Get Up With God
highly caffeinated daily bible doses to help start your morning off right

This week on GUWG, we’re looking at ROCKY’S GREATEST HITS – words of wisdom from the disciple Jesus nicknamed “Rock” (aka Peter).

Here’s today’s selection . . .

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone
who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect.
(1 Peter 3:15)

Maybe you’re a bit like me. You pray fervently for the people around you to come to know Jesus. Then one day someone comes up to you and says: “You seem different. What’s your deal?”

Waaaaay too often, my answer to that question begins something like: “Umm, yeah, well, uh, you know, um, ahh . . . . . .”

Don’t let that happen to you. We’re called to be prepared to answer questions like that. Study the Bible for all it’s worth (and that’s a lot). Every day. Pray hard for the right words. Ask the Holy Spirit for help — he’s an expert in defending the faith.

Other times, I find myself sucked into arguments about God where I become a rude and insensitive blowhard. Don’t let that happen to you either.
We’re called to be gentle and respectful.

Here’s a prayer for all of us:

Dear God,
Help me always to be prepared to give an answer
to everyone who asks about my faith.
Help me always to be gentle and respectful.
And help me live my life in a way
that will communicate your love
in all that I do.
Amen

Here are some thought-provoking books you might find helpful: Tim Keller’s The Reason for God, Lee Strobel’s Case for Christ, Doug Powell’s Guide to Christian Apologetics, Peter Kreeft’s Handbook of Christian Apologetics and C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity.

The bottom line . . .

BE PREPARED

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)

You pray fervently for the people around you to come to know Jesus. Then one day someone comes up to you and says: “You seem different. What’s your deal?”

Waaaaay too often, my answer to that question begins something like: “Umm, yeah, well, uh, you know, um, ahh . . .”

Don’t let that happen to you. We’re called to be prepared to answer questions like that.

Other times, I find myself sucked into arguments about God where I become a rude and insensitive blowhard. Don’t let that happen to you either.
We’re called to be gentle and respectful.

Here’s a prayer for all of us:

Dear God:
Help me always to be prepared to give an answer
to everyone who asks about my faith.
Help me always to be gentle and respectful.
And help me live my life in a way
that will communicate your love
in all that I do.
Amen

Bonus: It’s reallllly hard to find anyone in mainstream media defending Christianity. But click here for a recent example that might make you laugh (and maybe even think).

BE PREPARED

1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000?

According to mathematicians, those are the odds Jesus beat when he fulfilled dozens of detailed prophecies about Him in the Old Testament. Pretty impressive when you consider that the odds of getting hit by lightning during your lifetime are 1 in 5,000.

What were some of those prophecies?

• The Messiah would be born in tiny little Bethlehem (predicted about 700 B.C. in Micah 5:2).
• His hands and feet would be pierced (predicted in Psalm 22:16 — 800 years before the Romans even started practicing crucifixion).
• He would be betrayed for thirty silver coins that would be scattered on the temple floor and later used to buy a potter’s field (Zechariah 11:11-13).
• He would be on the scene while the temple was still standing in Jerusalem — pretty amazing given that the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and never rebuilt (Malachi 3:1).
• He would be born to a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).

That’s merely a sampling of the many prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. Coincidence? Accident? Myth? You decide.

DON’T BET AGAINST JESUS