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Brent Karding
servant of Jesus / husband / dad / preacher / musician / teacher @ Biblearc
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Christ rejected and accepted
Luke 23:39-43
Jesus is sovereign over the natural and spiritual realm
Matthew 9:1-8
Faith leads to speaking.
2 Corinthians 4:13-15
A humble birth and great glory to God
Luke 2:1-21
Because God is uniquely faithful, he will remove our sins.
Micah 7:18-20
Phrasing Narrative and Teaching
Mark 11:12-25
Christ's Supremacy Described and Grounded
Colossians 1:15-17
Christ's Resurrection and Ours
1 Corinthians 15:20-28
God's Furious Punishment
Romans 1:18-25
God will surely set up an indestructible, everlasting kingdom.
Daniel 2:31-45
Just like Adam's sin led to death for all people, so Jesus' obedience led to life for all people.
Romans 5:12-21
To apply this text, think through the Concessive, the Negative, and the Ground (v. 7-9), asking where those things are true of you.
1 Kings 14:1-18
Remember the happiness of the Word-delighting, and the misery of the only other option.
Psalms 1
In every difficulty, cry to God, your trustworthy Savior.
Psalms 42:1-43:5
Jesus, the Father's Spirit-filled Son, inaugurated God's kingdom.
Mark 1:1-15
Paul describes how men and women should act in church, based on their specific roles.
1 Timothy 2:8-15
Dedicate yourself to the local church for the eternal glory of Christ.
Haggai 2:20-23
The gospel call to repentance gives light to people in darkness.
Matthew 4:12-17
God has given the local church the responsibility to judge its members.
1 Corinthians 5
The eternal state will immediately follow Christ's return and our bodily resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:20-28
When Jesus next returns, he will destroy death.
1 Corinthians 15:50-58
At the day of the Lord, believers will be saved and unbelievers will be destroyed.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-10
Our certain gospel hope of resurrection should encourage us.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
This passage reveals the fact of and the reason behind God's anger.
Romans 1:18-23
The kind of faith that saves is a faith that is characterized by works.
James 2:14-26
Only those who look to Jesus for spiritual wealth, righteousness, and guidance will sit with him on his throne.
Revelation 3:14-22
Jesus promises eternal life to those who overcome; therefore, cling to the gospel and preach it to others.
Revelation 3:7-13
Those who treasure the gospel and live it out today will enjoy intimacy with Jesus now and forever.
Revelation 3:1-6
Hold tightly to holy living that flows from the gospel.
Revelation 2:18-29
God calls us to boast only in the cross, through which we participate in the New Creation.
Galatians 1:1-6:18
Jesus will destroy His enemies and give eternal life to His people; therefore, the church must not tolerate sin in its midst.
Revelation 2:12-17
It is vital to boast only in Jesus' cross.
Galatians 6:10-18
Those who are fearless in the face of death will receive life from the Victor over death.
Revelation 2:8-11
True spirituality is seen in bearing other people's burdens.
Galatians 6:1-10
You are nothing without love.
Revelation 2:1-7
Serve each other in love through the leading of the life-giving, flesh-opposing Spirit.
Galatians 5:13-26
Jesus is a king and priest who is present with His church in judgment and salvation.
Revelation 1:9-20
Only those who rest on Christ alone for justification will receive eternal righteousness.
Galatians 5:2-12
Obey this urgent revelation so you will be blessed, and rest in the sovereignty of your Saviour.
Revelation 1:1-8
God redeems Naomi - and all Israel - through the son of Boaz and Ruth.
Ruth 4:13-22
Believers must stand firm in the freedom of being God's children through faith alone in his promise.
Galatians 4:21-31
Boaz generously and sacrificially redeems Elimelech's and Mahlon's family.
Ruth 4:1-12
Paul's proven trustworthiness and godly motives should have led the Galatians to trust him, not reject him.
Galatians 4:12-20
Boaz acted with generosity again, and Ruth waited for redemption.
Ruth 3:14-18
In Christ we are God's fully adult sons and heirs.
Galatians 4:1-11
Boaz commits himself to redeem Ruth.
Ruth 3:1-13
All of God's children enjoy his covenant and promised salvation through faith in Christ.
Galatians 3:15-29
Ruth and Naomi encounter the generosity of Boaz.
Ruth 2:14-23
Gentiles are declared righteous, become the true Israel, and receive the blessing and the Spirit by faith alone.
Galatians 3:1-14
God guided Ruth to the field of a man who showed undeserved favor to her.
Ruth 2:1-13
Justification by faith, not by works, alone glorifies God's grace and accomplishes the purpose of Christ's death.
Galatians 2:11-21
Ruth committed herself to Naomi and to her God.
Ruth 1:15-22
From the beginning of church history, there has been only one true gospel.
Galatians 2:1-10
The biblical gospel is demonstrably given by Jesus.
Galatians 1:11-24
Naomi was left alone in a foreign land, suffering judgment.
Ruth 1:1-5
A bitter Naomi plans to return to her homeland, and convince her daughters-in-law not to.
Ruth 1:6-14
Reject the perverted gospel and embrace the God-accomplished and God-taught gospel.
Galatians 1:1-10
It is right for God to show mercy on whomever he desires to show mercy - and we should praise him for this!
Jonah 1:1-4:11
God is right to show mercy on whomever he chooses.
Jonah 4:1-11
God cares about Gentiles.
Jonah 3:1-10
The Lord saved Jonah because he prayed to him.
Jonah 2:1-10
Jesus' death and resurrection created Gentile worshippers.
Jonah 1:1-17
Because God is holding tightly to you, hold tightly to his Word.
2 Thessalonians 1-3
We pray for you to experience God's grace and peace.
2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
Paul gives two final commands in the main body of this letter: pray and stay away.
2 Thessalonians 3:1-15
How God's sovereignty motivates our perseverance
2 Thessalonians 2:1-17
You were dead, but God made you alive in Christ; therefore, remember that God has brought you near to him and made you part of his temple.
Ephesians 2:1-10
God is holding tightly to you.
2 Thessalonians 1:3-12
The path to eternal happiness isn't what you think: it requires joyful endurance of trials and humble obedience to God's Word.
James 1
Choose the way of life that God delights in, a Christlike life of compassion and purity, for this is the pathway to Heaven.
James 1:26-27
view all (71 total)
Witnessing to Pagans
Acts 17:22-31
God commands you to turn from idols to the true God.
#sin
#God
Published April 10th, 2021
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Main point summary
Final Arc
Notes
notes
Main point summary
The truth about God and man leads to the necessity of true worship, while sinful people worship false gods instead. Therefore, they need to turn from idols to the true God.
Final Arc
NT
Acts 17:22-31
esv
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,
series
I found also an altar with this inscription,
p ‘To the unknown god.’
ideaexplanation
temporal
ground
p What therefore you worship q as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
inference
r The God who made the world and everything in it... does not live in temples made by man,
...being Lord of heaven and earth...
nor is he served by human hands,
u as though he needed anything,
since he himself v gives to all mankind w life and breath and everything.
And x he made from one man every nation of mankind
to live y on all the face of the earth,
actionpurpose
z having determined allotted periods and a the boundaries of their dwelling place,
b that they should seek God,
c and perhaps feel their way toward him
and find him.
progression
d Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
for e “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; 1
as even some of f your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 2
concessive
actionmanner
g Being then God’s offspring, h 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.
i The times of ignorance j God overlooked,
but k now he l commands all people everywhere to repent,
because he has fixed m a day on which n he will judge the world
o in righteousness
by a man whom he has appointed;
and p of this he has given assurance to all q by raising him from the dead.”
negativepositive
Because you are religious but ignorant, I will proclaim the true God to you.
As the Creator and Sustainer of mankind, God can't be contained or served.
Mankind is the offspring of God.
Therefore, we ought not to think that God is like people, but repent and thus avoid Christ's judgment.
God is the Creator and mankind is his offspring; therefore, they should repent of their idolatry.
discourse
Notes
Notes for FB Live (March 19/21): DETAILS Paul doesn't just proclaim the nature of God, but also the nature of man. And not only does he proclaim these truths, but he also shows their implications: a call to repent of idolatry. Even though Paul just says "repent," and doesn't say of what in verse 30, the context is clear: you have many "objects of ... worship" (23b), not including the true God, who doesn't live in man-made temples (24-25), and who isn't "gold or silver or stone" (29). So the Athenians thought wrongly about God, and needed to repent. The main point is in 24-25 and 26-31. Here's the Main Point Summary: the truth about God and man leads to the necessity of true worship, while sinful people worship false gods instead. Therefore, they need to turn from idols to the truth God. (See 1 Thess 1:9). APPLICATION We can apply this verse to Gentile unbelievers, like Paul's audience: turn from idol worship to the true God. We can also apply this verse cautiously to our witness. I say "cautiously" because this presentation is very different from Paul's other presentations. He doesn't use the OT, and he is preaching to a unique group (pagan philosophers), and because of a different impetus (being asked what his new teaching was about, rather than preaching at a synagogue of his own volition). I just want to make one careful application to our witness: When confronting a pagan culture, we can make two complementary approaches: 1) Appropriate truth they already believe, and 2) confront lies they believe. Notice how Paul uses Greek poets for support in 28a and c! And they don't even follow this, as they ought to! They still worship idols! But he also talks about the coming judgment, righteousness, and Jesus' resurrection, which was foolishness to them (v. 32). He calls them jarringly to repentance. We must never accommodate sinful ideas of a culture to schmooze up to them and make them accept the gospel. Paul never did this. But he was willing to use the light people had to show them the light of the gospel. What's a modern example of this?
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Disclaimer: The opinions and conclusions expressed on this page are those of the author and may or may not accord with the positions of Biblearc or Bethlehem College & Seminary.