SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES (1)

Next month I have been asked to preach either 2 or 3 times in our local church, I began to pray and felt to do a short series, and I believe the Lord has put on my heart the theme

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES

The very best example of this found in the Word of God is the action of the Bereans in Acts 17:11 NKJV These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. The MESSAGE BIBLE says, The Jews received Paul’s message with enthusiasm and met with him daily, examining the Scriptures to see if they supported what he said.   The AMPLIFIED BIBLE also expresses it so well Now these [Jews] were better disposed and more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they were entirely ready and accepted and welcomed the message [concerning the attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God] with inclination of mind and eagerness, searching and examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
These translations tell us that the Bereans were,

• More fair minded
• Enthusiastic
• Better disposed

Wherever Paul went on his travels, when he arrived in a town or a city, he would first go to the Synagogue and share about Jesus as Messiah, in virtually every place the Jews totally rejected his teaching, so Paul would then go and preach to the Gentiles and planted churches throughout the region.
We know the statement and the reality that “History repeats itself”, and down through the centuries overwhelmingly Christians have repeatedly rejected new or recovered truth. Either because:

• Their minds were closed
• Or sadly they saw extremes, and “threw the baby out with the bathwater”.

My readers will know I love Church History, and what is called RESTORATION THEOLOGY, none of us would like to have lived during the “Dark Ages” and lived in a period where the Scriptures were locked away and kept from God’s people,  God knowing the day would come when basically all truth was lost to the Church  spoke through the prophet Isaiah and said in 58:12 NKJV Those from among you shall build up the old waste places, You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of streets to dwell in.
This Prophecy was fulfilled more than once, and especially as far as the Church is concerned and began to be gloriously fulfilled in an awesome way at the time of the Reformation, this time was the beginning of God restoring truth that had been lost to the Church for hundreds of years, I wonder if there is still truth to be restored to the Church, and we must continue to do the BEREAN THING and continue to search the Scriptures.
At this time I am also writing my “Memoirs” and will be mentioning in a chapter the men God brought into my life whose ministry and life and teaching dramatically impacted my life, my spiritual life and ministry journey would not be what it is today but for them.
In relation to the topic I am writing about here (and many other aspects of truth), I was massively impacted by Dr Kevin J. Conner, an internationally recognised Bible Teacher and author of over 40 books, who is still alive but sadly now very frail.
I can see this teaching is going to become a series, as there is so much I want to share. until next time let me encourage you to look at Acts 3:19-21 especially in the AMPLIFIED and begin to mediate on what Peter said in his first Pentecost Sermon.