Most of us eat every day, some of us too much, because yesterday's
food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change
all of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need
to live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good
morning. It is Sunday, December three, twenty twenty three. Hello,
my name is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is
your Daily Portion where we give you God's Word every single day, and today
is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series, God's Mission,
my mission, and our caption for today is a Hebrew in Athens.
Very interesting. We'll get into that in just a moment, but first I'd
like to say welcome to you. I would ask you to go over to
your Daily Portion dot com click and join our online community. Click also to
say where you are in the world. There's a box there in particular in
that setting and I get messages all day every day about where people are in
the world, and also pick up the Your Daily Portion book at your Daily
Portion dot com. This is how we continue to build faith and fellowship.
And I can't wait to see you in that setting. Let's go ahead and
pray, and then we will get to underway. Father and Heaven. Thank
you for giving us the privilege of opening up your word. And I ask
you to please give us your Holy Spirit teach us how to serve you and
to love you. And I pray God that we will learn from Paul's experience
how to witness in various different settings to lead people so they can love you
and live with you forever as well. In Jesus' name, I pray Amen
and Amen again a Hebrew in Athens. Let me just say, the people
in Athens were among the most intellectual of the world, right, And so
yeah, when you come and you try to reason with them, you have
to come with your a gain or maybe it's better if you come with the
power of the Holy Ghost. Yeah, that's really our context. That's our
context. So well, let me read as much as I can from this
chapter Acts Chapter seventeen, beginning at verse one and see what lessons we can
learn here. Okay, And really the first question is how did Paul wind
up in Athens and how did he respond to what he found there. That's
a simple question. After they traveled through Ampiphilus and fipple Us I get it
mixed up, and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonika, where there was a
Jewish synagogue. Paul went to the Jews in the synagogue as he customarily did,
and on three Sabbath days he addressed them from the scriptures, explaining and
demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying
this Jesus, I am proclaiming to you is the Christ. And so he's
sharing that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of those many, many prophecies of
scripture that pointed to the Messiah who was to come. Okay, some of
them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group of
god fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. But the Jews became jealous,
talking about those specific ones and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble
in the marketplace, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar.
They attacked Jason's house, trying to find Paul and Silas to bring them
out to the assembly. When they did not find them, they dragged Jason
and some of the brothers before the city officials, screaming, these people who
have stirred up trouble throughout the world have come here too, and Jason and
was welcomed, and Jason has welcomed them as guests. This is going really
badly, very quickly. They are all acting against Caesar's decrees, saying there
was another king named Jesus. You see, they're really, really, really
trying to play a game to get these men destroyed by stirring up the pride
of the prevailing government. That's a crazy way to do it, but that's
what they were trying. Verse eight. They caused confusion among the crowd and
the city officials who heard these things. After the city officials heard these after
the city officials had received bail from Jason and the others, they released them.
Verse ten. The brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea at once
during the night. When they arrived, they went to the synagogue, and
the people who were there were open minded more open minded than those in Thessalonaika,
for they eagerly received the message, examining the scriptures carefully every day to
see if these things were so. So they were preaching the gospel in a
setting where it was brand new to the people. They had heard about it,
but they hadn't fully experienced it from the apostle's lips, right, Okay,
So these people were engaged, and they said, you know what,
let us see, let us see what things are true, and if there
are any things that are not true, let us see that. They didn't
just take people's word for it, and then the Bible continues. Therefore,
many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek men and women.
But when the people of theessala Nika heard that Paul had also proclaimed the
word of God and Beria, they came there too, inciting and disturbing the
crowds. Then the brothers sent Paul away to the coast at once, but
Silas and Timothy remained in Berea. Those who accompanied Paul escorted them as far
as Athens, and after receiving an order from Silas for Silas and Timothy to
come to him as soon as possible. They left verse sixteen and final.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was greatly upset because
he saw the city was full of idols. We're going to talk about that
in a little bit more detailed tomorrow with just about three or four verses,
right, but can we just start right here? What is your commitment level
when you have great news? Your commitment level when you have great news about
what God is able to do to transform us from hopeless sinners to powerful and
holy saints, like, what is your commitment level? There are times that
it becomes difficult. Some of your co workers may not be too excited when
they see their friends turning their lives over to God, because, after all,
maybe they were accustomed to the happy hours and the going into parties and
doing other things that are not holy, things that lead away from God,
and it seems that you're removing their friendship core, or maybe you're challenging some
of their historically held beliefs that they got from their family members and they're like,
yo, you're messing my life up. You're messing up my relationships.
Or maybe it's even closer to the example that we saw here where it goes
against the prevailing culture in the particular locale where people live. But the truth
is, if you have something that can transform someone's life to the point that
they no longer have to be subject to imminent eternal death, would you share
it or keep it a secret? Like if somebody's drowning, do you keep
from helping them because maybe in the moment that you are helping them, it's
a little rough, or maybe it offends someone who could have helped, but
they chose not to. See Paul and Silas and others, Jason and others,
Timothy, these individuals were so committed to the cause that they said,
you know what, I Am going to do whatever it takes under the power
of the Holy Spirit in order to lead people to life. Now, I
want you to recognize that there are cultural idols. There are cultural idols.
There are things that people hold in high esteem. They're paradigms, thought processes,
right mindsets, and actual idols in some places in the world where people
are more willing to go that direction than to come into the light the transformative
power of God. But I want you to recognize those and examine, examine
the society in which you live. It could be materialism, it could be
celebrity worship, it could be it could be a lot of things. And
then ask God like, how do we address those things? And also I
want you and I I want us to develop compassion. Develop compassion. Right.
There are people like in the Bible it says here say unto them,
as I live, saith the Lord. I have no pleasure in the death
of the wicked, So turn yourselves and live. There are people who think
that there is an angry God in heaven looking for someone to destroy whoever disagrees
with him. But I want you to develop compassion. Follow Paul's example and
then give compassion and show compassion, and show that God's goal. God's determination
is that as many people as possible have life and have it abundantly. Give
the right view of God, develop compassion. We'll talk more about this in
the coming days. Peace. Thanks for joining us listening. Friends, Always
remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from
the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion with el David Harris.
Make it a great day. Yeah,