Acts 17:23

for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:

1. Paul discusses the many objects - statues, temples, buildings, relics and other objects of devotion.

2. Now he turns his attention to the one altar with an unusual inscription. "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD."

1. There were in Greek and Roman mythology thousands of gods. There was a god for almost every noun you could think about. There were gods for frogs, ants, grasshoppers, flies, houses, roads, carts, wagons, dogs, horses, barns. You name it - there was a god for it.

2. Then they developed sub-groups - flies in the barn, flies in the house, flies in the market - each had their own god.

3. Then there was a "JUST IN CASE GOD." They were thinking, "What if we missed one of the gods? What if that god becomes angry at us?" So they put up an altar to the god they had not thought about yet.

4. Paul uses this as an introduction. Let me tell you about the one you forgot.