Using the Scriptures, Paul had successfully persuaded some of the Thessalonian Jews and many of the Gentiles that “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ” (Acts 17:3 NKJV). However, envious Jews who were not persuaded incited yet another uproar, and “Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea” (Acts 17:10 NKJV). Pastor Kevin emphasizes that Paul’s efforts to persuade people that Jesus is the Christ clearly demonstrates that people do have a choice – they can be persuaded to believe, or they can choose to reject the gospel.
In the synagogues of Berea, Paul found that the Jews 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. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men” (Acts 17:11 NKJV). The antagonistic Jews from Thessalonica soon arrived to incite hostilities in Berea, and so Paul departs by sea for Athens, while Silas and Timothy remained there.
Paul has now been “run out of town” for the eighth time by evil men inciting mobs to violence. We see parallels to these strategies in our own day. Pastor Kevin warns the day is fast approaching when it will be impossible to run for safety anywhere due to global surveillance and the soon-coming digital economic system. And in a time of increasing delusion, apostasy and biblical illiteracy in the church, Pastor Kevin exhorts us to diligently read and study the Scriptures as the preeminent source of truth.
Maranatha!
For information about the book Testing the Doctrine of Original Sin by Pastor Kevin, referred to in today’s study, click here.
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