Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Gossip Mill (05/08/14)
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TITLE: To Tell or To Hear | Previous Challenge Entry
By Diane M. Bowman
05/15/14 -
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The setting is Athens, Greece; the year circa A.D. 47. Our friends running through the streets had just come from Mars' hill. The Athenians and the foreigners who lived in this town were a people who spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing. Paul had taken advantage of their curiosity and urge to gossip to tell them the best news they had ever heard. The God they ignorantly worshiped, who they referred to as the unknown God, he declared to them. (Acts 17:21-23 KJV) What better way to spread the gospel than through a culture that wants to share everything they hear?
History doesn't give us a clear picture of the beginnings of the church in Athens, but we do know a few things. Some mocked, some wanted to hear more, and some believed. While the city was no longer the hub of Greek society as it once was, it was still a concentrated center of learning and therefore it is possible the message of Christ from Paul's sermon may have spread far and wide, paving the way for churches to be established in the surrounding region. God promises in scripture that when His word goes out, it will not return to Him void but will accomplish what He pleases. (Isaiah 55:11 KJV)
The culture we live in is much like Athens in that people love to have something interesting to hear and to tell. This can be a very negative thing if what is spread is hurtful, but like Paul, Christians today can use this insatiable desire to promote the kingdom of God. We have the most interesting story to tell that man has ever heard! Our enthusiasm for the gospel ought to be so strong that we cannot keep our mouths shut.
Jesus instructed His followers to speak in the light what He speaks to us in darkness. What we hear the Spirit whisper, shout in public places. And don't stop for fear of man but rather live in the fear of God. (Matthew 10:27-28 KJV) With a command so great, from so great a commander, do we really have any time left to speak of anything else? Our hearts must be so full of the good news that nothing else can spill out of our mouths. We have a choice each day: if we seek it, we will find something new in the word of God to revitalize our excitement and passion for Christ or we can find shallow, hurtful things to speak of others. The driving motivator in our lives will be revealed in what we say and what we do.
When will we be finished telling the story of Christ? When will we be free to speak of other things? The call to tell will be complete the day this prophecy is fulfilled: And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD... (Jeremiah 31:34 KJV)
As long as you are acquainted with someone that doesn't know the LORD, you have work to do. You have a decision to make. Will you feed the gossip mill with garbage or the gospel?
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For the first character or two I thought you might be going "the usual route" but when you put it with Paul and the unknown god, I was OK.
I also thought you did a good job with the teaching part towards the end.
It was just a good alround article.
Blessings, Lynn