Acts 17:16-34: Sharing the Gospel with Those Who Disagree
Pastor Phil Moser
November 5, 2023
Sharing the Gospel with Those Who Disagree
- Find commonality to start the conversation
- Share Scripture-based truths about God
- Expect some to reject, some to accept, and some to procrastinate
Acts 17:24-34
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for "In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring! 29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
FIND commonality to start the conversation (17:23)
Acts 17:22-23
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
Ask questions - it's a better bridge than anger (17:16-18)
Acts 17:16-18
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned [dialegomai] in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.
- Paul turned his internal turmoil into positive action: he looked for opportunities to share the gospel. Does the lostness of people move you to action? (Life Application Study Bible)
Be knowledgeable - understand what they know and what they don't know (17:18-20, 23)
Acts 17:16-18
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.
- The Epicureans and Stoics were the dominant philosophers in Greek culture. The Epicureans believed that seeking happiness and pleasure was the primary goal of life. By contrast, the Stoics placed thinking above feeling and tried to live in harmony with nature and reason, suppressing their desire for pleasure. Thus, they were very disciplined. (Life Application Study Bible)
- An observer reproaching the Athenians: "You are the best people at being deceived by something new that is said." (Thucydides [460-400 BC], History of the Peloponnesian War)
Don't wait - be praying and looking for opportunities (17:16)
Acts 17:16-18
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.
SHARE Scripture-based truths about God (17:24-31)
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
Ask questions - it's a better bridge than anger (17:16-18)
Acts 17:16-18
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned [dialegomai] in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.
- Paul turned his internal turmoil into positive action: he looked for opportunities to share the gospel. Does the lostness of people move you to action? (Life Application Study Bible)
Be knowledgeable - understand what they know and what they don't know (17:18-20, 23)
Acts 17:16-18
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.
- The Epicureans and Stoics were the dominant philosophers in Greek culture. The Epicureans believed that seeking happiness and pleasure was the primary goal of life. By contrast, the Stoics placed thinking above feeling and tried to live in harmony with nature and reason, suppressing their desire for pleasure. Thus, they were very disciplined. (Life Application Study Bible)
- An observer reproaching the Athenians: "You are the best people at being deceived by something new that is said." (Thucydides [460-400 BC], History of the Peloponnesian War)
Don't wait - be praying and looking for opportunities (17:16)
Acts 17:16-18
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him.
SHARE Scripture-based truths about God (17:24-31)
- Our CREATOR cannot be created (17:24)
- Our LORD is not controlled by his creation (17:24-25)
- Our SUSTAINER has a plan (17:25-26)
- Our SAVIOR can be found (17:27)
- Our JUDGE will hold us accountable (17:30-31)
Acts 17:24-25
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
Our CREATOR cannot be created
Jeremiah 10:12, 16
12 It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens... 16 for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.
Our LORD is not controlled by his creation
Acts 17:24
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,
1 Kings 8:27
[Solomon upon building the temple] "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!"
Our SUSTAINER has a plan
Acts 17:25-26
25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
Deuteronomy 32:8
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples...
Our SAVIOR can be found
Acts 17:27-29
27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for "In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "For we are indeed his offspring. 29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
Isaiah 55:6-7
6 "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Our JUDGE will hold us accountable
Acts 17:30-31
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
Isaiah 66:15-16
15 "For behold, the Lord will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the Lord shall be many.
What if we've fallen into the bottom of the well
Thinking we've risen to the top of a mountain
What if we're knocking at the gates of hell
Thinking that we're heaven bound
And what if we spend our lives thinking of ourselves; when we should have been thinking of each other
What if we reach up and touch the ground
To find we're living life, upside down. (© Karla Worley & Gary Driskell)
EXPECT some to reject, some to accept, and some to procrastinate
Acts 17:32-34
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, "We will hear you again about this." 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
Sharing the Gospel with Those Who Disagree
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
Our CREATOR cannot be created
Jeremiah 10:12, 16
12 It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens... 16 for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.
Our LORD is not controlled by his creation
Acts 17:24
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,
1 Kings 8:27
[Solomon upon building the temple] "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!"
Our SUSTAINER has a plan
Acts 17:25-26
25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
Deuteronomy 32:8
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples...
Our SAVIOR can be found
Acts 17:27-29
27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for "In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "For we are indeed his offspring. 29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
Isaiah 55:6-7
6 "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Our JUDGE will hold us accountable
Acts 17:30-31
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
Isaiah 66:15-16
15 "For behold, the Lord will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the Lord shall be many.
What if we've fallen into the bottom of the well
Thinking we've risen to the top of a mountain
What if we're knocking at the gates of hell
Thinking that we're heaven bound
And what if we spend our lives thinking of ourselves; when we should have been thinking of each other
What if we reach up and touch the ground
To find we're living life, upside down. (© Karla Worley & Gary Driskell)
EXPECT some to reject, some to accept, and some to procrastinate
Acts 17:32-34
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, "We will hear you again about this." 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
Sharing the Gospel with Those Who Disagree
- Find commonality to start the conversation
- Share Scripture-based truths about God
- Expect some to reject, some to accept, and some to procrastinate