The Unknown God
Notes
Transcript
Paul has been beaten and imprisoned because of the Gospel
Paul continued to do what he is called to do
Church we are to continue to do what we have been called to do no matter the circumstances
So after the arrest and being in prison the prison guard is saved
Paul continues on
He goes to Thessalonica
While there he pours into them for 3 Sundays
2 And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women. 5 But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people.
Paul is preaching to them that it is only Christ
That there is no other that we are saved by other than Christ
This goes in direct contracition because the charge against them is they were saying that Paul is saying there is another king and it is Jesus
That goes against what the Romans believed
The Jews there don’t want to rock the boat and rise up against them
They want the security of religion without the requirements of a relationship with Jesus
They want to feel good because they have relationship but don’t want the work required to have a relationship with Jesus
It is only through Jesus that we are saved and He is the King of Kings church
This is what Paul is preaching to them
This is what He is reasoning with them
He reasoned with them
when we evangelize it is sometimes over many weeks and days as we share with them, sometimes it is over a meal or coffee, or a soda
Then Paul goes to Berea
11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men. 13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds.
Paul starts again in the synagogue’s
He is reasoning with them
He is teaching them
Their response is a dream for us
They are so excited about Salvation
They are so excited to study the Word of God themselves as Paul teaches they continue to dig deeper into the scriptures
Once again though it shouldn’t surprise us that when we are about the Work of God we will probably encounter struggle and difficulties and attacks
Those men that ran them out of Thessalonica come and run them off again
Now we like to think they should have stayed and argued even more
Yet they wanted to continue to spread the Gospel
They had won people there and they were going to continue to grow
It must have just been Paul though because Silas and Timothy stayed there
Paul was such a good encouraged and planter of the seed
And then He allows others to help grow
Sort of like the body and Paul shares about that
There are different parts of the body just like different parts in the church
With one goal of reaching people for Christ and Glorifying God
Then he ends up in Athens
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. 17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.
While he is in Athens
His Spirit starts to be provoked
This man is on fire for being obedient to Christ that no matter where he goes it seems like he must share the Gospel with anyone and everyone
Do you get that as you and I read through the New Testament
Do you get that from reading about Acts and Paul
Like everywhere he goes he is talking to someone about Jesus
So when I talk about looking at Paul's life and mimicking it or at least somethings
This is one of those things I think we should mimic
But please hear me it is not a script you able to memorize and then recite to people
It is as Paul did to spend time with people and reason with people
For us to do that we must spend so much time in Scripture that it just drips out whenever we are in conversation with people
That we must spend time with people
Not just people we like or want to be around but those who sometimes get under our skin
That we sometimes need to spend time with people who don’t look like us and think like us in hopes of reaching them for Christ
That is how Paul did it, that's how missionaries do it
And church it seems to work for Paul and for missionaries
So being provoked to share the Gospel with those in Athens
He beings to reason with them in the synagogue
Others hear about this and start to question about what he is talking about
22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
As Paul has walked around the city he takes notice the many idols of worship
and He notices an alter to an unknown God
Its as if they had an idol for everything including what they didn’t know
So Paul is about to introduce them to the God they don’t know because Paul knows Him
24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
Paul starts at the beginning that God created everything
Church I have said it over and over and over again to the point you probably get tired of hearing it but still we must say that God created dirt
He took nothing and created something out of that nothing
He is not created by us but rather He is the author and perfector of life
He breathed life into Adam
And it is through his resurrection as we will see later
That we have life in Him
Life everlasting
He was giving them evidence for the unknown God that is God Himself Yaweh, Jesus, the Holy Spirit
27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.
He is saying that God was there before there was a there and that He is not created by men like the other small g gods you have set up
That God is so close to each and everyone of us that if we will reach out for Him
Scripture says in Jeremiah that you will seek God and Find God when we do it with all of our heart
If we will really search out for God and reach out for Him He will be found
God didn’t create the world and then set back and say good luck
It may feel like that at times but your feelings don’t dictate the truth of the situation
Scripture is truth
So please hear me this morning
If you will seek out for the Lord with your entire heart He will be found
To do that Church Paul explains we must repent
30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
We must turn from the other in our life to full run after Jesus
You don’t get to carry sin around and look for Jesus
You must throw it off
To repent is to change to change our minds about something
To turn and to run to towards Christ
If you are confused about which way you need to turn
Read scripture and Ask God
If you are still confused Ask God and close your mouth
If you are walking the rest of the world that's a good indication that you are walking away from God
That God sent His only Son Jesus to earth to pay for your debt of sin and my debt of sin
This is what Paul is telling the people of Athens and it is what we are to be telling people in our lives and circles of influence and in our communities
And church again it is not some script you memorize and repeat but it is a message of how your own personal heart was changed and how Jesus forgave your sin
And we continue
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.” 33 So Paul went out of their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. 1 After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth.
Once again church it should be of no surprise when you walk with Christ, preach, teach and share Christ that some people will disagree and confront you, challenge you, want to fight you
In Paul's case stone him, beat him, throw him in prison
It should not surprise us as individuals that when we are about Gods business that those against God have a problem with it and attack
It should not surprise us as a church that when a church is about the Work of God those against God will have a problem with it and attack it
And yet church Paul is not fazed
Others were not fazed because people came to know Christ
God was glorified, and now people will spend eternity in heaven with Jesus
And Paul continues on about his business which is Gods business
Church I cannot say it enough but we should be students of Gods word
We should spend so much with God and His word that we can’t help but bring it up in everyday conversation
We should share how God has changed our heart with people, they should see it in how we live our lives
This morning church as we come to a close this morning
I would invite you to business with God
If you don’t know Him personally there will be someone down at the front you can speak with
If you want to spend sometime in prayer the alter is open
Would you be obedient in how your respond to God this morning
