Thursday, September 5, 2024
So Paul, standing before the council of the city Athens, addressed them as follows: "Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: 'To an Unknown God.' This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I'm telling you about.
"He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man-made temples, and human hands can't serve his needs — for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries."
* Compare, for example, Acts 13:14-43 and Acts 17:2-4 (Jewish audiences) with Acts 14:8-18 and Acts 17:22-31 (Gentile audiences). As Luke made clear in Philip's approach with the Ethiopian "of great authority" in Acts 8:26-35, he began with where his audience was!
** See the Related Scripture Readings.
O Father, thank you for everyone who tries to share Jesus with others. We ask, dear Father, for the Holy Spirit to help so that our preparation and study of cultural understandings are effective and to help us follow the early evangelists' example of sharing Jesus in culturally understandable ways without sacrificing the core message of the Good News. We cannot do this without the promised help of the Holy Spirit. We ask for this grace in the name of Jesus, the one whose story we want to share. Amen.
Unstoppable! is a one-year devotional guide through the book of Acts. Each devotional consists of a scripture passage, a reflection and a prayer. The reflection opens up the day's scripture and shows how it challenges one to live for Jesus.
Unstoppable! is written by Phil Ware.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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