How to Reach Our Culture with The Gospel | A Hunger for God

1:59 Let's grab our Bibles, turn to Acts chapter 17. The title of my message is How to Reach Our Culture with the Gospel. So there was an event that was being held and a minister was asked to come and share just a few words, which sometimes is challenging for preachers because we can be long-winded, right? So the preacher got up to speak and he quickly went to his allotted time, which was five minutes, and he was continuing to speak and now it's eight minutes, now it's nine minutes. So there was a moderator there. He cleared his throat, hoping the preacher would hear and stop. Still the minister droned on. Then the moderator lightly tapped the gavel to get the preacher's attention. Still this preacher kept preaching. Now it's 20 minutes and it's ruining the entire event because they have other things that are gonna happen.

2:53 And now the moderator pounds down the gavel loudly and still the preacher is speaking. Moderator couldn't take it anymore. He took the gavel and threw it at the preacher. It barely missed the preacher and hit an elderly man who had fallen asleep in the front row. The old dude woke up, saw the preacher was still speaking and then he said to the moderator, hit me again, I can still hear him. We've all heard that preacher. And sometimes we've been that preacher. Oh, not behind a pulpit. But we're the kind of person that when we come along, people want to go in the other direction. Because here comes you or me with our message, and it's the way we deliver it that drives people crazy. So let's take a master class from a master communicator, The Apostle Paul.

3:49 Let's take a page out of his playbook on how to reach our culture with the gospel. And so Acts chapter 17 is the story of Paul bringing the gospel to the city of Athens. At this time, Athens was sort of waning from its former glory, but it was effectively the cultural and intellectual center of the world. It was the base of the great Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and many others. Their thoughts and teachings still impact many today as a matter of fact. So Paul's just sort of hanging around in Athens and he does what you would do when you're in a city like that. He went sightseeing. I've been to Athens. We went there as a part of a tour to Israel and walking in the footsteps of Paul. And I've actually spoken on Mars Hill where Paul addressed these people.

4:43 And so he's just checking things out. There's the great Parthenon, a temple built to one of their false gods. In fact, there were false gods everywhere in Athens. It was said it was easier to find a god in Athens than a man. It's estimated there were at least 30,000 altars erected to various Greek deities like Zeus, who was the king of all gods. And there's Athena, the goddess of heroic behavior. Epaphrodite, the goddess of love and lust. Morpheus, the god of dreams. Poseidon, the god of sinking ships. No, not really. That was a movie about the Poseidon. Forget it. That was actually the goddess of storms and earthquakes. And then finally there was Nike, the goddess of shoes. We know that for sure, okay.

5:35 So all these various deities were there. And so Paul's just kind of taking it in. He's walking around the city. He's absorbing the culture. And now he begins his message in Acts 17, starting in verse 16. We read, and I'm reading from the New Living Translation. When Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. He went to the synagogue to debate with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles and spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there. And he had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Then he told them about Jesus and his resurrection. And they said, this babbler has picked up some strange ideas. Others said, he's pushing some foreign religion. Then they took him to the Council of Philosophers, also known as the Areopagus, and said, come and tell us more about this new religion. You're seeing some rather startling things, and we want to know what it's all about. It should be explained that the Athenians, as well as the foreigners in Athens, seem to spend all of their time discussing the latest ideas. So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows. Men of Athens, I notice you're very religious. If you were to give this statement today, you would say, people of America, I see that you're into spirituality.

7:04 That's effectively what he was saying. And I was walking among your many altars and one of them had this inscription on it to an unknown God. You've been worshiping him without knowing who he is and now I wish to tell you about him. That's a powerful text. And we'll stop there. You know, we live in a unique time in American history. Our culture, our nation is a lot more like Mars Hill than any other time. Mars Hill was the place where the philosophers would speak and trade in the latest ideas of the time. They were a completely secular culture. We're becoming more of a secular culture. So this is the audience, if you will, that Paul is addressing in his day. As verse 21 says, they spent all their time discussing the latest ideas. Sort of like an ABC Religion.

8:03 ABC Anything But Christ. Emails, phone calls, and social media messages from listeners are so encouraging to us. And they let us know the effectiveness of these studies. Pastor Greg, I've given my whole self to Christ and continue to allow myself to be available to do what He asks. I stay in prayer and Bible study continually and take up my cross and follow him wherever that may be, speaking the truth in love and giving wherever I can. I'm thrilled that I can be a Harvest partner and a part of the discipleship community. Thank you. We appreciate those kind words, and we're only able to make these studies possible because of partners like this listener. Would you consider partnering with us?

8:57 If so, you can make a donation online at harvest.org or write to us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Well, today we're discussing the challenge of reaching our world for Christ. Pastor Greg's message is titled, How to Reach Our Culture with the Gospel. You know, people will talk about anything. Oh, I believe in this. I believe in a little bit of that. and I believe in some of this other thing where I just made up a bunch of stuff and this is what I believe now. And so here's Paul now with this challenge that's not unlike the challenge you and I face every day. How do we reach a culture like this? How do we connect to people like this? How do we tell them about Jesus Christ? Because really, as the Bible says, there's nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes says, history merely repeats itself.

9:53 It's all been done before. nothing under the sun is truly new. How true is that? It's just a repeat of it in a new way. Malcolm Muggeridge once said, all new news is old news happening to new people. So things are not as different today as you think they are. I think these first century principles apply to us in the 21st century. So how can we be better communicators in the time in which we live? Point number one. Effective communication begins with a burden. Effective communication begins with a burden. Look at verse 16. While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed that the city was full of idols. He was greatly distressed that the city was full of idols.

10:47 The word used here for distressed means seizure, spasm, or outburst. So this is a visible reaction from Paul. You know, if you're upset by something, someone might say, hey, don't have a seizure, man. Paul was kind of having a spiritual seizure. He was just grieved to see the absence of the living God and in his place, every conceivable substitute. And I wonder if you ever feel that way. I know I do. You know, when I look at a news site, it's so frustrating to me to see the evil in the world, the horrible things that people do to people, the wrong ideas that people fall for, the tragedy of so many human lives. And then we look at all these idols, all these false gods. I would say for us today, for us, celebrities are false gods.

11:41 You know, what are they up to? What's the latest thing? What did they just post? Oh, wow, look at how they look here and they're using all these filters. They don't even look like the people they are. And I think people sort of put these people on pedestals and these ideologies, et cetera. But I want you to remember something. When you look at people doing godless things, they are not the enemy. The devil is the enemy. I think we forget this sometimes. And sometimes even in our world of politics, you know, we get really worked up. They're so evil. They're so bad. Okay, hold on now. Here's what the Bible teaches. They are a sinner under the captive of Satan. Now granted, they're doing evil things. What they're doing is wrong, but we're not supposed to hate sinners. We're supposed to love sinners. Hate the sin, sure, but love the sinners.

12:35 Don't forget, Jesus was called the friend of sinners. 2 Timothy 2.26 says, pray that they'll come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap, for they've been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. Don't forget, you used to be one of them. How were you reached? By someone yelling at you? By someone hating you? No, I'm sure it was the love of God that got through to you, right? Someone show God's love.

13:07 Satan is the enemy. Sinners are not the enemy. They're under his control and we're praying that they'll be set free. You know it's interesting that phrase that Paul uses there for people being held captive. It means they're caught alive. Caught alive. The only other time that phrase is used in the New Testament is when Jesus says, follow me and I'll make you a fisher of men. Or a better translation would be, follow me and you will catch men alive. So here's the choice. They can either be caught alive by the devil, if you will, or caught alive by Christ through our evangelistic efforts. Bringing me to my second point, Paul was culturally relevant. He was culturally relevant. It's called reading the room. Paul quotes one of their secular philosophers to build a bridge to his audience. He says, I want to talk to you about the unknown God. I notice that you're very religious. Or as I said, we might say today, you're into spirituality. So, you know, this is a great way to start. And I do this all the time. You know, I do this when I preach. I do this one-on-one.

14:17 I try to find a little bridge to walk over with the person I'm speaking to. I have a book called Lennon, Dylan, Alice, and Jesus. Now, I know that's a weird name for a book, okay? So, you know, I've done some other biographies on Johnny Cash, Steve McQueen, Billy Graham. So this one is about these rock stars that are known by many people and what happened in their lives spiritually. And this co-author I work with and I were able to dig up some really interesting things about people that are in the public eye who actually encountered Christ. I'm not saying all of these people are Christians. Some of them are. Some of them aren't. But basically my premise of this book is to show that no one is beyond the reach of God. So here's, like John Lennon has an example. Of course part of the Beatles. And everyone thinks John Lennon was the most anti-Christ guy that ever lived.

15:21 Because after all he wrote the song Imagine. Imagine there's no heaven. No hell below you. Above You Only Sky, et cetera. He said, we're more popular than Jesus, speaking of the Beatles. Well, some things happened toward the end of Lennon's life many people don't know about. And there was a moment in his life where he actually professed faith in Jesus Christ. Now, granted, it did not last, but I explore that. What actually happened to this guy? And there's a lot of other things in there that you'll learn about people that have come to Christ. And I also deal with present-day pop stars as well, many of whom have made professions of faith. I start the book with these words. There'll be three surprises when we get to heaven. Number one, some of the people we thought would be there won't be there. Number two, some of the people we never thought would be there will be there. Number three, will be there. Because sometimes people misunderstand, I think, when I do things like this.

16:16 Why are you talking to that person? And why are you doing this film here? And what is this all about? I'm trying to build bridges. I don't want to just talk to Christians. I want to talk to non-believers and tell them about Christ. because someone did that for me. They came to my high school campus and they shared the gospel and kind of entered my weird little world. And I heard it and I understood it and I believed and I want to do that for other people as well. Good insight from Pastor Greg Laurie today here on A New Beginning. And he comes back to close our study time in prayer in just a moment.

17:11 Now, Pastor Greg mentioned his book, Lennon, Dylan, Alice, and Jesus. You can find out more about that book by going to our online store at harvest.org. Just click the store icon at the top of the page. Lennon, Dillon, Alice, and Jesus. You'll find it's a fascinating read. But listen, if you've never come into a relationship with the Lord, we'd invite you to do that today. It's just too important to put it off. Pastor Gray, what would you say to the listener who wants to make that change right now? What I would say is he's only a prayer way, which means if you will call upon the name of the Lord, right now through prayer, he will hear your prayer and answer your prayer. Listen, if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, just pray this prayer right now after me. Just pray, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now, and I choose to follow you.

18:19 From this moment forward, as my Savior and Lord, as my God and my friend, in Jesus' name I pray.