SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/6/2018 8:35 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Intro to Acts 21:27-22:29
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
21:27-22:29
Message of the
verses: I am choosing not to put all
of these verses onto this Spiritual Diary as it is a very long section of
Scripture. What we are talking about in
this long section of Scripture is the Arrest of Paul and it goes from the end
of chapter 21 to all but the last verse in chapter 22, verse thirty.
I can remember a fairly long time ago when our family was
in Florida taking a Thanksgiving vacation and at that time we were reading a
chapter a day from the book of Acts.
Well here is the last verse in chapter 21 “And
when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the
hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them
in the Hebrew tongue, saying,” as you see this last verse does not even end
with a period after it. After reading
that last verse my daughter said to me that we could not end our reading there
but we needed to go on to see what happened to Paul. I suppose that if those who divided our Bible
in chapters had to do it over again that they would have begun chapter twenty
two with verse 27 of chapter 21.
Well we have been looking at the
wonderful ministry of the Apostle Paul for some time now as we have seen him
get saved, then take some time with the Lord alone, which is not exactly shown
in the book of Acts. We saw him then go
to Antioch where the Holy Spirit called him and Barnabas to begin the very
first missionary trip. We then read
about that trip along with the next two and finally go to Jerusalem, something
that his friends did not want him to do.
Now we begin the next phase of Paul’s ministry as we will see him end up
in jail where he will be able to testify to some very high ranking officials of
the Roman government, as God said he would do right after he was saved. From this point on in the book of Acts Paul
will be a prisoner.
Becoming a prisoner did not stop
Paul from the ministry of the gospel; however it did change things for him in a
very dramatic way as we will see. I
mentioned that this time in jail would be a time where he like John Bunyan, who
would come years after Paul, Paul began to write some very important letters to
different churches which we find in our Bibles today.
As my usual custom I will quote the
last paragraph of John MacArthur introductory commentary to show us the outline
that we will be following through this long section of Scripture.
“During this incarceration, Paul
gave six separate defenses of his actions:
before the unruly mob at Jerusalem (21:27ff.), the Sanhedrin (22:30ff.),
Felix (24:1 ff.), Festus (25:1-12), Herod Agrippa (25:13ff.), and the Jews at
Rome (28:17-28). Those masterful
defenses ably answered the false charges leveled against him—a fact even the
Roman authorities acknowledged (26:30-32).
This passage, describing his first defense, unfolds in five scenes: the attack of the mob, the arrest by the
Romans, the apology of Paul, the action by the people, and the attitude of
Paul.”
We will begin, Lord willing, by
looking at the attack of the mob in our next SD.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have to
remember that Paul was doing exactly what he believed the Spirit of God was
leading him to do even though personally he knew that there was trouble lying
ahead. Paul is a wonderful example to
follow as he actually tells his readers in different letters he wrote to the
churches.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Remember
that sin has its own consequences that follow after it and that is reason
enough not to partake of it.
Answer to
yesterday’s Bible question: “Ephesus”
(Acts 19:35).
Today’s Bible
question: “Name the Caesar who decreed
that all the world should be taxed.”
Answer in our
next SD.
8/6/2018 8:59
AM
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