Turning Our World Upside Down for Jesus
Acts 17:1-34
Acts 17:6, (ESV)
"These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,”
1. Don’t be afraid to share the gospel with others
Acts 18:8-11, (NIV)
Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized. One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city." So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
2. Start a conversation with people
Acts 17:1,
When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
Paul's Journey:
Acts 17:2,
As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
Acts 17:10, (NIV)
As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
Acts 17:16, (NIV)
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
3. Give people the Gospel
Acts 17:2, (NIV)
he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said.
Acts 17:18, (NIV)
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
Romans 1:16, (NIV)
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.
4. Start where people are at spiritually
Acts 17:19-21, (NIV)
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Acts 17:16, (NIV)
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.
Acts 17:22-23, (NIV)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
1st He made the world
Acts 17:24 (NIV)
'“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. '
2nd He gives breath to every living being
Acts 17:25 (NIV)
'And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. '
3rd God determines and directs the nations
Acts 17:26 (NIV)
'From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. '
4th God commands all people everywhere to repent
Acts 17:30 (NIV)
'In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. '
5th God will judge the world
Acts 17:31 (NIV)
'For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” '
6th The name of the judge is Jesus
Acts 17:31 (NIV)
'For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” '
Acts 17:31, (NIV)
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
5. Demonstrate God’s power with signs and wonders
1 Corinthians 2:1-4, (NIV)
When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,
1 Corinthians 4:20, (NIV)
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
2 Corinthians 6:4, 7 (NIV)
Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way
in truthful speech and in the power of God;
2 Corinthians 12:12, (NIV)
The things that mark an apostle — signs, wonders and miracles — were done among you with great perseverance.
6. Leave the results to God
