Acts 17:10-12 – As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
“As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.” Our early Brothers in the Lord were amazing. They could be beaten, flogged, stoned, run out of town and threatened to be killed and they just moved on and continued preaching the Word. Nothing stopped them. Yes, they preached primarily with their mouths because merely displaying themselves as good moral people was not the objective. To be saved, people need to be told the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Paul and Silas and their whole company spread the Good News of salvation through Jesus. Nothing could deter them. They, like all of us, have received an edict from God that all are to share the Word, not just model it, but to speak it (Matthew 28:18-20). So being chased away by jealous Jews, they walked at night forty-five miles to Berea and straight away went to the Synagogue to share the Word.
“Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. The Bereans were considered noble because they listened, honestly considered what they heard and then, with open minds, researched what Paul and Silas were preaching to them. They didn’t, with prejudice, immediately discount or accept what they had been told. They went to scripture to either verify or reject what they were being told. They did that because their predisposition was to openly listen and then to verify. The Word here says that they received the message with great eagerness, or readiness of mind. They were curious and listened daily and then daily examined the scriptures to verify, and that in fact, deepened their knowledge of the Word.
“12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.” The Bereans listened with open and honest minds and as a result, hearing the Truth and open to the Spirit of God revealing the Truth to them, they believed. Jews, Greek women, and Greek men believed. Notice that it first mentions that Greek women believed and then Greek men. Gotta love that. The rights of women, the dignity of them, is front and center throughout the teachings of Christ and His Apostles. In Christianity there is no caste system, whether women or men, there are not degrees of acceptance, but all are fully and equally accepted. We all have different roles but neither is valued more. Praise God! Jews were saved, and Greeks were saved, and women and men were saved. Praise God!
Family how delighted would our Pastors be to have their congregation attentively listen to the sermon, to take notes, and then to go home and study what has been taught. Sadly, too often members of a congregation want to, after a sermon, tell the Pastors what they “think” and lambaste the Pastor for reporting what the Word states. I’m sure that a Pastor would love to have a congregant go home and then return with any questions after studying the sermon notes they took. But what we feel or think, not based on scripture, well that, quite frankly, is too often just wrong. Let’s not think of ourselves too highly, what we think is not as important as what the Word says. That’s not even close. Family, we should, before coming to hear the sermon, have been in the Word and have spent time fellowshipping with God, most importantly letting Him move our spirit by His. Then we are ready to hear and to fellowship. After the service we should study scripture, yielded to the Holy Spirit to receive what God would reveal. If we do so, as the Bereans did, we will be more blessed than merely hearing. Yes, it is a blessing to hear the sermon, it is more so to if we hear it having beforehand spent time in the Spirit and the Word, and then afterward verified the sermon by studying the Word. Then we are much more able to receive what God wants to bless us with. Than the sermon falls on much more fertile soil. And that is what we want to be, fertile soil for God to plant His Words in us. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”