SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/31/2017 8:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 Into to
Acts 3:12-18
Message of the verses: “12 But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, "Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? 13 "The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. 14 "But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. 16 "And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all. 17 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. 18 “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.”
First of all we want to briefly look at what I highlighted in verse 16, specifically “the name of Jesus,” and we see here that it was in the name of Jesus that this man was healed. Acts 2:38 tells us “Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Let us look at Acts 5:40 “They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them.” We see here that the enemies of the apostles and other members of the church knew that their power was in the name of Jesus. Philip preached in the name of Jesus “But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike (Acts 8:12).” Paul did likewise “27 But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus (Acts 9:27).” Let us now look at what the members of the Jerusalem council commended Barnabas and Paul in Acts 15:26 “men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul tells his listeners in Acts 21:13 that “I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."”
We can see as we look through the Word of God that Jesus
Christ has many names that speak of him, as some have even estimated more than
200 names are found that are names of Jesus Christ. John MacArthur writes “By whatever name He is
called, the testimony of Scripture is that Jesus Christ is the only person who
can provide salvation. All spiritual
blessings come through His name, including adoption as God’s children (John
1:12), salvation (Acts 4:12), forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43), answered prayer
(John 14:13-14), and the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). It is at His name that every knee will bow
(Phil. 2:10). Believers are to do
everything in His name (Col. 3:17), so that His name will be glorified (2
Thess. 1:12). Those who name His name
must turn away from sin (2 Tim. 2:19).
The very first person to preach in the name of Jesus was
Peter on the very first day of the church age, which happened on the Day of
Pentecost as found in Acts chapter two.
All true gospel preachers are to follow what Peter did by speaking in
the power of our Lord Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit. Paul writes the following in Ephesians 4:11-13
“11 And He gave some as apostles, and
some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service,
to the building up of the
body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity
of the faith, and
of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature
which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
Paul is saying here that true preachers of the gospel do this preaching
in the power of the Holy Spirit as he is talking about gifts of the Holy Spirit
in Ephesians chapter four. This is how
God speaks to His children in the true church today as the true pastors will
pray over what it is that God wants them to preach on, and then through the
power of the Holy Spirit they study and they learn what they are to preach. Now we have been speaking of things done in
the name of Jesus and true preaching today is done in His name.
We will conclude this section in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Everything that I
do is to be done to glorify my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as I am one of His
children and I want to do things that bring glory to His name.
My Steps of Faith For Today:
Trust that the Lord will guide my
preparation in beginning to teach the book of Revelation this coming Sunday and
throughout the time it takes to teach this wonderful book.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Horeb” (Exodus 3:1). According to my Hebrew/English dictionary we
read “another name for Mount Sinai from which God gave the law to Moses and the
Israelites.”
Today’s Bible
question: “What woman died after giving
birth to her son Benjamin?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/31/2017 8:59 AM
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