Teaching Resources International

The God of the Gospel … (April 2026 Update) 

Goodness and greatness rarely go together. Often when a person becomes great, they cease to be good. Their desire for power and recognition often eclipse their desire for good. Many great rulers often started with a desire to do good for their countries and their people. But, when greatness comes, they seek even more greatness and more power. This is why Lord Acton famously said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Only God is totally great and totally good.  

But it is important to know that a person’s view of God affects the way they live their lives. Some people view God as a “cosmic grandfather” who lovingly overlooks sin that we commit. Others see God as a “cosmic kill-joy” who is always looking down from heaven, seeing us enjoying anything in life and shouting at us to stop it!  

In Acts 17, Luke tells us that people of Athens had many gods. That’s why Paul said, “I perceive that you are very religious.” He had walked through Athens and saw many statues to many different gods. Athens had many, many gods. In fact, historians tell us that Athens had over 30,000 public statues to gods. And this did not include any of the private, household gods. One visitor to ancient Athens said that, in Athens, it was easier to meet a god than it was to meet a person! 

Also, Athens was filled with various philosophical ideas. At this time in history, Athens was the intellectual and cultural capital of the world. Most of the world’s great philosophers came from Athens, including Plato and Aristotle. 

In Acts 17, Paul tells the intellectuals of Athens about the God of the Gospel. He tells them about the greatness of God in verses 22-25. In verses 25-29, he tells them that this God is not only Great – He is also Good. Finally, Paul points the Athenians to the Grace of God in verses 30-31. 

First, Paul tells them about the greatness of God.  He begins by explaining that this God is the Creator of the World (vv. 22-25). He begins by pointing out that he had seen a statue to an unknown god. Interestingly, there were many statues to this “unknown god,” Many years before, Athens was hit with a terrible plague. The people sacrificed to every god they knew about, but nothing seemed to help. One of the philosophers suggested that maybe there was a god that they did not know that was angry with them and maybe they needed to sacrifice to this god to stop the plague. He suggested releasing a flock of sheep throughout Athens and that wherever a sheep lay down, they should build an altar to an unknown god and sacrifice to this god. So, they had many statues built to try to appease this god that they did not know. 

Paul begins his explanation about the one true God by telling the Athenians that he would tell them about this “unknown god” (vs. 23). First, he tells them that this God is the Creator of all. God as Creator is fundamental to apologetics. In fact, most apologetic systems begin with proofs for the existence of God. And most explanations for the existence of God start with what is called the cosmological argument. This argument states that everything must have a first cause. The universe and everything in it could not have happened just by accident. The Bible tells us that all of creation tells of the glory of God (Psalm 19 for example). When you look at creation, you must conclude that nothing comes into existence without someone bringing it into existence. But we also have the teleological argument. This argument looks at the intricate design of the universe and concludes that it could not have happened by accident. If an uncivilized tribe found a watch in the forest and took it apart, they would not conclude that all these moving parts came together by accident. Likewise, when you pick up a dictionary, you do not assume that it was formed by an explosion in a print shop!  

But Paul did not even need these arguments. He simply reminded the Athenian philosophers that the one true God, “the unknown God,” created everything and that this God was “the Lord of heaven and earth.”  

Additionally, he tells them about the self-sufficiency of this God. If there was a God who created everything, He would not need anything! Their “gods” needed to be built by human hands, and they often even brought food and other sacrifices to them. But a true God would not need any of these things because a creator God would be totally self-sufficient. This God, unlike all their handmade gods, was truly great! 

Second, he tells them about the goodness of God (vv. 25-29). This unknown God not only created everything, but He sustains and gives life to everything and everyone. Notice a couple of things Paul tells them about this God. First, he tells them that this God is personal. He is like us! “Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.” He even quotes two of their philosophers: “’For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” Second, God’s creation of us is designed to cause us to seek Him.  “God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” In other words, one of God’s goals for creation was to cause mankind to look up – not to birds or volcanos or even stars – but to Him. Unfortunately, man often prefers to worship nature itself rather than worshipping the Creator. Third, God’s goodness is seen in His love for mankind. Here, Paul points to what is called “common grace.” “Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” Jesus said the same in Matthew 5:45: “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” God shows His goodness to all mankind by providing life and breath as well as many other good things – common grace! 

Finally, Paul tells them about the Grace of God (vv. 30-31). First, we can see God’s grace in His patience toward all. “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” God could punish sin immediately, but He shows His grace by patiently calling them to repentance. That’s true for every one of us. God has been patient with us all. Finally, God’s grace is seen in His provision for sin. “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” He sent Jesus to pay for our sins on the cross, and He raised him from the dead as proof of that payment. That’s grace! We deserve judgment and punishment for our sins. But Jesus paid it all for us! That’s grace! Paul was confronting the world’s intellectual leaders about their belief in various gods. He pointed them to the One True God, who not only created the world, but also provided for their salvation.  

In verses 32-34, we see the responses of the Athenians. Some made fun, but others wanted to hear more. And some even believed and became followers. That’s the power of the gospel. And this gospel is founded on the God of the gospel – He is great and He is good. And He deserves to be worshipped. 

Opportunities to Serve and Teach …  

In April, I taught two Church History classes for Lightbearers. Lightbearers is a one-year discipleship training program for university students. The first class was the Reformation, and the second was the Modern Church (from the Reformation to today). I’m glad they spent an entire class on the Reformation. It really helps students understand why the doctrine of salvation is so important. We even had one Roman Catholic student in the class. The Modern Church class was also great as it helped students understand the many movements and ideologies that shape the church today. It was especially interesting to talk to students after the classes. One student even told me that his mother was saved at Calvary Chapel with Chuck Smith during the Jesus Movement, and that he came to faith in the Vineyard church years later.  

Kyiv Theological Seminary (KTS) continues to minister and train students for the gospel even during the ongoing war. One of the classes last month was a Biblical Counseling class training students on how to practice biblical counseling. KTS offers an accredited Masters degree in Biblical Counseling. Additionally, KTS continues to celebrate 30 years of teaching and training in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. KTS has trained students from Moldova, Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and many regions in Russia. What a joy to have been part of teaching all these students over the last 30 years! 

This past month, I was very busy with teaching and preaching. I preached most of March and Easter Sunday at the nursing home in Fayetteville. 

Family …  

This past month included our Spring Break. We didn’t have time to take a long trip, but we were able to take a couple of fun day trips. Our first trip was to Missouri to the Laura Ingalls home (Rocky Ridge). This is where Laura wrote most of her books while living near her daughter, Rose. Also, the girls wanted to do some rock wall climbing so we spent a day doing that. Finally, we celebrated Katya’s mother’s birthday at our home. We were joined by a couple of our dear friends from Fayetteville and Huntsville. 

In April, we celebrated the Easter season with a Messianic Seder with our small group the Sunday before Easter. I led the Seder giving Messianic interpretations. On Easter Sunday, we went to church at the nursing home where I preached. Afterwards, the Coopers came to our house to dinner and then an Easter egg hunt (with scripture verses in the eggs). 

I finally finished building our chicken coop and now our chickens are living outside instead of living in the garage. It is fun to watch them! But we are looking forward to having eggs in about 5 months. 

Last month, we finally got our window casings covered with drywall, and we are hoping to start work on the wooden windowsill this month. We will also try to start painting the rooms next month. We have a lot of little tasks to finish but we are getting closer to finishing.  

Health Issues … 

After a month on cardio medicines, I have not seen any improvement with my stamina. We are thinking that the problem might be the hiatal hernia. I’m still hoping to avoid this surgery, but it is looking like it is the only remaining culprit. I’m still praying about this, but it looks like I will probably have to do this surgery. 

Pray for Ukraine … 

Continue to pray for Ukraine and especially for all our friends doing ministry there. We have talked with some over the last month, and they are mostly tired after more than 4 years of war! Most exhausting are the drones and missiles in the middle of the night. Very few are killed but Russia’s incessant attacks are wearing everyone out. 

In spite of this, our friends and colleagues continue to minister. We have friends serving as chaplains and others working with refugees and students. Churches continue to meet, and many are gathering for prayer meetings. Please pray for these people and ministries during the war. 

Thank you for your support. We are so glad that we have a God who is both great and good! We have seen and experienced His greatness and goodness toward us in so many ways. We are grateful for the goodness of our God and His gospel message! 

By His Grace, 

Jim and Katya, Kristina and Nadia 

If you missed previous updates or just want to read some short theological reflections, you can find these at our website at https://teachingresources.org/ .  

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