searching.
Read George's paper at www.andywrasman.com in the show notes for this episode.
Andy brings Reconnect listener and Contradict Movement members’ questions to the show to answer them with George and Wes.
1:53 – Responding to the claim that the Gospel of Barnabus is the true Bible that prophesies that Muhammad will be the Messiah.
16:47 – Does Contradict Movement espouse the doctrines of “Lordship Salvation”?
24:07 – Responding to a post made by Mena Lee Grebin of Faithful Walk Healing Ministry. She advocates that we must work to maintain our relationship with Jesus. A Contradict follower, Nick, thinks Mena’s post is inserting our works into our salvation by her post. In particular Nick wants to know the meaning of the Parable of the Ten Virgins which Mena uses in her post, which we read in full and respond to in its entirety.
46:25 – If we are following Christ, why are we still cursed?
49:50 – Does God’s standards apply to our everyday life or just spiritual life?
51:25 – Feedback from Kurt Calloway on Reconnect Episode 15!
Who is a Christian? How do you become a Christian? And how do you know for sure that you are a Christian?
If one is really a Christian, that person is really saved!
But how would you know for sure that you really are a Christian and that you really are saved?
In other words, where do you look for assurance that you are a Christian, that you are saved from eternal death?
Kevin DeYoung wrote an article for The Gospel Coalition entitled, "How Do I Know That I'm A Christian?" He gave three signs that a person can use to have confidence that he or she is saved:
1. The first sign is theological. You should have confidence if you believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
2. The second sign is moral. You should have confidence if you live a righteous life.
3. The third sign is social. You should have confidence if you love other Christians.
Andy, George, and Wes discuss these three signs that DeYoung offers using verses from 1 John that should serve to give us confidence and not condemnation.
All three of us disagree with DeYoung on the moral and social sign. We say that using such signs will only lead us to despair and utter lack of assurance of salvation. Turning inwards to our own morality and not outwards to the work of Christ for assurance of salvation can dangerously strip Christians of cetainty that they are saved, lead to a distortion of the Gospel, and lead many into Christian legalism. This is a dangerous road and we do our best to explain why we should not use these as signs that we are saved by looking at the Scripture verses DeYoung cites in his article.
http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2015/05/12/how-do-i-know-im-a-christian/
Few places have a local Christian newspaper. Starting a Christian newspaper can be a very challenging yet rewarding ministry and hobby that can bring glory to the Lord in your local area. Chris Thompson started Life in His Hands Christian Newspaper from scratch. He shares why he did it and how he did it. He shares two things he recommends everyone to do if starting a paper and two things not to do. He shares the price of printing his paper, distribution tips, and so much more. Potentially, you could even use Chris' layout for his paper and just update a few sections with local ads and replace a few of the local articles each week. Maybe you are a writer, maybe you are a communications and media expert, maybe you are a graphic artist, maybe you are good at advertising and producing and sharing a product. Maybe this episode is intended for you.
We should be evangelists first and apologists second. When defending the Christian faith, we should always strive to incorporate the Gospel into our defense. Why should we do this? How can we do this? Andy gives a brief explanation at the start of this episode, before reading an excerpt from his book Contradict - They Can't All be True to answer these questions, before running these concepts through in practice on Cross Defense, a radio show hosted by Rod Zwonitzer on KFUO out of St. Louis, Missouri! Enjoy.
Andy interviews Ken Chitwood about his article, "Building Bridges: Toward Constructing a Christian Foundation for Inter-Religious Relationships in the Shift from Religious Privilege to Spiritual Plurality" The key points for inter-religious dialog that Ken suggests are: pay attention, find, and form, friendships, listen and learn, dine, dialog, and do together, discern, and witness to the worldview. The article can be found linked within this episode's page at andywrasman.com.
First Reconnect July Fourth Special! Andy discusses the concept of "Christian Freedom" with Pastor Samwise Praetorius (Samuel Schuldheisz) by addressing the eucatastrophes of fairy stories and the Gospel connections that can be made with rock songs. They both share their top three favorite rock songs to use to share the Gospel. To see all the show links be sure to visit Episode 15 on the Reconnect Podcast feed at andywrasman.com.
Two high school students discuss the similarities and differences between Hinduism and Christianity with Andy. A slew of links are available on Episode 14's blog post at andywrasman.com.
God is big! But is God too big to fit into one religion? Andy discusses a bumper sticker that makes this claim with two colleagues, Theology teacher, Wes Bareford, and, Biology teacher, Ben Fisher. Get a copy of the discussion guide we used for this episode at the andywrasman.com's Reconnect Episode 13 blog post.
Andy found a bumper sticker at a New Age trinket shop in Ashville, NC. The sticker reads, "In the end, there are three things that shall last, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love." This statement comes from the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:13 to be precise. However, the sticker has no citation to the Bible verse, and faith, hope, and love are spelled using various religious symbols. What do the makers of this sticker intend to convey stripping the Bible citation and incorporating all of these religious symbols? Andy has created a dicussion guide for this episode, accessible at andywrasman.com . He uses this guide to discuss this sticker with two of his high school students.
Andy saw a Morpheus meme that read, "What if I told you, you didn't have to dress a certain way to go to church." With a slew of Facebook comments on this image, Andy brings the feedback to Reconnect to discuss church attire with George.
There were way too many topics, stories, and scenarios pertaining to church attire that were critiqued, questioned, and addressed to be able to give a brief summary description for this episode. Just press PLAY.
Go to andywrasman.com and look up Reconnect Episode 11 to see a replica of the meme that Andy created for Reconnect.
All too often religions are said to cause evil and to cause wars. The Crusades are often times mentioned to support this claim. Andy interviews Stephen Puls, a Lutheran high school history teacher, who explains what the Crusades were, why they started, and what went wrong.
In the second segment, they turn towards looking at the role of Atheism in connection with wars!
By the end of this episode, you'll have some great talking points whenever such an argument against religion arises. And of course, the goal is to use these talking points to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some suggested ways of making this connection are also mentioned in this episode.
Have you seen the movie Footloose? It's about a youth who just moved into a very strict Christian community where he is signaled out as a troublemaker, almost instantly because he didn't adhere to the "Christian" principles of the town. He was essentially "shunned" because of it. That movie is based on real scenarioes that have occured for some poeple, becuase there are certainly Christian communities that stress certain rules and regulations amongst their members, such as don't drink, don't gamble, don't dance, don't be associated with known sinners, and etc.
These religious expectations amongst some Christian circles have led many nonChristians who have interacted with such groups to assume that these rules are the norm amongst all Christians. They have thus become Christian stereotypes. Brett Shoemaker has made a list of ten Christian stereotypes that he hates. Andy grills him to find out if these stereotypes are in fact things that Christians should uphold and obey as commands from God, or if these Christian stereotypes fall into the realm of Christian freedom. If these stereotypes are NOT in fact mandated by Scripture, and if these stereotypes have become unnecessary burdens or divisions for nonChristians to hear and receive the Gospel, then how should Christians respond who DON'T fit these stereotypes? And if a Christian DOES fit these stereotypes, how should he or she respond to them if they aren't in fact Scriptural mandates for everyone. Andy shares many comments from Christians who disagree with Brett's list of stereotypes, many of whom thought Brett was a nonChristian mocking Christianity when he wrote this list.
For more information and links for this show, visit the Reconnect Episode 9 blog post at andywrasman.com.
George and Andy, discuss a series of articles from Credo House entitled: 21 Things Christians Say to Hurt Their Credibility. In this episode they have time to discuss three of these statements:
1. "You can't use the Bible to prove the Bible."
2. "Good question. I'll find the answer and get back to you."
3. "One white lie will send you to hell for all eternity."
Andy and George agree that some of these statements really do hurt the credibility of our Christian witness and should be avoided, but they come to disagree with at least one of these articles, because they think the statement is in fact Scriptural, thus should be spoken, but maybe there is a better way of presenting the truth to a nonbeliever.
Other questions and topics emerge as they discuss these articles, such as: how do we know the Bible is the Word of God, how should we respond to questions we don't know the answers, is it possible for Christians to have all the answers to life's questions, what exactly is revealed to us in Scripture and why, how should we approach preparing answers to difficult questions raised against or about the Christian faith, why should churches teach apologetics, and the very controversial topic of varying degrees of punishment in hell!
If you want to chime in on any of these topics or give a short review of any episode of Reconnect, record a short 30 second to one minute long audio clip, stating your name and the episode number you are addressing, and send it to Andy at andy@contradictmovement.org as an mp3 file. If you have any questions you want addressed on the show, send them there via email as well. Thanks. Reconnect us, Oh Lord.
Andy Wrasman received an email from an angry man who had encountered someone wearing a Contradict T-Shirt. This gentlemen lets Andy know that the Messiah is prophesied to:
A. Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).
B. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).
C. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)
D. Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).
This gentlemen explains that Jesus has not met any of these Messianic prophesies. He goes onto to state that because the Bible claims that Jesus was born of a virgin, he cannot be of the line of David from his father's side, which he claims is required in Scipture. He also states other ways in which Jesus contradicts the Hebrew Bible.
Andy seeks help from Old Testament teacher, Conni Schramm, to address all of the objections this gentlement raises.
The email can be read in full at www.andywrasman.com.
Andy Wrasman, George Allen III, and Adam Stetson discuss how they came to use a Contradict poster for evangelism at University California Irvine. What were their previous evangelism efforts? Why did they decide the Contradict evangelism table method was their favorite? How do they use the poster to spring into sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ? What tips do they have to share from their outings? What are their most memorable encounters and relationships formed via their Contradict outings? What do they appreciate the most about each others' personality and approach to sharing the Gospel? Answering all of these questions, they hope to inspire and encourage you to consider a similar approach to sharing the Gospel in public spaces.
Tags/Keywords: Contradict, Coexist, Campus Evangelism, Contradict Movement