alrighty if you have your Bibles with you open to Acts chapter 17 we're going to look at this passage in chapter 17 vers 22 through 31 and um it's a interesting passage and we're going to go through it bit by bit um but first of all let's read it through says then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said ye men of Athens I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious for as I passed by and beheld your devotions I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God whom therefore
ye ignorantly worship Him declare I unto you God that made the world and all things therein seeing that he is Lord of Heaven and Earth dwelleth not in temples made with hands neither is worshiped with men's hands as though he needed anything seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the Earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation that they should seek after the
Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him though he be not far from every one of us for in him we live and move and have our being as certain also of your own poets have said for we are also his offspring for as much then as we are The Offspring of God we ought not to think that the godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone Graven by Art and man's device in the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent we'll stop there um let's pray and
we'll get into it right dear God I thank you for this day I thank you for the opportunity to preach here today I pray that you would um help um as I preach that it would be uh be able to get something from your word here today and that you would uh just uh speak through me in Jesus name amen all right so the first point that we see here in uh In this passage is um is these people were in their worship they were superstitious um we're going to be looking at in generally and we'll get off the top
ic a few times but generally speaking the worship of God and and what is required for proper worship of God and based on these people we read in verse 22 Paul tells them I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious for as I passed by and beheld your devotions I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God whom therefore ye ignorantly worship so these people in Athens way back when they had what was called Mars Hill and Mars Hill was their um their Gathering Place where it's
like their Bazaar or their Market where they would everybody would just kind of get together and hang out and talk and stuff and they would um they would talk about all these important things that were going on or whatever and so Paul shows up there and it's in the middle all the way around were all of these altars and idols and false gods that these people would worship and as he was walking there he saw this one altar that said to the unknown God and these people were so scared so they worship
ed all of these Idols just to be safe just to just in case so that the sun doesn't get mad at them and go behind a cloud so that the ocean doesn't get mad at them and and come in and flood them so that and and so they would worship these different these different gods so that they could appease them or pacify them and make them um but but they were so scared that maybe they had missed one maybe they weren't worshiping one God some God that was out there that that people knew about that maybe may
be they weren't worshiping that one so they put one there that said to the unknown God God just to be safe and and they were very very superstitious people um Superstition is based on fear and our worship of God should be we should fear God but in a good sense it shouldn't be it shouldn't be uh oh God's going to strike me dead type of a fear it's it's a respect and it's a it's a fear of God um if we look at uh Second Timothy 1 and verse 7 and it says for God hath not given us the spirit of fear
but of power and of love and of a sound mind so this this fear of of the superstitious fear that comes is not godly and um I know when we were in Russia for instance there was a lot of um you walk into somebody's house they have a lot of times they'll have an icon in the kitchen and it's like what that what's that one for oh that one's to help and so the kitchen fires don't happen and then you walk into the Next Room room and what what's this one for oh that one's so that um I have good dreams w
hen I'm sleeping and they walk into another room and and or in their car there's always in in Russia there was always three three icons in the in the front of the taxis and one was the um patron saint of the Town one was um Mary and I forget what the third one was but it was supposed to be there to keep them from having a car accident well the problem is it's still in the cars that had accidents and it's not something that obviously works and and so it's this fear that gener that's generated to
try to um to try to appease like these people were doing the unknown God and and fear is not how we should worship God it should we should fear God but in a sense of respect not a sense of of um being scared and uh um because God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind um God is also he is not elusive or hard to find these people these people were looking kind of but they were just throwing an altar there it wasn't as if they were looking for the true God
and um in James chapter 4 and verse number 8 it says draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you drawing nigh to God it's it's an action that we have to take we have to we have to take that step toward God and it says He will draw to us so um God does also does not wish us to be confused about who or what he is God God doesn't want us to be to feel lost in finding him um Ephesians uh 17 gives us a good example God tells us exactly exactly how we're supposed to worship him um where we at here
Ephesians chap 1 ver1 17 it says that the god of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of Glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him God gives us the spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him of him and we're to and and he says that here with his wisdom and with this Revelation he helps us to know who he is um uh back in Acts 17 let's look at uh the second part here um Paul says him declare I unto you in verse 23 and verse 24 God that made the wo
rld and all things therein seeing that he is Lord of Heaven and Earth dwelleth not in temples made in hand um let's look at the part of of God that made the world and all things therein we ought to worship God as the Creator these people here were worshipping the creation they were worshiping all the things that God has made they were worshiping all of these false gods animals plants the sun stars planets all these things but they weren't worshiping God they weren't worshiping the one that made
all of those things and um we need to if once we understand God's perspective of us to him of of Creator to Creation then we can it helps us to understand how we ought to worship him uh Romans chapter 9 UM and verses 21 and 20 it says um nay but oh man who art thou that repliest against God shall the thing formed the thing created say to him that formed it why hast Thou made me thus hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor so
God is as the Potter the one that makes things out of clay and we are the clay we should be the clay we should be willing to be the clay that way and and God has made us and and what is saying is can we look to God and say why did you make me like this or or why is my life going the way it's going or we're supposed to look to God and respect the things that he's given us we're supposed to look to God and and worship him and be thankful for the things that he's given us um we cannot worship god w
ith anything other than humility there's a story in the New Testament about um the Pharisee and the Publican that went into pray into the temple and the Pharisee he stands up and he says oh God I thank you that I'm not a such a sinner and that I'm not a terrible person and that I haven't stolen anything and that I I tithe uh every every of even even of my spices I'll give 10% of every little thing and he's so self-conceited and he's looking to himself as some great person and he's just telling G
od what great person he is that's not the attitude that we should come to God with we should come to God with humility and the Publican the The Sinner recognized his sin he recognized who he was and he who he was was in God's side and when we recognize what we are in God's eyes what we look like from God's perspective then then we realize what Sinners we truly are and we can see ourselves as the Sinners that we truly are and the Publican he he said all all he did he could he could just bow himse
lf it says and smot on his chest and said God be merciful to me a sinner and it says that he went out of the temple Justified rather than the Pharisee and um so we cannot worship god with anything other than just humility because if we have pride in our heart if we're looking at ourselves like we're some great thing we cannot we can't be looking to God and and seeing how great God truly is um so um flip back to acts if you're still there um we've seen that we're not supposed to worship god with
Superstition we can't it can't be with Superstition if we worship if we're try to worship with Superstition if we're worried about you know throwing salt over our shoulder or or uh you know there's a black cat across the road or I don't know exactly what all the ones here in Serbia are but there's um there's a lot of superstitions that are out there that don't have any basis I've heard one in Serbia if you if you walk across a threshold of a door while whistling supposedly all your money will le
ave I don't I don't know how that's supposed to work I I just heard it the other day but um I was like okay I've done that way too many times but but there's just it's fear it's involved in fear and you know like I said we're not supposed to worship god with the spirit of fear but God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind um and now let's look at uh the third one God has made the world and all things therein seeing that he is Lord of Heaven and Earth dw
elleth not in temples made with hands neither is worshiped with men's hands as though he needed anything seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things God is not properly worshiped with things or because of a physical location we don't have to we're we're in we're in a a rented building right can we worship God here yes do we have to have some fancy building to worship God in do we have to have have some Cathedral to worship God do we have to have um some specific you know icon to pray
to it's it's good that we don't because like it says God that made the world and all things therein seeing he is Lord of Heaven and Earth dwelleth not in temples made with hands God doesn't live in the church he lives in us he lives in our hearts and he is not he does not dwell in temples made with hands neither is worshiped with men's hands as though he needed anything um to assume that God can be embodied or constituted of physical things or thoughts um and to think that we know what God is is
to confine God to our imaginations and um I heard somebody say one time what you can understand you can control and so for people to assume that they can understand completely who God is and what God is completely is to make them think that they can control what God is and what God's thinking and and then they feel the right to tell other people oh God gave me special Revelation in the cases of like the pope or um and and they assume control and they try to take control of these things and uh b
ut but it's it's degrading to God to put him into an icon or a little picture or or something something that that we pray to it's it's taking God Almighty who is everywhere who's who's omnipresent omniscient he's everywhere he knows everything and to try to to confine him to some little Relic or some little little thing it it's degrading to God to try to do that and um um let's look at Romans 11 verse 33-36 uh it says oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearc
hable are his judgments and his ways past finding out for who hath known the mind of the Lord who who knows the mind of the Lord Milos do you know what God's thinking right now Solomon do you know what God's thinking who has known the mind of the Lord or who hasth been his counselor spetco do you have does God call you up and say hey what should I do about this situation does does does God call you up and say that it's it's it's a rhetorical question it's it's who obviously nobody none of us tel
l God what to do none of us counsel God and say you should do this or you should do that because because it it it says also or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again who's given to to God who has been here somebody who has given God something first before God gave us something it says we loved him because he first loved us we're we're we're given life and breath and all things like I said and um because for of him of God and through him and to him are all things t
o whom be glory forever amen so our Glory the glory that we are to give to God is supposed to be um spiritual um the verse says God is a spirit and they that worship Him worship Him in spirit and in truth it's through spirit and truth that we can worship God it's not through lighting a candle what what good does lighting a candle do how do how how does that how can we worship God by lighting a candle is that in spirit and is that in truth is that what the Bible says we're supposed to worship God
in spirit and in truth that's that's it um back to acts the fourth point is kind of off topic but it's in the passage um it says in verse 26 and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the fa of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation so God God has made of one blood All Nations for to dwell on the face of the Earth and has determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation so God has given the Earth
he said in uh in Genesis 8:22 and chapter one of Genesis in verse 28 he he talks about being fruitful and multiplying the Earth and replenishing the Earth and then we saw in in Genesis I believe it's chapter 11 where man came together and they like let's build this Tower of Babel and they weren't doing what God said because God had said be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth the whole Earth and instead they were all together in one spot trying to trying to build a temple or a tower up
to God and God split them up and made them spread out through all the Earth and um it's kind of off topic but um I also I also believe that population control is an effort to get away from God because you look at um you look at countries that put you're only allowed to have two kids you're only allowed to have one kid China they did that while back where um they're forcing people to have abortions if they have more than certain amount of kids or whatever and things like that it's it's evil it's
wicked it's against what God has given anyway um back to uh number five um verse 27 that they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him though he be not far from every one of us God wants a relationship with each and every one of us he wants a relationship with me he wants a relationship with you he is just waiting for us to call out to him um Psalm 145 and verse 18 it says the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth there's
a lot of people that pray that aren't praying in truth there's a lot of people that that don't know like like these men in Acts they were they were praying they were praying to the idol to Jupiter and the idol to Saturn and they were praying and sacrificing and and they were praying there's a lot of people today that pray but they aren't praying in truth and it says the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him so if we call upon the Lord he will be nigh unto us and it says to all them that
call upon him in truth so we we have to call unto the Lord on his terms not on our terms we're not telling God I our demands we're telling God the things he wants to hear and um God is simply he's he's waiting for us um God it's it's supposed to be seek and you shall find knock and it shall be open it's not it's not God giving us a best offer and we're we're waiting till he gives us one he likes you know God doesn't give us offers he he offers us things I'm saying in in a relationship God doesn'
t God doesn't want he he has his terms and we're supposed to come to God on on God's terms salvation is God's way Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me and and through Jesus that's how we get to God and um let's look at number six in Acts here verse 28 says for in him in in God we live and move and have our being Nikolai are you alive do you move do you have a being are are you being alive right now are do you have a being yeah so all the things t
hat God has given us living if we're all alive today that's something God has given us if we're moving even his hand can move a little bit still and if we're being just being it's come from God and we are to be thankful for that um we are limited to what God allows uh for us to have in um in James chapter 4 it gives an example of people people in verse um 13 it says go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain whereas
ye know not what shall be on the tomorrow for what is your life it is even a vapor that appear for a little while and then vanisheth away for that you ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin so we are we're not to be presumptuous we don't know when we're going to die we don't know what's going to happen to change circumstances um we don't know what it says what shall be on the tomorrow for what is
our life is even a vapor that appear for a little time ADV Vantage of the way so for us to assume that that we can plan everything out obviously it's good to plan ahead but to assume that it's all under our control it's it's it's sin and um even though even though we keep sinning you know it's like I said God is the reason and the only reason we can do anything um even though we sin and do transgress against God's law um he still keeps giving us opportunities um the book of Lamentations 3 and v
eres 22 and 23 is a good verse here here says it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not I am thankful for God's compassion God's compassion is what keeps us all alive despite our sin and it's his his mercies that we're not all consumed and if God did not have mercy if God did not have Grace and compassion on us like he says we would all just we would be consumed they are new Every Morning God's mercies are new every morning and it's um Great Is Thy Fai
thfulness we have the song great is thy faithfulness and uh it's one of my favorite songs but but this verse is is talking about our relationship with God and how we need we need once more to recognize that God has given us everything that we have and um number uh back in Acts number seven um God commands all men everywhere to repent um it says in verse 29 for as much then as we are The Offspring of God we ought not to think that God had is like unto gold or silver or stone it's not gold it's no
t silver or stone like 90% of the world's religions worship something of gold of silver of stone or paper um it is not Graven by art can we compare God to Art we can't confine God to art or man's device something that man made it says in the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent God commands us to repent and um you cannot turn to God without turning away from sin if God is this direction and sin is this direction and we're headed this direction in
life headed towards sin we're headed toward all the evil things of the world and then we want to we want to be going that direction we want to be going toward God we have to we have to turn we have to repent of our sins and turn to God and we start walking down this path sure sometimes we slip and we fall backwards and we sin and and we'll fall a little bit but as as long as we're as long as we have repented we're we're we're heading toward eternity in heaven and it's the um without repentance i
s no remission of sin um first uh also 1 Peter 2:16 uh Grace and salvation is not an excuse for us to live in sin um first Peter 2:16 it says as free so we're free because of Salvation we're free from we're free from the sin and not using our Liberty as a cloak of maliciousness for sin but as the Servants of God and we are to use the freedom that God gives us to serve him we are we are now free to serve God we're free from the bondage of Satan we're free from what the devil has given to us if we
are saved but that comes with with a requirement for us to be the Servants of God and we we must live like we are the Servants of God um and that's that's in our worship um I have a bunch of lists here of um some examples in the Bible of what bad worship looks like because there's a lot of examples of what good worship looks like and what um different ways that different men in the Bible worshiped that was good but we can can look to a couple um a couple verses in the Bible and see some ways th
at people worship that was what what goes with bad worship right um Genesis CH 24 and verse 26 um or no this this sorry this isn't bad this is a good example of of worship here um verse 26 it says and the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord we have a lot of churches today that are they have their praise team and they get up front and it's all about them and how how good they can sing and you know everybody's doing this and it's it's not and they call it and they call it their wor thei
r their praise and worship service and that's not that's not what God has given us as an example of worship in the Bible um chapter or verse 48 as well of the same chapter um it says says and I bowed down my head and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham so this is um Abraham's servant is still talking and verse 52 he says it again um and it came to pass that when Abraham's servant heard their words he worshiped the Lord bowing himself to the Earth it's like we talked
about earlier it's an attitude of submission it's a an attitude of humility and and we can't worship God in Pride we can't worship God in self focus if we're focusing on ourselves in our worship of God we we it won't be the type of worship that God wants us to give him um Exodus chap 4 verse 31 it says and the people believed and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he looked upon their Affliction then they bowed their heads and worshiped there it is again um
Exodus 12 27 it says that ye shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smoted the Egyptians and delivered our houses and the people what does it say it says again they bowed their heads and worshiped it's submission it's humility and um we could go on there's there's a lot more there's um a good example of um I think it's this one of um of bad worship of what what what does um bad worship look like in chapter 32 of
exodus in verses 8 um or we'll start in verse 7 it says and the Lord said unto Moses get thee down for thy people which thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves this is when they built the golden the golden calf and says they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them they have made them a molten calf and have worshiped it and have sacrificed thereto and said these be thy Gods oh Israel which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt so then
Moses gets down the mountain really fast with um Joshua he breaks the Ten Commandments in verse 19 it shows how they were worshiping um it says and it came to pass as soon as he came n into the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing and most Moses's anger was waxed hot and he cast tables out of his hand um and break them beneath the mouth and he took the calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire and ground it to powder and stred upon the water and made the children of Israel to drink
and oh where he go oh and um and it also it also talks about there's there's dancing that's how they worshiped their false god and also it said that um that Aaron had made them take their clothes off for their shame and so all of this this evil worship worship of false God's worship of of evil is included in things that the devil likes things that the devil wants and U anyway we could go through um a lot more let's go to the end of pretty much the end of the Bible in verse um Revelations chter
4 so it's not just the Old Testament um and what the way they worshiped back then but even in in Revelation 4: 10 it says the 4 and 20 Elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worship him that liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns Before the Throne saying Thou Art Worthy oh Lord so here we have humility again they're saying that God is the one that's worthy Thou Art Worthy oh Lord to receive glory and honor and power for thou Hast created all things here we go back to the p
erspective of us being the creation and God being the Creator and recognizing that um for thou Hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created we were created for the pleasure of God if that's our purpose on Earth is to please God if if our purpose on Earth is to please the Lord then why don't we try to do that why don't we try our best to please God the way God has given us in the Bible he's he's shown us he's given us how we can please him and through his word he guides
us and directs our lives and helps us to live the lives that will please him um and Revelation 5:14 it says and the four um and the four beasts said amen and the 4 and2 Elders once more fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever so God is worthy of our worship God is worthy of our proper worship it has to be in humility it has to be selfless it can't be focused on on me it can't be focused on you it has to be focused on God and it can't be can't be superstitious we're not we're not
worshiping God in some sense of of dread or fear of something that God's going to do to me if I don't do it right it's it's wanting to please God that's why that's why we serve God now does God punish us at times yes but we are not to live in fear God says God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind God ought to be worshiped as the Creator we are to recognize ourselves as the little guys we're we're the little ones and God's the one that made us he's he
has full control of us and and if it wasn't for him we wouldn't even be breathing and it's through God's through God's power that he allows us and through his Mercy he allows us to keep going we can't worship god with physical things with it's it's not a place or an item that helps us worship God it's us and God and his word and that's how we worship God God wants a relationship um worship is a relationship with God he's just waiting for us to call out to him says draw an eye to God and He will
draw an eye to us uh God is the reason like I said earlier we can do anything and God commands us to repent we can't we can't worship God properly without repentance without without confessing our sin
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