Out of Nothing: Gratitude for Life and Mothers

May 10, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Altars to Unknown Gods

Paul stood in Athens’ intellectual arena, surrounded by statues of deities. He observed their altar to “The Unknown God” – a hedge against divine oversight. With strategic grace, he affirmed their religiosity before revealing the Creator who needs no stone temple. [46:31]

Paul met resistance not with condemnation but connection. He used their own poetry and philosophy to point toward the God who gives breath to all. This God cannot be contained in shrines, yet dwells intimately in every seeking heart.

When have you dismissed someone’s beliefs instead of finding common ground? Identify one person in your life who seems spiritually distant. How might their “altars” – hobbies, values, or questions – become bridges for Christ’s light?

“People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.”
(Acts 17:22-23, NIV)

Prayer: Ask God to reveal where others already hunger for Him in their searching.
Challenge: Today, identify one shared value or interest with a spiritually skeptical friend.

Day 2: Breath in Their Bones

The Athenian philosophers scoffed at resurrection, yet Paul anchored his message in their primal experience: “In Him we live and move and have our being.” He pointed to their own breath as daily proof of God’s sustaining presence. [49:09]

God requires no handmade temples because He built His sanctuary in human lungs. Every inhale declares dependence; every exhale testifies to borrowed life. The Creator who formed dust into Adam still animates dust today.

Your breath connects you to every person who heard Paul speak. How might this physical truth reshape conversations about spirituality? When you feel tension rising today, pause mid-breath. Whose life-giving breath will you thank God for?

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”
(Acts 17:24-25, NIV)

Prayer: Confess times you’ve reduced God to systems or buildings instead of living breath.
Challenge: Set a phone reminder to pause and thank God for three breaths at 3 PM.

Day 3: Fools and Few Followers

When Paul mentioned resurrection, laughter erupted. Some mocked, others deferred: “We’ll hear you again.” Only Dionysius and Damaris believed. Yet these few became seeds for the Greek church. [49:57]

The gospel often produces scant visible fruit among the educated. Jesus didn’t call us to win arguments but to plant seeds. Paul’s “failure” in Athens still echoes through Luke’s carefully recorded account.

Where have you equated Kingdom success with numbers or accolades? This week, share the resurrection story with one person. Expect confusion, not conversion. What shame or pride keeps you from sowing in stony soil?

“When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, ‘We want to hear you again on this subject.’… A few men became followers of Paul and believed.”
(Acts 17:32,34, NIV)

Prayer: Thank God for the often-invisible harvest of your faithful sowing.
Challenge: Text one person today: “What’s your biggest question about life after death?”

Day 4: Arms Around the Spirit

Paul couldn’t hug the Holy Spirit, so God gave mothers. The sermon celebrated women who incarnate comfort – teachers rocking fevered brows, grandmothers kneading dough and truth into hungry children. [43:46]

Jesus ascends but leaves embodied comforters. When a mentor wipes tears or a friend brings soup, they make tangible the Comforter who “comes alongside” (John 14:26). Earthly nurture images heavenly reality.

Who held you during life’s storms? Their arms were God’s provisional embrace. What ache in your community needs the Church’s tangible comfort this week?

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4, NIV)

Prayer: Name three people who’ve been God’s “embodied comfort” to you.
Challenge: Write a card to one nurturer: “Your ___[act]___ showed me God’s hug when ___.”

Day 5: Seventh-Time Witness

Paul’s Athens visit seemed fruitless, but Vic Bell noted: “Be someone’s sixth witness.” Mothers repeat lessons until children internalize them. Resurrection hope grows through persistent planting. [55:22]

Every “failed” conversation tills soil for another sower. The gospel isn’t a sales pitch but a cumulative melody. Your testimony today might harmonize with five previous witnesses to finally click.

Who have you given up on? Paul kept speaking truth to mockers because only God sees the harvest timeline. What relationship needs your patient, seventh-time witness?

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
(Galatians 6:9, NIV)

Prayer: Ask forgiveness for judging “success” by immediate results.
Challenge: Reach out to someone who previously rejected spiritual conversation. Say: “I still care.”

Sermon Summary

We live in the light of the resurrection and ask what it means to be Easter people now. We celebrate life given and shaped by women who nurture, teach, and hold us, and we hold that gratitude as a discipline for every day. We name God as the creator who makes all things out of nothing, so that the cosmos, our bodies, and our relationships bear the imprint of a sovereign act that precedes human work. We acknowledge the human need for touch and comfort while we trust the Holy Spirit to abide with us beyond what we can hold.

We attend to the many sorrows that mothers and caregivers carry. We pray for those whose children have died, for those who cannot provide, for guardians and those who worry about fragile bodies or minds, and for those separated by words or distance. We see compassion as a communal responsibility, and we call one another to be awake to the practical needs of families and to sustained care for the vulnerable.

We trace the pattern of proclamation in Acts where the gospel meets the learned world. Natural theology points to a creator, yet the claim of a crucified and risen Lord shocks the cultures of intellect. The gospel will meet mockery, curiosity, and polite interest. We do not retreat because rejection has deep precedents; persistence matters because transformation often takes many encounters.

We take the maternal image of God seriously as a shape for ministry. The patience and repetition of a mother become a model for faithful witness. We commit to steady proclamation, patient presence, and courageous hope, knowing that God who creates from nothing also continually refashions us. We go forth assured that we belong to the one who gives life and that hope, peace, and joy will abound by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Key Takeaways

1. God creates out of nothing Creation is not a secondary act but the fountain of all reality and value. When we remember creation ex nihilo we resist making human achievement the measure of worth. This truth humbles our claims and frees us to live gratefully and generously because existence itself is gift. [43:00]
2. Resurrection defies human intellectual wisdom The claim that God became flesh, died, and rose overturns the categories of rational prestige. Intellectual respectability can dismiss the gospel as myth or novelty, yet truth does not depend on immediate comprehension. We must speak plainly and persistently, trusting that transformation often arrives after repeated encounters with the truth. [49:57]
3. Persistence mirrors motherly patience A mother repeats, corrects, comforts, and waits without guarantee of immediate change. Faithful witness mirrors that endurance: steady presence, repeated invitation, and patient correction cultivate growth over time. We embody the gospel not merely in argument but in long-suffering care that refuses quick fixes. [55:22]
4. Tender compassion for mothers and the vulnerable Naming the many struggles of mothers calls the community to concrete mercy and structural responsibility. Prayer becomes paired with action when we feed, care for, educate, and protect those in need. Compassion honors the image of God visible in caregiving and insists that no one carries such burdens alone. [27:30]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[07:50] - Easter season and focus
[08:48] - Mother's Day gratitude
[27:30] - Prayers for mothers and caregivers
[43:00] - Creation out of nothing
[46:31] - Paul in Athens and approach
[49:57] - Resurrection and intellectual resistance
[55:22] - Perseverance in witness
[61:59] - Charge and benediction

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
- Acts 17:22-31 (ESV): Paul addresses the Athenians, declaring God as Creator and Christ’s resurrection.
- Romans 1:20 (ESV): God’s invisible qualities are understood through creation.
- Isaiah 66:13 (ESV): God comforts His people as a mother comforts her child.

Observation Questions

In Acts 17:22-31, how does Paul tailor his message to the Athenians’ cultural context? What specific strategies does he use to engage them?
The sermon highlights that the resurrection “overturns the categories of rational prestige” [49:57]. What examples of intellectual resistance to the gospel are described in the sermon?
According to the sermon, how does the image of a mother’s patience mirror faithful witness? [55:22]

Interpretation Questions

Why do you think Paul’s message about the resurrection caused mockery or dismissal among the Athenians, even after he connected with them through natural theology?
The sermon states, “Creation ex nihilo resists making human achievement the measure of worth.” How does this truth challenge modern cultural values around success and self-sufficiency?
Isaiah 66:13 compares God’s comfort to a mother’s care. How might this maternal imagery reshape our understanding of God’s character and the church’s role in caring for others?

Application Questions

Gratitude for life is described as a daily discipline. What is one practical way to intentionally practice gratitude this week, especially toward someone who has nurtured or shaped you?
When have you encountered skepticism or mockery about faith? How can Paul’s persistence in Acts 17 inspire your response to such moments?
The sermon calls for “concrete mercy” toward caregivers and the vulnerable. What is one need in your community (e.g., food insecurity, loneliness, lack of childcare) where you could take action this month?
“Steady presence, repeated invitation, and patient correction” [55:22] are compared to a mother’s endurance. Where in your relationships (family, work, church) do you need to prioritize patience over quick fixes?
How might viewing your life as a “gift” (rather than a product of your efforts) change the way you approach challenges or setbacks?

Sermon Clips

70s

#RecreatedByGrace

“So why should we be astounded that when we go out among our neighbors they say, you believe in fairy tales. Your worldview is pre scientific. The way that you think about things is primitive. Friends, these kinds of responses are nothing new. Do not be discouraged. Do not be deterred. Do not lose hope because you know and I know where we are going and to whom we belong. We know that the one who created out of nothing is continually recreating us, refashioning us, reshaping us. And we know that all will finally be well in God's sight, not because of what we can do, but because of the power of God at work through us.”

53s

#ResurrectionRevealed

“And then he goes a step further. Again, he's preaching to people who are living in an area with the highest concentration of PhDs in the entire Mediterranean. This is Athens. He's giving an argument to the intelligentsia of his day. And so far, he has them, and then he loses them. What does he say? He says, I wanna tell you about Jesus Christ, the God who is not unknown the way that some of your gods are, you even have a monument to them, but this God knows us completely, is there from the beginning of time, creates out of nothing, and oh, by the way, was resurrected from the dead. Wait. What?”

67s

#FaithVsReason

“Friends, do not be discouraged. When you go out into the workplace, out into the world, out into the marketplace, and people mock or deride the things that you might hold most dear. You're not the first one who's felt that way. Paul felt it too. Jesus felt it too. There is something within us that struggles to see something that is beyond our natural world and reality. And, well, when there's something that is as big an affront to reason and intellectualism and the natural world as God becoming human flesh, and then dying but not really dying and being resurrected from the grave? Well, that's an incredible and complete affront to the learned world. Isn't it?”

47s

#PersevereAndRepeat

“So don't feel down. Don't feel discouraged. But know as Vic Bell said to me one time, he said he was having a conversation with a minister who said, it often takes about seven or eight times for someone to hear a message before they begin to receive it into their heart, and the same is true of the gospel. So how would you like to be number six? We don't always see the success that we hope to see, but we stick with it and we persevere. And you know what? That message sounds a little bit like a mother, doesn't it?”

30s

#MothersReflectGrace

“Friends, the good news for us today is that the one who creates out of nothing, gave us these wonderful women to be our earthly mothers reminds us that we do not go it alone. We're going to need some patience and some perseverance in proclaiming this good news. May it be so. And all thanks be to God both now and forever. Amen.”

58s

#StandFirmInHope

47s

#WhenTheyLightUp

“How many times does a mother repeat the same message over and over again? How many times do they persevere? How many times do they try to console, take a child under their wing, move them in a better direction. But sometimes it feels as if the message is falling and landing on deaf ears. But every once in a while, there is this light. You can see it in the child's eyes. That's why we say that someone lit up because you can see it. They get it.”

52s

#BewareSpiritualNovelty

“The other way that intelligent people interact with the gospel or with any idea they're not quite sure of is something like this. You've heard of a movement called spiritual but not religious. Well, there are a whole lot of people who have a variety of beliefs and they love novelty. They love new ideas. They love learning new things. I am among that group of people, but the reality is that you eventually can get to a point where you've never met a God you didn't like, like the Athenians, and in in the midst of that engagement, something gets lost. Something that we might call truth.”

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How did Paul tailor his message to Athenians

What is the role of natural theology today

How should Christians respond to ridicule and indifference

Out of Nothing: Gratitude for Life and Mothers

Devotional

Day 1: Altars to Unknown Gods

Day 2: Breath in Their Bones

Day 3: Fools and Few Followers

Day 4: Arms Around the Spirit

Day 5: Seventh-Time Witness

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Out of Nothing: Gratitude for Life and Mothers

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