A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope,
encouragement and exhortation.
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
Monday, August
5, 2019
Last week
Brooksyne passed this Lancaster County farmhouse with
two features she really likes; a white picket fence
and lots of flowers! She turned the car around, went
back and took several photos. It's amazing what a
white fence and summer flowers can do to dress up the
house and property.
Click
on photo to enlarge
"Making Known The
Unknown God"
Message
summary:
Today we appeal to a
world where to so
many Jesus is an
unknown God. God
created within our
inmost being the
need to follow after
One greater than
ourselves. Of course
He desires that we
worship Him not in
ignorance, but in
Spirit and in Truth.
And the way we
follow the only true
God is to open His
Word to our hearts
making it a lamp
unto our feet and a
light unto our path.
Listen to our message on your audio player.
"Then Paul stood up on Mars’ Hill and said, 'Men of Athens, I see how very religious you are in every way. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you'" (Acts 17:22,23).
Traveling across the West last week we crossed several mountain ranges; the Sierra Nevada in California/Nevada, the Wasatch Range in Utah and finally the tallest, the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, with peaks over 14,000 feet above sea level. Here in Pennsylvania we have mountains but not nearly the elevation as out West. Pennsylvania's highest point is Mount Davis which is a mere 3,213 feet.
Today let us consider preaching points in the Bible which are called hills or mountains. Elijah preached on Mount Carmel* (1 Kings 18); Jesus preached the "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7) and in today's text "Paul stood up on Mars' Hill". The gotquestions.org site describes this Mars' Hill,
Listen to our message on your audio player.
"Then Paul stood up on Mars’ Hill and said, 'Men of Athens, I see how very religious you are in every way. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you'" (Acts 17:22,23).
Traveling across the West last week we crossed several mountain ranges; the Sierra Nevada in California/Nevada, the Wasatch Range in Utah and finally the tallest, the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, with peaks over 14,000 feet above sea level. Here in Pennsylvania we have mountains but not nearly the elevation as out West. Pennsylvania's highest point is Mount Davis which is a mere 3,213 feet.
Today let us consider preaching points in the Bible which are called hills or mountains. Elijah preached on Mount Carmel* (1 Kings 18); Jesus preached the "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7) and in today's text "Paul stood up on Mars' Hill". The gotquestions.org site describes this Mars' Hill,
Rising
some 377 feet above
the land below and
not far from the
Acropolis and Agora
(marketplace), it
was an important
meeting place where
philosophy,
religion, and law
were discussed.
It was
here that Paul
proclaimed to his
hearers a message
about the "unknown
god".
"Men of Athens, I see how very religious you are in every way." The Athenians were the intellectually elite of that age. An interesting parenthetical description in verse 21 states, "Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new." (SCW commentary: It seems to me that's what a lot of "intellectual elites" do to this day!)
"For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god." Being carefully observant Paul sought to connect by appealing to an altar he had seen with this inscription, "TO AN UNKNOWN GOD". Apparently the Athenians just wanted to make sure they had all their bases covered so they erected a generic altar for a god they didn’t know, just in case they missed one!
“Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you." Paul used his observation to his advantage and proclaimed this "unknown" God to them in the verses that followed:
"Men of Athens, I see how very religious you are in every way." The Athenians were the intellectually elite of that age. An interesting parenthetical description in verse 21 states, "Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new." (SCW commentary: It seems to me that's what a lot of "intellectual elites" do to this day!)
"For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god." Being carefully observant Paul sought to connect by appealing to an altar he had seen with this inscription, "TO AN UNKNOWN GOD". Apparently the Athenians just wanted to make sure they had all their bases covered so they erected a generic altar for a god they didn’t know, just in case they missed one!
“Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you." Paul used his observation to his advantage and proclaimed this "unknown" God to them in the verses that followed:
"The
God who made the
world and
everything in it
is the Lord of
heaven and earth
and does not live
in temples built
by human hands.
And He is not
served by human
hands, as if He
needed anything.
Rather, He himself
gives everyone
life and breath
and everything
else. From one man
He made all the
nations, that they
should inhabit the
whole earth; and
He marked out
their appointed
times in history
and the boundaries
of their lands.
God did this so
that they would
seek Him and
perhaps reach out
for Him and find
Him, though He is
not far from any
one of us. For in
Him we live and
move and have our
being" (Acts
17:24-28).
Today we appeal to a world where to so many Jesus is an unknown God. God created within our inmost being the need to follow after One greater than ourselves. Of course He desires that we worship Him not in ignorance, but in Spirit and in Truth. And the way we follow the True God is to open His Word to our hearts making it a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
Prayer: Father, we
thank You for those
who go to the
uttermost parts of
the world and
proclaim the good
news of Jesus
Christ, making known
the "unknown God" to
the people of that
land. From the very
beginning You
created a hunger
within our hearts to
serve you, but far
too many misfeed
that hunger and
instead "worship
gold, silver or
stone, images from
the art and thoughts
of man". Instead we
choose to feed that
hunger by loving You
with all our heart,
soul, mind and
strength. We are
grateful for the
wooing of Your Holy
Spirit that convicts
us our sin and
reveals Your great
love to us. Thank
You for making
Yourself known to us
in Your Word, in
nature, in our
spirit, and in the
experiences of
everyday life. Amen.* Mount Carmel as a “high place,” was long a center of idol worship, and its outstanding reference in the Bible is as the scene of Elijah's confrontation with the false prophets of Baal (I Kings 18).
Way up into Maine, far farther than most people ever venture, is sprawling Aroostook County. Along US 1 there is a small town called Mars Hill named for Hezekiah Mars, who camped for three years at the base of what is now Mars Hill Mountain. About twenty-five years ago a friend let us stay there in his vacation home for several days. It's a rather remote area with not a lot to do. Interestingly, it's an agricultural area with lots of potatoes and kind of a Bible Belt area, unusual for New England at this point in history.
There is college and town in North Carolina with the name Mars Hill which was named after the Biblical Mars Hill.
Missionaries Mike and Lori Cassel shared about a church in Mexico with an interesting name. The Spanish name is "Al Dios No Conocido" which means "The Unknown God" Church. The earnest Mexican pastor named it after our daily text and Mike shared that he had some reservations about the name but didn't want to interfere with the nationals. It occurred to me a name like this can create a compelling witness opportunity!
Brooksyne
holding a wiggly,
squealing piglet
last Friday
morning on the Old
Windmill Farm.
A view of
Lake Tahoe in the
distance from the
Sierra Nevada range on
US Route 50.
Click
to enlarge
Lake Tahoe
Inspiration Point over
Emerald Bay with a
view of the lake's
only island. Lake
Tahoe is the largest
alpine lake in North
America, and at
122,160,280 acre ft,
trails only the five
Great Lakes as the
largest by volume in
the United States. Its
depth is 1,645 ft,
making it the second
deepest in the United
States after Crater
Lake in Oregon (1,949
ft). It does not empty
into the ocean but
rather flows into the
Great Basin to Pyramid
Lake in Nevada where
the water evaporates.
Click
to enlarge
The office
at the Kregel Windmill
factory in Nebraska
City, NE. The owner,
Arthur Kregel, son of
the founder, worked
here into his
nineties. He left one
day in 1991 for lunch,
had a stroke and never
returned. The museum
has left the shop and
office exactly as he
left it reminding me
of Mascot
Roller Mills and
Ressler Family Home
here in Lancaster
County. See here
for a Daily
Encouragement message
we wrote titled
"Decumulation".
Traveling
through our area we
often see creative
mailboxes and posts.
This photo was taken
in a rural part of
Solano County
California between San
Francisco and
Sacramento.
Today's
Suggested
Music and
Supplemental Resources
"Unknown God"
Video
David Andrews
"Yours" Video Calvary Church worship team from yesterday's service
Calvary Church Hoang Commissioning Interview Video Peter and Sarah are a Vietnamese couple who arrived in the country as as young children refugees in the seventies having escaped Vietnam among the boat people. They are now returning to serve as missionaries seeking to make known the unknown God. Yesterday a quote was used from this interview that is very stunning to us. Peter's mother couldn't understand why he would go back when they had left for a better life. He shared this:
"Yours" Video Calvary Church worship team from yesterday's service
Calvary Church Hoang Commissioning Interview Video Peter and Sarah are a Vietnamese couple who arrived in the country as as young children refugees in the seventies having escaped Vietnam among the boat people. They are now returning to serve as missionaries seeking to make known the unknown God. Yesterday a quote was used from this interview that is very stunning to us. Peter's mother couldn't understand why he would go back when they had left for a better life. He shared this:
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Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
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