SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/26/2017 9:38 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-4 Intro 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.”
We continue to look at biblical understandings of the
apostolic healing ministry and we begin this SD with reason number four that
John MacArthur writes about which is “in almost every recorded instance of the gift of healing in Acts, it
is unbelievers who are healed (3:1-11; 5:15-16; 8:7; 19:11-12;
28:8). (Whether or not Aeneas ‘[Acts
9:33-34] was a believer is difficult to determine due to the brevity of the
passage. However the description of him
as ‘a certain man,’ rather than a believer or disciple [cf. Acts 9:36] suggests
he was an unbeliever.)” There may be one
exception that is found in Acts 20:7-12 “7 On the first day of the week, when
we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending
to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. 8 There
were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. 9 And there
was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep
sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from
the third floor and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down and fell upon
him, and after embracing him, he said, "Do not be troubled, for his life
is in him." 11 When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and
eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. 12 They
took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.” This truly looks to me like this boy was a
believer as we look at verse seven where we see that the breaking of the bread
refers to the Lord’s Supper and he took part in that so this is why it is
believed that he was a believer, for according to 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 only
believers are to partake in the Lord’s Supper.
I mentioned that in other passages that Paul did not use
his gift of healing on believers and I will give a couple of examples of
this. “Erastus remained at Corinth, but
Trophimus I left sick at Miletus (2 Tim. 4:20).” “No longer drink water exclusively, but use a
little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments (1 Tim.
5:23).” I remember my first Pastor that
I sat under after becoming a believer and he always said that if you have
Timothy’s stomach you can drink Timothy’s wine.
Now we also talked about whether or not God heals not and
stated that He truly does heal, but that there are no more gifts of healing
like that which was given at the beginning of the Church age. God heals in response to the cries of His
children when He determines that it is in His will. I remember a lady in our former church who
was probably the godliest woman that I have ever met and a short time after her
retirement she went to be with the Lord.
People prayed for her to be cured, and she stated that she did not feel
that the Lord was done with her, yet He was and she went to be with the
Lord.
John MacArthur states “It is an unfounded assumption
without biblical support that healings should be expected as commonplace in the
church. Never in all history has there
been a time of such healing power as exhibited by Christ and the apostles. There is no time before or since when God
manifested such prolific healing miracles.
It was rare before the ministry of the Lord and the apostles and
equally, if not more, rare since…
“In Acts 3:1-10, the Holy Spirit selects one of the ‘many
wonders and signs’ mentioned in 2:43 as an illustration. This astounding miracle of healing a man lame
from birth gathers a curious crowd and prepares them to hear Peter’s
sermon. It also confirms that Peter and
John represent God. The record of the
lame man unfolds in three events: the scene, the sign, and the
sequel.”
We will begin to look at the “scene” in our next SD which
covers the first three verses of Acts chapter three.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am thankful
that the Lord continues to heal people in His will, knowing that His will is
perfect even though many times we don’t understand it while we are on earth,
but will understand it once we see the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord as I finish up my teaching on
the parable of the “unrighteous judge” in our Sunday school class tomorrow and
then begin to prepare to begin to teach from the book of Revelation next week.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question “Obadiah.”
Today’s Bible
question: “What did Moses give the sons
of Gershon?” (This has to do with the moving of the pieces of the
Tabernacle.)
Answer in our next SD. 8/26/2017 10:07 AM
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