Want to be emailed “The Leap Forward” and “ZES-T” regularly? Register by emailing to [email protected](our new email address!), Or if you have a Yahoo email, join via [email protected]. Studies in the Book of Acts: Mystery Revealed To All (Acts 17) Pastor Mike Ngui Acts 17 Introduction – The Big Idea The Gospel of Christ is for all humanity to hear. We need to communicate the Gospel so that it can get a fair hearing. Gospel of Jesus Christ is fpr all humanity. It is salvation to all humanity through Christ. It is for the Jews, the Gentiles and everyone on earth. It is a mystery- to be revealed fearlessly. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 3:6) Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel (Ephesians 6:19) Today, our society is changing and becoming increasingly diverse. Some good fifty years ago, Kuala Lumpur was populated with three main ethnic groups- The Malays, Chinese and Indians. English is a common language understood by almost everybody. Today, more groups are added into the population, more languages are spoken and understood by a vast majority of people. Similarly, in Melbourne, many years ago, it feels weird for an Asian to walk on the street in midst of all other Caucasians. Today, it is just another way round! Page 1 of 12
Transcript
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Studies in the Book of Acts: Mystery Revealed To All (Acts 17)Pastor Mike Ngui
Acts 17
Introduction – The Big IdeaThe Gospel of Christ is for all humanity to hear. We need to communicate the Gospel so that it can get a fair hearing.
Gospel of Jesus Christ is fpr all humanity. It is salvation to all humanity through Christ. It is for the Jews, the Gentiles and everyone on earth. It is a mystery- to be revealed fearlessly.
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together
of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 3:6)
Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel (Ephesians 6:19)
Today, our society is changing and becoming increasingly diverse. Some good fifty years ago, Kuala Lumpur was populated with three main ethnic groups- The Malays, Chinese and Indians. English is a common language understood by almost everybody. Today, more groups are added into the
population, more languages are spoken and understood by a vast majority of people. Similarly, in Melbourne, many years ago, it feels weird for an Asian to walk on the street in midst of all other Caucasians. Today, it is just another way round!
Ethnic composition, culture and landscape have changed over the years. What does it means for the church? It means, the whole congregation, are multi-cultural, urban, and probably western educated. What
is, then, the mandate of the church of Jesus Christ?
The big idea is that the Gospel of Christ is for all humanity to hear, and that we need to communicate the Gospel so that everyone will get a fair chance to hear it.
1 The Crowds of PeoplePaul went to three cities- Thessalonica, Berea and Athens.
When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.
But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go. (Acts 17:1-9)
Paul went into the synagogue and preached to God-fearing Gentiles and Jews. For three consecutive Sabbath day, he was there sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, some Jews were jealous (v4-5) and created havoc while some others were quite receptive towards the Gospel (v13).
1.2 Bereans (Acts 17:10-15)
As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea.Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. (Acts 17:10-15)
The Bereans were more civilized as compared to the Thessalonians, and most were receptive towards the Gospel with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every day (v11). Many accepted Christ. Paul preached until the Thessolonica Jews came and stirred havoc again (v13), this time to Athens.
1.3 Athenians (Acts 17:16-34)
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 both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the
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marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate 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. 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 would like 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.) Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People 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. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
“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. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.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. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 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.”
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. (Acts 17:16-34)
Athenians love to hear new ideas. They love interesting storied. Religiously, they are very receptive and is always ready for “ONE MORE GOD”. In other words, they almost receiving just about anything.
There were more than 30,000 altars in Athens, and to them, this
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is “just to be safe”. The people there spent countless days with Paul (v18-20), debating and talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
2 The Communication Posture2.1 Learn to be politePaul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious… (Acts 17:22)
When Paul said the above, it was not a compliment but an observation of the Athenians, and he addressed it in a rather polite way. We cannot ridicule or insult people into Christ. We convince.
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, (1 Peter 3:15)
In Acts 2, it was recorded that favour and Godly relationships with their neighbours (non-believers and people around us) is very important and crucial. We ought to be more courteous and to share. How do people see Christ in us? Jesus that is courteous, gentle and respectful is what God wants.
2.2 Learn to be Plugged-inPaul understood to whom he was communicating with and where they came from. He understood the worldviews of others. He built bridges. He found out where people were at in thinking and in their life.
Learning to plug in is giving the benefit to people that you are hearing them, listen to them and that you understand. Find a way to the audience and connect.
In Athens, Paul found the origins of the “Unknown god” altar built by the Athenians. A sheep was laid down there, slaughtered and offered to an unknown god. After which, the plague of people dying stopped. The Athenians thought to themselves, that it must be one of these gods that saved us.
Our Senior Pastor Dr Daniel Ho, is an engineer by training and studied theology and all other stuff- he reads! Pastor Daniel is a veracious reader. He learns about all things for the sake of the Gospel so that he can present the Gospel to everyone he comes across with.
We live in a society with many cultures. We do not need to learn all cultures, but are we listening to people? Where they are coming from? Do we allocate enough time listening to others and build bridges, ready to share the Gospel?
As a church, we are to connect and communicate to the next generation.
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In the Ajith Fernando’s commentary of Acts, he wrote:
We realized that though youth could be effectively reached through drama and music, our styles of drama and music were different from theirs. We therefore
sent our staff to learn these art forms from non-Christians. We began to write our own music and stage plays. We stopped using the games we played, which the
non-Christians did not enjoy, and learned new games that they enjoyed. We went to political meetings, especially when good orators were speaking, in order to learn their art of oratory. We were uncomfortable with some of these things.
During the early years we would have liked to do ministry differently. But gradually our ministry was transformed into one that began to reach large
numbers of non-Christians for Christ, We have had to keep changing out methods because the youth culture has kept changing.
Each context into which Christians are called differs.
We need to keep changing because culture keeps changing. As a church, we cannot get stuck. We must understand where people come from, their worldview, globalisation, etc. Has the world transformed into a completely different culture?
When we minister to the young people, we need to learn to be plugged in, to be persuasive and to understand enough to be able to explain to others. Paul reasoned, explained, and proved the Gospel to the people, both Gentiles and Jews.
As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. (Acts 17:2,3a)
In today’s era, we need and must know and understand what we say we believe. For example, how do we respond and reply when we are thrown alone and being thrown the question, “Why did Jesus die?” We must understand our own faith and to be well equipped, so that we may explain to others and be utterly convinced of its superiority.
JESUS HAS TO DIE- His blood covers my sins. He made me right before God.
2.3 Learn to be PurposefulSo you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.(Acts 17:23b)
Imagine a dialogue such as this, “I know God, but you don’t know who God is- But I will tell you who God is.”
Do we have purpose in Gospel communication? We all need Christ in our life. We should move to the point. How did Paul find the point to the Athenians? They found it by listening and observing the Athenians, paying attention to them and called them even to actions (v30) - to repent.
Is our conversation, consciously, reaching to the point, if given the opportunity?
Polite-- We learned from Paul to be polite and that we cannot insult people to salvation.
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Plugged in—We should tune into other people’s worldview before sharing Gospel with them.Persuasive & Purposeful—We should know what we believe in.
3 The Christ PresentedPaul presented Christ to the point of the Gospel- that Jesus died for our sins. We are able to reconcile back to the Holy God through His death and resurrection. People ultimately people need the Lord.
Jesus came to save us, not heal us. Jesus came to die. It is His death that saved us. While we enjoy so many good things in life, Christ crucified for our sins.
Do we need a healer or a saviour? Great teacher? Informer?
We need humanity and a Saviour- that is what our Lord Jesus Christ is!
We must present the cross and the Resurrected Christ. We are all sinners and in need of a saviour- we cannot in anyway by our good living that we present ourselves to God. We present the cross.
As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead.“ This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. (Acts 17:2-3)
Reasoning requires dialogging, and Paul did it faithfully.
Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. (Acts 17:18b)
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.” When they heard about the
resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this
subject.” (Acts 17:31,32)
We preach Christ crucified, the Gospel of Jesus Christ:
Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to
Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, (1 Corinthians 1:22-23)
We all need Christ in our life. God grant us the opportunity- so that we can present His Gospel. Go and tell people about the peace, love and joy (the Cross and resurrected Christ). There is no other hope except in Christ.
ConclusionWe in DUMC, need to communicate the Gospel and presenting Christ in such a way that it gets a fair hearing. The Gospel is for ALL humanity. That is the big idea. We need to maintain the correct communication posture- to be polite, to plug in, to be persuasive and to be clearly knowledgeable of what we believe in.
As messengers and ambassadors of Christ, we need to know our message well. We should bear the name of Christ properly, share politely and understand where our listener is at. Our listeners are so valuable, we can never trade it for anything else. The Gospel, on the other hand, is premium and
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valuable enough for us to share it, for all humanity. To be a good witness for Christ, we need these things.
Pastor Daniel always challenge us as church- to be witnesses for Christ and mandate of Christ. We are to bear witness for Christ. All of us would like to do that better. Will we make a commitment? To learn to be a better witness, to be polite, to understand other worldview, to learn our mistake, to be persuasive, to propose our conversation to our friends. Mandate of Christ- will we make that commitment before the Lord not
because we need to, but also want to? Help us to be better witnesses to our friends and family. May His Holy Spirit empowers us to be His witnesses.
Pray:
Father we thank you for the Gospel of Christ. In all our hopelessness, there is hope in Jesus. Thank You for the grace made available to us in Christ. Our friends’ needs and our family’s needs, we need grace from You. Make us good communicators, witnesses to others, listen to them, hear them out and share with them the Gospel clearly. May your Holy Spirit empowers us, equip us and enable us to share the Gospel of church effectively.
Sermon summary contributed by Chrisandra. Prayer pointers by Anthea.
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BIG IDEA: The Gospel of Christ is for all humanity to hear. We need to communicate the Gospel so that it can get a fair hearing.
- Pastor Mike Ngui
Picture above: Weekend celebration in DUMC
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SERMON: Mystery Revealed to AllPray: We will learn to be effective communicators of the Gospel. We will have a right and proper attitude in learning about the Gospel. We will take the initiative to examine Scriptures regarding what we have learned. We will learn to be polite, plugged in, persuasive and purposeful in our communication of the
Gospel. We will be empowered with the Holy Spirit to win souls for Christ. For in him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28)
MINISTRIES & EVENTS: Faith @ Work CampThe Faith @ Work Camp will be held 20 November 2015 to 22 November 2015.
Pray: Many will avail themselves and sign up for the camp. God will remove every obstacle that may hinder them from attending the camp. God will lead and guide the camp attendees to a greater understanding and clarification of His will
for their lives. God will help the camp attendees to understand the meaning of work and find their calling in life. The preparations by the Core Team Members, mentors, speakers and facilitators will run well and
smoothly by the grace of God. Wisdom for the speaker, Lim Kah Hooi, to teach in accordance to the leading of the Holy Spirit.For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)
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MALAYSIA MY NATION: Unity in the ChurchPray: For a great spiritual awakening in the church and in our personal lives. For a deeper and more intimate relationship with the Lord, that we will return to our first love. Restoration, reconciliation and forgiveness of broken relationships whether in our personal lives,
families or church. We will learn to stand upon the Word and allow God to fight our battles for us. Removal of any barriers or obstacles that hinder unity at all levels in the church. For God to help us lay down our rights, our prejudices against each other, and enable us to love
and serve one another as Jesus calls us to.By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35)
A TRANSFORMED WORLD: Persecuted Christians
Pray: Believers will stand firm in their faith even in the midst of persecution, pain and difficulties. Believers will not give in to fear but to trust that God is in control. They will find their strength, comfort, love, joy and peace in Him. They will not take revenge, but leave that completely to God. They will be able to rejoice in the midst of suffering, to love their enemies, to bless those who
persecute them, and pray for their persecutors. They will be given supernatural power and strength to persevere under trials and tribulations. They will keep their focus on the Lord, and continue to pray, worship and praise Him.Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. (Hebrews 13:3)
