Idolatry is a cancer. It robs us of life, and often makes us feel wise even though it makes us foolish.--As Paul is provoked -disturbed, horrified, moved to action, etc.- by idolatry in Athens, he begins to preach. As we saw last week, he preaches to the wise Greeks-whose pride is their intellect-two great realities- the reality they can see all around them -nature- and therefore know God is not like their idols, and the reality they cannot see -the resurrection- and therefore they must repent.-They enjoyed the first half of his sermon. They hated the second half. --But while most Athenians moved against Paul, God was using Paul's preaching to move against the Athenians, robbing their cults and idols of the hearts of the rich and poor, men and women, noble and ignoble. God is now invading Greece's ancient pride of place, for he gives grace to the humble, but opposes the proud.--Paul's preaching is profound, and he actually tries to win more with honey than vinegar here. He shows that God is worth following, and idols should be left in the dirt, because of three great qualities in God.--Tonight we will read from Acts 17-16-34, and our Old Testament reading will be Isaiah 44-9-20.