How To Reason With The World(From Our 12-8-24 Worship)
Watch The Video Version Here:https://youtu.be/za-4V2aptXs
Transcript:
You know, if you're needing a Christmas idea for somebody, this might make a good one. Uh, that's a Ferrari 250 GT. That's not exactly my style, but if you buy me one, I'll sell it. We'll all go spend Christmas at Maldives or somewhere like, um, if you want to buy one, depend on the model. It'll cost you somewhere between a million and 15 million to buy one.
But in 1963, this gentleman here would not have given you a plug nickel for that car. The reason why is he owned one, and he kept having a problem with his car. No matter what he did, the same problem appeared over and over again. He couldn't keep a clutch in it. Now, who wants to own a Ferrari, and you can't drive it like a Ferrari?
He went through all the service channels. He waited on several factory parts, and every time they put one in, same thing. Finally, he scheduled a meeting with this gentleman, Enzo Ferrari, like, of the company Ferrari. And he shared with him his struggle and all the time that his car had been down, and Enzo, being Enzo, just didn't care.
He kind of blew him off. And in fact, right before he left the meeting, he says, he told him, he said, What's a man who makes tractors for a living know about sports cars? And this man, whose name is Ferici Lamborghini, decided to show him what a tractor man knew about making cars. He, he created the car company that we know and date, know and love today.
Probably some of the most recognizable automobiles to have ever been created. All because he got tired. Of waiting for a clutch for a two 50 GT Ferrari. Now you think about that. We all hate waiting. We hate it. But sometimes waiting is exactly what it takes to be the motivation for somebody to go change the world.
You've got your bibles with you this morning. Let's go to X Chapter 17. That's where we're gonna spend our time at this morning. You could go to one opening and we're not gonna not gonna move. But here we're going to see the Apostle Paul and bless his heart, everywhere Apostle Paul went, there were angry people trying to run him out of town.
And as you read up to verse 16, that's what's happened with the Apostle Paul. They were about to kill him, stone him one more time, and a group of disciples get him out and they get him to Athens. And he's in Athens just simply because he's waiting for Silas and Timothy to get there. He's waiting around.
He's got some time to kill. But I want you to see this morning what happened while he was waiting there. Now, Paul was waiting for them in Athens. His spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the about persons in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.
So you look at Paul and you say, Paul, can't you just hang out somewhere and not not share the gospel with anybody? And the answer is that's no. Right? He's, this is a foreign place to him. It's, it's not somewhere he's from. And obviously it's a place, being a New Testament Christian, that when he looks around and he sees all the idols in the idolatry, right, it just provoked his spirit.
I cannot do something. So it says he began to reason with people. And you think about that. You think about the first century world and all the religious ideas going on in that day and time. Those people, those people who didn't know God needed to be reasoned with, didn't they? Do you think our day and time is any different today?
Do you think we don't have a world full of people who need to be reasoned with? Well, it's obvious to say yes, but then the hard question is, well, how do you go about doing that? How do you talk to somebody about God who may not believe in God or may have all kind of false ideas? So,
Well, I believe this morning that the Apostle Paul shows us how to do that. As we continue on in Acts chapter 17 this morning, we're going to notice several things that you're going to have to do if you're going to reason with the world. And when I say that, I hope you understand I mean worldly people.
Now, let's get started. And we're going to start in verse 17, what we've already read. But I want you to notice where he reasoned. He reasoned in the synagogue with Jews and devout people, right? And that makes sense. That's where you expect to go talk about God is in the synagogue in the church building.
It's a natural place to start. But don't you notice he didn't just reason in the synagogue. Where else did he reason? In the marketplace. Now that's different, isn't it? You see, I feel like in our society today, we have this nasty habit. Sometimes we want to silo God to the church building. We'll talk about God in the church building.
You know, if you come to church, we'll talk to you about your salvation. We'll talk to you about the gospel. Sometimes we want to silo God in one place. And the problem with that is he's everywhere and lost people who need them. They're not just in synagogues. They're not just in the church buildings.
They're in the marketplace every day. Every day they're there. And yes, we can't interact with everybody. And yes, we can't save everybody. We can't even save all the people that we interact with. But if we never If we never even bring it up, that word reason means to have a discussion with, or even in some contexts is to have an argument.
Of course, we don't have an argument, but if you're going to have an argument right, there's got to be some back and forth. We got to bring it up and we can't just bring it up in the church building. It has to be brought up out in the marketplace, out in the world where everybody is. So as you go, if you're going to reason with the world, you got to do it as you go.
Also, if you're going to reason with the worldly people, you can't take it personal. Verse 18. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him, and some said, what does this babbler wish to say? Others said he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
Now this is a hard lesson for me, but when you're trying to reason with worldly people about God, you can't take it personally when they reject, when they reject it. Because here's the thing, it's gonna feel like they're rejecting you. I mean, you believe in God, and you, you have faith, and, and this is a core tenet of your life.
And when somebody looks at you and says, I don't care about that. You're gonna take it personal. You're gonna feel it in your gut. But I remind you of what God told Samuel. God told him when the people wanted a king, what? He was tearing his clothes in mourning and he said, they haven't rejected you. They rejected me in a very real sense.
That's absolutely true. If somebody goes out and you try to tell them about God, if you try to help them save their souls and they don't want to hear it, they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting God. And one of the things you got to understand when we're talking about this, when we're talking about interacting with people.
We're talking about trying to save souls. The other thing that could help us try not to be so defensive is we've got to remember that we're trying, we're not trying to win an argument. We're trying to win a soul. If I got to win the argument, then by all means, I need to be defensive and I need to, I need to lash out and I need to, I need to take every point and give a counterpoint.
We're not trying to win arguments. We're trying to win souls. It's a different motivation. I can't take it personally when they lash out at me. They're not rejecting me, they're rejecting God. Now, verse 19. Verse 19 through 21. And they took him and brought him to the Aragopcus. Ara, Aragop, duh, whatever, you know what that says.
Saying, may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting. For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean. Now, the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Now, a couple things I want you to notice here.
First of all, when you're sowing seed, you never know when that seed's gonna sprout. You notice here that it says they took him and brought him to the Aragopolis, which is basically a big open Marketplace got a got a covered roof over it, but it was kind of like a natural amphitheater where that's where they did all their debating and they're hearing and telling something new.
You know what? Do you think Paul could have went down there on any given day and said, Hey, will y'all guys give me 10 15 minutes? Let me speak. No. You see, when the opportunity arose, he had to take it. You know, when he's in the marketplaces and he's in the synagogues and those people are making fun of him and some of them are hearing him and are interested, he got that opportunity because of the seed that he planted.
But when the opportunity presents itself, you gotta, you gotta take it. What if he just said, well guys, I know you want me to go down there and speak, but you know, it's Tuesday. I'm, I'm really busy. I ain't got time for it right now. You know, maybe later. You think he's going to get that chance again? No.
Sometimes you've got to strike when the iron's hot. Because you can't strike later. You've got to take the opportunity when it presents itself. Now, the next thing. If you're going to reason with worldly people, you've got to find some good common ground. You've got to find it. Verse 22. So Paul's standing in the midst there.
Aeropagus said men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. Why did he say that? I mean, they're pagans. They're absolutely against everything that Paul believes in and Paul teaches in. I mean, this is this is his opposite. If this is 21st century America, you have to stand up and say y'all are a bunch of idiots.
That's not what he said. That's not where he started. You might disagree with somebody in a thousand points, but is there not one something that you agree in? You see, the point of this is to, is to tone down the defensiveness on their side. You can't have a conversation. You can't plant seed in someone's heart when they, when their alarm system goes off and the wall goes up and they're defensive.
They're not listening anymore. There's a difference between an outsider lobbying accusations at you versus a friend who's asking questions. I mean, those two descriptions, it just feels different, doesn't it? And if you start out with some common ground. Right. You can, you can change the narrative. I mean, this is about relationship building in a lot of ways.
Do you want to interact with somebody that's not friendly? Do you want to interact with somebody who, who thinks that you're just wrong? No. He started out and found the good. You know what? Y'all got all these idols around here. Y'all must be very religious. And he finishes that sentence in his mind, he's thinking, but you're worshiping the wrong thing.
He's getting there, but he starts with the good. Okay? Now, once you find the good, the next thing you gotta find is the holes. And what I mean by that is the holes in their arguments or their beliefs. And, uh, that almost sounds bad, but like I say, the point's not to win the arguments, it's to win the soul.
Paul did his research, right? Look at verse 23. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God. What therefore you worship is unknown, this I proclaim to you. You see, it would have had a completely different tone about it if Paul stood up there and said, You know what?
Y'all are a bunch of pagans and you're wrong. And let me tell you about the real God. That's not how he went about it. He just said, You know what? I noticed something and a lot of times we talked about this in Bible class. If you listen long enough, somebody will tell you not only what they believe, but they'll tell you the contradictory beliefs that they have.
And if you listen long enough and and build a relationship and start with some common ground, Instead of pointing and say, Hey, right here's where you're wrong. You're wrong about baptism. I mean, man, I just, I don't know how anybody got two eyeballs can't figure that out instead of saying that way. You can say, okay, you know, I believe that you believe in God and that you won't do the right thing and you're very, very religious, but you told me this, but the Bible says this right here.
How can those two things be true? You don't have to, you don't have to tell me they're wrong. But if you're paying attention, if you're paying attention, you can point out the holes. And you know what? If somebody just wants to believe what they believe and they don't care about the logic and the truth about it, if they're not seeking, you're not going to change their mind anyway.
But if they are honest, and you do point out something where, this doesn't make sense right here. I know you're a person of conviction, and I know you want to do what's right, but this don't add up. How do you, how do you justify that in your mind? You just be quiet, and you let that marinate. That may be the very thing that it takes to change their heart and mind.
But you're never gonna, you're never gonna get to that point if you don't start with the good. If you don't build a relationship. Now, One downside of this is, is oftentimes we feel like, well, what if they ask me something I don't know? Or what if they believe something I have no idea about? You understand, Paul here's got one chance on, on the top of this hill.
But as we read on, he's going to interact with a lot of these people over and over again. He's been interacting with them in the marketplace and other places. You don't have to do everything in one setting. If somebody asked me a question that I don't know the answer to, it's perfectly fine for me to say, I don't know.
And the next time I see him, what am I going to have done in between those two meetings? I'm going to go do my homework. I'm going to find an answer. Or I'm going to find the holes that are around, around the, where they're trying to go. Maybe I need to introduce them to some other Christians. I don't know what the step is, but sometimes we, we get all uptight about evangelism, like we've got to do everything perfectly the first shot, or we're sunk.
It's not true. It's a relationship over time. They didn't get to their beliefs in five minutes, and they're not gonna change them in five minutes, right? You've got time to interact, right? This is a, this is crock pots. It's not microwaves. Of course, we've got a reason with somebody about God. Stan's the reason you better know something about God, right?
Look at verse 24 through 28. The God who made the world and everything in it being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he has made, uh, from one man, every nation of the mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined that there are allotted periods and boundaries of their dwelling places.
Amen. That, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way towards Him and find Him. Yet He's actually not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said. For we are indeed His offspring. See, you gotta know something about God. And Paul, no doubt, had studied the Old Testament Scriptures.
And Paul was receiving the revelation, New Testament scriptures. But you notice he didn't quote a verse to them here. He told them about God, and then he used what? He used their own poets. You might say against them, but it's not really against them. It's just saying, listen, your own people realize that there is a God.
A creator that gives us life and being. And you know what? They're right. Because he wouldn't be God if he needs me to serve him. He would be a man. You know, some people asked, Well, what? You know who made God? Well, the fact that he didn't have to be made is kind of what makes him God. He'd be an idol if somebody had to make him and somebody had to craft him and somebody had to serve him.
Right. He's taking what they already believe and working towards the truth. And that's an important process. You've got to know something about God to do that. But like I say, it goes back to the other point. You've got to be listening. You've got to do your research. You've got to help this person build a bridge to get from where they are to where they need to go.
And you can help them build the bridge, but you can't make them cross it. But if they're honest and open and seeking about it, they will. Right? But it's not just enough to know something about God. And this next point is not something you're gonna do probably on the first meeting necessarily. But when you're talking with somebody about God, you can talk to him about God to your blue in the face.
But at some point when a person interacts with the Bible and with scripture and truth at some point, you gotta change. And a lot of times, a person's not going to change, maybe, until you ask them to change. Verse 29. Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art or imagination of man.
The times of ignorance God has overlooked, but what? Now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. You know what, people in times past, before Jesus come on the scene, you know, Okay, God kind of give them a pass maybe.
But now, now we've got to change. Now we've got to do something about it. God sent his son, and he taught the New Testament doctrine. And he died to pay our sin debt. That's it. Why? So we could change and be better so that we could go home. David, how many sales would you make if you never asked for a sale?
Wouldn't make none. But how many times do we talk to people about God and we never ask him you ready to make a change? And I get it. Some people maybe overdo it. Maybe some people go into high pressure sales tactics, but
Just because some people do it wrong doesn't mean it doesn't need to be done. At some point, like I say, I don't think this is where you start. But, uh, I love the story of L. L. Ain't you about heard enough truth? Ain't you ready for a change? You gotta ask that question. You gotta call into action. Now, we looked at all these things.
How to reason with the world. And as we wrap up our thoughts this morning, for tuning in. I don't know if this is the conclusion or the last point, but it's still important. It's important for us to not, you know, the Bible talks about don't grow weary and well doing. This right here is how you don't grow weary and well doing.
Verse 32. Now, when they heard, now, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, we will hear you again about this. So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Diocese, the Areopagite, and a woman named Demarius and others with him.
You see, when you're trying to reason with worldly people, you gotta give up the outcome. You gotta give up the outcome. What I mean by that is sometimes we feel like we go and we talk to somebody about God, and if they don't jump in the babristry, then we fail. What if Paul had left that, left that place and focused on everybody that mocked him?
And you've got people here that are trying to believe and trying to follow along. What if he forsaked the good soil for the bad? Where would he be? Where would those other followers be? If you're going to pour into people's lives and do ministry, there's going to be people that reject it. There's going to be people and it's heartbreaking.
Believe you me, it's heartbreaking. But whether they're faithful is not on me. I saw her went forth to so the Bible doesn't say the sower went out to grow. He said a sower went out to so and when he slung that seed everywhere, it was not the source fault that some of it fell on hard ground and Satan come by like the birds of the air and picked it away.
It was not the sower fault that some of that soil had rocks in it and didn't have any depth of root. It was not the sower fault that some of that ground had thorns and thistles in it. And it sprang up and for a while it was a Christian and other, and then it was choked out. It fell away and it, it wasn't because of the sower that the good soil was the good soil.
The sower didn't go forth to grow. The sower went forth to sow. You have to turn loose the outcome. Our job is to so see if people want to accept it, that's fine. But if people want to reject it, they're not rejecting us. They're rejecting God. And yes, that's heartbreaking. But we can stand before our God in judgment and say, you know what?
I tried father. I told him about you and they didn't want to hear it. And that's all we've been called to do. Sometimes I feel like we've got to be perfect, or we feel like a failure, and we can't do anything, and it paralyzes us. That's not the case. Our job is to be sowers, not growers. I don't know what you need this morning.
Maybe you're struggling, maybe, maybe you let fear or anxiety paralyze you from doing what you need to do, or maybe today you're ready to become a Christian for the first time. I don't know what your need is, but I know you've got a God that loves you, and I know you're surrounded by people People that love you.
If we can help you in any way, would you come while we have this invitation to song
Transcript:
You know, if you're needing a Christmas idea for somebody, this might make a good one. Uh, that's a Ferrari 250 GT. That's not exactly my style, but if you buy me one, I'll sell it. We'll all go spend Christmas at Maldives or somewhere like, um, if you want to buy one, depend on the model. It'll cost you somewhere between a million and 15 million to buy one.
But in 1963, this gentleman here would not have given you a plug nickel for that car. The reason why is he owned one, and he kept having a problem with his car. No matter what he did, the same problem appeared over and over again. He couldn't keep a clutch in it. Now, who wants to own a Ferrari, and you can't drive it like a Ferrari?
He went through all the service channels. He waited on several factory parts, and every time they put one in, same thing. Finally, he scheduled a meeting with this gentleman, Enzo Ferrari, like, of the company Ferrari. And he shared with him his struggle and all the time that his car had been down, and Enzo, being Enzo, just didn't care.
He kind of blew him off. And in fact, right before he left the meeting, he says, he told him, he said, What's a man who makes tractors for a living know about sports cars? And this man, whose name is Ferici Lamborghini, decided to show him what a tractor man knew about making cars. He, he created the car company that we know and date, know and love today.
Probably some of the most recognizable automobiles to have ever been created. All because he got tired. Of waiting for a clutch for a two 50 GT Ferrari. Now you think about that. We all hate waiting. We hate it. But sometimes waiting is exactly what it takes to be the motivation for somebody to go change the world.
You've got your bibles with you this morning. Let's go to X Chapter 17. That's where we're gonna spend our time at this morning. You could go to one opening and we're not gonna not gonna move. But here we're going to see the Apostle Paul and bless his heart, everywhere Apostle Paul went, there were angry people trying to run him out of town.
And as you read up to verse 16, that's what's happened with the Apostle Paul. They were about to kill him, stone him one more time, and a group of disciples get him out and they get him to Athens. And he's in Athens just simply because he's waiting for Silas and Timothy to get there. He's waiting around.
He's got some time to kill. But I want you to see this morning what happened while he was waiting there. Now, Paul was waiting for them in Athens. His spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the about persons in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.
So you look at Paul and you say, Paul, can't you just hang out somewhere and not not share the gospel with anybody? And the answer is that's no. Right? He's, this is a foreign place to him. It's, it's not somewhere he's from. And obviously it's a place, being a New Testament Christian, that when he looks around and he sees all the idols in the idolatry, right, it just provoked his spirit.
I cannot do something. So it says he began to reason with people. And you think about that. You think about the first century world and all the religious ideas going on in that day and time. Those people, those people who didn't know God needed to be reasoned with, didn't they? Do you think our day and time is any different today?
Do you think we don't have a world full of people who need to be reasoned with? Well, it's obvious to say yes, but then the hard question is, well, how do you go about doing that? How do you talk to somebody about God who may not believe in God or may have all kind of false ideas? So,
Well, I believe this morning that the Apostle Paul shows us how to do that. As we continue on in Acts chapter 17 this morning, we're going to notice several things that you're going to have to do if you're going to reason with the world. And when I say that, I hope you understand I mean worldly people.
Now, let's get started. And we're going to start in verse 17, what we've already read. But I want you to notice where he reasoned. He reasoned in the synagogue with Jews and devout people, right? And that makes sense. That's where you expect to go talk about God is in the synagogue in the church building.
It's a natural place to start. But don't you notice he didn't just reason in the synagogue. Where else did he reason? In the marketplace. Now that's different, isn't it? You see, I feel like in our society today, we have this nasty habit. Sometimes we want to silo God to the church building. We'll talk about God in the church building.
You know, if you come to church, we'll talk to you about your salvation. We'll talk to you about the gospel. Sometimes we want to silo God in one place. And the problem with that is he's everywhere and lost people who need them. They're not just in synagogues. They're not just in the church buildings.
They're in the marketplace every day. Every day they're there. And yes, we can't interact with everybody. And yes, we can't save everybody. We can't even save all the people that we interact with. But if we never If we never even bring it up, that word reason means to have a discussion with, or even in some contexts is to have an argument.
Of course, we don't have an argument, but if you're going to have an argument right, there's got to be some back and forth. We got to bring it up and we can't just bring it up in the church building. It has to be brought up out in the marketplace, out in the world where everybody is. So as you go, if you're going to reason with the world, you got to do it as you go.
Also, if you're going to reason with the worldly people, you can't take it personal. Verse 18. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him, and some said, what does this babbler wish to say? Others said he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
Now this is a hard lesson for me, but when you're trying to reason with worldly people about God, you can't take it personally when they reject, when they reject it. Because here's the thing, it's gonna feel like they're rejecting you. I mean, you believe in God, and you, you have faith, and, and this is a core tenet of your life.
And when somebody looks at you and says, I don't care about that. You're gonna take it personal. You're gonna feel it in your gut. But I remind you of what God told Samuel. God told him when the people wanted a king, what? He was tearing his clothes in mourning and he said, they haven't rejected you. They rejected me in a very real sense.
That's absolutely true. If somebody goes out and you try to tell them about God, if you try to help them save their souls and they don't want to hear it, they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting God. And one of the things you got to understand when we're talking about this, when we're talking about interacting with people.
We're talking about trying to save souls. The other thing that could help us try not to be so defensive is we've got to remember that we're trying, we're not trying to win an argument. We're trying to win a soul. If I got to win the argument, then by all means, I need to be defensive and I need to, I need to lash out and I need to, I need to take every point and give a counterpoint.
We're not trying to win arguments. We're trying to win souls. It's a different motivation. I can't take it personally when they lash out at me. They're not rejecting me, they're rejecting God. Now, verse 19. Verse 19 through 21. And they took him and brought him to the Aragopcus. Ara, Aragop, duh, whatever, you know what that says.
Saying, may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting. For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean. Now, the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Now, a couple things I want you to notice here.
First of all, when you're sowing seed, you never know when that seed's gonna sprout. You notice here that it says they took him and brought him to the Aragopolis, which is basically a big open Marketplace got a got a covered roof over it, but it was kind of like a natural amphitheater where that's where they did all their debating and they're hearing and telling something new.
You know what? Do you think Paul could have went down there on any given day and said, Hey, will y'all guys give me 10 15 minutes? Let me speak. No. You see, when the opportunity arose, he had to take it. You know, when he's in the marketplaces and he's in the synagogues and those people are making fun of him and some of them are hearing him and are interested, he got that opportunity because of the seed that he planted.
But when the opportunity presents itself, you gotta, you gotta take it. What if he just said, well guys, I know you want me to go down there and speak, but you know, it's Tuesday. I'm, I'm really busy. I ain't got time for it right now. You know, maybe later. You think he's going to get that chance again? No.
Sometimes you've got to strike when the iron's hot. Because you can't strike later. You've got to take the opportunity when it presents itself. Now, the next thing. If you're going to reason with worldly people, you've got to find some good common ground. You've got to find it. Verse 22. So Paul's standing in the midst there.
Aeropagus said men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. Why did he say that? I mean, they're pagans. They're absolutely against everything that Paul believes in and Paul teaches in. I mean, this is this is his opposite. If this is 21st century America, you have to stand up and say y'all are a bunch of idiots.
That's not what he said. That's not where he started. You might disagree with somebody in a thousand points, but is there not one something that you agree in? You see, the point of this is to, is to tone down the defensiveness on their side. You can't have a conversation. You can't plant seed in someone's heart when they, when their alarm system goes off and the wall goes up and they're defensive.
They're not listening anymore. There's a difference between an outsider lobbying accusations at you versus a friend who's asking questions. I mean, those two descriptions, it just feels different, doesn't it? And if you start out with some common ground. Right. You can, you can change the narrative. I mean, this is about relationship building in a lot of ways.
Do you want to interact with somebody that's not friendly? Do you want to interact with somebody who, who thinks that you're just wrong? No. He started out and found the good. You know what? Y'all got all these idols around here. Y'all must be very religious. And he finishes that sentence in his mind, he's thinking, but you're worshiping the wrong thing.
He's getting there, but he starts with the good. Okay? Now, once you find the good, the next thing you gotta find is the holes. And what I mean by that is the holes in their arguments or their beliefs. And, uh, that almost sounds bad, but like I say, the point's not to win the arguments, it's to win the soul.
Paul did his research, right? Look at verse 23. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God. What therefore you worship is unknown, this I proclaim to you. You see, it would have had a completely different tone about it if Paul stood up there and said, You know what?
Y'all are a bunch of pagans and you're wrong. And let me tell you about the real God. That's not how he went about it. He just said, You know what? I noticed something and a lot of times we talked about this in Bible class. If you listen long enough, somebody will tell you not only what they believe, but they'll tell you the contradictory beliefs that they have.
And if you listen long enough and and build a relationship and start with some common ground, Instead of pointing and say, Hey, right here's where you're wrong. You're wrong about baptism. I mean, man, I just, I don't know how anybody got two eyeballs can't figure that out instead of saying that way. You can say, okay, you know, I believe that you believe in God and that you won't do the right thing and you're very, very religious, but you told me this, but the Bible says this right here.
How can those two things be true? You don't have to, you don't have to tell me they're wrong. But if you're paying attention, if you're paying attention, you can point out the holes. And you know what? If somebody just wants to believe what they believe and they don't care about the logic and the truth about it, if they're not seeking, you're not going to change their mind anyway.
But if they are honest, and you do point out something where, this doesn't make sense right here. I know you're a person of conviction, and I know you want to do what's right, but this don't add up. How do you, how do you justify that in your mind? You just be quiet, and you let that marinate. That may be the very thing that it takes to change their heart and mind.
But you're never gonna, you're never gonna get to that point if you don't start with the good. If you don't build a relationship. Now, One downside of this is, is oftentimes we feel like, well, what if they ask me something I don't know? Or what if they believe something I have no idea about? You understand, Paul here's got one chance on, on the top of this hill.
But as we read on, he's going to interact with a lot of these people over and over again. He's been interacting with them in the marketplace and other places. You don't have to do everything in one setting. If somebody asked me a question that I don't know the answer to, it's perfectly fine for me to say, I don't know.
And the next time I see him, what am I going to have done in between those two meetings? I'm going to go do my homework. I'm going to find an answer. Or I'm going to find the holes that are around, around the, where they're trying to go. Maybe I need to introduce them to some other Christians. I don't know what the step is, but sometimes we, we get all uptight about evangelism, like we've got to do everything perfectly the first shot, or we're sunk.
It's not true. It's a relationship over time. They didn't get to their beliefs in five minutes, and they're not gonna change them in five minutes, right? You've got time to interact, right? This is a, this is crock pots. It's not microwaves. Of course, we've got a reason with somebody about God. Stan's the reason you better know something about God, right?
Look at verse 24 through 28. The God who made the world and everything in it being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he has made, uh, from one man, every nation of the mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined that there are allotted periods and boundaries of their dwelling places.
Amen. That, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way towards Him and find Him. Yet He's actually not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said. For we are indeed His offspring. See, you gotta know something about God. And Paul, no doubt, had studied the Old Testament Scriptures.
And Paul was receiving the revelation, New Testament scriptures. But you notice he didn't quote a verse to them here. He told them about God, and then he used what? He used their own poets. You might say against them, but it's not really against them. It's just saying, listen, your own people realize that there is a God.
A creator that gives us life and being. And you know what? They're right. Because he wouldn't be God if he needs me to serve him. He would be a man. You know, some people asked, Well, what? You know who made God? Well, the fact that he didn't have to be made is kind of what makes him God. He'd be an idol if somebody had to make him and somebody had to craft him and somebody had to serve him.
Right. He's taking what they already believe and working towards the truth. And that's an important process. You've got to know something about God to do that. But like I say, it goes back to the other point. You've got to be listening. You've got to do your research. You've got to help this person build a bridge to get from where they are to where they need to go.
And you can help them build the bridge, but you can't make them cross it. But if they're honest and open and seeking about it, they will. Right? But it's not just enough to know something about God. And this next point is not something you're gonna do probably on the first meeting necessarily. But when you're talking with somebody about God, you can talk to him about God to your blue in the face.
But at some point when a person interacts with the Bible and with scripture and truth at some point, you gotta change. And a lot of times, a person's not going to change, maybe, until you ask them to change. Verse 29. Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art or imagination of man.
The times of ignorance God has overlooked, but what? Now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. You know what, people in times past, before Jesus come on the scene, you know, Okay, God kind of give them a pass maybe.
But now, now we've got to change. Now we've got to do something about it. God sent his son, and he taught the New Testament doctrine. And he died to pay our sin debt. That's it. Why? So we could change and be better so that we could go home. David, how many sales would you make if you never asked for a sale?
Wouldn't make none. But how many times do we talk to people about God and we never ask him you ready to make a change? And I get it. Some people maybe overdo it. Maybe some people go into high pressure sales tactics, but
Just because some people do it wrong doesn't mean it doesn't need to be done. At some point, like I say, I don't think this is where you start. But, uh, I love the story of L. L. Ain't you about heard enough truth? Ain't you ready for a change? You gotta ask that question. You gotta call into action. Now, we looked at all these things.
How to reason with the world. And as we wrap up our thoughts this morning, for tuning in. I don't know if this is the conclusion or the last point, but it's still important. It's important for us to not, you know, the Bible talks about don't grow weary and well doing. This right here is how you don't grow weary and well doing.
Verse 32. Now, when they heard, now, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, we will hear you again about this. So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Diocese, the Areopagite, and a woman named Demarius and others with him.
You see, when you're trying to reason with worldly people, you gotta give up the outcome. You gotta give up the outcome. What I mean by that is sometimes we feel like we go and we talk to somebody about God, and if they don't jump in the babristry, then we fail. What if Paul had left that, left that place and focused on everybody that mocked him?
And you've got people here that are trying to believe and trying to follow along. What if he forsaked the good soil for the bad? Where would he be? Where would those other followers be? If you're going to pour into people's lives and do ministry, there's going to be people that reject it. There's going to be people and it's heartbreaking.
Believe you me, it's heartbreaking. But whether they're faithful is not on me. I saw her went forth to so the Bible doesn't say the sower went out to grow. He said a sower went out to so and when he slung that seed everywhere, it was not the source fault that some of it fell on hard ground and Satan come by like the birds of the air and picked it away.
It was not the sower fault that some of that soil had rocks in it and didn't have any depth of root. It was not the sower fault that some of that ground had thorns and thistles in it. And it sprang up and for a while it was a Christian and other, and then it was choked out. It fell away and it, it wasn't because of the sower that the good soil was the good soil.
The sower didn't go forth to grow. The sower went forth to sow. You have to turn loose the outcome. Our job is to so see if people want to accept it, that's fine. But if people want to reject it, they're not rejecting us. They're rejecting God. And yes, that's heartbreaking. But we can stand before our God in judgment and say, you know what?
I tried father. I told him about you and they didn't want to hear it. And that's all we've been called to do. Sometimes I feel like we've got to be perfect, or we feel like a failure, and we can't do anything, and it paralyzes us. That's not the case. Our job is to be sowers, not growers. I don't know what you need this morning.
Maybe you're struggling, maybe, maybe you let fear or anxiety paralyze you from doing what you need to do, or maybe today you're ready to become a Christian for the first time. I don't know what your need is, but I know you've got a God that loves you, and I know you're surrounded by people People that love you.
If we can help you in any way, would you come while we have this invitation to song
