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The Gift: The Gospel in Every Arena
November 20, 2024 · 39 min
John Mark emphasizes the importance of missions and gospel sharing in every aspect of life, as illustrated by Paul's experience in Athens in Acts 17.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton November 20, 2024 · 39 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
John Mark emphasizes the importance of missions and gospel sharing in every aspect of life, as illustrated by Paul's experience in Athens in Acts 17. ...more Show the full description Show less John Mark emphasizes the importance of missions and gospel sharing in every aspect of life, as illustrated by Paul's experience in Athens in Acts 17.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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0:00 You glad you're in God's house today? Amen, love to see that. I wanna invite you to reach and grab your copy of God's word, open it up to Acts chapter 17 or, openThe Gospel in Every Arena 0:12 your Cottonwood Creek app so you can you can see the verses we're gonna look at today and even some we might not be able to cover. We're in the middle of our missions month, if you didn't know that. It's more than just a0:21 shirt. It literally is our heartbeat every year in November. We talk about missions and evangelism. What God has called us to do as a church, how he's calling us to do it now, but also in the0:33 days ahead. And as you think about just last week, we had the opportunity, you saw some of these, some of the numbers in the statistics from last weekend. The gift weekend is literally0:46 where we go around the world from our campus here, in Allen, Texas. And let me just share some of those things you just saw and make sure you understand the gravity, the significance, the weightiness of what took0:58 place. Last week, you packed you packaged over 275608 meals for our friends and our families in Kenya. Give God a hand for that.1:11 That means that they know where the next meal is coming from, as it's transported there, we can make a connection. 54 units of blood collected. You know, we always say here at Cottonwood Creek, you can either give your1:22 blood or we're gonna take it. 1 way or the other, we're gonna get your blood. But see, a lot of times we just think, well units. But see, it really matters when you think about that's 54 people that will1:34 roll into an emergency room needing a life saving unit of blood that you connect. See what we do in a big picture always plays itself out in a smaller arena.1:46 1200 and counting, just talking to them out there, Operation Christmas Child boxes collected, sent, and ultimately received. Let me just put that in perspective for you. That's over1:58 1200 orphans around the world who otherwise would not have a Christmas, but now are going to have a Christmas. Give God a hand for that.2:12 And here's what we also statistically know, it goes way beyond just the opening of that box. Because statistically speaking, for every box that is delivered, 12:24 person prays to receive Christ for every 4 boxes given. So that's another 400 people that will pray to receive Christ. Ponytails. 1 of the things we have an2:36 incredible cancer ministry that many of churches across the nation are modeling. Every year we have little boys and girls that they save and they grow their hair out all year, so they can give it 1 day.2:48 So another little girl or another mom who because of cancer treatment loses their hair, loses their dignity, those ponytails mean that there is a wig that they can wear and so3:00 give God a hand for that. 250 plus pieces of clothing that are donated. Shoes, jackets, etcetera. 200 plus handwritten3:12 cards written to our missionaries around the world. Some of the missionaries can't even put on the website, but they're gonna receive a note. Personalized note to them how much we appreciate them, and love them. Orphans3:23 we serve and sponsor as well, over 200 notes. Several hundred other items collected for our Santa for Seniors program here at Cottonwood Creek. All in 1 Sunday. And so I3:35 want you to know, when you think about numbers, understand that every number represents a person. Represents a boy or a girl, someone that is young, someone that is old, someone that is single, or someone that is3:47 married. Numbers are not numbers, numbers are always people. And so as we continue this month of giving and loving and caring, don't ever lose that fact3:59 that every number represents a person. And so part of our call as a church is not just to give, not just to go on mission, but it's also to share our faith. And so I want you to know as we think about today's4:10 message from Acts chapter 17, before we even go there, I want to bring a message entitled the Gospel in every arena. That we don't just preach, and we're gonna see Paul here in a few minutes, we don't just preach the4:22 Gospel, we don't just preach the Bible here in church. We also do it in church, we do it in the marketplace, we do it in schools, we do it wherever, in school, in universities, it doesn't matter. But then you say,4:33 pastor, how should we do that or how should we be prepared to share the gospel? Notice what Peter said in first Peter chapter 3 verse 15. He says, but in your hearts,4:45 revere Christ as lord. See, sharing the gospel starts in our hearts, but it doesn't stay there. I want to say that again. Sharing the gospel starts in our heart with a love for4:57 Christ, but it never stays there. It always works its way out. He says always be prepared to give an answer to everyone or anyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have,5:08 But do this with gentleness and respect. Now as you think about this, there's a pattern of ministry that we need to understand if we're gonna be able to share the gospel with others. It starts with5:20 this, It starts with us knowing what we believe. He says you start by revering Christ in your heart. That's why everything we do as a church, we are always5:32 encouraging, man be faithful in worship. We're gonna open up God's word, we're gonna share with you, we're gonna reinforce what God's word says and what you believe. But we also encourage you also to get connected in a5:43 group. Find a group, find a life group, find a home group, someone that you can come together and continue to reinforce what we believe. Beyond that, every Wednesday night when we come together for the biggest family5:54 meal in the nation, our church Wednesday night meal. Then we have 30 or 40 or 50 other classes that people can break out into and learn more and more what we believe. So sharing the gospel in6:06 every arena starts with knowing what we believe. But it doesn't stop there. We also want to know what culture believes. We're gonna see that very6:18 clearly in Acts chapter 17 today that Paul rolls into Athens and the first thing he wants to understand is what do they believe? How can I connect what I believe with what they believe and so we want to6:30 be a congregation that is culturally savvy? We want to know what's going on in our world. We want to know what people are talking about. We want to know what people believe so we can then take what they believe6:42 and and shine the light of God's word on it. So thought number 1 is what do I believe? Thought number 2 is what does culture believe? Here's number 3, we want to be in a state of preparedness.6:55 That when that door for the gospel is open, we are ready to be prepared to walk through it. To share the Gospel, to connect someone who might be seeking or longing or looking or hurting7:07 or struggling with the good news of Jesus Christ. We want to be prepared. Sometimes we know that's gonna happen, sometimes it just happens spontaneously. As a matter of fact,7:19 we're gonna look at Acts chapter 17 and what we're gonna see is although we know that the Apostle Paul went on several missionary journeys, the passage that we're gonna look at today Paul's actually not on a missionary7:31 journey. We're gonna see that he's just in Athens and he's waiting. And all of a sudden, the door for the Gospel being shared is opened for him. We have lots of mission trips that you can7:43 be involved on. We have people that go door to door knocking on doors, sharing the gospel. Sometimes those are intentional ways we know my whole primary purpose or my whole purpose of being on this mission trip or7:54 walking up to this door is because I want to share the Gospel. However, we need to always also remember, there are times that I am not on a mission trip, but I still share8:06 the Gospel. I am not going to a door to share the Gospel, but all of a sudden the door of the Gospel is open and I want to share that. Then the final thing that Peter says is when we share the Gospel,8:18 we want to be respectful. He says do it with gentleness and respect. That we understand, alright that's the way you believe, but God doesn't want to leave you8:30 there. You say pastor, as you look at this passage today and I want you to know as we this this passage kind of is a model for my preaching. If you want to know why I8:42 do what I do, it's really because I want to come in and be prepared, reinforce what you believe. I will always want to tell you here's what culture is saying, here's how we can engage with that with the8:54 gospel. Every 1 of our ministries that we have, whether it's student ministry, children's ministry, yes we want to preach to those who are in the faith, but we also want to connect with those who are not in the faith so9:05 we can start a conversation to bring some woman to faith in Jesus Christ. You say pastor, is that effective? Let me just share, I share with you a little bit of the stats of the gift weekend. You9:17 know if you look back over last year, just do the math, well over 500 people sat eye to eye in an individual setting with someone from our9:29 congregation or our church, and they prayed 1 on 1 to receive Jesus Christ as savior and lord. Give God a hand for that.9:41 That doesn't include the many others, we had a lot of other groups that I'm talking about 1 on 1, that someone in our church was prepared to share the gospel, knew what they believed, led someone else to believe it.9:53 And then on top of that, of those 500, over 300 and the year's not even over. This is missions month, the year's not even over. We have 2 more baptism services before the end of the10:05 year. Over 300 of those people follow the Lord Jesus Christ through the testimony of believers' baptism. Give God a hand for that, over 300 already.10:18 So that means that you've sat in here and you've cheered over 300 times as a congregation because people said yes, we're involved in 5 church plants. That some are in the inner city,10:30 some are in the suburbs, some are in Texas, some are across the nation. We're gonna start a sixth 1, another church in January. So when you give and you pray and you go, I want you to know here10:42 on Missions Evangelism, it's also about churches, it's about individuals. When you give, it ultimately matters. We're involved in 1 turn around church. A church that was ready to close the doors and10:54 now we've taken and you're paying for a pastor to try to rego a church in a place that desperately needs a church. I want you to know what you do matters. You may not see it all the11:06 time, but we need to report back to you. Beyond that, take our student ministry. Every Sunday morning, there's about 250 sixth through twelfth graders on our campus studying God's word,11:17 literally the next generation of the church. Beyond that, on a Wednesday night, right in here, they start worshiping right here on Wednesday night, then they break off into small groups by age and and schools.11:29 A hundred and 50 plus students, sixth through twelfth graders come in here every Wednesday night. Give up their Wednesday night to worship God, to study God's word. Boy, when you go back to high school camp and D now,11:41 6 30 kids all the way back in January came in here and worshiped God, took a weekend to say Lord, we want you to be a priority in our life. None of that happens without you. And your faithfulness11:53 to give and to serve. Beyond that, what about our children's ministry? Each and every Sunday morning, about 600 fifth grader, fifth grade children and below show up on12:05 our campus connected with moms and dads and families to say, listen, help me teach my child, train up my child, and the love and the admonition, wait it should go. And I have so many other12:16 numbers I could share with you. If you want to know what it really means to be a part of our church, right after this service at 12 15 in the chapel, we'll have a membership class. If you want to come and hear our12:27 heartbeat as a church, and when you come to our membership class, you don't have to join. You can come and just listen and hear and say you know what, I think this is what God has for me and that's the invitation12:38 ultimately, is that you would just come and you would see. So the question becomes is if we are to share the gospel in every arena, what does that look like? And so I12:50 really want to ask 3 questions from Acts chapter 17, this is Paul in Athens, and I want to answer those 3 questions based on how God how Paul responded to the13:02 people in Athens. So question number 1 is where did Paul share the gospel and as a result, where should we share the gospel? Let's pick it up and start reading. This is Acts13:14 chapter 17, this is verse 16. It says when Paul was waiting, remember, he's just in Athens, he's not there on a missionary journey. As a matter of fact, notice what it says, while he was waiting for them. In other words,13:26 he was waiting for his missionary team to show up so they could go on mission, not to Athens but other places. But it says while he was waiting there in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see13:38 the city was full of idols. So looked around, he wasn't mad. He just looked around and said these people are longing. They are they are searching. They are looking for truth. They are13:50 longing for the answers. So look at verse 17. It says so he reasoned in the synagogue with both the Jews and the God fearing Greeks as well as in the marketplace14:02 day by day with those who happen to be there. Now look at verse 18, says a group of Epicureans, alright, so he's walking through the city, he's now moved from the synagogue, the local church of the day, sharing with the14:13 Greeks, the God fearing Greeks and the Hebrews. Now he's out in the marketplace. And the Epicureans show up. Who are they? They were the hedonists of the day. The Epicureans held the philosophy,14:25 man life is all about getting as much pleasure as you can. Their philosophy or their motto would have been if it feels good, do it. Alright? So these Epicureans show up and they're hearing Paul and Paul is14:37 sharing the gospel in the marketplace, and they're kinda going nah I don't know about that. And so as you read on, and also some stoic philosophers, who were they? They would have been the professors of14:49 the day, the path passive intellectuals of the day, they would have withdrawn from society in pain and pleasure, the hedonists would have been all in. The philosophers would have said well15:01 we're above all this, we're smarter than everybody else, we've got those people in our country as well. And it says what? They want to debate with him. Some of them ask him, what is this babbler trying to say?15:13 Others remark, he seems to be advocating foreign gods. They said this because Paul was doing what? In the marketplace and in the synagogue, he was15:24 preaching the good news. What's the good news? About Jesus and the resurrection. So as Paul is journeying through Athens, and by the way, this time15:36 Athens, glory days are behind it. The glory days of Athens ended about fifth the fifth century BC, when the Romans came in and overthrew Athens and they tore it down, but still15:48 it was an intellectual hub. They thought very highly of themselves, although the luster was off, they really thought of themselves as the holders of all good philosophy. And so Paul15:59 rolls into town and starts talking about the good news of Jesus and His resurrection. And the hedonists take note, the stoics take16:11 note, and they say you know what, you're about things that we don't understand, are you talking about foreign gods or what? Look at verse 19. Then they took him and brought him to the meeting of the Areopagus. You don't16:22 have to know what that is to get into heaven, I'm gonna explain it to you in a second. Where they said to him, may we know what this new teaching is you are presenting. You are bringing some strange ideas16:34 to our ears and we would like to know what they mean. Alright, before I even go into what it means and what the Areopagus is and the Acropolis16:46 preached? In the church of the day, which was a synagogue, he preached there to the Jews as well as the God fearing Gentiles, Greeks.16:59 Then he also preached the gospel not just in church, but also in the marketplace. And then after preaching the gospel in the marketplace and presenting his well found out argument,17:11 he was invited to a place called the Areopagus. That would be the local think tank of the day. Alright, that would be a place where all the philosophers showed up if they wanted to hear some new teaching, an amazing17:23 teaching. Now let me just show you in Athens today, we just came back with a group from our church that we journeyed over in Greece and also into Turkey walking17:34 along Paul's second missionary journey. If you go to Athens to this day, you will see this just outside of Athens, let's put this up there. That is called the Acropolis, okay?17:46 In Greek cities, it was not uncommon for them to have a god that was associated with every city. This place is called the Acropolis, they would go outside the city, find17:58 the highest mountain, and they would build a temple to their god or goddesses. Outside of Athens, this temple was built to the goddess Athena.18:10 Hear it? Athens, goddess Athena. It was named after her and if you walk there, that's actually a picture. We were right there at the base looking up at the Acropolis. We actually were able as a group walk up there18:22 and walk through it and walk through those amazing runs and understand that Paul was there and so many other people were there. But interestingly enough, that is not where Paul was invited. He went up there.18:34 He was invited to a lower hill which was called the Areopagus. In Acts chapter 17, we know when the Romans came in and overthrew, it was no longer called the Areopagus or18:46 the place of wisdom, it was called Mars Hill. So if you look, if you look just below that, this is a place, a hill just below the Acropolis.18:58 That's Jean and I standing on Mars Hill. We are talking and I got the opportunity to preach the exact sermon I'm preaching you to to you today right there on Mars Hill to our congregation who had19:10 traveled over there. Now let me tell you the beauty of this hill. It is a 377 foot hill, it is just below the Acropolis. Alright. This is actually where Paul went, but not19:22 just Paul. This is where Socrates taught, just outside of Athens. He would go sit there and he would talk about philosophy. This is where Plato walked19:33 around on this rock and taught, this is where Aristotle taught, this is where Pythagorean taught. They all would come and they would teach and they would share their philosophy, and we got the19:45 opportunity to stand right there. And so I love what Paul does, he gives us the idea that as a church and as believers, yeah we need to talk about our faith in here. Just like he19:57 did in the synagogue. But when we break this huddle today and you journey to the office and you're in the market school, you need to share the Gospel there too. Why, because the Gospel's good here, but it's also great20:05 there. But it doesn't stop there. I love what Paul says, I'm not afraid of the intellectual sinners. Why?20:18 Because the gospel stands up to any argument. The gospel stands up to any argument. And so when they said, hey Paul, we want you to come over to the place of wisdom.20:30 Paul immediately thought, you mean where Socrates used to talk? You mean where Plato used to talk? Where Aristotle used to talk? Paul said, I'm in. Why?20:41 Because the gospel gives an account much better than any philosophy there ever was, And so Paul's not afraid, so thought number 1 is where did he20:53 preach? Everywhere. That's the kind of church we want to be. Number 2, how did Paul share the gospel? So he walks over there and we want to see some key features of how he shared the gospel.21:05 Thought number 1, what did he do? He started with the familiar, he started with the familiar, picking up in verse 22. Paul then stood at the meeting of the Areopagus, they said hey, come to the Areopagus, we want to hear21:17 from you on this matter. This is where all the wise people come. So Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus, all the wise people around and he says people of Athens, he starts with the familiar, I21:28 see that in every way you are a very religious people. Basically, he patted on the back. He said listen, you're philosophers, but the truth is everybody worships something. How many of you21:40 know that? See, he'd gone through Athens and he started noticing, hey, the reality of it is, yeah, you're wise and you're great philosophers, but everybody worships something. He says, I notice you're a very religious21:52 people. For as I walked around and I looked careful, what is he saying? I noticed your culture. I took note of who you are. He says I looked carefully at your objects of worship.22:04 I even found an altar with an inscription to an unknown God. How many of you ever heard of an agnostic? You're someone that's an agnostic.22:16 That's the exact word, it's the Greek word agnostos theos. This is an idol to the God we don't know. You know if you think, you have those of us who are in the room, we believe there's a God,22:28 we are called theists, that we believe there is a God. Alright? We might differ in how we define that God, but we believe there is a God. There are others on the exact opposite end of that spectrum who are what we refer22:40 to as atheist or atheist. They reject the idea of God. In the middle category, there are those that are called agnostics. They would not say they're atheist, they22:52 would not say they're theists, they would say we don't know. See, here's what happened. The Greeks had had all of these idols and they said listen, we've got all these idols to this god and to this god and to this god,23:04 but there might be a god we don't know about. So I got an idea, let's don't offend that god, let's just have an agnostic god idol. And so I love what Paul does. He takes something they very much understood23:16 that was familiar and he begins to walk them towards Jesus, the gospel, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He says I see that you have an altar to an unknown god. So you are ignorant23:28 now stop right there, I don't encourage you to walk out tomorrow and lead with the gospel by calling someone ignorant. But understand, the way that word was used in those days is different than23:40 the way we use it today. The word ignorant in those days just simply meant someone who lacked knowledge. And so to say to a Greek that you are ignorant, they would say oh,23:52 well then fill in the gaps for me. Alright, does that make sense? So he says you're ignorant, you lack the knowledge of the very thing you worship. He goes, let me tell you about that unknown God. Let me tell you about24:02 that God that you want to worship but you don't know Him, so I'm gonna fill in the gaps for you. And he goes, and this is what I'm gonna proclaim to you today. I love this. That Paul takes what was familiar to them,24:14 what they believed, what they knew, and he began to use begins to use that as the launching pad to move them toward the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he says some of you are24:26 theists, but you don't know the 1 true God. Some of you have rejected God, but you need to consider that there might be a God. Some of you don't know the God that you worship, let me24:38 fill in the gaps for you. Here's the second thing as you just continue to read on, when he begins to define this God that we serve, he says not only is the God we serve a God that is24:50 up there, but He's also a God that is right here. See, the Greeks believed that there were these ancient gods of old and they were off in a distance somehow, someway, and if they worship or if they sacrificed25:02 or if they did this or if they did that, somehow they would get this god's attention or appease this god. And Paul says, you're right. There is a god up there. But the god that25:14 is up there is also a god that is right here. You say, where do you see this? Pick it up in verse 24. He says, the god who made the world, that's the god up there, and everything in it is the Lord of the heavens and the25:25 earth, does not live in temples built with human hands. He is not served by human hands as if he needed anything. He says God did, he says listen, you making your little sacrifices,25:37 God doesn't need that. He says God did this so they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him. Notice what God says,25:49 the whole reason God created the heavens and the earth, created you and me, is because He longed to not just be a God who was up there, but be a God who was right here. A God when you look at the up there and the26:01 stars in the sky and the design that God had, you would also look down here and say I want to long for a relationship, I want to seek that God. I want to reach out and touch that God. And so Paul,26:13 tells them there is a God up there, but He's also a God that is right here. That you and I could share it, continue to read on. He says, though He's not far from any of you. You know what he was saying?26:25 He was saying, Athenians, some of you think you're so far away from God, but you're way, way closer than you think.26:37 You know, there might be some people here today that you think, pastor, if you knew what I did and there's no way, I'm so far away from God. I would just say, he's closer than you26:49 think. He's closer than you think. The grace of God and the salvation of God is way closer than you think. He says though he's not far from any of27:01 us, look at verse 28, for in him we live and move and have our being as some of your own poets. Now again, he's connecting with them have said we are His offspring. I love27:13 this, Paul is using their words, their poets, their stoic philosophers, their epicurean philosophers, they're idols, all to say what? Let me27:25 tell you how this all started and where it's headed. See, Paul took the Athenian Greek worldview and he put a Christian worldview over it. You say, pastor, what's27:37 a worldview? A worldview basically says, where did we come from? What is our purpose in life? How should I live? In other words, what's good, what's bad, and where are we headed? And everybody's27:49 got a world view. You might say, well pastor, I don't have a world view. I'm telling you, you have a world view. Everybody whether they go to church or they don't go to church, whether in the faith or outside the faith,27:58 everybody's got a world view. Here's the Christian world view. What is their origin? How did we get here? The Bible says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That's how we got here. Alright? What's28:10 our purpose in life? The Bible says the greatest and the chief end of man is to glorify God, to worship God, and have a relationship with him. We say, alright, how did things get so bad? If God created everything,28:21 created us to love Him, how did everything get the way it is? That's something called sin. Well you say, how did sin get here? Well the Christian worldview is pretty clear. See, God when He made us,28:34 He created us with a free will. He put Adam and Eve, He put them in the garden, says listen, eat freely of anything and everything, don't eat of that 1 tree. They bypassed all the other stuff, went to that 1 tree,28:46 and they sinned. You say, why would God let that happen? Because God wanted you and I to freely choose to worship Him or reject Him. Does that make sense? See, God didn't28:58 want to build a bunch of Tesla humans, where we would just preprogram to do a certain thing until we ran out of battery and it's over, right? God wanted us to have29:09 the ability to come to grips that there is an origin, God created us. We have a purpose in life to praise Him, but how did sin get here? God gave us free will and29:21 we sinned. But see, a good worldview will then have an answer. Well what is the fix for the sin and the evil that we see in life? That's called the redemption story, that's what Paul29:33 is talking about. That God loved us so much that in spite of our sins separating us from Him, God says I'm not gonna leave you to your own way. Instead I'm gonna send my son, Jesus29:45 Christ. We're about to celebrate this next month to be born in a little place called Bethlehem. To Mary and Joseph. To have the first witnesses show up, not the29:56 Athenians from Greek, but the shepherds from the fields. And they're gonna test him. Now listen, the wise people did show up, they just didn't show30:08 up first. Says the wise men showed up from the east, And what did they do? They came presenting Him with gold, frankincense, and myrrh and they bowed down and worshiped Him. So from the shepherd30:20 out in the field to the wise in the academy, they all, when they come to grips with the Christian message and the Christian story, they bow down and they worship who? Jesus and him alone. And so30:32 God offered his son up to be born in Bethlehem, lived a perfect life, be nailed to a cross, be buried in the tomb, to rise again the third day, that whoever believes in Him, which leads us to the last aspect30:44 of any good world view. Where are we headed? There's going to come a day when all the sin is gone. Revelation says there is coming a day when there's a30:56 new Jerusalem. No more death, no more dying, no more pain, no more crying. All the bad things have gone away. Behold, I am creating all things new. That is a good and31:08 godly cohesive worldview. See a worldview has to be logical and there has to be evidence and it has to work. Well you say pastor, are there other worldviews?31:20 Absolutely. There's an atheistic world view. Atheistic world view, let's ask if it's logical and if it works. Alright, all this happened by chance. Well, how do you explain the31:32 intricate the intricate design in the universe? Atheists can't explain that. If it happens, but you well, the atheist can't even explain life. See, life31:44 has never come from non life. So an atheist has no explanation for the origin. Well what about meaning and purpose in life? Atheist says, well you know, alright I know we all happen by chance,31:56 but we should live good lives. Why? That makes no sense. We should just live good lives to live good lives because we're ultimately gonna die and the atheist ultimately32:08 is is is is defying their own logic and saying we should live a good life. No, if this is all there is, we should take all we can get, right? And what yours should be mine. That's called the survival of the fittest.32:20 So all of a sudden their their their their world view doesn't work. Say where are they headed? They don't know. Where's the redemption story? They don't know. And so the apostle Paul shows up32:32 and he says listen, you've got part of the story, there is a God up there, but He's not just up there, He's right here. And anyone who believes in His son Jesus Christ will be32:43 saved. And what an incredible thought. So how did he share the gospel? He started with the familiar. He said there is a God that is up there, but there's also a God that is right here, and then he always32:55 goes to proof. See there's always proof. A good cohesive world view will always have evidence to back it up. What is the evidence that there is a design creator in33:07 our universe? Look at the design. Look at the human genome. Look at all the specificity in creation. Now notice Paul says, well here's the here's your proof. And it's the proof of the33:19 resurrection, verse 29. He says, therefore, since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone. He's not just an idol. God's not33:31 an inanimate object, easy for you to say. An image made by human design or skill. He says in the past, God overlooked the ignorance, the lack of knowledge,33:43 but now he commands that everyone, every place repent. That's the redemption story. See what Paul is saying, there was a time that God overlooked not knowing,33:55 but the time for overlooking not knowing is gone. Now it's a time for knowing. Now pick it up verse 31. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising34:07 Him, Jesus, from the dead. So what is the proof of the gospel? See a lot of times people think well you know, just religion, you've got to accept it by faith. Yes, faith is involved,34:19 but evidence is there. That's why Paul journeys not long after this to a place called Corinth, he spends some time there, first Corinthians, he said Jesus when he rose from the dead, he was presented to34:31 hundreds of witnesses. And this person, in this group, in this place, and why? Because the evidence for the resurrection is overwhelming. The empty tomb is34:43 evidence of the resurrection. That's the beautiful thing of the gospel. It has evidence that that supports the truth of the gospel. So question number 1, where do we34:55 share? Everywhere. How do we share? We start with what culture believes. Alright? The poets, the Epicureans, that's from time to time you'll hear me35:07 come in here, I'll say here is what is being said out there. This is what people are talking about. Every once in a while I might quote a Taylor Swift song, I won't sing it, I might quote it. If If you don't know who35:18 Taylor Swift is, that's okay, but here's the reality, we need to know what culture is saying. That's exactly what Paul did. He rolled into Athens and said here's what you're talking about, let me take you to the truth35:30 of the gospel. Then the question becomes is how did they respond? How did they respond? Let's read it. Let me show it to you. Verse 22, it says when they heard about the resurrection of35:41 the dead, some of them sneered but others said, we want to hear you again on this subject. At that, Paul left the council, some of the people became followers of Paul and35:53 believed. So how did they respond? They didn't all believe and they didn't all reject. What happened? 1 group of people sneered and rejected. If you and I share the gospel over and over again, if you share the36:05 gospel in here and at church and at the office, some people are gonna mock you and laugh at you, that's okay, it happened to Paul. Some people, the second group, they said we would love to hear from you36:17 again. Anybody ever share the faith with somebody and and they don't reject you, they don't mock you, they don't laugh at you, but they say you know, I I need to stew on that a little bit, right? Man,36:29 we need to carry on the conversation. I want you to know as your pastor, I always believe in person or online when I am preaching, there are some people that you are just wanting to carry on the36:41 conversation. You're not there yet, but I want to have the opportunity to drop some truth in your heart and in your mind and in your life to somehow, someway allow you to say think, you know what, I'm gonna take36:52 another step closer to the faith. I love that's what Paul says. They said, we'd love to hear from you again. Paul says, let's do it. Alright? There might be some let's do it people in your life that you've been praying,37:04 you've been longing, you've been wanting, you've been sharing the gospel and they haven't said yes. Can I encourage you, keep talking? But then that third category of people, some of them said, man we're gonna follow37:14 you, we trust Jesus Christ as savior and lord. That's the win. That's the win, church. So as we think about how we should live, yes37:26 we preach the gospel here. Yes we preach it out there. Yes we preach it everywhere. We start with the familiar, we lead them to the resurrection.37:38 Some will reject. That's okay. Some want a conversation to continue. That's what we do. Some will accept. That's the win. Let's pray. God, thank you so much37:51 that we are simply a church that in a culturally relevant way hold the Biblical truth high. God, let us stay passionate38:03 about sharing the gospel with every child and every student, every single and every married, every person that's young, every person that's old in here, but out there.38:15 God thank you for using the people of God in Wood Creek, just like you used Paul. God as we leave here this week and go into our Athens, let us take the gospel38:27 and the proof of the resurrection. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen.In this video 0:00 The Gospel in Every Arena
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