Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

"Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, 'Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.'"¹

"I walked today where the Apostle Paul walked."

I wrote those words seven years ago when Joy and I had the opportunity to stand at the top of Mars Hill overlooking the city of Athens in Greece. On this hill, or close to it, almost 2000 years ago in the shadow of the infamous historical Parthenon, the Apostle Paul explained the gospel to Athenians.

The next day we walked on a section of a road built by the Romans in the ancient city of Corinthâ€"a road on which Paul would have walkedâ€"at the end of which he stood while he was being accused by the city magistrates for causing a disturbance by preaching about Jesus.

The following day we sailed on the waters on which Paul sailed on his missionary journeys. A few days later we were in Ephesus and visited the amazing outdoor amphitheater where Paul would have undoubtedly been. Visiting these and other amazing ancient historical cities certainly made Paul's missionary journeys and his writings (especially to the Corinthians and Ephesians) come alive as never before.

Our last day before returning home was spent in Istanbulâ€"the city where east meets west. Besides visiting fascinating places and magnificent ancient buildings, it was a weird sensation to hear the extremely loud Muslim call to prayer starting at 5:40 AM sunrise! The chanting sound gave me cold chills especially in light of atrocities committed by radical Muslims in recent times. Could you imagine the outcry if Christians had the same kind of extremely loud calls to prayer five times a day in America? The anti-God and politically correct crowds would howl us into silence!

To be continued ....

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank You for the historical evidence authenticating Your Word, the Bible, as found in the 'cradle of Christianity' where Your early disciples taught and preached the gospel message. Help me to grasp in my heart and mind the reality of Your Word and the impact on the world that the gospel has made over the past two millenniums. May it truly impact my heart and life as well. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus's name, amen."

1. Acts 17:22.

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