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Day 311, or November the 7th. Don't just take

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my word for it. Our thoughts today are rooted

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in Acts chapter 17, verse 11. Now the Berean

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Jews were of more noble character than those

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in Thessalonica, for they received the message

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with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures

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every day to see if what Paul said was true.

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And now the big picture surrounding this verse.

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Paul's second missionary journey takes him through

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Asia Minor, or present -day Turkey, and on into

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Europe as he travels the full length of Greece

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from north to south. We learn of groups of European

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believers in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and

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Athens. And now today's action step. There are

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many ways to describe a group of believers. You

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may describe them by the way they worship, or

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dress, or by their major attribute or belief.

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The fellowship at Berea was marked out by its

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attitude to the scriptures. A common mistake

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today is to see a group described as evangelicals,

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and assume that simply means they preach the

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gospel. Well, hopefully that is true, but the

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proper word for that is evangelists, i .e. people

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devoted to spreading the gospel and trying to

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persuade others to become Christians. To be an

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evangelical means more than that. It means your

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life's foundation is the word of God, and evangelism

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comes out of that, and provides a sound basis

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for the whole of life. By this definition, the

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Bereans... appear to be evangelicals. Spreading

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the gospel is vital and the very lifeblood of

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the church, but without a firm grounding in the

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Bible, making converts into disciples can be

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a very difficult task. Being an evangelical is

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not without its problems, as some parts of the

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Bible are really difficult to understand. However,

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not being an evangelical makes you more susceptible

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to the whims of others, some who think their

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scholarly qualifications enable them to correct

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the Bible when it disagrees with their beliefs.

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Be sure to use the Bible as your litmus test

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for everything you believe.