Can anyone be saved without hearing or seeing the message?  Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God"  Isaiah 65:1 and  Romans 10:20 tells of a people that will find the Truth. The gospel was delivered to the Jews first, then to all mankind.   Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." How important is it that we take His Word, the message of salvation to the ends of the earth?  It is imperative that we do so, for there is no other way that man can be saved without this message.

 

The printing and translation work of the Chinese, Isan, Burmese, Korean, Swahili and Surani which is the Kurdish language is in immediate need of your prayers and financial support.  All involved have been working hard to get to this point.  Some are ready for immediate printing and distribution while others are at the beginning stage of consulting and translation, but all need some assistance.  Immediate need is  $40,000 to start these projects.  So far we have raised $13,000.  Please prayerfully consider investing in this great missionary outreach, tens of thousands will be impacted. Would you consider sending a special offering to assist in this most worthy request.

 

Grabbing Their Attention

Article 2 in the "Preparing the Ground" Series
In Acts 17:16-34 Paul preached a sermon that many have considered a failure because he incorporated man's philosophy into his sermon.  The gospel and the gospel alone is the power of God to salvation, they say.  So, all we need do is simply preach the gospel.  Paul violated that principal and failed.

I say that his sermon was a great success.  After he left Athens, he went to Corinth.  Years later he wrote to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1:26-32) that there would not be many mighty, noble, and wise men saved.  Paul was certainly preaching to that kind of group.  They were Stoic and Epicurean philosophers.  Paul had two goals in his sermon. First, he wanted to show them that God is not an idol and to reveal the true nature of God.  His second goal was to preach Jesus and the resurrection.  He accomplished his goals.  His success is seen in that he won to Christ those few of the mighty and wise who were willing to be saved. 

Paul started with the nature of God rather than the gospel. Why?  It was because that was the key area of misunderstanding that kept them from embracing the gospel.  As long as they believed that God is an idol, they could not understand Him well enough to trust His Son.  He began his sermon with a reference to their "unknown God" and declared him to be the true God.  In order to drive this point home to them he quoted one of their philosophers showing them that their own logic and philosophy agreed to the facts about God that Paul was preaching.  By using their own culture he grabbed their attention and drove his point home.  Not only did he have their attention, but he had related God to a concept they already understood.  Paul understood their thinking. He met them where they were at that time in their understanding and led them to a greater knowledge of God.   How else do you suppose he won so many of this hard group to Christ with his very first sermon? 

The Lord Jesus did the very same thing.  He grounded His teaching in His parables in frameworks that were culturally understood by His listeners: sowers, seed, tares, vineyards, husbandmen, rulers, day workers, etc .  Those with hard hearts may have missed the spiritual lessons, but they understood the examples and Jesus gained their attention by using familiar examples from their culture.

When we preach to a hard culture, we must understand that culture if we are to get their attention and communicate effectively.  This is especially true among Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and animists.   You must learn where they have blind spots that keep them from an understanding of the gospel.  It may be that that will be the best place to begin.  In our next article we will apply these principles to Buddhism.

 

Great doors of opportunity are open for the Church today, the question is will we hesitate because of fear or cost?  I pray not.  Partner with us in prayer as we travel to Asia.    November 18th through December 20th we will be in Korea, Thailand, and Myanmar.  Then on January 8th, 2010, we leave for Beirut, Lebanon and then on to Kurdistan to meet with prospective translators.  Contact has been made with men of Pakistan and plans are in the making to meet with them about the Urdu translation.  Please make these trips a matter of prayer as we need travel protection and God's power upon our lives.