In The Footsteps of Paul

The Noble Beareans

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Tony Moore

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Series Code: IFP

Program Code: IFP000010


01:37 Paul and Silas had great success in Thessaloniki.
01:40 For three Sabbaths they witness in the synagogue that
01:44 Jesus was the Christ or the Messiah.
01:47 Luke describes how a great number of gentiles and a
01:52 number of Jews accepted the message and believed that
01:57 Jesus was Lord of all.
01:59 Let me read to you the tremendous story as Luke
02:02 describes it in Acts 17:4.
02:58 The authorities in Thessaloniki were more level-headed
03:01 than those in Philippi.
03:03 In Philippi, you remember, they beat Paul and threw Paul
03:07 and Silas into a prison.
03:10 But here they recognize this is a trumped up charge, they
03:13 made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
03:17 Fortunately Paul and Silas were not there at the time.
03:20 So they escaped the trouble, but the brothers were
03:23 concerned and so we read in verse 10.
03:52 Luke describes how the missionaries turned westward and
03:55 traveled about 50 miles inland to Veria.
03:59 A city built against Mount Bermion.
04:02 This city was a great city, a beautiful city overlooking
04:07 the plains below.
04:09 It was in the very heart of Macedonia.
04:12 Macedonia played such a critical role in the ancient
04:16 world, and I thought we should travel 10 miles south
04:20 from Berea and examine the tremendous influence it had
04:24 through Philip of Macedon and his son,
04:27 Alexander the Great.
04:30 Philip's summer palace, the ancient capital of Macedonia,
04:35 is out at Berea and I want to travel out and share with
04:39 you this important story that shapes the context of our
04:44 series on the life of Paul.
04:46 Berea was in the heart of beautiful lush,
04:51 green Macedonia.
04:53 We have come here to Epirus, the ancient capital of the
04:58 Macedonian kingdom.
05:00 This was the palace of Philip the II of Macedon.
05:04 You can see the tremendous ruins that are here and the
05:08 powerful influence of this Macedonian king.
05:11 He maintained his capital down at Pella in the valley
05:16 below where his son Alexander was born.
05:19 Philippi arranged for the best of tutors for his son
05:22 including Aristotle who trained the young man.
05:26 The family had come to the Summer Palace to celebrate the
05:32 wedding of Philip's daughter Cleopatra.
05:35 As Philip was descending the hill, from the palace
05:39 to the theater below, an assassin set upon him
05:43 and took his life.
05:45 This event of a madman dramatically changed the history
05:50 of our world, for it thrust Alexander into a position
05:54 of leadership when he was only 19 years old.
05:57 Alexander consolidated his power over the Greek city
06:01 states and then to set out to spread Hellenistic culture
06:06 throughout the ancient world.
06:08 He conquered the provinces of Asia, and then push down
06:12 into Egypt and conquering that.
06:14 Then he went into Persia and all the way into India.
06:18 This provided a common language throughout the ancient
06:22 world, a common understanding with a common culture.
06:25 The Romans who would follow would adopt this culture
06:29 as their own.
06:31 They would provide a tremendous network of roads linking
06:35 the various cities of the ancient world and also provide
06:40 the Roman peace, this was the culture that permitted the
06:45 apostle Paul to move freely from city to city and
06:48 province to province spreading the incredible news that
06:52 Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
06:57 This was the cultural context of the world of Paul.
07:01 Paul and Silas came out to Berea under the cover of
07:04 darkness, and they follow the same pattern that we
07:07 have been seeing on all of their journeys.
07:10 They went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and they
07:14 share the message that Jesus was the Christ, that is
07:18 that Jesus was the Messiah and Lord of all.
07:21 Did you notice the tremendous response they got here
07:25 in this city?
07:27 Let me read it to you again.
07:40 What a tremendous complement Luke pays
07:43 to the Berean Jews.
07:45 They were more open-minded, or fair-minded, more
07:48 thoughtful than the Jews in Thessaloniki.
07:52 Now the word used in the original is, they were more
07:56 well bred, or of nobility.
07:59 Was he referring to their status in life?
08:01 I don't think so, he was really referring to their
08:05 attitude, they had an attitude of nobility.
08:08 An attitude of open mindedness and fair-mindedness.
08:13 They listen to what Paul said every day, then they
08:17 checked it in the Scriptures, that is they sifted what
08:21 Paul said, comparing it with scripture with scripture
08:25 to see if it was true.
08:27 They listened with an open mind and they sifted the
08:30 Scriptures and accepted those things that were true.
08:32 What a tremendous attitude they had.
08:36 This idea been well bred is very interesting.
08:39 Jesus was having a discussion with the Jews in Jerusalem
08:42 and they rejected what He was saying.
08:46 They rejected that saying that He was not well bred,
08:52 applying He was illegitimate.
08:54 Jesus said that actually you are the ones that are not
08:57 well bred, they contended we are children of Abraham.
09:02 Well bred indeed, Jesus said if you were of Abraham then
09:06 you would be doing the works of Abraham.
09:09 But as it is, you are trying to kill Me.
09:11 You are of your father the devil.
09:15 So this idea of nobility is not really who is our mother
09:20 or father, but what are our attitudes.
09:24 How do we relate in life?
09:39 Isn't that a tremendous quality?
09:42 Are you saying Tony, should I be open to every preacher
09:45 or every teacher that comes into town, or is on the
09:49 radio or television?
09:51 Should I be listening eagerly to what they say?
09:53 No not necessarily, nor should you read every piece
09:56 of religious mail that comes into your home.
09:59 My mentor, WD Frazee once shared this with me.
10:02 He said, I would rather know what I know and not know
10:06 what I don't know, than to know what I don't know,
10:10 and not know what I know.
10:12 There are some things that are very, very important to
10:15 know and when you settle those things, they settle a
10:18 host of other issues.
10:20 For instance, it is extremely important to know that
10:22 Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is the Messiah.
10:26 Once you settle back, you don't have to check out
10:29 every New Age teacher who comes into town.
10:32 No, you have settled that Jesus is the Messiah.
10:36 So yes we listen with an open mind, we sift through
10:40 the Scriptures, and then we accept those things that
10:43 are true and in harmony with God's Word.
10:46 How do you balance what you do know with an openness
10:51 to new teachings?
10:54 How do you balance so that you are not blown about by
10:57 every wind of doctrine that comes by?
11:01 Well you know windows are very important in my house,
11:04 as I am sure they are in yours.
11:07 Windows provide two major functions.
11:10 They allow you to see out, and they let light come in.
11:13 In addition they allow fresh air to come in from the
11:17 outside and the stale air inside to blow out.
11:21 Windows are a wonderful invention, but there is a major
11:25 problem with Windows that most of us have, and that is
11:30 if you don't have screens the bugs come in too.
11:34 While we get that sunshine and fresh air coming in,
11:38 we also get mosquitoes, and flies, and so we need screens.
11:43 Did you notice the screen that the Bereans had?
11:46 Let me read the passage again, Acts 17:11.
12:04 They investigated, that is that they critically examined
12:08 what the Scriptures said.
12:10 It is good to be open to new ideas.
12:12 They were open to ideas that no one in their synagogue
12:16 believed, you see people in their synagogue, like Jews
12:20 throughout the land, had the popular idea that when the
12:24 Messiah came, He would liberate the Jewish people from
12:28 their bondage to the Roman oppressors.
12:31 But Paul and Silas were teaching about a Messiah who
12:35 came and was killed by the Roman oppressors, who was
12:39 actually put to death.
12:41 This was so different than what the other people around
12:44 them believed, and yet they were open-minded to hear what the
12:49 apostles had to say.
12:51 They weighed it by the Scriptures.
12:54 What screen should you and I employ today?
12:58 Let me share two examples with you.
13:00 When I was a young Christian, I had only been a Christian
13:04 a few months and I went to a very popular youth Congress
13:07 in Asheville, North Carolina.
13:10 While I was there I met some on-fire Christians.
13:13 Some of them invited me to a Bible study being held in a
13:17 motel, and I was thankful for that invitation and took
13:21 that piece of literature and shared it with
13:23 some Christian friends.
13:25 I told them about the Bible study and invited them to
13:28 come, they say will let me see literature and they looked
13:32 at and said well, you need to be careful and read this
13:36 very carefully about this group.
13:38 I read the material, and as I read the material something
13:42 didn't ring true with what I understood from the Bible.
13:45 The material was talking about the second chapter of
13:49 Daniel, where a great stone was cut out and came down
13:52 and destroyed the image and fill the whole earth.
13:55 The literature that I was reading said that that stone
13:58 was not Jesus, but the church.
14:01 The church was to crush the empires.
14:03 As I read it, it didn't ring true with scripture
14:06 and I decided not to go.
14:09 I am so glad that I didn't, for that group was the Branch
14:12 Dravidian's from Waco Texas.
14:15 A second point that I would like to share with you of a
14:19 personal testimony is this.
14:22 I had a friend who kept insisting that I listened to
14:25 some tapes of a good friend of theirs.
14:28 Tapes on the Jewish sanctuary and the Jewish Temple.
14:31 As I was listening to the tapes, something didn't ring
14:35 true, there was great information about the Jewish
14:39 sanctuary and Temple, but it did not ring true
14:41 with the Gospel.
14:42 It became apparent to me, that while the teacher had
14:46 a lot of good information, they didn't understand the
14:50 Gospel, the first sieve we need to have is the Bible.
14:54 Does it ring true to God's word?
14:56 The second sieve is, does it ring true to the Gospel?
15:00 Paul preached to the Galatians that there is no other Gospel to
15:05 be preached under heaven, and if anyone preaches a
15:07 different gospel let them be anathema or
15:10 accursed from Christ.
15:12 Many people ask, can you know truth?
15:14 When they asked me that question, I say do you think
15:18 Jesus wants you to know truth?
15:20 And then I have them read John 8:32.
15:31 Jesus says we can know the truth and the truth
15:34 will set us free, but He provides the key in verse 31.
15:47 We know the truth by examining the sieve of God's word.
15:51 That is what the Bereans were doing.
15:53 They had an open mind to listen to what Paul was teaching
15:56 and then they examined the Scriptures every day to see
16:00 if those things were so.
16:02 How can you know truth?
16:04 Let me share with you three principles from Scripture
16:07 about how to know truth.
16:11 The first principle is very, very simple and found
16:14 in the John 7:17.
16:29 The first important principle of knowing truth is.
16:35 If I have a willing heart, then Jesus says I will know
16:39 whether the doctrine comes from God or from man.
16:43 So every time I study the Bible, I want to have an open
16:48 mind by God's grace and Spirit to understand the Bible.
16:52 You see ultimately, the understanding of God's truth
16:55 depends more upon your heart, then upon your mind.
16:59 There are many people who know the intricacies of the
17:03 Greek and Hebrew and they know the various tenses and yet
17:06 they do not have a heart to follow God's Word.
17:09 They never come to an understanding of biblical truth.
17:14 When I have a willing heart, then God can teach me.
17:17 The second great principle I would like to share with
17:21 you is found in 1 Corinthians 2.
17:56 Paul says no one can know the things of a man but the man
17:59 himself, you cannot know what I am thinking except I
18:03 express it to you by my words or by my actions.
18:06 In a similar way, we cannot know what God is thinking
18:10 except that He has expressed it to us by His words
18:13 in the Bible, and by His actions in nature.
18:16 Since the Holy Spirit was the one who inspired the words
18:20 of the Bible, we need to pray to the Holy Spirit for
18:23 guidance to understand those words.
18:30 The second principle is for prayer to ask for guidance
18:34 of the Holy Spirit as we open God's word.
18:37 As we search the Scriptures, He will guide us into
18:42 understanding of truth.
18:50 Jesus used this very principle, Luke 24:27
19:02 Jesus recognize there are many misconceptions about the
19:06 Messiah, and so he went back to the very beginning of
19:09 the writings of Moses and work through all the prophets,
19:13 showing how these things were fulfilled in Himself.
19:17 Jesus allowed Scripture to interpret Scripture.
19:21 Let me share with you one more very important principle.
19:25 It is found in the Daniel 7.
19:52 He goes on to describe how a lion with two wings came up.
19:55 How a bear lifted up on one side with three ribs in his
19:58 mouth came up, how a 4 headed leopard flew out of the water
20:01 with four wings, and how a dragon like beast came up
20:04 with 10 horns and iron teeth and bronze claws.
20:08 Then how a little horn popped up.
20:10 What are these beasts?
20:12 I often ask people and they say well it must be the
20:15 devil, all those terrible creatures.
20:18 But actually the Bible interprets itself.
20:28 And verse 23 goes on to say.
20:33 In Bible prophecy a beast represents a King or a kingdom.
20:37 The Bible says that they came up out of the sea.
20:41 What does that represent?
20:43 Revelation 17:15 tells us that the water represents
20:47 the People's, multitudes, nations and languages.
20:51 We find another principle of scripture in Jeremiah 51,
20:55 that wind can represent war and strife.
20:57 So there was strife in the great populated areas of
21:01 humanity, and four empires or four kingdoms emerged.
21:05 That is a thrilling story however that we cannot
21:09 focus upon today.
21:11 There is one other sieve I must share with you about
21:13 knowing and understanding truth in the Bible.
21:16 That is the moral purpose of the Bible.
21:19 You see the Bible was not given primarily to be a science
21:23 textbook, it was not given to be primarily a book of
21:27 geography, it doesn't explain how to build a combustion
21:31 engine, or nuclear fission, the purpose of the Bible can
21:35 be found in two very important text.
21:38 The first one I want to read to you is John 5:39.
21:57 Jesus says you study the Scriptures because you think
22:00 that by studying them you will receive eternal life.
22:03 But these are the Scriptures that testify about Me.
22:08 The very purpose of the Hebrew Scriptures was to reveal
22:12 the Messiah, and yet the Jews of Jesus day thought that
22:15 they would receive eternal life from their studying of
22:19 the Bible, their diligent good study of the Bible.
22:22 Jesus said no, these are the very verses, the text,
22:27 the passages, that testify about Me and yet you refuse
22:31 to come to Me that you might have life.
22:34 The Bible properly understood.
22:40 Paul and Silas came to this town and were teaching the
22:43 Jews in a synagogue, that Jesus was the Christ,
22:47 or the Messiah, they listened with an open mind,
22:50 they examined the Scriptures daily, and they accepted
22:54 the teachings of Paul.
22:56 The second great moral purpose of Bible study can be
22:59 found in 2 Timothy 3:15.
23:11 Timothy, you have known the holy Scriptures since you
23:15 were a child, and these holy Scriptures are able to make
23:18 you wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
23:29 How we can become to have faith in Jesus and be saved
23:32 through Him, that is the reason God's word was given.
23:35 It's amazing the number of books that are written today,
23:39 books about numerology and number codes and all kinds of
23:43 things that are so far away from the central teaching
23:46 of knowing Jesus and how we can be saved
23:51 through faith in Him.
23:53 That is why God gave the Bible primarily revealing how
23:58 we can be saved.
24:00 These are screens that we need to test all its
24:03 teachings by, Acts 17:10.
24:32 What a tremendous result, many of the Jews believed
24:37 verses a few the Jews in Thessalonica.
24:41 Many of the Jews as well as a number of prominent Greek
24:45 women, and prominent Greek men.
24:47 Yes the gospel took deep root in the hearts of both Jews
24:52 and Gentiles in this city.
24:55 They accept the message and Christianity was planted
24:58 deeply in their souls.
25:00 The teachings of both communities ran totally counter
25:04 to what they have previously understood,
25:06 what made the difference?
25:08 Why did one group hear and respond, and another group
25:12 reject what Paul and Silas were teaching?
25:15 It is because they listen with an open mind.
25:18 It was just a matter of time until the Jews of
25:21 Thessaloniki heard what was happening up on the Hill
25:24 in Berea, Acts 17:13 says.
25:41 Religious people on a mission can be
25:43 very, very dangerous.
25:45 William Barclay observed.
25:55 What made the difference?
25:57 The Jews of Thessalonica did not follow the three
26:01 principles that we have shared.
26:03 The Jews of Berea did, the Jews of Berea had an open
26:07 mind and they had a willing mind, they were willing
26:11 to be taught by God.
26:13 They prayed for guidance and they searched the Scriptures
26:18 daily to see if those things were true.
26:20 Yes it is good to have things settled, we should have
26:24 especially settled that Jesus is our Christ, the Messiah.
26:29 We should have the gospel settled in our hearts.
26:32 Yes these are good things, and yet we should have the
26:36 willing mind of a seeker for truth, someone who is
26:41 willing to follow wherever God would lead.
26:43 Yes their are two paths that are presented in our Bible
26:48 story from Berea, but path that goes to Thessaloniki and
26:52 there is a path that goes to Berea.
26:54 Most people will choose to go down the course to
26:57 Thessaloniki, they will go to closed mind and a closed
27:01 heart to the principles of the gospel.
27:04 Well my friend, I want to be like the Jews of Veria.
27:08 I want to have an open mind, I want to listen with open
27:12 ears praying for God's guidance as I search the
27:16 Scriptures, let's pray together.
27:18 Father in heaven we thank you for this very special spot
27:22 that commemorates the open-minded believers of Berea.
27:26 How they had an open mind to listen to what Paul and
27:30 Silas were teaching, even though it was very different
27:33 than what they had believed, or been taught
27:35 in the synagogues.
27:36 We see how they search the Scriptures daily, praying for
27:40 guidance and how You lead them to understanding of truth
27:44 as Jesus as their Messiah.
27:47 We thank you for the testimony of their lives and help us
27:50 to be faithful like they were.
27:52 Help us to study Your word with an open mind and an open
27:56 heart and by Your grace to follow wherever You lead, we
27:59 pray in Jesus name, Amen!
28:04 Off in the distance we can see the Haliacmon river that
28:06 goes to the coast.
28:08 Luke described in Acts chapter 17 how Paul was taken by
28:12 some of the believers down to the coast and on to Athens
28:17 where he entered into that great city of culture and learning.
28:21 A great city of philosophy that was filled with idols and
28:25 there he proclaimed the truth that Jesus Christ was Lord.
28:29 That will be the focus of our next teaching in this
28:33 series, the gospel comes to the city of idols.
28:37 The gospel comes to Athens.


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Revised 2014-12-17