SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/9/2018 10:10 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-3 “Toward God—Service”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 20:19
Message of the verses: “19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;”
In our last SD we ended by saying that we would begin
this SD by talking about three things that moved Paul to tears. The first thing that brought tears to him was
that he grieved over the
state of the lost. Romans 9:2-3 says
“2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish
that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren,
my kinsmen according to the flesh.” I
think that Paul’s grief was over the lostness of the Jewish people, and he
would go on to talk about all of the benefits that they had including the fact
that God chose them to write the Scriptures, and also that the Messiah, the
Lord Jesus Christ came through the Jewish people.
Next
Paul cried over weak, struggling, sinning Christians as seen in what he
wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 2:4 “For out of much affliction and
anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made
sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.” The church at Corinth is a church that
experienced many problems, and I suppose that one of the reasons is the
environment that they lived in, as it was a very sinful place to live.
The
third thing that made Paul cry was the terrible, sinister threat posed by false
teachers that he will speak about to the Ephesian church leaders in verses
29-30 of this 20th chapter of Acts:
“29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among
you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” Paul’s prediction would certainly come true
as many years later the Lord Jesus Christ in the second chapter of Revelation
would say that the church at Ephesus
had lost their first love, which was the first thing in a downward
spiral that is seen in four more of the churches that He wrote to. Paul also wrote to the Philippian church in
Phil. 3:18 “For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even
weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ.” In the United States of America we have many
who are enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ as seen by the great division
found in our country today, a division that is divided between right and wrong.
John MacArthur concludes “But the tears of a servant of
God are not in vain. The psalmist wrote
in Psalm 126:6, ‘He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with
him.’ To those with caring,
compassionate hearts, who faithfully spread the precious seed of the Word, God
promises a rich spiritual reward.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: There is a man
who lives behind us who just saw his wife die of cancer a few weeks ago. It is my desire to sow the seeds of salvation
in his heart in order to help him go through the process of mourning, and to
one day be with the Lord in heaven.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to help me prepare my Sunday
school lesson for this up-coming week.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Adam” (Genesis 3:12).
Today’s Bible
question: “In what country was Eglon
king?”
Answer in our next SD.
7/9/2018 10:30 AM
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