"Peter was Christ-Exalting" (Acts 9:34-45)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/8/2018 10:00 AM

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus: Peter was Christ-Exalting

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 9:34-35

            Message of the verses:  “34 Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed." Immediately he got up. 35 And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.”

            I find a statement in the first sentence from John MacArthur’s commentary that is very in lighting to me as he writes “Those who would minister effectively for Jesus Christ must seek to exalt Him, not promote themselves.  Peter understood his role perfectly (cf. Acts 10:25-25). “25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter raised him up, saying, "Stand up; I too am just a man.’”  In the book of Revelation we will find that something similar happens to John, but in his case he is the one bowing down to an angle and the angel tells John something similar to what Peter told Cornelius.

            When Peter comes to this man, Aeneas his says “Jesus Christ heals you,” he does not say I heal you.  When you look at TV evangelists you sometimes, and I am being extremely generous, think that they are bringing glory to themselves.  This is not the case with Peter as Peter knew who it was that should see the glory for this miracle.

            I can think of a couple more miracles which are similar to this one, and one of them we just looked at in Acts chapter four, and then the other one was done by Jesus when he was teaching in a house and some men opened the roof and let a man down through the roof who was on a pallet and Jesus healed him.  There is another one similar found in John’s gospel when Jesus healed a man who was on a mat beside a pool and after healing him Jesus told him to take up his mat similar to what Peter tells this man.  It was the Sabbath and so the Jewish leaders stated that it was not lawful for this man to carry his mat.  I want to look at a couple of verses that go well with this section.  “4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5).”  “11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (1 Peter 4:11).”

            Now the result of this miracle brought many to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Luke writes “All who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.”  John MacArthur writes “All may shock the reader, but such was the power and grace of God through Peter in that area that all believed.”    The effects of this miracle traveled to another town as Luke mentions Sharon heard about this miracle and also came to know the Lord.  John MacArthur writes “The phrase ‘turned to the Lord’ employs the verb epistrepho ‘to turn around’…which describes salvation as more than a change of mind; indeed it is a change of life direction.  Conversion is an about-face from one belief and behavior to a completely opposite commitment.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to be like a water hose that the water of life flows through.  The hose is not nearly as important as the water that flows through it, but it is necessary to carry the water to where it needs to go.  Jesus told His disciples that it was necessary that He go away.  Jesus is the second person of the God-head and while on earth He was in a body, a human body, and not He is in a glorified body.  While in the human body He was subject to only be in one place at a time, and now that He is in a glorified body in heaven and now that the Holy Spirit fills those in the church there can be more done than when He was in His human body.  I must always remember to praise the Lord whenever I am producing fruit through His power.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to work out some of the issues that I have with the seven churches we are studying in Revelation at this time.

Memory verse:  Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Satan.”

Today’s Bible question:  “How did the Lord lead the children of Israel when they left Egypt?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/8/2018 10:46 AM