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But you get all this stuff, and
somebody says, oh, you go fly fishing? I thought, haven't been
in about eight years, I think. It's been a while. You like it?
Oh, I love it, but I haven't been. Too busy. Sometimes you
get too busy, but sometimes the things, you lose interest, right?
You ever remembered maybe, especially when you're younger, some of
the older folks, you're younger, and there's four channels to watch on a local
television station, and you get halfway, or partway through a
show, and you're like, meh. and you just shut it off, because
there's not really anything else to turn to. You just shut it off
and you went and did something else. What happened? You just
kind of lost interest, right? You lost interest. You know,
when we lose interest and we stop seeking and searching out
the interest, you know, it's not a terrible thing per se,
but it is a terrible thing in the Christian life. You see,
unfortunately, this applies to us, right? There are so many
times as a child of God, especially younger in the Lord, you get
saved, and the interest level is at 110%, and they're in the
Word of God, and they're studying the Bible, and they're wanting
to learn the hymns, and they're going around in their car singing
the new hymn they learned this week, and they've got it written
out. Well, now they're just looking at it on their phone. They don't
have index cards or anything like that. And they're just,
I mean, they're just singing out and they're learning all
the songs and they're just enjoying it and the interest level is
here. But for some reason, as time has gone on, it has ebbed,
it has gone away and the interest level has gone down and down
and down. And you know, there's a way to
tell if you've lost interest in Jesus. There's a way to tell.
Obviously you know what it is. But there's another way to tell
if you've lost interest. And I want to look in that this
morning if you would please in Acts chapter 17. Paul and Silas
had been preaching at Thessalonica. It was going very well. People
were getting saved. But of course you know what happens
when God works and God moves. Satan shows up and as people
were getting saved a lot of the unbelievers were getting angry
and mad about it. And it was so bad as Brother
Jim has already read for us. It made it necessary that they
had to leave that field and they had to go to another field. And
this has happened over and again since the Apostle Paul up until
this very day. For the last 2,000 years it has
come for some missionaries to have to leave a field and go
to another one. maybe for the purposes of danger,
or something like that. I know there are some areas of
the world right now that are extremely dangerous. Missionaries
would not be well being there, and they have to move around.
I remember his brother Stan Metz was in Ethiopia for years, and
then I believe when did When did Ethiopia get all upset? Was
it mid-70s, early 80s? A lot of these missionaries ended
up leaving Ethiopia and going to other fields because of the
unrest in the nation and things that way. But it happens, it
happens. And here Paul and Silas, they're
going to leave Thessalonica and they're going to go 45 miles
to the north from Thessalonica to the city of Berea. Now, it's
a small little town. History says it was a wealthy
town just north of Mount Olympus. How many know where Mount Olympus
is? Well, it's just north of Thessalonica. I just told you
this should be on the test. Now, I don't know where it is.
I've never seen it. But you can pull it up on your phone later,
and you can see Mount Olympus. And just north of that mountain,
which was famous, obviously, right? It'd be like, I was saying,
well, it's just, they're just 45 minutes north of Mount McKinley.
And we'd go, oh, okay, up there in Alaska. I get it. And things
that way. And okay, us Westerners aren't
really good with these directions here in the east. And so here
they are just north of this mountain. And the first thing they do,
if you remember the pattern of Paul and of Silas was they would
go and find a synagogue because in that synagogue it was, the
whole structure of it was set up and lent itself for Paul to
go in and give the gospel. They would have a time of teaching,
but then they had a time when the floor was open for discussion.
And during that open time of discussion, Paul could get up
and go to the scriptures and begin teaching them the scriptures
and leading them to question and wonder about this person
of Christ. Now, in order to have a synagogue,
we know you had to have at least 10 men, so we know wherever Paul
found a synagogue, he had at least 10 men to sit in front
of, right? And that's a pretty good start,
Brother Phelps, isn't it? You go out and start a church, or
you start a work in another country, and you might not have but two,
or your own family, or nobody there. Paul had at least 10 to
go to every day, and it worked out pretty well. And so, He found
the synagogue here in Berea, and the response he got at Berea
was quite different than at Thessalonica. Now, I'm not talking about the
lost people, the difference in the response of the lost people.
I'm talking about the difference in the response of the saved
people. Well, actually, let me back up.
There is a different response in the lost people who are going
to become the saved people, but I'm not talking about the ones
that are causing trouble like they caused trouble in Thessalonica. I'm talking about these men in
the synagogue here at Berea that are going to respond totally
different than those in Thessalonica. And I did misspeak there. They are quote, they are technically,
they are unbelievers, all right? They are unbelievers, but the
response is completely different. Would you look at verse 11, chapter
17, verse 11? Look at verse 10. And the brethren
immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night into Berea, they
had to get out quickly under nightfall, who coming thither
went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than
those in Thessalonica, and that they received the word with all
readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether
those things were true, were so. So you see here in verse
11, you see that word these? These, who are these? Well, those
are the ones in the synagogue here at Berea. These, the Jews. These were Jews in the synagogue.
These right here were more noble. That's an interesting word. What
does more noble mean? Noble-minded. How about this?
Ready-minded. Let me say it this way. They
wanted information. They were given some information
and they wanted more. They wanted to hear Paul. They
didn't just shut him off. They didn't have their own idea.
They sat there with expectation, wanting to hear more. Now this
was not typical of the Jews that he had seen previously from Berea. I mean, think about this. Israel
was given the oracles of God. They were given the word of God
in Romans chapter three. Listen to what the Apostle Paul
said to them at Rome, verses 1 and 2. What advantage then
hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision?
Much every way. Here's the advantage. Chiefly,
because unto them were committed the oracles of God. God determined
that Israel, that by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the scripture
was going to be given and the writers, God is the author, but
the writers of the Bible were going to be those of the lineage
of Abraham. So the Jews were given the oracles
of God. They had a prophet. It was profitable
to them. They had an advantage above all
of the Gentiles because they were given the oracles of God.
They could look at the scripture and know what God had said. They
were meticulous in copying the scripture. I mean the role of
a scribe alone was to copy the scripture. It was a painstaking
process that they took upon themselves so there were no errors. But
one of the things that this process revealed of them, it shows here,
only just their accuracy of the scripture, but I think it also
shows their attitude, and for many of Israel, their adoration
of the Word of God. You know, you've heard Psalm
19, we've sung it before. We're not gonna do that this
morning. But verse seven through 10 says this. The law of the
Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord
is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandments of the Lord
are pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous, altogether more to be desired. gold, yea,
than much fine gold, sweeter than the honey, and the honeycomb."
No, the Israelites, the average Israelite loved the Word of God.
They had adoration for the Word of God. They had a right attitude
for the Word of God. They desired the accuracy of
the Word of God. They thought it was a big thing.
But watch, to many of them they really believed they already
knew it all. But there was something different
about these Jews at Berea. The Holy Spirit leads us to know that these Jews at the
synagogue had a mind to want to know truth. This was refreshing. I'll tell you what, this is refreshing
to anybody who deals with the Gospel, who goes out with tracts,
who goes out and has open doors of conversation. Brother Nelson,
for the Gospel, those who are preachers of the Gospel, those
who go out with the Word of God, boy, what an exciting time it
is. What a wonderful time it is when somebody is hungry for
the Word of God. I mean, it's just, it's a joy
to the soul. They may not even get saved at
that time, but you walk away rejoicing that a door was opened
with the Gospel. And here the Holy Spirit shows
us these people of Berea. They were Jews. They were in
the synagogue. They had adoration for the Word of God, for the
Scriptures of the Word of God. They spent much time in them. But there was a lot they didn't
know. They may have thought they did, but as Paul began to teach
them, we see here that they had a wonderful desire for the things,
for the deeper things of God. And the desire for truth bore
out in how they handled the message from Paul. What does it say here? It says they received. Look at
verse 11. These were more noble than those
in Thessalonica in that they received the word. They received the word. That
word received just means to take, right? As a thing was communicated,
they took it. Watch, they didn't reject it.
They received the information that Paul was preaching to them
so they could investigate the veracity of it. Now, listen,
some people you give truth and information and they just shut
you off. They don't want to hear it. Why? They have their mind
made up. They don't want to hear you. Now, on the other side,
you may have some that will receive the truth and they're just, man,
they're all in, right? You say, well, this is what the
Bible said. They said, okay, let's do it, right? But then
there are also those that receive the word, they take it and they
go, okay, I'm gonna go look into this. Man, I like that. like
that. You know what it makes me a little
bit nervous when somebody takes what I say immediately and just
goes, okay, and goes off with it. Right? It's like no, let
God be true and every man a liar. Go and study the Word of God.
I could be wrong. I'm fallible. Right? I don't
have perfect knowledge. There are things that can be
missed and not seen. I mean often people come up and say, what
about this? And you go, oh, yeah, I wish I had said that, or something
like that. Listen, that's a wonderful thing. Watch, but the attitude
is is wonderful that they said, okay, I want to go look this
up, right? It wasn't a wholesale rejection
of the message. It was not, but it wasn't a mindless
acceptance either. Yeah. They received it, right? They're going to investigate
it. They hadn't quite believed it yet, but they're going to
look into it. Can I tell you, there is nothing wrong with this.
People need to process information that we give them and they need
to be convinced by the Holy Spirit of God that it's true. That's
who needs to convince them. They need to get in and study
and let God say, yes, this is truth. And listen, I think that
process is different in every individual. People take truth
in differently. They process it differently.
And God allows for that. But it is the same Holy Spirit
of God that does the work in there. Somebody very famous told
me one time that this saying, I haven't forgot it, very famous,
if you knew them you would know how famous they are. But I don't
want to give out names. But they said, a man convinced
against his will is of the same opinion still. It's true isn't
it? It's true. I like this. I said,
we're taking it, but we're gonna look into this. You know what
I know? When somebody begins to look into the Word of God,
they have something more powerful than my words, and my teaching,
and my instruction, and laboring hours. You know what they have?
They get in the Word of God with an open mind, they got the Holy
Spirit of God teaching in the Word of God. This should be a
rejoicing. It absolutely should be. But
we can pass over the next phrase. Notice this next phrase, we don't
want to. They received the word, look at this, with all readiness
of mind. They were noble minded, they
wanted the information, they were happy to receive it, right?
But now they're going to, they're happy to get, but now they're
gonna receive the word what? With all readiness of mind. That word readiness means zeal.
with great spirit or with great eagerness right they were excited
to hear what Paul said and what Paul was showing them through
the scriptures and it is a joy is it not to watch people and
see look out through the crowd and look out through the the
multitudes that are here today Well, ministerially speaking.
The multitudes that are here today, right? And to watch and
to look out over and to see, to watch people receiving the
word. It's a joy. It helps you. I mean,
the other way, it's not real exciting. You wonder, maybe we
ought to just shut this thing down right now, because it doesn't
seem like it's going very far. But I'm telling you it's wonderful
when you look out and you see people, you see it in their posture,
and you see it in their face, and you see it in their body
language. They're listening and taking it in. It's not saying
they're saying, you know, that I believe every last little thing
you've said right here, but they're taking it in. And you can tell
they're going to go home. Their mind is moving. and they've
left themselves open to the working of the Holy Spirit of God on
the truth that is being preached. It's a wonderful thing, and that's
what Berea is like, and this is how Berea is different from
Thessalonica, and that these Jews wanted to hear what Paul
had to say, and they're just eating it up. It's a wonderful
thing, and it shows here that they searched the scriptures
daily. They received it with all readiness
of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were
so. Man, I like that. Now, some people,
they get some information, they find one little bit of it that
they say is right, and they go, okay, good, I believe it. They're
done. I believe it. There's part of that I'm thankful
for. There's a part of that that's dangerous. We need to ever be
searching, and ever be seeking, and ever be learning, right?
We ought to ever be students of the Word of God. And I've
heard many people, I've heard those in the past, unfortunately,
when somebody asks them a question, and they have a really simple
answer, and then somebody digs down for a little more information,
they just say, well, I don't know, I just believe what I believe.
Well, that's not real helpful. Yeah. They search the Scriptures
daily. If there's ever a trait that's
missing today, it's this trait of the Bereans to search the
scriptures daily. Can I tell you it takes work
to do this? Can I tell you it's a spiritual
battle to do this? And there's no battle like a spiritual battle.
It's a spiritual battle, it really is. And I think that's missing
today. It's very easy to come to a body
or a corpus of beliefs, right? And you can have them systematized
and you can have them packaged nicely and you can say, I am
this, right? And once you get there, you just
stop studying because you're satisfied with what you know. Don't drive me any farther from
this because I've got this in a nice tight box and I'm good
with this and if I'm thrown out of this little box here it makes
me uncomfortable so I'm just going to stay here. That's not
what made the Bereans more noble than those of Thessalonica. Notice
here they searched the scriptures daily. Daily. They scoured the text. I don't
know how many had scrolls in their house, but I'm sure what
they must have done is spent day after day after day in the
synagogue going through the scrolls, searching the scripture for what
Paul said. Maybe they went over to Genesis 3.15 and saw and read
that proto-evangelism, the first gospel, right? That the seat
of the woman is gonna bruise the head of the serpent. Maybe
they went and they read that. Maybe they went over to Isaiah
chapter nine. Maybe they went from there to
the 22nd Psalm and saw the description of a crucified Messiah. Maybe
they went to Micah 5.2 where it said, and thou Bethlehem Ephrathah, to be ruler of the nations. Maybe
they went through and they looked at all of this. They did. The
Bible says they did daily. They searched the scriptures
to see whether those things were true. Now, don't miss this, please. But before the Jews ever came.
To faith in Christ. They went to the Bible, they
went to the scriptures to see if what Paul was telling them
was true. And God says the Holy Spirit
wrote this. They were more noble. They were
more noble. They were more ready minded. They were more desirous of truth
and information, not just information, but truth. Tell you, it's so refreshing
when somebody desires truth. It's kind of like getting fuel,
those B-2 bombers getting fuel on the way to Afghanistan, right?
Or Iraq, Iran, wherever those things went, right? Just refueled,
we're all right, we're moving right along. So the Apostle Paul has a new
field, he has a new response that he hadn't had before. They
want the Word of God, they want to search the Word of God. But
I want to show, notice this what comes up next here. There is
a natural outcome of those who desire to know truth. Can I tell
you something? If you desire to know truth,
you'll find truth. If you desire to know truth,
God will move heaven and earth to get you truth. Absolutely. Hey, listen, we all have a conscience
and a creation. We have the light of creation
and conscience. We know there's a God. And listen, when somebody
responds to the light of creation, responds to the light of their
conscience, they know they believe and know there is a God, I'm
telling you, God will move heaven and earth to give them the gospel.
Absolutely. Yeah. Didn't he do it with Philip
and the Ethiopian? What better example do we have?
That Ethiopian eunuch reading the scroll of Isaiah saying,
what does this mean? And God says, Philip, go down
and meet this Ethiopian. Tell him about Jesus. You know
what the outcome was? Belief. Yeah. If you want truth, friend, you'll
find truth. Why are these cults full of people? Because they
don't want truth. It's simple. What about those who came out
of cults? Well, they wanted truth. And
through a process of time, God brought them out and brought
them to truth. So here's the natural outcome.
Number one, Paul revealed to them a person. I love this. Paul revealed. He was preaching
the one that he met personally. This is what he was preaching
here. He was preaching the one who saved him. He was preaching
the one who promised him life eternal. He was preaching Jesus
Christ. Amen. See, watch, salvation is
not starting a religious lifestyle. Salvation is a person. Do you have Jesus? Did you meet
Jesus? Did Jesus save you? Has Jesus
done a work in you, right? That is the person, what we're
looking at here. Listen, the one who is preached is the one
you're gonna find. You say, what on earth are you
saying? Do you know some preach Joseph Smith's doctrine? And
there are some that preach Muhammad. There's some that preach Buddha.
There are some that preach men who claim to be Jesus, even today. There are those out there throughout
the world that say, well, I'm Jesus. I am Jesus. Yeah. This,
my Bible is leaking oil all over the place. I'm Jesus. I'm the
Messiah. Yeah. There's some real, real
crack heads out there, man. There really are. Yeah. See, the Bible has been given
to us in such a way That if you really don't want Jesus, you'll
be able to find about anybody else who's preached in there.
You can just plug them in. But you know what Paul preached?
He preached the one who was prophesied. Muhammad wasn't prophesied, friend.
Buddha wasn't prophesied. Joseph Smith was not prophesied. No way he was not. I know he
said he had come to write an apostate church. Well, the Church
of Jesus Christ was just fine, and is just fine, and it'll be
here just fine until he's done with it. Amen? Joseph Smith had
no... Jesus said, I will build my church,
and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And he didn't
call up Joe Smith to help him. No, sir. He's doing it all on
his own. Amen. Paul preached of a prophesied
Christ. He preached of the one who was
actually born where he was prophesied, who died like he was prophesied,
who was buried like he was prophesied, who raised from the dead like
he was prophesied. He preached Jesus Christ. And
when that happened, you know what those who searched the scriptures,
you know what happened? They found Jesus. Amen. They found him. They found him.
See, here's the problem for all the others that are rejecting
Jesus. Acts 4.12 says, Neither is there salvation in any other,
for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved. That's the problem for them.
I've told you about the Mormon over here in town who told me
he just believed that there's all sorts of ways to heaven,
like there's all sorts of ways to Springfield, there's all sorts
of ways to God. I said, that's wonderful. But the Bible doesn't
say that. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Can I tell you, all of those
that have claimed to be Jesus, all of those that have claimed
to be a Messiah, all of those who have claimed to come and
finish the work of Jesus, like Mohammed thought, listen, not
one of them ever predicted their death. Not one of them ever predicted
the manner of their death. Not one of them ever predicted
their resurrection. Not one of them ever predicted
the time of their resurrection and pulled it off. Not a one
of them. No. They're all in the grave, friend.
They're all dead, yeah. And the ones that are claiming
to be Jesus today, they'll be dead soon, right? And their knee
is gonna bow and their tongue is gonna confess that He's Lord. Look at verse 12. Therefore,
therefore, many of them believed, also honorable, women which were
Greeks, and of men not a few." Men and women, Jews and Greeks,
heard the gospel, went out and searched the scriptures, and
said, that's Him. That's Him. The Holy Spirit of
God, while they were searching, said, that's Him. That's Him. And they believed. They believed. Why is this so important? Israel knew the Scripture. Israel
protected the Scriptures. They were meticulous in their
copy of the Scriptures. They loved the Scriptures, no
doubt. But they loved the Scriptures
so much that they missed the one it was about. Now, be careful of the, there
are those out there now that are like, well, you just, you're
King James Bible worshipers. And you're in idolatry. I hadn't
figured that one out yet. I've seen that a lot lately.
Your Bible is an idol. Okay, that's weird. See, the record actually bears
out that Israel didn't miss Christ. The religious leaders, the rulers
of his day, no, they didn't want him. Really it goes all the way
back to Samuel when Israel wanted a king. God said, I would have
been their king. Samuel, don't worry about it.
It's not you, it's me that they don't want. And go ahead, give
them a king. It's gone back a long time. And it continues today.
You know why the world rejects Christ? Because they don't want
Christ. So what happened was Israel's
relationship moved from God to the Scriptures. You say, what are you talking
about? Well, John 5, 39, Jesus told them, search the scriptures,
for in them ye think ye have eternal life. Did you catch this? Search the scriptures, for in
them ye think ye have eternal life. And they are they which
testify of me. You think your security in God
is in the scripture alone, in the written word of God, but
you're missing who the written word of God is presenting as
salvation, which was me. Their Bible knowledge was their
salvation. Their verse memorization was
their salvation. Their Bible rules was their salvation. They knew the manual perfectly,
but they didn't know the one who wrote it. And for a lot of the part of
it, they didn't know the one he wrote is because they wanted
it that way. But the Bible was and it still
is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. It's so important today to search
the Scriptures, to dig the Scriptures, to be a student of the Word of
God, to receive the word with all readiness of mind and to
search the scriptures daily. Why? Because it reveals to us
the lover of our soul. It grows, listen, it grows within
us a deeper knowledge of Him. Absolutely. It's a revelation
of Jesus Christ. They search the scriptures daily. They became students of the Word
of God on a daily basis because they wanted to know. Let me ask
you this morning, what are you searching for today? We have the evidence of eyewitnesses.
We have fulfilled prophecy. 332, there's a number, this number
goes up and down. But I think it's safe to say
at least 332 Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament prophesying the Lord Jesus Christ. What are you searching for? Jesus
said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. If you're here today and you're
not saved, I've got to ask you this morning, what are you searching
for? What are you looking for? Listen, if whatever you're looking
for has origins in this earth, it will never go with you into
eternity. But if you are looking for the
eternal Son of God, the eternal Great I Am, you can have Him
now and you will have Him forever for eternity. What are you searching
for? But for those of us who are saved
this morning, same question I think applies to us. What are we searching
for today? If God is eternal, his word is
eternal, how can we ever come to the end of searching and learning
and knowing of him? Do you ever feel like, well I've,
listen, I know we wouldn't say this, I know this. We wouldn't
say, well I've learned enough, I'm good, I'm good. practice we do that. It's very easy to do it, isn't
it? It's very easy. What makes it so comfortable? Sometimes we learn truth when
we are a certain age. We make adjustments in our life.
We order our life around the truth we know. And then we get
comfort in that little comfort zone of the life, the Christian
life we've created. And when more information comes
in to alter what we've made comfortable we are like, okay, I've heard
enough. I'm comfortable in the life I've built right now. It's
Christian, it's Christian. But boy, I don't want to go any
deeper than this because it might mess up where I work, it might
mess up how I live my life, it might mess up what I watch, it
might mess up how I talk, it might mess up the plans I have
for the future. And so we just kind of cut off
the searching and the digging and the looking with the readiness
of mind. What are you searching for? What
happened? There's a few things that may
have happened that become manifest of the lack
of desire to search the Word like the Bereans. There's a few things that get
manifest in this that show itself up. Maybe you've lost the love
for the preaching of the Word of God. No, you wouldn't say
you're against it, but that desire and that craving for it, you've lost interest. Maybe you've
lost interest in the love of Bible study and reading. You're
not against it. You wouldn't say, ah, that Bible
study, that's worthless waste of time. Oh, no, we wouldn't
say that. But that drive and that passion
and that readiness of mind to dig into it daily, it's falling
off. Yeah. See, this is why so many have
to give a lost world. Try to see how I want to say
this. This is why so many believers, that all they have to give to
a lost world, is a stale religion full of cliches and religious
terminology. Because they really haven't come
to the depth. They haven't continued in the depth, the desire to search
the scriptures and know God. You ever have somebody just give
you a bunch of legalese? You read the back of a contract
and all this legalese? So often Christianity just becomes
a bunch of religious legalese. and there's no reality and depth
and connection to it. It's stale. It's just religion. I'm convicted all the time about
these new apparatuses we have that can take up so much time
that quickly. You ever go to look up a Bible
verse on your phone? You're reading along, oh, I gotta look that
up. I mean, I've got this blue letter app, and I can do a concordance,
I can look up words. After I get done looking at x.com,
or Twitter, or whatever it's called, you're like, okay, press
that. Oh, oh, what happened over here? And before you know it,
come on, okay, it's just me. Watch, before we know it, you
know when you lose interest for a good, healthy meal? when you've
just been stuffed with junk. Why aren't you hungry? I don't
know, maybe it was the six Twinkies. And why do you have such a sour
countenance and ugly face and so upset? It's probably the six
Twinkies. Shouldn't have eaten. Christians
walk around feasting on the husks of this world and the Twinkies
and the junk food of this world with a sour look on their face.
They lost interest in the meat of the Word of God. May God help us. May God help
us to be Bereans. May God help us to put a stake
in the ground today and say, you know what? Yeah, maybe I
don't dislike the word of God. Obviously, I love the word of
God. I love the Lord. I love him. But man, something's happening. I've just been losing interest. May God help us to be Bereans.
That's what we need. That's what the world needs.
The world needs us to be Bereans. Not only do we need to be, the
world needs us to be Marines, it needs us to have a deep understanding
of the word of God. So we need to be the ones receiving
the word and searching the word with a zeal and an eagerness
and a desire. Child of God, what are you searching
for? What are you looking for? What do you wake up with? What
do you go to bed with? What a reminder it is. They search
the word daily. What are you looking for? May
God help us to mold our life around the Word of God and searching
the Word of God, being Bereans with a readiness of mind that
we'd search these scriptures daily so we'd come into a deeper,
closer, more intimate walk with the Lord that we could be effective
on the lost world around us. Amen? Father, thank you today. I'm so thankful for a reminder. Lord, would you do a work in
the hearts of your people today? Help us to be a Berean. Would
you make us a Berean? Would you put a deep conviction
in our heart and a yearning in our heart? Would you help us
to have the spiritual awareness to know when the junk's coming
along to take the place? We only have so much capacity,
and when we start filling it up with junk, we're not going
to fill it up with the meat. Would you help us to have the
spiritual awareness and the discernment to know when the junk's coming
and to shut it off so that we don't lose interest in the things
that ought to be the center of our life? Thank you for what
you do today in Jesus' name. Amen. Stand with me if you would
please. The instrument is going to play for the invitation. And
the Lord has spoken to you today. No doubt. Who will be a Berean? Who would come today and ask,
Lord, I need help. I want to be a Berean. I want to be a Berean. I just need help. I need help.
I need help. I need my life purged of the
junk I've been eating. I want the interest, I need that
interest back in your word. I want to be a Berean. Maybe
you're here today and you're lost. Would you come to Jesus today?
You're searching. You're searching but you've never
found. You have that emptiness you have not yet filled. No doubt
if you've been searching for a while, you're searching because
God has been drawing you, but you're searching and everything
you've tried to put in your life has not worked. And I tell you
the only one that's going to work is Jesus. You come today. We'll take the Word of God and
we can show you from the Bible how you, how you can be saved,
how you can have eternal life, how you can put your faith and
trust in Jesus. People are praying you, you come today. You know what we learned after
the feast of junk food? We didn't even like it at the
end. You know, the Bible reminds us, doesn't it, that sin is good
for a season. It's only good for a season. That box of Twinkies
started out pretty good, but about an hour later you go, oh,
why did I do that? How often have we done that with
the world? Started out pretty good. You realize why did I do that?
Sunday morning 7-20-2025
Series Acts
| Sermon ID | 72025179596002 |
| Duration | 40:12 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Acts 17 |
| Language | English |
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