We don't witness to everyone the same way. The apostles began with Abraham when talking to Jews and Gentiles with an Old Testament background, but with the God of creation, when talking to pagan Gentiles.When Paul came to Athens, he first went to the synagogue, and then to the agora, the marketplace. There he attracted the attention of the intellectual elites, the Stoics and Epicureans. They could not understand what he was talking about when speaking of the resurrection. It did not fit their preconceived notions, their religious framework. So they asked for more. They invited Paul to address them at Mar's Hill, a rock outcropping beneath the Acropolis. There we have a tremendous example of Paul's explanation of the gospel by defining God and then man.

Hope is a process, developed, not given in total at salvation. Hope is a present reality based on a future promise, our assured destiny. Hope stands firm in adversity. Adversity is the building block of Christian character. How can there be joy in adversity? Confidence in God’s promises and His long-term plan produces a mentality of joy. Hope grows through revelation, the disclosure and unveiling of fuller knowledge through His Word. Fuller knowledge develops into an intimate relationship with God through an understanding of the all sufficiency of His attributes. Discover the joy in the certainty of His promises and the motivation to stand firm no matter what circumstances deliver.

Before we study Acts 9, a biographical sketch of Paul is essential. His road to Damascus experience is so important that the Holy Spirit has chosen to refer to it several times in Scripture. Here we see the miraculous nature of Saul’s conversion and the power of God in transforming a life. Get to know Saul through events surrounding him as he was growing up, his family, his education, his extreme persecution of Christians, his Jewishness and his leadership involvement as he spread the Christian message to the Gentiles. God’s role through intervention in history and His determination of ultimate reality are so counter to our cultural beliefs that reaction to these events has been extreme and dismissive. Learn about political correctness and its function in the suicide of Western Civilization.