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[0:00] gather together as the body of Christ, as the family of God. And, you know, one of the things I believe that has happened to the church is over the past probably few centuries, we've institutionalized the church.

[0:20] And we've come to believe that it has to be at a certain time or we have to do things in a certain way in order for it to be official.

[0:31] But as Matthew 18, 20 says, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. And I know he was talking about prayer, was talking about the church being together, but the church is not this building.

[0:48] And church is not 1015 on Sunday mornings or six o'clock on Sunday evening or six o'clock on Wednesday evening. You know what church is? It's you.

[0:59] And it's me. Anytime we gather together, and sometimes, you know, we find ourselves, and I find myself saying it too, well, I'm going to the church. Well, when I come visit you in your home, I'm going to the church.

[1:14] Because the church is not this building. And so this morning, I'm so excited to be together with the family of God. And we are going to be looking this morning.

[1:25] I'll start by asking you a question. Have you ever noticed how very often during our typical week, we talk about just about everything except what really matters?

[1:37] We talk about the weather, which nothing wrong with talking about the weather. We do have a lot of weather here in South Louisiana. It's either hot or there's a hurricane, right? Sorry to say, but that's just the way it is.

[1:49] And by the way, you know, we do this morning need to be praying for those in Florida, South Carolina, all along the coast. We have friends, the pastor of the church where we were in St. Pete, Tampa area.

[2:06] They're okay. Their church building is fine. But a lot of people have been flooded out. I think the last was over 40 deaths from the hurricane.

[2:17] So we do need to be praying, not only praying for them, but figure out ways that we can do something for them as well. Yes, sir.

[2:28] Yeah. And I think from what I'm seeing, other than the trees that fell, a lot of it was flooding.

[2:41] They had a big, big storm surge. Yes, Dane? Yes. Yes.

[2:53] Yes, Catherine was showing me that this morning on Facebook. When they say catastrophic and when they said unsurvivable, I believe it.

[3:04] I really believe it. We saw a picture of a Wendy's. Water was up to the roof of the Wendy's. I mean, these are things that really matter. People's lives.

[3:18] You know, we may chat about the weather, which at times it's important. We may talk about the latest Netflix series or the latest videos you saw on Facebook or something like that.

[3:32] But when was the last time we had a conversation that really went deep? You know, about people's lives. About what was important to them. What was affecting their life, their family.

[3:45] Or even, we don't have to talk about God every conversation we have. But when we are having a conversation with someone who doesn't know Jesus Christ as their Savior, what's the most important thing we could talk about?

[4:01] About Jesus Christ. Right. Because that's really the one decision in their life that will matter forever and ever and ever. You know, we can talk about their potential promotion or we can talk about whatever.

[4:18] But if they don't know Jesus, that's the main thing. And in our world today, are we not connected more than ever before?

[4:29] We have smartphones. We have texting. We have social media. We have countless ways to reach out. Yet, somehow, meaningful dialogue is slipping through the cracks.

[4:41] People would prefer to text than talk. I guess I'm a little bit old school in that area. I either, well, I want to either talk to you by face or at least on the phone.

[4:53] Because it's hard to have a conversation by text. And it's easy by text for us to really not engage at a deeper level.

[5:04] You know, we're plugged in more. But we're being told that we are more disconnected. And people are feeling lonelier today, even though they have a thousand friends on Facebook or Instagram.

[5:16] Or they get a thousand views on TikTok. They're disconnected. They're disconnected from that human element that we all need.

[5:27] And here's the thing. What if engaging in deeper conversations could actually change lives? That we could be making a difference by the words that come out of our mouths.

[5:40] Including our own life. You know, I find that when I engage someone in a conversation about things that really matter, I walk away feeling somehow lifted up. That, you know, we talked about something other than maybe something that was surface level.

[5:59] What if taking that step about talking about things that truly mattered could make a difference that we never could have imagined? Well, this morning, I want to talk about engaging.

[6:14] Engaging others in conversations that can potentially change lives. We get this morning into Acts chapter 17. And in this chapter, I believe it gives us a great demonstration of the cultural adaptation to the gospel.

[6:33] We saw some of it in chapter 14 of the book of Acts, where Paul was preaching about grace to the mob at Lystra.

[6:46] But here in chapter 17, I believe it represents the Bible's most dramatic demonstration of how to explain the Bible to intelligent unbelievers.

[7:00] Because Paul wasn't talking here in chapter 17 to a bunch of unlearned people. They were probably fairly well educated where they were, especially in this larger city.

[7:16] So he engages them in a conversation that ultimately changed their lives. So let's take a look. Let's read verses 1 through 4 this morning together.

[7:28] Oh, let's read it together from the screen. Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

[7:43] Then Paul, as his custom was, went into them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, this Jesus whom I preached to you is the Christ.

[8:06] And some of them were persuaded, and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.

[8:18] And let's pray as God blesses the reading of his word. Father, this morning, as we come to you, we pray that you would bless your word as you promised, that when we open up your word, when we proclaim your word, we know that it has power, and it can change lives.

[8:38] Teach us this morning, we pray. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray this morning. Amen. The first thing we notice in verse number one is that Paul and his companions didn't just stumble into Thessalonica by accident.

[8:58] We see, according to verse one, they passed through these two other cities, they passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, on their way to Thessalonica.

[9:11] Paul and Silas, when they left Philippi, endured a pretty difficult 100-mile journey to make it all the way to Thessalonica.

[9:24] They may have taken three days. That would have been maybe 33-some-odd miles a day. Or they might have taken a week, we're not told. But they walk from Philippi, they walk all the way to Thessalonica.

[9:41] And why? Because Paul had a mission. Paul had a mission. He wanted to share the gospel with those who had never heard Jesus before. And I think he wanted to have a meaningful conversation with those who didn't know Jesus.

[9:59] You know, very little of what Paul did happened by accident. Either Paul intentionally did something, or God changed Paul's direction. Isn't that interesting? He didn't just take it as it came.

[10:11] He planned. And he prepared. And then when God wanted him to go a different direction or talk to someone different, God put someone in his path.

[10:23] Or God said, don't go there. Go here. Remember that section in Acts? They tried to go somewhere else. God said, no, don't go there. Go here. And then he gets a vision from the man from Macedonia.

[10:36] And so then they go into Europe. The gospel leaves Asia and comes into, excuse me, into Europe. And why Thessalonica? Well, Paul wanted to go where the people were.

[10:49] Thessalonica wasn't a backwoods town. It was a major city. It was, not only was it the capital of Macedonia, but it was a fairly large center for business there in that area.

[11:07] And so what he wanted to do was he wanted to share the gospel with as many people as possible. Paul stepped out with intentionality. You know, what are we doing in our lives today?

[11:19] Are we intentional? As human beings, we have the tendency to float, you know, kind of wherever the wind blows or where the stream takes us.

[11:32] And there's nothing wrong with from time to time that, you know, we have some downtime or we relax. But for the most part, we need to be intentional.

[11:43] And if, when God gives the opportunity, and sometimes we need to take the opportunity to share the message of the gospel, to share Jesus with others, you know, Paul didn't wait for people to come to him.

[11:57] You know, he didn't come to town and sit in the square and say, well, I hope people show up. Well, I, you know, hope somebody comes today so I can talk to them. Paul went where the people were.

[12:09] He didn't wait for the right moment either. As Paul was, was, was want to do in verse number one, there was, he went where there was a synagogue of the Jews and what was typically taking place at the synagogue.

[12:23] The people gathered together. And so he had a ready-made crowd. So verse one tells us that Paul went to big city. He went to the capital city and in the capital city, as Paul typically did, he went to the Jews first and then he went out from there to the Gentiles.

[12:41] And so he goes to the synagogue and he initiates a conversation with those who were there. He knew that people needed to hear the message of the gospel wherever he went.

[12:55] And Paul wasn't going to sit back and wait for the perfect conditions. Paul, Paul created the conditions for, for people to hear. So here's the thing.

[13:06] Meaningful conversations about faith don't always happen by chance. Sometimes we have to open up the conversation. Sometimes we have to take a conversation about something and then we can, we can change it over to something.

[13:24] Hey, what do you think about this? Or someone mentioned something about their life. And we said, well, you know, the Bible does say something about that. And then we have the opportunity to share what the Bible says about something and then we can share, you know, it really begins to work when we have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

[13:44] And the Bible says how we can have our sins forgiven and how we can have a relationship with God. You know, Paul had a sense of urgency. I think Paul had perspective.

[13:57] Paul had the perspective of eternity. And he knew, matter of fact, we're told in Scripture, redeem the time. Buy back every opportunity that we have to talk to people about Jesus.

[14:10] How many times have we thought, well, you know, I will, I'll talk to them about Jesus when the timing is right. Or the timing doesn't seem right.

[14:21] Or, you know, I just didn't feel, I didn't feel like it. Maybe we need to be a little bit more like Paul and be more intentional and make those opportunities.

[14:34] People will sometimes shut us down. That's okay. Because our responsibility is not to reap the harvest. Our responsibility is to plant the seed. We may get to reap the harvest. We may get someone that says, yes, I want to trust Jesus as my Savior.

[14:49] Or it may be someone else will come along and share the gospel with them and then they will be ready. But we planted the seed. And sometimes we or someone else may, the Bible says, because he uses the agricultural analogy, somebody else may come and water the seed, may show grace to someone, may serve someone, may show them the love of Christ.

[15:08] And when there's a timing is right in their heart, in their mind, when they're ready to believe, then they'll trust Jesus Christ as our Savior. But we need to step out and take those opportunities.

[15:20] So the question is, who are you being called out to talk to about Jesus? Who do you have a burden for?

[15:32] Who do you have a, you know, I really want them to know Jesus as their Savior. It could be a co-worker. It could be someone in the neighborhood. It could be a family member.

[15:44] It could be someone on, who knows, someone that you come into contact with remember, Paul didn't wait for someone to talk to them.

[15:59] He went out to them. He went where people were. So we need to step out intentionally and think about that. And I'm here to tell you, I'm not, I don't do it all the time. I mean, that's just human nature.

[16:12] That's just the way it is. So we have to be, I have to be intentional about doing it. So Paul went where the people were in verse 17. Now we come to verse number 2.

[16:22] Then Paul and we see as his custom was. We've seen that phrase before because Paul normally went to the synagogues when he went to a new city. Then as Paul, then Paul, as his custom was, went into them and it says for three Sabbaths, for at least three weeks, Paul had conversations with the people there.

[16:48] Once he stepped out, he didn't just preach at people. Paul wasn't one of those that would stand on the street corner with a sandwich sign or a placard and say, you know, Jesus is the way.

[17:08] No, he went to where the people were and he engaged them in conversations. Every once in a while, you'll see someone at McNeese and Ryan.

[17:18] They're holding up signs. Not a problem with that. It reminds people. But we need to do more. We need to be engaging people. Verse 2 says, what did he do in verse 2?

[17:34] He was there in the synagogue and he was intentional and he didn't just preach at people. What does verse 2 say he did?

[17:44] He reasoned with them. We see four key words in verses 2 and 3. The first one is in verse number 1.

[17:56] The other three are in verse number 3. And I think those key words give us a clue as to how Paul engaged with people that he came into contact with.

[18:08] And I think the word reasoned is important here. Paul wasn't there simply to shout at people or force them to believe.

[18:20] He was having a thoughtful, respectful dialogue. He allowed them to ask questions and he reasoned with them. He shared from Scripture. I'm pretty sure he went to the Old Testament and showed them the portions of the Old Testament about Jesus, about who he was.

[18:38] You know, you're Jews. your Scriptures say this. Jesus is this Messiah. And so he reasoned with them. He opened the Scriptures.

[18:49] He explained to them and he answered questions. So verse 1, this verse here says he reasoned with them. This means he dialogued with them.

[19:01] Questions and answers. Paul's approach was patient and Paul's approach was relational. He engaged in relationship with people because that's what people respond to.

[19:18] People respond to relationships and if they, have you ever met someone that after a few minutes or a conversation or two, you feel like you just know them?

[19:33] I have a fellow that I've come to know over just a month or so and he doesn't live in this state.

[19:44] He works for a ministry and we were talking this week and we've had a similar trajectory from the pastorate.

[19:55] He's from Birmingham. He pastored a church. For those of you who are familiar, he pastored a church in Harpersville while we were in Childersburg, just a few miles, a little bit.

[20:07] He got there a little bit after we left and this is what he said Thursday when I was on the phone with him. He said, you know, I feel like I'm talking to my brother.

[20:19] Not a Christian brother, but he said, it's like I'm talking to my brother. He said, we have so much in common and I think when we have those kinds of relationships, when we engage in those types of conversations, people will probably have a little bit more motivation to listen to what you say and they'll begin to trust you and this is exactly what Paul did.

[20:44] So he reasoned with them at least for three weeks. The Bible said he stayed there. He went every Sabbath and he didn't treat, here's the thing, he didn't treat their doubts or their questions as a problem.

[20:59] Sometimes when someone either doesn't agree with us on scripture or about God, sometimes I've seen people almost take it personally and say, no, you have to believe this way.

[21:16] And I really believe that what Paul did was, I think he may have asked them some questions. They would say, well, I don't agree with that. He said, well, what about this?

[21:27] What does your scripture say? And he brought them to the Old Testament. And well, it said this and it says that. And I don't think he forced people to do anything. He reasoned with them. He asked questions.

[21:37] He allowed them to ask questions. And instead what he did was he leaned into the questions and then he brought out biblical truth. He allowed them to doubt but yet introduced the Bible in order for the Word of God to do its work because the Word of God is the power of God.

[21:59] The Word of God is living, is powerful, is sharper than any two-edged sword, able to pierce even to dividing asunder of soul and spirit. That's why you can read the same verse 365 days a year and get something just about every day the Holy Spirit can use.

[22:15] Why? Because it's living. It's powerful. And an experience that you had today or are going to have today, that same verse can give you what you need even that day.

[22:29] So, by application, how often do we avoid difficult conversations with people? Maybe we're afraid of not having all the answers. So we say, well, you know what?

[22:42] I don't know if I want to talk to that person about Jesus because what if they ask a question I don't know? what's a simple answer you could give? I don't know. Exactly.

[22:55] I don't know. But then how could you follow that up? I'll find out for you or I'll tell you what. I know somebody that probably knows the answer to that. I've had people call me and say, Pastor, somebody asked me this question and I didn't know what to tell them.

[23:13] and if I was able, I would say, well, take them here and take them there and this is what the Bible has to say about that. So don't be ashamed if you don't know the answer to a biblical question because I'm here to tell you I don't know it all either and I've been stumped sometimes and I say, you know what?

[23:36] I don't know but maybe I'll research it and see if I can find you an answer. So sometimes we take it personally sometimes maybe we get frustrated when people don't immediately agree with us and we feel like it's so important that we get them to understand but we fail to understand it's the Holy Spirit's job to help them to understand it.

[24:02] So I don't think Paul dismissed any questions they had and I think if they were trivial or if they were rabbit trails I think he probably brought them back to the main issue but in today's culture we seem to have we seem to be willing to have all kinds of conversations like we mentioned before but I think people really have questions about faith they may have questions about what does the Bible say about raising your kids?

[24:36] What does the Bible you know my wife and I have been having problems? What does the Bible say about relationships? Or you know I have this addiction what what can we do?

[24:50] And the answer is not always in medication the answer is not always you know the bedrock answer is Jesus Christ we gotta start from there and then the Holy Spirit goes from there and then yes we have groups we have others that can help with those but we need to go to the Bible first and it's okay to take time to explain things to people who may or may not understand because if we think about it this way if we're talking about Jesus if we're talking about things that the Bible teaches we're engaging in a conversation that can be life changing and it doesn't always change their life it can also change ours as well so it's okay to take time to explain things to reason to gather and we need to listen we need to listen to people I've had conversations with people who we were diametrically opposed when it came to biblical things you know

[25:57] I understood they probably were never going to move me off of what I believe Scripture said and I was probably on my own obviously never going to move them off of what they believed but I let them speak because I wanted to understand their perspective I wanted to hear what they had to say so we take time to reason with people because it's not about winning an argument is it because we could win an argument it's you know just like the military they could win a battle but lose the war we could win an argument but lose the person and so it's not about winning an argument it's about walking along someone as alongside someone as they explore the truth so think about it you're creating space for these kinds of conversations in your life when we allow people to bring up questions when we allow them to ask about their faith because Paul shows us that these conversations can be in fact life changing

[27:02] I'm going to ask you a question how did you come to know the Lord Jesus I want to hear how you came to know Jesus come on talk to me family devotions very good you were raised in a Christian family weren't you Lawrence okay who else Mike yeah you were introduced by a lady named Laura and you know there's there's different times in our life when we are the most ready for change you know that's sometimes it is a move when people move from one city to the next it creates some turmoil and people are ready to listen sometimes a life change I've had so many I've heard when they've had children they started having children and they say you know maybe we need to start getting our act together because we want to raise our kids right and so sometimes they'll say you know what we need to start going to church or we need to figure out how to raise our kids and so that's that's the moment and sometimes something that disrupts our life like a hurricane can bring people to be more susceptible what else who else how did you come to know

[28:33] Jesus Dane okay okay so okay okay so prayer of a sister family member Sunday school lessons and also the preaching of the gospel by by the preacher in the in the on Sunday or whenever was there a particular moment or or an individual that said Dane are you ready to trust Christ or did that come on your own amen amen amen

[29:47] Amen. Amen. And I knew at that moment, I just knew that I didn't want to go to hell.

[30:23] That's kind of my testimony. I didn't want to go to hell. Once that happened, the spiritual battle was going to end up.

[30:34] It's not prepared. Right. And I think we don't often prepare young believers for the struggles that come after we trust.

[30:45] Don't we? And so it got so bad that by the time I was 13, I made the dumb decisions. And I thought to start.

[30:56] And I knew what they were actually right to walk. And God had mercy on me. So he should have. So what brought you back to your faith?

[31:07] I was in providing my parents and more. And I came to work with God. And then I became different. I became like the person I never wanted.

[31:18] I became like the person I never wanted to have. I was in the middle of the day. I started to sell it. I had to get into alcohol. And I had a baby with a child. And my dad, who was one person I always wanted to have a relationship with.

[31:35] I watched him. I was here at the point where he became so included in Jesus and the Lord. And that's the Lord told me that he took him home and took him to the Lord before being released.

[31:50] And I watched him go in his strong hands to steal it, wrap the pain all the time.

[32:02] And I stood at his bedside while he was dying. And I asked the Lord for the first time, since I've walked away from my dad, he might have to go to the lake of fire.

[32:16] I'm on the lake of the fire. I don't want to go to the lake of fire. Amen. Amen.

[32:27] There are so many people that have a similar testimony, walk away from God, live their own life, and then somehow God brings them back. Who else as an adult came to trust Christ?

[32:38] I think what we see is almost every single one of us had someone in their life that either prayed for them, shared the gospel with them, or made a difference in their life.

[32:57] It could have been parents. It could have been a friend, a neighbor. And it's what we see here with Paul. He was intentional in sharing Jesus with others.

[33:08] And we move on to verse number three. So we saw the key word in verse number one. He reasoned with them. But in verse three, it says, And explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying, This is the Christ whom I, this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.

[33:32] So what Jesus, what Paul did was he focused on the core of the message. He focused on Jesus. You know, he didn't talk about Baptist or Methodist or which didn't, they didn't exist at the time.

[33:46] the nominations, but he focused on Jesus. Here's where Paul really sets the example for us. Because in verse three, Paul zeroes in on the core of the message.

[33:59] And that's Jesus Christ. He explained that the Christ had to suffer. He had to die and rise again. Then he pointed to Jesus and he said, This Jesus that I am proclaiming to you, he's the Messiah.

[34:16] Remember, he's talking to a group of Jews. You're waiting for the Messiah. And I'm sure Paul pointed to the Old Testament scriptures and said, This Jesus, this, this same Jesus that I'm talking to you about, he is the Messiah.

[34:33] And here, verse three, we see the key, three key words. He explained the scriptures to them. He had that dialogue. They asked the questions.

[34:44] He took the time. And then he explains what the scripture meant. He read them and explained them and proved or alleging, you know, he said that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.

[34:59] And he was careful to preach or careful to announce the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which really is the message of the gospel.

[35:09] Paul didn't get sidetracked by side issues. He kept the main thing, the main thing. Because he knew that the power to change lives wasn't in clever arguments.

[35:24] The power to change lives wasn't in using big words or powerful oratory. And we, we read of preachers from hundreds, hundreds of years ago who, by all testimony, were boring, monotone, but yet hundreds of people came to know the Lord Jesus.

[35:54] as a result of their preaching. So it shows you, where's the power? The power is not in the person of the preacher. The power is in the word of God. God's the one that said his word won't come back to him without accomplishing its purpose.

[36:08] So the power was in the message of Jesus Christ, his death and his resurrection. And that's what's, that's what the means of our salvation. Because if it were not for the resurrection, our faith would be meaningless.

[36:21] We would be just serving and worshiping another dead demigod, another dead leader.

[36:31] But the salvation, Jesus' resurrection proved that God was satisfied with his payment on the cross of Calvary. See, Paul understood that if people didn't grasp the message of Jesus Christ and what he did, nothing else would fall into place.

[36:46] They had to understand Jesus, who he was, and he didn't let anything distract him from it. So our question is, how often do we get caught up in side issues?

[36:57] And I find this interesting. When people don't want to hear about Jesus, they'll bring up, who did Adam's kids marry? Or they'll bring up stuff like, well, who are you voting for?

[37:12] They'll bring up all these side issues to try to get us off the main thing. So Paul, I think Paul kept the main thing, the point of his conversation, because it's so easy to get pulled into politics, social issues, and even theological differences that really, at the end of the day, won't make a difference with our salvation, and probably won't make a difference with our daily Christian living.

[37:41] I had a conversation with someone last week, maybe a couple of weeks ago, and we don't agree with each other on maybe everything. We're like 80, maybe 90 percent.

[37:55] But the whole point of our conversation, it was a friendly conversation, was, you know, the main thing is Jesus Christ died on the cross. He rose again. He proved that we can have new life in Jesus Christ.

[38:09] You know, so the things we disagreed on maybe was the timing of some things, which, that alone is in God's hands. Jesus even said, I leave that in the Father's hands.

[38:20] And I think, so should we, for the most part. And, so when we're having conversations about our faith, let's keep bringing people back to Jesus Christ, and who He is.

[38:33] Because, we need to keep the message of Jesus Christ front and center. And then verse number four, as we, we come to close this section of, of the way Paul engaged with people.

[38:46] And some of them were, what? Some of them were persuaded. It was the word of God. The message of Jesus.

[38:59] The Old Testament scripture. Because it's what they had at the time. It's what persuaded them. And a great multitude of the devout Greeks, Gentiles, came to know Jesus as their Savior.

[39:17] And, Luke uses, in literature, it's called the Litot, not a few of them, which means, a whole bunch of them. A whole bunch of leading women came to know Jesus.

[39:29] They joined, Paul and Silas. So finally, when Paul stepped out intentionally, engaged them in dialogue, focused on Jesus, something incredible happened.

[39:43] People trusted Christ. People, people responded to the gospel. And verse four tells us that many of them were persuaded and they joined.

[39:56] They joined together with them. And, in your, in, in our New Testament, we have a letter called, a letter to the, Thessalonians.

[40:09] Guess what? These were probably, became the core group of the Thessalonian church. Where Paul and Silas, Paul and Silas, reasoning with, these Jews, and, these, God-fearing, Greeks, as well.

[40:25] And quite a few of the prominent women. Lives were changed. People who, people who had never known Jesus came to faith because Paul engaged them intentionally, kept the focus on Jesus Christ.

[40:41] He was willing to let them ask questions. He was, he was willing to thoughtfully and patiently explain what the scriptures meant to them.

[40:54] They didn't have a philosophical debate. They didn't have a theological debate because their conversations came, resulted in some real life change.

[41:05] And I think this is the result of conversations that focus on Jesus. It might not happen in every conversation. But when we faithfully share the message of Jesus, lives are transformed.

[41:20] Maybe not immediately. Maybe we just plant the seeds. Maybe someone else will come along and reap the harvest that we began and that God worked on their hearts.

[41:33] The Holy Spirit opened the blinders, their minds, and let them see the truth of the Gospels. Sometimes we get to see the fruit. Sometimes we get to pray with people. Or sometimes we get to see people trust Christ as their Savior.

[41:47] So we don't always see the result of our conversations immediately. But when we step out in faith, engage in some meaningful dialogue, share the core message of Jesus, I think we can trust that God will at least work in people's hearts.

[42:06] It might be a month, it might be a year. It might be 20 years. But the Holy Spirit can take what we heard as a 10-year-old and bring it back as a 30- or a 40-year-old just like it was yesterday.

[42:25] That's the power of God. That's the power of the Holy Spirit. So don't ever take for granted that the word you share with someone is wasted. God will use it. God can use it.

[42:35] And I'm sure he will use it at some time. Either they trust or one day when they stand before him, he will remind them, don't you remember when you heard the gospel and you made that decision not to follow me, not to follow Jesus.

[42:51] So God doesn't waste those conversations. So whether we see the transformation now or later down the road, we know that the conversations about Jesus have the power to change and transform lives.

[43:06] So what does Acts 17 teach us as we close? It shows us that conversations can and do change lives, but we need to be intentional about the conversations that we have.

[43:18] Step out of our comfort zones. Sometimes it'll be having a conversation with someone who's not like us, someone who might be a little prickly about, you know, they don't want to talk about Jesus, and we don't have to force it down their throat, but then we can live the life.

[43:37] I trust that we would live the life that pleases him. But this week, think about who can you have a conversation with? Who can you intentionally begin the conversation about Jesus that might lead to life change?

[43:54] Could be a family member, could be a neighbor, could be a co-worker. You know, I find that I've heard some of you telling me that you've had prayer with some of your co-workers. And when they've had a problem in their life, who did they come to?

[44:07] They've come to you. Why? Because they knew that, sometimes they think, oh, well, they've got a connection with God, so, you know, I want to get with somebody who's got a connection. But I think it translates to them that you care about them.

[44:22] Care enough to spend some time to pray for them. So, don't wait for the perfect moment. Step out in faith and be willing to share. Conversations that change lives begin with intentionality and they're fueled by the gospel.

[44:39] So, let's commit to having those kinds of conversation. Conversations that point people to Jesus and ultimately can change lives for eternity.

[44:51]  Nice to people to plant hakk