SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/4/2018 10:31 PM
My Worship Time Focus: God’s Purposes Cannot be Frustrated
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
12:24-25
Message of the
verses: “24 But the word of the Lord
continued to grow and to be multiplied. 25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from
Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, taking along with them John,
who was also called Mark.”
We see the first word in verse twenty-four is “but” and
that means a change of direction, and the direction that we are now going is
from Luke is that he continues to keep his readers on track with the Church’s
growth by reporting that despite the furious opposition of men, “the word of
the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.” Luke stopped using numbers of how many people
became believers in the early chapters of the book of Acts and now he just
states that the Word of the Lord is multiplied, meaning the growth in the
church is multiplying too.
In our Sunday school class this morning I had a quote
that I read that came from Revelation 3:7-8 as the verses are very
similar: “7"And to the angel of the
church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of
David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says
this: 8 ’I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut,
because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My
name.” The quote is from the late Dr.
Henrietta C. Mears who was a great leader of the people. “She often used verse 7 in challenging young people called of God to
obey His word without fear of reservation.
God is not limited in His ability to open doors. This is a message much needed by the Lord’s
servants today. There is a tendency to
compromise in order to gain opportunities, whereas in truth it is our
responsibility to do right and God’s responsibility to open the doors of
opportunity.” The church in the
first century grew because it was God’s will for it to grow, for God was
opening the doors using people who were dedicated to the cause of Christ to do
the work of spreading the gospel.
John MacArthur writes “After stating the fact that God’s
purposes cannot be frustrated, Luke cites as an example ‘Barnabas and Saul,’
who ‘returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission.’ They had completed their mission of bringing
famine relief to the Jerusalem church (11:30).
That mission took place after Herod’s death. He died, but the church he persecuted lived
on.”
Luke also writes that “John, who was also called Mark,”
came back with them and as we will see in the next chapter will start out going
with Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary trip.
“Verses 24-25 mark an important transition in Acts. They introduce again the apostle Paul, with
whose ministry the rest of the book will be primarily concerned.”
We began looking at the book of Acts on the 21st
of June 2017 and have finished the first twelve chapters this evening. This also marks the end of the first commentary
from John MacArthur and we will begin looking at chapters 13-28 as we move on
to the second commentary from John MacArthur.
I look forward in looking at the rest of the book of Acts as in my opinion
that the last half of Acts is more exciting.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Samaria” (2 Kings 7:1).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who was Rachel’s handmaid?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/4/2018 10:53 PM
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