1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,576 Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast 2 00:00:03,688 --> 00:00:06,584 where we are proclaiming the truth to the world. 3 00:00:06,672 --> 00:00:09,672 My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to 4 00:00:09,696 --> 00:00:10,728 this podcast. 5 00:00:10,904 --> 00:00:14,616 I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen 6 00:00:14,648 --> 00:00:16,300 you in the word of God. 7 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,120 Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has 8 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:21,700 for us here today. 9 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:25,368 We're going to continue our study in the book of Acts. 10 00:00:25,384 --> 00:00:26,840 If you have your Bibles, turn there with me. 11 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,326 Acts 17, Acts 17. 12 00:00:29,398 --> 00:00:32,718 We're going to start in verse number 10 here this evening and we're 13 00:00:32,734 --> 00:00:37,710 going to be looking at the folks in Berea and maybe you've even 14 00:00:37,750 --> 00:00:41,342 heard of some people saying, hey, we should be like the Bereans. 15 00:00:41,486 --> 00:00:43,614 And we're going to talk about what that means here this evening. 16 00:00:43,662 --> 00:00:47,886 I hope that this is a reminder for many people about what this passage 17 00:00:47,918 --> 00:00:48,398 is all about. 18 00:00:48,454 --> 00:00:53,294 Maybe for some this is a, a new look at a new story, but either 19 00:00:53,342 --> 00:00:55,086 way, you, you take it here this evening. 20 00:00:55,118 --> 00:00:57,730 There's a lot that we can learn from this passage of scripture. 21 00:00:58,220 --> 00:01:00,884 You know, there are, are passages of scripture in the Bible 22 00:01:00,932 --> 00:01:03,908 that are, are what we call descriptive passages, meaning it's 23 00:01:03,924 --> 00:01:05,396 just describing something that happened. 24 00:01:05,428 --> 00:01:08,500 It doesn't necessarily mean that we need to follow it there. 25 00:01:08,540 --> 00:01:11,220 There are a lot of passages even in the Book of Acts that tell 26 00:01:11,260 --> 00:01:12,980 us things that people did. 27 00:01:13,020 --> 00:01:14,212 And, and we shouldn't follow that. 28 00:01:14,236 --> 00:01:16,932 I mean, if you look back at Thessalonica, they were basically, 29 00:01:16,996 --> 00:01:18,420 they chased Paul out of there. 30 00:01:18,540 --> 00:01:21,060 We shouldn't chase a good Bible believing preacher out of town. 31 00:01:21,100 --> 00:01:22,468 Okay, that's not a good thing. 32 00:01:22,604 --> 00:01:24,324 So the Bible will list things. 33 00:01:24,412 --> 00:01:25,688 We look at the Old Testament. 34 00:01:25,764 --> 00:01:29,616 I mean, guys, don't, don't follow David's example as a husband 35 00:01:29,648 --> 00:01:30,096 in many ways. 36 00:01:30,128 --> 00:01:31,152 Okay, don't do that. 37 00:01:31,176 --> 00:01:34,704 There's descriptive passages, but there's also prescriptive passages 38 00:01:34,752 --> 00:01:37,952 meaning passages of scripture that we take and we follow and, and 39 00:01:37,976 --> 00:01:39,936 we, we obey, we heed. 40 00:01:40,048 --> 00:01:43,072 And I think that this passage of scripture is a descriptive passage, 41 00:01:43,136 --> 00:01:46,800 historically speaking about what the Bereans did when Paul preached. 42 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:50,512 But we do think, I believe that this is also a prescript of 43 00:01:50,536 --> 00:01:51,190 passage. 44 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:53,050 We should be like the Bereans. 45 00:01:53,210 --> 00:01:56,186 We should receive the Word like these folks receive the Word 46 00:01:56,218 --> 00:01:57,290 here in this place. 47 00:01:57,330 --> 00:01:59,194 And so we're in Acts chapter 17. 48 00:01:59,282 --> 00:02:02,682 Just to remind you, we're on Paul's second missionary journey. 49 00:02:02,826 --> 00:02:06,070 He had a first missionary journey and there was great success. 50 00:02:06,370 --> 00:02:09,322 And now he's launched back out on a second missionary journey and 51 00:02:09,346 --> 00:02:10,650 he's a few stops in. 52 00:02:10,690 --> 00:02:13,658 And he's had some success and he's had some difficulties. 53 00:02:13,834 --> 00:02:15,290 He's had some persecution. 54 00:02:15,370 --> 00:02:18,252 Specifically at his last place there in Thessalonica, he preached. 55 00:02:18,386 --> 00:02:22,952 And as you can see, they came and they persecuted Jason, who was 56 00:02:22,976 --> 00:02:26,264 housing Paul and Silas and those other folks on the missionary 57 00:02:26,312 --> 00:02:26,664 team. 58 00:02:26,752 --> 00:02:30,552 And eventually Jason and the rest of these guys send Paul and 59 00:02:30,576 --> 00:02:33,112 Silas out in the middle of the night to go to Berea. 60 00:02:33,256 --> 00:02:36,200 And so God directs Paul and Silas to a different place. 61 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:36,440 And. 62 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,032 And that's a theme in Paul's ministry. 63 00:02:39,176 --> 00:02:42,984 Closed doors, open doors, God redirecting. 64 00:02:43,032 --> 00:02:46,512 And if you remember back even a few passages ago, when we were 65 00:02:46,536 --> 00:02:49,776 talking about Paul desiring to go to one place and God directed 66 00:02:49,808 --> 00:02:52,496 him to go to another place, sometimes that looks like a failure, 67 00:02:52,528 --> 00:02:53,584 that looks like a. 68 00:02:53,672 --> 00:02:54,496 A roadblock. 69 00:02:54,528 --> 00:02:57,104 But we know that God had a purpose and a plan for Paul to go 70 00:02:57,112 --> 00:03:01,312 to Philippi, and that was to lead Lydia to Christ, to lead the 71 00:03:01,336 --> 00:03:02,480 Philippian jailer to Christ. 72 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:04,000 And so God has a plan for our life. 73 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:05,024 Sometimes he'll close the door. 74 00:03:05,072 --> 00:03:08,512 Sometimes he'll have us face persecution in Thessalonica. 75 00:03:08,656 --> 00:03:12,546 I don't know about you, but anytime we feel pushback, anytime 76 00:03:12,578 --> 00:03:16,162 we feel any pressure, we feel like maybe God isn't happy with me. 77 00:03:16,186 --> 00:03:18,642 But sometimes that might just be where God wants us to be. 78 00:03:18,746 --> 00:03:20,898 He might want us to be feeling some pressure. 79 00:03:20,994 --> 00:03:23,474 He might want us to be growing and changing. 80 00:03:23,522 --> 00:03:26,674 Sometimes I tell my kids, part of growing is there's going to be 81 00:03:26,682 --> 00:03:27,042 pain in that. 82 00:03:27,066 --> 00:03:28,802 There's going to be difficulties in that. 83 00:03:28,986 --> 00:03:31,570 Life isn't always easy, and we're going to see that here with 84 00:03:31,610 --> 00:03:31,874 Paul. 85 00:03:31,922 --> 00:03:33,666 But nonetheless, Paul is going to preach. 86 00:03:33,698 --> 00:03:34,738 He's going to stay faithful. 87 00:03:34,834 --> 00:03:35,762 So let's look at verse 10. 88 00:03:35,786 --> 00:03:38,626 It says in the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas 89 00:03:38,658 --> 00:03:40,440 by night unto Berea. 90 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,176 And so they're rushed out to a new place. 91 00:03:43,328 --> 00:03:46,136 And then it says, who coming thither, went into the synagogue 92 00:03:46,168 --> 00:03:46,616 of the Jews. 93 00:03:46,648 --> 00:03:48,712 And so Paul and Silas go and do their thing. 94 00:03:48,816 --> 00:03:50,456 They go and preach first to the Jews. 95 00:03:50,488 --> 00:03:53,288 They go and appeal to the people that have religion. 96 00:03:53,464 --> 00:03:55,500 They know about the Scriptures. 97 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:58,392 Now, the truth is, is that though they knew about the Scriptures, 98 00:03:58,456 --> 00:04:00,504 many of them were misunderstanding the Scriptures or 99 00:04:00,512 --> 00:04:03,064 at least incompletely seeing the Scriptures for what they should 100 00:04:03,072 --> 00:04:03,288 be. 101 00:04:03,344 --> 00:04:06,658 And we know that what Paul's message really is is, hey, everything 102 00:04:06,714 --> 00:04:08,898 that you've seen in Scriptures points to Jesus. 103 00:04:09,074 --> 00:04:10,514 Paul's preaching the Gospel. 104 00:04:10,562 --> 00:04:12,194 He's preaching Jesus alone. 105 00:04:12,322 --> 00:04:14,546 He's preaching salvation by faith and not by works. 106 00:04:14,578 --> 00:04:17,922 He's preaching salvation by Faith through the grace of God, not 107 00:04:17,946 --> 00:04:22,466 through the law of the people, not the tradition of man. 108 00:04:22,618 --> 00:04:24,946 And so the people in Thessalonica, many believe. 109 00:04:25,018 --> 00:04:28,034 But if you remember, who was the most upset in Thessalonica, it 110 00:04:28,042 --> 00:04:28,738 was the Jews. 111 00:04:28,834 --> 00:04:31,970 It was the devout men that had a system going on there. 112 00:04:32,010 --> 00:04:34,772 And when Paul preached the message, it turned that system on 113 00:04:34,796 --> 00:04:35,380 its head. 114 00:04:35,500 --> 00:04:37,924 And they said, these are the men that are turning the world upside 115 00:04:37,972 --> 00:04:38,516 down. 116 00:04:38,668 --> 00:04:40,692 And, and I think that's a good thing, right? 117 00:04:40,716 --> 00:04:41,252 It's a good thing. 118 00:04:41,276 --> 00:04:44,628 Christians should be turning the world's culture upside down. 119 00:04:44,764 --> 00:04:47,044 What the world says is the most important, we should say is 120 00:04:47,052 --> 00:04:47,920 the least important. 121 00:04:48,220 --> 00:04:50,372 What the world says is the least important, we should say is 122 00:04:50,396 --> 00:04:51,200 the most important. 123 00:04:51,580 --> 00:04:51,940 What. 124 00:04:51,980 --> 00:04:52,692 What do people say? 125 00:04:52,716 --> 00:04:54,228 You know, don't bring up religion around people. 126 00:04:54,284 --> 00:04:55,332 That's not a good thing. 127 00:04:55,436 --> 00:04:57,076 That's just only going to cause issues, folks. 128 00:04:57,108 --> 00:04:59,576 The, the number one thing we should bring up is our faith. 129 00:04:59,748 --> 00:05:02,432 And, and what the world says is, what you should talk about is 130 00:05:02,456 --> 00:05:06,384 money and, and, and, and, you know, Hollywood and, and fame and 131 00:05:06,472 --> 00:05:07,072 all of these things. 132 00:05:07,096 --> 00:05:09,312 And that's the last thing that we should care about when it comes 133 00:05:09,336 --> 00:05:10,448 to our Christian life. 134 00:05:10,584 --> 00:05:13,744 And so we get to verse number 11, and we see that the Bereans are 135 00:05:13,752 --> 00:05:14,560 going to be distinct. 136 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:18,160 They're going to be different than those that other people have 137 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:20,300 talked about here in these passages here. 138 00:05:20,840 --> 00:05:21,200 The. 139 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:23,808 The author, Luke, he's talked about different people, he's talking 140 00:05:23,824 --> 00:05:26,256 about different groups, but he says the Bereans are different. 141 00:05:26,328 --> 00:05:27,072 Verse 11. 142 00:05:27,176 --> 00:05:30,784 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica. 143 00:05:30,912 --> 00:05:34,160 So specifically, he's comparing the Bereans to the Thessalonicans, 144 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,848 the people of the Thessalonians, the people from Thessalonica 145 00:05:36,944 --> 00:05:39,500 says in the Berean, the Bereans were different. 146 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:41,300 They were more noble. 147 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:42,096 Why? 148 00:05:42,168 --> 00:05:44,928 He gives a couple of reasons why they were more noble. 149 00:05:45,024 --> 00:05:45,616 Two things. 150 00:05:45,688 --> 00:05:49,840 First, they earned this compliment because they received 151 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:52,620 the Word with all readiness of mind. 152 00:05:53,020 --> 00:05:54,436 With all readiness of mind. 153 00:05:54,508 --> 00:05:56,196 They're open to hear the Word. 154 00:05:56,228 --> 00:05:57,172 This is important. 155 00:05:57,356 --> 00:05:59,268 Now, we're going to see here in a few moments that they didn't 156 00:05:59,284 --> 00:06:00,564 receive it blindly. 157 00:06:00,692 --> 00:06:04,644 We're going to see that they definitely had their mind set on 158 00:06:04,732 --> 00:06:07,300 checking the Word, but they received the Word with readiness 159 00:06:07,380 --> 00:06:07,780 of mind. 160 00:06:07,820 --> 00:06:09,300 They're open to the word. 161 00:06:09,460 --> 00:06:12,132 Folks, I think that we should be like the Bereans in the fact that 162 00:06:12,156 --> 00:06:16,644 we should be open to hearing and studying and receiving the Word 163 00:06:16,692 --> 00:06:20,652 of God when someone stands up and preaches the truth of God. 164 00:06:20,756 --> 00:06:21,980 And we should be ready to Hear that. 165 00:06:22,020 --> 00:06:23,340 We should be open to hear that. 166 00:06:23,460 --> 00:06:27,516 I know for me, sometimes it was easy for me to hear preaching 167 00:06:27,548 --> 00:06:30,508 and receive it when I agreed with everything that they were saying, 168 00:06:30,644 --> 00:06:34,684 when it, when it matched everything that my life was all about. 169 00:06:34,852 --> 00:06:37,324 So if a preacher got up and said things that I agree with and 170 00:06:37,332 --> 00:06:39,612 he didn't touch on any of the sins that I struggled with, I was 171 00:06:39,636 --> 00:06:40,412 happy with him. 172 00:06:40,516 --> 00:06:41,996 I might even say amen. 173 00:06:42,108 --> 00:06:44,380 But the moment where that preacher started crossing the line 174 00:06:44,420 --> 00:06:49,878 and stepping on my toes, my natural fleshly reaction was, I'm 175 00:06:49,894 --> 00:06:51,350 gonna put a barrier up there. 176 00:06:51,390 --> 00:06:52,342 I'm just gonna close off. 177 00:06:52,366 --> 00:06:53,782 I'm gonna start thinking about the ball game. 178 00:06:53,806 --> 00:06:56,090 I'm gonna start thinking about what's happening tomorrow. 179 00:06:56,430 --> 00:06:57,622 We all know what it can be like. 180 00:06:57,646 --> 00:07:00,210 We could be in a pew, but we could be a thousand miles away. 181 00:07:00,510 --> 00:07:03,382 And what we can see here is distinct about the Marines is that 182 00:07:03,406 --> 00:07:07,030 they receive the Word with all readiness of mind. 183 00:07:07,070 --> 00:07:08,390 This is a really neat thing to see. 184 00:07:08,430 --> 00:07:08,774 They. 185 00:07:08,862 --> 00:07:12,062 They received the Word, but then it didn't stop with just them 186 00:07:12,206 --> 00:07:16,290 receiving the Word says and search the Scriptures daily. 187 00:07:17,030 --> 00:07:20,382 So, so it didn't stop with them hearing preaching and hearing 188 00:07:20,446 --> 00:07:21,038 teaching. 189 00:07:21,134 --> 00:07:22,366 They went further. 190 00:07:22,518 --> 00:07:22,942 Daily. 191 00:07:23,006 --> 00:07:24,494 They searched the Scriptures. 192 00:07:24,542 --> 00:07:26,170 This talks about Bible study. 193 00:07:26,630 --> 00:07:29,210 They checked what was being preached to them. 194 00:07:29,510 --> 00:07:31,710 And so they searched the Scriptures daily. 195 00:07:31,790 --> 00:07:36,590 Whether those things were so and so of all the people that they 196 00:07:36,630 --> 00:07:39,118 could trust, we would say, hey, they could at least trust Paul. 197 00:07:39,134 --> 00:07:43,738 I mean, if you think about who Paul is, this is a fellow that is 198 00:07:43,794 --> 00:07:46,090 known to be the most famous apostle. 199 00:07:46,250 --> 00:07:50,762 We could even argue the most famous theologian of all time, the 200 00:07:50,786 --> 00:07:54,426 human author of many books in The New Testament, 13 New Testament 201 00:07:54,458 --> 00:07:55,430 books, I believe. 202 00:07:55,810 --> 00:07:59,082 Yet they still search the Scriptures daily to see if Paul was 203 00:07:59,106 --> 00:08:00,346 telling them the truth. 204 00:08:00,538 --> 00:08:02,602 That's so, so important because I think that what we need 205 00:08:02,626 --> 00:08:05,498 to understand is that it doesn't really matter how the person 206 00:08:05,554 --> 00:08:06,900 delivers the message. 207 00:08:07,010 --> 00:08:10,980 We always must check to see if that message is coming from Scripture. 208 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:13,184 We talked about this before. 209 00:08:13,272 --> 00:08:16,420 Sometimes there can be someone that gets up and is very entertaining. 210 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:20,192 Someone can get up and they can even be very compelling in their 211 00:08:20,216 --> 00:08:21,584 analogies and their stories. 212 00:08:21,632 --> 00:08:24,624 And they might even pepper in Scripture to what they're saying. 213 00:08:24,712 --> 00:08:26,944 But folks, it's important for us to understand that we need to 214 00:08:26,952 --> 00:08:30,580 go back to see what is the message that they are really preaching, 215 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:31,936 dive deeper. 216 00:08:31,968 --> 00:08:33,776 The book of Jude says to contend for the faith. 217 00:08:33,808 --> 00:08:36,244 The book of Jude tells us who, that if they're preaching anything 218 00:08:36,292 --> 00:08:38,916 outside the truth of who Jesus Christ is, they're not preaching 219 00:08:38,948 --> 00:08:39,604 the truth. 220 00:08:39,732 --> 00:08:43,780 It might be helpful when it comes to my personal life. 221 00:08:43,820 --> 00:08:46,100 Like, they might give me some advice that might make things happen 222 00:08:46,140 --> 00:08:49,492 in my life, pragmatically speaking, work like, hey, you know 223 00:08:49,516 --> 00:08:49,844 what? 224 00:08:49,932 --> 00:08:52,420 If I just cut that person off, everything will be better in my life. 225 00:08:52,460 --> 00:08:55,972 And so at first, it might sound like a good idea, but we need 226 00:08:55,996 --> 00:08:58,756 to check what a person is preaching and match it to Scripture. 227 00:08:58,788 --> 00:08:59,636 And that's what they did. 228 00:08:59,708 --> 00:09:03,012 They received the Word, but then they checked the Word. 229 00:09:03,076 --> 00:09:06,260 They received the Word, but they studied the Word. 230 00:09:06,420 --> 00:09:09,972 And I think that so many times in our society today, people want 231 00:09:09,996 --> 00:09:11,108 to hear, hey, what? 232 00:09:11,164 --> 00:09:12,560 Just tell us what to believe. 233 00:09:13,260 --> 00:09:14,532 Tell us what to do. 234 00:09:14,636 --> 00:09:15,844 Give me a list. 235 00:09:16,012 --> 00:09:20,340 Give, give, give me a, you know, a hundred steps to becoming 236 00:09:20,420 --> 00:09:21,364 a good Christian. 237 00:09:21,412 --> 00:09:23,684 And if you just do these a hundred steps, everything will be 238 00:09:23,692 --> 00:09:23,956 okay. 239 00:09:23,988 --> 00:09:26,932 But the problem is, is that's removing ourselves from digging to 240 00:09:26,956 --> 00:09:29,316 the, into the Scriptures ourselves, allowing the Holy Spirit 241 00:09:29,348 --> 00:09:33,272 to work in our lives and to convict us and to comfort us and 242 00:09:33,296 --> 00:09:34,168 to guide us. 243 00:09:34,304 --> 00:09:36,856 And so they search the Scriptures daily. 244 00:09:36,968 --> 00:09:39,016 Whether those things were. 245 00:09:39,088 --> 00:09:43,656 So I think the bigger question for us when we're hearing preaching 246 00:09:43,688 --> 00:09:47,000 is this, where, where is that speaker? 247 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:48,552 Where is that teacher? 248 00:09:48,696 --> 00:09:50,904 Where is that, that evangelist? 249 00:09:50,952 --> 00:09:53,768 Where is that missionary getting his content from? 250 00:09:53,904 --> 00:09:55,224 Is the content from Scripture? 251 00:09:55,272 --> 00:09:57,804 Is the content from his own opinions now? 252 00:09:57,952 --> 00:09:59,428 Could he have some good opinions? 253 00:09:59,524 --> 00:10:00,160 Sure. 254 00:10:00,700 --> 00:10:03,252 But the truth is, is that our opinions can fail. 255 00:10:03,436 --> 00:10:08,164 My opinions, my inclinations, my desires are always going to be 256 00:10:08,172 --> 00:10:10,868 inadequate in comparison to the perfect word of God. 257 00:10:10,964 --> 00:10:13,524 The Bible speaks of the Word of God being forever. 258 00:10:13,652 --> 00:10:15,892 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the Word of God is going 259 00:10:15,916 --> 00:10:16,628 to be forever. 260 00:10:16,724 --> 00:10:19,268 The grass withereth and the flower fadeth with the Word of God 261 00:10:19,284 --> 00:10:19,764 is forever. 262 00:10:19,812 --> 00:10:24,216 The only true, objective truth that we have in this world is scripture 263 00:10:24,248 --> 00:10:26,120 and what it tells us about God. 264 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:28,040 Everything else in the world is going to fade away. 265 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:29,368 Everything else is going to change. 266 00:10:29,504 --> 00:10:31,720 And what we're going to see here in this passage of Scripture, 267 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:36,136 that these Bereans received the Word and they searched the Word, 268 00:10:36,168 --> 00:10:39,048 and we're going to even see that they applied the Word. 269 00:10:39,224 --> 00:10:43,864 And so when the Bereans heard Paul teach, their reaction wasn't, 270 00:10:43,912 --> 00:10:45,340 well, he's a good speaker. 271 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:49,340 Their reaction was, well, I don't like his delivery. 272 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:52,660 They didn't say, well, he's got funny jokes. 273 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:55,100 They, what did they do? 274 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:58,980 They went to, what does this man teach about the truth? 275 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:02,580 We must, we must search the Scriptures daily. 276 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:07,200 And, and I would say it this way, many of you, I think probably 277 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:10,880 most of you, hear preaching outside of the church. 278 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:13,088 You all, I know, hear preaching when you're here, okay? 279 00:11:13,104 --> 00:11:13,824 I know that. 280 00:11:13,912 --> 00:11:16,368 I know that because I, I, I'm in somewhat of control of what's 281 00:11:16,384 --> 00:11:17,328 being preached from the pulpit. 282 00:11:17,344 --> 00:11:19,264 So I know you're hearing preaching when you come here. 283 00:11:19,432 --> 00:11:20,912 Check that preaching. 284 00:11:21,056 --> 00:11:23,040 I would say, first and foremost, check the preaching that, 285 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:23,584 that I preach. 286 00:11:23,632 --> 00:11:25,360 Check the preaching that Pastor John preaches. 287 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:27,536 Check all the teachers at Middletown Baptist Church. 288 00:11:27,568 --> 00:11:31,296 Folks, the moment we start to question people, when they question 289 00:11:31,368 --> 00:11:33,740 is the moment we have gotten into a bad place. 290 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:35,968 Hey, what we have to do is we have to say this. 291 00:11:36,024 --> 00:11:39,072 Look, I'm going to preach to you the best that I possibly can, 292 00:11:39,096 --> 00:11:40,624 but I'm not afraid of you inspecting. 293 00:11:40,752 --> 00:11:41,104 Folks. 294 00:11:41,152 --> 00:11:43,952 If we are afraid of people inspecting what we teach and what 295 00:11:43,976 --> 00:11:47,006 we believe, we might not be be believing the right thing. 296 00:11:47,158 --> 00:11:50,174 Or maybe we're not solid in what we believe about the truth of 297 00:11:50,182 --> 00:11:51,086 Jesus Christ. 298 00:11:51,238 --> 00:11:54,766 Folks, this, this word here can be scrutinized. 299 00:11:54,878 --> 00:11:57,006 Let, let's allow it to be scrutinized. 300 00:11:57,118 --> 00:11:57,870 You would say what? 301 00:11:57,910 --> 00:11:58,702 That's not fair. 302 00:11:58,806 --> 00:12:02,094 No, the truth is, is that we have something that cannot be torn 303 00:12:02,142 --> 00:12:02,730 away. 304 00:12:03,030 --> 00:12:07,022 We have a, a book here, the Word of God. 305 00:12:07,086 --> 00:12:08,318 What does that mean, Word of God? 306 00:12:08,334 --> 00:12:11,788 It means all scripture is given by inspiration of God. 307 00:12:11,974 --> 00:12:13,472 It's breathed by God. 308 00:12:13,616 --> 00:12:15,104 Therefore, there's no contradictions. 309 00:12:15,152 --> 00:12:16,512 We don't have to worry about that. 310 00:12:16,696 --> 00:12:17,856 There's no failures. 311 00:12:17,968 --> 00:12:19,456 There's no inadequacies. 312 00:12:19,568 --> 00:12:22,432 And what we can say here this evening is that if a preacher is 313 00:12:22,456 --> 00:12:25,264 coming up and preaching from the word, hey, they're going to be 314 00:12:25,272 --> 00:12:26,656 okay with you asking questions. 315 00:12:26,688 --> 00:12:28,700 They're going to be okay with you checking them. 316 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:32,448 The, the moment where, and maybe some of you have had this experience 317 00:12:32,504 --> 00:12:35,376 in your life where you go up to someone and say, why do we believe 318 00:12:35,448 --> 00:12:35,728 this? 319 00:12:35,784 --> 00:12:39,286 And they get upset about that and don't give you a solid answer. 320 00:12:39,398 --> 00:12:41,958 Or maybe say, well, you just can't understand why we do that. 321 00:12:42,014 --> 00:12:44,886 That's the moment where we say, that might be a false teacher. 322 00:12:45,078 --> 00:12:47,650 We need to, we need to separate ourselves from that. 323 00:12:48,030 --> 00:12:49,862 And if a person tells you, hey, you know what? 324 00:12:49,886 --> 00:12:53,206 This is the truth, make sure they are putting that in truth. 325 00:12:53,318 --> 00:12:55,350 Make sure they are grounding that in scripture. 326 00:12:55,430 --> 00:12:56,758 You're listening to a YouTube video. 327 00:12:56,814 --> 00:12:59,734 Some of you might say, pastor, I appreciate your preaching, but 328 00:12:59,742 --> 00:13:01,254 I got to hear more preaching throughout the week. 329 00:13:01,342 --> 00:13:01,974 Fantastic. 330 00:13:02,022 --> 00:13:03,170 I hope you do. 331 00:13:03,630 --> 00:13:06,262 But the question is, is who are you listening to and what are 332 00:13:06,286 --> 00:13:07,130 they preaching? 333 00:13:07,550 --> 00:13:09,574 Always check that preaching with the word. 334 00:13:09,622 --> 00:13:11,318 Search the scriptures daily. 335 00:13:11,494 --> 00:13:13,942 And we see that it's daily we see that it's something that they 336 00:13:13,966 --> 00:13:15,222 regularly did. 337 00:13:15,406 --> 00:13:19,030 And so their research wasn't, you know, just casual like, well, 338 00:13:19,150 --> 00:13:20,822 I think there's a verse in Scripture about that. 339 00:13:20,846 --> 00:13:21,286 So I'm okay. 340 00:13:21,318 --> 00:13:23,370 He used the word Jesus, so that's okay. 341 00:13:23,790 --> 00:13:26,198 We know that someone can use the word Jesus but not be talking 342 00:13:26,214 --> 00:13:27,318 about our Jesus. 343 00:13:27,494 --> 00:13:29,942 We know someone can use the word gospel and not be talking about 344 00:13:29,966 --> 00:13:30,694 our gospel. 345 00:13:30,822 --> 00:13:33,850 Someone can use the word Bible but not be talking about our Bible. 346 00:13:34,350 --> 00:13:37,238 There's a lot of people that believe that, hey, this is a good 347 00:13:37,294 --> 00:13:41,830 book, Jesus was a good man, Christianity is a good thing. 348 00:13:41,870 --> 00:13:45,446 But they're preaching an incomplete gospel, they're preaching 349 00:13:45,478 --> 00:13:46,710 a false gospel. 350 00:13:46,870 --> 00:13:50,486 And so what they did is they checked him with the scriptures. 351 00:13:50,678 --> 00:13:52,330 They searched the scriptures. 352 00:13:53,390 --> 00:13:55,814 They saw value in that. 353 00:13:55,982 --> 00:13:59,776 So of us don't search our scriptures because we don't see value 354 00:13:59,848 --> 00:14:00,480 in that. 355 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,900 We see value in maybe allowing someone else to search it for us. 356 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:06,976 You know, there's something rewarding about receiving a truth 357 00:14:07,008 --> 00:14:09,360 from a preacher, but there's something even more rewarding when 358 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:12,832 I find that truth for myself in scripture, when I understand that 359 00:14:12,856 --> 00:14:15,056 and believe it and apply it to my life. 360 00:14:15,208 --> 00:14:17,696 And so they saw value in searching the Scriptures. 361 00:14:17,808 --> 00:14:22,640 They, they, they saw the value in taking some time to look into 362 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:24,132 it and dig deeper. 363 00:14:24,256 --> 00:14:27,040 The Bible speaks of something called meditation. 364 00:14:27,940 --> 00:14:31,324 Now, actually, meditation is talked about a lot in our society 365 00:14:31,372 --> 00:14:31,916 today. 366 00:14:32,068 --> 00:14:35,468 People that are atheists will say there's a benefit to meditation. 367 00:14:35,644 --> 00:14:38,028 If you go to somebody that doesn't believe in God, they'll say, 368 00:14:38,084 --> 00:14:39,116 hey, you need to meditate. 369 00:14:39,148 --> 00:14:40,908 But it's a different type of meditation. 370 00:14:41,084 --> 00:14:44,332 The meditation that the world speaks of is clearing your mind and 371 00:14:44,436 --> 00:14:46,028 having an empty mind. 372 00:14:46,164 --> 00:14:48,556 The Bible actually says that meditation is the opposite. 373 00:14:48,588 --> 00:14:50,900 It's filling our minds with the truth of God. 374 00:14:51,020 --> 00:14:54,228 It's filling our minds with the Word and then dwelling on that, 375 00:14:54,364 --> 00:14:58,916 living in that, chewing on it, grabbing every nutrient that we can 376 00:14:58,988 --> 00:14:59,764 from the scriptures. 377 00:14:59,812 --> 00:15:02,884 And so they searched the scriptures to find out the truth. 378 00:15:02,932 --> 00:15:06,212 They received the Word and they believed the Word when they 379 00:15:06,236 --> 00:15:08,760 searched it and matched it with the truth of God. 380 00:15:09,180 --> 00:15:10,788 So they had diligent searching. 381 00:15:10,884 --> 00:15:12,600 They were concerned for the truth. 382 00:15:14,460 --> 00:15:15,524 They didn't nest. 383 00:15:15,572 --> 00:15:16,948 They didn't become skeptical. 384 00:15:17,044 --> 00:15:20,406 But all they did was they matched up the truth of the preaching 385 00:15:20,438 --> 00:15:22,010 with the truth of Scripture. 386 00:15:22,350 --> 00:15:26,390 So we go back to the passage there, and it says, therefore, what 387 00:15:26,430 --> 00:15:27,650 was the result of this? 388 00:15:28,030 --> 00:15:33,366 Therefore, many of them believed faith cometh by hearing 389 00:15:33,558 --> 00:15:35,450 and hearing by the word of God. 390 00:15:36,110 --> 00:15:38,214 We want to see more people believe in the Truth. 391 00:15:38,262 --> 00:15:41,890 We need to proclaim the truth more, Proclaim the Word more. 392 00:15:42,270 --> 00:15:46,278 We're going to see revival in our midst when the Word of God is 393 00:15:46,334 --> 00:15:49,782 celebrated, when the Word of God is embraced, when the Word of 394 00:15:49,806 --> 00:15:51,174 God is lived out. 395 00:15:51,262 --> 00:15:53,654 We see people growing in their faith. 396 00:15:53,702 --> 00:15:57,366 When the Word of God is clearly explained and meditated upon 397 00:15:57,398 --> 00:15:58,454 and searched in daily. 398 00:15:58,502 --> 00:16:01,926 Folks, you want to see spiritual growth in your life, be 399 00:16:01,998 --> 00:16:05,450 open to hearing preaching, but then search the scriptures daily. 400 00:16:06,830 --> 00:16:11,158 You have questions, ask if you're confused, it's okay. 401 00:16:11,334 --> 00:16:12,770 Let me tell you a little secret. 402 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:15,312 Everyone that searches the scriptures gets confused here and 403 00:16:15,336 --> 00:16:15,900 there. 404 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:17,820 We're human. 405 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:19,280 We're flawed. 406 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:22,960 The Bible says that if we lack wisdom, James tells us this, right? 407 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:25,072 James says, if we lack wisdom, what do we do? 408 00:16:25,096 --> 00:16:26,140 We just give up. 409 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:30,544 We ask of God, and he gives it to us liberally. 410 00:16:30,672 --> 00:16:32,460 He doesn't hold it against us. 411 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:34,144 So, folks, if there's a. 412 00:16:34,232 --> 00:16:35,664 I've heard a lot of people say, well, you know what? 413 00:16:35,672 --> 00:16:37,360 I try to read the Bible and I just get lost. 414 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:37,600 I. 415 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:37,872 I just. 416 00:16:37,896 --> 00:16:38,422 I. 417 00:16:38,576 --> 00:16:41,306 I understand, I understand. 418 00:16:41,378 --> 00:16:41,930 I've been there. 419 00:16:41,970 --> 00:16:45,066 I've read scripture, and my eyes begin to cross, and I go, I'm 420 00:16:45,098 --> 00:16:47,030 not sure what this is talking about right here. 421 00:16:47,810 --> 00:16:52,618 But the truth is that we search, we dig deeper, we go further, 422 00:16:52,674 --> 00:16:54,042 we take a step of saying, you know what? 423 00:16:54,066 --> 00:16:57,270 I'm willing to dig deeper because I see value in this. 424 00:16:57,890 --> 00:16:58,698 Don't give up. 425 00:16:58,754 --> 00:16:59,994 Don't give up on it. 426 00:17:00,082 --> 00:17:02,670 Continue to pursue the truth of God. 427 00:17:03,410 --> 00:17:05,626 And I would say for us, you know, we're willing. 428 00:17:05,658 --> 00:17:08,138 And I'm going to say this in love here this evening. 429 00:17:08,234 --> 00:17:09,722 You guys know that I love you, right? 430 00:17:09,826 --> 00:17:12,490 We're willing to sit down and watch something for three, four hours 431 00:17:12,530 --> 00:17:15,750 if it's entertaining us, right? 432 00:17:16,130 --> 00:17:19,002 None of us would say, like, it's really hard to sit down and 433 00:17:19,026 --> 00:17:21,498 watch my favorite movie or sit down and watch my favorite team. 434 00:17:21,554 --> 00:17:22,922 I mean, we're on every. 435 00:17:23,026 --> 00:17:23,306 We're. 436 00:17:23,338 --> 00:17:25,434 We're hanging on every little thing. 437 00:17:25,602 --> 00:17:27,994 But sometimes when we look at scripture, we say, well, you know 438 00:17:28,002 --> 00:17:28,170 what? 439 00:17:28,210 --> 00:17:28,490 I just. 440 00:17:28,530 --> 00:17:31,146 I just Scripture and I don't click. 441 00:17:31,338 --> 00:17:36,550 I understand, I understand that, that different people read 442 00:17:36,590 --> 00:17:39,290 and retain differently, okay? 443 00:17:39,790 --> 00:17:43,302 But the beauty of what God has given us within our culture is that 444 00:17:43,326 --> 00:17:45,290 there's ways that you can listen to scripture. 445 00:17:45,630 --> 00:17:49,990 There's ways that you can have scripture dictated to you, dramatized. 446 00:17:50,070 --> 00:17:50,406 Okay? 447 00:17:50,438 --> 00:17:50,694 There's. 448 00:17:50,742 --> 00:17:52,966 There's all different ways that you can intake Scripture. 449 00:17:52,998 --> 00:17:55,910 And so what I would tell you to do is find a way that works for 450 00:17:55,950 --> 00:17:56,854 you and say, you know what? 451 00:17:56,862 --> 00:17:59,090 I'm going to meditate upon scripture here today. 452 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:03,056 That's great that we heard a sermon, but how many of us. 453 00:18:03,128 --> 00:18:03,968 And I want you to. 454 00:18:04,024 --> 00:18:06,016 Don't raise your hand right now, but I want you to do this. 455 00:18:06,088 --> 00:18:09,536 How many of you have said, I'm going to go back and read that passage 456 00:18:09,568 --> 00:18:12,912 of scripture that pastor read today and preached today and see 457 00:18:12,936 --> 00:18:14,080 if he was making sense. 458 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:16,288 Like, was he really making sense about that? 459 00:18:16,424 --> 00:18:19,024 That's why, that's why you hear me say, every single time I 460 00:18:19,032 --> 00:18:19,616 get up and preach. 461 00:18:19,648 --> 00:18:22,620 Maybe not every single time, but I'll say, open your Bibles too, 462 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:25,860 because I want you to be looking, I want you to be checking, 463 00:18:26,170 --> 00:18:27,506 because I might say something wrong. 464 00:18:27,538 --> 00:18:27,826 I. 465 00:18:27,898 --> 00:18:29,026 I will say something wrong. 466 00:18:29,058 --> 00:18:29,842 I will mess up. 467 00:18:29,866 --> 00:18:31,202 Okay, so make sure. 468 00:18:31,386 --> 00:18:32,834 I mean, for example, I've been. 469 00:18:32,922 --> 00:18:36,242 One time I was preaching, I was preaching on one side of the 470 00:18:36,266 --> 00:18:38,658 page and, And I have my notes over here. 471 00:18:38,714 --> 00:18:39,922 And, And I had. 472 00:18:40,026 --> 00:18:40,402 And I. 473 00:18:40,426 --> 00:18:43,410 And I looked back and I started preaching from a whole other 474 00:18:43,450 --> 00:18:45,970 passage of scripture, like three columns over. 475 00:18:46,010 --> 00:18:47,394 And I'm like, I'm trying to make sense of this. 476 00:18:47,402 --> 00:18:49,202 And I'm going, I'm totally lost right now. 477 00:18:49,226 --> 00:18:50,418 Where was I going with this? 478 00:18:50,474 --> 00:18:51,720 And I realized I. 479 00:18:51,810 --> 00:18:53,724 And I had to go back and correct all that. 480 00:18:53,732 --> 00:18:56,348 But the truth is, is like, there's going to be times where it's 481 00:18:56,364 --> 00:18:58,780 very tempting to say, well, I'm sure they're going to throw the 482 00:18:58,900 --> 00:19:00,508 scripture up on the screen. 483 00:19:00,684 --> 00:19:03,004 And trust me, I don't care if it's. 484 00:19:03,132 --> 00:19:07,308 I mean, some people prefer the paper, some people prefer the phone 485 00:19:07,404 --> 00:19:08,876 or the laptop or whatever. 486 00:19:08,908 --> 00:19:12,700 But bring scripture out when someone is speaking, check them on 487 00:19:12,740 --> 00:19:15,600 that, and we see the result is this faith. 488 00:19:16,580 --> 00:19:18,348 We see that they are coming to Christ. 489 00:19:18,404 --> 00:19:22,938 They believe also of honorable women, which were Greeks and of men, 490 00:19:22,994 --> 00:19:26,074 not a few, meaning there was a lot of men and women getting saved. 491 00:19:26,122 --> 00:19:27,706 It wasn't just one group of people. 492 00:19:27,858 --> 00:19:29,658 They received it with readiness of mind. 493 00:19:29,714 --> 00:19:30,970 They checked the scriptures. 494 00:19:31,050 --> 00:19:34,590 And many believed Paul had nothing to fear by preaching. 495 00:19:35,090 --> 00:19:37,754 But Paul had nothing to fear by them searching the scriptures 496 00:19:37,802 --> 00:19:38,430 either. 497 00:19:38,770 --> 00:19:41,898 If they were really seeking God in his word, they would find 498 00:19:41,954 --> 00:19:44,058 out that Paul was preaching the truth. 499 00:19:44,234 --> 00:19:47,518 And any preacher worth his weight and salt. 500 00:19:47,534 --> 00:19:49,502 I've heard that phrase before, and I've had to look up what that 501 00:19:49,526 --> 00:19:49,726 meant. 502 00:19:49,758 --> 00:19:53,854 But, but, but any, any preacher that's a good preacher will 503 00:19:53,862 --> 00:19:56,450 be willing for someone to inspect their preaching. 504 00:19:57,030 --> 00:19:58,270 And we have to see that here. 505 00:19:58,310 --> 00:20:00,690 Paul says, hey, we have nothing to hide. 506 00:20:02,070 --> 00:20:04,366 Not every single preacher in the world will. 507 00:20:04,438 --> 00:20:05,450 Will say that. 508 00:20:06,150 --> 00:20:12,672 There are some religions, dare I say cults, that will not want you 509 00:20:12,696 --> 00:20:13,980 to look into certain areas. 510 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:16,368 They will avoid that. 511 00:20:16,504 --> 00:20:19,580 They won't shine light in that corner of their belief system. 512 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,944 There will be people that say you have to pay X amount of dollars 513 00:20:22,992 --> 00:20:24,336 to get to the next level. 514 00:20:24,488 --> 00:20:26,752 And if you're not at that level, you can't understand this 515 00:20:26,776 --> 00:20:27,952 next level of truth. 516 00:20:28,096 --> 00:20:30,768 Folks, Christianity should be the opposite. 517 00:20:30,944 --> 00:20:34,416 The truths of God are obtainable by people that are billionaires 518 00:20:34,448 --> 00:20:37,152 and people that have not one cent of their name because it's the 519 00:20:37,176 --> 00:20:38,860 truth of God to all people. 520 00:20:39,460 --> 00:20:42,012 And so the moment that someone doesn't want you, hey, well, all 521 00:20:42,036 --> 00:20:45,692 you got to do is buy my three step plan and now you can know more 522 00:20:45,716 --> 00:20:46,444 about Jesus. 523 00:20:46,492 --> 00:20:49,360 That's, that's a false preacher, that's a false teacher. 524 00:20:49,700 --> 00:20:52,028 The word of God should not be monetized. 525 00:20:52,124 --> 00:20:56,012 It should not be a place where we can profit off of the person who 526 00:20:56,036 --> 00:20:56,796 is seeking. 527 00:20:56,908 --> 00:20:58,172 Now can do. 528 00:20:58,196 --> 00:20:59,836 People have to cover their cost and make a living. 529 00:20:59,868 --> 00:21:05,910 I understand that, but you understand people have made the gospel 530 00:21:06,070 --> 00:21:08,454 basically a avenue to abuse. 531 00:21:08,502 --> 00:21:10,934 People that are searching and they mislead them. 532 00:21:11,022 --> 00:21:13,846 And there were many people that were doing that in that society 533 00:21:13,878 --> 00:21:16,470 and there's many people that are doing that in this society today. 534 00:21:16,590 --> 00:21:20,678 We're going to see that there were a lot of intellectuals in Paul's 535 00:21:20,694 --> 00:21:22,886 time that were preaching something that was contradictory 536 00:21:22,918 --> 00:21:23,702 to the gospel. 537 00:21:23,846 --> 00:21:26,278 Next week we're going to look at Paul in Athens and man, that's 538 00:21:26,294 --> 00:21:27,334 a really interesting study. 539 00:21:27,422 --> 00:21:29,590 And we're going to get there here in a little bit. 540 00:21:29,710 --> 00:21:30,598 But let's go back. 541 00:21:30,654 --> 00:21:34,632 So, so many people believed the women, the men. 542 00:21:34,816 --> 00:21:39,016 And the reason being is that they were searching the scriptures 543 00:21:39,048 --> 00:21:41,432 and they were realizing that Paul's message was aligning with 544 00:21:41,456 --> 00:21:42,140 the truth. 545 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,432 And so this is exactly what's happening there with the Bereans. 546 00:21:45,496 --> 00:21:48,980 They search, they see the truth and they believe. 547 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:53,240 You know what, we have a world today that's searching for God. 548 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:54,580 We really do. 549 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:59,970 If you look at the national news, you look at the Internet, you 550 00:22:00,010 --> 00:22:04,770 look at podcasts, there's a lot of religion out there right now. 551 00:22:04,810 --> 00:22:06,722 People are seeking after the truth. 552 00:22:06,866 --> 00:22:07,666 Now they're off. 553 00:22:07,738 --> 00:22:08,610 Many of them are off. 554 00:22:08,650 --> 00:22:11,874 But they're looking for some truth and they're looking for a voice 555 00:22:11,922 --> 00:22:13,430 that can preach the truth. 556 00:22:14,010 --> 00:22:16,994 And what I could tell you here today is that we need to utilize 557 00:22:17,042 --> 00:22:17,938 this opportunity. 558 00:22:18,034 --> 00:22:20,146 If people are seeking, we need to show them the truth. 559 00:22:20,178 --> 00:22:21,186 We need to preach the truth. 560 00:22:21,218 --> 00:22:23,874 We don't need to be afraid of preaching or teaching the truth. 561 00:22:23,922 --> 00:22:25,282 And so that's what Paul was doing here. 562 00:22:25,306 --> 00:22:26,592 He was saying, hey, you know what? 563 00:22:26,616 --> 00:22:28,480 They're searching, so let's preach to them. 564 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:29,872 Let's preach to them the truth. 565 00:22:30,016 --> 00:22:30,960 So let's look at verse 13. 566 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:35,232 It says, but when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the 567 00:22:35,256 --> 00:22:39,520 word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, these were the same 568 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:42,060 guys that just chased Paul out. 569 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:44,064 These were the ones that got upset. 570 00:22:44,112 --> 00:22:44,560 Why? 571 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:48,864 Because Paul and his cohorts were turning their world upside down. 572 00:22:49,032 --> 00:22:54,276 They get mad and they actually pursue Paul and go to Berea. 573 00:22:54,448 --> 00:22:56,876 So the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God 574 00:22:56,908 --> 00:22:58,940 was preached at of Paul at Berea. 575 00:22:59,020 --> 00:23:01,560 They came thither also and stirred up the people. 576 00:23:02,100 --> 00:23:07,996 Anytime the word of God is preached, people will be upset. 577 00:23:08,108 --> 00:23:10,316 There will be opposition. 578 00:23:10,508 --> 00:23:12,764 There always will be opposition to the preaching of the 579 00:23:12,772 --> 00:23:13,580 Word of God. 580 00:23:13,740 --> 00:23:16,028 At least I can look in Scripture and see that every time 581 00:23:16,084 --> 00:23:18,748 the word of God was preached, there's going to be people that are 582 00:23:18,804 --> 00:23:19,840 naysayers. 583 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,640 And in the sad case, it's the religious people. 584 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:24,560 In this case it's the Jewish people. 585 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:26,800 It's the ones who had a way of doing things. 586 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:28,480 And they were like, well, you know what? 587 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:32,432 If this grace is preached, if this Jesus is preached, we're not 588 00:23:32,456 --> 00:23:35,360 going to be able to have the control like we had before our. 589 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:36,736 Our way of doing things. 590 00:23:36,808 --> 00:23:39,100 Our tradition is going to be flipped on its head. 591 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,248 And so many times that's what we see in our world today, that we 592 00:23:43,304 --> 00:23:47,856 value tradition and man made religion more than a relationship 593 00:23:47,888 --> 00:23:49,460 with Jesus Christ and the truth. 594 00:23:49,770 --> 00:23:54,034 And so what we can see here is that the Jews of Thessalonica are 595 00:23:54,042 --> 00:23:55,186 going to cause some issues. 596 00:23:55,258 --> 00:23:59,154 But obviously the word of God is more powerful than naysayers. 597 00:23:59,202 --> 00:24:02,210 The word of God is more powerful than any opposition that 598 00:24:02,250 --> 00:24:02,866 is faced. 599 00:24:02,898 --> 00:24:05,538 And so they were not satisfied to chase Paul out. 600 00:24:05,594 --> 00:24:09,410 They wanted to go after Paul even when he went to another place. 601 00:24:09,450 --> 00:24:12,706 And so this same thing of stirring up the crowd happened in 602 00:24:12,778 --> 00:24:15,030 many places in Paul's ministry. 603 00:24:15,380 --> 00:24:19,596 And what happens here is, is God directing them somewhere else. 604 00:24:19,788 --> 00:24:20,508 Verse 14. 605 00:24:20,564 --> 00:24:25,100 And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go, as 606 00:24:25,140 --> 00:24:26,640 it were, to the sea. 607 00:24:27,140 --> 00:24:30,732 So a lot of people stop at the Bereans being, you know, more noble 608 00:24:30,796 --> 00:24:35,724 because of them receiving the Scriptures with readiness of mind 609 00:24:35,812 --> 00:24:38,956 and because they search the Scriptures daily. 610 00:24:39,068 --> 00:24:41,228 But I think you could take it a little bit further. 611 00:24:41,284 --> 00:24:43,996 They're no, they're noble because they believed, and they're 612 00:24:44,028 --> 00:24:45,276 noble because they protect Paul. 613 00:24:45,308 --> 00:24:47,804 Here they say, paul, you have a message that you need to preach, 614 00:24:47,852 --> 00:24:50,732 we need to protect you, we need to get you away from here. 615 00:24:50,836 --> 00:24:51,720 And they do. 616 00:24:52,100 --> 00:24:54,364 God preserves Paul. 617 00:24:54,492 --> 00:24:56,956 But this is interesting. 618 00:24:57,068 --> 00:25:02,204 Paul did not leave Silas and Timotheus or Timothy with the folks 619 00:25:02,252 --> 00:25:03,436 there in Thessalonica. 620 00:25:03,468 --> 00:25:07,356 But he does leave Silas and Timothy there in this case. 621 00:25:07,428 --> 00:25:08,880 And so Paul leaves. 622 00:25:09,260 --> 00:25:10,948 They sent Paul away. 623 00:25:11,084 --> 00:25:15,764 But at the end of verse 14, we see that Silas and Timothy stay there 624 00:25:15,852 --> 00:25:16,880 for a while. 625 00:25:17,180 --> 00:25:21,060 And Paul, I think Paul saw the need for discipleship there. 626 00:25:21,100 --> 00:25:24,580 Paul wanted to leave them behind to teach and to take care 627 00:25:24,620 --> 00:25:25,844 of these new Christians. 628 00:25:25,892 --> 00:25:29,604 And so God moved in the heart of Paul to disciple these young Christians 629 00:25:29,652 --> 00:25:30,900 there at Berea. 630 00:25:31,060 --> 00:25:31,668 Verse 15. 631 00:25:31,724 --> 00:25:35,694 And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens. 632 00:25:35,742 --> 00:25:38,702 And receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come 633 00:25:38,726 --> 00:25:40,574 to him with all speed, they departed. 634 00:25:40,622 --> 00:25:44,730 So we do know at some point Silas and Timothy stayed there. 635 00:25:45,110 --> 00:25:50,702 And this shows that Paul had a passion not just to evangelize, but 636 00:25:50,726 --> 00:25:52,050 to plant churches. 637 00:25:52,870 --> 00:25:57,342 We should have a passion for converts, but it should be more than 638 00:25:57,366 --> 00:25:58,638 just converts. 639 00:25:58,814 --> 00:26:01,232 We should have a passion for building disciples. 640 00:26:01,366 --> 00:26:03,196 We should have a passion for building followers. 641 00:26:03,228 --> 00:26:05,880 And that's why he left Silas and Timothy there. 642 00:26:06,740 --> 00:26:11,404 It showed that Paul didn't believe that he alone can do the 643 00:26:11,412 --> 00:26:12,316 work of converting. 644 00:26:12,348 --> 00:26:15,644 He needed people like Silas and Timothy to help him and to teach. 645 00:26:15,692 --> 00:26:21,356 And not one person can be the sole person when it comes to preaching 646 00:26:21,388 --> 00:26:22,668 the gospel and teaching people. 647 00:26:22,724 --> 00:26:25,820 We, we need other folks to step up and to help. 648 00:26:25,860 --> 00:26:29,472 And that's exactly what we see here in the case of, of Paul, Silas 649 00:26:29,536 --> 00:26:30,820 and Timothy. 650 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,784 So you would say, what else can we learn from the Bereans? 651 00:26:34,832 --> 00:26:36,400 I, I think one thing is this. 652 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:40,080 They, they received the Word with readiness of mind. 653 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:41,792 I like that phrase, readiness of mind. 654 00:26:41,816 --> 00:26:42,864 They were ready to receive. 655 00:26:42,912 --> 00:26:47,328 They had an open heart and they had an open mind to the truth. 656 00:26:47,424 --> 00:26:48,880 Open heart and open mind. 657 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,512 There, there are some people that are, are open hearted to the 658 00:26:52,536 --> 00:26:54,866 truth, but they're not open minded to the truth. 659 00:26:54,898 --> 00:26:55,922 What do I mean by that? 660 00:26:56,026 --> 00:26:56,578 They're not. 661 00:26:56,634 --> 00:26:59,234 They, they want to receive the Word with their heart and their emotions, 662 00:26:59,282 --> 00:27:01,430 but they don't want to receive it with their intellect. 663 00:27:02,010 --> 00:27:04,690 And I think that's important to notice because we have some people 664 00:27:04,730 --> 00:27:09,122 that will be just stirred by emotional preaching, but yet they 665 00:27:09,146 --> 00:27:12,242 don't think about the implications of what this means in 666 00:27:12,266 --> 00:27:14,110 accordance to scripture for their life. 667 00:27:14,490 --> 00:27:17,314 It's a very flash in the pan kind of reception of the Word of 668 00:27:17,322 --> 00:27:17,650 God. 669 00:27:17,730 --> 00:27:20,000 There are other people who receive the Word of God, who, with 670 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:22,592 all intellect but no emotion in their hearts. 671 00:27:22,736 --> 00:27:24,336 So theoretically, this all works. 672 00:27:24,368 --> 00:27:25,792 But I don't need to put it to practice. 673 00:27:25,856 --> 00:27:27,296 This all makes sense to me. 674 00:27:27,368 --> 00:27:28,496 And I'll even Amen. 675 00:27:28,528 --> 00:27:31,952 And I'll even agree that, yes, we should live this way, but it all 676 00:27:31,976 --> 00:27:32,896 stops there. 677 00:27:33,048 --> 00:27:33,520 And I. 678 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:36,496 I think what the Bereans did that's unique is that they received 679 00:27:36,568 --> 00:27:38,460 it with an openness of mind. 680 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,680 They searched the Scriptures daily, they checked it, but then 681 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:44,352 they received it with an openness of heart to apply it to 682 00:27:44,376 --> 00:27:45,180 their lives. 683 00:27:45,970 --> 00:27:49,146 And so many times you can hear someone get up and preach the truth 684 00:27:49,178 --> 00:27:50,698 and go, yeah, they're good preachers. 685 00:27:50,794 --> 00:27:52,266 I agree, Amen. 686 00:27:52,458 --> 00:27:55,722 But we don't really receive it with our hearts to live it out in 687 00:27:55,746 --> 00:27:56,470 our lives. 688 00:27:57,170 --> 00:27:57,530 The. 689 00:27:57,570 --> 00:28:01,642 The decision that we make stays in that pew or our agree, you 690 00:28:01,666 --> 00:28:03,306 know, because, by the way, let me just tell you this. 691 00:28:03,378 --> 00:28:05,830 Agreeing with a speaker is not enough. 692 00:28:07,090 --> 00:28:12,196 Okay, Let me say I got up here tonight and I said something egregiously 693 00:28:12,388 --> 00:28:14,164 unbiblical anti God. 694 00:28:14,212 --> 00:28:15,972 You would say, I don't agree with that. 695 00:28:16,076 --> 00:28:17,200 And that's good. 696 00:28:18,780 --> 00:28:23,428 But in practice, basically agreeing with a biblical truth but 697 00:28:23,484 --> 00:28:26,756 not doing anything about it is basically the same thing, right? 698 00:28:26,908 --> 00:28:30,964 It's basically that, like, okay, love your neighbor as yourself. 699 00:28:31,012 --> 00:28:31,316 Amen. 700 00:28:31,348 --> 00:28:33,844 But if I don't go love my neighbor as myself, I'm just basically 701 00:28:33,892 --> 00:28:35,764 agreeing to the fact that, hey, you know what? 702 00:28:35,852 --> 00:28:37,600 Loving my neighbor isn't important. 703 00:28:38,950 --> 00:28:40,014 Study the Scriptures. 704 00:28:40,062 --> 00:28:40,462 Amen. 705 00:28:40,526 --> 00:28:41,790 I don't go study my Scriptures. 706 00:28:41,870 --> 00:28:43,886 I didn't really believe that to be true. 707 00:28:43,918 --> 00:28:45,410 I believe it intellectually. 708 00:28:46,070 --> 00:28:47,022 But what do they say? 709 00:28:47,046 --> 00:28:47,278 There's. 710 00:28:47,294 --> 00:28:49,118 That there was a track years ago. 711 00:28:49,174 --> 00:28:52,382 I'm sure that it's still around today, like 18 inches from 712 00:28:52,406 --> 00:28:52,734 heaven. 713 00:28:52,782 --> 00:28:53,374 Like the. 714 00:28:53,462 --> 00:28:56,206 The distance from your brain and from your heart is like 18 inches. 715 00:28:56,238 --> 00:28:58,302 And they say, you know, it's one thing to believe in your mind, 716 00:28:58,326 --> 00:29:00,542 but to believe it in your heart and apply it to your life is 717 00:29:00,566 --> 00:29:01,326 another thing. 718 00:29:01,478 --> 00:29:03,102 And I think that's the difference of the Bereans. 719 00:29:03,166 --> 00:29:03,342 They. 720 00:29:03,366 --> 00:29:06,332 They received it with readiness of mind, but they were 721 00:29:06,356 --> 00:29:09,292 open to studying it daily and open it to applying to the life. 722 00:29:09,316 --> 00:29:10,828 You say, how do you know they applied it to their lives? 723 00:29:10,884 --> 00:29:13,916 Well, we know that there was a church that grew there in Berea, 724 00:29:13,948 --> 00:29:16,828 but even so, we know that there was an individual that left 725 00:29:16,884 --> 00:29:20,876 Berea and actually went with Paul on one of his trips. 726 00:29:20,908 --> 00:29:23,400 And so if you go to Acts, chapter 20. 727 00:29:24,260 --> 00:29:30,236 Acts, chapter 20, verse 4, Paul visits Macedonia and Greece, 728 00:29:30,428 --> 00:29:37,808 and we see that there, accompanying him into Asia is so 729 00:29:37,864 --> 00:29:39,552 potter of Berea. 730 00:29:39,696 --> 00:29:43,072 And so we know that there was an individual that was saved at some 731 00:29:43,096 --> 00:29:46,592 point there in Berea, discipled there in Berea, and then 732 00:29:46,616 --> 00:29:48,864 went out and started serving with Paul. 733 00:29:48,992 --> 00:29:52,368 So we know that there was some element of health happening and growth 734 00:29:52,424 --> 00:29:55,424 happening there in Berea, and that's how it should be. 735 00:29:55,592 --> 00:30:02,912 You know, if someone came to this church today and visited this 736 00:30:02,936 --> 00:30:05,680 church and they saw the snapshot of who we were, and they 737 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:11,072 came back in 10 years and everybody was the same, except we 738 00:30:11,096 --> 00:30:15,152 all just were a little bit older, maybe a little bit grayer, 739 00:30:15,296 --> 00:30:18,192 but all of us were at the same place in our life when it came to 740 00:30:18,216 --> 00:30:20,560 our spiritual side, or maybe we've even regressed. 741 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:21,904 You know, that would be a shame. 742 00:30:22,032 --> 00:30:25,424 The truth is, is that every element of the church should be pushing 743 00:30:25,472 --> 00:30:28,592 forward to growth, should be pushing forward to discipleship, 744 00:30:28,736 --> 00:30:31,712 should be pushing forward to being a church that's searching the 745 00:30:31,736 --> 00:30:33,056 scriptures daily. 746 00:30:33,248 --> 00:30:33,616 Folks. 747 00:30:33,648 --> 00:30:34,464 We should be a church. 748 00:30:34,512 --> 00:30:34,720 We. 749 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:35,888 We don't have to be. 750 00:30:36,024 --> 00:30:39,472 We don't have to be the church that has a bunch of PhD people in 751 00:30:39,496 --> 00:30:39,968 it. 752 00:30:40,104 --> 00:30:44,176 You don't have to read, you know, big commentaries every single 753 00:30:44,208 --> 00:30:44,400 day. 754 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:48,928 But we should be a church that emphasizes the study of the word 755 00:30:48,944 --> 00:30:49,700 of God. 756 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:53,152 We should be a church that emphasizes that. 757 00:30:53,176 --> 00:30:55,900 That we can actually think biblically about things. 758 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:56,720 What. 759 00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,920 What if someone came up to you and said, why do you believe what 760 00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:00,416 you believe? 761 00:31:00,488 --> 00:31:02,980 Would you be able to explain that to somebody? 762 00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:06,528 Brother Bob, how you're teaching in your class. 763 00:31:06,584 --> 00:31:10,220 How can we trust this thing right here? 764 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:13,904 Why do we trust the 66 books? 765 00:31:14,032 --> 00:31:15,408 Why don't we trust that this. 766 00:31:15,464 --> 00:31:17,008 Why don't we trust this book, Right? 767 00:31:17,064 --> 00:31:18,336 Have you ever had someone ask you that? 768 00:31:18,408 --> 00:31:20,144 Why don't you read the Book of Enoch? 769 00:31:20,192 --> 00:31:23,014 Why don't you read the Book of Barnabas or the Gospel of Barnabas? 770 00:31:23,112 --> 00:31:23,690 And if you. 771 00:31:23,730 --> 00:31:24,870 You're like, I don't know. 772 00:31:25,410 --> 00:31:28,010 Well, you know, I'm not saying all of you need to understand those 773 00:31:28,050 --> 00:31:32,282 things, but we do need to have a set of understanding of these things. 774 00:31:32,386 --> 00:31:35,562 When we come to people that are going to ask us questions, then 775 00:31:35,586 --> 00:31:36,810 you say, well, Pastor, that's your job. 776 00:31:36,850 --> 00:31:38,122 Yes, I understand that. 777 00:31:38,226 --> 00:31:38,922 I understand. 778 00:31:39,026 --> 00:31:41,786 I'm doing everything that I possibly can to intake knowledge 779 00:31:41,898 --> 00:31:45,130 so that I can apply that in my teaching and my preaching and my 780 00:31:45,170 --> 00:31:45,818 counseling. 781 00:31:45,914 --> 00:31:48,794 But all of us have responsibility to search the scriptures 782 00:31:48,842 --> 00:31:54,290 daily, to be articulate, to be fluent in what the Bible says. 783 00:31:56,430 --> 00:32:01,030 How many of us, let's be honest with ourselves here tonight. 784 00:32:01,190 --> 00:32:04,598 How many of us would be nervous if a child came up and started 785 00:32:04,654 --> 00:32:08,262 asking us Bible questions about their Sunday school class. 786 00:32:08,446 --> 00:32:09,942 You'd say, well, I wouldn't be nervous. 787 00:32:10,006 --> 00:32:11,494 I know the story of Jonah. 788 00:32:11,622 --> 00:32:12,774 I know the story of Moses. 789 00:32:12,822 --> 00:32:14,726 Well, what if they were learning about something that maybe 790 00:32:14,758 --> 00:32:15,542 you weren't familiar with? 791 00:32:15,566 --> 00:32:16,380 And you would say, I. 792 00:32:16,470 --> 00:32:17,488 I don't know, maybe. 793 00:32:17,584 --> 00:32:19,872 Well, instead of being shamed about it, say, hey, let's study it 794 00:32:19,896 --> 00:32:20,416 together. 795 00:32:20,568 --> 00:32:21,888 Let's look at this together. 796 00:32:22,024 --> 00:32:23,168 I've had that happen. 797 00:32:23,304 --> 00:32:26,656 I've had Alicia's like, hey, what do you know about this in scripture? 798 00:32:26,688 --> 00:32:28,032 And I'm like, man, I don't know. 799 00:32:28,056 --> 00:32:29,472 I haven't tuned up on that one in a while. 800 00:32:29,496 --> 00:32:30,064 Let's look at. 801 00:32:30,152 --> 00:32:31,744 I'll have to check that one later. 802 00:32:31,912 --> 00:32:33,792 I don't know everything about scripture. 803 00:32:33,936 --> 00:32:37,232 You could read the Bible every day of your life for 50 years and 804 00:32:37,256 --> 00:32:38,976 still not know everything about Scripture. 805 00:32:39,088 --> 00:32:39,360 And. 806 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:43,024 And that's the beauty of being a berean, is that we're growing every 807 00:32:43,112 --> 00:32:44,054 single day. 808 00:32:44,192 --> 00:32:47,754 So if someone came back in 10, 20, 50 years, some of you are like, 809 00:32:47,842 --> 00:32:50,090 I don't know if I'll be here in 10, 20, 50 years. 810 00:32:50,210 --> 00:32:50,730 50 years. 811 00:32:50,770 --> 00:32:51,354 I don't know. 812 00:32:51,442 --> 00:32:52,682 I don't know if I'll be here in 50 years. 813 00:32:52,706 --> 00:32:54,378 Oh, man, that's pretty sobering thought. 814 00:32:54,514 --> 00:32:57,482 Anyway, either way you think about it, if someone came back in 815 00:32:57,506 --> 00:33:01,034 a long time, would I be at a further step of being closer to the 816 00:33:01,042 --> 00:33:03,110 Lord when they checked in on me again? 817 00:33:03,410 --> 00:33:07,418 And my encouragement for you here this evening is to be a Berean, 818 00:33:07,594 --> 00:33:14,452 to receive the Word with readiness of mind as a. 819 00:33:14,476 --> 00:33:14,964 As a. 820 00:33:15,052 --> 00:33:16,852 You know, when I tell you one of the things that I would do is 821 00:33:16,876 --> 00:33:17,204 a. 822 00:33:17,292 --> 00:33:17,700 As a. 823 00:33:17,740 --> 00:33:18,356 As a person. 824 00:33:18,428 --> 00:33:21,060 So I'm going to give you a little snapshot into my life. 825 00:33:21,180 --> 00:33:24,052 Pastors aren't perfect, and I wasn't even a pastor at this point. 826 00:33:24,076 --> 00:33:24,628 I was in. 827 00:33:24,684 --> 00:33:30,708 I was doing my master's degree, and I was, you know, doing 828 00:33:30,764 --> 00:33:34,500 classes, and I thought I really knew a lot about scripture. 829 00:33:34,580 --> 00:33:37,390 Like, I thought I was like the man in that area. 830 00:33:37,510 --> 00:33:40,430 And so I would hear preachers come up and, you know, instead of 831 00:33:40,470 --> 00:33:43,902 me going, what is that preacher preaching about the truth 832 00:33:43,966 --> 00:33:44,510 of God? 833 00:33:44,590 --> 00:33:46,334 I would sit there and want to critique. 834 00:33:46,462 --> 00:33:47,726 Okay, so what is he. 835 00:33:47,798 --> 00:33:49,134 Okay, so what is he going to preach? 836 00:33:49,182 --> 00:33:51,230 How is he going to exposit this passage here? 837 00:33:51,350 --> 00:33:53,198 Did he reference that Greek thing? 838 00:33:53,254 --> 00:33:55,934 I would have put a point there instead, you know, And I was thinking. 839 00:33:55,982 --> 00:33:57,822 I was like, I knew what I was doing. 840 00:33:57,926 --> 00:34:02,128 And in that whole process of trying to critique that preacher, 841 00:34:02,294 --> 00:34:04,124 I didn't even take any spiritual Truth with me. 842 00:34:04,132 --> 00:34:06,200 And he was giving good spiritual truths out. 843 00:34:06,500 --> 00:34:09,228 And so you would say, well, I'm not tempted to do that, Pastor. 844 00:34:09,324 --> 00:34:11,004 But you know what you are tempted to do? 845 00:34:11,092 --> 00:34:15,260 Maybe to say, well, you know what? 846 00:34:15,300 --> 00:34:18,220 I got tomorrow at work, okay, I got a lot on my plate. 847 00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:20,652 Walking into the office on Monday morning, started letting your 848 00:34:20,676 --> 00:34:21,836 mind drift, right? 849 00:34:21,988 --> 00:34:26,060 To receive the Word with readiness of mind to not allow ourselves 850 00:34:26,140 --> 00:34:29,942 to be distracted, to not allow ourselves to, to take ourselves to 851 00:34:29,966 --> 00:34:33,238 a place where we are not engaged in the preaching of the Word 852 00:34:33,254 --> 00:34:33,750 of God. 853 00:34:33,830 --> 00:34:35,526 And there's preachers are different. 854 00:34:35,598 --> 00:34:37,350 I mean, some preachers are going to hold your attention better 855 00:34:37,390 --> 00:34:38,130 than others. 856 00:34:38,750 --> 00:34:40,998 Some preachers you're going to click with other preachers you're 857 00:34:41,014 --> 00:34:43,254 going to say, man, you know, it's a little bit more difficult. 858 00:34:43,302 --> 00:34:46,810 We have a missionary come in and, and maybe they're, they're preaching 859 00:34:47,390 --> 00:34:49,878 certain different ways or another speaker coming in. 860 00:34:49,934 --> 00:34:52,934 I would always encourage you to say, hey, if he is preaching the 861 00:34:52,942 --> 00:34:54,970 word of God, there's something there for me tonight. 862 00:34:55,670 --> 00:34:58,286 And I've always told people this, and I know that this is a difficult 863 00:34:58,318 --> 00:35:00,942 thing to swallow because I don't think you should get up and 864 00:35:00,966 --> 00:35:01,726 just read. 865 00:35:01,878 --> 00:35:06,206 But if someone just got up and read scripture for 20 minutes, that's 866 00:35:06,238 --> 00:35:07,534 beneficial to us when it comes. 867 00:35:07,622 --> 00:35:10,206 No scripture is, is going to return void. 868 00:35:10,318 --> 00:35:10,878 Right. 869 00:35:11,014 --> 00:35:14,430 Now I do believe that there's a challenge for us as preachers to 870 00:35:14,470 --> 00:35:16,690 exposit and to teach the passage. 871 00:35:17,030 --> 00:35:20,014 But, but I would encourage you to think about it from this perspective. 872 00:35:20,142 --> 00:35:22,862 Even if it's not my favorite story, even if it's not my favorite 873 00:35:22,926 --> 00:35:26,762 preacher, even if it's not my favorite style, if he is preaching 874 00:35:26,826 --> 00:35:29,258 the truth of God, there's something there for me. 875 00:35:29,394 --> 00:35:31,990 So to receive the Word with readiness of mind. 876 00:35:33,010 --> 00:35:35,594 Lord willing, in a few years we're going to have some of our men, 877 00:35:35,682 --> 00:35:38,378 our young men, our teens coming up here and preaching. 878 00:35:38,554 --> 00:35:40,026 Guys, be patient with them. 879 00:35:40,098 --> 00:35:43,482 It's not so easy to get up here and to talk for X amount of 880 00:35:43,506 --> 00:35:45,786 time and keep your focus on the Word of God. 881 00:35:45,898 --> 00:35:48,346 And there might be a fellow that gets up here and he's stumbling 882 00:35:48,378 --> 00:35:50,634 all over himself, but he's going to give you a truth to the 883 00:35:50,642 --> 00:35:51,228 Word of God. 884 00:35:51,314 --> 00:35:52,904 Hey, make sure you say Amen. 885 00:35:53,032 --> 00:35:56,376 Make sure you hear that and let them know that you're thankful 886 00:35:56,408 --> 00:35:57,980 for them Preaching the Word of God. 887 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:00,760 So receive the Word. 888 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:02,152 But it's more than that. 889 00:36:02,256 --> 00:36:04,060 It's, it's studying the Word. 890 00:36:04,720 --> 00:36:07,300 If you know, we, we watch. 891 00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:10,968 Well, I'll say it this way, my My son is getting into sports. 892 00:36:11,064 --> 00:36:12,152 Micah, he likes sports. 893 00:36:12,216 --> 00:36:16,136 Silas likes sports, too, but he's not able to kind of articulate 894 00:36:16,168 --> 00:36:16,878 himself yet. 895 00:36:16,984 --> 00:36:21,522 But Mike is like, dad, he watches these guys on tv, and he 896 00:36:21,546 --> 00:36:24,370 watches how these football guys catch the ball and run. 897 00:36:24,410 --> 00:36:26,274 He's like, dad, I think I want to be. 898 00:36:26,362 --> 00:36:26,978 I want to play. 899 00:36:27,034 --> 00:36:27,602 Am I going to. 900 00:36:27,626 --> 00:36:29,538 I think he said, am I going to play college football, Dad? 901 00:36:29,634 --> 00:36:31,362 I said, son, I don't know. 902 00:36:31,546 --> 00:36:32,658 But I will tell you this. 903 00:36:32,714 --> 00:36:33,026 If. 904 00:36:33,098 --> 00:36:36,434 If you expect just to never play football and never practice 905 00:36:36,482 --> 00:36:39,330 football and then go out and play football at the highest level, 906 00:36:39,370 --> 00:36:40,802 it's probably not going to happen. 907 00:36:40,906 --> 00:36:41,506 Right? 908 00:36:41,658 --> 00:36:42,082 Got it. 909 00:36:42,106 --> 00:36:43,090 You got to put the work in. 910 00:36:43,130 --> 00:36:43,954 You got to practice. 911 00:36:44,002 --> 00:36:46,832 You got to do the daily grind. 912 00:36:46,896 --> 00:36:48,928 You got to do the things that are not easy. 913 00:36:49,024 --> 00:36:51,584 And a lot of times we'll say, like, well, I want to know the Word. 914 00:36:51,632 --> 00:36:53,440 I want to be able to live a godly life. 915 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:56,112 But a lot of times we want to do that without searching the Scriptures 916 00:36:56,176 --> 00:36:56,820 daily. 917 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,768 And so the challenge is, for many of us as Christians, is I think 918 00:37:00,824 --> 00:37:04,064 a lot of us, I think most of us would want to be those seasoned, 919 00:37:04,112 --> 00:37:06,848 mature Christians and say, you know, I just want to have a. 920 00:37:06,904 --> 00:37:09,152 A word from God to everyone when I come. 921 00:37:09,176 --> 00:37:10,400 When they come up to me and ask me a question. 922 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:11,450 I want to use Scripture. 923 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:13,414 Folks, that doesn't come overnight. 924 00:37:13,542 --> 00:37:16,502 That doesn't just get implanted into your mind now by the 925 00:37:16,526 --> 00:37:17,126 power of God. 926 00:37:17,158 --> 00:37:18,198 He helps us. 927 00:37:18,334 --> 00:37:22,118 But what I would say is it takes the time and the effort to 928 00:37:22,174 --> 00:37:24,118 love and to grow in the word of God. 929 00:37:24,134 --> 00:37:28,150 It's a spiritual discipline to search the Scriptures daily whether 930 00:37:28,190 --> 00:37:29,490 those things were so. 931 00:37:29,870 --> 00:37:30,438 And I. 932 00:37:30,494 --> 00:37:34,230 And I'll tell you this, and we'll be done after this. 933 00:37:34,350 --> 00:37:38,096 If you see something in scripture that you're like, pastor, 934 00:37:38,128 --> 00:37:39,136 why'd you preach that? 935 00:37:39,208 --> 00:37:42,960 I'm gonna do my best to respond back to you with grace and 936 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:44,064 try to be as. 937 00:37:44,152 --> 00:37:48,048 As humble as I can in my response, because, you know, every 938 00:37:48,104 --> 00:37:51,264 person in this room is valid in the concept of, hey, you know 939 00:37:51,272 --> 00:37:51,440 what? 940 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,472 If you see something in scripture and you want to have a 941 00:37:53,496 --> 00:37:55,500 question about that, don't be afraid to come ask. 942 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:58,608 See, I've always been taught this about, you know, I've heard 943 00:37:58,624 --> 00:37:59,248 that phrase a lot. 944 00:37:59,304 --> 00:38:02,140 I've always been taught this, but why do we believe this? 945 00:38:03,410 --> 00:38:05,786 It might be that, hey, that's not really in scripture. 946 00:38:05,898 --> 00:38:07,754 It's just something that we've always done. 947 00:38:07,922 --> 00:38:10,670 You can still do that, but it's not in Scripture. 948 00:38:11,410 --> 00:38:11,770 I. 949 00:38:11,810 --> 00:38:12,170 I miss. 950 00:38:12,210 --> 00:38:12,410 I. 951 00:38:12,450 --> 00:38:13,610 I said this this week with the. 952 00:38:13,650 --> 00:38:15,018 I was it this week or last week? 953 00:38:15,074 --> 00:38:16,634 I said it cleanly, guys. 954 00:38:16,682 --> 00:38:18,186 Cleanliness is next to godliness. 955 00:38:18,218 --> 00:38:19,146 I said that to our kids. 956 00:38:19,178 --> 00:38:21,162 And Alicia, Alicia caught me on that. 957 00:38:21,186 --> 00:38:23,386 She goes where I, she's like, where is that in scripture? 958 00:38:23,418 --> 00:38:24,410 I was like, it's not. 959 00:38:24,450 --> 00:38:25,450 Okay, it's not. 960 00:38:25,490 --> 00:38:27,306 But that's sometimes what happens. 961 00:38:27,338 --> 00:38:30,312 Sometimes we get these little phrases that are not scriptural, 962 00:38:30,376 --> 00:38:32,872 but we almost adhere to the fact that they are. 963 00:38:33,056 --> 00:38:34,888 And, and it's okay to say that. 964 00:38:34,944 --> 00:38:37,928 You, you can say like, hey, we should be clean, guys, but don't 965 00:38:37,944 --> 00:38:38,536 tell your children. 966 00:38:38,608 --> 00:38:40,136 That's in, in a passage of scripture. 967 00:38:40,168 --> 00:38:41,096 It's not okay. 968 00:38:41,208 --> 00:38:43,420 God helps those who help themselves. 969 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:45,608 That's not in Scripture. 970 00:38:45,704 --> 00:38:46,376 Okay? 971 00:38:46,488 --> 00:38:48,712 So, so there, there are a lot of things that you'll hear in our 972 00:38:48,736 --> 00:38:52,168 vernacular, in our, in our culture that are not scriptural, 973 00:38:52,264 --> 00:38:54,856 but you would never know that unless you dug into scripture. 974 00:38:54,888 --> 00:38:57,928 Unless you go into scripture and say, okay, that's not there. 975 00:38:57,984 --> 00:39:00,024 Or that is there, and we should be preaching that. 976 00:39:00,112 --> 00:39:01,272 So never be ashamed. 977 00:39:01,336 --> 00:39:06,056 Like you could be 70 years old and maybe not have an understanding 978 00:39:06,088 --> 00:39:07,960 of what, why we believe what we believe. 979 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:09,336 It's okay, it's okay. 980 00:39:09,368 --> 00:39:10,504 There's no shame in that. 981 00:39:10,592 --> 00:39:13,224 There's things that we're all learning day to day and, and I would 982 00:39:13,232 --> 00:39:14,952 encourage you to think about the why behind that. 983 00:39:14,976 --> 00:39:16,120 So be a berean. 984 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:17,432 Be a berean. 985 00:39:17,496 --> 00:39:22,962 When it comes to receiving the word, searching the word, believing 986 00:39:23,026 --> 00:39:25,362 the word, and then protecting the word. 987 00:39:25,426 --> 00:39:25,746 Okay? 988 00:39:25,778 --> 00:39:26,754 Think about it that way. 989 00:39:26,842 --> 00:39:31,202 Receive the word, study the word, believe the word, protect the 990 00:39:31,226 --> 00:39:31,474 word. 991 00:39:31,522 --> 00:39:35,650 I think when we do it like that, we can be successful in our, 992 00:39:35,690 --> 00:39:36,850 in our walk with Christ. 993 00:39:36,970 --> 00:39:38,370 Well, thank you so much for your attention. 994 00:39:38,450 --> 00:39:41,570 Next week, if you're interested, Paul is going to go to 995 00:39:41,610 --> 00:39:42,390 Athens. 996 00:39:42,890 --> 00:39:46,450 Very interesting story where it comes to, he's dealing with people 997 00:39:46,490 --> 00:39:48,554 like the Epicureans, the Stoics. 998 00:39:48,722 --> 00:39:51,430 This is maybe some stuff that you've heard in your history class. 999 00:39:51,730 --> 00:39:53,098 Yeah, this is history. 1000 00:39:53,234 --> 00:39:55,962 So we're going to really see Paul interact with these folks here 1001 00:39:55,986 --> 00:39:59,830 in this area and talk about philosophies of man. 1002 00:40:00,130 --> 00:40:02,602 And I think that one of the things we're going to learn is that 1003 00:40:02,626 --> 00:40:06,138 Paul actually uses certain elements of their culture to reach 1004 00:40:06,194 --> 00:40:07,194 them for Christ. 1005 00:40:07,362 --> 00:40:11,146 And there's things that we can do within our world today, our culture, 1006 00:40:11,178 --> 00:40:12,490 to reach people for Christ. 1007 00:40:12,610 --> 00:40:15,722 And I think it'll be a really neat eye opening experience for us 1008 00:40:15,746 --> 00:40:18,170 to grow and understand how we can share our faith with people around 1009 00:40:18,210 --> 00:40:18,626 us. 1010 00:40:18,738 --> 00:40:21,762 Well, let's go ahead and pray and then we'll be dismissed here 1011 00:40:21,786 --> 00:40:22,562 this evening. 1012 00:40:22,706 --> 00:40:24,274 Lord, I thank you for this time that you've given us. 1013 00:40:24,282 --> 00:40:26,322 I thank you for the opportunity to study your Word this 1014 00:40:26,346 --> 00:40:26,754 evening. 1015 00:40:26,802 --> 00:40:29,682 We're thankful for the wonderful songs that we sang, the 1016 00:40:29,706 --> 00:40:31,202 wonderful testimonies we had. 1017 00:40:31,306 --> 00:40:33,234 Lord, we thank you for the example of the Bereans. 1018 00:40:33,282 --> 00:40:36,402 We thank you for the fact that they received the Word there with 1019 00:40:36,426 --> 00:40:37,630 readiness of mind. 1020 00:40:38,010 --> 00:40:39,954 Lord, we're thankful that they search the Scriptures daily. 1021 00:40:40,002 --> 00:40:41,458 We're thankful that they believed. 1022 00:40:41,554 --> 00:40:44,646 We're thankful that they protected Paul as he was. 1023 00:40:44,778 --> 00:40:48,766 I'm promoting the truth and and also as they grew in in the teaching 1024 00:40:48,798 --> 00:40:50,414 of of Silas and Timothy. 1025 00:40:50,542 --> 00:40:52,750 Lord, I pray that we can follow that same model within our 1026 00:40:52,790 --> 00:40:53,278 midst. 1027 00:40:53,374 --> 00:40:54,270 Lord, help us to grow. 1028 00:40:54,310 --> 00:40:55,102 Help us to search. 1029 00:40:55,166 --> 00:41:01,086 Help us to to be able to stand upon the truth that we believe. 1030 00:41:01,158 --> 00:41:03,598 And so Lord, I pray that you keep us safe as we go our separate 1031 00:41:03,614 --> 00:41:06,734 ways this evening and we ask all these things in Jesus name. 1032 00:41:06,822 --> 00:41:07,486 Amen. 1033 00:41:07,598 --> 00:41:08,450 Amen. 1034 00:41:08,790 --> 00:41:11,454 Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church 1035 00:41:11,502 --> 00:41:12,254 podcast. 1036 00:41:12,382 --> 00:41:15,112 I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for for you. 1037 00:41:15,296 --> 00:41:17,576 If you would like to find out more information about our church 1038 00:41:17,608 --> 00:41:21,272 or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org 1039 00:41:21,416 --> 00:41:24,220 or find us on Facebook or YouTube. 1040 00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:29,912 You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro Middletown BaptistChurch.com 1041 00:41:30,096 --> 00:41:31,896 if you've enjoyed this podcast. 1042 00:41:32,008 --> 00:41:36,700 Please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates. 1043 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:38,120 Thank you so much. 1044 00:41:38,240 --> 00:41:39,144 God Bless. 1045 00:41:39,272 --> 00:41:40,320 Have a wonderful day.