Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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Before our break, Mark, we were
walking through this experience
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of the Apostle Paul where he
was ministering in Berea and as
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we've seen in other places,
there was a group that didn't
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believe and stirred up the
crowds and once again Paul was
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kicked out of town. And so Paul
was sent off to Athens and we
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pick up in verse 16 of the
story in Athens, which is an
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incredible story. Let's
begin there in verse 16 reading.
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Now while Paul waited for
them at Athens his spirit was
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provoked within him when he saw
that the city was given over to
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idols. Now just think about that
for a moment. The Apostle Paul
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was provoked, his spirit was
provoked within him. Here he is,
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he comes into this place where
there's such little knowledge of
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the true God and he looks
on the crowds and his spirit is
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provoked. You can sense the
love for souls, the love for the
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salvation of humanity that Paul
had and it reminds me of Jesus.
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I remember in the gospels it
speaks about how Jesus when he
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looked upon the multitudes that
he was moved with compassion.
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And it says that he saw that
they were like sheep without a
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shepherd. So here we have this
group of people who should have
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been given the knowledge of
salvation by now if God's people
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had done their work, but instead
they're in this ignorance of
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their salvation.
They're not just idolatrous.
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They're given over to idolatry.
They are steeped so deeply where
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Paul probably wonders, how am I
going to preach to these people.
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They're entrenched. So then
in verse 17 it says, Therefore,
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therefore because of his
deep love and his spirit being
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provoked he reasoned in the
synagogue with the Jews and with
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the Gentile worshipers and
in the market place daily with
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those who happened to be there.
That sounds like everybody
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doesn't it. So there were
the Jews, the Gentiles who were
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going to the synagogue and
who were worshippers and then
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anybody really who breathed.
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This wasn't a meeting in the
market place. This was those who
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happened to be there.
There wasn't scheduled anything.
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So you get this sense that
the Apostle Paul was involved in
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what we might call lifestyle
evangelism. He wasn't just
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somebody who only was on the
clock during certain hours and
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off the clock in others.
Wherever he was he was preaching
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the Lord Jesus and there he was
in the market place and whoever
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happened to be there he was
sharing the word. So you get the
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sense too that there's these
worshipers, they're the ones
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who have an understanding
of God. They don't have a full
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understanding of God and he
needs to definitely communicate
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to them and try to reach
them, especially the Gentile
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worshipers who have less of
an understanding than the Jewish
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ones. But then there's also
this class that we might call
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unchurched today. They've got no
understanding and he meets with
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them in the market place.
He's spreading his message to
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everyone. Then it says in verse
18, Then certain epicurean and
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stoic philosophers encountered
him and some said what does this
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babbler want to say. Other's
said he seems to be a proclaimer
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of foreign gods because he
preached to them Jesus and the
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resurrection. This is where it
gets interesting. Verse 19. Then
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they took him and brought him
to the Areopagus, saying, may we
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know what this new doctrine is
of which you speak. For you are
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bringing some strange thing to
our ears. You would think that
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would be a negative thing. You
bring some strange thing. But
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then it says, Therefore, we want
to know what these things mean.
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Just the fact that it was
strange didn't deter them and we
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find out why. It says in verse
21, For all the Athenians and
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the foreigners who were there
spent their time in nothing else
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but to either tell or to hear
some new thing. So the fact that
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he was sharing some strange
thing, that didn't upset them or
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make them not want to hear. In
fact, it made them want to hear.
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And there they were sitting
there doing what they always do,
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wanting to hear some new
thing. It fascinates me that...
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I've known Christians like that.
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Yeah. This is not altogether
gone. This is certainly talking
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about Athens but this idea
of some new thing, you know.
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Sensational ideas. So many come
to an understanding of the truth
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and they're growing in it but
for whatever reason they begin
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to get bored with it and they
move on and they start coming up
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with sensational, fanatical
views and they move from one
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view to another. Certainly that
happened in this day with the
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philosophies of the day here
in Athens. But I can't help but
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think also that it's possible
that even the study of the Bible
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and theology can lead someone
down a wrong path if all they
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do is spend their time
researching and trying to study
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some new thing. The study of the
Bible should never be disparaged
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but let's look at the Apostle
Paul as an example. He was
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someone, he spent time studying,
he wrote letters that are full
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of theology but when you look at
his life he spent it focusing on
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the purpose of that theology and
the focus of that theology which
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was the salvation of humanity
through Jesus Christ. So he was
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focused on the mission and
the cause of God and that focus
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helped him to understand
the true meaning of the theology
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in the scriptures
that he was a student of.
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That's right. There's a
practical side of theology that
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helps us to better understand
the theology. I can't help but
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think, and I'm sure our viewers
will relate to this, at least
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some of them, especially
the fathers who have had to put
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together toys for their children
and you get that page of
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instructions and you say to
yourself when you're halfway
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through it, I wish the guys who
put these things together, these
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instructions together, had to
put one of these toys together
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with their own instructions just
once. You know there's a theory,
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but the practical side of
things really tempers the theory
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sometimes. As you're mentioning
in theology if all we're doing
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is entertaining ideologies,
grand themes of Christianity,
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sometimes they will lose any
practical significance for the
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common people. And
they actually become a
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little bit distorted and you
can't really truly understand
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them until they're put into
practical application and then
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their full
understanding comes to light.
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That's right. Well it's
interesting as we go on here
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then. Paul is meeting here
in Athens, meeting in the market
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place and what have you and he's
got an appointment with these
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epicurean philosophers
and others to share with them.
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We're going to verse 22. The
Bible says, Then Paul stood in
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the middle of the Areopagus.
Now this was a place in Athens
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that was the place for sharing
what they understood to be
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knowledge and truth and here
Paul has this opportunity to
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share with these men of Athens.
And he says, Men of Athens, I
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perceive that in all things you
are very religious. For as I was
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passing through and considering
the objects of your worship I
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even found an altar with this
inscription, To The Unknown God.
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Therefore, the one whom you
worship without knowing him I
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proclaim to you. Now this
is a really crafty idea by the
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apostle. He's looking for an
opportunity and he just happens
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upon this monument or altar
that says to the unknown god. He
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already sees that the gods
that they are worshipping in
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character are totally different
from the true God. So he takes
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this opportunity to introduce
them to the unknown God and he
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says to them in verse 24,
God who made the world and
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everything in it since he is
Lord of heaven and earth does
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not dwell in temples made with
hands nor is he worshipped with
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with men's hands as though he
needed anything since he gives
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to all life, breath and all
things. Now what's interesting
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here, Jim, is the mindset
of their religion, of pagan
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religion and in reality, truth
be told, all false religion, is
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that man has to do something to
come into good favor with God.
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God needs something from us in
order to act. And Paul makes the
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point here that God made
everything. He doesn't need
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anything from us. He is the
originator of everything and the
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giver of every good gift.
God who made all things is not
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worshipped with men's hands.
That was totally different from
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the gods they knew. It truly was
an unknown god. So he goes on
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to say, God is not needing from
us, he's the one who gives life
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and breath and all things. Verse
26, And he has made from one
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blood, speaking about going back
to the origins now of Adam, from
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one man every nation of men to
dwell on the face of the earth
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and has determined their
preappointed times and the
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boundaries of their dwellings.
That would be the time periods
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that men live in and the
geographic locations they live
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in. God has a plan for every one
of us and he puts us in a place
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and a time where we can make
a difference. Not only where we
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can make a difference but where
he can reach us and we see this
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in the next part. He determined
the place where they were going
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to be, determined their
preappointed times and the
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boundaries of their dwelling.
Verse 27, So that they should
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seek the Lord in the hope that
they may find him though he is
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not... that they may grope for
him and find him though he is
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not far from any one of us.
It's interesting language there.
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To grope for something is as if
you're blind, in darkness, and
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you're groping for something
that's hard to find, but then
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he makes the point, he's not far
from us. He's not hard to find.
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The reason that we don't find
him sometimes is because of the
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way that we're searching or not
searching for him. Maybe we're
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looking for a different kind
of god. So he presents this God
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to them, the unknown god, For
in him we live and move and have
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our being as also some of your
own poets have said for we are
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also his offspring. Therefore
since we are the offspring of
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God we ought not to think of
the divine nature like gold or
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silver or stone, like these
men's idols and what have you.
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Then he says in verse 30, Truly
these times of ignorance God
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overlooked but now commands all
men everywhere to repent because
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he has appointed a day on
which he will judge the world in
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righteousness by the man whom
he has ordained, etc. So he says
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you may have been in ignorance
but God has given you the
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opportunity and in the times of
our ignorance God overlooks it
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but we are in ignorance no more.
I'm presenting something to you
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he says and now you need to make
a decision for the real true God
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That's right. Amen. You know
you look at verse 32 to see the
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response and you find out...
I think that somehow Paul was
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I don't want to say cut off,
but he was no longer going to be
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heard by most of those who were
listening because in verse 32 it
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says, And when they heard of the
resurrection of the dead some
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mocked while others said,
We will hear you again on this
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matter. So some mocked, which
certainly... They didn't believe
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they were Greeks. Remember
that the Apostle Paul says that
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Christ crucified is to the
Greeks foolishness. So the whole
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idea of these supernatural
experiences of the resurrection
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were also foolishness. So they
weren't going to hear that, they
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were mocking. Others, because
they were interested in any new
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thing, said hey we'll hear you
again, but we don't have record
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of that happening. But then
in verse 33 it says, So Paul
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departed from among them,
however, some men joined him and
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believe, among them Dionysius
the Areopagite, a woman named
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Demaris and others with them.
So you get this idea that there
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some that responded. But I
want you to notice what happened
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in previous places like in
Thessalonica. Go back to chapter
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17, verse 4, in Thessalonica and
it says, A great multitude of
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the devout Greeks responded.
In chapter 17 verse 12 it says,
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Therefore, many of them believed
in Berea but here in Athens just
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some men joined him. You don't
get the sense that this crafty
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argument worked all that well
in Athens. The Apostle Paul is
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about to go to Corinth and he
makes a decision at the end of
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his ministry in Athens that has
a deep effect on his ministry in
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Corinth and we find that in the
book of I Corinthians chapter 2.
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He says in verse 1, And I,
brethren, when I came to you did
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not come with excellence of
speech or of wisdom declaring to
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you the testimony of God for
I determined, I decided, not to
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know anything among you, the
Corinthians, except Jesus Christ
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and him crucified. So here
in Athens he used logic and
00:13:31.28\00:13:35.69
argumentation, but he discovered
that that wasn't as effective
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as simply speaking and appealing
to the heart about Jesus Christ
00:13:39.44\00:13:43.13
and him crucified. How about you
viewer? Are you ready to accept
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Jesus Christ and him crucified.
We hope you'll join us next time
00:13:46.85\00:13:50.46
as we dive in
further on Books of the Book.
00:13:50.50\00:13:52.76