Strengthening Believers
"But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith…" (Jude, vs. 20)
"…as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon."
(1 Corinthians 3:10)
Believers are tasked with building up each other. When one trusts Christ, he receives the very foundation of his faith, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11 “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”) The apostle John began his epistle, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life.” The purpose of his epistle is stated in verse 4: “…these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." How did he begin? With the evidence! The “S” of SET stands for STRENGTHENING those who believe the Bible with the evidences from the physical realm that God has provided, evidences such as dinosaurs, fossils, canyons, and rock layers. The design we see throughout the universe points to a Designer, the Creator of the universe, and to His Word, the Bible, being true. The faith of believers must be reinforced so that they have confidence that their faith is real. This confidence naturally results in a desire to share their faith with others.
Enagaging Unbelievers
The apostle Paul, in writing to Titus, expressed particularly to pastors: "…that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers…" (Titus 1:9-10). Believers are commanded to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). These are just a few Scriptures which indicate that believers are to seek to make a difference in this culture. God has provided not only the Bible as evidence, such as the many proofs discovered in archaeology or those revealed in a myriad of fulfilled Bible prophecies. Just the existence of Israel as a nation is a miracle! Discoveries such as soft tissue that was found in a T-Rex thigh bone in Montana at the very least challenge the view that fossils are “millions of years” old. How could tissue last so long, if the earth is that old? Another tool is canyons, which are supposed to have been formed over eons of time as rivers gradually carved them. However, brand new canyon systems were formed in only 3 days by mudflows during the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. These and a myriad more of modern-day evidences can be used to help Bible believers engage unbelievers in a day when evolution is taught as fact and lies about the Bible abound. In Acts 17, Paul on Mars Hill engaged unbelievers with truth beginning with creation:
Training Others
The apostle Paul writing to Timothy, instructed: "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." (2 Timothy 2:2) Hence, it is the goal and plan of SET to train others in a Biblical worldview, in the Biblical languages, and with practical instruction for creation and apologetics ministry. Paul gave particular instruction to two young men that he referred to as his “sons” in the faith: Timothy and Titus (cf. 1 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4), that they would pass along to other able men what he’d taught them. It isn’t enough for people to know the truth and act upon it. We must promote the truth to others and urge them to believe: “we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).