Good morning. Notice
Paul’s approach as he talks to these philosophers. He does not scold them like
some Christians would. He uses the very things that agitated himself – their
idols. Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.
For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I
also found an altar with this inscription, “to an unknown God“ (they wanted to
make sure they did not leave out any god and make him angry). Therefore what
you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. He uses this to segue into a
proclamation of the gospel. He even uses a parallel to what one of their poets
had written. Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the
divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and
thought of man. So he is condemning the idols without condemning the people. He
is appealing to their logic. Having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is
now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has
fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man
whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from
the dead. My Bible says that immortality of the soul was accepted by the
Greeks, but not the resurrection of a dead body. Of course some rejected his
statement, but others wanted to hear more about it. Father thank You that You
care about all people, even those whom we might deem unreachable. Help us to
have the right words and attitude when we deal with them; so that they might
come into Your kingdom.
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God
Good morning. While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men. Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. It doesn’t say, but I assume it is still during this time of the Passover. This man came to Jesus by night. Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do the signs that You do unless God is with him. It just said that the people believed in His name because of the signs He was doing; yet it does not say what those signs were. Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. That is why unbelievers cannot tell what is of the kingdom of God and what is not – they’re not born again. Nicodemus doesn’t have a clue. How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he? Unless one is born of water and the Spirit ...
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