1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,528 Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, 2 00:00:03,624 --> 00:00:06,552 where we are proclaiming the truth to the world. 3 00:00:06,656 --> 00:00:09,672 My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to 4 00:00:09,696 --> 00:00:10,728 this podcast. 5 00:00:10,904 --> 00:00:14,616 I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen 6 00:00:14,648 --> 00:00:16,300 you in the word of God. 7 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:17,576 Now come along. 8 00:00:17,648 --> 00:00:21,700 Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today. 9 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:24,856 Well, we're going to be in Acts 17. 10 00:00:24,928 --> 00:00:26,804 If you have your Bibles, turn there with me. 11 00:00:26,912 --> 00:00:27,676 Acts 17. 12 00:00:27,748 --> 00:00:29,820 And we are going to pick up where we left off last week. 13 00:00:29,860 --> 00:00:35,404 Looking at Paul in Athens in his famous sermon on Mars Hill. 14 00:00:35,532 --> 00:00:39,884 And most of you have, at least in some way, shape or form, heard 15 00:00:39,932 --> 00:00:42,444 about this sermon, or if you haven't, you've probably heard it 16 00:00:42,452 --> 00:00:44,360 referenced in sermons before. 17 00:00:44,740 --> 00:00:47,356 And there's great significance to this sermon. 18 00:00:47,468 --> 00:00:51,404 I think there's a lot that we can learn here in Acts 17 from Paul's 19 00:00:51,452 --> 00:00:54,264 message to these folks here in Athens. 20 00:00:54,392 --> 00:00:57,480 I think it's very similar to how we can present the gospel to 21 00:00:57,520 --> 00:00:58,740 our world today. 22 00:00:59,280 --> 00:00:59,640 What. 23 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:00,504 What's Mars Hill? 24 00:01:00,552 --> 00:01:02,504 Well, we're going to talk about that here. 25 00:01:02,672 --> 00:01:03,992 Paul gets to Athens. 26 00:01:04,056 --> 00:01:08,008 Athens is the center place for intellectualism. 27 00:01:08,184 --> 00:01:11,960 And we're going to see here in this passage that they love to talk 28 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:16,488 about the things of philosophy and the things of the world and try 29 00:01:16,544 --> 00:01:18,332 to talk about knowledge and wisdom. 30 00:01:18,456 --> 00:01:19,956 Um, they were really interested in that. 31 00:01:20,028 --> 00:01:23,396 And, and we live in a world today that is characterized by people 32 00:01:23,468 --> 00:01:24,964 seeking after knowledge. 33 00:01:25,092 --> 00:01:28,500 Um, you think about our, our Internet today. 34 00:01:28,620 --> 00:01:31,828 There was a time when if you didn't know something, you just didn't 35 00:01:31,844 --> 00:01:33,348 know it until you read a book about it. 36 00:01:33,484 --> 00:01:36,292 Now you can be stumped with something, Google it, and find it 37 00:01:36,316 --> 00:01:37,476 within seconds. 38 00:01:37,668 --> 00:01:40,532 We have a lot of knowledge at our fingertips here in our society 39 00:01:40,596 --> 00:01:43,908 today, but we, many cases in our culture and our society don't 40 00:01:43,924 --> 00:01:45,704 have the understanding of who God is. 41 00:01:45,852 --> 00:01:47,504 And that's what we would say about Athens. 42 00:01:47,552 --> 00:01:51,456 They had a lot of wisdom, but they didn't have a lot of wisdom 43 00:01:51,488 --> 00:01:54,880 when it came to the things of God fully given to idolatry. 44 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,648 And we talked a little about what idolatry is. 45 00:01:57,784 --> 00:02:01,376 Idolatry is putting anything before the Lord, anything before 46 00:02:01,448 --> 00:02:01,936 God. 47 00:02:02,048 --> 00:02:05,392 And it could be a graven image, it could be an item, it could 48 00:02:05,416 --> 00:02:06,384 be a person. 49 00:02:06,552 --> 00:02:10,288 And so in this case, they were given completely over to idolatry. 50 00:02:10,304 --> 00:02:11,450 And so Paul, he. 51 00:02:11,490 --> 00:02:12,026 He can't wait. 52 00:02:12,058 --> 00:02:15,306 It says that his spirit was stirred in him. 53 00:02:15,458 --> 00:02:20,298 And so the Lord is working in Paul's heart, convicting his heart, 54 00:02:20,354 --> 00:02:23,402 challenging his heart to preach the God Power was not interested 55 00:02:23,466 --> 00:02:25,786 or involved with their humanity. 56 00:02:25,978 --> 00:02:26,378 So. 57 00:02:26,434 --> 00:02:30,250 So it was a very distant God that was not involved with them. 58 00:02:30,290 --> 00:02:34,138 And so therefore their whole goal of life, the Epicureans, were 59 00:02:34,194 --> 00:02:35,818 to seek pleasure. 60 00:02:35,994 --> 00:02:39,310 So the measure of life is how much pleasure you can gain. 61 00:02:39,770 --> 00:02:42,418 Kind of sounds like people that we face in our society today. 62 00:02:42,474 --> 00:02:43,250 It's all about you. 63 00:02:43,290 --> 00:02:43,986 It's about pleasure. 64 00:02:44,018 --> 00:02:45,922 Get what you can, when you can. 65 00:02:46,026 --> 00:02:48,354 There might be a God up there, but he's not really interested in 66 00:02:48,362 --> 00:02:49,186 what you're doing. 67 00:02:49,338 --> 00:02:49,650 So. 68 00:02:49,690 --> 00:02:53,154 So that would be a, a very brief summary of the Epicureans, 69 00:02:53,282 --> 00:02:54,578 but you also have the. 70 00:02:54,634 --> 00:02:55,510 The Stoics. 71 00:02:56,090 --> 00:02:59,554 And the Stoics were a different philosophy. 72 00:02:59,682 --> 00:03:03,390 They had a worldview that, that God was in everything. 73 00:03:04,250 --> 00:03:07,586 So if you've heard of the term pantheism, Stoics believe that God 74 00:03:07,618 --> 00:03:11,306 was in the trees, he was in the water, he was in the buildings, 75 00:03:11,338 --> 00:03:13,050 he was in us, he was in everywhere. 76 00:03:13,130 --> 00:03:14,874 And so they believed in that concept. 77 00:03:14,922 --> 00:03:19,226 They were pantheists, and they believed that God was the world's 78 00:03:19,258 --> 00:03:19,562 soul. 79 00:03:19,626 --> 00:03:23,670 So God is what has this world going, but we're all part of it. 80 00:03:24,530 --> 00:03:28,026 They, they believe that they should not show any emotional response 81 00:03:28,058 --> 00:03:30,110 to either pain or pleasure. 82 00:03:30,530 --> 00:03:34,096 They were very much trying to rise above their circumstances. 83 00:03:34,258 --> 00:03:36,372 And so in many ways we would say, wow, Stoics were good. 84 00:03:36,396 --> 00:03:39,092 They didn't allow their emotions or their circumstances to 85 00:03:39,116 --> 00:03:41,988 dictate to them what was the truth in their life. 86 00:03:42,044 --> 00:03:45,364 But what it is, is they didn't have a standard philosophy of truth. 87 00:03:45,492 --> 00:03:45,780 Their. 88 00:03:45,820 --> 00:03:48,640 Their philosophy of truth was whatever you can make it to be. 89 00:03:49,100 --> 00:03:53,812 Basically, they were trying to have no grip to this world, to be 90 00:03:53,836 --> 00:03:54,800 above the world. 91 00:03:55,100 --> 00:03:58,000 Both of them had a lack of understanding of who Christ was. 92 00:03:58,300 --> 00:03:59,524 They needed Christ. 93 00:03:59,692 --> 00:04:00,036 We've. 94 00:04:00,068 --> 00:04:02,404 We'll face people that are Epicureans, we'll face people that 95 00:04:02,412 --> 00:04:04,560 are Stoics, we'll face people that are in between. 96 00:04:05,450 --> 00:04:09,554 And we see here in this case, that when they encounter Paul's message, 97 00:04:09,682 --> 00:04:10,402 what do they say? 98 00:04:10,426 --> 00:04:12,050 They say, verse, verse 18. 99 00:04:12,170 --> 00:04:14,430 What will this babbler say? 100 00:04:14,730 --> 00:04:16,530 So, like, well, he's babbling just like us. 101 00:04:16,570 --> 00:04:18,498 He's just talking about a philosophy. 102 00:04:18,594 --> 00:04:20,322 We want to know more about this philosophy. 103 00:04:20,386 --> 00:04:23,954 So they, they want to know more about Paul's theory of the world. 104 00:04:24,122 --> 00:04:25,270 So they're curious. 105 00:04:25,850 --> 00:04:28,210 They say, let's hear it. 106 00:04:28,330 --> 00:04:29,330 Others said this. 107 00:04:29,370 --> 00:04:32,676 He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods or different 108 00:04:32,748 --> 00:04:33,284 gods. 109 00:04:33,412 --> 00:04:35,092 And they're okay with adding more gods on. 110 00:04:35,116 --> 00:04:35,956 We're going to see here in a moment. 111 00:04:35,988 --> 00:04:40,100 They had a bunch of idols towards gods and there's one idol 112 00:04:40,260 --> 00:04:43,796 that they call the idol to the unknown God, meaning if we forgot 113 00:04:43,828 --> 00:04:45,620 one, that's to that. 114 00:04:45,740 --> 00:04:47,840 So, so they're okay with adding more on. 115 00:04:48,460 --> 00:04:51,332 You gotta be careful with that, by the way, with people in 116 00:04:51,356 --> 00:04:51,652 this world. 117 00:04:51,676 --> 00:04:53,920 There are certain religions out there. 118 00:04:54,220 --> 00:04:58,192 I know, maybe even Hinduism would be a part of this saying, well, 119 00:04:58,216 --> 00:05:01,020 you could add Jesus onto the many gods that we have. 120 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:04,272 And there are people in our society today that are okay with 121 00:05:04,296 --> 00:05:06,640 accepting Jesus as long as that can come along with everything 122 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:07,980 else that they believe in. 123 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:11,520 And so we have to be careful on when we preach the gospel, which 124 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:13,008 Paul is going to clearly explain. 125 00:05:13,104 --> 00:05:17,568 You can't just have Jesus added on top of your other beliefs. 126 00:05:17,744 --> 00:05:20,720 Okay, so, so I believe this, this and this, and I'll just add 127 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:22,832 Jesus into my life and that'll be okay. 128 00:05:22,976 --> 00:05:26,574 The Bible says, John 14:6, that Jesus is the way, the truth 129 00:05:26,622 --> 00:05:27,118 and the life. 130 00:05:27,174 --> 00:05:29,454 No man cometh unto the Father but by him. 131 00:05:29,542 --> 00:05:33,246 And so we have to be, for lack of a better phrase, narrow minded 132 00:05:33,278 --> 00:05:34,494 about the gospel. 133 00:05:34,622 --> 00:05:36,350 Jesus is the only way. 134 00:05:36,470 --> 00:05:39,102 And so they said, oh, he's bringing forth one of these strange 135 00:05:39,166 --> 00:05:39,454 gods. 136 00:05:39,502 --> 00:05:41,022 We'll, we'll, we'll hear him. 137 00:05:41,206 --> 00:05:43,070 And so why did they think that? 138 00:05:43,110 --> 00:05:45,742 Because he preached and now we see what he was preaching. 139 00:05:45,886 --> 00:05:48,126 And, and I think there's so much that we can learn from verse 140 00:05:48,158 --> 00:05:52,120 18 because Paul's message was summarized this way. 141 00:05:52,270 --> 00:05:54,868 Jesus and the resurrection. 142 00:05:55,044 --> 00:05:58,340 Jesus and the resurrection, the gospel, the complete gospel. 143 00:05:58,500 --> 00:06:03,572 Not just Jesus, not just religion, not just morality. 144 00:06:03,716 --> 00:06:06,420 They would have heard that before, but he was preaching something 145 00:06:06,460 --> 00:06:06,660 different. 146 00:06:06,700 --> 00:06:10,868 And that was Jesus and who he was and what he did and the resurrection, 147 00:06:10,964 --> 00:06:14,276 and not only Jesus's resurrection, which is the whole 148 00:06:14,308 --> 00:06:16,100 reason why we can have faith, right? 149 00:06:16,220 --> 00:06:18,226 Don't preach Jesus without the resurrection. 150 00:06:18,348 --> 00:06:21,170 Paul talks all about that in 1st Corinthians 15. 151 00:06:21,550 --> 00:06:23,110 Remember what he said in 1st Corinthians 15? 152 00:06:23,150 --> 00:06:25,702 If we don't have the resurrection, it's in vain. 153 00:06:25,766 --> 00:06:26,646 What we do is in vain. 154 00:06:26,678 --> 00:06:28,534 Our preaching's in vain, our faith's in vain. 155 00:06:28,662 --> 00:06:33,334 So we preach Jesus in his life, the resurrection, his resurrection, 156 00:06:33,382 --> 00:06:36,310 and ultimately our resurrection, our hope for eternity. 157 00:06:36,390 --> 00:06:37,734 That's what Paul was preaching. 158 00:06:37,862 --> 00:06:39,670 We're going to know that through the context later because 159 00:06:39,710 --> 00:06:41,238 that's what they're actually going to reject. 160 00:06:41,414 --> 00:06:44,852 They will receive the concept of Jesus, a religious figure, but 161 00:06:44,876 --> 00:06:48,148 they reject the resurrection because that's foolishness to them, 162 00:06:48,284 --> 00:06:50,388 because that was something supernatural, that was something 163 00:06:50,444 --> 00:06:51,840 farther than they could understand. 164 00:06:52,380 --> 00:06:54,612 And so he preaches Jesus and the resurrection. 165 00:06:54,676 --> 00:06:55,988 And so what do they do verse 19. 166 00:06:56,044 --> 00:06:59,360 And they took him and brought him unto a. 167 00:07:00,540 --> 00:07:03,400 Now, Arepagus is another term for Mars Hill. 168 00:07:03,740 --> 00:07:08,036 Um, pagus is the idea of a hill or a mountain. 169 00:07:08,228 --> 00:07:11,562 Aries was the God that they worshiped on that mountain. 170 00:07:11,756 --> 00:07:14,878 Mars is the Roman version of Aries. 171 00:07:14,974 --> 00:07:17,294 That's why we get Mars Hill, Aeropagus. 172 00:07:17,342 --> 00:07:20,158 Okay, so they take Paul to this place. 173 00:07:20,214 --> 00:07:22,250 Now, why is this place significant? 174 00:07:22,950 --> 00:07:25,646 Well, for the Greeks there, they. 175 00:07:25,718 --> 00:07:29,582 They saw great significance there because Aries was the God of 176 00:07:29,606 --> 00:07:30,170 war. 177 00:07:30,550 --> 00:07:34,782 And there was this hill there that they said that he stood trial 178 00:07:34,846 --> 00:07:36,014 before the other gods. 179 00:07:36,142 --> 00:07:37,182 And so there was. 180 00:07:37,206 --> 00:07:40,030 It was a great place where they would come and meet and have 181 00:07:40,070 --> 00:07:40,954 the court. 182 00:07:41,142 --> 00:07:44,642 And really what this court would be would be civil cases, criminal 183 00:07:44,706 --> 00:07:46,898 cases, religious matters. 184 00:07:46,994 --> 00:07:51,026 And so even under the Roman rule and in the time of the New Testament, 185 00:07:51,218 --> 00:07:57,042 Mars Hill remained a place for philosophy and religion and law to 186 00:07:57,066 --> 00:07:58,230 be discussed. 187 00:07:58,650 --> 00:08:01,122 So, so you would have this place, it was like the centerpiece 188 00:08:01,186 --> 00:08:05,730 of Athens, that people would come and argue for their case, whether 189 00:08:05,770 --> 00:08:09,376 it be their criminal case, their civil case, their philosophical 190 00:08:09,408 --> 00:08:10,480 case, or their religious case. 191 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,780 And so this was a great place for Paul to have an audience. 192 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:18,000 And so they, hey, Paul, come, let's hear what you have to say. 193 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:19,296 So they take him to Areopagus. 194 00:08:19,328 --> 00:08:22,592 And the biblical significance of Mars Hill is the fact that this 195 00:08:22,616 --> 00:08:26,560 is where Paul is going to be able to present the gospel in a time 196 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:28,528 where it was. 197 00:08:28,584 --> 00:08:29,424 It was opposed. 198 00:08:29,552 --> 00:08:29,984 Right. 199 00:08:30,072 --> 00:08:31,616 It wasn't like Paul would have a youth. 200 00:08:31,648 --> 00:08:32,800 Like we talked about YouTube, right? 201 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:35,184 Sam, Paul didn't have a YouTube channel where he could get 202 00:08:35,192 --> 00:08:37,674 out and talk to millions of people, even thousands of people. 203 00:08:37,792 --> 00:08:39,558 He had to find opportunities. 204 00:08:39,654 --> 00:08:42,166 Well, this is an awesome opportunity where God opens a door 205 00:08:42,198 --> 00:08:44,822 for him to preach to multiple people in a place where there was 206 00:08:44,846 --> 00:08:46,406 opposition to the gospel. 207 00:08:46,598 --> 00:08:48,886 We should always be looking for a Mars Hill. 208 00:08:48,998 --> 00:08:51,622 Even even though we might not necessarily get the same opportunity 209 00:08:51,686 --> 00:08:54,982 as Paul, we should look for opportunities to say, where can we 210 00:08:55,006 --> 00:08:57,370 proclaim the gospel in our society? 211 00:08:58,190 --> 00:09:00,598 And so different people have different opportunities to do that. 212 00:09:00,654 --> 00:09:03,302 We heard today we got a fellow who wants to do it through sports. 213 00:09:03,366 --> 00:09:03,896 Great. 214 00:09:04,038 --> 00:09:06,340 You know that there are people that are going to come, that's an 215 00:09:06,380 --> 00:09:09,012 act that's active audience to preach the gospel to them. 216 00:09:09,116 --> 00:09:11,620 And it might not be sports for another culture, it might be something 217 00:09:11,660 --> 00:09:12,308 else. 218 00:09:12,484 --> 00:09:15,092 But all of us have an opportunity to find a place where 219 00:09:15,116 --> 00:09:16,036 we could proclaim the gospel. 220 00:09:16,068 --> 00:09:17,540 And this is where Paul's open door is. 221 00:09:17,580 --> 00:09:19,044 And God will open those doors. 222 00:09:19,172 --> 00:09:20,340 He opens this door. 223 00:09:20,420 --> 00:09:23,988 And so they said, come to Areopagus saying, may we not know 224 00:09:24,124 --> 00:09:27,124 what this new doctrine, by the way, it was new for them. 225 00:09:27,212 --> 00:09:30,236 This new teaching, this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is. 226 00:09:30,428 --> 00:09:32,652 So for Paul, they're like, hey, tell us more about what you 227 00:09:32,676 --> 00:09:32,956 believe. 228 00:09:33,028 --> 00:09:36,172 Hey, for a preacher, that's like the best thing you could ever 229 00:09:36,196 --> 00:09:36,572 hear. 230 00:09:36,676 --> 00:09:37,772 Because we're going to preach no matter what. 231 00:09:37,796 --> 00:09:40,236 But if someone says, we want to know what you believe, okay, great. 232 00:09:40,308 --> 00:09:41,356 You left me an open door. 233 00:09:41,388 --> 00:09:42,828 I'm going to come in and I'm going to tell you the truth. 234 00:09:42,844 --> 00:09:43,948 And that's what Paul does. 235 00:09:44,084 --> 00:09:46,956 But Paul is going to reason with them differently than he reasons 236 00:09:46,988 --> 00:09:48,700 with those that come from Jerusalem. 237 00:09:48,780 --> 00:09:50,652 He's going to reason with these people differently because 238 00:09:50,676 --> 00:09:52,348 they have a different background, they have a different 239 00:09:52,404 --> 00:09:54,840 culture, they have a different understanding of the world. 240 00:09:55,220 --> 00:09:59,282 So he's going to speak to them in a way that they understand, in 241 00:09:59,306 --> 00:10:00,850 a way that they can relate. 242 00:10:01,010 --> 00:10:02,914 We're going to see how he does that here in a moment. 243 00:10:03,042 --> 00:10:03,714 Verse 20. 244 00:10:03,802 --> 00:10:06,226 For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears. 245 00:10:06,258 --> 00:10:08,354 Meaning you're bringing things to our ears that we're not used to 246 00:10:08,362 --> 00:10:08,930 hearing. 247 00:10:09,090 --> 00:10:12,510 We've heard a lot of philosophy, we've heard a lot of, 248 00:10:12,970 --> 00:10:14,470 you know, theories. 249 00:10:15,210 --> 00:10:16,690 We've heard a lot of cases. 250 00:10:16,810 --> 00:10:20,274 We've heard a lot of people up here petitioning for their truth. 251 00:10:20,402 --> 00:10:21,458 But yours is different. 252 00:10:21,514 --> 00:10:23,070 Now, why is Paul's different? 253 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:25,688 Because it's the only truth, right? 254 00:10:25,744 --> 00:10:26,872 It's distinct. 255 00:10:27,016 --> 00:10:30,456 The truth is always going to stand out amongst a bunch of lies. 256 00:10:30,568 --> 00:10:34,296 The truth is always going to seem strange when everybody's lying. 257 00:10:34,488 --> 00:10:35,208 If we live. 258 00:10:35,264 --> 00:10:38,504 If we live in a society that's all about lies and based on lies, 259 00:10:38,552 --> 00:10:39,608 it's a house of cards. 260 00:10:39,704 --> 00:10:43,464 And we bring the only truth in the world to them, that's going to 261 00:10:43,472 --> 00:10:44,232 be weird. 262 00:10:44,376 --> 00:10:46,136 That's like out of bounds. 263 00:10:46,168 --> 00:10:47,752 That's like way out in left field. 264 00:10:47,776 --> 00:10:49,832 You're bringing us truth, and that's what's happening here. 265 00:10:49,936 --> 00:10:52,072 Paul's bringing them truth that they're not used to hearing. 266 00:10:52,136 --> 00:10:53,464 So this is strange to them. 267 00:10:53,552 --> 00:10:54,580 This is different. 268 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:56,856 And they want to know what these things mean. 269 00:10:57,008 --> 00:10:59,864 We would know, therefore, what these things mean. 270 00:10:59,952 --> 00:11:00,728 Verse 21. 271 00:11:00,784 --> 00:11:04,104 And this explains kind of why they're thinking this way. 272 00:11:04,272 --> 00:11:08,424 For all the Athenians and strangers which were there, spent 273 00:11:08,472 --> 00:11:13,928 their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new 274 00:11:13,984 --> 00:11:14,536 thing. 275 00:11:14,688 --> 00:11:15,524 Meaning this. 276 00:11:15,632 --> 00:11:18,620 They were all about just hearing new philosophies. 277 00:11:18,780 --> 00:11:20,956 It was all about sounding intellectual. 278 00:11:21,068 --> 00:11:23,548 It was all about hearing a new way of thinking. 279 00:11:23,644 --> 00:11:25,692 Oh, that's a new path that's creative. 280 00:11:25,756 --> 00:11:26,476 Let's hear that. 281 00:11:26,548 --> 00:11:29,292 So, so it says basically that they were, they were addicted to 282 00:11:29,316 --> 00:11:29,692 this. 283 00:11:29,796 --> 00:11:33,612 They, they spent all their time just waxing eloquent about what 284 00:11:33,636 --> 00:11:34,440 they believe. 285 00:11:34,980 --> 00:11:37,260 And I think that's important for us to see in our culture today 286 00:11:37,300 --> 00:11:41,228 because that's exactly sometimes how we deal with people. 287 00:11:41,284 --> 00:11:41,644 Today. 288 00:11:41,732 --> 00:11:43,522 Everyone is talking about something. 289 00:11:43,676 --> 00:11:47,718 All you gotta do is turn on the 24 Hour News and you're gonna 290 00:11:47,734 --> 00:11:49,414 hear everyone's opinion about everything. 291 00:11:49,582 --> 00:11:52,662 You want to hear people's opinions, ask them, they'll tell 292 00:11:52,686 --> 00:11:53,110 you. 293 00:11:53,230 --> 00:11:55,046 And sometimes you don't even have to ask people for their opinion. 294 00:11:55,078 --> 00:11:56,294 They're going to give it to you anyway. 295 00:11:56,422 --> 00:11:59,062 And the truth is that all of us have opinions and all of us in 296 00:11:59,086 --> 00:12:01,334 our flesh love to just talk about things. 297 00:12:01,422 --> 00:12:02,182 That's what it's saying there. 298 00:12:02,206 --> 00:12:03,970 They just love to talk about things. 299 00:12:04,350 --> 00:12:07,094 And there's nothing in and of itself wrong about that. 300 00:12:07,262 --> 00:12:09,686 But I do want to take you to a passage of scripture that speaks 301 00:12:09,718 --> 00:12:13,280 to how in the last days this will be what we do. 302 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:17,180 I want you to look at second Timothy, chapter three with me. 303 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:19,792 Second Timothy, chapter three. 304 00:12:19,816 --> 00:12:25,888 I want you to see this because just as it was in Athens, so I believe 305 00:12:25,944 --> 00:12:27,408 it is today what we do. 306 00:12:27,464 --> 00:12:34,780 And it's all about seeming intelligent, knowing things. 307 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,620 But what do we see in second Timothy, chapter three, verse seven? 308 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:42,180 We'll see says verse seven. 309 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:44,168 This is how it is in the last days. 310 00:12:44,224 --> 00:12:50,280 Perilous times shall come, ever learning and never able to come 311 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:51,820 to the knowledge of the truth. 312 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:55,816 So, so we could characterize Athens that way. 313 00:12:55,888 --> 00:12:57,240 Ever learning, right? 314 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,840 They had all the history, they had all the philosophy they were 315 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:04,104 ever learning, meaning they were learning all the time, but they 316 00:13:04,112 --> 00:13:05,842 were never coming to the real truth. 317 00:13:06,016 --> 00:13:08,690 We live in a society today that is ever learning. 318 00:13:09,030 --> 00:13:11,214 You know, there's, there's constant learning. 319 00:13:11,342 --> 00:13:14,414 I, I, I, I know at the, at our fingertips here. 320 00:13:14,502 --> 00:13:18,190 Now, some of you might not be as, you know, comfortable with going 321 00:13:18,230 --> 00:13:20,910 to your phones and looking up things, but you have now what's called 322 00:13:20,950 --> 00:13:26,366 AI and you could say to AI, make me a 10 page paper about the 323 00:13:26,438 --> 00:13:30,270 Industrial revolution written in the style of a senior in high 324 00:13:30,310 --> 00:13:33,416 school with a, you know, 12th grade reading level. 325 00:13:33,488 --> 00:13:35,272 And boom, it can pop up something like that. 326 00:13:35,296 --> 00:13:36,312 You say, no, it can't do that. 327 00:13:36,336 --> 00:13:38,780 AI can do pretty much anything like that, okay? 328 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:43,016 You can get a lot of information in a very short amount 329 00:13:43,048 --> 00:13:45,460 of time, instantaneous information. 330 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,880 That doesn't necessarily necessarily mean that we're coming 331 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:51,432 to the knowledge of the truth now. 332 00:13:51,456 --> 00:13:52,664 It doesn't mean that, okay? 333 00:13:52,712 --> 00:13:55,944 Now we could get into a whole philosophy on whether or not AI is 334 00:13:55,952 --> 00:13:56,472 sinful or not. 335 00:13:56,496 --> 00:13:57,816 I don't think it's inherently sinful. 336 00:13:57,848 --> 00:13:59,758 I think it can be used for sinful reasons. 337 00:13:59,904 --> 00:14:01,234 But what I can say is this. 338 00:14:01,322 --> 00:14:04,802 We have to be careful that we don't come to a place in our life 339 00:14:04,826 --> 00:14:08,226 where we have so much information and so much knowledge 340 00:14:08,258 --> 00:14:11,314 that we think we've arrived at the truth when it's not based in 341 00:14:11,322 --> 00:14:12,050 the word of God. 342 00:14:12,130 --> 00:14:14,162 And that's what Paul is trying to explain to them here. 343 00:14:14,186 --> 00:14:17,362 He says, you got a lot of learning, but you're not to a place 344 00:14:17,386 --> 00:14:18,562 where you're in the truth of God. 345 00:14:18,626 --> 00:14:23,186 And so he says there's going to be end times starting when Jesus 346 00:14:23,218 --> 00:14:26,984 resurrects and when we live today, that people are ever learning 347 00:14:27,032 --> 00:14:29,464 and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 348 00:14:29,592 --> 00:14:31,816 And so I want you to think about that verse when we're Talking 349 00:14:31,848 --> 00:14:33,304 about Acts 17 here in Athens. 350 00:14:33,352 --> 00:14:36,780 And so Paul is going to address the people here at Mars Hill. 351 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:40,760 And I think it's important for us to learn from his example how 352 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,976 we can proclaim the gospel to our world as well. 353 00:14:44,048 --> 00:14:44,616 Okay? 354 00:14:44,728 --> 00:14:47,752 So the point I'm trying to make is that I believe Athens has 355 00:14:47,776 --> 00:14:50,060 a lot of parallels to America. 356 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:50,936 Okay? 357 00:14:50,968 --> 00:14:52,518 I think, I think that's very clear. 358 00:14:52,664 --> 00:14:53,674 Verse 22. 359 00:14:53,762 --> 00:14:56,314 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill. 360 00:14:56,362 --> 00:14:57,386 So Paul is the man. 361 00:14:57,458 --> 00:14:58,010 Okay? 362 00:14:58,090 --> 00:14:59,946 I, I look up to Paul, okay? 363 00:14:59,978 --> 00:15:00,698 He, he preaches. 364 00:15:00,714 --> 00:15:03,034 He says, I'm going to dig my heels in and I'm about to preach 365 00:15:03,082 --> 00:15:03,594 them the truth. 366 00:15:03,642 --> 00:15:05,434 And he gives this wonderful sermon. 367 00:15:05,562 --> 00:15:08,586 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, ye men of 368 00:15:08,658 --> 00:15:09,470 Athens. 369 00:15:10,210 --> 00:15:13,114 I perceive this is a great opener, by the way. 370 00:15:13,202 --> 00:15:17,550 I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 371 00:15:18,220 --> 00:15:20,560 Okay, what's he talking about here? 372 00:15:21,100 --> 00:15:22,420 That word superstitious? 373 00:15:22,500 --> 00:15:25,668 Essentially, if you look at the Greek that he's using, he, he's 374 00:15:25,684 --> 00:15:30,532 talking about you're, you're, you're religious, okay? 375 00:15:30,676 --> 00:15:34,036 And religion without faith is superstition. 376 00:15:34,228 --> 00:15:35,396 You understand that, right? 377 00:15:35,468 --> 00:15:39,700 Religion without a faith in the truth of Jesus Christ is superstition, 378 00:15:39,860 --> 00:15:40,324 right? 379 00:15:40,412 --> 00:15:43,988 So, so there could be people that say, I believe in this and there's 380 00:15:44,004 --> 00:15:45,626 no faith there in Jesus Christ. 381 00:15:45,748 --> 00:15:49,454 It could be a silly thing or it could be a, a, a, you know, slap 382 00:15:49,502 --> 00:15:51,182 a denominational name on it. 383 00:15:51,286 --> 00:15:54,622 Whatever it is, if it's not in Jesus Christ, it's a superstition. 384 00:15:54,766 --> 00:15:57,950 So Paul gets up in there and says, hey, you guys are really religious, 385 00:15:58,110 --> 00:15:59,570 but you're not in the truth. 386 00:15:59,910 --> 00:16:01,330 You're superstitious. 387 00:16:01,670 --> 00:16:03,966 I perceive that you're too superstitious. 388 00:16:04,158 --> 00:16:09,406 For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar 389 00:16:09,598 --> 00:16:14,524 with this inscription to the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly 390 00:16:14,652 --> 00:16:15,520 worship. 391 00:16:15,860 --> 00:16:17,132 Now what's he saying there? 392 00:16:17,156 --> 00:16:17,596 He's saying. 393 00:16:17,668 --> 00:16:20,044 He's not saying that they're foolish. 394 00:16:20,172 --> 00:16:22,236 He is saying that they're foolish, but he's essentially saying, 395 00:16:22,308 --> 00:16:25,628 you worship that idol without knowing the truth. 396 00:16:25,724 --> 00:16:26,156 Ignorant. 397 00:16:26,188 --> 00:16:26,972 That's what ignorance is. 398 00:16:26,996 --> 00:16:28,572 Ignorance is just not knowing something. 399 00:16:28,676 --> 00:16:30,956 He says, you're worshiping that God, not knowing who that God 400 00:16:30,988 --> 00:16:31,560 is. 401 00:16:32,100 --> 00:16:34,764 And so he says, you're worshiping this unknown God. 402 00:16:34,892 --> 00:16:37,998 Him declare I unto you. 403 00:16:38,124 --> 00:16:39,354 What's he doing here? 404 00:16:39,522 --> 00:16:44,170 He's saying, okay, I know that they worship this unknown God and 405 00:16:44,210 --> 00:16:46,762 I'm going to show them that there is this unknown God to them 406 00:16:46,786 --> 00:16:48,490 and that God is the only true God. 407 00:16:48,570 --> 00:16:51,722 And so he's going to use something from their culture to explain 408 00:16:51,786 --> 00:16:52,682 God to them. 409 00:16:52,786 --> 00:16:56,346 He's going to use something from their understanding to connect 410 00:16:56,378 --> 00:16:59,194 the dots, to say there's some God out there that you don't know 411 00:16:59,202 --> 00:16:59,418 about. 412 00:16:59,474 --> 00:17:01,082 I'm going to tell you which one that is. 413 00:17:01,266 --> 00:17:01,658 Now. 414 00:17:01,714 --> 00:17:04,442 Now, Paul understands that all of these gods that they worship are 415 00:17:04,466 --> 00:17:04,858 fake. 416 00:17:04,954 --> 00:17:07,834 They're false, they're empty, they're nothing superstitious. 417 00:17:07,962 --> 00:17:09,594 But he's going to say, hey, you know what? 418 00:17:09,682 --> 00:17:12,970 This unknown God is the true God, and therefore I'm going to talk 419 00:17:13,010 --> 00:17:14,230 to you about him. 420 00:17:14,770 --> 00:17:18,170 So he appeals to their minds and he's going to appeal to their 421 00:17:18,210 --> 00:17:18,790 heart. 422 00:17:19,890 --> 00:17:24,874 Verse 24, God that made the world and all things therein. 423 00:17:24,922 --> 00:17:25,610 Where does he start? 424 00:17:25,650 --> 00:17:28,190 You would think he would start at the crucifixion. 425 00:17:28,530 --> 00:17:30,310 That's where I would have started. 426 00:17:30,940 --> 00:17:33,200 But Paul goes back even further. 427 00:17:33,500 --> 00:17:35,652 Paul goes back to the very beginning. 428 00:17:35,796 --> 00:17:39,172 Some of you know Ken Ham, Ken Ham would be very proud about this. 429 00:17:39,196 --> 00:17:39,476 Okay? 430 00:17:39,508 --> 00:17:40,516 He goes back to creation. 431 00:17:40,548 --> 00:17:42,276 He goes back to the very beginning, right? 432 00:17:42,348 --> 00:17:43,188 He says, hey, this. 433 00:17:43,244 --> 00:17:45,440 We've got to go back to how it started. 434 00:17:45,900 --> 00:17:47,396 And so he goes back to the beginning. 435 00:17:47,428 --> 00:17:51,364 He says, God that made the world and all things therein, by 436 00:17:51,372 --> 00:17:53,492 the way, I think it's very important for us to believe that 437 00:17:53,516 --> 00:17:54,388 God created this world. 438 00:17:54,444 --> 00:17:56,916 We didn't happen by chance. 439 00:17:57,108 --> 00:18:00,756 I believe that God ordained creation and there's a lot of debates 440 00:18:00,788 --> 00:18:02,036 on how that creation happened. 441 00:18:02,068 --> 00:18:04,596 I certainly am a young earth creationist. 442 00:18:04,628 --> 00:18:07,380 I believe that when God said six days, it was six days. 443 00:18:07,500 --> 00:18:10,740 But I think that all Christians must believe, must believe 444 00:18:10,780 --> 00:18:12,196 that God created this earth. 445 00:18:12,308 --> 00:18:14,980 It's not that God just used Something here. 446 00:18:15,020 --> 00:18:17,972 I believe that even Paul mentions that here in the truth as 447 00:18:17,996 --> 00:18:19,316 he's presenting the gospel. 448 00:18:19,428 --> 00:18:22,202 So he says God that made the world and all things therein. 449 00:18:22,396 --> 00:18:23,470 He says God made the world. 450 00:18:23,510 --> 00:18:27,326 God made you seeing that he is lord of heaven and earth dwelleth 451 00:18:27,358 --> 00:18:29,410 not in temples made with hands. 452 00:18:29,910 --> 00:18:32,910 So, so he's flipping their understanding of who God is on its 453 00:18:32,950 --> 00:18:36,142 head because he's saying that, hey, you guys worship gods in temples 454 00:18:36,206 --> 00:18:39,758 and, and, and you know, you worship gods that are made with your 455 00:18:39,814 --> 00:18:41,662 hands, but God is bigger than that. 456 00:18:41,686 --> 00:18:43,214 The true God is bigger than that. 457 00:18:43,302 --> 00:18:47,102 So he says you're religious, you're worshiping this unknown God, 458 00:18:47,246 --> 00:18:49,902 but, but you're missing out on who this true God really is. 459 00:18:49,926 --> 00:18:54,192 And so Spa Paul spoke about the God who created everything and 460 00:18:54,216 --> 00:18:55,856 is distinct in his creation. 461 00:18:55,968 --> 00:18:58,912 Paul tells them that God was bigger than the temples that they 462 00:18:58,936 --> 00:18:59,740 had there. 463 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:04,672 So, so for them to hear that God was bigger than their architecture 464 00:19:04,816 --> 00:19:06,864 was a huge thing for them because they thought that they were 465 00:19:06,872 --> 00:19:08,688 the pinnacle of society. 466 00:19:08,864 --> 00:19:12,576 God's bigger than your temples, God's bigger than your inventions. 467 00:19:12,608 --> 00:19:14,064 God's bigger than your philosophies. 468 00:19:14,112 --> 00:19:16,480 That's what he's saying here, and that's what we have to preach 469 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:19,086 to our world is that God is bigger than the economy. 470 00:19:19,248 --> 00:19:21,106 God is bigger than politics. 471 00:19:21,298 --> 00:19:22,850 God is bigger than weaponry. 472 00:19:22,930 --> 00:19:25,794 God is bigger than anything that you can ever imagine. 473 00:19:25,842 --> 00:19:29,266 He's above all, he's sufficient. 474 00:19:29,378 --> 00:19:32,658 But not only is he sufficient, the Bible speaks of him being above 475 00:19:32,674 --> 00:19:33,858 and beyond all things. 476 00:19:33,914 --> 00:19:35,602 He supersedes everything else. 477 00:19:35,746 --> 00:19:36,978 That's how we have to preach. 478 00:19:37,074 --> 00:19:40,178 And so Paul recognized that these philosophers had to change 479 00:19:40,234 --> 00:19:42,830 their ideas about God in general. 480 00:19:43,130 --> 00:19:45,430 He had to go to a deeper understanding. 481 00:19:45,870 --> 00:19:47,190 And so he says verse 25. 482 00:19:47,230 --> 00:19:51,050 Neither is worship with men's hands as though he needed anything. 483 00:19:51,710 --> 00:19:54,294 So, so, so the, the Greeks would have understood it to be this 484 00:19:54,302 --> 00:19:54,422 way. 485 00:19:54,446 --> 00:19:56,790 The, the people living in Athens and, and the religious people 486 00:19:56,830 --> 00:19:59,730 at this time, they would have thought that God needed them. 487 00:20:00,030 --> 00:20:01,750 Like go, you know, God needs us. 488 00:20:01,790 --> 00:20:03,142 And we have a lot of people today that think that. 489 00:20:03,166 --> 00:20:04,150 What does he say here? 490 00:20:04,270 --> 00:20:06,450 He says, God doesn't need anything from us. 491 00:20:07,390 --> 00:20:12,182 He gives life to all and breath and all things. 492 00:20:12,366 --> 00:20:16,966 And so they had to move their own personal opinions to an understanding 493 00:20:16,998 --> 00:20:20,598 of who God is according to what the Bible says and not according 494 00:20:20,654 --> 00:20:22,070 to what their culture had said. 495 00:20:22,190 --> 00:20:25,862 So what we do is we preach the truth of Jesus Christ to our culture. 496 00:20:26,006 --> 00:20:28,810 You've heard it said, this, this is the truth. 497 00:20:29,630 --> 00:20:31,942 You know, most people that you're going to come across that 498 00:20:31,966 --> 00:20:35,542 have any understanding of theology, get most of their theology 499 00:20:35,606 --> 00:20:39,756 from TV shows or, you know, movies. 500 00:20:39,948 --> 00:20:42,220 I, I can't tell you how many times people say, well, I always 501 00:20:42,260 --> 00:20:43,756 thought that that's how it looked. 502 00:20:43,788 --> 00:20:46,044 And I would say, well, it's not described in the Bible. 503 00:20:46,092 --> 00:20:48,044 And if I've seen the movie that they've seen, I kind of know 504 00:20:48,052 --> 00:20:48,652 where they got it from. 505 00:20:48,676 --> 00:20:50,988 I said, did you watch so and so movie? 506 00:20:51,004 --> 00:20:52,988 And they're like, yeah, I saw that. 507 00:20:53,124 --> 00:20:53,436 Yeah. 508 00:20:53,468 --> 00:20:55,260 Well, it's not really in the Bible that way. 509 00:20:55,380 --> 00:20:57,260 And well, I've always heard that heaven is this. 510 00:20:57,300 --> 00:21:01,212 We're floating on clouds and playing harps and well, you know, 511 00:21:01,396 --> 00:21:04,140 that's not always how the Bible describes it. 512 00:21:04,180 --> 00:21:04,482 So. 513 00:21:04,556 --> 00:21:07,142 So I think what we have to do is we have to teach people that, 514 00:21:07,166 --> 00:21:09,798 hey, what you have heard about God might be wrong. 515 00:21:09,894 --> 00:21:12,262 Actually, if you haven't heard it from the truth of scripture, it 516 00:21:12,286 --> 00:21:13,302 probably is wrong. 517 00:21:13,366 --> 00:21:15,478 And we have to proclaim to them the truth of God. 518 00:21:15,494 --> 00:21:17,010 And that's what Paul is doing here. 519 00:21:17,630 --> 00:21:21,014 So he wants people to understand the truth from Scripture, 520 00:21:21,062 --> 00:21:21,926 the truth of God. 521 00:21:21,958 --> 00:21:26,566 So verse 26, he goes on, and have made of one blood all nations 522 00:21:26,598 --> 00:21:30,518 of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined 523 00:21:30,534 --> 00:21:33,610 the times before appointed in the bounds of their habitation. 524 00:21:34,270 --> 00:21:38,582 So Paul told them that we're all descendants of Adam, we're all 525 00:21:38,606 --> 00:21:39,366 one human race. 526 00:21:39,398 --> 00:21:40,902 That would have been hard for people to understand. 527 00:21:41,006 --> 00:21:42,774 It's still hard for people to understand. 528 00:21:42,942 --> 00:21:43,222 Right. 529 00:21:43,246 --> 00:21:44,966 We believe in a lot of divisions. 530 00:21:44,998 --> 00:21:47,142 And, you know, these people are from here and these people from 531 00:21:47,166 --> 00:21:47,302 there. 532 00:21:47,326 --> 00:21:50,022 And certainly there are cultural distinctions, there are 533 00:21:50,046 --> 00:21:54,326 visual differences, but we are one human race starting from Adam 534 00:21:54,358 --> 00:21:54,822 all the way down. 535 00:21:54,846 --> 00:21:56,822 We're all brothers and sisters in that regard. 536 00:21:56,966 --> 00:21:58,598 And so that's what he's explaining to them. 537 00:21:58,654 --> 00:22:01,658 He's explaining, hey, we're, we're all descendants from Adam, 538 00:22:01,754 --> 00:22:04,170 and there is one God who created all of us. 539 00:22:04,210 --> 00:22:07,034 Because what would have happened, what would have been understandable 540 00:22:07,082 --> 00:22:11,050 for a lot of people is that, hey, we, the Greeks, have our gods 541 00:22:11,130 --> 00:22:15,626 that created us, and you, you Jews have your God who created you. 542 00:22:15,698 --> 00:22:18,442 And, and this country over here has their gods respectively. 543 00:22:18,506 --> 00:22:20,762 And there was this understanding that it was kind of 544 00:22:20,786 --> 00:22:21,546 segmented. 545 00:22:21,658 --> 00:22:25,034 The, the gods of the Romans, the gods of the Greeks, the gods 546 00:22:25,082 --> 00:22:25,838 of these people. 547 00:22:25,954 --> 00:22:28,486 Well, what he's explained to them is you guys think that there's 548 00:22:28,518 --> 00:22:29,878 separation with creation. 549 00:22:29,974 --> 00:22:31,702 No, we all come from one God. 550 00:22:31,766 --> 00:22:33,190 We all come from one people. 551 00:22:33,310 --> 00:22:36,406 And that would have been really different for their thinking. 552 00:22:36,598 --> 00:22:39,850 And, and so if, if we come from one God. 553 00:22:40,750 --> 00:22:43,174 We're all obligated to that one God. 554 00:22:43,302 --> 00:22:44,470 That's what he's saying here. 555 00:22:44,590 --> 00:22:47,542 He says, you are obligated to the God of Israel, whether you want 556 00:22:47,566 --> 00:22:48,102 to be or not. 557 00:22:48,126 --> 00:22:48,806 That's the one God. 558 00:22:48,838 --> 00:22:49,926 That's the one true God. 559 00:22:50,038 --> 00:22:54,134 And I think that's many ways why most people who reject God reject 560 00:22:54,182 --> 00:22:54,810 God. 561 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:57,272 A lot of times they will say, well, you know what? 562 00:22:57,296 --> 00:23:00,056 It's just because I don't see enough evidence, and I can respect 563 00:23:00,128 --> 00:23:00,696 that. 564 00:23:00,848 --> 00:23:03,080 But the truth is, is that most of the time that people don't believe 565 00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:05,336 in God, it's because they don't want to be obligated to a higher 566 00:23:05,408 --> 00:23:06,020 power. 567 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:12,728 Because if God is who he says he is, and if, if I have to believe 568 00:23:12,784 --> 00:23:16,140 in him in that way, I have to submit myself to his authority. 569 00:23:17,120 --> 00:23:19,304 And taking a person and saying, yeah, you got to submit to 570 00:23:19,312 --> 00:23:21,720 the God of the universe is not really a fun thing for them to do, 571 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,432 especially if they've been used to feeding their flesh for their 572 00:23:24,456 --> 00:23:25,260 whole life. 573 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:28,768 And so many people, as the book of Romans says, reject what's 574 00:23:28,784 --> 00:23:31,648 already in their hearts, whether they believe it or not. 575 00:23:31,704 --> 00:23:35,120 Okay, they, they might not know why they are rejecting God, 576 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,872 but the Bible says very clearly that it's because of the 577 00:23:37,896 --> 00:23:39,600 fact that they don't want to submit to God. 578 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:40,912 And so that's what Paul is doing. 579 00:23:40,936 --> 00:23:44,660 Paul's trying to present to them the truth of this one God. 580 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:47,500 Now what is he going to do? 581 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:54,460 Paul is going to actually use some quotations from their poets. 582 00:23:55,120 --> 00:24:01,416 He's going to use pagan poets to present to them the truth of God. 583 00:24:01,608 --> 00:24:03,240 You say why he can't do that? 584 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:04,136 Well, he does. 585 00:24:04,288 --> 00:24:05,512 And God doesn't condemn him. 586 00:24:05,536 --> 00:24:08,952 And I think that we as Christians without sinning, by the 587 00:24:08,976 --> 00:24:14,500 way, can use things from a culture to point people to Christ. 588 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,680 And the reason why I believe that is because we see Paul do it. 589 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:21,032 I think it's at least in four occasions in the New Testament he 590 00:24:21,056 --> 00:24:21,610 does that. 591 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:25,334 We also see Jude do that, quoting the book of Enoch in the 592 00:24:25,342 --> 00:24:26,086 book of Jude. 593 00:24:26,198 --> 00:24:28,726 And so I think that it's completely fine. 594 00:24:28,838 --> 00:24:33,478 By the way, when Paul quotes these philosophers, that doesn't 595 00:24:33,494 --> 00:24:36,390 mean that everything that those philosophers wrote are, is, 596 00:24:36,430 --> 00:24:36,966 is scripture. 597 00:24:36,998 --> 00:24:37,366 It's perfect. 598 00:24:37,398 --> 00:24:37,686 Right? 599 00:24:37,758 --> 00:24:41,014 He's taken an element that is true with what they said and inserted 600 00:24:41,062 --> 00:24:42,086 into the truth of God. 601 00:24:42,198 --> 00:24:44,370 So let me go back, Let me, let me read this here. 602 00:24:44,910 --> 00:24:46,450 Verse 28. 603 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:52,416 Um, actually, let's go back up to verse 27, that they should seek 604 00:24:52,448 --> 00:24:53,360 the Lord, right? 605 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:57,392 So he says I'm telling you this about the one God so that the 606 00:24:57,416 --> 00:25:01,360 people that he created should seek after him, if happily they might 607 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:07,776 feel after him and find him, though he be not far o far from every 608 00:25:07,848 --> 00:25:08,448 one of us. 609 00:25:08,504 --> 00:25:12,700 Meaning the reality is, is that God is closer than you think. 610 00:25:14,610 --> 00:25:17,162 Paul told them that there's a responsibility here. 611 00:25:17,266 --> 00:25:19,418 There's a responsibility for you to respond. 612 00:25:19,514 --> 00:25:20,906 You can't use an excuse. 613 00:25:20,938 --> 00:25:21,946 Well, I'm not from that country. 614 00:25:22,018 --> 00:25:23,258 I'm not from that place. 615 00:25:23,394 --> 00:25:24,522 No, God is close. 616 00:25:24,626 --> 00:25:25,750 Verse 28. 617 00:25:26,610 --> 00:25:28,230 For in him we live. 618 00:25:28,850 --> 00:25:30,870 This is the quotation, by the way. 619 00:25:31,570 --> 00:25:33,898 He's going to quote this Greek poet. 620 00:25:33,994 --> 00:25:39,920 For in him we live, talking about God and move and have our being 621 00:25:40,220 --> 00:25:45,252 as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also 622 00:25:45,356 --> 00:25:46,452 his offspring. 623 00:25:46,596 --> 00:25:48,084 So he quotes two quotes. 624 00:25:48,212 --> 00:25:53,476 One quote is for in him we live and move and have our being. 625 00:25:53,548 --> 00:25:54,440 That's true. 626 00:25:54,940 --> 00:25:57,876 Now, the poet might not have been thinking about the God of Israel, 627 00:25:57,908 --> 00:26:02,196 the true God, but the truth is, is that the God is the one who 628 00:26:02,268 --> 00:26:06,410 allows us to live, move and have our being. 629 00:26:06,790 --> 00:26:09,982 And so Paul says, that guy that was writing that, even though 630 00:26:10,006 --> 00:26:12,462 he may or may not have recognized the truth, that is the 631 00:26:12,486 --> 00:26:14,062 truth, and you have to recognize that as well. 632 00:26:14,086 --> 00:26:17,390 And then he goes on to say at the end of that verse, for we are 633 00:26:17,430 --> 00:26:18,910 also his offspring. 634 00:26:19,070 --> 00:26:22,254 And so these quote, these two quotations Paul used from the Greek 635 00:26:22,302 --> 00:26:23,710 poets are attributed. 636 00:26:23,870 --> 00:26:29,582 Most people attribute them to Apenides, who was a Cretan 600 BC 637 00:26:29,646 --> 00:26:31,152 years and years before this. 638 00:26:31,326 --> 00:26:34,284 Um, and Paul is going to quote him again in Titus chapter one, by 639 00:26:34,292 --> 00:26:34,764 the way. 640 00:26:34,852 --> 00:26:37,388 And then there's another poet that they believe that this attributed 641 00:26:37,404 --> 00:26:38,796 to called Eratus. 642 00:26:38,988 --> 00:26:42,716 And so Paul did not quote these men because they were prophets 643 00:26:42,748 --> 00:26:46,124 of God or because all their teachings were of God. 644 00:26:46,252 --> 00:26:50,604 He quotes them because these specific words reflected a biblical 645 00:26:50,652 --> 00:26:51,280 truth. 646 00:26:51,700 --> 00:26:58,396 And so using their work could build a bridge from the pagan audience 647 00:26:58,508 --> 00:26:59,600 to the truth. 648 00:27:00,420 --> 00:27:05,852 So he was using a pagan author to connect that pagan author's, whether 649 00:27:05,876 --> 00:27:09,500 he knew it or not, truth of God to connect it to Christianity. 650 00:27:09,580 --> 00:27:13,320 So we, we, we think sometimes we only can witness to people that, 651 00:27:13,700 --> 00:27:16,860 that are from our stripe, okay, if they look like us, talk 652 00:27:16,900 --> 00:27:20,476 like us, and we're okay with giving them the gospel. 653 00:27:20,508 --> 00:27:23,282 Folks, you're going to have to try to win people to the gospel that 654 00:27:23,306 --> 00:27:24,450 are not going to look like us. 655 00:27:24,490 --> 00:27:28,994 They're going to come from a hard background and so not all of 656 00:27:29,002 --> 00:27:29,842 us can do this. 657 00:27:29,946 --> 00:27:33,630 Paul was gifted and being all things to all people. 658 00:27:34,250 --> 00:27:36,386 So for example, we, we have a Guy who just gets. 659 00:27:36,418 --> 00:27:36,898 Let's. 660 00:27:36,994 --> 00:27:41,362 We have a guy showed to our church, and he just got let out of 661 00:27:41,386 --> 00:27:41,634 prison. 662 00:27:41,682 --> 00:27:43,390 He's been in prison for 20 years. 663 00:27:44,970 --> 00:27:47,714 People in prison have a different culture, right? 664 00:27:47,802 --> 00:27:49,106 Some of us that have never been to prison. 665 00:27:49,138 --> 00:27:50,790 I've never been to prison, okay? 666 00:27:50,870 --> 00:27:55,110 Lord willing to keep it that way, I might not understand that 667 00:27:55,150 --> 00:27:56,810 culture, okay? 668 00:27:57,150 --> 00:28:01,190 But maybe, just maybe, we have someone in our church that has already 669 00:28:01,230 --> 00:28:04,646 walked that path and lived that life, and they've been saved 670 00:28:04,678 --> 00:28:05,478 from that life. 671 00:28:05,614 --> 00:28:08,534 They might be able to talk to that individual and bridge the gap 672 00:28:08,582 --> 00:28:10,902 in understanding how to communicate the gospel to them in 673 00:28:10,926 --> 00:28:11,890 a better way. 674 00:28:13,390 --> 00:28:15,734 Because if I got up to him and say, you remember when you went to 675 00:28:15,742 --> 00:28:18,166 Christian school and had chapel every single day of your life? 676 00:28:18,238 --> 00:28:20,624 No, I remember growing up in a totally different route. 677 00:28:20,672 --> 00:28:20,928 Right. 678 00:28:20,984 --> 00:28:23,648 It doesn't mean that people that are not like another person, 679 00:28:23,784 --> 00:28:24,768 you can't minister. 680 00:28:24,904 --> 00:28:26,144 But what I mean is this. 681 00:28:26,232 --> 00:28:29,152 We are trying to find, I believe, biblically speaking, we 682 00:28:29,176 --> 00:28:32,880 should find ways to connect to people creatively and try to find 683 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:33,980 them where they are. 684 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:38,096 If I try to act holier than thou and trying to bring this message 685 00:28:38,128 --> 00:28:40,480 of the gospel to someone, the truth might be there. 686 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,472 I can speak the truth, but I'm not loving them enough to find them 687 00:28:43,496 --> 00:28:44,666 where they are in that moment. 688 00:28:44,808 --> 00:28:45,254 And. 689 00:28:45,342 --> 00:28:46,054 And that's a struggle. 690 00:28:46,102 --> 00:28:48,614 That's a struggle for me because I don't like coming out of 691 00:28:48,622 --> 00:28:49,638 my comfort zone. 692 00:28:49,814 --> 00:28:51,382 How many of you don't raise your hand? 693 00:28:51,406 --> 00:28:53,686 But how many of you like, I just love coming out of my comfort 694 00:28:53,718 --> 00:28:53,974 zone. 695 00:28:54,022 --> 00:28:56,486 I just love feeling uncomfortable and being stretched. 696 00:28:56,598 --> 00:28:57,334 I don't. 697 00:28:57,462 --> 00:28:59,062 I like to do things a certain way. 698 00:28:59,086 --> 00:29:01,206 I used to not think that I liked routines. 699 00:29:01,398 --> 00:29:04,054 I used to, like, try to present myself as someone who was 700 00:29:04,062 --> 00:29:05,062 like, I'm spontaneous. 701 00:29:05,126 --> 00:29:06,630 I like to do things on the fly. 702 00:29:06,710 --> 00:29:08,806 And Alicia heard me say that one time in a sermon. 703 00:29:08,838 --> 00:29:09,974 I think maybe it wasn't. 704 00:29:10,022 --> 00:29:10,222 Maybe. 705 00:29:10,246 --> 00:29:10,974 Maybe you just heard me talking. 706 00:29:11,022 --> 00:29:12,638 She's like, that's not you at all. 707 00:29:12,694 --> 00:29:13,982 She's like, you like routines. 708 00:29:14,046 --> 00:29:15,742 You like things being the same way every time. 709 00:29:15,766 --> 00:29:17,342 And I'm like, you know what I do? 710 00:29:17,446 --> 00:29:19,934 I had to come to the conclusion that sometimes my routines 711 00:29:19,982 --> 00:29:21,966 can pull me away from what I need to be doing. 712 00:29:22,118 --> 00:29:26,126 If I'm so routine, if I'm so focused on my way or no other way, 713 00:29:26,198 --> 00:29:28,570 I might miss an opportunity to reach someone for Christ. 714 00:29:29,270 --> 00:29:31,710 And that's why we have the freedom and Paul has the freedom. 715 00:29:31,790 --> 00:29:36,014 Paul has the freedom and liberty to use a pagan poet to connect 716 00:29:36,062 --> 00:29:39,514 the gospel to These people that are pagan, you say what? 717 00:29:39,682 --> 00:29:41,274 Galatians talks all about this. 718 00:29:41,362 --> 00:29:45,418 We have liberty not to use it for a sake of sin, for pleasure, 719 00:29:45,514 --> 00:29:48,810 for our flesh, but we have liberty to show love to people and 720 00:29:48,850 --> 00:29:50,230 bring the gospel to them. 721 00:29:50,610 --> 00:29:53,466 And so I would encourage you to think about how you can present 722 00:29:53,538 --> 00:29:56,950 the gospel to people in a clear, connective way. 723 00:29:57,410 --> 00:29:59,610 So he quotes them, and that's a unique thing. 724 00:29:59,650 --> 00:30:02,110 We don't see that very often in Scripture. 725 00:30:02,610 --> 00:30:05,178 And so he goes on to explain it more. 726 00:30:05,234 --> 00:30:07,882 And so Paul tells them of their responsibility to God. 727 00:30:07,946 --> 00:30:08,266 Why? 728 00:30:08,338 --> 00:30:13,850 Because they are his offspring, like God created you. 729 00:30:14,230 --> 00:30:17,742 And so Paul tells them there is a responsibility there to have 730 00:30:17,766 --> 00:30:21,022 the right thinking, to have the right belief, and they have to 731 00:30:21,046 --> 00:30:22,174 reject the wrong beliefs. 732 00:30:22,222 --> 00:30:22,974 Verse 29. 733 00:30:23,062 --> 00:30:23,358 So. 734 00:30:23,414 --> 00:30:26,494 So if you haven't caught this, we're trying to outline his sermon. 735 00:30:26,542 --> 00:30:28,926 So what Paul does is he says, hey, I'm gonna find a connecting 736 00:30:28,958 --> 00:30:32,158 piece, the unknown God, something that they can relate to. 737 00:30:32,294 --> 00:30:35,010 Then I'm gonna go back to the very beginning and teach them theology. 738 00:30:35,500 --> 00:30:36,692 Who is God? 739 00:30:36,756 --> 00:30:37,920 What has he done? 740 00:30:38,220 --> 00:30:41,268 And then he goes back and he challenges them with something. 741 00:30:41,404 --> 00:30:47,428 If God is this, we believe that to be true, then this is wrong 742 00:30:47,444 --> 00:30:48,628 and this is right. 743 00:30:48,764 --> 00:30:50,244 Every good sermon should have that. 744 00:30:50,332 --> 00:30:52,720 Every good sermon should have a call to action. 745 00:30:53,180 --> 00:30:54,532 We believe this about God. 746 00:30:54,596 --> 00:30:55,076 True. 747 00:30:55,188 --> 00:30:56,308 We believe that he is good. 748 00:30:56,364 --> 00:30:56,980 True. 749 00:30:57,140 --> 00:31:00,618 If he is good, and then this is what he's called us to do, we. 750 00:31:00,644 --> 00:31:01,502 We must follow. 751 00:31:01,606 --> 00:31:03,438 And so how do we do that? 752 00:31:03,494 --> 00:31:04,686 Well, he's going to challenge them. 753 00:31:04,758 --> 00:31:05,950 Verse 29. 754 00:31:06,070 --> 00:31:10,610 For as much then, as we are the offspring of God. 755 00:31:11,350 --> 00:31:13,598 Remember, he's connected that piece with them already. 756 00:31:13,734 --> 00:31:16,670 If they're following him, they're following him to the point 757 00:31:16,710 --> 00:31:18,478 of like, wow, I'm an offspring of God. 758 00:31:18,654 --> 00:31:20,490 What does that mean for me? 759 00:31:21,030 --> 00:31:24,030 He says, well, if you're an offspring of God, we ought not to 760 00:31:24,070 --> 00:31:28,596 think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, or 761 00:31:28,638 --> 00:31:31,100 graven by art and man's device. 762 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:34,260 So what is he saying here? 763 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:37,960 He says, we are responsible to have the right ideas about God and 764 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:41,400 reject the wrong idea of manufactured gods. 765 00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:43,288 Gold cannot represent God. 766 00:31:43,384 --> 00:31:45,208 Silver cannot represent God. 767 00:31:45,304 --> 00:31:47,624 Nothing that we make with our hands can represent God. 768 00:31:47,672 --> 00:31:49,176 He's warning against idolatry. 769 00:31:49,208 --> 00:31:50,952 He's warning against graven images. 770 00:31:51,096 --> 00:31:54,240 He's warning against this idea that you can put God into a box. 771 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:57,712 Now, now, most of us aren't tempted to carve out a little, you 772 00:31:57,736 --> 00:32:00,544 know, idol and put that up on our counter and pray to that. 773 00:32:00,632 --> 00:32:03,264 But sometimes we do want to put God into a box. 774 00:32:03,392 --> 00:32:05,408 God's got to work with my rules. 775 00:32:05,584 --> 00:32:07,840 God's got to, God's got to work in my timing. 776 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:09,376 God's got to work in my way. 777 00:32:09,448 --> 00:32:12,128 And the truth is that sometimes we can put God into a graven 778 00:32:12,144 --> 00:32:12,416 image. 779 00:32:12,448 --> 00:32:14,540 We can create our own God in our life. 780 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:16,832 The challenge here is to tell people. 781 00:32:16,936 --> 00:32:19,424 You can't dictate who God is. 782 00:32:19,512 --> 00:32:21,546 You can't dictate how God works. 783 00:32:21,688 --> 00:32:22,950 You ever heard someone say this? 784 00:32:22,990 --> 00:32:26,102 Okay, if you're, maybe you've witnessed to someone and you said, 785 00:32:26,126 --> 00:32:29,030 hey, you get to that point where you say, you know what, God 786 00:32:29,110 --> 00:32:34,406 loves everybody, but sin must be addressed and there is a punishment 787 00:32:34,438 --> 00:32:35,094 for sin. 788 00:32:35,222 --> 00:32:39,606 Well my, my Jesus, my God wouldn't send anybody to hell, right? 789 00:32:39,678 --> 00:32:40,822 I, well I agree with that too. 790 00:32:40,846 --> 00:32:42,278 I don't agree God sends anyone to hell. 791 00:32:42,294 --> 00:32:44,342 I believe that we send ourselves to hell, he saves us from 792 00:32:44,366 --> 00:32:45,334 that pit of destruction. 793 00:32:45,382 --> 00:32:46,582 But I know what they're saying. 794 00:32:46,686 --> 00:32:49,664 So what I would say is, well it doesn't really matter what your 795 00:32:49,752 --> 00:32:51,712 Jesus believes and what your Jesus does. 796 00:32:51,736 --> 00:32:54,032 It's the matter what the biblical Jesus does. 797 00:32:54,216 --> 00:32:56,576 And, and we know the Bible says that there's going to be multiple 798 00:32:56,608 --> 00:32:58,300 Jesuses preached in this world. 799 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,632 And so he's basically telling them at the end of that verse, in 800 00:33:01,656 --> 00:33:04,752 verse 29, you can't put God into a box, you can't make him the 801 00:33:04,776 --> 00:33:05,728 what you want it to be. 802 00:33:05,784 --> 00:33:10,300 Verse 30 and the times of this ignorance God winked at. 803 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:15,632 But now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. 804 00:33:15,696 --> 00:33:16,620 Meaning this. 805 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:23,700 And this is a tough passage to, to describe but Paul went from 806 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:28,760 telling them here that God has had grace for a time, but at this 807 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:30,616 point there's no one with an excuse. 808 00:33:30,728 --> 00:33:35,656 He's calling all men to repent everywhere and, and he's gonna judge 809 00:33:35,688 --> 00:33:36,420 the world. 810 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:38,520 And, and that's what verse 31's all about. 811 00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:42,168 Because he had appointed a day in which he will judge and the world 812 00:33:42,224 --> 00:33:46,976 in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained Jesus whereof 813 00:33:47,008 --> 00:33:50,352 he hath given assurance unto all men and that he hath raised him 814 00:33:50,376 --> 00:33:51,300 from the dead. 815 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:58,016 And so Paul's, Paul's not preaching a weak gospel, he's just 816 00:33:58,088 --> 00:34:01,152 confronting these Athenians wrong ideas. 817 00:34:01,216 --> 00:34:05,072 And he says hey, there is a coming judgment and the only way 818 00:34:05,096 --> 00:34:07,744 that you can be saved from that judgment is to believe in Jesus. 819 00:34:07,792 --> 00:34:08,921 That's what he's saying there. 820 00:34:09,055 --> 00:34:15,129 And so it says he, he has given hope world and righteousness, 821 00:34:15,549 --> 00:34:18,101 the righteousness of Christ and given assurance us. 822 00:34:18,125 --> 00:34:20,533 So it's what Jesus who's the One who gives us righteousness, it 823 00:34:20,541 --> 00:34:22,037 is Jesus who gives us assurance. 824 00:34:22,133 --> 00:34:24,357 It is Jesus who gives us the resurrection. 825 00:34:24,533 --> 00:34:27,893 So they've been tracking him now until verse 31. 826 00:34:27,981 --> 00:34:30,725 He preaches that we will raise from the dead. 827 00:34:30,917 --> 00:34:33,045 So he says, jesus raised from the dead. 828 00:34:33,157 --> 00:34:35,525 If you follow him and have righteousness in him and assurance 829 00:34:35,557 --> 00:34:37,209 in him, you will raise from the dead. 830 00:34:37,910 --> 00:34:43,102 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. 831 00:34:43,246 --> 00:34:44,350 That was the. 832 00:34:44,470 --> 00:34:44,750 That. 833 00:34:44,790 --> 00:34:47,582 That was the line that he stepped over too much. 834 00:34:47,766 --> 00:34:48,206 Why? 835 00:34:48,278 --> 00:34:50,734 Because most of these individuals would have believed that 836 00:34:50,742 --> 00:34:52,014 there was a higher power. 837 00:34:52,102 --> 00:34:55,406 But none of these individuals would have believed in a afterlife 838 00:34:55,438 --> 00:34:56,830 or a resurrection of the dead. 839 00:34:56,910 --> 00:34:59,662 Meaning they would have believed that, hey, there could be 840 00:34:59,686 --> 00:35:00,750 some kind of afterlife. 841 00:35:00,830 --> 00:35:02,990 But they would have never believed in the fact that we would 842 00:35:03,030 --> 00:35:04,542 resurrect and we would have new bodies. 843 00:35:04,606 --> 00:35:06,588 That was a foreign concept to them. 844 00:35:06,724 --> 00:35:07,020 And. 845 00:35:07,060 --> 00:35:08,812 And so they were following him until this. 846 00:35:08,836 --> 00:35:13,436 And then it says, some mocked and others said, we will hear thee 847 00:35:13,468 --> 00:35:14,428 again of this matter. 848 00:35:14,484 --> 00:35:17,100 So just as much as some mocked, others believed. 849 00:35:17,260 --> 00:35:19,692 And I think that's an interesting point because, you know, 850 00:35:19,716 --> 00:35:22,012 a lot of times we think if it's a good message, everyone's going 851 00:35:22,036 --> 00:35:22,396 to believe. 852 00:35:22,468 --> 00:35:26,236 No, Paul preached the best that we, you know, we ever have heard 853 00:35:26,268 --> 00:35:26,780 in this world. 854 00:35:26,820 --> 00:35:27,036 Okay? 855 00:35:27,068 --> 00:35:28,732 Paul preached wonderful messages. 856 00:35:28,876 --> 00:35:30,252 Some believed, some didn't. 857 00:35:30,316 --> 00:35:32,078 And that's how it's going to be in this world today. 858 00:35:32,204 --> 00:35:34,970 We can present a clear message of the gospel, and there will still 859 00:35:35,010 --> 00:35:36,346 be people that think it's foolishness. 860 00:35:36,378 --> 00:35:38,026 There will be still people that mock us. 861 00:35:38,098 --> 00:35:39,550 It doesn't mean that we quit. 862 00:35:39,890 --> 00:35:41,850 And so what, what does verse 33 say? 863 00:35:41,890 --> 00:35:43,866 So Paul departed from among them. 864 00:35:44,018 --> 00:35:47,434 How be it certain men claim unto him and believed? 865 00:35:47,562 --> 00:35:51,674 So we see, not only do people just tolerate Paul, but they believe 866 00:35:51,762 --> 00:35:53,150 in what he is preaching. 867 00:35:54,130 --> 00:36:00,646 And we see disciples made, among which were Dionysus, Arapagite, 868 00:36:00,758 --> 00:36:03,462 and the women named Damaris and others with him. 869 00:36:03,646 --> 00:36:08,742 And so now, for the first time in their culture, the Athenians were 870 00:36:08,766 --> 00:36:13,330 hearing Paul referring to Jesus and the resurrection as something 871 00:36:13,950 --> 00:36:15,734 real, something substantial. 872 00:36:15,782 --> 00:36:15,990 And. 873 00:36:16,030 --> 00:36:18,566 And not only are they preaching, not only is he preaching 874 00:36:18,598 --> 00:36:22,022 the person and work of Jesus Christ, but he's preaching the fact 875 00:36:22,046 --> 00:36:24,930 that we can be a part of the person and work of Jesus Christ. 876 00:36:25,070 --> 00:36:26,202 You can know him. 877 00:36:26,306 --> 00:36:28,682 You can have the same resurrection in your life. 878 00:36:28,866 --> 00:36:31,354 And so the emphasis on the resurrection was important. 879 00:36:31,442 --> 00:36:34,762 Paul saw the resurrection of Jesus as the hope. 880 00:36:34,866 --> 00:36:37,594 Paul saw the resurrection of Jesus as our purpose. 881 00:36:37,722 --> 00:36:41,706 And it demonstrates that we as believers can have that hope in Jesus 882 00:36:41,738 --> 00:36:41,978 Christ. 883 00:36:42,034 --> 00:36:44,070 And so he's presenting hope to them. 884 00:36:46,210 --> 00:36:46,570 I. 885 00:36:46,610 --> 00:36:47,738 I think that it's very clear. 886 00:36:47,794 --> 00:36:50,010 Paul emphasizes the resurrection. 887 00:36:50,090 --> 00:36:54,204 So I think as Christians, we should recognize and highlight the 888 00:36:54,212 --> 00:36:55,916 resurrection in our sermons. 889 00:36:56,108 --> 00:36:57,676 Not just the resurrection of Christ. 890 00:36:57,748 --> 00:37:00,252 We should present the resurrection of Christ, but I think 891 00:37:00,276 --> 00:37:02,188 we should also preach the hope that we have in. 892 00:37:02,244 --> 00:37:02,604 In. 893 00:37:02,692 --> 00:37:04,092 In our lives, in everlasting life. 894 00:37:04,116 --> 00:37:06,108 A lot of times, why is it. 895 00:37:06,244 --> 00:37:09,052 And I noticed the time we're almost done, why is it that many 896 00:37:09,076 --> 00:37:12,780 times we stop at, hey, we got everlasting life, and we stop. 897 00:37:12,820 --> 00:37:14,760 We stop talking about the hope that's in that. 898 00:37:15,380 --> 00:37:17,170 I think we should study heaven more. 899 00:37:17,260 --> 00:37:18,262 You say what? 900 00:37:18,446 --> 00:37:20,054 Yeah, let's study heaven more. 901 00:37:20,142 --> 00:37:21,782 Let's study what our hope is in. 902 00:37:21,886 --> 00:37:24,246 Let's study what it means to be with our Savior one day. 903 00:37:24,318 --> 00:37:26,582 We have too many Christians that are like, I don't know if I 904 00:37:26,606 --> 00:37:27,206 want to go to heaven. 905 00:37:27,238 --> 00:37:30,150 They're back in that idea of, I'm going to be on a cloud and playing 906 00:37:30,190 --> 00:37:32,370 a harp for eternity, and I just don't want that. 907 00:37:34,430 --> 00:37:37,526 I think that many Christians are living hopeless because we don't 908 00:37:37,558 --> 00:37:40,310 really understand what our eternal hope in Jesus Christ really 909 00:37:40,350 --> 00:37:40,790 is. 910 00:37:40,910 --> 00:37:41,590 Eternal life. 911 00:37:41,630 --> 00:37:43,338 That sounds good, but what does that look like? 912 00:37:43,454 --> 00:37:46,466 And so Paul preaches in our resurrection, we're gonna have glorified 913 00:37:46,498 --> 00:37:47,410 bodies one day. 914 00:37:47,530 --> 00:37:48,770 I'm excited for that. 915 00:37:48,890 --> 00:37:51,586 The older I get, the more excited I am for my glorified body. 916 00:37:51,738 --> 00:37:55,010 Cause that pain and that struggle is real as. 917 00:37:55,050 --> 00:37:55,826 As we get older. 918 00:37:55,858 --> 00:37:56,002 Right? 919 00:37:56,026 --> 00:38:00,402 And the Bible says that not only for us, but for others that 920 00:38:00,426 --> 00:38:00,850 we know. 921 00:38:00,890 --> 00:38:01,470 Right. 922 00:38:02,330 --> 00:38:05,030 It's a tough thing when you're dealing with someone that's in pain, 923 00:38:05,610 --> 00:38:07,522 because we pray for healing, right? 924 00:38:07,546 --> 00:38:10,390 We pray for them to be healed on this side of heaven. 925 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:13,592 But one thing I think we can theologically say is that if they 926 00:38:13,616 --> 00:38:15,768 are believers, they're going to be healed one way or the other 927 00:38:15,904 --> 00:38:18,312 on this side of heaven or when they get to heaven, they're completely 928 00:38:18,376 --> 00:38:19,100 healed. 929 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:21,752 And I know that sometimes that's a struggle because in our 930 00:38:21,776 --> 00:38:23,140 humanity, we miss. 931 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:24,584 We miss it. 932 00:38:24,672 --> 00:38:25,416 I get that. 933 00:38:25,488 --> 00:38:26,740 I understand that. 934 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:29,144 But we have to hope in the greater. 935 00:38:29,192 --> 00:38:30,664 We have to hope in the bigger. 936 00:38:30,792 --> 00:38:31,832 And that's what Paul does. 937 00:38:31,856 --> 00:38:34,072 And so I think that it's preaching hope to people. 938 00:38:34,176 --> 00:38:36,344 And Paul was preaching hope to them that, hey, it's not over when 939 00:38:36,352 --> 00:38:37,100 you die. 940 00:38:37,550 --> 00:38:40,342 And some followed, some believed, some were in. 941 00:38:40,446 --> 00:38:40,870 They were. 942 00:38:40,910 --> 00:38:41,510 They were in. 943 00:38:41,550 --> 00:38:42,262 What do we need to do? 944 00:38:42,286 --> 00:38:43,478 Paul and. 945 00:38:43,534 --> 00:38:46,150 And he obviously teaches them how to follow Christ. 946 00:38:46,270 --> 00:38:49,254 And so the resurrection was not a popular idea for these Greek 947 00:38:49,302 --> 00:38:52,310 Philosophers, they called him foolish. 948 00:38:52,470 --> 00:38:54,450 Other people wanted to hear more. 949 00:38:54,830 --> 00:38:55,718 The Greeks were. 950 00:38:55,774 --> 00:38:58,806 They were fond of immortality, but. 951 00:38:58,878 --> 00:39:01,702 But the resurrection of the body was a strange thing because 952 00:39:01,726 --> 00:39:05,620 they thought things that were material were evil. 953 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:08,944 And what God is teaching is that material isn't always evil. 954 00:39:08,992 --> 00:39:09,440 Right? 955 00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:10,700 Jesus came. 956 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:11,360 And. 957 00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:13,456 And by the way, there were a lot of people that thought that Jesus 958 00:39:13,488 --> 00:39:14,464 really didn't come in the flesh. 959 00:39:14,512 --> 00:39:16,336 He was like a manifestation of God. 960 00:39:16,368 --> 00:39:17,680 He was like a spirit being. 961 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:19,952 Um, Jesus was flesh and blood, right? 962 00:39:19,976 --> 00:39:23,232 If he was here in his, you know, humanity, we would be able 963 00:39:23,256 --> 00:39:24,192 to touch Jesus, right? 964 00:39:24,216 --> 00:39:25,808 We would be able to see him. 965 00:39:25,944 --> 00:39:29,328 And so not all material is wrong, right? 966 00:39:29,384 --> 00:39:30,352 Not all material is bad. 967 00:39:30,376 --> 00:39:32,648 And so the Greeks were having a hard time understanding that. 968 00:39:32,824 --> 00:39:36,024 And so Paul departs, some men join him. 969 00:39:36,112 --> 00:39:40,120 And we see these wonderful disciples joining on in the work. 970 00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:44,060 And so we know that there's so much more to be said about Mars Hill. 971 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:48,728 But Paul preached Christ crucified, but he preached Christ 972 00:39:48,784 --> 00:39:49,336 resurrected. 973 00:39:49,368 --> 00:39:50,872 And I think that's what we should do as well. 974 00:39:50,976 --> 00:39:53,820 The hope of eternity, the hope of salvation. 975 00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:58,264 If we preach just, hey, when you're a Christian, you don't get 976 00:39:58,272 --> 00:39:59,340 to do this anymore. 977 00:40:00,290 --> 00:40:02,870 When you're a Christian, you gotta stop being this way. 978 00:40:03,250 --> 00:40:08,986 If we take the negative side of everything, we miss the positives 979 00:40:09,018 --> 00:40:10,826 of what it means to be a believer. 980 00:40:11,018 --> 00:40:11,370 So. 981 00:40:11,410 --> 00:40:11,850 So. 982 00:40:11,970 --> 00:40:14,362 So let's say a person comes forward today in church. 983 00:40:14,426 --> 00:40:15,242 We have an invitation. 984 00:40:15,306 --> 00:40:17,002 They come forward and they get saved. 985 00:40:17,066 --> 00:40:17,674 What now? 986 00:40:17,762 --> 00:40:19,642 Well, now here's all the things you gotta cut out of your 987 00:40:19,666 --> 00:40:20,230 life. 988 00:40:21,410 --> 00:40:23,510 What I didn't know I was signing up for this. 989 00:40:24,450 --> 00:40:26,234 Are some of those things things that they should cut out of 990 00:40:26,242 --> 00:40:26,490 their life? 991 00:40:26,530 --> 00:40:27,150 Maybe. 992 00:40:28,100 --> 00:40:30,492 But instead of telling them, hey, these are all the things you 993 00:40:30,516 --> 00:40:33,276 gotta get rid of, tell them, here's all the things you get. 994 00:40:33,428 --> 00:40:35,260 You now get the peace of God. 995 00:40:35,420 --> 00:40:37,868 You now have the hope of eternity. 996 00:40:38,044 --> 00:40:43,212 Now you have the love, the joy, the peace, the patience, the 997 00:40:43,236 --> 00:40:46,956 kindness, the goodness, all that you have, all those things imparted 998 00:40:46,988 --> 00:40:49,116 to you as a gift of God. 999 00:40:49,228 --> 00:40:51,356 And so now you don't want to do those things. 1000 00:40:51,508 --> 00:40:55,118 And the desire should be that those things in our life should die. 1001 00:40:55,214 --> 00:40:57,090 And there's that wonderful song. 1002 00:40:57,910 --> 00:41:01,422 Turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in his wonderful face and the 1003 00:41:01,446 --> 00:41:04,302 things of earth will go strangely dim in the light of his 1004 00:41:04,326 --> 00:41:05,406 glory and grace. 1005 00:41:05,598 --> 00:41:09,662 The more we look to Christ, the more we love him, the less we 1006 00:41:09,686 --> 00:41:12,526 will love the world, the less we will want to do those things. 1007 00:41:12,678 --> 00:41:15,710 And so I think what Paul was doing there was not just, hey, be 1008 00:41:15,750 --> 00:41:16,750 Religious, just like us. 1009 00:41:16,790 --> 00:41:18,078 Paul was saying something different. 1010 00:41:18,134 --> 00:41:19,486 They all would have understood religion. 1011 00:41:19,518 --> 00:41:22,220 And Liszt, Paul was saying, know Christ. 1012 00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:24,240 Know him differently. 1013 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:26,000 Know him in your culture. 1014 00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:26,848 Understand him. 1015 00:41:26,904 --> 00:41:28,224 You're not just adhering to. 1016 00:41:28,312 --> 00:41:30,144 Because, because Paul never told. 1017 00:41:30,312 --> 00:41:32,704 At least if, if he did, someone correct me. 1018 00:41:32,792 --> 00:41:36,240 But, but I don't ever see Paul coming into a society and saying, 1019 00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:39,664 stop being who you are and become all Jewish. 1020 00:41:39,712 --> 00:41:41,024 That's not what he says. 1021 00:41:41,192 --> 00:41:43,792 He, he, he's, you know, they, they continue on as gentiles, but 1022 00:41:43,816 --> 00:41:44,704 as gentile Christians. 1023 00:41:44,752 --> 00:41:45,942 Actually, Paul fought for that. 1024 00:41:46,016 --> 00:41:49,066 Oh, there were some instances where things needed to happen for, 1025 00:41:49,138 --> 00:41:50,394 for unity. 1026 00:41:50,522 --> 00:41:53,258 But for the most part, Paul didn't come in and say, now you all 1027 00:41:53,314 --> 00:41:54,874 have to do exactly what we're doing. 1028 00:41:54,962 --> 00:41:56,042 Make sure you're eating kosher. 1029 00:41:56,106 --> 00:41:56,970 Make sure you're doing this. 1030 00:41:57,010 --> 00:41:57,466 Make sure. 1031 00:41:57,538 --> 00:42:00,570 No, he said, you're going to be you and follow Christ in your 1032 00:42:00,610 --> 00:42:01,310 culture. 1033 00:42:02,050 --> 00:42:07,338 And so I, I, when I left Florida and I came up here, my thought 1034 00:42:07,394 --> 00:42:10,522 was, every church is the way that my church was. 1035 00:42:10,626 --> 00:42:11,210 Like you have. 1036 00:42:11,250 --> 00:42:14,020 You have to do the exact same things, because that's a good church. 1037 00:42:14,180 --> 00:42:20,004 I had to realize that taking things that worked in one place culturally 1038 00:42:20,052 --> 00:42:22,400 might not always transfer over here. 1039 00:42:22,780 --> 00:42:25,764 Now, the truths are the same, but the way that those truths are 1040 00:42:25,772 --> 00:42:27,520 played out sometimes are a little bit different. 1041 00:42:27,980 --> 00:42:30,756 And what I would say for us as a church is, where is Middletown 1042 00:42:30,788 --> 00:42:31,604 Baptist culture? 1043 00:42:31,652 --> 00:42:33,620 Like, we need to reach people where they are. 1044 00:42:33,740 --> 00:42:36,292 If we go out into our society and say we only want people from 1045 00:42:36,316 --> 00:42:38,980 Middletown that are good church people. 1046 00:42:39,020 --> 00:42:40,020 I've heard churches pray. 1047 00:42:40,100 --> 00:42:42,424 Bring us just people that know about the Bible. 1048 00:42:42,472 --> 00:42:45,752 Bring us people that look like us already so we don't have to work 1049 00:42:45,856 --> 00:42:46,184 folks. 1050 00:42:46,232 --> 00:42:48,552 That's not really what the prayer should be. 1051 00:42:48,576 --> 00:42:50,632 When we're reaching our community, reach the community where 1052 00:42:50,656 --> 00:42:51,432 they are now. 1053 00:42:51,456 --> 00:42:52,680 They don't stay where they are. 1054 00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:55,032 You lead them to Christ and then you start showing them what 1055 00:42:55,056 --> 00:42:58,472 it means to be a believer, and that's discipleship. 1056 00:42:58,616 --> 00:43:01,620 But we can't be afraid of, hey, that. 1057 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:02,584 I don't know. 1058 00:43:02,592 --> 00:43:05,112 If we want those kind of people around us, we have to say, 1059 00:43:05,136 --> 00:43:07,112 hey, look, there might be a challenge here. 1060 00:43:07,136 --> 00:43:08,584 And not everyone's for that ministry. 1061 00:43:08,632 --> 00:43:09,340 Okay? 1062 00:43:09,770 --> 00:43:13,410 Not, not, not everyone's able to do everything within the church. 1063 00:43:13,570 --> 00:43:15,470 What we can say is, hey, you know what? 1064 00:43:15,850 --> 00:43:19,202 And I, I loved how Brother Gibbs said it this morning. 1065 00:43:19,386 --> 00:43:22,690 They're looking to take a snapshot of their community and bring 1066 00:43:22,730 --> 00:43:23,986 that into the church. 1067 00:43:24,178 --> 00:43:25,550 That's what we should do. 1068 00:43:25,930 --> 00:43:29,170 We should have different people in the church, not different 1069 00:43:29,210 --> 00:43:30,338 People, as in strange. 1070 00:43:30,434 --> 00:43:31,522 But we could. 1071 00:43:31,706 --> 00:43:34,594 But different people, we should have different cultures. 1072 00:43:34,642 --> 00:43:36,768 We should have different ages. 1073 00:43:36,944 --> 00:43:39,408 It would be a little bit, I would be a little bit nervous if 1074 00:43:39,464 --> 00:43:44,592 everyone in the room was the exact same, because we might be doing 1075 00:43:44,616 --> 00:43:45,056 something wrong. 1076 00:43:45,088 --> 00:43:46,304 We're missing something. 1077 00:43:46,472 --> 00:43:50,180 So what I would say here is, let's not be afraid of reaching Athens. 1078 00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:54,672 Let's not be afraid of using the wisdom that God has given us 1079 00:43:54,776 --> 00:43:55,980 to reach people. 1080 00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:00,220 I, I, I, I'll leave you with this. 1081 00:44:01,650 --> 00:44:07,914 If I come to someone on the street and I, and I start reading 1082 00:44:07,962 --> 00:44:11,162 from the King James to them, which is not bad, and I ask them 1083 00:44:11,186 --> 00:44:14,682 a question, I say, now how did that speak to your soul? 1084 00:44:14,746 --> 00:44:17,030 Do you feel justified now? 1085 00:44:17,490 --> 00:44:19,770 You know, is the Holy Spirit moving in your life? 1086 00:44:19,810 --> 00:44:20,714 The Lord speak to you? 1087 00:44:20,722 --> 00:44:21,990 And they're going to be like, what? 1088 00:44:22,450 --> 00:44:26,588 An unsaved person is not going to understand Christian vernacular. 1089 00:44:26,754 --> 00:44:30,296 They're not going to understand our Christian, what's 1090 00:44:30,328 --> 00:44:30,920 the word for it? 1091 00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:31,624 Christian language. 1092 00:44:31,672 --> 00:44:32,264 Okay? 1093 00:44:32,392 --> 00:44:35,656 Not saying that we use improper or foul language to them, 1094 00:44:35,728 --> 00:44:38,808 but what I'm saying is, let's think about how we are coming across 1095 00:44:38,864 --> 00:44:41,020 when we're presenting the gospel to somebody. 1096 00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:43,976 Are we using words that people have no clue what they mean? 1097 00:44:44,048 --> 00:44:45,592 If you, I try to do this. 1098 00:44:45,616 --> 00:44:47,112 I really try to do this when I'm preaching. 1099 00:44:47,176 --> 00:44:50,504 If I use a word that I don't feel everyone's going to understand, 1100 00:44:50,672 --> 00:44:53,058 I try to explain that word, okay? 1101 00:44:53,154 --> 00:44:55,666 And I want to make sure that you understand what I'm saying. 1102 00:44:55,738 --> 00:44:58,002 And I think that's how we should do it when we're trying to 1103 00:44:58,026 --> 00:44:59,394 preach the gospel to people. 1104 00:44:59,482 --> 00:45:00,642 And I think that's what Paul did. 1105 00:45:00,666 --> 00:45:02,850 Paul says, okay, you've heard of the unknown God. 1106 00:45:02,930 --> 00:45:04,466 I'll talk to you about the unknown God. 1107 00:45:04,578 --> 00:45:05,794 He didn't have to go that route. 1108 00:45:05,842 --> 00:45:07,378 He could have said, I have a God in my country. 1109 00:45:07,434 --> 00:45:08,594 And he's, you know, he didn't do that. 1110 00:45:08,602 --> 00:45:09,714 He reached them where they were. 1111 00:45:09,802 --> 00:45:12,950 So I think about that and I think about how we can find our moriso. 1112 00:45:14,010 --> 00:45:16,514 And I think we can do great things. 1113 00:45:16,602 --> 00:45:17,630 I really do. 1114 00:45:18,330 --> 00:45:23,098 This type of preaching and teaching and ministry is most likely 1115 00:45:23,154 --> 00:45:25,070 gonna take place in our Samaria. 1116 00:45:25,490 --> 00:45:26,554 What do you mean, our Samaria? 1117 00:45:26,602 --> 00:45:28,394 Places that we're not as comfortable with. 1118 00:45:28,562 --> 00:45:30,474 Places that's gonna stretch us. 1119 00:45:30,642 --> 00:45:32,682 I remember I had a preacher preach to me one time. 1120 00:45:32,706 --> 00:45:35,226 He said, not just to me, it was the whole church. 1121 00:45:35,258 --> 00:45:36,778 But I felt like he was preaching to me. 1122 00:45:36,914 --> 00:45:39,710 He said, how many of you are willing to be stretched for the Lord? 1123 00:45:40,690 --> 00:45:41,722 And I thought about that. 1124 00:45:41,746 --> 00:45:44,266 And I said, at the time, I was like, I don't wanna be stretched. 1125 00:45:44,298 --> 00:45:45,950 I wanna work in my comfort zone. 1126 00:45:46,260 --> 00:45:48,380 And he said something, he said, you're never going to grow 1127 00:45:48,420 --> 00:45:49,760 unless you're stretched. 1128 00:45:50,900 --> 00:45:52,440 I said, well, I want to grow. 1129 00:45:53,700 --> 00:45:55,804 And so there was a time where I had to say, okay, I'm going to 1130 00:45:55,812 --> 00:45:58,460 do this in order to be uncomfortable in doing this. 1131 00:45:58,580 --> 00:46:00,520 I'm going to be scared to do this. 1132 00:46:01,300 --> 00:46:05,196 I remember when my dad told me growing up, I asked him one time, 1133 00:46:05,348 --> 00:46:07,080 so what does it mean to be a man? 1134 00:46:08,180 --> 00:46:10,812 And, and I, and I didn't understand what he said when he said 1135 00:46:10,836 --> 00:46:13,830 this, but he said, son, being a man means you gotta do the things 1136 00:46:13,870 --> 00:46:15,302 sometimes you don't want to do. 1137 00:46:15,486 --> 00:46:16,646 And I was like, what? 1138 00:46:16,798 --> 00:46:19,126 And I didn't know what that meant until I got older and I realized 1139 00:46:19,158 --> 00:46:19,558 what that meant. 1140 00:46:19,574 --> 00:46:22,210 I got to do things I need to do, not always what I want to do. 1141 00:46:22,750 --> 00:46:26,102 And sometimes as a Christian, sometimes as a Christian, we got 1142 00:46:26,126 --> 00:46:28,246 to do the things that we don't necessarily want to do in our flesh, 1143 00:46:28,278 --> 00:46:30,102 but God is calling us to do it. 1144 00:46:30,286 --> 00:46:35,398 And that's the challenge for us tonight when we go, are we willing 1145 00:46:35,414 --> 00:46:36,570 to stretch ourselves? 1146 00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:39,040 I'm going to try to stretch myself this year. 1147 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:40,368 I'm going to try to stretch myself. 1148 00:46:40,464 --> 00:46:43,872 And so if you guys come along with me as we stretch ourselves together, 1149 00:46:43,976 --> 00:46:45,664 we can feel uncomfortable together. 1150 00:46:45,832 --> 00:46:49,312 But ultimately, the discomfort in stretching ourselves will lead 1151 00:46:49,336 --> 00:46:50,480 us to the comfort of God. 1152 00:46:50,560 --> 00:46:54,352 And the Bible says, as we get comforted by God, we comfort others. 1153 00:46:54,536 --> 00:46:55,776 So what that means is this. 1154 00:46:55,848 --> 00:46:57,936 Some of you that have done that before, you stretch yourself 1155 00:46:57,968 --> 00:47:00,112 and got outside your comfort zone, and you've been able to do 1156 00:47:00,136 --> 00:47:03,216 it, now you go grab that person that's so scared, say, guess 1157 00:47:03,248 --> 00:47:03,578 what? 1158 00:47:03,664 --> 00:47:04,278 I did it. 1159 00:47:04,334 --> 00:47:05,414 And I'm not dead. 1160 00:47:05,542 --> 00:47:06,470 I'm alive still. 1161 00:47:06,510 --> 00:47:07,650 We can do it together. 1162 00:47:07,950 --> 00:47:10,822 I, I, I gotta tell you one, one more funny thing. 1163 00:47:10,926 --> 00:47:13,606 So I was, I was going through a really stressful time, and my pastor 1164 00:47:13,638 --> 00:47:14,646 friend of mine called me. 1165 00:47:14,718 --> 00:47:15,942 He says, well, how are you doing? 1166 00:47:16,046 --> 00:47:18,790 And the first thing that came in my mouth was this, well, I'm alive. 1167 00:47:18,870 --> 00:47:20,454 And he goes, well, that's a start. 1168 00:47:20,622 --> 00:47:21,942 And sometimes that's how it goes. 1169 00:47:22,006 --> 00:47:22,870 It might not go well. 1170 00:47:22,910 --> 00:47:25,062 It might be, you might fall right on your face, and there might 1171 00:47:25,086 --> 00:47:27,270 be a, you know, you might say, I'll never do that again. 1172 00:47:27,310 --> 00:47:28,278 But guess what? 1173 00:47:28,414 --> 00:47:29,678 God's gonna get you through it. 1174 00:47:29,774 --> 00:47:30,798 Going to preserve you through it. 1175 00:47:30,854 --> 00:47:33,694 And so, so I'm, I'll be praying for you. 1176 00:47:33,782 --> 00:47:36,414 And I hope that you pray for for me as we try to stretch ourselves 1177 00:47:36,462 --> 00:47:37,278 in 2025. 1178 00:47:37,334 --> 00:47:39,070 Let's go ahead and pray and I'll have a few announcements and 1179 00:47:39,110 --> 00:47:39,598 we can go. 1180 00:47:39,654 --> 00:47:41,102 Lord, I thank youk for this time that you've given us. 1181 00:47:41,126 --> 00:47:43,838 I thank you for this opportunity to hear the truth of 1182 00:47:43,894 --> 00:47:46,430 God through the message of Paul there at Mars Hill. 1183 00:47:46,510 --> 00:47:51,950 Lord, I pray that we can find our our area, Lord, our our message, 1184 00:47:52,030 --> 00:47:55,902 our our avenue of reaching the loss for Christ. 1185 00:47:56,086 --> 00:47:59,006 Or it's an amazing thing to see folks interested in preaching 1186 00:47:59,038 --> 00:48:00,302 and teaching the gospel. 1187 00:48:00,446 --> 00:48:03,038 Or we know not everyone is a teacher, not everyone is a preacher, 1188 00:48:03,054 --> 00:48:05,530 but all of us can preach and teach by the way that we live. 1189 00:48:05,830 --> 00:48:08,990 Lord, I pray that you give us the strength and the boldness to 1190 00:48:09,030 --> 00:48:13,982 stretch ourselves to be able to proclaim Jesus and Jesus crucified 1191 00:48:14,046 --> 00:48:17,038 and also Jesus and Jesus resurrected. 1192 00:48:17,214 --> 00:48:21,454 Lord, help us to present the truth, but also the hope of what 1193 00:48:21,462 --> 00:48:25,686 it means to have everlasting life in the resurrection or our eternal 1194 00:48:25,718 --> 00:48:26,342 destination. 1195 00:48:26,486 --> 00:48:28,502 So Lord, I pray that we can live in light of that here this week. 1196 00:48:28,526 --> 00:48:29,494 In Jesus name we pray. 1197 00:48:29,542 --> 00:48:30,330 Amen. 1198 00:48:31,550 --> 00:48:34,214 Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church 1199 00:48:34,262 --> 00:48:34,966 podcast. 1200 00:48:35,078 --> 00:48:37,730 I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you. 1201 00:48:38,030 --> 00:48:40,326 If you would like to find out more information about our church 1202 00:48:40,358 --> 00:48:44,022 or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org 1203 00:48:44,166 --> 00:48:46,970 or find us on Facebook or YouTube. 1204 00:48:47,390 --> 00:48:52,656 You can also email me directly at Josh massaro@middletownbaptistchurch.com. 1205 00:48:52,808 --> 00:48:56,288 if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow 1206 00:48:56,344 --> 00:48:59,380 along for future podcast and updates. 1207 00:48:59,800 --> 00:49:00,880 Thank you so much. 1208 00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:01,824 God Bless. 1209 00:49:01,952 --> 00:49:03,080 Have a wonderful day.