PT-4 "The Liberated Woman" (Acts 16:11-15)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/18/2018 8:16 AM

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  PT-4 “The Liberated Woman”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 16:11-15

            Message of the verses:  “11 So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis; 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. 14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us.”

            We have been looking at the different aspects of how Lydia became a believer, and so we want to pick up on that in our SD for today.  I want to mention that also in our last SD we ended up looking at a couple of series of verses that talked about people not listening to what is talked about when the Gospel is presented, however Lydia was not like those people who were not listening to the gospel message.  Lydia listened with faith to the saving message of the gospel.  I can remember when I was listening to the message of the gospel as at the end of each message that was on the prophetic end times the message of the gospel was clearly taught and so I listened to it and the Lord opened my heart just like He opened Lydia’s heart to receive that message into my heart.  I know from experience and also from different places in the Scriptures that God is sovereign in salvation.  I can say for sure that God had prepared me through different things that happened in my life to listen to the gospel, but when it came down to the time when He saved me that was the last thing on my mind, but not on the mind of God.

            John MacArthur writes “Remembering God’s sovereignty in salvation is the foundation of a proper perspective on evangelism.  Salvation does not depend on clever evangelistic strategies, or the skill of the preacher, or a masterful presentation.  It is not a human work at all; it is God’s work.  ‘I planted,’ Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ‘Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.  So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.’  (1 Cor. 3:6-7).

            “In 1 Corinthians 2:1-4, Paul described his evangelistic approach to the Corinthians:

‘1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.’”

            Paul would later say that he was all things to all people, and even though he was an accomplished scholar, Paul adapted to who his audience was in handling the Scriptures to be able to tell others about Christ.  I just received a letter from a missionary friend of mine who talked about going up into the hill country of the nation that he lives in to talk to a certain tribe about the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  The letter began rather humorous as he states that he had the use “the Moses rod,” in order to help him get up the hills as they were rather steep and he is getting older.  He then goes on to tell of the leader of these people who he states was very much against Christianity.  My friend asked the man if he would just come and hear him speak a couple of times and after hearing him speak this leader came up to him and told him that he wanted to be saved and wanted to be baptized.  The story did bring tears to my heart reading about this man who wanted nothing to do with Christ, and yet God opened up his cold hard heart to receive Christ as his Savior.  Yes God is the One who opens hearts to receive the message of the gospel, and all we have to do is to be willing to tell the message of the gospel and then allow God to do His work through His Holy Spirit.

            We will conclude this SD by giving a quote from A. W. Tozer that comes from John MacArthur’s commentary as he talks about the fact that in our day there are many who foolishly act as though God were wholly dependent on them to reach the lost.

“Probably the hardest thought of all for our natural egotism to entertain is that God does not need our help.  We commonly represent Him as a busy, eager, somewhat frustrated Father hurrying about seeking help to carry out His benevolent plan to bring peace and salvation to the world; but as said the Lady Julian, ‘I saw truly that God doeth all-things, be it never so little.’  The God who worketh all things surely needs no help and no helpers.

“Too many missionary appeals are based upon this fancied frustration of Almighty God.  An effective speaker can easily excite pity in his hearers, not only for the heathen but for the God who has tried so hard and so long to save them and has failed for want of support.  I fear that thousands of young persons enter Christian service from no higher motive than to help deliver God from the embarrassing situation His love has gotten Him into and His limited abilities seem unable to get Him out of. (The Knowledge of the Holy [New York: Harper & Row, 1975], 41)”

            Message of the verses:  I am thankful, and will always be thankful for the call that the Holy Spirit gave me for salvation on 01-26-1974.  I will always look back at those messages that the Lord caused me to listen to that special week in Florida, and am thankful for the life that I have had in Christ ever since.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to use the Spiritual Diaries that I write each day to be used by the Holy Spirit to call people to Christ and the salvation He has provided for those who will receive Him as their Savior.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Turned water to blood” (Exodus 7:17).

Today’s Bible question:  “What will the scoffer say in the last days?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/18/2018 9:09 AM