I. God Is Bigger Than the Boogeyman 00:00
Thank you for the opportunity to come before you week in and week out, to encounter you, to dwell in your house, and to be absolutely changed by your Spirit in us. Help us to hear the words that you wish to speak this morning. In Jesus’ name, amen.
So I have to start today with just a little story. I couldn’t find a spot in the sermon for it, but, you know, I haven’t talked about my kids enough lately in my sermons, so I found one, and I just wanted to share it. No, I just love this story. We were walking through Costco, and it’s just Rhys and Ruby. Sometimes it’s all five; then it’s really crazy. But Rhys and Ruby were walking through, and Rhys is just doing his thing: “God is bigger than the boogeyman.” And he just keeps repeating that and singing it over and over and over again, which you know from the classic cinema of VeggieTales. And we’re walking past this black guy, and he hears him, and he goes, “Amen, brother. He is.” And it was so fun in this moment. I was like, “Good. Yeah, awesome.”
So I don’t know, I just love the fact that when you live centered around the Christian story, it has this kind of ripple effect. That was not a planned evangelical strategy. But for that moment, we had a point of connection and a point of celebrating who God is. And amen: God is bigger than the boogeyman. There’s nothing that we face that he cannot solve and has not solved for us. So we can just live in confidence in that. That was really just for my own gratification.
II. Normal Christianity and Competing Stories 01:22
Let’s move back to Acts. We have been doing this series; we’re actually on part seven, if you didn’t know. So we’re going to be talking about Paul when he goes to Athens. And in fact, next week we’ll kind of take a chapter back, and Father Powell’s going to talk about one of his favorite stories from Acts. But we’re doing kind of this high-level overview. I keep mentioning Bishop Jones’ Acts sermons, mainly because it’s so unbelievably remarkable to me that he’s still today preaching on Acts chapter 2, and it’s been months. But we’re doing our high-level analysis and just picking out some of these important stories. But I wanted to remind us that the point of this teaching is that Acts shows us normal Christianity, and we want to align ourselves with normal Christianity as we find it in Acts.
There’s so much about our life that pulls us… There are these competing stories, and you’ll find that in this text this morning. There are these stories that are trying to grab your attention, your devotion, trying to have you align with them. Some of them good, some of them bad. I mean, what man did not grow up wanting to be Braveheart? That courage, and that willingness to stand on principle. But then there are tons of other stories that pull you in a different direction, that are competing. And we’re going to actually see what those look like when they encounter the early church. What happens when the stories, the ones that are still told today, encounter one of the most persuasive preachers of the gospel in history? That’s what we see when Paul goes to Athens.
III. Paul's Custom 03:13
But, you know, the past couple of sermons we talked about Paul’s conversion. And so he’s jumped into the church, and now the story’s kind of become about his journey as he testifies to the gospel around this region of the Mediterranean Sea: the Middle East, and from Ephesus all the way up and through Turkey, down into modern-day Greece. And so we’re on this leg of the journey in this story where he’s entered into Greece. And it starts in Thessalonica, where we get the letters to the Thessalonians. And then he gets kicked out of there, and then he goes to Berea, and then he’s doing really well in Berea, which is in Greece. And then the Thessalonians come down and are like, “Let’s kick him out of Berea.” And he just is running from these persecutors, not out of fear, but just because he wants the gospel to keep moving. And so he keeps getting moved by the followers, like, “Hey, it’s getting pretty hot. Too much persecution. Let’s go on to the next town and share the gospel with them.”
And he has a pattern to the way that he shares. And so I want to point that out as we start this teaching, in Thessalonica. This is Acts chapter 17, beginning in verse 2:
2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, Acts 17.2
Where did he go into? He went into the synagogue. This is what he would do when he would go to a new city. He would go to the synagogue, as was his custom.
3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” Acts 17.3
Or the Messiah. Those are the same word: the Greek, and the Hebrew word is Messiah there. He’s the Savior. He’s the one. Because we always have to remember, especially in the context of the beginning of Acts, the church is growing out of Judaism, out of the stewards of the Old Testament, the people of the book, the worshipers of Yahweh. And he’s trying to say, “Yahweh is here. He made himself known in the person of Jesus.” And he always starts by going to the synagogues and saying, “Hey, everything you’re praying for is in front of you.” But one of the great tragedies of Acts is it shows again and again the religious leaders reject the good news of the gospel.
And you can see it’s trying to be worked out, because Paul was the Pharisee of Pharisees. He thought, “Oh, we figured it out. We found the Messiah. I was changed. Let me help them change.” And yes, absolutely, the early church grew out of those early Jewish people who accepted their Messiah. But the organization kept rejecting him: the synagogues, the temples, the religious leaders. And they’re the ones that are stirring up this persecution. It’s an interesting framing of the story. And we see Paul and Barnabas in Acts, a couple of chapters ago. They even say (he’s talking to the Jews):
46 “It was necessary that God’s word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from yourselves, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.” Acts 13.46
It’s this strange turn that happens, and I want you to just notice it. The reason we all get to be a part of it is because God’s plan was bigger than they knew. He had a plan for the salvation of the whole world. But Paul repeatedly goes back to the Jewish people, saying, “Your Messiah is here.” And so there’s a core in all of these churches, as he goes around, of Jewish believers who have realized the Messiah, and they’re teaching the Gentiles who come in how to worship the Messiah. That’s the tension that’s kind of being worked out. But a lot of the religious leaders are rejecting the good news.
And so I just want to remind you that the people of God miss it sometimes, that we need to stay open to what God’s doing now, just as a moral interpretation here. Just because you’re doing all the right holy things doesn’t mean you see the good news in front of you. And so we have to keep our eyes and ears open to one another, because often God speaks through your brothers and sisters in Christ, your leadership, and to what he’s saying to us on a daily basis. And think about this: the good news of Jesus meant they had to repent, but it also meant they had eternal life. The bargain was pretty good. And we often get hung up on the repentance part. God tells us, “Hey, I have something for you. You need to do this.” And we’re like, “I don’t know about that.” Just remember, it’s always a good bargain with God.
IV. Coming to Athens 07:25
So Paul gets driven out of Thessalonica. He goes down to Berea. In that passage is where we get that famous phrase: “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also” (Acts 17.6). And it’s such a beautiful idea, that these fishermen (and, you know, Paul’s a Pharisee, or at least was trained and such, but most of them were just humble Jewish believers)… and the whole world truly is turned upside down. And we really see that, because, just read through the Bible and list every religion that still exists today. They don’t. It’s Judaism and Christianity. And so you see that these stories are in competition. Paul is giving them the story of who Jesus is. He’s giving them the gospel, the good news.
And as he gets kicked out of Berea, he actually takes this long boat journey. He ends up in Athens. It’s a weird place in the ancient world, a very unique place: the birthplace of modern philosophy, the birthplace of lots of ideas, democracy, etc. But at this time they’ve been conquered by the Romans, and their glory days are far behind them. But it kind of reminds me of California, because it’s the place where everybody was getting their best stories, like the plays and the tragedies and the comedies, all those things coming out of Athens. The place where people were getting their ideas about the modern world, how to think differently, the progressive thought about government. All of these things were these unbelievably talented individuals and schools of thought in Athens, but they’d seen better days. Their stories were mainly propaganda pieces at this point. They had become ideologues who had sectioned themselves into camps, and that’s all they could do. There was nothing new or innovative or exciting going on. They were just constantly arguing with one another.
So that’s where we’re entering in: Athens is this metropolitan place that saw themselves as the cutting edge of the world still, and did not realize that the world had moved on, and they were just arguing in circles amongst themselves, in these competing stories. And you see Paul walks right into it.
V. A City Full of Idols 09:37
So let’s jump into verse 16:
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, Acts 17.16
He wasn’t even supposed to go there, but obviously God knew better.
his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. Acts 17.16
He saw (and this is me, not Scripture) people who would devote themselves to gods of pleasure, gods of power, fertility, prestige. Remind you of California still? We’re continuing this. Then these temples were businesses whose job was to advertise to the people: “We can solve your problems. Come here. Spend your money here.” They were fighting for power, prestige, and money. And they were trying to convince everybody to follow their new product, the newest god, the newest innovation and thought. It is just like you see in social media and the news and all this. It was the same competition happening. Humanity has not changed. Although our borders and our countries and a lot of things have changed, we do the same things, and we follow after the same false gods, or we’re tempted to.
In this time they have their temples. It’s, you know, the Amazon and the Apple, the Hollywood, the NFL, the right and the wrong. I mean, the left, sorry. The porn sites and the cocktail bars. I’m just kidding. Okay. But the YouTube, the Instagram, the TikTok: all of those are just as easily the temples. That was the whole structure. That’s how they got their pleasure. That’s how they got their ideas. That’s how they got their stuff. They would even eat food at these temples.
So you enter this, and Paul looks around, and he is grieved. He is provoked in his spirit to see all these people running after the false gods. How many of us are grieved when we see the brokenness in the world? Or are we too busy doing all of our other stuff? And I mean that truly. We do need to have a heart change, to be more like God, so that we are paying attention to the people around us. It’s hard enough for us to pay attention to our families. Haley’s had to remind me several times, “Jesse, you’re home with the kids. Why are you on your phone? Let’s go put the phone over there.” “But I’ve got business. I’ve got email. I’ve got all these things that are so important to me, and I’ve got to do them.” And it’s like, what’s important right now is to pay attention to your family. If I have to learn that lesson at home with my family, how good am I at paying attention to the people outside of my circle? How many people in San Clemente do I know on a first-name basis, outside of my people here? How many people do we encounter, and we don’t have any thoughts about them at all, much less be grieved in our spirit for their sakes?
So that’s one of the first things you have to notice about an evangelist of any kind: you have to have a heart for the people you want to change, and you have to pay attention. Paul is seeing what they need, and it’s stirring up in his spirit.
VI. The Synagogue and the Marketplace 12:33
So what does he do then? He turns, and he reasons in the synagogue, as was his custom, with the Jews and the devout persons (by that it means the Greeks who had joined Judaism, the devout members), and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there (Acts 17.17).
These are two locations that we can go to evangelize today. There are the synagogues, which are the places where religious ideas are discussed. I don’t think anyone here necessarily has a job to go to the actual synagogues around and convert rabbinic Jews. That might not be your calling. There probably is somebody who’s called to that. But it’s the place where religious thought is discussed. And then there’s the marketplace, which is like Costco: singing “God is bigger than the boogeyman.” We’re meant to encounter people in the world, where they go. And in both of those places, we’re meant to talk about the goodness of God. I will make one more argument: arguing in the synagogues with the Jews can also be the conversations we have in the church about how to follow God. What is Jesus leading us to?
We need to find our places to proclaim the gospel, and we need to do that intentionally. It’s actually not going to happen if you just live your life the best you can. That bumper sticker is great: “Preach the gospel. Use words only if you have to.” I love the encouragement of that bumper sticker, to make your life a picture of the gospel. But it is completely missing the fact that you actually also have to use words. Nobody has seen someone’s life and decided to follow Jesus without any words. Somebody had to say, “The reason their life looks that way is because Jesus is their Savior. And you’re welcome to be a part of that, too.” That’s how the gospel is preached. You actually have to tell people the story. You have to invite them into it.
Now, maybe you’re sitting here and you’re feeling really uncomfortable, because you’re thinking of all the people you encounter, and you’re like, “There’s no possible way that I’m going to start talking to them about Jesus.” Maybe you’re feeling that way. That’s okay. You have to start bad at something in order to get good at something. But you have to start. I think that the first place is in our heart. If you have somebody on your mind where you’re like, “Man, I wish I could tell them the gospel, but there’s just no way,” start praying for them. Start paying attention to them. That’s what Paul’s doing in the beginning of this passage. He’s looking at the people, and he’s paying attention.
VII. What Does This Babbler Wish to Say? 15:26
And we find that as we continue moving through this. In verse 18 it says:
18 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. Acts 17.18
They literally thought the resurrection was one god and Jesus the other god that he was preaching. They really just didn’t understand him: “What is this guy talking about? It doesn’t make any sense.” Sounds like California to me. You’re going to find people who don’t understand at all. We think everybody knows the story of Jesus. So few people know the story of Jesus outside the church. They know some high-level ideas: that he probably doesn’t want them to do drugs or have sex outside of marriage. Or maybe they know that he really loves everybody, and it’s all about love. But they don’t know the story of Jesus. So they’re confused.
19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, Acts 17.19
Which just means Mars Hill: you know, Ares, and then pagus, I guess, is hill in Greek. And so they’re taking him to this place where they would have these discussions.
saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Acts 17.19–21
I want to stop on that last thing. They would spend their time on nothing except telling and hearing something new. They didn’t have any idea about building a foundation or corresponding with reality and truth. It was just about whatever the latest gossip was. They wanted him because he sounded interesting, not because he sounded right. In fact, if you look on YouTube and Instagram and the mainstream media, all these places, their whole job is what? The news. It’s all about the new thing, whatever is going to catch your attention.
And you know what that word “babbler” means? What’s funny is they’re accusing Paul of exactly what they were. Babbler means like a bird that pecks around at a bunch of different seeds and has no focus. That’s what we are. We’re like birds, just pecking at a little bit here, a little bit there. We get so distracted, because all these competing stories are not meant to teach us anything. They’re just meant to draw us in to these false narratives about how the world is. And so that’s basically what’s happening in Athens.
That’s the accusation: that they just are all about the latest news, latest gossip, latest ideas. They wanted to be trendy. They wanted to look virtuous, because they knew the latest way to address their contemporaries. They wanted to be able to call out this thinker or that thought. It was more of a fashion at the time. And the closest thing I can get to an Areopagus in our modern terms is a TED talk. They wanted to give him a platform to explain his idea that was not necessarily biased towards one idea or another. It was where everybody could come and hear what he had to say.
I’d like to stop here and say all of this came out of Paul’s daily ministry. He was in the synagogue and the marketplace every day, just doing his work. Then they put him up on the platform and said, “Okay, now we want to hear what you have to say.” So if you’re thinking, “How do I get to Mars Hill?” just do the ministry that you’re given every day, with the people around you. And if God should so choose to bring you before rulers of men, trust the Holy Spirit to give you words, as we saw earlier in Acts: they were promised that when they were brought before the rulers and the synagogues and the leaders of men, the Holy Spirit would be their voice in those moments. And so Paul, just doing his daily ministry, gets pulled into this public forum, this great place to give a TED talk.
VIII. A Point of Connection 19:37
But the question that Paul is answering is: what story makes the best sense of the world? What story corresponds with reality? Because that’s really all it is: a bunch of competing stories. You’ll have philosophers say it’s competing ideas, but the ideas are a product of the story, and vice versa. There’s no separating that out. You’ll see that as we walk through this speech that Paul gives. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus (so he’s surrounded by people), says:
22 “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. Acts 17.22
I love that, because he knows that it’s to false gods. He knows it’s to their destruction. But he has no problem making a connection with them as people: “I see that you really care about the things of God.” He’s drawing a connection. Let’s start from a place of connection. When you’re looking to preach the gospel, you have to start by caring for the person. You have to start by getting to know the person. Yes, sometimes it’s good enough to just say, “Hey, Jesus is your Lord and Savior. Let’s move.” And they’re ready. The harvest is plentiful, and they are the person who was just looking for you to say those words. But most of the time, when you get to know somebody, the way in is through the connection and not the difference. He doesn’t start by saying, “I notice that you all are idol worshipers.” He says, “I notice that you’re very religious. So am I. Let me talk to you about what that means to me.” And it says:
23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship (he’s paying attention), I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. Acts 17.23
It’s a fascinating idea, that they still know that there are things they don’t know, which is pretty essential. Or at least someone does, because there’s an altar to the unknown God. And once again, Paul just finds that. He finds that moment.
Maybe like yesterday: we were at the library, and this guy just came up and sat next to me. He’d kind of been looking at me. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know if I had something on my face. But he comes and he sat next to me, and he has this earnest look in his eyes. He goes, “You have five children?” And I go, “Yeah, it’s crazy, right?” He’s like, “It’s so amazing. How awesome is it?” And in that moment I should have said, “Would you like to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior?” No, but I should… Then the craft time happened. I wish I could have had a conversation with him, because he was open. He wanted to know what was going on. He had one kid, and he was shocked to see me with five. And so in that moment, that’s a connection. It could be as simple as that. He came up to me. How easy is it? And then we got separated, because they did a craft time thing, and we had to go glue eyeballs to this little stick figure thing.
Just stay open to those connection points, those moments, those insights. It doesn’t have to be a temple to an unknown God; you’re probably not going to find that. But you might say, “What do you believe about God?” And they go, “Well, I know there’s somebody out there.” And you say, “Well, would you like to meet him?” Not like “I will kill you,” but like, “Would you like to be introduced?” It depends on where you’re at to have that conversation. But the point is, we have these places of connection, and we have to be looking for them.
IX. The God Who Made the World 22:40
Okay, let’s keep going. This is the story Paul tells to a very philosophical culture that has these competing stories. I didn’t even mention the Epicureans and the Stoics. The Stoics are the whole mind-over-matter type thing: if you think smart enough, then you’ll be perfect. You’ll have this virtue. You’ll align with divine reality, and you’ll come out of this divine fire, and then you’ll reenter the divine fire. And it’s this very esoteric, kind of hippie-dippie, New Agey type philosophy. It’s becoming really popular again today, which is really interesting. But it’s this idea that the world is about rejoining with God, and that there’s this dualism: your spirit has to transcend your body, etc. So that’s one competing story that we still see today.
Then there are the Epicureans, and their philosophy is: you come from nothing and you go to nothing, so you’d better make now count. And they don’t necessarily just mean hedonism. They don’t mean just eat everything and drink everything and do all that. They formed it into a moral order. And trust me, this will make sense as we hear what Paul has to say. But often, because it’s not true, it breaks down into this hedonistic self-aggrandizing: “I’m all that matters, because I am matter, and that’s it. I’m just matter. And so I live, I die, I do whatever I can here.”
So Paul’s speaking into this, and he’s been having conversations with them, so he knows what their stories are. And in verse 24 he said:
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Acts 17.24–27
That’s the framework for our story. No, you didn’t come from some divine fire, and you’re going to return to fire. No, you didn’t come from nothing, and you’re going to return to nothing. But you actually came from a loving God who made you with a purpose, and your purpose is to find him and know him.
Now, these different stories, these different philosophies: he says you’re feeling your way. It’s the same as when Odysseus is fighting the Cyclops. You know the Cyclops, the big monster with the big eye. He stabs his eye out. And the same word for “feeling their way toward him” is the word for the Cyclops, who’s blind, trying to feel around to catch Odysseus and his men. It’s like they’re groping towards reality, but they’re blind. Now, when you look at that and you’re thinking about that: what’s going on here? The point is that they had some truth. They had some connection. They had figured some things out. But he is now saying, “You don’t have to be blind anymore. Here is reality, right in front of you.” He’s answering the questions that every story must ask. Every story about the world has to answer: Where did we come from? Where are we going? Why am I here? And how shall I live? He said, “You came from God, and your purpose is to find him and to know him.”
So Paul says all this, and then he quotes a song to them. Basically, it’s almost like if we were to quote Taylor Swift to connect with somebody. That’s really what he did. He took a couple of lines out of a song, and he said, “You have said, ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’” That’s him, God. “And even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring’” (Acts 17.28). In that phrasing, it’s like, “You’re finding him. You’re getting close. Your poets are saying it.” And now, being God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone (Acts 17.29). So he’s like, “How can we live in him and move in him and have our being in him if he’s a statue, if he’s material, if he’s bound? No, he’s bigger than that.” And once again, you can see he’s using their language to talk to them. He’s talking to them as someone who knows what they’re thinking and what they might be thinking as he talks. He says, “It’s not the image formed by the imagination of man.”
And then he says this, and you’re going to have to really work to get to this point, I think. Let me say it this way: you need the power of the Holy Spirit to be as bold as he is. He says:
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17.30–31
Let me summarize. He says, “You guys have been dumb for a long time, and God’s been okay with it, because Jesus wasn’t here. But now Jesus has come, has revealed who God is, has risen from the dead, and you’d better repent, because judgment is coming.” Could you imagine filling up churches with that word? I mean, it’s pretty awesome. He knew exactly what to say. He set them all up: “Look, it’s just like you guys, but here’s the unknown God. And so stop worshiping everything else and worship him, because he revealed himself, and the time of judgment is coming.” Where am I going? I’m going to the judgment day. I’m going to a place where all will be made right. And I want to be in the right when that happens.
So he’s saying the times of ignorance are over. You have no excuse. Jesus, God revealed, has come. He has been raised from the dead. Enter into relationship with him, because in the end there will only be righteousness. Which means, if you’re full of evil, you won’t be in the end. The righteousness is going to conquer. And that which is in you that is evil will be burned away, or you will burn away.
X. Telling Better Stories 28:20
There’s a lot of symbolism in there that we could talk about. But to kind of move towards an ending in this: I was really struggling with this sermon, because truly Paul had entered into dialogue with them on their level. And so many of these things would need to be explained. Why is he quoting this poet? Why is he talking about this song? Why would they find that convincing? But it’s because he was speaking their language. Because he cared about them. Because he saw them. He didn’t just say, “Those evil, wicked sinners,” and then turn around and do his own thing. He said, “I want to reach them.” And so he structured his whole message around words that they could hear. And in fact, we’re told that while some mocked when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, others said, “We want to hear more.” And even others said, “We’re in. What you just said is what I needed to hear, and I want to be with you. I’m going to be a believer” (Acts 17.32–34). And to this day, some of the greatest thinkers of the church have come out of Athens, because he was willing to meet them where they were.
Remember, every day he’s in the synagogue and the marketplace. But when he gets pulled to this platform, he has things to say that they can hear. So what is our responsibility? I’m pretty sure most of us are not going to be asked to give a TED talk on the gospel. I can almost guarantee that we won’t. But we can go to the marketplace and the synagogue. We can go to the places where we’re called, and we can know the words of the story. We can tell better stories.
That starts with how we talk about our life. Is your story caught up in Jesus’ story? Or is your story still one of those narratives about being beaten down and overcome: “My life is so hard”? “It’s just a season of difficulty.” No. You do have difficulty in your life, but you are never not living in the reality of the kingdom of God. It sounds kooky when you start. So I wake up on Monday morning, and I’m thinking about my day, and I’m feeling just depressed about it. (This is not a real story. It’s a hypothetical. I actually love driving a truck for 40 hours a week. I’m being a little silly.) The story we can tell ourselves is: “Same thing, different day. What does it matter? I’m going to do my job. I’m going to get my hours. I’m going to go home, and I’m going to veg out.” And that’s my story. But what if instead your story was: “Today is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps 118.24)? And today, if you will hear his word, if you will repent of your wickedness, you will have life, and life abundantly. Every day you can live like that. It’s the invitation of Christ, to live out from that place, so that when you do go to the synagogue and the marketplace, you see the people that God sees, you hear the words that God hears, and you share the story that God shares in your life.
That guy who came over and asked me about the five kids: he’s like, “What story are you living in that gives you the courage to have five kids?” That was his question. “How do you have the courage to have five kids? Because every other story I hear right now is that one kid is misery and more is hell.” That’s the story he’s been told. So he was shocked to see somebody joyfully, well, adequately, keeping the kids from ripping the books and all, but living a life full of joy with five kids. I must be living a different story.
So we need to think about our stories in light of Christ’s story. And when somebody comes to talk to you, it’s probably better that you tell them how Jesus impacted you than that you give them a Bible lesson. How has your story been caught up in Jesus’ story? And how can you talk to them about that? Where’s the point of connection? What words can you say? I almost did a deep dive into Taylor Swift and pulled up some lyrics you could use. That may be coming as a resource shortly. But we do need to have the ability to talk to the people around us about the things they care about. Not because we have an ulterior motive, that we’re going to trick them into coming into our religion. No, because we actually want to feel God’s heart towards them. And there’s nobody who loves them more than God. Amen.