PT-2 "Intro to Acts 13:14-41

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/16/2018 11:21 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 Intro to Acts 13:14-41

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 13:14-41

            Message of the verses:  As mentioned in our last SD I am not going to include all the verses that go along with what we are looking at in Acts 13, but also as I mentioned we will continue to look at preaching as this is a very important subject for believers, and perhaps the main reason non believers become believers.  I want to say one thing before we continue looking at preaching and this is a personal note from me.  I am what we find in Acts 17: 10 “The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”  The Bereans searched the Scriptures after they heard a message from Paul and Silas to find out if what they were telling them lined up with the Scriptures.  I have to admit that I listen intensely to what Pastors preach to make sure that they are preaching what is in accordance with the Scriptures.

            We can see from Scripture that Jesus told a progressive follower “but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God’ (Luke 9:60).”  Jesus wanted him to preach even as he preached.  Paul wrote to Timothy “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction (2 Tim. 4:2).”

            There have been different times when the Lord provided a revival since the church age began.  An example from the United States is that we have had two very large revivals, one before the Revolutionary War and one before the Civil war, and the thing that was the catalyst of these revivals as they are in any revival is the preaching of the Word of God.  It began with the church fathers taking the baton from the Apostles and it moved on throughout church history.  As I have just finished teaching about the seven churches in the book of Revelation and have mentioned that my belief is that they were in prophetic order and can look back at the church in Philadelphian era that began in 1750 and ended around 1925 and see how the preaching of God from many famous men brought revivals in England that actually came to the United States, where the Puritans were instrumental with these revivals.

            If we look back to when the church began we studied that it began with the preaching of Peter on the Day of Pentecost and as we move through the book of Acts we have seen preaching that has brought many souls to Christ in different places.  Now that we are in the second part of the book of Acts which focuses on Paul’s preaching to the Gentiles we see from our text that we are looking at Paul’s preaching. 

            John MacArthur writes about Paul and Barnabas’s preaching:  “Having first visited Barnabas’s home island of Cyprus, the missionary team next visited Paul’s home region, Asia Minor.  Leaving Cyprus, they sailed north nearly 200 miles across the Mediterranean Sea and landed at Attalia, the port of Perga.  At that point, John Mark deserted Paul and Barnabas and returned to Jerusalem.

            “Paul and Barnabas apparently did not preach in Perga at this time, although they did on their return journey (Acts 14:25).  Some have speculated that Paul was ill (cf. Gal. 4:13), possibly with malaria, and needed to leave the coastal lowlands for the cooler mountain regions (Pisidian Antioch was 3600 feet above sea level).  In any case, they did not remain there, but ‘going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch.’  The city was located in Asia Minor and it’s not to be confused with Antioch in Syria.  From which the missionaries set out on their journey.”

            In our next SD we will begin with another quote from MacArthur as he continues to talk about Paul and Barnabas’s journeys.  I hope that these are interesting to my readers as personally I like to read about these types of things.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful to the Lord for giving great preachers to His church so that we can learn more about who God is and what His desires are for us, His children.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord that He will speak to our hearts as we listen to three videos at our minnie marriage retreat.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Sinners” (Luke 15:3).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘Father forgive them; for they know not what they do’?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/16/2018 11:54 AM