Day 311, or November the 7th. Don't just take
my word for it. Our thoughts today are rooted
in Acts chapter 17, verse 11. 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.
And now the big picture surrounding this verse.
Paul's second missionary journey takes him through
Asia Minor, or present -day Turkey, and on into
Europe as he travels the full length of Greece
from north to south. We learn of groups of European
believers in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and
Athens. And now today's action step. There are
many ways to describe a group of believers. You
may describe them by the way they worship, or
dress, or by their major attribute or belief.
The fellowship at Berea was marked out by its
attitude to the scriptures. A common mistake
today is to see a group described as evangelicals,
and assume that simply means they preach the
gospel. Well, hopefully that is true, but the
proper word for that is evangelists, i .e. people
devoted to spreading the gospel and trying to
persuade others to become Christians. To be an
evangelical means more than that. It means your
life's foundation is the word of God, and evangelism
comes out of that, and provides a sound basis
for the whole of life. By this definition, the
Bereans... appear to be evangelicals. Spreading
the gospel is vital and the very lifeblood of
the church, but without a firm grounding in the
Bible, making converts into disciples can be
a very difficult task. Being an evangelical is
not without its problems, as some parts of the
Bible are really difficult to understand. However,
not being an evangelical makes you more susceptible
to the whims of others, some who think their
scholarly qualifications enable them to correct
the Bible when it disagrees with their beliefs.
Be sure to use the Bible as your litmus test
for everything you believe.