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