Acts 17:1-15 | Upside Down

Um it's a joy to be here.

As Zach said, my name is Austin, and uh what a pleasure to get to be with you guys this morning.

Um man, it's um it's pretty surreal to see what God's doing here.

Uh and and and honestly, I just want to honor Zach.

Uh he's he's a he's a guy that over the past 12, has it really been 12 years?

You said 12.

Uh over the past 12 years, man, to see God work in his life.

Uh I remember the first time just down the road from here, I got to see him preach.

And um, I you know, I I'm I was not a very good leader.

Uh I just was like, hey, go preach.

And uh and he got up and preached.

And uh man, it was just like in that moment, I was like, oh my gosh, uh God's hand is on this dude's life.

And um, I, you know, I'm sure you've observed that, but I just want to honor him in front of you because you need to know, like, man, God's hand is on his life in a special way.

And um, and and you know, to see what's happening here, like, you know, sometimes when you're in in the early days of this like new church situation, this feels normal.

You need to understand this isn't normal.

And um, and so I I say that one, so that you can have a heart of gratitude, uh, you know, especially when you're having to park far so others can park near, or uh, you know, you're having to you know sit in the back or whatever, but also so that you can really see what is in front of you.

And I mean, this is a year in.

Uh I I promise you, God didn't, God didn't, you know, have a plan to plant this church so that a year in you could see all that he wanted to do.

No, no, no.

Like this is just barely scratching the surface, like skipping rocks across the surface of what he wants to do and can do and will do.

And and so like buckle up and God has you here.

You know, think of the body of Christ.

I've I've not, you know, it implanting the church up in East Lansing, Michigan, which I don't know where that is, doesn't matter, it's north.

Uh, implanted that church right there, God has taught me more about the body of Christ than ever before because what he has shown me and continues to show me today, seven years in, is is how perfectly and how how timely he forms the body and brings different body parts that are needed.

And so if he's brought you to this church, and I get it, some of you are new here this morning, you're like, bro, you're freaking me out.

I'm not even sure I'm at this church, like we'll see about next week.

But if he's brought you to this church, if you're like locked in, you need to understand he's done so for a reason.

And and that reason has to do with what's coming next.

And so buckle up, because if this is what he's done in 12 months or 13 months, like what does he have in front of you in the next 12 months?

And so, like, there's different body parts.

You know, there's serving body parts, there's giving body parts, there's mouthpiece body parts, and so on.

And so, like, just know if he has you here, it's because he's wanting you to get ready to be used for what's next.

And that's both exciting, but also it should it should put a little bit of, it should cast a little like humble fear over your soul.

Um, because it's gonna take sacrifice, it's gonna take you making intentional choices, um, it's gonna take you, uh, and I I don't say I don't think this is an overstatement, laying down your life for whatever's next.

Um, if you want to see the kingdom of God advance in the way that I believe he wants it to advance here in this city, and please know I have a heart for this city.

Um, I lived here for six and a half years.

Um, if if you want to be a part of seeing the kingdom of God advance in this city, like I believe he wants it to advance in this city, it is going to take you laying down your life.

And I'll just tell you this.

Uh, if you're like, nah, that's not me, that's fine, he'll move on and he'll find somebody who will.

But I believe he wants to do something through you guys.

So, all right, enough of that.

Um, if you got a Bible, Acts 17.

Um, get to Acts 17.

And I'll warn you, um, uh, I I typically teach the ESV, totally forgot you do get you guys do the CSV, and so I think you're gonna have CSB up here, which is a great translation.

Uh I probably need to make the change myself.

Um, but I got ESV, and so I'm gonna be reading from the ESV.

It's gonna show a little differently here.

So um, hey, as you're turning there.

So I don't know if you've ever experienced an earthquake before.

Has anyone in here experienced an earthquake before?

Okay, so I don't I don't know where you are.

I see a cow hat.

Is that cow?

Oh, that just says cow Lee.

I thought it was cow.

Um, but still, same thing.

So maybe that's where you experience it.

I don't know.

Um I weirdly enough, I've been in one earthquake, and that earthquake was here in Denton, Texas, in 2016.

Uh so so my wife and I, uh, which by the way, she she went to the University of North Texas, graduated from there, four-year starter on the softball team.

She's a freak athlete.

Uh, we met, got married here, and um, in our first year of marriage, we were living uh in uh just right off Locust in Windsor, Cooper Glenn apartments.

Anybody live there?

Cooper Glenn?

Woo!

Let's go, bro! Wait, what's your apartment number?

Maybe we just you know got it warmed up for you.

Let's talk about where that is.

That might have actually been our apartment.

That's kind of wild.

Second story.

Anyways, um, I didn't expect that.

Uh but, anyways, we're so newly married in this apartment complex, and uh, and it was, it was, it was early-ish one morning.

You know, I got up.

This is a little bit more than you want to know, but it's part of the story and kind of necessary.

So maybe not totally necessary, but I'm gonna tell you anyways.

So I I just gotten up.

And, you know, what do you do when you just get up from sleeping all night?

You go to the bathroom, right?

So um, you know, I go I go into the bathroom and I'm standing there using the restroom, and you know, sometimes, you know, when you first get up in the morning, it's like your your your your your legs aren't necessarily like all there, like you're kind of a little bit unstable.

And so I'm trying to go to the restroom and I'm like, I'm kind of wobbly.

And I'm thinking, okay, so I grabbed the counter next to me to kind of stabilize myself, but I'm like still wobbly, and I'm thinking, goodness gracious, like, what did I do last night?

You know, like I mean, was it, you know, was it something I ate?

I don't know.

I honestly I thought it was gonna be like that this morning.

I ate at um uh Cartwright ranch house uh last night and uh had a big chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, fried okra, because I can't get that in Michigan.

And I woke up a little wobbly this morning from that, but that's another conversation.

So I'm standing there and I'm like trying to go to the bathroom, but I'm like, I'm literally, my body's doing this, and I'm thinking, man, what is wrong with me?

And I turn and I look, and my wife, she had this old beat-up rake head that she'd nailed to the wall in our bathroom because she thought it looked decorative and cute.

Honestly, it was stupid.

I don't know why she did that.

And and it's hanging there, she'd like hang some necklaces and jewelry on it and stuff.

And I look over it, and this rake head is literally moving like this on the wall.

And so I I yell into the bedroom and I'm like, Leslie, do you like is it just me or is this whole apartment moving?

And she's in the bed literally like this, just holding on to the bed.

And it was wild.

So what had happened is uh uh that morning there was an earthquake in Oklahoma.

Of course, nothing good comes from Oklahoma, and and it could be felt all the way down into Texas, all the way up into Iowa.

And and so that's what we were feeling.

And it honestly, I thought, you know, earthquake was gonna feel more like you know, shaking like that.

But I guess being on the second floor of Cooper Glenn apartments, maybe room 2022, uh, it's just waving back and forth.

It was wild.

Now, I don't I don't know if you've been in an earthquake, some of you clearly have.

Um, but we've seen the news when earthquakes happen.

Like they don't just they don't just shake things, rattle things.

Like there's big earthquakes that absolutely destroy stuff.

And they and they change the landscape of they they they they change the landscape of things.

Their effect can be felt for miles.

Now, here's why I say this.

So we're gonna be in Acts 17, but but to get there, I actually want you to turn one page to the left to Acts 16, um, verse 25 and 26.

Listen to this.

It says, About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened.

So this is leading up to what we're gonna see in Acts 17.

Paul and Silas, they've been preaching the gospel, and they're thrown in prison, which by the way, that seems crazy to us.

It's happening all over the world right now.

They're thrown in prison, and it says, God sends an earthquake, and look at what happens.

It says, the prison was shaken, the doors were open, their bonds were unfast, their chains fall off.

Now I'm reading that, and let me tell you what this reminds me of.

It reminds me of what happens in Matthew 27, which I'm realizing I forgot to give you these scriptures, so I'll just read them to you.

Matthew 27, verse 51, it says this, and behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, aka earthquake, and the rocks were split.

Matthew 27:51

The tombs also were opened.

Get this, listen to this.

And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

You ever heard anybody preach on that part of the whole, you know, Jesus being crucified, all these dudes coming up out of the tombs and walking into town?

You ever heard anybody preach on that?

Yeah, me neither.

And I'm not gonna do it today.

So let's keep going.

Verse 54.

When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, Truly, this was the Son of God.

So when Jesus died on the cross, this should be an easy answer.

When Jesus died on the cross, what happened?

Okay.

Uh we're going with the theme of earthquake here.

So when Jesus died on the earth, I'm not looking for theology here, just like what happened here.

Okay, so when Jesus died on the cross, what happened?

Earthquake.

Earthquake! An earthquake.

Okay, now you you you keep going, just a few verses more.

Matthew 28, verse 1.

Matthew 28:1

Now, after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

And behold, there was a great earthquake.

For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

His appearance was like lightning and his clothing, white as snow.

And for fear of him, the guards trembled, became like dead men.

But the angel said to the woman, Don't be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who is crucified.

He's not here, for he has risen.

So when Jesus dies on the cross, there's an earthquake.

When Jesus rises from the dead, there's an earthquake.

Listen, here's what I'm trying to say the gospel is like an earthquake.

So when the power of God is released into our lives, it's like an earthquake.

It's destructive.

Literally, it's destructive.

It destroys the strongholds of sin that Satan has over our lives.

Um, amen.

It's disruptive.

It disrupts plans that we've made for ourselves, it changes the landscapes of our heart.

It frees us from the guilt and the shame that comes from sin.

It moves us in a new direction than what we were going before.

Listen, all of us need this to happen in our lives.

Prior to this supernatural earthquake, we are all imprisoned by sin.

We're all in bondage to our guilt and shame.

Satan doesn't want you to hear this right now.

That's why he's just sent this train.

This is important for you to hear.

Prior to this earthquake happening in our life, we're all held in bondage to our sin and shame and guilt.

The only thing powerful enough to set us free is the gospel.

Jesus dying on the cross, rising from the dead.

The same earthquake that broke Paul and Silas out of prison can break you out of prison.

The same earthquake that broke Jesus out of the grave can break you and me out of our grave.

The gospel is like an earthquake.

Now this leads perfectly into what I want to show you in Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

So flip back to Acts chapter 17, verse 1.

Acts 17:1

Acts 17, verse 1.

Acts 17:1

If you got it, let me hear you say I got it.

Did you hear everything I just said?

Did you hear everything I just said?

Okay.

Acts 17, verse 1.

Acts 17:1

Listen to what it says.

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, This Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ.

And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women.

But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of his brothers before the city authorities, shouting, These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.

And Jason has received them, and they're all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there's another king, Jesus.

And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things, and when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Now go back to verse six.

Look at what happens in verse six.

Look at what they say in verse six.

It says, When they couldn't find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, and listen to what they were shouting.

It says, These men, these men who have turned the world upside down.

This is this is crazy.

Paul and Silas were being accused of turning the world upside down.

And I love this.

As Paul and Silas were going out preaching the gospel, people's lives were being so dramatically changed, entire communities were being so dramatically changed that this is what they're being accused of.

And you need to know, more than it being Paul and Silas turning the world upside down, really it was it was the gospel turning the world upside down.

And you need to understand this.

Building off this theme, the gospel's like an earthquake.

Man, the gospel turns everything upside down.

You realize that, right?

The gospel is paradoxical in its nature.

Like it takes all of the logic that drives our society and flips it on its head.

I mean, think about some of the things that Jesus says.

Jesus says, the greatest among you, so the greatest among you shall be the servant of all.

He says, Whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

He says, Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

The whole beatitudes, he's like, Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Blessed are you who mourn.

Blessed are you when you're persecuted.

Like nobody says that.

Jesus says it.

The gospel preaches towards that.

He says, whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it or will find it.

He says, if you want to find rest, take my yoke, which a yoke, not talking egg yoke, talking about this old school like tool that was used to link these two work oxen together.

So a yoke was a symbol of hard labor.

He says, if you want to find rest, take my symbol of hard labor upon you.

Seems paradoxical.

Listen, Jesus' whole life was one giant paradox.

He's the king of kings.

Yet he wasn't born in this big old palace.

He was born in this, like laid in this feeding trough inside of this barn for animals.

Like he was the king of kings.

He wasn't born in this big royal family.

He was born into this poor, no-name family from this poor, no-name town.

He's the king of kings, yet he didn't come riding into town on this big white stallion.

He came riding in on this like unused, measly little donkey.

He's the king of kings, yet he didn't come through flexing his muscles and swinging his sword.

No, he died on a cross.

The gospel turns everything upside down.

And listen to me, if you are a follower of Jesus, it is your calling to be part of turning the world upside down.

Paul and Silas, they were just two ordinary guys, but they had the power of the Spirit, the power of the gospel, and a calling from the Lord.

And if you are a believer in Jesus, if you are a believer in Jesus, then you have that too.

You have the power of the Spirit, you have the power of the gospel, and you have a calling from the Lord.

If you're a believer in Christ, then you've been called to be part of turning the world upside down.

God wants to use us to literally change the world.

And that is not an overstatement.

Like I'm not trying to like overstate this, be dramatic, ah, be rah-rah.

No.

I'm just preaching the word.

Matthew 28 says, Go make disciples of what?

All nations, turn the world upside down.

Acts 1.8, you'll receive power when my Holy Spirit comes on you.

You'll be my witnesses right here in the city, the surrounding regions, and to the ends of the earth.

Turn the world upside down.

Man, how cool would it be if people accused us of this?

How cool would it be if people accuse King's Church of this?

What's the worst thing you've ever been accused of before?

Man, I'll tell you when when uh in in, you know, Zach remembers this.

Zach, there you are.

Zach remembers this.

First, uh uh, so we launched our church September 8th, 2019.

And on September 7th, so the date stamp is important.

We hadn't done anything yet as a church.

September 7th, the local news outlet wrote an article about our church.

We hadn't done anything yet, but in this news article, uh, they accused us of being right-wing, misogynistic, and homophobic.

That's a direct quote.

I'm like, dude, we haven't even done anything yet.

What in the world?

Like, what's the worst thing you've ever been accused of?

Man, I pray that that our church up in Michigan, I pray that this church right here gets accused of turning our cities upside down, turning the world upside down.

Let me pause here.

I think part of the reason that we fail to embrace the calling that God has on our lives to be a part of turning the world upside down, to be part of being on mission with Him.

Is we think that in order to like do that, we gotta be some like you know, uh a preacher or pastor with a big platform, or we gotta start some ministry that reaches thousands, or we gotta write this book that's best-selling, or we gotta go be a missionary to some remote part of Central Africa, or or we gotta we gotta look like that.

So we so we we look at what we you know, what we in our minds, for whatever reason, have identified, these are superstar Christians, and we think, well, shoot, that's never gonna be me.

So I don't have a part to play in this.

And we think in in order to have an extraordinary impact, we gotta be extraordinary people, but you need to know that's not what the Bible teaches.

That's the complete opposite of what the Bible teaches.

Do you understand that?

Um, Tony Marita, he's a pastor in North Carolina, he says it this way we don't have to be impressive people.

Why?

Because we have an impressive king.

And I like to talk about this because this is the heart behind the name of our church up in East Lansing.

We call ourselves the Commons Church.

And that that that comes from Acts 4.13, which you guys studied not super long ago.

Acts 4.13, where um here's the context.

So in Acts 3, Peter and John, they're on the way to the temple for the hour of prayer.

And as they're walking to the temple, there's this there's this crippled guy.

He's been crippled his whole life, begging for money.

And he begs for money from Peter and uh Peter and John.

And so Peter looks at him and says, Dude, we don't have any money, but what I do have, I'll give to you in the name of Jesus, be healed.

Bam! And he heal he heals this guy.

And so this guy gets healed, he's been crippled his whole life, he starts running around.

So naturally, same thing we would do, we see that something like that happen.

This crowd gathers around Peter and John.

So Peter and John start to preach the gospel to this crowd.

Now, important context.

This is just a few weeks after Jesus had been crucified in that same city for preaching that same message.

And so they start preaching that message, crowd gathers.

The authorities, the same ones who arrested and condemned Jesus to die, now arrest Peter and John and they pull them in front of the high court.

And so Peter and John, they're standing there, Acts 4.

They know what's at stake.

They know that if they stand their ground on the gospel, they're gonna get their heads cut off, they're gonna be crucified and killed.

But instead of cowering back in fear, they bow up to the Sanhedrin, to the high court, and they preach the truth.

They, I mean, they straight up say, I imagine them pointing in their fingers saying, Hey, there's no other name under heaven by which any man can be saved, and his name is Jesus.

And oh, by the way, you guys crucified the guy.

So y'all are the ones that are guilty.

And then Acts 4.13 says, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common, there's the word, common men, they were astonished and recognized they'd been with Jesus.

Um I I I I love this.

We named our church after this, and you know, kind of funny story about it.

So that word common, um everywhere else in the New Testament, the word common, it's the same Greek word.

It's koine, koin it, and it means common.

Um and I assumed, you know, so back in 2018, when we when we named our church this the Commons Church, we had a launch team that we were forming just like you guys did here, um, or before planting here.

And so I wanted to cast vision to our launch team for why we called it the Commons Church.

Zach, you remember this?

And and so, like a good pastor, you know, I'm like I'm like studying this passage and I'd look up the Greek using the tools that I have online.

I'm looking up the Greek, and I assumed it was gonna be coin, a coin, or neah.

This is the one place it's not that Greek word, it's actually the Greek word idiotes.

It's literally where we get our English word idiots from.

And I'm thinking, oh, you gotta be kidding me, I just named our church the idiots church.

Now I I call Zach and I'm like, I mean, I'll never forget this phone call.

I call Zach, I'm like, bro, you're not gonna believe this.

He's like, what?

I was like, I I said, go look up the Greek to the word common in Acts 4.13.

Now, you guys need to know this.

You've probably already deduced this from listening to me.

Zach is way smarter than me.

I got my education in Arkansas.

I can hardly read good, all right?

My Bible has pictures in it.

That's how I know what it says.

So, so Zach, I call Zach, and I'm like, I'm like, you know, you gotta look up the Greek to this.

And he's like, well, it's coin it, Koininea.

And I was like, ha! For the first time ever, I'm right, you're wrong.

No, go look it up.

And so I'm listening to him on the other end of the line, looking it up, and then I just hear, when he gets to it and sees what it is, I just hear him go, oh, like that.

And he says, Are you kidding me?

And I was like, no.

And he goes, dude, you're such an idiot.

And I was like, Well, yeah, I mean, I just named our church that the idiot's church.

And uh, you know, we we we had a good laugh.

But honestly, the more we thought about it, the more we love it, and here's why think about what Paul says, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 26.

1 Corinthians 1:26

He says, For consider your calling, brothers.

Not many of you were wise according to worldly.

Standards.

Not many were powerful.

Not many were of noble birth.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Here's the point.

We don't have to be extraordinary people to have an extraordinary impact because we have an extraordinary God.

And so how did these guys turn the world upside down?

It's simple.

Here you go.

They had the power of the gospel and they had the power of the Spirit and they had a calling from the Lord.

And you see this all throughout the book of Acts.

Wherever the gospel is preached, wherever the Spirit is at work, things were being completely shaken up and turned upside down.

And that's my prayer for you.

That's my prayer for us.

God, would you use us to turn this world upside down?

And I think, man, if you're here, we could probably all agree this world needs a little bit of turning upside down.

But let's keep going in a practical, tangible way.

How are these guys turning the world upside down?

I want to show you three things that they did.

All right, I'm going to be a good preacher today, give you three things.

They're all going to start with the same letter.

So here you go.

Look at Acts 17, verse 16.

Acts 17:16

Practically speaking, what were they doing that aided them in turning the world upside down?

So Acts 17, 16 says this.

Now, while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.

And some said, What does this babbler wish to say?

Others said he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities, other gods, because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

And they took him, brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting.

For you bring some strange things to our ears.

We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean.

Now, verse 21, all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Verse 22.

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, spoke.

He spoke.

So I'm going to give you three things, practically speaking, that aided them in turning the world upside down.

And here's number one.

First, they saw.

They saw.

Everybody say they saw.

They saw.

So go back to verse 16.

It's straight from the text.

It says, Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

So to say that his spirit was provoked is like a fancy way to say he got angry.

He got angry.

Now what made him angry?

What made him angry is what he saw.

So here's what I picture was happening.

Paul was walking through the city of Athens and he was observing the culture.

Like I imagine he even prayed as he was walking through the marketplaces, prayed as he walked through the city, and as he prayed, God helped him to see.

As he observed culture, he saw so much brokenness and so much sin.

And I just I want to pause there and say, man, have you ever done that?

Like, I, you know, this is this is something I have to continually like like challenge myself with.

It's like, Lord, as I'm, I want to be aware of what you're doing in the room, whether it's this room, or whether it's at the airport later, or whether it's at the grocery store, or at the coffee shop, or at school, or whatever.

Like, Lord, open my eyes to see what's happening here.

And I believe that's that's what Paul would do.

And God was showing him.

And as he was saying, his spirit was provoked.

So um years ago, uh, when I was actually leading a college ministry here uh in in Denton, um at UNT.

Um so UNT, the how many UNT students we got in here?

Let's go.

Uh so you guys have a student union now.

Um I I remember the student union that was there before the one you have now.

And the one you have now is nice, or at least it was when they built it.

I don't know, maybe I'll trash it since.

But um it was so nice when they built it.

And one of the things, and and I'm curious, I'm somebody can tell me afterwards if this is still happening.

They um when they first built it, I've like on the main level, they kind of built this area where they could do these like interactive art exhibit kind of things.

Um, do they still have that?

Sweet.

Okay, so the I think I think this was the first one they ever did.

It wasn't really an art exhibit, but it was an interactive exhibit.

And they they did this thing where they said, post your secrets, and then they put all these like note cards out with thumbtacks and pens so for people who could write on the on the note cards and then post their secrets.

And uh, and and it was actually pretty wild to like go and read these things.

I I remember going, there were thousands of note cards all over these walls, multiple walls set up.

And some people didn't take it serious, you know.

Like one dude was walking around saying I farted here, I farted there, you know, whatever.

But like most people I think took it pretty serious.

And I I spent like an hour one day just walking around reading the different things people put on the cards, and it was it it it I'm honestly to use the language here, it provoked my spirit.

I mean, multiple people talking about um you know how they've been, I don't know, things happening into their life, you know, abused by a parent, um, you know, sexually abused, raped, whatever.

Uh mo multiple people talking about how they were struggling with suicidal thoughts.

And um, in fact, I remember a couple of cards multiple people said something along the lines of, you know, I I just tried to commit suicide this last week.

Or I remember one.

I vividly remember reading one saying I plan to commit suicide later this week.

Um and then there were some that were like, there were a lot that were like, man, people think I have all the friends in the world, but I'm so alone.

Um people think I'm you know Mr.

Confident, but I'm so self-conscious, and I live in fear of everybody around me.

I mean, just stuff like this.

And I remember just walking through, reading each one.

Man, it it it it it provoked my spirit, honestly.

Um and that that you know that week just so happened to be the first week we could ever we had ever held our college ministry that I was leading at that point on campus, right there in the Lyceum.

So we got to preach the gospel to that in the moment.

And uh multiple people responded to that.

But the point I'm making is man, if we want to be used by God to turn the world upside down, listen, it starts with seeing.

They saw.

It starts with seeing, it starts with simply opening our eyes and being observant of the culture around us.

It starts with asking God to show us what he's seeing.

And I want to say this, I want to say this with grace and truth.

You don't know me, so I'm not gonna be like too loud or angry about it.

But guys, if if we continue spending so much time looking down at our phones, just scrolling, we will never be used by God to turn the world upside down because we'll never look up long enough to see what he wants to show us.

So, number one, they saw.

Number two, they spoke.

Everybody say they spoke.

Verse 17, it says, So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Which by the way, here's kind of what I hope you see in this.

Um, it doesn't take some superstar to see.

Do you realize that it doesn't take a superstar to see, it doesn't take a superstar to speak.

So they they spoke.

Again, verse 17, it says, So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

That word reasoned in the Greek is the word dealegomite.

It's where we get our English word dialogue from.

Now point that out because they didn't turn the world upside down because they got up in front of thousands of people and preached.

They didn't turn the world upside down because they were fearless to preach or speak in front of large crowds.

No.

They turned the world upside down because they simply dialogued with people.

They had conversations.

And look at what kind of people did they have conversations with?

It says Jews and devout persons.

In other words, they had conversations with religious people.

Let me just ask, how many of you know religious people who are completely lost?

Yeah.

How many of you used to be that religious person that was completely lost?

Yep.

They had conversations with the religious people.

They also, it says, they had conversations, they dialogued, they spoke with those in the marketplace, it says, who happened to be there.

I love that line.

Because all they were doing is, all right, God, wherever I'm going, open my eyes to see.

Open my eyes to see what you're doing, where you where you want me to jump in.

And as they saw, then they just spoke with whoever happened to be there.

I mean, they're going to the marketplace, aka, you know, at the store, at the coffee shop, at the gym, at school, like just in the normal pathways of their day.

God help me see, and then I'll speak.

And that's what they did.

They had conversations with people they ran into.

Um, one of our seven values at the commons is neighboring.

We believe God puts us where we are with intentionality, so we want to live where we are with intentionality.

And that's the heart behind it, right there.

Like, man, it'd be interesting.

It'd be an interesting thing to do for you guys to plug, you know, plug all the addresses of this church into a Google map and just like show all the dots on the map.

And it would be, it would give you a great vision for like the reality of man, if everybody would simply just speak in the circles that God has put them in, you could reach this entire city as a church this size.

Like if we would just own our block, if we would just own our circles, our our orbits of influence.

So, like, that's not asking you to be some dude to get up and preach.

You know, that's not asking you to be, you know, start some ministry that's like super strategic and doing that, you know, all the stuff.

No, just like own your orbit.

Own your block.

And in and you would see a movement of God take place in the world turns up.

Denton, Denton, Texas, Denton County turned upside down.

Um there's a guy, uh, he was in our church.

We actually, same year we sent the team here out to plant here, we sent him down to Tempe, Arizona to help plant a church at Arizona State.

Which that place is crazy and hot.

Um but this guy, when he moved out to Michigan with us, uh, he moved and was just a car mechanic.

Any car mechanics in here?

Any auto mechanics in here?

Okay.

Um, sorry, nobody help you with your car if it breaks down, bro.

Um so he was a car mechanic.

And um and what he realized was, man, he would spend 12 hours a day, 10 hours a day, eight hours, whatever, you know, hours every day working in his little mechanic bay, and there were dudes all around him doing the same thing.

And God convicted his heart of, like, man, you've put these guys around me for hours every day.

Like, what an opportunity to share the gospel.

And so he started having very intentional conversations as they're just working on cars.

I mean, this is an auto mechanic just working on cars, just having conversations with the people that God had put in his life.

And what ended up happening is the guy in the bay next to him, his name's Devin Seeger, um, Devin comes to faith in Christ.

Like super lost comes to faith in Christ.

Then Devin, um, seeing what this guy Preston had done, uh, Devin goes home and starts having conversations with his wife.

Devin's wife comes to faith in Christ.

Then Devin and Preston, together, realizing God's put them in this auto shop, uh, continue to have conversations with the guys around them.

Dude named Matt in the bay next to them comes to faith in Christ.

Listen, this this is this is the vision.

Man, if we want to be used by God to turn the world upside down, we've got to be willing to dialogue with people.

We've got to be willing to have simple but intentional conversations with people.

Hear this.

This might be the most important thing I say all morning.

Gospel movements don't happen because one gifted person gets up and preaches to thousands.

They happen because a bunch of superordinary people consistently obey God in the superordinary ways, seeing and speaking.

Let's go to the last one.

Number three.

They were strategic.

So they saw, they spoke, they were strategic.

Everybody say they were strategic.

So verse 17, again, says he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace, every day with those who happened to be there.

Then you get to verse 22.

Skip down to verse 22.

It says, So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, he spoke.

So we're seeing where he was.

Um, first it says the synagogue and the marketplace.

So these these were the centers of cultural influence.

I mean, this is where everybody was.

And then it says the Areopagus, um, also known as Mars Hill.

It was a hill overlooking Athens where the philosophers and the smart minds gathered to learn and discuss ideas.

So, like, he went to where ideas and education were born.

He went to where the leaders were.

Um, so if we want to be used by God to turn the world upside down, we need to be strategic.

And I love this.

Paul and Silas are being so strategic.

Think about this.

Today, where are the centers of cultural and intellectual influence?

Where are ideas and education born?

Where are the leaders and the future leaders coming out of?

I mean, I'll tell you.

Just down the road, just up the road.

University of North Texas.

Texas Women's University.

Like the university campuses.

And I want to put this in front of you.

This is why our network of churches, you see this map back there, this is why our network of churches is so focused on what we're focused on.

We want to do whatever we gotta do to reach the campus and plant churches.

Specifically, we want to plant multi-generational churches in every major university context in North America.

Why?

Because unapologetically, we think it's the most strategic thing we can do if we want to see the gospel get to the next place quickly.

Um, I'll throw two words at you: ripe and roots.

Ripe and roots.

So, number one, the college campus is the most consistently ripe harvest field for the gospel.

You know, you hear Jesus says Luke 10, 2, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest, or the harvest is plentiful, the labors are few.

Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labors.

He's saying, dude, the harvest is plentiful.

Let me tell you where it's ripe and plentiful.

Doesn't matter where you go in the world, the university campus.

And we could unpack why that maybe is, but it's just true.

It's why in this church, probably 85% or more of your baptisms will always be college students.

There's something God's doing in the life of a person, the stage of life they're in, that makes them either, you know, run away from Jesus or run to Jesus, but that's the moment they decide.

So it's right.

Number two, roots.

There's never point, there's no other point in a person's life where they have less roots than when they're in college.

And by roots, what I mean is things that root you down, hold you down, that do not exempt you, but sure make it harder to uproot and go wherever God tells you to go.

If you think about it, prior to college, you got a lot of roots because you're dependent on mom and dad for everything.

They are your roots.

When you graduate and you get a job that hopefully has a paycheck, that's a root.

And you buy a house that has a mortgage, that's a root.

And you get married and now you have in-laws, those are roots.

And you start having babies, uh, you know, that means you got grandkids for somebody's, you know, for your grandparents, or whatever, you know what I'm trying to say.

Those are roots.

All of that, that's roots.

And it does not exempt you, those of you who are in that category, from following the Lord and going wherever he tells you to go, but it sure makes it harder.

And so if we want to be a part of aggressively getting and advancing the gospel to the next place, dude, we got to reach the campus and leverage that to plant churches because it's ripe and these people have no roots and are willing to go wherever God tells them to go.

So I'm I want you to see what you guys are doing and setting out to do more of, is I believe, the most strategic thing you can do if you want to be part of turning the world upside down.

So we should always be asking God, what's the most strategic thing that we can do collectively, but also with my own life?

What's the most strategic thing I can do?

Okay, so I'm gonna land this plane.

The gospel turns everything upside down.

Um, if you're a follower of Jesus, it's your calling to be part of turning the world upside down.

How did these guys do it?

They saw, they spoke, they were strategic.

Listen, how cool would it be if one day we were accused of turning the world upside down?

Um I love seeing the differences in age in here.

Um and it's it's kind of funny, all the young people up front, all the not as young people in the back.

Y'all should mix it up a little bit more.

Um but it doesn't matter what age you are, what stage of life you're in, what do you what do you what are you gonna give the rest of your life to?

That's the question ultimately on the table.

And I wanna I wanna end by telling you the story.

So uh there was a woman in our church, she just passed away um uh uh just uh this past year, actually.

Uh her name was m was Marge Hogel.

She was our oldest church member.

She was uh 97 years old when she passed away.

Um when Marge was 95, uh she had to move into an assisted living center.

And so prior to that, she was in a connection group and super involved and all the things.

She had to move into this assisted living center.

She came to us when she moved into this place and she said, Hey, she said, like, this is Marge, about this tall, 95.

She says, Man, I don't want to go down without a fight.

Like, what are you talking about, Marge?

And she's like, I want to, I I I want to be used.

So she said, I want to start a connection group in my senior center.

And we were like, on the inside, kind of like, lol, that ain't gonna work.

But sure, if you want to try, go for it.

And so we said, start a connection group in your senior center.

And so week one, seven people showed up.

Um, week two, nine people showed up.

Week three, ten people showed up.

And in the first three months, two people, uh, one in his 90s, one in his 80s, came to faith in Christ through this connection group.

Uh, they were not able to leave the senior center, they were on lockdown.

Uh, so we had to go there.

And and we baptized them there.

And all these other people showed up that weren't believers living in the senior center, 80s, 90 year old, to watch these baptisms, hear their testimonies, and as a result, another one woman comes to faith in Christ.

And I remember sitting with Marge after all this was happening, and I said, Marge, sweet little lady.

Um, and she's at this point she's basically blind.

I said, Marge, do you realize how much Satan hates your guts?

And she's like, Oh, what?

And I was like, No, you gotta understand.

Like, prior to you showing up at Red Cedar Lodge, like he didn't feel he didn't, he didn't think he had to worry about this place.

These people, they were already headed where they were headed.

And then Marge Hogel walked in.

And now he's gotta pay attention to this place.

Marge uh she passed away this past year.

And I'll tell you what, I cannot imagine what the receiving line and what the party was like in heaven when she got there.

Because she, even at 95, was asking the question what's the most strategic thing I can do?

And as she saw what was happening in her senior center, she spoke.

And as a result, people who were in their 80s and 90s were coming to faith, being rescued literally from the grip of hell at the last second.

Buzzer beater, because of Marge Hogan.

And so if 95-year-old Marge has a vision like that, shoot, a 22-year-old, you, a 35-year-old, you, a 56-year-old, you, ought to have a bigger vision because you presumably have more time than Marge.

So, I don't know about you, but I want to be accused of helping turn the world upside down.

And my prayer for King's Church is that you guys would be accused of turning the world upside down.

Let's do that together.

Let me pray.

Father, I thank you for what you're doing here in this place.

And I thank you that man, we get to be a part of this.

Like, you don't just save us to sit us, you save us to send us.

And the fact that you could use honestly, people like us is crazy, and yet that's what you do, that's your plan, that's how you do it.

So, Lord, I just pray that you would cast conviction over the screen to help people see just the body part, the body of Christ.

How you how you design them?

And how do you make the leverage?

How you design them to build it?

Would you think of force?

We need to be people see if we see it.

Would you give you force?

We need to be people speaking.