Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24474 - 5 Keys For Reaching Your Lost Generation - Acts 17:22-34

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#24474 - 5 Keys For Reaching Your Lost Generation - Acts 17:22-34 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bibles.
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Acts Chapter 17. We're going to pick up where we
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left off last time, Acts chapter 17 and the title of our study
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today is Five Keys, 5 Keys for Reaching your lost generation.
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So you want to be taking notes today.
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I'm going to give you 5 things for you to consider and refine
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and hone in your life in reaching this lost generation.
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Because you look at the generation today and it doesn't
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take much to see the lostness of our world.
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And I wonder what it'll be. What, what will it take exactly
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for the 21st century believers to be as desperate for the lost
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as the world is desperate for sin?
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I want to say that again. I mean, what is it going to take
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even for our church, even for some of you?
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What's it going to take for you to be so desperate for reaching
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the lost as the world is desperate for sin?
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Because there seems to be a great disconnect in the world
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today between the church and its effectiveness and the way the
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world just loves sin and just goes for it, where the church
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not so much going for the things of God.
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I mean, watching the world today, it's an easy call.
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It's like a slam dunk. It's an easy call.
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I mean it, it doesn't take much effort at all to watch the news,
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to see what's happening in different echelons of society,
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to see governmentally, to see morally.
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It's an easy call to to say that the days that we live in are the
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worst that we've ever seen. It's an easy one that that seems
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to be what the church is good at.
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Actually, unfortunately, the church seems to be really good
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at calling all darkness, darkness, darkness.
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Look at what's happening in our world.
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I can't believe it. Everything is happening.
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Look what's happened to our country.
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Look at what's happened to our neighborhood.
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Look what's happened to our city.
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It seems like the church is really, really, really good at
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identifying every bad thing in culture.
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But then what? Then what?
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So let's agree that you're completely correct.
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And I would agree with you. It's very difficult days, but
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that doesn't really change much. Your ability to see all the evil
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in the world doesn't change much.
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It's like, man, look at this and look at this, look at this and
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the answer is actually yes, it's true.
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Your generation you're in is really bad.
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The worst of the worst, the last days, the last of the last days.
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But the ability to call it out doesn't change much.
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I mean, that's really where Paul is here.
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Paul in Acts 17, he's in a similar.
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He's in the city of Athens. He's looking around.
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He's super upset about it. He's provoked in his emotions,
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just like you're super upset perhaps about things going and
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the way things are just tanking so quickly.
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Remember, you know, after the last few years that we've been
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learning with COVID and such and governmental overreach and all
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that, we've been learning like I, I think God's been giving us
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a perspective where we're a church last days, last days and
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we believe it. Believe me, I believe it.
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But I think what's the disconnect is, is we just didn't
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believe we would be the generation to see it and live in
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it. But we are.
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We are the generation living in very difficult times.
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And here's the answer. The answer is that you're
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provoked enough emotionally to some kind of action and the only
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antidote for the ills of society is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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That's it. And if the church isn't the
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church in a Dark World, then the world will only get darker.
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That's why Jesus would advocate and teach us that we're the salt
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and the light of the earth. Look, let's step back for a
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second and let's just consider some things.
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And if, if you don't believe me, I, I challenge you to study
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these things because our generation is really not so
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different from any other generation over the years.
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I mean, even the 1st century that Jesus walked into the Greco
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Roman world, especially the Grecian culture was very
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sexually perverse. I mean, it was, it was bad.
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And I don't need to go into all the details in order to
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emphasize the word bad. It was.
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And of course the Romans, having no culture of their own, adopted
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the Grecian culture and spread it through the known world.
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And it was bad. What Jesus walked into was
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really, really bad and upside down sexually.
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And yet at the same time, our generation is different than
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other generations. A lot is the same and a lot is
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different. Our generation is is more
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fracture from each other than ever before.
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With the advent of the iPhone and the iWatch and the
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smartphone and Tiktok and YouTube and Twitter and now X
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and Facebook and now AI, our generation has gone from the I
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generation to being the I don't care much about you generation
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in which we live. Info on demand has become
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morality on demand, and the world is turning impersonal at a
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rapid pace. I mean, you got to understand
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something, the world you live in, which is very different.
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The algorithms you submit yourself to in social media are
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literally changing your brain's neural pathways, changing the
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way you think. That's why you notice why if
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you're on social media a lot, you're just getting angrier and
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angrier and angry because they understand these programmers do
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how to keep you in an echo chamber.
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Why? Because their only goal is to
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keep you on your phone. That's how they sell more.
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It's not that complicated, but behind the scenes it is changing
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the way you think, changing the way that you behave, changing
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the way that we relate to one another, where you have the
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pseudo feeling of being connected, but you're not
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connected at all. That's our world, the world that
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our children are being raised in.
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Kids are exposed to things that you and I were not exposed to in
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the same way when we were growing up.
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We have to admit things are different.
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Children today, Young people today are being exposed to
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pornography and graphic hardcore sin with the phones that have
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been given to them by their parents day in and day out.
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That's our world. They're experiencing things at a
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much earlier age in a much larger dosage due to all this
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technology, and our kids are in the battle of their lives.
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But it's not just kids. We have meetings here weekly and
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monthly here as pastors with men and women of our church talking
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about the ills and difficulties in their life, what some people
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call counseling. We prefer to use the phrase
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biblical discipleship. But because of the nature of
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these conversations being confidential, I can't lay them
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out for you. But if I did get a chance, you
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would come to the same conclusion that I have.
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It's not just the kids that are at risk.
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The parents are at risk too. And the adults are at risk too
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because they're we're dealing with the same thing.
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My wife's leaving me because of pornography.
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My husband isn't talking to me anymore because I'm on my phone
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all the time. Where my kids, they're sideways.
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My singleness. I'm not living a pure life as a
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single and on and on the list goes.
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This is our world, and yes, it's different, but what's happening
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to my audience today is all the sin that you dive yourself into
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and you live in is removing you from The Dark World and making
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you more critical. So you're really good at the
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critical darkness of the world when you're living in it
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yourself. And So what happens?
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The world plunges Into Darkness because the church isn't the
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church. I mean, the reality of the world
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today is there's more stealing, more cheating, more lying, more
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drinking, more drug use, more sexual morality among the youth
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and adults than ever before. Even though the world tries to
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capture, you know, the culture tries to form your thinking as
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well, right? And there you'll see these
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things on the news. They go, oh, crime is down,
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crime is down, Crime is down. But in our culture in
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particular, the only reason crime is down is because they're
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changing the definition of crime.
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And when you right away start legalizing drugs and the
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behavior that comes from drugs, oh, of course crime is down.
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When you defund police, of course crime is down.
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But you got to open your eyes. Church.
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The world needs the church, and we need to be faithful to what
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God has called us to do. And it's not just being critical
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of the darkness. Just go ahead, say it one time.
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You don't have to do it now, but just go ahead and say the world
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is horrible. Then stop saying it and do
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something about it because saying and saying it isn't going
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to change anything. And I hope you've seen that by
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now. I mean, you can get really good
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at saying everything that's bad, but for goodness sake, church,
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you got to do something about it in the world that God has called
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you to. And that relieves us to the
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question today, how do we reach our generation?
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How do we reach? I think we've talked about a few
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things that doesn't reach our generation, the high minded
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morality and finger wagging preaching and condemnation that
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that's not going to reach them. But how do we reach them?
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I think we have a great example of Paul in Athens and it's very
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very interesting how the SIM the how the similarities of Athens
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meet to our culture today. Pick up with me.
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Let's let's say we're in verse 14 of Acts chapter 17 by way of
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review notice he says then immediately the brethren sent
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Paul away to go to the sea. But both tie both Silas and
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Timothy remain there. So those who conducted Paul
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brought him to Athens, Athens, Greece and receiving a command
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for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they
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departed. Now while Paul waited for them
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at Athens, his spirit was provoked.
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What I just described. Perhaps your spirit provoked by
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your culture. His spirit was provoked within
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him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.
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Therefore, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with
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the Gentile worshippers, and in the marketplace daily with those
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who happen to be there. And then certain Epicurean,
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which would be the atheists of the day and Stoic philosophers,
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two sets of atheists. One would be the partiers, the
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Epicureans, and then the Stoics would be the ones that would
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criticize the partiers. But they both don't believe in
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God. One is a simple life, one's a
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party life. But they all are just talking.
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They're just talking, talking, talking, but never coming to the
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knowledge of the truth they encountered in verse 18.
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And some said, what does this babbler want to say?
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And others said he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods
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because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.
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So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus.
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If you like to write in your Bibles, you could also circle
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that and write Mars Hill. Mars Hill.
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We've actually, if we ever do a Footsteps of Paul trip, which I
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hope to do soon, we'll go to Mars Hill.
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I was actually Pastor Ian and I were in Mars Hill many years ago
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and he snapped a picture of me on Mars Hill teaching this very
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topic. So this is on the side of the
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Acropolis where he right behind your ear in the shadow of the
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Acropolis coming down. It's on the side of the hill
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there. This is where they would hang
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out. Notice it says and they would
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come in verse 19. May we know what this new
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doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some
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strange things to our ears. Verse 20.
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Therefore we want to know what these things mean in verse 21.
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For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent
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their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some
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new thing. Now that's an interesting
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phrase, isn't it? They're all gathering together.
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All they want to do is see is some new thing.
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And you're like, man, 2000 years distance.
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Are we that different from the Athenians?
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We're not, because today we do the same thing on social media.
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We just want to hear some new thing, want to see some new
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thing, want to talk about some new thing, want to post some new
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thing. That's what they were doing in
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the 1st century. Because humans are humans.
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This is the way it is. The technology is different, the
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methodology is different, but humans are humans.
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And here they are talking about some new thing.
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Paul comes to town again back in verse 16.
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Notice his spirit was provoked. He's visibly upset.
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He's angry. In this world of Athens, in this
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world of Greece or Athens, Athens was the capital of sexual
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sin. It was the capital of rebellion
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against God, if you will. It was it was the the center
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point of Grecian culture. It was overtaken by sexual
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perversity. It was a proud city.
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It was a city that valued knowledge.
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It was a city of academic thinkers.
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It was a city of explaining God away, like what happens on our
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university campuses today. The very first day a kid shows
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up and inevitably one of their classes, the teacher's going to
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tell them there is no God, and that's going to be the rest of
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their education experience. It's the way it is in our world
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today. It's the way it was in Athens.
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And they love to talk about things, they love to hear new
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things, but never really come to any conclusion.
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And notice, as Paul was provoked, it led him to share.
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He wanted to reach this generation.
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It started first in the synagogue, which is his pattern.
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Remember, Paul would go into the synagogue because he could
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immediately connect with them. They're already studying the Old
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Testament. But after they rejected him,
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which mostly they did, he would go into the marketplace and
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preach Jesus. He would go into the highways
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and byways and preach and share. While you and I may not be
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called to go down to, you know, City Hall or go to one of the
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malls here or just be a street preacher, all of us are called
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to share the gospel in the context that God has us, like at
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work or with our family or in our neighborhood.
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So don't think of it. Well, I'll never stand on the
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side of a mountain and preach the gospel.
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Nobody's asking you to do that. Nobody's asking you to talk
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yourself out of being a Christian.
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What God is telling you is you have a context and I have a
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context like some of you are like, well, I could never preach
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the gospel like you or I could never stand.
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Nobody's asking you to do that. I'm already doing it.
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You don't need to worry about it.
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I'm already doing it here. But the real question is, what
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has God called you to and where has God called you in particular
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that when you're provoked that you step in and you begin to
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reason with people and you begin to share with people.
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You begin because it's easy to meet someone and just be so
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heard or disgusted or upset with their sin that you forget you're
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talking to a person. You know you're talking to
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people, right? People that were created in the
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image of God. You're talking to people that
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maybe you're completely given over to sin to a debased mind
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like Romans chapter one, or you're talking to someone that's
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struggling with sin and you know, not sure you're talking to
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people with this gender fluidity or gender confusion.
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And you've got to remember you're talking to a person.
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Don't ever forget that Jesus came and he talked to people
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that were wholesale living in sin and it's important that we
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follow in his footsteps. I'm going to give you 5 things.
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You're ready. Five things in our time today
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that will help us reach this generation.
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We're in. We see it in Paul's life, but
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we're going to see it in ours. Number one.
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Number one, if you want to reach your generation, you need to
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have a burden for the lost, a burden for the lost.
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You have to actually care and not just say it, but it needs to
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be demonstrated, right? Faith without works, James says,
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is what, dead? So it's not just saying it.
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It needs to be lived out in your life.
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A burden. A burden, like, you know, the
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idea of a burden. It's an interesting word.
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You could say passion, you could say care, concern.
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It's the best illustration I can think of is like your hobbies.
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You know, if you're into something, you got a burden for
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it. You buy stuff about it, you read
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stuff about it. You know, if you're into hunting
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or whatever, you might go to the store and hang out at the
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counter and just talk about things.
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You're like fishing. You want to talk to other fish.
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Like you have a burden for it. You just are into it and you
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know, think about if if you're a believer, are you into or you
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just have a desire to make a difference in a lost world.
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If you don't have a burden, then nothing else is going to matter.
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Do you get emotionally, you know, one of the things that you
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know with the church today and you can just pray about this,
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whether it's you or not, but knowing the Bible study goes way
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beyond the building. You just got to be honest with
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yourself. A lot of times when you're
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watching the news and you're seeing the ugliness of sin in
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our culture and you get some emotional response, it's
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actually not for the sinners that you're watching.
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It's for you. Oh, I can't believe what's
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happening to our world. I can't believe look what's
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going to happen. Looks this is going to come to
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my neighborhood. And and your emotion is actually
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selfish to protect yourself in some way instead of really
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having a burden for people that are so lost for many of us.
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For me, what helps me is I remember where I came from.
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I was one of them, if you want to use that terminology.
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I was lost as lost as lost could be involved in things that were
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very harmful to me and to the people that cared about me and
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loved me and even to the people I loved.
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And someone cared enough to talk to me and not my sin, even
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though they knew it, not even knowing the depth of what was
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going on in my heart that I would never tell anyone of how
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lost I felt or how hopeless my life was.
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And here, Paul, that's what he's doing.
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He's like, I see this idolatry. This is unbelievable.
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I can't believe you guys. But his burden was for them, not
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for himself. And you can see just the shift
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of thinking can really change the dynamic of how God wants to
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use you. Sometimes those outside the
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church looking in at us and looking at us and knowing us and
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thinking about us, they only know what the church is against.
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I think we've done a pretty good job of communicating to the
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world what we're against, and they don't know what we're for.
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They've never really been introduced to Jesus in the way
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that he came into the world. They get introduced to Jesus as
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some caricature of coming to the world to make sure everybody
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knows how bad they are. And that's not why he came into
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the world at all. He came into the world to seek
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and to save the lost. The world needs to hear about
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Jesus and we need to tell them we have the privilege of telling
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them about his love and his grace, which, you know, some
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would say, wait a minute, Ed, wait a minute, Pastor.
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Everybody in the United States has heard the gospel.
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Everyone has heard about Jesus. Not so fast, Not so fast.
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I was shocked when I moved to Aurora 25 years ago.
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The all the times I've shared the gospel eight years prior to
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that, it was right here in this city.
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I think it was at an old. Restaurant is there was there a
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restaurant called Vasoli's or something here the worst Italian
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food that you've ever tasted in your it was at that that this
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place that I met someone waiting outside.
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I share the gospel and and he had never heard the gospel
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before here in Aurora and I'm like, whoa.
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It opened my eyes, which was good at the beginning of the
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ministry here, opened my eyes to understand the severity of this,
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you know, and, and not only that, but many times as we hear
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the presentation of the gospel on YouTube or some clip on on
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Instagram reels or TikTok or TV or radio, it's so watered down
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that it's not the gospel at all. And so truly Jesus Christ and
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him crucified. Many, many, many people have not
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heard the real gospel and have not experienced the real love
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and grace of Jesus Christ. That's why your testimony's so
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powerful, even if you were raised in a godly home.
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OK, Because I know that there are some like, well, I don't
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really have a testimony like you, Ed.
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Great. I'm happy for you.
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You saved yourself a lot of pain.
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But go back a few generations and get the story.
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Get the story of how the gospel entered into your family so that
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that can be a part of the presentation of how God wants to
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rescue people. You know, the importance of this
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burden can't be emphasized enough.
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And so to the Areopagus, we go to Mars Hill, where they were
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talking about everything that was new in the day, which leads
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us to #2 #2 here at the Areopagus or Mars Hill, if you
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want to reach this generation, we need to go where the people
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are. Or let me say it even more
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personally, we need to meet someone where they are.
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Often what we will refer to when we talk about that is we build
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bridges to people, right? The reason you build a bridge to
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someone is that you take the time to know them, listen to
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them, get their story so that you can build a bridge.
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And when you're building a bridge to them, listening to
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them, connecting with them, remember this whenever you're
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building a bridge with the gospel, the goal is not just to
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get to the person. The goal is to bring the person
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back with you. That's relational, which is what
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I teach the pastors here and anyone that wants to learn.
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I say, you've got to master the art of small talk.
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You know that you got to and and you know, right.
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Well, I don't like to talk to people.
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I'm very introverted. OK, enough of that.
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You need to master the the you need to master this thing of
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small talk. That means you just kind of say
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things to get this ball rolling. And I do it all the time.
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You know, I might crack a joke here and then half the room will
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go, why I got you. You're a horrible joke teller.
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Am I really Well, talk to let's talk about that.
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Are you the master of jokes? You know, whatever with a
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conversation like are you a better joke, Taylor?
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I know I try and it starts a conversation.
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Some of you wonder you might come on a Saturday night or a
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Wednesday night and some of you wonder because I'll start the
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service the same way I do on some mornings.
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I'll say good morning, everyone and they'll go.
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It's not morning as I exactly. I just stopped you from your
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regular because if I came in and go, hey, how you doing?
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How you doing? How you doing, how you doing,
23:42
how you doing? But when I say good morning to
23:44
you and even walk away, I might hear behind me.
23:46
It's not morning. Oh, really?
23:49
You want to talk to me? Let's come on back And I'll say,
23:52
well, it's morning somewhere and it's morning where our
23:54
missionaries are. And it stops our regular routine
23:59
and gets us into a conversation. And sometimes that conversation,
24:03
do you know, by just saying good morning on a, on a evening
24:07
service, you know where that conversation leads sometimes to
24:11
tears and to prayer because the person needed some attention.
24:15
Sometimes it leads to questions and concerns.
24:21
When you when you build bridges, listen, you're going to where
24:24
they are. You're dealing with someone with
24:26
deep, deep sin that you already know is wrong.
24:30
You don't need to keep reaffirming that in their lives.
24:32
You need to find out how they got there, how they got there,
24:36
what's going on, what's happening in your life.
24:39
Tell me, tell me. Another thing I love to talk
24:43
with folks, especially with unbelievers, is just this.
24:46
Tell me your story. And then they'll go, well, you
24:49
know, it's a long story. It's going to no, I don't have
24:51
days. So let's just do elevator.
24:54
Give me your elevator version. Give me a quick one.
24:56
And they kind of laugh and but you know, people love to talk
24:59
about themselves. Did you know that?
25:01
And not in a bad way. They just love to share their
25:03
story. Not too many times does anyone
25:07
take the take the time to ask somebody about their story.
25:11
It's almost always we want to give our story, but you got to
25:14
go where people are. You'll never reach them.
25:17
You know, pastors, we're, we're the worst at this.
25:20
Pastors can be the most offensive at this because
25:24
pastors have a tendency to from the pulpit in their Bible
25:27
studies, either just teach what they want to say or what they're
25:31
interested in or whatever they're going to be into.
25:33
Or even worse, pastors, they're ANS answering questions that
25:37
nobody's asking. And no wonder it's going over
25:41
the head. It's like, I don't even know
25:42
what you're talking about, bro. I've never been a seminary.
25:45
I have no idea what you're talking about.
25:47
And they're not, they're, they're not really taking the
25:49
word of God and shooting it to the heart.
25:52
And we need to be careful as teachers and leaders, as
25:55
parents. Parents do the same thing,
25:57
answering questions in kids lives.
25:59
They're not even asking them. We got to find out where our
26:02
kids are so we can meet them there and help them through the
26:05
struggle, help them through the difficulty.
26:07
Which leads us to #3 verse 22. Notice then Paul stood in the
26:13
midst of the Areopagus, and he said, Men of Athens, I perceive
26:17
that in all things you are very religious.
26:19
For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your
26:22
worship, I even found an altar with the inscription to the
26:26
unknown God. Therefore, the one whom you
26:29
worship without knowing him, I proclaim to you.
26:35
Pause there and let's look at #3 Now, if we want to reach our
26:39
generation effectively, thirdly, we must tactfully connect with
26:45
others. It's not a word that's used very
26:48
often. I want to add a word with tact,
26:50
TACT, tact. I want to also an add a word
26:55
that's very important and that is nuance.
26:59
Many times our answers need to be tactful and nuanced to the
27:04
person that's in front of us. Let me be clear here and you'll
27:08
see it in Paul's light. But just for the sake of anyone
27:10
questioning, we never veer from the truth.
27:13
We never compromise or water down the truth, but when you
27:17
tactfully and new and take the word of God and nuance it to
27:20
someone, you're doing none of those things.
27:23
You're just caring about delivering the message.
27:26
You know, delivering the message is one thing, but that it might
27:29
be received is another. Tactful someone wants to say, I
27:36
love this. I don't know where I got it, but
27:37
I love this definition. Someone wants to strive,
27:39
describe tact as the art of making a point without making an
27:44
enemy. And I thought that's really
27:46
good, the art of making a point without making an enemy.
27:48
When I'm sharing the gospel, the key is to build the bridge, not
27:52
burn one down. You know, Paul doesn't say.
27:54
It says here in verse 22, men of Athens.
27:56
I perceive that in all things, you're very religious.
27:59
You bunch of rotten sinners, idolaters, I can't believe how
28:03
bad you are. He acknowledges that they're
28:08
idolaters without calling them idolaters.
28:12
And he says, I can see you guys are really religious.
28:16
I can see that you are searching for something outside of
28:20
humanity. I can see that philosophy is not
28:24
satisfying you. I can see that all this talk on
28:28
Mars Hill just isn't enough because you have all these idols
28:32
that you set out and you, you know, idols for the wind and
28:34
idols for the sun and idols for money.
28:36
Like, I can see it all. And I know the solution.
28:42
He's saying all that without saying it, and then he's keys in
28:48
on this where there's wisdom from God.
28:49
I also found that one. I found that idol, which is why
28:53
you, when you're talking to someone, listening to them, you
28:55
click on that one thing and they found that one thing.
28:58
I found you guys even have an idol to a God you don't even
29:01
know anything about. I think God sent me to tell you
29:03
about that God. I want to tell you about the one
29:07
true God. I want to tell you about the one
29:10
you've been looking for, the one you don't even know his name.
29:13
I want you. You thought you were covering
29:15
all your bases. Well, listen, I, I've, I'm the
29:18
one to reveal that one, the one you've been looking for your
29:21
whole life. It's interesting that Paul went
29:25
right into their culture quickly, thoroughly, powerfully
29:31
and tactfully. Notice in verse 24.
29:35
Now he begins his message and he says God who made the world and
29:41
everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth,
29:45
doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshiped
29:48
with men's hands as though he needed anything.
29:51
Since he gives to all life, breath and all things.
29:54
And he's made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on
29:57
all the face of the earth. He's determined their pre
30:00
appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation
30:04
so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might
30:07
grope for him and find him, though He's not far from each
30:11
one of us. For in Him we live and move and
30:15
have our being. As also some of your own poets
30:17
have said, we also are His offspring.
30:23
Truly these times of ignorance got overlooked.
30:25
But He commands all men everywhere to repent.
30:29
Here Paul takes them all the way back to Genesis without taking
30:32
them to Genesis. He wasn't on Mars Hill with a
30:35
bunch of people that don't own a Bible saying open up your
30:38
Bibles, open up the scriptures, unravel the scrolls so that he
30:42
would make them feel bad. I can't believe you guys don't
30:44
even have a Bible. He has it inside in his mind.
30:48
He's memorized it, and he takes them back to the very beginning
30:53
in creation and he begins to talk about God's creative order,
30:58
his love for mankind. He gives them the whole thing.
31:01
He summarizes the old covenant, how God has set everything up
31:05
for you, put you in the right place at the right time.
31:08
We're here right now. He could even say we're here
31:10
right now because God's already determined your pre appointed
31:13
boundaries. He set this whole thing up so we
31:15
could be talking right now. But I want to show you something
31:18
even greater that Paul is doing. Not only is he sharing the truth
31:21
with them, truth and love, but he stepped into their culture.
31:25
You might have read, we read past it very quickly.
31:27
But notice in verse 28, as he's talking to them, he goes, hey,
31:30
by the way, I've been reading your poets.
31:34
I understand your culture. I understand the Grecian
31:36
culture. I even read one of your poets.
31:39
Your poets even said, for we also are of his offspring.
31:42
Which brings us to point #4 today, if you really want to
31:45
reach the culture, you need to know the culture.
31:49
You need to know it to some degree.
31:51
You've got to talk the language of the people living here, And
31:54
there's a word for that. You ready?
31:56
You need to learn to be relevant, relevant.
32:01
Now understand this relevance at at the expense of truth is not
32:04
what I'm referring to here, but relevance stepping into their
32:08
lives very important. You need to understand where
32:11
they're coming from to some degree, knowing that there's a
32:15
connection point. You know, one of the ways that I
32:18
try to do that with folks is things that are like kind of
32:21
high, you know, like, like sports.
32:22
I'm, I'm into sports, but so is most of the world into sports.
32:26
And so almost always that's going to be an inroad.
32:29
Even last night I was doing it with one of the young people
32:31
and, and she was saying, well, I'm not into sports and like,
32:34
oh, I don't know what I'm going to say next.
32:35
No, not at all. You're not into sports.
32:37
It's an easy follow up question. You know what it is, What are
32:41
you into? And she said, well, video games.
32:45
Oh really? What video game?
32:47
And she told me whatever it was, I actually don't even know what
32:49
it is or how to play it. But when she was talking about
32:55
God, speaking to her about doing it far less because she was
32:58
spending a lot of time on her video and she's a kid.
33:00
She's probably 19 or 20. When she was sharing with that,
33:04
I could take her back a few years to when I played the Atari
33:08
2600 for 8 hours a day, all day, every day, trying to master that
33:17
dumb thing and be able to share with her.
33:22
Hey, I have a connection point with you.
33:24
Even if it's different, it's also the same.
33:28
You've got to get into the culture.
33:30
Not allowing the culture to get into you.
33:33
I'm not advocating that at all or saying I got to go get a
33:36
testimony. No, no, no, no.
33:38
But if you're not relevant, then what's the point?
33:43
Being able to talk about what people are into and
33:45
understanding their point of view.
33:48
Churches have unfortunately take this to an extreme that I can't
33:52
agree with. And I think it bears mentioning
33:55
just a few moments here before we go into communion.
33:57
It's I can't go this way because there's a, there's a new
34:00
movement abreast that of church plants and churches that are,
34:05
that's all they're emphasizing is that they're relevant.
34:08
And so you'll see their Flyers and you'll see their Instagram
34:12
ads and such and they'll say things like, and I took these
34:15
from Flyers specifically. These are exact quotes of
34:18
churches that have come to our community over the years and
34:21
have advertised themselves to it.
34:22
So one church came to town and said, come to our church because
34:25
we are quote the church that isn't a church.
34:29
I'm like, yeah, I don't think I want to go to your church.
34:31
That's not a church. Like, what's the point?
34:34
What do you what what is that? Or another one was the church
34:39
your mom didn't show you. Like what does that mean?
34:43
Maybe mom didn't know about you. I don't like that's dumb.
34:45
That doesn't that doesn't make much sense to me.
34:47
I don't get it. Or this one was one and I'm
34:50
like, man, this is crazy. There was a church that came to
34:53
town and said we're the church where your Bible isn't needed.
34:57
So stay away from that one, right?
34:59
That's probably the church that isn't a church.
35:00
Just stay away. If you don't, if you go to a
35:03
place and go, we don't need, you don't need the Bible here.
35:05
You don't need that place because the Bible is the only
35:09
authoritative word of God and you don't want to be in a place
35:12
where the Bible is not emphasized, not used, not so.
35:16
So you stay away from that. But here's the point.
35:18
Churches are trying to be relevant and they've lost their
35:21
way. So you don't lose your way
35:24
trying to connect with people. You connect with people on the
35:28
way you speak the truth and love.
35:32
You don't become unchristian to reach Christians or non
35:35
Christians like you. You live out your life in the
35:38
context that God has given you and you reach them.
35:41
You need to be relevant. This kid, last night, this young
35:45
person, she needed to know one thing and it wasn't video games
35:51
and it wasn't any of the things that we did.
35:54
Talk about what she needed to leave with last night as she
35:58
came up after a service from me. And I would say the same is true
36:02
for you. But what she needed to leave
36:04
with was one more little piece in her life that she can trust
36:10
me. She can trust me with whatever's
36:14
going on. Because when a hard time comes
36:17
or when a situation comes where she might question something or
36:22
that she's looking has a friend that's questioning their
36:25
identity or something. And she's, I know somebody that
36:27
can help you because I trust him.
36:32
That's what the world's lacking sometimes.
36:36
That's what the church is lacking.
36:38
So connecting with people, we're building trust because we know
36:44
in the conversation we're going to have to say something really
36:47
hard to them. We're going to have to tell them
36:50
about their sin. We're going to have to put the
36:54
mirror of God's word to their life.
36:57
And actually they're going to have to see their life in light,
37:00
in light of their Creator God. They're going to have to come to
37:04
terms with a lifetime of failure, which is not easy to
37:07
do. And if they don't trust you,
37:12
there's a good possibility that what you say and hear will not
37:15
be deposited as a seed in their life or even leading them to the
37:20
Lord. You need to learn to be
37:22
relevant. And then finally notice here in
37:26
verse 30, he concludes his message by saying truly these
37:32
times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all
37:36
men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day
37:40
on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom
37:43
he is ordained. He has given assurance of this
37:47
to all by raising him from the dead.
37:49
And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some
37:51
mocked, others said, we'll hear you again on this matter.
37:55
And so Paul departed from them. However, some men did join him
37:59
and believed, among them Diocesanus the Areopagite and a
38:03
woman named Damaris and others with them.
38:07
Which brings us to #5 If we're going to reach this generation,
38:12
we need to preach the whole gospel, all of it.
38:17
We we need to preach the life, the death, the resurrection of
38:20
Jesus Christ. We need to preach repentance
38:22
from sin there. There isn't going to be any
38:24
other life changing message to give them.
38:27
Paul would say in Romans chapter one he would say what I am not
38:30
ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation
38:35
for all who believe, for the Jew 1st and also for the Greek.
38:38
And Paul gave it all to them. Now it may not sound like his
38:41
message here, may not sound like a typical gospel message that
38:45
you hear in the church in the Western society in the 21st
38:48
century, but the truth components are all there.
38:51
In the short amount of time that he had, he gave it all to them.
38:55
And because you have Thessalonica before, that's
38:58
where we're at. Remember chapter 17, He went to
39:00
Thessalonica, outbreak of the gospel.
39:03
Then he went to Berea, outbreak of the Gospel.
39:06
He comes to Athens and only a few people respond and
39:10
commentators get on to this. If you ever read commentaries,
39:12
you, you, you even pastors, they have.
39:14
Well, look, look, you know, he was successful in Thessalonica
39:17
and he was successful in Berea, but he was a failure in Athens
39:21
because not many people were saved and a church wasn't
39:23
planted there and all of that. And to that I say, no, that's
39:28
not true at all. He was not.
39:29
This was not a failed message. Paul was absolutely successful
39:34
in doing what God called him to do.
39:36
Don't ever forget this church. The measure of success is not
39:42
what we have been taught in this culture.
39:46
The measure of success from God's perspective is something
39:49
very simple. You ready?
39:50
It's something so simple, all of us, all of us can accomplish it.
39:55
You ready? Here's the measure of success.
39:57
Have you been faithful? Have you been faithful and say
40:04
it out loud? Yes or no?
40:05
Was Paul faithful in Athens? Absolutely.
40:08
Yes. This was a great success.
40:11
The seeds of the gospel were planted there.
40:13
People did believe. He did present the gospel often
40:18
authentic on with on this, whatever that word is, with
40:22
authenticity authentically is the word I was looking for.
40:26
He was very faithful to the word.
40:28
There was a call to action, Repentance.
40:32
Repentance is the necessity of admitting that you and I have
40:36
sinned against God and that He has sent His Son Jesus Christ to
40:39
die on the cross so that you and I by faith can have eternal life
40:43
and our sins forgiven. That's the gospel.
40:46
And the only way that you can experience a relationship with
40:49
God is by repenting of your sin. That's right.
40:51
Here is what He says. God is calling you to repent.
40:55
No more ignorance. You're not ignorant anymore,
40:59
just like I can say that to you today.
41:00
The times of ignorance, anyone listening to this Bible study
41:03
anywhere in the world are over. And God is calling everyone
41:07
everywhere to repent because He loves you, not because you're
41:13
rotten and unworthy and because you're just the worst person in
41:16
the world. It's not that at all.
41:19
It's because if you don't make a substantive change in your life,
41:23
you will spend eternity apart from God and without you telling
41:28
us. We know the effects of sin.
41:30
You know them. You don't need to tell us and I
41:32
don't need to tell you. You know the broken
41:35
relationships and you know the isolation and you know the
41:37
loneliness and you know the fear and you know just even some
41:41
listening right now, you are fearful of death because you
41:45
don't know where you'll go after death.
41:46
You're not sure. Maybe those Christians might be
41:49
right, just maybe. And it absolutely stirs you in
41:53
fear. But God has put a man in your
41:57
life today to remind you, you don't need to fear death.
42:01
When you've placed your life in Jesus Christ, you can trust him.
42:05
He'll be your protector. We read that today.
42:07
He'll guard you. He'll assure eternal life for
42:10
you. By way of review the five points
42:16
I shared with you today. You need to have a burden for
42:18
the loss. You need to go where they're at,
42:22
need to be tactful and nuanced in your approach.
42:26
You need to be culturally relevant, understanding at least
42:29
a little bit of culture. And then finally, you need to
42:32
preach the whole gospel. This will help you and en
42:36
enhance your ability to administer the gospel to your
42:38
neighbor, to your boss. Not looking at the sin first,
42:43
but looking at the person first. It'll help a lot.
42:47
Even if that was just the only we could add number six, but
42:50
man, if that was the only thing you did was start to see people
42:52
as people that'll get you so far because you understand you're a
42:58
people too. And God has called people to
43:01
reach people so good. So Lord, thank you for the
43:04
privilege of your word today and the reality of of the power of
43:08
the gospel. And as we come to the communion
43:11
table today, we're asking for you to help us in your calling
43:16
upon our lives and how you want to use us and what it is that
43:20
you want to do through us in Jesus name, Amen.
43:24
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
43:27
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
43:30
prayer. Call us at 87730 grace that's
43:35
877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
43:41
entirety or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
43:45
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
43:51
Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
43:53
this week.