All right there, when they're in act 17 and look at verse 11, these were more
noble than those in Thessalonika, but that they received the word with all readiness
of mind and searched the scriptures daily title for the sermon tonight is search
the scriptures daily, search the scriptures daily, we're going to hit.
When we get to verse 11 at that point, um, now obviously we've been following
the apostle Paul as he's begun his second missionary journey.
And when you look at verse number one, it says now when they had passed
through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonika, which was a synagogue,
uh, where it was a synagogue of the Jews.
So immediately when you start to notice the town names Amphipolis and Apollonia,
it doesn't already sound very Greek to you.
And just a quick reminder, if you come back to act 16, act 16 and verse number
six, act 16 verse number six, uh, it says, yeah, now when they had gone throughout
Fygeria and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost
to preach the word in Asia.
All right.
So they were to move away from Asia or modern day Turkey for us today in those
areas and the Holy Ghost stopped them.
So they had to cross the sea and they made their way into what was known as
Macedonia at that point in time, which is where about last week they went to
Philippi that city of Philippi is of Macedonia today for us, all that whole
region for us is called Greece.
We know that as Greece.
And so that's why when you get to these cities, it starts to notice,
Oh, that sounds very Greek to us.
Okay.
Cause they they've moved from Asia as it were, and they've gone more into
the European Greek speaking region.
All right.
So not only do they go to those places and Amphipolis and Apollonia, but
they come to Thessalonica.
And of course for us, that is very familiar.
We have the books of first and second Thessalonians.
So we understand this will be the beginning of that church,
the Thessalonica church.
This is the very beginning there.
They go there, they begin to preach.
And they start there in a synagogue of the Jews.
Now, uh, you know, this again kind of seems to reinforce the fact that, uh,
last week we are not last week, two weeks ago, we had seen how Paul, uh,
circumcised Timothy, remember that, uh, because of the Jews.
And so again, we just start to see again, even though they're in Greece or
Macedonia, whatever you want to call it at this point in time, I'm not sure how
the, the, you know, the borders changed and all that, but, uh, you know, they're
still entering the synagogues.
It's still trying to make their way in there again, kind of reinforce the fact
that that's why Timothy got circumcised.
So there'd be no prevention of them in serving in the synagogues, preaching the
synagogues, reaching out to the Jews.
They wouldn't turn around and say, ah, how do you teach us when you have a man
in here who's not circumcised again?
That seems to confirm that truth.
And, uh, um, also when you look at verse number, if you look at, if you look at
verse number one again, it says, uh, now when they had passed, when they last
week, we also had to look at the change of pronouns to we, if you want to
have a look at it very quickly again in, in act 16, act 16.
And sorry, I don't have the reference there, but I'll just turn there very
quickly.
Um, act 16, uh, act 16 and verse number, uh, let's have a look.
Where did I want to read from?
Sorry, brethren.
I'm looking for the pronouns.
We, where was that in act 16?
Sorry, that verse number 10.
Oh yeah.
And after that, he had seen the vision in Millie.
We endeavored to go to Macedonia, a surely gathering that the Lord had called us
for, to preach the gospel unto them.
And so again, you see how Luke is the writer is, you know, uh, penning these
words and he says, we are doing this together.
And so at some point, Luke joined the travels of Paul and Silas and his team.
He's, he's helping them.
He gets to Philippi with them, but once they go from Philippi, they leave
Philippi in act 16, and we can start with verse number 17, chapter 17.
Again, we notice that he's back to the day they, and when they had passed
through Amphipolis and Apollonia.
So we can also say that it looks like we don't know for sure, but it
looks like Paul had stayed in Philippi at this point in time.
Okay.
Cause of the way the pronouns have changed.
But if you come with me to acts chapter 20, we'll get actually up to 20 acts 20
for me, please, and, uh, acts 20.
And let's have a look, look at verse number 13.
And we went before to ship and sail down to Assos.
They're intending to take in Paul for, so he had appointed
minling himself to go foots.
So again, we get to acts 20 and we see the we again, the we, all right.
And so we see how Luke has joined them.
Then he kind of is not part of their team anymore, probably in Philippi,
maybe still supporting that church, helping that church out.
And then he joins them again later on in acts chapter 20.
So just for a bit of information there, as you're looking at the pronouns and
you know, it's probably worth paying attention to, and you start to see just
how that hidden, uh, member Luke joins them and doesn't join them at certain
points in time, but if we continue then verse number two in acts 17, verse
number two, and Paul, as his manner was went in unto them, that's into the
synagogues and three Sabbath days reason with them out of the scriptures, opening
and alleging that Christ must need to have suffered and risen again from the
dead and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ.
Okay.
So we see that there, um, here in first of all, like, uh, three
Sabbath, so three weeks, they're in there for three weeks in the
synagogue preaching about Jesus.
Christ is, uh, the gospel message that he died, that he suffered,
that he rose again from the dead.
And look at verse number four.
And some of them believed, praise God, some of them get saved and consorted
with Paul and Silas and of the devout Greeks, a great multitude and of the
chief women, not a few, so you can see that really having success amongst
the Gentiles, the devout Greeks, a great multitude of Greeks, and even the
chief women, some of the women of reputation in the city, they also
believed, and it says they consorted with Paul and Silas, they started to
basically hang around Paul and Silas.
I started to learn from Paul and Silas.
And of course, as we understand it later on, this is the beginning
of that first of all, like a church.
And then look at verse number five, but the Jews, which believed not.
Okay.
So those certain Jews that did not believe the preaching of the gospel
moved with envy, took unto them, certain nude fellows of base assaults
and gathered a company and set all the city on an uproar and assaulted
the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people.
All right.
So we see the certain Jews, which did not believe.
Uh, they are moved with envy.
Okay.
They're seeing how the multitudes are listening to Paul and Silas.
Okay.
And they get envious.
They're not listening to us.
They're not listening to our religion.
They're not listening to our preaching.
So they moved with envy and they seek to destroy the
ministry of Paul and Silas.
We never see that Paul and Silas.
They eventually make their way, but they probably
stay in the house of Jason.
It's our first introduction to Jason.
We don't know much about him.
I'm going to quickly read to you from Romans 16, 21.
It says, Timotheus, my work fellow and Lucius and Jason and
Saucipator, my kinsmen salute you.
So we see that Jason at some point also gets involved in the work of fellow
laborer with Paul, but again, we don't really read much about him.
We don't read much about him besides that he offered his house
as a place for them to stay.
And then these Jews, they get the lewd fellows of base assaults.
So what does the base of that?
When you think of the word base, something that is low, right?
Uh, the lewd fellows of basis sort of essentially are people
of a lower social class.
All right.
So these Jews, like we've seen many times, instead of getting their hands
dirty, instead of them being the ones that are primarily attacking and, uh,
you know, causing persecution against the believers, they love to get other
people to do their dirty work and the people they find a lewd fellows of the
base assault, like again, the lowest, lower social class people, this can be
people like, you know, alcoholics or drug addicts, maybe that people that
are lazy, that refuse to labor, maybe prostitutes, people that are unproductive
in society.
Um, and so that's what the basis source means.
It just, he gets just a lot.
They get the lowest of the lowest to go and begin to persecute against Paul.
Now, I don't know if they offer them money, you know, we don't know exactly
how they motivated these lewd fellows of base assault, but you know, people
that attack ministries, people that attack the people of God, essentially
are base assault people.
Now we're looking at social class, but also we can look at the base assault
also being people with principles or people with no principles, okay.
Or people, uh, that are lacking a high moral standing.
So you can talk about people like that as well, that they just don't care.
They don't have any integrity in of themselves, but Hey, for a quick buck,
if I'm able to go and cause damage and persecute the people of God there,
that they want to be purchased, they want to be used for something wicked.
And so the Jews, again, instead of getting the hands dirty, it's
a, it's just their method.
You see this over and over again, probably how it is even today, brethren,
uh, they choose to get other people to persecute the ministry of God's people.
Anyway, they begin assaulting the house of Jason.
So you got Paul and Silas, I guess, seeking refuge in Jason's house.
And they're there maybe protesting, banging on the doors,
let them out, bring them out.
You know, we don't want these people in our city.
And then look at verse number six, it says, and when they found them,
knots, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city.
Sat crying.
These have, uh, these that have turned the world upside down.
Uh, come hither also.
He goes, look, we've heard about those that are turning the world upside down.
And, uh, you know, we've heard about Paul.
We've heard about these Christians.
We heard about these people that have preached the gospel in other cities.
Now they're here as well in Thessalonica, they've made it here and they,
and they start to cry out and make a, you know, um, like, uh, you know, uh,
I don't know, just an uproar in the city of Thessalonica where the
rulers have to take action, right?
They don't want some type of riots.
They don't want some, something to look horrible for the city.
And so they bring Jason and other brethren to these rulers.
And then verse number seven, just to give you an idea of what they mean by
turning the world upside down, it says in verse number seven,
whom Jason, Jason have received.
They're saying, look, even as Jason, Jason from our city, he's
received them into their house.
Um, and these all do look at this contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying
that there is another King, one Jesus.
So now we understand what they mean by turning the world upside down.
Instead of looking at our Caesar as our King, they've got another King.
Their King is Jesus.
All right.
So what I want you to do is keep your finger there.
Come with me to John 17.
Come with me to John 17, John 17.
So turning the world upside down is essentially, well, yes,
Caesar's not our King, Jesus is our King, right?
They're not operating.
These believers are not operating in the normal status quo.
All right.
Um, you know, it's kind of like us today, like, you know, the, the
unbelieving world, all they have to live for is this world, all they
really have to live for is this life.
And so they try to maximize this life as much as possible.
All right.
They try to, you know, build up their wealth and their possessions
and their, and their, their status in life.
And they want to be seen as something that they, they realize
this is all I've got to live for.
And they do their best to live for this world.
But believers, yeah, we got to operate in this world.
We understand that.
We have to function.
We have to be able to take care of our needs, but at the same time, our
attention and focus is on the world to come, our attention is on eternity.
It ought to be on eternity.
Our attention is on the coming of Jesus Christ and his millennial
kingdom for a thousand years.
And ultimately the new heavens and new earth, the heavenly Jerusalem,
which will descend from heaven, that will be our eternal home.
So we have more to live for, right?
Like we're not going to get caught up in all the issues and concerns that
someone that is living for here now.
Like we should be operating outside of the status quo and that essentially
is turning the world upside down.
But look at John 17, John 17 and verse number 14, John 17, verse number 14.
Jesus says, I have given them thy word.
Jesus is praying to his father and he says, I've given them, I've
given the disciples thy word and the world have hated them because
they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Reverend, did you know that you are not of this world?
Even as Jesus was not of this world, Jesus did not follow the status quo.
He had a very different life.
Okay.
He had a very short life.
He did a lot for three years in his ministry.
He was taken and you know, we're trying like, as I said, society is trying to
maximize their life, but Jesus came to die.
He didn't come to have an abundant life so much.
He came to die for sinners.
I mean, Jesus came, you know, his purpose was totally different.
And you know what, when you're not operating under the
status quo, people hate you for it.
You know, why aren't you just like anybody else?
You know, um, I don't always like, you know, I'll just give you some
examples in my own life where, you know, I, I had a job that paid me well
and there was career progression and, um, I had a whole bunch of kids already.
I probably had around seven kids and I'll never forget when I was being encouraged.
You know, we want you to try to chase a higher position and we want you to
consider taking care of all of Asia Pacific, all the departments under Asia Pacific.
And, um, but you might need to operate out of other places like a Singapore
or Japan or something like that.
And, uh, my boss went, went to that person, that boss that was saying that
it's like, Kevin's not going to do that.
And it's like, why?
Like, that's crazy.
Why wouldn't he chase that?
And she said, cause he puts his family first.
Like we're talking about unbelieving unbelievers here.
We're talking about just, you know, uh, coworkers that know that it's, I'm not
chasing the big box, I'm not chasing a big name recognition or anything like that.
All I care about is taking care of my family and my boss recognize that.
And for, you know, for the one that's saying, look, you got to chase it.
He's like, you can't believe it.
Like, how can you miss out on opportunities that are available to you right here?
There are big box.
There's a big name to be made.
You know, this can further your career in a significant way.
And I was like, no, no, no, he's not like that.
Okay.
You know, the reason he performs is not because he's trying to get the big box.
The reason he performs is because he cares for his family.
Like that was the interpretation of my labor and efforts in my workplace.
And that's true.
Like that's turning the world upside down.
You operate different.
You think differently than everybody else.
All right.
Anyway, let's continue that in John 17 in verse number 15, Jesus says, I pray
not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst
keep them from the evil.
So even though we're hated of this world and we're not of this world, Jesus
prays to the father, please don't take them out of the world.
That there's a work to be done here.
They're useful.
Okay.
They're furthering your kingdom.
They can preach the gospel, see people saved.
They can establish churches.
They can do these things for your name's sake.
So let's not take them out of the world too early.
Right.
And then verse number 16, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
All right.
So, you know, we need to be able to understand that Jesus does not want
us removed out of this world, right?
We ought not to be so different.
And some Christians are like this that I've met and spoken to and come across
and brethren even that I love and care about that think the way to be different
from the world is to find a plot of land in the middle of nowhere and prep and get
ready for the great tribulation.
Okay.
And hide from society and hide from big brother because we just cannot be traced.
We cannot be seen.
We are not of the world.
No, no, no, no, that's not, look, we don't, we should not be taken out of the world.
We have to operate in this world, but our efforts, our mindset, the things that we
seek and desire are contrary.
I'm thinking about Jesus.
I'm serving the Lord Jesus Christ and how that he can use us and for us to get out
there sometimes and knock doors and preach the gospel.
That's so, that's so strange.
That's so weird for many people.
Okay.
That's not what you do.
Get yourself out of your comfort zone and preach the gospel of Jesus.
But we're not of this world, but we can't hide from this world.
We can't be taken out of this world.
Otherwise we cannot be used in this world.
Anyway, so we ought to be different, but you know, we're a peculiar people.
The Bible says, okay, but we're peculiar for Jesus Christ.
All right.
And so if you come back to Acts 17, come back to Acts 17 and verse number eight,
Acts 17 and verse number eight, you know, we can see that one thing that it clearly
mentioned there is that their King is Jesus.
Like they don't have a fear of Caesar.
They're not thinking, how do I appease Caesar?
All they care about is appeasing Christ.
You know, so the difference, they have a different King.
They have a different set of moral standards and guidelines to life.
Verse number eight.
And they troubled the people and the rulers of the cities as the unbelieving
Jews and the, and the lewd fellows of base assault, they, they're troubling
the people, they're troubling the rulers of the city when they heard these things.
And when they had taken security of Jason and of the other, they let them go.
So Jason had to pay like a bond or something, some type of security,
something like, like to be let go free.
It's like, all right, you gotta, you gotta pay a thousand dollars to be let go free.
So Jason just pays it, whatever.
All right.
And they let go.
Verse number 10.
And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who
coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
All right.
So they know the city is not like in Paul and Silas.
All right.
Jason's been arrested or held for a while.
I had to pay his bond, pay security, whatever it is.
Right.
And they're like, look, Paul, get out of here.
Like persecution is great.
They're coming after you.
And so they sneak them away in the night and Paul and Silas end up there in Berea.
And they enter the synagogue of the Jews there.
Verse number 11.
This is really interesting about Berea.
It says in verse 11, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica.
In that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the
scriptures daily, whether those things were so therefore many of them believed
also of honorable women, which were Greeks and of men, not a few, so not a few men,
many men, not a few.
All right.
So we see that the people of Berea here are considered to be more noble than
those in Thessalonica.
Now, what does that mean?
We had a sermon, not many noble.
Is that right?
Not many noble.
And of course, when you think about that, not many noble, we're thinking about, you
know, people with a distinguished title or rank, a high social standing, something
like that.
And yeah, that's what noble, uh, you know, can represent someone of a special
social or political status.
But another meaning for the word noble is one of excellent moral or mental character
or excellence, one of excellent moral or mental character or excellence.
All right.
So what we're saying here is that the people of Berea, when it comes to the
scriptures, when it comes to preaching, they're not more noble in how they see
the scriptures.
Okay.
They've got a better character.
They've got better, they're more excellent in how they manage the scriptures, how
they test the preachers with the scriptures.
And going back to verse 11, we see in what ways they are more noble.
It says, because they receive the word.
I mean, that's being noble, receiving the word with all readiness of mind.
That's awesome.
Search the scriptures daily.
Yep.
Whether those things were so.
I say four sort of parts to this that make them into noble or excellent, uh,
people.
And, uh, if you can keep your finger there and come with me quickly to first
Thessalonians, okay, come with me to first Thessalonians.
Cause I don't think we should read this insane that the first alone icons were
like horrible people or something like that.
Okay.
It's just that the people of Berea are just excellent with their use of
scripture.
Okay.
And I just want to show you this in first Thessalonians chapter one, first
Thessalonians is again, it's not that the Thessalonians are horrible or anything
like this.
Okay.
It's not that at all, because when you read first Thessalonians chapter one in
verse number seven, first Thessalonians chapter one, verse number seven, speaking
to about the Thessalonians, it says here, so that ye were and samples to all that
believe in Macedonia and Akia.
Look, Paul is saying to the first Thessalonian church, you guys are great and
samples, you know, to other brethren in all of Macedonia in Akia verse number
eight, for from you, send out the word of the Lord, not only Macedonia and Akia,
but also in every place, your faith to God word is spread abroad so that we need
not speak anything.
So obviously the epistle to the Thessalonian church happens many more years
later on after the establishment of the church.
But I want you to notice that they came good, right?
Even though the Bereans are more noble at this point in time, the Thessalonian
church really came super well, like came super good.
You know, I can't really think of any major issues in first and second
Thessalonians where God, sorry, where Paul is rebuking or chastising the church.
Whereas he has to correct the Galatian church for believing in another gospel.
He has to correct the Corinthian church for being babes in Christ, right?
Like he has to correct all these churches, but really when it comes to the
Thessalonian churches, I can't really think, man, it seems like he's just
encouraged them in the truth.
He spends a lot of time teaching them on the end times.
All right.
Cause they mature, they've grown, they're well-rounded.
They can take in those deeper doctrines on the second coming of Christ.
And so I don't want you to think that the Thessalonians were like some
horrible believers or something like that.
Okay.
But at this point in time, in the ministry, the Bereans who had the
scriptures, they were more noble.
They dealt with the scriptures very excellently.
Okay.
Now come back with me to act 17, because I think the challenge for us
is that we should be more noble than other believers.
Okay.
And look, it's not, look, you know, I thank God for every church that
proclaims Christ, that has the right gospel, that has a believing pastor
leading the church as best as he can.
But it has often been said that our church excels in teaching.
It excels in doctrine.
It excels in how many scriptures we turn to.
Like right now we're preaching for an entire chapter, for example.
You know, and look, there are, again, there are good churches out there and
I've been to many of them, but there are many preachers that will preach two,
three verses or read two, three verses.
And the rest is just the wisdom of man.
It's, you know, it's, it's very limited in what there is to learn or to grow
thereby and in this church, we do the best we can to prove all things from
the word of God, you know, I, I know that sometimes people are swayed by
one argument or another argument, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't reason
and, and understand the scriptures, but really at the end of the day, what
is vitally the most important thing, at least to this pastor's heart, is that
we read and understand and teach and believe the word of God, I want to be
noble in the way I preach and I want you to be noble in the way you search the
scriptures, all right, so let's take a few thoughts about the Bereans here.
It says that they received the word, right?
When Paul and Silas came, they, they received God's word.
Now you guys are here at church tonight and I thank you for that.
So this would be obviously that you're open to hearing, you're open
to learning something tonight.
All right.
And look, I've been in church my whole life, pretty much ever since I've been
born, I grew up in a Christian home, I don't ever remember a time where
we just did not go to church, we always went to church, it's just, it's what I do.
It's my custom.
I don't have to be the pastor to go to church.
All right.
It's just, it's just part of my character.
Okay.
It's something that my parents and Shelby Harn the pulpit, and, uh, but
no, the Bereans weren't that way, that way they were ready to receive the word.
It says in all readiness of mind, they were ready in mind, they
were prepared to receive it.
They were prepared to be focused.
They were not distracted with other things.
They said, look, if we're going to hear God's word, we better pay attention.
If we're going to put the effort in to drive to church on a Wednesday night
and spend our fuel and our time and our, you know, and it's, it's later in the
evening, so a little bit tired, we're going to maybe some of you go back to
work tomorrow morning, but I'm going to give my time to attention and focus.
Okay.
This is the steps to be noble with God's word.
And then it says they searched the scriptures daily, searched the
scriptures daily, look, I've got no doubt that Paul and Silas, like we
see many times that they're quoting and showing the word of God, they're
preaching the scriptures.
Okay.
But then the Bereans will go, okay, we heard what they said.
All right.
We've turned to their passages, but now we're going to search.
We're going to use our own due diligence to open God's word
and check it out for ourselves.
And that's how we need to be brethren.
It doesn't matter what preacher you're preaching, you're listening to, you
know, whatever I'm expounding in God's word, you've got a whole, you know, you
won't see me until Sunday for some of you guys, so you got Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, all right, to go back to act 17 and search the scriptures yourself.
You know, is it right?
Is what is preaching correct?
And then it says, whether those things, this is why they searched the
scriptures, whether those things were so they will seek in the truth.
All right.
Okay.
We heard a great preacher.
We heard Paul, all right, but are these things true?
Let's prove it for ourselves.
Let's search the scriptures, right?
Let's be thorough.
Let's be extensive in our search and research, making sure that
what we've heard to be true.
We don't want to receive fables.
We don't want to just be entertained.
We want to walk away with truth.
And you know, every good church that I've been part of, the pastor would say many
times, prove it from the scriptures.
Anything you hear, anything, anything behind the pulpit, you need to prove it
from the scriptures, are these things true?
And I want to say the same to you, whatever you hear, please don't just
trust me, you know, I mean, I'm doing the best I can, but I'm still a human being.
All right.
I still have flesh.
I still have limitations.
I might even read the scripture and not fully understand or articulate
very clearly what is being shown in the passage or something like that.
Right.
But at the end of the day, Brevin, it's still your responsibility to search it
for yourselves, get grounded in doctrines yourself.
We don't want to just, I'm not against hearing preaching and listening
to online preachers, but I've come across a lot of brethren that hear
a lot of preaching, know a lot of doctrines, but don't know their Bibles.
It's kind of shameful.
It's kind of embarrassing, right?
Especially if someone is very adamant, this is the position, this is right.
Can you show me the Bible?
Yeah, you know, it's somewhere there.
Let me forward your sermon.
That's, prove it to you like that.
No, you searches, you be not noble.
You be more noble.
Okay.
And I really want this to be an important part of your life because
what gives me stability in my Christian life is the fact that I've
done my own diligent research.
I've done my own diligent study.
I've done my, I've done the reading of God's word.
I've compared scripture with scripture.
When I've heard something behind the pulpit and I'm like,
I don't know if that's right.
Well, that's new.
I don't remember that.
I've then spent my time.
I want to know if that's true.
And especially to become a pastor, if I'm going to stand behind this
pulpit and preach things, I've got to make sure it's true.
And I'll tell you what, in the early days, when we started
in your life at the church, I would say things, I would preach things
that I didn't realize, you know, cause you're new to it, doing it
every week in, week out, and I go back and listen to my preaching.
And I'm like, Oh, is that even in the Bible, Pastor Kevin?
Like to myself, I'm like, hold on.
Are you just repeating something you've heard for the
last 20 years in your churches?
And you assume it's true.
Is it actually true, Pastor Kevin?
I'd say to myself, and sometimes I'm like, Oh wow, I
can't see that in the scriptures.
You know, is this just the opinion of man?
And you're like, you know, it takes time.
It takes time to, you know, get from that point where you're no longer
just, you know, building your doctrines and your positions on the word of man,
but you're going to the scriptures yourself and concluding those things to be true.
Matthew 7, verse one, I'll just read it to you.
Judge not that ye be not judged.
There are many in the Christian world that would say, well, we should never judge.
And pastors, the pull of it all, the way you preach, you're very judgmental, aren't you?
I'm just preaching God's word.
I'm not really trying to judge anybody's life.
I let the Holy Spirit do that to your life.
If you want, you know, that's, that's you between you and the Lord.
I'm just preaching the truth of God's word.
But they'll say, it's, it's never right to judge.
Okay.
We know, okay, like you did read judge not, you did read those words.
Okay.
But have you searched the scriptures?
Are you being noble with the scriptures?
Well, you would say, no, you're, you're very extreme.
We are called to judge in the Bible, but then you've got another extreme and I'll
just read it to you in first Corinthians two 15, it says, but he, that is spiritual
judgeeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
And so you've got another extreme.
Well, the Bible says, I'm spiritual.
I'm saved.
I've got a new man.
Therefore I am to judge all things.
Pastor Kevin, you know, I'm going to throw my two cents in every issue.
You know, any, anybody's life, any church, any situation, I can judge all things.
They need to hear what I have to say.
That's another extreme, but it does say he, that is spiritual judge of all things.
All right.
So hold on.
You can get teaching like this, so you can get teaching like that.
And at some point you need to go, hold on.
This kind of seems a little bit, how do we reconcile these things?
Right?
Well, that's when you need to go, right.
I need to search the scriptures daily.
I need to see how these things work.
How does judging not work and also judging all things, how does it work?
How do you reconcile these things?
And then you get to like a Romans 14.
And this is what I'm talking about, having like a holistic view to Bible doctrine.
And I know in the early days of, uh, you know, trying to establish doctrine,
that I would just hear a sermon.
I'd hear some verses here and there scattered verses around there.
And I'd be like, okay, I guess they're right.
Judge not, or I guess they're right.
Judge all things.
All right.
But it's not till you do your own diligent research and study and reading God's word
and being noble, where you can get to a passage like Romans 14 verse four, for
example, that says, who art thou that judges another man's servants to his own
master, his standard for faller.
Yeah, he shall be holding up for God is able to make him stand.
And you're like, Oh, hold on.
Who art thou that judges for another man's servants?
Oh, okay.
So there are boundaries by which I can judge or not judge.
If it's another man's servants, it's not my place to judge.
But if it's my servants, I can judge.
And so then you start to understand, Oh, judgment requires boundaries or judgment
and judgment requires, you know, being put into that position.
We have authority over a servant.
Oh, if I am within my boundaries, if I'm working within my authority levels, I can
judge all things, but I am not to cross into other people's boundaries.
Other people's lives and tell them how to live their life and judge them or judge
not, lest he be judged.
Oh, there are boundaries.
There are times that I am to judge all things and there are things
that are not mine to judge.
Then you understand holistically, and you can reconcile all the passages.
Okay.
Like that.
But that requires research, requires reading.
It requires you deciding, I need to figure these things out for myself.
I'm just giving you a theoretical lesson there.
Like, and understand it.
Let me give you a real life example.
And, uh, if this is you, if this is someone in my church, please forgive me.
I'm not, I don't hate you.
I don't even know if it's you, like, I have no idea if it's you.
All right.
But it's someone, maybe it's someone that's left our church long time ago.
Who knows?
I don't know.
All right.
But we had a brother in this church, you know, some years ago who
was struggling with employment.
And I, as their pastor, right.
Some of that watches for their souls and also invited into their life.
Hey, can you give me some advice, pastor?
I'll be like, Hey, you know, the Bible says that you need to work a job.
You're a grown man.
Now you need to, you know, that's going to be good for your life.
You know, to feel like you can be success that you can achieve.
It's going to help you, uh, in life.
And, uh, you know, and then, you know, if the Lord sends you a young lady, you know,
you'll be in a better position to be able to take her out and maybe marry her
because, you know, you've got work and you're saving up money and this and that.
Right.
Trying to give him advice in this regard because, you know, the Bible speaks
against men who refuse to labor.
And so I gave him advice and, you know, but here's the problem though.
I'm like, Oh, what's the problem?
I can't make it to church every Wednesday.
I'm going to miss some Wednesdays.
And I'm like, well, at least you got a job, you've done the right thing.
And then my advice was this.
If you want to make church service every Wednesday, what I want to do is labor hard.
Show your worth to your boss, show your value for a while.
Just, just be a super employee, be the best you can be on the job.
And then once you're highly valued, you can go to your boss and say, Hey boss,
I've been working really hard.
Would you mind if I take Wednesdays off to be able to, and I said, look, if you've
shown your worth, you're more than likely going to convince that boss.
Hey, you can have the Wednesdays off to be at church.
That's the advice that I gave, you know, the brother, right?
Again, I'm his pastor.
I have some authority.
He advised me, you know, pastor, can I have some of your advice?
So that was the advice that I gave him.
Anyway, some weeks go by and he comes to me, pastor, I've quit my job.
Like what?
Yeah.
I quit my job because I was speaking to brother so-and-so and he actually
didn't say brother so-and-so.
He said, I spoke to a brother in our church to this day.
I don't know who it is.
Okay.
So if it's you, like I said, I'm not angry at you.
I don't know who it is.
No idea.
I honestly, I don't know.
And he said, boy, why, what are you doing working on Wednesdays?
You're forsaking the assembling of yourselves together.
You know, you, you know, you're not right with God because you're forsaking
the assembling of yourselves together.
So I said, so because of that, I quit my job.
And here's the problem after he quit his job.
And yet his brother was attending the Wednesdays that he could, when he wasn't
working, faithfully attending on Sundays, faithfully soul winning, but because he
did not meet someone's definition of forsake, whatever that is, he quit his job.
It's like, I don't know where you get that from, forsake, to give up on.
This young man was not given up on church.
In fact, his heart was yearning to be in church.
It bothered him a little bit that sometimes work would interrupt him on a Wednesday.
And again, I'm not mad at anybody.
Like, again, people have to take responsibility for themselves as well.
Search the scriptures, be noble.
Is that really what that verse is saying?
Could you imagine like if you attend church service, every single service,
like in 2025, you attend every single church service, you never miss one.
But then the last Sunday of the, of the year, for whatever reason, you miss it.
Oh, you're a forsaker of the assembling.
You're not faithful to God's house.
It's like, he hasn't forsaken.
He hasn't rejected the church.
He wants to be in church.
It's just that life happens, situation, reality happens.
So to me, whenever I've had that, and I've had that so many times, and I
don't know where it comes from, I want to figure out where this comes from.
That if you miss a church service, you're a forsaker of God's house.
No, you're not.
All right.
If you give up on church, you quit church completely.
You say, I don't want to be there.
I want nothing to do with God's house.
Now you've forsaken the church.
Now you've forsaken the assembling of yourselves together.
I want to give you a real life example of when the scriptures are not
searched properly, but they're not understood properly, or you're going by
someone's opinion rather than the meaning of the words and what the
context itself is expressing, you can really damage someone's life.
So we need to be more noble in our advice to others.
Are you to judge actually?
You know, is it your place to judge that person's life or is it not?
You need to determine that.
But at the same time, the individual that has to make that decision, they
also need to be more noble.
They also need to search the scriptures daily, whether these things are
so, rather than just going off the opinions of man.
So I just want to give you just a real life example.
When not searching the scriptures properly can cause a lot of damage in
someone's life, but let's continue there in Acts 17, verse number 13,
Acts 17, verse number 13.
But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was
preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also and stirred up the people.
So these Jews, they just, they're just so frustrated at Paul, right?
Paul is living rent free in their heads.
Oh, he's left our town, but now he's in Berea.
Let's go bother them.
They're in Berea as well.
And verse number 14, then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go
as it were to the sea, but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.
So again, they hear about the Jews coming.
So they, Paul, get out of here.
All right.
They're going to arrest you.
They're going to cause you problems.
But Paul goes, I guess he's the most well known, the face that everybody
recognizes, but thankfully Silas and Timotheus are able to stay there and
help that Thessalonian church in its infancy, okay, in the early days there,
as Paul does something else.
And we get to verse number 15.
And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens and receiving a commandment
unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed.
So Paul eventually makes his way to Athens.
I guess once he gets himself established there, he sends a message
back to Silas and Timotheus to say, Hey, come and help me in Athens.
All right.
Verse number 16.
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw
the city wholly given to idolatry.
Therefore the spirit here in the synagogue with the Jews and with the
devout persons and in the markets daily with them that met with him.
All right.
So he gets to Athens and he sees all the idols.
He sees all the temples of false gods and wherever it is, right.
And he's like, Oh man, these people so lost.
He's so bothered by their false worship to these false gods.
And so now he's active every day.
He goes to the synagogue, I guess on the Sabbath.
And then daily in the markets, daily in the public places, he's there preaching Jesus Christ.
Verse number 18.
All right.
So they're kind of curious.
I mean, I think the, you know, the Greeks back in the philosophers, you know, Greek
philosophers in these days were kind of renowned for searching wisdom and new
teachings to test things out.
And so they're like, what's this guy saying?
Let's listen to what he has to say.
All right.
Um, and like, is it, he's preaching about some other God, some God named Jesus and
the fact that he resurrected from the dead, verse number 19, and they took him and
brought him on to a real pegas saying, may we know what this new doctrine
where of their speakers is for that bring us certain strange things to our ears.
We would know therefore what these things mean for all the Athenians and strangers,
which were, they spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
All right.
So you can see these, these Greek philosophers, whatever it says, all they
do with their time, okay, is just to learn and to hear some new things.
That's all, that's all they do with their time.
They're not working a job.
They're not caring for their families.
All right.
Let's, uh, let's more information.
And I feel like this is 2025, the internet, Facebook X, Twitter, by the way,
YouTube, a signal, signal and telesham and what else?
Instagram.
And, uh, we live in the information age and it's, it's good though.
It's interesting.
You can learn so many things.
I'm constantly wondering and like, you know, uh, one of the blessings of being
able to read the Bible in this day and age is when I read the scriptures and I read
about certain towns or places, I quickly jump, jump onto like chat, GPT or something
like that, or grok.
There's a grok.
I can't remember what they call it, right?
Or what's the, what's the Chinese one, deep seek.
And I just start asking questions to, you know, to see what, like, what, what AI has
to say, like how far is, you know, Troas from Philippi as I'm reading these things,
just to get kind of picture of things or, you know, it's kind of nice.
It's kind of helpful, right?
But you know, as well as I do that, how easy it is for us to get lost in the
information world and all we seek is new information.
All we seek is to listen to new things and we waste our time.
Boy, we waste our time and I don't have time to waste.
I've told you guys, I've just had a new course.
It requires a good minimum 16 hours or 32 hours.
If I want to get it done in the year, you know, to find you in the week.
And I'm just like, Oh man, I've got to get off the internet.
You know, these, I mean, praise God, they're actually curious.
Paul, what are you talking about?
That's new.
That's interesting.
Let's hear what you have to say.
I mean, at least, at least they're here in the scriptures.
That's, that's awesome.
But I don't want to be like this philosophers where I'm just
wasting my time with information.
Better to put into practice the few things that you know in the Bible
then to know everything and not put those things into practice.
You're just listening, listening, listening here and here.
Oh, something new, something new.
Yeah, but what are you doing in your life?
Anyway, what am I up to?
Oh, verse number 22, sorry.
Verse number 22.
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, you men of Athens, I
perceive that in all things, ye are too superstitious, too superstitious.
Again, it sounded like, we would say like, you're too religious.
I mean, cause Paul's seen the idols and all the things and you know, the, so
it's like, you're really like religious, you're really superstitious people
wondering about that God and these gods and whatever it is, right.
He goes, man, I see that you guys are trying to absorb information all the time.
So then he uses that to his advantage though, right?
Verse number 23 says, for as I passed by and be beheld your devotions, I
found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God, whom therefore ye
ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
The Greeks were so concerned that they would not be worshiping, they'd
forget a God, it's kind of like, I don't know if we have this in Australia, but
I think they have this in the United States, like the temples made with hands.
Neither is worshiped with men's hands and though he needed, as though he
needed anything, seen he give to all life and breath and all things, he goes, look,
this God doesn't need temples, he doesn't need anything from you, he's the one
that provides everything to you, he gives you life, he gives you everything.
Verse number 26, and have made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell
on all the face of the earth and have determined the times before appointed and
the bounds of their habitation, I love that he made of one blood, all nations
of men, because Paul's a Greek and speaking to the, sorry, a Jew, and he's
speaking to the Greek and it's like, you know, he's the God of all of us.
We're all one blood, right?
God cares for all of us, not just the Jews only or something like that, right?
He's the God of all.
Verse number 27, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel
after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us, for in him
we live and move and have our being, as certain also of your own poets have
said, for we are also his offspring.
So this is a great sermon, a great sermon that he's preaching.
The Lord is nearby, you know, we can know him, essentially is what
he's trying to say, we can know this unknown God, he's nearby, he allows
us to live and to move, like everything we do is because of the laws that
he's put into place, he gives us this freedom of life that we get to experience.
Verse number 29, for as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not
to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by
art and man's device, so it goes, look, this God, you can't draw him, you
can't create an idol for him, all right?
The Godhead is too great for all of these things, you know, you can't have
a graven image that describes this God.
And again, this goes back a little bit, I won't spend too much time, but this
goes back to the fact that we worship the Bible, the God of the Bible is a
triune God, one God manifest in three persons, and people say, well, explain
it to me, I need to understand, father, son, and holy ghost, if you want me
to create some type of image, you know, some type of graven art, draw something
for you to make you understand, you know, bring up free people here, well,
this is how God, the father is, God, there's just no way, right?
Like we try our best to understand God, we understand that, you know, in the
natural world, there can be things that can be three and one, we understand
that the Bible teaches my wife and I, we're one flesh, but we're not just
one flesh, we've got two fleshers, we've got two bodies, but the Bible
says we're one flesh, and we understand that, you know, God uses language like
this to help us understand the reality of who he is, and who he is, is one
God in three persons, so there's nothing that I can bring to the table,
some type of creation that will show, oh, this is how God is, the only way,
you know, is by searching the scriptures, okay, searching the scriptures
daily, Lord, reveal yourself to me, you know, I can see that you're a father,
you're a son, you're a holy ghost, and yet Jesus is not the father, and the
father is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit didn't die on the cross,
and God the father was not born of Mary, that was the son of God, and the name
Jesus is used to distinguish the son from the father, and the son from the
Holy Spirit, so Jesus is the son, we make these conclusions based on the clear
scriptures of the Bible, the only way to understand God is to understand the
scriptures, and what's funny about that, I have no problem with that, like, I know,
like, I must feel like I know God better than anybody, like, better than
anybody, I know anybody else, because I can talk to my brethren here, and you
could just lie to me, and I don't know, I don't know if you're lying to me, or
telling me the truth, I mean, I assume you're telling the truth, don't get me
wrong, right, but my God never lies, like, everything he says in the word is true,
everything he says about him is true, and I know the father loves me, I know
that he sent his son to die in my place, that Christ rose from the dead, I know
that I have the Holy Spirit living inside of me, he's my teacher, he's my
guide, and he bears witness to my spirit that I'm saved, that I'm a child of God, I
know God very, very well, very personally, the God that is near, but I can't really
draw your picture, and this is the God, I know him, I pray to him, I talk to
him, he talks to me through his word, he leads me when I pray, and I ask for his
direction, he gives me guidance, he gives me wisdom, he answers my prayers better
than I required, than I wanted, he answers them even better than I could ever
imagine, I've seen his reality in my life, I've seen the answered prayers, I've seen
the blessings, you know, I've seen miracles, you know, twelve kids to me is a
miracle, I've seen that, that's who I know, that's my God, you know, so Paul is
explaining this real God that we can know, okay, and he's close, and he doesn't
have to be unknown, you know, he reveals himself in his word, look at verse number
30, and the times of this ignorance, God winked at, but now commandeth all men
everywhere to repent, so this ignorance is that they did not know the unknown God,
okay, they're ignorant, they have no knowledge, and Paul says look, God has
winked at your ignorance, but now as he's preaching the true God, as he's preaching
Jesus Christ, he says but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, so repent
from what? Repent from your false gods, and repent to the former unknown God,
which I'm now proclaiming to you to be the creator of all things, and of course
Jesus Christ, now one question that I used to get a lot many years ago, is what
does it mean for God to wink at the ignorance, to wink at? Well, keep your
finger there, come with me to Job 15, come with me to Job 15, Job 15, the title for
the sermon is Search the Scriptures Daily, now when we wink, if I were to wink at you
or something like that, you know, we kind of think about it like being a bit, a bit
cheeky maybe, maybe joking, like we might joke about, like I might say something
offensive to you as a joke, and I might just wink, like I'm just joking brother,
something like that, right? That's kind of the idea that we have of modern day
winking, but in the Bible, winking is seen a little bit differently, and like I
told you, the title is Search the Scriptures Daily, so I want to understand, what does
it mean to wink at this ignorance? So look, I don't know what else to do, but to go
through the Bible, search the Bible, and say well Lord, where else do you mention
the word wink in the Bible? And there aren't that many references, there's only
five, we've already read one in Acts 17, but let's look at Job 15, and these are
the words of one of Job's friends, remember Job is, has been, has lost much, and
he's sick, and he's got these three friends that are more like three enemies, you
know, but these are the words of one of his friends in Job 15 verse 12,
Why doth thine heart carry thee away? And what do thy ears, sorry, eyes wink at?
So you can see the eyes winking at is something similar to your heart being
carried away, verse 13, that thou turnest thy spirit against God, and let us such
words go out of thy mouth. So one of Job's friends is, you know, he's wrong, but
he's accusing Job of having turned against God, and he says in one, one way
to explain that he's turned away from God is that you've, you've winked at at
God, you've winked at it. So we can understand, okay, so winking, when you
think about just closing your eyes, is that, you know, you're looking past
something, right? So it's like, you know, you close your eyes briefly, and so you've
got darkness, and you can't seek with clarity, and so it's kind of like the
fact that you've turned away from God shows that you've winked toward at God,
like you've, you know, you're looking past God's expectations from you, God's
desire for you, and you're going and doing your own thing Job. So just keep
that kind of in mind, right? Okay, kind of understand that. Coming to Psalm 35,
Psalm 35, Psalm 35, in verse number 19,
Psalm 35, 19, Psalm 35, 19, the Psalmist says,
All right, so the ones that are winking are enemies that are
winking at the Psalmist. Okay, so when I look at this, and again, looking at the
whole Psalm, as you know, the Psalm as a whole, is that his enemies are kind of
looking down at him, they're obviously against him, they hate him. And so again,
by winking, it's kind of like we're disregarding who you are, we're looking
beyond who you are, you know, we're looking down upon you, you know, we don't
see you as someone of character or of importance or anything like that, we're
going to wink at you because, you know, we see you as an enemy, we want to see
you fail. Okay, so okay, all right, winking, again, kind of looking beyond
his character and looking at him as a sinner, seeing him as a wicked person,
or something like that, right, as an enemy, something like that. Now come
into Proverbs chapter six, please, Proverbs chapter six, Proverbs chapter
six, let's look at the third reference, Proverbs chapter six.
And again, you do your own reading, maybe the way I'm explaining this,
not perfect, but you get the gist. Winking is kind of looking past something,
right, looking beyond something and closing your eyes, darkening your eyes
briefly. And Proverbs chapter six, verse number 12. It says,
A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a throwered mouth. He winketh
with his eyes, says the winking, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth
with his fingers, forwardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually,
he soweth discord, therefore shall his calamity come suddenly, suddenly
shall he be broken without remedy. Oh, okay, so a naughty person, a wicked
person, again, he's winking with his eyes. And as he winks with his eyes,
he's going and caring about doing wicked things, not realizing that
destruction is coming. So it's kind of like looking past or beyond the
consequences of his actions by winking, you know, and just following his
wicked ways. Once you start thinking about that, okay, so okay, it's kind of
like us, like, if we were to sin against God, we're like, well, maybe God
would just let me get away with this one sin. Like, like, it's kind of like
that. I don't think God can judge me right now. I think he's going to let
me go. He's a God of mercy. I don't think he's going to judge me for this
sin. And it's kind of like that idea. It's like, I think he's going to look
beyond, you know, the judgment that I should receive. All right, now come with
me to Proverbs 10, Proverbs 10, Proverbs 10 and verse number nine.
Proverbs 10 and verse number nine, he that walketh uprightly walketh surely,
but he that perverted his ways shall be known. He that winketh with the eye
cause of sorrow, but a practicing fool shall fall. So you can see that, that
winks of the eyes cause of sorrow and he will also fall. It's kind of that
idea again, you're closing your eyes. So when you're briefly closing your eyes,
you can fall. It's kind of like when you're driving, you're very tired and
you have a micro sleep. Your eyes like that. You can have an accident, right?
It's dangerous. But oh, what we see, uh, as the opposite of that, verse number
nine, the one that walketh uprightly. All right. So when I look at all these
passages, I look at, okay, the winking has something to do with
not doing or, uh, looking beyond, looking past something that you should be
doing. And so the easiest way to go back and do something wicked is to kind of
wink toward God or to, to what is his righteous ways. And I'm not winking like
a, like a cheeky thing. It's just like, you know, I'm going to overlook that.
I'm going to look beyond that and I'm going to chase my, my things, not
considering the end result, which is destruction or judgment that might come
from those wicked ways. All right. Now, if we go back, just looking at the
scriptures, those are all references to winking that I can see. Okay. Maybe you
have a better way to explain all these verses. So then when we get back to act
17 and verse number 30, act 17 and verse number 30, it says, and the times of
this ignorance, God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to
repent. So what I read out of this is that God historically has looked past
your idolatry. All right. They should be judged. And look, if they die, they
still go to hell. They haven't received Christ, all of that. Okay. But we know
many times in the Bible, idolaters, wicked cities, God judges, right? Like
the story of Nineveh, things like that. Okay. When there's a wicked city, God
will judge like a Sodom and Gomorrah, things like that. Well, it looks like to
me that Athens should be a city. It's so wicked. It's so full of idols. It's too
superstitious, superstitious that it should have been destroyed. But because
of the lack of, because of the ignorance, not knowing the true God of the
Bible, God has winked at them and it's like, let it go, looked past it, but now
no more because the gospels come to Athens. The gospels come to Athens and
it's time for them to receive Christ. It's them to repent from their false
gods. Otherwise, destruction's on the way. And if we continue then in verse
number 31, because he have appointed a day in the which he would judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he had ordained, whereof he have given
assurance unto all men in that he have raised him from the dead. So he says,
God will give judgment to the one that he raised from the dead. Jesus is the
one that's going to judge you, Athens. Verse number 32. And when they heard of
the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. Not a good move. And others said,
we will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. He
doesn't really have a great result of preaching the gospel to them. Okay. Some
mock. Others say, well, we want to hear it again. We want to hear what you have
to say. You know, we need to hear it twice. This is new to us. We want to
hear it because that's all they do. All they do is listen to things, right? They
don't act upon things. And he's telling them, look, Christ is going to judge
you. Okay. You can't get away from this ignorance anymore. Historically,
God's winked at it. Historically, God's looked past it. He's allowed your
city to stand, but your judgment is coming. Okay. In Christ Jesus. But then
it says here in verse number 33. So Paul departed from among them,
how be it certain men clave unto him. Oh, so there was some good results. Okay.
And believed. Not a lot, not like the other places where not a few men
believed and many of the honorable women, you know, we had many getting saved in
Berea and Thessalonica. He's not getting the results in Athens, but there are a
few, praise God, few that clave to him and believed. Among the witch was Dionysus,
the Aeropagates and a woman named Damarius and others with them. All right,
brethren, that's Acts 17. Thank you for your patience. The title for the song was
Search the Scriptures Daily. Search the scriptures daily. Please, whatever you
hear, Pastor Kevin, some other preacher, anything you listen to from God's Word,
positions or debates and discussions and articles that you read, please always go
back to the scriptures yourself. Ground yourself in the truth. Be more noble than
other believers. You know, ground yourself in the scriptures. Know the truth. Put
into practice what I just did with the winking. Okay. We've got a better idea of
what it means to, for the Lord to have winked at that in the past, but now
they're going to be judged by Jesus Christ. All right, brethren, let's pray.