SEEING PAST OUR CIRCUMSTANCES
ACTS 17:22-28
Introduction: We exist in a society that is increasingly becoming more and more polar in its beliefs. On the one end is a group, expounding the belief that we only go through life once, and as such, we should focus on making that trip as pleasurable as possible. Everywhere from beer commercials, to self-help advertisements, to the Internet, we are faced with barrage of activities and information that can make life more pleasurable. After all – you deserve it. On the other side you have a group who are convinced that everything is fated. I cannot choose to chart a course through life, rather I must make the best of the course ALREADY laid out for me. With this “bi-polar” mentality, it is easy to see how talking about a God who wants to be known can get old REAL quick, and move from acceptability to “political incorrectness”!
As we look at our text this morning, and we see the Apostle Paul embroiled in a discourse with the men of Athens – we need to understand that what we face today – either pleasure or fate, is exactly the same thing Paul faced in his day, and in his address on Mars hill in Athens.
Yet from this encounter, we can draw some conclusions. Conclusions that bring us to the point the people REALLY want to dream big. They want to expand their horizons. They just do not know WHERE to look, and this lack of knowledge leads us to small thinking, and small dreams.
OBSTACLE # 2 – OUR SIGHT
I PEOPLE ARE NOT LOOKING PAST WHAT THEY SEE
A PEOPLE ARE SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING – ACTS 17:22-23
1 PAUL COMMENTS ON THE MANY ALTARS AND THE REASON FOR THEM. PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING
a Very Religious/Very Superstitious – Want all their bases covered.
Illustration: I have noticed that Allan Iverson, the center for Philadelphia Basketball sports quite a few tattoos, some of them are religious, in fact they are multi-faceted – there are tattoos indicative of several religions. Then to top it all off, he even wears a W.W.J.D. bracelet. Maybe Allen is trying to cover all the bases too!
b Paul confronts their lack of certainty
1) Altar to unknown god
2) Worshipping in ignorance
3) Unaware of his impact
c This altar had been established to commemorate something that could not be attributed to any other deity they were aware of.
1) Paul was making them aware of their ignorance about God
2) Paul was making them aware that they were unable to see beyond what they saw.
2 WHAT KEEPS PEOPLE FROM SEEING GOD – ACTS 17:23
a The attitude that you only go around once
1) Everything is by chance
2) Happiness and pleasure are our aim in life
3) Only goal is to get all you can
Luke 12:19 And I’ll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ’
b The attitude that we cannot affect our circumstances
1) Everything is fated
2) Since I cannot change what is around me, I need to find my best place in it.
3) God is everything – everything is God
a) Sin is not an issue
b) My harmony with “god” is the issue
3 WHAT THE SOLUTION IS
a The obvious search – The people were looking to worship
b The uncertainty of being right
c God is not what we see, but the One who created what we see.
d Our purpose is not pleasure or fated, it is to seek and find God
1) Our purpose has been corrupted – Romans 1:20-21
Romans 1:20-21 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
2) God’s desire is for man to seek Him out!
Acts 17:27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
3) God’s desire is to meet our needs
Acts 17:25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
4) God seeks our fellowship with Him in order to unleash the most powerful act transforming influence in the universe
Acts 17:31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
ORDINARY MEN – ORDINARY PLACES
MOSES – DESERT
SAMUEL – IN BED
AMOS – WITH SHEEP
JOSEPH – PRISON
DANIEL – SLAVE
Psalm 139:7-11
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
-- GOD IS EVERYWHERE (OMNISCIENT)
-- GOD IS MORE THAN EVERYTHING (TRANSCENDENT)
-- GOD IS RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW (IMMENANT)
II WHAT HINDERS GOD FROM WORKING IN OUR LIVES (What hinders us from seeing Him work)?
A BEING OUT OF FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD
1 Salvation results in a new RELATIONSHIP – Never lost
2 Salvation results in a new FELLOWSHIP – Level varies
a Sensitive to God on a daily basis.
b Hard to be sense my relationship with God when I am out of fellowship with God.
B A GODLESS SOCIETY – (The activity of society to remove God from public contact)
1 Apart from the Left Behind Series, when is the last time you have seen Christian literature on the “best Seller” list. They are not considered part of the competition.
2 Spiritual activities and stories are routinely edited out of our news.
3 There is an multiplicity of activity – I act one way in society, and another way in church
a In reality this is a split of what God wants
Col. 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
WHEN WE ARE GUIDED BY SECULAR THINKING, IT IS HARD TO SEE GOD AT WORK
C BURNOUT – (Putting more out than is put in)
D INTERNAL ABUSE IN THE BODY OF CHRIST
TOOLS FOR SEEING GOD WORK:
-- SKEPTICISM (When someone attributes something to God, be willing to ask a few questions)
-- OPENNESS TO SEEING GOD WORK
-- SPIRITUAL SENSITIVITY
Often when our family goes shopping, we get separated. I am looking or interested in one thing, Sherry in another, and at times the kids in something different from either of us. As is often the case, I have to call out, to find family members, but they are a little keener when it comes to me. I have a habit of taking a heavy breath and exhaling it through my nose. This action makes a peculiar sound, so that if any of the family is in the area, EVEN without seeing me, they know I am there. Their familiarity with my actions and me allows them to know of my presence without seeing me present.
o If we are not seeing God working, perhaps we are not as close to Him as we think!
Exodus 3:2-3
There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up."
THE KIND OF CURIOSITY THAT BROUGHT MOSES TO THE BUSH IS THE KIND OF CURIOSITY WE NEED TO SEE GOD AT WORK!
HOW MANY “BURNING BUSHES” HAVE WE MISSED?
III EVIDENCES FOR GOD’S WORK IN ORDINARY PLACES
A ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Ask God to make something happen, that you cannot make happen. God answers in may ways (NO, SLOW, GROW, GO), and one way is an “obvious” answer.
B UNEXPECTED EVIDENCE OF GOD’S CARE.
C UNUSUAL LINKAGE OR TIMING
D ANY HELP TO DO GOD’S WORK IN THE WORLD
So here is the challenge this week…
-- In order to dream about more than summer we need to see God at work.
-- To see God at work we need to be looking
-- To see God at work we need to be sensitive
-- When we see God at work, we need to mark it down
So take a week to look for God at work and then write it down, keep it with you, and bring it to church as a testimony to what God is doing.
When we can see God at work all around us – we get excited enough to dream again!
EMAIL FOR POWERPOINT
