How To Become More Gospel Fluent

Becoming gospel fluent isn't about memorizing rigid scripts, it's about bringing the life-changing truth of Jesus to bear on everyday situations in a clear, compelling way.

In this sermon on Acts 17:16–21, Lead Pastor Neil McClendon unpacks the Apostle Paul’s unexpected journey to Athens to show how believers can cultivate true gospel fluency. Looking closely at Paul’s reaction to a city full of idols, Pastor Neil outlines three essential shifts: recognizing spiritual activation over human anger, understanding your audience’s culture, and clearly communicating both the information and real-world implications of the gospel. Discover how to lower the shelf on spiritual conversations so others become genuinely curious about Jesus.

In this episode, we cover:

• Knowing Yourself: Discerning the difference between destructive human anger and Spirit-led activation.
• Righteous Anger vs. Unrighteous Anger: How to tell when your heart is seeking God's justice versus asserting personal control.
• Knowing Your Audience: Understanding secular perspectives (like Epicureans and Stoics) to better engage their worldview.
• Contextualizing the Gospel: Making the message of Jesus feel at home in any cultural setting without compromising its truth.
• Information vs. Implication: Moving beyond basic facts to help others understand what the gospel truly means for their lives.

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This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

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Amen. Yes, let's pray together, church. Lord, that's our prayer. We say, lead on, Lord. Your ideas are better than ours. Your ways are higher than our ways. And you have a better plan for us than we do for ourselves. And so, Lord, uh, uh, we've some of us have put it in the ditch, and we don't think we deserve it. Uh, we don't deserve to experience your plan for our life. That's not true. That's a lie of the enemy. So I pray for the person that just thinks, man, this is good, but this applies to everybody else. Even that Holy Spirit, just touch their heart and say, no, no, no. I've not disqualified you. Matter of fact, when I died on the cross, I qualified you for everything the Bible says. So, Lord, uh, we just say lead on. Continue to lead on. You've been leading this place for a long time. And Lord, if you don't go with us, don't take us up from here. We don't want the promised land without you. We don't want stuff without you. We don't want blessings without you. You're the treasure hidden in the field, God. You're the pearl of great price. And so when we say lead on, we just we don't just want provision. We want your presence. We want that to be the distinguishing reality about our church is the presence of God is there. I don't know who the pastor is, I don't know who leads worship, I don't know anything. I just know God's there. We want people to drive by 1464 and sense the presence of God. So, Lord, would you manifest here on this campus? Now, Lord, when we open up your word, Lord, explain it to us in a way that makes sense. This is our prayer today, God. We prayed in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen. Amen. You can have a seat if you got a Bible. I invite you to take it, open it up to Acts chapter 17. I want to talk to you this morning about how to become more gospel fluent, how to become more gospel fluent. I I've said this phrase gospel fluency before. Uh, and let me demonstrate what I mean by gospel, how to become more gospel fluent. I went to a grad party yesterday, and I'm sitting there in someone's house. They had it from 10 to 12, by the way. That's the time to have a grad party. You got a nice little brunch, you can have some things. But I'm sitting there in the kitchen noshing on some of the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had in my life, and my wife's giving me the sign like, leave some for other people that are coming. I'm like, hey, you snooze, you lose, okay? And I look over, and there's an older woman on the couch over there, and I'm thinking, oh, that's probably someone's grandmother. So I just walked over and sat down and started talking to her. And I just said, Hey, how do you know so-and-so? And she opened her mouth and she said, No habla mucho inglés. And I know about 10 phrases in Spanish. Six of them should never be repeated that loud in the presence of small children, uh, because I grew up on a farm and our workers taught me those. And so I said the two things that I knew uh uh uh Como se llama, which means what's your name? And then I said, Donde está la biblioteca, which means where's the library? Because I was in college and I was crushing on a girl, a Hispanic girl from the valley, and she spoke mostly Spanish, but she was beautiful, and so I was here coming out of class and saying, Don't you start la biblioteca? And she was launching to Spanish, and I was like, that happened yesterday. Somebody's grandmother was over there, and I said, Come on, tell me. And she's like lit up and starting, and she explained to me she was from Cuba and came to the United States, and I was like, now my oldest daughter is fluent in Spanish, okay? She minored in it at Baylor, she read Spanish literature, she thinks in Spanish. She was in Costa Rica on a mission trip, and she said, Dad, I dreamed in Spanish for the first time, so I know I'm fully immersed. I've never dreamed in Spanish, okay? And so yesterday I was just kind of like trying to put together, I kept looking, like, where is Madison right now when I need her? I started looking around the room, nothing but white people. I thought, I'm not gonna be helped here. And so the lady talked to me, and I was like, and in that moment, I wish I was conversationally fluent in Spanish because I could have talked to her, okay? I was like, oh, what do you think about so-and-so? The the the kid that your daughter, your granddaughter's dating. And she's like, he is un caballero. I was like, cowboy? Uh and she could pick up the ignorance on my face, and she said, He's a good man. He's a fine young man. And I excused myself to go get another San Monroe. Now, why do I tell you that? Because you've all been in situations and spiritual conversations where you realize you're not gospel fluent. You cannot in any situation bring the gospel to bear on the situation in a way that makes people eager and want to hear you more. So I want to just talk to you. I want to point out in the Bible how to become more gospel fluent because Paul, wherever you put him, that cat could talk about God and the gospel now. Let me give you a little context for where we are. Uh, Paul's had a kind of a rough go of it. Have you ever had like a two-week stretch where you just thought, please, nothing else bad can happen. Have you ever had that? Say amen. And so, Paul, let me just summarize because this trip, he's in Athens. His trip to Athens was unplanned. He got to Athens because his visit to Macedonia had gone really bad. In Philippi, he was beaten and thrown in prison, okay? In Thessalonica, he caused a riot. In Berea, they drove him out of town. Uh, he was thrown out of Antioch. He was threatened with stoning at a town called Iconium. He was actually stoned almost to death and left for dead in a town called Lystra. And then the Jews followed him from Berea to stir up the crowd. So his buddies decided he needed a cruise. Now, ladies, you need to look at your husband today and say, I think I need a cruise. I think I got a word from the Lord. I mean, they're like, dude, get out of here. They take him down to the water, they put him on a ship, say, get out of here, just go to Athens. We'll catch up with you later. And so he goes to Athens on a ship, and he gets there, and this is where he is. He's in Athens, he's waiting on his friends to get there. This is the context. Now here's the text Acts chapter 17, starting at verse 16. Now, Paul, while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, What does this babbler wish to say? Others said, He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities, because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and they brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is that you're presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean. That all the Athenians and the foreigners who live there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Okay, uh how to become more gospel fluent. There's three things you have to do. Number one, you have to know yourself. You have to know yourself, okay? It's verses 16 and 17. I want to draw your attention to this one word that men typically like, but they misunderstand. Uh and it's in verse 16. He says, now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked, was provoked. That's the word within him, as he saw the city was full of idols, okay? Let me just stop right there. When I say know yourself, with all their culture and wisdom, these people did not know God. And it provoked deep emotion in Paul. That's why it says his spirit was provoked. Now, that word provoked means this. His spirit was sharpened, it was stirred up, it was spurred on. Now, here's the issue because the the city was so full of idols. So if you're here and you these people were educationally elite, they were class elite, they thought a lot of themselves, they like to sit around, sip coffee, and just share their ideas. Uh, but but but but they didn't know God. Now you may be thinking, hey, I don't know God either. I don't believe in God. See, see, the issue is not that you'll worship you won't worship anything. Uh excuse me, you'll worship nothing. The issue for the person that doesn't believe in God is that you'll worship anything. It's not I'm gonna worship nothing. No, you'll worship anything that comes along. This is why the city, Paul's walking around and he's like killing time, waiting on his on his bros, and he's like, dude, these people worship anything, and his spirit was provoked inside of him. It was stirred up, it was sharpened. Now, you should ask yourself this question. We have to reclaim this for the good, this your spirit being provoked, okay? You should ask yourself, when's the last time your spirit was provoked? Because I said this on a recent podcast. Now, uh, you say podcasts, the people, a couple people have, what are you talking about? Circling back podcasts. Blake does a great job. Uh, Blake, our equipping pastor, does a great job. He listens to like a month's sermons, and then he'll send me a list of questions and say, hey, I think we should unpack this more. And you could, you, you, could you answer some questions? Sure. So we sit down and we just kind of process through sermons. He asked great questions. I'm like, oh, here's what I meant by that. But uh some of you on the last circling back episode, I talked about meeting a guy years ago. And when I first met him, I think I said this phrase, my spirit man got punchy. Uh, here's what it actually felt like. I met this guy, and when I first met him, I just thought, ooh, I want to fight you. Yes, sir. I just want to rip my shirt off and just get it on. Uh and I wasn't kidding. Somebody said, Were you over-exaggerating? No, no. When I first met this dude, I was like, he's an educated man. Now I know I hate him. Uh and I was like, now, now listen, pay attention. I'm not going redneck commando here, okay? Here's what I'm saying. Uh, it's so much so. Uh, men, you have to model this thing. Let me give you two words and I'll come back to it. Uh, when you hear that, you think, oh, that's anger. No, that's not anger, it's a different A-word, it's activation. You have to learn to discern what's happening when your spirit inside of you gets activated. I wasn't angry. I I so talked about this because see, here, men, here's the thing. If you don't learn the difference in anger and activation, your children will move away from you because they won't feel safe around you're like, oh, my dad gets mad at everything. Oh, my mom gets crazy mad at everything. No, no, I I I've models for my children, like, hey, hang on a second, my spirit man getting a little punchy here. And my girls will be like, What are you talking about? Something's going on because when I get my spirit gets activated, I don't just think this is an excuse to get angry and throw stuff and cuss and no, none of that. And so I knew that I really catechized my children well, discipled my children well, when one of my one of my girls said, Oh, dad, my spirit woman's getting punchy. And I said, What do you think is going on? And she said, I don't have words for it just yet. I said, Okay, well, just listen. And when you get words for it, say it, probably five more minutes later, she said, Oh, here's what I sense is going on. I said, I think you're exactly right, because my spirit bears witness to that. So it's not anger, it's activation. The spirit of God inside of Paul is being stirred up right now, and he has to get in touch with what's happening. Because if you don't learn the difference between anger and activation, then everything that stirs you up, you take it as a sign that, okay, now's the time to get angry. And the exact opposite, you know, Paul, you know, I say know yourself. This is what I mean. Paul knew himself, and he's like, Whoo, man, this city is full of idols, and my spirit is provoked inside of me. Uh, Michael Green said this, he said, profound compassion is the motivation behind true apologetics. Profound compassion. Think Jesus in Matthew 9, looking out over the city, he says they were, he he was moved with compassion because they were harassed and helpless like a sheep without a shepherd. These people had a city full of idols, and yet they didn't believe anything about God. They they they didn't believe anything, but but but God, Paul's like, man, these people clearly do not understand the gospel. Activation of your spirit brings more capacity to the situation than anger ever will. Men, let me say it again. Activation of your spirit, not anger, like, oh, that kicked me off. No. Matter of fact, you anger is a secondary emotion. Anytime you think you're angry, angry, and when I say it's a secondary emotion, it's like a check engine light on the dashboard of your truck. It's telling you something's going on under the hood. You should get in touch with what's going on under here in the same way. Activation, what I call activation, is your spirit is stirred up inside of you. It's like, whoo, some of you mothers have met your daughter's boyfriend and your spirit was activated. You were like, mmm, come in the kitchen. I want to shank you with a butter knife, son. Come on. And your daughter's like, Any, any fine, mom? Any hot? Mm-hmm. And he could be the Antichrist. Your mom's gonna have to kill him and bury him in a flower bed. Yes, your spirit is being activated, and you should say to your children, hey, your mom's spirit is a little activated. The spirit of God inside of me is vexed by this rascal. Otherwise, your kids are like, ah, my mom's crazy. She does blah, blah, blah. Again, activation of your spirit brings more capacity to the situation than anger ever will. You say, What do you mean? Let me let me demonstrate. Uh uh, this is what Paul did. And now the text says this his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols. Look at verse 17. So, as a result of this, what did he do? He reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. This is what he did. Let me break it down for you. This is when his spirit was activated, this is what he did. He reasoned with them. To reason is to mingle thought with thought in a dialogue. He reasoned, his spirit is provoked. He said, Because he realized this is not just license to get angry. The spirit of God in me is sensing something, and he's in the Holy Spirit is inviting me into this moment right now. So he reasoned. This is what he did. Secondly, this is where he did it. In the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace. In the synagogue and in the marketplace. You should ask yourself, where are you most comfortable having spiritual conversations? In the synagogue, at church, here by the coffee bar or in the marketplace? Can you have the conversation? Because yesterday, when I looked into this beautiful woman's eyes, somebody's abuela, grandmother, I just thought, I'm sorry, I spoke 10 words of Spanish and you've assumed I know Spanish. That's not your fault. That's my fault. I am out of all the phrases that I know. Tell me where the library is. Because I'm not fluent in Spanish, okay? If you're not careful, you got to get yourself in situations where you realize you're not fluent in the gospel, okay? Here's how you realize you're not fluent in the gospel. You say the same thing to everybody. Every time something comes up, you have the same three or four phrases that you that that you say. We'll get to that in just a minute. Again, this is what he did. He reasoned because the spirit was activated. This is where he did it in the synagogue and in the marketplace. He was instant in season out. It didn't matter. Paul could chat you up in the lobby of the church over a cup of coffee, or he could be in the boardroom when someone say, Hey, you seem to be very religious, and then off he goes. And then lastly, this is when he did it every day. Every day with those who happen to be there. Uh, we've got to get to the point where we mission trips are great. And I want to just echo what Tommy said. I just think not just ask these people about it. I think you should look at that card, have some of these people over, especially if you got small children or teenagers that actually listen to other people. Have them in your home for dinner and just say, hey, what'd you see God do? What was the trip like? Because this is what activates the spirit in your kids, and in you, you're just kind of like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, okay. Whoa. Yeah. Wonderful. We have a friend named Norman, he's a pro he's a prophetic man, he's from England. Norman Barnes was his name. We'd have him, he'd be in the United States, we'd finally see him, he'd come to Sugarland, we'd have him in our home, and our kids just stared at him like, oh my gosh, this is incredible. Because Norman would talk about things he had seen God do. Uh, because I wanted my children to be stirred up in their spirit. Uh again, activation and anger are two different things. Matter of fact, David Powellison says this about anger. He says, Your anger is both brilliant and appalling. The shifting line between good and evil plays out when it comes to your anger. Your anger is godlike to the degree you treasure justice and are alert to falsehood. Your anger is devil-like to the degree you play God and are petty, mercilessless, whiny, argumentative, willful, and unfair. This is why you have to know yourself. Because if you don't know yourself and you don't know what's happening, then our default is anger. And anger is typically rooted in fear. Anytime anger manifests, ladies, in your husband, you should look at your husband and say, Hey, what are you afraid is happening right now? Or what are you afraid is not going to happen? Why do you have to seize control of the situation and come off really big to ensure that something doesn't happen or something does? Now, there's a difference in anger and righteous anger. And let me give you five things to help you tell the difference. There's a difference in anger and righteous anger. Righteous anger is good. You know, the Bible says be angry and sin not. That's righteous anger. Uh just anger, not good. Here's some of the differences. The goal of righteous anger is to restore God's will. The goal of human anger is to exert your will. The second one, righteous anger confronts someone. Human anger condemns. Righteous anger confronts someone, human anger condemns. Thirdly, righteous anger admonishes while unrighteous anger accuses. Fourthly, righteous anger warns while unrighteous anger threatens. Righteous, lastly, righteous anger is instructive, human anger is destructive. Righteous anger is instructive while human anger is destructive. This is why, if you want to become gospel-fluent, more gospel-fluent, first of all, you have to know yourself. You have to know when I'm just in the flesh and getting angry, or the spirit of God in me is being activated. Activation is happening. And when activation in your spirit happens, God is inviting you to something. So Paul's walking around a city full of idols, people that worship these false uh gods that are no gods at all. And he doesn't go crazy and start pushing them over. That's what we do in America. We tear down things we don't believe in. Paul is just kind of like, oh, as we'll see in a couple of weeks, he uses this as a basis for explaining to people what God's really like. The second thing you have to do in order to become more gospel fluid, number one, know yourself. Number two, know your audience. It's verse 18. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also converse with him. And some said, What does this babbler wish to say? Others said, he seems to be the preacher of foreign divinities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and they brought him to the Areopagus and they and they go from there. Now, by the way, when they they said he's preaching uh uh foreign divinities, plural, uh, because he's preaching Jesus and the resurrection. Here's why the Greek word for resurrection was also a woman's name. And so they look for every opportunity they have to discredit Christianity and say, oh, look, you guys are pluralistic. There's not just one God. You you're talking about these two different gods. But when I talk about know your audience, let me just start with the he lists two groups of people, the Epicureans and the Stoics. Let me just read you a brief uh description of what they were they were like. The Epicureans were known for their atheism, uh they did they the denial of providence. They considered the gods to be so remote so as to take interest in human affairs was beneath them. Now hear that again. They considered the gods to be so far away, like Bet Midler from a distance. God is watching us. You know, God is so far, he's so remote that he doesn't give a rip about the day-to-day affairs of your life, okay? The world was due to chance, a random concourse of atoms, and there would be no survival of death and no judgment, okay? So humans should pursue pleasure. Epicureans emphasize chance, escape, and the enjoyment of pleasure. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die, and nothing matters after that. Okay? That's Epicureans. Now, here's why you gotta know yourself, but also know your audience. Because Epicureans and Stoics are totally different. Stoics acknowledge the supreme being, but in a pantheistic way. He was more of a world soul. He is the spiritual consciousness that flows through all human beings, as someone said to me recently. And I just raised my hand and said, Hey, by the way, if what you just said was not only crazy but wrong, would you want to know? Oh, I don't think, I don't think I appreciate your characterization of my belief. Well, when you come to a conclusion about it, let me know because if I love you, the Bible says love rejoices in the truth, and I want to rejoice in the truth, and I want you to be set free by the truth, but what you just said is not true. Well, that's your opinion. No, no, no. Well, there are no absolutes. Can we agree on that? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. We we we just can't. Now, I know some of you may think, Holly, you're a harsh person. It is harsh. I would go in further, use another H-word. It is hate to let a person say that and not speak to it. You're not loving that person. The Stoics acknowledge the supreme being, but in a pantheistic way, they're more of a world soul. The world was determined by fate, and humans must pursue their duty, resign themselves to live in harmony with nature and reason, however painful this might be, and develop their own self-sufficiency. Stoics emphasize fatalism, submission, and the endurance of pain. If the Epicureans were, hey, eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die, the Stoics were, keep a stiff upper lip. Now, I realize Epicureans and Stoics, some of you are like, come on, dude. I don't know what that means. If you've ever seen the mini-series, uh, the great sweeping epic of beautiful justice called Lonesome Dove, say amen. When Larry McMurtry wrote the book, okay, he based the character uh of Augustus McRae, Gus, he was an Epicurean. Captain Call was a stoic. That's why he beat a man half to death with a blacksmith tool and said, I can't stand rude behavior in a man, I won't stand for it. You're just like, Yeah. And then he gets on his horse and rides away. Very stoically. Yeah. And so when I say know your audience, if you don't know your audience, what you will what you will not be able to do is to contextualize the gospel. Because Paul knew the Epicureans and the Stoics. This is why later in the chapter, uh, you can read it later, but in the next little section of scripture, Paul emphasized when he says, Hey, as I walked around your city, I saw all these idols and I saw this one idol to an unknown God. What you worship is something unknown. Let me make known to you. And then, because he knew his audience, this is why he talked about the things he talked about. He emphasized the caring activity of God as a personal creator. The dignity of human beings as the offspring and the certainty of judgment and a call to repentance. Why does he talk about that? Because the Epicureans and the Stoics believed none of it. This is what I mean by contextualization. Let me give you a more accessible definition for the big word contextualization. It is the process of making the gospel as at home as possible in a given cultural context. Contextualization is the process of making the gospel at home. Of making the gospel at home. Like I used myself growing up. I was not a Christian until right after I graduated high school. I got invited to a lot of church events in high school and I didn't want to go because I experienced so much injustice. Nobody ever contextualized the gospel. They all said the same things to me. Well, Neil, if you died tonight, you think you'd go to heaven? I don't know. I live in hell, so I mean, going to hell is just like going home, okay? Uh and then, well, if you died tonight, and God said, Why should I let you into heaven? What would you tell him? I don't know. I don't deserve heaven, okay? And then the conversation would end because they wouldn't know what to say. No one ever contextualized it and said, Hey, Neil, I don't know you very well, but I do know you've experienced a lot of injustice in your life. And for that, I'm sorry, but I want you to know that God's a God of justice. And God sees what you've had to endure, and God is gonna repay all of those people who forced injustice on you, okay? I just want you to know that you don't have to spend the rest of your life being angry about that. I never heard anything like that about God. I would have wanted to come to faith a lot sooner, but again, nobody could make the gospel at home in my situation and circumstance. So if you want to be more gospel fluent, you have to, number one, know yourself. Number two, you have to know your audience. Otherwise, you say the same thing to everybody. And here's what happens eventually: you get sick of hearing yourself say some of the same things you've always said. And the next step is even more tragic. You begin to doubt the reality of what you've always said. Because you see no consequence for it. You say the same thing over and over, and after a while, you're like, Do I even believe this? Because I'm saying all this stuff and nothing happens. It's because you cannot contextualize the gospel. You cannot put it down here and say this is what Paul quotes some of these people and says, you know, as your own poets have said, we are his offspring. And they're like, What? You know our offspring? Here's contextualization. Years ago we were in the old sanctuary. I didn't know this. Uh, but back then, this was so long ago. Uh I can't remember the group. They had a song that says, This is how you remind me of Nickelback. There you go. If you've ever listened to Nickelback, say amen. Yes, Alan Young is down here going, Yeah. Well, the song was on the radio, and so I listened to the radio, I just hear the gospel. I listen for the gospel. And I was, you know, scanning the stations and I come across and I just let it play. Next song came on. It was Nickelback singing. This is how the hook was, this is how you remind me of who I really am. And I just thought, that's why I read the Bible. God's how God reminds me of who I really am. And so the next Sunday I get up and I just said, God, we're going to open the Bible this morning because there's those great theologians, Nickelback said, This is how you remind us who we really are. And there's a kid in the back, does this. And as I'm praying, looking at it, I'm like, okay, that kid likes music. And he makes a beeline to me. It was someone's grandson who was sent to live with his grandmother for the summer. And he said to me, Hey, bro, I don't believe any of this God and Jesus thing, but I love Nickelback, man. Why'd you pray that? You know that's a lyric song. Oh, really? Is that why I said those great theologians nickelback? And I said, Yeah, the reason I read the Bible because it reminds me of who I really am. Bro, I'd like to understand that more. Translation, you're bringing some strange ideas to my ears. I want to hear you more on this. See, you have to, and I just said, Hey, while you're here in the summer, let's get lunch. I'll buy our stop by for a cup of coffee. Well, uh, well, I don't want you to try to proselytize me. I said, that's a big word. You know what it means? Yeah, you try to convert me, to which I said, I can't convert you. And he said, Well, isn't that your job? No, it's not my job at all. As a matter of fact, Jesus says in Matthew 11 that you can't know God unless uh unless God reveals himself to you. Conversion starts on the inside, not on the outside. So I'm not trying to back you over the head with a Bible hammer in the summer. Okay. And I said, Yeah, the bullets. He goes, Well, I said, I think you said this to everybody you have a spiritual conversation with. I'm like old Gus. I'm tricky. You gotta watch me. And he said, Well, I uh I I mean, you get in trouble for listening, nickelback? That's your big question. Oh, as some of your own, and I quoted Acts 17, I said, Hey, Paul's talking to some of the smartest people in the world, and he he quotes one of their own poets to him. So, no, I I don't think I said, here's the big word to go with, you know, proselytizing, uh, contextualization. My professor Roy Fish used to say this at seminary. He'd say, Hey men, put the cookies on the lowest shelf so even the small children can get them. That's contextualization. It's putting the cookies down here where just anybody can get them. I'm talking to two prostitutes on the side of the road one time. Don't ask me how I got there. Uh and I said to them, Hey, I know in your profession you look for love, but I just want you to know that there's a God in the world and He loves you for free. And one of them said, Look at me, sir. I'm a prostitute. And I said, Well, I'm trying not to look. She's wearing a black rubber mini skirt and a pink fuzzy tube top and knee boots. I was like, I love you and pretty woman. And then I said to them, Hey, are you Christians? And I know y'all are thinking, you said, What? And before you get on your high horse, think about all the things you prostituted yourself out to. And one of them smoking a cigarette said, I am. And she goes, You probably find that hard to believe. I said, Not at all. I think of all the things I've prostituted myself out to. Can I use that word? And she goes, That's what we are. See, people like that aren't as offended as church people. Now, I was a youth pastor at the time, and probably here that wall was a was a van full of 12 of my guys with their faces all up to the window. And she says, What's with the guys? I said, They're kids in my youth group. I just spoke at a at an event, we're going home. Saw you walking down the road and just since God said, Come over here and tell you good news. She goes, I appreciate it. Dropped her cigarettes, stomped it out. She said, Uh, I appreciate it. I just got to get my stuff together. I said, I hey, I've been there. Can I pray for you? Absolutely. She goes, Would you hold my hand? I said, No, you're a prostitute. No. Took her hand, we made a little circle, prayed. I said, You girls need anything? And she said, No, we had a good night. We're going home. I was like, I don't want to know. Got back on the van, full of my guys, was dead silent for five minutes. Kid riding shotguns said, I ain't never seen anything like that before. What'd you what'd you talk about? And I said, I tried to contextualize the gospel. I didn't go over there and say, hey girls, if you died tonight, you think you'd go to heaven? And if you did die and you stood before God, you filthy, wicked prostitutes, what do you think a holy God would say to you, street walkers? No, I said to them, there's a God in this world, he loves you. Now, if you have a problem with that, let me ask you a simple question. On what basis do you think God loves you? You think he loves you because of your morality? Or your politics? Or how disciplined you are? See, when you when you learn to contextualize the gospel, hear this, and I'm gonna move on to the last point, okay? Don't miss this. When you learn to contextualize the gospel, God will begin to put you in different contexts where the gospel is needed. The reason some of you don't get in those contexts is because you God God knows, He can't trust you to contextualize the gospel, to put the cookies way down here and say, Are you hungry? See, if you're gonna get become more gospel fluent, you have to know yourself, you have to know your audience, and thirdly, and finally, you have to know what the gospel is and what it means. You have to know what the gospel is and what it means. Look at verse the latter part of verse 19. It says, They took him, they brought him to the Ariapagas. This is like, you know, you're going to Harvard and Columbia all combined right here. And he said, May we know this new teaching, uh, what this new teaching is that you're presenting, for you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean. Now, all the Athenians and the foreigners who live there would spend their time doing nothing except telling or hearing something new. Hear it again, right out of these people's mouth. May we know what this new teaching is that you're presenting, for you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean. Now, it's that last part, what these things mean. When I say know what the gospel is and know what it means, uh, this produces curiosity and a desire in these people. Ask yourself today, can you talk about spiritual things in such a way that it produces curiosity and desire in people? Curiosity and desire. There's two things in play here. There's information and there's implication. Information is what it is. You got to know what the gospel is. That's information. Implication is what it means. And if you want to get better at the information, think about the implications. Let me say that again. If you want to get better at the information, think about the implications, what it means. What does it mean? It's not enough to say, well, here's what the gospel is, if you don't understand what it means. Because this is what they're saying. Hey, what is this? You're bringing some strange ideas to our areas. Want to hear you more? Hey, could you could you explain to us? You're bringing some strange things. We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean. Not unless you can contextualize the gospel, do people get to this point and they go like, if left in the realm of information, the gospel is just something to be considered. However, when you think about the implications, then the gospel leads to this confrontation of worldviews, of ideas, of reality versus non-reality. And probably one of the best people at this was a man named D.L. Moody. He lived back in the late 19th century. He was a preacher in Chicago. Matter of fact, the Moody Bible Institute, Moody College, started by this guy, okay? Uh D.L. Moody. He came to faith in a shoe store. A man named Edward Kimball led him to Christ in a shoe store, just telling him how much God loved him. Moody said, his Sunday school teacher said there was not a darker soul than Dwight Moody when he walked in to my Sunday school class, okay? But he just kept telling him that God loved him and God wasn't repulsed by him, and God could change him. And one day they're talking at work in a shoe store, and he and Moody comes to faith. He becomes a pastor, he becomes really what's called a revivalist. He just loved telling people about Jesus. And he told people about Jesus so much that it offended people. It bothered people. And a man made an appointment with D.L. Moody, came to his office just to tell him, Mr. Moody, you've got to stop, okay? People come to faith on their own. Faith is a private matter. And Moody's sat there at his desk writing, and the guy's just, Mr. Moody, are you listening to me? Yes, yes, yes, I'm listening. Go ahead. And the guy's just telling him, you know, people are talking about you behind your back, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And Moody got up and he walked over to the window, looking out on this busy street, and he said, Come over here, look out this window and tell me what you see. And the guy looked out and he said, I see men and women going back and forth, going about their business, and they deserve to be left alone. And Moody looked out the window and his eyes filled up with tears. Moody looked at the man and he said, When I look out this window, I see men and women headed to a judgment for which they're not prepared and a Christeless eternity in hell if I don't tell them. And the man turned and walked out and never approached Moody ever again. I just want to ask you one simple question. When you look out on the people around you, when you look out on the world, what do you see? You see people who just, hey, they're going to and fro about their business. Baseball, swim, got all kinds of stuff going on, got hockey practice. Who am I to interject my beliefs on them? Or do you see many women who are headed to a Christeless eternity in hell if you don't open your mouth and share the gospel in a way that's fluent and makes sense and is cohesive and creates desire in them? It's not about technique, it's not about, it's just, hey, you got to understand what it means. Because if you don't understand what it means, then you it doesn't matter about the information. The implication. What does it mean? If you want to get better at the information, think about the implications. Let's pray together. We like to teach the Bible and then give you just a little space to think about it. And that space is now. Some questions come up on the screen. These are questions we'll talk about in our community groups when they meet. But for now, let's just be still and just kind of think. And ask the Holy Spirit, hey, what had my name on it today? Just practice what we've heard preached. God, just activate my spirit around something. I don't want to just go through life getting mad at stuff, being angry. I want to be activated. When my spirit's activated, I'm being invited to something. So, Lord, just brood over us now as we think about this. God, we read today about people that like to just sit around and talk about new things, the latest and greatest. But we've never gotten past, we've never will never outgrow the old, old story of Jesus and the resurrection. Those two simple truths, God, change the world. And they have the power to change anybody in this room. Nobody has sinned so much that you've given up on them. Because Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and died on the cross in their place and for their sins. And then not only that, but he was resurrected, he was raised from the dead. And that reminds us that you've accepted Jesus' payment for our sins. And so now we can respond to something. It's a certified, verifiable fact, historically proven and universally available. God, we want to get better at telling that story. We don't want to just pray at people, pray for people. We want to open our mouth and speak to people. And when we do, we want them to smell them chocolate chip cookies right down there on the bottom shelf. We want them to be hungry for God. We don't want them to think we're clever or our church is great. We want them to realize I was created by God for a relationship with God. So Holy Spirit, create a desire. And everybody in this room that does it know you for you. Make it so palpable, God, that they can't deny it. This is my prayer. I prayed in Christ's name, and everyone said, Amen. Amen. If you're our guest, let me say thanks for being here. You're always welcome, okay? You and your if you got questions, your questions are welcome. All right. All we ask of you today is you just text welcome to that number uh there on the screen, gives us a record of your attendance. We'll shoot you a text back. We just want to help you take the next step in your spiritual journey. If you have any questions about anything you saw or heard this morning, some of us will be available down front. We'd love to answer questions, pray with you if you're going through anything, and just meet you. If you're visiting, we'd love to just meet you, put it put a name with a face, okay? We've always got things going on in the life of our church. The way you make we make you aware of that is through our video announcements. So let's check those out for this week.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Park Way Baptist Church. It's already June, so summer camps are about to begin. Registration for student camp closes this Wednesday, June 5th. So register today while it's fresh on your mind. Our women's summer book groups start this week, so be sure to get registered so that you can dive right in. Have you ever wondered what goes on at our community groups and how to find one that's a good fit? Or maybe how to lead or host one? These questions will be answered at our Domestified Community Groups Information Meeting on June 6th. From 6:30 through 7:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Childcare is available for fourth grade and under if you pre-register. Finally, starting on June 16th, the Women's Sunday Bible study class that is held at 10:30 a.m. in room 201 will be starting a new topic called Reflecting His Image. Each week of this study stands alone, so if you miss a Sunday or two, you can pick up right where you left off. We would love to have you join us as we learn together to better reflect God's image. For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org. If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

Two things before you're dismissed. Number one, notice that you're being let out a little early because miracles never cease. Here's what I want you to do. Don't run over there, your kids aren't done yet, okay? Don't be like, throw me a kid, we gotta go, gotta beat the Methodists to the Golden Corral. Uh look around. Check in and check on people you know, meet people you don't know, okay? Don't just stand up and flood out, just look around. If you don't know anybody, say, hey, I don't know you. Tell me your name. We'll go to church together. I want to know your name, okay? Uh second thing, or you can stop and get you a second cup of coffee. It's free. Uh, second thing, come grab one of these, stick it in your Bible, put it on your kitchen table. And when you pray for over a meal, just say to your kids, hey, by the way, we're praying for this Tommy Hammer guy. We're praying for Molly and Joy Williams, a mother and daughter. Uh, we're praying for Jesse. We're praying for Gabriel. Uh, Gabriel just turned 50 a couple weeks ago. Uh and so you're never uh some of you like 50? That's ancient. No, that's young. Uh, that's midlife. But anyway, come grab one of these just as a reminder, stick in your Bible, stick it somewhere where you'll be reminded to pray for these people. Stand to your feet. We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing. Hold your hands out. Never get over that. Make it available to others. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Bless you.