Paul and Silas ministry in Thessalonica resulted in riot in the city because of jealous jews. The next city they went to, Berea, turned out to be very different because of something unique about the Bereans that all of us Christians could learn from and emulate.
Acts 17:11 The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Bereans were
Open-minded
Welcomed the message
With Eagerness
Examined the Scriptures
Daily
To see if these things were so
Bereans, were open minded, eager and welcoming. However, they were also the original fact checkers. They checked daily, by examining the Scriptures, whether what they were hearing was actually true. And who were they fact checking? None other then Paul and Silas. And there is no indication that either Paul or Silas were offended about this fact checking Bereans. What was the result of this welcoming and yet fact checking Berean group? Acts 12 says “Consequently, many of them believed”.
Question for believers: Are you fact checking those who are teaching you OR do you feel the leaders should be beyond fact checking? Consider the Bereans.
Question for the leaders: Are you encouraging those who listen to you to fact check you OR do you think that should just listen and not fact check you because you know better, you have better degrees, you have learned from scholars who have better degrees etc.,? Consider Paul and Silas.
In this series, we will look at some popular teaching and examine it the Berean way to check whether such teaching stands up to the scrutiny of the light from the Scriptures.
Pastor Barry states: (https://learn.ligonier.org/podcasts/simply-put/exegesis-and-eisegesis) “eisegesis is when we “read something into” a biblical text that may not actually be there. And exegesis is when we try to “draw out” of…
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