If you would like to download two encouraging, FREE full-length MP3s of Tony’s popular sermons: “The Sovereignty of God” and “How to Handle a Crisis,” you can do so by clicking on this link: https://share.hsforms.com/1atT9MJvXQN…

If you would like to sign up for our daily devotional bringing you hope and inspiration, please go to this link: https://share.hsforms.com/1CkOLA910Sm…

▶ Do you know Jesus as your Savior? https://tonyevans.org/know-jesus-christ/

▶ Stream Sermons: https://tonyevans.org/podcast/

▶▶ Free Sermon App: https://subsplash.com/tonyevans/app/

▶▶ DONATE: https://give.tonyevans.org/the-altern…

▶ Facebook:   / drtonyevans  

▶ Instagram:   / drtonyevans  

▶ Are you a preacher? Free sermon outlines: https://go.tonyevans.org/dr-tony-evan…

Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.

[Music]

it was in this

location that one of the greatest

sermons in the New Testament was

preached

by the Apostle Paul it’s right across

from the

Acropolis where the paron the temple to

the gods particularly the the goddess

Athena is built and it was here where

Paul got together with the Greek

leaders and proclaimed to them the

unknown God you see Greek was a

polytheistic culture

there were Gods

everywhere in fact one of the statements

that have been made was if you walk down

the streets of Greece you could maybe

run into more Gods than humans because

the gods were looked to as the the

mechanism to the to the metaphysical

world uh and you look to a god to impact

your life to give you guidance to to

produce fertility of crops and and

anything you needed you created a a God

for and so it is in the midst of this

place that had been inundated with Greek

thought and Greek culture we know about

Plato and Socrates and Aristotle and the

world view that accompanied them and how

it had been infused into the belief

system of the day a mixture of

philosophy and religion

Paul comes to this cultural center of

the world Rome was the political and the

military power but Greece was the center

of culture we called it the Greco Roman

World Paul came here to Mars Hill where

people would gather to have deep

discussions and philosophical analysis

and religious thought and he knew that

if he could bring the good news of Jesus

Christ here he could bring it to a place

that would have cultural significance

and influence because Greek language and

Greek thought and Greek worldview had so

permeated the then Known World so he

came to a place that had a provision for

an unknown God there were all these

other gods but in case a new God popped

up they provided for it well Paul being

a relevant proclaimer but also so being

steeped in his understanding of Greek

language Greek thought Greek philosophy

as well as Judaism and the Old Testament

was able to take their world view and

turn it on its head taking what they

knew about that there would be an

unknown reality that they still had to

learn about and he

introduced the true God the god of the

Bible and he talked about the unknown

God the god that they hadn’t considered

the Creator God The God Who is

responsible for human life and then he

threw the ultimate

curveball The God Who raises the dead

and it was this thing about the

resurrection that caused quite a stir

here on Mars Hill what do you mean a

bodily Resurrection now there was the

thought of a a Spirits out there

somewhere but a physical bodily

Resurrection unheard of in fact most of

the group who were listening to him

thought he had lost his mind what is

this man talking about this is outside

of our frame of reference this is

contrary to our world viw but we know it

is the centerpiece of the Gospel the

resurrection of Jesus Christ which

becomes the basis of the resurrection of

all those who have placed faith in him

and it would be this Proclamation

of the unknown God the father of the

Lord Jesus Christ who would be

proclaimed to a people who had not

seriously considered him but there are

all kinds of lessons that come from

Paul’s sermon first of all he was

resting on the truth of the Old

Testament since the New Testament hadn’t

been cified yet and he was preaching

based on the word of God to a people who

did not know it did not have it and

could not relate to it so he showed how

you communicate to a secular society who

does not have and is not rooted in the

scriptures and that you can be relevant

starting with where they are for what

they need to know biblical preaching

needs to be that today people who are

Tethered to the text as Paul was to the

Old Testament

but relevant to the culture that’s what

we try to do show that the Bible is

relevant to an unbelieving unknowing and

even God rejecting world because they

rejected this truth about Jesus Christ

by and large oh there were a few we’re

told who believed but little did Paul

know that he was starting a movement in

Greece that would spread like wildfire

as the Church of Jesus Christ continued

to spread throughout the book of Acts it

would be this

proclamation to show that people who do

not have a clear understanding of the

good news of the gospel and of who the

true God is can be approached in a way

that takes what they already know turns

it to the truth of God to introduce them

to the good news of Jesus Christ and the

great news of the Gospel the gospel of

salvation what Paul did then and what we

should do now is to show people the true

God because we’re inundated Now with uh

we’ll call them American Idols uh

they’re not the same uh uh polytheistic

Idols of of the first century but they

are the idolatries that people look to

as their source of meaning as their

source of guidance as their source of

identity today and these false gods have

blurred them to the true God we are to

take what they are looking for and show

how the true God speaks into that not

only by revealing their sin by offering

the good news of Salvation to steer them

to the true God through the means of

getting there and that is the one who

said I am the way the truth and the life

Jesus Christ this Jesus who rose from

the dead and who raises from the dead

those who believe in him for eternal

life this is what we are proclaiming at

the urban alternative the good news of

Jesus Christ to the biblically

illiterate as well as to those who’ve

grown up around the scriptures but

who’ve not gravitated and who’ve not

responded to Jesus Christ well this is

the message that needs to be heard today

this is the message we’re going going to

unapologetically in love Proclaim today

because Jesus is the truth he has risen

from the dead and he’s still raising

people to New Life when they Place faith

alone in Christ alone for the

Forgiveness of sins and the free gift

the grace gift of eternal life through

faith in him so here in Mars Hill with

the backdrop of false

gods Paul proclaimed the true God so I’m

sitting in a great spot led by a great

Apostle the Apostle Paul with the

message of the ages and that is the true

God can be known he has manifested

himself in history in the Incarnation

the in flesh the coming as a man in the

second person of the Trinity Jesus

Christ the good news of the gospel and

that is that sin can be forgiven eternal

life can be free freely granted if a

person will place their faith in the

finished work of Jesus Christ who died

on the cross in their place for their

sin and he will give the credit of a

lifetime he took on the cross the credit

of our sins upon himself and he then

gives us the credit of forgiveness and

righteousness as he imparts the perfect

Life of Christ and credits it to our

account so we stand before a holy God

with the righteousness of Christ as

though we’ve never sinned the news

didn’t get any better than that that was

the news Paul gave on Mars Hill that’s

the news I’m giving from Mars Hill right

now and that is the message of the urban

alternative God’s word is true the true

God can be known and when the

proclamation of that word is made

relevant to people people who need to

hear the gospel then they hear the good

news that they can have hope for

eternity and help for history it doesn’t

get any better than

[Music]

that