SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/3/2018 7:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Fervency in Speaking
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 9:20-22
Message of the verses: 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." 21 All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, "Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?" 22 But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.”
I remember soon after I got saved that I began to talk to
a friend of mine about what happened to me and how I became a believer, and he
was not the only one that I spoke to about salvation. I know that once I became a believer that I
had all kinds of questions as to what happened to me and so after I told him
about his need for salvation I ask him if he had any questions. He told me no, that he was not interested at
all. Later on I had the opportunity to
lead his wife to the Lord and I believe that she was the first person that I
led to the Lord. My point is that just
like Paul began to proclaim Jesus so most people that you lead to the Lord
desire to do also.
When Saul began to talk about the things of Christ in the
synagogue, telling those there that Jesus is the Son of God they were amazed
because of what had happened to Saul as he was to bring those who believed that
Jesus is the Son of God back to Jerusalem in chains. MacArthur writes “From the beginning he felt
that courageous compulsion that later caused him to exclaim, ‘Woe is me if I do
not preach the gospel’ (1 Cor. 9:16).”
Saul went into the very synagogues that he was supposed to bring warrants for the arrest of Christians to preach the good news of Jesus Christ. What he was preaching was that Jesus is the Son of God, which is a title for our Lord that speaks of His deity. “31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?" 33 The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God." 34 Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, ’I SAID, YOU ARE GODS’? 35 “If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ’You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ’I am the Son of God’? (John 10:31-36).”
What happened to Saul of Tarsus is amazing as his
preaching produced something that is inconceivable for us because of his
background. He was the most zealous
defender of Judaism and now he becomes the most zealous evangelist for
Christianity. So it is not surprisingly,
“All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, "Is this
not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had
come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?’” They could not comprehend this drastic change
that came over Saul.
One of the problems that the people in the Synagogue had and people today have is that they think that people just come to the conclusion themselves that they are in need of changing things in their life and so people think that true believers can just conjure up the strength to bring about a drastic change like that happened to Saul. This is totally a false way of looking at this as what people need to understand that all people born into this world are born spiritually dead, which makes it impossible to do anything that will cause them to be right with God on their own. We can go back to my friend who is an undertaker who deals with dead people all of the time and although it is possible for him to talk to these dead people he will never get a response from them because they are dead. What happened to Saul and everyone who has ever been born-again is that the Holy Spirit of God gives them an effectual call, a call to salvation, a call that they cannot say no to, and then the Spirit of God brings about a miracle in their lives as they see their need to repent and come to Christ as their Savior and Lord. We have the responsibility to say yes to that call, but in reality we cannot say no to the effectual call that the Spirit gives to us. Look once again at Ephesians 2:8-9 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” “8 For it is by grace that you are saved, through faith. This does not depend on anything you have achieved, it is the free gift of God; 9 and because it is not earned no man can boast about it (Phillips).”
John MacArthur writes “Far from wilting under the
pressure of confusion turning into hostility, ‘Saul kept increasing in strength
and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is
the Christ.’ Like Stephen before him, he
met the Jews in open debate about the deity and messiahship of Jesus. Saving faith ‘comes from hearing, and hearing
by the word of Christ’ (Rom. 10:17).”
When one understands Saul’s background that he had the
finest education first-century Judaism could offer, it is no wonder that he was
“confounding the Jews” in this dialogue.
Saul spent his early life studying all about Judaism, but the problem is
that while studying this he could not truly understand it because he was spiritually
dead at the time, but now that the Spirit has made him alive the things that he
had studied were finally opened up to him and he could see the truth about the
Messiah, and the truth that Jesus is the Messiah.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I think that
sometimes after you have been a believer for a long time you kind of stop
telling others about the Lord, you kind of go through stages where you don’t
have the desire you had when you first became a believer. This never seemed to happen to Saul who
became Paul, and my prayer is that I never stop having the desire to see others
come to the Lord. I have been praying
for my 100 year old Father-in-law ever since I became a believer back in 1974
and my wife, along with my daughter, and also I have finally seen some
differences in his life that give us hope that he is now a believer and we can
certainly praise the Lord for that.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
“but sanctify Christ as Lord in your
hearts, always being ready
to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that
is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; (1 Peter 3:15).”
Memory verses: Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do Your will, For
You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” Philippians 4:8 “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 worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The Word of God” (Luke 8:11).
Today’s Bible
question: “What did Jesus advise if one
should kill another?
Answer in our next SD.
1/3/2018 8:41 AM
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