SOAP Entry 3: Acts 17

Acts 17: Scenes from Paul's Missionary Journey

Scripture: Verses 16-18 (The Message Version)

Scripture: "The longer Paul waited in Athens for Silas and Timothy, the angrier he got—all those idols! The city was a junkyard of idols. He discussed it with the Jews and other like-minded people at their meeting place. And every day he went out on the streets and talked with anyone who happened along. He got to know some of the Epicurean and Stoic intellectuals pretty well through these conversations. Some of them dismissed him with sarcasm: "What an airhead!" But others, listening to him go on about Jesus and the resurrection, were intrigued: "That's a new slant on the gods. Tell us more."


Observation: The more I read about Paul, the more I want to get on his level. Seriously, this guy was no joke. He went from city to city knocking out anything that was not the Truth about Jesus, and explaining it so clearly that everyone could understand. Everywhere he went he was talking about Jesus.

Application: Now, I don't travel to a whole bunch of towns, so it is not exactly feasible that I can go and share the Truth about Jesus, the Gospel, to every city I come across. But I look at my life and see that there are so many opportunities for me to share Christ everywhere I go. When I go to the store, catch the bus, go to the library, go to campus...every place I go to gives me the opportunity to share. But I never look at it as an opportunity. I'm always so quick to get in and get out, run my errands and be done with it. (Like I have something way more important to do *yeah right*)

Last Thursday I went with my friend Nikki and an on-campus ministry to go do "Contact Evangelism" downtown. I've never done evangelism in this way: just randomly walking down the street, asking people questions about their beliefs in God. It wasn't nearly as nerve wreaking as I expected. Honestly, I had planned to just go watch and learn from the group, because I didn't feel like I knew what to say. But somewhere in there, God used me to talk to a guy who had a similar spiritual background as me. He grew up in the Church, was very involved, but once he came to college he wasn't sure what his relationship with Jesus was supposed to be like, or if he even had one. He lost that community feel from his home-church and kinda just fell of the church scene. I was totally able to relate and through talking to him he was actually interested in coming to church and bible study again.

It's so crazy, it was so simple. Just ask people what they think about God/Jesus, and let the conversation roll from there. If no one wants to talk about it, you just keep it moving. The rejection wasn't even all that bad. I wanted to do that again, and now after reading this passage, I am challenged to do it. There are so many who don't know about Jesus. Who have no clue about who he is. And I could be the one who plants the seed, who gets them thinking about if Jesus should be a part of their life. Hopefully we will be doing that again this week. But if we don't, hey, I guess I can do it all on my own!

Prayer:
My prayer is that I will have a heart that desire to share the Gospel. That my hunger and thirst for God's Word will be insatiable- that I will always want and need more.  That through my growth in my relationship with Jesus, and my experiences with His love will prompt me to want to share that experience with others.