Acts 17:32-34 (ESV Strong's)
Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
Subject: Evangelism
Paul, in the above passage, has just engaged with the philosophers and leaders in Athens. At one time, Athens would be THE place to be for intellectual expansion. Paul provides a compelling and challenging message this body of philosophers would ever hear. The response of those philosophers isn't much different than the academic world today. They basically rejected the gospel message of Christ's death, burial and resurrection. They even "mocked" Paul and the message. That could have been very discouraging to most people. The "fear of man" and their response to us seems to seize most. Paul leaves the scene, but not alone. A man named Dionysius and a women named Damaris and a few others, believed. Paul was not looking for the masses to come to Christ (He, of course, would have taken that), but he knew there was some whom God would call. When we preach the gospel we have to remember that God will call whom He will call. God wants our attention on our "Dionysius" and "Damaris." We need to know that God is going to use us, in any circumstance, to call whom He will.
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