When I was just a little tike in first and second grade we lived down in Newport, Oregon and my parents attended First Baptist church. And they were good Baptists, they did what all good Baptists did. They carried their Bibles to church every week. They encouraged Scripture memory. In Sunday School and VBS they taught Bible stories. They made a game out of knowing your Bible and all the books of the Bible. I remember playing a game called a Sword Drill. You would hold your sword closed and the teacher would call out a verse and you tried to be the first to find it. I think this was back before they invented Bibles with those thumb tabs on the side. You had to know your Hosea from your Hebrews and your Chronicles from your Corinthians. Baptists like to talk about the Bereans, about being a Berean or becoming a Berean. Since it is my custom to begin each new year with a reminder and call to prayer and Scripture reading, I have decided to skip ahead in our Acts series and preach on the Bereans this morning to encourage us to take up our sword as eagerly and seriously as they did.

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