 Okay. Good morning and welcome to today's session from the Book of Acts. Let's pray and let's begin. Abhishek, would you like to lead us in a word of prayer today? Sure, Pastor. So Holy Father, we come before Holy Prince, right on the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to study on the Book of At-Law. Lord, give us a listening ear, Lord Jesus, that we may understand and bless Pastor, give her wisdom, knowledge, understanding through her. Teach us, Lord Jesus. Lord, teach us that we may understand whatever we talk to the Lord Jesus. Thank you for this day, Lord Jesus. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Abhishek. So let's begin with a quick review of what we had been studying about in the last class. So we primarily talked about the second missionary journey of Apostle Paul. So I will try to put up the map for us. That way, it will be easier to review. Okay, there's just some issue with the scrolling of my computer. That is always the problem. Let me see. Okay, sorry about that. It's just not picking up. So let me see. Maybe during the second session, I will try and present the screen to all of us. But we saw how the journey restarted from Antioch of Syria. We said that Paul, this time around with Silas, went through the old route touching the cities that he had initially ministered at during the first missionary journey. And from there, he had a desire to move into new territory primarily with the Nia and the Asian region. But at that point, the Holy Spirit felt that it wasn't the appropriate time. Okay, now we know that maybe at that point, there was already opposition in some of the cities where he had ministered. So we don't know. Maybe there would have been people whose hearts were not prepared to receive the word of God and which is why God would have guided Paul to another place. He had a dream about a Macedonian man calling him to come and minister. And in this way, he was led to the Macedonian region. Okay, so from there we saw how there were certain cities that he visited. The most important city, a port town, which we discussed about was Philippi, where we saw that the gospel made an impact in every section of the society. There were also women who, if you look at Lydia, she went to the riverside and she was a religious person. So you could say the so-called religious people and the non-religious people. You had like the slave girl and also the jailer and his family. They also committed their lives to the Lord. So in Philippi, that's what we saw happen. And later on, we see that he goes to this place called Thessalonica. In my narration last time, I think I made a small mistake. I said Beria first and then Thessalonica, but it was Thessalonica first and then Beria. So in Thessalonica, we saw now we are at at 17 when what happened in Thessalonica is described. So we see good ministry that took place in verse four of at 17. We understand that the people were persuaded. So Paul, in his preaching, he also engaged with the people with what we call as reasoning. So he reasoned with them to actually convince them about the Lord Jesus and how he is the Messiah. So this term reasoning, we talked about that a little bit in the last class. And we said that it is preaching, but it's a convincing sort of a preaching where one is discussing about the subject very thoroughly and examining the subject with the listeners in a detailed manner so that the listeners are convinced. So in this way, there was great success in the ministry in Thessalonica and also we read about some leading women. So great multitude believed and leading women of Thessalonica also believed in the Lord Jesus. And then there is this instance of people in Thessalonica meeting in Jason's house. But there is trouble for Paul and Silas, because you find that probably just like the Philippian region, the magistrates in Thessalonica would also have felt threatened with this new teaching. And thereby there was this mob uproar and Jason was the person who bore the brunt of this opposition. So he was dragged out of his house and he was forced to pay a security. So something that they did to state that somebody was doing the wrong thing. So Jason was alleged to be this person hosting people who were, again, allegedly not good for the community or the society. So Jason had to pay a security. It's at that moment when he was actually let out. But we know that Paul and Silas travelled out from Thessalonica because it was not safe anymore. So we were at verse 10 in Acts chapter 17. And a couple of things that we do understand from other passages of scripture is that Paul rushed out of Thessalonica. So he also had many other things to actually tell the Thessalonians, build them up in the word of the Lord, which is why he later writes the very first epistle. And that is to the Thessalonians. So we have Thessalonians 1, Thessalonians 2. Why did Paul write it? Because he had to rush out of Thessalonica. But he had so much more to say. And he probably wrote this from Corinth. We're going to read about that city later as well. So then, you know, Beria, I know we kind of touched on it. But, you know, a little more in detail, I wanted to go over Beria. So, let's start at verse 10 of Acts 17. I want to request one of us to please read from verse 10 to verse 15. Act 17. Who would like to read? What's the verse? Yeah. So, Acts 17 verses 10 through 15. And I see Christopher also, you know, admitted. So Christopher, maybe you can read the next section from verse 16 to... I was just asking for the reference. Oh, okay. But you can read it. You read one portion and Christopher can read the next. 10 to 15, you can read. Acts 17, 10 through 15. Okay. At very night, the believer sent Paul and Silas to Beria. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. The people of Beria were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica. They listened eagerly to Paul's message. They searched the scripture day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. As a result, many Jews believed as in many of the prominent Greek women. But when some Jews in Thessalonica heard that Paul was preaching the word of God in Beria, they went there and stirred up trouble. The believers acted at once, sending Paul onto the coast while Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those escorting Paul went with him all the way to Athens. Then they returned to Beria with instructions for Silas and Timothy to hurry and join them. Yes. Thank you. So in Beria, we see that there is a description of the believers. The fact that they were more fair-minded and that they searched the scripture. So fair-minded has to do with a ready heart. So they were very open to the gospel, what was shared to them. So that was helpful for Paul and Silas to do their ministry. So it's basically readiness of mind. Fair-minded is readiness. So they received it very quickly. Then the other important thing about these people is that they searched the scriptures daily to understand whether these things were so. So it's amazing how they had this kind of a mindset. Because what mattered was the standard of God's word, the truth of God's word. They were not overcome by the personality of Paul. We know that he probably had a very attractive personality because he was a passionate individual. Now we will also see that Paul writes the many epistles to the churches and that he is even in the team Paul and Silas. He would have been the more eloquent one, the more learned one. Given all these facts, here are people who still search the word of God to ensure that what they are hearing is the truth. So there's a very big lesson for us from the Barians. It's not so much about the preacher anymore. It's about the truth which we are hearing. So we have to be very careful about what we absorb and what we receive, what we believe because it will eventually be what we apply in our lives. We cannot afford to apply anything which is contrary to the truth of God's word. The Barians were both ready to receive the word of God and they were also people who were cautious. And careful to examine what they were listening. Compare it with what the word actually says and then make that a part of their life. So even today we have so many preachers, so many teachings, so many perspectives of the word that are presented to us. And it's important to examine everything which is shared with us. So that is something we learn from the Barians. So there's a short, a very quick account about the Barians and then Paul, you know, Luke moves on to Athens. So again, another thing that we can see here from verse 14 is that immediately the brethren sent Paul away to go to the sea. So Paul is traveling alone. So in Athens, he is actually alone. But both Silas and Timothy remained there. Now, why isn't there a mention of Luke? Because at Troyas, we had Luke joining in. However, we see in Berea, Silas and Timothy, they stayed on. So there is this whole pastoral, apostolic kind of an approach, you know, in planting and equipping the churches. So Luke probably stayed on in Thessalonica. Though he doesn't talk about it, that is what we understand. So Luke remained in Thessalonica. He would have continued to encourage the believers and equip the believers and all that. When it comes to Berea, Paul left Silas and Timothy so that, you know, some of the foundations of what we believe would be taught to the believers, they would be strengthened. So you know how we are seeing this pattern, winning souls for the kingdom of God, making believers by speaking the gospel to them, but also equipping them in the word of God, in the work of the Spirit, so that they are established and they become disciples. Because in the Great Commission, that's what Jesus said, go into all the world and make disciples teaching them everything that I have taught you and then baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. So it's a proper work of making disciples. So notice Silas and Timothy stay on, but Paul goes to Athens. Now we will study a little bit more about the work which is done in Athens. So Christopher, would it be fine for you to please read from verse 16? You may read all the way till 34. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him and some said, what does this devil want to say? As I said, he seems to be a crema of foreign gods because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him into the esophagus saying, are you saying maybe know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what these things mean. For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. And Paul stood in the midst of eriopagus and said, men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an alter of this inscription to the unknown god. Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing him, I proclaim to you, God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. How has he worshipped men's hands as though he needed anything since it gives to all life, breath and all things. And he has made them one blood every nation of men who dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings. So they should seek the Lord in the hope that they may grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. But in him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver stone, something shaped by art and men's devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked but now commands all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. And when they heard the resurrection of the dead, some mocked while others said, we will hear you again on this matter. So four departed from among them. However, some men joined him and believed among them Dionysius, Ario Faget, a woman named Demaris and others with them. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much Christopher for reading. And I think I have been able to display the map of the second missionary journey. Are you all able to see it? Yes. Okay, great. So just to help us register what's going on, it's always good to look at the map a couple of times. So whatever I stated is here in these red lines showing the direction of the journey. And so far, you know, we've noticed that Paul has come into the Macedonian region. So, you know, the region over here is the Galatian region Galatia. And then, you know, now we have the Macedonian region where a lot of the action is. But Paul travels out from there and he comes to this place called Athens. Athens, it's said to be about 12 days by road from Berya, but it would have been, you know, for three days by sea. But, you know, somehow Paul takes the road, he travels, he comes to Athens, he's alone over here. And then we will see that he goes to the Achaean region, the Achaean region where he will spend a substantial amount of time, 18 months, roughly a year and a half in the city called as Corinth, which is a fairly large city. And so there are many important cities as far as the second missionary journey is concerned. But the point to notice that in the second missionary journey, there are some old cities, some new cities. And there is this intense approach where Paul and his team are making disciples. We say Paul and his team, we mean Silas, Timothy, Luke. And, you know, when he takes time to build up people in Corinth, we will read in the episodes, you know, many other names. So that by now we already have, you know, red names of Lydia and Jason. So a lot of new people are actually being raised up, some of whom become leaders who will work together with Paul. So in Corinth, we will also see another wonderful couple who will connect with Paul, who are Aquila and Priscilla. So Corinth is the place where he takes a lot of time in the second missionary journey, you know, building up people, believers. Later, you know, we will see that he will go to this Asian region, but it's just a touch and go. He's not really going to spend a lot of time there. So he'll go to Ephesus and then he will kind of rush, you know, to Caesarea and then to Jerusalem because he has made a vow to God and then he wants to keep that vow. So that's about the end of the second missionary journey. So this portion of his travel is more about keeping the vow than, you know, going into a new place to preach Christ. And then of course he will complete the journey by going back to Antioch of Syria. So that's again a reminder of what actually is going on in the second missionary journey. And I think the last class, I pronounce Cilicia as Sicilia. So sorry about that. It's Cilicia. Okay. So that is where Paul is actually from. Tharsis of Cilicia. So here's the map for us and you can Google the map and have a look at it yourself. And just to read today, most of what I am sharing with you is, of course, from what we can understand from the scriptures in a, you know, in a plain and a simple way. In addition to that, a couple of main commentaries. The main one, of course, I said is EnduringWord.com that you can go to and you can read from David Gozik's commentary there of the Book of Acts. So that gives us some background, which I am also reading up and I am sharing from the other resource would be a good resource is the Book of Acts. The Acts of the Apostles from APC publication, revivals, visitations and moves of God. Just sharing this so that you're not disoriented. You can also read up all of this and that will help you understand what we are discussing better. So right now we are at Athens. Okay. So Paul is alone over here and what exactly happens. So let's discuss a little bit about what is going on. Okay. Coming now to Athens from verse 16. So notice it says Paul waited for them at Athens. So he's actually waiting for these people to come. So he's there for a little bit of time and his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. So Paul, we don't know whether his intention was to quickly move through Athens and give his time to Corinth. But when he was at Athens, his spirit was provoked. These are all ways in which the Holy Spirit speaks to us. We saw that Paul had a vision and that was the communication of God. And guiding him and leading him into Macedonia. Again, there is a guidance of the spirit. What is that? The sense of feeling provoked in the spirit. So that sense would have wanted Paul to do something. He's provoked in his spirit. Why is he provoked in his spirit? Because he sees so many idols in Athens. So that shows us that the people of Athens were people of faith. They had idols because they were worshippers. Now, understanding a little bit about Athens as a city, we recognize that Athens was named after a Greek goddess known as Athena. And it is one of the oldest cities of Greece. And it was a prominent city. It was continuously inhabited for about 5,000 years. And it also is a very, you know, a city which is rich because it had philosophers growing up in it. Some of the names are Socrates, Plato, Demosthenes, Aristotle. All these people are from Athens. And this particular city, not just philosophy, but when it came to art or even science, it was a city that encouraged all of this. It housed Plato's Academy. And that, again, is a center of science, art and philosophy. So you could look at it like a city which had a prominent university that people would want to come to and learn from. So today we look at some universities, cities like Oxford and Cambridge. So comparable to cities like that. So it's a very intellectual place and other speciality of the places. As Paul noticed, there were many idols. So there were people who stated, there's a quote from one of the philosophers of the time. He said that there were more idols in Athens than there were men. So those many idols were there because people were worshippers and there was a lot of new philosophies that everyone would come up with and keep having new idols to worship. So we also noticed that there were two prominent philosophies and there is a mention, isn't it, in our scriptures here. One is Epicurean and the other is Stoic. So what are these philosophies about Epicurean? These were people who believed that pleasure in life is everything. So they thought that pleasure is the end of man and that one should pursue pleasure. So it was started, this philosophy was initiated or the person who came up with this philosophy is Epicurus. And one of his students came up with another philosophy known as Stoicism in which they believed that there are many gods and that life ends and life starts all over again. So certain kinds of thoughts that people had and they stuck to these philosophies. There's a lot more to the core beliefs of both of these philosophies but I'm just touching upon the key things, what they believe. So in Stoicism they just thought that life is just a series of or a cycle of events that sort of keeps repeating and whatever happens the gods have a meaning to why those things happen. So people as it is, they were very interested in philosophies in Athens. So it is a challenge for Paul because he's coming to a very intellectual community. How is he going to approach this community and how is he going to actually share the gospel in this community? So we also noticed here that Paul engages in sharing the gospel. So let's look now at verse 17 where we read, therefore he reads it in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshippers and in the marketplace daily with those who happen to be there. So in this intellectual place, Paul has an approach. One is to meet the religious folks. The other is to meet, they may or may not be religious but the marketplace, people in the marketplace. So one is he goes to the synagogue. That's a good place to find religious people. Both the Jewish and the Gentile worshippers, he talks to them about Jesus. The marketplace, it's also known as a Gora. In the Greek culture, the marketplace was known as a Gora. So he would go to a Gora and he would speak to the unbelieving in God or who did not know about the Jewish God. He would speak to them and minister to them. So he was trying his best to reach out to every section of the community. That was his approach. Now coming to what happened next. He encounters these Epicurean and Stoic philosophers and they actually call him a babbler. Why do they call him a babbler? Firstly, because they didn't know who Paul was. He was definitely a very learned person but he didn't show that off. The second reason is that these philosophers were very proud of their knowledge and they thought that they knew better than anybody. So their first way of assessing Paul is babbler. What does he want to say? And they recognize that he's proclaiming a foreign God which was interesting to them. So you see it's a land of philosophies anyway. So come, let's add to it. Let's find out what new philosophies this babbler has to bring. So recognizing this, they invite him to a place known as Aeropagus. Aeropagus, you can imagine with me that it was this arena. It was this arena where people would gather and speakers would show and they would share from their own philosophies and just present it to the people. Today we have this whole concept of the TED talk and all that. People come and share and others listen. So it's something like that. Aeropagus was that place in Athens where one could come and share their independent thought. So it's amazing that Paul got an opportunity to go there and introduce this foreign God. Aeropagus is also known as Mars Hill. It's also known as Mars Hill. So he goes there and people ask him, tell us what is this new doctrine that you speak of and we heard that you're bringing some strange things to our ears and we want to know what these things actually mean. So Aethanians and foreigners. So it just goes to tell us that people from the surrounding regions visited Athens because they also were interested in learning new philosophies. So they were just attracted to new things and then begins Paul's talk to these listeners from verse 22. So Paul stands up there. He talks to the men of Athens and you see the way Paul presents his message, we have to notice this everywhere. Paul and his team, they try their best not to give offence to anyone. They contextualize their message as much as possible. They try to be as law abiding as they could possibly be. So they are very respectful of every culture. So they come here to Athens and over there, we see that Paul goes from what they already know. So he brings up this thing that I saw an alter and the inscription said it is to the unknown God. To the unknown God. So let me tell you more about this God that you don't know about. So he is contextualizing it and starting from things that they are aware of and taking them to a place where he introduces the Lord Jesus and the God that he is actually preaching. So then he begins to describe this God, the unknown God and he says that he's a creator. I'm at verse 24 where he says God who made the world and everything in it since he's the Lord of heaven and earth does not dwell in temples made with hands. So basically he's describing Christ and the Trinitarian God but he brings it in a way that they can understand and then you will notice after he describes God as a creator and the fact that we are created beings. So maybe he was also pointing to the fact that they were creating all these idols but there is a God who has been created who cannot be confined to man's creation. So he was trying to get across that point and he also brings it later on we see that he will say as some of your poets have said. So again in a contextualized manner he says some of your poets have said in verse 28 he end of that he says for we are also his offspring and so he points out that God is a creator and here we are his children and we must not forget that he's a great God that there's going to be judgment and righteousness is important and all of this and why he is talking about it he comes to a place where he's talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So he introduces the Lord Jesus and he begins to talk about the resurrection. So verse 31 he says because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man so that's how he's introducing Jesus by the man who he has ordained who is Jesus Christ. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. So there is that reference to resurrection in what Paul is stating about the Lord Jesus and at that point some of the listeners were not interested anymore because they found resurrection not very impressive and maybe not very acceptable. So they start mocking Paul and they just dismiss his talk and they say okay we will hear you again on this matter at another time. So Paul went from there but at least he got an opportunity to share Christ with these intellectual people and what is the effect of that? We love that God is always faithful. There will be naysayers, there will be people who will not listen to the gospel but there were people whose hearts were open and they believed what Paul was sharing with them. So verse 34 gives us a few names it says however some men joined him and believed among them Dionysius the areopagite a woman named Damaris and others with them. So you see an intellectual person Dionysius an areopagite. So he is from this whole culture and this whole region of reasoning new philosophies he puts his faith in Jesus. There is a lady called Damaris who also believes in Jesus and others with them. Whenever the Bible says others with them there could be so many other names which we don't know but there were other believers here in Athens. So let's now move on we move on to Acts chapter 18 but before that any thoughts any comments about what we are doing so far. So now we will see Paul go to Corinth and a lot of good ministry will happen there. So any thoughts? Yes Kennedy. What I just wanted to inquire what influenced the culture of this people in the Siberia so a normal people or the people what was the cause of the incident actually? Okay Kennedy sorry I cannot hear you clearly. It's not clear. What influenced the culture of this people this is called Beria. What made the people who are listening what was the reason behind the Liberia? Okay frankly I haven't studied too much about the people of Beria so I don't know. If there is anyone else you know a little bit more about Beria could you share with us. We know their attitude but I don't know why they had this attitude. Sorry what else you question I couldn't hear it properly. Okay so I think what Kennedy go ahead Kennedy you can state it. What made what was the influence that made them be normal people of Beria because the people who are understanding what was the reason what was the culture behind that. So Kennedy is asking why were the people of Beria the way they were bare-minded searching the scriptures. So why did they have this good attitude? Anyone? These are all Jews I believe because they were searching the scriptures probably he was speaking to Jewish community and why they were doing it we have no idea probably they are interested. First also I would like to know that is Beria and will it be present in which country? Exactly. Yes thank you Vada Vanohar. I think he gave us a good answer there where he said they were interested first of all they were Jews so they had they had this habit of studying the scriptures and the habit is one thing the second thing that we noticed is that they were interested so whenever there is an interest we can expect people to actually search the scriptures so that is probably the answer now what was what external factors were there I have no idea but I think that's quite a satisfactory answer there. Now coming to the question where Vada Vanohar asked you know the current places so the Asian region Vada Vanohar that we saw where your episodes and all those places that was known as Asia Minor some years ago but presently it is Turkey presently it is Turkey and the other places through which he went through Thessalonica, Philippi and all those places that is Greece so present day Greece is what we are talking about Philippi, Thessalonica, Berya, Athens you know Covent so it's all present day Greece. The entire region comes under Greece now. Yeah Greece so you see how when Paul actually wanted to go to Asia he had the desire to minister in the same continent but God gave him a dream to go to Macedonia which is actually another continent Paul would not have understood all that right so we know like today for us what happened was the dream or dream of vision it took Paul from the Asian continent to the European continent okay so that is how this ministry actually began to happen yeah so I hope that helps Vada Vanohar Yes Christopher you wanted to say something Yes I just wanted to add something I am not sure if I understood it clearly in Acts 17 I mean my view on the people in Berya was that they were they were easily swayed or they were open to to what other people were saying because in verse 13 they say that it mentions that but when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by people in Berya they came there also and stirred up the crowds so that in itself that means that I am not sure if that was something that kind of made the crowds sort of changed their religious to hear what Paul was saying and there was a negative aspect to the way the Jews from Thessalonica stirred up the crowds because the next verse immediately says that means that the residents didn't fall away so I mean my view on this is that they were fair minded but they were also easily swayed Yeah I think that does make sense Christopher so readiness and openness it can have they were open to everything which would have been helpful but at the same time which could have been dangerous but thank God I see another aspect there where readiness is talked about with daily searching the scriptures so hopefully these people were not they knew how to filter out the wrong doctrines so alright let's stop here we could take a break come back in 10 minutes and then pick up from Acts chapter 80 thank you