Pastor Fred continued the What’s Next Series by preaching out of Acts 17:16-31. In all reality, the whole chapter is good with truth packed in the whole chapter. Here is a brief Bible Study tool. If you want to have a better understanding of Pastor Fred’s preaching passage or for any preaching passage that you hear is to read and meditate on the chapter previous to the preaching passage and the chapter that follows. This is where we get an understanding of the passage and the Bible as a whole. When we do this, not only do do we have a better understanding of God and who He wants us to be, but also, we can discern what we are hearing and to figure out what is good and holy and what is garbage. Also it allows us to vote more Biblically this week when we go to the voting polls.
My first observation is that we often want someone else to lead a loved one to Christ and yet we are still in their lives. Sometimes we should stop passing the buck and God has appointed us to be that person. In essence, God has placed us in other people’s lives and them in our lives for a particular reason. Maybe how we share the Gospel and our life experiences is a way to reach other people because how we live and say things resonates with particular people in a particular way. God has given us each one of us particular gifts and talents to not only glorify Him but to worship Him in a way that reaches particular people.
My second observation is where Paul was at in Athens was called Mars Hill and no Mark Driscoll and Rob Bell weren’t there. Mars Hill was a place where people were more concerned about sharing ideas than doing them. They would rather grab their favorite beverage and talk about the events ant thoughts of the day rather than taking those ideas and putting them into practice. Here is a hard truth, we don’t know something until we have to either teach it or do it. There were more idols in Athens than people and people were bowing down to these idols. There was even an idol to the unknown god in hopes that they have all the deities covered. Something welled up in Paul to go and do something about it. He went out preaching and sharing the Gospel. What are those things that keep coming to mind and that we can’t shake. Even if other people keep telling us that we are crazy, we still keep coming back to this idea. Often these ideas and passions come out of nowhere. The reason why Paul was in Athens was because things got heated up inBerea and Paul went to Athens to let things cool down. Instead he picked up right where he left off. So what are those things that we can’t shake and what are we going to do about it?
My third observation is that we often are seeking God and trying to find Him. We just do it in weird and often destructive ways. We often try and for God in creation and we elevate the created over the creator. In essence we turn the things into idols and we at least place them on par with God. Whether it is power, fame, having a good family or any other thing we think is cool. Jeremiah 29:13-14 tells us that when we seek God with all we have, He can and will be found. So are we like the people of Athens who try to find any god to give it their worship. God tells is us that we don’t have to keep guessing on who or where God is, because He can be found, we just have to look for Him.
My third observation is that God doesn’t get hung up on our failures. He probably shakes His head and hits His forehead because of the things we do and say. It’s like when we are trying to teach our parents how to use new technology, we still do it, but we often shake our heads at least one during the experience. Here is the cool thing though, nothing surprises God and He still uses us despite of our failures and their are times God can take our failures and turn them into something beautiful. The most amazing thing is that He still loves us and cases after he, the question is, are we chasing back?
Grace and Peace
Tom Boustead
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