SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/23/2017 9:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Introduction to Acts 3:1-11
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 3:1-11
Message of the verses: “1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. 2 And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. 4 But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, "Look at us!" 5 And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene-walk!" 7 And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. 8 With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God; 10 and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11 While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.”
As we begin this introduction of these verses I have to
say that it will probably take a few days to do as the introduction in
MacArthur’s commentary is fairly long as this is an important subject that we
are about to look at.
I have to say that there are times when I realize that
the Lord is using me to do things that I am not sure what He is doing. In my other Spiritual Diary this morning
which is found on my other blog that can be read when one goes to www.2twokens.blogspot.com and
follow the directions when you get there, that I have begun to look at 2 Peter
chapter two which speaks of what can be called as heretical preachers. In his introduction John MacArthur quotes 2
Peter 2:1-21 stating that this section of Scripture is the most scathing
denunciation of heretical preachers found in the Word of God. Both 2 Peter and Jude deal with false
teachers and false preachers in their writings.
Jesus also dealt with this subject in Matthew 7:15 “"Beware of the
false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous
wolves.” We will also look at Matthew
24:24 “"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show
great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” Paul calls them “savage wolves” when he was
addressing the church leaders at Ephesus in Acts 20:29. Titus 1:10 says “For there are many
rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision.” 2 Cor. 11:13 states “For such men are false
apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.” He writes to Timothy in 1 Tim 4:1 and 2 Tim
3:8 “1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away
from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,”
“8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the
truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.”
Now to close this first introductory on these verses I
will quote that rather long section from 2 Peter 2:1-21, reminding you also
that over the next few weeks on my other blog site I will be going over those
verses.
“1 But false prophets also
arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you,
who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who
bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow
their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and
in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long
ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 4 For if God did not
spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to
pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world,
but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He
brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made
them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He
rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men
8 (for by what he saw and heard that
righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day
after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the
godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day
of judgment,10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt
desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when
they revile angelic majesties, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and
power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But
these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured
and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of
those creatures also be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing
wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and
blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, 14 having
eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls,
having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; 15 forsaking the right way,
they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who
loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16
but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking
with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet. 17 These are
springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness
has been reserved. 18 For speaking out
arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those
who barely escape from the ones who live in error, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves
are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is
enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by
the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in
them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
21 For it would be better for them not
to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from
the holy commandment handed on to them.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Jonah” (Jonah 3:4).
Today’s Bible
question: “Where were the people from
who fought against Gideon?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/23/2017 10:16 AM
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