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The Apostle Paul, during his second missionary journey, traveled through the region of Macedonia to share the gospel.  Unfortunately, the journey included significant opposition to the message of Christ.  After reaching Athens, Paul became distressed as he noticed that the city around him was filled with all types of idols.  Prompted by the Holy Spirit, day by day, Paul reasoned in the Jewish synagogues, as well as in the marketplace regarding the importance of Jesus Christ.  As the curiosity of the hearers was piqued, Paul was invited to speak at Mars Hill before the Areopagus - a tribunal with special jurisdiction in matters of morals and religion.  This became known as the speech “To an Unknown God.”  While the people were looking for an unknown God, Paul proclaimed that the true God can be known to all men as the Creator and Lord of the universe; who does not inhabit material shrines; who is not dependent on the offerings of his creatures but bestows on them life and everything else that they need.  Paul called his hearers to repent and submit to the knowledge of God, since he is not only Creator of all but judge of all.

In 2008, the Lord began to speak to Pastor Joseph regarding the city that God has placed him in.  As he looked around Boston, he realized that Boston was our modern day Athens.  A center of culture, history, education, and government, Boston and the New England region have a significant importance in shaping the direction of our nation.  Under God’s direction, Mars Hill Fellowship Church has been established to proclaim the reality of the gospel to develop balanced Christians who live Christ-centered lives.

 

 

 ACTS 17:16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

 22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

 24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[b] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[c]

 29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

 32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

New International Version (NIV)

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