Back in July, I shared with you about a fun series of sermons that I did for Lent this year. It was called “Starting Point” and was dedicated to the foundational truths of Christian faith. I also hinted, but did not elaborate, about the fact that this series of sermons was the first in the cycle called “Foundations” that will be used in the future for basic training in Christian faith. In September, I continued this cycle with another series of sermons that will be part of this “Foundations” curriculum. This time around, the series was apologetic in nature, and we will be coming back to the topic over the next 3 years. It is called “Stress Test” and it invites people to test their beliefs in order to see if they will hold up during the stresses of life.
About 10 years ago, I read in a collection of essays on the challenges of modern Christian apologetics a phrase that stuck with me – “it is not that we do not have answers to the most challenging questions. It is that no one is asking those questions anymore.” The greatest challenge to our faith today is a certain apathetic attitude from our friends and neighbors. They do not seem to care about critical issues of human existence. Therefore, we began not with responding to questions about Christian faith (we will tackle those next year), but with a 5-part series in which the Christian faith challenges modern secular beliefs about the nature of faith, science, conscience, freedom, morality, and happiness. The goal was to show that the Christian faith is a beautiful and desirable alternative before we can prove that it is true. And just like “Starting Point,” this series will be used in the future in our spiritual formation Sunday School seminars. As I mentioned before, we will return to it next year to answer challenges to the Christian faith before we tackle questions that are at the very foundation of our faith (like the existence of God or resurrection of Jesus).
Each sermon in this series offered 3 simple questions to raise in a conversation over a cup of coffee with your friend, colleague, or neighbor. I practiced what I preached and struck up several conversations myself. It was both fun and rewarding, though I must admit that some of the answers puzzled me greatly. For example, I was surprised to find out that when asked about what people believed, I got a collection of meaningless generalities like “I believe in myself,” or “Everything works out for the best.” Also, I was quite surprised to hear several people say that their morals did not derive from their beliefs and were quite independent of them.
What kind of answers do you think you would get if you were to ask your unbelieving friends, neighbors, or relatives about the nature of their faith and beliefs? It would be great to compare notes and see what kind of answers you get.
Yours in praying and hastening the day of revival in Moscow and Russia,
Constantin and Alexandra
THREE THINGS TO PRAY FOR:
Please join us in praying for God:
- To bring peace to Ukraine and Russia. Moreover, ask God to use this conflict by bringing reconciliation and revival to both countries.
- To bless our Advent season. This year our sermon series will be dedicated to the second coming of Jesus. We will look forward towards the return of the King and will draw parallels with His first coming. Christmas is a great season for outreach and it would be wonderful to see many new people come to church and put their faith in Christ during this season.
- To provide the necessary resources for us to finish up remodeling our new place. We have moved in, but could not purchase a coat closet for the entryway, book shelves, or shelves for the closet.
