Today, Perry taught one of the best messages I’ve ever heard about reaching today’s culture. He unpacked Acts 17 and talked about how Paul communicated with those outside the faith. Here were some of the lines that caught my attention:
- “If a Christian can only listen to Christian music, I wouldn’t listen to music because most of it is bad.”
- “I didn’t need pants. I wanted shirts, but he kept trying to sell me pants.”
- “We have to be willing to go to places where ‘good Christians’ aren’t willing to go.”
- “An idol is anything we like more than Jesus.”
- “There’s some stuff in culture that distresses me.”
- “We can’t ignore the world we live in. Jesus did not ignore it. Don’t ignore the people Jesus died for.”
- “Instead of fighting them, let’s try to reach them.”
- “For far too long, the Church has gotten mad at non-Christians for being non-Christians. I don’t get mad at a duck for quacking. It’s a duck. It quacks.”
- “I’ve never found where mankind can schedule a move of God.”
- “We can’t engage them with our language.”
- “We have to be willing to go to places that make us uncomfortable in order to reach people that no one else is reaching.”
- “The heart of Jesus breaks over people that don’t know him.”
- “We need to accept people where they are. Meet them where the are. And take them to a place where they can meet Jesus.”
I also very much enjoyed Perry’s message this morning. I liked the “Buckle” story… it’s so true! I want people to do things my way, on my clock, and to my glory. God has other plans.
Thanks Perry for a great message and thanks Tony for compiling a great lists of “Perryisms” from this morning.
“It’s a duck. It quacks.” Classic! That’s going to come out of my mouth a lot this week! Can’t wait to hear the whole thing!
So great to hear a pastor preach this stuff. You guys are awesome…thanks for all your work.
Hi Tony! We have not met, but I am a high school friend of Perry’s, and have just found Newspring back in June, and am so addicted now. Today was an awesome message, and it hits home to me. I am asking for all the prayers I can get for my brother in law, Mike. He doesn’t believe in God, and considers himself an Agnostic. He is waiting for a feeling or proof that their is a God. I have invited his wife, my sister, to church many times, but there is always an excuse. I told her I was going to invite Mike, and she told me not to bother. Well, after the service today, Perry asked us to pray for the people we knew that weren’t close to Jesus. For me, that is my sister, and more importantly, Mike. My sister at least believes there is a God, she just hasn’t accepted Christ in her heart, YET. I am asking for prayers for Mike. I prayed for him twice, and emailed him inviting him to Newspring. This is what I felt my heart to do, and what do you know?? He said he would love to come to church with us. He is a huge rock fan, loves to play guitar, and I told him the band is awesome. Whatever I can do to get him in the door, I will do. I am not very close to Mike for several reasons, but I have gone to the uncomfortable zone, visiting his satanic 666 myspace page, and emailing him the invite to church. I thought I would get laughed at, cursed, or just plain ignored. To find a response that he will come, blows me away. I just pray that it will happen. Please pray for him to accept the invitation to church, and experience and feel the love of Jesus and his followers at Newspring. Thank you so much in advance!!
These are great points. Look forward to watching this series on the Internet.
[...] on Tony Morgan’s blog he posted some “Perryisms” today. These are probably my favorite posts from Tony as I get such a kick out of the [...]
I’m so encouraged to see that more and more ministries are challenging people to go out and engage the unchurched in uncomfortable places. It’s not a call that everyone can accept as some environments could cause some to stumble, but for those that are willing to set foot into some places where people are hurting, what an awesome ground to plant seeds and watch Jesus work!
This is great, can’t wait to pull the vid up and hear the whole thing… I’ll use some of these next week as we’ve dedicated the whole month of August to focus on outreach and invitation.