What is a Shock Troop?• A military unit which contain

assault troops typically organized for mobility with the intention of penetrating and attack the enemy through its vulnerable rear areas.

• Shock troopers specialize in the use of various non-standard weapons and equipment. They were also distinguishable by their extra heavy plate armor.

Evangelist• A person and especially

a preacher who tries to convince people to become Christian

• Someone who talks about something with great enthusiasm

• A writer of any of the Gospels in the Bible

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Shock Troopers For The Kingdom Of God:• Are organized for mobility and whose sole the purpose of winning souls for Christ. • They defend themselves, the Kingdom and all those called according to God’s purpose with

the tactics of penetration to include the attacking of the enemy through his vulnerable rear areas, with weapons of truth.

• They pursue with great enthusiasm utilizing non-standard weapons and equipment that include rational and irrational consistencies and inconsistencies, historical facts, archaeological findings, the Word of God and the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ to collectively form a heavy plate of armor for protection and assured victory in battle.

Elements of an Effective Evangelist

Jesus Was An Apologist

The most explicit example of Jesus’ offering evidence to support His claim to deity is His response to doubting Thomas. In John 20, Jesus first appears to the other disciples before He appears to Thomas (vv. 19–24). When the disciples tell Thomas they have seen the Lord alive, Thomas responds, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (v. 25). In a word, Thomas would not accept the good news of the risen Christ unless he had empirical proof.

How did Jesus respond? Did He ignore Thomas and turn away from him because he wanted evidence for belief? Did He say that Thomas’s desire for proof was a sign of spiritual immaturity? Not at all. Instead, our Lord gave Thomas exactly the kind of evidence he requested; He responded specifically to Thomas’s particular obstacle to faith. He appeared to Thomas and invited him to examine the signs of His crucifixion. Thomas was immediately convinced and pronounced the very words that Jesus calls all unbelievers to utter: “My Lord and my God!” Afterwards, Jesus reminded Thomas that he should have accepted the testimony of the other disciples, but Jesus first gave Thomas the evidence he needed to encourage a step of faith.

Story, D. (1997). Defending your faith (p. 12). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.

• To be an effective and effectual evangelist, you must become an apologist. The term apologetics is derived from the Greek word apologia, which is found seven times in the New Testament (Acts 22:1; 25:16; 1 Cor. 9:3; Phil. 1:7, 16; 2 Tim. 4:16; 1 Pet. 3:15). The English equivalent of apologia is defense (literally, “a speech for the defense”)

• You must be enthusiastic and confident in the words that you speak.

• You must always be sharpening and perfecting your tools of warfare.

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The Apostles were apologist

Like Jesus, the apostles actively used apologetics in their evangelism. They gave their personal testimonies, not to evangelize or defend Christianity, but to confirm their message. In the Book of Acts, the apostle Paul furnishes the most explicit examples of this.

The apostles used many other apologetic techniques as well to make their case. They referred to eyewitness accounts (1 John 1:1), well-known historical data (Luke 3:1–2), the common knowledge of their audience (Acts 26:26), fulfilled Old Testament prophecy (v. 22), and legal reasoning (25:16). The apostles also instructed their followers to defend the gospel as they did (see 2 Tim. 2:24–26; 4:2–5; Titus 1:9–14)

Story, D. (1997). Defending your faith (p. 13). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.

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This is the broken link in most ministries. We have many professing to be Christians, but have no true understanding of Christianity.

Is it possible to become a Christian without understanding what Christianity is all about?

The major problem with not having an understanding of Christianity is you cannot be a viable asset to the Kingdom.

Hosea 4:6 tells us “my people perish from the lack of knowledge”. Without knowledge we become a perishable people because a lack of knowledge creates an inability to effectively spread the Gospel or to address the disbeliefs of others.

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The goal of a Christian apologist aka knowledgeable evangelist is not to coerce a person into accepting Christ on blind faith but to lead him to make an informed decision for the Lord.

When one takes the step from intellectual evidences and emotional certainty, he has taken a step of faith. Not blind faith, but faith resting on a foundation of truth, which will ultimately assist in building the Kingdom.

Informed individuals, are confident and enthusiastic about the knowledge that supports their confidence and are anxious to share

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

2 Timothy 2:15

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITYis based on the fact that God exists

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Only a small fraction of the world’s population question the existence of a deity.

For most people, the issue isn’t whether a God exists but what God is like and what’s His role. • Is God one or many? • Personal or impersonal?• Good and fair or harsh and capricious? • Is He the God of the Judeo-Christian religion or the God of some other religion?

The only way anyone can

prove no God exists, is to be a God himself.

OMNIPRESENT(present everywhere at once)

OMNISCIENT (have all awareness and understanding)

These are two of the primary attributes of God that would be required for anyone to have enough information to know that no

God exists.

Hence, no human being can prove God does not exist

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Walk In Confidence

No fears..

When defending Christianity against atheist. We as Christians, have a document (the Bible) that testifies to the existence of God and it is always up to the person contesting a document to prove it is false.

For example, in court cases, the person contesting the document has the responsibility to prove the document is bogus.

In the debate over the existence of God, Christians have a historical document that reveals God exists. If atheists wish to challenge the existence of God, they must prove this document is spurious.

The burden of proof rests on atheists. They do not have to prove the nonexistence of God, but they do have to disprove the objective evidence offered for His existence. If they can’t, then Christian theism is true and atheism is false.

A document is innocent until proven guilty.

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The Bible is divine revelation and a true testimony

to the existence of God. The Bible is truthful in all areas open to investigation. It is philosophically consistent, prophetic, historical, geographical, and can be scientifically verified to be factual.

If the Bible is reliable in all these areas and other forms of investigation can be applied, it is logical to assume that, in areas of religious truth (such as God’s existence), it is equally reliable and truthful.

There is no one is alive today who witnessed the assassination of Abraham

Lincoln. However, we can be certain that the event

occurred because of the vast amount of historical

evidence that confirms it. The probability that Lincoln

was assassinated is overwhelming.

The testimony of Scripture is the most potent weapon

in the Christian’s arsenal.

The Bible offers objective, testable evidence for God’s

existence. The Bible does double duty: it brings the

atheist face to face with the fact that God exists, and it reveals the true nature of

God in the person of Jesus Christ.

“For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Matthew 5:18

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Atheists reject the Bible because they reject the existence of God. For atheists to consider the testimony of Scripture involves presenting philosophical and historical evidence for God’s existence..

The Universe Created

Itself (atheist belief)

The Universe Created by God(Christian belief)

Self-caused, violates the laws of logic

The Big Bang theory

violates scientific evidence

Evidence of Cause and

Effect points to God’s existence

Evidence of designed order and harmony in nature

points to God’s existence

Evidence of human morality points to the

existence of God

1. If the universe had in fact created itself, it must have both existed and not existed at the same time.

2. And nothing can exist and not exist at the same time.

3. Further evidence that the universe had a beginning is the fact that it is aging, indicating then there must have been a starting point.

4. Another piece of evidence is the principle of contingency, which states that everything in the physical universe is dependent upon something else for its existence.

5. Thus, for the universe itself to exist, there must be a cause for its existence. Logically, the universe cannot be self-creating if something else caused it to come to be.

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The Bible states that God is holy,

eternal, omniscient,

omnipresent, omnipotent, and

omnibenevolent. It tells us that God is

triune—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

The scientific principle of cause and effect, tells us that any thing that exists does so due to a cause. And since no effect can be greater than its cause, whatever caused the

universe must be greater than the universe itself. That greater cause must be God,

the first cause.

Nothing in the universe exists that is not dependent on something else. A tree’s

existence is contingent on seed from another tree, as well as, water, minerals, and sunshine.

Absolutely nothing in the universe is able to declare total

independence or explain its own existence

The only way we can know for sure that God exists is if He reveals Himself.

Without realizing it, many atheists

acknowledge the concept of an intelligence behind nature when they use the

term Mother Nature. It plainly carries the idea of a creator who designed

and maintains the natural world.

Mother Nature

=

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The Bible reconfirms: • Something or someone

outside of the universe caused the universe to be.

• Creation out of nothing is the only plausible explanation for the existence of the universe.

• Only God, a Being who is Himself uncaused, eternal, and all-powerful, could by definition be the Creator of The Universe.

Everywhere we look, there is interdependence, harmony, order, and purpose. These

characteristics indicate the work of an intelligent and supernatural being.

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Common Objection To The Existence

of God

If there is a God why does he allow suffering and evil in the world. And if He does exist, why doesn’t he put an end to suffering and evil?

1. The very fact that we as human possess a moral standard that can decipher evil and suffering is proof of God’s existence.

2. We possess a generic moral code manifested in every human regardless of race, creed or color that makes murder, stealing, lying, rape, infidelity and so on unacceptable.

3. The moral standard (The Ten Commandments) was written in the Bible over 3500 years ago and this standard is embedded in every culture creating a universal standard for moral behavior.

4. The only reasonable explanation for a universal moral standard for behavior must be derived from a moral absolute and this could only be God.

5. By nature, God is perfect in love, wisdom, goodness and righteous, thus the only being able to judge perfectly what is right and what is wrong.

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We still have so much to cover. The lessons to come will cover:

1. A further look at “why evil and suffering”

2. The reliability of the Bible3. Who was Jesus, really – The

EvidenceAnd so much more

Please do not forget to complete this week’s lesson

in “Evangelism In Action”