[Barry Korthuis] Well, good afternoon, everyone. Good to see you here today. Certainly, welcome again all those that are with us on the webcast. Certainly, do appreciate the special music. And God is love, and reflecting on that is such a beautiful thing, and certainly the sermonette as well that just paints the picture of holding God in the highest regard. By way of introduction to the sermon today, I recall a conversation I had with a teenager. It was around the time, I think, he was just a few weeks into his senior year of high school. And at that time he was trying to make final decisions about the university that he would attend to further advance his education and, of course, ultimately his career choice.

And after graduating high school he has since done the same. And with honors from the university in which he attended. But we had this really interesting conversation about learning. And he said, you know...and this is again, this is when he was in high school. He says, "You know, there's some subjects. There's just some things and projects," he says, "I love it. Love to study it. I love to pursue it." And he says, "Others, not so much. Not so much." But the most memorable part of this conversation with him, for me, and I appreciate him sharing this again, this understanding, and it's this, he says, "If you love to learn and you like what you're learning." He says, "It's so much easier than if you don't."

And here he is clearly recognizing this and understanding this at the ripe old age of 17. He had this part of his life figured out about learning. And, you know, we all have to learn things, don't we? All sorts of things. You know, whether we're in school or when additional education is necessary perhaps to keep pace in your career. Or maybe you're just dealing with banking technology changes. You know, I got to pay a bill electronically, but in a very different way. And let's not forget the app or the apps and the upgrade to the apps, you know, which seems to occur with great frequency these days. But learning is an ongoing thing. You know, it's an ongoing process. And being teachable is an important part of it.

And, of course, most importantly, being teachable by God through His Spirit, through His Word should be at the top of the list for us all, shouldn't it? I would like to ask a question of everyone in this room, similar to what our sermonette giver did. And anyone, of course, joining the webcast. If you were to self-assess your teachability, how would you rate yourself? Perhaps another way to look at this is to give yourself a rating on a scale of 1 to 10. Scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst of students. So what is a one? Well, first of all, it's not a zero. It's a one. But we're talking about things like being recalcitrant, stubborn, unwilling to study, little or no follow through, little or no curiosity. Or, "I'd rather do anything else than learn." Or, "I already know everything I need to know. So what's the point just studying and learning further on this?"

This also in Scripture is described as the indolent. Slothful is a common term that the Bible describes it. Of course, that means lazy, unmotivated. Just someone who just won't engage. They won't engage. I think you get the picture here. But that's one end of the scale. And hopefully, it doesn't describe anybody here or listening in. But then think of a 10. Ten being an uber student. The model student. Or model disciple if we consider it in biblical terms. Where you are very curious type. You have determination, strong determination, and a strong willingness, strong desire to learn. And you're on it. And you're consistently on it where you love. You love to learn. You love it.

And you also have the ability to learn and apply what it is that you're taught. How teachable are you? How teachable am I? How teachable are we? If you don't mind, give yourself a rating. Give yourself a rating. You don't have to write it down or anything unless you want to. You can keep it in your head if you so wish to. But we're going to revisit this question again at the end of the sermon. How teachable are you? But as we consider this question, the teachability and the willingness to learn, there's some very fascinating highlights that we read about in Acts 17 that has a lot to do with this subject. It's a time when the Apostle Paul and Silas, they visit a synagogue in Berea, and they were there to share the gospel, to proclaim the good news of salvation, and, of course, they were there to teach it.

And from this example, we're going to explore some of the traits of the teachable. What it looks like, how we benefit from it, but also how we might compare to those traits. And we're going to look at it with this in mind. We're going to look at it to see if we are honoring God with our willingness to learn and apply His teachings. Sounds like most of you are there already, but let's turn to Acts 17. I'm going to give a little more background here before I read. Paul and Silas, what did they do? They traveled from Thessalonica...I always have a hard time with that word, Thessalonica to Berea, and, of course, Berea, which today is modern-day Veria. It's located in Macedonia, which is northern Greece. It was a bit off the beaten track, so to speak. It was 50 miles west, sort of southwest, of Thessalonica.

And in the beginning of the chapter, Paul visited the synagogue in Thessalonica, and four or three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures. Some were persuaded, others were not, and that included at least some of the Jews that were offended, in part by what Paul was preaching, and that they would openly preach, or he would openly preach to the Gentiles, but in addition, there was a disconnect. There was a disconnect in their willingness to learn. And as the story goes, some did not like what they heard, and instead of being willing to be taught, they actually went so far as to incite a riot. So it got rather heated. So Paul and Silas left and at night.

Let's go ahead and pick it up in verse 10 of Acts 17, and we'll just read 10, 11, and 12 of that chapter, verses 10, 11, and 12.

Acts 17:10-12 "Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 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. And also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men."

Let's focus on three key points here from what we just read about the Bereans and what they did. Well, number one, they were more fair-minded. Why? Because they received the Word with all readiness. They received the Word with all readiness. Two, they searched. They searched the Scriptures daily. They searched them daily to find out the truth of what they had heard. And then three, therefore, many of them believed. Many believed. They did two critical things that resulted in something very important here. And let's go ahead and expand on each of these three key points while at the same time keeping in mind the overall sermon theme and the question that we are each asking ourselves, "Am I teachable? Am I teachable? Am I really teachable?"

First point in this example of the Bereans is that they received the Word with all readiness. Some versions of the Bible refer to this as readiness of mind, and it does mean that. They had ready minds. They had willing minds. They were attentive. They were eager to learn. They were ready to learn. They were ready to receive teaching. And they were ready to listen. They were ready to listen. Let's turn to Proverbs 8. Kind of look at this teachability trait of readiness of mind by also being a good listener. And as we do, we might also want to ask ourselves the question, "Am I a good listener? Am I effective listener? Am I attentive in this way? Does this describe me? Does it describe me?" Proverbs 8, and we'll read verses 32 to 35.

Proverbs 8:32 -35 It reads, "Now, therefore, listen to me, my children, for blessed are those who keep my ways, hear instruction, and be wise, and do not disdain it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord."

Three times in the verses we just read, God says, "Listen to me. Hear me." And it's not limited to the act of hearing. I mean, anyone in this room could experience some form of hearing loss in their lifetime. This is about what we're attentive to, what we pay attention to. And not only that, it's about who we listen to. Who are we listening to? Who are we attentive to? When it comes to instruction, when it comes to wisdom, as being described here.

Because it is described as well as standing at the ready. I am ready to learn. I'm ready. Also means if we're not listening, we're probably not paying much attention. And if we're not paying attention, then we aren't learning. We're not really learning, if we're not... This ability that's described here, to really listen, to be attentive, is an important part of learning. It's an important part of being teachable, of being willing to listen to God. All this reference is here that we read…

 Proverbs 4:2 It says, "My son, give attention to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings."

We are God's children. No surprise that fact alone should prompt us to listen to God. But God specifically says, "Listen to me. Listen to my words. Hear what I have to say. And blessed you will be if you do that. If you listen. And keep them." So He tells us, "Watch every day," wait at the posts of His doors, so to speak. Be ready to listen. Be ready to hear what He has to say. And more than that, He tells us to incline the ear to His sayings. Put another way, turn your ears. Turn your focus, such that you're not distracted by anything else. To listen. Full attention to God. No other distractions. Unplug from everything else. You know, whatever it takes. That's your social media thing. Networking, smartphones, emails, alerts, notifications, or what might be streaming to a screen of your choice. At the time, He says, "Disengage that. Give me your attention. Listen. Listen to me." And God speaks to us through His Word. We heard that earlier today.

Listening skills apply to reading His Word, as well as our ability to listen to...or interpret as the case may be, even someone speaking to us or carrying on a conversation. As a point of reference here, there's a very different way of doing things that we typically see in society. We don't necessarily see this as common, really good listening skills. And please know I'm not here to try to overgeneralize or to pick on anybody or pick on people by expressing this or getting into the weeds such that preaching becomes meddling. But the tendency is to focus on being understood instead of first trying to understand.

I want someone to understand me before I try to understand what it is that they're trying to convey. And people like to get their point across. And it commonly comes through in the way that they communicate. It's a common thing. But in doing so, all sorts of things can happen. The other person might be ignored, maybe partially, maybe completely. Maybe they only selectively hear things in the conversation. Maybe we have a little bit of an attention deficit. We don't quite focus the way we should, and we miss something. We miss the meaning. We miss the intent. Sometimes entirely.

And there's a reason why this happens. Most people listen with the intent to reply, not to understand. People might be having a conversation, and what happens we sort of play in our mind, "How am I going to respond to this? What am I going to say?" I start to filter this through my own life experiences, and I'm trying to come to a conclusion. I'm trying to say something back to them. And what happens is, is in the process of doing that, I will often then miss the entire point that it is they're trying to make, or I'll miss so much of it that I truly don't understand.

Any of these things sound familiar to you, particularly if you're in a conversation, I say when these comments are premature to the conversation, where you kind of jump in and say, "Oh, I know how you feel. I felt the same way. I had the same thing happen to me, let me tell you what I did in a similar situation." And so this conclusion is pushed forward in advance of truly understanding what the other person is even trying to convey to you. It's so common.

And again, I'm not trying to be indelicate here or to imply anything of anybody in this room, again, or anybody listening in, but I'll just ask this question. Has anybody here ever experienced that in their marriage? You know, how about your children? Children, how about your parents? Your siblings? Has it ever happened on the job? Your boss or coworker? Do you ever have a situation in which you were trying to convey something and you know they don't understand? And you know they wouldn't take the time, at that particular time, necessarily to understand because of these dynamics that happen in here.

And this does not only apply with people, it can apply to the book when we read the Bible so easily. We can pick up some things, dismiss others, when there should be emerging of attentiveness with understanding, when we consider again face-to-face communications and what it is that we read in Scripture. I'll just refer to it here, but we read about the opposite of being attentive and good listeners in Proverbs 18. I'm going to read the same verse from the New King James Version, and then from the New International Reader's Version.

Proverbs 18:2 Reads, "A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart."

Same verse in the New International Reader's Version. It says, "Foolish people don't want to understand, but they take delight in saying only what they think." Teachable people are attentive listeners, good listeners, and they seek to understand, truly seek to understand before being understood. And it's a discipline. It's not an easy thing to do, but it's an important thing to do, and it's part of being teachable. Let's go ahead and turn now to Romans 10. The Bereans, we are told, receive the Word with all readiness. They were ready and prepared to learn, to listen, and understand. And in this part of Scripture, we will read about how God initiates His teachings and how important our response is to it.

We'll go ahead and read verses 14 through 21 of Romans 10.

Romans 10:14-21 "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how should they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things, but they have not all obeyed the gospel.' For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed our report?'" Verse 17, "So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. But I say, 'Have they not heard?' Yes, indeed, their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. But I say, 'Did Israel not know?' First, Moses said, 'I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.' But Isaiah is very bold and says, 'I was found by those who did not seek me. I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me.' But to Israel, he says, 'All day long, I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.'"

And we know, we know that no one can come to Jesus unless God the Father calls and draws them. Read about that in places like John 6:44. That He, in His mercy, He calls people who are not even looking for Him, as we just read in verse 20. And in verse 18, it repeats God's promise that the gospel will be preached to the world. Verses 14 through 16, that He will provide teachers, including those He will send, so that gospel will be preached. Furthermore, then, in verse 21, reminds us that God has and will do His part all day long. All day long, day after day, faithfully available for instruction, for teaching. Even the context here shows that He's available to those who should hear but wouldn't. Whether they were stubborn, whether it was neglect or unwillingness, they were unteachable at that time.

And it's described as God holding out His hand with openness, you know, to take us in, so to speak. You know, God's available for instruction, you know, teaching both through the words of the Bible and teachers to assist with that process. And, of course, and through prayer, meditation, and so on. But with all of this support that we read about here, with everything that's available, the question remains, will I be ready? Will I be attentive? And will I really listen to Him? Really listen to Him? So just sort of to recap this first point, as part of the example of the Bereans, they received the Word with all readiness. Some versions, again, of the Bible show this as readiness of mind, but they had ready minds, had willing minds. They were attentive. They were eager to learn. And they were ready to listen. And these may be basic concepts, simple concepts. They have a major impact on teachability, on effective teachability.

Let's go ahead and move to the second point then. Second point. What else did the Bereans do? They searched. They searched the Scriptures daily to find out the truth of what they had heard. They had a curiosity, and apparently the discipline, to find out. They wanted to know. They wanted to understand. And as the case may be, whether that's to confirm a truth they already understood, or to reconfirm that truth, or to show that it wasn't the truth, whether that's in whole or in part. But the Bereans were searching. They were searching the Scriptures and searching daily. And this word Scripture here means the Holy Writ, holy writings. Of course, for us, that's the entirety of the Bible.

Let's go ahead and now turn to Proverbs 2. If we're going to be teachable like them, like the Bereans, then we are going to be those who search, those who have a strong curiosity in learning. Let's go ahead and read verses 1 through 6 of Proverbs 2.

 Proverbs 2:1-6 It says, "My Son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth comes knowledge and understanding."

If we are to be teachable as God would have us to be, we would be like the Bereans as well in this regard. We would be people that search. People who want to figure things out. People who want to know. People who need to know the truth. I have a hungry for that. You know, there's a lot of information out there, and I'm sure that's no surprise to anybody in this room, but you think about what we have access to online, Internet, books, articles, publications, resources, social media, let alone the aggregate collection of opinions and thoughts of so many that are posted. It can be a bit overwhelming by the sheer volume of it all. The sheer volume of information, but thankfully, God tells us where to go for knowledge. Of course, it's grounded in His Word. The answers are here in our Bibles. They are here. And our answers are in our relationship with God as well.

Let's go ahead and now turn to 1 Corinthians 2. As we search the Scriptures to reveal the truth, we also see that the Holy Spirit, the essence of God, the power of God, not only reminds us of what it is that we read, not only reveals the truth, but it also helps convict us of it. And that is if we're humble, and if we're teachable, if we are willing to let God do that work inside us. Let's go ahead and read verses 6 through 16 of 1 Corinthians 2.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 It says, "However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. The hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages to our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew. For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as is written, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of man, except the spirit of man which is in him. Even so, no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God. Now, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words, which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ."

God, through the power of His Holy Spirit, teaches, reveals truth. And God takes us through a progression of learning, increased learning. We're students. We're disciples. We're disciples of Jesus Christ. And again, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can have His mind, the mind of our Savior, the mind of our Lord. And when we receive the Holy Spirit at baptism...of course, the Holy Spirit is the essence of God, it's the power of God. Where is it? Well, then it's in us. It's inside. You know, if active, we keep this thing alive, we keep the fire burning, it does its work. It works within us. And as we submit to God, willingly submitting to God, the Holy Spirit, just as we just read in verse 10 of 1 Corinthians 2, it searches out the truth and guides our understanding as we search and learn. And shows us the deep, the deep things, the deep truths of God. And it does that if we're teachable. I'll just refer to it here, but we read in Isaiah 28:9-10. And I'll just refer to it here, Isaiah 28:9-10. And it's how God reveals knowledge. And it's a major key to understanding the Bible.

Isaiah 28:9-10 "Whom will He teach knowledge? And whom will He make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk, those just drawn from the breast?" Verse 10 answers this, "For precept must be upon precept. Precept upon precept. Line upon line. Line upon line. Here a little, there a little."

And this requires engagement in this process of learning and working at studying Scripture. There's this really neat... I don't really want to call that. There's this place in our UCG Bible commentary, which is also referred to as the Bible reading program. There's this example used, and that I think is very useful. It says it's like assembling a spiritual jigsaw puzzle with a message of truth scattered throughout the pages of our Bibles. And the idea here is that we must search, search it out, find out what God says about it in Scripture, to then understand the truth of the matter, and how it coalesces together. Again, precept must be upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little.

And if we were to reference Matthew 13, particularly verses 10 through 17, Jesus in this section of Scripture, He speaks about the purpose of parables, and the sermonette brought up a very good parable. He shows us that they're spiritually discerned, and only spiritually do we understand the mysteries the Kingdom has revealed by God, goes on to say, "More is given to those who are ready to learn," those who search, "while those who do not, they may even have it taken away from them." Speaks about what happens if the heart grows dull, if the ears become hard of hearing, the eyes closing, that sort of thing. We're not engaging this as we need to engage it. And we're reminded how many prophets and others desire to have access what has been revealed to the disciples, and by extension, us.

The Bereans searched the Scriptures daily. They searched them daily to find out the truth of what they heard. That's evidence of a willing learner, the curiosity of being teachable, the discipline of being teachable, and as the case may be, a willingness to be corrected, and have the humility to receive that correction. Because being taught is also about that too, isn't it? We learn, we refine, and we make course corrections. Hopefully, we are faithfully addressing them in such a fashion that most of them are done before they otherwise might escalate into something big or painful. But if we're active in this, and we're doing this as we should, God will give us course correction after course correction, guide us through the process as we refine ourselves again into the image, the character of Jesus Christ. That is what He is doing.

Which, now, leads us to the third point, regarding the example of the Bereans. Showing us what the results should be from the first two points. Again, first, they were attentive. Received the Word with all readiness. They were effective listeners. Second, they searched the Scriptures daily. Find out the truth of what they had heard. And third, therefore, many of them believed. Therefore, many of them believed. They received the Word. They proved it. They were convicted of it. And they acted on it. Just going to refer to it here, but we read in John 8, verse 31 and 32.

John 8:31-32 Where it says, "Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed Him... Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in my Word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you free.'"

And that's part of what belief is supposed to do. Translates to action. Belief translates to action. It's a simple truth. It's a powerful truth. But if we truly believe something, we live by it. And we continue this process of following the master, our high priest, our teacher, our king. We abide in His Word. We live in His Word. And we live in it and by it. Let's go ahead and turn to James 1. In the beginning of this chapter, James shares the benefits of trials, what it should produce in us, and what it means to love God while doing that. While at the same time having an ongoing appreciation to God for His gifts, His guidance, His truth. Later in the chapter, it shares what should be done with it. We should not just be hearers of the Word, but we should be doers of it. Let's go ahead and pick it up in verse 18 of James 1.

James 1:18-21 "Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear. Slow to speak. Slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls."

Now, meekness is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is described in detail in places like Galatians 5. But meekness is also referred to as gentleness. But interestingly, meekness also means to have a spirit of teachability. A willingness to be taught.

James 1:22-25 "But be doers of the Word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he's like a man, observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. That he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."

No surprise here. True believers are doers of the Word of God. They're doers. So, again, just to quickly kind of recap here, these three key points about the Bereans that we've touched on. They were more fair-minded, and why was that again? Because they received the Word with all readiness. Ready to learn, eager to learn, ready to listen. Attentive people.

They were searchers. They were searchers of the Scripture to find out the truth of what they'd heard. Not just any source, again, the Scriptures is where they went to. They were on it. They were on top of it. And, therefore, because they did those things, many of them did believe. And they acted on what it is that they learned. Or put it another way, they were convicted of the truth that they proved. They were convicted of that. And it translated into how they lived their lives. Again, belief translates into doing. But let's notice too though, that many of them believed. Which also shows that not all believed, as a whole, as we read there, the Bereans were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica. But apparently, not all of them were 100% on board.

Apparently, not everybody among the Bereans searched the Scriptures in a way that would bring about the necessary change. In this case, not all of them believed and acted on those convictions. At least on those convictions at that particular time, not all. Many did but not all. And then there are tendencies of those who are teachable and those who are not. Let's just take a little bit more time to explore this. And I'm going to go through a series of references and proverbs to do it. Because actually if we went through the entirety of proverbs, we'd find out that Solomon has a lot to say about teachability. A lot to say about this. But also as we kind of run through this, let's keep in mind this assignment that we have here. On a scale of 1 to 10, how teachable are we? How teachable are we?

Because people who are teachable, they tend to be aware of their limitations. The knowledge, abilities. They don't think of themselves very highly. They're willing to admit those things. They're willing to be held accountable. Teachable people ask for help. Instruction, guidance, advice. They're always learning. They're always learning. And also a particular Proverb comes to mind.

Proverbs 11:14 Where it says, "Where there's no counsel, the people fail. But in the multitude of counselors, there's safety."

People who are teachable not only learn from the Scriptures, the holy writings, they surround themselves with those have knowledge of this too, while at the same time being very prudent in where and with whom they seek that counsel and instruction. But they're humble, and they're willing to be corrected.

Proverbs 9:8 reads "Do not correct a scoffer, unless he hate you. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you."

Proverbs 12:1 "Whoever loves instruction, loves knowledge. But he who hates correction is stupid."

That's how that reads. It's pretty strong words. By the way, this word stupid here also has a meaning in relation to bovines. That's mean like being bullheaded, being irrationally stubborn or headstrong, which also provides a bit of a word picture for us here. But people who are teachable, they love knowledge and they are happy to be corrected. They're happy to be corrected. They want to move out of their comfort zone, even if it's hard to do so, if it brings about a possibility or a means for them to be taught. And they don't give up. They don't give up on the process of learning. They seek help, and they will try and try again until they get it right.

And the teachable in this way are also willing to change their views, even if it means admitting they were wrong. The unteachable or people who are unteachable or tend to be unteachable, they don't approach it that same way. They kind of want to skate to do the bare minimum. They want to have to learn something unless they have to. Not really interested in spending much time or energy on this. They might even say they want to learn, but they're not going to act on it in the way that we've read here. They're not going to faithfully act on it.

Proverbs 13:4 Reads, "The soul of a lazy man desires," has desires, "and has nothing. But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich."

And as mentioned earlier in the sermon, the unteachable, they like to talk a lot about themselves usually. They have a tendency for doing that. But the issue is all the more highlighted when they are around someone who they could really learn from. Something else that happens with the unteachable, which is not an untypical thing, or should say it is a typical thing that can happen, is they tend to isolate themselves. And they withdraw in times of difficulty.

Proverbs 18:1 Reads, "A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire. He rages against all wise judgment."

People who are unteachable or tend to be that way, they resist. They don't want to get out of their comfort zone. They don't want to be challenged. And they certainly don't want to be challenged in a way that actually comes across their existing presuppositions, practices, prejudices, these kind of things. And sadly...and this is one of the most sobering parts of this too, and the most telling example of a teachability challenge, is if you or I have an area in our life where there is chronic failure. All of us have failed at certain things, and I am not here to suggest otherwise. But if you or I have a knack for repetitive failure in something, take your pick. Self-control, how we conduct ourselves in our marriages, parenting, emotions, money management, personal discipline, schooling, work, or any other inevitable life responsibilities. If we have a problem with that, we need to check our teachability. Because the answers are here. Always have been. Wise is counsels available.

There is no reason to continually fail. There is a path to move past that. It doesn't mean we won't have setbacks. It doesn't mean we won't make mistakes. It's not my point. But if we are teachable, we will hit this head-on. The most successful people are people that constantly surround themselves counselors, advisors, while someone otherwise who might struggle heavily may not even bother to read something about it. Are we teachable? Really teachable. Because when it comes down to it, in particular with regard to God's Word, we have to come to a place where we're of the mind that we need to know.

I have to know what God is trying to teach me. I have to know. And I'm going to search those Scriptures, and I'm going to stand ready for God to do that so that He can teach me, both through his Word, through His teachers, and that I will also avail myself to what those Scriptures advise me to do, including the seeking and use of wise counsel. That said, I'll just speak candidly with you. I know I have my work cut out for me with this. But from the examples, or the examples that we shared today about the Bereans, we did explore some of the traits, the teachable, what that looks like, how we benefit from it.

As we look to see if we are honoring God with our willingness to learn and apply His teachings. As promised, and based on what we reviewed, if you were to once again self-assess your teachability, how would you rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10? And on the scale, one being, of course, the worst of students or close to the worst. Just a reminder, it's not a zero. But again, we're talking about recalcitrant or recalcitrance. We're talking about stubbornness, we're talking about unwillingness to study. We're talking about little or no follow-through, little or no curiosity. I'd rather do anything else but study or already know everything that I do need to know at this point. What's the point of doing more? Again, this is describing indolent, lazy, unmotivated, someone who simply will not engage.

As I said earlier, I'm sure you get the picture here, but that's one end of the scale. Again, as compared to a 10. Uber student, model student, model disciple, very curious, a lot of determination, strong will, strong desire to learn and willingness to do so. Or you're on it, and you're on it consistently. Or you love to learn God's way. You love it. You love to learn. And you have the humility to learn and apply it, apply what you're taught.

How teachable are you? And how did it compare to the rating you gave yourself at the beginning of the sermon? Regardless of where any of us are today, and assuming nobody in this room got a perfect 10, perhaps we can endeavor with God's help to move it up a notch or 2, or more as the case may be. And pray that God inspire each of us to be curious, eager to learn, relearn, or have a greater depth of understanding to apply His truths, to be doers of His Word, to faithfully be teachable children of God.