God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

In our last post from the book of Acts we saw how patience in us provides a spacious and beautiful and attractive dwelling for the Holy Spirit. (If you’re interested you can read more here: “We haven’t even heard there is a Holy Spirit.”–Acts 19:1-7 (And a word about patience) In today’s post we’ll learn from Paul how to choose wisely when deciding who to share Jesus with.

Acts 19:8-10

And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Acts 19:8-10

As was his custom, Paul enters the synagogue in Ephesus and shares about Jesus. For three months he made this effort until some began to speak evil of the Way, at which point he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him. Paul changed his venue to a place called the hall of Tyrannus. And he continued teaching there daily, for two years, so the good news spread throughout Asia.

Sharing Jesus with Others

I’ve shared with you in the Love Like Jesus book and in many blog posts on this site how, generally, it’s important to lay a massive foundation of love before sharing Jesus with words. So I’m not going to go into the foundation of love piece here. Today we’ll look at who and how Paul decided to share Christ with.

As he often did, Paul started in the synagogue. He reasoned with the Jews there for three months, and of course that was a good thing to do. “With gentleness and respect” we’re supposed to reason with people about Jesus, especially when someone asks about why we hope in Him the way we do. (see 1 Peter 3:15)

But after three months, Paul encounters opposition. And instead of focusing on those who opposed him, Paul changed venues and turned his attention to those more open to Christ.

Implementing Change

Today I read an article from the Harvard Business Review about implementing change. Often we humans have a tendency to focus on those who oppose us or disagree with us. But the author of this article points out that we have decades of research that says the path to success is to do exactly the opposite.

From the article:

• Sociologist Everett Rogers’ “S-curve” research showed that it takes only 10%-20% of a system to adopt an innovation for rapid acceptance by the majority to follow.
• Professor Erica Chenoweth’s analysis of over 300 political revolutions in the past century finds that it only takes 3.5% of the population in a society actively participating to succeed, and many campaigns have prevailed with less.
• Recent research by sociologist Damon Centola at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that the tipping point for change is getting 25% of people in an organization on board.

Jesus’ Method

This was precisely how Jesus went about his business of spreading the Gospel.

Billy Graham once said:

“Christ, I think, set the pattern. He spent most of his time with twelve men. He didn’t spend it with a great crowd. In fact, every time he had a great crowd it seems to me that there weren’t too many results. The great results, it seems to me, came in this personal interview and in the time he spent with his twelve.”

(Billy Graham quoted by Coleman)

Just read John chapter six to see how unconcerned Jesus was about gaining followers (in the short term). Jesus engaged his opponents but his main focus was on his enthusiastic followers and on those who were open to receiving him.

Paul’s Method Too

Today in our text we see Paul doing the same. Yes, he spent three months in the synagogue. But Paul and his disciples spent two whole years in the hall of Tyrannus where people were more open to hearing about Jesus.

And the good news about Christ spread throughout Asia (modern day Turkey).

“Lord, have mercy on me and on the dear person reading this right now. Help us not to focus on those who disagree with Jesus. Fill us with the Spirit of Christ and orient us toward those who are open to hearing about Jesus.

“We want to be used to further Your Kingdom Lord. Give us Your words to share with our neighbors and friends and family. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit and help us to share with gentleness and respect.

“And especially fill us with the love of Jesus for You and for those neighbors, friends, and family.

“In Jesus’ name we ask this of You Father.

“Amen.”

Notes:

Greg Satell, To Implement Change, You Don’t Need to Convince Everyone at Once, Harvard Business Review, May 11, 2023

Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism, Revell, 1993

Image of enthusiastic conversation via blahsfu on flickr — Creative Commons

Now available on Amazon!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others.

Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

• Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
• How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
• The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
• How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
• How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
• How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
• How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
• How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
• How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus.

(Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon.)