Finding the God You Have Been Looking For

Paul Addresses the Areopagus | Acts 17:22-27 | Alex Sands

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Have you ever like been at a um say a Walmart? Of course you have. But like walk out of the store and you headed to your car and you see somebody just kind of lost, meandering through the parking lot, looking for their car. Some of you are saying, that person was me. But going back to and fro and and just can't find it. Have you ever had like a family member that hasn't been to your house before or been to your apartment before, and you gave them instructions, directions on how to get there, and you and you even gave them the address. You can just put it into Google Maps. You can put it into Apple Maps. You gave them everything, but you happen to notice on your watch that they're running a little bit late, and you happen to look out the door and you see their car going down the street. Back and forth, and you and you try to step out, you know, in the house, you're waving. Hey, Jesse! I'm right here, right here. Here's the house. They're in the neighborhood, but can't get to the house. They're in the parking lot, but can't find the car. But they're searching. Just can't get there. Saints, that's the world. That's the world. That's the way the world is, apart from God's revelation. If you watch television, if you get on the internet or whatever it is, however you access what's happening in the world, you will see people searching, trying to find, trying to find fulfillment, trying to find satisfaction. And the thing about it is, sometimes people are lost but won't admit that they're lost. Men can be like that. We ain't lost. Ladies, wives, can I tell you he's lost? Whenever a man tells you, I ain't lost, I'm not lost, he's lost. I've been married 31 years. I've learned to say, You baby, I'm lost. Because she already knows. But a lot of people in the world, they are trying to see, and they're seeking, they're searching, and maybe they're in the parking lot, but they can't find him and listen. What you see broadcast on social media, what you see on TV, and is people searching and replacing. And sometimes seeing, I know where I'm going, I know where I'm going, but they don't know where they're going. Sometimes push it so far away. Listen, get so lost, they go in the whole opposite direction. That's why you see so much foolishness on social media. That's why so much network television, it seems like instead of elevating the best virtues, it's a race to the basement. How low can we go? How debased can it be? And still clear the boundaries for network television. It just seems like culture elevates the worst instead of the best. Can kind of lead this race down, but people are still seeking, searching, trying to find meaning, fulfillment. Same way it was back in the first century when the apostle Paul was in Athens. And he was in Athens, not because that was part of his plan, but he was in Athens because everywhere he had preached before on this second missionary journey, he had been run out of town, beaten in Philippi, made it to Thessalonica, went to Thessalonica, and told everyone there that Jesus, it was necessary for the Christ to die and be raised from the dead. And not long after that, the Jewish leaders got upset, got jealous, ran him out of town. He gets to Berea, and the people in Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, and they listened to what Paul was saying, but those same jokers that were back in Thessalonica, they made it to Berea, and they were all upset. And so Paul, they his partners, they had to rush him out of town. Everywhere he preached the good news, turned from darkness to light. The Messiah has come. He was starting the synagogues, doesn't go to the Gentiles. Everywhere there was commotion. Everywhere. Some got saved, some believed, some said, We yeah, we believe where you're pointing. Uh oh, that's that's where we need to be. Some saw and found the Lord, or the, you know, the Lord had already had found them. It wasn't about, see, the Lord met them where they were. But because of all of this, you know, the God of this world has stirred up so much opposition, he ends up in Athens alone. Silas and Timothy, there, they say they're gonna come shortly, but he is there in a waiting period. And Athens during this time, as we're looking at about A.D. 49, A.D. 52, we're talking about approximately 20 some years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. At this period, Athens was not at his heyday. It wasn't filled with philosophers and all of that. It had the remnants of what had been 300, 400 years earlier. There were ruins and things, but and then there were other parts of it that were still, of course, nicely kept, but it was still a cultural uh landmark to philosophy and architecture and all of that. It was like a museum in a way. There weren't as many citizens who lived there, but those who did were proud of their Athenian heritage. It was beautiful. There was a lot of history, culture, culture, and all of that. But Paul, when he arrived, and I'm sure his partner said, chill, bruh. Wait till Paul, uh Silas and Timothy come. Just lay low. Okay? Can you do that? Well, you just send Silas and Timothy real quick. But he gets there. And he's canvases, he looks around.

SPEAKER_04 7:54

And as we covered last week, he looks around and he sees that the city is filled with idols.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

It's a lot like America. Well, America is a lot like Athens, swimming with idols. And he was provoked, and that provoked means that he was stirred up sharply, incited, deeply distressed. He was so provoked by the idolatry, he reasoned in the synagogue. He did what he his normal pattern. He went to the synagogue first, and he reasoned with the Jews and the devout persons who were there. But he didn't stay in the synagogue. He went into the marketplace where there were shops and shopkeepers and there were ordinary citizens that were just doing life. Philosophers out there too, Epicureans and Stoic philosophers. They were all there because that was the hub of the city. He went to the marketplace, he went there, and he talked to whoever he could find, and he went every day. Are you upset enough about the world's condition that you're willing to share the gospel with somebody? Some people get mad at the condition of the world and they're just mad, that's all they do. Some Christians, they just curse the world, curse the darkness. God doesn't call us to curse the darkness. He calls us to be salt, calls us to be light, he calls us to be engaged in culture. Amongst those who are searching, we're to let them know your search is over. Jesus is who you're looking for. You can find him. That's Paul in the marketplace. And listen, people start listening and folks start looking at who is this? Some people laughed at him. Some of the philosophers, the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers, some of them laughed. What does this babbler? What is he intending to say? But others said, you know, we need to listen. He seems to be bringing foreign deities. Paul ain't saying nothing about deities. Because it is one God. But that's kind of what they still they heard. You hear things through the filter of what you've been taught. What they've been taught is that there were multiple gods. So they hear what he's saying. But they're like, well, is there another, is there another out there? Maybe there's another God. You see, understand, with Athens, all of the culture and everything else, it was steeped with idolatry. Some estimates say there were like 30,000 idols in the city, images, figurines, and then you add on top of it the temples and the shrines. People worshiped everything and anything. So the fear was there's a God out there that we don't know, and we need to build something to him. Do we need to find some priests for him? Do we need to keep him happy? What do we need to do? Let's take him to the council. Let's take him to the Eregopolis. I've been pronouncing it wrong my whole life. I said Areopagus. It's the Eragopolis. But you know what? You know what I'm talking about. Goes to Mars Hill. They brought him before the council. And the Eregopolis, it was an elevated kind of hill about 50 feet above the agora, and this is where, like the Supreme Court, the council would gather, and it was about 30 men. And when someone was presented before them, they would gather. It was like a semicircle. And so you have Paul, like I am, speaking to this group right here. Paul is getting ready to make his address. But there would be people on the sides that could hear if they were loud enough and sent friends, people around. So he is now explaining what he's been teaching and telling in the marketplace and in the synagogues. He's before a pagan audience. He's not before Jews. He's before a pagan audience. Polytheists, they don't believe in the God of the Jews. They don't believe in Yahweh. What does he have to say? So Paul, verse 22, standing. Pause. He's standing. That's the posture for a formal address. He stands in the midst of the Eragopolis. Eragopolis, right there, like standing right there, stands in the midst, and says, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. As I passed along and observed, well, first, understand, he says, I perceive that you are very religious. I perceive that in every way you are very religious. And that perceived means I observed and under scrutiny, I I perceive, I've scrutinized, I've looked, and then I've seen that in every way you are very religious. I perceive that in every way you are very religious. Now that can be taken one of two ways. The council that is gathered, they most likely took it as a compliment. Yes, he is right. We are very in tune to things that are spiritual. See, sometimes all they would do is just sit around and listen to new things, new new beliefs, and all that. Yes, we are very attuned to the spiritual and to the religious. Now to Paul, though, that meant something else. But it's again, it's a neutral term. Could have been taken multiple ways. But notice he doesn't begin his address with an insult. He doesn't begin his address with a challenge. He says, Men of Athens, I perceive, I have observed that you are very religious. True. Very vague, if you will, statement. And then he explains how he's come to that conclusion. For verse 23, I passed along and observed your objects of worship. So he observed, and really that's the same, uh similar as the same the word perceive. I perceived because I have observed. Observed means to make a real close inspection, to really, like a microscope. I've done a real close inspection, I passed through and inspected everything, and then I came to this broad conclusion. But my perception is based on my observation. I've compiled my data and I perceive you are very religious. Because I happened to pass by, as I passed along, I observed the objects of your worship, the objects of your veneration, and I also found an altar with this inscription. Read it, what does it say? An inscription to the unknown God. He's passed through, he's gone through the city, he's inspecting, and listen, he's not a tourist. He didn't come to Athens to be a tourist. He's inspecting, and he's not sightseeing, he's soul-seeing. He's inquisitive. What are these people? What are their goals? What are their aspirations? What are their hopes? What are their dreams? And he finds an altar. There are 30,000 idols, 30,000 images out there, and he finds an altar with an inscription to the unknown God. You mean with all them thousands of idols all around in y'all's backyard, all of that? The saying was you're more likely to find an idol in Athens than a man. It's easier to find an idol than a man. And amongst all those idols, you think there's still one you don't know about. See that altar? That was their insurance policy. Just in case, just in case there's a God out there that we don't know, we don't want to make him mad. See what idolatry, the thing about idolatry, you're never certain that you've done enough or that you've known enough. Idolatry leaves you in fear, insecurity. They have all kinds of idols, gods, but they have no peace. Reaching, searching, digging, adding another ritual, adding another sacrifice, adding another priesthood. Whenever they would find one and they would judge that in their minds that God must be real, they had to develop a whole system for it. Because they don't want to offend their God. This I proclaim to you. First of all, he says, What therefore you worship. He doesn't say who you worship. Because they don't know who. Not who they worship, but what you worship. It's an indefinite, it's neuter, it's because it's not real. They don't know who or what it is, and they don't even know if he's satisfied with what they're offering him. Man, that's what idolatry will do. Never fills you up. You keep searching, trying to find, and then leaves you in uncertainty whether you have done enough. It will idolatry will make you worship what you can't even put your finger on. I can't put my finger on it, but I'm still searching. Your idol can be searching. Some people live their whole lives searching for something to fill them. But he says, therefore, what you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. Paul is saying to them, I'm bringing you good news. You worship as unknown, I am proclaiming him to you. The question was whether or not he is bringing before them uh strange deities, odd deities that they haven't known before. He says, Well, I've come to bring you what you know in your heart is out there. I'm getting ready to tell you about him. This is what you have been looking for, and and I've come to bring him. He doesn't say, he doesn't come to them and say, You all are all ignorant and there's no hope for you. He doesn't come before them and say, You don't know what direction to go in, and you're hopeless. He comes and says, That unknown I've come to make known. He doesn't insult them, he doesn't put them down, he lets them, he lets them know, I I've been watching, I've been seeking, I've been interrogating, if you will, evaluating, scrutinizing, and I know what you're looking for, and I have the answer. What you say is unknown. I have come to proclaim to you. In other words, to make known who before now to you was unknown. That's what I love about being a Christian. My God doesn't wait for us to try to climb up to him first to find him, he makes himself known to us. Christianity isn't about first seeking after him, he reveals himself to us. If it weren't for God, we wouldn't do it, we would still be worshiping idols. God chose to reveal himself. God chose to reveal himself to Paul, the apostles, and others, and to go out and make him known to a world that is lost. And let them know that he can be found. He has made himself known. Now, you know, saints, we poetry is still very religious. Can we agree upon that? There may not be temples or shrines in people's backyards, but people are still very, very religious. Looking for something to fill a void, to fill a gap. And so they're searching and looking and searching amongst the gods that are all around culture, gods that their grandmother told them about, their parents told them about, the gods that they've heard. Make enough money and then you'll be significant. You get success and then you'll be important. You have a family and then you'll have worth. If you get all of these things, then you'll be satisfied. Those are the idols of the world. This world is very religious. There are idols all over the place. If you get politics, you'll get hope. God has commissioned the church to let them know what previously has been unknown, but they know is out there. They know something has to be out there. Listen, it's not a question of whether someone worships. Everyone worships something. We were created to worship. We were created to look outside of ourselves. Every culture you look at worships something. That something could be the stars. That something could could be themselves. That something can be control. That something can be any any number of things. But we were created to worship by the one who created us. And therefore, again, it's not a question about whether someone is a worshiper. The question is who they worship. What are they worshiping? I got to get to you here what an idol is. An idol is anything we trust in. And I shared this with you last week. I just kind of shortened it a little bit. Anything we trust to give us identity, security, meaning, or peace in life in place of God. That means we can turn a good thing into an idol. You see, two people at the gym. One person is working out just to be healthy. The other person's on the treadmill next to them because their identity is wrapped up in how they look. If I don't get my body fat down to 4%, I'm not worth anything. Somebody, I'd love 14%. Somebody I might like 25%, but somebody they've made that an idol. Two treadmills next to each other. For one, it's an idol. Another, it's just a way of help. Money is simply paper. For some people, that's all it is, paper to exchange things for. For others, it's their sense of security. The more I get, the safer I am. So the truth is this everyone worships something. Because mankind was created to worship. But only God's revelation can lead to the worship, can lead to the worship of the true God. Sorry for that typo. Understand this, saints. Again, everyone worships, everyone worships something, so worship is not optional. Even if people can't define it, they're worshiping. So worship is not something that's optional. The thing is, sin misdirects that urge to worship towards other things. That sinful nature, it bends and twists worship. Instead of going to the Creator who placed that desire, good desire within us, sin twists it, contorts it. Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1, and I'm picking just a few verses, but one of the verse 18, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. How come there isn't more knowledge of it? Because it's being suppressed by unrighteousness, choosing unrighteousness rather than God. Continuing, for though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. The evidence of God's nature is all around us. We see it still in creation. Paul's point is mankind has resisted that and worship the creation instead of the creator. That's the way it was in Athens, and that's the way it is in Simpsonville. Every place you go, that's the way it is. There's the word that Paul uses throughout Romans 1, exchange. They exchange the knowledge of God. They exchange the worship of God for the worship of idols. They exchanged it and treated things as if they are the ultimate thing. Replace God with something that is created. That's idolatry. It's all around us. Verses 22 and 23. This is Paul's opening, his introduction, and he's getting ready to get into his message, but he's just getting this opening out there to try to let them know, to not insult, but to let them know I've got something you're looking for. It's a gracious introduction. And it's an example for us to follow. Meet people where they are. Be clear to them that there's a God they need to know. Don't expect non-Christians to act like Christians. A couple weeks ago I had a guy came to the church, and oftentimes people come by and they're looking for, you know, they are looking for food or something. Say, no, we have a pantry. First and third Saturdays. He'll come through, or you know, they just come by. This guy came by. I was talking to him outside, right outside the front door, and and uh this guy, like every other word was an F bomb. S this, F that, MFs. And you know, I mean, initially, I like, ooh. You know, you expect that in certain places. Some of you work in a place like that. Right. So some teachers work in an environment with little kids like that. Some places you expect that, but but but man, this is a church. He was using all of these, man. Like he was using things in in ways I didn't even know you could be, parts of parts of speech. He got into his family. It was more of a monologue than anything. But he was admittedly lost. He was not saved, and he didn't try to fake the funk. He knew I was the pastor. He had seen me before, some video a video or something. That could not hold back. I hate to think if I wasn't a pastor. So you know what? Again, he he was lost. I can't expect him to behave a certain way and to respect this building when he's lost. He wasn't brought up to think that this was a special place where you just can't say certain words. It's just a building. I think sometimes we expect unbelievers to act like believers because we're so used to being around believers we can be offended, and then our offenses are just so offended, we stop talking to them. They just get on my nerves. I just can't handle it. We were called to be salt and light. That means if they're cussing, that means if they got alcohol on their breath, it does not matter. We have to hang in there so we can share with them the good news. Meet people where they are. Don't expect them to have a deep theology like you got. You got all kinds of great theology. I mean, a lot of people don't know Genesis from the maps. They can't get to Revelation, they can't meet them there. Paul is getting ready to, he's moved from his introduction. What we'll find in verses 24 and 25 is that he gives a summary of who God is. The creator, he goes back to Genesis 1 and 2. He just doesn't tell them that. And it's masterful. Meet people where they are, but let them know that there's a God they need to know. And you can't make God in your image. Be like Jesus at the well. You know, the woman came to the well and and and she came to get water, and and and Jesus was there, and and and and he um I'm paraphrasing says, if you knew who you were talking to, you would ask for living water. She was just trying to get some water to drink and to take home. Jesus starts talking about living water. Doesn't everyone want some living water? They don't have to keep coming back to this well anymore. What you got? What you got? And he and he, if you will, woos her. He keeps dropping breadcrumbs. And he's got her at the edge of her seat. What are you talking about? Well, I know when Messiah comes, da-da-da. The one you you're talking to. That's me. I'm the Messiah and I endorse this message. He didn't lean into how many times you've been married. And that dude you're living with right now, I mean that Joker ain't even you going to hell. Not saying it's not a sin. But Jesus masterfully, wisely led her along, helped her go from where she needed what she a felt need to what she really needed. She needed living water. She needed the Messiah. And she goes out and tells other folk about him. That's an example for us too. Gracious, introduce them, but let them know there's more. I'm looking for worshipers that will worship me in spirit and in truth. Read it, read it when you got time, okay? I promise you, it's all in there, all in there. Now look at verse 24, 25. He's he's talked about this point about what they um uh he's moving from what they don't know to now. I'm gonna make him known to you. He's gonna let them know about the uh the God that they have to know. Verse 24, the God. Pause. Ooh, we not a God, not a local deity, not a religious mascot, the God. Boy, Paul is bold, but you don't notice it right away, but he is very bold. Remember where he is? Athens. I mean, he's surrounded by the worship of other gods. He says, the God. The God who made the world and everything in it. In your scripture journals, highlight it, glitter it, do whatever you need to do. That is the core of the message he's going to bring. This is it. The God who made the world and everything in it. Everything. The sky above, the ground underneath your feet. Everything. The marble that you use to make that statue, and the hands you use to make it. Your mind to create it. He made the world and everything in it. The God. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 3. People have to by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what was seen was not made out of things that are visible. And then verse 6 without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently seek him. That is the beginning of everything. The God. Not an explanation of where he came from, not a debate. He is the necessary initial cause of this universe. In a universe of cause and effect, he is the initial cause of it all. Uncreated. When you work, what came first? The chicken or the egg? Well, you work it all back, you get to God. That's it. He's there. He made everything. He made the world and everything in it. Everything else he says stems from that. What does he say next? Read it. Okay, all right, they'll pause it right there, though. Pause right there. He made the world and everything in it, which means he is the Lord of heaven and earth. By virtue of the fact he created everything in heaven and in earth, that means he is the Lord of everything in heaven and in earth. And Lord means master, owner, ruler, someone who has rightful authority. Since he made everything, he owns everything. And since he owns everything, he rules over everything. And if he rules everything, there is not a single atom in the universe that is outside of his authority. All stems from the fact he made the world and everything in it. Athens belongs to him, Jerusalem belongs to him, Simpsonville belongs to him, Greenville belongs to him, Africa belongs to him, India belongs to him, England belongs to him, Mars belongs to him, Jupiter belongs to him, Saturn belongs to him, the Milky Way galaxy belongs to him. It all belongs to him. Your job belongs to him, your house belongs to him, your body belongs to him. Everything you got belongs to God. And nothing is ours. It's all stewardship. It's laughable to think we own anything. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. That's the first thing, is the first necessary consequence of the fact he made the world and everything in it. Second is what? The second half of that verse says what? He does not live in temples made by man. Remember, 30,000 plus. That's an estimate. Idols everywhere, temples everywhere, shrines everywhere. He says, look here, the God who made the world and everything in it, he don't live in that house. He doesn't live in that temple. How can the one who created everything be contained by his creation? He can't be boxed in. He will not be controlled. He can't be fixed and man determine his boundaries. No, God is greater than everything he made. The God who created heaven and earth and everything in it does not live in temples made by man. That's why God says, Don't make any idol of me, don't create anything, no, don't make an image of me. You can't. Because anything you create with creation, it's you can't make an image of a God who ain't made of the stuff he made. I'm sorry. All of the English majors, all of the, I'm just talking, like talking, bringing it real. He can't make an image of the God who's not made of the stuff he created. Some people say, Well, I want to see God. Where is God? Why would you expect to see God if He created all this stuff? He was here before this stuff. He could choose to be seen or not be seen. He is God. Why would we think we could see the immensity of this God? Why would we think that he could be managed? He says through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 66, verse 1 Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What is the house? That you could build for me? What is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. I just like the end of it, but the first part is really the emphasis there. But the thing about it is, it's Paul telling the Athenians there, listen, your gods are too small. Your temples are too small. Your thoughts are too small. You can't control God. That's what idolatry is, trying to control God and then manipulate a God and try to get what you want. You can't, you can't make a contract with the God. You can't give him counsel. You can't give him advice. You have nothing to offer him. He can't get on his own. You have made God too small. And saints, we still shrink God today. People still try to control God, try to shrink God, try to make him fit into their ideologies, fit into their schedules. Look, you're not gonna fit God in two hours on a Sunday morning. God is God 24-7. He's not going to be limited to a space, square footage. He's not limited to our ideologies, our political platforms, our race, our nationality. He is not limited by any of that. It is an insult to God to think we can control the uncontrollable, massive, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God. That means he's all powerful. He is all-knowing. And what are omniscient, omnipresent, and all that. There you go, all of that. That's what it is, all of that. Listen, saints, God is not going to be shrunk into our routines.

SPEAKER_04 46:19

Oh, Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 46:22

God does not have is not having an existential crisis if you choose not to have your devotions on Monday. He's not fretting in heaven. If you choose to sin, he's still God. He doesn't want us to sin, but if we sin, he's not any less God. Now continue. My goodness, I'm getting ahead of myself. Verse 25. So we see, he's the God who made the world and everything in it. Necessary consequence of that, he's the Lord of heaven and earth. Number two, he does not live in temples, made by hands. Third, what's it beginning in verse 25? What does it say? Nor is he served by human hands. You see, the pagan gods needed to be served. The pagan gods needed to be cared for. The pagan gods needed its worshipers to provide food. Or they wouldn't exist. They would get weak. The pagan gods would take and take and take. Paul says, since God created everything, he's not served by us because he doesn't have a need that we can satisfy. He has no needs. This word served comes from where we get therapy from. To be attended to, to care for, served as though someone needs help or support. The pagan gods, the little the little G gods, they needed money. They needed sacrifices. They needed this and this, and they take and they take and they take. The gods that you see on social media and bumping into folks at work, they constantly take and take and take. Someone thinks a college degree is enough, but no, no, that God that says you need education to get value and worth, it tells you need to get a master's degree. Then you need to get a PhD, then you need more. The God that says, well, you know what? You need to be the top of your field. Well, you get to the corner office and then realize that's not really the corner, corner office. So then you're not satisfied with that corner office, you got to get the other corner office, and then another corner office, and then maybe it's uh athletics. It's not enough that you're number 20 in the world, you gotta be number 10 in the world. Then it's not enough that you're top 10 in the world, I gotta be number one in the world. Well, when you become number one in the world, what happens? I don't have anything else. But then there's another God that says, Come to me. It never ends because gods are thirsty. They're thirsty, they're ravenous. Some of you are exhausted because you've been chasing after your idols. And does life feel like you're a hamster on the wheel and it's going faster and faster and faster? Maybe it's because you're chasing a God, an idol, a little g God that can't be caught. Listen to Psalm 50, verse 12. If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. For the world and the fullness is or are mine. The world and its fullness are mine. There's nothing he needs. He doesn't need to be served. There's nothing we can give him. He has no need in and of himself. He has no needs. Job 22, verses 2 and 3. Can a man be profitable to God? Puts us in our place right off the jump, doesn't it? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. But is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? It's important to live righteous and to live holy, but let's not ever believe that our righteousness and our holiness is adding something to God. God is God regardless of our choices. God is God whether you choose to worship Him or not. He is God. Sometimes we may get the idea that God should be impressed by our sacrifices. Came out early this morning, you wanted to stay in bed, but you got up and you came to worship with the saints of God. I've made such a sacrifice to God today. Aren't you impressed, God, by my level of commitment and sacrifice? We worship not because God needs it, we need it. We were created to worship the Lord. He does not need us. Are you humbled? When we read passages like this, I hope it humbles us. Because it says, and continue verse 25, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. It kind of goes back to where we started. He's the creator of everything. But the end of verse 25, the point there is he sustains everything. He gives continuously. He gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. God is never the beneficiary, he is always the benefactor. He's always giving. Every heartbeat came from him. You woke up this morning, he gave you breath in your body. The food you eat, he gave you the food to eat. What was used to make that meal that came from him, every meal, every ability, every opportunity, it comes from God. He's the one who sustains, and he's the one who's created, and he is the one who sustains. He's letting them know about the God that they called the unknown God. Thus says God, Isaiah 42, 5, the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out and spread them out, uh, spread out the earth, and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it. We're not self-made. We're not independent, we're dependent. We need him for everything. The person who claims to be an atheist, the very breath they use to say that they were an atheist came from God. We are dependent creatures. We are not self-sufficient. The sooner you can come to that, the better off you'll be. We're not self-sufficient. We need God for everything. Therefore, we need to come before God in a posture of humility and dependency. Father, give us this day our daily bread. Because we can't even live to sustain ourselves today without you. No entitlement, no self-sufficiency. Here's the kingdom truth, and this the kingdom truths are truths, doctrinal truths, eternal truths. God is the creator of all things, everything has come from him, and he needs nothing from his creation. That's the difference between God and idols. Idols take, God gives. Idols have to be carried. God carries us. Psalm 24, verses 1 and 2. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it on the seas and established it upon the rivers. Here's the takeaway, church, for us as we strive to live the kingdom life. Here's the kingdom life principle. Don't lose your awe of God. Don't lose your awe of God. I think, again, sometimes we can make God too small. We can shrink God into our lives, into this nice, neat little box. Don't lose your awe of God. The bigger you make God, the smaller other things become. Remember, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139, verses 13 and 14, you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. He knit us together in our mother's womb. The earth's circumference is about 25,000 miles. Do you know within your body there are 60,000 miles of veins, capillaries, and arteries? And if you laid them out end to end, it would circle the earth over two, almost two and a half times. In your body, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. There is a designer in heaven who created you and put every vein in your body, stitched it, all of it, put it together in your body. You're fearfully and wonderfully made. And wonderful are his works. I shared with you before we're part of the Milky Way. Here we are. The sun is a star, and we're in the gravitational pool of that star. We're in the Milky Way. There are estimated 100 to 400 billion stars in the Milky Way. It's observable. In the observable, there's some things we don't all know. We can't see it. We don't have the tools to see it all. But the Milky Way is just one galaxy. There are estimated two trillion galaxies. The observable universe is ninety-three billion light years wide. A light year is a hundred and eighty-six thousand miles per second. Going that fast, it would take you ninety-three billion years to get from one end to the other. And your God created it all. Life was calibrated. The earth was calibrated for life. Whenever you start to think about God, just remember, 60,000 miles inside of you, 93 billion light years. Saints, don't let your view of God become smaller than the universe he spoke into existence. Don't lose your awe of God. I got books from astronomy books that God used to lead me to faith in Christ in 1995. It built up my faith. There's no way this universe could be created by chance. I don't know how. I don't know all the things about God, but there has to be a creator. And then I started to learn that the people said who was that there wasn't a creator. They're basically worshiping two because they don't have answers. Don't let your view of God become smaller than the universe he created. Just think of how big the universe is. And that big God cares about your life. Your day-to-day, your coming and your going. And watch verses 26 and 27. We're just going to cover through the first half of verse 27. He's gone from his introduction to God the Creator, the God that you need to know. Now he moves to man. The truth about man. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth. One man. From one man, every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth. That means where where man went on the earth, all that determined by God. Made from one man. That's Adam. One. Even with all our different nationalities, different ethnicities, different uh amount of melanin in our skins, it doesn't matter. He's made from one man. He created everything that we see, and it includes mankind. He's shifted now to mankind and says, You're created from one man. Now that would have been like an offense to the Athenians because they believed they were special. Some of them even believed that they were made from different soil than everybody else. Like the soil God used to create them is this real special Athenian, Athenian soil, not like everybody else's. Pride will do something to you, won't it? It'll just make you foolish things. One man. One man has created all things. Every nation to live on the face of the earth. And then there are these three terms. Having determined their allotted periods, a determined means to mark out to a point to set limits, determined their allotted periods. And that means appointed seasons, fixed times, ordered moments in history, and the boundaries of their dwelling place. Boundaries of their dwelling place. Limits, borders, dwelling places, marked out places of habitation. Made from one man all of humanity, but did not detach himself. Like some of the some of the Epicureans said, if there is a God, he doesn't care. No, no. He is very active in the world. And he's not in his creation. He's not in trees and all that stuff, like the Stoics believed. No, he made the trees. He made everything, but he has determined the allotted periods. Let that soak in. There's never been a nation on the planet that God didn't ordain to be there. That's part of him being sovereign. He allowed it to be there, and he raises some up and he sets others down. Job, going back to Job, excuse me, Daniel 2, 21, he changes times and seasons, he removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. It all comes from him. The periods, the boundaries. Psalm 74, 17, you have fixed all the boundaries of the earth. You have made the summer and the winter. Nothing in history is random. Your life is not random. You're not a collection, a random collection of atoms. And you don't happen to be in Simpsonville, South Carolina right now by accident. Not only does God determine the boundaries and the allotted times of nations, also the men and women that make those nations. You are not here by accident. You were designed, and everything has led up to you being here. You are not self-determined. You didn't make it up to be here. Now that's the amazing thing about God. He is absolutely sovereign, but man still has free will. But he works in even in the midst of our decision to exercise his sovereign plan. There is nothing that happens by mistake or happenstance. You're born where you were born, who you were born to, by the plan of God. That's not excusing any hurt or harm that may have happened to you. And I know that many think that look, there couldn't have been any purpose to what I suffered. I would just suggest to you, just because we don't know the purpose doesn't mean there isn't a purpose. 93 billion light years. How can we understand the ways and the plans of God? It's too much. We can't. Nations rise, nations fall. Nothing that of the world can ever give us that comfort. But this, they and why did he do this? Why did he determine all of these boundaries and do all of that? First half of verse 27. Here's the purpose that they should seek God. That they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. God has ordered all of history to bring man to himself. Did he know about sin? Yes, he knew about sin. He knew all of this was coming, but he also knew you would be coming down the line. He loves all human beings. He loves everyone. He's chosen some for his own, and those who respond uh respond back to him. He's chosen. He's done all of this. It's his plan. And all of this. To create a path, a way, an environment for you to choose in. That's heavy. He's put it all together. People you've bumped into your lives, all of these choices, and you look back at your life and the horrible things that you've done, and all of that is all that you may feel your way toward him. And that means to like feel like in the dark, to touch lightly, to feel around, to reach out as if somebody's trying to find something in the dark. It's the person who is driving around lost and they're trying to find their way and searching and searching. You may be in the parking lot, and God's saying, Come here. He's orchestrating all of the lights, the ones that turned red, the one that went green, the cars that passed by, all to lead you to a place where you could seek him, perhaps go to find him. And realize he's not very far from any one of us, but he is orchestrating all of life that man would have the best opportunity, that individuals would have the best opportunity to feel their way toward him and to find him. But because of sin, our seeking is often is blind. We need revelation. We need to know. It has to be made known to us. And what God is like beyond his power and his greatness, his person, you find that in Jesus. No one has ever seen God. John 1.18. God, the only Son who is at the Father's side, he has made him unknown. The one you worship and you say is unknown, I am here to proclaim him to you. And you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. Kingdom of truth, guys, we're quick. God rules the times and places of our lives so that people from every nation would seek him. Everyone you have bumped into in your life, every car you encountered that went past you on the interstate. Yes. He thinks everything. Every time you went on an airplane and you made it back. The person that you sat next to on that plane. The person that was at the gate. All of it. The people you bumped into that helped lead you to Christ. Now you're that for someone else. Changes your whole perspective of life if you begin to look at it from the perspective of the one 93 billion light years, 60,000 miles to veins and arteries and capillaries. That much intelligence. Your life is not accidental. The home you the homes you've lived in, the places you've lived in, all of that. God in his mercy has made himself known to you, and now he calls you to make him known to others. And I can't I can't leave without the saying this church. Don't yearn for what life could have been. You are where you are by the hand of God, so others can come to know God through you. Don't yearn for that life you could have had if you married such and such. If you'd gone to that college, if you'd majored in that thing, if you had focused and stayed focused in high school. Don't start thinking of what if, and and in my life would be, no, no, no. Where you are? Sovereign hand of God. And maybe we don't understand how all of it will work together to bring us to a point or brought us to a point where we would seek him, but we don't have to know because we can't travel 93 billion light years. There's even such a thing called dark matter that holds everything together. We just can't and we can't see it. I think his name is Jesus. Because he's the one who holds everything together. Read in Colossians chapter 1. But don't yearn, don't look back, don't waste this place, don't waste this season. Don't live with what could have, would have, should have. Saints, you are here and now, at this point, for such a time as this. You couldn't have been born a century before and do what God has called you to do and created you to do. You could not be born to a different family and do what God wants you to do. You are unique and here for such a time as it. You have value worth. Our lives are not our own. Sometimes you may want to take it, but it's not yours. And don't put a period where God just has a comma. Let Him finish writing it. He has a plan for all that. And then for some of you, you may be searching and searching and searching. Can I tell you? Can I wave to you like the person I'm at Daddy's house? I've been trying to give you directions. I've been trying for over 20 years to give folks directions. He here's daddy's house. Jesus, your elder brother is in the house. Come in the house. Stop driving around. Stop fumbling in the neighborhood. Come on, look this way. Turn here and find life in him. Lord, thank you for your mercy, your love, and grace. Thank you for orchestrating things the way that you have, Lord. Thank you. Just thank you for your grace. Lord, help us to tell others what they're really looking for. What they're really searching. And all of their relationships and all of their affairs and all of their partying and all of their career stuff, all of that made help us to let them know the void that they're trying to fill. It's you and can't be filled with what you created. Help us to lovingly share that. And Lord, not not to panic or to give up. People reject it, Lord. It's it's okay. We may be the 19th person on the 50 that needs to share the gospel with them. It's all good. We're glad to be number 19. Just do, Lord, what you do, and we're thankful to be where we are. We're thankful for you orchestrating our lives. You've planned our lives better than ever, better than we ever possibly could have. We love you and thank you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:02

Amen. Would you stand with us?

SPEAKER_03 1:15:40

You heard it in the song. He's a good, good father. You're not here by accident. Maybe you're here today and and and you don't you haven't turned in, you know, turned into daddy's house. Come on, he's waiting for you. Come on, he's come come young or old. He's willing to receive you now. Today is the day of salvation. You gotta admit that you're a sinner. You gotta admit that you need to know God. You gotta admit that you've been going the wrong way. And repent. That means turn to him. You gotta be willing to do that. Acknowledge that you're a sinner. Believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins and that he was buried and he rose again the third day. And you gotta accept him as your Lord. You gotta believe his sacrifice is sufficient. Don't try to earn God's love. He's already settled that. You need to come. You need to come today. Be saved. Maybe you're here today and you're already born again and you haven't been baptized. After becoming a believer, can I encourage you to do that today? Don't delay. It doesn't save anyone. Water doesn't save. It's a public testimony of what happened. The old person died and the new person came up. You were dirty, he washed, you cleansed. It's testimony. Letting the world know you stand with Jesus. You're with his people. Lastly, if you need prayer, you need anyone to pray along with you. Our prayer team will be assembled right up here to help Jesus lead, uh, to pray along with you. If you're here and you need to, you've decided to come to Christ, come on down and they'll love to lead you in a prayer of commitment where you can make Jesus Lord or just say, I I I want to be baptized. I've been ashamed of my faith too long. I'm willing now to let everybody know I'm a believer. That's you, I encourage you to come.