Live Free with Josh Howerton - Seeking the Unknown God // Acts 17:22-34

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

What does it mean to seek God? In Athens, Paul meets a culture full of idols and introduces them to the “unknown God”—the Creator who gives life and breath to everything. Pastor Breaux shares how Paul met people where they were, inviting them to seek the God who is not far from any of us. Today, let’s stand by the door, ready to guide others to the God who gives us life and hope.   ➡️ For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive. My name is Bro, and we have been diving into the book of Acts, the history of the early church, and we are in Chapter 17 today. Yesterday, we saw Paul and his partner Silas thrown in prison for talking about Jesus and changing the life of a servant girl who was enslaved by Satan. And chapter 17 is much of the same. In fact, most of the rest of this story is much of the same.

I like what Greg LeVay says. He said, Jesus promised those who would follow him only three things. that they would be absurdly happy, entirely fearless, and always in trouble. And that's the case for Paul and Silas. As always, Paul, who was so well-versed in the Jewish scriptures, he would go first to the synagogue of a town and teach his fellow Jews there. It says in verse four, some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men

and quite a few prominent women. So all kinds of people now are coming to faith in Jesus, but like in almost every other city the Jewish religious leaders, the same guys who had Jesus crucified, they had a presence, and they'd recruit people to form a mob and start a riot. And they try to use the same strategy that they used on Jesus by telling the Roman officials

that these guys were swearing allegiance to a different king than Caesar. Paul and Silas are staying with a new Jesus follower named Jason, and they come and search Jason's home, but Paul and Silas aren't there. So they arrest Jason and the other believers that are there they reprimand them, force them to post-bail, and then they let him go. Well, Paul and Silas said just move on to a city called Berea, where the people are more open-minded, it says.

But again, the same crew comes looking for him and starts to make trouble. So Silas and Timothy stay behind, and Paul is sent to the city of Athens. Now, while Paul is there, you guessed, he starts talking about Jesus. I mean, you can't shut the guy up. He starts looking around this progressive city of philosophy, art, and intellect, and he sees idols set up all over the place. And as he begins to talk about the one true God, it incites some skepticism and some debate.

Well, Paul is extremely sharp and articulate, and being full of the Holy Spirit. He meets them where they are, and he says, You know, I've been walking around your beautiful city, and I can't help but notice all these shrines that are set up to your various gods. And there's this one that really caught my eye. The inscription on it reads,

to an unknown God. Well, you know what? I happen to know him. And with your permission, I'd like to tell you about him. Verse 24. He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man-made temples. And human hands can't serve his needs, for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth.

He decided beforehand, when they should rise and fall, he determined their boundaries. His purpose was for the nations to seek after God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him, though he's not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, we are his offspring. And since this is true, we shouldn't think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. and it goes on to talk about how God is called everyone to repent of their sins and turn toward him and that there is hope for everyone through Jesus Christ,

the one who came back from the dead. And it says that some people laughed at him when he talked about the resurrection, but other people said, you're going to be around for a while? Because we'd like to hear more. And even some high-ranking city officials become followers of Jesus.

And I love how Paul says, his purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him, though he's not far from any one of us. I love how Paul is not, he's not disgusted by their idol worship. He's not angry about their lifestyle. He just meets them right in their lostness, and he holds open the door for them to seek after the God

who is not far from anyone. I've always admired Sam Shoemaker's piece called I Stand by the Door. He was a pastor back in the 50s, and one of the founders of the Oxford group from which AA originally sprang into existence. And I just read this every now and then to remind myself of what God has called me to do. He writes this,

I stand by the door. I neither go too far in or stand too far out. The door is the most important door in the world. It's the door through which men walk when they find God. There's no use to me going way inside and staying there when so many are still outside and day as much as I crave to know where the door is. And all that so many ever find is only the wall where the door ought to be. They creep along the wall like blind men with outstretched groping hands, feeling for a

door, knowing there must be a door, yet they never find it. So I, I stand by the door. The most tremendous thing in the world is for men to find that door, the door to God. The most important thing that any man can do is take hold of one of those blind groping hands and put it on the latch, the latch that only clicks and opens to the man's own touch. Men die outside the door. As starving beggars die on cold nights and cruel cities in the dead of winter, die for want of what is within their grasp. They live on the other side of it, live because they've not found it. Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it and open it and walk in and find him. So I stand by the door. Somebody must be watching for the frightened, who seek to sneak out

just where they came in, to tell them how much better it is inside. The people who are so far in do not see how near these people are to leaving because they can get preoccupied with the wonder of it all. Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door but would like to run away. So for them too. I stand by the door. Oh, I admire the people to go away in, but I wish they would not forget how it was before they got in. Then they would be able to help the people who have not yet even found the door.

or the people who want to run away again from God. You can go in too deeply and stay in too long and forget about the people outside the door. As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place, near enough to God to hear him and I know he's there, but not so far from men as not to hear them. And remember they are there too. Where?

Outside the door? Thousands of them. Millions of them. The more important for me, one of them. Two of them. of them whose hands I intend to put on the latch. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, so I stand by the door. So maybe like Paul, today be aware of who God puts in your path. Meet them where they are. Stand by the door. Help put their hand on the latch, and help them walk

through it and find the hope that you have been given through Jesus Christ. I hope you have a great day. here tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.church slash daily drive. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you,

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