An Acts 2 Message to an Acts 17 audience

The title is paraphrasing a thought by Ken Hamm as he addressed the audience at a local baptist college.

The basic idea is that in Acts 2, Peter preached to a bunch of Jews - people whom God had been preparing for this very day with his word delivered through many prophets. They needed very little description about God, His will, and His character. On the other hand, the crowd in Acts 17 was addressed for the very reason that they did not know YHWH - the Lord and Creator of all things. To reach that audience, a different approach had to be used.

Considering the state of our nation, this should be such a compelling thought. When one thinks about those we assemble with and the lack of understanding of God, it should be absolutely panic inducing.

So, do we have to change the message to make it fit the audience? Paul didn't seem to have an issue with that. He addressed those in Athens in Acts 17 much differently than he did the Jews he found meeting in synagogues.

Does that mean we leave things out to make it more "palatable"? It shouldn't, we just need to realize that the way we've "always done things" doesn't seem to be working. Sitting in the pews barely paying attention to sermons that are hardly worthy of such, sleeping or daydreaming through bible study, waiting for lost souls to come to our gospel meetings for some "revival" when most of the members don't even show up - these things don't seem to be working.

We need to consider our audience and present things in a way that is both clear and reasonable. Many of the tracts that might be sitting in your rack at the building are quite old and are almost certainly an Acts 2 message directed to the Acts 17 crowd.

To be effective, people need to be convicted of their sin and understand the penalty and the price that was paid so they might enjoy salvation. Exactly how to convey that message varies depending on where the listener comes from.

In years past, those who were considered to be part of the church of Christ were regarded as "walking bibles" (or so I've repeatedly heard). Today, one is hard pressed to find a reasonable response to a request for "where is that in the bible?" Biblical illiteracy is at epidemic proportions.

The only solution is to start at home. If we don't know God's word, how can we effectively share it with others? If we don't know God's word, why would we even care about sharing it with others?

Are you prepared to share the appropriate message with the audience God presents you with? If not, what are you going to do about it today?