SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/4/2017 9:01 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                    Focus:  PT-1 “Preaching”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Acts 8:4-7

            Message of the verses:  “4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. 6 The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. 7 For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.”

            I have mentioned many times that the word “therefore” is seen over 900 times in the Word of God and when we see it here in verse four the therefore goes back to what Luke was talking about in the first three verses, and that was persecution.  Because of the persecution many were scattered to different places in Judah and so we learn here that many of them began to preach the good news to those that they came into contact with.  The people who had been scattered were preaching the gospel in Jerusalem which is why the persecution broke out and so they continued to preach the good news of the Gospel after they were scattered.  John MacArthur writes that the Greek word for “went about” “is from dierchomai, a word used frequently in Acts of missionary endeavors.”

            He goes on to write “Preaching is from euagelizo, which refers to proclaiming the gospel.  All the scattered believers were involved in evangelism.”  There are those who have the gift of evangelism and yet all believers should be able to explain the gospel to one who is not a believer so that the Spirit of God can use what is spoken to them to open their hearts to receive Christ.  Now all people will respond to receive Christ, but it is still the responsibility for believers to give the good news out to the lost.  We know that Satan’s desire was to stop the giving out of the Gospel, but the direct opposite occurred because of the persecution.

            Verse five speaks of Philip as the Holy Spirit focuses in on him as an example of one who was faithful in giving out the gospel.  John MacArthur writes “Philip, the first missionary name in Scripture, becomes the key figure for the rest of the chapter.”  Now we have learned that all the apostles stayed in Jerusalem and so this is not the apostle Philip but he was one of the Hellenist Jews who were chosen to care for the widows as seen in 6:5.  I suppose that in making this statement about Philip being the first missionary named in Scripture one can say that he is the first missionary leaving Jerusalem to proclaim Jesus Christ for we know that Stephen was doing this so I guess MacArthur is stating that a missionary is one who leaves their homes to go out and proclaim the gospel.  MacArthur goes on to write:  “Although Paul later instructed Timothy to ‘do the work of an evangelist’ (2 Tim. 4:5), Philip is the only man in Scripture actual given the title ‘evangelist’ (Acts 21:8).  That is fitting honor in light of his pioneering work in spreading the gospel.”  The incident that is in Acts 21:8 speak of Paul, Luke and others coming back to Jerusalem.  I do see some irony in that section as we compare it to what we are talking about in our section for today.  Philip was leaving Jerusalem because of the persecution that was caused by Saul of Tarsus.  In Acts 21 Paul (Saul of Tarsus) was coming into Jerusalem to proclaim Christ.  Philip was being persecuted as he leaves Jerusalem while Paul will be persecuted when he gets to Jerusalem.  God truly does work in mysterious ways.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Sometimes it is hard to understand how God is working in my life.  I can think of my experience in teaching Sunday school how a few years ago I really wanted to teach the book of Revelation to some younger believers who perhaps never studied it before and then I end up teaching the book of Revelation to seasoned believers, many who are considered former or current pastors. God does work in mysterious ways.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to trust the Lord to lead me into what He desires me to do.

Memory verses:  Philippians 1, 8 “1 Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.”  “8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worth of praise, dwell on these things.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “His wicked grandmother had killed all his brothers and was acting as queen” (2 Kings 11:1-3).

Today’s Bible question:  “What is the fulfilling of the Law?”

Answer in our next SD.

12/4/2017 9:41 AM