To Know the

Acts 17:16-34

by Jim BradshawMaud

church of ChristMay 19, 2013

Sunday Evening

Wouldn’t You like to know the Future?

The men of Athens considered themselves to be superior to others due to their intelligence

Read 1 Corinthians 1:22-29

Exasperated!!!Act 17:16-17 NKJV Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. (17) Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.

Provoked: (paroxuno) to make sharp, sharpen; to stimulate, spur on, urge; to irritate, provoke, arouse to anger; to scorn, despise; provoke, make angry; to exasperate, to burn with anger

• Almost the whole town were Idol worshippers!!!• Over 30,000 Idols were worshipped by on 10,000 residents

Strange New LeftoversAct 17:18-21 NKJV Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. (19) And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? (20) For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean." (21) For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

Babbler – (spermologos) a seed picker

Strange New LeftoversAct 17:18-21 NKJV Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. (19) And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? (20) For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean." (21) For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

Daimonion not theos – which means a demon. To the Greeks demons were dead men who had been deified.

We Used to be Unique

Simply “speak where the Bible speaks”

1Pe 2:9 NKJV But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Read Acts 17:22-31

KJV says, “too superstitious” most others say “very religious”

• Was this a compliment or an insult?

Act 17:23 NKJV for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:

Paul’s Lesson:

• We must believe in God; Hebrews 11:6• We are God’s Offspring: Gen 1:26 NKJV Then God said, "Let Us

make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.“

• God is no man-made idol; John 4:24• No longer times of ignorance; Salvation has been made to all.• All must repent; Luke 13:3, 5• There will be a judgment day; Eccl. 12:13-14; Heb. 9:27

There is a Resurrection Rom 6:3-6 NKJV Or do you not know that as many of us as were

baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? (4) Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, (6) knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Act 17:32-34 NKJV And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, "We will hear you again on this matter." (33) So Paul departed from among them. (34) However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Joined: kollao - to glue together