One Sermon

I taught from Acts 17 this morning, and I noticed something I haven’t noticed before.  Paul’s presentation of the Gospel in Athens follows a pretty neat theme of “one.”

  • One God & Creator (vv. 24-25)
  • One Man (v. 26)
  • One People (v. 26)
  • One Search (v. 27-28)
  • One Message, “Repent” (vv. 29-30)
  • One Judgment (v. 31)
  • One Savior (v. 31)

Some scoffed, some were curious, and others believed (vv. 32-34).

This observation raises a few questions for me.  Do we sometimes complicate the gospel unnecessarily to boost our own egos?  Do we see scoffing and hesitancy to believe as evidence that people aren’t responding when those are, in fact, responses?

Bible Study Interests?

One of my ongoing responsibilities in my new position is teaching a fairly in-depth bible study each week.  On Tuesday morning at 6:30, I have been walking through Paul’s letter to the Romans with a group of about 60 men.  Later, at 9:30, I teach about 65 women the same material.

We’re about to come to the end of Romans in the men’s group and that means we’ll be heading on to something new.  I’m not sure what direction I want to go at this point, so I thought I’d enlist your help!  Which of the following books would you most like to study?  This list is selected based on a couple of criteria, primarly what our groups have already covered (Romans and Matthew most recently) and my personal interests.

So, here ya go!  If you’d like to add some comments for your reasons, feel free to do so in the comment section below.  Just as a note, if we choose something like the Psalter it will not be a three year study but instead will focus on some of the theological highlights.