"The Jewish who were at Berea were more noble than those Jewish in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17: 11)
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In verse 1 to 10 of the book of Acts chapter 17, we were given updates of Paul ministration from one community to another, in order to get the word of salvation right to manifest into his people. So, we saw he was accompanied by Silas, where they started this ministerial work from Amphipolis through Apollonia, then they came to Thessalonica and finally to Berea.
It came to a point that, at Thessalonica the Jewish divided. Some of the Jewish received the teachings of God's word by Paul and Silas in good faith. Some too were having doubts, so they were transgressing against God's word. These part of Jewish stood against Paul causing havoc here and there.
They did not lose hope, but continued to Berea, where small group of Jewish were there. Paul and Silas spoke the word to them, and lo and behold, they accepted the word with their heart and proceeded to search through the Scriptures daily to find out whether what they have taught them were so.
Why should the people of the ethnic group clan or tribe should have doubt about something that you have thought them? This means that God created everybody in a different manner, and because of that we think in different ways. At times the environment can also change our social beings; the way we behave and the way we think. They were the same Jewish, but staying on different communities; that is Thessalonica and Berea. Some part of the Jewish in Thessalonica accepted that words of God that Paul taught them, but some part of the Jewish did not accept it in good faith, this means that hey were affected by environmental differences, but rather differences in thinking. Thus, God creating us through different ways of thinking and accepting issues. When Paul reached Berea, the same message were spoken to them, here all the Jewish accepted the words of God and took a step about it, and even encouraged other tribes to also accept it so that they all benefit from this salvation. This means that, they were affected by the environment.
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My main point on this message is that whether environment or our differences in thinking can affect the way of accepting the words of God or even every message given to us. We should search into it thoroughly to find out whether there is an element of truth about it, but we shouldn't all of a sudden jump into conclusion that it is not good. According to Paul, the people of Jewish in Berea searched into Scripture upon Scripture to find out whether what Paul was teaching them were true or not.
Many transgress against the words of God in vain, since we do not have time to dive into it to make background checks whether what the Pastor, the Bishop, the Apostle or the evangelist is saying is true or not. When we receive the word, we should able to meditate it daily to find out whether it is true or false. The Scriptures are within our reach, therefore what prevents us from researching into them to know the reality on the ground. We are not saying that not everything the man of God will say will happen to be true, that is why we should always search into the Bible to compare to what they always give to us. We have to know the truth and the truth shall set us free. Searching for the truth about what we hear will help us to abress with the God's word, rather than doubting what we do not know and understand.
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