KEY SCRIPTURE: Acts 17:23 “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”.

Read Acts 17:22-34

In our passage, Acts 17: 22-34, Apostle Paul preached to the people of the city of Athens. His preaching gives us a lot to learn about in communicating the Gospel to certain groups of people.       Apostle Paul addressed them first as superstitious. (Superstition is to believe in mystical things that are not necessarily factual.) people. This was a way to get them to listen to him, since that word was to provoke them to know what he had to say afterwards.

Apostle Paul was not going to major on their worship of many gods; he quickly switched over to an inscription about the unknown God. Paul drew their attention but did not say anything further that would annoy them. Paul then referred to the God of creation, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In sharing the Gospel, do not spend too much time on other matters, but quickly stay on course with the word of God. He said you ignorantly worshipped him and that Paul had come to declare him unto them, implying he had also come to show them the right way to worship him.

   Apostle Paul unfolds who this God is. He says he is the creator of all things and that he does not dwell in temples made with human hands.  This point was very important and also peculiar to them since they were very idolatrous. Always make your message relevant to your audience such that they can easily relate to it.

 In verse 27, Paul declares it is right that they seek after this God who has made himself available. He added that even their poets had said “in him, we move, live, and have our being”. In verse 29, after saying we are all offspring of this God, he added that this God is not like unto gold, silver, stone, or any graven art proceeding from men.

 Apostle Paul then calls on them to repent, after which he introduces the Lord Jesus as God’s appointed Judge for all men on a day he has appointed. Paul also established that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead to confirm that He is the one appointed. The bible said at this point, some mocked, and others said we would hear him at a later time. The good news is that some of them believed and cleaved to him. In sharing the word to some people, some would openly reject; others would reflect on it, and there would be some who would believe. The important thing is that the message would have gone forth, giving the Holy Spirit something to work with in the hearts of men.

PRAYER

Father, I pray for a revival of cutting-edge evangelistic messages that would bring many who oppose the gospel to be converted to Christ.

FURTHER STUDY.

 Mark 4:14 The sower soweth the word.

Matthew 28:19-20 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.