Critical Questions: Where Did I Come From?

People that are trying to answer the question: “WHERE DID I COME FROM?”  You can be misinformed about your SOURCE if you are ignorant of the fact of where you come from.

Answering the question “Where did I come from?”:

• Helps me ACKNOWLEDGE that I have a source
• Allows me to live with an AWARENESS of the source
• Then I find out that I have ACCESS to the source
• I can get ADVICE from the source
• I can be in ALIGNMENT with the source
• OUR SOURCE IS GOD

In Acts 17 Paul begins to speak to the people of Athens to help them understand that GOD IS THEIR SOURCE.

Acts 17:22–31 (NKJV)

²²Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;

²³for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:

²⁴God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.

²⁵Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

²⁶And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

²⁷so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

²⁸for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

²⁹Therefore, 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’s devising.

³⁰Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,

³¹because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

“It’s amazing how God can use our gifts.” – Pastor Billy Johnson

Paul shared four basic truths about God.

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The Greatness of God: He is Creator (v. 24)

Acts 17:24 (NKJV)

²⁴God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.

 

• The Epicureans, who were atheists, said that all was matter and matter always was. The Stoics said that everything was God, “the Spirit of the Universe.” God did not create anything; He only organized matter and impressed on it some “law and order.”
• But Paul boldly affirmed, “In the beginning, God!”

“God, out of nothing, made everything.” – Pastor Billy Johnson

Psalm 102:25–27 (NKJV)

²⁵Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

²⁶They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed.

²⁷But You are the same, And Your years will have no end.

 

John 1:1–3 (NKJV)

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

²He was in the beginning with God.

³All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

“Your Source is still great and is still creative in His works.” – Pastor Billy Johnson

–

The Goodness of God; He is Provider (v. 25)

Acts 17:25 (NKJV)

²⁵Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

 

• Men may pride themselves in serving God, but it is God who serves man. If God is God, then He is self-sufficient and needs nothing that man can supply. Not only do the temples not contain God, but the services in the temples add nothing to God! In two brief statements, Paul completely wiped out the entire religious system of Greece!
• It is God who gives to us what we need: “life, and breath, and all things.” God is the source of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). He gave us life and He sustains that life by His goodness (Matt. 5:45). It is the goodness of God that should lead men to repentance (Rom. 2:4). But instead of worshiping the Creator and glorifying Him, men worship His creation and glorify themselves (Rom. 1:18–25).

“He is still providing, meeting needs, and giving you all things richly to enjoy.” – Pastor Billy Johnson

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The Government of God: He is Ruler (vv. 26–29)

Acts 17:26–29 (NKJV)

²⁶And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

²⁷so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

²⁸for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

²⁹Therefore, 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’s devising.

 

Acts 17:26–27 (NLT)

²⁶From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.

²⁷“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.

 

• The God of Creation is also the God of history and geography! He created mankind “from one man” (Acts 17:26, niv) so that all nations are made of the same stuff and have the same blood.

“There is nobody superior…He created from one blood, every nation.” Pastor Billy Johnson

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The Grace of God: He is Savior (vv. 30–34)

Acts 17:30–34 (NKJV)

³⁰Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,

³¹because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

³²And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.”

³³So Paul departed from among them.

34However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.