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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 morning.

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It is Tuesday, December five,
twenty twenty three. Hello, my

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

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Daily Portion where we give you God's
Word every single day and today is no

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exception. We are continuing in our
Lesson study series, God's Mission, My

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Mission. Our caption for today is
Paul and the Unknown God. We have

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teased that for a few days.
Now we're going to jump into it a

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little bit more. Let's go ahead
and pray and then get underway. Father

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in Heaven, thank you for giving
us this new day and for the privilege

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we have to open your word again. And thank you for your Holy Spirit

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who teaches us, please help us
to learn in Jesus name, I pray

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Amen and a men again Paul and
the Unknown God. All right, so

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we're going to begin by simply reading
from the Book of Acts, the Book

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of Acts, chapter seventeen. Jump
right in here and read verses twenty two

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and twenty three, and then we'll
circle back in and see if we can

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make some sense out of this.
All right, And so the Bible reads.

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Then Paul stood in the midst of
Mars Hill. Remember that's in the

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areopagus where government and judicial convenence would
happen. And in this case we see

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where many, many, many gods, almost like the Pantheon of Gods would

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be erected. Right. So Paul
is there in the midst of Mars Hill,

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and he said, ye, men
of Athens, I perceive that in

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all things ye are too superstitious.
For as I passed by and beheld your

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devotions, I found an alter with
this inscription. What did it say to

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the unknown God whom therefore ye ignorantly
worshiped him? Declare I unto you?

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So what our brother Paul was doing
was bringing their attention to the unknown,

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helping them to know that they did
not know the true and living God,

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and he's now about to introduce him, okay. And so when nebukud Nezzar

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before he got saved, you know, the Bible says that he said,

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to you know, the people of
God, who is this God that will

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deliver you? Don't do what I
say? You don't worship me? Who

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is this God who will deliver you? And so for a good while,

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more than seven years, God is
introducing himself to nebuchad Nesser, and so

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Paul is giving them the easy way
out. I wish I had the time

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to deal with the nepicud Nezzer introduction, but God did prevail ultimately when you

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have a chance to look at Daniel
chapter four for more details. But Paul

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is giving these people the less difficult
way to get to know the one,

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true and Living God, blessed be
his name. So they were superstitious,

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they were devoted. They did say, you know what, there's something out

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there we don't understand. And Paul
is using this as an opportunity to insert

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the God of Heaven and let's see
what happens. Okay. So the first

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thing we want to do, based
on verse twenty two again I perceive in

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all things that you are too superstitious
is to respect if you want to use

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the right word, or identify and
acknowledge diverse beliefs, diverse beliefs because Paul's

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approach shows the importance of at least
acknowledging that there are ways that other people

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believe. He didn't go in there
guns blazing, shooting down all of what's

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not right, even though at other
times maybe the apostles did that. But

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in this case he's providing an opportunity
to people whose beliefs differed from his own.

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Instead of outright dismissal, understanding and
acknowledging these beliefs can create a foundation

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for meaningful dialogue. Remember this was
one of the chief areas for reason Athens,

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where people were philosophers, they were
intelligent, they loved discourse. And

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so Paul is saying, let's use
under the whole goes this opportunity and show

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people the one true and living God
that clearly they may be acknowledging without knowing,

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and then give them the opportunity to
connect with him. Let's read again

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now from verse twenty three. For
as I pass by, so he is

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walking by, He's observing. I
beheld your devotions and then I found an

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altar with this inscription to the unknown
God. He's now finding common ground.

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You worship, I worship. You
worship all of these gods, and I

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worship the One, True and Living
God. You worship. Oh wait a

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minute, I see something here.
This is something that our God can be

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attached to so that I can give
him or give them, excuse me,

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an opportunity to connect with God.
Okay, to the unknown God again.

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Finding common ground not turning our backs
on truth, not making it seem as

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if we don't believe what God has
said. But finding common ground is identifying

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and building upon what we can agree
with. Now, I know, ecumenism

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is a really tricky situation. That
is not what I'm talking about. These

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people worship, we worship. They
worship the unknown God. We want to

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introduce the Unknown God. This is
the conversation that Paul is having. So

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Paul did this with that unknown God
concept, and it can be a powerful

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way to connect with others and share
your perspective. Paul was sharing his perspective,

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but he needed to do so with
humility. That's the next thing.

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Paul's respectful and humble approach as opposed
to presenting himself as an all knowing expert,

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teaches the value of humility in interactions. This can foster openness and prevent

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alienation. You see, sometimes when
we come into a new setting, people

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say they typecast us. They begin
to predict based on the pain that they

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have experienced by people in the past
who behave like us, who look like

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us, who say that they're believers
right, people who say that they are

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Bible believing Christians sometimes have done things
that were not according to scriptures. And

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so when we come into a new
setting, sometimes the audience or the people

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on the other side of the conversation
are saying, yeah, I know what's

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going on here. I know how
this person is. I know how that

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person is. But God is giving
us a really good lesson about humility through

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Paul's Paul's interaction here. Also it
says here in verse twenty three, whom

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therefore or ye ignorantly worship him,
Declare I unto you value spiritual curiosity?

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Ask the question when we're in connection
with people we're either unfamiliar with or people

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that we have been interacting with,
but their system of understanding is different from

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ours. We need to ask the
question, because it is in seeking,

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asking, seeking, and knocking that
that God will answer. He will,

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he will make himself manifest, he
will, he will reveal himself. So

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when people are curious, give them
what they need under the holy gooes,

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ask God, what do these people
need? They're curious, they want to

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know, And God demonstrated that many
times. Nicodemus experience with Nicodemus and John

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chapter three is one great example where
he asks the question, well can a

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man go back into his mother's womb
and be and be born? And then

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Gus said, marvel, not that
I say unto you that you must be

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born again. That which is born
of flesh, Nicodemus, is flesh.

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This is why you struggle with all
kinds of addictions and challenges. This is

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why your relationships aren't the way they
need to be. This is why even

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in your religious circles, you go
too far on one end and don't go

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far enough on the other end.
Nicodemus, so don't marvel when I say

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that which is born of flesh is
flesh. But that which is born of

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the Holy Ghost is spirit. And
so he valued spiritual curiosity in that case

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as well. And of course understanding
the cultures from which people come is also

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a good thing to do. Paul
and the Unknown God gave us an example

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of how to witness in unknown areas. Peace. Thanks for joining us listening.

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

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word that comes from the mouth of
God. This has been your daily portion

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with El David Harris, make it
a great day. Yeah,