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Go ahead and look first at Acts 17 . See how God speaks to you individually. Then come back, if you wish, and see what God has put in my mind/heart.

Key Verse(s): Acts 17:13

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Title: Examining the Scriptures

Observation: Preachers can get into to trouble when they are given too much unquestioned authority. There is always the temptation is to twist the text to say what you want it to say, to make it fit more neatly into the three point outline. Or perhaps we are tempted to use the scripture as a launching point to pontificate on something that we want to say. Instead, we need to be held to account to allow the scripture to speak, that human philosophy would not be preached, but the manifest wisdom of God would be presented.

The Bereans seemed to understand that. While Paul was probably accredited to them as a reliable preacher from the Jews in other cities in Greece, they were only willing to follow Paul as far as scripture allowed. They were insistent that everything being spoken must align with scripture.

We would do well to do the same. We need to not get caught up in the latest fads or “winds of doctrine [eph 4]” but try out everything in accordance with God’s word. Only then will we be on the bedrock of faith that we can legitimately build a life on.

Application: I need to be faithful to allow the text of the scripture to speak, to not read into the text things that I want to say. I need to be faithful in study so that I don’t merely get the cursory or surface level, but understand deeply the words that God has given me to speak on. I need to be accountable for what I preach- to God and to the church.

Prayer: Lord God, give me the patience, time, and humility to slog through the texts that I preach on. Help me to see the value in study, and give me your peace in understanding that that time spent in research is time well spent. Re-kindle my love for studying your word deeply and delighting in the nuance of text. Help me to be faithful as I render them in speech.

In Jesus Name,
Amen.

# posted by Matt Real @ 10:49 PM