![\"Acts](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/747\/2016\/11\/cross-66700_640_opt.jpg\")
<\/a><\/h1>\nActs 17:16-21 Are You Curious About God?<\/h1>\n
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, \u201cWhat does this babbler want to say?\u201d <\/span> Are you curious? Do you have an interest in spiritual things, in the meaning of life, or about the existence of God? Well, that is because God placed this curiosity in your heart.<\/p>\n From one man He has made every nation of men to live all over the earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live, <\/span>so that they might seek God,<\/span> and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. God wants you to discover Him.<\/p>\n God planted eternity in our hearts, as a way for us to know that we should seek Him.<\/p>\n God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God\u2019s work from beginning to end. <\/span> Do you know that God is also curious about you? God was curious and interested in Moses. God called to him from a burning bush. God was interested in Daniel, Joseph, Isaiah, and a whole lot of other people. God has called us by being interested and curious about us.<\/p>\n Curiosity about God leads us to a choice about God. I can choose to walk away from God, or walk toward God. What happens when I walk away from God? This becomes a 2-step walk away from God in REJECTION and ISOLATION.<\/p>\n I choose to take no interest in God. I choose to be indifferent to His ways. Walking this path leads me further away from God. As I lose interest, I become separated. This path leads me to hell.<\/p>\n God called this ignorance in the past.<\/p>\n Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man\u2019s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked\u2026 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death\u2026 This path is dangerous. It is broad and it will lead to death and destruction.<\/p>\n Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. While we may know that the way we live is destructive, we still try to do it all by ourselves. We make excuses for walking this way. We walk this road in isolation without God. The excuses we use for walking this way sound like this:<\/p>\n I don\u2019t need God.<\/p>\n From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities\u2013his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn\u2019t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. I can live life all by myself.<\/p>\n They have all turned aside; I know what is best for me.<\/p>\n \u201cI am the Vine, you are the branches. When you\u2019re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can\u2019t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. Without God, we simply cannot make it in this life. Without God, our destiny is clearly a path that leads to complete isolation from God in place called Hell. Is Hell real? Yes, Hell is a real place. God has said people who choose to live without Him will go there. But as I said earlier, God has placed this curiosity in your heart for a reason. As Paul said in these verses \u2013 God is not far from you. God wants to be involved in your life. You can choose to integrate God into your life.<\/p>\n What happens if I choose to follow God?<\/p>\n I choose to be interested in God and His ways. Walking in this path brings me closer to God. It leaders to eternal joy and happiness in heaven. It leads to contentment and satisfaction in this life. I grow in my desire and love for God and His ways.<\/p>\n It is like the narrow way of which Jesus spoke.<\/p>\n Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. <\/span> What are the promises of walking this path?<\/p>\n For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. <\/span> You will have eternal life with God in a secure place called Heaven. Your eternal destiny is secure. On this path, God leads you and helps you to your destination. It is the walk of life of a Christian. It is a journey of adaptation and integration. Because in order to get to heaven, God wants you to integrate Him into your life on Earth.<\/p>\n It is a two-step walk with God.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t do this alone. I need God\u2019s help.<\/p>\n For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. <\/span> You go from ADAPTATION to INTEGRATION when you completely immerse yourself (i.e. baptism) into God\u2019s ways for your life.<\/p>\n But how can I stop walking away from God on the broad road, and start walking with God on the narrow road? How can I CROSS over and start to integrate God into my life?<\/p>\n I need to do the following:<\/p>\n C<\/span><\/span>onfess my need Getting to Heaven Takes FAITH<\/a><\/p>\n
\nOthers said, \u201cHe seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,\u201d because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, \u201cMay 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.\u201d 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. <\/span>
\n(Acts 17:16-21 NKJV)<\/span><\/p>\n1. God planted CURIOSITY about Himself in our hearts.<\/h3>\n
\n(Acts 17:26-27 HCSB)<\/span><\/p>\n
\n(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT)<\/span><\/p>\n2. We REJECTED Him. This is called SIN. Our rejection separates us and isolates us from God.<\/h3>\n
\n(Acts 17:29-30 NKJV)<\/p>\n
\n(Romans 3:23 NKJV)<\/p>\n
\n(Romans 6:23 MSG)<\/p>\n
\n(Matthew 7:13 NKJV)<\/p>\n3. We ISOLATE ourselves and try to live life without God.<\/h3>\n
\n(Romans 1:20-21 NLT)<\/p>\n
\nThey have together become unprofitable;
\nThere is none who does good, no, not one.\u201d
\n(Romans 3:12 NKJV)<\/p>\n
\n(John 15:5-6 MSG)<\/p>\n
\n(Matthew 7:14 NKJV)<\/span><\/p>\n
\n(John 3:16 NKJV)<\/span><\/p>\n4. God helps us to ADAPT to Him and His ways. He helps us to change. He made it possible for us to change our ways. God expects me to repent. But this is a process.<\/h3>\n
\n(Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV)<\/span><\/p>\n5. God helps me to INTEGRATE myself to His ways and into His story.<\/h3>\n
\nR<\/span><\/span>epent from my walk away
\nO<\/span><\/span>bserve Christ\u2019s action
\nS<\/span><\/span>elect God\u2019s free gift
\nS<\/span>tep into this eternal life walk with God<\/p>\nOther Posts:<\/h2>\n