Living as a Christian in a Secular World

Living as a Christian
in a
Secular World
Adapted from a Dr. Calvin Wittman sermon
http://www.lifeway.com/Article/Sermon-Sharing%20Christ-
with-a-christless-culture-Acts-17

The war with Britain cut off the supply of Bibles
to the United States with the result that on
Sept. 11, 1777, Congress instructed its
Committee of Commerce to import 20,000
Bibles from "Scotland, Holland or elsewhere."

On January 21, 1781, Philadelphia printer
Robert Aitken (1734-1802) petitioned
Congress to officially sanction a publication of
the Old and New Testament which he was
preparing at his own expense.

Congress "highly approve the pious and
laudable undertaking of Mr. Aitken, as
subservient to the interest of religion . . . in this
country, and . . . they recommend this edition
of the bible to the inhabitants of the United
States." This resolution was a result of Aitken's
successful accomplishment of his project.
(http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel04.html)

The secularization of our country is an
interesting thing.
In the name of education and advancement,
educators and intellectuals have dismissed the
most influential book of all times from our
curriculum.

And yet, in a day when censorship is decried
by the liberals, they themselves have
censored the Bible from the realm of public
education.
The results have been devastating.

If one were to go back and document the
decline of our culture over the past four
decades, one fact that would be glaringly
noticeable would be the significant correlation
between prayer and scripture being taken out
of public schools and the rapid decline of the
culture we once knew.

Proverbs 29:18 ESV Where there is no
prophetic vision the people cast off restraint,
but blessed is he who keeps the law.

All of this has led us to where we are today; a
generation of people who embrace as truth a
philosophy which says there is no truth.
The days of preaching to people who have
even the most basic understanding of
Christianity are gone in our country.

Now, I say this, not to reminisce about the
good old days, but merely to clearly establish
where we are as we try to communicate Christ
to a Christless culture.

Many Christians today, sit around and bemoan
the loss of what they consider the "golden
days.“
But I don't think that is a biblical response. The
truth of the matter is that our culture is still far
better off than the culture into which Paul and
the Apostles brought the gospel.

Acts 17:16-34 is a famous passage where we
find the Apostle Paul in Athens, preaching the
message of Christ to the intelligentsia of his
day.

Acts 17:16 ESV Now while Paul was waiting
for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked
within him as he saw that the city was full of
idols. 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.

18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic
philosophers also conversed with him. And
some said, "What does this babbler wish to
say?" Others said, "He seems to be a
preacher of foreign divinities"—because he
was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19
And they took him and brought him to the
Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this
new teaching is that you are presenting?

20 For you bring some strange things to our
ears. We wish to know therefore what these
things mean." 21 Now all the Athenians and
the foreigners who lived there would spend
their time in nothing except telling or hearing
something new. 22 So Paul, standing in the
midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens,
I perceive that in every way you are very
religious.

23 For as I passed along and observed the
objects of your worship, I found also an altar
with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.'
What therefore you worship as unknown, this I
proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the
world and everything in it, being Lord of
heaven and earth, does not live in temples
made by man,

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. 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 the boundaries of their dwelling
place,

27 that they should seek God in the hope that
they might feel their way toward him and find
him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of
us, 28 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.'

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 the art and
imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance
God overlooked, but now he commands all
people everywhere to repent, 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." 32 Now when they
heard of the resurrection of the dead, some
mocked. But others said, "We will hear you
again about this." 33 So Paul went out from
their midst. 34 But some men joined him and
believed, among whom also were Dionysius
the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris
and others with them.

Even as Paul was called to take the message
of Christ to a Christless culture; so we too
have been given this glorious task. Man's
basic needs have not changed. Man is still in
need of a Savior, and Jesus Christ is still the
only way. Man's thinking may have changed,
but Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today
and forever.

Our challenge is to find the most effective way
to communicate Christ to our culture.
I want to show you four things about Paul's
ministry in Athens and then draw some
application oriented conclusions.
My hope is that we can learn from Paul how to
better share our faith within the framework of
our culture.

Fleeing from persecution at Thessalonica and
Berea, Paul heads to Athens to await the
arrival of Timothy and Silas.
This is the occasion for his famous sermon on
Mar's Hill.

The Roman world was one which had been
influenced significantly by the Greeks. The art
and literature from ancient Greece, was
studied and admired by the Romans, and
every well educated Roman could read and
write Greek fluently. The fact that the New
Testament was written in Greek, gives
testimony to the influence of Greek thought
and language in Paul's day.

Other than being a pagan culture, by which I
mean they worshiped pagan idols, there are
two things I would like to point out about the
Athenian culture.
First of all, it was a city that personified a
culture given over to hedonism, or the pursuit
of physical and sensual pleasure. Verse 18
tells us that there were Epicureans in Athens.

18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic
philosophers also conversed with him. And
some said, "What does this babbler wish to
say?" Others said, "He seems to be a
preacher of foreign divinities"—because he
was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

Epicureans believed a philosophy very akin to
modern day Existentialism. While they did not
deny the existence of gods, like the deists,
they held that the gods were distant and
uninvolved in the affairs of humans. They were
avowed materialists, believing that this life and
experience during it were all there was to
human existence.

Denying the existence of eternity, they lived for
them moment, professing a belief that the best
life was the one lived free from pain, totally
given over to the pursuit of pleasure. This
philosophy, while only truly understood and
held by the educated elite, had made its way
into the common culture. Lining the streets
and temples of Athens were thousands of
sculptures of the human body.

The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg,
Russia has a room filled with Roman and
Greek statues.
Here’s one preacher’s thoughts after a visit
there.
From a purely artistic stance, the artists of the
day had a fabulous talent for capturing the
human form in marble.

But seen from another point of view, these
statues spoke volumes about the sensual
nature of the culture in which Paul ministered.
To say the statues were erotic would be an
understatement. It must be remembered that
much of the pagan worship in Paul's day
centered around fertility and involved immoral
acts between the worshipers and the temple
prostitutes.
(such as the temple of Diana in Ephesus)

So the culture of Athens, and for the most part
the Roman empire as a whole, was given over
to the pursuit of sensual pleasure.
Secondly, it was a city still associated with
learning and culture.

Of all the Greek cities, Athens was the most
famous for being a center of art, architecture,
philosophy and culture. While it had lost most
of the glory it had held some four to five
hundred years earlier, its impressive temples
still adorned its streets, drawing artists and
philosophers from around the known world.

Verse 18 tells us there were also Stoics at
Athens. Stoics had a higher view of the God's
and held to what, today, we would call
Pantheism, that is, they believed that god was
to be found in all of nature.
We see this type of philosophy today in the
earth worship which is expressed in many new
age teachings.

The scripture tells us that nature declares the
Glory of God, ie. it gives testimony to His
handiwork, it speaks to His power and might,
but God is not in nature.
God is a personal being, Who knows us
personally and can be personally known by us.

The Stoics held to a more intellectual
philosophy than did the Epicureans. Feeling
that the divine spark was within all living
things, they felt that there was a rational
principle that held the cosmic order together.
Thus pure reason became the one thing that
connected them with the gods. Like
philosophers during the enlightenment, reason
ultimately became their god.

It was into this sensual and philosophical
environment, very much like our own, that
Paul brought the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This brings us to our second observation,
Paul's consuming motivation.

16 ESV Now while Paul was waiting for them
at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him
as he saw that the city was full of idols.
Verse 16 tells us that his spirit was provoked
within him. The Greek word employed here
means to be enraged or provoked to wrath.
Paul was physically upset at the sight of such
idolatry and paganism.

Paul knew that these statues were merely
man-made objects that held no power to save,
no power to protect, no power to forgive or
respond. He knew that it was God who had
created the heaven and earth. He knew the
truth, and the deception and false teachings
that surrounded him stirred within his soul a
deep and profound righteous indignation.

Perhaps you've experienced the same thing
from time to time: When you know something
is false, but it is being presented as the truth.
All you have to do is watch CNN for a few
minutes and you'll have a similar experience.
Paul's knowledge of the truth, the truth that
had set him free, caused him to respond.

Not only was it his intellect, his knowledge of
God's truth, that stirred him, but Paul, like all
Christians, was indwelt by God's Spirit.
One of the things we must keep in mind is that
the closer we are to God, the more sensitive
we will be to His Spirit.

Ephesians 4 tells us that with our words we
can grieve the Spirit of God.
We know that He is a person who lives within
us, guiding us into truth, convicting us of sin,
and leading us in the pathways of
righteousness.

When Jesus beheld the money changers at
the temple, His righteous indignation swelled
up within him.
When Paul saw the extent to which these
Athenians were in the dark, he was similarly
incensed.

Of course the question is, when was the last
time you became upset because of the
lostness of the world around you? When was
the last time you were moved to words or
action by the culture in which you live?
The problem with many Christians today is
that they are content to let others go to hell, as
long as they and theirs go to heaven.

This kind of attitude gives evidence to
insensitivity to God's Spirit.
The same Spirit that was within Paul is within
us.
The question is: Is our response like his?
But there was another motivating factor in
Paul's life..

2 Corinthians 5:13 ESV For if we are beside
ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right
mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ
controls us, because we have concluded this:
that one has died for all, therefore all have
died;

Paul understood why Jesus died on the cross.
Not only did he have a cognitive
understanding of the love of God, he had a
personal experience with the God of love. How
is it that we can claim to have died to
ourselves and now allow Christ to live within
us, and yet we are unmoved by the lostness of
those around us?

How can we claim to be His body and yet
remain indifferent to the eternal lostness of the
very people for whom Christ died?
Paul was moved and constrained by the love
of God, even as we should be.
But notice one more thing:
I believe Paul was jealous for God's glory.

He knew that there is only one God, and yet
these Athenians were worshiping, giving glory
to, ascribing praise to mere stones.
The credit belonging to God was going to
idols.
Isaiah 42:8 ESV I am the LORD; that is my
name; my glory I give to no other, nor my
praise to carved idols.

This is the feeling that swept over Paul as he
stood amidst the idolatry of Athens.
It was what motivated him to share Christ with
a Christless culture.
This brings us to our third observation, Paul's
Christ centered message.

Verse 18 tells us that Paul preached Jesus
and the resurrection. Of course it is impossible
to preach that Jesus was resurrected from the
dead, without first preaching that Jesus died
on a cross. The gospel, plain and simple was
Paul's message.

Verse 18 also gives us insight into how many
received his message, they called him an idle
babbler. A literally translation of what they
called him was "seed picker.“
It carried with it the idea of a bird pecking
indiscriminately at scraps of ideas here and
there, and then passing them off as profundity,
with no depth of understanding whatsoever.

It is, however, of extreme importance that the
scripture tells us that Paul preached Jesus and
the resurrection.
Romans 1:16 ESV For I am not ashamed of
the gospel, for it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew
first and also to the Greek.
Paul makes the meaning of the gospel, the
good news, very clear when writing his 1st
letter to the Saints in Corinth.

1 Corinthians 15:1 ESV Now I would remind
you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you,
which you received, in which you stand, 2 and
by which you are being saved, if you hold fast
to the word I preached to you—unless you
believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance
what I also received: that Christ died for our
sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that
he was buried, that he was raised on the third
day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the
twelve.

6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred
brothers at one time, most of whom are still
alive, though some have fallen asleep.
The death for our sins, burial & resurrection of
Christ, all according to the Scriptures, are of
first importance.

The cultural climate in which we live, brings
with it the very real temptation to try and make
the gospel palatable, to make it easier to
swallow or somehow less harsh. After all, a
message that says we have to deny ourselves,
take up our cross and follow Jesus to Calvary,
is not going to be a popular message in a
society that is given over to self satisfaction
and the pursuit of material things and
pleasure.

John MacArthur, in his book, Hard to Believe,
says, "Now comes the issue that's behind all
the pop music and self congratulation and ‘fun'
that the seeker sensitive churches promise:
People aren't going to buy Christianity if it’s
that hard. If it doesn't meet their needs, they
won't be interested. If they want six fruit flavors
and you've only got two, you've lost them.

They need Christianity that tastes great, and if
it’s less filling in the short run, well, we'll
explain all the hard stuff later.
There's a name for that in the marketing
world," says MacArthur, "and it's called bait
and switch."

1 Corinthians 1:22 ESV For Jews demand
signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we
preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to
Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God.

The scripture tells us that the gospel is a
stumbling block, foolishness, certainly for
those who do not know Christ....but the
problem today is that it has become a
stumbling block for many who profess to know
Him.

The result is a watered down version of the
gospel which, while trying to be relevant to the
culture in which we live, ends up
compromising the heart of the gospel.
Paul tells Timothy to do his job to prepare for
what he sees coming.

2 Timothy 4:1 ESV I charge you in the
presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to
judge the living and the dead, and by his
appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the
word; be ready in season and out of season;
reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete
patience and teaching.

3 For the time is coming when people will not
endure sound teaching, but having itching ears
they will accumulate for themselves teachers
to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away
from listening to the truth and wander off into
myths.

We must ever be conscious of the reality that it
is the gospel, not our persuasive speech, not
our ability to market the church or even our
Lord, but it is the power of the gospel itself,
applied to the hearts of the hearers by the
Holy Spirit that leads to salvation.

While I am a strong advocate for helping
people come to a clear understanding of the
gospel message, and I believe we must know
how to answer anyone who asks for a reason
for the hope that is within us. Keep in mind
what Jesus said in John 6:44 ESV No one can
come to me unless the Father who sent me
draws him. And I will raise him up on the last
day.

Paul's message was Christ-centered.
He was not depending upon his own
persuasive ability to get people to believe the
message of the cross, on the contrary, he
knew that was God's job, not his.

That doesn't mean he was sloppy or half-
hearted in understanding his audience and
their beliefs, it simply means that he knew
where the power was,
in the gospel message of Jesus Christ,
crucified and resurrected.

Perhaps no greater proof of this power can be
seen in our day and age than in the movie
"The Passion of the Christ.“
It’s reported to have been the number one
movie in Turkey, Egypt, and in several other
middle eastern countries.
Christian missionaries reported Muslims going
to see the film and believing in Christ as
Savior.

I would hardly call that movie seeker sensitive.
I would hardly call it inoffensive, if anything it is
extremely offensive, but that's the nature of the
message of the gospel, it is offensive to learn
that your sin and my sin sent Jesus to die on
the cross. It is extremely offensive to come to
terms with the fact that because of our sins He
suffered and died a cruel and horrible death.

We must never take the offense out of the
gospel, lest we convey a message that fails to
show the sinfulness of man.
We should not seek to be offensive,
1 Peter 3:15 ESV but in your hearts honor
Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared
to make a defense to anyone who asks you for
a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it
with gentleness and respect,

While our message is offensive, we, as
Christ's messengers should speak the truth in
love, not in anger or with a spirit of self-
righteousness.
Paul preached Jesus, and so should you and
I.

Now, that was the content of His message, but
what was his communication method?
How did he approach these Epicurean and
Stoic philosophers?
That brings us to our next observation.

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at
Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as
he saw that the city was full of idols.

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the
Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive
that in every way you are very religious. 23 For
as I passed along and observed the objects of
your worship, I found also an altar with this
inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What
therefore you worship as unknown, this I
proclaim to you.

First and foremost Paul understood to whom
he was speaking.
It is very important to know your audience.
While the content of the message must never
vary. If you are preaching to Kenyan farmers
you will approach the gospel one way. If you
are speaking to Wall Street stockbrokers, you
will approach it another way.

How you approach your audience depends
upon who they are, and you know that by
observation.
Paul was in Athens, he was among
philosophers, educated people who thought
they knew more than they did, he knew them
to be religious and that's where he began.

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.

If you study Paul's missionary methods, you'll
find that in nearly every city Paul preached,
the first place he went was to the Jews.
Why? Because, remember, Christianity is the
fulfillment of Judaism.
Jesus is the Messiah foretold by the Jewish
prophets. Paul went to a place where he could
find common ground.

He preached to the Jews and to the God-
fearing gentiles.
He began with people who had a similar world
view as he did. But then he took it to the
market place, where the pagans would be, and
he dialogued with them.
That's what the scripture says, he carried on a
conversation, reasoned, with them.

He listened to their questions, and he
responded with God's answers.
Sharing the gospel is more than merely telling
others what you know and believe, it is also
taking the time to listen and answer their
questions.
Paul did both, but he did so from a position of
understanding.

Paul was well versed in the philosophy of the
day.
He had studied their beliefs, after all, Judaism
was an ancient religion, and the educated
Jews of his day had learned how to be
apologists for their belief in one God.

Paul took this understanding and applied it to
his gospel presentation.
The scripture, in verse 18, says he was
conversing, or debating with them.

In verse 28 we find Paul actually quoting one
of their poets. Paul was well versed, not only
in their philosophy, but also in their traditions
and their literature.
Paul had become a student of his culture so
he would better be able to convey the
message of Christ. Paul had become all things
to all men that he might save some.

He was willing to invest his time, his mind and
his life in doing whatever it took to reach
others with the message of Christ.
So, understanding his culture, knowing their
literature, their religious thoughts, their
philosophical underpinnings, Paul confronts
them.

23 For as I passed along and observed the
objects of your worship, I found also an altar
with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.'
What therefore you worship as unknown, this I
proclaim to you.

There came a point when the preliminary
groundwork had been laid and Paul cut to the
chase.
He confronted them about the differences
between the falsehoods they believed and
what He knew to be true.
This is a difficult thing for many modern day
Christians.

We are welcome to share Christ with others,
so long as we don't tell them…
John 14:6 ESV Jesus said to him, "I am the
way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me.
It is the exclusivity of Christ, that causes many
Christians problems.

Paul understood that he had to come to a
point of confrontation, to a point where he
showed them the difference between truth and
error.
If we are going to faithfully present the gospel
to our culture, we will have to come to that
point of confrontation.
From there he simply presented the gospel.

24 The God who made the world and
everything in it, being Lord of heaven and
earth, does not live in temples made by man,
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.

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 the
boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they
should seek God in the hope that they might
feel their way toward him and find him.

Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
28 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.' 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 the art and
imagination of man.

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked,
but now he commands all people everywhere
to repent, 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."

32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of
the dead, some mocked. But others said, "We
will hear you again about this."

He starts in verse 24 with the One God as the
Creator of all things, supreme above all of
creation and sovereign in the universe.
He tells them that everything that is comes
from God, and that all of humanity has been
created by Him, and that God is the God of
time, of life and of death.

In verse 27 he says that man does not seek
after God on his own because of his
sinfulness, but that man is theistic because we
have been created in His image. From there
he declares to them that God has revealed
Himself to humanity in the form of His only
Son Jesus, who will come and judge the earth,
and He preaches the resurrection to them and
in verse 30 calls them to repent.

This is the gospel.
That God created us, that sin separates us
from Him, that only through the completed
work of Jesus (death, burial & resurrection)
can we be in right relationship with God and
that unless we come to know Him we will face
an inevitable judgment.

Notice with me, in verse 32 that after he
preached the gospel, some mocked. But
others said, "We will hear you again about
this."

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked,
but now he commands all people everywhere
to repent,…
33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But
some men joined him and believed, among
whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and
a woman named Damaris and others with
them.

The call to repentance in verse 30 culminates
in verse 34 where the scripture says, "But
some men joined him and believed."
God has not called us to be successful; He
has called us to be faithful.

Paul used his knowledge of the culture, his
passion for the gospel, and the opportunity
God gave him to preach the gospel.
His faithfulness resulted in people being
saved.

The mandate of our Lord remains the same for
us as it has for all Christians over the last two
millennia.
As we go we are to make, not mere
decisions…

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded
you. And behold, I am with you always, to the
end of the age." Matthew 28:19,20 ESV

Mark 16:15 ESV And he said to them, "Go into
all the world and proclaim the gospel to the
whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is
baptized will be saved, but whoever does not
believe will be condemned.

We find proclaiming & obeying the gospel
(death, burial & resurrection) in His command.
Proclaiming:
make disciples, proclaim the gospel,
Obeying:
baptizing them, is baptized.

Romans 6:3 ESV Do you not know that all of
us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death? 4 We were
buried therefore with him by baptism into
death, in order that, just as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we
too might walk in newness of life.

That's what our Lord has commanded us to
do, and we are to do it with all diligence.
Ours is a culture that, while embracing secular
humanism, while embracing the experiential
tenets of Existentialism has rejected the
historic message of Jesus Christ crucified.

Many Christians are simply baffled by the
culture, they cannot understand it, they do not
like it and they seek to avoid it.
But Christ has called us to reach our culture,
like it or not.

And herein lies the tension for modern day
Christians.
We want to convey the message of Christ to
our culture, but not in such a way that will
seem tired and worn out.
At the same time we cannot compromise the
heart of the message, we cannot water it
down, or try to make it acceptable to lost
people.

The very nature of the gospel means that it will
always be offensive to those who are
perishing.
But remember, it is not our knowledge or our
persuasiveness that will win them over, it is the
power of the gospel itself.

We are called to share the old, old story, to a
culture that needs to hear it in the context of
where they live and who they think they are.
That is why it is so important for us to
understand the prevalent worldviews that lost
people hold. We need to understand the times,
in order to know how to most effectively carry
out our Lord's great commission.

Allow me to suggest several things I think will
help you understand the culture and thereby
better communicate the message of Christ to
the world in which you live.

You cannot share what you do not know. If
you are not well grounded in your own faith,
you will be a miserable failure at trying to
share with others what you yourself do not
understand.

Go online and look up things like post-
modernism, or Existentialism.
If you’re not yet living in the digital world of
computers take the time to go to the library &
do some research.
Put down the television remote and pick up a
book.

Engage your brain.
More than a hundred years ago Charles
Spurgeon said, “I believe a very large majority
of churchgoers are merely unthinking,
slumbering worshipers of an unknown God.”
May that never be said of us.

Don't look at it like a burdensome task, but
rather a great privilege.
I find that we are generally prepared to do
what we like to do.
Most Christians I know are always prepared to
eat, why?
Because we like to eat.

A wise man once said, “The gospel runs along
the tracks of relationships. The people God is
going to use you to reach are most often
people whom He has put into your circle of
acquaintances. Be sensitive to opportunities,
crises in their lives, moments of openness,
when they are searching for answers. Have an
ear open to the voice of God's Spirit.”

Don't give up. People in different cultures
respond differently. When the gospel is
preached in certain places in Africa people
respond by the thousands. In Western Europe,
it may take years of faithful work to see even
one person come to Christ. You and I have to
be faithful to our Lord in the culture where He
has planted us.

Living as a Christian in a Secular World

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Living as a Christian in a Secular World