A Life Well Lived Acts 17:22-34

The Urgency of a Life Well Lived

Good morning. As I was working on this sermon this past couple of weeks, I know this past week, it's definitely been hitting me hard, just knowing that this is a message that I feel the enemy definitely doesn't want to be heard, but God wants all of us to hear.

And as I share this message, I know it's just as much for me as it is as I'm sharing it to all of you. Titled, Life Well Lived. And I guarantee you it's not what the world tells us it is. And we'll be reading from Acts 17, 22 through 34 for the Masonry.

There's a timeless tale, a fictitious story of strategy and urgency set within the confines of Satan's boardroom. The evil one, being the cunning mastermind of malice, gathered his senior advisors together for a meeting and posed to them a tactical question that echoed through hell's infernal chambers.

By what means might we bring about maximum despair, chaos, and destruction among earth's inhabitants? Satan asked. In response, one of Satan's most shadowy advisors suggested, O great lord of darkness and destruction, let us tell them that there is no heaven.

But the devil quickly dismissed that suggestion as antiquated and no longer potent enough to deliver the best results. People nowadays largely believe in heaven. It brings them solace and comfort, particularly in times of grief, loss, or adversity.

The idea of reuniting with loved ones or experiencing eternal peace offers them hope and a sense of reassurance, responded the devil. Furthermore, it elevates their fear of death and is interwoven with the universe's requirement for justice and right living.

The need for believing in heaven is at the core of humanity's being. They need to know that they are more than flesh and blood. You fool! Can't you see most of them would never embrace such an inconvenient lie?

Then a second demonic advisor sheepishly spoke up and said, O great lord of sinister intent and havoc, let us tell them that there is no hell. But neither did this ignite Satan's interest. With a tone of ambivalence, the devil replied, You know most people never give a thought to the prospect of going to hell at the end of their lives.

If even for a short while, we should cause them to seriously think about the possibility of spending eternity in hell, it will more likely do damage to our efforts than benefit. You imp of ignorance, don't you understand that we don't want them to earnestly think about it?

Let the masses march thoughtlessly to the pit as they already do. Finally, a third demon stepped forward with a proposition dripping with deception. O master of maleficence and malignancy, let us work to convince them that there is no need to hasten.

No rush about life's important questions. At this, Satan's fiery eyes gleamed with diabolical delight. Yes, yes, yes, he cried. It is a brilliant strategy, perhaps the greatest and most effective I've heard.

Every day we shall lull them into complacency, whispering to them that they have plenty of time to decide and act on life's most crucial matters. Take your time, we will tell them. There is no hurry. Paul was someone that knew the urgency and importance of preaching the gospel, the truth, no matter where he was.

Paul at the Areopagus and the Unknown God

In Acts 17, 22 -34 we are told, So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God.

What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything.

Since he himself gives to mankind life and breath and everything, and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being. As even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring. Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, we will hear you again about this. So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysus, the Areopagite, and a woman named Demarius, and others with them.

What We Worship Reveals Our Hearts

Here is the big idea. Realize the life we live out reveals what our hearts are about. Four factors how. By, number one, displaying what we worship. Verses 22 and 23. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious, for as I have passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God, what therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

I don't know about you, but as I was reminded of this, as far as how easy it is for others to see what we worship or what we value, I was reminded about a good friend years ago that I grew up with. As I graduated from college, he always said, Doug, I know you for these three things.

I had a 1998 Jeep Wrangler Sahara, I had a Bowflex, and I had a big old 46-inch screen TV that needed, it was so big and bulky, not like the ones today, and you needed at least two people to move it around.

But those were the three things, he said, I was known for by him. Even though I didn't realize it, I didn't think I worshipped those things, it stood out to him. People see what's important to us, and they know it, real easy, easier than we could probably even find it for ourselves.

In Acts 17, 16, it tells us that Paul started this preaching because his spirit was provoked. How many of us have a hard time saying something when our spirit is provoked? We can't keep quiet about it.

It could be good or bad. I know in Jeremiah 20, verse 9, I found myself having this, and I can't help but think this is what Paul is feeling too, where Jeremiah 20, verse 9 says, If I say I will not mention him or speak any more in his name, there is in my heart, as it were, a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am wearying with holding it in, and I cannot.

Like I said, it is pretty easy to see what others are worshipping in the world today and what things they idolize. And if we're truthful, we probably judge them in a sense in saying, why are these people worshipping this?

Why are they looking at this? But how much are we actually realizing how much we're worshipping and idolizing other things as well? As I'm reminded of the words of Jesus in Matthew 7 .5 where he says, You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

The Athenians, as we're reading about, were supernaturalists. They believed in supernatural powers that intervened in the course of natural laws. They worshipped their gods out of a sense of fear. They built idols to show the gods that they feared and honored them.

Do we realize what we worship is a reflection of what we believe? And not only that, what we believe will impact what we worship and fear as well. I'm reminded of this time here where what we worship, as far as just coming across this article, talking about Americans, what Americans worship.

And I find it interesting. We can all see what Americans are worshipping right now. Throughout as we see, we see the sports world. We see movies, actors, actresses. One of the things I find is kind of creepy that's coming in is AI.

Artificial intelligence. How there's actually a church out there that worships AI. And if you really want to dig into it, there's actually an AI Jesus that people are worshipping and following and listening to and going to advice on.

And so, coming across, I came across this article that was talking about what Americans believe in. And I can't help but think it's a reflection of where we're seeing the world be in America. It said, Americans believe in aliens.

56 .9 of Americans believe in aliens. 61 .4 believe in ghosts. I'm here to tell you, I believe in both of those too, but I'm convinced they're demons. 100%. And the devil, 70 .3 believe in the devil.

Amazingly, 80 .3 say they believe Jesus is God. Or that Jesus is son of God. That sounds great, but that's actually very deceptive. Because there's religions out there that will say Jesus is a son of God, but he is not God.

I'm sure most of you have heard of some of the big ones. Mormonism, which is also known as the Church of Latter-day Saints. They believe this. Jehovah Witnesses believe this. How many of you have been approached by Jehovah Witnesses knocking on your door?

Christian Science, Oneness Pentecostals, Unification Church, Unity School of Christianity, and Scientology. I know one of the ones I remember never really hearing much about Scientology until there was a certain actor.

And I'm sure you can all, as I'm seeing heads shake in you, maybe that was how you became involved, knowing about Scientology too. They believe a false god. They truly don't believe in who Jesus is, yet they're very deceptive in saying they do believe Jesus is the son of God, but that he's not God.

We are told in Exodus 20, verse 3, to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. One of the other things from this article that stood out to me too was it said only 50 believe that God is male, or that we should use male genders of Americans in this poll.

Genesis 1 .27 makes it very clear, the very foundation of God's word. If you can attack and undermine the foundation of God's word, guess what we can do with all of it. This is what Genesis 1 .27 says.

So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Do we have to ask why the creation account is so vital and important to believing God's word?

One thing I found very disheartening and interesting in the world today is that even in the churches, Christianity, there's lots of people that say they believe God, believe Jesus and all that other stuff, yet they don't believe in the biblical account of creation.

Is it any wonder we're seeing them say they believe in the Bible, but they're not believing all of it? There's a direct correlation to this. So number one is displaying what we worship. Number two, showing that we need to depend on him.

Creation, Dependence, and the Foundation of God’s Word

Verses 24 through 28 say, The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

Yet he is not actually far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring. Again, this whole creation account.

I read that when Paul preached to unbelievers, he used the creation. He started with creation. When he preached to believers, he would dig into the Old Testament. But for the unbelievers, he would dig into creation, right from the very foundation.

And that's where I find it disheartening to see that divide in the church. I remember a buddy I grew up with that was a classmate of mine. I remember visiting him a few years back. I thought he was a Christian.

I knew he went to church. But he was telling me how he was starting to really question and doubt the biblical account of creation. And I found it disheartening to see this. But then it wasn't a surprise either, because then he was able to give a reason why he believed in some of the other things that the Bible doesn't acknowledge as being okay, like a certain lifestyle that he was pushing and promoting.

And so the correlation to tying the very foundation of God's Word, if that comes attacked and we start to doubt that, we can doubt everything else about it. And this is where I'm going with this as far as the whole...

Paul actually talks about division in the church. In 1 Corinthians 11, 18 -19, he makes it very clear, and I can't help but think that this is exactly where we are today, in the church. He says, For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I believe it in part.

For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. It will be clear to know who his is, and he's making it very clear too as things are playing out, being recognized.

Anybody who opens the Word of God and the Bible can clearly see who is believing in his Word and who is not. It's clear to see. Are we making sure that we are in that? So if we doubt that we have been created, as the Bible clearly tells us through his words, we won't believe that the Word is the ultimate authority in the purpose of our life.

If we doubt Genesis 1, we will also doubt the truth of God's Word, and we will never be bold in sharing his Word as that doubt creeps in. Paul had this, and God is looking for us to have this as well.

Psalms 14, 2 says,. The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. Do we truly believe that finding God is really the only thing that matters?

The words of Jesus in John 3, 16 -21, he says,. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light. Least his work should be exposed, but whoever does what is true comes to the light so it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

So a question for all of us is, if we're claiming and professing to be followers of Christ, does our life show others the power of his light shining over the darkness? So again, number one, displaying what we worship.

The True Savior Who Will Judge the World

Number two, showing that we need to depend on him. Number three, believing the true Savior. Verses 29 -31. Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

As we were reminded last Sunday, being Easter Sunday, that Jesus is risen. He is no longer dead. The question I find myself asking as I'm self-reflecting on this is, how much do I, how much do we truly believe this is true?

And are we acting like it? The Bible tells us that Jesus freely gave his life up for us. John 10 -18, he says, No one takes it from me. I lay it down on my own accord. In Romans 5 -8, it says, God shows his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So hopefully we all see and understand and know that God has love for us. But how much do we truly know that the Bible also tells us Jesus will judge us? Matthew 7, 21 -23 says, Jesus says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. I find it, again, disheartening as I'm seeing how many Christians aren't living like we should be concerned about Jesus judging us. And if I'm honest with myself, it concerns me more than I would care to admit that I don't live according to this truth either.

Even though I know I struggle and fail at this, it is still one of those moments, I feel like, just like Jeremiah 20 -9, that I can't contain. I feel like it's a topic that boils up that I've got to get out.

A few years ago, I was told by the youth pastor at a church I belong to that people don't want to be reminded of their wrongs. They want to be told about the good things. If we aren't reminded of our wrongs, we will never truly realize what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Again, Hebrews 10, 26 -27 says,. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

This same youth pastor, at this time a few years ago, was concerned that the youth who came to our youth group, who identified as the opposite sex of their birth, might feel uncomfortable using the proper gender bathrooms in our church.

Just a question that was hitting me, and I felt like I had to address it. Why would anyone feel that Jesus would ever judge us if the church were in so lovingly accepted a sinful lifestyle to be okay?

And again, Jesus in Matthew 18, 5 -7 says,. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes. And as many of you know, or maybe you don't know, I just kind of found this out too, last Easter Sunday, our president decided to make it a special day.

And that should show us right here where this attack on our youth, on our kids, is very much demonic as far as attacking who they are and what they are. And Jesus' word right here makes it very clear.

Woe to them. So are we fearfully making sure we are not partaking and we are not being part of this? Loving them, yes, but not encouraging them to continue on and say it's okay. So another issue, topic, that's kind of come to my mind here lately is I'm not sure how many of you have been hearing about the talk of revival.

Any of you have been hearing about that? There's revival coming. Big revival. I found it interesting. I was hearing that back in 2016. Many of you remember that too? Revival. But what happened when a certain someone didn't get into office like they said or like they were predicting?

Did revival happen? Again, some of these same people are saying revival is going to happen this time. They're talking about revival.

Revival.

But they're putting their hope in a man to bring revival, and it's not Jesus. Where is our hope for revival? If we're truly going to be having a revival, we can't put it in any man. And we have to understand what revival actually is.

Digging into this too, how many of you realize that revival is not a New Testament word? It's not. What's the point of revival? Reviving something is something that is dead. Totally dead. So if we're talking about believers being revived, it's not what Jesus is talking about.

It's not what His Word is talking about. We need to become awake to the times. Be ready. And so digging into that too with revival, I also, pardon me here, if you want to know, I also am a firm believer, pardon me here as I know I'm coming off a night's sleep.

Not much of a night's sleep. I work late into the night. But with the notes here, I am a firm believer that the birth pains have begun. If you want to know what I mean by birth pains, read Matthew 24, verses 3 -8.

If these birth pains have truly begun, there is no revival coming. Look at Matthew 24, verses 9 -13 as well. I recently read an article too by Amir Safari from March 24th, and it was titled The Rapid Practice of Mocking the Rapture Should Remind Us that Time is Running Out.

This was the paragraph that stuck with me from his article. There are signs within the church that things are wrapping up and sadly, they are negative. The Bible does not say there will be a huge revival or global great awakening prior to the rapture.

As a matter of fact, it says the opposite will take place. He then quoted 2 Timothy 4, 3 -4 and 2 Peter 3, 3 -4 to show what he's talking about. Do we know who the true Savior is? And are we believing in Him?

Responses to the Resurrection and the Hope of the Rapture

So number 1, displaying what we worship. Number 2, showing that we need to depend on Him. Number 3, believing in the true Savior. And number 4, revealing how we respond to God's word. Verses 32 -34. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, we will hear you again about this.

So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysus, the Aropagite, and a woman named Amarius, and others with them. Did we catch how there were three responses from people after Paul shared this message?

The first was mocking. Jesus makes it very clear that all men will hate you. We will be mocked if we are truly His. The second one was, people said, interest to hear more. We will hear you again about this.

And the third one, they joined and believed. And I found it interesting too that Dionysus and Amarius, I think this is the only time they were mentioned. They were obviously prominent people in Athens.

And they became influenced and impacted by what they heard Paul say there. And through that, they had people that followed them or were under them that believed basically because of Dionysus and Amarius.

Are we realizing that who we share with, when we share God's Word, God will go forth and do it. And it's so vitally important. Let's not be afraid to share it with prominent people. Let's not be afraid to share it with anyone.

God is at work, and who knows if they believe. And what they'll follow, how they'll follow after. So their joining and believing Paul caused others to do the same. The resurrection of the dead, mentioned in verse 32, is the rapture.

1 Thessalonians 4, 15 -18 says this, For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry, a command with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. And I know as I've talked with other people about it and as I've followed this, there's a lot of confusion as far as between the rapture and the second coming.

One of those things I can see is differences. In Revelation 1 -7, it says, Every eye will see, which is totally different from what we were told in Luke 17, 20 -37. If you read that, as it says, As the days of Noah, as the days of Lot, it's very clear that not everyone was seeing what was actually taking place.

It wasn't a verbal seeing sort of thing, visual seeing. If we have to go through the Great Tribulation, there will be no encouragement for the saved. How is that an encouragement for the saved if we have to go through this tribulation?

And some of us right now, as we've heard stories, we are going through tribulations, we are going through hardships. But the Great Tribulation that's coming, that the Bible flat out says is coming, is God's wrath being poured out on those who have rejected.

And so you can see this in Matthew 24, 15 -21, as well as Revelation 3, 2 -3, where Jesus says in 3, 2 -3, Remember what you have heard, repent and obey it. But if you do not remember, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I come.

And then he goes on to say, since you have been obedient to my word, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming upon the whole earth. Those are the words of Jesus in Revelation. The man of lawlessness and the great deception can't take place until after the rapture.

Look at 2 Thessalonians 2, 1 -12, because that's where Paul is talking about that to the people as they are crying out to him, being like, we've missed it. They've been deceived in thinking they missed the rapture.

And Paul clearly tells them, being like, do you see the man of lawlessness here yet? He's not here. So you haven't missed it. And so anybody who knows me, I know classmates, people that I know, they know that this has been a subject on my mind for some time, and I can't help but think, as I read through this, as far as we've been placed for such a time, allotted, everything, for the sole purpose of coming to know God and groping to find Him, I couldn't control who my grandpa was.

But one thing about my grandpa that's always stood out to me, he always talked about how soon and close he thought the rapture was going to be. That had a huge impact on me in more ways than I ever knew.

And I know it's caused me to be vocal about that too and trying to let people know, Jesus is coming soon. The world is not like, I've heard someone say, the world is not falling apart, it's falling in place.

And are we ready for what's coming? God wants us to find Him. He wants us to know Him. He does not want this to come on to us like it did to the people in the days of Noah, like it did to the people in the days of Lot.

He wants us to be right and ready so we don't have to go through what the world is about to face. I found this to be interesting too. That before Israel became a nation, prophetically, on May 15, 1948, the first widely publicized UFO sighting was 1947.

Is it just coincidence that more and more UFO sightings have taken place over these years? We're to a point now where I'm sure if you're following the news, even the politicians and high-ranking men in service are acknowledging that this stuff is real.

They're no longer saying it's tinfoil hat stuff. Why is that? Could this be a part of the deception trying to get people to buy into it and believe it before the rapture? I remember I was convinced of this ever since I was in college.

I was convinced that was what was going to explain away the rapture was these UFOs and aliens. And as we're watching it play out, I'm convinced that much more, that this will be what they will use to explain away the rapture.

There are actually videos out there from a few years back of New Agers that have been channeled. They've had another being come into them. Any of you seen that sort of stuff out there? It's out there where these people were being channeled by people from another, like one was from Mars.

They're from out there in these other galaxies. And you know what they were speaking through these New Agers? They were saying how there will be coming a time in the future where there's going to be a lot of people disappearing, being taken from this Earth.

Why would they be saying something like this and talking about this? And yet, who are the people that are being mocked today? That's the question. Are those the people that are being mocked? Or is it those who are saying, Jesus is coming soon to take us home?

Again, why would this explanation be necessary if the whole world is going to see Jesus take his bride home? There would be no need for an explanation. There would be no need to reason it away some other way.

And if you're interested in checking more on this, I would say Billy Crone. He has a ministry, Get a Life. He does really well in explaining this from a biblical salvation saving message. Look into him.

And so the question is, are we joining and believing in the message of the resurrection of the dead that Paul preached about in Acts 1731? A life well lived is not what the world tells us it is. A life well lived is not even what the church necessarily tells us it is.

A life well lived is us finding God, knowing God through the hardship and the struggles we've gone through and having total faith in him. So in the end, when we see him face to face, he can say, well done, good and faithful servant.

If you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I encourage you, do not leave here until you have. And it's the ABCs. Admit you are a sinner. Believe in Jesus with all your heart. Confess and choose to follow him and submit to him.

Time is running out. Let me pray. Heavenly Father, I do thank you so much for your word and for your message and for the truth of your word and for the peace and assurance we can have in knowing that you love and care for us and that you do want us to be right and ready for the days that are coming ahead.

Help us to see the urgency of sharing the message that Paul was sharing and that we would just continue to follow you and be about sharing your message no matter who we're in contact with or where we are, but it would be a fire in our bones that we can't contain, that we must get out.

And that in doing so, we might be used by you to bring others to your saving grace and your saving message. I pray this in your mighty name, Lord.

Amen.