Sunday, January 29, 2023

"Salvation Must Center on Jesus Christ" (Acts 8:35)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/21/2017 10:09 AM

My Worship Time                                                   Focus:  Salvation Must Center on Jesus Christ

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Acts 8:35

            Message of the verse:  “35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.”

            I want to say first of all that this SD will be a short one as we will finish up the last main point with this SD.  It seems to me that this section from John MacArthur’s commentary on the book of Acts is a bit different than the rest of it as far as how he separates the verses.  What we have been looking at as far as the second main point is the proper presentation of the gospel message.

            I have mentioned that the sermon that we read about in the 24th chapter of the gospel of Luke, that even though we don’t get to read all that Christ had to say, is the sermon that I would have loved to be there when Jesus spoke it to the two disciples while they were on the road to Emmaus.  What we see in verse 35 of Acts chapter eight is a verse that is similar to what happened in the 24th chapter of Acts as Philip “beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.”  We don’t know exactly what other verses that Philip used to preach Jesus to this man, but I would have to think that he used some of the exact verses that Jesus used when speaking to the disciples as He was preaching about the Messiah, which of course was Him.

            As far as an OT passage there is probably no better place to begin preaching Jesus than the latter part of Isaiah 52 all the way through chapter 53, which is where this eunuch was reading when Philip came upon him. 

            John MacArthur writes “A gospel presentation, to be effective, must clearly and comprehensively present the Person and work of Jesus Christ.  Perhaps the reason some reject Jesus is that He has not been presented well enough for them to understand who He is and what He has accomplished.  To proclaim to others what Christ has done in our lives is important, but the biblical truth about Jesus Christ is the essential message the sinner must hear.  As Paul wrote to the Romans, ‘Faith comes from hearing…the word of Christ’ (Romans 10:17).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is not only good to tell others the truth of who Jesus is and what Jesus did, but it is good for me to continue to read and study what Jesus did so that it makes me better prepared to answer questions that people I run into can understand the truth about Jesus.  On this note I want to say that this past year (2017) I have been beginning my day by doing my Spiritual Diaries and then after prayer time I have been reading a devotional from a Bible that I got in the mail last year, and the Scripture reading from this Bible that one has to read each day takes you through the OT once and the NT along with the book of Psalms two times.  I have to say that this has been a challenge to keep up with it.  What I do is actually listen to the Bible from a DVD that I have.  This coming year, Lord willing, I want to go slowly through the Gospels along with the book of Psalms along with doing my Spiritual Diaries each day so that I can focus more on Jesus Christ.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Peter” (John 13:8).

Today’s Bible question:  “Name the mountain where Aaron died.”

Answer in our next SD.

12/21/2017 10:33 AM

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