00:00: I've been in pastoral ministry for about 23 years now, 20 of which as a senior pastor.
00:08: And I was thinking back this week to when I first became a senior pastor about 20 years ago.
00:13: I began a small group, and we were using a curriculum that had been put out by a well-known, evangelical, well-respected Christian pastor and author.
00:24: And the gist of this curriculum, I thought, was very straightforward, very unoffensive, that the concept was, as Christians, we live for God day by day by faith.
00:37: We live for God by trusting him and trusting his promises and trusting God to do in and through our lives what he wants to do.
00:44: We live by faith, which is eminently biblical.
00:48: No concern there.
00:48: I thought it would just be a good start to encourage everyone.
00:51: We're on this road of trusting God, not just on the front end of the Christian journey of, I trust Jesus as my Lord and Savior so I can be forgiven and have a relationship with God.
01:03: That's the starting point.
01:04: But then from there that we continue to live by faith.
01:09: Well, like I said, I was a new senior pastor.
01:12: I was new to this particular church.
01:14: It was elsewhere, not this congregation.
01:16: And that congregation did not have a strong history of deep theological teaching.
01:23: It had been more surfacy for quite a long time.
01:27: And in this curriculum, there was some deeper theology that got touched on here and there.
01:33: And there were two couples in the small group that were hearing things that they had never heard, that were encountering biblical theology that they'd never noticed or been taught.
01:45: And they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute here.
01:49: But it became interesting to watch how each of these couples handled exposure to this new teaching.
01:57: One couple said, nope, that's wrong.
01:59: I don't fully understand it, but I know it's wrong.
02:02: And they immediately quit the small group.
02:05: And didn't even tell me they had an objection with it.
02:08: They just quit the small group.
02:09: And then they went to my boss at the district level and complained about it.
02:12: And were very dismayed when they were told, no, that's legit.
02:18: Immediately, that was their response.
02:21: I'm not having it.
02:22: I'm not considering it.
02:24: I don't want nothing to do with it.
02:25: The other couple said, what?
02:28: Oh, wait a minute.
02:30: The video that went with the small group study is showing scripture that seems to say that.
02:37: Let's see if the scripture really says that.
02:39: And so this couple began to look in scripture two ways.
02:43: One, initially digging in and saying, what scriptures are out there that seem to teach this or seem to support this?
02:50: Let's see what scripture says.
02:52: And on an ongoing basis, as they were just doing their normal daily Bible reading, they said, we're going to keep our eyes open for this.
02:58: And the second couple discovered the Bible does say that.
03:08: I think of these two couples because our passage this morning deals with Paul on his second missionary journey with Silas and Timothy and probably some others.
03:20: And they encountered different responses to their message.
03:24: In the first city, Thessalonica, they found folks that said, nope, don't like it, don't want to hear it, chase you out, get rid of you.
03:31: But in the second city, the city of Berea, they found folks saying, well, this is new.
03:37: Let's check this against God's word and see what God's word actually says about this.
03:42: And when they did, they were like, oh, it does match up.
03:47: God's word does teach this.
03:49: All right, so be it, we're on board.
03:53: That's the contrast we have before us in our passage today.
03:56: It's a contrast that continues to be lived out in our midst to this day in various ways, in various settings, in Christian circles.
04:05: And so keep your eyes on that as we move through the passage.
04:08: Like I said, this is the second missionary journey of Paul and his friends.
04:11: They've already traveled on their first journey from the land of Israel, the land of Palestine, into modern-day Turkey, and kind of moved through that area, sharing the gospel, planting churches.
04:22: Now they've revisited a little of that area, but they've moved over into northern Greece, to the area of Macedonia.
04:29: That's how they've ended up in Thessalonica.
04:32: They're bringing the gospel now into Europe.
04:36: We saw last week in chapter 16 how they ended up in the Greek city of Philippi, and they led this lady, Lydia, and her household to saving faith in Jesus.
04:47: There was also this slave girl who was demon-possessed and was making trouble, and so Paul cast the demon out of her and her owners, caring about money and themselves and not about spiritual matters, not about this girl, threw a fit and raised persecution and resistance and trouble, and Paul and Silas were jailed and beaten.
05:07: But then we saw even that was not outside God's hand.
05:10: God used Paul and Silas to lead the jailer and his family to Jesus, and they become believers.
05:15: And so that's the beginning of the church in Philippi.
05:19: So when you read your New Testaments and you see the letter to the Philippians, Philippians, that's literally Paul writing back to these folks, Lydia and her household, and the Philippian jailer and his household and the others that had come to faith and saying, I'm encouraging these Christians in this place.
05:35: Now, here in Acts 17, they're continuing their ministry westward.
05:42: They are headed further west.
05:44: They're not giving up and heading home.
05:45: They're continuing.
05:47: And we see in verses 1 through 4, they came to the city of Thessalonica.
05:53: Well, this is where we get 1 and 2 Thessalonians, when Paul's writing these letters back to the church in the city of Thessalonica.
06:02: And they start off, as their normal practice was, they start off by going to the synagogue.
06:07: If there was a synagogue in town where the Jews met for religious gatherings and purposes, they would go there and they'd start by sharing the gospel with the Jewish folks.
06:15: And then they would, of course, always expand and share it with the non-Jewish folks.
06:18: So they get there, and you see in verse 2, Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days, so three Saturdays in a row, he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead and saying, this Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ.
06:46: There's so much in it.
06:47: I mean, that's key.
06:48: That's in a nutshell what we are to be about.
06:50: His message, verse 3, is that this Jesus individual whom Paul is proclaiming to them, that's the Christ.
06:58: He's the one that's the Christ.
07:00: Now, we don't ever use the word Christ, really, in any religious way other than to refer to Jesus.
07:05: But before Jesus was on the scene, this was a word they used to say, God's got somebody in mind that he's going to send.
07:12: God's got somebody picked out that he's going to send, and this person's going to spiritually rescue us.
07:17: This person's going to be the boss over God's people.
07:20: This is the one that God has specially set apart for this purpose.
07:24: Christ was not a name.
07:25: It was a title.
07:26: It was an office, a position title.
07:29: And Paul's basic message, that position has been filled.
07:35: The one that God intended to fill, his name is Jesus.
07:40: Now, notice in verse 2, he reasoned with them from the scriptures.
07:46: Christianity is not meant to be a blind faith.
07:48: Oh, just somebody spouts some stuff, and I'll just believe it because that's what we do.
07:51: No.
07:52: There's a rational basis.
07:54: There's things to be understood.
07:56: You can reason with someone.
07:58: You should reason with someone.
07:59: You should be a person who is reasonable and willing to think through the things of the Christian faith.
08:06: He reasoned with them from the scriptures.
08:09: Now, he's talking to Jewish people, so they would have already been on board with the Old Testament, as we call it, being scripture, being God's word.
08:17: And he's like, look at this.
08:18: And look at this part.
08:19: And look at this part.
08:20: And see what they're describing.
08:23: And let me tell you what happened recently with this Jesus individual.
08:27: See how it fits?
08:29: This has been fulfilled.
08:33: One of the challenges is to make sure that we're applying that today.
08:37: We need to consider the church and theological positions that we come up against or are exposed to and say, does this really make sense in light of the scriptures?
08:51: Does God's word teach this?
08:55: Does God's word contradict this?
08:57: Now, this isn't about beating people up or just being the stronger arguer.
09:03: This is not about arguing for arguing's sake.
09:04: If you've got a child in your household who just likes to argue, or if you're an adult and you were that child growing up, this is not licensed to just be contrarian for contrary's sake.
09:16: Jesus did this repeatedly.
09:19: Mark chapter 12, he's talking to religious leaders and he quotes Genesis to prove to the Sadducees that resurrection is a thing.
09:29: The Sadducees were a group of Jewish leaders that said, we don't think there's any life after death.
09:33: And he's like, check it out, in the portion of the Old Testament that you believe is God's word, right here, that doesn't make sense if there's no resurrection.
09:42: He shows them, right?
09:43: Reasons with them.
09:45: Or Mark 12, 35 to 37, when Jesus is talking with the scribes.
09:50: These are the top tier religious experts of the day in Judaism.
09:54: And he's like, well, let me show you this portion from Psalm 110.
09:58: How can the Christ just be some descendant of David when it says this stuff about him?
10:05: That doesn't really fit, does it?
10:06: Doesn't that kind of mean that the Christ has to be more than just some descendant of David?
10:11: Doesn't that tell us there's something special going on here?
10:14: He's trying to challenge them, wake them up to who the Christ really was intended to be.
10:21: He wasn't just going to be a son of David.
10:23: He was going to be the son of God as well.
10:25: So Paul reasoned with them from the scriptures.
10:30: And he was explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead.
10:37: Explaining, right?
10:38: Sometimes you read a Bible verse and you're like, I don't know what that meant.
10:42: If you ever read your Bible and you feel like that, you're not alone.
10:46: Sometimes when I'm reading my Bible, I don't say it in that voice, but in my head, that's the level of comprehension.
10:52: What was that?
10:53: You're not alone.
10:54: Sometimes you're, and it doesn't immediately make sense.
10:58: But you take some time, you read it in context, you think it through, you ask for God's help, and you begin to understand it.
11:05: And then one of the things that's really helpful is to explain it.
11:08: Put it in different words.
11:09: This is what the point of this is, right?
11:12: Explain it where you can understand.
11:14: We see this happening.
11:15: In fact, when God's people in the Old Testament were exiled for a time, and after 70 years got to return, the religious leaders leading this return back to the promised land, they were reading the scriptures out loud to the people and pausing and saying, hey, let me explain what that means.
11:29: And so you get what we just talked about, right?
11:31: And they would explain it.
11:32: Don't simply quote Christian language to people and assume that they're going to understand what we mean by this, that, and the other.
11:41: They're saved and sin and repentance and, like, explain what that means.
11:48: I had a conversation with somebody from church this last week.
11:52: It was interesting.
11:53: This person had been visiting with fellow Christians outside of this congregation.
11:58: It was a group of Christians from all different church backgrounds gathering together, meeting.
12:01: And something came up in their material that they were doing together, their Bible study.
12:07: Some theology came up.
12:10: And some people were taking some odd views.
12:13: And this member of our church said, how do I talk to them about this?
12:18: How do I engage them on this and help them to see what's true?
12:23: And my first answer was, take them to scripture.
12:26: Sure.
12:27: Don't let it be what you think versus what they think or what your pastor says or what their pastor says or your opinion or their opinion or what you want to be true versus what they want to be true.
12:37: Look at God's word together.
12:39: Find specific verses that address this.
12:42: Show them, chapter and verse, this is what God's word says.
12:46: Because that's where you're going to find your commonality.
12:49: Go there together.
12:50: I had a Wheaton professor.
12:59: I didn't particularly have a classroom, but he was teaching at the Christian school when I was there.
13:04: Very popular.
13:05: Charismatic personality.
13:06: All the students liked him.
13:08: People were, oh yeah, I want to take his class.
13:10: And they would sign up.
13:12: But he ended up getting let go from the school.
13:15: Because he didn't believe that Adam and Eve were real.
13:18: And there was a fair amount of flexibility.
13:20: They were different opinions on Christian stuff at that school.
13:23: But they said, no, it's a little too far.
13:24: Because they looked at the scriptures and they said, too much of the Bible doesn't make sense if Adam and Eve were not real people.
13:31: How can people get in trouble for what Adam and Eve did if there was no Adam and Eve?
13:37: How can Jesus be the second Adam if there wasn't a first Adam?
13:40: Romans chapter 5 talks about that.
13:43: Like, well, that doesn't make sense.
13:45: It talks about how we're all in trouble for Adam's sin.
13:49: Well, if there was no Adam, then Adam didn't sin.
13:51: And I'm not in trouble for something that never took place.
13:53: So the entire Bible starts to fall apart.
13:55: They said, no, you need to believe this or the Bible doesn't make sense.
14:00: So think the Bible through reasonably, rationally.
14:03: This is what Paul's doing with them.
14:05: And the result, verse 4, some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks.
14:13: So now we've got not just Jewish people, but Greeks, non-Jewish people, and not a few of the leading women.
14:19: And so the church in this city is begun.
14:22: It's because somebody came, told them about Jesus, showed them, look, this is what this means.
14:30: This is what Scripture says.
14:32: And you can't just have this Hollywood victory kind of rescuer.
14:37: It has to be the way that God's always said it needs to be with someone who's actually going to die on the cross and take the punishment for guilty people.
14:44: That's what we need, and that's what God's given us in Jesus.
14:48: Here at Faith Chapel, we say that our mission is for every believer to become, make, mature, and multiply fully surrendered disciples of Jesus Christ.
14:58: That's what we have to be about, or we are missing the boat entirely as Christ followers.
15:04: We need to become fully surrendered disciples of Jesus.
15:07: Now, I'm assuming that most of the people here are believers in Jesus, are seeking to follow Jesus.
15:13: But if we're honest, there are places in our life that are not tip-top shaped, that are not speak-and-span, that still need work, right?
15:21: And we want to continue to surrender those parts of our life to God and say, fix me up in this area, transform me here.
15:27: I want all of my life to be lived for you, God.
15:30: And we want to be not only about that happening in our own lives, we want to be about helping that to take place in other people's lives.
15:36: So we make disciples.
15:37: That is, we share the message of Jesus with other people so that they can come to believe in Jesus.
15:43: You can't believe in something you haven't heard about, so we share it.
15:46: Mature, help them to then grow up.
15:49: We see this in the Great Commission, Matthew chapter 28, verse 19, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
15:57: Jesus wants his followers to treat his newer followers, teach his newer followers to obey everything Jesus said to do.
16:05: Which means, then, Christians are not people who say, yep, I believe Jesus existed.
16:09: Yep, I believe he died on the cross and rose again.
16:11: End of story.
16:12: Christians are necessarily people who then obey Jesus, do what Jesus said to do.
16:18: Not perfectly.
16:19: None of us is going to get it right overnight.
16:21: But we increasingly say, yeah, I'm going to let Jesus be the boss of my life.
16:29: We are to be about doing that and then helping multiply it, help people go from that.
16:33: I've learned about it.
16:34: Now it's time for me to invest in others.
16:36: Maybe you're on the hinge there.
16:37: You're somebody that's been in this church for a time.
16:39: You understand a fair amount of what the Bible teaches.
16:41: And it's time for you to kind of break out of that comfort zone and say, I need to start sharing with some other people.
16:47: I need to take some folks that aren't maybe as far along on the journey of following Jesus and help them to make some progress there.
16:58: We are to be about that.
17:00: Proclaim Christ as Lord and Savior.
17:02: Tell people that Christian message that Jesus is the only one that can save us from God's wrath, the only one that can keep us out of hell because of the guilt of the things that we've done.
17:13: Everyone's got bad garbage in their life at some point or another.
17:18: Tell them Jesus is meant by God to be the one in charge of your life.
17:24: So let's start following him together.
17:27: Reason from the scriptures.
17:28: Help them to see this is what God's word teaches.
17:30: Explain it in everyday language.
17:32: It means if you follow Jesus, you're not going to keep watching this kind of movie.
17:34: You're not going to keep cheating on this or fudging on that.
17:39: Prove that God's word really teaches what you're claiming.
17:42: Like, look, right here.
17:43: Let me show you.
17:46: Now, as you do this, realize some people are not going to like what you've got to say.
17:52: But some people will.
17:54: It's going to be a mixed reception.
17:56: How do we know that?
17:57: Well, human experience tells us that.
17:59: It's also what we see lived out in scripture.
18:02: We see some people responding favorably and some not.
18:05: And while it can be discouraging because sometimes it feels like there's so many people that don't want to hear it.
18:11: The reality is we know that some people will receive it.
18:14: How do we know?
18:15: Look around.
18:16: Every one of you is a living evidence that God can change hearts.
18:21: And some people will hear about Jesus and say, yes, I want that.
18:26: It's going to be a mixed bag.
18:28: Acts chapter 16, which we looked at last week, verse 14, tells us why it was that Lydia responded favorably to Paul's message.
18:37: Verse 14 says, the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
18:42: God was doing something inside her so that she responded.
18:45: That's the same hope we have today.
18:46: God will open some people's hearts so that they hear and understand and believe the gospel.
18:52: On the other hand, some people are not going to take favorably.
18:55: Our passage this morning, verse 5, the Jews were jealous.
18:58: They didn't like what was going on.
18:59: Now, we don't know exactly how long this is spread out for.
19:02: We know that there was three Sabbaths or three Saturdays in a row where he was at the synagogue, but it seems to have taken place over a longer time as it extended beyond just the Jewish audience.
19:13: They were losing power and influence.
19:14: They didn't like the importing of Christianity into their area.
19:19: And so they throw a fit.
19:21: They have this new Christian named Jason who had been giving lodging to Paul and Silas and Timothy and get him in trouble.
19:29: They recruit some wicked guys, some ruffians, some thugs.
19:32: They create a mob situation, an uproar.
19:34: They attack the house or household of Jason.
19:37: I don't know if that's his literal house or the people in his house or both.
19:40: Greek is ambiguous there.
19:42: They get him hauled before the city authorities.
19:46: And they start spreading a bunch of half-truths.
19:49: Do you know what half-truths are when you're intentionally spreading half-truths?
19:53: Those are called lies, right?
19:56: Parents.
19:56: How many parents are okay with your kids telling you half the truth, just the half that gets them off looking good?
20:02: Any parents want that from your kids?
20:05: In case you can't see the whole room, there's no hands, right?
20:08: Half-truths are lies.
20:11: They say things like, oh, they've turned the world upside down.
20:15: Well, it's true that there's been massive change in the world as the Christian message is spread, but not in a negative way that they're teaching people to be anarchists and rebel.
20:24: Quite the contrary.
20:26: They say, oh, they're talking about another king, which is true.
20:28: They're saying Jesus is king, but not in an earthly sense where he's going to overthrow this empire leader or that kingdom leader.
20:37: It's not a political kind of king that Jesus is.
20:41: They're saying, oh, he's defying the laws of Caesar because they're talking about Jesus as king.
20:47: No.
20:47: Caesar's thing was pro-religion, pro-lots of different religions.
20:52: They weren't trying to say Jesus is going to overthrow Caesar, so it wasn't a violation of that.
20:57: And they get these folks in trouble, and then money is given as security, basically like bail, right?
21:03: And they say, hey, you guys are going to put down some money.
21:06: If there continues to be problems, you're going to lose the money.
21:09: Well, that basically forces them to leave town because they keep preaching.
21:13: The Jews are going to keep making trouble, and then there will be a conflict, even though Paul and his friends didn't start the conflict, aren't contributing to the conflict.
21:21: And so for the sake of these guys' bail money, they basically have to leave town.
21:25: Frustrating, right?
21:29: They're there.
21:29: They're being kind.
21:30: They're behaving themselves.
21:31: They're being good citizens.
21:32: And they're telling people the good news about Jesus, and they get maligned.
21:36: Anybody like having people say bad things about you?
21:40: It's miserable, isn't it, when somebody says false bad things about you?
21:47: It's probably even more so when you go out of your way to handle things rightly and kindly and be patient and giving and generous.
21:57: It happened to them, and I'll be honest, it's going to happen to you at some point.
22:03: As the famous American philosopher Taylor Swift has said, haters going to hate, hate, hate, hate, right?
22:13: It happens.
22:14: Jesus, you know, before Taylor Swift, told his disciples in John 15, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you.
22:25: If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.
22:29: But because you are not of the world, because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
22:36: I think it's sort of like a defense mechanism.
22:38: People don't want to feel guilty.
22:39: They don't want to be shown that they're in the wrong.
22:42: And so anybody that just affirms what they're doing, hey, you're one of us.
22:45: But as soon as somebody stands out, oh, I'm not, they don't do the bad stuff with me that others do.
22:51: Oh, I don't want nothing to do with you.
22:52: You're bad because you make us feel bad.
22:56: We can't dodge it.
22:58: Because if we're going to follow Jesus, we're going to inherently be an example that makes some people feel uncomfortable.
23:05: It's going to happen sometimes, not every time, no matter how graciously or charitably or kindly or winsomely you choose to speak or act.
23:18: Now, you can be a knucklehead and create problems on your own.
23:20: I'm not advising that.
23:21: That's a different category altogether.
23:25: So what happens?
23:26: They leave Thessalonica.
23:27: The church has been started there.
23:29: And they head 50 miles down the road further west.
23:31: They're not giving up.
23:32: They're not going home.
23:33: They continue on their journey.
23:35: Verses 10 through 12.
23:36: The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.
23:39: And when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
23:41: Now, these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica.
23:46: They received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
23:53: Many of them, therefore, believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
23:59: Quite a different response.
24:00: They were more noble than the Jews in Thessalonica.
24:05: The word noble there can mean well-born or of noble birth.
24:09: And the idea was we've got this ideal of what noble people are supposed to be like.
24:13: They're able to think well, and they're charitable, and they're self-controlled, and so on.
24:18: They had all these ideas.
24:19: And that's what it's describing here.
24:21: These folks were quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry, as James will encourage us when he writes his letter later on.
24:30: These were open-minded but careful thinking types.
24:35: They received the word, that is the message.
24:37: They received this word from Paul and Silas about Jesus.
24:42: It's the gospel message.
24:43: They received it, and they said, What do we do with this?
24:45: Let's check the scripture and see what we should do with this.
24:51: And so it says that they examined the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
24:59: Think about if you were in their situation.
25:02: How would you go about that?
25:04: You might talk to your pastor.
25:06: Oh, they didn't have any Christian pastors locally to talk to.
25:09: You might look it up on Bible Gateway or the Internet more broadly.
25:13: Oh, they didn't have technology like that.
25:16: You might go to your Bible and look at the glossary or maybe an index and see if you can find some topical references.
25:23: Oh, wait.
25:24: People didn't have Bibles at home.
25:28: There was no printing press.
25:29: There was no.
25:30: Every copy of scripture had to be hand-copied.
25:33: Most people were illiterate.
25:35: And so that was a challenge.
25:37: So basically, examining the scriptures daily meant they had to go, probably to the synagogue itself where there was copies of scripture, have somebody that was literate read it out loud so they could all think about it together and check it out.
25:50: What does it say after that?
25:51: Okay, okay.
25:53: Does that match or not match what Paul and Silas are saying?
25:55: They put in the effort.
25:57: They did the work to see what does scripture really say?
26:02: And they found themselves more and more saying, It matches.
26:05: This is exactly what God's word told us to expect.
26:11: They were reasonable.
26:12: They gave consideration to it.
26:14: They thought it through from God's word.
26:16: Think back to those two couples I described in the beginning.
26:19: One said, Nope.
26:21: I don't need to hear any more about it.
26:23: I don't need to think it through.
26:23: I don't need to ask questions.
26:25: I don't need to make sure I'm understanding what they're really saying.
26:28: I just, nope.
26:28: I reject it.
26:29: And I'm going to create problems for anybody that's spouting this kind of stuff.
26:34: The other one said, Huh.
26:37: Well, let's not just assume because he's the pastor or this author is a well-known person.
26:43: It must be right.
26:43: Let's check it out.
26:44: Let's see what the Bible actually says.
26:45: Let's see what God actually says about it.
26:48: Two very different ways of approaching things.
26:52: I was thinking about this week and it struck me that there's lots of churches and lots of denominations out there that believe a variety of different things.
27:02: And in this life, that's to be expected.
27:03: That's reasonable.
27:05: Christians aren't going to understand every detail in the Bible exactly the same way.
27:09: No problem there.
27:10: But there are far too many churches and denominations that at a practical level don't really look to believe what the Bible teaches.
27:20: Instead, they say, well, we believe what our denomination has always believed just because that's what we've believed.
27:25: Or we believe this because so-and-so taught it.
27:27: Or this is what the pastor before you taught or whatever.
27:31: No, go back to the Word.
27:33: Go back to the Word and see what God's Word actually says.
27:36: Because God's Word has to be the standard for what we believe and how we live as Christians.
27:42: Or it's just a free-for-all, honestly.
27:44: I think a portion, not all of it, but a portion of why there are so many denominations and different churches and different beliefs out there is because some folks aren't actually serious about believing whatever God's Word teaches on a given topic.
27:59: Now, there's plenty of variety out there that do.
28:02: I'm not dissing everyone.
28:03: It's of a different variety.
28:03: There are faithful, love God, genuine Christians in lots and lots of different churches and denominations.
28:15: How many of you have played the game telephone?
28:20: Right?
28:21: Yeah.
28:22: I'm surprised.
28:23: Even some of the younger folks have played that game.
28:26: Game of telephone.
28:27: I remember playing this as a kid in elementary school.
28:31: Get people in a circle.
28:32: One person says something, maybe a sentence or so.
28:35: And they whisper it to the person next to them.
28:37: And it gets repeated around the circle.
28:39: And if you play it, like, all in, you only get to say it once.
28:42: And the next person can't ask, wait, what did you say?
28:45: They just have to take whatever they thought they heard and repeat it.
28:47: And it gets back to where it started, the other end of the circle.
28:50: And it's all kinds of goofed up, right?
28:52: Do you suppose that millions of people repeating the Christian message for thousands of years is going to happen without that game of telephone being reenacted?
29:05: You're going to have some people that repeat some goofy stuff that isn't what they were taught along the way.
29:11: What is God's solution for that?
29:13: You go back to the Word and you find out what He actually said to begin with.
29:20: We have to be people of the Word, of God's Scripture, of the Bible.
29:25: Check the book.
29:26: Know the book.
29:27: Read the book.
29:28: Day after day.
29:29: You can't have somebody else do it for you.
29:32: Because if you rely on me to tell you what's in the book, the Bible's not your standard I am.
29:39: And I'm going to make mistakes along the lines.
29:41: So you have to be individually, personally involved in delving into God's Word, learning to read it and handle it well, understanding how it all fits together.
29:50: A little plug, if you're not involved in the women's study that is doing the study seamless, that helps you see how the whole Bible is one story, consider being involved in that, ladies.
30:00: Excellent opportunity.
30:03: And as you dig into God's Word, individually and with other believers, both appropriate, be teachable.
30:12: Because God's Word is not always going to agree with everything you already think.
30:17: It's going to have some correction for you.
30:19: 2 Timothy 3.16 says, For all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness.
30:32: That the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
30:36: Teaching.
30:37: That's where you don't know and you need to be told.
30:40: Correcting.
30:40: You think you know, but you're wrong.
30:43: Rebuking.
30:44: You think you know, but you're wrong and you're being stubborn and you really need to be told to knock it off.
30:48: And training in righteousness.
30:50: That ongoing building up that's going to help you endure in the right direction with what you believe and how you live as a Christian.
30:58: We need all of that.
30:59: And God's Word is there to accomplish each of those things.
31:02: Why?
31:03: So that the man of God, or the woman of God as the case may be, somebody who trusts and follows Jesus, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
31:16: If we are not in God's Word, we will not be thoroughly equipped.
31:19: We'll be under-equipped for the good works that God's calling you to do.
31:25: Scripture prepares and enables you to live the way God wants you to live and do the things that God wants you to do.
31:31: I don't have one.
31:35: I think it would be kind of cool.
31:36: But you know those work belts?
31:38: You know the leather belt where it's got a pocket for everything.
31:41: It's got your hammer spot and your couple of screwdriver spots.
31:44: You hang your drill on there and you've got your pouches for the screws and the nails.
31:49: Manly men have these.
31:50: I don't.
31:51: But manly men have these, I think, from movies and TV.
31:55: And you've got all your tools handy so that you've got the right tool for the right thing.
31:58: If we had a work day here at the church and I bought my new leather belt and I bring it in, they're like, hey Dylan, here's a job for you.
32:05: And I've got like one screwdriver and three tiny nails.
32:11: That's all that's in my belt.
32:13: I'm not going to be much help, am I?
32:16: Right?
32:17: Like, well, you're not prepared to do any of the work we've got in front of us.
32:21: That's what happens if we don't dig into God's Word.
32:23: If we aren't being trained and changed and transformed by being in God's Word.
32:29: We're not going to be ready for the jobs that God has for us.
32:34: So think through.
32:35: Do you want to be a Thessalonian?
32:36: Or do you want to be a Berean?
32:39: Obviously not everyone in either place was the one way or the other way.
32:43: But there are two examples for us given to challenge us.
32:48: Are you open to hearing what God's Word really says?
32:51: Will you test it?
32:51: Against the Christian message you hear, will you test it against God's Word?
32:57: And then embrace what God actually says?
33:00: Because that's going to get you ready for what God has for you to do.
33:05: I hope you will.
33:06: I think many of you already are.
33:08: And if you are, keep going in that direction.
33:11: It's totally worth it.
33:13: Let's close in prayer together.
33:14: Father, help us to be serious about your Word.
33:20: To want to read it, know it, understand it, believe it, and live it.
33:27: We need your Spirit at work within us.
33:30: We can't do it in our own strength and power.
33:34: Create in us a growing desire for your Word.
33:38: In Jesus' name we pray.
33:41: Amen.