Last September, Thomas joined the assembly, arriving over from India to complete his PhD. He has been a very helpful addition to the assembly, and has been exercised over the last few months about reaching out to his fellow students.
And so, on the 18th March, we invited students in for a Gospel presentation. Only five showed up, and Thomas was slightly discouraged, but I felt it was an encouraging start, and we hope to hold another in a few months time.
We began with a buffet meal so we could get to know each other a bit, and then I made a presentation of John 14:6.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me.”
Being Irish, I took the verse backwards! We began we setting out the evidence for Jesus Christ being the only, necessary source of life. For this we leant heavily on the work of Dr Stephen Meyer, who argues fully and convincingly that the genetic material that underpins life is in essence information, and that the only source of information is an intelligent mind.
From this, we examined the nature of truth, in particular divine truth, as being that which is objectively verifiable; that which has the mark of the divine; and that which is consistent with reality.
We focused on establishing the truth of the Bible through a brief examination of archeological evidence as our objective verification. Then we considered prophetic fulfilment as the mark of the divine. Finally, we examined in more detail how the message of the Bible answers perfectly the reality we know and live in, particularly the problem of evil and the hope of redemption.
This led us to conclude with a challenge regarding Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation.
Do pray for those that came along. In particular, Thomas’ friend, Lalith, and Jonny’s friend, Ian. It was lovely to meet them, and we hope to do so again soon.
Birmingham - A City in Need of Christ 