Teaching by: David Festa
Acts 17:22-27 NIV
biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+17%3A22-27&version=NIV
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.
one [man]
ἑνὸς (henos)
Adjective - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's Greek 1520: One. (including the neuter Hen); a primary numeral; one.
[ God intended that ] they would seek
ζητεῖν (zētein)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's Greek 2212: To seek, search for, desire, require, demand. Of uncertain affinity; to seek; specially, to worship, or to plot.
[Him]
Θεὸν (Theon)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's Greek 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.
God intended that “they” (all the nations) would seek Him.
Mitochondrial Eve
Science has been able to prove based on our genetic code, that every current human all have common DNA from a single ancient ancestor. They have named this mitochondrial eve. We all have a common African ancestor, in Mitochondrial Eve.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve#:~:text=Mitochondrial%20Eve%20is%20the%20most,maternal%20line%20descendants%20alive%20today.
Jeremiah 29:13-14 NIV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+29%3A13-14&version=NIV
13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[a] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
If people are genuinely seeking God with all their heart, even if they are in a far country or away from other believers, God will find a way to bring the message of the Gospel to that person. There are examples of this happening in Scripture, like the Ethiopian and the Eunuch.
Jeremiah 42:10 NIV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+42%3A10&version=NIV
10 ‘If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I have relented concerning the disaster I have inflicted on you.
Daniel 4:17 NIV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+4%3A17&version=NIV
17 “‘The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people.’
Mark 12:29-30
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+12%3A28-30&version=NIV
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Today, “critical theory” is the view that there is no objective truth. But this is an example of being contrary to natural law. And it is not what God teaches us.
Critical theory is a way to question realities, as a thought experiment. But it is implemented as a method of creating disenfranchised voting classes or discriminated social groups. These things that they are creating are intended to destroy natural civilization and is promoted by groups with specific political agendas.
The reality is that God is not unjust. We are just not seeing with all of our hearts. If we are not finding God, it is because we are allowing ourselves to be distracted.
Luke 10:27 NIV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10%3A27&version=NIV
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Hebrews 4:15
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+4%3A15&version=NIV
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
All of these things exist for one reason. God puts these things in our life so that we will seek Him.
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