Complete Sermon Notes
10 Keys to Sharing Your Faith
RECAP: Closed Doors – Jordan Rubin..good thing isn't always a God thing.
Evangelism is spiritual warfare – ACTS 17 [Paul and Silas came to
Thessalonica], where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul, as his
custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the
Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again
from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” 4 And
some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a
few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.
1. Know your audience and the rebuttals
Isaiah…“it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer” and
afterwards “to raise Him to life so that many people could be forgiven”
(Isaiah 53:10-12).
5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil
men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and
attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
2. Opposition is the rule, not the exception
When the false kings are challenged, the only response is hate and anger – your
response is love and grace.
Fast-forward to vs10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by
night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11
These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the
word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these
things were so.
3. Study the Bible and let the Bible study you
You’re sharing truth – how do you share what you do not know?
Search and see – if I’m thinking God’s thoughts? Search and see if I’m acting
according to the character of God. Search and see if I’m parenting…if I’m making
decisions…
FF vs. 16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within
him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 17 Therefore he reasoned in
the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace
daily with those who happened to be there.
4. Don’t ignore the leading [provoking] of the Spirit – to stimulate or
excite.
18 Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said,
“What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of
foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they
took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new
doctrine is of which you speak? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our
ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” 21 For all the Athenians
and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or
to hear some new thing.
Epicureans – a well-known school of atheistic who taught that pleasure was the chief
end of human existence. Stoics said – “We are one with the Universe”.
"The two enemies [that Christianity] has [always] had to contend with are the
two ruling principles of the Epicureans and Stoics – Pleasure and Pride"
[HOWSON].
21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing
else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
The Secret, etc.
Addressing the Areopagus without using the Bible
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I
perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and
considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO
THE UNKNOWN GOD.
5. Acknowledge and encourage them – this is where love is vital.
6. Use what they already know or believe [SANDWICH]
…Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24
“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth,
does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s
hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all
things. 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the
face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of
their dwellings,
7. Use supplemental information to make your point
Scientific info. for an atheist.
Compare other writings to the Bible.
Show that all religions cannot be right – they all contradict each other.
GOOD REMINDER – 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He
needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
MY GOAL IS THAT THEY DO NOT GET A GOOD NIGHT'S REST.
8. Offer the solution to their problem
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and
find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move
and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His
offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that
the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s
devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all
men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will
judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given
assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Repentance is the HEARTBEAT OF THE CHURCH
Message to pastors – if you are not preaching repentance you are not preaching.
There is a day of judgment coming – Paul boldly proclaims these words on the
Areopagus – the seat of judgment.
King Jesus would You…
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others
said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them
[kept his cool]. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them
Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
9. Leave the results to God: if a farmer has to wait, why don’t we?
Chapter 18:6 But when they opposed him and blasphemed, [Paul] shook his
garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From
now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
18:24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and
mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25 This man had been instructed in the
way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things
of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 So he began to speak
boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside
and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
10. Teachability and Humility are your greatest weapons
[OBVIOUSLY TRUTH IS AS WELL]
I didn’t say compromise the truth. I didn’t say give up and conceded.
MANY DON’T LISTEN – they’re too busy making their point!
MANY ARE NOT TEACHABLE – they’re too busy talking!
Arrogant people argue – humble people listen [REALLY LISTEN].
EXAMPLE: “When I met you I was impressed by your simple, honest nature, your
apparent willingness to learn things, and your lack of arrogance. You acted a lot like I
suspect the historical Jesus of Nazareth acted. I would enjoy meeting again with you
when time permits for us both.”
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God is not impressed with your intellect or knowledge – He is interested in a broken
and contrite heart.
THE MAIN KEY IS BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT – Authority and Power!
