1 / 63

Equipping Youth For the Battlefield

Understand the challenges youth face in today's culture and equip them to defend their faith with biblical teachings. Learn why young people are leaving the church and how to respond effectively. Discover strategies to counter atheistic indoctrination and nurture a strong Christian foundation.

palmisano
Download Presentation

Equipping Youth For the Battlefield

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Equipping Youth For the Battlefield Mike Riddle www.CreationTraining.org

  2. A Briefing Situation Mission Execution

  3. Part 1 Situation Mission Execution Public school system Universities Evolution Moral relativism News media Many church leaders Not relevant Re-invent

  4. Understanding Today’s SocietyA Case Study 1 Corinthians 1:23

  5. But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 1 Corinthians 1:23 JEWS Stumbling Block

  6. But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 1 Corinthians 1:23 GREEKS Foolishness

  7. Why the Difference? The Culture We are no longer an ACTS 2 nation, we are an ACTS 17 nation.

  8. Warnings • Gal 2:4 False teachers • Jude 4 False teachers • Col 2:8 False philosophy • Acts 20:30 Distorters of truth • Acts 20:29 Fierce wolves • Mat 24:24 False prophets • Mat 7:15 False prophets • Mark 13:22 False prophets • 2 Pet 2:1 False prophets • 1 John 4:1 False prophets

  9. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

  10. Do Not be Deceived • Eph 5:6 • Rom 16:18 • 2 Tim 3:13 • Titus 1:10 • James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

  11. Many Churches • Avoid controversial topics such as creation, sin, hell, marriage (soft teaching) • Let the culture influence their teaching rather than influencing the culture with the Gospel • Music with no Gospel or doctrine • Make church growth their main goal rather than the Great Commission • Do not have teachers who can equip their people to share and defend their faith

  12. What happens when the church stops teaching parts of the Bible? The world will fill in the answers.

  13. “Over 60% of youth are leaving the church” • Pew Research • Nehemiah Institute • Barna Group • Lifeway Research • Answers in Genesis and the American Research Group • Public Religion Research Institute

  14. Reasons Youth Leave • Christianity is shallow and too exclusive • Church appears to be anti-science • Learning about evolution in college • Lack of specific or scientific evidence for a creator • College is a hostile environment towards Christianity • The teaching of moral relativism • Not saved

  15. The American Culture Since so many youth are leaving the church today we must understand why.

  16. The American Culture Wrong Answer • Reinvent the church to be more like the culture. Right Answer • We need to understand how the culture is challenging God’s Word and train our people how to respond to these challenges.

  17. Don Bierle (Ph.D., Life Sciences), Surprised by Faith, 1992, p. 2. “At that time [14 years old], and during the subsequent few years, I did not see the church as a source of answers. …I was asking ‘why,’ and could not find answers.”

  18. Ken Ham and Avery Foley “Why Young People Leave the Church” “These young people are not getting solid answers from church leaders and parents but, sadly, are often told they can believe in the big bang, millions of years, and evolution; they’re then admonished to reinterpret or ignore Genesis while being told to “trust in Jesus!” Ken Ham and Avery Foley (MA Theological Studies), on September 8, 2016 https://answersingenesis.org/christianity/church/pew-research-why-young-people-leaving-christianity/

  19. When did you first have doubts about the Bible? 1.6% Don’t know Elem school College Middle school High school 4.4% 10.6% 39.8% 43.7% Answers in Genesis and The American Research Group

  20. Atheist Indoctrination Project 2007 Dinesh D’Souza October 15th, 2007, The Atheist Indoctrination Project http://townhall.com/columnists/dineshdsouza/2007/10/22/the_atheist_indoctrination_project

  21. “It seems atheists have developed a comprehensive strategy to win the minds of the next generation. The strategy can be described simply: let the religious people breed them, and we will educate them to despise their parents' beliefs…. In fact, it is to a large degree orchestrated by teachers and professors to promote anti-religious agendas.”

  22. Northern Arizona University Freshman honors class “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America”. Chris Hedges (graduate of Harvard Divinity School, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner)

  23. “Followers [Evangelical Christians] in the movement are locked within closed systems of information and indoctrination that cater to their hates and prejudices.” “Most of America’s fundamentalist and evangelical churches are led by pastors who peddle this non-reality belief system, one that embraces magic, the fiction of a ‘Christian nation’…”.

  24. Comment from a student who attended the class: “I didn't know Christians were so bad.”

  25. Comment from the mother of a student “Don't Christians realize what their children will be up against? And if they do, why aren't they preparing their children for these battles?”

  26. Clergy Letter Project As of January 2019, over 16,000 American clergy of different denominations have signed the Clergy Letter Project.

  27. Clergy Letter Project “We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests.”

  28. 16,000 Church Leaders Jesus Christ Charles Darwin Influencing youth NOT to believe the Bible

  29. The World Is Out-Educating The Church “College is a war zone for young believers who are not prepared for the battle of their faith.” Randy Douglass, (Ph.D., Professor of Ministry), “Closing the Back Door: The Need for Christian Education”, www.normgeisler.com/articles, Oct 21, 2009.

  30. The World Is Out-Educating The Church “College students are attacked with bias from the moment they step on campus until the time they leave it. The effect is devastating…. The burgeoning problem of brainwashing by the universities must be combated.” Ben Shapiro (Harvard Law School), Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth, 2004, p. xvi-xvii.

  31. Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God, 1994, p. 13. “Many frustrated young people have expressed, ‘All I hear my parents or preachers saying is that the Bible says this is so and therefore it is so, and that is the only answer necessary to give.’” Three problems with this answer • This answer is given by other religions. • In school this answer is dismissed and often ridiculed. • 1 Peter 3:15; Jude 3

  32. The percentage of people with a biblical worldview is declining with each new generation 10% 7% 6% 4% Boomers Gen X Millennials Gen Z Impact 360 Institute & Barna Group, 2018 Gen Z born between 2000 and 2015 https://www.impact360institute.org/articles/4-percent-gen-z-biblical-worldview/

  33. John Warwick Montgomery (11 earned degrees, Th.D., Ph.D. Law, LLD), “On the Failure of the Church to Educate”, http://tektonics.org/indictment.php • “We have woefully neglected our responsibility to train our young people in the solid case for Christianity, and then we wonder why they depart from the faith under the influence of secular university instruction.”

  34. VoddieBaucham, Jr. (M.Div., D.Min., D.D.), “IndoctriNation, 2012, p. 263. “The correlation is clear: If we continue to send our children to Caesar for their education, we need to stop being surprised when they come home as Romans.”

  35. Part 2 Situation Mission Execution

  36. Mission • Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. • Matthew 28:19-20

  37. Matthew 28:19-20 • Go (going – participle, “ing”) • Baptizing (participle, “ing”) • Teaching (participle, “ing”) Teach • (Disciple: verbal imperative – command)

  38. We must understand and teach the complete Gospel message to be able to fulfill our mission. Know the Gospel Share the Gospel Defend the Gospel

  39. The Gospel John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

  40. Gen 1:1 The beginning Gen 1:31 A perfect beginning Gen 2:16-17 One warning The Bad News Gen 3:6 Rebellion (sin) Gen 3:17-19 God keeps His promise (death) Rom 6:23a Wages of sin is death Mat 5:48 God demands perfection Rom 3:23 No one is perfect Isa 59:2 Separated from God No Hope

  41. The Good News Gen 3:15 Promise of victory John 3:16 Promise fulfilled 1 Cor 15:3-4 The core of the Gospel 2 Cor 7:10 Repent (leads to salvation) Rom 6:23b A free gift Eph 2:8-9 Works not good enough 2 Cor 12:9 God’s grace (Eph 2:4-5) Rom 5:8 God demonstrates His love John 14:6 Only one way Rom 1:19-20 No excuses Rom 10:9 Confess/believe The Gospel

  42. Gen 1:1 The beginning Gen 1:31 A perfect beginning Gen 2:16-17 One warning Replaced The Bad News Gen 3:6 Rebellion (sin) Gen 3:17-19 God keeps His promise (death) Rom 6:23a Wages of sin is death Mat 5:48 God demands perfection Rom 3:23 No one is perfect Isa 59:2 Separated from God

  43. Gen 1:1 The beginning Man’s Wisdom Evolution Millions of years Not real history Gen 1:31 A perfect beginning Gen 2:16-17 One warning The Bad News Gen 3:6 Rebellion (sin) Gen 3:17-19 God keeps His promise (death) Rom 6:23a Wages of sin is death Mat 5:48 God demands perfection Rom 3:23 No one is perfect Isa 59:2 Separated from God A New Foundation for the Gospel

  44. Psalm 11:3 • If the foundations are destroyed,What can the righteous do?

  45. Foundation for the GospelLiteral Interpretation The Fall (Sin) Creation 6 Days (Perfect)

  46. Millions of YearsWhat It Really Means The Fall (Sin) Creation Millions of Years ? Adam Eve Death Before Sin

  47. Part 3 Situation Mission Execution

  48. The Plan of Action2 Timothy 2:2 • And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

  49. The Plan of ActionPreparing the Next Generation • What do youth need to know to become better evangelists in a world that is hostile to the Bible? • How can we equip youth to become doers of the Word (Application Training)?

  50. Understanding Education The ultimate test of teaching is not what you do as the teacher or how well you do it, but what can the student do or perform at the end of the training.

More Related