After the Philippians beat Paul and Silas, they released them from jail and begged them to leave their city. Next, the group traveled to Thessalonica and for three weeks reasoned with the Jews there that Jesus was the Messiah.

We need to look for places to speak to people. If you aren’t around non-Christians, you will never have an opportunity to share your faith. Look for people with whom you have common interests.

Some people believed; these formed the nucleus of the Thessalonian church to which Paul later wrote two letters.

The Thessalonians accused them of turning the world upside down. How come people don’t say that about us?

What a wonderful description! A Berean is someone who neither rejects nor accepts a new teaching but checks it against the Bible to see if it is true.

At this point in the trip, Paul has preached in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. In each case, the people have persecuted him and made him leave. Why didn’t he get discouraged?

“His spirit was provoked”: Now we see a major part of Paul’s motivation—compassion.

Pay close attention to how Paul preaches to these Greeks. They do not share the same background as him. They do not believe in the Jewish Scriptures, nor do they believe in Yahweh.

He begins by finding a hook in their culture and then lays the groundwork of who God is.

Sometimes we need to build a bridge before we can even begin sharing the good news with people.

Repentance is the goal of sharing the faith with someone. Calling people to repentance and forgiveness was what Jesus commissioned his followers to do before he ascended (Luke 24:46-47) and what they consistently did throughout the book of Acts (Acts 2:36-38; 3:17-19; 20:20-21; 26:17-18).

Although the majority sneered, some believed! Those are the ones you are looking for. Don’t worry about the majority; look for the few with open hearts to receive.