ACTS 17:16-34 SPIRIT FILLED OUTREACH2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 17:16-34 Spirit Filled Outreach

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Well, this evening, we're going to be in Acts chapter 17 and looking at verses 16 through the rest of the chapter 34, which is the passage we read today going through the Bible in three years. But as we get started, let's begin just by reading verses 16 through 21.

Acts chapter 17, starting in verse 16, says this. Now, while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore, he responded in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him.

And some said, why does this babbler, what does this babbler want to say? Others said, he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus saying, may we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak. For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what these things mean.

For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word and its power to transform us, to change us, and to direct us in the life that you have called us to. We pray, God, that you would bless this time. And Lord, we pray that you'd keep that guy safe. Amen.

and speak to his heart. But Lord, we pray that you administer to us this evening. Allow your word to penetrate deep, to change us, and to move us forward into your plans for us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, as we look at Acts chapter 17 this evening, I've titled the message Spirit-Filled Outreach. We continue to look at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church here in the book of Acts. And as we're walking now with the Apostle Paul and his mission trips and ministries, we get to see an example of outreach, an example of him coming to a new place, a new town,

to the city of Athens and begin to reach out there to the population and community and administer the gospel to them. And so he provides for us a really great example for us to consider.

A great example for us to meditate on and to learn from. And so if we want to be involved in spirit-filled outreach, we can follow the pattern that he has set before us. And so we're going to look at four aspects to this ministry, this outreach, and consider what the Lord has for us in that. The first thing we'll consider is in verse 16 and 17. Here's point number one. The Spirit shows you a need.

Spirit-filled ministry really begins with the Holy Spirit showing you, speaking to you, revealing to you a need that is there. We see the Apostle Paul here in Acts chapter 17. He's really...

traveling through Athens. It's not the destination. It wasn't where he was intending to stop and to set up camp, but he was journeying through there from Berea, and he was on his way then to Corinth. And as he's on his way to Corinth, he

stops over in Athens. He gets on a boat just outside of Berea and crosses over and he stops there in Athens and he's waiting for two guys, waiting for Timothy and Silas to catch up with him. As you read the previous verses in Acts chapter 17, you see the conflict that took place as the Jews sought to...

lay hands on Paul and put him to death, as they often tried in the different places, the believers there rushed him out. And so he rushed out, he got on a boat, he went across to preserve his life. But his companions, Silas and Timothy, stayed behind to continue the ministry, to settle things within the church. And then they were going to catch up with him.

And so as he stops in Athens, again, he's on this journey. He's not intending to stay there, but he's waiting for the other two guys to catch up with him. It's possible as we look at this that Paul intended this to be a time of rest, right?

It's possible after some difficult conflicts there in Berea and Thessalonica, you know, as he's journeying there, that this was intended to be a little bit of a break, a little bit of a time of rest from the ministry and the conflict that has been going on. It doesn't appear that he has a plan as he comes into Athens to set up shop and do a ministry and hold some outreaches, and he doesn't have things organized or scheduled, and

He's just there kind of by circumstances, kind of by happenstance, although of course we know that there's nothing by chance really in the plan of God in Paul's life. But here he is, no real plans, no real intentions. He's just there waiting. He may have intended not to so much rest completely, but maybe to get some work done.

Because as you see tomorrow, as we head into chapter 18 of 1 Corinthians, we see Paul the apostle move on to Corinth. And the first thing he does is set up his tent making shop.

he joins up with uh their names are escaping me all of a sudden um priscilla and aquila and as he joins up with them they're they're tent makers too and so they're just working together and and he's just building up a kind of a stash to provide for himself to be able to live off of and then it's not until a little bit later that he really begins the full-time ministry there in corinth that tells us in acts chapter 18 verse 5

that Silas and Timothy finally catch up with Paul. And then he's compelled by the Spirit and he testifies to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

So he has a season there in Corinth of just working. He is doing ministry as well. He's sharing the gospel when he has opportunity. But his primary focus of that temporary time is to make some money, to provide for himself so that he can then go forward when the rest of the guys catch up with him to continue on the mission trip and the ministry that God has given to him.

And so that's kind of the idea. That's kind of the context to understand as we get into chapter 17, verse 16. It tells us, while Paul waited for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.

So notice what's happening here. Paul's waiting for them in Athens. That's his primary focus there. He is there temporarily. He's there because he's in between. He's waiting for the other guys to catch up. He's waiting there. That's his mission there in Athens. But while he's waiting, and perhaps a little bit unexpected, his spirit is provoked.

And the Lord begins to prompt his heart and move upon his heart. And as his spirit is provoked, it says in verse 17, therefore he reasoned. So his primary mission is to wait, but then his spirit is provoked. So therefore he reasoned. He got to work ministry wise. He began to reach out in a much more focused way because...

of the moving of the Spirit upon him. The Holy Spirit showed him the need that was there present in Athens. Pastor David Guzik says, the sense is that Paul would have preferred to wait until Timothy and Silas came from Berea before he began ministry in earnest in Athens. But when he saw that the city was given over to idols, he was compelled to preach the gospel immediately. His plan was to wait.

His plan was to perhaps rest. His plan was to maybe focus on building up a little cache of funds, doing some tent making so that he could continue on then when the rest of the guys caught up with him. The implication here is that if his spirit was not provoked, he wouldn't have entered into that season of ministry so intensely. I mean, knowing the Apostle Paul, he would have still gone to synagogue.

He still would have had conversations. He would have still, you know, shared the gospel. But his focus would have been on something else. And so instead, while he's waiting, the Holy Spirit stirs up and provokes this ministry within him and puts it upon his heart. Now, I think this is important for us to consider because sometimes we feel like we have to come up with the plan.

We might have a desire to outreach. We might have a desire to, you know, do some kind of ministry. But we don't do anything because we feel like we have to come up with the plan. And this evening, I want to remind you and encourage you that one of the natural parts of our relationship with the Lord is, well, he's the one directing it. He's the one setting forth the plan. He's the one who establishes the will.

And so for us, we need to be willing to allow the Lord to change our plans. Good evening.

We need to allow the Lord to change our plans. We don't have to have the full plan ahead of time. We don't have to, you know, get to Athens and already know, all right, so step one, here's what we're going to do. We need an advanced team and we're going to go out here and then we're going to go over here and then this night we're going to do this. We don't have to have all of these things planned out ahead of time, figured out ahead of time. What we really need is for the Holy Spirit to stir up something within us. And so this evening, I would encourage you to consider this.

Is your spirit provoked? Has the Holy Spirit stirred up within you and impressed upon you something? And it might be some outreach. It might be some ministry. It might be some direction or course for your life. What is the Holy Spirit stirring up within you? Sometimes we try to approach it by, well, let's come up with a plan. Let's work out all the details. Let's arrange the schedule. Okay, now, Holy Spirit, come and bless this schedule, right? Bless this plan, right?

And for sure, the Lord wants us to plan. It's wise to plan. But at the same time, we need to be careful that we're not trying to generate ministry. That instead we're responding to what the Holy Spirit is doing internally and how the Holy Spirit is moving upon us the things that he sees, the needs that he knows of. Is your spirit provoked?

If it is, well, then great. You have your marching orders. You know what God wants you to focus on because he's laid it on your heart. You have this burden on your heart. You have this stirred up, provoked spirit within you. Therefore, do something about it. Paul's spirit was provoked, so therefore he reasoned in the synagogues. You have a heart for something? You have something that the Holy Spirit has laid upon your heart? Go forward. Do something about it. Therefore, fulfill the ministry that God has given to you.

But what if your spirit is not provoked? Well, this is a good reminder and opportunity to invite the Lord to open your eyes. Invite the Lord to speak to you. Because as we've often shared, the body of Christ is a body. And there's no meaningless or useless members. Every member has a part to play in the kingdom of God and in the roles that he has ascribed to us. And so if you don't know what that role is, and you don't have that thing stirred up within your heart,

well, then there needs to be an urgency perhaps in your heart to seek the Lord, to invite him to show you, to lay upon you a burden, to lay upon you a vision, to stir up within you, open your eyes to see a need that he wants you to be part of working in and working through.

Well, continuing on in verses 18 through 21, we get the second point for this evening. And that is that God opens a door of opportunity.

Here's some characteristics of spirit-filled outreach. Number one, the spirit shows you a need. The Holy Spirit reveals it. He has the plan. He shows you what to focus on. But then going forward, secondly, God opens a door of opportunity. Verse 18 says, then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, what does this babbler want to say?

Others said he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. Here we see as Paul is now burdened, he's now engaged in ministry in a way that he wasn't expecting to. He's going about his normal routine. He's going to the synagogue. He's preaching there to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles who are attending the synagogue. He's going out to the marketplace and just talking to whoever will talk to him. And so as he's going about this ministry, he's

We see that some philosophers stumble upon him or it says encountered him. Here's Paul preaching Jesus and the resurrection. He's preaching Jesus to the Jews in the marketplace. It's important to point that out there in verse 18. It says, because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

This passage here in Acts chapter 17 is interesting because it's often used in contrast with Acts chapter 18, where Paul there moves on to ministry in Corinth. And sometimes these two chapters are laid side by side and sought to kind of contrast the ministry of Paul, the effectiveness of that ministry, and to try to draw some conclusions about how to do ministry as a result. And

those who would look at this in that way would say, you know, Paul tried to be intelligent in Athens. He really didn't focus on Jesus. And as a result, he saw little results. So he learned his lesson. And then as he went on into Corinth, it tells us in 1 Corinthians, he said, I just focused on Jesus Christ and him crucified. And so Paul simplified the message. He didn't try to get intelligent or intellectual about it. He just

You know, just focused on the plain, simple, very simple gospel message. And that's one perspective as this passage, Acts chapter 17, is studied. I possibly have shared that passage or that perspective in the past as well. But here it says in verse 18 that Paul was clearly preaching Jesus.

And so it's a mistake to think that Paul wasn't proclaiming Jesus here. It's a mistake to think that Paul wasn't, again, engaged in the ministry that God had called him to. As he's engaged in this ministry, he's sharing the gospel, philosophers approach him. And of course, in the Greek culture, they were known for their philosophers.

That was kind of a hallmark of their culture and of what they knew and practiced. And you see that here in this passage. And so there's these two kinds of philosophers, Epicurean and Stoic. And there's a lot of discussion that could be had about these two philosophies of life. One, the Epicurean was the pursuit of pleasure, really, was making pleasure and just enjoyment the object of life. The Stoic philosophy.

perspective was a little bit different. That was more like stern in nature. And, you know, maybe if you wanted to simplify it, you know, you have the person who says, man, all you need is a good time. Let's just go party. Let's just go have a good time. Like that's really going to make you happy and satisfy your life. And then maybe dad on the other side says, no, what you need is some discipline. You need to...

set a good schedule for your life and put some discipline and you're going to experience the best life possible and find the meaning and purpose of life if you're disciplined and work hard. And so there's the Stoic and the Epicurean. There's lots of, you know, different variations of this philosophy and how it impacted. But these philosophers who would get around and talk about life and talk about the meaning of life and purpose, they happen upon the Apostle Paul. It says they encountered him.

Kind of the implication of a chance meeting, right? But of course, again, we know it's really not a chance meeting. Instead, it's what we would call a divine appointment. There's Paul in the marketplace probably or in the synagogue and they just happen to be there because God has arranged a schedule and he's put these guys in the same place. They hear the message that Paul is preaching and they're intrigued. They want to know more.

And so it tells us in verse 19, they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, may we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak, for you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what these things mean. They had this gathering place. It's a hard word to say, Areopagus, so it's often referred to as Morris Hill.

they had this gathering place, which was kind of their center for culture, their center for discussion, intelligence, for education. And so they would get up on Mars Hill in the Areopagus and they would gather together and they would discuss whatever was at hand, have their discussions about life, have their discussions about, you know, things to do and things to take care of. And so it tells us in verse 21,

It says the Athenians and the foreigners spent all their time and nothing else but either to tell or hear something new. And so they were always going to Mars Hill. They were always going up there and just having discussions about the philosophies of life. And as I read that, it sounds a lot like our culture to me. I think...

Perhaps more than in times past. There is these gatherings together and just this endless discussion about philosophies and ideas. And there's this constant back and forth. And chasing after the new thing and the next idea, the next thought. And that one gets old. We forget about that one and we move on to the next one.

Perhaps maybe we could consider the modern day Mars Hill is Facebook or Twitter or TikTok or, you know, those things. It's just endless scrolling of new things and new ideas and new conversations, always talking about or hearing about something new. And in the midst of this discussion, God arranges this meeting. Here comes Paul to a couple of guys and

who attend these meetings and they give him the platform they say why don't you come on up and share with us we want to hear everything that you're saying because this is new we haven't heard this before god here opens a door of opportunity for the apostle paul he opens up a door of opportunity now he has an audience that invites him in wants to listen it's god who opened the door and and i think it's significant to consider

Paul did not get into Athens and then strategize about, okay,

What can I do to teach on top of Mars Hill? You know, I've always wanted to teach on top of Mars Hill. It's like, that's where everybody who's everybody or anybody, you know, goes to teach. They go to share it. And so they share their ideas. And boy, wouldn't it be great? And I could just picture myself there and I'll strike a pose, you know. And it's going to be amazing if I, you know, get that opportunity. And so here's what I'm going to do. And I have a five-point plan to, you know, meet the right people and connect with the right people and get them to open up an invitation for me to come.

This wasn't Paul forcing his way in, strategizing to figure out, you know, the way to get himself in this position. Paul was just ministering the gospel as he normally would, as the Spirit had laid upon his heart. He's there in the synagogue. He's in the marketplace talking to whoever he might be able to talk to. And then God opens this opportunity. God opens the door. Now, again, I wouldn't suggest that planning or strategy is wrong or anything like that.

But I would suggest we need to be careful about the source. If the Lord has laid something upon our heart, great, go for that and do all the strategizing as the Lord leads you. You know, that's perfect. No problem. But at the same time, we need to be careful that we're not trying to generate something that the Holy Spirit is not doing. And sometimes we can be frustrated because, well, there doesn't seem to be a door of opportunity open before us.

And we can be frustrated and perhaps impatient in that time and try to make a door of opportunity. And there's something to be said for a willingness to get in there and go for it and work hard. There's something good about that. But at the same time, we need to find the balance of, okay, Lord, you open the door of opportunity. I don't want to force a door open and try to force my way into something that really isn't best for me or for those involved.

But Lord, I want your will, not my will. I want your plans and your purposes. And the spirit-filled outreach, the spirit-filled ministry really is a work of God, first of all, opening your eyes, stirring up a spirit within you, laying a burden upon you to see the need and have a desire to meet that need.

And then God opens the door, gives you opportunity to go forward with what he's put upon your heart. Well, moving on to the next point, point number three for this evening, found in verses 22 through 31, and that is you connect with people. Spirit-filled outreach, or if you want to look at it as spirit-filled ministry, is going to involve connections with people.

Because people are what God is most concerned about, right? If the mission that is on your heart is not involving people and it's not for people, you know, then there's perhaps something to reconsider and go back before the Lord. You connect with people. You're involved in the work that ministers to and impacts people, right?

Check out verse 22 and 23. It says, Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God. Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing him, I proclaim to you.

As Paul gets this opportunity there on Mars Hill, he begins to share with all of the intellectuals and philosophers and smart people gathered there. And he begins by sharing with them his observation of their religion. Again, something interesting to consider.

There is the mentality and the idea that, hey, someone's religious. They have their beliefs and they're steadfast and devout in them. So we should just leave them alone, right? Just let them. They have their own relationship with God and their own approach to God. And so they're good. They're fine. We don't need to preach them or convince them to our perspective about who Jesus is. They have their own religion.

But that wasn't Paul's perspective as he looked at this city and their gods and their religion. They were very religious. They were very devout. They were very sincere. And that's what persuaded Paul. That's what prompted Paul to bring forth the true gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ. He says, look, I've been going through your town and I've been seeing things.

all of your objects of worship and Athens is described as being filled with all the corners you know had different altars to different gods there were various temples to various gods that they worshipped there was a plague that happened long before the apostle Paul was ever there there was a plague that happened and and one guy had this idea of okay here's what we're going to do we're going to take a flock of sheep and we're going to let them loose and wherever a sheep lays down

will sacrifice to that God because there were so many gods in the city, you know, if the sheep laid down, there was, chances are, there was going to be an altar right there and they would be able to sacrifice to that God. And they were trying to use that as a way to discern what, you know, what God was angry and what God they needed to appease.

But then where sheep would lay down and there was no altar to a god, there they would set up a new altar to the unknown god. And so there would be all throughout Athens these altars where they would worship this god that they didn't know.

The ones that they did know, they were already worshipping and the sheep indicated that. But where the sheep laid down, they figured, okay, well, there must be a God here in this place. And so we need to start worshipping that God, but we don't know him yet. So we'll just call him the unknown God. And so they were very religious, worshipping all these gods and even the gods they didn't know.

Paul doesn't say they were religious already, so you guys are fine, I don't need to worry about you. Paul says you guys are very religious, and so I want to tell you about the true and living God. Pastor David Guzik points out, Paul does not begin with an exposition of scripture, which was his custom when dealing with Jews or Gentiles who would be familiar with the Old Testament. Instead, Paul begins with general references to religion.

He begins to talk about religion on the most basic of levels. Look at verse 24. God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshipped with men's hands as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life breath and all things.

And so Pastor David Guzik's point is, he doesn't begin with, all right, in Genesis chapter 1, right? He's not turning them to the scriptures because they don't know the scriptures. And so instead, he works to begin with them things that they can agree upon, things that they can understand. And he begins to walk them through the gospel message, but from a place where they can join with him on that journey.

And the thrust really of Paul's message here in Athens is that God is the creator. He's self-sustaining. He is not contained by all of your temples. He's much bigger than all of these temples and little altars and gods that you have. And God, who is the creator, because he is the creator, Paul's point is we have an obligation to him. Check out verse 26 through 28.

He says,

Here Paul relates to them the general message of God in a very simple way that they would be familiar with and would be able to understand. There is a creator.

And there on Mars Hill, perhaps, you know, he's pointing out to creation. He's saying, look, he has created us and he's much bigger than all these temples. And perhaps there's temples, you know, that Paul is referencing and pointing to as he is delivering this and sharing with them the reality of God who is much bigger than these little gods that they've been worshiping. And that as creator, he's made from one blood, from Adam and Eve, every nation of men.

He's brought all of, you know, the inhabitants of the earth from this origin. He has pre-appointed times. He's set boundaries. And Paul says, so that they should seek the Lord with the promise, with the hope, that if they grope for him, if they seek him, they will find him. He's not far from us, Paul says. There is the opportunity to know this God. There is the opportunity to draw near to this God.

And so here Paul is giving the gospel message. He's, you know, giving the plan of God and the overview of what God has done in a way that they can follow along. They're able to track with Paul and understand what he is saying. And that's why the point here, point number three, is you connect with people. Because spirit-filled outreach, spirit-filled ministry, well, it needs to be done in a way that people can understand. Right?

can follow along. There's some effort that needs to be done for us to be able to start where people are. And yes, that's not where we stay, but in order to bridge the gap, in order to build the opportunity and build the relationship and build the authority in someone's life, there has to be this beginning, this getting to know the people that you're ministering to.

Paul here even quotes from a couple Greek poets. In verse 28, one of the poets said, for in him we live and move and have our being. And then another poet said, for we are also his offspring.

Now, Paul is not quoting these guys because they're theologians who know the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's quoting them because they're popular culture for them. They understand. They know these guys. They've heard these lines before. And Paul isn't endorsing everything they say, but he's bringing it in and saying, look, you're familiar with this concept, and this is what I'm talking to you about, that we are connected to God, and he has created us. And so we have an obligation to...

to him. Pastor Thomas Constable says that Paul's purpose in these quotations was to get his audience to continue to agree with him about the truth. Like he's leading them along. Okay, we talk about a God, a creator. We talk about, you know, the work of God in the general sense and they're tracking with him, they're understanding. And then Paul reaches out and grabs a couple references that they understand. And so they're continuing to agree with him about the truth and

so that then he can get to the core of the message in verse 29. It says,

because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. Here Paul strikes the message home. Therefore, we can agree there is a God. We can agree we are his creation. We can agree that there is this obligation to seek him and to know him. And he's created us for that. And so therefore...

Paul says, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver. We need to understand it's not like these statues, these idols that we're worshiping. Not like anything shaped by art, anything our minds can come up with. God is much bigger. But here is this group of people worshiping all these gods. And so Paul says, hey, God's overlooked this in the past.

He's been very patient with you up to this point as you've been worshiping all these false gods. But now he commands you to repent. He commands all men to repent everywhere, to turn and to understand who God is, to turn and get right with God by faith in Jesus Christ. And Paul says, look, there's a day he's appointed to judge the world. This righteous man is going to judge the world. The one who was raised from the dead. Speaking of Jesus.

And so here is Paul sharing with these guys the gospel message, but bringing them along in a way that they can understand. God is the creator. We have an obligation to serve him. We owe him. God commands us to repent. We're going to stand before him. And so let's seek him. This is a great example of spirit-filled outreach. Paul connecting with the people. This was a pattern of the Apostle Paul.

He went out of his way. In 1 Corinthians chapter 9, Paul talks about this a little bit. 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 19, he says, He goes on to talk about those who are outside of the law, like the Greeks here in Athens.

He says, well, I became like them, that I might win those who are without the law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I've become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Paul here is describing this being of a servant to people by working hard on his behalf to meet them where they're at. You know, sometimes people,

we can stand there stubbornly insisting people come to us. Instead of working to understand somebody else's position, somebody else's idea, someone else's philosophy, someone else's approach or perspective, we can often refuse to listen, refuse to hear, and just try to force them to see things our way. But here Paul is saying, look, I served people by coming alongside them and

learning about them, getting to know them, connecting with them in a way that, well, then I could share with them the truth in a way that they would understand. Paul here is expressing, look, I got to know people a little bit. I spent some time to understand. I spent some time to get an idea of where they're coming from and what their perspective is. Pastor Brian Brodison was sharing one time about the ministry that was happening in New York right after 9-11.

And I remember him sharing about this. He was, you know, they were going into minister, but they really didn't know what they were going to do or how it was to happen and what the Lord had for them. And so they were just trying to be careful and seek the Lord. But there was so much hurt. There was, you know, so much vulnerability at the time. You know, he just really felt this apprehension about how do we minister to people in this condition?

And he described seeing others, you know, who would go in and teams would go in and there's like this, you know, preaching and you must repent, right? And here's these people who are just devastated. And then here comes this hand of condemnation and this harsh approach. And it's, you know, not what people needed at the time. It's not connecting with the audience.

There's a lot of ways for us to try to minister to people and help people and bless people that because we're going about it the wrong way, a different way than is appropriate,

It doesn't become a blessing. It becomes a burden or a hurt, a heartache. It's like winning sometimes the contest that you see around. Winning them, sometimes the taxes that are involved. You win a car, right? Oh, great. It's awesome. But then now you got to pay $10,000 taxes on the car. You have $10,000 to pay. So then you got to sell the thing that you won in order to just pay the taxes. It's like, yeah, you won, but it's kind of more of a burden than it was before.

blessing. Sometimes we give gifts to people that we're excited about, but they're not excited about, right? We haven't taken the time to understand what they would want and what would bless them. We just know, well, I want this, and so I'm going to give it to you. Or we try to help. I have a saying that I share with some guys who will remain unannounced or anonymous, Pastor Cisco. Sometimes we can be so helpful that we're not helpful, right? I'm here to help, and so let me go, and I just dismantled all the work that you did.

I'm here to help, you know, you're welcome. You're like, that's not the help I needed, you know. You know, in a similar way with ministry, with outreach, with sharing the gospel, with sharing the love of Christ, sometimes we can rush in with an agenda on our minds and on our hearts. And if we're not led by the Lord, we need to be careful because we can do more harm than good because we haven't connected with the people that God has set there before us.

Another way to consider this, just to kind of allow the Lord to minister to your heart a little bit, connecting with your employer perhaps has nothing to do with your words, nothing to do with your arguments, nothing to do with, you know, the things that you say, but maybe it has everything to do with your work ethic and your attitude. And through that, you build the opportunity and the relationship and authority to be able to share the truth one day.

But until then, you're building that connection, establishing some grounds for you to be able to minister. Sometimes in our minds, we have these mic drop moments, right? All right, I'm going to talk to this person, and man, it's going to be amazing, and I got the perfect argument. And you give that argument, you're like, you've been served. That's like an old saying, you know, I don't know where that came from. But anyways, hey, let me just share this.

When it comes to ministry, mic drop moments are not as powerful as you think they are. As you see it in your head, you know, hey, listen, when I dance in my head, like I'm like, woo, yeah, like this is really good. Like everybody wants to dance like me, right? In my head, it's all happening great, right? But you see the real truth, right? And it's not so great, right?

Same thing. Sometimes we have this agenda. We have this thing that we want to accomplish and we think it's going to be so powerful and it just falls flat or does more damage than good because it's not really the way the Lord has called us to minister to people. I would suggest to you real mic drop moments in ministry more likely happen when you're not even realizing it and aware of it.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the working of spiritual gifts more often than not happen without you being aware that God is doing such a powerful work at the moment. We need to be careful not to rush in with our agenda, with our ideas and force our way, but to really allow the Lord to open up the opportunities, to lay burdens upon our heart, to build connections to people that we might have the opportunity to share the truth and to minister to the people that God wants us to reach.

One final thought on this, G. Campbell Morgan says, when at last he found himself confronting the wise men on Mars Hill, he delivered a message characterized by courtesy and clarity from their standpoint. And at last declared to them the great doctrine of the resurrection. Basing his message on what he found among them, with masterly skill, he built a structure which led him to the statement of the resurrection. He started with where they were at,

I think as we look around at our society and the opposition and anger and all the things that are happening in our culture, I think it's very clear. We don't know how to listen to each other. We're just shouting at each other our different ideas and our different perspectives. And we're not...

learning what the other perspective is so that we can then come alongside and either learn something because we're all all need to be teachable or learn the perspective where they're coming from so that then we can be led by the lord to bring about truth in the midst of their perspective and from a way a direction that they can understand

Well, we'll finish it up here in verses 32 through 34. Here's point number four for tonight. The results are in God's hands. Here's some important characteristics of spirit-filled outreach, spirit-filled ministry. The spirit shows you a need. It's his idea. It's his plan. It's something he stirs up within you. And God opens the door of opportunity.

He opens up the connections. He opens up the divine appointments. He gives that opportunity to serve. And you connect with people. You love them enough to get to know them a little bit, to understand where they're coming from. And you share the truth with them. But then, as the truth goes out, as you do your part in that ministry that God stirred up within you, then we need to remember that the results are in the hands of God. In verse 32 through 34, it says...

So here there is some response, but it's really described as very little. Most mocked. Others said, yeah, that's intriguing. We'll listen to you again.

A few believed, some believed, a couple notable people believed, but it wasn't this massive outpouring. We don't see Paul planting a church here in Athens. It was a little bit of a work. And again, that's one of the reasons why sometimes people look at this and say, "Well, see, Paul didn't do it very well." But we need to be careful not to measure the faithfulness of someone by the results. We need to be careful not to measure the success of something by the results. The results are really in God's hands.

And it's not up to us. And we can be a faithful minister and not see any results. Jeremiah the prophet often used a classic example of this because he ministered to the nation of Judah in their full-out rebellion against God. And there's not a lot of fruit from his ministry. It's usually said that there was no fruit, but I would argue against that a little bit. As you read through Jeremiah, you can see there was fruit. There was people who responded, but

But it was only a few. It was very minimal. But yet, Jeremiah is a faithful prophet unto the Lord. And he served, you know, decades for the Lord in a ministry that produced very little results. We can't be caught up with the results. We want to see the results. And sometimes we're so focused on the results that

Again, we're trying to get our ways. We're trying to accomplish our purposes. We're trying to make our, you know, things meet. And so we're not connecting with people. We're not being led by the Holy Spirit. We're not seeing the doors of opportunity that God is opening. Instead, we just, we see the result that we want. And so we're working hard trying to figure out a way to accomplish that. Here is Paul shares. Some responded, some mocked, some were interested, but it tells us in verse 33, so Paul departed from among them. Paul left.

Okay, you don't want to hear? It really seems like Paul's message was interrupted at this point. You can read through this whole message briefly, right?

It could be most of the teachings that we see throughout the scriptures are all abbreviations, right? They're all summaries. They're not exactly word for word every thing because all of the teachings that you can read, you know, just happen over a few moments. And you know, no teacher can teach for just a few moments, right? We have to go on for hours. So you know it's longer, right? But it's the summary that's recorded. And so it could be that Paul's whole message was there, but it also could be that Paul was just getting started, right?

And then he started to talk about the resurrection and that kind of disrupted the whole meeting. And everybody's like, okay, that's enough. We had enough. Maybe we'll hear you again. Some are mocking. And so it was kind of, you know, the meeting was closed. It had come to an end. And so Paul departed. All right, I'm not going to force you to listen. I'm not going to, you know, force my way. I'm not going to, you know, do this. Okay, I did my part. I shared the gospel. I shared the truth. And now I will move on.

And Paul goes on from here to head down to Corinth to minister there. But some men joined, some believed, a couple notable people believed. And so we see that God was working, but we can't see all the results that were taking place. Again, sometimes we like to look at the results and then try to get those results. We look at somebody else's life and we go, I want a life like that. And we try to get that life. We look at somebody else's ministry and say, I want a ministry like that. I want...

results like that. I want a family like that. I want a career like that. I want a house like that. We're looking at the results and then we're trying to work towards those results. And it's really a backwards way for the Christian. That's not the way that God has instructed us to live. Instead, God has told us, Matthew chapter 6 verse 33, seek first the results. No, no, no. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all the results will be added to you. All those other things.

Those will be added, but sometimes we get so distracted by the results that we want, and we're so focused on that, and we're so trying to accomplish that, we're pushing forward in what we want to accomplish that we forget to seek first the kingdom of God. That's what needs to be the priority. That's what needs to be first. And so don't let the results discourage you. Don't let the results knock you out of the path that God has set you on. Seek first the kingdom of God, and let the results that God wants to happen, happen.

It may be a lot. It may be a little. Sure, we always want things to be more exciting and, you know, more wonderful, but we need to allow the Lord to produce the results that He wants. Don't get caught up in that. Instead, seek first the kingdom of God. And if you're out there fishing, right, and He says, hey, throw your net on the other side. Well, then do it. Sometimes He says, here, here's something that you need to do so that you can get some better results.

you've been doing this for a long time that way you know you've been up all night you've been laboring hard and you're not getting any results and here's what i want you to do and you throw the net on the other side and then the net is full of fish right hey if god prompts your heart hey do something differently and you'll get better results then definitely follow that but at the same time don't chase the results instead of chasing the lord the results are in god's hands we may see a lot we may see a little

Remember the parable of the sower? The sower is casting out seed and there's only one kind of soil that produces good results. But there's three other kinds of soil that they don't really produce results. Lasting results aren't there as a result of the preaching of the word and the bringing forth of the gospel. That's in God's hands. Our job is to be the sower, to be seeking the Lord, to be fulfilling the ministry that he lays up upon our heart or that he stirs up, he provokes our spirit to

to accomplish and the results are in his hands. And so here from the Apostle Paul, we learned some really good and important things about ministry, about outreach, about life in general in our walk with the Lord. Let the Holy Spirit show you the needs he wants you to focus on. There's, you know, there's more needs in the world around us than any of us could help meet, right? There's more needs than we could focus on. There's more things to do than we could ever get done,

And so we need to let the Holy Spirit fine-tune us, right? And really hone our sense to understand this is what the Lord is stirring up. This is the burden he's placing upon me. The Holy Spirit shows you a need. And as you begin to seek the Lord about that need, as you begin to seek those opportunities and to begin to walk in meeting that need, you'll watch God open doors of opportunity.

set up things that you couldn't have come up with on your own, but instead God arranges things and he gives you opportunity to continue to meet the need that you've begun to meet because your heart has been stirred.

As you do that, make sure that you're connecting with people. Make sure that it's about them. It's about service. It's about me coming alongside you to understand where you're coming from, that I can better describe the truth of God and minister to you in a way that you're able to receive rather than just shout truth at you from my side and hope that you finally get it. Why don't you come to my side and understand what I'm trying to say instead of me trying to figure out what you're trying to say, right? No, no, maybe we need to connect with people.

and hear and listen to what they're saying that we might then be able either to learn because we all need to learn or to learn where they're coming from that we can then take their hand and lead them on the way to the truth to a closer relationship with the Lord but the results are in God's hands we got to leave it up to him and trust him and his plan let's pray Lord we thank you

for your word and the great reminder this evening about outreach and ministry and life in general. Lord, so often we're trying so hard to accomplish what we want, but Lord, I pray that you would remind us and bring us back to that place where we would say, not our will, but your will be done. And so, Holy Spirit, would you stir up within us

the things that you want us to focus on, the things you want us to be involved in. Would you lay a burden upon us that we could serve you in the way that you've called us to? We pray, God, for open doors. I pray for each of those here this evening, Lord, that you would open doors before them this week, doors to serve you, doors to listen to people, doors to connect with people, doors to represent you.

in different ways. Lord, would you give us opportunities? You say that you've set up and established those good works for us to accomplish on the path that you've set before us. And so help us to see those doors, those opportunities, and to walk through them. I pray, God, that you would give us a heart for people. May we love them. May we understand them. May we gently lead them or firmly rebuke them, whatever is necessary and appropriate for the moment.

Help us, Lord, to have your heart and your eyes as we engage with the people around us. And Lord, we leave the results to you. It's in your hands. Lord, help us not to be so distracted by those that we forget to seek you first. Lord, help us to continue to keep you the priority and faithfulness to you as the thing that we're driven towards, the things that we're focused on.

As we're faithful to you, Lord, would you magnify your name and accomplish your purposes. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Hey, it's 8.30. Let's just take another moment and pray for Chico and the Padillas. Lord, we lift up Chico to you.

And we pray, God, that you administer to him where he is at, Lord, that you would give his body strength, Lord, fill his lungs with air. And we pray that you would bring him to a full healing and restoration. We pray for wisdom and insight, Lord, prophetic insight from you for the doctors and for the nurses, how to best minister to him and meet his needs. And Lord, we pray, Lord, in the midst of this time that you would be with the family.

Lord, that there would be much peace.

as they look to you. Lord, that there would be much hope as they rest in you. Lord, we pray that you would comfort their hearts and as they seek you in prayer and seek you in your word and have conversations together, I pray, God, that you would reveal yourself to them over and over and over again. May your love be so tangible, Lord, that they would be able to really understand that you're with them and sense your presence continually.

And so we pray for great strength for that family. And Lord, any other families that are struggling and going through similar circumstances, we pray that you would be with them and draw them near to you in the midst of this time. You're the one, Lord, that we can trust in and hope in. You're the one that we need desperately. And so Lord, help us to look to you. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.