Seekers of God
Notes
Transcript
A. Rapport for the time
Michael Phelps swam 13 kilometres a day, six or seven days a week…at least 80,000 meters every week. 1 trip down the pool is 25 meters..Trained in 2 sessions a day spending 5-6 hours in the pool a day.
Michael Phelps 400 a day in a pool...
10,000—calories a day…divided into 3 large meals.
Won 82 medals in major international competitions
23 gold medals at the Olympics, 3 silvers, 2 bronze medals..
He himself became the standard by which other swimmers will be measured until the next Michael Phelps comes along..
B. Reading of the text
10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.
11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.
14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there.
15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.
C. Review of the text
9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
I never got to verse 9 last week..got to excited about the first 8 I guess and left you guys with the mystery of what happened to Jason and everyone else.
D. Relevance of the text
I. Sufficiency of Scripture
I. Sufficiency of Scripture
10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.
11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Paul and Silas leave Thessalonica and because essentially they are driven out. I can’t get over how each event is different in the life of Paul and Silas, they seem so human. As Christians being led by the Spirit of God they are allowing themselves to follow the leading of the Lord. This time it brings them to Berea. Not a huge town but an important one for you and I.
Understand the people in Berea do not have the full council of God that you and I hold in our hands this morning.
What stands out in this passage in these few short verses is the desire of the people to know the truth. That would seem like an important thing to us but if we are honest it really is not. Very often we don’t want to be told the truth we want to hear something that is comforting or will leave us alone. Scripture tells us that people will get to the point they don’t want to hear the truth..
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
This started in the early church and continues on to this very day. It goes back much farther.
Famine of the Word sent by the Lord...
11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.
Our Hearts are deceitful
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Eating the word
16 Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.
Eating the word—to be shared by others
1 And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”
2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat.
3 And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.
10 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.
11 And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.”
Falling in love with the word of God
11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
24 Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.
47 for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.
97 Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
129 Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.
162 I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.
174 I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight.
The New Testament tells us that the word gives us life through Christ.
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Jesus prayed we would be sanctified in the truth.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
14 Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness,
17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
T.S. Now understand that the scripture we search, hunger, and thirst after is meant to change our hearts but not just for the sake of change or knowledge. Scripture changes people.
II. Scripture changes people
II. Scripture changes people
12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!—
21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,
22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
III. People can be trouble
III. People can be trouble
13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.
14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there.
15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.