Stand up!

I've been reading through Acts the past couple of days and have really learned a lot. The book of Acts is a cool book to read but it is also a little tricky to understand. I believe the book of Acts is literally a book about doing acts and teaching the good word to as many people as possible who do not believe.

There is a section that I just read through in Acts chapter 17 that really caught my eyes and got my attention. So Paul was in Athens, and while he was there he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. He reasoned and had discussions with the synagogue and both the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of philosophers began to debate him as well. Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection, because of that, they took him and brought him to a meeting where he could get a little deeper into what he had to say.

This is where it gets really good.

Acts 17:22-31: Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an alter with this inscription: TO AN UNKOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship-and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if you needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 'For in him we live and love and have our being.' AS some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone-an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.

Why did I just share this? It is so powerful. I think that we see people every single day who are giving to much time to things of this world and who are looking for fulfillment through worldly things as well. I believe that when we see that we need to stand up and tell people all about the things that they are missing. I especially love this part: "Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else." People who live for the wrong reasons should be like..."dang...I want to live for him." I can see Paul just dropping the mic in front of all those Athenians. (If he would've been using one...those didn't exist yet) In all seriousness though, my point is this: Don't be afraid to stand up for telling people about believing in Jesus. Acts 18:9-10 says this: "Don't be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack or harm you."

~ Go change the world ~