The Book of Acts - Surrender (Acts 17:16-34)

One in church if you've got your Bible and I hope you do we're gonna be in Acts chapter 17 Acts chapter 17 Hey, I've just gotta let you know that is my favorite part of the service. All right I love to worship man as a phenomenal worship leader. We are blessed to have him I know the preacher is highly overrated but the that part of it when you Just share the gospel through your testimony. That is my favorite part of the service way to go. That's awesome. Amen Hey, I'm just fresh off of a mission trip we got back last night at about 2 a.m And so I am full of monster energy drink Pepto-Bismol and the Holy Spirit. All right, so That is a dangerous combination. We'll just kind of see what happens As you're making your way to Acts chapter 17 Quarterly, I think or I think it's quarterly We put just a little ministry operating budget update in the seat backs in front of you If this is your home church, if this is you know, where you call home Then then we just want to be transparent Let you know where the money's going what we're doing that kind of thing. And so here it is just high level We've taken in about $58,000 more than we've Then we budgeted that means you have been more generous than we thought you would be so way to go and I dare you to Keep doing that. That'd be great. But anyway, you just look through that One of the things you'll see down at the bottom is that we as a church tithe and that means we take 10% of the tithes and offerings and we put them towards things that are not the church of 1122 and We just kind of run the finances of this church like we tell you to run finances in your home And so because of your generosity We're able to do things like we just did this past week Which was plant a church in Cadeau, Brazil, and we were down in Brazil and we had the first Service in this brand-new church that was not a church a year ago And now there's a church and there were hundreds and hundreds of people there. That's because of your generosity. So If you're new to church here, you'll know that we don't we don't pass an offer You won't know this but we don't do an offering plate. We don't pass the offering

So if you want to be a part of what we're doing here financially Then we ask you to bring your tithes and offerings to the giving boxes They're on the side and in the back and then we have you can give electronically also in the giving kiosk Also one other thing and kind of announcements laying before we dig in Next Sunday on August 11th next Sunday. We start a brand new service on Sunday afternoons at 522. Amen Amen 1128 get me to say this 722 claps and cheers 9 o'clock claps and cheers 1122 is like you're not getting my seat. All right, so Here's a couple things. It's not about you. I need kind of like this much of the church I need about this many people this section. I need all of you guys to start going to 522 that many people Okay, we need hundreds of people to move to 522 because when school starts More people start coming back to church. That's just how it goes We need to be ready for them and most people that are coming back to church are gonna check out church for the first time They're gonna come on Sunday morning and and on the sign out there. It says 1122 So this is the service they're gonna come to so I need Three four hundred of you to just decide to start coming to 522. All right, because it's just it's not about you It's it'll be full kids experience full kids experience. And in fact, the reason we're doing it at 522 is It's really for you and your kids so it could be a family kind of service You could get up go to the beach, you know, whatever Oh, and we also know this once football starts, we know many of you're gonna show up with tailgate breath Okay, praise God go to church. All right, if I were you I would show up with tailgate breath, too Amen amen. So just come on in baby. It'd be fun Just tell him you've been in a Catholic Church at communion. It'd be alright, so Come to church We'll be live band live worship We'll have like campus hosts and video sermon. That's what it'll be and we need so 522 starts next week It's really in preparation to make room for more and more people particularly on Sunday mornings to meet Jesus cool. Amen You with me on that? All right, if you don't show up then I'll get on you next week. All right, here we go Act chapter 17. We are in a three-week series third of a third week of a three-week series Called timeless and the reason it's called that is because there are just some things that the church is supposed to do

And so we've been walking for three weeks through those things the first week We talked about transforming communities and about how we have partnered with With you right here at the church and then with other other Agencies here in our local community and then groups around the world to really transform communities or turn cities upside down Last week pastor Ryan talked about making disciples that make disciples and today We're going to talk about what it looks like to surrender to Jesus I'm the vision of our church the church of 1122 is that we are a movement. The church is not a building It's not a place you go, but the church is a movement. It's it's from the Greek word ecclesia, which means called out ones and so You believe in Jesus, you're a part of the movement, and we're a movement for all people. All kind of people, all color people, all socioeconomic classes. In fact, if anybody really gets this, have you guys been to Angie's Subs lately? Anybody go to Angie's where God blesses the sweet tea? Come on, talk to me people, it's good, ain't it? So a couple weeks ago, they got a brand new sub there called the 1122 Sub. How cool is that? And it's got its own, like, you know, there's a menu, then there's the 1122 Sub description, and they handed it to me, and it says, 1122 Sub, a sub for all people. That's what it's called. And they took all the meats that they have in Angie's, and they put it on one sub as a representation of what God is doing here at the Church of 1122. Now I know some of you are like, why didn't he advertise my business?

Well, you sell some 1122 insurance, I'll talk about your insurance company or whatever it is, all right? So we are a church for all people, all kind of people, or a movement for all people to do two things, to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. So even if you don't know him, you're not even sure if there is a God, you're just kind of curious and you have some questions, then this is the church for you. And if you just wanna deepen your relationship with the Lord, we're here for you. That's what this church is about. And again, we talked about community transformation, we've talked about what it looks like for disciples to make disciples, and then today we're gonna talk about what it means to surrender your life to Jesus. So if you'll be in Acts chapter 17, beginning in verse 16, it says, "'Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, "'his spirit was provoked within him "'as he saw the city was full of idols.'" So Paul goes to Athens, Greece, and he looks around and there's idols to all kinds of gods all over the city. And the Bible says that his spirit, not the Holy Spirit, but his spirit was provoked within him. And that word provoked, it was kind of a combination of anger, like he's a little angry that these people

are worshiping anything other than the one true God, but it's not just full of anger, he's a little perplexed because there's also just that concern and care because he knows what a life lived outside of the gospel ends up in. And so verse 17, "'So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews "'and the devout persons and in the marketplace "'every day with those who happened to be there.'" So he did what he always does in every city we've seen Paul in. First, he goes to the synagogue and he reasons with the religious people, but he also reasons in the marketplace, in the marketplace. Now, it doesn't say that he just goes in and attacks. He doesn't walk into the city and say, you bunch of crooked and depraved people, how dare you? You're all going to hell and I'm not, peace. He doesn't do it that way, but he dialogues or reasons. And what we're gonna see here is when he reasons in the synagogue, he'll start with the Old Testament and he'll start where those people are. But when he reasons in the marketplace, he just starts wherever those people are. Listen, I know that a big reason

why there's so many of you here today is because so many of you have been reasoning in the marketplace to tell people about Jesus. And that I hope that you understand that you were placed in your cubicle by God for a reason. And the reason is not to sell whatever widget you're selling. I hope you do great. I hope you win like the employee of the month and get the parking spot and all that. God bless your work. But that God has placed you there to be a light even in that marketplace. And so we need to be a church full of people that are sharing the gospel. Listen, I just moved into a new house in a new neighborhood. And so on my street, all the people are coming in to welcome us to the neighborhood. And I'm just gonna tell you straight up, I'm gonna lead them all to Jesus. My whole street is gonna meet Jesus, all right? And I know I have an unfair advantage because I'm a pastor, but here's my tag. I'm just gonna tell you what I do. I just, when they come over and say, hey, welcome to the neighborhood,

I say, so what do you do for a living? Because they have to ask me back, right? Don't you have to? If somebody asked you, what do you do for a living? Then you say your turn and then you have to say, and what do you do for a living? And then I go, well, I'm the pastor of 1122. So how do you wanna do this? I mean, you wanna do it at my house? Do you want us to come over to your house? Do you wanna meet at the church? Do you wanna get the kids? I mean, because what kind of pastor would I be if I didn't tell you about Jesus and our church? And so that's how I do it. Also, same way on the airplane. You know, when I get on an airplane, I just decide to sit down and introduce myself, especially long flight. I mean, it's like a 10 hour flight to Brazil, the one we were on. And especially, you know, overnight was one of them. So I thought, if I'm gonna be sleeping next to this random person, I should at least know their name. And so,

hi, I'm Joby. I'm a pastor of a church. And then if they just put in their earbuds, praise God, I get to sleep. And then if they want a dialogue, praise God. We'll tell them. About Jesus that's fine. All right, but you've got to do something where you are in dialogue with the people that God has placed in Your world here. Here's what you should do I'm gonna just give you a little hint a little trick when you go to work tomorrow or school or whatever your deal is You just ask the people would you do this weekend and they're gonna tell you some stuff, right? And then they're gonna ask you and what did you do this weekend? And it's just an opportunity for you to tell them that you were here and it may be next week You could invite them here with you and it's that easy. That's what that's what the Apostle Paul was doing in this place. And so in the marketplace Every day with those who happen to be there verse 18 some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also Converse with him and said what does this babbler wish to say and other says he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities There were two primary philosophies there in Athens The Epicureans and they believed that there there probably were gods, but they were very distant. They were very far off They didn't have any kind of daily involvement in our lives Therefore eat drink and be merry for tomorrow. You may be dead So just pursue happiness pursue the pleasures of this world because our life is really pointless and the gods don't really care much about us That's kind of what the Epicureans thought and then the Stoics they believed something really the opposite of that Today it's what we would call New Age Religion or New Age philosophy, which is kind of funny because it's at least 2,000 years old But the Stoics believe that that there was not creator in creation But everything was one that there was kind of a divine spark in everything kind of a circle of life Lion King kind of deal You know We were all connected and when we died, we just kind of became a part of that greater divinity therefore

The the best person that you could be would be to just trust or out of duty Do what fate had dealt you so it wasn't about pursuing happiness. It was about just kind of Living your life because this is what you know The great the the oneness of nature and the divine spark had given to you. So your fate is fixed Therefore just accept your duty. So those are the two minor major philosophies that are there But you'll see right after the dash in your text Paul is preaching this it says because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection You see Paul had one sermon if you look through the book of Acts, you really just find one sermon over and over and over It's just one sermon It's just Jesus and the resurrection and I've told you this before here at the Church of 1122 I just we just have one sermon Every week when we're in the airport at midnight last night and some people just leaned over and said are you ready for tomorrow? Do you think you'll be on your game? I was like, well, it's not a game. It's easy I got one sermon every week. It's just the cross It's just the cross that the only hope in a hopeless world is the cross of Jesus Christ And so if you are here for whatever reason Please hear this that God loves you so much that he sent his only begotten son to come and die a sinner's death on a cross For you and so God is not distant and far off. Therefore just pursue happiness That's not the truth. Neither is your fate just set. So you're just stuck where you are. That's not true either That's what the Stoics believed But God has invited us into a relationship with him by the cross and resurrection of Jesus and so that is what Paul is preaching over and over because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection verse 19 and They took him and brought him to the Areopagus Saying may we know what this new teaching is that you are now presenting For you bring some strange things to our ears We wish to know therefore what these things mean you see we're gonna find out in in just a second that that what the Athenians love to do is they just What they just love to gather kind of thinkers together and just share new ideas They would have prided themselves on being a very tolerant group

Very being a very tolerant group. In fact The greatest attribute in Athens would have been that of knowledge to be a person of great knowledge not conviction or character But be a person of great knowledge and so for tolerance sake they bring Paul on and say hey Can you just teach us whatever it is this kind of new religion that you're talking about? To which I want to say this if you're here this morning and you're not and you wouldn't even say that you're a Christian Okay, and you definitely wouldn't say that you believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and you definitely Would have concerns about the claims that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven But you're just kind of curious and you just kind of keep showing up and maybe you're curious because you saw the bumper stickers all Over town and you thought what in the heck is this or maybe you're curious because that's the only reason She will go out with you, right? You have to come here. You kind of got that deal going. That's fine So, whatever it is, you're in the right place. We are so glad that you are here. And I do wanna warn you, if there's this desire in you to come back next week, even if it's just because of your curiosity, then it probably won't be long, and you're gonna be one of us. I know you don't believe it, but I didn't either, okay? It still astounds me that I'm one of us. And it really does. But it's just kinda the nature of God and the way God works, just drawing men and women unto himself. Verse 21, and now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Verse 22, and so Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, literally, it was a place called Mars Hill.

It was just this big hill in Athens, Greece, and teachers and philosophers would stand there and they would hold court, not like judicious court, but they would hold sessions where people would teach and kinda preach and give lectures. And here's his sermon. And he says, men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. So he starts off exactly where they are. And in essence, they would have received this as a compliment, a huge compliment. And I think it's important to note that the Apostle Paul starts right where they are. That he knows, what we talk about all the time in here, that God is not in love with some future version of you. That God doesn't love the you once you start getting up early and doing a quiet time, or that God doesn't love the you that attend church every weekend of the month. So God doesn't just love you once you quit cussing so much, or quit drinking so much, or whatever that list is that you're trying to operate by. But we serve a God that wants to meet you right where you are, but he loves you too much to leave you there. You see, in Athens, tolerance was one of the greatest values. But in the Bible, tolerance is not a biblical value. And I know that's almost like heresy in America these days.

But tolerance is not a biblical value. Love is. Love is a biblical value. We're not called to just put up with one another. That's not what we're called to do. We're actually called to take it far beyond tolerance and take it to love. Take it to love. Tolerance means, hey, I'll put up with you while I watch you ruin your own life. But love says, I'm gonna step in and tell you the truth for your sake and not for mine. And so this is what Paul is gonna do. So Paul starts out with, "'Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way "'you are very religious,' verse 23. "'For as I passed along and observed "'the objects of your worship, "'I found also to an author with this inscription, "'To the unknown God, "'what therefore you worship as unknown, "'this I proclaim to you. "'The chief sin in Athens was ignorance.'" To call someone ignorant would have been the chief sin. So in essence, after Paul says that, I see that you're a very religious people, so he kind of starts out where they are, but then he diagnoses the problem. But what you're doing is by your own admission, you're worshiping this unknown God,

so you are worshiping in ignorance. And I love you too much just to tolerate your ignorance, so I'm gonna raise the game and out of love, because Christ first loved me, I love you, and I'm gonna tell you the truth. I'm gonna tell you about this God that I know, this I proclaim to you. And so essentially what the apostle Paul is doing here is he's going to contextualize the gospel, contextualize the gospel. If you'll remember in places like Thessalonica, when Paul was in the synagogue with a bunch of religious Jewish people, he would start with the Old Testament, and he would walk through the Old Testament and point to the Messiah. But that wouldn't do very much good at all to a group of Athenians who don't know the Old Testament, nor do they believe that the Old Testament has any authority in their life. And so what he's gonna do is he's actually gonna start with some of the very objects that are in their life. It's why we do church the way we do church. You know, one of my primary jobs as your pastor is to take the word of God and to preach and teach it in a way that you can understand, that makes sense to you, whether you've been in church for a long, long time or you are brand new to church. I mean, the greatest compliment you can give to me is not, that was a great sermon,

but the greatest compliment you can give to me is, wow, that made sense. A few, maybe a month or two ago, I had a 90-year-old woman come up to me at the end of the service and said, I've been in church my entire life, and for the first time, the Bible is coming alive. Amen. And and so that's why I preach the way I preach it is not to impress my homiletics professor from college or from seminary Okay, in fact, I did very poorly in preaching class in seminary. They didn't like it because again, I didn't know I'm pleaded khaki so I kind of didn't fit in with the group and And I put my hands in my pocket and he didn't like that and even he even had a little section of preaching class When we said God we were supposed to say it in a different tone. We'd say God I Was like no, uh-uh, right I'm not talking that way. I'm just gonna talk like I talk and that That we do the music that we do. We dress the way we dress We speak the way we speak not to impress some other church people Look Jacksonville didn't need another church and we didn't build this place for more church people But we built this place so that we could be on mission with Jesus to seek him to save the lost because that's what he was About and so that this could be a place where every person Every person could discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ And so we just we don't take ourselves very seriously, but we take God we take our relationship with Jesus We take his word. We take the gospel very very seriously And what good would it do us to show up here week after week after week and me just confuse you with ideas that that are Are confusing and use big words and then you go out of here and think I have no idea what he was talking about Wow, he must be smart But I would much rather just unpack the Word of God and watch the Holy Spirit work in in ways that you could just apply

it to your life and Then we need you to do the same thing that Paul is doing here in Athens We need you to be men and women That meet your friends and family members and co-workers and roommates right where they are And be able to point them to Jesus You see that's what's weak. That's what he's doing here I don't want the church of 1122 to just be a place where you can bring people to hear the gospel But this also needs to be a place where we equip you to take the gospel to them That's what that's what Paul is doing here. I don't know if you've heard of the one of you've heard of the Magician comedian act Penn and Teller. I mean, they're not super popular, but you know, they're kind of around Penn is a is a staunch atheist and He tells a story you can look it up on YouTube He tells a story of a guy after one of his shows Trying to share his faith with him and he gives a guy he gives Penn a Bible and he just kind of Authentically shares Jesus and Penn again. This guy that is is a staunch atheist He says now I don't believe in this guy's God whatsoever But I can tell you this that guy believed in him and then he writes these words. This is Penn staunch atheist This is what he says about witnessing. He says I've always said that I don't respect people who don't proselytize Proselytize is just kind of a kind of a negative term for sharing your faith. He says I don't respect people who don't proselytize I don't respect that at all If you believe that there's a heaven and a hell and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life and you think that it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward an Atheist who think people shouldn't proselytize and who should just leave me alone and keep your religion to yourself How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that I mean if I believe Beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn't believe that truck was bearing down on you there's a certain point where I tackle you and this is more important than that and He's an atheist and that's how he thinks

You see this past week when we were in Brazil Outside of Cadeau they have this place they call the mall and it's the city dump and I mean, it's just awful smells awful The bugs are awful. The vultures are awful. The most awful thing are the children scavenging for food and It's I mean, it's it's really rough And so we took food there and fed about 30 families that were kind of digging through the food there And we thought when we got there we needed to share the gospel Well, there was one guy on our trip that is an 1122 er and he grew up in Brazil and so he's fluent in Portuguese and so guess who we Voted to be the one to share the gospel the guy that can do it in Portuguese that can Contextualize the gospel and share it in such a way that the people that understand Portuguese can receive it And so so Rodney stands up and shares and I have no idea what he's saying and I pray man Sometimes, you know you read through the book of Acts I take this book so seriously and I know in at Pentecost in Acts 2 that Peter preached in Aramaic or Greek and people heard it in their own language And so I'm saying dear God, would you just give me the miracle Pentecost and as Rodney is preaching in Portuguese Let me just hear it in my own language. Come on Jesus, and then he started preaching. I just hear Jesus Jesus I heard Jesus got Jesus But that's all I got but apparently he shared the gospel because three people surrendered their lives to the lordship of Christ there. Amen now Now We'll spend we'll spend some time talking about the dump or them all in future sermons But but one of the things that just struck me is that in the New Testament the word that Jesus uses to describe Eternal separation from God the Old Testament word was Sheol or Hades and he uses the word Gehenni which meant dump city dump and at some point I'll show you pictures that the place is always burning The stench of death is awful There really are people literally shooing away vultures so they can gather food now If I knew that somebody that I loved was gonna spend their life in the dump in that place for the rest of their lives

What would I do to try to prevent them from going there? I would do whatever it took I wouldn't try to be airy to get it out or talk down to them But I would try to do what Paul is trying to do here and just reason with them That God has a different plan for their life That God sent his son on a rescue mission so that they don't have to spend a Christless Eternity and so that's what Paul is doing here. And so again, he starts right where those people are And that's why every week we say everyone here is welcome Everyone regardless of what you believe regardless of what you have done regardless of where you were last night Regardless of where you're gonna be tomorrow night That everyone is welcome in this church and then Paul goes to verse 24 He says the God who made the world and everything in it being Lord of heaven and earth Does not live in temples made by man In other words, God is creator and we are creation and you can build temples to your faults God But God is bigger than those temples. He doesn't live in those places verse 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 in other words God is transcendent that you can't make God with your hands You can't build a little idol and then all of a sudden it turns into a god But God is the one that gives us life. We don't give little gods life, he's transcendent verse 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 boundaries of their dwelling place that God is the God of history That he's not as the Epicureans thought some distant God that's not involved in what we're doing but that he he created the countries and the boundaries and the rulers and you you have the job you have because we have a sovereign God you live in the family you live in because we have a Sovereign God you work where you work because God has placed you there You were here this morning because the Almighty Sovereign God decided that you would be here and some of you thinking no No, I was tricked to be here She said we were going to brunch and then we pulled up here and I thought what is the furniture store? And then we're at church. All right, that was the Almighty God moving in your life for you to be here

Get over yourself verse 27 He wants us to know that we were made for fellowship with God listen to this That they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him yet He is actually not far from each one of us You see some of you thought God is a long way from you or some of you thought that you were a long way from What Paul says here is now he's closer than you think He's closer than you think because if you're here this morning and you're listening to this message God is as close as your front teeth He is closer than you think you are not far from God You are you are one surrender away to being eternally united with Christ verse 28 For and you'll notice in the text you see some quotes here It says for in him we live and move and have our being As even some of your own poets have said for we are indeed his offspring now Let me talk to you for a second here All right, this this verse this verse gives fundamentalist problems that they can't even stand or it makes their head explode So do you believe in the inerrant infallible inspired Word of God? Yes, and amen. I do I believe the whole thing. Okay from cover to cover. I believe the maps and the leathers genuine Okay, I'm all in on the Bible. So did you realize that what what Paul is quoting here? Paul is actually quoting pagan philosophy and pagan poets from Athens To help point people to the truth and the cross of Jesus Christ Because all truth is God's truth wherever you think it came from if it's truth It's God's because Because all truth is God's truth and so Paul is going to reach into the secular culture and grab some of the secular songs and some of the pagan philosophies that have a kernel of truth and then he's going to share that with the people. So you know what that means? That means that the Apostle Paul, not only was he listening or paying attention to what was happening in secular culture, but he was reading enough pagan philosophy that he had memorized it and then he went and grabbed it because he knew it would build a bridge to the gospel to reach out to these people and point them to the truth and the way and the life and his name is Jesus and that's what he did here.

And so again, the fundamentalist, their heads explode because there's quotes of secular music right here in the Bible. The first one, in him we live and move and have our being, that was the quote of Epamendes of Crete and then the second one is a guy named Erastus. It would be the equivalent of me getting up on stage and say, it would just be as your modern day prophets have spoken under this generation when they say, I'm gonna pop some tags, I got $20 in my pocket. It's a story of redemption, people. Or if you're a child of the 80s, every breath you take, every move you make, every single day, I'll be watching you. Or if you like the music that Jesus likes, country music, it would be talking about his own incarnation, I'm headed down south to the land of the pine, thumbing my way down to North Carolina. Or maybe you would reach in and grab one of the greatest prophets of all time, J.C. That's Johnny Cash. When trying to describe hell, maybe you talk about that burning ring of fire. Whatever it is that you would just connect people where they are. You see, Paul knows what we talk about here all the time, that God's not in love with some future version of you. He's not, he loves you right now, right where you are. And so, by any means necessary, outside of sin, we will proclaim the gospel in ways that we can understand it, that you can understand it, so that you can know what it means to have that right relationship with God. Verse 29, being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by art or imagination of man. In other words, that there is creator and creation, and that God was not created by our imagination. So, who do we think we are to fashion some kind of little idol, and then ascribe God to it? That's silly. Verse 30, it says, the time of ignorance God overlooked,

but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. I want you to underline that in your Bible, that he commands all people everywhere to repent. So, you know who's eligible to know Jesus as their savior? All people everywhere. So, if you ever thought, because some of you feel like you're disqualified from being a Christian. Some of you think that, well, if pastor, if you've known what I've done, then you would know that God couldn't have me. You know that God couldn't accept me as a believer in him. Well, then you don't know the gospel. You don't know how big the love of Christ was when he stretched out his arms on the cross to die for you. So, the gospel is that if you fall in the all people everywhere category, then you can receive Jesus as your Lord and savior. You hear me? That you are not far away. Maybe you've even been taught that you are far from God. He is closer than you think because he commands all people everywhere to repent. All people everywhere. That means if you grew up in church, you know, you went to Sunday school with Moses and you were good at being good. You've got the Icthus fish on the back of your car. You've got a big fish for dad and a kind of a little fish for mom and three little baby fish for your kids, you know, that you need to repent and know Jesus too. That your kind of Christian subculture doesn't save you,

but surrendering your life to him. And then also, if you're just really good at being really bad, and I mean, like from last night, like you're still a little hungover, okay? But we love you. Love and glad that you are here. There's no other place I'd rather you be than here. One of the most proud moments I've ever had of our serve staff is sometime, and maybe you're here today, okay? One time in the service, somebody kicked over their cup during a service and it was obvious it was water. It was just a bunch of alcohol. And so our serve staff ran in, cleaned it all up. Got the person in a new seat and the only person I think that was embarrassed was the person that brought the cup in Our team was going praise God. You're here. Praise God. You're here. You are not too far off God is closer than you think you're you're you're you're part of the all people Everywhere are called to repent and trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior Okay, you have not been disqualified by anything that you have done or thought or believed or doubted or whatever that Christ came and died for you and That was the message of the gospel. That's the message of the gospel that he commands all people everywhere to Repent verse 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 So while Paul contextualizes the gospel He does not water down the content of it That all of us will stand before judgment of an Almighty God and all of us on our own Righteousness will be condemned as unworthy For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and you might have the sin of religion or the sin of a religion

But we all fall short of God's glory So then how are men and women saved? By the blood of Jesus Christ that God made him who was without sin to be sin for us that we would be made his righteousness that whoever Whoever receives Christ as their Lord and Savior is Counted as righteousness not by what you do, but what he has done on the cross So some people say well, he's a Christianity narrow. Well in one sense. Yeah, it's embarrassingly narrow It's Jesus the way the truth and the life and no one gets to the father except by him Yes, and amen but on the other hand It's exceedingly inclusive You know why because everyone's invited Everyone's invited if you fall into all people everywhere category, then you are Invited everybody's invited and everybody gets in the same way It's not like certain nations get in certain ways or males get in one way and females get in one way or if you grew up In church get in this way if you didn't grow up in church you get in that way everybody comes in through one doorway his name's Jesus and Even better and all of that and the way has already been paid for you the your way is all ready paid by Christ's death and resurrection and that is the gospel that Paul lays out for them and then here is Here's the response verse 32 and now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead some mocked But others said we will hear you again about this So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed and among whom were also Dionysius of the Areopagus and a woman named Damaris and others with him So just like it always happened verses like this I think the Lord put this in the Bible to make preachers feel better. Okay, because even Paul just slays this sermon, right? I mean he's quoting philosophers and he lays it down and he just this amazing sermon and some people hear the Resurrection and they put their faith in Jesus and they say I believe and they bow down and they they receive Christ as their Lord And Savior and then there's other people that are like man, I'm not buying it

I'll wait for the next preacher that comes through and see what he has to say And that'll happen here today, too I mean that'll happen here There are some of you right now and the words of God are just cutting to your heart They're cutting your heart and then the guy sitting right next to you. You're thinking Oh Angie sub. Hmm I think I'll try the 1122 sub sounds awesome. All right That's just how it goes but really What Paul says to these folks is this and I put it in your notes that the point is this that God is calling all people Everywhere to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ The God is calling all people Everywhere to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ Because the Epicureans they thought that God was this distant God the Stoics thought that there wasn't like a personal God that you could know And Paul's going no, that's not true at all in fact God is your heavenly father and He sent his son Christ to die on a cross for you so that you could know him as father So that you could be reconciled to him as father and it's not about you trying to earn that relationship with him But in fact God has been on a rescue mission for you That he's loved you so much that he sent his son on the rescue mission so that you could be Reconciled unto him and he was willing to do whatever it takes whatever it takes To find you when you were lost I've told you about 150 times that I grew up in Dillon, South Carolina Right a little country town outside of Myrtle Beach And I appreciate all the pictures that you send me when you drive by the sign on 95 I bet I get a Facebook message a week, right? Somebody picks the takes a picture of the Dillon sign and sends it to me I drive by Dillon and I just always reply the same keep driving Like I said, my daddy said the best things ever out of Dillon, South Carolina? I-95. So keep going. When I was a kid, all my family were tobacco farmers

and one of my uncles was gonna tear down an old tobacco barn and my dad was gonna get all the wood because he was gonna, you know, reclaim it. And this was before it was like hip and cool to reclaim old wood. You know, you guys pay a lot of money for junk. And so, but we just did it because we couldn't afford the new stuff. So he went and reclaimed the wood and he was gonna plane it all and he put hardwood floors all throughout our house, okay? And so he planes all this and he puts it in our home, but, but, and I can remember, I literally remember my mom walking through going, we get some money, we're gonna go wall-to-wall carpet, make this place nice, all right? But, but before he got to all that, he takes this pile of wood and he puts it in the backyard and he comes to me, he says, Joby, I got a, you know, there's all that wood that you saw us unloading. I was about in the first grade, okay, so six or seven years old. And he says, I got a big pile of wood in the, in the backyard and so whatever you do, just don't play in it. Don't go near it. It's got nails. I'm pretty sure I saw some snakes in it and there's old rusty, you know, tin roof and you might cut yourself. So just don't, don't mess with it. So the first Saturday that he was kind of away for the morning, I went straight to the woodpile. Began to build a fort, all right? We have any former fort builders in the house, all right? Oh, praise God, look at all the fellas, right? Ladies too. I'm sure it was nice, curtains, but ours is fort. And so this is great. So we've got all this wood and a tin roof and I started moving some wood around, kind of getting it the way I want it and then, and you know, kind of peeking out and make sure that I'm not going to get busted. I get it all set up and I, and I kind of climb in. I've got a back door in it and I sit down. I think, oh man, this is great. This is nice. I mean, if things don't work out with me and the parents, you know, I might just move out here and put in a little satellite TV. It's gonna be awesome. And so I'm sitting there and, uh, and the, you know, sun begins to come up. It's kind of getting warm summer day and, and I guess I got a little tired, maybe hit about nap time and I was ready to take a nap. So I just lay down and fell asleep in the fort. Well, my mom, all growing up, my mom was convinced that I was going to be abducted by some bad men and sold into like the Chinese slave market somewhere. All right. She was just convinced. And this was even before like Lifetime movies used to come out and, you know, really pump that. And so, but I was such an adorable child that she had a lot of reason to believe that that would have been a possibility. And so she always got to live with a little bit of panic. And so I wake up, I was kind of in that dream, almost awake sleep. And I just hear my name, Joby, Joby, Joby. And I wake up and I look through one of the little peek holes in my

fort and my dad is on the back porch. And you can see he's perplexed, kind of maybe like Paul was, you know, a little anger, a little concern, all kind of mixed into dad moment. And then he goes to the Joseph Perry Martin III, you better get out here right now. And he thinks I'm lost. Because obviously I would not be in the woodpile where he's told me not to be. So you can just check that one off. We don't have to look there. Because he would never disobey that way. And so I, so I know, I think I'm probably in trouble, right? I'm probably in big trouble. But I can also see this concern from my dad, like this real angst, this worry from my dad. And I look and I see my mom is at my neighbor's house. And she's knocking on the door and having a conversation with him. Have you seen the boy? Haven't seen him? And then neighbors are coming out and they're kind of spreading around. There's a couple of empty lots with some woods in it. You know, I can see people spreading around. And I knew, I knew this was a big deal when both police cars from Dillon were at my house. Okay. And the fire truck. So I thought, I'm not on fire. I'm just lost. Okay. But, but here's the thing. When a dad thinks his kid's lost, what does he do? Everything that he can to find him. Everything that he can. Call the police. Call the neighbors. Call the fire department. Call his name. Whatever it takes to find his lost kid. So as my dad's just yelling and yelling and yelling, I come out the back door of my fort. I circle around our barn in the backyard and come up behind my dad. And he's this way, Joe back. And I tug on the back of my dad's sleeve. Now see, I was, I was coming with fear and trepidation because I did not grow up in the season of timeout. All right. You understand? So I was not going to go anywhere and think about anything. All right. And let me just tell you, all those of us that grew up getting whippings, we despise those of you that just had to think about it. And if you didn't grow up getting a spanking, we know who you are. It is obvious to everyone around. So I thought that potentially could be what we're walking into, but I could just, my dad's freaking out. So I go and I tug him on the back of the sleeve and he turns around and looks at me and he. grabs me by the shoulders and just eyeball to eyeball, and he says, boy, I don't know whether to whoop you or hug you. And I said, I'll take a hug. And he just scooped me up and squeezed me because I was lost and then I was found.

And that's the gospel. That God calls all people everywhere to repent and be saved. And it's not by what you do, but Christ has been on a rescue mission. The Bible says in Genesis that when Adam and Eve sinned and went and hid, that God came walking through the garden calling out their name. If you're here this morning and you've tried to cover your own sin, it won't work. And you've tried to run from God, you're like my three-year-old playing hide and seek with me. You're not that hard to find. But God Almighty is walking through your life and he's calling out your name. And for anybody that would bend their knee and surrender their life to the lordship of Christ and receive Christ as your lord, receive Christ as your savior, the way we say it around here, surrender your life to the lordship of Christ, you don't get a whooping. The Bible says, therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation, you get that? No condemnation. That he sent Christ to die for you. That he sent his son to become sin and he was sinless so that you could become his righteousness and be restored into that right relationship with God. 189 times in the four gospels, Jesus refers to God,

not as judge, creator, sovereign, and all those are true, but as father and he wants you to know him as father. And so if you've never done that before, then today could be your day. Today could be the day where you hear God calling your name in your heart and you say, dad, here I am. I'm not gonna run, the hiding's over, I surrender. And your heavenly father scoops you up into a right relationship with him. Theologians would call it justification, I'd call it up. If you would bow your heads right where you are. If this morning you would like to surrender your life to the lordship of Christ, you hear your heavenly father calling your name and you're ready to surrender, say God, here I am, I surrender my life to you. Would you raise your hand just in a symbol to say, God, I surrender. It's not a hand in the air that saves you, but it's what Christ did on the cross that saves you. If you hear his voice calling your heart, then you just surrender to him. Dear father in heaven, Lord, we pray for the people with their hands in the air, God. Lord, I just lift them up to you. God, I just pray they would open their hearts to you. God, they'd say whatever words they wanna say, that just acknowledge their sinfulness, that they believe in you and confess you as Lord.

God, we join with the angels in celebrating that salvation is in this place today. And God, I also pray for the Christians in this room, those of us that have been walking with you for a while. God, may we be reminded of the gospel that when we sin, when we run and hide from you, when we disobey you, God, the gospel compels us to run to you and not from you. God, would you just remind us that you've called all people everywhere, all people everywhere. God, may this be a church that is for all people everywhere to know you. Not about just creating more church people. And so God, we collectively as a church and then individually, Lord, we surrender our life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Amen. Hey, we're gonna celebrate this by celebrating Holy Communion. And let me just tell you, every time we do communion here, see, when Jesus did communion, there was 12 dudes, okay? So they just took it and they passed it around, as everybody done, and you know, they just went through it, it wasn't that hard. But when you got 1,200, it gets a little clunky. So just cut us some slack. So what's gonna happen is, there's gonna be people lined up all down the front,

okay, all down the front, and then ushers are gonna go row by row, and you're gonna have to wait in line for a long time. And if you would, just kind of spread out among the folks with the bread and the cup. And Jesus called us as believers to celebrate Holy Communion, because it is a tangible picture of what Christ did on this rescue mission. See, on the night Jesus was betrayed, he got the 12 together and they was doing the Passover meal, you know, they'd done that 100 times. But he changed the rules, he changed all the words. And he said, this is my body broken for you. Because he was going to the cross. He's gonna endure the full wrath of an almighty God. Then later in Corinthians it says, and often as you do this, do so in remembrance of me. And so an usher's gonna tell you when it's your turn, and you're gonna walk down front and you're gonna tear off a little piece of the bread. And it's to remind you of the price that Christ paid for you on the cross, that his body was broken for you and for me. Then he held up the cup and he says, this cup is my blood. And it's the blood of a new covenant or a new testament. The old covenant. Or the Old Testament was about commandments and obeying commandments.

The New Covenant or the New Testament is a testament or a covenant of grace, that you can't obey the commandments. Therefore Christ poured out his blood for you to cover your sin, and that is by his grace that you have been saved and not by works. And as often as you drink of this, you do so in remembrance of me. And then you're going to take the piece of bread that you've torn off and you're going to dip it into the cup and you're going to eat it. And listen, it's just grape juice and a piece of bread. But for a Christian that knows Jesus, it's something very, very special. It's a physical representation to kind of take us back to 2,000 years ago when God made him who was without sin to be sin for us, that we could be invited to the table of the almighty and perfect King and join him in the Lord's Supper. So we do not take this lightly. So after that, if you want to come and spend some time at the altar, that's great, and then you can circle back to your seat. Would you pray with me again, dear Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for the picture of communion. A broken and suffering servant that paves the way for us to be in a right relationship with an almighty God. And Lord, we examine our hearts just like the Bible called us to do, that we do not do this in vain. God, we confess our sin to you, we repent and we run to you and not from you. And God, we thank you that by the cross and by the blood of Jesus, all of us, regardless of background or denomination or any of that, we've all been invited to the table, all of those who call you Lord and Savior. And Lord, may you be just as worshiped and glorified in our partaking of communion as you are when we sing songs to you. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. So when the ushers let you know it's your turn, why don't you come to the table.