"The Mystery" (Acts 1:6-7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/29/2017 6:21 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                            Focus:  The Mystery

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Acts 1:6-7

            Message of the verses:  “6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;”

            I certainly can understand the question that the disciples asked Jesus as seen in verse six and I suppose that if I were there I would have wanted to know the answer to that question too.  We have to believe that one of the reasons that all of Jesus’ disciples came to follow Jesus was they thought that He would bring in the earthly kingdom of God that was promised in the Old Testament.  We often think of the disappointment that Judas had when he found out that Jesus was going to the cross instead of getting rid of the Romans and beginning the earthly kingdom at that time, but all of the disciples felt the same way but reacted differently.  While Jesus was on earth with His disciples He mentioned prophetically about the future.  Let us look at some verses from both Matthew and from Luke where this is seen:  “40 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41  "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.  44 "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. 47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; 48  and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. 49 “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:40-50).”  “24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away (Matthew 13:24-25).”  “36 “Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. 37 "Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. 38 “Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. 39 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 40 “You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect’ (Luke 12:36-40).”  There are two more references from the book of Luke which I will mention, but not put onto this SD because of the length of them:  Luke 17:20-37; and 21:5-36, feel free to look them up on your own.  One thing more that I want to mention here and that is that once the Pharisees said that Jesus was doing His miracles in the power of Satan Jesus began to teach in parables while out in public.  This is seen in different places of the first three gospel writings, and in Matthew we see this beginning in chapter thirteen.  So we see here that Jesus did talk about the kingdom of God that would come on the earth as promised in the Old Testament with the length revealed in the New Testament from the book of Revelation.

            John MacArthur writes the following about the answer that Jesus gave to the disciples: 

“Jesus, however, quickly brings them back to reality.  It was not for them ‘to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.’  The Scriptures teach many things about the earthly and glorious reign of Jesus Christ in His kingdom, but not the precise time of its establishment.  ‘Times’ (kairo) refers to features, characteristics of eras, and events.  God, ‘by His own authority,’ has determined all the aspects of the future and the kingdom.  But as far as men are concerned, that remains one of ‘the secret things’ that ‘belong to the Lord our God’ (Deut. 29:29).  All that believers can know is that the kingdom will be established at the second coming (Matt. 25:21-34).  The time of the second coming however, remains unrevealed (Mark 13:32).”

            There is another important thing that we can learn from this question and answer that we are looking at this morning, and that is that Jesus does not deny that He will have a kingdom on earth as some today say will not happen.  Not only does Jesus say this here but as mentioned the length of His kingdom is given in the following verses from Revelation:  “1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. 4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. 7 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison (Rev. 20:1-7).” 

            Now since we don’t know the exact hour when our Lord will return in the rapture to take His bride, (the church) back to heaven we are to live our lives as if He were to come back today, and that includes telling others about how they too can be ready to go to heaven with our Lord but telling them the truth of the gospel message, that Jesus came to earth as a man to die in their place and now they need to accept this forgiveness, admitting that they are sinners in need of His salvation.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Understanding that Jesus will be coming back to the clouds to take away His bride, and that many believe that it will happen very soon was the vehicle that the Lord used to bring me to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and even though I thought that His coming was very soon back in 1974, I am not disappointed, but still look for His return as the Bible makes it clear that He will come back someday soon.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to live my life like Jesus will come back today.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was warned by his wife not to condemn Jesus to death?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/29/2017 7:08 AM 

PT-2 "The Might" (Acts 1:4-5,8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/28/2017 7:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-2 “The Might”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 1:4-5, 8

            Message of the verses:  “4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."  8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;”

            We are looking at the promise that the Father will give to the apostles, and not only them but for all believers, but especially for the apostles He will give the gift of the Holy Spirit in a special way, and they had heard of this promise from the Lord Jesus Christ while He was with them. 

            Now we want to look at the words from verse five “for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”  Let us look at a statement that John the Baptist said from John 1:33 “"I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ’He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’”  This promise was to be fulfilled not too many days from now as the disciples would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”  MacArthur writes “ten to be exact.  Jesus promised that after He departed, He would send the Spirit (John 16:7).”

            Now as I have been thinking over how the Holy Spirit works in lives I have come to the conclusion that the Spirit’s work in the lives of the apostles is different than it is in the lives of people today.  As I was thinking about this I read the following from MacArthur’s commentary telling me that he too believes this.  “Despite the claims of many, the apostles’ and early disciples’ experience is not the norm for believers today.  They were given unique enabling of the Holy Spirit for their special duties.  They also received the general and common baptism with the Holy Spirit in an uncommon way, subsequent to conversion.  All believers since the church began are commanded to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) and to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25).  Yet these early apostles and believers were told to wait, showing the change that came in the church age.  They were in the transitional period associated with the birth of the church.  In the present age, baptism by Christ through the agency of the Holy Spirit takes place for all believers at conversion.  At that point the Spirit also takes up His permanent residency in the converted person’s soul, so there is no such thing as a Christian who does not have the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9; cf. 1 Cor. 6:19-20).

            “The baptism with the Holy Spirit is not a special privilege for some believers, nor are believers challenged and exhorted in Scripture to seek it.  It is not even their responsibility to prepare for it by praying, pleading, tarrying, or any other means.  The passive voice of the verb translated ‘be baptized’ indicates the baptism by Jesus Christ with the Spirit is entirely a divine activity.  It comes, like salvation itself, through grace, not human effort.  Titus 3:5-6 says ‘5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.’  God sovereignly pours out the Holy Spirit on those He saves.

            “The Spirit’s presence, leading, and might were absolutely essential if the apostles were to be effective in continuing the Lord’s unfinished work.  They had already experienced His saving, guiding, teaching, and miracle-working power.  Soon they would ‘receive’ the ‘power’ they needed for ministry after ‘the Holy Spirit’ fell on them.

            “Power translates dunamis, from which the English word ‘dynamite’ derives.  All believers have in them the spiritual dynamite for use of gifts, service, fellowship, and witness.  They need to experience the release of that power in their lives through not grieving the Spirit by sin (Eph. 5:18).  The latter takes place as believers yield moment by moment control of their lives to Him, and is the same as yielding their minds to the Word (Col. 3:16).  The result of being filled with the Spirit is expressed by Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:16, 20 ‘that [God] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man…Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us…’”  

            I have to say that after our study of the letter to Philemon that I am doing in the evening that I will be taking up the challenge of studying the book of Ephesians which has much to say on this subject of the Holy Spirit.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I believe that as long as I don’t grieve the Holy Spirit that He will fill me to do the works that God has planned for me to do in eternity past as described in Ephesians 2:10.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to give me the peace needed for the things that I want to do this morning.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Bethlehem” (Micah 5:2).

Today’s Bible question:  “What are the pastoral epistles?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/28/2017 8:32 AM

 

 

PT-1 "The Might" (Acts 1:4-5a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/27/2017 10:18 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                      Focus:  PT-1 The Might

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Acts 1:4-5, 8a

            Message of the verses:  “4  Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."  8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;”

            Now that the apostles have received the message from the Lord they may have been tempted to set out on their own to begin to spread the message, but the Lord tells them that they should “not to leave Jerusalem.”  Let us look at a similar verse from Luke 24:49 “49 "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."  Jesus tells them to wait in the city of Jerusalem and that waiting things are difficult for some people, me included.  I suppose that being a male I want to go out and solve problems right away.  I suppose that the Lord has been working in my heart about waiting for Him, and also to make sure that what I am doing is in His will, what He wants me to do to bring glory to His name.  When one goes out and does things on their own they become proud, and pride is a great sin before the Lord.  If one can do things on their own without the help and strength and “might” of the Holy Spirit of God then they will become proud, but as I have mentioned in earlier Spiritual Diaries believers are like a hose that the water flows through.  When you water your flowers it is all about the water getting to the flowers to make them grow that counts, not really about the hose that the water flows through.  We have to be willing hoses that allow the “spiritual water flow through” in order to bring glory to the Lord.  John MacArthur writes the following “To the apostles, who were no doubt fired with enthusiasm and eager to begin, that must have seemed a strange command.  Yet, it illustrates an important point:  All the preparation and training that knowledge and experience can bring are useless without the proper might.  Power had to accompany truth.”

            Next we look at the phrase “to wait for what the Father had promised.”  We mentioned that the apostles were no doubt motivated but they also need to be supernaturally empowered for their mission which is what our quote is speaking about “what the Father had promised.”  The promise that Jesus is talking about has been seen in different places in the gospels and that is the promise of the Holy Spirit.

            We have talked about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and how it was different in different dispensations as in the Old Testament the Spirit could leave a person like He left Saul and then in the verses that follow we read that the Holy Spirit came upon David.  After his sin with Bathsheba and her husband David prays in Psalm 51:11 “Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”  In the New Testament we learn that once a person becomes a born-again believer that the Holy Spirit comes into their life and there are different functions that the Spirit does in the life of a believer beginning with giving that person an effectual call in order for them to become a believer.  Paul tells us that we are to be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit.  The promise of the work of the Holy Spirit was given in the Old Testament “25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances (Ezekiel 36:25-27).”  MacArthur adds “There was to come a fullness of the Spirit in some way unique to the New Covenant and for all believers.  But there was also a special anointing for the apostles.”  The apostles were the first to receive this anointing from the Holy Spirit and it was special for them, but all believers receive the Holy Spirit.

            We can compare what happened to Jesus after His baptism where we learned that the Holy Spirit came upon Him as “heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove (Luke 3:21-22).”  Notice it says like a dove a simile as the Holy Spirit came upon our Lord in a similar way that a dove flutters down to land, very slowly.  Then in Luke chapter 4:1 we read “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness.”  Next we read from Luke while Jesus was teaching in the Nazareth synagogue “18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."”  When you see all caps in the NASB it is because it is a quote from the Old Testament.  One more quote from the book of Luke that has to do with the suggestion that the Lord’s healing power came from the Holy Spirit “17 One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing (Luke 5:17).”  Another reason we believe that it was through the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus did His miracles had to do with what we call the unpardonable sin where the Pharisees said that Jesus was doing miracles in the power of Satan, and Jesus then says to them:  “"Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven (Matthew 12:31).” 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Paul speaking of the Holy Spirit’s power writes “Do not quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19).”  I never want to do that.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Keep my life clean so that the Holy Spirit can work through me to bring glory to my Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Abraham” (Genesis 22:8).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did Micah say the Messiah would be born?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/27/2017 11:09 AM    

The Manifestation (Acts 1:3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/26/2017 8:57 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  The Manifestation

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Acts 1:3

            Message of the verses:  “3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.”

            I would suppose that it is just as important for us who live in the 21^st century that is almost 2000 years after our Lord Jesus Christ raising from the dead to know for sure that He did indeed come back to life after His crucifixion, as it was important for His disciples to realize this truth.  After all we know that eventually almost everyone of His disciples would end up dying because they believed that Jesus was indeed alive, so if He had not given them convincing proof that He was indeed alive then why would they want to die for a dead Messiah.  The truth is that more people have died recently for the cause of Christ in our time than at any other time in the history of the world since Christ arose from the dead.  In our Sunday school class and also our church service yesterday we learned that between 50-100 people from the Central African Republic died for the cause of Christ, and yet by the grace of God the Pastor was spared.  The president of Baptist Mid Missions told us this story in our Sunday school class yesterday and it has not been too long ago that he visited the CAR as he was born there and raised there in his early years.  The President of the CAR attended a conference that brought many Pastors who had to walk for many miles on foot to attend this conference and it seems that since that conference that the Muslims have been attacking the believers there as on the way home one of the wives of a Pastor was killed, so things are getting worse, and yet there hope is the same as the disciples hope and our hope too and that is that Jesus arose from the dead as our verse tells us and for 40 days He spoke to His disciples about the kingdom of God.  “The most extensive summary of those appearances is found in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8.”  “5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.”

            John MacArthur writes “There have been many suggestions as to the content of the Lord’s teaching during the forty days.  The mystical religionists held that He imparted to the apostles the secret knowledge that characterized Gnosticism.  Many in the early church believed He taught them concerning church order (F. F. Bruce, The Book of Acts [Grand Rapids:  Eerdmans, 1971], 33-34).  Luke, however, shuts down all such speculations when he reveals that during this time the Lord was ‘speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.’  He taught them more truth related to the domain of divine rule over the hearts of believers.  That theme, a frequent one during the Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry (cf. Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 10:7; 13:1ff.; Mark 1:15; Luke 4:43; 9:2; 17:20ff.’; John 2:2ff.), offered further proof to the disciples that it was really He.”

            It was the Lord’s desire to reveal to His disciples that the crucifixion did not nullify the promised kingdom, which we now know as the millennial kingdom.  I think as we study and know the truths of the Scripture that speak of how the church began, and then later on the promises that are found in the book of Revelation about the future of those who live on planet earth that we tend to forget that Jesus had to reveal these truths to His apostles, including Paul as to what was going to happen after He returned to heaven as our High Priest.  The apostles of Christ got a detailed crash course on what was going to happen, and it was because of their belief in those things, including most of all the Christ was raised from the dead that they went out to proclaim the gospel to the entire known world by the time Luke ends his book we call Acts.

            John MacArthur writes:  “The ‘kingdom of God’ (the realm where God rules or the sphere of salvation) encompasses much more than the millennial kingdom, however.  It has two basic aspects:  the universal kingdom, and the mediatorial kingdom (for a detailed discussion on those two aspects see Alva J. McClain,  The Greatness of the Kingdom [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1959]; for a more detailed discussion of the kingdom, see Matthew 8-15, MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago:  Moody, 1987], 348-351).”  It is my hope that the Lord will give me enough time on His earth to study the book of Matthew.  (So far, after three years studying Matthew I am in the 15^th chapter 7/28/2022 9:28 AM)

            “The universal kingdom refers to God’s sovereign rule over all of His creation.  Psalm 103:19 reads, ‘The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all.’”

            “The mediatorial kingdom refers to God’s spiritual rule and authority over His people on earth through divinely chosen mediators.  Through Adam, then the patriarchs, Moses, Joshua, the judges, prophets, and the kings of Israel and Judah, God revealed His will and mediated His authority to His people.  With the end of Israel’s monarchy began the times of the Gentiles.  During that period, which will last until the second coming of Christ, God mediates His spiritual rule over the hearts of believers through the church (Acts 20:25; Rom. 14:7; Col. 1:13).  He does so by means of the Word and the living Christ (Gal. 2:20).  The final phase of the mediatorial, spiritual kingdom will dominate the earth in the form of the millennial kingdom, to be set up following Christ’s return.  During that thousand year period, the Lord Jesus Christ will personally reign on earth, exercising sovereign control over the creation and all men.  At the end of the Millennium, with the destruction of all rebels, the spiritual kingdom will be merged with the universal kingdom (1 Cor. 15:24), and they will become the same.”

            How does this work in the church age, the age we are in now?  God now mediates His kingdom rule through believers who are all indwelt by the Holy Spirit and obedient to His Word.  Peter tells us that we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9).

            I suppose that there are some people in the world who have said that they have seen the resurrected Christ as I have read about some of them in Iran, but Jesus said to Thomas “Because you have seen Me, have you believed?  Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”  Peter wrote “Though you have not seen Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of Joy” (1 Peter 1:8).  Jesus manifestation to us as His born-again children is no less real as we see from Colossians 1:29 “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”  MacArthur concludes “Such personal communion with the resurrected and exalted Savior is essential for finishing His unfinished work of ministry.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is a thrill to me to think that the Lord would use me to help advance His kingdom, and it is my prayer as I put my Spiritual Diaries onto the internet through my blogs that the Lord will use them through the work of the Holy Spirit to help advance His kingdom.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to continue to give me the words to write that will bring glory to His name and advance His kingdom.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Isaiah” (Isaiah 53:5).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘God will provide Himself a Lamb for a burnt offering’?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/26/2017 9:52 AM

PT-4 "The Message" (Acts 1:1-2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/25/2017 6:46 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                  Focus:  PT-4 The Message

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Acts 1:1-2

            Message of the verses:  “1The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.”

            In today’s SD we will actually begin to look at these verses as in our previous three that was not the case as it was kind of an introduction to them.  We have just finished looking at the book of John for 20 months and we learned many things from that wonderful gospel book, and one of them was from the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ while on earth.  After His resurrection from the dead Jesus continued to teach the essential realities of His kingdom “until the day when He was taken up,” which references His ascension back to heaven where He came from.  The day Jesus ascended into heaven was the end of His earthly ministry and the beginning of His High Priestly ministry from heaven.  As I think about Jesus ascension into heaven and how His disciples reacted to it, and we will look at it in more detail later on from the first chapter of Acts, I think that this was easier on them than when He went to the cross. 

            John MacArthur writes about this day:  “As He had predicted, Jesus was about to ascend to the Father…During His ministry, He had ‘given orders’ to the apostles ‘by the Holy Spirit,’ who was both the source and the power of His ministry… Jesus’ ministry in the Spirit’s power demonstrated the pattern for believers.  They, like the apostles, also are to obey Him (cf. Matt. 28:19-20).  The Holy Spirit is the source of power for believers’ ministry and enables them to obey their Lord’s teaching.

            “The verb entello (‘given orders’) signals a command (cf. Matt. 17:19), emphasizing the force of the truth.  It encompasses a series of commands to obey God, as well as threats in light of the consequences of disobedience.”

            As we looked at the book of John we learned that Jesus spent many hours teaching and preaching to the crowds, but His primary and His constant learners were “the apostles whom He had chosen.”  I have mentioned that I am teaching through the 17^th chapter of the gospel of John in Sunday school, a chapter we looked at from late February through early April, and in this chapter, a large portion of it is Jesus praying for His disciples, and in this prayer for them He was praying for their safety while He went to the cross along with the effectiveness of their ministry once He went back to heaven.  Jesus equipping His disciples to continue on with His ministry while He went back to heaven was one of the most important reasons that He came to earth, of course aside from His going to the cross to pay for our sins, for if that had not happened then the disciples ministry would not have happened, and our ministry as believers would not have happened either.  It all had to happen in sequence as seen in the prayer form John 17, first He had to die and be risen from the dead, then He would go back to heaven to pray for us, and then the disciples would begin their ministry, the second part of the prayer, and finally our ministry was given to us once the disciples preached the truth, beginning in Acts 2.  When I say our ministry I am speaking of the ministry of the first converts of the disciples all the way to the ministry of the saints throughout church history. 

            We finish with a couple of quotes, one from John MacArthur and one from Spurgeon.  “The effectiveness of every believer’s ministry in large measure depends on a clear and deep knowledge of the Word.  No wonder Spurgeon said,

‘We might preach ‘till our tongue rotted, ‘till we exhaust our lungs and die—but never a soul would be converted unless the Holy Spirit uses the Word to convert that soul.  So it is blessed to eat into the very heart of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in scriptural language and your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord, so that your blood is Bibline and the very essence of the Bible flows from you.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Knowing and understanding the Word of God is one of the most important things that a believer can do, perhaps the most important of all.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trusting that the Holy Spirit will guide my thoughts and message that I have for our Sunday school class this morning, that He will use it to work in the lives of all who He brings there, including mine.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Youthful lust” (2 Timothy 2:22).”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who gave the prophecy ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities…and with his stripes we are healed’?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/25/2017 7:22 AM

PT-3 "The Message" (Acts 1:1-2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/24/2017 10:04 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-3 “The Message”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 1:1-2

            Message of the verses:  “1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.”

            We continue to look at the message, the message of salvation that first of all the apostles would give out, and then those who hear the message that are saved will give out, and this has continued since the day that the church began as seen in Acts chapter two.  MacArthur writes “Evangelism is telling people that God saves from sin.  What adorns that message, or makes it believable, is a holy life that clearly demonstrates God can save from sin.  It is self-defeating to proclaim the message of salvation from sin while living a sinful life.  The messenger must manifest the power of the message he is proclaiming.  Jesus preached righteousness and lived it perfectly.  We have to preach the same message and strive to live it as perfectly as we can.”

            When a person hears the message and the Spirit opens up his eyes to receive the truth, that person will have a new life as Paul writes in “2Co 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”  I was almost 27 years old when the Spirit of God gave me an effectual call for salvation, a call that I could not say no to.  (The Holy Spirit is kind of like the “God-Father), He gives you an offer you can’t say no to, and so once He gave me that call I was saved as I accepted the salvation that Christ offered to me.  God changed my life that January day in 1974 and it has not been the same since.  The desires that were sinful that I did up until that time seemed natural to me, but once that call came for salvation those desires that I had up until that time I knew then were sinful.  I now no longer desire to do those sinful things, even though Satan still temps me with them.  If you go back to the OT book of Joshua you read about how Israel under the leadership of Joshua conquered the Promised Land, a land God promised to give to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  After they conquered the land there was still pockets of the enemy in the land.  Joshua told the children of Israel that they had to get rid of them or these heathen people would end up causing the children of Israel to fall into sin.  It is the same with believers today as God has saved us from sin and forgiven all of our trespasses, past, present, and future, but we have to do our part when we are tempted by the old desires and in the power of the Lord war against them.  Putting on the Spiritual Armor that is described in Ephesians chapter six should be something we do daily.  In Psalm 143 David writes the following in verse 2 “And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no man living is righteous.”  This Psalm speaks of David’s physical battles with his enemies and as we look at it we can think of the spiritual battles we go through once we have been saved.  The good news is that those of us who have been born again will always belong to the Lord. 

            I want to end this section with a quote from John MacArthur who then gives a quote from Robert Murray McCheyne.  “Two major factors contribute to the church’s powerlessness today.  First, many are ignorant of biblical truth.  Second, those who may know biblical truth all too often fail to live up to it.  Proclaiming an erroneous message is tragic, yet so is proclaiming the truth but giving scant evidence that one’s life had been transformed by it.  Such people cannot expect others to be moved by their proclamation.  The exemplary nineteenth-century Scottish preacher Robert Murray McCheyne gave the following words of advice to an aspiring young minister:

‘Do not forget the culture of the inner man—I mean of the heart.  How diligently the cavalry officer keeps his sabre clean and sharp; every stain he rubs off with the greatest care.  Remember you are God’s sword, His instrument—I trust a chosen vessel unto Him to bear His name.  In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be the success.  It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus.  A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.’

“Those who would be effective in preaching, teaching, and evangelism must give heed to those words.  Sound doctrine supported by holiness of life is essential for all who would minister the Word.”

            It looks like we will have one more SD on the subject of “The Message.” 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Holiness means separated from sin, something that all true believers will have happen to them once we get to heaven.  I am thankful for this that one day I will be truly holy before God.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to guide me through what He wants me to teach in our Sunday school class tomorrow.  To give me peace that passes all understanding.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Fifteen years” (2 Kings 20:6).

Today’s Bible question:  “From what did Paul instruct Timothy to flee?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/24/2017 11:39 AM

PT-2 "The Message" (Acts 1:1-2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/23/2017 8:22 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-2 “The Message”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 1:1-2

            Message of the verses:  “1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2  until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.”

            We have been talking about the message that Jesus Christ taught, and along with that have been quoting different verses that go along with this message.  We want to continue to look at these different verses as we begin today’s SD, but before we do this I want to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary. 

“It is axiomatic that those who would carry the message of Christ to the world must know what that message is.  There must be an accurate understanding of the content of Christian truth before any ministry can be effective.  Such knowledge is foundational to spiritual power and to fulfilling the church’s mission.  The lack of it is insurmountable and devastating to the evangelistic purpose of God.”

            If we as believers do not understand fully the message of salvation then it would make it difficult for us to give it out.  I once heard a message from a minister, and as I look back on who gave this message I have to say that he was not a really good minister, but at any rate he spoke of a man who had gotten saved recently and was all excited about what happened to him.  He began to talk about his excitement to friends and his friends asked him how this happened to him as they seemed like they wanted this new found excitement too.  He told them to go to this certain church where it happened to him and go to the third row and sit there and it would happen to them too.  Not exactly what Jesus’ message was or what Paul’s or the rest of the apostles taught either.

            Paul writes to the Colossians in Colossians 1:9-11 “9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience.”

            In 2 Timothy 2:15, we see that Paul charged Timothy “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”  I have to love this verse as it is the verse that I have chosen to be the theme of my blogs, praying that as I write my spiritual diaries that God will cause me to accurately handle the Word of truth so that I can share it with others.

            We see a rebuke from the writer to the Hebrews about ignorance of the truth:  “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food (Heb. 5:12).”  Spiritual growth is pictured with physical growth as babies we begin with the elementary principles of the oracles of God which is described as milk and then move on to deeper truths from the Word of God, but we have to begin at the beginning in order to move on to these deeper truths and just as it takes a baby years to grow up so it takes time for believers to grow, and just as a baby will grow through the feeding of food so believers grow by the food of the Scriptures.  “Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts (Jer. 15:16).”

            Just having mere factual knowledge is of course powerless to save those Hebrews or for that matter anyone else, as it has to be believed and appropriated.  Matthew 23:1-3, words of our Lord:  “1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2  saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.”  John MacArthur writes “Jesus set the pattern of consistency in behaving and proclaiming because, as Luke observed, He ‘began’ both to ‘do’ as well as to ‘teach.’  He perfectly lived the truth He taught.” 

We will continue looking at “the message” in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think of times when I was growing up along with when my kids were growing up and in both cases, I suppose me, more than my kids, that there were bumps along the way.  This happens in my spiritual walk with the Lord and the way to get past these bumps is digging into the Word of God. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord as I am preparing what probably is the most difficult Sunday school lesson that I have had to teach, that the Lord will give me the words to say that will bring glory to Him, and growth to those who hear this lesson.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Job.”

Today’s Bible question:  “How long did God allow Hezekiah to live after his illness?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/23/2017 9:25 AM

The Message (Acts 1:1-2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/22/2017 7:42 AM

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Focus:  The Message

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Acts 1:1-2

            Message of the verses:  1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2  until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.”

            Let us begin with a quote from the last paragraph of John MacArthur’s commentary on the book of Acts in order for us to be able to see where we will be going.  “The Apostles themselves obliviously lacked the understanding and spiritual power to complete Jesus unfinished ministry of evangelism and edification.  However, in these last words to him before His ascension, the Lord Jesus Christ reiterates (cf. John 20:22) the promise of the Spirit.  He will empower the apostles (and all subsequent believers) with these resources necessary to finish the Saviors unfinished work.  The needed the correct message, magnification, mystery, mission, and motive.”  Now in today’s SD we will begin looking at the “Message.”

            When we look at the words “first account” we can understand that would have been the gospel of Luke and the man that he wrote it to and also this information too was Theophilus, and when we looked at the introduction we talked about who Theophilus was and also what his name means (friend of God).  The book of Luke was written about Jesus life from His birth to His resurrection as we see from the end of verse one.  It was during His earthly life that He spent much time with His disciples teaching them so that once He left to go back to heaven that the Holy Spirit would come into their lives so that they could be the ones teaching, teaching how a person can become a born-again believer through Jesus Christ.  The information that the apostles received was vital to the success of not only getting the church off the ground, but in keeping it alive and well as the infant church began.  The apostles of Jesus Christ had a lot of responsibility and they would need the Spirit’s power along with protection from the Father, and prayers from the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven.

            Paul was so concerned about this truth too and wrote about it in Ephesians 1:18-19a “18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”  Paul also wrote the following to the Philippians “9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ (Phil. 1:9-10).” 

            In our next SD we will look at some more verses that go along with these we already quoted.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Moab” (Numbers 22:4-5)

Today’s Bible question:  “What man lost all of his possessions and his health but remained true to God?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/22/2017 8:15 AM

           

PT-5 "Intro to Acts"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/21/2017 8:07 AM

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  5^th Intro to the book of Acts

            We have here the final part of John MacArthur’s sermon on his introduction to the book of Acts from January 2014.

            “Now we’re not going to cover all of this tonight, we never intended to.  This is for us to work on over the next few, but let’s just take a look at the message.  To effectively carry on Christ’s work, you have to begin with the message.  The message has to be right.  And if I can piggyback on what we were saying this morning, it all starts with the words of Jesus.  Correct?  It all starts with the words of Jesus. 

            “That’s why there are four gospels.  So we can get as many of the words of Jesus as the Holy Spirit wants us to have.  Plenty of people running around with the wrong message.  They are wearisome.  Aren’t they?  Cults and corrupt versions of Christianity, misrepresentations of Jesus and the gospel.  It’s important to have the right message.  I’m not talking about biblical ignorance here.  I remember there was a test given to college students some years ago to try to find out how they – what level they were familiar with the Bible.

            “The answers were really incredible.  Sodom and Gomorrah were lovers on some answers.  Who were Sodom and Gomorrah?  Lovers.  Who was Jezebel?  One answer was Ahab’s jackass.  Who was Eve?  She was a woman created from an apple.  One college student said Jesus was baptized by Moses.  I’m not talking about that kind of ignorance.  That’s everywhere and far worse today than it’s ever been.  Biblical ignorance is at an all time high. 

            “Sadly, there’s an awful lot of ignorance about the message, the gospel message, even in, quote unquote, the church, evangelicalism.  I don’t need to belabor the point, but when Jesus began his work, it included teaching Verse 1.  It included teaching.  And Luke is a great model for this because Luke wants the exact truth.  I love that about him.  He is the precise historian. 

            “I’m writing,” he says, “So you have the exact truth.”  And the only place we can go for this is the Scripture.  And when you have that confidence in the Scripture, that it is the exact truth, you’re launched as an effective communicator of the gospel.  When you know the word and you believe the word, you’re powerful because you’re not equivocating.  There are all kinds of people who write books that critique Christianity, call things into question, deny the inspiration of scripture.  These are from so-called Christian writers, Christian scholars.  I would remind you that those kinds of people are impotent.  They’re just another guy with another opinion.

            “When you hear powerful preaching, when you hear powerful representation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you know one thing for sure: There is a preacher who believes in Scripture because he boldly proclaims it.  That’s where the ministry has to start.  If we’re going to build the church, we can only build the church on the truth of the gospel.  Right?

            “Faith comes by hearing the truth concerning Christ, the word of Christ (Romans 10).  How will they hear without a preacher?  But the preacher has to preach the message concerning Christ.  So I don’t need to beg that issue any further.  You get that.  You know that.  Everything begins with the teaching.  That’s why there’s a seminary across the patio because you have to get it right.

            “If anybody preaches another gospel, let them be what?  Let them be damned, cursed.  If anybody preaches another Christ, let them be cursed.  But there’s another little word there, too, and it says that Jesus began to do and teach.  And while we can’t do what Christ did, miraculously, that’s not what it’s talking about.  What it’s talking about is the power of his life to draw people.  You remember it was He who said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.”  He was attractive not only because of his teaching, but because he personified what he taught.  He was consistent with his message.  And I simply want to make that an issue for your thinking that if the Lord is going to use us, there’s going to have to be the right message in the right package, the right messenger.

            “And always remember that statement by the German philosopher.  Show me your redeemed life, and I might be inclined to believe in your redeemer.  Pretty hard to make the gospel believable unless it’s believable when somebody looks at you.  Not that you have to be perfect, but you have to demonstrably be committed to the truth you teach.  There are lots of people who talk about Christ but don’t live a life that points to his power.

            “I remember reading an article year ago where a writer said, “Personally, I’ve discovered that Jesus probably had a lot more class than most of his agents.”  It is a familiar knock on Christianity that I wouldn’t want to be a Christian because there are so many hypocrites, and while that’s a pretty lame excuse, and it won’t stand up before God, there’s some truth to it.

            “Powerful preaching comes from the overflow of powerful demonstration of the transforming gospel.  So that’s where you have to start.  You have to start with the right message, clearly.  And so Jesus, until the day he was taken up to heaven, Verse 2, after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen.  What is that saying? That is saying that Jesus continued to live the message and teach the message until the ascension.  Until the ascension, he was the personification, the incarnation of everything he preached and taught.  This was the priority.  I just would like to make the point that Jesus didn’t spend those final 40 days feeding poor people, although that’s a noble thing to do.

If you look at the next verse, end of the verse, for 40 days, he was speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.  This school was in.  I would have loved to have been in that seminary, 24/7 for 40 days with a risen Christ.  You’d hang on every word.  You’d absolutely hang on every word.  But this is where all of our work begins.  It begins with the right message. Understanding the truth of the gospel, the truth of the kingdom, and living it as we proclaim it so that from the time that Jesus arose and met with his disciples in that upper room on the resurrection night, for the next 40 days, he had those chosen apostles with him, instructing them in the things concerning the kingdom of God.  That’s what they’re going to be doing if they’re faithful. They’re going to be instructing others.  That is discipleship at its most profound point.  And they had a lot to learn.  Didn’t they?  You go back and look at how they lived and how they were so confused all the time and how he taught them lessons – the same lesson, again and again.  They didn’t seem to get it.  They were so ill prepared for what was going to come that even when Jesus was arrested, they all fled and scattered. They were hard pressed to believe even when he appeared to them risen from the dead.  Thomas who wasn’t there said, “I’m not going to believe that.”  They didn’t believe on the road to Emmaus.  They were beleaguered.  John’s gospel ends with them going back to their fishing nets even after Jesus had appeared to them and taught them, to some degree, some of those 40 days.

            “They were hard to communicate to, but these were desperate times.  This was it.  This was it.  When the 40 days were over, it was over.  How urgent it is that the message be communicated.  That’s the priority.  So for 40 days, he taught them the message they would have to preach.  But by the way, even with the right message, they weren’t ready to go yet.  They weren’t ready to go.  That’s why he had previously said, “Don’t go.  Stay where?  Stay in Jerusalem until you’re empowered from on high.” 

            “So the message is essential, and the living of the message is essential, but I will promise you one thing.  Even with the right message and doing your best to conform to that message, your own human power isn’t going to make the difference.  I love what Spurgeon said.  “We might preach until our tongue rotted, until we exhaust our lungs and die, but never a soul would be converted unless the Holy Spirit uses the word to convert that soul.” 

            “So it is blessed to eat into the very heart of the truth until at last, you come to talk in scripture language, and your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord so that your blood is bibline, and the very essence of the Bible flows from you.  But you still need the Holy Spirit.  School was in, and the truth was taught.  There’s one other thing that I would add, and then we’ll stop.  A second point:  You have to have the proper confidence.

            “Now remember, they didn’t have a Bible, except the Old Testament.  They knew now because they had the gospels that the prophecies of the Old Testament had been fulfilled.  And what did I tell you was the marked characteristic of the early apostolic preaching in the Book of Acts?  Their use of what?  The Old Testament.  They get it.  Made that point in the first message we talked about Acts.  You see quotes from the Old Testament all over the place that you never see in the gospels.  They didn’t know that the Old Testament was being fulfilled until here.  Now they know. And so you – they all of a sudden start using Old Testament prophecies and saying, “They’re fulfilled, they’re fulfilled, they’re fulfilled.”  So they did have confidence now for the first time that Scripture was fulfilled in Christ.  But where was their confidence that the plan of God would go to the next generation, the next level of fulfillment?  Here it is: Verse 3. “To these, he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over 40 days.”  Where did their confidence come from?  The what?  What event?  The resurrection.  The resurrection.  Over a period of 40 days between his passion and his ascension, Jesus appeared to them.  Not all 40 days, but in intervals during those 40 days.  And manifested himself to them not as some kind of apparition, not as some kind of ghost, not as some kind of ethereal being, not as some kind of a vision, but he appeared to them alive after his suffering with the wounds by many convincing proofs. He really was alive from the dead.  He really did live.  Paul lays out in 1 Corinthians 15 the urgency of the resurrection.  If Christ is not risen, we’re of all people most miserable.  If Christ is not risen, all gospel preaching is foolish.  If Christ is not risen, we have no hope.  Everything is lost, and that’s what they were saying on the road to Emmaus.  “We thought he was to be the one.”

            “So he keeps coming back over 40 days and appearing to them in infallible, incontrovertible convincing evidence that he is alive.  That’s a critical reality.  That’s their confidence.  And you say, “Well, what does that do for me?”  What it does for you is it gives you the very same confidence because the record of those proofs and appearances are given in holy infallible scripture.  So you have the same experience.

            “Only difference is you, loved one, you have not seen, whom having not seen you love.  Is there ample proof in the New Testament for the resurrection?  Yes.  If you have any questions about that, go look at the litany of sermons on resurrection Sunday that have been preached here in the last 40 some years.  The proofs of the resurrection are all recorded in the gospels, written down for us. 

            “That was an absolutely essential confidence.  They were so exploded into joy by the resurrection of Jesus Christ that that’s what elevated them.  That’s what looses them from the despondency and the fears and the doubts and the questions and all the wondering about whether Jesus was the messiah.  So if you’re going to be effective in carrying on the work that Jesus began on his own and then passed onto the first generation and every other generation until we got to century number 21, you start with knowing the message, the right message, which is of course the word of God and the gospel, and having the right confidence that Christ is alive.

And he is building his church, and he wants to use you to do that.  That’s how the history goes.  Well, that leads us to the next and really what is the compelling point.  You have to have the right power.  We’ll keep that for next Sunday.  Let’s pray.  Father, thank you again for your word to us.  I say that almost every time because I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude for the shear blessing of scripture.  No matter how I search it and search it and mine it and think about it, study it, it never disappoints.  Never.

            “It always fulfills its promise to be alive, transforming truth.  We’re so blessed to be a part of what you’re continuing to do of your unfinished work.  We thank you that you finished the redemptive work, but you’re not finished with the redeeming work.  You continue to do it through us.  May we be useful and faithful.  Thank you for such a privilege.  Amen.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Angel” (Luke 2:10-11).

Today’s Bible question:  “The king of what country called Balaam to curse Israel?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/21/2017 8:17 AM