Don't Worship A God You Don't Know

[0:00] Thank you for tuning into this message by David Entry. Every true revival is a product of the strong preaching of God's word.! May you receive a word from this message that will spark a revival in you.

[0:12] Acts chapter 17, reading from verse 16. Thank you, Jesus. Now, when Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was dead in him when he saw the city was wholly given to idolatry.

[0:30] Therefore, disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons and in the marketplace daily with them that met with him.

[0:42] Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and the Stoics encountered him, and some said, What will this babbler say? Other some, he seemed to be a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus Christ and the resurrection.

[1:02] And they took him and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speaketh is. For thou bringeth certain strange things to our ears.

[1:16] We would know, therefore, what these things mean. For all the Athenians and the strangers which were there spent their time to do nothing else but either to tell or to hear something new.

[1:30] Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship him declare I unto you.

[1:49] God that make the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Neither is he worshiped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things.

[2:08] And has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and has determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitations, that they should seek the Lord, if happily they feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.

[2:32] For in him we live and move and have our being, as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offsprings. For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, or graven by art, or man's device.

[2:53] And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he had ordained.

[3:10] Wherefore, has he given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said, we will hear thee again of this matter.

[3:24] So Paul departed from among them. How be certain men clave unto him, and believed, among which are Dinosius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

[3:38] Here ends the reading of God's word. Shall we please pray? Father, thank you so much for giving us the privilege to be together, to hear your word. As your word is taught, we pray, let grace be caught. Give us, introduce us into chambers of your word, which man cannot take us.

[3:53] Give us understanding, illumination. As your word comes, let what is predetermined to happen through the teaching of your word happen. Hope, salvation, redemption, deliverance, direction, guidance, encouragement, faith, and grace.

[4:09] We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. So we saw how Nicholas, the Jews of Thessalonica, sent negative missionaries all the way from Thessalonica, 60 miles to go into Berea, because they've had Paul and Silas, or Paul and his team, were preaching there.

[4:34] So they sent men to go and create a stair. The Bible says that they went there, and they caused a lot of confusion and commotion. And they used, they stirred up the people.

[4:49] Verse 14 says that. And then immediately, the brethren sent Paul away to go as far as the sea. But Silas and Timotheus stayed there in Berea.

[5:00] So Paul then found him, went to Athens, because God was up to something. Now remember, as I taught last week, that this is the gospel making an arrival on European shores.

[5:13] So it started with Macedonia, Philippi, and then Thessalonica. From Thessalonica, they went to Berea. And now from Berea, Paul has been forced to run out, or to leave town, to go to Athens, the then capital of intellectualism of the world.

[5:32] So Paul went to Athens, and as I said last week, he was there alone, so he was waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him. But while he waited for them to join him, he decided to just walk around the city to know what the people were like.

[5:49] Now, for us to appreciate what was happening, it will be helpful to have an idea about what Athens was like. Now Athens was a very important city in those days.

[6:04] Very, very important city. That was the home of philosophers like Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato. These guys were great thinkers whose thinking has shaped the Western world.

[6:19] In fact, we owe the English education to Greek thinking. So Athens was the foundation for Western education.

[6:29] That's where democracy started, the birthplace of democracy. You know, and Athens was known to be a place of great civilization, culture, art, and architecture, and poetry.

[6:43] So it's the birthplace of democracy, cultural and artistic excellence, excellence, if you want it. Those days, Athens. Intellectual and education. It was an intellectual and educational hub.

[6:56] So the best brains of the world, you find them in Athens, or they go to Athens. And Athens was a naval, had a naval power, and the center of the empire, those days, the Greek empire.

[7:10] They were used to urban design and public spaces. They were unique. You know, when you travel from anywhere in the world and go to Athens, you'll be sure, wow, like quite a few years ago, when you go to America, wow, this is that, this place exists.

[7:28] Athens was so way advanced, and the blend of what made Athens unique was political innovation, intellectual curiosity, that's philosophy, science, and education, and cultural brilliance.

[7:43] They had art, drama, architecture, and then finally, civic participation and civic freedoms. So they allow citizens to speak, participate in discourse.

[7:55] And you know, other places, you are not prepared, it's the kings, where does that go? But in Athens, it was quite different in those days. So Athens was a very interesting place. Now, Athens had three hills.

[8:07] They had the Areopagus, they had the Agora, and then the Acropolis. Now, the Agora was a marketplace, the place of commerce.

[8:19] So the hill, that's where people gather to do things. So if you talk about commerce, if you want to talk about markets, you say they have a lot of shopping, it's like the huge shopping centers were all in Agora.

[8:32] All right? So that's the marketplace, place of transaction. Then, when you talk about Acropolis, the Acropolis was the place, it's like a, a high, it's known as the high city.

[8:44] That's the religious center. So the Acropolis is full of temples, all the big, big, wonderful, fanciful temples, where the hub of religious idolatry was there.

[8:57] Even though Athens was known for religious idolatry, the hub of it was in Acropolis. And then we have the Areopagus. So Agora, Acropolis, and Areopagus.

[9:09] Now, Areopagus was the hill where intellectual and political discourse was taking place. So when you go to Athens, because it allows people to speak, and allows people freedom of speech and participation, when you go and you have high level of philosophy and intellectualism, they have to check you out, you have to go and defend it in Areopagus.

[9:34] So you have to go to Areopagus. That's where they have the testy best scholars in the then known world were there. You have to go and meet. And then if they listen to you and what you are bringing is good enough, then they make you a professor and give you a certificate to now become a spokesperson.

[9:51] So Areopagus was, I mean, the place, the place of intelligence. So now, having that understanding, Paul walks through the place, goes to Acropolis, and sees these gods, so many gods.

[10:05] Now, because I want to go further very fast, let me also tell you about this gentleman called Epimidus of Crete. Years ago, there was an outbreak of disease, major disease in Athens that was killing people.

[10:21] People were dying. People were dying. In fact, I think that there was this saying that when you go to Athens, you are likely to meet a god more than a human being. That's how there's so many gods.

[10:34] The people are very religious. That tells you that being intellectual doesn't mean you won't be religious, because human beings have this inbuilt God-seeking space.

[10:47] So they were very, very religious, and there was an outbreak of this deadly disease that was killing people. And because they were superstitious people, when something happens and they can't understand it, they attribute it to their gods.

[11:02] So Epimidus said, this thing that is killing people, one of the gods have been offended. Epimidus was a poet, and very intelligent.

[11:14] One of the, it's common in a lot of places where gods are worshipped. They said, up to today, we have to pacify the gods. What's going on? We have to pacify the gods. Let's, so now, the problem was, there were so many gods.

[11:27] Which of the gods is upset, and we have to pacify? So Epimidus came up with a brilliant idea, that let's just get the sacrifice, a live animal that we are going to sacrifice.

[11:41] Let's not sacrifice the animal yet, maybe a group of them, and let's release them into, that's, you're talking about Acropolis, where they, it's the center of religion.

[11:52] Let's release them where there's so many gods, and as they walk around, where they go and settle and lie, that will tell you which, or the nearest god, where they go, it will tell you which god is behind this thing, who have to be pacified.

[12:05] I mean, doesn't it sound like a brilliant idea? So, these animals went, they roam around, and pipers, all the gods, and every, never settled anywhere, and went to settle somewhere, very far, there's no god near it.

[12:22] They said, ah, there must be an unknown god somewhere. So then, where the animals went, they built an altar, to this unknown god, who is somewhere, we must identify.

[12:38] So now, when you hear that to the unknown grace, an altar, that's how the history behind, it's not in the scriptures, but it's recorded in the histories of that.

[12:49] So that's how you have, you know about Athens. Now, having understood that, let's go to Paul again. So, Paul goes into the city, he roams around, he does a walk.

[13:00] That's why, when you're going to do evangelism in a city, it's good to familiarize yourself, know how the place is like. Don't just go with your preconceived, this is what they need. No, they might not need what you are bringing.

[13:11] They all need a gospel, but the baseline of their philosophy, and how their worldview, you have to try and get into that. So you'll find out that, when Paul gets to Athens, he didn't start with the Bible.

[13:25] When he goes to the synagogue, he starts with their scriptures, which is our Old Testament, which is the Torah. So, but when he goes to these people, he didn't start with the scriptures.

[13:36] Let's go back to the text. Is it interesting? So now, while Paul waited for them, in verse 16, in Athens, his spirit was stirred up in him, when he saw, the whole city was given to idolatry.

[13:50] What is this? One of the translations he used, his spirit was stirred up. He said, provoked. He was provoked. He was agitated. What is this? No.

[14:01] This is interesting. It really got to him. And so, verse 17 says that, therefore, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews, because the Jews have been there.

[14:13] No. Paul grew up a Jew. And every Jewish child, as you are growing up, one of the things you would definitely know, is the Decalogue, what we call the Ten Commandments.

[14:25] And every Jewish child knows how to recite the Shema. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. Thou shall love the Lord. So, tell those people who say, we say God is two or three.

[14:37] They don't know what they are talking about. It's a shiny scripture. The Lord your God is one Lord. It's one. It's one. Say, our God is one.

[14:48] Our God is one. Not three. It's one God. One essence. Homoi essence. But, three persons. Wow, that makes him different from all of us.

[15:03] You are one person, and one essence. He's one essence, and three persons. Anyway, the Lord, that's the Shema. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Then the next verse said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

[15:20] Every Jewish child knew this, and also knew, that's the Shema, and also knew the Decalogue. And the first two of the Ten Commandments are so fundamental.

[15:33] Every Jewish person doesn't joke with that. The first two is, there's one God, all right, that shall not worship any other God. The Exodus chapter 20. It says that, let's look at Exodus chapter 20, verse one, you shall have no other God before me.

[15:48] And then the second one is, you shall not make unto yourself any great image, any likeness of anything in the heavens above, and worship it. Don't do that. So, Paul goes into the city, even if he wasn't a Christian, as a Jewish man.

[16:03] And he saw that, they're worshiping all these gods. And they have images, images, and places. So, Paul was so provoked in his spirit, he went to the synagogue, and disputed with them.

[16:15] How is it that you guys are here, and this is going on? You know, so he risen with the Jews in the synagogue, and with the Gentile worshipers, and, see, the marketplace, that's the agora.

[16:27] He, and the marketplace, daily with those who happen to be there. I'm telling you, it was a big exercise he started doing. Then, the next, let's say, then certain Epicureans, let's all say Epicureans.

[16:40] Now, Epicureans were philosophers, and we have stoics, two main schools of philosophy in those days, which still cast a shadow in our days. The Epicureans were those who say, listen, life is short.

[16:58] Enjoy as much as you can. Make as much as you can. Enjoy life, for tomorrow, we die. Okay.

[17:11] Followers of Greek philosopher Epicureans, who believed life's goal was to achieve pleasure through a state of tranquility and freedom from fear and pain.

[17:22] Yes, I mean, we can identify with this in one, this morning. Just enjoy life. But the caveat is, make sure in enjoying your life to the fullest, you don't harm yourself, or you don't harm others.

[17:33] But as for life, just have pleasure, reduce pain, chill, party, have as much sex as you want. With whoever. Just enjoy your life.

[17:44] Sounds like Hollywood, isn't it? They don't believe in life after death, because when you die, it's finished. So, whatever you have to do, do it now.

[17:58] So, yeah, so, the Epicureans. And then we have the Stoics. The Stoics are, these guys who believe that, don't give your life to just the emotions, but thinking.

[18:12] You have to think through your intellect, and you have to, you are, you should be self-sufficient. Don't live your life depending on some God, somewhere, some persons who will help you anywhere. Just be self-sufficient, and think through things, and find solutions for your life.

[18:27] So, Epicureans say, just follow your emotions, enjoy life, while the Stoics say, just think through things, be self-sufficient, don't rely on anybody, live your own life.

[18:39] Right? So, be independent of God, as it were. Yeah, nature and reason was most important. Follow nature. Nature says this, follow, save mother earth. You don't need any father God.

[18:51] Mother earth is enough. And self-control, it's just all about you. You are the center of everything, as long as you are in harmony with nature.

[19:02] And, just let the energies enter you. Energy, let it enter you. So, now, let's go by verse 18. Verse 18 says that, then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and the Stoics, encountered him.

[19:19] Yeah, these are philosophers. They know what they are talking about. They believe. So, they encountered him, and some said, what will this, babla? So long as the Greeks are concerned, they are the only important people.

[19:33] All others who don't have the Greek culture are barbarians. Barbarians, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But that's how they give them a barbarian.

[19:44] They don't have anything important to say. Barblers, talk, talk, talk. There's nothing sensible. So that's what, it's Greeks or barbarians. So if you are not a Greek, they see you as barbarian, and you don't have anything.

[19:54] So they say, what does this, babla, barbarian go to say? Just talk, just talk. All right, bring it on. So, he said, what will this babla say?

[20:06] Other psalm, he seems to be a setter for of strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. In spite of all the intellectual discourse, he made sure that he didn't deviate from what was called Jesus and the resurrection.

[20:23] So he got the attention. Some say, no, this guy seems to be setting for another god, because they are interested, the Epicureans or the Athenians were not interested in what was true.

[20:35] They were interested in what was new. If it's new, they liked it. They just want it, like modern day. And so when you go to Areopagus, it's like modern day TV shows. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.

[20:46] Even when people are not saying anything sensible, and it's a certain philosophy people told you, Areopagus, they were just restricted in everybody must think a certain way and the discourse must be within certain parameters.

[20:59] Especially, as long as it doesn't go into anything Christian. Every other thing is welcome. But if it goes into anything Christian, no, no, you have gone out of what is common sense for society.

[21:13] So, Areopagus, they will always have discourse, discuss what's new. So the people said, okay, it seems like this guy is setting for another god, this babbler.

[21:24] Let's hear what he's got to say. Then the verse 19 says that. They took him and brought him to where? So, are you following the story now? Doesn't make sense now.

[21:34] Why Areopagus? That's where the discourse is taking place. Come and defend your thesis before 30 scholars and then we will give you a certificate accreditation or we'll throw you out of town.

[21:49] So, they took him and brought him to Areopagus saying, may we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speaketh is?

[21:59] See, the new thing. They just like new stuff. The Bible actually said it. For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears. We would know, therefore, what these things mean.

[22:10] For all the Athenians and the strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else but to tell or to hear. They just want something new.

[22:23] Tell us something new. Not something true. Something new. That's all we want. And so, then Paul stood up in the midst of Matthew and said, ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are superstitious.

[22:37] Now, what he was trying to tell them is that you are very intelligent and I realized that in your intellectual strength you have not also abandoned the supernatural. You believe in the supernatural and I commend that.

[22:51] I realize you believe in the supernatural but you don't have a comprehensive understanding of the supernatural. There's an aspect of the supernatural you don't know. So he said, you believe in the supernatural.

[23:01] I perceive that you are very superstitious. You believe in these things. That's good. Then he went on to tell them in the verse 23, for as I passed by, I beheld your devotions and I found an altar with the inscription to the unknown God.

[23:16] So, you believe in the supernatural but it looks like your supernatural understanding is not comprehensive because obviously it's clearly depicted by your style of worship that there's an altar dedicated to a God you don't know.

[23:30] So then, you don't have full understanding of the supernatural and permit me to approach you from that angle because there is something you guys are good you are doing okay but you missed something.

[23:43] Now, so he said that I like this. This text really blesses my heart so much. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship him declare I to Can you do me a favor?

[23:55] Shall we all read that bit together from the whom? Let's go. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship him declare I to One more time louder please. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship him declare I to Whom you ignorantly worship him declare I to you.

[24:15] Wow. That is, you know, I remember just before the lockdown the first two messages during the lockdown I think I preached on knowing that God we worship because the problem of certain type or certain brand of Christianity is the mindless Christianity.

[24:32] Mindless worship will not take anybody anywhere. Mindless worship is superstition. God does not want us to be ignorant about what we worship.

[24:43] He said who therefore you worship without knowing is a big risk to worship without knowing. You can easily enter into satanism. You can call people prophets who are fetish priests.

[24:57] you can come to church and say this is all about love and the spirit. So let's just chant.

[25:12] And then you can enter into syncretism by mixing Islam with Christianity and mixing Hinduism and mixing it's all the same God. Let's just add everything together.

[25:24] even when you go to restaurants that serves all dishes there are still some dishes that are still missing. You won't find fufu. So you can't mix all.

[25:38] Anyone who says I believe in all religions is a major Confucianist. In fact he's a confused person. Syncretism is mixing different things into it.

[25:49] Syncretism leaves you nothing but confused. Because if let's attempt to mix Christianity and Islam see what you have. The basis of Christianity is that Jesus is God and he dies for our sins.

[26:01] The basis of Islam is at variance with this kind of belief. They said there's Jesus in the Quran which is not true though. They said there's a certain Jesus. It's not a Christian Jesus.

[26:12] They said there's a Jesus in the Quran and the name of the God they worship is called Allah. There's no Allah in the scripture. So there and then you call him God do you call him Allah?

[26:23] No, we call him Jesus. You see, there's a problem, there's a fundamental problem if you try to mix Islam with Christianity. So the easiest way to say is that everybody is worshiping one God.

[26:36] There are different ways of killing a cat. Yes, there are different ways of getting to hell but only one way of getting to heaven. Different ways.

[26:48] Many ways to get to hell but one way. John chapter 14 verse 6. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.

[27:04] So they have a mixture of all kinds of things. The Athenians believe in all kinds of things. things. So when I was talking about when you try to practice godliness without knowledge, you end up with syncretism.

[27:21] One of the problems where I grew up and I've been saying this, I have a feeling if the church is not updated with strong Christocentric doctrine, as the founding fathers keep growing and the next generation that keep coming, if they are not schooled heavily on Christocentric doctrine and the economy of God, we will mix African traditional religion into Christianity thinking.

[27:51] And it's happening nowadays. There are people who are, it's already here, there are people who are designated as major serious men of God, not the fathers, who are practically fetish priests.

[28:08] Because when you look at it, some can write your enemy's name, put it in an oil bottle and we smash it, we kill them, we smash it. And some can bring alcohol and pour libation in church that may disalter.

[28:23] They are genuine. You can be sincere and sincerely wrong. Please don't use sincerity as a bargain. that is that is why the Christian influence Western culture do not just make sure that there's protection, but they don't just write the people off.

[28:44] Let's try and help them. Let's listen to them. Because they are deluded. The reason why you think others who don't worship your God must die, you are deluded. So it's more kind of mental health or delusion and the system.

[28:57] In other places they will kill you straight away. They will hang you. Well, so when you mix all kinds of things. So what I'm trying to underscore is that we need to know the God we worship.

[29:08] Paul's, one of his greatest aspirations is that I may know him. One. And watch this. Thank you, Jesus. The foundation of Christian discipleship is teaching people the ways of God from the text, not from the pastor's philosophy.

[29:24] Because philosophy can even find itself and slip itself into church. Because it sounds right. It sounds nice. That is why we have to keep and all of you, as you are growing, you must be a guardian of scriptural truth.

[29:39] In other words, anything I am teaching or anyone is teaching, there one of the signs of your spiritual development is that your understanding of scripture is so sound, anything that is an aberration, you are able to see it.

[29:54] Even though you know the speaker means well, you know the implication of this statement because it's not entirely holy, holy scriptural. Because it comes, years ago I was listening to a great international speaker and he was bringing Aristotelian philosophy into it and people didn't know.

[30:12] But because I've studied a little bit in that, I could tell you this is just mere philosophy, not Christocentric theology. It's mere philosophy mixed with theology thinking that and people say, wow, that's deep, that's deep, that's deep.

[30:30] So that is why every healthy pastor must baptize the people with healthy words of scripture. so much that people become very familiar or they know through scripture that any little diversity they can say, oh no, no, I think this is it.

[30:47] That's one of the signs of spiritual maturity, one of the signs. Your knowledge of God through scripture, I'm not just saying your knowledge of scripture, your knowledge of God through scripture becomes very good, very solid.

[31:01] So it says that the God you worship without knowing, him present at you. Jesus says that the time is coming, John chapter 4, when the true worshipers shall worship their father in spirit.

[31:13] Not a feeling, not just feeling, truth, truth means you got to know something. Your worship of God is at the mercy of the God you know.

[31:25] Even praise and worship, he says, sing praises Psalm 47 verse 7 with understanding. Praises is not just dancing, this is my favorite tune, oh, I like this song so much. Many people think that is what it's about.

[31:36] We are singing in church. No, with understanding. Giving must be with understanding. Serving in church must be with understanding. Coming to church must be with understanding. Submitting to spiritual authority must be with understanding.

[31:50] Even staying in good marriage as a believer must be with understanding. Biblical understanding. Else, if you leave your Christianity to emotions or you're subjected to death, the cerebral realm or the metaphysical realm, maybe you never know when things are more for you.

[32:12] Don't stay there. Christianity is full of credible, clear printed data, but it can be understood with a heart that is changed by God and open to God.

[32:24] Else, you can just be doing theology and still miss God. Let's get that clear. So it says, to the one you worship without knowing, him declare I to you. The next verse says that.

[32:35] Then he starts telling them, the God who made the world and all things therein, seeing that his Lord of heaven and earth dwelleth not in temples in the first place, he said, forget about this temple.

[32:47] He said, let's reason, the one who made you and I, when he finished, you make something, then he lives inside it. Why are you reducing God to this?

[32:58] So think about it. Logically, it doesn't make sense. So that God, they don't know, they are trying to find a place, a name, and a space for him.

[33:09] If there's a God, he must have a name, he must have a place, and a space. Paul said, no place on earth is big enough to accommodate God. So he was talking to them in Areopagus, making references to Acropolis, where the temples are.

[33:25] They really said, I know you guys are religious, but you can't capture the true God in one place. You can't restrict him to one place. Let's go to the next verse. It says that neither is he worshipped with man's hands, as though he needed, this is a strong one, the people who think they do church for God's sake.

[33:40] Listen, God doesn't need me. He doesn't need me. I need him so much. My cooperation with him makes life more meaningful to me. But he doesn't change. It's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

[33:53] It says that there's one scripture in Psalm 50. It said, listen, the cattle on the thousand hills is mine. If I were hungry, he said, are you the one that will come and go? Verse 10, for every beast on the forest is mine.

[34:08] The cattle on the thousand hills. Look at the next verse. I know all the best of the mountain and the wild. If I were hungry, I would not come and ask you to feed me.

[34:21] The world is mine and it's fullness. Don't give offering like God is suffering without your offering. Don't give tithe like God needs it.

[34:34] Thank God for Bishop Oede post inside one day. He said, all that thing that, oh, support the work of God. Let's stop that language. Can you support God's work? It's like a trailer that is overloaded and is falling.

[34:47] And you ask a four-year-old boy to support the trailer from falling. Think about it. Can you support God? Don't think that you are the one who is going to make the church work. He said, I will build my church.

[35:03] Jesus said, I'll build my church with or without you. If the pastor doesn't do it, I'll build it myself. He says that God is able to raise stones to praise him. God is not dependent on human beings.

[35:15] Paul said, don't worship him like he needs anything from you. Wow. That's very strong. He said, neither worship him with man's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he give life to all breath and all things.

[35:30] He gives everything to you. He gives everything to you. He gave you your children. He gave you your money. strength. I know you are very academic and highly educated and intelligent.

[35:43] He gave you your mind. How many of you have seen a very intelligent father and mother? Top. But they are one plus two. He said twelve.

[35:57] So, he said, don't let worship God as though he needs anything from us. Let's quickly go. He gave us breath. He said, he has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of.

[36:09] He said, he made all nations to dwell on the face and has determined their time before appointed and their bond. Where you are living is not determined by government policy. It's determined by God.

[36:20] You are not born in the wrong place. You are not born by wrong parents. The circumstances surrounding your birth might be very unencouraging. But God took the unencouraging situation to bring a champion.

[36:33] So that he can be God. And he has determined how long you live. As I said the other time, a person is immortalized until his assignment or next is finished.

[36:46] When you can't fulfill your assignment again, then death can't take you. He said, my time has come. As long as time was done, no one, even when he was an infant, the king, the more all-powerful king couldn't touch him because his assignment had not finished.

[37:01] So, it says that God determines the bounds of our habitations. Then the next verse, Paul says that he has done all this so that man should seek him because he has watches.

[37:14] He has left a God-shaped gap in your heart. It doesn't matter how much you have in life, you still feel something is missing. So that's why people in antiquity or as far as you go, any group of people you meet, you finally have some form of worship.

[37:30] to want to worship a God is natural. To say there's no God is not natural. I had one great speaker some time ago, he said, when he goes around teaching and doing his talk and somebody asking that, but there's no God, why do you think there's a God?

[37:49] He asked the person, which is American, so which college do you attend? Because this kind of thinking must come from a college. Because it's not natural, it must be given to you, someone must force it on you to assume there's no God.

[38:02] Because it's just, the Bible says that God has revealed himself in nature. Nature tells us, that's what Paul, so did you see that Paul didn't go into the Torah, into scripture, he went into nature, he identified with, so he started talking to them from where they can have a discourse, from where they understand.

[38:22] Paul said to the Greeks I became a Greek, to the Jews I became like a Jew, that I'm my win son. So Paul straight away goes into the things they understand, talk about nature, talk about their form of worship, their superstition, the way they are worshipping, and to throw a bit more godly light on the path they are on, to explain things to them.

[38:41] Let's go back to the verse 27 of Acts 17, that they should, if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.

[38:54] So Paul is saying that need you have for God, it's God who has put it inside you. Then the next verse, it says that, for in him we live and move and have our being. Then he quotes their poets, because these people are great thinkers and poets, said, as one of your own poets have said.

[39:13] So he didn't quote scripture, but he quoted the talk of the day to point them to God. The poet has actually said we are all offstrings of God, and to a certain extent it's true, because we all sprang off to God.

[39:24] We didn't just exist by ourselves. Something caused us to exist. That's what the poet is saying. He said, he's right. Then he goes on to the verse 29, he said, for as much as we are the offstrings of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art.

[39:45] We can't think like that. If we know we are of God, are you not better than gold? Are you not better than the sculptor? And if you are of God, how can we think that God is gold?

[39:58] God is sculptor? You see, the reasoning, that's what I'm telling you, that Christianity doesn't sidestep thinking. We can reason with people from sanctified understanding of Scripture.

[40:13] It makes sense. The point of Christian, that's why you can come and challenge the Bible and say the Bible is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We are not afraid. Tear it apart and we will show you.

[40:24] After you finish tearing it apart, you realize that you have torn yourself apart. There have been major, major, like C.S. Lewis. He was a professor. He's an atheist. He never believed in all this Christianity and the Bible.

[40:37] And so it took upon himself to do a research to disprove it. By the time he finished, he decided that thing is rather true. And he became one many have taken upon themselves to disprove Christianity only to find out that that's the best thing they've ever discovered.

[40:55] Because it's data, it's factual, it's unimpeachable facts built on it. So he says that with him we live and move and have have been. Your poets have even said it.

[41:08] And God is not like a graven image. Don't reduce God. Then the verse 30 is bringing it home now. He said that in the times of ignorance God winked. Yeah, you didn't know what you were doing.

[41:21] He said now, you know, every time I usually when I'm coming to preach, I say things like this is my Bible, my mind is alert and I know I will never be the same again. That's true.

[41:32] When the word of God is taught truly, you can never be the same. Even if you choose not to believe, you have pushed yourself further away from God. When the word of God is taught, there's no middle ground.

[41:43] You either believe or you don't believe, you are either condemned or you are justified or you are excused. There's no middle ground. So when you hear the true word of God, it puts you in a very interesting situation.

[41:56] You are going to be worse off or better off after you hear the word of God. And so he says that in him we live and move and have and have. And he says that in the times of ignorance, God winked, but now, somebody say but now.

[42:08] Say it again, but now. say but now. But now, but now commands all, give me new key, commands all men, not only in Africa.

[42:22] Those who say I'm going to Africa for evangelism, UK. I'm going to far east. It's good, we will go, but then there are people next door.

[42:34] All men. God has given us the privilege to reach out. he has sent people. I'm telling you, he said God commands all men, men that doesn't mean male, all people everywhere to repent.

[42:54] Not just to come to church. But now, God has commanded all men to repent. That is the entry point. Why should I repent?

[43:05] You can choose not to repent, but the aftermath. He says that truly, the next verse, verse 31 is very scary. Why? Because he has appointed you. You don't have an excuse.

[43:17] You don't have an excuse. No problem, you don't repent. They're coming. You are going to stand before the judge of all. And you know you won't pass because you know there are a few things you have to sort out.

[43:30] Okay, I don't understand. I know this is how I think. This is how I think. I know that that's how you think. but your reality is that you know you have issues.

[43:41] You have sin problems to deal with. You are smart, but you are not perfect. When you stand before a just God, a perfect God, what are you going to say?

[43:52] To speak my best American English. When you stand before him, none of us will pass. In fact, I saw this scripture that was so scary when we were reading Psalms.

[44:03] Psalm 7 verse 11. He said, God is angry with the wicked every day. Who is the wicked? Not someone who is killing people. No, no, no. When you see wicked in the Bible, it says wicked means the one who is not doing God.

[44:18] He's not subjecting his life to God's plans. The wicked and God is every day. But pastor, the Bible says God so loves the world.

[44:31] Yeah, he does. The world. All people in the world, the whole world he created, include all of us. He loves us. He cares about us.

[44:41] That's why he's angry with you. If you are wicked, if you are not in God. The Bible says God is, those people who only preach God is love. God loves you. It doesn't matter what you do.

[44:52] It matters what you do. God loves you anyway. Yeah, he does, but he's also angry with you every day. God loves you anyway, but he's angry with you every day. It's only God who can have both at the same time.

[45:07] God is angry. He said, if you don't repent, he has appointed a day in which he will judge. He appointed in the which God will judge the world in righteousness.

[45:18] That's the problem. Righteousness. Can you say I'm right? Totally right? The psalmist said, if God should mark iniquity, none of us can stand. If God begins to check everybody who is right, none of us.

[45:31] If God should mark iniquity, sometimes I said this, that's Psalm 130 verse 3, if the Lord, if you Lord should mark iniquity, O Lord, who can stand?

[45:43] The bishop won't stand, the pastor won't stand, the church member won't stand, the thief won't stand, and the good person won't stand. Because none doeth right, according to Romans chapter 3.

[45:56] None seeks after God, and none doeth right. So we are all skilled. If God should mark iniquity, who can stand? So sometimes I was preaching a few years ago, over 15 years ago, I made this statement.

[46:09] You know, people have always thought that God is that old man. Sometimes people say that with a stick up there. He's an old man with a stick. If he's an old man with a stick and every time you do something, it will hit your head, almost all of us will be brain damaged.

[46:23] God is good. Amen. Tell somebody God is good.

[46:35] So the point I'm making here is that, the point I'm making here is that none of us can stand the righteous standards of God. But watch this, he's going to judge the whole world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained.

[46:52] So he said, you are either in this man or you are not in this man. He's going to judge you by righteousness. The reason why you are righteous is not because you've done everything right, but you are only righteous in Christ.

[47:05] Our righteousness is in Christ. He is our righteousness. Bible says that in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God.

[47:22] in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. Romans chapter 3 from verse 19 that talks about the righteousness of God. I talked on this some time ago.

[47:33] God has a certain righteousness which no human being can meet, but it can be credited to us in Christ. And he says a time is coming when God is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained.

[47:48] Really, he has given assurance. He said, for you to know I'm going to do it, by raising him from the dead. So the resurrection from the dead is a statement from God. The resurrection of Christ from death or from the grave is a statement from God that I'm going to judge all men in righteousness.

[48:05] I'm going to judge all men in righteousness. So you see what Paul is doing. He migrates them gradually from what they are familiar with into, he didn't even go into biblical text or the Torah because they are not familiar with the Torah.

[48:19] He only quoted their poets and reasoned with them, migrated them into Christ and told them, you see, but these Epicureans, they don't believe in life after death.

[48:33] Greeks actually, generally, the Greeks don't believe in life after death. They don't believe in life after death. They just believe in just soul, immortality of their soul. So it's just your soul.

[48:43] So they don't believe in the resurrection of their body. And then Greeks also don't believe in, they think their body is no good. Whilst the Jewish mindset, God also cares about their body.

[48:55] That's why God himself came as a human being. So you can imagine it's contradicting worldview for the Jews that how can God become human? Because to be human is evil.

[49:06] So God cannot become human. And there's Greek philosophy underpinning some aspects of British thinking. So he then introduced them to the resurrection.

[49:18] He said God has given assurance of this by raising him from the dead. So he introduced them to the resurrection. When they heard the resurrection of the dead and when they heard the resurrection of the dead some mocked.

[49:30] You see the intellectuals? They mocked. Others said we will hear you again on this matter. However some believe. The next verse. So Paul departed from them.

[49:41] But look at the next verse. However. Somebody say however. Some men joined him and believed. Amongst them was Dionysius the Arropagites.

[49:51] He's an Arropagite. That's where the arguments are. He stays there. That's where he lives. But he believed. Someone who was raised with thinking thinking thinking. When the scripture came and explained things he believed.

[50:04] There are professors who are born again. Many professors. There are many professors who are born again. There are politicians who are born again. There are communists who are born again.

[50:16] There are aristocrats who are born again. God picks from anywhere because the word of God can reach out to anybody because he is lord of all. And so the Arropagites Dinesios the Arropagites and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

[50:33] They believed. And I believe Paul was able to make his rightful impact. There's something of what the scripture is letting us understand is that God created us for himself.

[50:44] God created us for a purpose. We didn't just emerge from the slime. And it doesn't matter where we are, whether we have religious background, superstitious background, or a religious background. Wherever we are, the word of God can still reach us and save us.

[50:59] The word of God can save from anywhere. The word of God can save from the brothel. The word of God can save from the theological seminary. The word of God can save in the temple. The word of God can save at the shrine.

[51:11] The word of God can save at the schools. Can save on the streets. Can save in the sports stadium. And can save in the classroom. The word of God can save anywhere. Paul went to Mass Hill, Areopagus, and had a major lived.

[51:27] They cannot say now they were ignorant. He's introduced to them the God they never knew. The God you worship ignorantly.

[51:38] Him do I present to you. Amen. Did you receive something? Hallelujah! Thank you for listening to this message by David Entry.

[51:52] We pray you have been revived towards God. You can connect with David Entry on all relevant social media platforms including Instagram and LinkedIn. You can also hear more messages from David Entry on all relevant streaming platforms and the Carish Church app.

[52:07] Don't forget to like and share the message. Be blessed. do you Thank you.