PT-3 "Paul in Transition" (Acts 18:18-23)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/3/2018 6:45 AM

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  PT-3 “Paul in Transition”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 18:18-23

            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.”

            We pick up looking at verse 19-20 this morning and we see that Paul left Priscilla and Aquila at Ephesus, probably to continue to work on their business.  They remained there for a few years and according to 1 Cor. 16:19 we read “The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.”  According to Rom. 16:3-5 they went back to Rome “3  Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4  who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles; 5  also greet the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia.” 

            Now back to Paul in Ephesus who as his usual custom went into the Synagogue to speak to the Jews.  Similar to Berea Paul was received well and they ask him to stay for a while.  John MacArthur writes “His response to this great opportunity gives a clear testimony to the seriousness of his vow.  He refused to stay!  In a hurry to reach Jerusalem because of his vow, and (as some Greek manuscripts add) to reach the city before the Feast (probably Passover), ‘he did not consent.’  Regretfully ‘taking leave of them and saying, ‘I will return to you again if God wills,’ ‘he set sail from Ephesus.’  He did not leave the city without a Christian witness, however, since Priscilla and Aquila remained there.  And, as will be seen shortly, they were soon to have help.”

            Now according to verse 22 we see what Paul did, however we do not see that he went up to Jerusalem to fulfill his vow, but MacArthur writes it “is clear from the requirement of the vow, as well as from Luke’s use of the terms ‘went up’ and ‘went down.  One naturally ‘went up’ from Caesarea, located on the coast, to Jerusalem, located on Mount Zion, then ‘went down’ from Jerusalem to anywhere else.  Paul, then completed his second missionary journey in Antioch, from where it had begun (15:35-36).”

            William Barclay writes:

“We may see very clearly here how much we do not know about Paul.  Acts 18:23-19:1 describe a journey of no less than 1,500 miles and it is dismissed with barely a reference.  There are untold tales of heroism of Paul which we will never know.  (The Acts of the Apostles [Philadelphia; Westminster, 1955], 150).”

            “23 And having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.”  We see that Paul did not stay very long before he was off again to begin his third missionary journey, as he truly had a desire to bring lost souls to the Savior.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus” (Luke 23:43).

Today’s Bible Question:  “In Psalm 23, the Lord prepares a table before me in whose presence?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/3/2018 7:10 AM

 

PT-2 "Paul in Transition" (Acts 18:18-23)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/2/2018 10:19 AM

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  PT-2 "Paul in Transition"   

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Act 18:18-23

            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.”

            I said in our last SD that we would look more closely at the vow that Paul had made in our SD for today.  John MacArthur explains “The vow Paul made was a Nazirite vow—a special pledge of separation and devotion to God (cf. 2 Cor. 6:17).  It was usually made in gratitude to the Almighty for gracious blessing or deliverance.  In Numbers 6, God Himself inaugurated the Nazirite vow, saying to Moses,

‘2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ’When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the LORD, 3 he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. 4 ’All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin. 5 ’All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long.’

            “The vow was for a specific period (usually a month, although Samson [Judg. 16:17], Samuel [1 Sam. 1:11], and John the Baptist [Luke 1:15] were Nazirites for life).  At the end of that time there was an elaborate ceremony:    

‘13 ’Now this is the law of the Nazirite when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall bring the offering to the doorway of the tent of meeting. 14 ’He shall present his offering to the LORD: one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering and one ewe-lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering and one ram without defect for a peace offering, 15 and a basket of unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with their grain offering and their drink offering. 16 ’Then the priest shall present them before the LORD and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. 17  ’He shall also offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, together with the basket of unleavened cakes; the priest shall likewise offer its grain offering and its drink offering. 18  ’The Nazirite shall then shave his dedicated head of hair at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and take the dedicated hair of his head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings. 19  ’The priest shall take the ram’s shoulder when it has been boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his dedicated hair. 20 ’Then the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. It is holy for the priest, together with the breast offered by waving and the thigh offered by lifting up; and afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.’ 21  "This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the LORD according to his separation, in addition to what else he can afford; according to his vow which he takes, so he shall do according to the law of his separation."’

            When we get to Acts chapter 21:23 and following we see of another time when Paul was involved in a vow, this time it was for someone else, but Paul was suppose to pay to have their hair cut after their vow was complete.  Now as far as Paul’s vow there was a provision made for those away from Jerusalem at the termination of their vow to shave their heads, as Paul did, then within thirty days present the hair at the Temple.  John MacArthur gets this information from Josephus book entitled Wars.

            Now there is much more to look at in our verses for this SD and we will continue to look at them in our next SD.

Answer to yesterday’s question:  “Zechariah” (Zechariah 11:12-13).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise’?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/2/2018 10:42 AM

PT-1 "Paul in Transition" (Acts 18:18-23)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/1/2018 11:09 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Paul in Transition PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Acts 18:18-23

            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.”

            As we begin to look at verse eighteen we see a number of things.  First we see that Paul was able to stay in Corinth for a while because of Gallio’s favorable ruling found in Acts 18:14-15.  Next We see that Paul felt the need to leave Corinth and travel to Palestine, and in doing this he took both Priscilla and Aquila with him.  This shows us that Paul felt that there were enough leaders in the Corinthian church for him to take this couple with him.  They had become very close to Paul through both spiritual ways along with both of them in the same business. 

            Cenchrea was the eastern port of Corinth where they could catch a ship going east.  We then read that Paul had his hair cut because he was keeping a vow.  Paul would later write about vows in his letters to one of the churches.  We mentioned that the church was in a transitional period, which is the theme of all the verses we will be looking at and this vow that Paul made shows us that Paul was still doing thing according to the Old Covenant.  John MacArthur writes “His actions seems puzzling at first glance, since he was well aware that the Old Covenant and all its rituals had passed away.  Yet he had been reared according to the strictest standards of the Jewish faith.  In Galatians 1:13-14 Paul wrote:

‘13  For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; 14  and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.’

“To the Philippians he described himself as

‘5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.’”

            Paul realized that after God called him to be a Christian that all of the self-effort of working out his own salvation was wrong, and yet Paul had been raised Jewish, a Pharisees as we have seen in the above verses, and so he certainly had a love for the Jewish Old Covenant.  Now we have been looking at the difficult times that Paul had in Corinth in our previous SD’s as Paul had to leave Berea and go to Athens where according to how the Lord had allowed him to begin churches and gain converts things in Athens were not going that well, and then in Corinth the people were trying to get him kicked out, but God promised him then that he would be there for a while and no one would bother him, and so we read he was there for 18 months.  With that all said John MacArthur writes “And when he wanted to show his deep thanks for God’s marvelous encouragement during the difficult times in Corinth he naturally though of a typically Jewish way of doing so.”

            We will stop here and in our next SD we will look at what this vow was about.  It seems a good place to end here.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Because he asks amiss” (James 4:3).

Today’s Bible question:  “What Old Testament prophet made three prophecies about Jesus’ betrayal?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/1/2018 11:35 AM

 

 

"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  

"The Frustration of His Enemies" (Acts 18:12-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/30/2018 9:04 AM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  The Frustration of His Enemies

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Acts 18:12-17

            Message of the verses:  “12 But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, 13  saying, "This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law." 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; 15 but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters." 16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat. 17 And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.”

            As we remember from our last SD which spoke of God giving peace to Paul as he preached the gospel in Corinth we see that God is totally in charge, and so as we look at the frustrations of Paul’s enemies, who were at this time the Jews, we see according to these verses that they could do nothing about this.  The preaching of the Gospel is very offensive to those who are not saved because the preaching of the gospel shows people that they are sinners and that is what is so offensive to them.  The following is what Jesus said to His disciples on the very night when He would go to the cross, and in this section of John 16 we see what the Spirit of God does in His ministry then and is still doing today.  “7 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8  "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9  concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10  and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11  and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”  What you see in these verses is what was happening to people at Corinth as the gospel was being preached.  As one goes back through the gospel of John, which we have already studied we see how the Pharisees reacted to the Person and the Preaching of Jesus Christ.  They hated both His preaching and Him, and that is what is going on in our verses for today.  Look again at John 16:10 where we read “and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me,” and this tells us that because Jesus is now in heaven that people hate His followers because He is in heaven, and cannot get to Him.  In our study of Revelation we also see this happening to the tribulation believers as Satan could not get to Jesus because He was in heaven so Satan takes it out on the believers through the works of the Antichrist.  My point in all of this is that people hate the works of God, the preaching of the gospel, but when God has the door opened so that His people can be saved, His enemies can do nothing to stop that person from being saved.

            I have a couple of quotes explaining about Gallio:  “Gallio was the brother of Seneca, the famed Roman philosopher and tutor of Nero.  Seneca described his brother as ‘an intelligent person who hated flattery, and was blessed with an ‘unaffectedly pleasant personality.’  He was proconsul of Achaia from July, A. D. 51 to June A. D. 52.  Luke’s use of the title proconsul is another important testimony to his painstaking accuracy as an historian, as Richard N. Longenecker explains:

‘That Luke distinguishes correctly between senatorial and imperial provinces and has the former governed by a proconsul on behalf of the senate and the later governed by a propraetor representing the emperor says much for his accuracy, for the status of provinces changed with the times.  Achaia was a senatorial province from 27 B. C.  to A. D. 15 and then again from A. D. 44 onwards…It was therefore governed by a proconsul…Macedonia, however was an imperial province, and therefore Luke rightly called the magistrates at Philippi praetors.’”

            As we look at the rest of our verses we see that the Jews were hoping to capitalize on Gallio’s inexperienced authority.  Well as we can see this did not happen and I believe it was because of the promise that God gave to Paul about experiencing peace as he stayed in Corinth preaching the gospel. 

            I believe that the rest of these verses from Acts 18 that we are looking at today are pretty self explanatory and so I only want to make a comment on the term “judgment seat.”  We know that when all believers go to heaven through the Rapture either as dead or alive that later on during the tribulation period that is going on, on planet earth that we will all stand before the “Judgment Seat of Christ.”  My point here is that during the time when the New Testament was written there were “judgment seats” as seen here in our text for today.

            At this point I want to quote the last short paragraphs from John MacArthur’s commentary as he wraps us this section on the first 17 verses of Acts chapter 18.

            “God strengthened Paul through friends, converts, His own presence, and through the discomfiture of Paul’s enemies.  He was faithful to His promise recorded in Isaiah 40:29-31:

‘29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.’

“That same comfort and encouragement is available to all who faithfully serve our Lord.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I was speaking to a lady whom I have known since she was in kindergarten about a very difficult situation that she and her rather large family is going through now, and my prayer for her is that she will find the same strength that God had given to Paul in this section of Acts chapter eighteen we have been looking at for these last few days.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to pray for this lady’s son along with our neighbor across the back who is dying of cancer and who as far as I know does not know the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “120 Years.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What happened to the waters of Marah when Moses cast tree into them?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/30/2018 9:49 AM 

"The Fellowship of God" (Acts 18:9-11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/29/2018 8:27 AM

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  The Fellowship of God

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 18:9-11

            Message of the verses:  “9 And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; 10 for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city." 11 And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”

            When we began this section I had made a comment that the Lord was going to give Paul some rest after such difficult times, times when he had been run out of towns just when he began to get a church together, but persecution came about and he then had to flee, finally to Athens where after preaching there were only a few that had accepted Christ.  Paul must have been down and disappointed, but now as we see in our verses for today the Lord assures him that he will be able to stay put for a while in Corinth, which was a place where he needed to be for a while because of the kind of city this was.

            John MacArthur points out that the vision that Paul received in verse nine is one of six visions that are recorded in the book of Acts.  They are found in Acts 9:12; 16:9-10; 22:17-18; 23:11; 27:23-24, along with the one found in 18:9.

            MacArthur points out that this supernatural vision provided four reasons for Paul not to give up proclaiming the gospel in that city.  We will look at these four reasons as we continue looking at these three verses.

            First of all we see that God commanded it specifically when we read in the last part of verse nine “but go on speaking.”

            Second we see that God reminded Paul in verse ten “for I am with you” something that I am sure that Paul knew.  I realize that there are times in my prayer life and in the prayer lives of others to ask God to be with us, and yet we know that as a believer that the Holy Spirit is living in us and is always with us, and yet I suppose there are times when we need assurance to this fact and that is why we pray this way.  Another reason to pray this way could be that we truly need God in a specific way in our lives and so we ask that God would be with us in that specific way as we go through a difficult situation.  Paul was familiar with what happened to Joshua as he was about to take over the ministry of Moses, and as we think about that for a moment we know that this must have been a very difficult time for Joshua, and I am sure that he needed a message from the Lord which he did receive in Joshua 1:5 and nine where we read:  “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.  Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you…Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous!  Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

            Paul knew with the powerful presence that was aiding his ministry that he could accomplish whatever it was that God wanted him to accomplish, something that Joshua found out too along with many other leaders from the nation of Israel.  We can read from his last letter which he wrote to Timothy these words “16 At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. 17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”  We will look at a few more verses that go along these lines:  “20  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ (Matthew 28:20).”  “10 ’Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand’ (Isaiah 41:10).”  “17 “Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them. 18 “Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. 19 “They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you," declares the LORD (Jeremiah 1:17-19).”

            The third promise comes also from verse ten “no man will attack you in order to harm you.”  I am sure that this must have brought great comfort to Paul as he had been attacked many times in the past.  John MacArthur writes that “Those under God’s protection are invulnerable (cf. Isa. 54:17; Rev. 11:5).”  We will look now at these verses:  “17 “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD.”  “5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.”

            The fourth and last reason that God gave Paul to keep preaching was that He had “many people in the city.”  Yes we are talking about God’s sovereignty here as God the Father is saying here that in eternity past I chose certain people who will belong to my Son, and my Son will come to earth to purchase these people who will become His bride, and I have many of them here in Corinth and I want you to keep on preaching so that the Holy Spirit will give an effectual call to these once they have heard the message of salvation.  John MacArthur writes “The truth of election expressed in verse 10 balances the truth of human responsibility in verse 6.  As always, Scripture presents those two inscrutable truths without attempting to harmonize them.  Both are true, and there is no real contradiction between them.”

            God had renewed Paul’s strength through these promises and so we read that Paul settled in Corinth for another year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.  This was a strategic location and Paul obeyed the call of the vision that God had given to him.  It was during that period writes MacArthur that “a certain incident provided the final source of God’s encouragement to Paul.”  The final source of encouragement that Paul had is what we will look at next as we wrap up this section from Acts 18:1-17 which is “The frustration of his enemies.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  How is it that I as a believer knew that it was of the Lord to write my Spiritual Diaries and then eventually put them onto my blogs?  I can assure you that it was not from a vision like Paul received here in verse nine.  However there were certain circumstances that did occur in my life as I was encouraged by my daughter and also a godly woman from our former church to do this and so one day, July 3, 2011 after finishing up my study of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles that I decided that I would take a step of faith and publish my Spiritual Diaries onto a blog.  I knew very little about how to do this, only that my daughter and son-in-law had published a blog on the events leading up to adopting their first son, and so I searched the internet and found how to do this not knowing what the Lord would do with this, but determined to follow through and publish what the Lord was teaching me as I studied His Word each day, or mostly each day.  I am thankful to the Lord for allowing me to do this, and continue to pray that the Lord will use these Spiritual Diaries to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, to cause believers to grow in grace, to bring revival to believers who are in need of revival, to ask the Spirit of God to continue to send these Spiritual Diaries around the world each day, and also I pray that the Lord will use these Spiritual Diaries on the last day of the church age to bring thousands to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ in a similar way that He did on the first day of the church when thousands of people heard the message of the gospel in their own language.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To trust the Lord to answer my prayers concerning these Spiritual Diaries.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Timothy” (2 Timothy 1:1-5).

Today’s Bible question:  “How many years did Israel’s monarchy last before being divided into two kingdoms?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/29/2018 9:27 AM   

"The Blessing of Converts" (Acts 18:5b-8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/28/2018 9:41 AM

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  The Blessing of Converts

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 18:5b-8

            Message of the verses:  “Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." 7 Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.”

            One may wonder what it was that Paul was able to stop his leather making job in order to begin to do what is described in these verses.  “9  and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so (2 Cor. 11:9).”  “15 You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone (Phil. 4:15).”  I believe that these two verses answer this question.

            I truly like what the last part of verse five has to say that Paul began to devote himself completely to the word, and as a result of this then Paul was able once again, as he always did during his missionary journeys turned to the Jews to tell them about Christ.  The results were pretty much the same as it seems that not many, if any of the Jews, had an interest in what the OT Scriptures had to say about their Messiah, and so they rejected their Messiah in a similar way that those Jews in Jerusalem did when Christ came to them.

            Jesus spoke of throwing pearls before swine’s in Matthew 7:6 “"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”  Paul saw the futility in doing this and so he went to the Gentiles after he shook out his garment which was a traditional dramatic Jewish gesture of rejection.  Paul then Paul said to them “"Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean.” 

            We see then that Paul did go to the Gentiles “7 Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.”  It was because of the rejection of the Gospel by the Jews that Paul went to the Gentiles and there he would find those ready to receive Christ as their Savior, thus this was a blessing to the Lord, to Paul and also to those who received Christ as their Savior.  We see in verse eight another blessing and that was many of the Corinthians believed and were then baptized, the step that people take after they believe.  Baptism pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the word actually is a transliteration from the Greek, and the word means to dip, and so these people were not baptized by sprinkling them, but by putting them under the water and bringing them back up out of the water as the word indicates.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  First of all I am not sure why I forgot to do my Spiritual Diaries yesterday, but when I woke up this morning I realized that I did not do them and so I pick up where I left off on Saturday.   What spoke to my heart today was the last part of verse five “Paul began devoting himself completely to the word,” as this has been going on in my heart for a few days and now I realize that this is what I must do a better job at so that the Word of God can care for important issues that I am facing.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Do a better job in my study of God’s Word and then apply it to issues that I am facing.

Answer to our last Bible question:  “Bethlehem” (Ruth 1:19).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was the son of Eunice and grandson of Lois?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/28/2018 10:06 AM