I change my mind

I Changed My Mind

30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, (, NKJV)

Note: The word repentance (metánoia- metá,"changed after being with"/noia,"think") It means to change your mind and your purpose. It is not just a temporary change of behavior.

Question: • What have you changed your mind about in this season of your life? • Do the people around you believe that you have changed your mind? • Who in your world are you desperately trying to get to change their mind?

Three Groups That Changed Their Minds • The Thessalonians (Some changed their minds after listening for three weeks) • The Bereans (Some changed their minds after checking the Scriptures) • The Athenians (Some changed after Paul challenged their false gods)

Examples of People That Were Hard to Change

1. Paul changes the minds of devout Greeks and leading women • 17:1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where

there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sab- baths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the lead- ing women, joined Paul and Silas.

2. Paul could not change the minds of everybody (They assault Jason a follower of Paul)

5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the mar-

ketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and

sought to bring them out to the people.

6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city,

crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. 7 Jason has har- bored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king— Jesus.” 8 And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. 9 So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

3. Paul changes the minds of Bereans

• 10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived,

they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalo- nica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

4. Paul could not change the minds of all the Thessalonians • 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Be-

rea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. 14 Then immediately the brethren sent Paul

away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

5. Paul could not change the minds of all the Athenians • 16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw

that the city was given over to idols. 17 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.

6. Paul could not change the mind of all the Philosophers

• 18 Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” 21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

7. Paul tries to change the minds of the Athenians

22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things

you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:

24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the bounda- ries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that 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 have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 There- fore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or sil- ver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.

30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,

31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” 32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Note: Paul understood this process because God had to change his mind () 1. God exposed him to a sermon by a deacon named Stephen ( ) 2. God gave him time to think about it and change his mind (, He starts to persecutes the church.) 3. God smacks him and blinds him for a season (, He comes to himself. )

Note: Paul repents and changes his mind

Conclusion:

What Changing Your Mind Is Not

Changing your daily religious habits is not by itself proof you have changed (or repented)

Changing your church membership by itself is not a sign you have changed your mind (or repented)

Changing to develop a love relationship is not a sign you have changed your mind

Changing to become a preacher does not mean you have changed your mind (you may like telling

people what to and the public attention)

Question: Have you changed your mind?