It's a pleasure for me to again be addressing an assembly of a TBS auxiliary and it's been very encouraging to hear the work that is being done locally here. How important it is that the word that is sent forth is received and that there is the following blessing to be upon it. I draw your attention to the reading that we had this afternoon, Acts chapter 17 and particularly the verses 11 and 12. Speaking of the Bereans, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word of God receive the word with all readiness of mind and search the scriptures daily whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed also of honourable women which were Greeks and of men not a few. And so, as the subject has been said, it is receiving and searching and believing. I want to think first of what brought the Apostle Paul and Silas here to Berea, just briefly cover what brought to this situation here. They'd been at Philippi, the church had been formed there, their incarceration in the prison, the conversion of the jailer, Lydia. They went from there and coming then to Thessalonica they came, we read, into the synagogue of the Jews in the first few verses of this chapter. And we are told what Paul preached to them. how that he opened and alleged that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. In a way it was very similar, you might think, sermon to what our Lord spoke to those two on the way to Emmaus. They had seen the Lord suffer upon Calvary's tree, his blood shed. They had trusted that it should have been He that should have redeemed Israel. But there's that they just could not reconcile. They had seen Him die. But our Lord drew near to them and He says, and He brings from all of the Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And He takes those Scriptures And he expounds unto them in all things concerning himself. And Paul was setting this forth before them. This is God's provision. This is the seed of the woman that should bruise the servant's head. This is the promised Christ. This is the Savior, the Redeemer, the only name given among men whereby we must be saved. An absolutely vital message. for poor hell-deserving sinners who can find no relief from the law that is broken and we're under the sentence of condemnation under that. But the gospel is set forth as the New Testament in Christ's precious blood, that way of escape from the wrath to come, not by deeds of righteousness that we have done, but by what he has done, his bloodshed and his glorious righteousness. And the Apostle was setting forth these things to those in Thessalonica. Now we read here in verse 4 that some of those Jews believed, not only the Jews but also Greeks and we're told honourable women, in other words women of rank in that city believed. It was of those that the church of Thessalonica was formed, Jews and Gentiles. But in that place as well, there were those who did not receive the word. In fact, they were filled with envy and hate against Paul and against Silas. And so the brethren, they sent them away by night to Berea, that's some 45 miles away. When Paul comes to Berea, he then comes into, again, the synagogue of the Jews. And in verse 12 we read that many of them also believed. But then those unbelieving Jews from Thessalonica, they come when they hear that work is being done there at Berea, they come there and stir up the people again in Prius. So Paul again is sent away from them. He goes first to Athens and then he goes to Corinth. And although Paul, he had wanted Silas and Timothy, who had joined them at Lystra, he wanted them to come with him. He evidently, and comparing that in Thessalonians, He evidently sent Timothy back to the Thessalonians. to see how they did, to strengthen them in the face of the opposition from those in Thessalonica. And it was Timothy that was bringing back a good report to the inspired apostle that really inspired him to write that letter back to the Thessalonians and to so encourage them. The first epistle to the Thessalonians was written from Corinth, one of the first epistles of Paul. And so that is the context here. We have those that didn't believe in Thessalonica. We had those that did believe there. And then we have the Bereans. Now in the Thessalonians and the Bereans, the Holy Spirit records two methods of his operation in bringing to belief and conversion. With the believing Thessalonians, it was by being directly blessed under the preaching of the word. They received the word, the apostles preached, They received it as the Word of God with power and they were blessed. You think of it in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13. When ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe. And then the beautiful words in the first chapter of that epistle to the Thessalonians. There's many beautiful things that are said there. He said, knowing your election of God, our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. As you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake, you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. We are not to think that Well, the Bereans are being so held up here. They're more noble than those in Thessalonica. Those in Thessalonica were not believers or the Lord hadn't blessed the word. The Lord had. Wonderfully so. You read that in the Thessalonians. And so we are told really Here is an instance of immediate blessing under the preaching of the Word. They received it, they were blessed under that Word in Thessalonica. And yet there were some in Thessalonica that wouldn't even receive it, let alone be blessed under it. But then we have another method, an operation of the Holy Spirit that is set before us with the brilliance With the Bereans they were blessed but not immediately. But by receiving the word with all readiness of mind and then searching the scriptures to see if the things preached were true. There are two different methods of the Holy Spirit's work. One you might say delayed and by this They were called more noble, that is higher rank for the reason given that they received the word with readiness of mind and search of scriptures daily. That is why they were told that they were more noble for that reason than the Jews that were in Thessalonica. Both were brought as all believers are, to believe by the power of God. We must be clear on that. One wasn't just worked by the almighty power of God and the other through their own endeavours and their own work and they're just coming and learning and understanding it. No, it is all by the power of God. The Holy Spirit has been pleased to leave on record and is for all who hear the gospel preached to the end of the world, that the word should, the hearers of the word, that they should receive that word, and that they should receive it with the readiness of mind, and then take it away and search those scriptures, search them daily, whether those things preached were true. and that in doing so, that many will believe. When the preacher is done preaching, the time of blessing is not past. Remember that, dear friends. You might come to the services of the Lord's house, longing and desiring the Lord will bless your soul, And the last amen is said and you haven't been blessed. Remember these Bereans. Remember in how they were more noble. I say again, when the preacher is done preaching, the time of blessing is not past. So I wondered with the Lord's help this afternoon to give some practical direction to receiving and then searching the word of God. If we have a word before us as we have here that they are more noble in this, what does it mean? How can we practically benefit and profit from it in that way? Well, thinking firstly of receiving the word with a readiness of mind. There's three things to be aware of I bring before you that take away our readiness of mind to hear the word of God. The first is envy. That was what the unbelieving Thessalonians had against Paul and Silas. It was envy that then gave away to many false accusations and hatred against them. We read that in verse 5 of this chapter. It was moved with envy. Unless you think that envy is something, well, just happened to these Thessalonians, we read that the patriarchs, that is Jacob's sons, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt. Pilate, we are told, knew that the Jews had delivered up Jesus through envy. And at Antioch we read that when the Jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. How easy it is to have some envy. Predicing how we receive a word. You might have a a small congregation, a small gathering. Another brother in the ministry has a wonderful big church and a big gathering. When we go to hear him preach, we think, hmm, not going to hear him. You're envious of his success. And you see that again and again as God blessed the word in the scriptures. There were those that rose up just because it was being blessed. And men were following. They said of the Lord the whole world has gone after him. They said of the Apostle Paul that this is a man that has turned the world upside down. And that was a reason that stopped them receiving the word with a readiness of mind. The second is prejudice. Nathaniel had a prejudice about any good thing coming out of Nazareth. When Philip comes to him and he says, we have found him of whom Moses and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, he says, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? You know, Philip, he said, come and say. What if Nathanael had not overcome that prejudice? What if he hadn't have come? But he did. He did. And we read those wonderful words, when Jesus saw him coming, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathanael, whence knowest thou me? Before that Philip called thee, when thou under the fig tree I saw thee, And the response, Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. The overcoming of prejudice. What are the Samaritans? When the Lord spoke to the woman of Samaria, the woman said that the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. But the Lord overcame that in her and she heard the word. He knew exactly how to speak to her. to make it known the one thing she knew that when Messiah's cometh he will tell us all things. Come see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? She could have said come see a man that told me he was the Christ. But she didn't. She told them the thing that so greatly affected her. He had told her things. that only a prophet would have known, only Christ would have known of her life. And so prejudice, be very aware of how we can be prejudiced against someone. You know, years ago when I first came back to this country, I'd heard things about one of the ministers over here. And I got this idea in my mind that, well, he wasn't a good minister. He wasn't really a servant of the Lord. And yet, it was my lot to hear him several times. And at first, I couldn't get over this prejudice. Every time I heard him, these things I'd heard saying. And then one day, it was as if I just, I could look right past the minister and I heard the word. And the Lord touched my heart through it. I went back to the person who had told me these things. I said, you know, I said, I've been blessed unto this man. He's preaching the gospel to me. Oh, he's a good man. Oh, yes, he's truly one of the Lord's people. I said, well, why didn't you tell me that? The things you've been saying have poisoned my mind against him. And be aware of that, dear friends. If you're hearing the word of God, Are you prejudiced against that minister? And so it's stopping you receiving that word as really the word of God. And I prove what it is to really struggle against that and what an obstacle it is. Another thing is severe trials. You might think this is a strange thing to stop but I base it on what happened when Moses was sent into Egypt and to deliver the people from their burdens. And of course, at first, they actually got harder. And Moses then had some wonderful words from the Lord to tell them. The Lord said to Moses to tell the children of Israel, I am the Lord, I'll bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And many like words. In Exodus 6, you can read it, verses 6 to 9. But all of those beautiful words that Moses had been given by the Lord to comfort and to help the children of Israel in their burdens, we read, but they hearken not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage. And maybe there's some of you here in fiery trials, difficulties. You come into the house of God and you think, well, whatever the minister says, whatever the Lord brings of his word, I can't receive it because of all the things that have happened in my life and all of the things that are going on. Be aware of that. There's one thing that stops receiving the word with all readiness of mind. We now want to look the other way, at three things which, with the Lord's blessing, will give that readiness of mind to receive the word. The first is preparing our minds before hearing the word. Do we pray before coming to hear the Word of God that we might receive the Word spoken? Do we ask the Lord for that? Do we seek to shut the world out when we come into the assemblies of the people of God? God is greatly to be feared in the assemblies of the saints to be heard in reference of all them that are about him. is to be an atmosphere, the house of God, to be calm and be ready to hear. I like that in many churches in which I preach, we come in and there's quietness before the service, a bowing your head in prayer, a meditating on the word, a reading the word, a looking through the hymns perhaps, a reading the hymns beforehand, and then a quietness afterwards. It's a very good practice to have. I had an experience back on holiday several years ago back in Tasmania and I had to find a church that I could go and worship in. I went into this church and I sat down and the people behind me, they were talking about all the things of the world and all that had been going on in the week and the latest gossip and it was going right on and on and on until the minister came out of the vestry and he stood at the bottom of the steps to the pulpit and they stopped. And we had the service, the minister said his amen, he came down to the bottom of the steps and it was like that they lifted the pause button of the recorder and the conversation started exactly the same on all the same things. What profit had they, what had they received? Their minds had been full of the world and then to switch over and hear the things of God. And so, prepare our minds before in that way. go over the things that already are before us, the hymns or your morning readings or what you've actually meditated upon before the service. So that is the first thing. The second is to have an expectant spirit. John Baptist's ministry was a ministry foretold and ordained of God to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And we read in Luke 3 and verses 15 to 16 that, as the people were in expectation, all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not. John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I cometh. The lachet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Those words, what an expectation. They're already looking at what John was and John is saying there's one coming after. And he's lifted him up, he's exalted him up. What a preparation. And we need that expectation as we come into the house of God. When you think when the Holy Ghost was first given to the Gentiles, Cornelius and all those that were present, God had prepared Peter. He brought him from Joppa, the very place that Jonah had ran away from, so he wouldn't preach to the Gentiles. That's the very place that God sent Peter to go and preach to the Gentiles the very first time, equivalent to Pentecost. But when Peter comes, Cornelius says to her, Immediately therefore I sent you, and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that I commanded thee of God. What an expectation, what an encouragement for Peter as well. So when you and I come to hear the Word of God, to receive it, may there be that real expectation. The Lord will bless the Word. The Lord will come today through His Word. He has promised that He will be in the gatherings of His people. The third thing is a felt need of the Lord and that's what the Lord gives. It was the publicans and the sinners that were attentive unto Christ. And the Lord pictured this with the parable of a Pharisee and the publican. The publican had nothing. God be merciful to me a sinner. The Pharisee had everything. And it was these publicans and sinners that felt their sinnership, their shame, their need, that were then attentive unto the world. Those that were sick, those that were diseased, those that were in need, they were attentive because they felt their need. And in this I would say, sometimes we might not even recognize what the Lord has done in our lives for this very purpose. The things that happen in the week before the service of the Lord's house that the Lord has sent to change how you hear. I said to a person once who'd been through an affliction, a young person, I asked him had it been sanctified to him. He looked at me rather blankly. So I changed it and I said, has it changed how you hear in the house of God? And he said, yes, it has. And the things that we go through, they do change how we hear under the Lord's blessing. And it might not be things that we like, it might be things that all nature really doesn't like, a grievous cross or trial. But notice this, does it change how we receive that word? As a poor, hell-deserving sinner who longs to hear the word, longs for blessing, longs for the sweet waters of the well, of Bethlehem. So for receiving, but what of searching the scriptures? I just want to notice two points first about the Bereans. We are told that they searched the scriptures daily. Yet Paul, he preached to them just on the Sabbath days. It is noted that. When he came, each Sabbath day, and he was working with his hands in between times, but when they gathered together, that's where he was speaking to them. But their work of searching was daily, every day. Poor as his manner was, went in unto them three Sabbath days, reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, May we remember that. We might only hear the word one day of the week, but if we have the Berean spirit, we'll be searching every day. The second thing to notice with them, they only had the Old Testament to search. The New wasn't available to them. what Paul had preached to them. Some of that we have recorded. That comprises the New Testament. But when they search, they search the Old Testament. We can search the New as well. When we hear a preacher preach from the Old or New, we've got the whole of the Word of God to preach. We can do the same. But in the light of the new we have much more light to shine upon the old. But maybe still follow again the path of the brilliant in searching the scriptures that we have, same as they search the scriptures that they had. I want to give you then six helps to searching the scriptures. Some of these I've found, well most of them I hope, will help myself. The first is prayer. You say, of course, of course we pray. Do you really? You know, I've had so many times, I've gone into my study, and yes, even to seek to prepare a service, and I've started to be turning the pages of my Bible and to be looking, and I'm like, you haven't asked the Lord's blessing. You haven't put prayer first. It's absolutely vital that prayer is first. There's one verse and it's our Lord's teaching that I find so encouraging in this. Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Many times I've found in the ministry, ask the Lord for a text. But very seldom does the text just come straight into my mind. Seek. Do I seek in the Word? If the Lord gives me a text, I say, Lord, I don't know what that means. But I feel impressed upon my spirit. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Many times I've found those three steps as the steps to the Word to preach. And you find it with your seeking as well. Ask. Don't just say, oh yes, we know prayer. Prayer must be first. But we can know what is right, but not put it into practice. Well, put it into practice. The second is search with an aim in view. Let's keep it like the Bereans. The preacher's text and subject, it was what Paul had brought before them. That's what they were searching, whether what he had brought answered to the Old Testament scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must have suffered. Must he have? They went back, they had a name. So you think about that. From now on when the Lord's servants bring the text on the Lord's Day to you. There's your aim for your searching. That's your subject for the week, daily. The third is to search the context. Now in preaching the word we try hopefully to get the context and to open it out to our hearers and to preach in context. Sometimes we're not very good at that, but whether we are or not, it's good for the hearers. Put it into context. There's often things that can be gleaned from a context They're really profitable and strengthening for us all in searching that word, to find out what were the circumstances, how did this come to be uttered, what brought this event to happen, what were the steps that led up to it. And you go through those things and there's many things to really profit and meditate upon. The fourth thing is comparing scripture with scripture. Our Lord, they use this to counter Satan's temptation. Satan Because he realised the Lord was using the Word of God to combat his temptations, he started using the Word of God to tempt our Lord. And so he takes him up into the holy city, sets him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down For it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Well, Lord answered, it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Comparing scripture with scripture. was a means of answering Satan. It is in that way also that we are to truly come to the mind of the Spirit and be blessed through the Word. Paul, when he writes to 1 Corinthians 2, verses 12 and 13, he says, Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God. that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words that man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. And so that when we're searching, that is what we do. Compare one part of the inspired Word of God to another part of the inspired Word of God to find the mind of the Spirit and the blessing of the Holy Spirit. The fifth way is the use of means. Now, the Bereans, they would not have had the benefit of a concordance or reference Bible or Bible search program or something like that. These means can be very helpful. But if used, make sure that they help you to meditate on the Word of God, lingering, thinking, on what you are reading. Sometimes with using these means it's like giving a handout paper. Someone else has done the research, someone else has done the thoughts and it's all handed to you and you don't think about it much at all, you don't receive the profit from it. But if you've got to do the searching and you've got to do the comparing and the working out, then that enters in is much more blessed and so yes use the means but especially meditate upon it. Psalm 119 that all it centers on the Word of God, the beauty seen in the Word of God. You'll find five of those verses is is speaking about meditating upon the Word of God. And Paul, when he writes to Timothy, he says, Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear unto all. I mean, that is good for a minister. It's good for heroes as well. And so, perhaps I should speak as a TBS meeting. Three means provided in TBS Bibles, and I do value my TBS Bibles for this. The first one is the references. Now, I use in my study at home the Westminster Bible now, but even before that, the centre references. Excellent for the study of the Word of God. because you can use it as stepping stones through the word of God, from comparing scripture with scripture. They're very good. I find it, as a minister, probably more useful than anything else is the references in the Bible itself and the study of the Bible itself. The word meanings in the Westminster Bible, you've got little asterisks over many of the words that you might not be familiar with the meanings. Instead of looking up in the previous Bibles, at the back of the Bible, what they mean, you can just look over and you can see the meaning straight away and profit from it in that way. The other way is the reading scheme. And I'm amazed sometimes how little some of the Lord's dear people actually do read the Word of God. They don't have a regular reading through the Word of God. And if it's just random reading, you'll find you ignore many parts of the Word of God. You don't read right through it. In the back of the TBS Bibles, there's a reading scheme. It's done in two years. And I know it wouldn't have worked when we had a small family, different circumstances coming to and fro, but it can be adapted in that way. The way we do it now, one year scheme we use for our private reading in our home. There's only one of us in our house, we know what we're reading in private. And when we have our morning and evening worship, We read the other year, so every year we've read through the whole Bible once, the Gospels twice, the Psalms twice, every year. And the way that we do it, if there's some time we haven't got time, we're short on time or something's come up, Then we don't worry, we skip that chapter, we go on to the next, but if we've got time in our private moments, we grab our Bibles and we fill in those back times. But don't worry if you're not able to do that, go on the next day to the next one, don't be discouraged because you start using that scheme and then can't do it all the time because It immediately gives you, every single day, you know exactly where. And what we've noticed so often in our readings, the morning and the evening, they complement each other so much. And the one year to the other year, we've been reading the same as that in the Old Testament. There's the parallel of that in the New Testament. And as a family, we found it very profitable. And it helps you also to speak one to another of the Word of God. And you say, did you notice that this morning? I never noticed that before. And we end up having a discussion on the Word of God because we know we've both been reading the same thing. So the TPS does a good job with those helps and use those means in searching the scriptures. The sixth way is searching by observation, looking closely at the Word, comparing also with our own experience, our Lord's, the Lord's people. You think of the beautiful words at the end of Psalm 107. Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. It's one thing to walk through a chapter, it's another thing to observe it and to receive what's there. Perhaps you use an illustration. If we took, say, a painter, a plumber, an electrician through a house, and after you'd given them a guided tour of the house, you asked each one of them, what did you observe through that house? And the plumber, he would say, well, the radiators weren't well hung and there should have been a few many in that room and less in that room. And the electrician said, well, I wouldn't have chosen that lighting there. And the painter would say, what a terrible paint scheme it was. I would have done different there. And because of their trade, because of what they'd been through, they were noticing different things. Very often that is like that with the Word of God. I know the Lord used this when I was first called by grace. It was as if the Lord shut out the Gospel from the Word. Wherever I read was the law, and it condemned my soul, it brought me in as a hell-deserving sinner. But then there came a time that the Lord turned it the other way around. Wherever I read, the Gospel was. and the promises of the gospel and the blessings of Christ. It was the same Bible, but I was seeing it in different eyes. And it is by observation, observing what we are actually reading. And again, it's how the Lord is leading us what we're actually passing through as well. And so it's in that way that the Lord is pleased to work. Now I wanted to give something really to take home, to search. The Holy Spirit has been pleased to convey the truths of God in different ways in the Scriptures. But one thing has struck me so much lately is by contrasts. By contrast. You know what a contrast is? If we have a white piece of paper and you draw a light grey line on it, you can hardly see it. But if you draw a nice dark black line, you can easily see it. So there's two things together. It's by bringing the white and the black together, then you can see more clearly either of them. And this runs right through the Word of God. You think about it. Let's go right from the... I'll give you some hints, then you can go home, you can search the scripture, you can find some more. The two sons of Adam, Cain and Abel. Immediately a contrast. How are they worshipping God? What God is pleased with. The blood sacrifice, but not that which comes from the earth and man's hand. Doesn't stop there, does it? Jacob and Esau. Why has it got to be that there's two sons and they're twins? And yet there's a difference, there's a contrast between them. And you can search, look at what the contrast is. Is Jacob a sinless, spotless, pure man? No. He's a supplantary, he's a deceiver. He's not in him. He's the grace of God. Then we think of Ruth and Orpah. Why does it have to be that they had two sons? That Naomi's two sons die, she's got her two and a daughter-in-law's. Why is it just, it could have been just one, but in having the two there's a contrast. They both loved her, but one claved to Naomi and the other went back to her own people and her own gods. Immediately you've got this contrast. You get the parables. The Lord used contrast nearly in every parable. The sower, the different types of sowers, you have contrasts there. Lazarus and the rich man, how many contrasts you've got there in his lifetime between those two men there is. Beyond the grave there's a contrast between those two men, but there's also a contrast between beyond the grave and here, the rich man here in all his sumptuousness and riches and yet in his torment slayed on. And all the time there's these contrasts that are there. The prodigal son, why have a parable with two sons? Could not he have just had the one that ran away and came back? Why did he need to have one that has always been there, that is now upset about his returning brother? You think about that. It's not just enough to remain in the house of God. Great blessing it is if a new children remain in the house of God. You don't grieve your parents. It's a wonderful thing, but it's not saving. You might have a brother that leaves the churches, goes away, cause your parents great grief and sorrow. And the Lord converts them, turns them, brings them back. The family is joy, the church is joy, they join the church, they sit down at the Lord's table and you say, I've always been here, I've always come to chapel, I've always done what's right. Why aren't you pleased with me? The contrast is there. There needs grace, the change in your heart, dear friends, that's what we need. That's what we need. And so, the good shepherd in John 10. Why the bad shepherd as well? What a contrast there. The sheep that hear his voice, the sheep that don't. Those that are not his sheep, because they don't hear his voice. All the time. Well, I'll leave these things to you. One thought. Calvary. Why two things? What a contrast between the two thieves. And what a contrast between the thieves and our Lord. And you can see, you can search through all of the scriptures and the Lord uses these differences. Start at the Psalms and read the first Psalm and then you'll find the contrast there. So may the Lord bless you. Bless us with receiving the Word, and then searching daily whether these things are so, the Holy Spirit has set before us here, and by saying that these Bereans were more noble than those in Thessalonica, not that they were different in that one was saved and the other was not. Yes, there were those who were not saved in Thessalonica, but setting before us this way that the Lord's people are blessed, not immediately, but going home, beating out, searching the scriptures and being blessed there. In the Song of Solomon, it wasn't long after the beloved, the spouse was seeking her beloved, It wasn't long after she passed the watchman, she found him. And may the Lord be glorified in you finding your beloved. A little bit after maybe you've heard the word preached and you've gone home and you've found the Lord. And you know this is how it was with the brilliance. The Lord bless you too. Amen.