In Us, Decline of Religion Continues at Rapid Pace – Pew Forum

The Coming End of Christian America – The Week

America’s Mayhem and Massive Decline in Christianity – Christian Post

Americans have lost faith in pretty much everything – Marketwatch

Matthew 28:18-20 CSB – “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Acts 17:16-17 CSB – While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed when he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God, as well as in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Paul’s Eyes – Sharing Jesus Effectively Begins: See People Through God’s Eyes

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed when he saw that the city was full of idols.

Luke 19:41-42 CSB – As he approached and saw the city, he wept for it, 42 saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes

“One reason sin flourishes is that it is treated like a cream puff instead of a rattlesnake.” – Billy Sunday

Hosea 8:4 CSB – They have installed kings, but not through me. They have appointed leaders, but without my approval. They make their silver and gold into idols for themselves for their own destruction.

Sharing Christ effectively begins with eyes that see lostness!

Romans 9:3 CSB – For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers

Acts 17:17 CSB – So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God, as well as in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

A Broken Heart for Lost People Leads to Conversations

1 Peter 3:15 CSB – in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Acts 17:18 CSB – Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some said, “What is this ignorant show-off trying to say?”

Others replied, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities”—because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

Romans 1:16 CSB – For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes

V.17, Paul reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God, as well as in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Paul’s Conversations Intensify

Acts 17:18 CSB – Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him.

Acts 17:19-21 CSB – They took him and brought him to the Areopagus, and said, “May we learn about this new teaching you are presenting? 20 Because what you say sounds strange to us, and we want to know what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new.

Jeremiah 6:16, This is what the LORD says: Stand by the roadways and look. Ask about the ancient paths, “Which is the way to what is good?” Then take it and find rest for yourselves. But they protested, “We won’t!”

Paul’s Message -The Gospel, Despite a Tough Crowd

Acts 17:22-23 CSB – Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. 23 For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.

The Gospel is….

  • Creation
  • Fall
  • Redemption
  • Reward

Acts 17:24 CSB – The God who made the world and everything in it

Genesis 1:1 CSB – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Acts 17:24 CSB – The God who made the world and everything in it—he is Lord of heaven and earth—does not live in shrines made by hands. 25 Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things

Acts 17:26-29 CSB – From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. 27 He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is 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 also his offspring.’ 29 Since, then, we are God’s offspring, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.

Acts 17:30 CSB – Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent,…

Ephesians 2:8-9 CSB – For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast

Galatians 2:20 CSB – I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Acts 17:31 CSB – because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

Hebrews 10:31 reminds us: It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Acts 17:32-34 CSB – When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him, but others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.”

33 So Paul left their presence. 34 However, some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

The Response – Mixed

Romans 1:16 CSB – “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…”

1 Corinthians 1:19ff,

or it is written,

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent.

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law?  Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? 21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached.

because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

v.27, Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

1 Corinthians 1:18 CSB – For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing,