Studying Mission in the SSnet.org series Lesson 10, may the Holy
Spirit be the speaker to your heart. The Topic today is: Mission is Paul sharing to the Jews and
Heathens for Morning Manna of the Sabbath School Lesson Mission. The Opening Hymn will be 229 "Spirit of the Living God". The Sabbath School Quarterly, downloadable from SSnet.org in the
Teacher's Edition is on page 81-83. The SSnet.org allows anyone, anywhere to read the lesson in their
own language. Choose your own language to see God speaking also to your heart. Why don’t you click on this link right now: https://www.adultbiblestudyguide.org/pdf.php?file=2023:4Q:TE:PDFs:ETQ423_010.pdf ---Paul and his teaching of the heathens in Athens. ---Paul was picky. He did not say, you are a Jew and therefore I
will not preach to you or you are a Pagan, so I will not preach to you. ---Paul did not say, I will keep quiet because I understand that
you have the right to believe in your gods that are on every corner here in
Athens. ---Neither did he say, I do not want to hurt your feelings of
complacency that you have with your religion and disturb your religions views
here in Athens. ---Paul was so radical in the market about Christ Who came, live,
died and resurrected went to heaven that all were impressed in this new
religion. ---He made enemies as well. Jews were not satisfied and constantly
were stalking him. ---Paul was in the night then escorted by friends out to another
city and if they Jews arrived there, again to Athens alone where he was waiting
for his companions to come. ---When he saw the idols, he felt very uneasy and angry really. ---How they can worship idols that do not move when God created the
heavens and earth and do not live in temples made by man. ---They took Paul from the Market to the Areopagus. ---In the book by Jerome Carcopino in 1938 on Daily Life in Rome
page 120-121, he explained the role of rhetoric in those days. “Seneca disapproved of teaching methods which do not prepare men
for life, but only pupils for school: "non vitae sed scholae discimus".
Ellen White in Education spells out the same wisdom. ---There was a decay in rhetoric and the elder Seneca said that
they were boring. ---Carcopino concluded that “mental malnutrition to which the pick
of Rome's youth was doomed” in Roman literature that was not fascinating enough
was the problem. ---Nero, Paul’s emperor of his day, liked Greek literature and
dramas. That is probably why Athens had an idol at every corner. He was eager
to hear Greek literature rather than Roman literature and that made Nero
unpopular. ---As a result of the boring orations, the common people revolted
and turned their backs on this. They rejected it and was more open for
something new. (Carcopino 1938: 121). ---And this is why Paul’s content was more appealing. It was
something new that they all desired. At last. ---Carcopino said that Roman literature laid scattered in pieces: “Born
of the incomparable Greek tragedy, the Roman drama lay shattered to fragments
amid the marble of scenic decoration. But as these operatic airs rose above the
ruins of great tragedy, the pure intoxication which the ancient masterpieces
had inspired once again touched the listening masses.” (Carcopino 1938: 225). ---So now we know why Paul is so skillfully speaking using the past
history to remind them of Someone Whom they did not know but should. ---Some were eager to hear and Acts 17 recall their names, also a
female. ---Do you know that in an age of smartphones, people are eager to
hear meaning. Proper meaning. Why? Flash-flash is destroying their focus and
the miss the meaning. ---Someone who can put all data into perspective and with an
orientation leading to a point, an End-point, is what they want to hear. ---Are you that one? When? Immediately. Call your pastor at an
Adventist Church near you to get the way to the church next Sabbath or Friday
night meeting for more information.