SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/15/2018 9:17 AM

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  PT-1 Intro to Acts 13:14-41

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

            Message of the verses:  “14 But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, "Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it." 16 Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: 17 "The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it. 18 “For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. 19 “When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance-all of which took about four hundred and fifty years. 20 “After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 “Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22  "After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ’I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.’ 23  "From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, 24  after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 “And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ’What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ 26 “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. 27 “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. 28 “And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. 29 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. 30 “But God raised Him from the dead; 31 and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. 32  "And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, 33  that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ’YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.’ 34 “As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ’I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.’ 35 “Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ’YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.’ 36  "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; 37  but He whom God raised did not undergo decay. 38 “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. 40  "Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: 41  ’BEHOLD, YOU SCOFFERS, AND MARVEL, AND PERISH; FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORK WHICH YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE, THOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD DESCRIBE IT TO YOU.’"”

            A few things as we begin this rather long section, first John MacArthur entitles this chapter “Paul Preaches Jesus,” and second as we will take more than one day to look at the introduction I will not be putting all these verses on the rest of the introductory SD’s.

            John MacArthur quotes something from Dr. Warren Wiersbe that I have read before and what Dr. Wiersbe said that “If some homiletically inclined archangel were to permit me to select another time and place in which to live I immediately would ask to be transported to Great Britain during the reign of Queen Victoria.”  He wrote that in a book entitled “Walking with Giants.”  It seems to me that he also wrote it in another book when he wrote about 50 great Christians that everyone should know about.  The reason he would want to be transported to that time period was because of the great preachers that lived during that time period.  Now in studying for my lessons in Revelation 2-3 and as we studied about the seven churches it was pointed out to me that the main church during this time period that was the church of Philadelphia which went from 1750 to 1925.  In saying this perhaps the greatest time period to hear great preaching would be the time period in which we are studying from the book of Acts.  I have to believe that many of the sermons that Luke writes about are summarized by him, for if he included the entire sermon the book of Acts would perhaps be the longest book in the NT.  At any rate there was wonderful preaching during that time and I like great preaching.  What we are introducing this morning is a sermon spoken by Paul in a Synagogue at Pisidian Antioch, and we have mentioned that Paul’s practice as he traveled around these Gentile cities was to go first to the Jews and tell them the gospel message which is what he did in this city.

            What we have before us in these verses is the very first sermon preached by Paul, but that by no means it was his first sermon that he preached for we know that he spoke in Damascus right after his conversion.  There are many other places in the NT that speak of Paul’s preaching.  John MacArthur writes “Paul’s words to the believers at Rome reflect the importance he placed on preaching:  ‘14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?’  His words to Timothy are the classic call to this responsibility:  ‘Preach the word.’ (2 Tim. 4:2).  To Titus he said, ‘Speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine,’ and, ‘Speak…with all authority’ (Titus 2:1, 15), emphasizing that preaching is to be doctrinal and authoritative.”

            MacArthur goes on to talk about how sadly the preaching in churches today do not share Paul’s commitment to preaching the Word of God, and that is something that makes me believe that since we are now living in the Laodicean church age that this is true as Paul wrote to Timothy that people who live near the end times only want their “ears tickled.”  People do not want sound preaching today, now this is probably true in many of our churches as I saw when I had to leave the church we went to for 32 years as the preaching got very weak, and it was done that way on purpose.  Amos 8:11 says “"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.”  This is certainly true for 21^st century America.

            If we are to have strong churches there has to be strong preaching that comes from the Word of God for after all the Apostles died God’s way of speaking to His people is through the strong Biblical preaching.  In the fourth chapter of Ephesians Paul writes about spiritual gifts as he also wrote in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, and Peter wrote of them in 1 Peter 4, so it is easy to remember where this subject is taught in the Word of God as there are two “fours” and two “twelve’s.”  In Ephesians he writes about the importance of how we as believers are to hear from the Lord:  “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12  for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13  until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:11-13).”  Notice why God gave these gifts to pastors and teachers, “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;” and this is done through the preaching of the Word as good pastors will pray about what the Lord wants time to preach on and then they will “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).” 

            We will continue our lesson on preaching as we continue to look at the introduction to Acts 13:14-41 in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the great Biblical preaching that I get from the church that I attend on Sunday mornings and evenings and also on Wednesday evenings.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to be with my wife and me as we go with 30 other couples to a weekend marriage retreat in Amish country Ohio.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Boasted to him of the Corinthians” (2 Corinthians 7:14) “14  For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame; but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before Titus proved to be the truth.”

Today’s Bible question:  “The Pharisees accused Jesus of receiving what kind of people?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/15/2018 10:07 AM