Acts Of The Apostles # 24 Of 39

The Jews that did not believe, showed their jealousy by attacking the household of Jason, who had lodged Paul and Silas, since they could not take their revenge out on them personally. Verse 10, says, "And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews."

Paul and Silas left Thessalonica, and went about sixty miles to the west, to Berea. Once they got there, again they went to the synagogue. What a joy it must have been for Paul and Silas to be in Berea. Whereas the Jews in Thessalonica had a closed mind to the gospel, these people had an open mind to the gospel.

I. THE SEARCHING MINDS (verses 11-14)

A. THE CORDIALITY

Verse 11, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

As you travel across this country, you will find that, in the different areas, people are as different from each other as the weather is different from one place to the next.

Illus: Dr. Ed Young, Pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Texas, once pastored the First Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina. When he pastored in Columbia, the church had some good growth, but it was difficult because the people were not letting him motivate them to accomplish what they were capable of accomplishing. After several years, he realized God had used him to accomplish about all that he was going to in Columbia, and he took the church in Texas that was a smaller church than he had in Columbia. He recognized that the people in that church were eager to have the Lord's work there grow, and they were willing to work. In a few short years, that church has grown to over ten thousand for their Sunday services. And if you have ever heard Dr. Young preach, you know he did not compromise the Word of God to build that church. God used him to build that church, because the people in Texas were open to the Word of God, and it motivated them to go out and win thousands to the Lord. Paul left Thessalonica because he was forced out of town, but when he came to Berea, only sixty miles away, he found people who were open to the Word of God. The scriptures reveal two things about them.

1. THEY WERE “MORE REFINED”

Paul could tell immediately that these people were stately, and had real class compared to the people at Thessalonica. Luke said this about the people of Berea, in comparison to the people at Thessalonica, “These were more noble.”

2. THEY WERE “MORE RECEPTIVE”

Luke said this about the People in Berea, “…in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

They were open to hear God's Word preached, but evidently they knew what many present day people do not know; that is: That just because a preacher stands behind a podium with a Bible in his hand, does not mean they are going to receive what God said.

The Bible says they “... searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

If a lot of professing Christians were to do that today, many preachers in the pulpits, and about 95 % of the tv preachers would not be preaching. You should never give a dime to a church or ministry, until you have a doctrinal statement of what they believe and what they teach. Even if a group has a first-class printed doctrinal statement, you should not support that group with your attendance or your finances, if they do not openly preach and teach sound doctrine.

Illus: A Christian lady and her husband told their pastor they were sorry they had not been able to attend church, but they assured him they were thinking about the church every Sunday, and they made sure they watched a particular preacher on television every Sunday morning. If that was suppose to comfort the pastor, it didn't, because the preacher she mentioned has built his church on this humanistic teaching of the 'Power of possibility thinking. " This same preacher that she loves to watch, does not even believe in a literal hell. He has drawn thousands to his church because he 'books' celebrity performers to sing, etc. Many of these celebrities work in the night clubs during the week. But the people do not seem to care if he has them share his platform on Sunday mornings.

All across this nation, these Elmer Gantries stand behind the pulpits in churches and are on television claiming to represent the cause of Christ, and people support them because they are ignorant of what God's Word says. These shysters would have not gotten anywhere in Berea, because the Bereans, who were open to any preacher who would preach God's Word, would check out what he preached to see if what he said, lined up with the scriptures.