Acts Chapter 17 verses 16 to 34
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked
within him as he saw the city full of idols.
So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons,
and in the marketplace every day with those who met him.
Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with
him. Some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said,
"He seems to be advocating foreign deities," because he preached
Jesus and the resurrection.
They took hold of him, and brought him to the Areopagus, saying,
"May we know what this new teaching is, which is spoken by you?
For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know
therefore what these things mean."
Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time
in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said, "You men of
Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things. For as I passed
along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with
this inscription: 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What therefore you worship in ignorance,
this I announce to you.
The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of
heaven and earth, doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, neither is he
served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to
all life and breath, and all things.
He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface
of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their
dwellings, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for
him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
'For in him we live, and move, and have our being.' As some of your
own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.'
Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine
Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.
The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands
that all people everywhere should repent, because he has appointed a day in
which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained;
whereof he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the
dead."
Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but
others said, "We want to hear you again concerning this." Thus Paul
went out from among them.
But certain men joined with him, and believed, among whom also was
Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Insight- Athens was a city where people were involved in idolatry, some of them
not even really knowing whom they were worshiping. When Paul found an altar
with the inscription: 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD' and being taken to the Areopagus (a prominent rock outcropping
located northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece), he took the opportunity to introduce Jesus as Christ and Savior. He
spoke of repentance from sins and an appointed day of judgment for the
unrighteous. Some mocked when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, but a
few believed and were saved.
How often do you testify regarding the saving grace of Jesus Christ?
Do you try to create conversations with others that involve your Savior?
Prayer- Dear Father in heaven, help me to make the most of every
opportunity that comes my way to proclaim the name of Jesus and bring glory to
your name. In Jesus name. Amen.
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