How To Reach The Masses Acts 15:1-11 ACTS Bible Study Lesson # 10 Join us online Thursdays @ 7:00 PM ET www.zoom.us Meeting ID: 903 988 1805 Passcode: 982846 Call 301 715 8592 ID :903 988 1805 Passcode: 982846
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1 How To Reach The Masses?
Some of us can manage this approach without offending, but most of us settle for something a bit more subtle. want to connect with people and share with a reasonable expectation of gaining a hearing.
Most of us instinctively avoid the direct approach when it comes to witnessing to others.
We
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What do you think attracts people to Christianity ? What turns people away?
In week 10 of our 12-part study of acts Paul is in Athens, the philosophical capital of the world, where he hopes to gain a hearing among the intellectuals about the gospel. As he walked through the city’s market, he made an observation that stunned him. To share the Gospel with the philosophers of Athens he would start with the history, culture, and traditions of his audience. number 10 in our Acts Bible Study (Acts 17: 16 33) helps us answer the question of how we reach the masses with the story of Jesus. @ 7:00 PM 903 988 988
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2 Acts 17:16-33
20It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.”
18Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 19So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new. 22Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to
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16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.
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26From one ancestori he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live,
28For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’ as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’
30While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
33At that point Paul left them.
34But some of them joined him and became
32When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
27so that they would search for Godj and perhaps grope for him and find him though indeed he is not far from each one of us.
24The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.
29Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.
3 you.
4 believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. Bible Study Questions 1. What motivated Paul to preach the gospel in 2.Athens?Howdid the people in Athens initially respond to Paul’s message? 3. How did Paul use his knowledge of the culture to present his case to the council? 4. How did Paul explain that the true God is different from other gods? 5. What warning did Paul give to the people of Athens?
5 6. What proof did Paul say God has given about the Day of Judgment? Reflections 7. How does the fact that God dwells in you gives you courage to speak out about him? 8. What can you model from Paul’s methods when you share your faith with others? 9. What is the danger in changing your approach and presentation of the gospel to fit your audience? 10. What points should you include while sharing the gospel with non-Christians? 11. What are some ways can share the gospel with co-workers or friends?
A great lesson we can take from Paul’s experience in Athens is his practice of observing people. He looked for clues to their life-quests. He knew what people were involved in often revealed what they were looking for, even if they didn’t realize it. Believers who become observant of people around them likewise discover all kinds of opportunities and open doors for sharing their faith.
6 Final Thoughts
www.zoom.us Meeting ID: 695 669 5487 Call 301 715 8592 ID: 695 669 5487 Book Club 3:00 PM ET - Saturday August 27th In a display case in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture sits a rough cotton bag, called Ashley’s Sack, embroidered with just a handful of words that evoke a sweeping family story of loss and of love, passed down through generations. All That She Carried is a poignant story of resilience and of love passed down through generations of women against steep odds. It honors the creativity and fierce resourcefulness of people who preserved family ties even when official systems refused to do so, and it serves as a visionary illustration of how to reconstruct and recount their stories Readtoday.the book with us this month and join us on Saturday, August 27th at 3:00 PM on Zoom for our monthly Book Club discussion.
