Acts 17

v1-9: The gospel turns the world upside down because as it comes in power it reverses the direction of soul.  "The love of the world is uprooted from the heart, and the way of the world is contradicted in the life," and people are turned "from vice to virtue, from idols to the living and true God, from malice and envy to love and peace."

v10-15: "Those who read and receive the Scripture must search them.  They must study them and take pains in considering them, both so that they may find out the truth contained in them and so that they may not... fall into error."  Searching the Scriptures during the week helps up to make the most of what we heard last Sunday and what we will hear this Sunday.

v16-21: It should cause us distress when we see the glory that belongs to God being given to idols.  It should also move us to compassion that people are "so enslaved to Satan and led captive by him at his will."

v22-31: "God made the world through him, redeemed it through him, rules it through him, and will judge it through him."  Christ's resurrection is the proof that He is the Judge of the living and the dead, and knowing there will be a future day of judgment "should lead us all to repent of our sins and turn away from them to God."

v32-34: Teaching that is the joy of believers is seen as a joke by unbelievers.  Don't be surprised when truths that we are convinced of and see are important are treated as a laughing matter.

M

Gospel ministers should preach Jesus; he must be their main subject. Their business is to bring people into an acquaintance with him.