Go

"GO"

Jesus Christ commands us to "GO." He commands us to "go into all the world and preach the good news" (gospel). Sharing our faith can be intimidating, but this is not a suggestion, it's a command. God has called us all to reach the lost. The first step is to simply start a conversation. When we are obedient to what God commands us to do, he will help us with the rest. It doesn't matter if you have been saved for years or you just came to Christ today, we can all share the gospel. Maybe you just don't know where to start. If that is the case, the videos included below are extremely helpful in sharing the gospel. Even if you do know where to start, these videos will be very helpful. There are hundreds of people we come in contact with everyday who are headed for an eternity separated from God, we have been given the responsibility and command of reaching them. So let's get started, and always keep in mind that we are never on our own, God is with us.

Who

A simple and effective way to gain a heart to reach the lost is to make a list of all of the people you come in contact with regularly that need to hear the gospel. Whether it's your friends at school, family members, or the person who bags your groceries, write down the names of those people and pray for them on a daily basis. God will give you a heart to see them come to Christ and will begin to soften their hearts towards the gospel. 

How

Below are some videos and resources that are extremely helpful in sharing the gospel. Whether you are someone who shares their faith all the time, or someone who has never done it before, these videos will help you tremendously.

The God Test

The S.A.L.T. Principle
                                                                                                                                                       

There are training videos that help you to be able to clearly and concisely answer all of the questions presented in the God Test at http://www.thegodtest.org/#!videos/cngp
Let's go reach the lost!

A New Look At The Christmas Story

         The story of Christ’s birth is told a thousand times over at this time of year. The story of Mary and Joseph and the Three Wise Men, of the journey to Bethlehem only for there to be no room in the inn, and of the Savior of the world found lying in a manger. We reenact it in our Christmas plays and read the story on Christmas Day, but interwoven in this story are huge prophetic and historical implications. We see a poor virgin from Nazareth becoming betrothed to a lowly carpenter named Joseph. We see Caesar Augustus announcing a decree that requires Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem. But what importance, if any, do all of these facts carry?

         

           The coming of the Messiah was no small thing in the Jewish world. This was an event greatly hoped for and anticipated. They longed for the day when the Savior would come and free them of their bondage and establish his everlasting Kingdom. The Messianic prophecies were well known by all and included predictions of his lineage, time of birth, events surrounding his birth, as well as many events after his birth.

            

            The Messiah was prophesied to be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen. 12:3, Gen. 17:19, Num. 24:17). He was to come from the tribe of Judah and would be an heir to the throne of David (Gen. 49:10, Isaiah 9:7). In Matthew 1:1-16, the lineage of Jesus is painstakingly laid out to demonstrate the authenticity of his ancestry. He came from the line of Abraham, who was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah, and King David came from the tribe of Judah. Christ’s lineage is traced all the way down from David to Joseph, the husband of Mary.

            

             The orchestration of God in the events of history becomes very evident when you consider the next few prophesies.

Hell - Nick Hall

Evangelist Nick Hall on the topic of Hell. Does Hell really exist? Why is there a Hell?

 

G.O.S.P.E.L.

The gospel presented by Propaganda. "The full story of life crushed into four minutes. The entirety of humanity in the palm of your hand, crushed into one sentence. The greatest story ever told that's hardly ever told." "You can't fix yourself. Stop trying, it's impossible. Sin brings death." "We are eternally separated and the only way to fix it is for someone to die in our place, and that someone has to be perfect, or the payment ain't permanent." "Since the only one who can meet God's criteria is God, he sent himself as Jesus to pay the cost for us. His righteousness, his death, functions as payment."

  

God. Our. Sins. Paying. Everyone. Life.

All Or Nothing: Coming Soon!

My new article "All Or Nothing" will be published on therebelution.com on January 3, 2014. The article is an appeal for this generation to live up to its destiny in Christ and to give God our everything. "All or nothing" is the battle cry of a generation of world changers, a generation that will take a stand for Christ. A generation that won't compromise, won't be spectators, and will place Christ at the center of everything we do.

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Video Interview With Adam Boyd

"If you can't explain how nothing--and I mean absolutely nothing--turned itself into everything, then there is no point in even debating other topics. I have sat down with five-year-olds and said, 'Imagine you have a box with nothing in it, no light, no air, nothing. Nothing can get in or out of the box. What if you took the box and let it sit for a billion years, what would be in it?' You know what they answered? 'Nothing!' Nothing comes from nothing."

-Adam Boyd

Don't miss our video interview with Adam Boyd. Coming soon! 

What Are We Willing to Sacrifice In Order to Give God Everything?

Chris Norman, an NFL caliber linebacker at Michigan State University, said no to the NFL in order to fully follow Christ.

 
Drafted: Why Chris Norman Said No to the NFL from Desiring God on Vimeo.

The Persecuted Church

The month of November has been dedicated to praying for the persecuted church. We are asked to pray for the protection of our brothers and sisters who are daily persecuted for a belief in Jesus Christ. We live out a Christianity in America that is much different from the rest of the world. We try to find the church or youth group that best suits our likes and dislikes while we worship in air-conditioned sanctuaries with high-tech sound systems. Well, the persecuted church has a lesson to teach us all.

Meet the members of All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan. As these church members gathered for a meal together

Creation vs. Evolution: Part II

          Creationism was once the foundation for science. Education was once focused on a reliance on God and His Word. Science has now taken a shift from reliance on God to self-reliance through science, and education has followed. Although creationism has been made out to be a myth, the evidences for an intelligent designer are abounding. As discoveries in science are being made, evolution is losing the high ground. The evidences that atheists give for evolution are becoming more and more complicated and embark on more and more rabbit trails in order to ward off criticism. The complicated arguments that evolutionists present need to be answered with intelligent responses. This article contains a few more complicated evidences for creationism than my last article, “Creation vs. Evolution: Part I”. This article will discuss the proofs of irreducible complexity and molecular biology, which are more on the complicated side, but we need to know the complex side of arguments. The lofty evidences that are presented for evolution can only be answered by intelligent answers; so let’s begin.

In his book, Origin of Species, Charles Darwin says,

Know What You Believe. Know Why You Believe It. therebelution.com

Check out my article "Know What You Believe. Know Why You Believe It" that was published by therebelution.com. It is the most viewed Christian, teen website on the internet and was started by the authors of the book Do Hard Things, Alex and Brett Harris. I highly recommend their books and their website. Go check it out! Know What You Believe. Know Why You Believe It.

Creation vs. Evolution: Part I

I was recently told that “the debate between creation and evolution has been over for centuries and only religious fanatics deny the science.” Now this begs the question: does science disprove creationism? Is there no proof for intelligent design in the universe? Is there no evidence of a Creator? You may have heard people ask questions along these lines and maybe you have had them yourself. Atheists like to make a belief in God into something to be mocked, a belief only held by the uneducated and foolish. Are we foolish to believe in a Creator, is evolution proven? No, evolution is not a fact. It is riddled with holes in its very basic claims. Evolution’s basic claim that life evolved from simpler life forms lacks any hard evidence. If evolution

Timothy Keller

"People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A persons faith can collapse almost over night if they have failed over the years to listen patiently to their own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection. Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts--not only their own but their friends' and neighbors'." "Only if if you struggle long and hard with objections to your faith will you be able to provide grounds for your beliefs to skeptics, including yourself, that are plausible rather than ridiculous or offensive." 

-Timothy Keller

Ask hard questions. Know what you believe. Know why you believe it.

Ben Stein Interviews Richard Dawkins

EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THIS! World-renowned atheist Richard Dawkins is asked questions on the topic of intelligent design and the origins of life by a very competent Ben Stein. Dawkins usually makes his interviewers look naive and foolish; Ben Stein flips the script.

Lee Strobel: "Why Does God Allow Tragedy and Suffering?"

Check out this speech given by Lee Strobel on the topic of tragedy, suffering, and evil. http://t.co/2IbtH9XQrv

Upcoming Articles

My upcoming articles will be on the topic of Creationism and Evolution from a more scientific perspective. Friday's article will discuss:

The fossil record

The Cambrian explosion

The anthropic principle 

New Logo

Know What You Believe's logo has changed from our previous red and gray logo to the one that is now on the site. 

New Logo and Color Scheme

Heads up! Our logo and color scheme will be changing to this:

What Is Know What You Believe?

Know What You Believe is a website dedicated to helping equip our generation to strengthen its faith in God and to boldly share the gospel of His son, Jesus Christ. Sixty-five percent of high school students stop attending church and abandon their faith in God once they reach college. They go through their teenage years living off their parents’ and leaders’ faith and relationships with God instead of establishing their own. We have to know not only WHAT we believe, but WHY we believe it. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

 Could you clearly tell someone why you believe what you believe? As we step onto our high school and college campuses we are going to be presented with difficult questions that require specific answers. Knowing what we believe is a must if we are going to stand firm in our faith. We are a part of the most biblically illiterate generation in history; it’s time to change that. Jesus told us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” We so often ignore the command to love God with our minds; we need to know why we believe in God and why we believe His Word.  These years of our lives are not a time to relax, have fun, and save getting serious about our relationship with God for later. These years are the training ground for what we will become; it's our opportunity to build our foundation of faith. If our faith in God or His Word is not solid now, it will be shaken later. We have not just been called to love God ourselves, but to share the gospel with this lost and dying generation which is so desperately in need of a savior. How can we lead someone to faith in God if our own faith is trembling? Know what you believe, but just as importantly, know why you believe it. 

1 Peter 3:15

Reset Movement

Let's see revival come in our generation.

Purpose: Where Does It Come From?

            All human beings, no matter how young or old, feel the need for an ultimate purpose. We all search for our “calling,” our reason for being on this earth, but how could we have a purpose unless we were made for a purpose. Something cannot have meaning unless it has been formed for a function. Despite this longing felt by every human being, atheists say that any ultimate purpose is a myth. Richard Dawkins says in his book The God Delusion, “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.” Then how do we account for this longing? Atheists will tell you ‘meaning’ is an invention of the human race to fill this void that we feel, but this claim still admits that humanity feels a void. Former atheist C.S. Lewis says this about meaning and purpose, “If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning.”

Even militant atheists, when being candid, will admit that purpose exists. In his book Hitch-22: A Memoir, atheist Christopher Hitchens says, “It could be that all existence is a pointless joke, but it is not in fact possible to live one's everyday life as if this were so.” This void felt by humanity is acknowledged by even the most vocal of atheists.

There is a higher value placed on human life than on any other species. Animals are not guilty of rape or murder or stealing, but human beings are. If human beings are simply animals, why do get so upset when humans act like animals? Why do we place such a higher value on human life? Is it because we have greater reasoning capabilities? Well, if that were the case, human beings with a greater intellect would be valued more highly than say a child or a person with mental disabilities. The very basis of evolution is this: the strong dominate the weak. As human beings we do not hold to this standard; the strong uphold the weak. So where, if we acknowledge its existence, does purpose and this value for human life come from?

The God Test

The God Test is a great tool for sharing the gospel. Ten questions, ten minutes, and a great way to engage skeptics on key subjects. www.thegodtest.org

The Bible: Man Made Myths or God's Plan for Radical Redemption

Can the Bible be trusted? Is it simply a book full of contradictions and fairy tales with no historical evidence to back its claims or is it the inspired Word of God? This is one of the main questions that skeptics will present. If we are going to know why we believe the Bible, we need to be able to answer these questions. In his book God’s Not Dead, Dr. Rice Broocks gives the acronym SHARPER to help remember some of the main proofs for the validity of scripture.

            Same. The words of the Bible are 99% accurate and the vast majority of the words that are in question are simply misspells. There are 138,000 words in the New Testament, and only 1,400 of those words remain in doubt. The words that are in doubt do not change the Scripture’s meaning, its claims, or its doctrine. The Bible is not one book written by a single author like many other religious books, but it is a compilation of sixty-six books written by forty different authors over 1,600 years. The theme of salvation is maintained throughout all sixty-six books.

Historically accurate. The events described in the Bible are backed up by external sources and manuscripts, which will be discussed later. The Gospels, Acts, and the writings of the Apostle Paul all provide parallel accounts of Jesus life and his teachings.

            Archaeologically verified. The famous chemist and historian William Ramsay says about Luke, the author of the biblical books of Luke and Acts, “You may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any other historian’s, and they stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment.” Luke’s reliability as a historian is unquestioned. Innumerable details from the New Testament have been established by archaeological findings. Because of the fact that many of the details described in the Gospels and Acts are not well known details, the writers must have been relying on first-hand experiences. If the Bible is simply a fallible book written by flawed men, you would expect that evidences would begin to compile against its reliability, but this is not the case. As discoveries are made, the evidence does not contradict the Bible, but on the contrary it strengthens the Bible’s accuracy.

New Article

Can we trust the Bible? Know the answer. Coming Friday.

Upcoming Articles

In my previous article, "Know Why You Believe What You Believe," I presented some of the arguments against theism and Christianity. My upcoming article will address the topic of the validity of scripture. Why do you believe the Bible to be true? Know what you believe.

Know Why You Believe What You Believe

As I sat in my room I remember thinking, “I have believed there was a God for as long as I can remember, but why do I believe it?” I had grown up in the church, going every Sunday and being highly involved in our youth group. I had known God existed and had read and studied the Bible for years. I committed my life to Christ at a young age and He had transformed my life and given me a purpose. But as I sat there, I knew that if someone asked me to give them a reason for why I believed God existed I would, besides giving the typical Sunday school answer, have nothing to say.

Don’t get me wrong, when I say I would have nothing to say, I do not mean I would not be able to present the gospel or how God had changed my life, but when confronted with the arguments that are presented by atheists today I would be completely unprepared. Today’s atheistic arguments are complicated theological, social, and scientific questions which require deep and specific answers. The Bible says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.” (I Peter 3:15) I had hope, but no answer for why I had it. I knew what I believed, but did not fully know why I believed it. This is where my study began...

Know What You Believe

What do you believe? Or maybe the better question is: could you tell someone why you believe what you believe? The numbers suggest that the majority of Christian high school students in America don’t. According to a study done by the Barna Group, “65 percent of high school students stop attending church after they graduate.” Most of us have an idea of what we believe, but we don’t know why we believe it. The Bible says to, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:36-40 NIV) Students who believe their faith is solid arrive at a rude awakening in college. Their faith is challenged by hard questions, such as, “Why would a good God allow evil and suffering?” Or they are told that religion is blind faith and there is no evidence to support it. They begin to question their faith. But true faith in God is evidence based. Contrary to the atheistic taunts, the evidence for God is overwhelming. As we enter universities across the country, we should be influencing the campus for Christ, not being turned away from God because of our lack of knowledge. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.” In countries across the world, Christians are willing to die for their faith. They know what they believe, why they believe it, and take a stand. This should be our reality as well. Know what you believe, but more importantly, know why you believe it.