Review / Intro:
Acts 9:25 – Damascus
Acts 9:30 – Jerusalem
Acts 13:50 – Antioch
Acts 14:6 – Iconium
Acts 14:19 – Lystra
Acts 16:23 - Philippi
Acts 17:5 - Thessalonica
Two Life Changing Decisions You Must Make About the Bible. (Acts 17:11)
- I will Receive it Eagerly.
I'm Ready to Receive the Word When:
- My desire is to stop sinning. (1 Pet 1:22-2:3, James 1:21)
- My desire is to do God's will. (John 7:17)
- I will Examine it Daily.
Review: Proverbs 2:1-5
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:01-00:02
Acts 17.
00:03-00:14
The title of today's message is "The Unstoppable Word." If you remember last week, we were in Thessalonica where we saw Paul preach the Gospel.
00:16-00:18
You have four wheels on the Gospel.
00:18-00:19
These are four parts of the message.
00:19-00:20
You've got to get down.
00:20-00:22
Jesus Christ died for your sins.
00:22-00:24
He rose from the dead to give you eternal life.
00:25-00:26
He is the King.
00:27-00:28
So get off the throne of your life.
00:28-00:32
He gave him the rightful place, and there is a cost to following Jesus.
00:32-00:36
We saw all of those elements in the passage last week.
00:38-00:51
Well, we saw that the Jews incited a mob to riot, and Jason and company, who were associates, friends of Paul and the missionaries, were dragged out, and they were fined.
00:52-00:53
Now let's go to verse 10.
00:54-00:59
It says, "The brothers immediately "Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.
01:01-01:03
When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
01:04-01:07
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica.
01:08-01:15
They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
01:16-01:28
Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing, as well as men." So we see Paul and company off to Berea now.
01:28-01:31
This was actually about 50 miles from Thessalonica.
01:32-01:40
In fact, this hasty exit is what prompted the writing of a book in your Bible - 1 Thessalonians.
01:42-01:46
And immediately they went to the synagogue, which was Paul's M.O., right?
01:46-01:49
He shows up in the town and he makes a beeline for the synagogue.
01:50-01:53
And it rarely ended well for him when he did that.
01:54-01:56
Maybe it will be better this time. Let's see.
01:57-02:17
Verse 13, "But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the Word of God was proclaimed by Paul of Berea also," uh-oh, "they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds." What is up with you people?
02:18-02:19
Like, live and let live, right?
02:19-02:21
They're like, "No, Paul's preaching in the next town.
02:22-02:28
We're going to take a bus trip, and we're going to load it up, and we're going to stop this guy." Unreal, right?
02:30-02:38
It says, "Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there.
02:39-02:51
Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.
02:53-02:54
Paul was run out again.
02:55-03:01
This time ended up 300 miles south to Athens.
03:02-03:11
Your Bible says that Silas and Timothy stayed behind, but when Paul got to Athens, the people that took him there, Paul said, "Hey, take a message back with you.
03:11-03:22
Tell Silas and Timothy to get here as soon as they can." I just want to pause here for a second before we look at the main event of this passage.
03:23-03:35
It's an obvious main event, but while you're doing what you do throughout the week, I'm reading this passage, and I'm thinking and studying and praying and just kind of meditating through it.
03:35-03:42
One of the things that hit me this week, one of the questions that I was asking was how did the Apostle Paul keep going?
03:43-03:45
We've been in a passage in Acts where we see a bit of a cycle.
03:45-03:46
Have you noticed that?
03:46-03:51
Paul shows up, Paul preaches in the synagogue, everybody gets mad, Paul gets run out of town.
03:52-03:53
Do you see that pattern over and over?
03:55-03:57
Look, I'm all for perseverance.
03:57-03:58
I'm all for it.
03:59-04:16
But at some point, at some point, let's be honest, I would think that Paul would be like, "Maybe it's not God's will that I do this." "I don't seem to be getting the results that I'm looking for." Do we have that list of passages?
04:17-04:18
I just went back through my Bible.
04:20-04:21
We saw this over and over.
04:22-04:24
925, he was run out of Damascus.
04:24-04:25
930, he was run out of Jerusalem.
04:26-04:27
1350, he was run out of Antioch.
04:28-04:29
1460, he was run out of Iconium.
04:30-04:32
1419, he was run out of Lystra.
04:32-04:34
1623, he was run out of Philippi.
04:34-04:38
And then last week we see 1705, he was run out of Thessalonica.
04:42-04:43
Here's what I was wrestling with this week.
04:44-04:47
Why was Paul so patient and gracious?
04:49-04:55
And we don't see any retaliation, we don't see any anger, we don't see any bitterness.
04:56-05:05
How could he be so gracious in regarding zealous Jews chasing down Jesus followers?
05:06-05:07
I'm thinking about this.
05:08-05:12
Paul's like, so gracious with these guys.
05:12-05:17
How could Paul be so gracious with zealous Jews chasing down Jesus followers?
05:19-05:24
Zealous Jews chasing down Jesus followers.
05:26-05:28
Did the lights come on for you?
05:28-05:30
Probably a lot quicker than me.
05:30-05:31
Because it took me a while.
05:33-05:34
And it hit me this week.
05:34-05:42
I'm like, I think the reason that Paul was able to persevere, I don't think he was ever mad at these people chasing him down.
05:43-05:44
In fact, I think that he pitied them.
05:44-05:45
Do you know why?
05:46-05:48
Because that used to be him.
05:48-05:50
That used to be him.
05:50-05:52
Do you think he saw that in the faces?
05:52-05:56
Do you remember back when we were in the early days here in Acts?
05:57-06:00
Paul was the zealous Jew chasing down Christians.
06:01-06:07
And I think he had to have seen that in the faces of these people that were coming after him.
06:07-06:08
That was me.
06:09-06:09
That was me.
06:10-06:14
I was the guy that was doing that just yesterday.
06:16-06:28
And church, only when you realize that used to be me, will you be moved with compassion instead of disgust.
06:32-06:35
Christians, we can have a lousy reputation sometimes.
06:36-06:45
and rightfully so, of looking at people who need the Lord with disgust, looking down our noses at people.
06:47-06:48
Don't forget where you came from.
06:49-06:52
You were a sinner in need of God's grace.
06:54-06:57
People you're looking down are no different than who you were.
06:58-07:05
We could say so much more about the attitude that we should carry towards the lost, but today we're going to focus the main event of the passage.
07:06-07:08
We're going to focus on the Bereans.
07:10-07:11
On the Bereans.
07:13-07:21
You know, my previous church, one of the things that I did very often was I did these services at senior citizen homes for people that couldn't get out.
07:22-07:26
And there were probably, I don't know, four or five, six different ones over the years that I would go to.
07:27-07:29
We'd have the Lord's Supper and share a message.
07:30-07:32
Sometimes we'd have some music.
07:34-07:35
I just remember this one in particular.
07:38-07:40
I felt like I was getting punked.
07:41-07:43
Because it was like they set me up to fail.
07:43-07:45
The place was called Classy Country.
07:47-07:54
And they wanted me to come and have a non-denominational church service, a Bible study or whatever they wanted to call it.
07:55-08:01
But they scheduled it for one o'clock Friday afternoon.
08:03-08:09
Now, most people schedule, what is one o'clock in the afternoon?
08:09-08:10
That comes right after what?
08:11-08:12
It comes right after lunch.
08:14-08:21
So I had a room full of the dearest, sweetest people who just ate lunch.
08:22-08:28
And they're sitting in these big, comfy chairs and couches, and I'll never forget the day.
08:29-08:33
I get up to preach, and I kid you not, probably three sentences into the message.
08:34-08:44
I'm like, "Okay, today we're going to be looking at the Gospel of John, and we're going to see something that Jesus taught." And I looked up, and literally every single resident was out.
08:44-08:51
And I don't mean head-bobbing, like, "Oh, trying to stay awake, Pastor Jeff." I mean coma toast.
08:53-08:54
Every single person.
08:57-09:00
Some with heads back, some with heads down, some with blankets.
09:03-09:06
All of them completely out.
09:08-09:16
And I just remember, no joke, I just remember looking for somebody to be awake.
09:16-09:17
Nobody was.
09:17-09:18
I remember that particular day.
09:18-09:22
I was just like, and I just laughed.
09:23-09:23
Nobody knew.
09:23-09:27
And then they put me right in front of the TV.
09:28-09:31
And they wouldn't turn the TV off.
09:32-09:33
I kid you not.
09:33-09:37
Okay, so here you have this kid standing here with a Bible.
09:37-09:41
And then behind me is the young and the restless or whatever.
09:41-09:47
And some of the people, when they were awake, were just like, "Can you move your oversized head?
09:47-09:52
I'm trying to see the TV." Why was I there?
09:54-10:00
Because you didn't have a room full of people that were ready to receive the Word.
10:03-10:03
Obviously.
10:06-10:09
That's what I want to talk about today is receiving the Word of God.
10:09-10:11
I want you to think of it in terms of food.
10:12-10:13
Think of it in terms of food.
10:14-10:23
Imagine if we took a couple of the best cooks at our church - I'm thinking of like Jessica Walski and Kristen Orton - froze at like cooking.
10:25-10:32
Imagine if we invited you and we said, hey, we got our two best culinary experts.
10:32-10:40
They are going to make you the finest meal that they know with the freshest ingredients and show up at 5 o'clock.
10:40-10:49
And on your way to this meal that's being prepared, you see the golden arches.
10:50-10:53
And you think to yourself, you know I am kind of hungry.
10:55-11:01
And you stop and you get three Big Macs and a large fry, chase it down with a shamrock shake.
11:03-11:11
How are you going to feel when you show up to Kristen and Jessica's culinary masterpiece?
11:13-11:14
Not very hungry, huh?
11:16-11:17
How do you think Kristen and Jessica are going to feel?
11:19-11:21
Like, we've spent hours preparing this for you.
11:22-11:28
Like, yeah, I stopped for something that barely passes as food instead.
11:30-11:35
I'm thinking to tell you, that's a lot like preaching sometimes.
11:37-11:50
I spend hours and hours and hours and hours every week studying and preparing a feast, And people show up already full on junk.
11:51-11:59
And they don't really have the capacity to receive anything else, and quite frankly, not really interested.
11:59-12:06
Some people right now are like, "And how long does this go again?" Are you ready to receive?
12:08-12:09
Are you ready to receive?
12:10-12:11
Look at verse 11 again.
12:13-12:19
It says, "Now these Jews, The Jibreel Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica.
12:19-12:20
Why were they more noble?
12:21-12:26
Not by their looks, not by their riches, but by what they did specifically - what they did with the Bible.
12:26-12:31
So two things today that I want to encourage you, because this can change your life.
12:31-12:36
I promise you on the authority of God's Word, these two things will change your life.
12:39-12:41
Two life-changing decisions you must make about the Bible.
12:42-12:43
Number one.
12:44-12:45
And it comes straight from the text.
12:46-12:51
Number one, "I will receive the Word eagerly." "I will receive the Word eagerly." Look back at verse 11.
12:52-12:56
"Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica." Look at the next phrase.
12:56-13:08
"They received the Word with all eagerness." "I will receive the Word eagerly." That's a readiness. That's an enthusiasm.
13:09-13:18
I'm not stopping at McDonald's on the way to the meal, because I want to have an appetite for the good stuff.
13:21-13:24
And again, as you're doing what you're doing through the week, this is what I'm doing.
13:24-13:26
I will receive the Word with eagerness.
13:26-13:32
And I'm like, what can I do to instill eagerness for the Word in these people?
13:32-13:33
What can I do?
13:34-13:35
What can I do?
13:36-13:39
If I tell you how excited I am about the Word, that won't do it.
13:40-13:41
That won't do it.
13:42-13:43
You know it won't do it.
13:45-13:51
Somebody can tell you how excited they are about a new band or a new TV show, and you're just like, "Man, when are you done talking?
13:51-13:56
This is boring." It's hard to communicate that kind of enthusiasm, isn't it?
13:57-13:58
That kind of eagerness.
13:58-14:01
So how can we...
14:01-14:03
I just wish there was something I could...
14:04-14:07
Like Andy Nauer's handing out the bulletins, She hands out eagerness too.
14:07-14:12
Like, "Here, make sure you get your bulletin to take notes, and here's your eagerness for the Word.
14:12-14:15
Make sure you have that." And how can we do it? I don't know.
14:17-14:19
But I do know this for sure.
14:21-14:25
I know what keeps you from being eager.
14:28-14:38
Once you jot these two things down under this heading - here's the subheading - "I am ready to receive the Word." I am ready to receive the Word...
14:40-14:42
Two points under here, two sub-points.
14:42-14:47
Number one, when my desire is to stop sinning.
14:48-14:50
I want you to turn with me, I don't want you to take my word for it.
14:50-14:54
I want you to be a Berean today, turn to 1 Peter chapter one, I want to show you something.
14:56-15:05
1 Peter 1 I'm ready to receive the Word when my desire is to stop sinning.
15:07-15:08
Look at verse 22.
15:10-15:25
He says, "Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth, for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from up your hearts, since you have been born again." Not of perishable seed, but of imperishable.
15:26-15:29
Through the living and abiding Word of God.
15:31-15:35
For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the grass.
15:36-15:39
The grass withers, the flower falls.
15:40-15:42
But the Word of the Lord remains forever.
15:42-15:46
And this Word is the good news that was preached to you.
15:48-16:09
So put away and all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." You see that in this passage?
16:09-16:13
Peter says, "The Word, the Word, the Word, the Word, the Word, it's imperishable.
16:13-16:15
You're born again by the Word.
16:15-16:22
The Word, the Word, the Word." Then he turns around and he says, "Now put away sin and receive the Word." He says the same thing actually.
16:23-16:46
James 1:21 James says, "Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls." So according to Peter and James, Christians, if you have unrepentant sin in your life, you're not going to be ready to receive the Word.
16:48-16:49
You're just not.
16:51-16:58
Unrepentant sin is like the McDonald's that you have stuffed yourself with.
16:58-17:01
And you have no appetite for righteousness.
17:03-17:10
You have no appetite for, God, I just want to hear what Your Word has to say and I want to see what You have for me.
17:10-17:15
You don't have that when you're harboring sin in your life.
17:18-17:21
I'm ready to receive the Word My desire is to stop sinning.
17:22-17:25
We're not talking about a perfection here.
17:25-17:29
To say unless you're absolutely perfect, you're not ready to receive the Bible.
17:29-17:30
None of us are perfect.
17:30-17:32
I'm talking about your heart attitude.
17:32-17:33
I'm talking about your appetite.
17:34-17:42
You coming in here saying, I realize that I still sin, and I realize I need to grow, and I realize this is what's going to change me.
17:45-17:46
And I don't need to convince you of this.
17:46-17:47
You know this.
17:49-17:55
Your life is full of vulgarity and pornography and drunkenness.
17:57-18:12
You don't come off the tail end of that and say, "Oh, I'm ready for Bible study." Peter and James say, "You've got to put away the sin so you can receive the Word." I'm ready to receive the Word when my desire is to stop sinning.
18:14-18:19
Secondly, and this is stating it positively, I'm ready to receive the Word when my desire is to do God's will.
18:20-18:22
That's saying the same thing in a positive way.
18:23-18:25
But Jesus said this in John 7:17.
18:25-18:26
Just jot this down.
18:26-18:28
You don't have to turn there, but just jot it down.
18:28-18:54
John 7:17, Jesus said, "If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking on my own authority." There's a verification of the power of the Word of God that only comes to the person that's inclined to want to do what God would have them to do.
18:55-18:57
Say, "Look, I'm here for whatever God has for me.
18:57-18:58
Just give me the Word of God.
18:58-18:59
Just give it to me.
18:59-19:00
My heart's open.
19:00-19:11
I want it." Jesus said, "That's the guy that's going to know that the Bible's the Word of God." But the person that comes and says, "I don't want to change.
19:11-19:16
Nobody tell me what to do." "Yeah, you're not going to get it.
19:17-19:21
You're not going to get it." I heard somebody put it this way.
19:21-19:25
I don't know who started this saying, but maybe you've heard it.
19:26-19:29
It certainly fits here and it certainly lines up with what the Bible teaches.
19:29-19:35
Somebody said, "This book will keep you from sin.
19:37-19:47
And sin will keep you from this book." when your child is bad at school, and he tries to avoid you when he comes home.
19:49-19:49
Why?
19:51-19:53
Not because he's afraid you're going to throw him out of the family.
19:54-19:57
Because he knows you're going to sit down and say, "We've got to deal with some stuff, son.
19:58-20:02
We've got to talk about this. This is important." He doesn't want to have that conversation.
20:03-20:09
And in the same way, when we're harboring sin in our lives, we know God's going to say, "Look, we've got to talk about this.
20:09-20:11
This isn't right. This doesn't glorify Me.
20:12-20:13
This isn't benefiting you.
20:13-20:14
This isn't blessing those around you.
20:15-20:16
We've got to talk about this.
20:16-20:18
And we want to avoid that.
20:19-20:20
We're not ready to receive.
20:22-20:23
Peter and James say, "Put it away.
20:24-20:24
Put it away.
20:25-20:26
Put it away. Turn from that sin.
20:26-20:27
Put it away.
20:27-20:35
And open your heart up to receive." These Bereans were ready.
20:36-20:38
They received the Word eagerly.
20:40-20:41
My question is how eager are you?
20:43-20:45
I want you to close your eyes, because I want to ask you something.
20:45-20:47
I'm just talking to you. Close your eyes.
20:48-20:51
I just want to ask you a few questions that I want you to apply to yourself.
20:51-20:52
Close your eyes.
20:54-20:55
Would you miss your Bible?
20:57-21:13
If you forgot your Bible here in the auditorium, and I took it home to give it back to you next week, Does it completely not even matter to you that you went a week without your Bible?
21:16-21:18
Or maybe you take your Bible home.
21:19-21:28
You put it on the shelf this afternoon, and that's exactly where it remains until next Sunday morning before you come here.
21:32-21:39
Do you remember the last time you read or heard God's Word with a hungry heart?
21:39-21:45
Not as a chore or a sense of obligation, but the sense of I need this.
21:46-21:49
Do you remember the last time God's Word moved you to change?
21:52-21:55
Do you remember the last time you were comforted by God's promises?
21:58-22:03
Do you remember the last time made you long for His presence, made you long for heaven.
22:07-22:07
You can open your eyes.
22:10-22:14
The first life-changing decision you have to make is you have to receive the Word eagerly.
22:16-22:17
You have to receive the Word eagerly.
22:19-22:23
If you're staggering in here with a head and a heart full of sin, you're not going to be ready to do it.
22:26-22:27
Receive the Word eagerly.
22:27-22:32
Secondly today, I will examine the Word daily.
22:35-22:37
I will examine the Word daily.
22:38-22:47
Going back to 1711 here, talking about the Brains, it said, "They received the Word with all eagerness..." Look at the next phrase.
22:49-22:56
"...examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." examining the Scriptures daily.
22:57-23:00
I looked up this - what does this word mean?
23:00-23:01
Examining.
23:01-23:05
And it almost has a courtroom type terminology.
23:05-23:06
Cross-examination.
23:07-23:19
You know those courtroom shows where they are going to cross-examine the witness, and that's where the attorney gets up and I'm going to ask some questions, and I'm going to dig deeper and try to get to the truth.
23:19-23:20
You know what I'm talking about?
23:21-23:22
I was thinking about that.
23:23-23:32
You know, the word "examine" means "cross-examine." And I thought, "Isn't that what Bible study is?" Cross-examination?
23:34-23:37
Isn't Bible study cross-examination?
23:38-23:42
Everybody say, "Pastor Jeff, I see what you did there." Yeah, did you see what I did there?
23:43-23:45
Okay, okay, it was funnier at home.
23:46-23:50
But that's what Bible study is.
23:51-23:52
We are cross-examining.
23:52-23:56
We're digging into God's Word to verify truth.
23:58-24:07
And as Christians, we love our Christian books and podcasts and radios and Word FM and Family Christian Store and all those things are great!
24:09-24:11
But none of them can replace the Bible.
24:12-24:13
Look, I'm not discouraged.
24:13-24:15
I have a whole library.
24:15-24:20
I have so many Christian books and theology books that don't even fit my library.
24:20-24:22
There's a lot of them in boxes in storage.
24:23-24:28
I think they're wonderful, but listen, nothing replaces the Bible itself.
24:29-24:39
There's a huge red flag in my life when I make time to read all these other books about people's opinion about the Bible, but I'm not spending time in the Bible itself.
24:40-24:41
So I discipline myself.
24:41-24:47
Hey, always in at least three or four different books in the Bible, just the text.
24:48-24:51
And for myself, I don't even use a study Bible for that.
24:51-24:52
If you have a study Bible, fantastic.
24:52-24:53
Praise the Lord, they're fantastic.
24:54-24:54
I have a couple of them.
24:56-25:00
But there's nothing like just the Word of God and just spending time.
25:01-25:03
This is what God's Word says.
25:05-25:16
But see, they cross-examined, but notice this other little word they use here as the sermon point because it's straight from the text.
25:17-25:18
In the name of the Lord, daily.
25:19-25:20
Daily.
25:22-25:25
Meaning Bible study must be consistent.
25:26-25:27
It's the only way that you're going to learn it.
25:29-25:32
When you think about it, who were they checking up on?
25:33-25:39
This wasn't some weird, fringe preacher.
25:40-25:43
This was the greatest missionary of all time.
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This was a guy who wrote 13 books of your New Testament.
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This is the guy that God used, God's Holy Spirit used, to completely change the world.
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This was the guy that they were checking up on.
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They didn't even take Paul's word for it.
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He had this reputation.
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They could have said, "Well, obviously, he knows what he's talking about." When Paul preached, they were like, "Okay, we're going to see if what he's saying is actually what the Bible says." That's why I'm never offended if somebody here "Pastor Jeff, in your sermon you said this, and I was reading, and I have some questions about that." That doesn't offend me at all.
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In fact, that thrills me to death that you wouldn't just take my word for it or anybody else's word for it without digging deep to see is this what God actually said?
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It doesn't matter how great my grades were in Bible college, or how many books get written, or whatever.
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What matters is, everything I communicate that line up with what the Bible says.
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Examine the Word daily.
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Because there are so many weird and blasphemous teachings out there.
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So many weird and blasphemous teachings out there.
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There are people that believe that you need to be baptized in order to be saved.
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That you can pray to receive Christ, but until you're dunked, you're going to hell.
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There are people that teach and believe that.
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The question is, what does the Bible say about that?
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There are people that believe that as Christians, we can become perfect in this life here on the earth.
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That the sin penalty has been removed, but then also the presence and the power of sin have been removed as well in this second crisis moment, second act of grace, second baptism of the Holy Spirit, that you can live life on earth without even ever being tempted to sin.
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There are people that believe that.
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My question is what does the Bible say about that?
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There are people that teach, and this is becoming more popular, we've talked about this, hell is not a real place.
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Hell is just sort of a boogeyman type thing.
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Just something to scare people.
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What does the Bible say about that?
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One time in prison ministry, we had these huge, enormous Muslims came in to Bible study.
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and I started speaking and the one said, in a very threatening tone, "Hey, the Bible doesn't say that Jesus is God." And I caught his drift.
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He was basically saying, "Shut up, or I will eat you." But I said, "Well, let's just see what the Bible does say." "Let's see what the Bible does say." We went to John 1, John 8, John 10, we went to Colossians 1, It's a Revelation 1.
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And I said, "What's your conclusion after looking at these passages?" I'll never forget, they put their head down and didn't say a word for the next two hours.
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It was dismissal time.
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The question is, what does the Bible say?
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You're saying this and I'm saying this, but what does the Bible say?
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See, you can disagree with what God said.
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You have that right.
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I don't recommend it, but you have that right.
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You can disagree with what God said, but let's be clear on what He actually said.
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And you're not insulting someone to ask when they have a crazy belief, "Where did you get that from Scripture?" There are some goofy things out there.
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One of our first meetings that we had to promote the church and to tell people we were planning, we had this guy show up with his two wives.
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You heard me correctly, he had two wives.
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And I'm like, dude, I can't even handle one.
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First of all, what are you doing?
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But anyways, kidding aside, that was like his thing.
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It wasn't just like, hey, this is my job, and this is my hobby, and by the way, I have two wives.
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And it was just like, this is my thing.
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And I realized by getting online and doing some Google and searching and messaging.
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There's this whole subculture of people that promote this.
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Like, God had two wives, and so should I kind of thing.
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I just said, you know what, buddy, it was a pleasure to meet you, but I don't think this church is going to be a good fit for you.
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He blasted me.
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I mean, the email that he sent me was - I mean, if I had feelings, they would have been hurt.
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And it was rough.
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It was really rough.
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But the question is, what does the Bible say about that?
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Just this past week, one of the pastors in the fellowship through a Facebook page that the pastors share where we ask questions and exchange ideas, he said, "Hey, I heard a new one and I wanted to run this by you guys to see if you ever heard it.
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These people in our church are going around that demons have a legal right to afflict believers if they're given permission.
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What's that all about?
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And very wisely, one of the pastors in the thread said, "You just need to go to those people and say, 'Hey, can you show me Scripture that teaches that?'" And I'm fairly confident there aren't any.
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But you see, that's the answer. What does the Bible say?
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What does the Bible say?
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You're making this goofy claim.
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Ok, well, you're going to have to show me where that is in the Bible so I can study it, so I can understand, and then we're like the Bereans.
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Verify with the Bible.
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Let's do that. Let's be Bereans for a couple of minutes.
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You want to? Yeah. That sounds great.
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Because the danger is we either believe everything we hear without verifying it, or we try to interpret the Bible Let's play a little game here.
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We're going to be Bereans here.
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I'm going to share with you -- I had a list.
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I just tried to narrow it down to three that we can get done rather quickly for our purposes here.
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I'm going to share with you three things that are taught.
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And we're going to be Bereans and see what the Bible actually says about that.
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So the first one is this.
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You ready?
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You have your Bibles?
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We're going to be turning a couple places here.
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Because we're going to be talking about the Bible.
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because we're Bereans.
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Here's something that's taught.
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You know the flood in Noah's day?
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You know Noah's flood?
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Some people teach that that was not a global flood.
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It was local.
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You heard this?
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How many people have heard people teach that?
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Okay, I see some hands going up.
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There's some people that teach that it was a local flood.
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It just happened in one part of the world.
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the global flood, it's a little far-fetched.
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That's probably not what happened.
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Okay, so let's be Bereans.
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Let's turn in your Bibles to Genesis 7.
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Okay, so the claim here is the flood was only local.
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It was only in this one little part of the world.
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Look at Genesis 7. Look at verse 17.
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"The flood continued 40 days on the earth.
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The waters increased and bore up the ark, rose high above the earth.
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The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters.
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And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.
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The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them 15 cubits deep, and all flesh died that moved on the earth.
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Birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, from all mankind, everything on the dry land, and whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
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He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground.
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Man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, they were blotted out from the ark.
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Only Noah was left, and those who were with him on the ark, and the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
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Ok, so, according to the Bible, was the flood global or local?
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Just according to the Bible, was the flood global or local?
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Global, right?
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Is it possible to read that passage and come up with any other conclusion?
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No.
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How else could God have written it?
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If it was a global flood - let's say you're like, "I still think it was a local flood, Pastor Jeff." Ok, you're wrong, but I'm going to give you that.
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that it was a local flood.
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My question is, how could God have written that to communicate to us if it was a global flood?
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How many times in that passage, "Oh, oh, oh, everything, oh, everything, everything." So for Bereans, here's the claim, the flood was local.
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We're searching the Scriptures and seeing, no, that's not what the Bible says.
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So we have a difference of opinion here.
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Scientists, or so-called Bible scholars, making one claim, and God makes another claim.
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Which one are you going to go with on that, by the way?
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Okay, we're Bereans.
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Here's another claim.
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The thousand-year millennial reign of Christ.
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Some people say there is no millennium.
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They're called "ah-millennialists." There is no millennium.
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Some people say it's just metaphorical.
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It's not really literally a thousand years.
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It's just a metaphorical word for a period of time.
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And okay, we're Bereans.
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I want you to open your Bibles to Revelation 20.
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Are you there?
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Okay, so here's the claim.
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Well, the thousand year reign of Christ and millennium isn't really a thing.
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Okay, so let's see what the Bible says about that.
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Revelation 20.
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"And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, and putting in His hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.
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And He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who was the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended.
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After that, he must be released for a little while.
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Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.
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And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God.
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Those who had not worshipped the beast or its image had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.
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They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
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The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.
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This is the first resurrection.
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Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.
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Over such a second death has no power.
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They will be priests of God and of Christ and they will reign with Him for a thousand years.
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and when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison.
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Pastor Jeff, do you think the millennial reign of Christ is literally a thousand years?
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Absolutely I do. Why?
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It says it six times in one passage. Did you see that?
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And I have to ask you again, if the millennium is not a literal thousand years, why would God have written His Word like that?
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Six times in seven verses, it's a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years.
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And then some knucklehead who calls himself a Bible scholar, like, "Well, I'm not really sure how long the millennium is." Or if there even is one.
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God's sure.
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He said it six times.
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How else could He have made it more clear?
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This is what Bereans do.
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Let me give you one more.
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We had communion today, right?
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And there's different views about what happens at communion.
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We know that some churches teach that Jesus Christ's sacrifice is represented at communion.
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Did you know that?
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We believe that we do this in remembrance, that it is a little piece of unleavened bread, it's the fruit of the vine, or grape juice, unfermented wine, whatever you want to call it.
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But it represents the body and blood of Jesus.
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But there are some people that teach when we receive the Lord's Supper, that Jesus' sacrifice is happening again.
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It's being represented.
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He is suffering again.
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In fact, Pope John Paul II talked a lot about that.
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Every time the Eucharist is taken, Christ is suffering again.
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And He's dying again, so to speak.
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His sacrifice is being presented again.
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Is that what the Bible teaches?
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Alright, Bereans, turn to Hebrews 9.25 Okay, so here's the claim.
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Every time we have the Lord's Supper, Jesus is suffering again, He's dying again, His sacrifice is re-presented again.
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That's the claim.
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Alright, Bereans, what does Hebrews 9.25 say?
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It says, "Nor was it to offer Himself..." not Jesus obviously, nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy place every year with blood not his own, for then he, Jesus, would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. As it is, he has appeared once for all, at the end of the ages, put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So according to this passage, which I is pretty clear.
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How many times did Jesus show up and suffer and die?
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How many times?
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Just one, right?
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Just once.
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When we receive the Lord's Supper, He's not suffering again.
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Jesus did it once.
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Done. It is finished.
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Complete.
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That's the thesis of the book of Hebrews.
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Jesus is the High Priest that greater than the Old Testament sacrifices, and for all to put away sin.
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This is what it looks like to be a Berean.
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We hear these claims, and we think to ourselves, "That claim seems a little weird.
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What does the Bible actually say about that?" Everything you hear, whether you are listening to the radio or hearing a message on Christian television, your favorite podcast, or you're listening to me on a Sunday morning, is what you hear line up with what God said.
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Are you a Berean?
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You receive the Word eagerly and examine it daily.
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I want to close with one Scripture.
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And this Scripture really sort of encapsulates what it means to be a Berean.
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I want you to turn back to Proverbs 2.
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Go back to Proverbs 2.
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I love this passage.
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Because this sort of sums up the whole Berean mindset.
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Proverbs 2. Verse 5.
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"My son, if you receive My words and treasure My commandments with you, make your ear attentive to wisdom and incline your heart to understanding.
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Yes, if you call it for insight Raise your voice for understanding.
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If you seek it like silver - look at this next phrase - and search for it as for hidden treasures, search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
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I want you to imagine that you were given a treasure map.
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And this isn't a joke.
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This isn't a hoax. This isn't a scam.
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given a treasure map and it was guaranteed that if you followed this treasure map, you would find four billion dollars worth of treasure, guaranteed. All you need to do is follow the map. But there's one problem. The map is written in Spanish. How many people here would learn Right? But I want you to think about your attitude in learning Spanish.
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Would you be eager?
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I would. I could use $4 billion, I'll be honest with you.
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I'd be eager.
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It wouldn't be like, "Hey, Pastor Jeff, what are you doing?" "Oh, I had to buy this stupid Rosetta Stone." "Why?" "Oh, I'm learning stupid Spanish." Why?
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"Oh, I'm going to find some stupid treasure." That wouldn't be my attitude whatsoever.
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Like, "What are you doing, Pastor Jeff?" "Hey, hey, don't talk to me, because I've got to learn Spanish.
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This is so important that I learn this, because I'm trying to find this treasure." I'd be eager, wouldn't you?
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And I'd be diligent.
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I'd be diligent. I wouldn't put it off.
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"Oh, a $4 billion treasure, that sounds interesting.
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Maybe my schedule's going to free up in April and I'll have time to look into that." I would be on that immediately.
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I'd be on that daily.
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Because I could sure use that money.
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And the Bible says that's how you should go after God's wisdom and His Word.
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And I'd suggest to you that in God's Word, you have so much more to gain than a couple of doubloons.
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Right?
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Father in Heaven, I just pray for our congregation.
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And I know, Father, so many people are out sick right now.
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Father, I pray for them.
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But Father, for all of us, I pray that we would be like the Bereans.
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Father, we live in a day of the media and communication.
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There are just so many voices out there.
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And there are so many voices denying clear teaching from Your Word.
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And it's just so easy for us to get into believing some foolishness.
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There's movies that are playing.
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There's podcasts that are being recorded and put out.
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There's things broadcast on the radio.
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Father, we are bombarded with all these claims.
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This is what God said.
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This is what the Bible said.
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Father, I pray that we would be like the Bereans.
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Every claim that we hear, Be diligent to line it up with what Your Word says.
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Father, I pray for people here, for there are people in this room that just haven't been eager to receive Your Word in a while, because they're harboring sin in their lives.
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As Peter and James says, that has to be put away.
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That has to be put away so that our appetites are available and feast on the stuff that You would have for us.
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Father, I pray that You would grant repentance where it's needed.
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Father, we thank You for Your Word.
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We're not left wondering who You are or what You're like, or how then shall we live.
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Father, You've made it so abundantly clear.
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You wrote it all down for us, and we never take that for granted.
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But use it eagerly and use it daily.
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In Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 17:10-15
What made the Bereans "noble"?
How can I receive the Word of God with eagerness (Acts 17:11) if I am not doing that NOW
Should you examine the Scriptures to verify EVERY message you hear? Why or why not?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another to grow as Bible students. Pray for our upcoming Bible 101 series.