Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - Acts 16-21 Part 1 • Dr. Susan Easton Black • July 24 - July 30

Episode Date: July 19, 2023

How do we stay humble as well as be bold when proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ? Dr. Susan Easton Black examines the four missions of Paul and how the Spirit aids in the growth of the Church.00:00 Part 1–Dr. Susan Easton Black00:35 Introduction of Dr. Susan Easton Black03:30 Background to Paul08:51 Paul and Timothy11:47 Paul heads to Macedonia and meets Lydia14:50 Paul preaches with the Spirit15:32 Lydia and a “damsel”17:53 Paul and Silas imprisoned21:09 Evil cannot testify24:16 Elder Uchtdorf shares missionary story27:18 Paul travels to Thessalonica30:03 Paul visits synagogues first in each city31:45 Paul preaches on Mars Hill35:09 Paul preaches out of Psalms37:05 We are the offspring of God39:16 We build temples to make covenants 40:44 God isn’t in idols43:19 Paul becomes a tent maker45:41 Paul no longer goes to the synagogues first47:52 End of Part 1–Dr. Susan Easton BlackPlease rate and review the podcast.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.coFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Hello, my friends. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith. I'm here with the incredible John, by the way. Welcome, John. Good to be back. Yep. Always good to be here. John, in the four Gospels, we read about Jesus and His 12 Apostles. If you're a first-time reader, you don't really see what's coming in the book of Acts. Do you? There's this character that shows up on the scene, kind of a second generation character. I've heard it said before that Jesus is the message and Paul is the messenger. Do you think we, as a church, John? Do you think we've really grasped how big Paul is to the rise of Christianity? Maybe not.

That's why we're here. I mean, how many adjectives can use possible to the Gentiles or how many descriptions chosen vessel and the more I read this, the more I'm just amazed that he was put in place for for this exact time. As you said, post-Gospels now what? Then here comes this amazing Paul. Yeah, here comes this fuel for the fire. I think I've called him before. John, we're joined this week by an amazing scriptorian, Susan Eastern Black. Susan, what do you think about Paul?

Do we grasp the gravity of Paul's life? Well, I'm not sure that we do, but if you really looked at the book of Acts, you've got half of the chapters are literally about him. I mean, Luke just goes, let me tell you about other apostles, and now he's kind of like the apostle to Europe. He moves the message. It seems that the church goes from local to global when Paul enters the scene. Hey, John, why don't you introduce Susan to our listeners.

She's been here before. Yes, she has. And my wife had a class from Dr. Black Mini, Moon to Go, B-O-U-U, and for so long, I'd always thought of Susan as just walking in cyclopedia of knowledge about Joseph Smith. But she has written about so many things and like you said, scriptory and great gospel scholar, I have, I think, one of the latest, this is elder ballerds biography. And because our listeners know her a little bit there,

there's a nice short little paragraph in the back about Susan Easton Black. She is an emeritus professor of Brigham Young University where she taught for more than 30 years. She's a past Eliza Arsno fellow, the Associate Dean of General Education and Honors Director of Church History and Religious Studies Center. She's written, edited, and compiled more than 130 books and 300 articles. And I'm just so excited that you're here again with us. So welcome. We're really excited to learn from you today. Hey, thank you. It's a delight for me to be back, actually.

We love having you here, Susan. And we haven't had you. So I don't think since our Doctorate in Covenant here, I would encourage everyone to go back. If you want to hear more from Susan, it's Doctorate in Covenant's episodes. are doctrine and covenant cheer. I would encourage everyone to go back, if you wanna hear more from Susan, is doctrine and covenants episodes, they were, just out of this world, fantastic.

Let me read a little bit from the manual here, Susan, then we'll turn it over to you. Among the Lord's final words to his apostles was the commandment, go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I have commanded you. While the apostles didn't quite make it to all nations. Acts 16 through 21 does show that Paul and

his companions did make remarkable progress in establishing the church. So we'll kind of hand it over to you, Susan. We want to give us some background on Paul and where he came from. Who he is. Sure. We know that Paul, like John has said, he's got lots of names, such as Salov Tarzis, Sal, Paul the Apostle, even Saint Paul. We know that he comes from a place called Tarzis, and it was one of the largest centers of trade there in the Mediterranean coast at the time. Actually renowned because it had a university. From this most influential city and Asia Minor, here he comes and he says of himself, he says he's of the tribe of Benjamin.

He describes himself as a Hebrew of Hebrew and as it relates to the law as a Pharisee, but we also know that he claims he has Roman citizenship by birth. All along the way, any title you look at him, he's pretty impressive and his education actually the same can mean there in Jerusalem. Fantastic. He calls himself a Pharisee. We see with that kind of background. In spite of it, we know that prior to his conversion, he's persecuting the Christians and it's described as beyond measure. So what is that?

Talk about a mean guy. And then, you know, he's actually at the scene with the martyrdom of Stephen and you're like, what are you doing? But then for him, he has an amazing experience on the road to the mascus. I think, perhaps we all remember this. You know, he has this vision. Here's the word, Saul, Saul, why is that persecuted me and wants to know, hey, by the way, who are you? And he learns it's Christ. What I think is so impressive is that he has one experience,

and he never forgets it. You know, I wonder, did he write it down? I think many of us become converted because there's something so amazing that happens in our lives, but as time goes on, it goes from the front burner to the back burner, but in the case of Paul, he's always out there and never forgets what a wonderful trait. We could say about his stature. I think it's so interesting. His stature doesn't necessarily match his grandiose missionary experience. I think I would even look tall compared to Paul. Joseph Smith back on January 5, 1841 at a meeting of what's called the

Navu Lysium and Adult School for Instruction that he began comparing Paul to a man their present named John C. Bennett. He may look like Paul, but obviously not the same integrity. But you'll recall that Joseph said that Paul was five feet high and that he had very dark hair, a dark complexion, dark skin, large Roman nose, sharp face, small black eyes, round shoulders, and even a whiny voice. But when he got reared up and really going. He said he roared like a lion. So I think what we're going to find in these chapters, especially as we now move from his first missionary experience. There with Barnabas and we pick him up in chapter 16 as he heads out. He's roaring like a lion and he's wanting people to really hear him. Awesome. When we left off, he got into a bit of a, it says a sharp contention that we have a

bar of us and they decided to part ways. Right. It's kind of like, you know, you look at your missionary companions, I myself have had a few and the disagreements can become pretty interesting. And apparently this one pretty stormy as they're trying to decide not necessarily. So where are we gonna travel this time? But it's like who are we gonna take with us?

Barnabas is big on John Mark, but in the case of Paulie saying, no way. He left us last time and he went home. So I'm going to do this time. Yeah, it doesn't get to go. My take is as they have this disagreement, they decide to go separate ways. Although I'm sure Barnabas and John Maric had probably an amazing mission, we have no idea because Luke now only centers on Paul. Where do they end up going? Is that where we go next in 16? In their first mission, it's like they're in a circular route, always ending up back at

Antioch. And it's like you just did a three day cruise to Mexico and you're coming out of a port and long beach or somewhere and you end up right back there. But now this next one is going to be longer and then of course the third mission we'll talk about today. The longest of all probably around 3,500 miles of travel. Oh my. On foot. In an airplane before. Yeah. We're on some dangerous boats. Yeah. Should we jump into chapter 16?

Sure. Chapter 16, as it goes forward, then, it just features this amazing ministry of Paul. He has just been in a Jerusalem council, in which they've discussed, I'm sure many things, but the decision was made about circumcision, that no longer do you have to be circumcised to be then part of Christianity. And so Paul's got a message, and he's anxious to head out,

and he's gonna head out with Silas and his purposes to strengthen some of the branches that he had visited earlier on the mission one to share the news from the council that he's just attended and also to collect donations for the poor there in Jerusalem. So as we pick up in the first verse, as he's heading out, the first person that they encounter that we get a name on will then be Timothy, whose mother is Jewish and his father, then his Greek. And the big question is, what do we do with Timothy. He's trusted, he's a friend, he's a constant, and yet for Paul, on his ministry is going out, he always seems to hit first the synagogues. And at that time in the history of then the known world, especially along the coastline of the Mediterranean, you've got pockets of Jewish people

all along that coastline. And so the question is, will they accept Timothy as one who's sharing the same news that Paul wants to share? Yeah, one of the things that I should have realized is that the Jews had spread out pockets of them like you said around the Mediterranean. He goes to these places that are clearly Greek in culture anyway, part of the Roman Empire, I guess, but they have synagogues there. So now he's got to take Timothy with him to these synagogues.

Right. So before he does so, and you wonder, tradition, not to offend the Jewish people, Paul will actually circumcise. Then Timothy and off they go, you look at the sacrifice. Timothy is making to be able to spread the word with Paul about Jesus and the resurrection. But as they go forward, now you've got Paul Silas and Timothy and they've made plans to go to Asia Minor, which is Turkey today, and to preach the gospel, but at night Paul has a vision. And he sees a man of Macedonia, like a Greek, standing and begging them to go to Macedonia to help the people there. And I guess what I like about Paul is that although he'd made plans, can you see flight plans? You know, you've got a group following you.

They're impressed with what you had to say. And we know where we're going the next day. And suddenly Paul says, nope, nope, we're changing the whole scene and we're heading to Macedonia then modern-day Greece particularly they're going to head to Philippi a main city in Macedonia and it will be there that you get your first European convert. Why do I like it's a woman? Don't you think that's the best? Her name is Lydia. I look at this vision and the Lord knows who's prepared to receive the gospel and even though their missionaries and they've made plans to go somewhere else, the Lord kind of stops pollen his track and says, go where the people are prepared.

For Lydia, we know that she was a business woman. Stops pollen is track and says go where the people are prepared for Lydia We know that she was a business woman and She wasn't just the housewife in the home or a mother or anything else. She's a business woman and obviously has some wealth because what she is a worker of an accelerist is purple die and because what she is a worker of and a seller of is purple dye. And purple dye, if you looked at all the colors, whether you're looking at a rainbow or you're just looking at colors generally,

it was the most expensive of the time period because it's made out of shells. Anything purple at that time was always associated with royalty or saintliness So the next time you guys wear that purple tie You're your job is to think of Lydia and our first known convert they're in Europe I remember in Jesus's parable of Lazarus and the rich man

There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. She is selling the first century Lululemon. That's sure it could be a, but I think what's interesting, she not only has the faith to believe Paul and about Jesus and his resurrection and to repent and whatever she needs to do but she is baptized. And so you get a really strong idea that what's the missionary's message at this time, it's to share news, faith, but baptism needs to be a part of it. And then of course she invites Paul and Silas Timothy to stay in her home while at home, join the church.

It becomes a strong branch there in Philippi. Pretty incredible, Paul's willingness to follow that vision, that prompting. Because you've got your plan in place. I'm the kind of guy who likes having a plan in place, right? I do. And we're going to follow the plan and for him to say, okay, we're up and moving.

The common fall me manual says, the prophet Joseph Smith declared, no man can preach the gospel without the Holy Ghost. Note instances in which the spirit aided Paul and his companions. What blessings came as they followed the spirit. And then we can ask ourselves, when have you which the spirit aided Paul and his companions. What blessings came as they followed the spirit and then we can ask ourselves, when have you felt the spirit prompting you in your efforts to share the gospel? This reminds me, this whole chapter Susan reminds me of the stories President Monson used to tell about the Holy Ghost said, go to the hospital right now.

Go to the hospital. Go to this woman's house right now. And he would just, it seemed like he just turned the wheel and go. He was directed by the spirit. Good. Then we contrast a Lydia with a woman called a damsel. And you always think the damsel and distress, you know, this beauty. But here comes an opposite kind of of Lydia. And she possessed a spirit in which she believed she could tell people's futures, soothsayer. All of a sudden

she starts following Paul and his companions around. And she's now crying. Can you hear this loud voice? Probably an irritant saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, which show us unto the way of salvation. I mean, the message is right, but can you imagine here's Paul gathering your group and you got this woman out there screaming just like a pest. Hey, these men are servants of the most high God. And finally, Paul is grieved. I'd probably say he's had it. And he turns and he commands that this evil spirit, which is in here, come out. And notice he does it in the name of Jesus Christ. And the scripture tells us in chapter 1618, and he came out to the same hour. So you'd say, okay, Paul, how strong are you and you're priesthood? Are you a priesthood man? I go, oh, well, he sees visions. He casts out spirits.

But ultimately that action, which is the right action, has what appears to be a very negative experience that will follow is that Paul and Silas are now taken by the masters of this woman, this damsel. They were making money off of her quote talent. And they see that she hasn't no more. They take Paul and Silas, they take him into the marketplace and take one to the ruler, so it's a real public thing.

And they say that what they're doing, they're troubling our city. They're teaching customs, which are not lawful for us to receive. And the multitude now rises up, the magistrates rent their clothes, meaning they rip them down eight inches. I mean, they're just showing we're very upset

with what this man is up, and they commanded that Paul and Silas be beaten. Do you think that Paul had a reason to wonder? Should I have just let this woman keep ratting and raving? I didn't know it was going to lead to beating, and then of course it leads to their imprisonment and being put in stocks. But then comes the most amazing part. You'd say, if I had been beaten was the most amazing part. You'd say, if I had been beaten and put in stocks, what do you think I'd be doing at midnight? I think I'd still be bawling my eyes out, right? Me too, yeah.

Yeah, okay. But for Paul and Silas, they're praying, they're singing praises to God, and they're singing loud enough. So all the prisoners can can hear any other prisoner can hear him. And suddenly there's this great earthquake you'll find in verse 26, the foundations of the prison are shaken, the doors are open, all their bands are loose and you go, we can get out of here. The keeper of the prison he awakes from his sleep with all the commotion. He sees the prison door is open. Suddenly, he draws his sword, he's about to take his own life. And he's supposing, hey,

the prisoners of fled. I know what happens in a case like that. I'm going to be beaten. I'm going to go through wet Paul and Silas have gone through. And then Paul cries out with a loud voice, do thyself know harm for we are all here. That's just an amazing light. Yeah, what a beautiful story. So then you get this jailer that falls down before Paul and Silas says, sir, is what monocyte do to be saved? He then becomes another person that they can teach the gospel to you. You just wonder, what are all the different places that we can teach the gospel?

Most unlikely. They said, believe on Jesus Christ, I should be saved in my house. And then of course, they need to be baptized. But the jailer will take Paul and Silas to the magistrates. And magistrates hear all that has happened and they say to them go in peace and Paul says no way. He wants justice. So you realize you're looking at scale of mercy and justice, but he wants justice. He says they beaten us openly. They've condemned us, you know, before all these people in the marketplace and announced that basically we are Romans and

You cast us into prison and now you want us to just leave Privileve I mean it mean just get out of here quietly and they go no way and At this point you see Paul and Silas then returning to the House of Lydia and Don't you think the jaylor's and the magistrates and everybody there's not gonna be anyone that's gonna want to mess with those guys and So suddenly the church goes really big Because one of the strongest branches there in Philippi during the early days of the church What a great story. I think it is one of the great stories.

Can we just talk a little bit about why they silenced this woman because what she was saying was true, but why would they want her to be silenced? And I think I've heard Elder Makonki talk about the answer, but might be interesting for our listeners to know why they want somebody who is saying the truth to be silenced. Evil can't testify. Testimony that's edifying, that's lasting, that pierces the heart, you're not going to get it from a sucess there. Yeah.

I think so too, Susan. It's the commotion that this woman is causing with this evil spirit within this woman is it's causing that would just be so. That would be so. I don't know as a teacher. That's really hard to teach when you got someone screaming at you. Yes, I like how in this chapter it's kind of like well, I don't know if you call it a chiasm, but it's, it starts with Lydia and it comes back to Lydia. And then in between, you get the, the damsel, the suce air, and you get the jailing experience and the drama of it all, and then eventually back, and you get this amazingly strong branch. I think it's interesting with Paul. After he's had just on that road to Damascus and then he becomes this vigilant person, you've got people saying, well, isn't this the guy that used to be the following? In

other words, I think sometimes we don't give the people the benefit of the doubt that their hearts have been changed. They are a changed person. And they've moved in the direction. But maybe the best from church history that might come out of this is, remember when we talked about that Paul and Silas are dead set. They're heading into the southwest part of you know Asia Minor. You remember the story of Wilford Woodruff? He's over there in

England thinking all is good and the Lord tells him to get over there to hair for a char. So he drops everything, he heads over and 36 days after he had arrived in England, he's already baptized 600 people, including two spies from the Church of England and Constable that came to arrest him. If you remember that the Lord is in charge and the Lord is prepared of people, and that the Holy Ghost, if you're in tune, in the case of Paul, it directs him by vision and then directs him to stop that woman trying to testify of him because, you know, it's not a legitimate testimony. And then the earthquake, everything, it's kind of like we are in the hands of the Lord and he will guide us. We just have to have the courage like a paw to go forward and to be beaten

and sing at the end of the day. Not not everybody can do that. But perhaps we should. There's a great story told by I bet both of you will recognize this told by Elder Uptorff. He talks about having faith, being humble, diligent, and enduring. He says, this truth is illustrated in the experience of two young missionaries serving in Europe. In an area where there had been few convert baptisms, I suppose it would have been understandable for them to think that what they did would make much of a difference. But these two missionaries had faith, and they were committed. They had the attitude that if no one listened to their message, it would not be because they

had not given their best effort. One day, they had the feeling to approach the residents of a well-kept, four-story apartment building. They started on the first floor and knocked on each door, presenting their saving message of Jesus Christ in the restoration of his church. No one on the first floor would listen. How easy it would have been to say, we tried, let's stop right here, let's go to another building. But these two missionaries had faith

and they were willing to work. So they knocked on every door on the second floor. Again, no one would listen. The third floor was the same and so is the fourth. That is until they knocked on the last door of the fourth floor. When that door opened, a young girl smiled at them and asked them to wait while she spoke with her mother. Her mother was only 36 years old, had recently lost

her husband and was no mood to talk with Mormon missionaries. So she told their daughter to send them away. But the daughter pleaded with her. These young men were so nice, she said, and will only take a few minutes. The mother agreed that the missionaries delivered their message and handed a book for the mother to read the Book of Mormon. After they left, the mother decided she would read at least a few pages. She finished the entire book within a few days. Not long after, this wonderful single parent family entered the waters of baptism. When the small family attended their local branch in Germany,

a young Deacon noticed the beauty of one of the daughters and thought to himself, these missionaries are doing a great job. That young Deacon's name was Dieter Uchtwurff, and the charming young woman, the one who had pleaded with her mother to listen to the missionaries, has the beautiful name of Harriet. She is loved by all who meet her as she accompanies me in my travels. She has blessed the lives of many people through

her love for the gospel and her sparkling personalities. She truly is the sunshine of my life. He says, how grateful I am for two missionaries who did not stop on the first floor. What a great story. It's just like what you said, Susan, about the Lord directing the work. And this is the impression we've had over and over is, and it's in the manual that the book of Acts of the Apostles is more like the Acts of Jesus Christ through the Apostles. And he's directing them and he's directing them where to go, having people appear to follow in dreams and everything. He knows where these initial, these pioneers are in starting the gospel. It's fun to see that

he's still very actively directing missionary work after he's gone. So Susan, what happens next on this missionary journey? Well, as we move on to chapter 17, we find that it starts with Paul and his companions being in Thessalonica. And of course, as he arrives, where does he want to speak? He's heading into a synagogue of the Jewish people. So he speaks there for three Sabbaths.

He speaks from the scriptures, but he has an amazing message to add. And the message is, Jesus Christ had died, but he's been resurrected. Well, his message didn't fall on dead ears, but it filled on ears of people that wouldn't believe it. And literally set the city in an uproar. And people began to say, this is contrary to the degrees of Caesar, because Paul is saying there's another king. And it is Jesus who has resurrected. And although there are some believers, and Paul will send letters back to them. We now have in Thessalonica one and two, right? But Paul and Silas need to escape from this community by night.

They head on to Berea. And once again, where do they go? It's kind of like they never figure it out. They always go to the synagogue. In other words, it's the first place to let everybody know they're trying to tell the Jewish people we've got a message here. And it is dramatically different in the next town. They received their words and they all had this readiness of mind. And the reason was they had been searching the scriptures daily.

Sometimes you think, do we just read it every day, even though it's a couple of verses or a few minutes here or there, but if you want to see the dramatic difference between two places where Paul's teaching in a synagogue and then the second place, they believed. And you'd say who believes? And it's the Jewish people they spoke to, honorable women, the Greeks, and men, not a few. But when the Jews of Thessalonia received knowledge that, hey, we know where Paul and Silas have gone. They come near to stir up the people saying, wait a minute, wait a minute, you're forgetting. At this point, you see Paul

heading away from his companions and he heads to Athens. Yeah. Are they just trying to get out of dodge? I think they're trying to get out of dodge. Yeah. And sometimes you just have to do that. trying to get out of Dodge. And sometimes you just have to do that. They head out. And when they say they're going to Athens, well, Athens is one of the wonders of the ancient world. And although at the time of Paul, it's in a state of decline. Remember formerly, it was considered the intellectual capital, the philosophical wisdom, architectural splendor of any of the ancient cities. As they head there, or as Paul heads there, he sends word to Silas and Timothy, hey, at all speed, come and join me. And you'd say, well, where's Paul going to speak?

You guys want to take a guess? He's going to the synagogues, right? Yeah, always does. Always hits the synagogues first, but then he speaks in the marketplace daily. And the chief men of Athens, they gather in that marketplace every day to hear the debates to conduct business, to learn something new. So Paul's message is new. You know, I think time you've got something new to say, and especially if you're hearing it from a man who sounds like he's whining, but suddenly he's

roaring like a lion, you'd probably want to listen to him, and his new message now attracts listeners. Some say, what will this babbler say? Others say. He seems to be setting forth something about strange gods. As it goes forward, people are upset. As he become more and more upset, what he is saying that contradicts what their beliefs, they now take Paul up to the famous Mars Hill, where he's going to appear before a chief judicial council. In other words, you'd say, can a man be offended for the it. These Greeks now take Paul up to Mars Hill. He's sitting before the chief judicial counsel. They want to know, what is this new doctrine? Where of thou speakest? And Paul then in verse 22, he's standing in the midst of Mars Hill. And I've been at Mars Hill. There's too much graffiti, too much trash.

I'm like, are you kidding me? This is Mars Hill. I've come from a long ways to see this. But he's standing in the midst of Mars Hill. And I like the line. He says, she men of Athens. He knows who he's talking to. I perceived it in all things

you're too superstitious. But the enemy he indicates, I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. As the Greeks were believing in many gods from Zeus to others, they wanted to make sure they didn't offend any God or leave anybody out. So they'd build an altar to this unknown God. And then Paul goes on to give an amazing treatise about, I want to tell you about the God that you people don't know about you, you men of Athens. And he shares about the true nature of God, man's responsibility to God, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, all doctrines that are contrary to the tenets of Greek philosophies and religion. So there we have it.

But when they heard of this resurrection of the dead, some of those men of Athens they mocked. And others said, we will hear the again of this matter. And then you get Paul departs from them. But in his departure, we know that he leaves at least one convert, that was part of that judicial counsel that he was speaking before. This man, do you remember his name? Dionysius. Yeah, Dionysius. Traditions suggest, you know, and it's always tradition, that this one convert, kind of like the Alma the Younger. This one convert. He becomes a bishop in Athens and even today when you go up there, you can see that they've got a small building in memory of him. I love that he would go to the synagogue first and that is the pattern. And we know that there,

what would he be doing? He'd probably be as a Pharisee, he knew the law, he knew the Scriptures, probably showing them through Isaiah and the Psalms and the prophecies that this Jesus is the Messiah, he is the Christ. You know how we sometimes say, I want to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Paul's like a Swiss army knife,

because he can go anywhere. And he can do anything. He's got the right heritage credentials. Yeah, he can leave the synagogue and he's not going to open Isaiah on Mars Hill. He's not going to go to the Psalms, but he's going to talk about. He talks the Epicurians, the Stoics are there. He knows what they believe. He knows what their philosophies are to see grew up in

Tarsus. And as you said, there's a university there's a Paul was just amazingly fitted for all of this. And then I love the phrase they were spent their time either to tell or hear some new thing. And I just I put in my margin, maybe they've got too much time on their hands. They must have a high standard of around. They can go down to the Agora and just gab about stuff. So maybe they're not growing their own food anymore. They've got servants or something. But I put in my margin some of the things which must have been different from all of the

pantheon of Greek gods that they had and all the different things that different theories about which God created this or that or which God created man. Verse 24, God made the world and all things therein. I wonder if that was a contrast with what they had heard. God is the creator, verse 25, he give it to all life and breath and all things. Oh, it's God. This God that I'm talking about is the sustainer. Verse 26, he made of one blood. I think the NIV says, made of one man, Adam, all nations.

That wasn't according to some of the Greek myths, some of them created this and some created that. And he's determined the times before appointed and their bounds of their habitation. Oh, God placed us here. And he knew where and when he placed us. And verse 27, that they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he'd be not far from every one of us. I mean, when you read Greek mythology in high school, the God seemed kind of indifferent to lowly mortals.

And he's saying, this God is accessible. And I love what the JST adds. If they are willing to find him, for he is not far from everyone of us. So God is accessible. And then verse 28, we also are his offspring. Whoa. God is our father. Verse 30, at times of this ignorance God weak debt, now he command a thome in everywhere to repent. Oh, God cares about what we do. He's our ruler. Verse 31, God at the point of the day in which he will judge the world and righteousness by that man. He mentioned Adam, who's this man, this man that he has raised from the dead.

Paul doesn't even mention crucifixion here with the Greeks, verse 32, when they had heard of the resurrection some mocked, which is just foolishness to the Greeks. I don't know, it's just fun to look at how he would talk to a Greek audience as opposed to what he probably would have said in the synagogue. Yeah, fantastic. Let's look at a few of these phrases before we move on. I like how he starts with them. He says, you're very religious people. I mean, he kind of pays them a compliment in verse 22. The King James says, in all things, you're too superstitious, but I think that's better translated as you are very religious. Yeah, footnote 22 A says Greek most religious. So too superstitious.

Yeah, that sounds all strange, but you're most religious. You're trying to be so careful like Susan said, we better cover all our bases. Let's make an altar to the unknown God since we may not have got the name right or something. Right. Right. And he doesn't come in saying, you're wrong. Right? If you're wrong about everything you believe, he says, I saw an altar to the unknown God, you're worshiping him, but you just don't know who he is. So let me tell you, let me tell you who he is.

I just like that strategy of, I don't know, is it how to win friends and influence people? Don't come in and tell people how wrong they are, come in and maybe start with some commonalities. Paul makes an interesting comment in verse 24. He says that he is the Lord of heaven and earth and he dwells not in temples made with hands. To a lot of day Saint, that might sound curious. But remember, these people, they have the idea that you can only worship God in a temple, that you can only worship Athena in Athena's temple.

You can only worship Zeus in Zeus's temple. And remember, Paul loves and reveres the temple in Jerusalem. So I don't think Paul here is saying, you don't need temples at all, because he is still returning to the temple for feasts and things. I think what he's saying is this idea that you can only worship God in a temple that's dedicated to that specific God. That's not the way. That's not the way it works.

We don't build a temple to kind of imprison God there. Yeah, I think that's a good question of throw out there because we say this is the house of the Lord. We know he visits there. We know he visits there. We know he's been to places, but he's not confined. That's the word I like to think in my mind. He's not confined to temples made with hands. And so that helps me to, yeah, make sense of it. As letter day Saints, we don't build temples to find God. We build temples to enter into covenants with God. Well, right. And to me, that sounds different than what the Greeks were doing. Yeah. And we'll see as we go on that they're making little statues and everything and basically

idols. And that's another thing. It's not he's not confined to the form of an idol, perhaps we could say, too. Yeah, that's from verse 29. We ought not to think that God is like a gold or silver or stone. That's not God. It always surprises my students when I explain. In the ancient world, the statue is God. It's not an image of God. The statue is God.

Someone can come to your village and steal your God and take it to their village and you got to go steal your God back. It's kind of a hard thing to comprehend, but once they do, these verses start to make more sense. One thought I've had is that Rome is ruling the known world and Rome has made a conscious decision that people can worship basically what they might, right? And so try and imagine all of the gods that are worshipped in the Roman world. There's just got to be, there's flethra, there's just no end to the number of gods, but nowhere is it seen more than in Greek mythology. And that's

the one that has survived even to today as you look at movies and things about Zeus and Pegasus. And we know those names where we may not know all the names of the various gods throughout the part of Africa that was part of the Roman Empire. Yeah, the Greek gods are still, I've read Percy Jackson to my kids. We know our Greek gods because of those books. Look at the days of the week. Who are we still acknowledging in the days of the week, or mentioning the sun and the moon and mercury and Saturn, Saturday. But what I think is, can you imagine this challenge for Paul? Because every region of the world has their own gods.

And here's Paul that comes out and says, well, actually Israel's God is the God of the whole world. When you look at the various goddesses, even you could look at Palmyra was a Syrian goddess. You know, we think of Palmyra New York, we think Joseph Smith, you can find him literally still existing all over the world, although not perhaps clearly defined as they were during the time of Rome. Athens wasn't on Paul's itinerary. It doesn't seem like. He just took advantage of the chance to teach since he had been kind of run out of town. So he's like, well, since I'm here, I might as well give a big speech here on Mars Hill. He doesn't come back, right?

He's not going back. In fact, as we move on to chapter 18, we move on to Corinth. And he's going to be there about 18 months. So Athens was just kind of a stopgap. You know, it's a stop on your tour where you get off, you see, and you come back. It doesn't seem like he faced any great punishment there. So we are now moving on to a new town and it will be here that we see Paul begins to work his trade. And you'd say, well, did he pick up stuff at Lydia's house? Did he learn how to make purple dye?

And you go, I don't think so unless he's now going to start using it as chance, right? Right. But he becomes a tent maker. Yep. He makes two great friends there, Priscilla and her companion who I think it's interesting that you'd say both of them had lately come from Italy and they were then commanded by the Emperor Claudius who commanded all Jews were to depart from Rome and you go wait a minute I thought there could be Jews everywhere we could have pockets of them all around the Mediterranean, the known world, but suddenly the Jews are being kicked out of Rome. So, here, your Paul comes again,

and you'd say, well, where does he go to teach? And he always goes to the synagogue or synagogue. And it was kind of like that with early missionaries in the church. It used to be in any small town as missionaries would go from place to place. They'd always speak at the schoolhouse because the schoolhouse on Sunday, that's where the church is meant. You know, maybe the Presbyterians are there for one hour and then here come the congregationless and others, but in the case of Paul, he's showing up at the synagogue. And at this point, he speaks and speaks. It says every Sabbath. And then finally, as they continue to oppose him, Paul has had it.

Yeah. You know, it's like I've been beaten. I've been put in prison. I've been taken before the council up on Mars Hill. Now I come to you. I think everything's gonna be good. I'm making my own living as a tent maker and Suddenly he sees them saying he's blaspheming. He shakes his Raymond, which means you're blood beyond your own heads. He goes, I'm clean.

And then he says, from henceforth, I will go into the Gentiles, meaning, A. You Jewish people, you're no longer my top priority. I may still show up in synagogues on occasion, but I'm spreading my wings. I'm going to give other people a chance. I don't think they're gonna treat me like you've been treating me. That's interesting. I can't do this anymore. I cannot I cannot argue with you's about Jesus anymore. Please join us for part two of this podcast.