March 6, 2024 • 49 mins
We continue in the book of Acts as it serves to guide and lead us through the contrasting receptions of the Gospel spoken by Paul found in Thessalonica and Berea, and inviting us to consider the early Christian movement's enduring influence on societal norms and beliefs.
Witness the power of the Gospel as we delve into the actions and convictions of the disciples post-resurrection, underscoring their journey to spread Christianity's message far and wide. Paul's mission encapsulates the essence of this transformation, challenging traditions and cultural structures with a revolutionary message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. As we contemplate the historical and contemporary impact of these endeavors, we recognize the cultural shifts they have prompted, reinforcing the Christian message's revolutionary nature across various contexts.
Concluding our expedition, we emphasize the value of conversation and debate in the search for truth—a theme echoed in Paul's engagement with Athenian philosophers and relevant to intellectual discourse today. With heartfelt gratitude, we extend an invitation to join our mission in sharing God's word through our podcast. The journey through the Acts of the Apostles continues, and we eagerly anticipate further enlightening discussions aimed at deepening our collective understanding and connection to the scriptures.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Be Disciples podcast with yours,
kyle Morris, dakota Smith andDavid Glavin.
This is episode number 110.
110.
110 and we'll be studying thebook of Acts.
We'll be in chapter 17 today.
Welcome to the podcast.
Please follow us on our socialmedia accounts.
We're also now doing this onvideo on YouTube and so you can
(00:33):
go to at Ottawa Bible Church onYouTube and you can also follow
our church on Facebook andInstagram as well as our Be
Disciples podcast social mediaplatforms.
But a lot of our content isgoing to be on YouTube.
At Ottawa Bible Church You'llbe able to see sermons,
different church services, othertypes of educational material
(00:54):
for Ottawa Bible Church, socheck that out.
Welcome to the podcast, guys.
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Welcome.
Hey, last night just this needsto be said we had an awesome
prayer meeting here at thechurch.
I don't know, it's probablyabout 60 people or somewhere
around that and people dove inand they were praying and it
just felt like our church isstarting to get the hang of it
or starting to find the rhythmof praying together, which takes
(01:20):
time and trust.
But that was a big praise justfrom last night and to see the
vulnerability and thetransparency of the body.
I don't know about you guys,but I'm coming off the high of
that last night and just reallythankful for our church.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, I mean, our church, like any other church,
has both needs and things thatwe're looking forward to, and so
, you know, some of those areillnesses and real struggles and
things that are going on intheir personal life, and I felt
like people recognize the needto come together as a church and
(01:53):
to pray about it and to praytogether and to bear that
together and to encourage oneanother.
And so I thought it was great.
David worship team did a greatjob getting us into that place
of worship to be able to pray.
And then, yeah, just I feltlike the body really came
together last night and prayedand that is super uplifting and
(02:16):
encouraging that people wouldlet us into their lives, we
would hear their hearts and wecould pray for different things.
We prayed for missions, weprayed for the lost, we prayed
for the future of our church, weprayed for our country and all
different things that we prayedover.
But it was good to just see theheart of the people.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Absolutely.
It's a great way to start themonth and I love evening
services like an evening worship, prayer together at the end of
the day, and it was just a greatfeel.
I didn't get to stay.
I went to go help with the getready for youth group, but just
the worship and being herespecifically to pray together as
(02:54):
a congregation, I just thinkit's very powerful and I think
it's been going well.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, on the topic of prayer, next week I'm excited
we're going to have Dr JeffChang from Midwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary.
He is the assistant professorof historical theology at the
school, but he's also thecurator of the Spurgeon Library
and so he knows all aboutCharles Spurgeon and so he gets
(03:22):
the opportunity to look throughall the material and see all
kinds of cool stuff from thattime.
But he's going to come on andactually talk about Spurgeon.
On prayer, one of theinfluences for this prayer
meeting is Spurgeon, because heheld a prayer meeting every week
and so prayer was reallyimportant to be just
consistently in prayer with thebody, come together and do that.
(03:43):
And so that's some of theinspiration that I had reading
some Spurgeon on only a prayermeeting, some of his notes, and
then just looking at prayermeetings through history.
So he's going to come on andspeak into that a little bit
more.
So I'm excited for that.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, all of those credentials are Q4.
You need to be here and tolisten in.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, it's going to be great.
He's an extremely humble guyand I've loved the conversations
I've had up to this point withhim, so it'll be a lot of fun to
have him on the podcast.
But let's get going, guys.
Let's get into the book of Acts, let's pray and then we want to
jump back in and see whatPaul's going, where the Holy
Spirit's leading Paul and Silasand the ministry continues.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
So let's, let's this will be a lot of fun Before we
pray.
It's just also helpful toremind our people the last
episode we only got through 17,verse 4 because we took more of
an apologetics bent.
So this is almost like a parttwo of some sorts before we dive
in.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, so we're going to cover more verses today,
because we kind of just tookfour last week.
But we're going to cover a lot.
But that's okay because Paul'son the move and the Holy Spirit,
especially, is on the move.
So let's check it out.
Let's pray, father, we comebefore you today humbly, that
this means of communicationwould be an opportunity to
(05:01):
glorify your name, that peoplewould hear and know you through
the podcast, that this podcastisn't about us but it's about
you.
This is your word.
This is the word that you havegiven us to study, to learn from
, to know more about who you are, to be equipped in the way that
(05:21):
we should live our lives,because we believe that the
Bible is fully sufficient forthe Christian life and that
studying acts helps usunderstand the movement of the
Holy Spirit, lord, and how youmove through your people and how
you engage the world with thegospel, and what it means to go
and reach more people.
So be with us today.
We can discuss.
Thank you for all those who arelistening in.
(05:43):
We pray over your lives thatyou would become more equipped
to be disciples of Jesus Christ.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Amen.
So we start out in chapter 17,verse 1, paul at Thessalonica.
And just before reading, Ithink it's always helpful to
remember that the book of Actsalways prepares you for the
epistles in the New Testament.
So when you read about theaffection that Paul had for the
church at Thessalonica, likeright away, 1 Thessalonians,
chapter 1, and even in chapter 2, you start to understand why he
(06:15):
feels such a way towards them,because the book of Acts speaks
of the history that they've hadtogether.
So keep that in mind, maybe putthis on pause and go and read a
couple of verses in 1Thessalonians.
But here we go.
Verse 1, now, when they hadtraveled through Amphipolis and
Apollonia, they came toThessalonica where there was a
synagogue of the Jews, andaccording to Paul's custom, he
(06:37):
went to them and for threeSabbaths reasoned with them from
the scriptures, explaining andgiving evidence that the Christ
had to suffer and rise againfrom the dead and saying this
Jesus, whom I am proclaiming toyou, is the Christ.
And some of them were persuadedand joined Paul and Silas,
along with a number of theGod-fearing Greeks and a number
(07:00):
of the leading women.
That's where we stopped lastweek.
Verse 5, but the Jews and wewere kind of joking before this
morning's episode, like how manytimes have you seen a phrase
like that?
Oh, but the Jews, right therethey are again their rejection
of Jesus, and we still pray forthem today.
But the Jews, becoming jealousand taking along some wicked men
(07:22):
from the marketplace, formed amob and set the city in an
uproar and attacking the houseof Jason.
They were seeking to bring themout to the people and they did
not find them.
They began dragging Jason andsome brethren before the city
authorities, shouting these menwho have upset the world
Interesting statement, have comehere also and Jason has
(07:46):
welcomed them.
And they all act contrary tothe decrees of Caesar saying
that there is another king,jesus.
They stirred up the crowd andthe city authorities who heard
these things Verse 9, and whenthey had received a pledge from
Jason and the others, theyreleased them.
I think it's appropriate to goto all the way to verse 15.
(08:08):
The brethren immediately sentPaul and Silas away by night to
Berea and when they arrived theywent into the synagogue of the
Jews.
Now, these were more nobleminded than those in
Thessalonica.
What a contrast, for theyreceived the word with greater
eagerness, examining thescriptures daily to see whether
these things were so.
(08:28):
Therefore, many of thembelieved, along with a number of
the prominent Greek women andmen.
But when the Jews ofThessalonica found out that the
word of God had been proclaimed,by Paul and Berea also, they
came there as well, agitatingand stirring up the crowds.
Then, immediately, the brethrensent Paul out to go as far as
(08:49):
the sea, and Silas and Timothyremained there.
Now, those who escorted Paulbrought him as far as Athens and
, receiving a command for Silasand Timothy to come to him as
soon as possible, they left.
Okay, guys, so a little bit ofdrama here in the first 15
verses.
We read this last week, but wedidn't speak of it.
(09:10):
Yeah, there seems to be apattern wherever Paul goes
people get upset and it'sbecause Paul carries something
with him.
Yeah, the gospel.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
The gospel, that's the word, yeah, and that's what
he brings.
And so Paul brings the word,paul teaches the word.
We discussed last week thatthis word that he was teaching,
that he wasn't just proclaimingthe gospel, but he was reasoning
, he was persuading, he washaving conversation with him.
He wasn't just all about likeI'm preaching and leaving, like
(09:42):
he sat there and would askpeople, would ask questions, and
then he would engage, and sothis was not just like dive in,
preach, dive out.
And so, because of this, itstirred the people, especially
the Jews, who are not seeingJesus as King, and something
that's super ironic is who didthey lean to as the King in this
situation?
Caesar.
(10:03):
This is odd to the point wherethey would go to and say that
Caesar was more important thanthis Jesus, or more important,
and elevate Caesar to a placewhere they would use them in
their argument when the Jews andthe Romans were not friends.
So this was very interesting.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
And they certainly didn't bow down to Caesar.
So when it's convenient forthem they claim the name of
Caesar.
That's the issue, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
And that happens, yeah, not just here, but today.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
It's not odd for them , I mean because they've done it
before with Jesus, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah, when's the last ?
They drag Jesus out into thepublic?
Yeah, right, I mean, they'resame kind of behavior as before.
So this isn't new, but it isbecause the gospel is there.
Same reason, and that'ssomething that we see as this
pattern Paul goes toThessalonica, paul goes to Berea
.
Same things are happening, apattern is starting to take
(10:58):
place and Paul seems to be thefocus, more than Silas and
Timothy, for the person that'sbringing this message.
Not that Silas and Timothyaren't, but Paul seems to be the
guy that everybody's pointingto.
It's this guy, paul.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
He's bringing this, yeah, Maybe on a funny note.
If it's funny, I feel reallybad for Jason, Like this guy
just got wrapped up in this.
He gets dragged away and thenPaul gets out and it's like oh
OK, well, you know, you'refollowing Jesus.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Here's the money, here's the place, like get out
of this or not, get beaten.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
And Jason is mentioned in multiple letters.
I think he's also mentioned infirst Thessalonians I'd have to
double check on that but he ismentioned in Romans 16, 21.
So Jason is this individual whoseems to be a devout believer,
and we don't know the exactextent of his relationship with
Paul, but obviously he hasenough of a relationship to be
(11:54):
persecuted and to be associatedwith Paul.
So just something to considerthere.
I also think it's interestingthat they don't just have an
issue with the fact that theyare saying there's another King,
jesus.
But did you notice the otherstatement in verse 6?
These men who upset the worldhave come here also.
(12:16):
This is a very GaryHabermas-like statement, but
sometimes you have to find theindirect evidences in order to
discover evidences for theresurrection.
Like, indirect evidence says abunch and so while this may come
from someone in opposition tothe gospel, it's still right out
(12:37):
of the horse's mouth.
One of the ways that you knowthe resurrection was true is you
just got to follow thedisciples' footpath, their
footsteps.
Where did their feet go?
If the resurrection wasn't true, then they would have stayed at
home and Jerusalem cowered therest of their life, been
disappointed that they hadbelieved in Jesus, and he was
not the prophet they hadexpected, was not the Savior and
(12:58):
Messiah that expected.
But what changed?
Well, what changed is Jesusrose from the grave and that
made them go.
Well, now we can go throughoutthe known world proclaiming this
message.
So it did turn the world upsidedown Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, their words are very interesting.
Here you upset the world, andmine even says men who turned
the world upside down yeah, theknown world, the known world,
but I mean turned it upside downin the sense of like they're
preaching a message of salvationbecause of the resurrected
Christ.
This would upset the Jews, thiswould upset the Romans, this
(13:33):
would upset anybody who doesn'trepent and believe.
It's such a different way ofthinking.
It isn't that religious type ofgood deeds, good works, live a
good life, you'll get intoheaven.
Any sort of religion that doesthat.
Paul is preaching putting yourfaith in Christ.
That it's not about your worksor how much money you have or
whatever you've done.
(13:54):
It's just about what Jesus hasaccomplished, because you can't
accomplish it on your own.
So there's a freedom that Paulis preaching that disrupts
society, that disrupts theirthinking.
It disrupts the Pharisees andthe Sadducees.
It disrupts these Jews andThessalonica.
It disrupts the Roman thinkingof their gods and who they serve
(14:16):
Caesar.
So it's a disruptor and it'sdisrupting today.
That's why there's so muchpushback against Jesus in the
gospel because it disrupts power, it disrupts authority, it
disrupts all of those thingsbecause it puts all the
authority on the one who givesauthority.
That's right, and that's theturning the world upside down
(14:38):
here in Thessalonica, and it'sfollowing the pattern that
Gamaliel said, I mean in theCouncil.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
He said listen, if we're fighting against these men
and it turns out that it's ofGod, then we're fighting against
God, but if it's not, they'llscatter.
And it's almost like Paul wasfollowing that pattern and
trying to scatter them beforehis conversion and it just
didn't work.
Jesus came to him and said hey,what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
You know, what I think is interesting on that
note is our world will say oh,that's oppressive.
You're bringing yourChristianity into another
culture and in fact we justvisited a place in January that
actually carries that very view.
This Appetistas, yeah they havesigns up.
They have signs up.
No religion here, becausewhatever you're going to bring
is going to ruin our culture.
(15:27):
But if culture could save, thenI think that'd be correct.
It'd be oppressive If cultureby itself could save.
But culture can't save, and soit doesn't matter the culture
that you belong to, it doesn'tmatter the governmental
authority that you have over you, it doesn't matter where you
(15:48):
come from, where you're going,your background, ethnicity, age,
whatever.
The authority is Jesus, andthis is the one message that
should invade and not oppress.
It's the message, the freedomof the gospel, which removes us
from all oppression, sin, otherpeople, whatever it might be
(16:09):
like.
The gospel saves more thananything else.
So that's something to consider.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
How often have we heard that?
Back to your question.
How does this apply to us todayin our church, or where do we
see this?
And how often do we hear in thechurch today when the Lord is
trying to change something, whenthe Spirit is moving leadership
, or there's a movement in thechurch that's trying to go in
the direction of the Spirit,that's trying to follow
Scripture, and they say this ischanging the culture of our
(16:36):
church and it's going againstwhat we've always done, and I
think that's unhealthy,especially when we look to, if
we're holding on to somethingthat is keeping us from
following the Lord.
So it does happen today.
We can become legalistic withthe Scripture and our Christian
faith, just as the Jews did withthe law in their day, and we
(16:59):
can create we do create aculture, an unhealthy culture of
legalism and unhealthypractices in our church cultures
.
It's a certain thing.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
And if our church culture is bad because we're not
following Christ in His wordand we're not building people up
in His word and who he is, whathappens is our church no longer
has the influence in itscommunities to influence and to
have leadership in areas such asschool boards and city
governments and stategovernments and the freedoms
(17:31):
that we have here in thiscountry.
And so we have to go back andlook man, our founding fathers,
even the ones who disagreed withwho Christ was, a lot of them
still agreed on biblical moralvalues that built up this
country where the tension todayis at.
That tension exists here inThessalonica with the Romans and
(17:55):
the Jews.
There's a disrupter that'scoming in Now in America we've
got to see the amazing grace andmercy of God, amazing things
that have happened in ourcountry, from slavery being
abolished to the rights of allpeople here in America to have
this freedom that it doesn'texist anywhere else in the world
(18:17):
and throughout history.
And all of that was built uponthe things that came out of
scripture.
And so that's why there's thattension.
That's why they're fightinghere.
They don't know, they haven'tseen that freedom in
Thessalonica yet and in theRoman Empire.
They eventually will see it inthe Roman Empire.
There will be a time whereChristianity it has strong
influence there, but right nowit doesn't, and the Jews are
(18:38):
fighting against it.
They want to keep theirreligion, their traditions,
their way of life, and now Paulis pushing against that with the
gospel.
And that's where we findourselves.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
So now we get to Berea and we've got excuse me,
we receive a different reception, as they're in Berea, than they
did in Thessalonica.
We see the boys fromThessalonica come back and
persecute them again.
What?
In verse 13.
But first we see the receptionof the Bereans and how they
receive the word.
(19:09):
What does it say after they areteaching in verse 10, verse 11?
Now, these were morenoble-minded than those in
Thessalonica, for they receivethe word with great eagerness,
examining the scriptures dailyto see whether these things were
so.
And you know, this does makeyou think of the Berean
organization, those who comeinto hotels and they bring
(19:31):
Bibles, you know, for everyhotel room, and you know how
often have you gone into a hotelroom and seen a Berean Bible?
And although maybe nowadays youknow, the view towards that is
shifting and some hotels don'twant it, nevertheless, I mean, I
remember being in Micronesiaone time with Dr Jim Baugh, gary
Howell and a couple other guys,and we're staying at this tiny,
(19:55):
tiny little hotel just on thissmall Pacific Island, and the
Bereans were there passing outBibles.
And I was just amazed, likethese guys, they not only care
about the word, they investigatethe word, dr Justin.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Marchegiani.
Yeah, that's.
I mean, we don't even we needthat here in the United States,
not just in Micronesia, drJustin Marchegiani, I know, Dr
Justin Marchegiani.
I mean just the question here,or the information Paul is
bringing, is all about Christ.
I mean, his approach isdifferent.
So when we talk about fightingagainst authority and these
things in our culture, it's justwith the Word of God.
(20:28):
And that's what the Bereans,that's what you're talking about
.
They're bringing Bibles becausethe message saves and it frees
people from sin, which then inturn, changes their lives, how
they're going to live, andthat's what Paul's bringing.
They're examining thescriptures daily.
So that tells us okay, we'vereceived the Word.
We need to examine thescriptures, we need to know what
(20:49):
it says, we need to be able totalk about these things.
That's what we're doing rightnow on this podcast.
Our Bible's open, examining thescriptures, so that we can be
like Paul, who is imitatingChrist, who then we can go out
and proclaim the Gospel, and butwe also know what comes with
that, because Paul's showing uswhat comes with that.
It stirs people up, bothpositively, in a way that people
(21:13):
accept Christ, who will examinethe scriptures, who will reason
and who will go through that.
And then there's the other side.
There's going to be a stirringof the crowd.
That's negative, that's goingto cause issues.
Both are going to happen, andso we have to continue to read
and see.
How is Paul handling this andwhat is God doing to protect
Paul, to continue the spread ofthe Gospel?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I wonder what would happen if we did some sort of
analysis and I bet this has beendone but some sort of like
comparative analysis between theinfluences of neo-Marxism, you
know, marxian thought, theinfluences of you know what
happened with Mein Kampf andAdolf Hitler's writings versus
(22:00):
the scriptures.
If you think about it like thefirst existential question that
somebody has to ask informulating their worldview is
does God exist or does truthexist?
And technically they're one andthe same, like before you get
onto questions about creationand anthropology and morality
(22:23):
and purpose and history anddestiny and things like that,
the first question is does Godexist, slash, does truth exist?
And with that question comes alot of different answers because
it when somebody startsformulating their worldview,
they essentially says well, Ibelieve this is truth, I believe
(22:43):
that is true, I don't believethis is true, I don't believe
that is true.
And so at the crux, really, itdoes come down to and maybe this
is repetitive, but it does comedown to who actually holds the
authority over the world andover every human soul.
And so this gospel is beingcommunicated as the authority,
(23:04):
and here you're seeing thosereceive it with eagerness and
those reject it, and I mean guys, I even see that on the
university campus.
It breaks my heart, because Ijust spent seven weeks
ministering to my current classon campus and I love them all.
But there's a select group ofindividuals who, despite all the
(23:25):
evidence that has been putforward about the scriptures
being preserved, the life ofJesus, the resurrection, despite
all of those things prophecy,they're still saying well, I
haven't seen enough evidence yet.
And it's amazing to me whathappens, like when a person is
so rejecting against the gospelthat they will keep raising the
bar like we reach enoughevidence.
(23:47):
Oh nope, that's not enough.
I'm going to keep up in theante, not even realizing that
they don't scrutinize their ownbeliefs like that.
Yeah, their evidence for whatthey believe is way lower.
That's right.
And so when they're beingconfronted with the truth or
another authority, all they haveto do is just keep raising the
standard.
And there's more answers andmore research to be done.
(24:08):
You've only had seven weeks toread it.
I get it, but at the end of theday, it does come down to a
hard issue.
You can be presented with thefacts, but what your heart is
doing matters most.
The Bereans their heart.
They search with eagerness.
They examined it, they wantedit.
The other guys they're like youknow we're Jews but yeah, we're
kind of like Four Seizur whenit's good for us and it's just
(24:30):
amazing.
The human heart is so wickedand deceitful.
Be careful, because it willchange what you do and how you
react to truth.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Well, it boils down to disobedience and it boils
down to not wanting to beaccountable.
I mean, there's a common joke Imake with my wife, and I've
even said it to the kidssometimes when talking about
accountability and ignorance isbliss.
When I'm driving and I parksomewhere or I do something and
my wife points out a sign orsomething that I didn't
(25:01):
previously see or know, I amlike we were fine until you told
me that I didn't read the sign.
Why'd you have to tell me wecould have parked wherever we
wanted?
And like that root feeling of Iwant to do what I want to do
and I don't want to know thetruth, because then I'll have to
abide by it, and that's a hardthing that we're all capable of.
(25:23):
And yeah, I mean I thinkillustration.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah, because I think that's exposed in many ways.
Like I don't know how manyvideos you guys have watched of,
like you know, random guysinterviewing people on the
street, like Ray Comfort orsomething, or even just non
Christian like hey, who's thepresident of the United States?
Or who holds this position, orjust basic like who was the
first president of the UnitedStates?
You know, just very simple.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
It really gets like it was yes, got it.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
There's people who are like oblivious to just facts
of history that are prettyrecent, even like facts of today
that are like oh, we know whothe president is, like you can
say his name.
So it's one of those thingswhere people don't even want to
know what's out there.
(26:08):
Anyways, they kind of want tolive in their own world.
Like you said, I didn't careuntil that sign was pointed out
to me, like people who don'twant to get it pointed out, they
don't want to have thatinformation, even if it's the
basic most information we havein our society that has nothing
to do with the Bible.
But, yeah, to be able to justask people questions and to you
(26:30):
start stirring them in adirection where they start
getting uncomfortable or like,oh, now I have to address, like
myself, like Ray Comfort doesthat, because he dresses sin
right away, hey, have you, haveyou ever lied about something?
Oh, yeah, I have before.
Okay, well, have you ever?
And he goes through all thesedifferent sins and he goes okay,
so that means you're a sinner.
(26:52):
That's right and they go.
Well, yeah, and he goes.
I'm a sinner too and then heworks through, like recognizing
the reality that we can't getourselves out of that sin, and
so just those basic things wherepeople don't want to address
that, and that's why the Jewsare so upset because they're
being confronted right they'rebeing confronted with.
You're wrong.
Jesus came to you first and youdidn't respond.
(27:16):
And now you're all upsetbecause people are seeing who
Jesus is and disrupting your wayof life.
That's right, and people don'twant their lives disrupted, even
if it's not even a religiousthing.
They just don't want to betroubled.
Stay out of my neighborhood,stay off my front porch.
My life is fine, get out ofhere.
I don't want you here.
And some people in othercultures have signs up like the
(27:38):
Zapatistas literally don'tevangelize here, we don't want
your God.
And then there's other peoplewho just you know.
I saw a video today.
A guy was just walking aroundsaying hey, do you know who
Jesus is?
And but no, no, I'm good.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
They just don't want to bebothered, like the truth is
being offered to them.
They just don't want to bebothered.
No, no, I'm good, my life'sfine, but it's really not.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Well, and there's also a book that Carl Truman
wrote.
There's two really.
One is called the Rise andTriumph of the Modern Self.
That's the bigger book.
The other is called Strange NewWorld, which is more of the
truncated version, which I wouldjust encourage people to
purchase Strange New World byCarl Truman.
But he basically walks usthrough the systems of thought
(28:22):
from the French Revolutiononward.
Like, how did we now get tothis place in society today
where we're propping up internaltruth rather than, or internal
reality rather than externalreality?
Like why is it that we are so?
We are so coddling thisinternal reality that may not
even be true versus what's rightbefore us?
(28:44):
And it's because the thoughtsfrom the French Revolution said
that you have to become yourmost genuine self, which means
adopting and embracingeverything that you feel from
within.
And so many people believe thatwe are actually undergoing the
fallout effects of the FrenchRevolution today.
It's not like the AmericanRevolution, but it's the French
Revolution.
And so, as a result of that,you get Marxian thought versus,
(29:09):
you know, westernization, orspecifically like the influence
of Christianity and theReformation, and all of these
things come together.
What I'm trying to say is thatwe are seeing a real battle in
the heavens today over the soulsof men.
We don't wrestle against fleshand blood, but we wrestle
against the rulers and theprincipalities and the world
(29:30):
forces of this darkness.
And spiritual warfare alwaystakes place over one thing it's
always over what is truth Like.
Spiritual warfare is not therebecause the demons are trying to
get you to purchase a meal fromChick-fil-A rather than
McDonald's or Burger King, orfrivolous decisions.
Spiritual warfare takes placeover what's true, and that's
(29:54):
exactly what's happening here.
There's spiritual warfare goingon because the truth is being
confronted and people areaccepting it.
The world's turning upside down, and now you have the and I can
Jews with an issue.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
And we're also like.
I mean, as we're talking, I'mthinking of where's the
beginning of knowledge?
And the Scripture tells us thatit's the fear of God, the fear
of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is thebeginning of knowledge and we
don't fear.
We don't fear God.
You see, the Jews are appealingto the authority of Rome.
(30:25):
They're not fearing God,they're not going, they're not
coming before God in thisconversation, as Paul's
reasoning with them, they'reappealing to Rome because
they're trying to.
They're trying to use thepowers that are there and not
the powers that they're supposedto be stand for, and that is
God.
And I think that that's what weall have to do when we come to
(30:45):
a conversation where somebody ispresenting the Lord, with us
not thinking about the end ofthe day or where I want to be or
not wanting to be botheredright now, but we are going to
be accountable to the Lord whenwe stand before him in heaven.
And if we don't believe that,we're not going to accept
knowledge.
And it has to start with that,that fear and respect for God
(31:07):
and our accountability.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Yeah, and even I've been.
I've been thinking about this alot lately, with all sorts of
different things going on,especially around prayer, and
just recognizing that who I'mpraying to is the true authority
and is in control of all things.
But sometimes I'm so fearful ofthings that are so much less,
(31:28):
because some of them are rightin my face.
Right, the reality of what'shappening with my family or with
whatever like that stuff'sright there in your face, so you
tend to just gravitate towards,towards focusing on that too
much, when it's like no, I needto keep my eyes on God, because
he's the one who truly is incontrol.
I need to have reverencetowards him rather than all the
(31:52):
other things going on in lifeand so and that doesn't just
apply to prayer, but that'severything If we're so concerned
with the state of our country,no matter where you are in the
world, if you're so concernedabout your job or so concerned
and that's consuming you, youneed to put your priorities back
where God's first and God's theone you're looking at, because
(32:13):
he is the one who can takecontrol of all those things,
because he's already in control,and we lose sight of that
sometimes and that causes ustons of anxiety and worry
because of that.
We don't put God at theforefront, we put Him a few
notches below as a substitution.
When we start feeling bad, oh,now I'll pray, or now I'll go to
church, or now I'll startreading the scriptures.
(32:33):
And so we need to get away fromthat and put the disciplines of
following God first and theother things fall in line,
because all that will trickledown into the rest of our lives.
Following God will have such ablessing on all the rest.
And even when things go wrong,we go.
That's alright.
I trust God because I've seenHim work and I've seen Him come
through and I know His promisesand we just can keep going and
(32:56):
going and going, and so we haveto put God first.
Paul's doing that because hedoesn't care, regardless of the
cost.
He's like I don't care if youkick me out of town.
I was able to share the gospel.
I got them engaged in thescriptures, boom deuces.
I left people behind.
They know what they're doingnow.
They've read the word.
I'm going on to the next place.
So the next place for Paul isAthens.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
That's right, and I think 16 to 21 is probably a
good place to land the plane,because 22 to 34 is His Sermon
on Mars Hill in Athens.
You could do a whole episode inand of itself just in Paul's
sermon.
So we've gone from Thessalonicato Berea, to Athens Three
locations.
Here's the last one.
Now, while Paul was waiting forthem at Athens, his spirit was
(33:38):
being provoked within him as hewas observing the city full of
idols.
That's one of my favoriteverses in the book of Acts,
verse 17.
So he was reasoning in thesynagogue with the Jews and the
God-fearing Gentiles and in themarketplace every day with those
who happened to be present andalso some of the Epicurean and
(33:59):
Stoic philosophers.
Those are literally theatheists of the day.
Epicureans and also some of theEpicurean and Stoic
philosophers were conversingwith him.
Some were saying what would thisidol babbler wish to say?
Others, he seems to be aproclamer of strange deities,
because he was preaching Jesusand the resurrection.
(34:21):
And they took him and broughthim to the Aeropagus, saying may
we know what this new teachingis you are proclaiming, for you
are bringing some strange thingsto our ears, so we want to know
what these things mean.
Now all the Athenians and thestrangers visiting there used to
spend their time in nothingother than telling or hearing
(34:44):
something new.
This would have been their formof entertainment.
Gathering in to listen tophilosophical debates I mean
especially in Athens, that wouldhave been the thing to do.
They didn't have TV.
This was their form ofentertainment.
Rome had gladiators and stuff.
They'd gather around theAeropagus and they'd argue and
(35:05):
debate and all sorts of thingsand they called him the idol
babbler, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
I know this would be, at least for this area, like
the pinnacle.
This is like I don't know ifyou get a bunch of guys on stage
your Dr Jordan Peterson's andyour Dr Gary Habermas, and they
have been on stage together andthey have these discussions
around who is God and what hashe done, and what is true, and
(35:33):
all these things like this.
Is it Paul's doing it?
He's with the top guys inAthens having these debates
right here in front of people.
So very similar to today wherewe get guys on stage and watch
them debate.
That's what Paul's doing.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Yeah, and I mean in a real sense there is a
university like feel to what'staking place here, and I think
what's really interesting isthat Paul has launched into this
place.
He has been catalyzed into thislocation of Athens, one because
of persecution, like if youlook at verse 15, like he left
(36:09):
and he's waiting for Silas andTimothy to come to him as soon
as possible.
Right, but he got out of dodgebecause of persecution.
He's also there not justbecause of persecution but
because of provoking.
You know, for us pastors,alliterations are nice.
So two p words therepersecution and provoking.
He was provoked within himbecause of the idols.
The city was full of idols, soit's almost like what sparked
(36:34):
this is again their culture andtheir responses and he starts
engaging.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Well, isn't it, isn't it funny, paul's waiting for
them in Athens.
I'm just going to hang out here, wait for them to join me, and
the spirit provoked him.
You know how there's like thosecharacters and movies and TV
shows where it doesn't matter,like what they're doing, they
could just be eating dinneralone by themselves, but like
something always finds them andthey're always in trouble and
(37:00):
something's always happening.
That's Paul.
Yeah, I'm just sitting herewaiting.
I can't sit and wait.
These people are talkingnonsense.
I need to get out there.
Tell them the truth.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
And he just couldn't sit.
Still, paul was like I have nomatter where I am, no matter
where I'm walking, if I hearsomething that's untrue I'm
going to engage it.
And that's Paul's heart Like Ican't let people know.
I have to let people know thetruth.
I can't let them keep living ina lie.
And so Paul, yeah, he's like.
So he reasoned in the synagogue, back with the Jews, which was
his normal pattern.
(37:31):
We see that all throughoutchapter 17, that he normally
goes to the synagogue first andthen starts teaching them, but
then he starts engaging in themarketplace, then he starts
gaining attention with probablysome of the most well respected
thinkers of the day in Athensand that leads to a bigger
audience in discussion withthese individuals.
(37:53):
They want to engage him.
They think he's weird.
They think who's this Jesus?
Who's?
Who's a Jew who resurrected?
Who's alive, who's didn't?
He died and then I was alive.
All that would have been alittle weird, because Greek gods
wouldn't have functioned thatway.
One they're not even human.
Some were Demigods, some wouldbe like half God and half human
(38:19):
and things like that.
But this Jesus, fully God,fully man incarnate, this would
have been very interesting totalk about, I think for an
Athenian and to discuss how isthis possible?
Who is this Jesus?
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Well, in the Greek philosophers would have had.
One of the pinnacle questionswas this it would have been is
there really a perfect man?
And so that's why Luke wrotehis gospel specifically to the
audience of the Greeks, as oneof our four gospels Matthew to
the Jews, mark to the Romans,luke to the Greeks, john to the
whole world.
But Luke's point is this is theperfect son of God, fully,
(38:55):
fully God, fully man, paul,likely, especially because Luke,
by the way, is with him.
I'm wondering now, just madethat, just made that connection.
Luke was heavily influenced bypolicies, writing acts.
Luke can pick up on this and hesays oh yeah, this is when Paul
was, you know, there in Athens,and he's putting forth the
(39:16):
answer to that question who'sthe perfect man?
He's advocating for Jesus.
One thing I didn't catch and Ithink you did catch it just in
your last statement was he wassitting there, he was provoked
by their idols, but then verse17.
So he reasoned in thesynagogues, then he went to the
marketplace, then they took himand he went to the Arapagus, so
(39:37):
from one location to the next.
I mean he's now, he's nowtraveling in the midst of this,
this ministry.
But again, this is the second,very Gary Habermas like
statement what's indirectevidence that the resurrection
is true?
Well, most people.
When they know that somethingis not true, they don't have the
guts to go from one city to thenext, knowing that persecution
(39:59):
could be there because of whatyou're preaching.
He keeps going and he keepspreaching a resurrected Christ.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Yeah, and you have to .
In Acts, whenever Luke iswriting and talks about the
gospel, the resurrection isthere.
It's not just Jesus's life,it's his resurrection that Luke
writes down Paul's letters.
The same, the same language.
The resurrected Christ is whatwe believe in.
So there is a distinction herein the Jesus that the Bible
(40:28):
talks about.
We talked about that last weekin Braves worship, one of our
college ministries.
The Jesus of the Bible is veryis.
We have to check in on thatbecause there's going to be
other Jesus is out there thatpeople want to talk about.
And we got to make sure we goback to God's word and what does
God's word say about Jesus andnot make up our own.
(40:48):
And so Paul's very clear whenhe talks about the gospel, it's
the resurrected Christ, not anyother type of Christ, that's
right.
The resurrected one.
And so be very clear if youbelieve in the gospel, that is
the resurrected Christ who isalive today, sitting on the
right hand of the Father, andwill return.
Not any other Christ that'sbeen given to you, that's just a
(41:09):
loving Christ that we shouldjust follow his teachings
because they're good and willlive a good life and will maybe
measure out more good than badand get into heaven.
No, the resurrected Christ paidfor your sins Completely.
Wipe the debt away that Jesusis the resurrected Jesus.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
I would say this too I'm kind of just really enjoying
this section, verse 18, andalso some of the Epicurean and
Stoic philosophers.
So again, the Epicureans.
It's like they were theatheists of the day.
Sometimes when you're in aconversation with an atheist,
there is a time and a place totalk about scientific details
and the minutiae and to get offon all the tangents and the
(41:49):
rabbit trails and stuff likethat.
That's fine, but when it comesdown to it, if Jesus didn't
resurrect from the dead, then itdoesn't really matter.
If Jesus did resurrect from thedead, then they've got to
address that question first.
Because if you don't believethat God exists but you can't
defend your position against theresurrection, then you've got
(42:11):
to admit that Jesus rose againthree days later.
And then, if you could admitthat Jesus rose again three days
later, well, can't you believein a God then who could create
something out of nothing?
Like you can go down all thosetangents afterwards, but what
Christianity stands and falls onis the resurrection, and if you
can get people there first,honestly that's the most
(42:34):
important argument.
There's a time and a place forother arguments, but the
argument is he's resurrectedfrom the dead.
He demands a response from you.
Don't take me on rabbit trailsabout science.
We'll talk about that later.
Christians have a purpose foreven investigating science.
You don't.
But let's talk about theresurrection, because if that's
true, you must give an account.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Yeah, when I ever asked somebody and I know you do
this and David, I'm sure you dothis when I ask somebody, what
is the gospel, they say, oh,jesus died for my sins.
And then I say and then keepgoing because I want them to get
to the resurrection, becausewithout the resurrection, who
cares if he died on a cross?
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
He had to have resurrected from the grave in
order for the cross to do thework that he said it would do.
So, yes, he died for your sinson the cross, but he was also
perfect.
He was also resurrected, andpeople saw him.
He walked this earth after hisdeath and then he ascended into
heaven.
So all of that matters with thegospel not just his death, but
the resurrection.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
There's a great resource and I'm going to be
preaching on this subject forEaster Sunday, or better,
resurrection Sunday, on March31st this year On the five
minimal facts that all scholarshave to admit to, which took
place between 30 and 36 AD.
There are five minimal facts.
(43:55):
Gary Habermas gives us thesefacts that all scholars have to
agree to from 30 to 36 AD, andhe extends it from 30 to 36
because some people believeJesus died and rose again in 30
and others believe 33.
And so you know, at most yougot the six year timeframe where
(44:15):
all of these things areundisputable, they're undeniable
.
So, when it comes down to it,we have to consider if he's
risen from the dead, then hedemands a response from my life.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
Yeah, the other question here that they ask in
verse 19,.
I would love for this to be theresponse of anybody.
Just as you discuss the gospel,may we know what this new
teaching is that you arepresenting.
If we get into a conversationwith somebody where they're
willing to talk, that's a typeof conversation you want to be
(44:52):
in, because you're not sayingthey're arguing or yelling at
somebody, we're not being harshor forceful, but there seem to
be an openness to at least thequestion who is this, what is
this teaching?
And that's the type ofconversations we want to have
(45:12):
with anybody.
We want it to be a true, real,respectable conversation.
One way that can help you dothat we've talked about this on
the last podcast.
Gregory Cokles book Tactics andStreet Smarts helps you do this
.
It just helps engage people onan everyday basis asking
questions, engaging them,hearing what they believe and
(45:33):
then being able to then insertwhat you believe into that
conversation.
So, yeah, I think this stylethat's happening.
At least the Greeks are willingto have an open forum of
conversation which allows Paulto speak, and I think, as a
Christian, we should takeadvantage of those opportunities
.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Well, and what a relief, because at least here
Paul is only debating.
Where he just came from, he'sbeing threatened with his life
for it.
So Paul's like I don't care ifpeople are disagreeing with me.
Shoot, I mean, that's a littlebit of reprieve from where I was
just at.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Yeah, now it's more of a.
You know, obviously Paulbelieves in the spirit moving
and changing hearts, but he'salso like, okay, now we're in an
intellectual argument, right,and Paul's extremely smart, he's
the apologist and evangelist ofthat that we get all this stuff
from, from scripture.
The Holy Spirit has given himthese things, and so I feel like
(46:30):
this is Paul's arena andthey're almost not recognizing
like, oh, paul was equipped todo this and so he gets the
opportunity to and we'll diveinto that next time where we get
to see what does Paul say, whatdoes he give them, because
that's going to be important anda way to equip us, as the
reader, to continue to read thewritings of God through Paul,
(46:51):
through Luke as well, and to seehow can we have these
conversations, how can wepresent the gospel, how can we
go through these debates, theselines of questioning.
It's all in the word.
We just have to read it.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
This is a great episode, guys.
There's a lot to chew on hereand I know before we dove on
here we kind of had hope thatwe'd go all the way to verse 34.
But there was.
There was enough here to carrythe conversation, and this is
good stuff.
Speaker 3 (47:21):
Everything I want to say now is going into what we're
going to do next week, so it'slike a cliffhanger.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Oh, you're prepared, I'm holding back.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
Hold that, I'm like no, I guess I'm gonna do that
next time, next time, next time.
We love David so much David'slike.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
I only prepared the second half.
Speaker 3 (47:36):
I didn't do the first part.
We're just not getting intowhat I prepared.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
Good, but thank you all for listening to the Be
Disciples podcast and we hopethat you would jump on YouTube,
if you haven't already, to seeus on there.
We also are trying to justengage our community.
The purpose of this podcast andto do the videos and to invest
in it is that more people wouldhear God's word.
If you come on the videopodcast, you see our Bible is
(48:02):
open in front of us.
You can read right along withus.
We want people to know God'sword in our community and around
the world, so we just thank youfor listening.
The best thing that you can doto support us is just to tell
people about the podcast.
We do this for that purposeonly, so that people know the
word, and so, thank you, followus, invite people to it.
(48:23):
We would love to engage withyou.
Comment, like, share on socialmedia All those things help just
engage more people with theword, and so thank you so much
for listening.
We'll see you next week as wecontinue our study.
Next week, dr Jeff Chang, andthen we'll continue in Acts, and
then we plan on having moreguests on the podcast time and
(48:43):
time again as we continue toramp up here on our video
podcast.
Have a blessed week.
Welcome to the Be Disciples podcast with yours,
kyle Morris, dakota Smith andDavid Glavin.
This is episode number 110.
110.
110 and we'll be studying thebook of Acts.
We'll be in chapter 17 today.
Welcome to the podcast.
Please follow us on our socialmedia accounts.
We're also now doing this onvideo on YouTube and so you can
(00:33):
go to at Ottawa Bible Church onYouTube and you can also follow
our church on Facebook andInstagram as well as our Be
Disciples podcast social mediaplatforms.
But a lot of our content isgoing to be on YouTube.
At Ottawa Bible Church You'llbe able to see sermons,
different church services, othertypes of educational material
(00:54):
for Ottawa Bible Church, socheck that out.
Welcome to the podcast, guys.
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Welcome.
Hey, last night just this needsto be said we had an awesome
prayer meeting here at thechurch.
I don't know, it's probablyabout 60 people or somewhere
around that and people dove inand they were praying and it
just felt like our church isstarting to get the hang of it
or starting to find the rhythmof praying together, which takes
(01:20):
time and trust.
But that was a big praise justfrom last night and to see the
vulnerability and thetransparency of the body.
I don't know about you guys,but I'm coming off the high of
that last night and just reallythankful for our church.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, I mean, our church, like any other church,
has both needs and things thatwe're looking forward to, and so
, you know, some of those areillnesses and real struggles and
things that are going on intheir personal life, and I felt
like people recognize the needto come together as a church and
(01:53):
to pray about it and to praytogether and to bear that
together and to encourage oneanother.
And so I thought it was great.
David worship team did a greatjob getting us into that place
of worship to be able to pray.
And then, yeah, just I feltlike the body really came
together last night and prayedand that is super uplifting and
(02:16):
encouraging that people wouldlet us into their lives, we
would hear their hearts and wecould pray for different things.
We prayed for missions, weprayed for the lost, we prayed
for the future of our church, weprayed for our country and all
different things that we prayedover.
But it was good to just see theheart of the people.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Absolutely.
It's a great way to start themonth and I love evening
services like an evening worship, prayer together at the end of
the day, and it was just a greatfeel.
I didn't get to stay.
I went to go help with the getready for youth group, but just
the worship and being herespecifically to pray together as
(02:54):
a congregation, I just thinkit's very powerful and I think
it's been going well.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, on the topic of prayer, next week I'm excited
we're going to have Dr JeffChang from Midwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary.
He is the assistant professorof historical theology at the
school, but he's also thecurator of the Spurgeon Library
and so he knows all aboutCharles Spurgeon and so he gets
(03:22):
the opportunity to look throughall the material and see all
kinds of cool stuff from thattime.
But he's going to come on andactually talk about Spurgeon.
On prayer, one of theinfluences for this prayer
meeting is Spurgeon, because heheld a prayer meeting every week
and so prayer was reallyimportant to be just
consistently in prayer with thebody, come together and do that.
(03:43):
And so that's some of theinspiration that I had reading
some Spurgeon on only a prayermeeting, some of his notes, and
then just looking at prayermeetings through history.
So he's going to come on andspeak into that a little bit
more.
So I'm excited for that.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, all of those credentials are Q4.
You need to be here and tolisten in.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, it's going to be great.
He's an extremely humble guyand I've loved the conversations
I've had up to this point withhim, so it'll be a lot of fun to
have him on the podcast.
But let's get going, guys.
Let's get into the book of Acts, let's pray and then we want to
jump back in and see whatPaul's going, where the Holy
Spirit's leading Paul and Silasand the ministry continues.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
So let's, let's this will be a lot of fun Before we
pray.
It's just also helpful toremind our people the last
episode we only got through 17,verse 4 because we took more of
an apologetics bent.
So this is almost like a parttwo of some sorts before we dive
in.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, so we're going to cover more verses today,
because we kind of just tookfour last week.
But we're going to cover a lot.
But that's okay because Paul'son the move and the Holy Spirit,
especially, is on the move.
So let's check it out.
Let's pray, father, we comebefore you today humbly, that
this means of communicationwould be an opportunity to
(05:01):
glorify your name, that peoplewould hear and know you through
the podcast, that this podcastisn't about us but it's about
you.
This is your word.
This is the word that you havegiven us to study, to learn from
, to know more about who you are, to be equipped in the way that
(05:21):
we should live our lives,because we believe that the
Bible is fully sufficient forthe Christian life and that
studying acts helps usunderstand the movement of the
Holy Spirit, lord, and how youmove through your people and how
you engage the world with thegospel, and what it means to go
and reach more people.
So be with us today.
We can discuss.
Thank you for all those who arelistening in.
(05:43):
We pray over your lives thatyou would become more equipped
to be disciples of Jesus Christ.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Amen.
So we start out in chapter 17,verse 1, paul at Thessalonica.
And just before reading, Ithink it's always helpful to
remember that the book of Actsalways prepares you for the
epistles in the New Testament.
So when you read about theaffection that Paul had for the
church at Thessalonica, likeright away, 1 Thessalonians,
chapter 1, and even in chapter 2, you start to understand why he
(06:15):
feels such a way towards them,because the book of Acts speaks
of the history that they've hadtogether.
So keep that in mind, maybe putthis on pause and go and read a
couple of verses in 1Thessalonians.
But here we go.
Verse 1, now, when they hadtraveled through Amphipolis and
Apollonia, they came toThessalonica where there was a
synagogue of the Jews, andaccording to Paul's custom, he
(06:37):
went to them and for threeSabbaths reasoned with them from
the scriptures, explaining andgiving evidence that the Christ
had to suffer and rise againfrom the dead and saying this
Jesus, whom I am proclaiming toyou, is the Christ.
And some of them were persuadedand joined Paul and Silas,
along with a number of theGod-fearing Greeks and a number
(07:00):
of the leading women.
That's where we stopped lastweek.
Verse 5, but the Jews and wewere kind of joking before this
morning's episode, like how manytimes have you seen a phrase
like that?
Oh, but the Jews, right therethey are again their rejection
of Jesus, and we still pray forthem today.
But the Jews, becoming jealousand taking along some wicked men
(07:22):
from the marketplace, formed amob and set the city in an
uproar and attacking the houseof Jason.
They were seeking to bring themout to the people and they did
not find them.
They began dragging Jason andsome brethren before the city
authorities, shouting these menwho have upset the world
Interesting statement, have comehere also and Jason has
(07:46):
welcomed them.
And they all act contrary tothe decrees of Caesar saying
that there is another king,jesus.
They stirred up the crowd andthe city authorities who heard
these things Verse 9, and whenthey had received a pledge from
Jason and the others, theyreleased them.
I think it's appropriate to goto all the way to verse 15.
(08:08):
The brethren immediately sentPaul and Silas away by night to
Berea and when they arrived theywent into the synagogue of the
Jews.
Now, these were more nobleminded than those in
Thessalonica.
What a contrast, for theyreceived the word with greater
eagerness, examining thescriptures daily to see whether
these things were so.
(08:28):
Therefore, many of thembelieved, along with a number of
the prominent Greek women andmen.
But when the Jews ofThessalonica found out that the
word of God had been proclaimed,by Paul and Berea also, they
came there as well, agitatingand stirring up the crowds.
Then, immediately, the brethrensent Paul out to go as far as
(08:49):
the sea, and Silas and Timothyremained there.
Now, those who escorted Paulbrought him as far as Athens and
, receiving a command for Silasand Timothy to come to him as
soon as possible, they left.
Okay, guys, so a little bit ofdrama here in the first 15
verses.
We read this last week, but wedidn't speak of it.
(09:10):
Yeah, there seems to be apattern wherever Paul goes
people get upset and it'sbecause Paul carries something
with him.
Yeah, the gospel.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
The gospel, that's the word, yeah, and that's what
he brings.
And so Paul brings the word,paul teaches the word.
We discussed last week thatthis word that he was teaching,
that he wasn't just proclaimingthe gospel, but he was reasoning
, he was persuading, he washaving conversation with him.
He wasn't just all about likeI'm preaching and leaving, like
(09:42):
he sat there and would askpeople, would ask questions, and
then he would engage, and sothis was not just like dive in,
preach, dive out.
And so, because of this, itstirred the people, especially
the Jews, who are not seeingJesus as King, and something
that's super ironic is who didthey lean to as the King in this
situation?
Caesar.
(10:03):
This is odd to the point wherethey would go to and say that
Caesar was more important thanthis Jesus, or more important,
and elevate Caesar to a placewhere they would use them in
their argument when the Jews andthe Romans were not friends.
So this was very interesting.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
And they certainly didn't bow down to Caesar.
So when it's convenient forthem they claim the name of
Caesar.
That's the issue, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
And that happens, yeah, not just here, but today.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
It's not odd for them , I mean because they've done it
before with Jesus, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah, when's the last ?
They drag Jesus out into thepublic?
Yeah, right, I mean, they'resame kind of behavior as before.
So this isn't new, but it isbecause the gospel is there.
Same reason, and that'ssomething that we see as this
pattern Paul goes toThessalonica, paul goes to Berea
.
Same things are happening, apattern is starting to take
(10:58):
place and Paul seems to be thefocus, more than Silas and
Timothy, for the person that'sbringing this message.
Not that Silas and Timothyaren't, but Paul seems to be the
guy that everybody's pointingto.
It's this guy, paul.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
He's bringing this, yeah, Maybe on a funny note.
If it's funny, I feel reallybad for Jason, Like this guy
just got wrapped up in this.
He gets dragged away and thenPaul gets out and it's like oh
OK, well, you know, you'refollowing Jesus.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Here's the money, here's the place, like get out
of this or not, get beaten.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
And Jason is mentioned in multiple letters.
I think he's also mentioned infirst Thessalonians I'd have to
double check on that but he ismentioned in Romans 16, 21.
So Jason is this individual whoseems to be a devout believer,
and we don't know the exactextent of his relationship with
Paul, but obviously he hasenough of a relationship to be
(11:54):
persecuted and to be associatedwith Paul.
So just something to considerthere.
I also think it's interestingthat they don't just have an
issue with the fact that theyare saying there's another King,
jesus.
But did you notice the otherstatement in verse 6?
These men who upset the worldhave come here also.
(12:16):
This is a very GaryHabermas-like statement, but
sometimes you have to find theindirect evidences in order to
discover evidences for theresurrection.
Like, indirect evidence says abunch and so while this may come
from someone in opposition tothe gospel, it's still right out
(12:37):
of the horse's mouth.
One of the ways that you knowthe resurrection was true is you
just got to follow thedisciples' footpath, their
footsteps.
Where did their feet go?
If the resurrection wasn't true, then they would have stayed at
home and Jerusalem cowered therest of their life, been
disappointed that they hadbelieved in Jesus, and he was
not the prophet they hadexpected, was not the Savior and
(12:58):
Messiah that expected.
But what changed?
Well, what changed is Jesusrose from the grave and that
made them go.
Well, now we can go throughoutthe known world proclaiming this
message.
So it did turn the world upsidedown Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, their words are very interesting.
Here you upset the world, andmine even says men who turned
the world upside down yeah, theknown world, the known world,
but I mean turned it upside downin the sense of like they're
preaching a message of salvationbecause of the resurrected
Christ.
This would upset the Jews, thiswould upset the Romans, this
(13:33):
would upset anybody who doesn'trepent and believe.
It's such a different way ofthinking.
It isn't that religious type ofgood deeds, good works, live a
good life, you'll get intoheaven.
Any sort of religion that doesthat.
Paul is preaching putting yourfaith in Christ.
That it's not about your worksor how much money you have or
whatever you've done.
(13:54):
It's just about what Jesus hasaccomplished, because you can't
accomplish it on your own.
So there's a freedom that Paulis preaching that disrupts
society, that disrupts theirthinking.
It disrupts the Pharisees andthe Sadducees.
It disrupts these Jews andThessalonica.
It disrupts the Roman thinkingof their gods and who they serve
(14:16):
Caesar.
So it's a disruptor and it'sdisrupting today.
That's why there's so muchpushback against Jesus in the
gospel because it disrupts power, it disrupts authority, it
disrupts all of those thingsbecause it puts all the
authority on the one who givesauthority.
That's right, and that's theturning the world upside down
(14:38):
here in Thessalonica, and it'sfollowing the pattern that
Gamaliel said, I mean in theCouncil.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
He said listen, if we're fighting against these men
and it turns out that it's ofGod, then we're fighting against
God, but if it's not, they'llscatter.
And it's almost like Paul wasfollowing that pattern and
trying to scatter them beforehis conversion and it just
didn't work.
Jesus came to him and said hey,what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
You know, what I think is interesting on that
note is our world will say oh,that's oppressive.
You're bringing yourChristianity into another
culture and in fact we justvisited a place in January that
actually carries that very view.
This Appetistas, yeah they havesigns up.
They have signs up.
No religion here, becausewhatever you're going to bring
is going to ruin our culture.
(15:27):
But if culture could save, thenI think that'd be correct.
It'd be oppressive If cultureby itself could save.
But culture can't save, and soit doesn't matter the culture
that you belong to, it doesn'tmatter the governmental
authority that you have over you, it doesn't matter where you
(15:48):
come from, where you're going,your background, ethnicity, age,
whatever.
The authority is Jesus, andthis is the one message that
should invade and not oppress.
It's the message, the freedomof the gospel, which removes us
from all oppression, sin, otherpeople, whatever it might be
(16:09):
like.
The gospel saves more thananything else.
So that's something to consider.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
How often have we heard that?
Back to your question.
How does this apply to us todayin our church, or where do we
see this?
And how often do we hear in thechurch today when the Lord is
trying to change something, whenthe Spirit is moving leadership
, or there's a movement in thechurch that's trying to go in
the direction of the Spirit,that's trying to follow
Scripture, and they say this ischanging the culture of our
(16:36):
church and it's going againstwhat we've always done, and I
think that's unhealthy,especially when we look to, if
we're holding on to somethingthat is keeping us from
following the Lord.
So it does happen today.
We can become legalistic withthe Scripture and our Christian
faith, just as the Jews did withthe law in their day, and we
(16:59):
can create we do create aculture, an unhealthy culture of
legalism and unhealthypractices in our church cultures
.
It's a certain thing.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
And if our church culture is bad because we're not
following Christ in His wordand we're not building people up
in His word and who he is, whathappens is our church no longer
has the influence in itscommunities to influence and to
have leadership in areas such asschool boards and city
governments and stategovernments and the freedoms
(17:31):
that we have here in thiscountry.
And so we have to go back andlook man, our founding fathers,
even the ones who disagreed withwho Christ was, a lot of them
still agreed on biblical moralvalues that built up this
country where the tension todayis at.
That tension exists here inThessalonica with the Romans and
(17:55):
the Jews.
There's a disrupter that'scoming in Now in America we've
got to see the amazing grace andmercy of God, amazing things
that have happened in ourcountry, from slavery being
abolished to the rights of allpeople here in America to have
this freedom that it doesn'texist anywhere else in the world
(18:17):
and throughout history.
And all of that was built uponthe things that came out of
scripture.
And so that's why there's thattension.
That's why they're fightinghere.
They don't know, they haven'tseen that freedom in
Thessalonica yet and in theRoman Empire.
They eventually will see it inthe Roman Empire.
There will be a time whereChristianity it has strong
influence there, but right nowit doesn't, and the Jews are
(18:38):
fighting against it.
They want to keep theirreligion, their traditions,
their way of life, and now Paulis pushing against that with the
gospel.
And that's where we findourselves.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
So now we get to Berea and we've got excuse me,
we receive a different reception, as they're in Berea, than they
did in Thessalonica.
We see the boys fromThessalonica come back and
persecute them again.
What?
In verse 13.
But first we see the receptionof the Bereans and how they
receive the word.
(19:09):
What does it say after they areteaching in verse 10, verse 11?
Now, these were morenoble-minded than those in
Thessalonica, for they receivethe word with great eagerness,
examining the scriptures dailyto see whether these things were
so.
And you know, this does makeyou think of the Berean
organization, those who comeinto hotels and they bring
(19:31):
Bibles, you know, for everyhotel room, and you know how
often have you gone into a hotelroom and seen a Berean Bible?
And although maybe nowadays youknow, the view towards that is
shifting and some hotels don'twant it, nevertheless, I mean, I
remember being in Micronesiaone time with Dr Jim Baugh, gary
Howell and a couple other guys,and we're staying at this tiny,
(19:55):
tiny little hotel just on thissmall Pacific Island, and the
Bereans were there passing outBibles.
And I was just amazed, likethese guys, they not only care
about the word, they investigatethe word, dr Justin.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Marchegiani.
Yeah, that's.
I mean, we don't even we needthat here in the United States,
not just in Micronesia, drJustin Marchegiani, I know, Dr
Justin Marchegiani.
I mean just the question here,or the information Paul is
bringing, is all about Christ.
I mean, his approach isdifferent.
So when we talk about fightingagainst authority and these
things in our culture, it's justwith the Word of God.
(20:28):
And that's what the Bereans,that's what you're talking about
.
They're bringing Bibles becausethe message saves and it frees
people from sin, which then inturn, changes their lives, how
they're going to live, andthat's what Paul's bringing.
They're examining thescriptures daily.
So that tells us okay, we'vereceived the Word.
We need to examine thescriptures, we need to know what
(20:49):
it says, we need to be able totalk about these things.
That's what we're doing rightnow on this podcast.
Our Bible's open, examining thescriptures, so that we can be
like Paul, who is imitatingChrist, who then we can go out
and proclaim the Gospel, and butwe also know what comes with
that, because Paul's showing uswhat comes with that.
It stirs people up, bothpositively, in a way that people
(21:13):
accept Christ, who will examinethe scriptures, who will reason
and who will go through that.
And then there's the other side.
There's going to be a stirringof the crowd.
That's negative, that's goingto cause issues.
Both are going to happen, andso we have to continue to read
and see.
How is Paul handling this andwhat is God doing to protect
Paul, to continue the spread ofthe Gospel?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I wonder what would happen if we did some sort of
analysis and I bet this has beendone but some sort of like
comparative analysis between theinfluences of neo-Marxism, you
know, marxian thought, theinfluences of you know what
happened with Mein Kampf andAdolf Hitler's writings versus
(22:00):
the scriptures.
If you think about it like thefirst existential question that
somebody has to ask informulating their worldview is
does God exist or does truthexist?
And technically they're one andthe same, like before you get
onto questions about creationand anthropology and morality
(22:23):
and purpose and history anddestiny and things like that,
the first question is does Godexist, slash, does truth exist?
And with that question comes alot of different answers because
it when somebody startsformulating their worldview,
they essentially says well, Ibelieve this is truth, I believe
(22:43):
that is true, I don't believethis is true, I don't believe
that is true.
And so at the crux, really, itdoes come down to and maybe this
is repetitive, but it does comedown to who actually holds the
authority over the world andover every human soul.
And so this gospel is beingcommunicated as the authority,
(23:04):
and here you're seeing thosereceive it with eagerness and
those reject it, and I mean guys, I even see that on the
university campus.
It breaks my heart, because Ijust spent seven weeks
ministering to my current classon campus and I love them all.
But there's a select group ofindividuals who, despite all the
(23:25):
evidence that has been putforward about the scriptures
being preserved, the life ofJesus, the resurrection, despite
all of those things prophecy,they're still saying well, I
haven't seen enough evidence yet.
And it's amazing to me whathappens, like when a person is
so rejecting against the gospelthat they will keep raising the
bar like we reach enoughevidence.
(23:47):
Oh nope, that's not enough.
I'm going to keep up in theante, not even realizing that
they don't scrutinize their ownbeliefs like that.
Yeah, their evidence for whatthey believe is way lower.
That's right.
And so when they're beingconfronted with the truth or
another authority, all they haveto do is just keep raising the
standard.
And there's more answers andmore research to be done.
(24:08):
You've only had seven weeks toread it.
I get it, but at the end of theday, it does come down to a
hard issue.
You can be presented with thefacts, but what your heart is
doing matters most.
The Bereans their heart.
They search with eagerness.
They examined it, they wantedit.
The other guys they're like youknow we're Jews but yeah, we're
kind of like Four Seizur whenit's good for us and it's just
(24:30):
amazing.
The human heart is so wickedand deceitful.
Be careful, because it willchange what you do and how you
react to truth.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Well, it boils down to disobedience and it boils
down to not wanting to beaccountable.
I mean, there's a common joke Imake with my wife, and I've
even said it to the kidssometimes when talking about
accountability and ignorance isbliss.
When I'm driving and I parksomewhere or I do something and
my wife points out a sign orsomething that I didn't
(25:01):
previously see or know, I amlike we were fine until you told
me that I didn't read the sign.
Why'd you have to tell me wecould have parked wherever we
wanted?
And like that root feeling of Iwant to do what I want to do
and I don't want to know thetruth, because then I'll have to
abide by it, and that's a hardthing that we're all capable of.
(25:23):
And yeah, I mean I thinkillustration.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah, because I think that's exposed in many ways.
Like I don't know how manyvideos you guys have watched of,
like you know, random guysinterviewing people on the
street, like Ray Comfort orsomething, or even just non
Christian like hey, who's thepresident of the United States?
Or who holds this position, orjust basic like who was the
first president of the UnitedStates?
You know, just very simple.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
It really gets like it was yes, got it.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
There's people who are like oblivious to just facts
of history that are prettyrecent, even like facts of today
that are like oh, we know whothe president is, like you can
say his name.
So it's one of those thingswhere people don't even want to
know what's out there.
(26:08):
Anyways, they kind of want tolive in their own world.
Like you said, I didn't careuntil that sign was pointed out
to me, like people who don'twant to get it pointed out, they
don't want to have thatinformation, even if it's the
basic most information we havein our society that has nothing
to do with the Bible.
But, yeah, to be able to justask people questions and to you
(26:30):
start stirring them in adirection where they start
getting uncomfortable or like,oh, now I have to address, like
myself, like Ray Comfort doesthat, because he dresses sin
right away, hey, have you, haveyou ever lied about something?
Oh, yeah, I have before.
Okay, well, have you ever?
And he goes through all thesedifferent sins and he goes okay,
so that means you're a sinner.
(26:52):
That's right and they go.
Well, yeah, and he goes.
I'm a sinner too and then heworks through, like recognizing
the reality that we can't getourselves out of that sin, and
so just those basic things wherepeople don't want to address
that, and that's why the Jewsare so upset because they're
being confronted right they'rebeing confronted with.
You're wrong.
Jesus came to you first and youdidn't respond.
(27:16):
And now you're all upsetbecause people are seeing who
Jesus is and disrupting your wayof life.
That's right, and people don'twant their lives disrupted, even
if it's not even a religiousthing.
They just don't want to betroubled.
Stay out of my neighborhood,stay off my front porch.
My life is fine, get out ofhere.
I don't want you here.
And some people in othercultures have signs up like the
(27:38):
Zapatistas literally don'tevangelize here, we don't want
your God.
And then there's other peoplewho just you know.
I saw a video today.
A guy was just walking aroundsaying hey, do you know who
Jesus is?
And but no, no, I'm good.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
They just don't want to bebothered, like the truth is
being offered to them.
They just don't want to bebothered.
No, no, I'm good, my life'sfine, but it's really not.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Well, and there's also a book that Carl Truman
wrote.
There's two really.
One is called the Rise andTriumph of the Modern Self.
That's the bigger book.
The other is called Strange NewWorld, which is more of the
truncated version, which I wouldjust encourage people to
purchase Strange New World byCarl Truman.
But he basically walks usthrough the systems of thought
(28:22):
from the French Revolutiononward.
Like, how did we now get tothis place in society today
where we're propping up internaltruth rather than, or internal
reality rather than externalreality?
Like why is it that we are so?
We are so coddling thisinternal reality that may not
even be true versus what's rightbefore us?
(28:44):
And it's because the thoughtsfrom the French Revolution said
that you have to become yourmost genuine self, which means
adopting and embracingeverything that you feel from
within.
And so many people believe thatwe are actually undergoing the
fallout effects of the FrenchRevolution today.
It's not like the AmericanRevolution, but it's the French
Revolution.
And so, as a result of that,you get Marxian thought versus,
(29:09):
you know, westernization, orspecifically like the influence
of Christianity and theReformation, and all of these
things come together.
What I'm trying to say is thatwe are seeing a real battle in
the heavens today over the soulsof men.
We don't wrestle against fleshand blood, but we wrestle
against the rulers and theprincipalities and the world
(29:30):
forces of this darkness.
And spiritual warfare alwaystakes place over one thing it's
always over what is truth Like.
Spiritual warfare is not therebecause the demons are trying to
get you to purchase a meal fromChick-fil-A rather than
McDonald's or Burger King, orfrivolous decisions.
Spiritual warfare takes placeover what's true, and that's
(29:54):
exactly what's happening here.
There's spiritual warfare goingon because the truth is being
confronted and people areaccepting it.
The world's turning upside down, and now you have the and I can
Jews with an issue.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
And we're also like.
I mean, as we're talking, I'mthinking of where's the
beginning of knowledge?
And the Scripture tells us thatit's the fear of God, the fear
of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is thebeginning of knowledge and we
don't fear.
We don't fear God.
You see, the Jews are appealingto the authority of Rome.
(30:25):
They're not fearing God,they're not going, they're not
coming before God in thisconversation, as Paul's
reasoning with them, they'reappealing to Rome because
they're trying to.
They're trying to use thepowers that are there and not
the powers that they're supposedto be stand for, and that is
God.
And I think that that's what weall have to do when we come to
(30:45):
a conversation where somebody ispresenting the Lord, with us
not thinking about the end ofthe day or where I want to be or
not wanting to be botheredright now, but we are going to
be accountable to the Lord whenwe stand before him in heaven.
And if we don't believe that,we're not going to accept
knowledge.
And it has to start with that,that fear and respect for God
(31:07):
and our accountability.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Yeah, and even I've been.
I've been thinking about this alot lately, with all sorts of
different things going on,especially around prayer, and
just recognizing that who I'mpraying to is the true authority
and is in control of all things.
But sometimes I'm so fearful ofthings that are so much less,
(31:28):
because some of them are rightin my face.
Right, the reality of what'shappening with my family or with
whatever like that stuff'sright there in your face, so you
tend to just gravitate towards,towards focusing on that too
much, when it's like no, I needto keep my eyes on God, because
he's the one who truly is incontrol.
I need to have reverencetowards him rather than all the
(31:52):
other things going on in lifeand so and that doesn't just
apply to prayer, but that'severything If we're so concerned
with the state of our country,no matter where you are in the
world, if you're so concernedabout your job or so concerned
and that's consuming you, youneed to put your priorities back
where God's first and God's theone you're looking at, because
(32:13):
he is the one who can takecontrol of all those things,
because he's already in control,and we lose sight of that
sometimes and that causes ustons of anxiety and worry
because of that.
We don't put God at theforefront, we put Him a few
notches below as a substitution.
When we start feeling bad, oh,now I'll pray, or now I'll go to
church, or now I'll startreading the scriptures.
(32:33):
And so we need to get away fromthat and put the disciplines of
following God first and theother things fall in line,
because all that will trickledown into the rest of our lives.
Following God will have such ablessing on all the rest.
And even when things go wrong,we go.
That's alright.
I trust God because I've seenHim work and I've seen Him come
through and I know His promisesand we just can keep going and
(32:56):
going and going, and so we haveto put God first.
Paul's doing that because hedoesn't care, regardless of the
cost.
He's like I don't care if youkick me out of town.
I was able to share the gospel.
I got them engaged in thescriptures, boom deuces.
I left people behind.
They know what they're doingnow.
They've read the word.
I'm going on to the next place.
So the next place for Paul isAthens.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
That's right, and I think 16 to 21 is probably a
good place to land the plane,because 22 to 34 is His Sermon
on Mars Hill in Athens.
You could do a whole episode inand of itself just in Paul's
sermon.
So we've gone from Thessalonicato Berea, to Athens Three
locations.
Here's the last one.
Now, while Paul was waiting forthem at Athens, his spirit was
(33:38):
being provoked within him as hewas observing the city full of
idols.
That's one of my favoriteverses in the book of Acts,
verse 17.
So he was reasoning in thesynagogue with the Jews and the
God-fearing Gentiles and in themarketplace every day with those
who happened to be present andalso some of the Epicurean and
(33:59):
Stoic philosophers.
Those are literally theatheists of the day.
Epicureans and also some of theEpicurean and Stoic
philosophers were conversingwith him.
Some were saying what would thisidol babbler wish to say?
Others, he seems to be aproclamer of strange deities,
because he was preaching Jesusand the resurrection.
(34:21):
And they took him and broughthim to the Aeropagus, saying may
we know what this new teachingis you are proclaiming, for you
are bringing some strange thingsto our ears, so we want to know
what these things mean.
Now all the Athenians and thestrangers visiting there used to
spend their time in nothingother than telling or hearing
(34:44):
something new.
This would have been their formof entertainment.
Gathering in to listen tophilosophical debates I mean
especially in Athens, that wouldhave been the thing to do.
They didn't have TV.
This was their form ofentertainment.
Rome had gladiators and stuff.
They'd gather around theAeropagus and they'd argue and
(35:05):
debate and all sorts of thingsand they called him the idol
babbler, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
I know this would be, at least for this area, like
the pinnacle.
This is like I don't know ifyou get a bunch of guys on stage
your Dr Jordan Peterson's andyour Dr Gary Habermas, and they
have been on stage together andthey have these discussions
around who is God and what hashe done, and what is true, and
(35:33):
all these things like this.
Is it Paul's doing it?
He's with the top guys inAthens having these debates
right here in front of people.
So very similar to today wherewe get guys on stage and watch
them debate.
That's what Paul's doing.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Yeah, and I mean in a real sense there is a
university like feel to what'staking place here, and I think
what's really interesting isthat Paul has launched into this
place.
He has been catalyzed into thislocation of Athens, one because
of persecution, like if youlook at verse 15, like he left
(36:09):
and he's waiting for Silas andTimothy to come to him as soon
as possible.
Right, but he got out of dodgebecause of persecution.
He's also there not justbecause of persecution but
because of provoking.
You know, for us pastors,alliterations are nice.
So two p words therepersecution and provoking.
He was provoked within himbecause of the idols.
The city was full of idols, soit's almost like what sparked
(36:34):
this is again their culture andtheir responses and he starts
engaging.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Well, isn't it, isn't it funny, paul's waiting for
them in Athens.
I'm just going to hang out here, wait for them to join me, and
the spirit provoked him.
You know how there's like thosecharacters and movies and TV
shows where it doesn't matter,like what they're doing, they
could just be eating dinneralone by themselves, but like
something always finds them andthey're always in trouble and
(37:00):
something's always happening.
That's Paul.
Yeah, I'm just sitting herewaiting.
I can't sit and wait.
These people are talkingnonsense.
I need to get out there.
Tell them the truth.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
And he just couldn't sit.
Still, paul was like I have nomatter where I am, no matter
where I'm walking, if I hearsomething that's untrue I'm
going to engage it.
And that's Paul's heart Like Ican't let people know.
I have to let people know thetruth.
I can't let them keep living ina lie.
And so Paul, yeah, he's like.
So he reasoned in the synagogue, back with the Jews, which was
his normal pattern.
(37:31):
We see that all throughoutchapter 17, that he normally
goes to the synagogue first andthen starts teaching them, but
then he starts engaging in themarketplace, then he starts
gaining attention with probablysome of the most well respected
thinkers of the day in Athensand that leads to a bigger
audience in discussion withthese individuals.
(37:53):
They want to engage him.
They think he's weird.
They think who's this Jesus?
Who's?
Who's a Jew who resurrected?
Who's alive, who's didn't?
He died and then I was alive.
All that would have been alittle weird, because Greek gods
wouldn't have functioned thatway.
One they're not even human.
Some were Demigods, some wouldbe like half God and half human
(38:19):
and things like that.
But this Jesus, fully God,fully man incarnate, this would
have been very interesting totalk about, I think for an
Athenian and to discuss how isthis possible?
Who is this Jesus?
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Well, in the Greek philosophers would have had.
One of the pinnacle questionswas this it would have been is
there really a perfect man?
And so that's why Luke wrotehis gospel specifically to the
audience of the Greeks, as oneof our four gospels Matthew to
the Jews, mark to the Romans,luke to the Greeks, john to the
whole world.
But Luke's point is this is theperfect son of God, fully,
(38:55):
fully God, fully man, paul,likely, especially because Luke,
by the way, is with him.
I'm wondering now, just madethat, just made that connection.
Luke was heavily influenced bypolicies, writing acts.
Luke can pick up on this and hesays oh yeah, this is when Paul
was, you know, there in Athens,and he's putting forth the
(39:16):
answer to that question who'sthe perfect man?
He's advocating for Jesus.
One thing I didn't catch and Ithink you did catch it just in
your last statement was he wassitting there, he was provoked
by their idols, but then verse17.
So he reasoned in thesynagogues, then he went to the
marketplace, then they took himand he went to the Arapagus, so
(39:37):
from one location to the next.
I mean he's now, he's nowtraveling in the midst of this,
this ministry.
But again, this is the second,very Gary Habermas like
statement what's indirectevidence that the resurrection
is true?
Well, most people.
When they know that somethingis not true, they don't have the
guts to go from one city to thenext, knowing that persecution
(39:59):
could be there because of whatyou're preaching.
He keeps going and he keepspreaching a resurrected Christ.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Yeah, and you have to .
In Acts, whenever Luke iswriting and talks about the
gospel, the resurrection isthere.
It's not just Jesus's life,it's his resurrection that Luke
writes down Paul's letters.
The same, the same language.
The resurrected Christ is whatwe believe in.
So there is a distinction herein the Jesus that the Bible
(40:28):
talks about.
We talked about that last weekin Braves worship, one of our
college ministries.
The Jesus of the Bible is veryis.
We have to check in on thatbecause there's going to be
other Jesus is out there thatpeople want to talk about.
And we got to make sure we goback to God's word and what does
God's word say about Jesus andnot make up our own.
(40:48):
And so Paul's very clear whenhe talks about the gospel, it's
the resurrected Christ, not anyother type of Christ, that's
right.
The resurrected one.
And so be very clear if youbelieve in the gospel, that is
the resurrected Christ who isalive today, sitting on the
right hand of the Father, andwill return.
Not any other Christ that'sbeen given to you, that's just a
(41:09):
loving Christ that we shouldjust follow his teachings
because they're good and willlive a good life and will maybe
measure out more good than badand get into heaven.
No, the resurrected Christ paidfor your sins Completely.
Wipe the debt away that Jesusis the resurrected Jesus.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
I would say this too I'm kind of just really enjoying
this section, verse 18, andalso some of the Epicurean and
Stoic philosophers.
So again, the Epicureans.
It's like they were theatheists of the day.
Sometimes when you're in aconversation with an atheist,
there is a time and a place totalk about scientific details
and the minutiae and to get offon all the tangents and the
(41:49):
rabbit trails and stuff likethat.
That's fine, but when it comesdown to it, if Jesus didn't
resurrect from the dead, then itdoesn't really matter.
If Jesus did resurrect from thedead, then they've got to
address that question first.
Because if you don't believethat God exists but you can't
defend your position against theresurrection, then you've got
(42:11):
to admit that Jesus rose againthree days later.
And then, if you could admitthat Jesus rose again three days
later, well, can't you believein a God then who could create
something out of nothing?
Like you can go down all thosetangents afterwards, but what
Christianity stands and falls onis the resurrection, and if you
can get people there first,honestly that's the most
(42:34):
important argument.
There's a time and a place forother arguments, but the
argument is he's resurrectedfrom the dead.
He demands a response from you.
Don't take me on rabbit trailsabout science.
We'll talk about that later.
Christians have a purpose foreven investigating science.
You don't.
But let's talk about theresurrection, because if that's
true, you must give an account.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Yeah, when I ever asked somebody and I know you do
this and David, I'm sure you dothis when I ask somebody, what
is the gospel, they say, oh,jesus died for my sins.
And then I say and then keepgoing because I want them to get
to the resurrection, becausewithout the resurrection, who
cares if he died on a cross?
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
He had to have resurrected from the grave in
order for the cross to do thework that he said it would do.
So, yes, he died for your sinson the cross, but he was also
perfect.
He was also resurrected, andpeople saw him.
He walked this earth after hisdeath and then he ascended into
heaven.
So all of that matters with thegospel not just his death, but
the resurrection.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
There's a great resource and I'm going to be
preaching on this subject forEaster Sunday, or better,
resurrection Sunday, on March31st this year On the five
minimal facts that all scholarshave to admit to, which took
place between 30 and 36 AD.
There are five minimal facts.
(43:55):
Gary Habermas gives us thesefacts that all scholars have to
agree to from 30 to 36 AD, andhe extends it from 30 to 36
because some people believeJesus died and rose again in 30
and others believe 33.
And so you know, at most yougot the six year timeframe where
(44:15):
all of these things areundisputable, they're undeniable
.
So, when it comes down to it,we have to consider if he's
risen from the dead, then hedemands a response from my life.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
Yeah, the other question here that they ask in
verse 19,.
I would love for this to be theresponse of anybody.
Just as you discuss the gospel,may we know what this new
teaching is that you arepresenting.
If we get into a conversationwith somebody where they're
willing to talk, that's a typeof conversation you want to be
(44:52):
in, because you're not sayingthey're arguing or yelling at
somebody, we're not being harshor forceful, but there seem to
be an openness to at least thequestion who is this, what is
this teaching?
And that's the type ofconversations we want to have
(45:12):
with anybody.
We want it to be a true, real,respectable conversation.
One way that can help you dothat we've talked about this on
the last podcast.
Gregory Cokles book Tactics andStreet Smarts helps you do this
.
It just helps engage people onan everyday basis asking
questions, engaging them,hearing what they believe and
(45:33):
then being able to then insertwhat you believe into that
conversation.
So, yeah, I think this stylethat's happening.
At least the Greeks are willingto have an open forum of
conversation which allows Paulto speak, and I think, as a
Christian, we should takeadvantage of those opportunities
.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Well, and what a relief, because at least here
Paul is only debating.
Where he just came from, he'sbeing threatened with his life
for it.
So Paul's like I don't care ifpeople are disagreeing with me.
Shoot, I mean, that's a littlebit of reprieve from where I was
just at.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Yeah, now it's more of a.
You know, obviously Paulbelieves in the spirit moving
and changing hearts, but he'salso like, okay, now we're in an
intellectual argument, right,and Paul's extremely smart, he's
the apologist and evangelist ofthat that we get all this stuff
from, from scripture.
The Holy Spirit has given himthese things, and so I feel like
(46:30):
this is Paul's arena andthey're almost not recognizing
like, oh, paul was equipped todo this and so he gets the
opportunity to and we'll diveinto that next time where we get
to see what does Paul say, whatdoes he give them, because
that's going to be important anda way to equip us, as the
reader, to continue to read thewritings of God through Paul,
(46:51):
through Luke as well, and to seehow can we have these
conversations, how can wepresent the gospel, how can we
go through these debates, theselines of questioning.
It's all in the word.
We just have to read it.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
This is a great episode, guys.
There's a lot to chew on hereand I know before we dove on
here we kind of had hope thatwe'd go all the way to verse 34.
But there was.
There was enough here to carrythe conversation, and this is
good stuff.
Speaker 3 (47:21):
Everything I want to say now is going into what we're
going to do next week, so it'slike a cliffhanger.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Oh, you're prepared, I'm holding back.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
Hold that, I'm like no, I guess I'm gonna do that
next time, next time, next time.
We love David so much David'slike.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
I only prepared the second half.
Speaker 3 (47:36):
I didn't do the first part.
We're just not getting intowhat I prepared.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
Good, but thank you all for listening to the Be
Disciples podcast and we hopethat you would jump on YouTube,
if you haven't already, to seeus on there.
We also are trying to justengage our community.
The purpose of this podcast andto do the videos and to invest
in it is that more people wouldhear God's word.
If you come on the videopodcast, you see our Bible is
(48:02):
open in front of us.
You can read right along withus.
We want people to know God'sword in our community and around
the world, so we just thank youfor listening.
The best thing that you can doto support us is just to tell
people about the podcast.
We do this for that purposeonly, so that people know the
word, and so, thank you, followus, invite people to it.
(48:23):
We would love to engage withyou.
Comment, like, share on socialmedia All those things help just
engage more people with theword, and so thank you so much
for listening.
We'll see you next week as wecontinue our study.
Next week, dr Jeff Chang, andthen we'll continue in Acts, and
then we plan on having moreguests on the podcast time and
(48:43):
time again as we continue toramp up here on our video
podcast.
Have a blessed week.
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