Christian Heritage Church

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Christian Heritage Church
Indeed my Heritage is Beautiful To Me (Psalm
166b)
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Acts 1716-23

• Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens,
  his spirit was being provoked within him as he
  was observing the city full of idols. So he was
  reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the
  God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place
  every day with those who happened to be present.
  And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic
  philosophers were conversing with him. Some were
  saying, "What would this idle babbler wish to
  say?" Others, "He seems to be a proclaimer of
  strange deities, because he was preaching Jesus
  and the resurrection. And they took him and
  brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we
  know what this new teaching is which you are
  proclaiming?

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Acts 1716-23

• "For you are bringing some strange things to our
  ears so we want to know what these things mean."
  (Now all the Athenians and the strangers
  visiting there used to spend their time in
  nothing other than telling or hearing something
  new.) So Paul stood in the midst of the
  Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I observe
  that you are very religious in all respects.
   "For while I was passing through and examining
  the objects of your worship, I also found an
  altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD '
  Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I
  proclaim to you.

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Certainty in Uncertain Times

• To Wait or Not to Wait
• Many Gods
• Many Beliefs
• Athens and America
• Something New
• Something True

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To Wait or Not to Wait

• Acts 1716-17Now while Paul was waiting for them
  at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within
  him as he was observing the city full of idols.
  So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the
  Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the
  market place every day with those who happened to
  be present.
• The brothers had sent Paul out of Berea and
  escorted him as far as Athens, now Paul is alone
  in Athens waiting for Timothy and Silas to arrive
• As he observes the idolatry of Athens his spirit
  is provoked within him
• He is moved to action

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To Wait or Not to Wait

• What could have been some reasons to wait instead
  of act?
• I need assistance
• I need a vacation
• I need better candidates for the Gospel
• We face many of these same temptations when we
  have opportunity to proclaim the Gospel

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To Wait or Not to Wait

• Opportunities dont always come when we have lots
  of help
• Opportunities dont always come when we are well
  rested
• One of our great sins is picking and choosing who
  we think good prospects are - instead of speaking
  the truth without showing partiality in season
  and out of season
• Or worse yet having no compassion at all and
  thinking they deserve what they get
• The world is not our enemy, it is our mission
  field

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Many Gods

• Acts 1716Now while Paul was waiting for them at
  Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him
  as he was observing the city full of idols.
• A City Full of Idols Many gods
• vs. 23 says Paul observed their objects of
  worship
• Gaius Petronius Arbiter It is easier to find a
  God in Athens than a man

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Many Gods

• By declaring their belief in many gods, they also
  reveal their uncertainty about any of them
• If all gods are equal there is no God
• They were so unsure in their knowledge of God
  they even erected an altar to the unknown god
• This provoked Paul
• Does this provoke us?

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Many Beliefs

• Acts 1718-19And also some of the Epicurean and
  Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some
  were saying, "What would this idle babbler wish
  to say?" Others, "He seems to be a proclaimer of
  strange deities," because he was preaching Jesus
  and the resurrection. And they took him and
  brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we
  know what this new teaching is which you are
  proclaiming?
• Areopagus the hill of Aries, the Greek God of
  War the Roman equivalent was Mars or Mars Hill

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Many Beliefs

• During the First Century a council that
  controlled all religious, philosophical and
  educational matters met on Mars Hill
• Athens was a city that was known for its many
  belief systems or philosophies Plato Socrates
  - Aristotle
• Epicurean philosophers founder Epicures
  pleasure good, pain bad, gods dont care
• Stoic philosophers founder Zeno logic good,
  emotions bad, god is nature/universe

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Athens and America

• America is a land of many gods and many beliefs
• All gods are equal
• All beliefs are equal
• You must be tolerant of all

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Athens and America
NOTICE
Intolerance Will Not Be Tolerated
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Athens and America

• America is a land of many gods and many beliefs
• All gods are equal
• All beliefs are equal
• You must be tolerant of all
• You must be certain of nothing

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Something New

• Acts 1720-21"For you are bringing some strange
  things to our ears so we want to know what these
  things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the
  strangers visiting there used to spend their time
  in nothing other than telling or hearing
  something new.)
• A desire for something new rather than the truth
• Newest belief systems
• Newest diet
• This is evolutionary thinking

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Woodrow Wilson Campaign 1912

• Living political constitutions must be
  Darwinian in structure and in practice. Society
  is a living organism and must obey the laws of
  Life it must develop. All that progressives
  ask or desire, is permission, in an era when
  development, evolution, is the scientific word,
  to interpret the constitution according to the
  Darwinian principle.

1856 1924
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Something New

• Malachi 36"For I, the LORD, do not change
• Proverbs 2228Do not move the ancient boundary
  which your fathers have set.
• Reformation is a return to the Truth not evolving
  into something new
• This is a major problem In modern churchianity

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Something True

• Acts 1722-23So Paul stood in the midst of the
  Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I observe
  that you are very religious in all respects.
  "For while I was passing through and examining
  the objects of your worship, I also found an
  altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD '
  Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I
  proclaim to you.
• We are all very religious people
• The religion of evolution and atheism

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Evolutionist Dr. Stephen J. Gould

• Evolution is promoted by its practitioners as
  more than mere science. Evolution is promulgated
  as an ideology, a secular religiona full-fledged
  alternative to Christianity, with meaning and
  morality. I am an ardent evolutionist and an
  ex-Christian, but I must admit, in this one
  complaint the creationists are absolutely right.
  Evolution is a religion. This was true of
  evolution in the beginning, and it is true of
  evolution still today.

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Atheist Dr. Carl Sagan

• The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever
  will be.

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Nobel Prize Winner George Wald

• There are only two possible explanations as to
  how life arose. Spontaneous generation arising to
  evolution or a supernatural creative act of God.
  There is no other possibility. Spontaneous
  generation was scientifically disproved 120 years
  ago by Louis Pasteur and others, but that just
  leaves us with only one other possibility that
  life came as a supernatural act of creation by
  God, but I cant accept that philosophy because I
  do not believe in God. Therefore I choose to
  believe in that which I know is scientifically
  impossible, spontaneous generation leading to
  evolution.

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Something True

• Romans 125For they exchanged the truth of God
  for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature
  rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.
  Amen.
• We all worship something
• Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I
  proclaim to you
• We are not promoting a new belief system, we are
  proclaiming the truth
• We must not be deceived into thinking that the
  truth that weve been entrusted with is just
  another idea about God in a world with many ideas
  about God

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Something True

• We are proclaiming truth to people who are
  uncertain about everything and ignorant about the
  one True God
• The world is not our enemy, it is our mission
  field - Despite all their pride and idolatry they
  are still lost
• In a world of error we can proclaim the truth
  we can give certainty to an uncertain world.

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Certainty in Uncertain Times

• Are we provoked by the culture we live in or have
  we become accustomed to it?
• Do we have compassion for people who are
  uncertain and ignorant about the one true God?

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Christian Heritage Church
Indeed my Heritage is Beautiful To Me (Psalm
166b)