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For a long time in open-air preaching

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I used a lot of apologetics

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in order to build a crowd and keep a crowd

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where I'd answer question on things like

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proof of the Bible,

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creation, evolution.

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Now, I did start with what's called

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a presuppositional approach,

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believing that each person really knows

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God is true,

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and I was just really playing with them

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so to speak to build a crowd

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and to keep a crowd

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and maybe answer some genuine questions,

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but I've since found

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that those things are not profitable.

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I actually heard a sermon

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by Curt Daniel on defending the faith,

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and in there he pointed out

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that the biblical approach to apologetics

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is simply saying, like Jesus did,

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"have you never read?"

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"Have you never read?"

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Basically saying, "the Bible says this..."

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"The Bible says this..."

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And what you find is when you simply

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declare what Jesus said

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and what the Bible says,

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then people will eventually stop asking

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such stupid questions on many occasions.

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You see, many will send you up,

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or try to send you up

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all these rabbit trails

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talking about creation, evolution,

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manuscripts.

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When you think about it,

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you know, the Bible is

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the sword of the Spirit.

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But so often, someone will say,

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"Oh, it's no good quoting the Bible to me.

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I don't believe the Bible."

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So the Christian will then put the sword

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of the Word of God back in its sheath

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and then try to prove the 
Bible for the next hour.

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And that's ridiculous.

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I mean, we serve the King of the universe.

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Could you imagine in a much lesser court,

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the judge - an earthly court -

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and someone coming before the judge

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and the judge saying,

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"how do you plead?"

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And then the person saying,

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"Well, I don't believe in judges.

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I don't believe in law."

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Could you imagine there the judge saying,

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"Oh, hang on a minute,

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we best stop the proceedings

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and prove that law and 
order and judges exist

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before we go any further."

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No, of course, that is ridiculous.

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But that is like the Christian approach

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of trying to prove the Bible

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before we witness to someone.

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You know, it's the foolishness 
of preaching that God uses.

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The Gospel is the power 
of God to salvation,

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not our clever arguments.

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And I'll tell you this,

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for a long time open-air preaching,

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we preached to large crowds,

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and we never saw any real converts.

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In fact, from the first day we went out

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and used what I call

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the zero apologetics approach,

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although it's really a more 
biblical apologetics approach

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where we don't do 
this man-centered fashion,

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we just simply declare 
what the Bible says.

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This is what God says.

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I'm here to declare what God says.

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We started to see people converted.

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You know, one after another,

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not merely in the open air,

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but they'd come to the church from it

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and then they'd be converted.

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We started to see these conversions

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when we simply declared the Word of God.

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And the other thing is though

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the crowds are just as big.

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It still draws as many people.

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You see, the name of Christ

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is the central point.

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That should be the focus of our preaching.

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And people will still come 
to debate and listen

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about the person of Jesus Christ anyway.

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But if your ground there,

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if your footing is on Scripture,

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then it's much better,

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because you're declaring

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as God as the authority,

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rather than our silly little arguments.

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And there's always a temptation,

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because having a 
background in apologetics,

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I know some good answers to people

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when they bring in questions

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about creation, evolution,

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or Bible manuscripts and things like that,

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proof of the existence of God.

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But you see, for me to answer those things

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is a false assumption that that person

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is really listening and really

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does not have a depraved mind.

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You see, the unbeliever present

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doesn't normally bother that his view

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contradicts himself 
left, right, and center.

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He's not really bothered.

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He's just looking for 
something to argue against

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and to get into the way of the Gospel,

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so every time someone asks me a question,

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I will simply tell them 
what the Bible says,

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even if it sounds foolish.

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You see, I'm not here to declare

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my own opinions.

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I'm here to declare the Word of God,

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what He says.

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And people can see this

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because it's like,

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rather than speaking to a man,

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they're speaking to this big, infinite God

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and I think this really does

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hold a weight on people

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when you do this.