Article by:
Dr. Kelcey A. West, MDIV
Being born in 1971 meant that as a small child, my favorite television shows included Happy Days, All in The Family, and Good Times. As a teen, I fell in love with that magical Thursday night lineup on NBC that featured such shows as The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers, and Hill Street Blues.
You might recall how sandwiched between The Cosby Show and Family Ties was a show called A Different World.
I truly loved that show not because it allowed me to virtually attend an HBCU named Hillman with my teen crushes named Denise Huxtable and Whitley Gilbert, but because it allowed me to mature and graduate with a geeky freshman named Dewayne Wayne.
Dewayne Wayne ended up being the star of that show (in my eyes) not because he would eventually win the heart of Whitley Gilbert, but because he taught young men like me that good things really do come to those who wait.
Unfortunately, despite having earned a perfect score on his math SAT, Dewayne Wayne in one of the show’s most memorable episodes faced a crossroads when it was time for him to pick his calculus professor.
Did you hear what I just said, despite being a decorated math major, despite being on the Dean’s list, and despite having scored perfectly (as he reminded everybody) on his Math SATs, Dewayne Wayne needed affirmations and confirmations during that entire episode as a result of not wanting to accept the challenge to register for the class that was being taught by Colonel Bradford “Dr. War” Taylor.
To go left meant he could earn an easy A, but to remain on the path less traveled he would accept the challenge and sit at the feet of somebody who would and could challenge his ability to become the engineer that he told people he came to Hillman to become.
Now what I most remember about that episode is how right before it concluded, Dewayne Wayne while registering for his classes quickly whispered to the registrar – Give me Dr. War…before I change my mind.
Now the reason I am sharing that “episode summary” with you is because there are times when we need to do what we need to do before we change our minds. In fact, I am of the mindset that there are times when we need God to do what He needs to do before we change our minds.
And I say that because before Saul (the star of our Acts 17) could change his mind and return to persecuting the church, the bible teaches us back in Acts 9 that God moved (in the person of the Holy Spirit) and handpicked and/or consecrated Saul to partner with Barnabas.
Before Saul could change his mind, he found himself in a place called Cypress and being challenged by a sorcerer before he not only helped a government official believe in the teaching of the Lord but before he stood as the Apostle that he told the other Apostles that came to Jerusalem (Acts 9:26-30) to become.
Would anybody besides me like to stop and give a great God a great hand of praise for not only challenging us, but for choosing us, charging us, confirming us, consecrating us, and convicting us before we could change our minds and go back to fishing, and/or to go back to tending to the sheep, and/or to go back to chilling on the backside of the mountain.
And because we never know when the Lord is going to cause us, like we find Paul (along with Silas and most likely Timothy) in Acts 17, facing a different type and/or an untimely challenge it therefore behooves, blesses, and benefits us to be able to declare and decree, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, That I might not sin against thee.”
For the bible says that Paul and Silas were sent immediately to a place called Berea (bringer and carrier). And CTPB – Berea was a different and untimely challenge for Paul and Silas.
For whereas in Thessalonica, some of the people challenged Paul and Silas because they were more jealous than joyful, and whereas in Athens, some of the people challenged Paul and Silas because they were more unknowing than understanding, the bible teaches us here in this 17th Chapter of Acts that when it came to Berea, the sum total of those people challenged Paul and Silas because they were not only more open-minded than closed-minded, but they were more receptive than rejecting, and more gracious than gullible.
And because we now live in a world that trains us for Thessalonica and adopts us for Athens, today is a great day for you to accept the challenge to minister to the “Berean” community before you change your mind. For the bible teaches us that after Paul and Silas accepted the challenge and taught in the Jewish synagogues how “many of them (Bereans) believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.”