Acts 17:16-34
Paul in Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “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.25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 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 everyone by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
Luke 5:1-11
Jesus Calls His Disciples
1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
Jesus 14:1-31
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
John 20:24-29
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Paul, while in preaching in Athens, tried to get the Athenians to have faith and believe in God...Paul teaches us that God who made the world and everything in the universe is the LORD of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands...And that God is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything...God needs nothing...It is God who gives everyone life and breath and everything else that man needs and has...From one man and the first man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out each of man's appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands...God did this so that we as men and women would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us...For in God we live and move and each have our being...As some of the Greek poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’...Since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that He is like gold or silver or stone—an image that is made by human design and skill...In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent...For God 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 everyone by raising this One Particular Man from the dead...
Is this sermon enough to get you to have faith?...What does it take to have and get faith?...Some of the people in Athens that day became believers and followers of Paul and believed in Jesus...Others wanted more information on the subject of this One Particular Man that was raised from the dead and is still alive...
The gospels teach us that Jesus is LORD and our Messiah and our Savior...As Jesus traveled around teaching and healing people, we might ask why did those who believed in Him, come to believe in Him...What was the reason for their having faith in Him?...As we read about Him in the gospels, we see that belief and faith in Him is not so much about anyone's intellect or our desires or even our reasoning, but faith seemingly was (and is) inherently there and around Him...There is something about Him...Even in the reading of the gospels, there is something about this Particular Man...What He did, in His daily actions, seemed to help others have faith...Maybe the original disciples believed that He was the One to come when He asked them to let down the nets one last time, the first time He met them...It seems as though He does and did come from heaven and above...Those who met Him, believed in Him and they saw something in Him...He had this authority around and about Him...Whether it be the hand picked disciples or the men who carried their paralyzed friend to Him, they saw and heard (in His teachings and ways) that He was different...Something was authoritative about Him and something was morally good about Him...They wanted to believe in Him...They wanted to believe that He was the Messiah to come...
Yet, at the same time, Jesus’ Presence is threatening to us...To believe in Him we must believe that we are, in fact, sinners and that we are not in control, but that He is...When He came and dwelt among us and the Light walked the earth He knew then and knows even today, our faults and our sins...We cannot hide from Him or hide our sins from Him...Concealment for us is not an option...He knows all things...On the other hand, while we are completely naked before Him, He had and has the ability to hide from us, and it sometimes seems that He often does...But He will not always remain hidden in the physical sense...We are told that one day He will return and judge our world...
Jesus did what He did in public, so everyone who was there could either see His actions or hear from one of those who did see Him...In His time, there were many eyewitnesses to the things He did...We are now in our time, two thousand years removed from Him physically...We are sort of like that ones who did not get to see His miracles or get to talk to Him and listen to His personal teachings...Those of His time could go ask others...We are asked to read the gospels about Him..
Jesus ask His disciples to believe Him, and they had a hard time, even as He explained Himself to them right before His arrest...And they had been with Him personally for three years...When He said that He was in the Father and the Father is in Him; or at least believe in Him on the evidence of the works and miracles themselves, they still seem perplexed about who He is and what He had been doing...But we are to believe from the ones who were eyewitness to Him from the gospel accounts, and believe that He did do and say these things, even though we did not get to see Him...And when we do believe in Him, He says that we are blessed...