Paul Witnesses in Berea (Acts 17:10–15)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, August 17, 2025

I read the following:

WHAT ARE YOU FEEDING ON? I really enjoy visiting Yellowstone. In fact, one of these days, when Jesus comes back, I’ve got dubs on Yellowstone! Come and visit me for a while! Once when I was visiting the greatest national park in America, I heard a story about bears that was amazing. In the 1950s and 60’s, tourists could drive right up to a bear, roll down their window, and feed their McDonald’s hamburger to the hungry animal. He would gladly take the burger along with the hand of the tourist! The bears were changing their feeding habits and endangering visitors. As a result, the National Park Service removed the bears and took them to higher country where God had already provided for them a natural diet of luscious berries. However, because the bears had changed their feeding patterns, many of them refused to eat the berries, and some actually died.  This story is an incredible picture of the lives of many believers in Christ. Sadly, many of us have been delivered out of spiritual Egypt and bondage to sin, but we have not been brought into the Promised Land of victory. It is interesting that God told the Israelites to eat the roasted lamb they had sacrificed (Exodus 12). The Passover lamb is a picture of the death of Christ. But feeding on the lamb is a picture of how we grow in Christ once we have been saved. What are you feeding on in your personal life? Are you spending time alone with Christ in the Word of God? Are you allowing the junk food of this world’s values to destroy your spiritual appetite for the Word of God? Feed on the Lamb of God and don’t allow the Enemy to feed you a lie.

Everyone pick up a Bible, hold it. This book tells you how to attain eternal life. This book gives you wisdom for life.

So, you are going on a trip, you choose the destination, wherever you want.

Where would you go? Shout out some places, just shout them out…

Okay, how are you going to get there?

What will you do once you arrive?

Do you think you may check out AAA or something? What if they don’t have food, indoor plumbing, or gas stations? Do you want to learn about a place before you visit it?

Why don’t we do that with our eternal life? We are going there; we are going to spend eternity in that place. Don’t you want to invest as much in eternity, or hopefully more, than you would in a vacation? Don’t we want to study Heaven? The Bible has a great deal to say about Heaven. Don’t we want to get to know God and Jesus better? He gave us eternal life.

The music director at the church I served in Cincinnati shared with me how every morning she would see her father studying the Bible. He would have his commentary, his Bible dictionary, and his study Bible. He would study the Bible before his job at the factory. Get this, he got up at something like 4:30 am to study the Bible.

He must have been like the Bereans.

In Acts 17:10-15, Paul comes to Berea and presents the Gospel. These people searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul shared was true. Many were saved. Let’s study that passage, and I challenge you to be like a Berean.

The great idea today is that the Bereans were studious, learners; they were not ignorant.

The application: emulate their example.

Acts 17:10–15 (NASB95)

10     The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

11     Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

12     Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.

13     But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds.

14     Then immediately the brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and Silas and Timothy remained there.

15     Now those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.

1. Context:
   1. Paul is chased from Thessalonica to Berea, and in verse 10, he arrives in Berea. This is Paul’s second nighttime escape. In Acts 9:25, Paul had to escape by night as well.
   2. What was that like for Paul? I wonder what it was like for the early Christians?
   3. What was it like to flee from one place under threat of death?
   4. Are you out much after dark? I like to run early in the morning because of time commitments. I enjoy gazing at the stars and marveling at God’s beauty. But sometimes I’ll go down a street and something will scare me. I’ll see an animal or hear something. For Paul, there was no time for noticing the beauty of creation. He traveled at night because of the threat. There was much danger traveling during that time period, and especially after dark. I once read a book called Night in Times Past. The book was about the great fear and dangers of the night prior to the advent of electric lighting. Paul did a lot of traveling and faced numerous dangers.
   5. This case is no different. Paul and Silas traveled 50 miles southwest from their last location. Can you imagine 50 miles? By the way, Berea is situated on the side of a mountain, and traveling there was not easy.
   6. Paul arrives in Berea and goes to the synagogue to start preaching. That has been his modus operandi. Verse 11 says that the Bereans were more noble-minded than the people of Thessalonica. The Bereans examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul was teaching was true.
   7. Verse 11 contrasts with the people in Thessalonica. The people of Thessalonica chased Paul out.
   8. A lot of times we hold up the Bereans as a standard, and probably right to do so. But the reality is that they were more noble than where Paul had just come from.
   9. They were ready to learn.
   10. The Bible states that they discovered Paul’s words to be true.
   11. You know what, they were going to the Old Testament to confirm this. Do you realize that the Old Testament has enough information to confirm who Jesus is?
   12. Many were saved. Jewish people were saved. Greek men and women were saved.
   13. Then the people from Thessalonica come to Berea and stir up a riot chasing Paul out.
   14. Now, Paul goes to Athens.
2. Let me encourage you to be like the Bereans.
   1. The Bereans did study the Scriptures.
   2. Where do we get wisdom? Where are we receiving our wisdom? You see, everywhere we go, we have messages being fed to us. Where is the wisdom though?
   3. The wisdom is in the Bible. Moreover, as the Bereans discovered, eternal life is a central theme in the Bible. You see, Paul came declaring this Truth that they had not been taught, and they did not know what to think of it. So, what did they do? Did they turn on Home Shopping Channel to see what to think? Did they turn on ESPN to see what to think? Did they go to CNN, FOX News, or the Newspaper to see what to think? No, they went to the Bible.
   4. Okay, so two applications: The Bible is eternal life, and the Bible is wisdom to shape our worldview.
   5. You see, first, you must know Jesus for eternal life. Without Jesus, you are disconnected from God and all eternity. You need eternity. Search the Scriptures, they are all about ways to freely receive eternal life.
   6. Once you know Jesus, you get fed True, Heavenly, Spirit-filled wisdom from the Bible.

A woman was driving home one night. The weather was really nasty. Rain was coming down in buckets and visibility was very poor. Seeing taillights ahead of her, she followed the car in front. Not being able to see, the car in front seemed to be going in the right direction. So she stuck with it. All of a sudden the car in front of her came to a stop. She began to wonder what had happened; perhaps the car in front had hit a deer or something like that. She began to feel uncomfortable; thinking being stopped in the middle of the road can often lead to accidents. Much to her alarm the car in front of her turned off their lights. Her concern was now growing as well as her anger, and she was then startled by a knocking on her window. She looked up, and there was a man standing in the pouring rain, wanting to speak to her. She cracked the window open and asked the man what the problem was. The man replied by stating that that was the question he was going to ask her. She retorted that she wasn’t the one who had stopped in the middle of the road and then turned off the car lights. The man’s reply was that they were not in the middle of the road, but in his driveway. Obviously, this woman had chosen the wrong leader to follow. She had chosen a leader who would not take her to where she wanted and needed to go. She had chosen the wrong leader and the wrong road.

We follow information, we follow Truth, what is your source?

About 12 years ago, I heard about a book, which I read part of, The Smartest Kids in the World and How they Got that Way. Part of the studies showed that children that rank highest in the world on test scores see their parents reading at home.

The challenge: Be like the Noble Bereans, who search the Scriptures and study them.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray