Communicating Christ Effectively Acts 17:16-34, Steve Shepherd http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/communicating-christ-effectively-steve-shepherd-sermon-on-evangelism-how-to-43869.asp?Page=1

1. Adapted from a Steve Shepherd sermon
http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/communicating-christ-effectively-steve-
shepherd-sermon-on-evangelism-how-to-43869.asp?Page=1

2. ESV

9. A stranger entered the church in the middle of
the sermon and seated himself in the back
pew. After a while he began to fidget. Leaning
over to a white-haired man at his side,
evidently an old member of the congregation,
he whispered: "How long has he been
preaching?" "Thirty or forty years, I think," the
old man answered. "I’ll stay then," decided the
stranger, "He must be nearly done."

10. A preacher died and went to heaven. He
noticed that a New York cabdriver had been
given a higher place than he had.
"I don’t understand," he complained to St.
Peter. "I devoted my entire life to my
congregation.“
"Our policy is to reward results," explained St.
Peter. "Now what happened whenever you
gave a sermon?" The minister admitted that
some in the congregation fell asleep. "Exactly,
" said St. Peter. "And when people rode in this
man’s taxi, they not only stayed awake, they
prayed."

11. One man said, "My young son asked what was
the highest number I had ever counted to. I
didn’t know but asked about his highest
number. It was ‘5372.’ ‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Why did
you stop there?’ ‘Church was over.’"
There is no doubt that some preachers have it
and some don’t, but all of us who speak for the
Lord need to do the best that we can to
communicate Christ effectively.

12. An ad agent in New York city performed an
interesting experiment one time. He dressed in
ragged clothes, put on sunglasses, carried a
tin cup, and wore a sign around his neck that
read, "Blind." He spent the entire day in
Central Park and collected $44.10. The next
day he did the same thing under identical
circumstances, only this time the sign around
his neck read, "IT’S SPRING, AND I AM
BLIND." That day he collected $161.65!
There’s a big difference between
communication and effective communication.

13. The famous preacher Dwight L. Moody held a
revival meeting in Philadelphia starting on
November 21, 1875, with nightly crowds of
12,000.
His ushers were very well trained, capable of
seating 1,000 people per minute.
The doors were opened one and a half hours
early and in 10 minutes the 12,000 seats were
taken.

14. On January 19, 1876 President Grant and
some of his cabinet attended.
Total attendance was 1,050,000 with 4,000
decisions for Christ.
Dwight L. Moody was, no doubt, an effective
communicator!
In our day and time, we have trouble getting
people to come to church, let alone convincing
them to decide for Christ.

15. The apostle Paul was also an effective
communicator of the gospel of Christ.

16. Athens was an intellectual center of its day.
Here the philosophers, intellectuals, and
students would gather to discuss the latest
intellectual fads.
Athens was also a pagan city. As many as
30,000 statues had been erected as idols to
various gods in the city.
It was here that Paul effectively communicated
Christ to the people.

17. He didn’t win everyone to Christ, but he
certainly made an impact for Christ.
AND THIS IS WHAT WE MUST DO!
We must witness!
We must make Christ’s presence known in this
world!
We must make an impact for Christ!

18. From we want to consider four
qualities that made Paul an effective
communicator of the gospel.
Qualities that we can learn from and use in our
own lives to share Christ with others.
1- A genuine conviction
2- A broad knowledge
3- A profound simplicity
4- A realistic expectation

19. One Sunday Mrs. Calvin Coolidge was sick
and couldn’t attend church. When the
president returned home from church, she
asked, "What did the minister preach about it?"
The president replied, "Sin." She asked, "What
did he say about it?" The president said, "HE
WAS AGAINST IT."

20. The apostle Paul had a genuine conviction. He
was against sin!
He was greatly distressed that Athens was full
of idols.
Paul was convinced that idol worship was
wrong.
He wanted people to learn to worship the
Creator rather than creation.

21. If anyone is going to be a good communicator
they must have some genuine conviction about
their faith or what they believe in.
The purchasing department in a Kroger’s
warehouse has sign that reads: "Salesman,
before you try to sell your product to us, be so
convinced of its superiority that when you’re
finished, we will be more anxious to buy than
you are to sell."

22. If you don’t believe in what you are selling, you
won’t sell anything to anybody!
David Hume, 18th century British philosopher
who rejected historic Christianity, once met a
friend hurrying along a London street and
asked where he was going. The friend said he
was going to hear George Whitfield preach.
"But surely you don’t believe what Whitfield
preaches do you?" "No, I don’t, but he does."

23. If a person doesn’t believe in what they are
preaching or presenting, they won’t sell it to
anybody.
A guy came home from playing golf one day
and his neighbor asked him about his game.
He said, "I shot seventy." His neighbor said,
"Hey! That’s pretty good!" The golfer replied,
"Yeah, and tomorrow I’ll play the second hole."

24. Are you sold on playing golf?
If so, I’ll bet you’re not afraid to share it with
others.
And the same thing holds true with almost
everything we do in life.
If we’re sold on it, we’ll sell it to others!
WHAT ARE YOU SOLD ON?
Are you sold on Christ and the church?
Paul was.

25. ESV

26. Paul was man who had a genuine conviction
that the gospel of Jesus Christ was the truth
that everyone needed to hear!
He believed that Christ could save people from
their sins!

27. An ex-narcotics agent who started out as an
undercover agent in Miami got so involved in
the business that he began buying and selling
drugs for his own profit.
He was arrested for trafficking in drugs and
was sent to prison.
While in prison, he came under the influence of
Charles Colson of Prison Fellowship and he
became a Christian.
Since he’s been released from prison he is
working full-time with Prison Fellowship.

28. He was asked what could be done about the
drug traffic in America. Here is what he said, "It
won’t be stopped through legislation. It’s just
too easy for two small boats to meet in the
ocean a few miles offshore and exchange
cargo, or for a private plane loaded with drugs
to land on a secluded airstrip. We can’t stop it.
Our only hope is Jesus Christ. Our only hope is
that we can win so many people to Christ that
drugs will not be needed any more."

29. There is a man with a genuine conviction about
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the only lasting answer to all problems
that we face in this life!
DO YOU BELIEVE IT?
We must have a genuine conviction in order to
convince others.

30. Paul had a broad knowledge which enabled
him to speak to all kinds of people,
intellectuals, philosophers, etc.

31. An alumnus of Yale was asked to return and
give a speech. He said, "I’m going to speak on
four simple letter: Y-A-L-E." He spoke for about
thirty minutes on youth. Then, thirty minutes on
ambition. Another thirty minutes on loyalty and
finally, thirty minutes on energy.
One student asked another student how he
liked the lecture. He said, "It was okay, but I’m
sure glad he wasn’t speaking at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology." Wow!
That would be a long speech, wouldn’t it?

32. It’s all right to know something, but it shouldn’t
take all day to let it be known. Paul’s message
was not long, but pertinent.
We need a broad knowledge of life and what is
going on in the world if we are ever going to
effectively communicate with people and reach
them for Christ.

33. Some years ago Newsweek magazine had an
article entitled, "No Allusions in the
Classroom.“
It told about one schoolteacher who quizzed
his students about general knowledge. Here is
what his students said:
Charles Darwin invented gravity.
No God invented it, but Sir Isaac Newton
discovered it.

34. J. Edgar Hoover was a 19th century president.
No, he was the director of the FBI from 1924 to
1972, 48 years.
Sid Caesar was an early Roman emperor. No,
Julius Caesar was. Sid Caesar is an actor and
comedian.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was an American
president in the 17th century. No, he was our
34th president from 1953 to 1961.
Socrates was an American Indian chief. No, he
was a Greek philosopher.

35. Ignorance is not bliss! And spiritual ignorance
is certainly not bliss.
Most people know quite a lot about the things
of this world, but Biblical ignorance abounds!
ESV

36. Emmett is a Physics Professor at SMSU in
Springfield, MO.
There is no doubt about it, Emmett knows his
stuff when it comes to physics, etc.
BUT THAT’S ALL HE KNOWS ABOUT!
Wrong!

37. We all have discovered that you can talk to him
on just about any subject you want and he can
converse quite well about it. He has a vast
knowledge of many subjects and there is a
very good reason for it.
HE IS A READER & A DOER!
He reads newspapers, magazines, books, (I’m
sure many of them wouldn’t make any sense to
most of us.) and the Bible!
When something needs done he does it.

38. DOES THIS TELL YOU ANYTHING?
If you don’t read, you won’t know. TV won’t cut
it. It’s an educational tool, but not the best. And
besides, most people don’t watch TV to get an
education, but rather to be entertained. We can
educate ourselves by getting off the sofa &
doing things.
If we are going to reach some people for Christ
we must have a broad knowledge about life
and what is happening in the world.
We need to be able to converse with people.

39. ESV
Paul wanted to know about many things in
order to be able to converse with as many
people as possible.
Because if you don’t converse, you don’t
convert. If you don’t communicate you can’t
activate. That is, you can’t activate or stimulate
people to know Christ!

40. ESV
Paul knew his stuff.
He was well-educated and also knew his
audience.
He knew people.
If we are going to effectively communicate
Christ today we must know about people.
There are two basic facts that we should know
about people.

41. 1. People do not respond well to the
authoritarian approach.
A man came in to a barber shop and began to
visit with the men who were waiting their turn.
He was trying to witness to them about Christ
and the church of Christ.
The only problem was, he came on real strong
and began to tell them why other churches
were wrong.

42. DID HE EVER BLOW IT!
After he left that barber shop the men talked
about him and they were not impressed.
THEY WERE TURNED OFF!
We can’t approach witnessing that way.
The attitude that I’m the teacher and you’re the
student and you’d better listen to me.

43. The attitude that I’m right and you’re wrong.
Or the attitude that I know it all and you know
very little.
That attitude will turn people off quicker than
almost anything else we can do.

44. 2. A second basic fact about people is that they
have a short attention span.
Dr. Warren Walker recalls a sermon that he
preached in central Florida one time.
He got carried away and was running longer
than usual.
While he paused to catch his breath, he
overheard two men in the front pew.
One asked, "Is he through?“
The other said, "Yeah, he’s through, but he
ain’t quit!"

45. A long time ago preachers could preach for two
hours and people accepted it gladly, but not
anymore!
Fifteen or twenty minutes is more like it today!
Even in person-to-person witnessing we’d
better not plan on preaching a sermon to
someone.

46. Often, we may only be able to drop a word or
two that might point them to Christ.
Anyway you cut it, Paul knew what he was
talking about.
He was educated about people and more
importantly, he was educated about Christ.
And we need both to be effective
communicators of the gospel.

47. ESV
Paul’s sermon or speech was very logical and
easy to follow.
One of the mistakes that some preachers
make is when they preach a message that is
hard to understand or hard to follow.

48. A farmer’s wife was very critical of his
grammar.
One evening he told her he had a friend
named Bill and he wanted her to meet him.
"Don’t call him Bill, " she insisted. "Call him
William."
When the friend arrived, the farmer said, "Let
me tell you a tale.“
His wife interrupted and said, "Don’t say tale,
say, ‘anecdote.’"

49. That night, when going to bed, the farmer told
her to put out the light. His wife exclaimed,
"Don’t say ‘put out the light,’ say, ‘extinguish’
the light."
Later in the night she woke her husband and
sent him downstairs to investigate a noise.
When he returned, she asked him what it was.

50. "It was," he explained carefully, "a William goat
which I took by its anecdote and extinguished
it."
In other words (in simple language) he said, "it
was a Billy goat that I took by its tail and put
outside."
Some preaching is hard to understand.

51. One time a deacon and the preacher went to
an area men’s fellowship.
After the preaching and meeting was over, they
walked out and the deacon said, "That had to
be good stuff because I didn’t understand it
all!"
HOW COULD IT BE GOOD STUFF IF YOU
CAN’T UNDERSTAND IT?
It can’t.

52. It is said King James I became annoyed with
the irrelevant ramblings of his court preacher
and shouted up to the pulpit: "Either make
sense or come down out of that pulpit!" Good
advice.
If we preach and teach & don’t use the
language that people can understand then how
do we expect to win anybody to Christ?!

53. The fame and popularity of Danish writer Hans
Christian Andersen rested largely on his
children’s fairy tales, written over a period of
some 37 years and translated into scores of
languages. Andersen was well aware of this
fact -- so much so that late in life, he told the
musician who was to compose a march for his
funeral, "Most of the people who will walk after
me will be children, so make the beat keep
time with little steps."

54. We who serve Christ must keep beat with the
people who are listening to us and watching
us!
Paul knew his audience and knew how to
speak to them. He used a positive approach.
He said, "Men of Athens! I see that you are
very religious." He didn’t say, "What a bunch of
ignorant heathens you are." That would have
turned them off immediately.

55. Paul presented six simple points:
1- God is the creator of the universe
2- He is the ruler of the nations
3- He is the sustainer of life
4- He is the Father of us all
5- He wants to be our Savior
6- He will someday judge the world
You can’t get much plainer than that.

56. If people can’t follow what we’re saying in the
pulpit and out of the pulpit, how can we expect
them to choose Christ and to follow Christ?
In our witnessing or presenting of the gospel,
let us think before we speak.
And let us speak clearly, plainly and simply.
That’s the way to effectively communicate
Christ to others.

57. ESV
Paul also had a realistic expectation of how the
people would respond. He probably knew his
audience well enough to know that he was not
going to get a fantastic response to his
message.

58. Someone wrote about how to get rid of a
preacher.
1. Look the preacher straight in the eye while
he’s preaching and say "Amen" once in a while
and he’ll preach himself to death.
2. Pat him on the back and brag on is good
points and he’ll probably work himself to death.

59. 3. Rededicate your life to Christ and ask the
preacher for some job to do, preferably some
lost person you could win to Christ, and he’ll
die of heart failure.
4. Get the church to unite in prayer for the
preacher and he’ll soon become so effective
that some larger church will take him off your
hands.

60. The people of Athens probably wanted to get
rid of Paul too, but that’s not how they did it.
They sneered at him.
If people sneered at me, I don’t think I’d hang
around very long.
An old elder said the first three years of a
preacher’s ministry went like this:
First year, admiration.
Second year, toleration.
Third year, abomination.

61. Most of the people of Athens were in their third
year after Paul’s first sermon!
They wanted him gone.
They sneered at him.
There will be times in this unbelieving world
some people will sneer at you when you testify
for Christ.

62. One time Billy Graham was invited to one of
those talk shows. The host asked him in front
of his worldly audience, "Were you a virgin
when you got married?" Billy Graham
responded, "Yes, I was." As soon as he said
that the audience snickered at him. Some
whistled and hooted. But Billy Graham kept his
composure.

63. We must realize not everyone is going to
respond in a positive way to our witness for
Christ. Most will, but some won’t.
Most will respond in a positive way, because
the gospel is good news!
It is the best news mankind has ever heard.
Others will respond in a negative or nasty
manner and we have to be able to take it. We
must take our stand and take it.

64. ESV
Much of what we do in life is in vain, but not
our service for Christ!
ESV
Not everyone is going to respond nicely when
we present Christ, but we must continue to
respond to them in faith and love.

65. Broadway producer Jed Harris once became
convinced he was losing his hearing. He
visited a specialist, who pulled out a gold
watch and asked "Can you hear this ticking?"
"Of course," Harris replied. The specialist
walked to the door and asked the question
again. Harris concentrated and said, "Yes, I
can hear it clearly."

66. Then the doctor walked into the next room and
repeated the question a third time. A third time
Harris said he could hear the ticking. "Mr.
Harris," the doctor concluded, "there is nothing
wrong with your hearing. You just don’t listen."

67. The people of the world don’t have a hearing
problem, they have a listening problem.
They are not listening to the good news about
Christ.
Somehow we must turn the tide.
We must communicate Christ more effectively
so they will hear and respond and be saved.
Let’s band together. Let’s do our best. Let’s
reach people for Christ.