Participants:
Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS023049S
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00:16 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:18 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:20 Glad that you could join us today as we take a look 00:22 at lesson number 10. 00:24 We are nearing the end and looking 00:26 at a very significant subject today. 00:28 We are looking at "The Mission to the Unreached," 00:31 and this is part one of two, 00:33 and you're in for a real treat as we study today. 00:36 So let's begin with prayer. 00:37 Father, we wanna thank You for being with us and guiding us 00:40 through this quarter as we take a look at Your mission 00:43 and our mission. 00:45 And as we look at reaching the unreached 00:46 today, we ask that You would bless us in that. 00:48 We thank You in Jesus' name, amen. 00:51 >>Jeff Scoggins: Amen. 00:52 >>Eric: And we're grateful to have with us today 00:54 Jeff Scoggins, who is currently serving as the president 00:57 of the Minnesota Conference. 00:59 But, Jeff, when you wrote this, you had a different 01:02 area of focus. 01:03 You're taking that experience now and bringing it to Minnesota 01:06 and other places, but you were 01:08 the Adventist mission planning director-- 01:09 >>Jeff: Correct. >>Eric: ...so, kind of 01:11 overseeing a lot of the projects that were going on 01:13 around the world that have to do with missions. 01:15 So you've got a lot of experience in the area 01:18 of reaching the unreached. 01:20 And this quarter, this particular lesson 01:23 is talking about Paul. 01:25 Give us a little overview of Paul and mission 01:29 as we kinda get started. 01:30 We're gonna look at several different elements here, 01:32 but talk to us a little bit about Paul and his strategy 01:35 and research in bringing the message of the gospel 01:38 into a cultural context, as it were. 01:40 >>Jeff: Very good. Yeah, we're going to be spending 01:43 our time in Acts, chapter 17, 01:46 which is specifically the section 01:49 of when Paul went to Athens. 01:51 You'll remember in the story that he had 01:54 been on the run basically. 01:56 He had come to Berea from Thessalonica, where they had run 01:59 him out of Thessalonica, and things were pretty good 02:02 in Berea, but then some of the Thessalonians came 02:04 to Berea and started making trouble for him. 02:08 And so he left his companions-- that was Timothy and Silas, 02:11 if I remember right. They stayed there, 02:13 and he went on to Athens; people accompanied him. 02:15 And while he was in Athens, he asked--he sent his escort back 02:21 and said, "Send my companions down." 02:23 And you have to remember, of course, 02:26 then they weren't flying somewhere, and so that meant 02:29 there was going to be some time. >>Eric: Right. 02:31 >>Jeff: And so Paul, he is stuck in Athens until his companions 02:36 could get there to be with him. 02:38 And so he does not stay still. 02:42 Now, Paul, Paul, you get the feeling just couldn't, and so 02:45 he starts to work; he starts to do some things. 02:48 And for Paul, he's not interested 02:53 in just cookie-cutter evangelism. 02:57 He knows that different things 03:00 work for different people, right? 03:01 And so, he begins to do some work while he's there. 03:06 >>Eric: Okay, so Paul's there. He's waiting for his companions 03:09 to join him; he sees the people of Athens, 03:12 realizes, knows that they need the gospel. 03:15 What were some of the strategies that he begins to follow 03:19 or employ in trying to reach this group of people that maybe 03:23 might be a little different from strategies 03:25 he would use elsewhere? 03:26 >>Jeff: Okay, the thing that I think is really critical 03:30 in this story is the fact that Paul didn't 03:35 just dive in with whatever he had done somewhere else. 03:38 What Paul did-- well, first of all, 03:40 he worked in three different ways. 03:42 First of all, he went to the Jews. 03:44 That would've been who he would've been most comfortable 03:46 with, you know, the same people, the same dietary restrictions, 03:48 all of that stuff, right? 03:50 But Paul is more mission-minded than just working 03:53 with his own people. 03:54 And he also--it says that he worked 03:56 with the Gentile believers. 03:59 So these were people that had already been converted, 04:02 but they were still Gentiles. 04:04 And so he worked with them, so he could've been pushing 04:07 the envelope a little bit with them, but he wasn't content 04:09 with that, either; he was more mission-minded than that. 04:12 And so Paul spent time in the marketplace among the pagans. 04:17 And what he was doing--we find out later in the story-- 04:21 is he's studying them; he's having conversations; 04:25 he's talking to people; he's learning about 04:28 what makes them mad and what are they interested in 04:33 and those kinds of things. And so, 04:35 he's talking to people enough that he starts to 04:39 make some waves, and people start to notice. 04:42 And so he's talking to these people, and some-- 04:46 it says Epicurean and Stoic philosophers come and say, 04:50 "We need to hear what you're talking about. 04:52 You're bringing some strange new ideas here." 04:55 And so you get the feeling that he was having 04:56 some fits and starts. Some people were just, 04:59 "Who is this guy?" You know, "He's nuts." 05:01 And then some others were saying, 05:03 "Wait a minute, let's at least listen to him." 05:05 So, the big thing that he did 05:09 was he started studying them, yeah. 05:12 >>Eric: So he's learning about them before he goes 05:15 to actively share. >>Jeff: Right, well, you know, 05:18 and he was sharing, but it was on one-on-one personal basis, 05:21 he didn't go in and do, you know, 05:23 the big Areopagus meeting right at then, 05:24 not that he couldn't, he had to be invited for that, 05:26 but still, he was working one-on-one and learning. 05:30 And then we learned later, he's going around the city, 05:32 he's looking at things, he's helping to understand things, 05:35 you know, what's happening there, 05:36 which becomes critical to the story later. 05:38 >>Eric: So getting a cultural context, 05:40 an understanding of the people, likes and dislikes, 05:44 and weaving that into an approach, 05:47 a strategy to reach them. >>Jeff: Precisely, precisely. 05:50 >>Eric: All right, so he is invited--you alluded to that 05:52 a moment ago-- >>Jeff: Yes, yes. 05:54 >>Eric: ...so he's invited to go speak at this significant place. 05:58 >>Jeff: Yeah. >>Eric: And that's probably 06:00 diminishing its importance. >>Jeff: It is; I've been there. 06:03 >>Eric: It's pretty big. >>Jeff: It's pretty awesome. 06:04 >>Eric: It is. >>Jeff: Because Luke, even, 06:06 makes the point that the people, the men of Athens did nothing, 06:12 he says, did nothing all day long but talk about 06:18 the latest ideas. 06:19 And so, and at first, you know, I used to think when he said 06:24 that, that he was saying they were lazy. 06:25 They didn't go do any work or anything, but I changed my mind. 06:29 This is the group that produced people like Socrates 06:33 and Aristotle and Plato and these guys, you know. 06:36 This was what the Areopagus was; 06:38 this was philosophy at its deepest. 06:41 And I've become more convinced that Luke was actually saying, 06:44 no, Paul was going into a lions' den, of sorts, 06:48 of intellectual vitality. 06:52 You know, this was no, you know, elementary school 06:57 type of presentation that he was going to 06:59 have to be doing there. And so this is, the Areopagus is 07:03 the name of a great big old rock outside of Athens 07:06 or outside of the old city there. 07:08 And you can still go and stand there today. 07:10 And so I can just imagine all these guys, 07:14 these philosophers in their long flowing robes and long beards, 07:17 you know, there to listen, to ask questions, 07:21 to find out what this guy is talking about. 07:25 >>Eric: So now he's gone into the city, 07:26 he's mingled with people, he's figured out a few things 07:30 here and there pulling to some concepts, 07:33 some ideas, some strategies together. 07:35 Then he gets this invitation. 07:37 So now it's no longer just about, 07:40 "I'm gonna share with this person a little bit here, 07:42 share with that person a little bit there." 07:43 Now he's being given a platform-- 07:46 >>Jeff: Yeah, yeah, yeah. >>Eric: ...a stage, as it were, 07:48 to speak on. How do you think that made him feel? 07:51 What do you think was going through his mind now that 07:53 he's got this invitation to formally share his thoughts. 07:59 >>Jeff: Right, I like what Christian author 08:02 Ellen White said about this; this is, to me is key. 08:05 I wrote it down here so I could read it to you. 08:06 It said, "It had been Paul's custom [in his preaching] 08:10 to adopt an oratorical style." M'kay? Paul was good at this. 08:15 "He was a man fitted to speak before kings, 08:18 "before the great and learned men of Athens,... 08:20 "his intellectual acquirements were often of value to him 08:23 in preparing the way for the gospel." 08:25 So he was skilled in what he was doing. 08:28 "He tried to do this in Athens, meeting...[false] philosophy 08:32 with [true] philosophy," "eloquence with eloquence,... 08:35 "logic with logic; but he failed to meet with the success 08:40 he had hoped for." Okay? 08:42 "His aftersight led him to [see] that there was something 08:45 "[that he] needed above human wisdom"-- 08:47 even of men of learning. 08:49 "God taught him that something 08:51 "above the world's wisdom must come to him. 08:53 He must receive his power from a higher source." 08:56 And so, what she's saying here is that he went in 09:00 with this idea of, "I've trained for this; I'm good at this; 09:05 I've had success in my public meetings and such." 09:08 And yet he didn't get the response he had hoped to get. 09:12 But anyway, his strategy for what he used there, 09:19 as he went into it, is fascinating, if we study it. 09:22 >>Eric: Yeah. >>Jeff: Yeah. 09:23 >>Eric: Certainly worthy of emulation, to some extent. 09:27 >>Jeff: To some extent. >>Eric: You know, to not to 09:30 rest solely upon that-- >>Jeff: Yeah. 09:32 >>Eric ...'cause that would be a huge mistake. 09:33 >>Jeff: Right. >>Eric: But it might also be 09:35 a mistake to just go into a town with proverbial guns blazing 09:39 without knowing anything about-- >>Jeff: Precisely, precisely. 09:42 >>Eric: ...that culture and those people. 09:43 >>Jeff: And I've seen that happen with disastrous results. 09:45 >>Eric: Yeah, it's not uncommon. 09:46 You see it happen both ways, but somehow Paul has managed 09:50 to find that middle ground, the appropriate ground, 09:54 to learn something about the people 09:56 but to trust in God as well. >>Jeff: Yeah. 09:59 >>Eric: So, he has now this opportunity to share-- 10:02 >>Jeff: Yeah. >>Eric: And takes advantage 10:04 of it. What do you think he wished he had done? 10:06 >>Jeff: Okay. >>Eric: And mingle those two 10:09 together a little bit. >>Jeff: Okay, if we go through-- 10:11 now, I think that Luke did not record everything that happened 10:15 at the Areopagus; he summarized. 10:17 And so the summary is actually quite important. 10:21 So if you look down beginning at-- 10:24 let's see here, verse 19: 10:27 "They...brought him to the Areopagus, 10:28 "saying, '[We need to know.] You are bringing...strange things 10:30 to our ears,'" in verse 20. 10:32 And then Paul stands in the midst of the Areopagus, 10:35 and he starts to talk to them in verse 22. 10:37 >>Eric: Now, we're in Acts, chapter-- 10:38 >>Jeff: This is Acts, chapter 17. 10:40 >>Eric: Seventeen, very good, thank you. 10:41 >>Jeff: Yes, Acts, chapter 17. 10:42 "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things 10:45 you are very religious." 10:47 Okay, so look at how he starts. Does he start out saying, 10:50 "Guys, I've been looking around, and you guys are wrong. 10:54 You are just messed up." No, he doesn't do that. 10:56 What he does is he looks around, and he sees something that 11:01 the Holy Spirit can work with, and that is sincerity. Okay? 11:05 Maybe they're misguided, yeah, sure they are, 11:07 but he sees that they're sincere. 11:08 And so he says, "I see that you are very religious." 11:13 So he starts off with a compliment 11:15 and some respect, okay? 11:17 So at this point they're with him, 11:19 they're nodding, yeah, that is true. 11:23 And he says, "[I'm] passing through and considering 11:25 "the objects of your worship, [and] I even found an altar 11:28 with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." 11:32 Okay now, this is fascinating, really, what he does here. 11:36 He later shows--he says, "I've, you know, read your poets" 11:39 and these kinds of things, 11:40 and so he establishes this throughout. 11:42 He finds a hook that he can grab on to here. 11:47 And he says, "What you admit you don't know, 11:52 I know what it is." 11:54 And can you imagine all these guys sitting around? 11:57 I can imagine their ears perking up. 12:00 It's like, "Interesting, you know what this is." 12:05 So, anyway, maybe we're gonna have to save 12:09 the rest of that, then. >>Eric: We might. 12:11 So that's a hook for you, too. 12:13 And don't go away, 'cause we're gonna find out 12:15 exactly what Paul was talking about, this unknown God. 12:20 But we've been talking this quarter about reaching people 12:23 about the opportunity, the privilege that we have, 12:26 the responsibility that we have to reach people. 12:28 And if you've been enjoying this quarter's 12:30 "Sabbath School" lesson, I know that you are also 12:32 going to enjoy the companion book 12:34 to this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. 12:36 It is, of course, called "God's Mission My Mission," 12:39 and it adds deeper insights, additional information, 12:43 powerful, powerful resources on how to reach others 12:48 for Christ and be more effective in your own witness to others. 12:52 And you can find that book very easily by going to 12:55 itiswritten.shop. 12:57 Again, that is itiswritten.shop. 13:00 Just look for the book "God's Mission My Mission" 13:03 and the author is Gary Krause, K-R-A-U-S-E. 13:07 You'll find it there at itiswritten.shop. 13:09 We're going to be back in just a moment again with Jeff 13:11 as we continue looking at reaching the unreached. 13:15 We'll be right back. 13:21 >>John Bradshaw: While you're familiar with 13:22 the "It Is Written" television program, 13:24 I wanna invite you on a journey 13:26 to understand more about what It Is Written is doing to take 13:30 the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. 13:32 We are going to visit India, Mongolia, 13:35 Guatemala, Moldova, Zimbabwe, 13:37 the Philippines, and more, 13:39 work made possible by It Is Written Missions. 13:44 It Is Written mission teams regularly visit 13:47 parts of the world where the need for Jesus is great. 13:51 It might sometimes seem like a hopeless task, 13:54 a mission impossible, except that it isn't; it cannot be. 13:58 This is mission possible because Jesus said, 14:02 "This gospel of the kingdom 14:04 shall be preached in all the world." 14:06 If you can't go there yourself, you can be there 14:10 with It Is Written. 14:11 "Mission Possible," 14:14 Watch now on itiswritten.tv. 14:21 >>Dr. David DeRose: Hello, I'm Dr. David DeRose, 14:23 a specialist in internal medicine 14:25 and preventive medicine. 14:26 And I've been surprised over the years in working 14:29 with patients and studying the medical research literature 14:32 just how powerful hemorheology is when it comes to health. 14:38 You may be wondering, what is hemorheology? 14:40 Well, I call it "the Methuselah factor," 14:43 and that's the title of my book. 14:45 "The Methuselah Factor" really helps you connect with things 14:49 that can help your blood be more fluid. 14:51 You say, "Why is that important?" 14:53 It's important because it can help you decrease your risk 14:56 of a stroke or a heart attack, even lower your risk of cancer. 14:59 But it's a whole lot more than just preventing killer diseases. 15:03 If you improve your blood fluidity, 15:05 your mind will work better, you'll perform 15:08 physically better, and you'll decrease your risk of dementia. 15:13 So don't hesitate. Dive into 15:15 "The Methuselah Factor." 15:16 Make a difference in your life 15:18 and the life of those that you love. 15:21 ♪♪♪ 15:26 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School" 15:27 here at It Is Written. 15:29 We are looking at "Mission to the Unreached," 15:31 and this is part one of two; we're going to look at part two 15:34 next week, but right now, Jeff, we're here with Paul 15:37 at the Areopagus. 15:40 And, well, he's not there yet, or at least we're talking about 15:43 what he's talking about here. 15:44 He's talking about "the unknown God." 15:46 So he's talking with these individuals, and he's saying, 15:49 "I know something about this thing 15:51 you admittedly do not know about." 15:53 So he has their attention-- at least we assume he does; 15:56 he certainly should. And where does he go with it from here? 15:59 Where does he lead them from here? 16:01 >>Jeff: The more I read this story and study it, 16:04 the more I like it because you can tell that there's something 16:09 of a strategy that's going on in his mind. 16:12 So he starts out, as we mentioned just a minute ago, 16:15 with something respectful. 16:17 You know, "I can see you're very religious," and he himself 16:20 being very religious, he respects that. 16:22 He doesn't go into the fact that they're worshiping false gods 16:24 or anything like that. 16:26 He will later, but that's not what's happening here. 16:30 He starts off with things that they have in common and things 16:35 that might pique their interest. 16:37 And so he's got this hook that, really, 16:40 I can imagine them thinking-- 16:41 okay, whether they're going to agree with him or not, 16:44 this is gonna be fun; this is gonna be interesting, 16:46 okay? So he has their attention, and that's key. 16:52 He has their attention. 16:53 So then he says, "The One that you worship without knowing Him, 16:58 I proclaim to you." I'm gonna tell you what this is. 17:01 And then he says--he launches into who this God is. 17:05 And he describes Him, and notice what he doesn't do: 17:09 "This is a God who says, 'You must do this, 17:12 "'and you must do this, and you better not do this, 17:14 or I'm gonna strike you with lightning.'" 17:15 You know, it's none of that. 17:16 Those are the kind of gods that they were used to, okay? 17:20 So keep in mind here his audience is steeped 17:24 in Greek mythology, and probably a lot of the listeners have read 17:28 some of these, you know, these weird and crazy, 17:31 immature, angry, bloodthirsty gods, you know. 17:37 And they spend all of their time trying to appease these gods. 17:41 They bring food for the gods, and if they don't, 17:43 the gods are gonna starve, 17:44 and if the gods get upset with them, 17:45 they're going to strike them with diseases 17:47 or whatever it may be, right? 17:48 And so he introduces them to an entirely 17:52 different kind of God than they're used to hearing. 17:55 And even in our culture here, we need to think about that, 17:59 because what is the God that people around, 18:03 if they believe in God at all, think of our God? Right? 18:06 This is the God who does acts of God: 18:09 tornadoes, earthquakes, right? 18:11 Or that this is the God who condemns such and such 18:15 because of his lifestyle or whatever, you know; 18:17 that's the kind of God. 18:18 And Paul introduces an entirely different kind of God. 18:22 So just listen to this, listen to this: 18:24 "God, who made the world and everything in it, 18:27 "since He is [the] Lord of heaven and earth, 18:28 does not dwell in temples made with hands." 18:30 Now, for the Athenians, temples made with hands was everything. 18:35 The fancier the better, right? 18:37 So He doesn't even live in a temple made with hands, 18:39 "Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, 18:42 as though He needed anything"-- 18:43 this God doesn't need anything from us-- 18:46 "as though He needed anything, since He gives [life] to all..., 18:50 breath, and all things." 18:52 So this is a God who is giving. 18:54 "He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell 18:57 "on...the face of the earth, and [He] has determined their 18:59 "preappointed times and...boundaries 19:00 of their dwellings"--okay, this is a powerful God; 19:03 He's done all of this--"so that they should seek the Lord, 19:08 "in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, 19:13 though He is not far from each one of us." 19:15 So he's introducing a God here who does all of this, 19:19 but who wants to be found. 19:23 And there's, you know, this is a God who cares; 19:28 this is a God who is there to give to them, 19:33 not them give to Him. 19:35 And so their minds, I can just imagine they're thinking, 19:39 "Now, there's an interesting God, and if it's real, 19:45 that's something I would like to explore," right? 19:48 And then he says, "For in Him we live and move 19:51 and have our being"-- and then he brings 19:53 in this more of this common ground-- 19:54 "as...some of your own poets have said"-- 19:56 so therefore he inserts into here: 19:58 "I've been reading your poets, I know what you believe." 20:02 Here it says: "For we are...His offspring." 20:03 Now, this one makes me laugh. "For we are also His offspring." 20:08 Five, six words? 20:10 Is that all the common ground he could find in the poets? 20:13 And yet he snags it totally out of context. 20:17 But he takes it as common ground, 20:20 they don't think anything of it because they're not worried 20:21 about that right now, right? And so then he says, 20:24 "Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, 20:28 "we ought not to think that the Divine Nature 20:30 "is [something] like gold or silver or stone, [or] something 20:32 [that is] shaped by art [or of] man's devising," okay? 20:36 This isn't a manmade god. And in the back of their minds, 20:39 they know their gods are manmade, right? 20:41 And he says, "Truly"--now, he's starting to get deeper now, 20:44 and this is--remember we're talking about a summary here. 20:47 We don't know how long Paul went on. 20:49 Luke, the author, has condensed; he's taken the important points. 20:53 So just imagine he's bringing them along. 20:56 "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, 21:00 but now [He] commands all men everywhere to repent." 21:02 Okay, so, okay, there's been a switch. 21:06 "Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world 21:11 "in righteousness by the Man who He has ordained. 21:14 "He has given assurance of this... 21:16 by raising Him from the dead." 21:18 Now, put yourself there on the Areopagus. 21:22 They were tracking with Paul. 21:24 Now Paul is starting to go to meddlin', 21:28 all right? Judgment. 21:30 And then there's this--he springs this thing. 21:33 This is all verifiable, you can test this, 21:36 you can see it, there's proof in this guy that was raised 21:39 from the dead. And I imagine a bunch of squirming going along 21:44 on the Areopagus at that point, you know. 21:46 Okay, we were with you till now, but people don't go up 21:49 raised from the dead. They don't do that, right? 21:52 And so, anyway, he starts off with this common ground, 21:57 he introduces them to this God who they're intrigued about, 22:02 and then he crosses a line 22:06 that he had carefully avoided to this point, 22:09 but he knew that he had to cross it eventually and says, 22:12 "Guys, what I'm telling you here is serious business. 22:16 "There's judgment coming, and if you need proof, 22:19 you can find it here." 22:20 >>Eric: So he leads them up to this point? 22:22 >>Jeff: He leads them up, yeah. 22:24 >>Eric: And they're along with him for a while, 22:28 but then there's, like you said, 22:29 the shifting point-- >>Jeff: Yeah, yeah. 22:31 >>Eric: ...and not everybody tracks with him 22:33 from that point forward. >>Jeff: No, 22:35 they definitely do not. 22:36 >>Eric: So what does he learn from this? 22:38 What should we learn from this? What lessons are there? 22:41 What worked? What didn't work? 22:43 >>Jeff: Okay, well, what happens here 22:49 is they react in two different ways. 22:50 Some scoff and say, "We're done." 22:54 Others say, "We wanna hear you again." 22:58 And we know that he didn't have a huge success in Athens. 23:03 It was pretty small what ended up happening there. 23:07 But it was more than what would've happened 23:11 had he come in, as you said earlier, guns blazing, right? 23:14 At least it was something; at least it was something. 23:18 When he goes away from the Areopagus, there's-- 23:24 here, let me just read a little bit more on this, and this 23:26 comes from the book "Acts of the Apostles," okay? 23:29 And it describes what was happening here in some 23:32 of their minds and what the author here says was something 23:38 that he learned, and that we need to learn, too. 23:41 She calls it a treasure for the church, okay? 23:45 So this is interesting. 23:47 "The words of the apostle, and the description of his attitude 23:50 "and [the] surroundings, as traced 23:51 "by the pen of inspiration, 23:52 "were to be handed down to all coming generations, 23:55 "bearing [a] witness of his unshaken confidence, 23:57 "his courage...[his] loneliness [in] adversity, 23:59 "and the victory he gained for Christianity 24:03 in the very heart of paganism." 24:04 All right? 24:06 "Paul's words contain a treasure of knowledge for the church." 24:10 So to me that means I need to go through here, 24:12 and I need to figure out what is that treasure of knowledge 24:16 for the church? But this goes on here. 24:19 "He was in a position where he might [have] easily...said 24:23 "that which would have irritated his proud listeners 24:28 "and brought himself into difficulty. 24:30 Had his oration been a direct attack"--okay? 24:34 We need to think about this right here. 24:36 How often do we do this? 24:37 We put up billboards; we do, you know, come in, 24:40 and they're smashing other churches and verbally, 24:42 whatever, you know, like that. If he had done this, 24:45 this does not draw people; this drives people away. 24:48 And he says, "[If] his oration [had] been a direct attack 24:50 "upon their gods or the great men of their city, 24:52 "he would have been in danger of meeting the same fate 24:55 that Socrates did." 24:56 And you remember what happened to Socrates. 24:58 >>Eric: An unpleasant end. >>Jeff: An unpleasant end. 25:00 "But with a tact born of divine love, 25:04 "he carefully drew their minds away from heathen deities, 25:09 "by revealing to them the true God, 25:11 who was...unknown." 25:13 The treasure of knowledge to the church is this one: 25:15 he "would have irritated his proud listeners." 25:19 "The treasure of knowledge for the churches" 25:20 is Paul avoided irritating his listeners. 25:25 [chuckling] And she calls that a major victory. 25:28 >>Eric: Which is not rocket science. 25:29 >>Jeff: It's not rocket science; you're right. 25:32 >>Eric: But too frequently we make that mistake. 25:35 And I say "we" in a broad, sweeping-- 25:37 >>Jeff: I know, I know. >>Eric: ...sense; we make 25:38 that mistake and go in and simply stir things up 25:43 if they don't need to be stirred up. 25:44 >>Jeff: They don't, yeah. 25:45 >>Eric: And many times they don't. 25:46 >>Jeff: You're absolutely right. 25:48 >>Eric: It comes back to Christ's method alone-- 25:49 >>Jeff: Yeah. >>Eric: ...and ministering 25:51 to people, mingling with them, which Paul did, 25:53 and found out some of their needs and began 25:56 to help answer questions. 25:58 And a door was at least opened for some people that 26:01 would not have been opened otherwise. 26:04 So we haven't much time left, but give me some takeaways-- 26:08 we've got a few takeaways already-- 26:09 a few takeaways from this story from an evangelism perspective, 26:14 a soul-winning perspective. 26:15 >>Jeff: I would prefer to leave this with the one, 26:18 and that is, when we go in and irritate our listeners, 26:24 for whatever reason, it's not going to draw them to Jesus; 26:28 it's going to push them away. 26:31 And we need to spend our time studying the people, 26:35 finding common ground, doing the things that will make us 26:40 palatable to the people, as messengers of the holy God 26:44 that we serve, the God of love that we serve, and bring to them 26:49 a God that they are going to be intrigued by, 26:54 not because of guilt or anything like that, 26:57 but because they're saying, "I want to see more of that." 27:02 Avoid irritating our listeners 27:03 and present to them a God of love. 27:06 >>Eric: So it's fairly straightforward, fairly simple. 27:08 >>Jeff: I think that's what Paul learned. 27:10 >>Eric: And yet a treasury. >>Jeff: A treasure of knowledge. 27:13 >>Eric: A treasury, so here we go, 27:15 something that we can take away: 27:17 Don't irritate others but show them a God that they can love-- 27:22 >>Jeff: Yeah. >>Eric: ...who loves them. 27:23 And that's powerful, straightforward, 27:26 simple, absolutely simple. >>Jeff: Yeah. 27:28 >>Eric: Jeff, thank you for that. 27:29 >>Jeff: Thank you. >>Eric: And thank you 27:30 for joining us this week. Next week we're going to come back, 27:33 and we're going to be looking at "Mission to the Unreached: 27:35 Part 2." You won't wanna miss that one. 27:38 God bless you and we'll see you next time here 27:40 on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. 27:42 ♪♪♪ 28:21 ♪♪♪ 28:27 (Closed captioning provided by Aberdeen Captioning) |
Revised 2023-11-30