Acts 17:16-34 (NKJV) says: "Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 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.
"Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, 'What does this babbler want to say?' Others said, 'He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,' because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.
"And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus (Mars' Hill), saying, 'May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.' For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
"Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus (Mars' Hill) and said, 'Men of Athens... I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands... He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being... Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.'
"And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, 'We will hear you again on this matter.' So Paul departed from among them. However, some men joined him and believed."
When the apostle Paul was preaching to the Greeks in Athens on Mars' Hill, he preached Jesus and His resurrection. The Gospel today is the same. It is still about Jesus and His resurrection.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was God manifested in the flesh. Jesus was God incarnate.
Jesus became the Savior of the world more than 2,000 years ago, and He is still the Savior today. Jesus is the Lord of Heaven and Earth. As He was then, He is now. God never changes, and His Gospel is still the same.
Hebrews 13:8: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John 1:14: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..."
1 Corinthians 15:47: "The first man (Adam) was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man (Jesus) is the Lord from Heaven."
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to our faith and Christianity.
Romans 10:8-10: "...The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart: that is, the word of faith which we preach, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
1 Corinthians 15:14, 20-21: "And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty... But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man (Jesus) also came the resurrection of the dead."
Today in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania and Clinton County, we preach the same Gospel that was given to us and paid for by the blood of Jesus. Today, like yesterday, we preach Jesus and the resurrection.
If you do not know Jesus, may you be as those who heard Paul on Mars' Hill and join Him or want to hear about Him again.
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Finding Faith is written by area pastors. This week's column comes from Pastor John Snyder, pastor of House of the Lord Fellowship, Lock Haven.
