The Reasonable Gospel

Notes

Is it reasonable to believe in Jesus and the Gospel Message?  Looking at Acts 17:1-15, here a two reasons as to why we can declare that the Gospel is a 'Reasonable Gospel.'

• REASON #1 – The Scriptures 
• The Scriptures pointed to Jesus!
• The Scriptures are filled with fulfilled prophecy!
• The Scriptures offer the best explanation of understanding our reality!  
• The Scriptures were Inspired by God!
• REASON #2 – The Transformation

Verses

{Paul and Silas then traveled through the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people. He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.” Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women.

But some of the Jews were jealous, so they gathered some troublemakers from the marketplace to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas so they could drag them out to the crowd. Acts 17:1-5 NLT}{That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men. But when some Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God in Berea, they went there and stirred up trouble. Acts 17:10-13 NLT}{You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! John 5:39 NLT}{All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV}{You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure. You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition… We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too. 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2, 8 NLT}{Dear brothers and sisters, after we were separated from you for a little while (though our hearts never left you), we tried very hard to come back because of our intense longing to see you again. 1 Thessalonians 2:17 NLT}

Quotes

Glenn Sunshine : The primary function of religion was to keep the gods happy so they did not destroy the people and – for the more benign gods – to encourage them to help the people by blessing the natural world. For the overwhelming majority of worshipers, the gods were feared, not loved. (Why You Think The Way You Do); Josh McDowell : My heart cannot rejoice in what my mind rejects. My heart and head were created to work and believe together in harmony. Christ commanded us to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. (The NEW Evidence That Demands A Verdict); Ravi Zacharias : What I believe in my heart must make sense in my mind. (); Chuck Colson : The Christian faith is not an irrational leap. Examined objectively, the claims of the Bible are rational propositions well supported by reason and evidence. (); Norman Geisler : Other books claim divine inspiration, such as the Koran, the book of Mormon, the Hindu Vedas, and Buddhist writings. But none of those books contain predictive prophecy. (A General Introduction to the Bible); Mark Driscoll : Transformed lives of people in the church are both the greatest argument for, and the greatest explanation of, the gospel. (The Radical Reformission); N.T. Wright : For many Christians, being a Christian is something they’ve done with their heads, something they’ve figured out with their moral lives, something they’ve started to enjoy in common with friends, and so on. But that’s not how it’s meant to be. Being a Christian is about gazing at the God in whose image you were made and, in love, reflecting that image out into the world. (Socrates in the City); Graham Tomlin : He is an unbeliever not because Christianity is inherently implausible, but because he simply does not want to believe it. ();