Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 12 05 2023 Paul and the Unknown God

Transcript

12 05 2023 Paul and the Unknown God · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

• 0:01
  Most of us eat every day, some of us too much, because yesterday's
• 0:05
  food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
• 0:10
  some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the Word of God to
• 0:15
  keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change
• 0:19
  all of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need
• 0:25
  to live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
• 0:31
  author speaker Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good morning.
• 0:34
  It is Tuesday, December five, twenty twenty three. Hello, my
• 0:39
  name is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is your
• 0:42
  Daily Portion where we give you God's Word every single day and today is no
• 0:46
  exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series, God's Mission, My
• 0:51
  Mission. Our caption for today is Paul and the Unknown God. We have
• 0:56
  teased that for a few days. Now we're going to jump into it a
• 0:59
  little bit more. Let's go ahead and pray and then get underway. Father
• 1:04
  in Heaven, thank you for giving us this new day and for the privilege
• 1:07
  we have to open your word again. And thank you for your Holy Spirit
• 1:12
  who teaches us, please help us to learn in Jesus name, I pray
• 1:18
  Amen and a men again Paul and the Unknown God. All right, so
• 1:26
  we're going to begin by simply reading from the Book of Acts, the Book
• 1:30
  of Acts, chapter seventeen. Jump right in here and read verses twenty two
• 1:34
  and twenty three, and then we'll circle back in and see if we can
• 1:37
  make some sense out of this. All right, And so the Bible reads.
• 1:41
  Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill. Remember that's in the
• 1:45
  areopagus where government and judicial convenence would happen. And in this case we see
• 1:53
  where many, many, many gods, almost like the Pantheon of Gods would
• 2:00
  be erected. Right. So Paul is there in the midst of Mars Hill,
• 2:04
  and he said, ye, men of Athens, I perceive that in
• 2:07
  all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your
• 2:15
  devotions, I found an alter with this inscription. What did it say to
• 2:23
  the unknown God whom therefore ye ignorantly worshiped him? Declare I unto you?
• 2:32
  So what our brother Paul was doing was bringing their attention to the unknown,
• 2:39
  helping them to know that they did not know the true and living God,
• 2:46
  and he's now about to introduce him, okay. And so when nebukud Nezzar
• 2:51
  before he got saved, you know, the Bible says that he said,
• 2:54
  to you know, the people of God, who is this God that will
• 2:58
  deliver you? Don't do what I say? You don't worship me? Who
• 3:01
  is this God who will deliver you? And so for a good while,
• 3:06
  more than seven years, God is introducing himself to nebuchad Nesser, and so
• 3:10
  Paul is giving them the easy way out. I wish I had the time
• 3:14
  to deal with the nepicud Nezzer introduction, but God did prevail ultimately when you
• 3:19
  have a chance to look at Daniel chapter four for more details. But Paul
• 3:23
  is giving these people the less difficult way to get to know the one,
• 3:30
  true and Living God, blessed be his name. So they were superstitious,
• 3:35
  they were devoted. They did say, you know what, there's something out
• 3:39
  there we don't understand. And Paul is using this as an opportunity to insert
• 3:46
  the God of Heaven and let's see what happens. Okay. So the first
• 3:50
  thing we want to do, based on verse twenty two again I perceive in
• 3:54
  all things that you are too superstitious is to respect if you want to use
• 4:00
  the right word, or identify and acknowledge diverse beliefs, diverse beliefs because Paul's
• 4:12
  approach shows the importance of at least acknowledging that there are ways that other people
• 4:19
  believe. He didn't go in there guns blazing, shooting down all of what's
• 4:25
  not right, even though at other times maybe the apostles did that. But
• 4:29
  in this case he's providing an opportunity to people whose beliefs differed from his own.
• 4:35
  Instead of outright dismissal, understanding and acknowledging these beliefs can create a foundation
• 4:43
  for meaningful dialogue. Remember this was one of the chief areas for reason Athens,
• 4:50
  where people were philosophers, they were intelligent, they loved discourse. And
• 4:57
  so Paul is saying, let's use under the whole goes this opportunity and show
• 5:02
  people the one true and living God that clearly they may be acknowledging without knowing,
• 5:10
  and then give them the opportunity to connect with him. Let's read again
• 5:14
  now from verse twenty three. For as I pass by, so he is
• 5:17
  walking by, He's observing. I beheld your devotions and then I found an
• 5:25
  altar with this inscription to the unknown God. He's now finding common ground.
• 5:33
  You worship, I worship. You worship all of these gods, and I
• 5:41
  worship the One, True and Living God. You worship. Oh wait a
• 5:45
  minute, I see something here. This is something that our God can be
• 5:50
  attached to so that I can give him or give them, excuse me,
• 5:55
  an opportunity to connect with God. Okay, to the unknown God again.
• 6:00
  Finding common ground not turning our backs on truth, not making it seem as
• 6:06
  if we don't believe what God has said. But finding common ground is identifying
• 6:14
  and building upon what we can agree with. Now, I know, ecumenism
• 6:19
  is a really tricky situation. That is not what I'm talking about. These
• 6:25
  people worship, we worship. They worship the unknown God. We want to
• 6:30
  introduce the Unknown God. This is the conversation that Paul is having. So
• 6:34
  Paul did this with that unknown God concept, and it can be a powerful
• 6:41
  way to connect with others and share your perspective. Paul was sharing his perspective,
• 6:48
  but he needed to do so with humility. That's the next thing.
• 6:53
  Paul's respectful and humble approach as opposed to presenting himself as an all knowing expert,
• 7:00
  teaches the value of humility in interactions. This can foster openness and prevent
• 7:08
  alienation. You see, sometimes when we come into a new setting, people
• 7:14
  say they typecast us. They begin to predict based on the pain that they
• 7:18
  have experienced by people in the past who behave like us, who look like
• 7:24
  us, who say that they're believers right, people who say that they are
• 7:28
  Bible believing Christians sometimes have done things that were not according to scriptures. And
• 7:33
  so when we come into a new setting, sometimes the audience or the people
• 7:38
  on the other side of the conversation are saying, yeah, I know what's
• 7:43
  going on here. I know how this person is. I know how that
• 7:46
  person is. But God is giving us a really good lesson about humility through
• 7:51
  Paul's Paul's interaction here. Also it says here in verse twenty three, whom
• 7:59
  therefore or ye ignorantly worship him, Declare I unto you value spiritual curiosity?
• 8:07
  Ask the question when we're in connection with people we're either unfamiliar with or people
• 8:15
  that we have been interacting with, but their system of understanding is different from
• 8:20
  ours. We need to ask the question, because it is in seeking,
• 8:24
  asking, seeking, and knocking that that God will answer. He will,
• 8:28
  he will make himself manifest, he will, he will reveal himself. So
• 8:33
  when people are curious, give them what they need under the holy gooes,
• 8:39
  ask God, what do these people need? They're curious, they want to
• 8:43
  know, And God demonstrated that many times. Nicodemus experience with Nicodemus and John
• 8:50
  chapter three is one great example where he asks the question, well can a
• 8:54
  man go back into his mother's womb and be and be born? And then
• 8:58
  Gus said, marvel, not that I say unto you that you must be
• 9:03
  born again. That which is born of flesh, Nicodemus, is flesh.
• 9:05
  This is why you struggle with all kinds of addictions and challenges. This is
• 9:09
  why your relationships aren't the way they need to be. This is why even
• 9:13
  in your religious circles, you go too far on one end and don't go
• 9:16
  far enough on the other end. Nicodemus, so don't marvel when I say
• 9:20
  that which is born of flesh is flesh. But that which is born of
• 9:24
  the Holy Ghost is spirit. And so he valued spiritual curiosity in that case
• 9:31
  as well. And of course understanding the cultures from which people come is also
• 9:37
  a good thing to do. Paul and the Unknown God gave us an example
• 9:41
  of how to witness in unknown areas. Peace. Thanks for joining us listening.
• 9:46
  Friends. Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by every
• 9:50
  word that comes from the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion
• 9:54
  with El David Harris, make it a great day. Yeah,