REVIVAL CHURCH WINTER CAMP, SEATTLE
Dear friends!
In this age of religious pluralism and individualism, where there are many opinions and voices, it is important to be watchful and always ready to give an answer to those who question your faith. The Apostle Peter talks about this in one of his epistles: “Always be ready to give an answer to every man who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, with gentleness and fear.”
1 Peter 3:15
A well-known American preacher once said, “When I graduated from the Bible Institute, I thought I would evangelize unbelievers, but I realized that I should do it with Evangelical Christians. I’ve found that many don’t even know what they believe.”
What is the reason? Ignorance of the Scriptures. More and more often I hear the same question: “Is it possible to consider yourself a Christian and not read the Bible?” How can one know God without reading about His Revelation about Himself? And it should be at a deeper level than dry academic knowledge. After all, the Sadducees possessed such knowledge, but they did not see with spiritual eyes what the Scripture says.
Once they asked another question to Jesus, to which He answered: “You err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.”
Matthew 22:29
The Word of God is not just another ancient work that would be good to know, rather it is life, bestowed by the power of God. This is what God says about Himself and how He speaks to our hearts today. By neglecting Scripture, we run the risk of getting lost, going astray, and entangled in the currents of modern philosophy. It is vital to pass on the truth to the next generation, to learn and teach others to always be ready to respond to the challenges of contemporary society. This does not mean that we know everything. If we have a conversation with an atheist, a skeptic, or a representative of any religion, we should always be honest and say: “Friend, at the moment I cannot answer your question because I have not thought about it yet. Give me a few days and we can meet and discuss it with a cup of coffee next time.” There is no need to be afraid of the phrase “I don’t know”, so you are honest with God and man. Any person feels the fake attitude. What is important here is the sincerity of your intentions to turn him to the truth.
From January 14 to 17 in Newport, the state of Washington, the youth camp of the Revival Church, Seattle took place. The speakers were the pastor of the church, Vadim Hetman, and myself, Max Volkov. We discussed very interesting and relevant apologetic topics such as “Does God exist?”, “Can the Bible be trusted?”, “How was the canon of the New Testament compiled?”, “Why does God allow evil and suffering?”, “How can a loving God send people to hell?”, “How do I know that Christianity is the only true way?” Also on the last day of the camp, a Q&A session was held in the morning. It was a blessed time to strengthen our faith and good lessons for winning souls for Christ.
God bless you!
Max Volkov in Christ