SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES
Acts 17:1-12
By Mike Gurganus

1. We would like to welcome you to a new TV program brought to you by the Henderson church of Christ entitled "Searching The Scriptures."

2. We would like to encourage you to call or write us if you would like for us to discuss a particular Bible topic or answer a Bible question that you might have.

3. We will seek simply to set forth to you what the Bible teaches concerning your topic or question.

4. Our telephone number is 492-2416 and you can write to us at Henderson church of Christ, PO Box. 916, Henderson, NC 27536.

5. Before we begin our program I would like to tell you a little about myself.

6. My name is Mike Gurganus, I am the preacher for the HCOC (Henderson Church of Christ) and the speaker for this program

7. As for me, I would like you to know that—

1. I love God more than anyone and anything else, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind'" Matthew 22:37

2. I love God to the point I am willing to exactly what He says, ""If you love Me, keep My commandments." John 14:15

3. I love God so much that I am willing to accept the responsibility of the greatest job on the face of this earth, that of proclaiming His message to a lost world and I feel as the apostle Paul did, "Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel" I Cor. 9:16

4. I love my soul, but more importantly I love your soul. I want to go to heaven, but more importantly I want you to go to heaven. But make no mistake the only way that we will spend eternity in heaven is by doing exactly what God says.

Matthew 7:21-23, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"

II Thess. 1:7-10, "And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed."

1. Now that I have told you of myself, let me tell you what I hope and pray I find in you.

1. I hope and pray that you will not accept what I am teaching simply because I am a preacher. Quite often and unfortunately the preacher is set forth as the authority (the preacher said and not God and His word.) My friends I am a human being and as such I am capable of my mistakes. I might make a mistake in my study of God’s word. I pray that as I teach you that you will write the scripture references down and look them up in that which contains no error because it is from God—His word (II Tim. 3:16,17). And that you will call or write me to show me from the Bible where I have been mistaken in my study, so that I can make the necessary changes in my study and thus be found pleasing to God and teach His word and not mine..

2. I pray also that you will not reject what I am teaching you simply because I am not your preacher, but you will write down the scripture references to check them out for yourself to determine if what I am teaching you is what God says. And I pray that you will have the humility and the courage to make the necessary changes and correction in your life in light of God’s word.

3. I pray also that you will realize that, "Men are not always wrong just because they disagree with one another on some subject. Men are not always right just because they agree with one another on some subject. Men are right or wrong as they agree or disagree with God. Psalm 119:89 "Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven."

4. I pray also that will strive to have the same mindset that Paul found in the Bereans when he taught them, "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. Therefore many of them believed…." Acts 17:11,12

1. So with that said, let us begin our study of God’s word together. Tonight’s lesson is aptly titled, "Searching The Scriptures". Our text for this evening lesson is Acts 17:1-12

2. From this text, I want us to notice two things that God has placed responsibility on both the proclaimer and the hearer of God’s word.

• Before we begin tonight’s lesson, we all need to understand this great truth, "with responsibility comes accountability". And that if we are, in this case, irresponsible with the word of God, God will hold us accountable.

• With that in mind, let us now consider the responsibility of the preacher and hearer of God’s Word.

1. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PREACHER OF GOD’S WORD.

1. God through His word has plainly set forth to us the responsibility of the preacher of His word.

1. I Peter 4:11

2. II Timothy 4:1-5, "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

3. Acts 17:3

1. Sadly, we have today equated the preacher with a "superstar" status that is unheard of in God’s word.

1. Acts 10:25,26, "As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I myself am also a man.""

1. Notice Peter says to Cornelius, "Get up, I am not God, I am nothing but a man"

2. But yet humanity treats the preacher as if he is God and often times never examine the scriptures for themselves to see if what he is saying is actually found in God’s word.

3. May we all realize that every faithful child of God (whether he is a preacher or not) is a superstar in the eyes of God.

1. The preacher is simply a messenger of God’s word and when he ceases to do this he ceases to be a messenger of God.

1. Nearly every book in the Bible warns the children of God not to succumb to false teachers and their teaching.

2. And yet in spite of God’s divine admonition this warning often goes unheeded.

3. For example, have you heard a preacher say—

1. That all you have to do to be saved is say a prayer. Not true, there is not a single verse of Scripture that teaches this. If there is please come show me.

2. That one church is good as another. Not true, there is not a single verse of Scripture that teaches this. If there is come show me.

3. That one can added to Lord’s church without being baptized. Not true, there is not a single verse of scripture that teaches this.

4. And on and on we could go, I think many of us would be shocked that many of the things we hold to as truth are not even found in God’s word.

1. May we realize that it will be the word of God by which we will be judged by on judgment day and not the preacher. John 12:48

1. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE HEARER OF GOD’S WORD.

1. Notice the responsibility of the hearer of God’s word from God Acts 17:10

1. How many of you have accepted this responsibility and are actually doing this.

2. Notice the people of Berea accepted their responsibility and searched the scriptures (even though it was the great apostle Paul who was doing the preaching) and so must we if we are to please God.

3. I having been preaching for the HCOC for over two years and nearly every lesson I have had the good fortune to preach I have challenged the brethren to accept their God-given responsibility to search the scriptures for themselves and not to take my word for it, for it is the scriptures that are the authority and not I.

4. And I ask you in every lesson that I have the good fortune to preach to you that you accept your God-given responsibility to search the scriptures for yourselves and not to take my word for it. For it is the scriptures that are the authority and not I.

1. I am going to be honest with you, searching the scriptures to see if what a preacher says is actually what God says is going to take a considerable amount of your time.

1. But I ask you this, "Is where your soul spends eternity important to you?"

2. The Bible teaches that only those who do the will of God will be in heaven (Mt. 7:21) then, shouldn’t you be willing to spend time in God’s word to see if what you are being asked to believe is actually found in God’s word.

1. May you the hearer of God’s word accept your God-given responsibility to search the scriptures to see if what you are being taught is actually what God is saying and if it is may you be willing to do what God says.

1. We have learned tonight of the responsibility that God has placed on the preacher and hearer of God’s word and having learned of our responsibility may each of us conduct ourselves accordingly.

2. May our mindset be, "God said it and that settles it"

3. And may we seek to be as the Bereans, "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."

4. I would like nothing more than to study the Bible with you concerning any question or subject you might have. It would be a honor and a privilege to sit down with you and together we could study to come to an understanding of the teachings of God. Please feel free to call or write me and I will be more than glad to set up a time to study the word of God with you.

5. My prayer for you, is that God will bless you richly in your study of His word. Take care and have a blessed week.