๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ -๐จ๐ฃ
โข Do you easily warm up to strangers? Why or why not?
โข What is the bravest thing youโve ever done? Why did you do it?
โข Who is the most confident person you know? Tell us about him or her.
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, โPaul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.โ But Paul said, โI am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.โ And Agrippa said to Paul, โIn a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?โ And Paul said, โWhether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I amโexcept for these chains.โ ACTS 26:24โ29
While it is true that we need to participate in the political process of the nation, we should not forget that the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has a primary call to preach the gospel of salvation to all people. This is our number one mandate (Matthew 28:19).
This means that our civic engagements should not rival our evangelistic ministry to the world. The works that we do in nation buildingโorganizing community pantries, voting, running for public office, or doing relief operationsโserve to demonstrate the love of Christ and adorn the gospel that we preach. These works, while good and necessary, are not substitutes for evangelism and discipleship. Jesus Himself showed us how this is done. In His earthly ministry, He did a lotโincluding teaching, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, casting out demons, opening the eyes of the blind, cleansing lepers, and raising the dead. But He stated the main goal of His ministry: to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). He had one goal, and everything elseโthe good worksโadorned this.
The centrality of preaching is also obvious in the ministry of Paul. In many places in Acts and the epistles, we see him collecting and bringing donations for the poor saints in Jerusalem (Acts 11:27โ30; Acts 24:17; 1 Corinthians 16:1โ4; Romans 15:25). His letters also started chipping away at the ancient institution of slavery (Colossians 3:11; Ephesians 6:5โ9; Philemon 1:15โ16) at a time when it was deemed normal. But in the midst of all the social good he did, what really stands out in the book of Acts and in his epistles is Paulโs preaching.
Here are three ways we can make this practical in our context:
๐ญ. ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐.
"๐๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ง๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต, ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด: ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด.โ ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฒ:๐ฎ๐ฎโ๐ฎ๐ฏ
One noticeable feature about the preaching ministry of Paul is his diligence to preach the gospel to whoever would listen. When he met ordinary Jews in synagogues, he preached the gospel to them. When he chanced upon an old altar in Athens, he used it as a jumping board to preach to the intellectuals of Areopagus. When he was brought before powerful officials like Festus and King Agrippa, he preached like there was no tomorrow (Acts 26). When he was aboard a vessel on his way to Rome and all 276 passengers on the ship were in danger because of the storm, Paul used the opportunity to bear witness to God by encouraging them with the divine promise that they would all live.
Paulโs example provides a gentle rebuke to our modern tendency to preach the gospel only to people who are socio-economically like us. While it is strategic for students to make disciples of other students and for young women to make disciples of other young women, we should also be ready to speak the gospel of Christ to CEOs, politicians, sari-sari store owners, and construction workers. As more people from all walks of life get saved, we can gradually see transformation in our society. Share about a time when you preached the gospel to someone the world would consider small. What happened?
๐ฎ. ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐.
โ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ข, ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด? ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ.โ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ข ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ, โ๐๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ถ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ?โ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ข๐ฎโ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด.โ ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฒ:๐ฎ๐ณโ๐ฎ๐ต
When Paul was given the chance to speak to Festus and King Agrippa, he wasted no time rehashing the injustices of his prolonged imprisonment (Acts 24:26โ27). Instead, he only made a short reference to his background to provide context to his conversion story (Acts 26:4โ5), and then he spent the rest of the time preaching about Jesus. Paul knew that he had before him the most important and powerful people in Judeaโpoliticians, military tribunes, and prominent men of the city (Acts 25:23). The gospel message had to reach the ears of Judeaโs political elite, and Paul delivered it with a passion and urgency that King Agrippa was taken aback by his compelling words.
Sometimes it is wise to slowly introduce religious talk to people we can still meet again in the future. That would make our gospel presentation more natural and unforced. But sometimes it is wiser to just cut to the chase and talk about Christ, especially if you may never have the same opportunity again. This is exactly what Paul did.
How would we preach the gospel without urgency? How would we preach the gospel with urgency?
๐ฏ. ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐๐ต.
โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ข, ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.โ ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฒ:๐ญ๐ตโ๐ฎ๐ฌ
It is remarkable that Paul spoke truthfully and courageously in front of powerful people. In his defense before King Agrippa, he freely talked of repentance and turning to God. This pairing of repentance and turning to God in Acts is technically called conversion. Paul was aiming for the conversion of his hearersโfrom darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God (Acts 26:18). This was a bold speech. By talking about repentance, Paul was implying the sinfulness of his hearersโincluding the king.
This was not the first time Paul preached this message to politicians. Two years prior to his appearance before King Agrippa, he also spoke before Governor Felix and his wife Drusilla. His preaching revolved around righteousness,
self-control, and the coming judgment. Felix was so alarmed by what he heard that he sent him away and left him in prison until Festus took over his post as governor.
Paulโs straightforward preaching is instructive for all of us today. The gospel is the main message and goal of our cultural engagement. When we spend all our time doing engaging conversations without arriving anywhere near the gospel, we have squandered our opportunity to talk about Jesus to people God has sent our way. In two minutes, give the most important points about the gospel. Who is Jesus, what has He done for us, and what can we do to be saved?
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข Why do you think urgency and clarity are needed in preaching the gospel? To whom can you preach the gospel this week?
โข In your community, who do you think are considered small? How should we approach them and how can we lead them to Christ?
โข Are there people that you know who work in government? How do you think you can preach the gospel to them?
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God for those who preached the gospel to you. Pray that you will do the same for others.
โข Pray that you would preach the kingdom of God with urgency and clarity. Ask God for wisdom and courage to tell others about Him.
โข Pray for the church to be bold in preaching the gospel and making disciples.
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Week 3
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