Hearing Something New.

Hearing Something New. Sept 08 2020.

“ And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying “ May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.” Acts 17:19-21 ESV.

I was in Portugal last summer, I did not speak the language well, but I sensed that the people are generally inquisitive and curious about religion. At least, I was certainly meeting a lot of people who seemed very interested in engaging hot topics. It reminds me of the statement Luke makes in Acts about the athenians who “ would spend time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Although Luke’s statement comes across as critical of this habit, it did provide Paul with the opportunity to preach. It actually sounds like a wonderful pastime to me. Every positive or negative conversation about religion, church, and even politics, is an opportunity. That is as true for an agnostic who considers religion to be dangerous as it is for a Catholic grandmother who feels the weight of responsibility for her grandson’s spiritual education.i met people who were willing to engage in an abstract discussion of religion. While true religion cannot remain in the abstract, it can be born there. Every encounter is an opportunity both to persuade and to learn. May God give us the logic and rhetoric to persuade , along with the humility to learn.


The intellects of Athens invited Paul to the Areopagus, or Mars Hill, So he could be interviewed by the leading intellects of the city. They were not spiritually interested in Jesus, they were just intellectually interested in an unfamiliar belief system. Jesus was just another god to them. Not the one true God.

🙏 Father there are many people searching today for a new belief system. Help me to be a teacher and someone who will willingly share Jesus with them You are the one true God and I want to be your ambassador. Thank You Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins. I live you and want to serve you with all of my heart mind and soul. It is in Your name that I pray.

Amen.5