God gives His people instructions to prepare for the coming judgment

The Lord encourages Paul's spirit in Corinth through companions, conversions, and the comfort of His presence and promises.

Moses announces God's final plague before leaving the presence of Pharaoh

Sunday we will examine Paul’s preaching in the city of Athens. Athens was the intellectual center of the ancient world. It was the city of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. It was a city of grand architecture and philosophy. As Paul encounters the city of Athens, he is struck by how much the city’s culture is immersed in idolatry. And as he reasons with people in the synagogues and in the marketplace, he is quickly noticed by the city’s philosophers and academics. The intellectual elite in Athens come from a completely different worldview than Paul and the Jews, so as Paul preaches at the Areopagus, he does not quote from the Old Testament. However, he does preach the bible’s message in a way the Athenians can understand. He presents the biblical worldview in a way that answers all mankind’s greatest needs. Regardless of what culture, nation, or philosophical worldview a person comes from, we all ask the same questions. Why am I here? Who am I in this world? Who is God and what does He want from me?

These questions are answered differently by differing religions, philosophies, and cultures, but in Acts 17:16-34, Luke presents Paul’s sermon (answering these questions) as the only answers to these fundamental questions that is true, glorifying to God, and satisfying the soul. All other worldviews are empty and can only promise what they cannot deliver. The gospel for the Athenians is the same gospel for the Jews - and for you today. It shows us who our God is and what our purpose is in this world.

The plagues of locusts and darkness, and Pharaoh's attempt to compromise with God's command

After Paul and Silas leave Philippi, they head to Thessalonica and then Berea. Luke contrasts the Jewish populations in these two cities by how they respond to the authority of the Scriptures. As Paul, the faithful witness opens the Hebrew Scriptures and proves that all the Bible points to Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Thessalonians rebel against what God’s word says. Though they were members of the synagogue, studied the scriptures every sabbath, and no doubt believed in the authority of the scriptures, they would not submit themselves to the message and command of those scriptures. They incite a mob to hunt the missionaries down and attack any who are associated with them. They hate the true message of God’s word so much that they chase Paul and Silas to Berea and stir up a mob against them there also.

But on the opposite end of the spectrum, we are shown the Jews in Berea. Luke says that they were more noble than the Thessalonican Jews, even though they were not believers in Christ until Paul evangelized them. They were more noble because they loved the word of God and were eager to receive it. And yet, they were also not gullible. They didn’t just take Paul’s word. They examined the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was telling them was true. They studied the scriptures themselves because they were eager for the word of God, not necessarily the word of Paul. And when they found that Paul’s message was proven in God’s word, they submitted themselves to the word of God and believed the gospel.

Several applications stand out in this text which we will flesh out on Sunday. Especially as Christians, we should have an eager hunger for God’s word. It indeed is the food of our souls for we don’t live by bread alone. If we are not hungry for God’s word, something is wrong. But we must also examine it for ourselves and place no authority above it. Anyone can twist a single verse or a section and invest their own meaning into it and teach something that doesn’t come from the meaning of the text. Every word uttered from the pulpit of First Baptist Church Mulvane should be tested, examined, and scrutinized by God’s word. And when the message of God’s word is clear from the text itself, then like the Bereans, we must submit to its authority and live according to its truth.

Once again, I am continually amazed that God has us in the perfect text we need to hear this week. It has been hard not to question and try to understand God’s purpose and plan regarding the results of Kansas’ amendment vote. But even if this momentous even hadn’t taken place, there are always times in the believers life when we don’t understand what God is doing and can’t see His purposes in the events of our lives. We are often faced with the reality that our plans are not always God’s plans. Paul and Silas face this as they head out on the second missionary journey. In Acts 16:6-15, they attempt to evangelize portions of the Roman province of Asia and Bithynia, and both times God closes the door to them. God has a plan for their journey and He funnels them right where he wants them to go. But I wonder what they thought when those doors shut.

This Sunday we will see that God leads His people to accomplish His purposes (not necessarily our purposes). We will see what it looks like to follow Jesus when we have a direct call and also when we have no idea what to do next. We will remind ourselves from the text that God is in control of His mission. He is in control of all things. When he shuts doors on our efforts, there is a reason and a purpose. And though we often don’t see the big picture, we walk by faith.

Paul and the missionary team are not allowed to evangelize in Asia or Bithynia. Instead they are brought all the way across the Aegean to the edge of Europe in Philippi, so that one woman named Lydia may have her heart opened by the Lord through the gospel. We must follow God’s plan for it is only His power that saves and glorifies Himself by changing hearts.