"Intro to Acts 18:18-19:7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/31/2018 10:37 AM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  Intro to Acts 18:18-19:7

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 18:18-19:7

            Message of the verses:  “18 Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow. 19 They came to Ephesus, and he left them there. Now he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent, 21 but taking leave of them and saying, "I will return to you again if God wills," he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and went down to Antioch. 23 And having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. 24 Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; 26 and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. 1 It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. 2 He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said to him, "No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." 3 And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" And they said, "Into John’s baptism." 4 Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. 7 There were in all about twelve men.”

            We can see in this section of Scripture two things that show us that it took time for the new believers to understand more completely what really had happened to them.  I can surely relate to this as I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that I was not saved in a church service, but in a restaurant that was famous for hot dogs and beer, where a man wrote on a napkin four spiritual laws.  It took me a long time to understand the truths of what actually happened to me when I was saved, and so that is true with those who we see written about in this section of Scripture.  I want to mention that the book of Hebrews contains the theology of the transition period from the Old Testament to the New Testament.   What I am saying is that many in the early church had difficulties from going from the truths of the Old Testament Laws and ceremonies to what the New Testament teaches.  Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only things that we as believers are to participate in and they are called ordinances.  The Holy Spirit lives within us and therefore we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, so there is no need to have a building which was called the temple found in the Old Testament.  All of these things are found in the book of Hebrews as the people who the author was writing to when he penned Hebrews were thinking of going back to Judaism, which he was encouraging them not to.

            So what we will see in this section is the difficulties of transforming from Judaism to the church age, something even the apostles had difficulty of shedding the old demands and patterns and making the transition. 

            John MacArthur writes the following in the last paragraph of his introduction:  “The text of Acts 18:18-19:7 is linked together by three examples of those caught up in this transition from the Old to the New Covenant:  Paul, Apollos, and the twelve Old Testament saints.”  That is the outline we will follow as we begin in our next SD to look at verses 18-23 which speaks of Paul in Transition.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have changed how I am studying the Bible at the beginning of this year, wanting to read just through the gospels as many times as I can this year by reading one chapter of the gospels each day, and then reading one Psalm each day, which I completed a couple of days ago.  I thought it would be good to begin reading my older Spiritual Diaries as I went through the book of Psalms and in today’s study of Psalm 1:3 I was reading about how I as a believer are to produce fruit as I study the Word of God, fruit for others and I received a blessing in my heart knowing that some of the things that I am learning I am sharing with people around this world, and for that I am humbled, and thankful.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  By the grace of God I desire to have the Holy Spirit produce fruit in my life as I study and share what I study each day.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “They became sweet” (Exodus 15:25).

Today’s Bible question:  “Why does one ask and receive not?”  (What is the reason one does not receive what he asks for.)  (Hint:  look at the book of James.)

Answer in our next SD.

5/31/2018 11:06 AM