LIFE SCRIPTS

10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. 13 But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. 14 The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
Acts 17:10‭-‬15 NIV

https://bible.com/bible/111/act.17.10-15.NIV.

Berea had noble people as scripture puts it. Why? They examined scripture to see if Paul spoke the truth. A rarety in our day of self proclaimed apostles who peddle their own stories misleading people en masse. Berea was a smaller town than Thessaloniki. But they scrutinized Paul’s message and measured it against the truth of God’s word. No one who speaks the word of God is above it. At times we hear of preachers who want to be treated as untouchables and resist any attempt to question their heretic teachings. Paul was open and willing to be challenged because God reveals Himself directly to His people also. But Berea wasn’t a place devoid of trouble. The inciters in Thessaloniki stirred up trouble by sending a band of crooks to incite the mob to send away Paul and Silas. There seemed to be a pattern of Paul entering a town, meeting up with interested people at the temple and turning their hearts to God before a group of malevolent agitators show up to send them packing. Just because we are conveyor belts of the truth doesn’t mean that we won’t face opposition. Quite on the contrary. We shall be hunted down both literally and figuratively. But we must be ready and anticipate these tactics of the wicked one. As Christians, we shall face persecution for the faith we profess and seek to share.