VALIDATE EVERYTHING

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.

Acts 17:10-12

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I have had the privilege to teach from the Bible for nearly 30 years now. I would like to feel like I’ve become pretty skilled at it and have gained a pretty significant following, both at my home church and through my online ministry. And yet, there is one tried and true axiom I have pushed throughout my years of instruction:

Validate everything.

Why?

Because the Bible cautions over and over and over again about the dangers of false prophets and teachers, sinful wolves that come within a precious flock of the Lord wearing sheep’s clothing.

How can you be sure you aren’t being led astray unless you fact check what someone is teaching you. To not do so is foolhardy.

As we see in our passage for today, Paul and Silas have moved on from Thessalonica, getting out of the city as the Jews there schemed against them. We read where the great escape happened under the cloak of night’s darkness as the apostles journeyed southwest about 50 miles to Berea and as was their custom, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

There, the scriptures tell us that they encountered a much different Jewish reception than during their prior stop. For the Berean Jews were “of more noble character than those in Thessalonica”.

What made them that way?

First of all, they received the message with great eagerness. The Berean Jews were excited about learning about this new Gospel message that touted a new covenant between God and His people through Jesus, the Messiah the prophets had foretold. As he often did, Paul used the scriptures to support his messages, wanting to make sure his listeners know that God’s work was grounded in His word, not in the stories fabricated by skilled worldly story tellers.

The second thing that distinguished the Berean Jews from their Thessalonian counterparts was that they “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” They didn’t just take what Paul said at face value. They immersed themselves in God’s word as well to test Paul’s words for accuracy and truth. Therefore, the believers were doubly enriched, first hearing a message grounded in the scriptures and then being reinforced by the corroboration and substantiation of the spoken truths.  

The outcome showed the important of both for we read where a number of the Berean Jews, as well as some Gentiles described as “prominent Greek women and many Greek men”, believed in Jesus as Savior and as a result were saved.

Friends, it’s not just enough to hear someone preach and teach from the Word. You need to read it yourself, allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate and enlighten your understanding, and then apply that understanding toward testing the teaching you received.

Validate everything.

If a pastor or Bible teacher is on the up and up, you will always see that they are telling the truth in everything that they say.

If they aren’t, their sinful instruction will be exposed and you will be spared from being led down the wrong path in life.

Paul committed to speak the truth as he represented Jesus and then the people authenticated his message using the scriptures before committing themselves to follow Christ forever.

Thanks be to God for the gift of His Word and those who deliver it conscientiously and honestly.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com