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Most of us eat every day,
some of us too much, because yesterday's

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food is not enough to supply energy
for today's needs. Why then, do

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some of us expect yesterday's portion of
heavenly manna, the word of God to

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keep us through today's challenges. On
this program, we are going to change

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all of that. Let's experience God's
words today and receive the power we need

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to live healthy, vibrant lives.
Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,

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author speaker, Elle David Harris.
Good morning, good morning, good

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morning. It is Monday, December
fourth, twenty twenty three. Hello,

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my name is Elle David Harris.
I am your host, and this is

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your Daily Portion where we give you
God's word every single day, and today

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is no exception. We are continuing
in our Lesson study series, God's Mission,

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my mission, and our caption for
today is Paul in the Ariopogus.

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Paul in the Ariopogus. I almost
got tongue tied there. We'll get back

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into that in just a moment,
but first I'd like to say welcome to

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you and ask you to go over
to your Daily Portion dot com. Please

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join our online community. Also,
let us know where you are in the

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world by clicking in that little box
that says where are you in the world?

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Yes, and also pick up your
Daily Portion book at your Daily Portion

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dot com. This is the way
that we build faith and fellowship. Let's

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go ahead and pray, and then
we will get underway. Botherin heaven.

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Thank you for giving us this new
day and for the privilege you have entrusted

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to us to open up your word
again. Please teach us principles that have

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to do with leading as many people
to you as possible. In Jesus name,

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I pray, Amen and a man
again. Yeah, I want you

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to attempt, and really I'm saying
this tongue in cheek, but attempt to

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say areopogus three times in a row
without stumbling. Yeah, what is an

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ariopogus? Let me just go ahead
and click the high Life and then define

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And it's right in the dictionary.
If you are using an electronic lesson,

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you can hold on to that word
and then let the thing define it.

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And it says in ancient Athens,
a hill on which met the highest governmental

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council and later a judicial court.
And then it gives us some more stuff.

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Okay, so it's a hill where
the highest government, council and judicial

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court would have met. Got it. Okay, okay, okay. Let

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me read a quote. Now that
we got that big word out of there,

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let me read a quote from Acts
of the Apostles. There are a

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few I'll let you know where the
quote begins, but this is out of

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the lesson study in Athens. Paul
had expected that the Holy Spirit could use

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his knowledge and oratorical skills which he
had gained in his education under Gameliel.

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But in reality it was Paul's at
education on the streets of Athens and the

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Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit was
able to use even more. And here's

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where the quote begins. The wisest
of the hearers were astonished as they listened

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to his reasoning. He showed himself
familiar with their works of art, their

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literature, and their religion. That's
the end of the quote from again the

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Acts of the Apostles, page two
hundred and thirty seven. One of the

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things that really causes a challenge where
Christians are concerned is that seldom, well

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I shouldst say seldom. It is
a challenge for some Christians to really get

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to know the people that we're dealing
with can I say that again, Sometimes

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we don't get to know the people
we're dealing with, And you're like,

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of course, I mean if we're
friends, we can do that, but

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if they're strangers, then then we
can't. Got it. Apart from that,

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though, sometimes we stigmatize people who
are of various different faith communities,

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from different social classes and communities,
and we stereotype them. We stereotype them,

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and therefore we're not able to really
relate to them. See, the

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stereotype is seldom correct. I want
to say one, but it's loaded.

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I just want to be honest with
you. But people from let's call it

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my faith community, my faith community, sometimes we say, I don't say

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it, but some people in our
faith community say that people of a different

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faith community don't study their Bibles,
don't study their Bibles. And I'm thinking,

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well, I'm finding that people of
faith communities around the world are actually

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studying their Bibles, even if we
don't agree on some of the details.

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You see, and so Paul,
when he had his encounter on Mars Hill,

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something interesting happened. I'm going to
read beginning at verse eighteen of Acts,

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chapter seventeen. He did not stigmatize
but he actually observed the reality and

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then applied the principle. Well,
I'll talk about in a moment, okay.

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In verse eighteen, it reads,
then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and

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of the Stoics and encountered him.
Some said, what will this babbler say?

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And other some he seemeth to be
a setter fourth of strange gods,

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because he preached unto them Jesus and
the Resurrection verse nineteen. And they took

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him and brought him into the areopagus, saying, may we know what this

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new doctrine whereof thou speakest is?
Now they're giving him an opportunity, for

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thou bringest certain strange things to our
ears. We would know therefore what these

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things mean. For all the Athenians
and strangers which were there spent their time

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in nothing else but either to tell
or to hear some new thing. And

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let me just read one more.
Now I'll read two more passages. Then

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Paul stood in the midst of Mars
Hill and said, ye, men of

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Athens, I perceive that in all
things ye are too superstitious. For as

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I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription

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to the unknown God, whom therefore
ye ignorantly worship him, I declare,

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runto you. Let me just stop
right there. And so what Paul is

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saying is, I have seen your
worship patterns. I have observed your intelligence.

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I have experienced your philosophical prowess,
your ability to create questions and leave

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those questions open and dumbfounding your audiences. I have seen an experience all of

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that. And how this now relates
to your connection with God in air quotes,

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I'm noticing that among all of these
various gods that you have, there's

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one that you have not been able
to make sense of. And so in

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that moment he is using, by
the power of the Holy Ghost, an

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opportunity where it exists. He didn't
have to create an opportunity. He didn't

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have to make up some new thing. He didn't stigmatize, type cast or

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stereotype them. He simply observed the
environment in which he was and noticed that

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they said they didn't know this quote
deity. And so he said, this

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is a good place to fit in
the one who created all things. In

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verse twenty four, God made the
world and all things. Therein seeing that

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he is the Lord of heaven and
earth, who dwelleth not in temples,

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may with hands, neither worshiped with
man's hands. And though he needed,

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as though he needed anything, seeing, he giveth to all life and breath

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and all things. And then he
goes on. He is starting to pick

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apart without making an argument. But
he's picking apart the different superstitions, the

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different misunderstandings, the idioms, and
all of the different philosophical things, and

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just a very few words, he
doesn't dwell in temples, like well,

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the one we're in made with hands, and he doesn't need anything like some

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of those gods over there that you're
giving stuff too, as if those gods

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need something. Well, our God, the one that you call the unknown

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God, doesn't need any of that. And so what God is doing,

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through the power to Holy Spirit in
him is to say, like he said,

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I determined not to know anything among
you except Jesus Christ and him crucified

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in another studying. This is what
he said. But that was the tenor

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of his life. That was the
tenor of his life. He didn't have

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to go into the philosophy. He
didn't have to have the argument, he

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didn't have to try to become quote
aeradite. Look that up. You see

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how he didn't know what I said
at some of you. Yeah, he

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didn't need to do any of that. He said, you know what,

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you call me a babbler. So
what I'm going to do in this context

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is simply share the great news about
what you call the unknown God, and

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that God can transform your life so
that you can have it more abundantly,

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have eternal life through Christ. A
wonderful day, Peace, Thanks for joining

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us listening. Friends. Always remember
we cannot live by bread alone, but

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by every word that comes from the
mouth of God. This has been your

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daily portion with El David Harris.
Make it a great day. Yeah,