Day 05 - Athens, Parthenon

Today, we got to tour the city of Athens, Greece. We were blown away as we walked up to the top of the acropolis and saw the Parthenon -- a Temple to Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. To think this magnificent structure was built in 438 BC was incredible. After taking lots of pictures, we walked down to the Aeropogus, which is also known as Mars Hill, the exact location where Paul preached to the Athenians in Acts 17. This was without a doubt the most spiritually impactful part of our day, as we heard a powerful message from Pastor Mike as he took us through Paul's sermon. Paul used things that the Athenians could understand and relate to and then preached the Gospel. It was so powerful to imagine the people of Athens looking up at the Parthenon, a man-made structure, and hear Paul say:

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,[c]25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him." (Acts 17:25-27)

It was great to think about how we can learn to share the Gospel differently depending on who we are talking to. Paul preached differently when talking to a Jew than when talking to a Gentile. With the Athenians, he even used an altar “To an unknown god” to connect the dots for them and show them that this “unknown god” was in fact Jesus! Sitting in the exact location where Paul preached this sermon made the Scriptures come alive in a whole new way. We are so blessed to get to experience this trip and see, feel, and touch the exact locations where things in the Bible actually take place!