Thinking Like a Lost Person

Well, it's been almost two years now since Genie and I moved out of the Parcenech to a home we bought here in town and one day, I don't know, it was about a year and a half ago or so, I was leaving the church late afternoon early evening and I needed to go to the store and get something before I went home. I left the store, got in my car to drive home. I drove out Halls Ridge Road into the driveway of the Parcenech. All the windows are out by this time and everything's kind of gutted. When I get in the driveway I realize I'm not home. This is not where I live anymore. I was afraid someone around here would see me so I thought I'd better look like I know what I'm doing. I got out of the car looked around, you know, acted like I had some business there. I think I remember looking across the road, whitey Beckett still lived across the road, he'd just shake and he said. Well I wouldn't have felt so bad if Genie hadn't done the same thing. Genie did the same thing about a week later. She'd drive home from work and drives up the ridge right into the driveway and into the Parcenech. Just this past week you see when we moved into the Parcenech 16 years ago the phone number that preacher Jimmy had had for years and years and years and years was left there. The phone was never unhoots so we inherited preacher Jimmy's phone number. So it was his number for years and then it became our number. Last week I went home one evening and there was a voicemail on our voicemail at home. Someone said I'm sorry I was trying to reach preacher Jimmy or Jimmy Jones they said. 16 years Jimmy had not lived in that house or had that number and someone was still calling that number to try to reach him. Have you ever been in a situation where you were trying to reach someone where they used to be and they're not there anymore? Well tragically a lot of Christians do the same thing when it comes to being a lifesaver. When it comes to being what we're talking about in this series of messages of being God's instrument to reach out and be the one who introduces someone to Christ a lifesaver rescues someone from death. A lot of Christians tragically are doing the same thing. They're trying to reach people where they were not where they are. Where they used to be not where they are now. A lot of believers and a lot of churches are trying to do that. You see our world has changed drastically over the last 40 years but many churches and many Christians still have the same approach we used to our approaches to getting people under the sound of the gospel or to reaching them for Christ are often geared to where they were. Where they used to be 40 years ago not where they are now. Case in point evangelistic meetings in churches. I still occasionally have someone come up to me and say why don't we have good old fashioned evangelistic meetings anymore because they're old fashion. Now let me explain that. Churches used to have evangelistic meetings where they'd have a speaker come in and guest evangelist and and speak for two weeks maybe three weeks. You remember those? I remember those as a kid two three weeks of meetings. Churches today realized you can't get people out like that like you used to and even churches that still have evangelistic meetings will have them only Sunday through Wednesday at best and you know who comes ask anybody who holds those meetings. You know who comes? About one-tenth of the church people and a few other people from the community who want to hear that particular speaker rarely ever does an unsafe person come anymore. Now that was a wonderful method of reaching people years ago but unsafe people just don't walk into a church meeting anymore in a weeknight. They just don't do that. The way you reach people today is different. It's through target ministries. It's through picking a knee that someone has and saying we want to show you Jesus love in that area of your life and then introduce you to him as your savior and so it's one of the reasons why we've changed a little bit the way we approach evangelism as a church. It's not because evangelistic meetings are bad. They were wonderful. They were great in their day but that's where people used to live. It's not where they live now and if we use the same methods we used to then we will find ourselves preaching to the choir having evangelistic meetings for a few church people who've been there 40 years. That's not an evangelistic meeting. Nobody's there who's unsafe. So you see we we have to reach people where they are today. Before the 60s most people in the United States had a basic Christian worldview. By that I mean that their ideas of right and wrong their ideas of moral values were based on the Bible whether or not they even went to church whether they were believer or unbeliever 40, 50 years ago most people in America had basic Christian values morals at least they understood what they were that began to change in the 60s and 70s with all of the moral and social and spiritual upheavals during that turbulent time in our nation that began to change and it led to a culture that in the 1990s time magazine an elite article called the Boomer generation the the generation that forgot God that's what we were called the generation that forgot God that left the church that forgot all about God you see people today have very different ideas of morality very different ideas of right and wrong very different ideas of spirituality and if we are going to reach them we must think like a lost person we must understand where they are and reach them where they are we got to think like lost people because we can't continue to do the same things we've done for 40 or 50 or 100 years and expect to relate well to the people of this day and this culture just simply won't happen we'll find ourselves dwindling more and more and more and just preaching to the choir now that's not a new concept when Jesus burst on the scene he did things differently than the Pharisees did Jesus teaching was used a lot of illustrations about things that people could relate to the birds of the air the field of grain over there the sewer that went out so seed he was constantly talking about things that people could relate to telling stories that drew people in and then he would get the truth to them Paul said the same thing in 1 Corinthians 9 he said when I'm with Jewish people I relate to them as a Jew like I were a Jew to get the gospel to them when I'm when I'm with a Gentile crowd I relate to them differently because they're a different audience and so I relate to them as though I were Gentile and I do that becoming all things to all men so that by all means I might reach some some might be saved so this is not a new concept but the concept is best illustrated by Paul in Acts 17 so in this series of a message is on evangelism I knew I wanted to get at some point Acts 17 that's where we are this morning where Paul changes his approach to how he's reaching people to think like the lost people he was trying to reach exactly what he does in Acts chapter 17 in fact I think Acts chapter 17 gives us five characteristics of lost people today because we live very much in a culture that was like Athens of Paul's day so five characteristics of lost people if we're gonna think like they think we must understand this is where lost people are today number one they don't know God's book I'm talking about people who are unsafe people who are unchurched by and large they don't know God's book that was certainly the way it was in Athens Greece in the first century in Acts 17 let's take a look Acts 17 verses 16 to 18 we're gonna visit an ancient city and find out those people did not understand God's book verse 16 while Paul was waiting for them speaking of Saul and or Silas and Timothy who were going to catch up with him in Athens while Paul was waiting for them in Athens he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols so he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the Godfaring Greeks as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happen to be there a group of Epicurian and stoic philosophers began to dispute with him some of them said what is this babeler trying to say others remarked he seems to be advocating foreign gods they said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection now get the picture here and I think you'll see that Paul is now in a place where people do not know God's book the Bible says that he started out in the synagogue now synagogue is a Jewish worship center it's a place where Jews in any community in the Roman Empire would come and study the old testament so usually when Paul went to a city he started his ministry in the synagogue because those people had some knowledge of the Old Testament some Bible background they would understand the terminology and Paul could take the Old Testament take them to the prophecies about the Messiah and show them how Jesus fulfilled them it was really pretty simple because they had Bible knowledge and background if you went into a synagogue where in this passage the Bible says there were both Jews and Godfaring Greeks so there were Jewish people by nationality but there were also Godfaring Greeks these were not Jewish people but they had come to understand and believe and accept the Old Testament and they worship with Jews in the synagogue they had become Jewish and their religion if you will so when Paul would go into a synagogue he could talk about the Bible the Old Testament quote verses and they would be right on the edge of their seats they'd be right with him because they had that background but the Bible also says in Athens in addition to speaking in the synagogue as we read he also spoke in the marketplace now the marketplace was a place of public discourse where people would give lectures and crowds would gather to hear and these people were Greeks they were not Jews they were not Godfaringers they were unsaved unchurched people as we would think of them today and they had no Old Testament background they had no understanding of what Paul was talking about I mean I'm sure Paul got to the Paul got to the marketplace and he's been in the synagogue which is like a little slice of Jerusalem he's now in the marketplace talking the Bible says they're about the same thing Jesus and the resurrection preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection and these guys are standing around saying who is this babbler what's he talking about strange ideas and I'm sure Paul picked up his little dog Toto and said we are not in Judea anymore you know this is a different ballgame you know the different audience a different crowd of people to reach and so Paul is going to adjust how he ministers to these people based on where they are in fact the word I mentioned a moment ago in verse 18 when some of those philosophers said what is this babbler trying to say the word babbler is not a compliment it literally is the word seed picker comes from a Greek word I mean seed picker and a seed picker a spermologus was one who one a bird that would flip around pick up seeds here and there and so that term was used as a slang term for someone who just hung out in the marketplace listen to this guy listen to that guy picked up a bit here and a bit there put it together and presented it as though it were his own that's what they were accusing Paul up you're just a seed picker you picked up a little bit of philosophy here a little bit of truth there a little bit of idea here and you put it together you're presenting it like it's your own you are an undisciplined plagiarist feeding off what other people say that's what they were accusing Paul up you're a seed picker you're a babbler so Paul says whoa it's a tough crowd you know I got to deal with this different than I do in the synagogue I would suggest to you that the same thing is true in Athens West Virginia now let me hasten to explain what I mean by using the term Athens West Virginia okay I'm just trying to draw a parallel between the ancient world and the current world Athens Greece Athens West Virginia I'm not saying Athens West Virginia is any worse than Princeton or Bluefield a lot of you folks live in Athens it's a great place to live isn't it so I'm not I'm not suggesting that Athens is a pagan place okay and I'm not this is no secret reflection or you know thing on Concord University we've got a bunch of Concord professors in our church we love you folks God bless you and the great work you're doing there so you know Concord's a great place by using Athens West Virginia I'm simply saying the current world as opposed to the ancient world Paul was in Athens Greece we live in or near Athens West Virginia and I'd say it's the same thing today as it was then the average unsaved unchurched person in Athens West Virginia or Princeton or Metoka or wherever it may be does not know God's book a Gallup poll done recently said that with over over the last 20 years the number of Americans with no religious training at all has jumped in the last 20 years has jumped from 9% to 25% fully one quarter of the people in America have no religious training that's adults even more shocking is the next figure that same poll said that 49% of children in America have no religious training you see these parents have dropped out of church quit going to church have no use for God and and they're not teaching their parents and some people who grew up in church and know the terminology have dropped out and they're not taking their kids anymore or sending their kids anymore we are facing a generation that does not know God's book surveys aside you go talk to the average lost unchurched person anywhere in America and you will probably find they are pretty much biblically illiterate they do not understand God's book they do not know God's book in fact if you were to go survey just randomly survey people on the street or on the beach let's say and ask them this question what is your purpose in life well let's just look and see this is what you might hear in a random survey on the beach what is your purpose in life so I thought you wouldn't hear anything have we got the clip there guys I don't have any purpose in my life I just take it as it comes to be loved to be happy to have a family that's secure and healthy to be happy I don't know to be happy I don't know well I want to answer that one sunshine beautiful women like my wife there maybe a nice cold beer here in about an hour the purpose of my life is to just see what God wants me to do and follow it as best I can and worship him where I'm retired just having a good time I don't have a big mission to be a good person to be a good person living and we spectre the people the purpose of my life they have a good time enjoy life that's my purpose I'd say to finish college coming up pretty soon then I'll move on from there I probably have another purpose in about six months but right now finish college be happy yeah that's it yeah that's as simple as that purpose of my life I just do as much as I possibly cut you know my grandkids my daughter just got married on Sunday so we're really enjoying herself happiness okay 13 people interviewed only one person had any clue of a biblical worldview do catch that only one per everybody's thinking be happy you know have fun now the guy who said beautiful women and then thought to say like my wife he's in trouble he's in big trouble but out of 13 people one person has some idea of a biblical worldview I think that's what you would find generally speaking if you're just to stop the average unsafe person on the street and ask them what is your purpose in life you remember a few years ago for those of you who watch sports the guy who used to hold up the John 316 signs at all the games remember that guy and although most of us probably would have said that's not the most effective form of evangelism we at least understood what he was doing at least most of us who were saved we understood he was referring to a verse in the Bible that talks about how God loves people send his son to die for them you know what the average unsafe person thought about that had no clue the average unsafe person who was not familiar with his Bible who did not know God's book does not understand that there is a gospel of John doesn't know that the Bible is divided up into chapters and verses the average person looking at that thought there's some crazy nut trying to signal his friend John that he's got a seat save for him in row 3 seat 16 that's what he thought you see people don't know God's book and we are reaching trying to reach a culture that does not understand even the most basic Bible facts and information and stories in the Bible and I'm going to go on to say this many people who have a Bible background and a church background don't know much more about their Bible or it has no impact on their daily lives Tom Hanks the star of Da Vinci code probably the top one of the top movie actors in America was asked recently by a national publication your Greek Orthodox and he is he's a member of a Greek Greek Orthodox church he's a church person he is in church why how do you reconcile your Greek Orthodox faith with being in this movie that's so heavily criticized by Christians you know what his answer was his answer was my church teaches me that my sins are wiped away not my mind now you think about that think about what he was saying what he's saying basically what it boils down to is anyone who can think realizes that you can't take all that stuff in the Bible seriously we don't know if Jesus was married or not maybe he was maybe did have children maybe he wasn't the son of God maybe that was all decided later on you know what he's saying basically is if you got a mind you think about those things separate from the Bible so a lot of people who are even in church have no concept of God's book and what it is you know how Paul started with these people look at verse 24 here's where Paul started with people that didn't know God's book verse 24 the God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands and he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else from one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him though he is not far from each one of us see what Paul did Paul started with a very basics knowing they did not have an Old Testament background did not know God's book he started with a very basics who God is God there is a God and God created all things he put all things into it and he created one man didn't even call him Adam they wouldn't be familiar with who Adam was so he says God created one man from all that from that one man came all these nations and so he begins with God as a creator he starts with the very basics you know most missionaries who go into pagan cultures that's exactly where they start they start with hey you know you don't understand anything they don't say that but knowing that they don't understand anything about the Bible it's okay we've got to start with the fact that there is a God there is a being higher than us in heaven and he made all this that you see they start with a very basic elementary stuff and with a culture that does not know God's book you can't do like Paul did in the synagogue and just start with the Bible and start preaching and teaching verse by verse sometimes with an unsaved unchurched person you must start with the very basics of a world view there is a God he created all things he created one man we came from him and the story goes on from there because they've never read Genesis they don't know Adam so they don't know God's book and with that kind of a culture we have to start with some of the basics some of the simple things second thing about unsaved people unchurched people particularly is that they don't know God's rules they don't know God's rules that was certainly true in Athens Greece look at verse 19 then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Ariopagus where they said to him may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting you are bringing some strange ideas to our ears and we want to know what they mean now look at this parenthesis in verse 21 all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas so first of all they say Paul what you're telling us these are this is some new teaching this is strange ideas and then it really summarizes well what Athens was like when it says they did nothing but every day listening to new ideas talking about listening to the latest ideas the reason for that was they had no objective standard to measure truth by they didn't believe anything was absolute there was no absolute truth standard to measure everything else by so let's just hear everything you know and let's just accept everything is equally valid every idea that is promoted and taught in the marketplace will listen to it because it's equally valid may not accept all of it but somebody else may you believe what you're gonna believe I believe what I'm gonna believe and we know that they felt that way from the two groups that are mentioned the Epicureans and the Stoics those two groups were exact opposites in what they believed and yet they coexisted and they were fine you believe what you believe I believe what I believe every idea has equal value see the Epicureans believed that the gods were uninvolved and distant and remote the Greek gods they didn't care anything about us didn't have any relationship to our life so the highest purpose in life for an Epicurean was eat drink and be merry happiness and pleasure was the ultimate for the Epicureans Stoics the exact opposite the Stoics believed that the gods dictated everything in life and everything that happened in life was organized and dictated by the gods therefore you had to just accept it with no emotion just accept whatever the gods throw at you without any emotion that's where we get the word Stoic from today so someone who is Stoic shows no emotion so entirely opposite views of life but both legitimate according to Athens Greece because there is no standard for truth I would suggest to you the same thing is true in Athens West Virginia Princeton Bluefield in Chicago New York anywhere in our culture today same thing is true you see to many people right and wrong is irrelevant because there's no standard for truth there's no absolute according to most people we have a whole generation maybe two generations now that have grown up with the prevailing teaching that there are no absolutes as far as right or wrong you believe what you want to believe I'll believe what I want to believe you have no right to tell me what's right or wrong I don't have any right to tell you what's right or wrong there's only one absolute that's tolerance you got to be tolerant for every view every view has equal hearing that's exactly what was going on in Athens Greece and it's exactly what happens in our culture today that tolerance is the only absolute if you don't believe that go out to a place like this guy whoever was doing this interview was was at a beach or somewhere the street somewhere where you don't expect to find a lot of believers and just say you know homosexuality is wrong or abortion is wrong and see what kind of response you get you know what the prevailing idea in our culture is you have no right to tell me those things are wrong you have no right to tell me homosexuality is wrong who says it's wrong there's no absolute standard of right and wrong in most people's ideas so if that's what you want to believe you go ahead and believe that you have no right to tell me that that's wrong categorically if I want to believe that or tolerate that or my family that's fine that's that's our way of doing things you see what people believe today you cannot force your narrow beliefs on anyone else so don't try to tell me there's a right and a wrong the only thing that is absolute is tolerance for all ideas now how to call answer that how to Paul deal with a culture that was so different from being in the synagogue with people who understood God's rules and understood that there was a basis for right and wrong had it Paul deal with that look verses 27 to 31 Paul says God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him though he is not far from each one of us for in him we live and move and have our being as some of your own poets have said we are his offspring therefore since we are God's offspring we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone an image made by man's design and skill in the past God overlooked such ignorance but now he commands all people everywhere to repent now he's getting to the real meat of the Christian message verse 31 for he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed he has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead and I believe at that point Paul was going to go into a full-blown presentation of the gospel having led up to it having taken them from what they did understand to what they needed to hear about the gospel but he was interrupted at that point and some people kind of scoffed at him and others said we'd like to hear about this again hear more about it so he continues it in another setting but what Paul did is he argued from who God is to the fact that we are accountable to God now how do we deal with a culture that does not believe in right or wrong for whom the word sin is irrelevant because you can't tell me this is a sin who are you to tell me what's right and what's wrong remember you're to be tolerant of everybody and everybody's ideas how are we to deal with that well maybe we have to go back a couple of steps before we start talking about sin and help people understand what sin is so in our evangelism today maybe we need to start with where people are just like Paul did in other words you know a lot of people are not aware of what sin is but they're surely aware of the results of sin they know what loneliness is like they know what emptiness is like they know what frustration despair is like so maybe that's where we need to start with the ache in people's hearts and say you know reach out to folks with a heart of concern I know you're aching I know you're hurting you're lonely you're in despair about how I've been treating you as we become friends with those kind of people then our next step is to be able to show them there's a reason for that lack of fulfillment and purpose in your life it's because there is a God who made us and he made us to have a relationship with us but the first man he ever made broke that relationship by being disobedient and ever since then we come into this world with a nature that says I don't want God because of that we're all empty God made us to have a relationship with him that emptiness that despair that loneliness is because there's a God-shaped hole way down inside you and you're trying to fill it with everything else you might not want to say that all in one setting but as you lead people along from where they are to where they need to be and take them to the fact that it is Jesus Christ and a personal relationship with him through his death on the cross that will fill that void in their hearts maybe we need to begin back a few steps before we just come up to someone and say what would you say to God if you died and he said why should I let you into my heaven we were talking about people one guy a southern Baptist evangelist who went to a life enrichment conference in Asheville North Carolina it was a new age kind of thing he was handing out bibles and trying to witness to anybody who would listen to him and he used that that approach which is the evangelism explosion approach what would you say to God if he were you were to stand before his gate and he said why should I let you into my heaven and you know what the guy said to him he said I am God I would never ask myself a question like that okay where do you go now you see in the culture we live in with so many wild ideas about spirituality sometimes we need to start back with where people are the aches in their lives and the way they hurt the way they're trying to make life fit together and work for them and they're frustrated and it's not working why is that true we have the answer the reason why people are living in such despair is because they are out of a relationship with God that God created them for the reason for that is because of sin the only one who can take care of sin is Jesus Christ maybe we need to go through a few steps before we actually get to the gospel of pre evangelism that's what Paul did in a culture that did not know God's rules the third characteristic of unbelievers is they don't speak our language they don't speak our language that was true in Athens Greece for sure in verses 18 to 28 they called these ideas as we saw them strange ideas some kind of new teaching this is a babbler a seed picker we don't understand what the guys even talking about they didn't understand his terminology you know why because the Bible says that Paul was speaking to them about the good news verse 19 or verse 18 into the verse Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection well shouldn't that be our message yes but to people who don't understand that terminology we got to start with something they do understand and bring them up to that point so Paul when he's preaching the good news about Jesus in the resurrection they say what kind of seed picker is this they don't understand the thing he's saying he says okay we'll wait a second we got to go back and establish a few basics first it was that way in Athens Greece so you know what Paul did in verses 22 and 23 he started with exactly where they were this is brilliant this was a masterstroke of the Holy Spirit I believe in Paul's thinking verse 22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the area opus and said Minnevathins I see that in every way you are religious for as I walked around and looked carefully your objects of worship I even found an altar with this inscription to an unknown God now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you and then down in verse 28 he quotes from two of their prophets you see verse 28 for in him we live and have our and move and have our being you may have a translation that has those in quotation marks that's a literal quote and then as some of your own poets have said then there's another literal quote we are his offspring we know from the records of the day that the first quote was from a Greek poet named Epiminides the second was a quote from a Greek writer named Aratis Paul used their literature something they understood to help them get started you see if Paul had just said okay open your Bible to the book of Deuteronomy we're gonna look at God's law they would have looked at him like who are you and what is Deuteronomy they wouldn't have understood that terminology so Paul said let me use your altar and I'm gonna take you to the one that you don't know about the your unknown God and let me use your literature and show you that the same search for God that you have deep down in your heart is reflected in your literature of the day now I want to show you who can fill that search Paul took them from where they were things they understood and I would I would say to you today the same thing is true in Athens West Virginia in our culture day the gospel is a life and death message it is the gospel the good news of Jesus and his death burial and resurrection we need to be presenting to people but we have got to speak that in words that they understand we've got to say it in language that they can grasp that was Paul's concern in Colossians chapter four and verse four where he said pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should not just correctly but clearly it's great to get the gospel correct and we need to do that but we also need to make it clear the only way it's going to be clear is if the people who are listening to it can understand it in the terminology they understand and so we've got to make the gospel clear to people we've got to use language that unbelievers understand I want to say more about that next week so I'm gonna take off in another area in a minute but I I really feel strongly about that I'm gonna preach a whole message next week on using language that unbelievers understand but we've got to start with people where they are where they are in our culture Paul used their alter their writings as a basis of common ground to then get them to God's book and the person and work of Jesus Christ we need to do the same thing we need to take the things in our culture today that people understand people know that's why we use visual illustrations because people are so visual in their thinking today in their understanding of things it's one of the reasons why we use contemporary music in this service because that's the music people connect with in this culture and some folks say well that's compromised no it's not compromise the only compromise is if you if you hedge on the Bible the word of God the doctrines of the Bible you know the Bible is very clear on what worldliness is first John 2 16 so lust of the flesh lust of the eyes and pride of life it's not worldly to use contemporary music you know worldliness is a philosophy a way of looking at life that says I'm gonna get everything I can get its materialism I'm gonna live to the full eat drink and be merry I'm gonna enjoy pleasure and it's I'm gonna get everything I can get boy of position in life I'll crawl over anybody I can to get the top of the company I'll beat anybody down I can to get that better job I want the name I want the fame that is worldliness and there are a lot of nice looking Christians who cross all their teas and done all their eyes in the right place and sing all the right songs and everything who are worldly to the core because they live by that philosophy no it's not worldliness to use some of the elements of our culture to reach people that's exactly what Paul did he used their writings he used their author to say you're talking about an unknown God I want to tell you who he is this is who he is so they don't understand our language and we have to speak the gospel in language they do understand fourth characteristic of an unbeliever quickly is they are spiritual seekers I know some people don't like that term seekers and I understand why they're thinking of Romans 3 11 Romans 3 11 says there is no one who understands no one who seeks God and I agree with that 100% there's nobody who seeks God in the context Paul speaking about theology doctrinally man comes into this world of center and he never makes the first move toward God he never seeks God but it doesn't mean people aren't seeking people are seeking answers to their problems their questions they are seeking truth they're seeking it in the wrong places but they are searching unsaved people are filled with searching and seeking for answers and we have the answer we need to give it to them in Athens Greece it was so true Paul said you got all these idols around here you have one of them you have one idol over here and it's it's entitled to an unknown God you know why they made an idol to an unknown God because they're afraid they might miss somebody they were afraid they might miss a God out there somewhere that they hadn't heard of yet they didn't want him to get mad at him and so they get this catch all alter you know what that reflects about their hearts they are seeking answers they're searching they are desperate and they don't know where to look they've got all the idols they can think of but just in case we miss one let's do an idol to an unknown God it was that way in Athens Greece people didn't really know where to look they're searching but they didn't know where to look and I'd say it's that way in Athens West Virginia it's in same thing in our culture today people are searching for answers in life people are seeking for meaning and purpose and fulfillment in life but they're looking in the wrong places they're saying well if I get more stuff that'll fill that emptiness and hole in my life or if I live for pleasure or I get some power or I can have relationships and if this one doesn't work out I'll find me another one that'll make me happy happy happy happy I'm gonna be they're looking for it in all the wrong places you know what they're doing they're seeking they're searching they're asking the deepest questions a human being can ask what is the meaning and purpose of my life and if 12 out of 13 people say happiness getting through college whatever they don't understand they don't understand they're searching in all the wrong places but they are seeking so what does Paul do we read the passage but Paul says okay I'll take you where you are and I'll help you see the missing piece in your life what you're really searching for this unknown God you're thinking about searching for this unknown God is the God who created all things created men and we all came from him and hit that God has said a day when we will stand before him and be accountable to him and he'll judge us by his son whom he raised from the dead and he led them to Jesus Christ so people are spiritual seekers now they're searching for spirituality in all the wrong places when they find that materialism and so forth doesn't help many turn to spiritual things a lot of folks in our culture today turning to new age ideas eastern religions combinations of denominations to try to figure out some kind of spirituality that works one of the major subjects of magazines movies and daytime talk shows is people's spiritual search for meaning in life Madonna has just started her world tour resurrecting her music career started out in Los Angeles this week with her first concert USA Today did a lead article on it Madonna is kind of a cultural icon kind of a symbol of everything about what this culture is really about she turned her back on the Roman Catholic Church years ago and its teachings and she actually mimics and and mocks a lot of the teachings in her concerts but when her daughter Lola was born she had her baptized in the Roman Catholic Church and you may wonder why well she explained why on a 60 minutes program this is what she said I can disagree with doctrines and dogmas and still celebrate them okay listen to what she said next I go to the synagogue I study Hinduism in the end all paths lead to God that's the kind of spirituality that the culture is seeking today and searching for in all the wrong places and trying to find some meaning to life and we have the answer what we need to do is like Paul did take people where they are culturally understand what they're thinking bring them to a point where they understand the basics of the Bible so that we can introduce them to the concept of sin and Jesus death on the cross for them that's the missing piece they've never found in their search one final thing what about lost people in Athens there and today lost people today are ready for Jesus Christ you say wait a second sounds like everything you've said so far that lead me to believe the culture is hopeless go on to hell on a hand basket and there's nothing we can do about it no not at all this culture is ready for Jesus Christ you see when Paul got finished and we could read it in verses 31 to 34 here when Paul got finished verse 32 some of them sneered others said we want to hear you again on this subject so he left the council at that point realizing done all he could do there but in verse 34 a few men became followers of Paul and believed among them was Dionysius a member of the area opagus and a woman named Amriss and a number of others so there were several people that were ready to hear his message when he explained it further but they would never have given him a hearing if he hadn't taken them from where they were understood thought like they thought and took them at a very basic level and took them to the point where they could understand the truth about Jesus Christ it was that way in Athens Greece and it's that way in Athens West Virginia too it's that way in our culture today our world today people may not know much about Jesus they may not understand much about the word of God but they are ready for the kind of savior that that the scriptures describe in a world that is constantly changing they are ready for a savior who's described this way in Hebrews 13 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever he will never change in a world where stress is a way of life and peace is just a dream they are ready for a savior who describes himself this way in John 1427 peace I leave with you my peace I give you I do not give to you as the world gives the world promises and doesn't offer he says do not let your hearts be troubled do not be afraid I'll give you peace the world's ready for that message in a world where people are broken and hurt by failed relationships they are ready for a savior who's described like this in Isaiah 61 the Spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners that's the way the Bible describes the savior there are people who are broken and hurt who are ready for that in a world that is weighed down by care and worry and anxiety they are ready for a savior who's described this way who makes this invitation in Matthew 11 come to me all you who are weary and are burdened and I will give you rest in a world that is haunted by guilt of past mistakes and can't seem to shake the guilt of the past they are ready for a savior who's described this way in Acts chapter 10 all the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name I believe people are ready for Jesus Christ if they can only understand who he is that's up to us to think like a lost person to understand where people are today present Jesus Christ in a way that they can grasp and see I believe people are searching and we've got the answer the problem too often is that we're on different pages speaking different languages and so we don't connect and as we've been talking about now for a long time we must we must focus on how to be an outreaching church to get beyond our walls to reach out to those who don't know God's truth don't understand God's book don't know the terminology we've got to take the message to them in a culturally relevant way that they can understand so that we can lead them to Christ the reason I'm so passionate about that is because Jesus told a parable one time and he said you know there were 99 sheep that were in the fold there was one sheep out there lost and what does the shepherd do is he stay with the 99 in the flock know his heart and his concern and his priority is for the one that's out there lost that's where our heart needs to be that's where our priority needs to be oh yeah we got a lot of great things going for believers to build you up in the faith but our passion must be to reach beyond this church to our Jerusalem our community and get the gospel to people in ways they can understand that are culturally relevant to where they are so that they can hear the gospel message and be saved that's got to be our passion would you join me in prayer Father I pray that you'd help us not to think that just what we did 40, 50, 100 years ago is still what we ought to be doing today we thank you that the message never changes but when people change we have to change the way we relate to them to make the message understandable help us Lord to think like a lost person to understand what it takes to get the gospel to an Athens rather than a Jerusalem I pray that you'd help us to understand where we are Lord I pray for anyone who may be here today without Christ may be burdened down by guilt or hearts filled with emptiness loneliness don't realize why help them to see today that they need the friend who sticks closer than a brother the one who died on the cross to take care of all their sins so that they could be forgiven clenched spiritually healed help them to see that today in Jesus name amen