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The blessing we've had, we've been pointed back to the cross, we've been pointed back

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to that story of salvation, of Jesus dying for our sins.

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We've seen enacted the symbolism of dying to an old way of life and being buried and

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resurrecting with Jesus into a new way of life.

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And Lord, just be with us as we take some time here this morning and open up your word.

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In your name we pray, amen.

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So did anybody stay up extra late any this week for any reasons, maybe out of the ordinary

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some different situations or anything like that?

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Yeah, I think some of us maybe did.

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It wasn't this time, but it was a couple elections ago that there was a story about a man who

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was staying up but he ended up going to bed before the results were finalized and he woke

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up the next day, he didn't think about it, he went to work and before he knew it, 24

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hours had passed and he hadn't heard who had won the election.

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And he wondered how long he could stay, blissfully ignorant was the words he used, how long he

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could remain in a cone of silence and not hear what the results were.

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But I know by now all of us, most of us have heard and we know how that election turned

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out and the fact of the matter is that in the world that we live in, in the state that

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we live in, the community that we live in, even the church that we're a part of, there

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are some people that are thrilled and beyond excited at the way the election turned out.

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That's some people.

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But then there's other people who are bitterly disappointed about the way the election turned

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out.

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And we see results and we see responses on both sides of that equation.

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And so the question that we have to ask ourselves is, now what?

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What now?

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How do we respond?

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What happens this week?

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So before we get into our topic, we're going to be digging into Acts chapter 17 eventually.

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We had looked at Acts back at the beginning of the year and we'd gone through about half

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of the book and we're just going to jump back into one section.

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But before we do that, I just want to share some thoughts here.

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What now?

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First thing that we need to ponder and think of is that some, I don't know who, some maybe

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or maybe other people, some people maybe need to mend some fences.

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Maybe the way that words have been said either in excitement or in disappointment, you know,

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our country is very still divided.

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We see that in the last six months.

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And so there may be some that need to mend a fence, to listen, to understand someone's

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point of view.

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Now our nation is very disappointed and we can't fix the nation.

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But in our own sphere of influence, perhaps we can make a difference.

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Perhaps we can show love, we can show understanding, we can show support.

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Because that's what we're called to do as Christians.

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That's not what we're called to do as Republicans or Democrats, but as Christians, that's what

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we're called to do.

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Another thing we can think about as we consider any election, we can recognize that God is

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not surprised.

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God didn't wake up on Wednesday and say, oh, what happened?

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God didn't wake up four years ago and say, whoa, I wasn't expecting that.

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Whether it was George Washington or Joe Biden or Donald Trump, God's not surprised.

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God doesn't have to throw out his end time events scenario based on an election.

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God is not surprised.

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This doesn't throw off his plan.

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Something else we can do as Christians is to pray.

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Let's go to 1 Timothy chapter two.

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Before we get to Acts, I want to dip into 1 Timothy chapter two.

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This reminds us that what we are called to do as Christians every day, no matter what,

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1 Corinthians chapter two.

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Paul writes, therefore, I exhort, I encourage, I command first of all that supplications,

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prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for who?

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For everybody, for all men.

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We need to be praying for our family members.

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We need to be praying for our church members.

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We need to be praying for our neighbors.

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We need to be praying for the people that we work with.

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We need to be praying for all people.

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But then the next verse gets a little bit more specific.

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It says in verse two, for kings and all who are in authority, we need to be praying for

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them that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

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For this is good and acceptable in the sight of our Lord God.

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So we need to be praying for our leaders, for our current president and vice president,

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for our upcoming president-elect.

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And we need to be praying for our leaders.

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We're called to do as Christians.

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And then notice verse four, because I think this is key.

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It says for this is good and acceptable in the sight of our Savior.

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And then it says God our Savior who desires all men, all people to be saved and to come

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to the knowledge of the truth.

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That's what's most important.

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That all people are saved and have an opportunity to come to a knowledge of the truth.

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If we spend more time attacking someone or bad mouthing someone, attacking a candidate

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or bad mouthing a candidate, if we spend more time doing that than praying for them, then

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we need to be careful.

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We need to watch what we're doing.

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Because verse four, God desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of

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the truth.

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Our role as Christians this weekend, this Sabbath is exactly the same as our role was

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last Sabbath.

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To uplift God, to give glory to God, to do what we can to present God in such a way that

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all people will come to a knowledge of the truth, that they may come to a knowledge of

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the truth and to be saved.

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Our role has not changed.

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But how we act toward one another can impact our ability to reach others.

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So we need to think, is the way that I am interacting with others, is that glorifying

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God?

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Am I uplifting God by my words?

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By my speech?

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By my social media posts?

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When people look at how I act and how I talk and what I post, are they thinking about Jesus?

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Are they thinking about coming to the knowledge of the truth, coming to a place where they

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can be saved?

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We need to be careful that we are not ruining our opportunity to witness to half the people

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around us simply because of what we think about an election one way or another.

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It's really easy to say things in such a way that you automatically turn away half the people.

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We need to make sure that we're not doing that.

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We need to make sure that all that we are doing is uplifting Jesus.

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Our role as a Christian has not changed.

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Jesus is Lord, Jesus is King, and Jesus is in control and in charge.

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With that in mind, let's turn to Acts.

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We're going to go to Acts chapter 17, but before we get to Acts 17, I want to discuss

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what happened in Acts chapter 16.

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Because in Acts chapter 16, Paul goes on a journey.

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It's known as the second missionary journey of Paul.

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He goes on four different journeys in the book of Acts, and this is the second journey

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of Paul.

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As Paul begins this journey, he's with Silas and with a young guy named Timothy, and they're

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making their way across Asia, Asia Minor.

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We would refer to that as Turkey, the region where Turkey is, is where Paul is preaching

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and ministering.

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Then in about the middle of Acts chapter 16, Paul is sleeping and he has a dream or he

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has a vision.

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In this dream, in this vision, there's someone in this dream that says, come over to Macedonia

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and help us.

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It says that Paul had tried to go to different cities.

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He tried to go to different towns, but it says that the Holy Spirit prevented him.

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We don't know exactly how the Holy Spirit prevented him.

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Was there traffic that day?

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Did he miss the boat?

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Is there some sort of compelling inner feeling to go a different direction?

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It says a couple times, Paul tried to go somewhere, but the Spirit prevented him.

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Then there's this vision, come over to Macedonia and help us.

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If we zoom in on that map, you can see that Paul had to cross from Asia Minor.

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He had to cross from Turkey over to Europe, to Greece basically.

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This is the first time the gospel by Paul is being preached in Europe.

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The gospel is going to a totally new continent now.

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That is what is happening in Acts 17.

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Acts 16 has some incredible conversion stories.

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Hopefully we'll come to that at another time.

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For this Sabbath, we're going to dive into Acts chapter 17.

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Acts 16 takes place in Philippi.

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You can see that right in the middle at the top of that map.

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Then notice the next two towns, we're going to see in Acts 17 verse 1.

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It says, now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, you see those on

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that map?

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There's Philippi, then below that Amphipolis, and then Apollonia.

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He went through those towns, it says, and then came to Thessalonica.

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Let's go one more time.

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You see Thessalonica right up here.

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That's where this story begins.

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Paul has responded to this vision.

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Come over to Macedonia and help us.

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He comes to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

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Then Paul, as his custom was, went into them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them

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from the scriptures.

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We talked about this a couple weeks ago during our Forecasting Hope series, that it was Paul's

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custom, just like it was Jesus' custom, to go in and worship on the Sabbath day.

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Notice what he's doing.

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He's reasoning from the scriptures.

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Then it tells us what he's talking about in verse 3.

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Explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead

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and saying, this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.

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That was Paul's message as he went into the synagogue in Thessalonica.

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As he goes to other places, he is explaining, he is demonstrating that Jesus had to suffer,

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that he would die, but then that he would rise again.

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He says, this is the Jesus, this is the one that I'm talking about.

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This is who I am preaching about.

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Notice verse 4.

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It says, some of them were persuaded and a great multitude of the devout Jews and not

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a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas.

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So Paul is going on this missionary journey.

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We see that as he goes, that Paul is on mission all of the time.

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He gets this vision, come over to Macedonia, shows up in the next town he gets to.

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As his custom was, immediately he is telling people about Jesus.

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He is pointing people to Jesus and some accepted.

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But notice the next few verses.

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We're not going to read them, but you can kind of just scan through there.

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There's a mob, there's a crowd, there's an uproar that gathers together and attacks the

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political leader of this community, the home of a man named Jason.

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Why?

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Because they were looking for Paul.

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They wanted to shut him down.

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They wanted him to stop preaching.

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And it says they were not able to find him and this is what they called Paul.

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These are those who have turned the world upside down and they have come here too.

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Because everywhere Paul went, he was on mission.

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He was teaching about Jesus.

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He was preaching that Christ suffered, that Christ rose again.

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And because of that, in this community, he was attacked.

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And so you can scroll down through there and the people of Thessalonica encouraged Paul

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to go on, to go somewhere else for his safety, probably for their safety as well.

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And so he goes to the next town, the town of Berea.

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You may have noticed as you drive around, often there's a church and it may have a name.

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It may be called the Berean Church of whatever denomination.

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And this is why, verse 11, as Paul is teaching in Berea, it says he went into the synagogue

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and then verse 11, it says these were more fair minded than those people in Thessalonica.

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Why?

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Well, it says that they received the word with all readiness and they searched the scriptures

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daily to find out whether these things were so.

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That's a good way to live right there.

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To not just listen to what I say or any preacher says or any person says.

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We need to make sure that we're comparing things to what the Bible says.

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They searched the scriptures daily.

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That's a good lesson for us to find out whether these things were true.

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And so they were accepting what happened.

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Notice verse 12.

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Therefore, many of them believed and also not a few of the Greeks.

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Not women as well as men.

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So Paul's in one town, he gets attacked.

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He goes to the next town, he keeps talking about Jesus.

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Guess what happened here?

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He gets attacked.

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And in fact, in verse 13, it says that the people from Thessalonica, they heard that

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Paul was in Berea and they said, you know what, we got to go shut that down.

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It's not our town.

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We don't like what he's saying.

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And so this group of people, this mob goes to Berea and it says they stirred up the crowd.

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And so Paul gets attacked again and Paul went on to the next place.

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And I think we see that no matter what the circumstance, Paul recognized that God was

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in control.

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No matter what the circumstance, a good response, lots of people being baptized, lots of people

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following.

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Paul recognized he was following God.

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When the people attacked him and drove him away, he recognized that God was still with

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him.

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And today, even in our society, even in this post-election week, we can know that God is

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still sovereign.

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And so Paul goes down, it's a road, it's called the Via Ignatia.

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That's the Roman road, a major road.

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And he enters into the city of Athens.

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Now Athens was one of the great cities of ancient times.

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Some have called it the cradle of civilization because many, many things have passed down

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from that government, from that community of Athens.

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It had teachers you've probably heard of like Socrates and Plato and Aristotle and different

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philosophers.

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The government that we have in our country and many other nations is based on the government

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that they had there in Athens, in Greece.

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This cradle of civilization, the idea of city planning, building cities in such a way and

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streets and different things, all comes down from this city of Athens.

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And so Paul had been driven out of Berea and it says he went ahead of his friends.

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His friends stayed back for a little while.

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And so Paul arrived in Athens before everybody else.

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And notice verse 16 here.

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It says while Paul waited for them at Athens, he got ahead of Timothy and Silas, while he

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waited for them, his spirit was provoked.

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Now you could see that there was a lot of amazing things in Athens.

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People still go to Athens as tourists to see the Parthenon and to see the architecture

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and to see different things like that.

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You can go to Nashville and see the Parthenon, you know, a reconstruction of it.

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But that's not why Paul was excited.

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That's not what moved him.

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As we finish that verse, it says his spirit was provoked within him not when he saw the

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architecture but when he saw that the city was given over to idols.

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What made an impact on his heart was that the city was smothered in idols, giving glory

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to something else instead of giving glory to God.

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Could it be that in our society we have idols that are made up?

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We have idols in our world?

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Could it be that as we've come through this election that some have made, dare I even

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say, idols of candidates or of political parties?

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Putting their hope, putting their faith in some person or some party?

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And as we said, some may be heartbroken and think that hope is gone, while others may

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think that glory days are just ahead, but both could be in danger of putting their faith,

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putting their hope in the wrong place.

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Because our hope is not in Harris, our hope is not in Trump, our hope is not in Biden,

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our hope is not in Washington.

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Our hope is in God.

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There's a gentleman who passed away some years ago named Chuck Colson.

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Some of you may have heard his name.

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He was involved in politics way back when at this little event called Watergate, and

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he was the first person imprisoned after that Watergate thing under the leadership of Richard

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Nixon, and he spent time in jail for obstruction of justice.

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And shortly before he went to prison, I think it was a couple, six or seven months he went

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to prison for, he accepted Jesus.

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He was converted.

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And as he spent time in prison, he got deeply involved in prison ministry and writing books,

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uplifting Jesus and defending Jesus and so forth.

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And one of his famous statements of Chuck Colson, this person who was arrested because

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of politics, he said, the kingdom of God never arrives on Air Force One.

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Doesn't matter who's on the plane, the kingdom of God does not arrive on Air Force One.

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That's not where we place our hope.

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That's not where we need to make sure we are devoted, are dedicated to.

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And we as individuals need to ask ourselves, what has my witness been?

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For the last six months, have I turned anybody off from my witness towards Jesus?

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Because maybe I've been witnessing about other things.

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Paul's heart was broken because he saw that this society was given over to idols.

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In his commentary on the book of Philippians, excuse me, the book of Acts, F.F. Bruce writes,

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he says, it broke Paul's heart to see the city captive to idolatry.

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And then the commentary goes on and says, we are surrounded by various forms of idolatry.

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We worship fame and sex and power and money, and it does not bother us.

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Then it makes a statement, we have lost the ability to care, have mercy.

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We lost the ability to have our hearts broken by the things we see around us.

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Paul was provoked because he saw what was given over to idols.

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He saw this society.

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He saw everybody's heart was pulled in a different direction.

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But what did Paul do?

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Paul stayed on mission.

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Notice verse 17, it says, therefore he reasoned in the synagogue, that was his custom,

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with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers.

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And we can look back at verse 3, and we see that as Paul did that, he was uplifting this

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Jesus who had to suffer, this Jesus who rose again.

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And he reasoned with the Jews and the Gentile worshipers in the synagogue.

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But then notice the second part of that verse.

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It says, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.

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Paul was on mission when he was at a place where he could dive in theologically, but

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he was also willing to gossip about the gospel, even when he just happened across people who

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were doing their shopping, who were in the market.

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He was still willing to talk about Jesus.

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And the people of Athens heard him.

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And they recognized that, it says in Athens that there were different groups and they

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liked to discuss philosophies and argue about different things.

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And it says that they invited Paul to a place called Mars Hill.

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And that was a place next to the Parthenon that you can still go to.

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And that's the place where these wise people, whatever their philosophy was, they would

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gather together to discuss, to argue, to discuss different ideas and so forth.

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And they invited Paul to this place because they wanted to hear more about what he was

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talking about.

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And we go down to verse 22 and it says, then Paul stood in the midst of the Aeropagus,

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the mountain, the hill of Aries, the hill of Mars, Mars Hill.

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And he said, men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious.

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That's a pretty neat thing to say.

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Because he had just had his heart broken because they were involved with so many idols and

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so many different things.

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And yet when Paul had a conversation with them, he found something good to say.

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He said, I see that you are very religious.

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But he had something positive to say.

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I think that's a lesson that we can learn as well.

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We need to look for the good in other people.

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Even if we disagree with them, we need to look and see something positive about who

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they are and what they do.

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Because guess what?

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We are all created in the image of God.

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He looked for the good in those, even though they were very different.

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So how can we do that as a Christian?

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As we're interacting with different people, how can we make sure that we are looking for

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the good in other people?

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Well, what was Paul?

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Paul was always on mission.

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I want to look at two different passages here.

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Then we'll finish out here in Acts.

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Micah 6 verse 8, a famous verse.

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Maybe you've memorized it or sung it as a song.

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And then Micah 6 verse 8, it says, He has shown you, O man, O humanity, He has shown

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you what is good.

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And what does the Lord require of you?

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What does God require?

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To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.

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Notice this doesn't list anything that we typically talk about or preach about or have

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people check off different boxes.

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This isn't anything that we usually talk about at an evangelistic series.

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What does God require?

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It says to do justly, to care about other people, to love mercy, to look at people with

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love and to have mercy for them.

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And then it says to be humble, to walk humbly with God.

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How can we look for the best in others?

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We can look for ways that we can serve them.

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This echoes what Jesus said in Matthew 25.

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Matthew 24 is that great sermon on the Mount of Olives where Jesus looks at the things

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that would take place before He comes again.

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And Matthew 25 has three parables about being ready for Jesus to come.

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And the final one talks about two different groups, sheep and goats.

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And Jesus says to the one side, He says, I was hungry and you gave me food.

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I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.

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I was a stranger and you took me in.

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I was naked and you clothed me.

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I was sick and you visited me.

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I was in prison and you came to me.

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And the people are like, what?

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When?

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Jesus, we never saw you like that.

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When did we do that for you?

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When did we do that?

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And it says that He said to that group, the King will answer and say to them, Assuredly

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I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, you have done it unto me.

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As much as you have done it to the least of these.

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That's what we do for Jesus.

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And there's another group and Jesus says, you know, I was hungry.

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You didn't care.

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I was thirsty.

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You didn't give me anything to drink.

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And they say, when, when Jesus, if we had seen you, we would have, we would have done

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something and Jesus said to them, whatever you have not done to the least of these, you

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have not done to me.

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Wow.

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Think about the person that you treat the worst.

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Think about the person that you like the least.

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Don't say any names.

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Don't point any fingers.

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Think about the person that you treat the worst.

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That's how you treat Jesus.

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That's what Jesus said.

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So what can we do?

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We need to look for the good in others.

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That's what Paul did.

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He said, I see that you are very religious.

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I perceive that you are very religious.

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And then he expounds on that in verse 23.

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He says, for, for as I was passing through, passing through the city and considering the

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objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God.

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He'd been walking through the city.

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He'd seen all of their idols and he saw one that said to the unknown God.

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So what had happened was that at some time in the past, there was a poet, Epimenides,

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from the Isle of Crete.

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And he came to Athens because at that time, Athens was having a plague and lots of people

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were dying.

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And they were offering things, sacrifices to all the different gods and the people were

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still dying.

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And they asked Epimenides, what can we do?

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And his answer, his solution was to send out a flock of sheep into the community, around

408
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that Mars Hill area, send these sheep out and send someone to follow each sheep.

409
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And as there's this grassy region in the morning, those sheep are going to be hungry.

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So their natural response is going to be to eat, to graze.

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He said, but if any of those sheep lay down that spot, that must mean that's a holy spot

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to some God that we don't know about.

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And so they did that and some of these sheep laid down and that became an altar.

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And I think those sheep became the sacrifice, but they marked those places.

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We don't know what God this is.

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So we're going to mark this to the unknown God.

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And Paul says, I have seen an altar with this inscription to the unknown God.

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And then he says, therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing him, I proclaim

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to you.

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I'm going to tell you about this God, this agnosto theo, this unknown God.

421
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I'm going to tell you about this God.

422
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And as you skim down through this message of Paul, he talks about God as the creator

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of all things.

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He talks about God not being far from each one of us.

425
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He talks about God forgiving the things in our past, but calling each one of us to repentance.

426
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He uplifts God.

427
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And then you come all the way down to the end in verse 32 and it says, some mocked,

428
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some mocked him.

429
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But then in verse 34, it says, some joined him and some delayed.

430
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They said, oh, we'll listen to you again another time.

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So some mocked, some delayed, but some accepted.

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And Paul is saying, this God that you don't know, I'm going to talk about him.

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I'm going to declare this God to you.

434
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Because wherever Paul went, Paul was on mission.

435
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:01,700
When people were accepting, Paul was on mission.

436
00:32:01,700 --> 00:32:05,800
When Paul was being beaten and chased out of a town, Paul was on mission.

437
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When he was preaching in a synagogue about a crucified savior, Paul was on mission.

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When he was uplifting Jesus as merciful, as the God of love, as the God that is in control,

439
00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:21,320
Paul was uplifting God in all that he did.

440
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And could it be that we are called to do the same thing, to uplift God in all that we do?

441
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:34,680
Just like last week, just like this week, just like in 2025, which is only like what, six

442
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:40,680
weeks away, if you can believe it, we're called to glorify God in all that we do.

443
00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:47,440
It was 1893 in Gainesville, Georgia, so northeast Georgia, up in the mountains.

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And there was a little Seventh-day Adventist Church there.

445
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:59,880
And in that fall of 1893, two people got arrested, the pastor of the church and the principal

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00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:01,440
of the school.

447
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And they got arrested for a particular reason, because they were working on Sunday.

448
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:09,360
And the town didn't like that.

449
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They were desecrating that day.

450
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They were working on Sunday.

451
00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:15,280
What were they doing on that Sunday?

452
00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:21,820
Well, they were at the church building, and they were rearranging the chairs and the benches,

453
00:33:21,820 --> 00:33:26,360
because the next day, on Monday, it was going to be the first day of school.

454
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They had a little school there, and they were setting up that site for school to open.

455
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:38,440
But because they were working on that Sunday, they were arrested in 1893.

456
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:42,400
Fast forward about one year to 1894.

457
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:48,320
Still in Gainesville, there's a gathering of Seventh-day Adventists called a camp meeting.

458
00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:51,000
And there happened to be a meeting there in Gainesville.

459
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:56,280
And you can look at an article, and you can find this article, and it says, whereas just

460
00:33:56,280 --> 00:34:03,080
recently the town wanted to prosecute us, because two people were arrested for working

461
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:10,440
on Sunday, it says, now as we gather together, the town of Gainesville has set up electric

462
00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:17,380
lights for our camp meeting gathering, and has given us water from the city water works

463
00:34:17,380 --> 00:34:19,880
free of charge.

464
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:26,980
It's almost as if that community, that town, was apologizing for the treatment that they

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had given them.

466
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:35,680
Whether people are responding in a positive way, whether people are arresting or chasing

467
00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:41,240
someone out of town, that group of people was on mission for God.

468
00:34:41,240 --> 00:34:43,000
And I think that we can do the same.

469
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:48,520
As we go about our week ahead, let us keep our eyes on Jesus.

470
00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:54,640
Let us focus on Him, and let us make sure that in all that we do, we are glorifying

471
00:34:54,640 --> 00:34:55,640
God.

472
00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:58,080
Let's bow our heads for our word of prayer.

473
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:02,440
Dear God, we thank you for our time here today.

474
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:11,020
We thank you for new members, people transferring in and joining in our family, of taking a

475
00:35:11,020 --> 00:35:14,960
new step of baptism, whether this week or a couple weeks ago.

476
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:18,680
I know there's other people that are transferring.

477
00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:26,840
And God, what an awesome privilege and blessing it is to be able to gather with a church family,

478
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:33,120
that we can uplift each other, that we can support each other, even though sometimes

479
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:36,800
we have differences, different ideas, different opinions.

480
00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:41,120
Our role, our mission, is to give glory to you.

481
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:45,440
So Lord, be glorified in our heart, be glorified in our life.

482
00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:46,440
In your name we pray.

483
00:35:46,440 --> 00:36:11,320
Amen.