Key Thought: By a tact born of Divine love, Paul drew their minds away from heathen deities by revealing the true God to them, who was to them, unknown. He avoided irritating his listeners.
December 9, 2023

A. Have a volunteer read Acts 17:18-21.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What were some of the ways the pagans in the marketplace reacted to Paul’s speaking and questioning?
3. Personal Application: What kind of idols are people worshipping in your society, and how can you open their eyes to how useless it is? Share your thoughts..
4. d. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “Are the things that you are presenting to people centered on Christ? Is Jesus the center of all messages you are giving to your contacts?” How would you respond to your relative?

B. Have a volunteer read Acts 17:22,23.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What was Paul doing here in his attempt to reach them with the gospel?
3. Personal Application: What points of contact can you think of that would open opportunities for deeper conversation with others with whom you come in contact? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Don’t you think there are many, not only non-Christians, but also Christians that are too superstitious in many ways?” How would you respond to your friend?

C. Have a volunteer read Acts 17:24-27.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What approach did Paul take to attempt to reach these people?
3. Personal Application: Why is it important to find common ground with others in speaking of spiritual things? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “Why is it a good idea to point to nature and Creation to reach people about God? How does nature point to the existence and supremacy of God?” How would you respond to your relative?

D. Have a volunteer read Acts 17:24-34.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. How does Paul continue his witness?
3. Personal Application: In prayer, ask for God’s help in knowing how best to witness to someone you know. Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

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“God’s Mission – My Mission” consistently points us to our Gracious God and how He wishes us to portray what He has done for us. In response we will reach out to others: 
Hymn 573 – I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go, Dear Lord, hence our theme hymn. This is in response to 
So Send I You – Hymn 573.

With all that Paul had learned, he was on a mission to 
Go, Preach My Gospel – Hymn 378. In Areopagus he really was 
Seeking The Lost – Hymn 373 as in all places he travelled to in his preaching and teaching mission.

The people in Athens (Wednesday) would sing 
We Have Not Known Thee as we ought – Hymn 291.

Thursday and Friday are encouraging as we view the results of 
Faith Is The Victory – Hymn 608

So, dear people, be encouraged to go forward so that we and all our friends and neighbors will be rejoicing 
When We All Get To Heaven – Hymn 633.

To learn unknown hymns, you will find the accompaniment music for each one at: https://sdahymnals.com/Hymnal/

Another great resource is for when there is a hymn you wish to sing but can’t find it in your hymnal. Go to https://www.sdahymnal.org/Search and in the search bar type a special word in that is in the hymn. I am sure you will be amazed at the help you will be given.

 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

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Daily Lesson for Monday 4th of December 2023

No matter where he was, Paul, given his commission from God, was going to preach the gospel. So, that’s exactly what he sought to do in Athens.

Clearly, with his “foreign gods,” Paul made an impression on these people in the marketplace (Acts 17:18), and so they took him to the Areopagus, a part of the city where legal and religious matters were adjudicated, though it does not seem as if Paul was facing any kind of legal trial. It was just, it seemed, to give him and his “new doctrine” (Acts 17:19) a hearing. It would be hard to ignore someone of Paul’s eloquence, passion, and intelligence, even if he were promoting ideas that seemed very strange to these people.

Acts 17:21 says the Athenians did nothing but talk about and listen to the latest ideas. Was Luke accusing them of laziness? Probably not. More likely he was pointing out that they were experienced thinkers and debaters. After all, the Greeks produced such men as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, philosophers whose influence has reached down to our day, as well. Athens for centuries had been seen as the center of intellectual and philosophical thought. Though some of these thinkers were not atheists, certainly not in the sense that we think of atheism today, many of their philosophical ideas were radically different from the teachings of Christianity. It’s hard, for example, to find a place in the philosophy of the Epicureans and Stoics for something like a resurrected Messiah.

In Athens, Paul had expected that the Holy Spirit could use his knowledge and oratorical skills, which he had gained in his education under Gamaliel. But in reality it was Paul’s education on the streets of Athens that the Holy Spirit was able to use even more. “The wisest of his hearers were astonished as they listened to his reasoning. He showed himself familiar with their works of art, their literature, and their religion.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 237.

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Daily Lesson for Sunday 3rd of December 2023

The city of Athens was “given over to idols” (Acts 17:16, NKJV). Knowing the history of his own people and their proclivity (despite the endless warnings) to idolatry, Paul was upset at all the idols he found in Athens, as well. No question, Paul was motivated by compassion for the Athenians, who would die in their sins if they did not learn of the true God.

Today, our cities are still full of idols, even though they are less obvious than what Paul saw. And unfortunately, many believers are fully capable of walking through a city without reacting in the least to its idols. Paul, though, was tuned in to the Holy Spirit enough to respond. Out of step with some other believers, who still didn’t grasp that the gospel was for all the world, Paul knew that God wanted the Athenians to be saved along with everyone else. He understood that the global mission concept was to take the gospel to those who were entirely unreached, including idol-worshiping pagans, as well as the philosophers who filled the streets of Athens.

Paul, therefore, frequented the marketplace where these people were to be found. We might say that he formed the first Global Mission Study Center, where he used the marketplace to study and test methods of reaching the hearts and minds of these pagans.

Paul knew that he could not approach the Athenians in the same way that he approached Jews or even God-fearing Gentiles. These were people whose starting point was not the God of Israel or His works among the nation of Israel. No matter how central these concepts and beliefs were to the Jews and even to the God-fearing Gentiles, they meant nothing to the people Paul encountered in the Athenian marketplace. Hence, an entirely new approach would be needed.

Today, we often seek to reach people whose background has nothing in common with what has been called “the Judeo-Christian” heritage. Hence, like Paul, we need to adapt. An approach that might work fine, for example, in Buenos Aires could be useless in Bangkok.

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Daily Lesson for Saturday 2nd of December 2023

Read for This Week’s Study

Acts 17:1-34, 1 Corinthians 2:2, Romans 1:18-25.

Memory Text:

“ ‘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’ ” (Acts 17:1-34:24, NIV).

Depicting what Paul did in Athens, Luke wrote: “Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there” (Acts 17:1-34:17, NKJV).

Naturally, Paul would have been most comfortable working among the Jews, his own flesh and blood. But Paul refused to be satisfied with working among only his own people. He had been called to reach others, as well.

Or Paul could have worked just with the “God-fearing” Gentiles, whose worldview already had undergone substantial change. They had a biblical foundation that Paul could build upon, even if they still needed to know the God whom they “feared”—Jesus the Messiah.

But, no. While in Athens, a city famous for its philosophy, Paul sought to reach the people there, as well. Many of these had a radically different background and worldview from that of the Hebrews and their sacred history, which formed the foundation of the faith that Paul wanted to teach the Athenians.

How did Paul go about seeking to reach these people, and what can we learn from his attempts?

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 9.

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