Encouragement: God's Provision (Hag. 2:8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/31/2016 9:55 PM

My Worship Time                                                          Focus:  Encouragement:  God’s Provision

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Haggai 2:8

            Message of the verses:  “8 ’The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the LORD of hosts.”

            When you look at this verse we should realize that not only does God own the silver and the gold, but He owns everything for He created all things.  God is the One who has caused both silver and gold to be worth a lot, as it has been worth much ever since He created the earth.  People just don’t understand these kind of things as they think that man is the one who has caused silver and gold to be worth much.  I also have to mention the following verse that goes along with this one:  “Ps 50:10 “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.”  A long time ago when I first started going to Moody’s Founder Week I remember that one of the speakers used this verse in talking about a crisis situation that someone had as they needed a pretty good sum of money.  They prayed that since God owned the cattle on a thousand hills that He would sell some of them and send the money to them for their great need.  Come to find out a cattle rancher from Texas did sell some of his cattle and sent the money to them.

            Remember our first main section in this chapter was entitled “Look Up: God is With Us,” and we are looking at the last sub-point under this main point.  Now we realize that the economy was not good for those exiles who came back to Jerusalem to build the temple and to live in the city of Jerusalem, and so God is encouraging them with these words spoken to them by Haggai.  Now when we look at the book of Ezra we know that the Persian government did give them money, but that money can run out where God never has that problem.  We read the following in Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes this sub-section which concludes this first main section with the following paragraph:  “It’s better to fail in an endeavor that you know will ultimately succeed than to succeed in an endeavor you know will ultimately fail.  The humble temple the Jewish remnant was construction would not last, and even Herod’s ornate temple would be destroyed by the Romans, but there would one day be a glorious temple that nobody could destroy or defile.  Knowing this, the discouragement remnant could take courage and finish their work.”

            We know that this kind of thinking can be translated into our lives as we are to being about our Father’s business to bring glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

3/31/2016 10:12 PM

The Supernatural Sign (John 6:16-19)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/31/2016 10:50 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  The Supernatural Sign

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 6:16-19

            Message of the verses:  “16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. 19 Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened.”

            As we begin to look at these verses in John’s gospel we have to remember that it was Jesus who sent His disciples away to go to the other side of the lake.  “Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away (Matthew 14:22).”  Why do you think that He would send His disciples away, especially knowing that they would run into a storm that was very powerful.  Perhaps we need to see this situation through the eyes of the disciples.  When Jesus taught the crowds from the sermon on the mount he also taught them what we know as the Lord’s prayer and in that prayer are the words “thy kingdom come,” and perhaps His disciples thought that this day was coming very soon as the crowd wanted to make Jesus King after He fed all of them in the previous verses from John chapter six.  We have already discussed why it was that Jesus would not do as the crowd wanted Him to do, for all they wanted was a king who could provide for their physical needs and were not looking for a king who would take care of their spiritual needs for they thought that those have already been taken care of.  So Jesus sends them out into the storm and perhaps because of the storm the disciples will not think so much about their physical needs that they wanted in a king.  One thing we need to remember is that Jesus sent them out into a storm that He knew was coming, or even perhaps caused to come.  How many storms has our Savior sent us out into?

            Mark 6:45 gives us their destination “Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away.”  MacArthur writes “Apparently, they were planning to meet Jesus there before crossing the lake to the western shore (Matt. 14:34; Mark 6:53).  ‘When even came, the disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. Evening’ here refers to the second evening (cf. Ex. 12:6 where ‘at twilight’ lit. reads ‘between the two evenings’), from sunset to dark.  They waited at Bethsaida until it had already become dark.  Then, ‘since Jesus had not yet come to them’ the disciples reluctantly returned to their boat and took their voyage to Capernaum, on the northwest shore.” 

            In our study of the book of Mark we spoke about the configuration of where the Sea of Galilee is located and the fact that it is 700 feet below sea level.  Now surrounding it are hills and they rise abruptly to about 2,000 feet above sea level so that makes the sea some 2700 feet below the tops of the hills.  As the winds come through the hills they drop nearly 3000 feet to the surface of the sea or lake as it perhaps should be called.  These are ideal conditions to cause a storm to come up very quickly and also to give the lake very strong storms, for the cooler air rushes down the slopes and then strikes the surface of the lake with a great force and this causes the water to churn up and cause whitecaps and this would be very dangerous for the small boats that were used on the lake. 

            We see that the disciples were caught in one of those harsh storms as we read “the sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.”  One thing we need to be reminded of is that many of the disciples of Jesus were seasoned fisherman and made their living catching fish on this lake so they surely had seen storms before, but perhaps not like this one.  MacArthur writes of their straining at the oars, “The disciples had left for Capernaum sometime between 6:00 and 9:00 PM (John 6:16), and according to Matthew 14:25 and Mark 6:48 it was now the fourth watch of the night (3:00 to 6:00 AM). During those long, dark, exhausting, stressful hours, they ‘had rowed’ only ‘about three or four miles.’

            As we noted in our SD which actually came from Mark’s gospel Jesus was up on the mountain praying according also to Matt. 14:23; and Mark 6:46.  We have to believe that Jesus was praying for His disciples as they struggled at the oars against this might storm that He had sent them out into.  These seasoned fishermen were frightened so this shows that this storm that Jesus sent them out into was fierce.  It is good to know that our Savior prays for us when He sends us out into a storm, for He is all knowing and all powerful and is our Great Shepherd who cares for His sheep.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When Jesus sends me out into a storm He is teaching me something, and He is praying for me, and He will never leave me nor forsake me.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to see me through the storms of life He sends me into that I will come out being closer to Him.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What happened to the Egyptians who tried to follow the Israelites through the Red Sea?

Answer in our next SD.

3/31/2016 11:32 AM

Encouragement: God's Presence from Haggai 2:4-9

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2016 10:01 PM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  Encouragement: God’s Presence

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Haggai 2:4-9

            Message of the verses:  “4 ’But now take courage, Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD, ’take courage also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land take courage,’ declares the LORD, ’and work; for I am with you,’ declares the LORD of hosts. 5  ’As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!’ 6 “For thus says the LORD of hosts, ’Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. 7 ’I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts. 8 ’The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the LORD of hosts. 9 ’The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts, ’and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the LORD of hosts.’”

            We can see in these verses that God, through Haggai, is speaking to the same people that he did in verses one of this chapter, but this time He is giving them encouragement.  We also see that God’s name in this section is “the LORD of Hosts,” and Dr. Wiersbe has an end note references this title.  “Zechariah uses the title ‘Lord of Hosts’ thirty-seven times and Malachi twenty-three times.  Why should the little Jewish remnant fear the Gentile armies around them when the Lord of Armies is their Savior and Commander?  The Hebrew word for ‘hosts’ [tsaba] is transliterated as ‘Shabaoth’ in Romans 9:29 and James 5:4.  Martin Luther used it in verse 2 of his hymn ‘A might Fortress Is Our God.’”

            Haggai knew that this temple that they were building was nothing compared to the temple that Solomon had built, but this was not the point, nor was it important.  The important thing was what they were doing was God’s work, and they could compare on the Lord to see this done.  Haggai encourages the people to be strong, the same people he spoke to in verse one.

            We mentioned in our last SD that the people were celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles right before they began to build and Dr. Wiersbe points out that the book of Deuteronomy was read during that time so in verse five Haggai mentions the Exodus from Egypt and in the book of Deuteronomy Moses tells Joshua to be strong three times in Deut. 31:6-7, and 23.  The Lord told Joshua to be strong  three times in Joshua 1:6-7 and 9 and David also told Solomon who had the task of building the first temple to be strong three times also found in 1 Chron. 22:13; 28:10, and 20.  So we can see that this was not an empty phrase, but something that was very important in the history of Israel.

            The reason that the people could be strong was because the Lord was with them as seen in Haggai 2:4 and also in 1:13, so they had a good reason to be strong and as we mentioned the Lord of heavens armies was the One telling them to be strong.  The Lord of Hosts means the Lord of heavens armies.

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes that “Believers today can claim the same promise as they serve the Lord, ‘For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’ (Heb. 13:5, NIV; and see Deut. 31:6, 8.”

3/30/2016 10:29 PM

The Response of True Disciples (John 6:16-21)

SPIRITIUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2016 9:18 AM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  The Response of True Disciples

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 6:16-21

            Message of the verses:  “16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. 19 Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. 20 But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." 21 So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.”

            Once again we have to remember why John writes this incident in that it is different than the ones found in the gospels of Matthew and also in Mark, and the way he records this miracle has to do with the theme verses from John 20:30-31.  John MacArthur breaks this section up into two different sub-points and we will look at the first one in our next Spiritual Diary, but I want to just quote from my SD from May of 2012 on the way Mark writes about this incident.  I have to mention and we will see more clearly how much this section has affected my life as I will talk a bit more about that in the quote.

            “When we look at this section of Scripture along with companion passages from Matthew and John we see some very powerful miracles done.  Jesus walking on the water is seen in this section, while Peter walking on the water is seen in the other gospels.  We also see the calming of the storm by Jesus and in John ‘s Gospel we see a miracle that is not seen in any of the other Gospels, and that is that as soon as Jesus got into the boat they immediately got to shore.  I have often wondered if it was because Peter had influence in Mark’s Gospel that the incident of Peter walking on the water and then losing faith and was about to drown before Jesus saved him, was not covered by Mark.  When I think of that part of the story I think that there were twelve men in the boat, but only Peter had enough faith to get out of the boat and walk on the water.  Just think that there are only two men who have walked on water, Jesus and Peter.

            “Why Jesus sent His disciple away is a question that we do not have an answer to, but we know that it was in the will of Jesus to send them out into the storm.  Perhaps it was because the crowds were trying to take Jesus and make Him their king for reasons stated in yesterday’s SD, or perhaps it was a lesson in faith because of the spiritual high that they were on after being sent out to do miracles and preach and also to be a part of the feeding of the 5000.  Jesus had His reasons and they are always perfect.  Jesus spent much time praying for them before He came to them.

            “This is a good time to write how much this passage means to me.  I once heard a missionary friend of mine preach a sermon on this passage along with the companion passages found in the other Gospels.  He entitled his message “Blessings in the Storms of Life,” and the message to me was like the Lord preaching it to me.  There was a great crisis in my life, a crisis that still affects me some nine years later, but God has plans for me in that crisis to bring about blessings and it was from that message that I knew that God was at work in this crisis.  My friend had six points to his message that day and although I don’t remember all of them, though I have a copy of the message on tape, I do remember that Jesus sent His disciple out into the storm and then He prayed for them while they were in the storm.  Jesus then came to them in the storm and calmed the storm, and then Jesus got them to the place where He had told them to go, but they were not able to get there on their own.  As I went through the first part of this crisis the Lord saw fit for me to tell some of my neighbors how they can gain eternal life and I saw 18 people accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  One of them is now with the Lord in heaven.  That blessing is still going on as there have been others who have gotten saved since that time.  What a blessing the Lord gave to me in a great crisis.  I took some time to disciple these people that the Lord saved and I believe that most of them are walking with the Lord at this time.

            “Dr. Wiersbe writes on spiritual highs, which is what the disciples of Jesus were on before He sent them out into the storm.  “They were on a ‘spiritual high’ and this in itself was dangerous.  It is good to be on the mountaintop if you don’t get careless and step off a cliff. Spiritual blessings must be balanced with burdens and battles; otherwise, we may become pampered children instead of mature sons and daughters.”  Dr. Wiersbe also points out of another storm found in Mark 4:35-41 that Jesus saw His disciples through.  He then points out something interesting and that is when we look at the book of Acts we do not find persecution begin until after 5000 people had been saved.  Perhaps the disciples remembered and were encouraged as they thought about this incident and how the Lord saw them through this storm.

            “Dr. Wiersbe writes “Each new experience of testing demands of us more faith and courage.  In that first storm experience, the disciples had Jesus in the boat with them; but this time, He was on the mountain praying for them.  He was teaching them to live by faith.  (For that matter, even when He was in the ship with them, they were still afraid!)  The scene illustrates the situation of God’s people today:  We are in the midst of this stormy world, toiling and seemingly ready to sink, but He is in glory interceding for us.  When the hour seems the darkest, He will come to us—and we will reach shore!”  After reading then the writing these words from Dr. Wiersbe I can assure you that they are true because of the crisis I was in and in some degree am still in.

             “What does this mean:  “and He intended to pass by them.”  Jesus wanted them to recognize Him, and He wanted them to invite Him into the boat, and He wanted them to trust Him so that their faith would be increased.

            “Verse 52 states:  “for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.”  I mentioned yesterday that this verse sticks out to me like no other verse in this entire chapter.  What is it all about?  “The miracle of the loaves and fishes had made no lasting impression on them.  After all if Jesus could multiply food and feed thousands of people, then surely He could protect them in the storm.  Even a disciple of Jesus Christ can develop a hard heart if he fails to respond to the spiritual lessons that must be learned in the course of life and ministry.”  (Warren Wiersbe)

            “Let’s look at these miracles in view of Psalm 23 verses one and four:  “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”  These two verses show us that Jesus brings protection and provision to those who are His own and these two miracles that Jesus did in the last part of Mark 6 show us this.

            “In the last few verses we see that Mark ends this chapter on a positive note as he writes about what Jesus did for the people that were at Gennesaret, as He healed their sick, all of their sick. 

 

            “Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I mentioned the fond memories that I have from this section of Scripture and the Lord Jesus Christ has given provision and protection to me through the crisis.  Protection from the crisis does not mean that it was life threatening to me in a physical sense.  God is faithful!”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am learning a lot of things from three books that I am reading at this time as they all seem to have similar points in them.  One book is about the Holiness of God and how we are to live holy lives before Him, another book is about loving our Lord and how it is hard to do that, and the third book I am reading for the third time “The Joy of Knowing God,” and it is on the attributes of God.  I thinking about real repentance as this is what is on my mind today.  Real repentance is something we can do because of the truth that Jesus paid it all, without that repentance would do us no good, but because of that truth repentance should be done with a broken heart.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Agabus (Acts 11:28).            

Today’s Bible question:  “What is the first verse in the Bible?”  (We needed an easy one after yesterday’s question.)

Answer in our next SD.

3/30/2016 9:50 AM

 

                       

Discouragement from Haggai 2:1-3

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2016 10:54 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                      Focus:  Discouragement

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Haggai 2:1-3

            Message of the verses:  “1 On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet saying, 2 "Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people saying, 3 ’Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison?”

            In today’s Spiritual Diary we begin the second and last chapter of the book of Haggai and there are some titles that I want to give to you from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary beginning with the title he gives this chapter “Keeping the Work Alive,” and then the first main section which covers the first nine verses he entitles “Look up: God is with us.”  The first main section is the one we are looking at this evening and it is entitle “Discouragement,” and when you look up the meaning of the word “encouragement” according to what I remember that Dr. David Jeremiah said it means to “pour courage into a person,” so perhaps discouragement could then mean taking courage from a person.  Now I want to quote from the last paragraph of Dr. Wiersbe’s introductory commentary so we can better understand where we are going as we look at this second chapter of Haggai.  “The rebuilding of the temple was a very special task, for it meant the restoring of true worship in Jerusalem; and completing the project would please the Lord and be a great testimony to the unbelieving nations who were watching the remnant in Jerusalem.  Haggai delivered three more brief messages to encourage the laborers to complete their assignments.  In each message, he asked them to look in a specific direction to learn what God wanted them to learn.”

            Now as we look at the introduction to this first main point Dr. Wiersbe writes “When the foundation of the temple had been laid sixteen years before, some of the older men had looked back in sorrow as they remembered the glory and beauty of Solomon’s  temple (Ezra 3:8-13).  It’s likely that Haggai was a member of the older generation and had seen the temple before it was destroyed, but he certainly didn’t weep with the rest of his peers.  He rejoiced that the work had begun, and he wanted to see it complete.”

            Now along those lines I remembered when I studied the book of Ezra in July of 2011 something that Dr. Wiersbe had written about the tears that some of the remnant shed after seeing the foundation laid for the temple:  “After the foundation was laid there were some older people began to weep because the temple was smaller than the one Solomon, yet the younger men began to shout because the task was finished.  When one thinks about it this temple would be there when the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth and He came into it and taught in it.

            “Dr. Wiersbe writes about how these different generations reacted differently after the foundation was complete:  “It’s unfortunate when the unity of God’s people is shattered because generations look in opposite directions.  The older men were looking back with longing while the younger men were looking around with joy.  Both of them should be looking up and praising the Lord for what He had accomplished.  We certainly can’t ignore the past, but the past must be a rudder to guide us and not an anchor to hold us back.  God’s people are a family, not a family album filled with old pictures; they’re a garden, not a graveyard covered with monuments to past successes.

            “We have similar generational disagreements in the church today, especially when it comes to styles of worship.  Older saints enjoy singing the traditional hymns with their doctrinal substance, but younger members of the church want worship that has a more contemporary approach.  But it isn’t a question of accepting the one and rejection the other, unless you want to divide families and split the church.  It’s a matter of balance; the old must learn from the young and the young from the old, in a spirit of love and submission (1Peter 5:1-11).  When they were new, many of our traditional hymns were rejected for the same reasons some people reject contemporary praise choruses today. ‘But each class (the young and the old) should try to understand the other’s feelings,’ said Alexander Maclaren. ‘The seniors think the juniors revolutionary and irreverent; the juniors think the seniors fossils.  It is possible to unite the shout of joy and weeping.  Unless a spirit of reverent regard for the past presides over the progressive movements of this or any day, they will not lay a solid foundation for the temple of the future.  We want the old and the young to work side by side, if the work is to last and the sanctuary is to be ample enough to embrace all shades of character and tendencies of thought.’”  (Maclaren, Alexander. Expositions of Holy Scripture (Grand Rapids:  Baker Book House, 1974 vol. 1, 77)”

            Now we will look at verses 1-3 of Haggai chapter two to see what things we will discover in them.  We have dates given in these verses, and the dates show us that Haggai picked an important do to give his message.  October 17, which was the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and this feast was devoted to the praising of the Lord for the bountiful harvest and also it was to remember the children of Israel’s walking in the wilderness.  Leviticus 23:3 4-43 speaks of this feast.

            Dr. Wiersbe points out “But the important thing about the date was this:  it was during the Feast of Tabernacles that King Solomon had dedicated the original temple (1 Kings 8:2), and Haggai wanted the people to think about that.  The restored building had nothing of the splendor of Solomon’s temple, but it was still God’s house, built according to His plan and for His glory.  The same ministry would be performed at its altars and the same worship presented to the Lord.  Times change, but ministry goes on.”

            Yes times do change, but we know from God’s Word that He will never change as this is one of His attributes.  I for one am thankful that God never changes for He is not like people who can wake up and be in a bad mood and change something that they said would happen before they went to bed.

3/29/2016 11:24 PM

 

 

 

Introduction to John 6:16-29

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2016 12:02 PM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  Intro. To John 6:16-29

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 6:16-29

            Message of the verses:  “16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. 19 Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. 20 But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." 21 So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

    22 The next day the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone. 23 There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. 25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You get here?" 26 Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal."

    28 Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’”

            When I was listening to John MacArthur’s most recent sermon on this section I found out that it was his belief that this entire chapter is all about the characteristics of True and false Disciples.”  Now first of all I want to say that perhaps we may have the wrong connotation of what the word disciple actually means.  There is a difference between an apostle and a disciple, for there are only so many apostles but there are many disciples, both true and false ones as the word means a learner of a pupil and so when we read the following:  “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore (John 6:66),” we understand that those who were following Jesus, and probably many of them because of His miracles, and other signs, when they heard this discourse that He gave in the Synagogue in Capernaum stopped following Him.  They stopped being a learner of follower of Jesus because of what He said.

            I want to look at a verse from the last chapter of 2 Corinthians that should make all of us think: “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Cor. 13:5).”  We know that the church at Corinth had a lot of problems as we read through both books we will see some of those problems and perhaps this is why Paul wrote this at the end of his second letter to them, but the fact remains that just as we will see in this section of John that many of those who thought that they were true followers, (believers) in Jesus Christ walked away from Him.  In the gospels there are many verses that our from the lips of our Lord who talk about true and false disciples and I will mention a few of them, some of which are rather lengthy.  We will first look at Luke 14:27-35 “27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28  "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29  "Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30  saying, ’This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 "Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. 34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? 35 “It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’” 

            John MacArthur writes “To be His disciple, Jesus warned, means to love Him above all else—even one’s own family:  ‘34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35  "For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; 36  and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. 37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

            I have to say that when I became a believer in 1974 that the person that led me to the Lord, I found out later that he said that “he was not into that anymore.”  I suppose that few people have had the experience of praying for the salvation of the one who led them to the Lord, but that was where I was at.  Living in the United States since it was founded many years ago people have not been persecuted like in other countries and therefore have not been tested with that kind of persecution to see if their faith is real and so many people who think that they are true believers are not.  I am not saying that one has to be persecuted with the threat of death to make sure that they are a believer, but that kind of thing should be on one’s mind when they become a true follower of Jesus Christ.  As we look at the climate in our country at this time this kind of persecution may not be far off. 

            As we conclude this introduction I want to share what we will be looking at as we go over these verses as John MacArthur writes “Verses 16-29 comprise tow passages that set the stage for Jesus’ discourse on the Bread of Life.  They also portray the stark contrast between true and false disciples.  The first account describes Jesus walking on the water to the Twelve, who are caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee.  It illustrates the response that true disciples have toward Christ.  The second story, in which the crow that Jesus had just fed (6:1-15) sought Him for another free meal, reveals how false disciples respond to the Lord.  For both groups Jesus performed a supernatural sign.  Yet the subsequent responses in each case were entirely different.”  Now there are sub-sections under the two main sections of “The Response of True Disciples,” and “The Response of False Disciples.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is good to study this section, but it is more important to live like a true believer so that others will see Jesus in me and want the same thing that I have.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to see me through the storm that is coming against all who are true believers.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Mount Carmel” (1 Kings 18:19).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who prophesied” (in the NT) “that there would be a great famine throughout the world?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/29/2016 12:50 PM

Obey His Command from Haggai 1:12-15

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2016 9:29 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Obey His Command

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Haggai 1:12-15

            Message of the verses:  “12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people showed reverence for the LORD. 13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke by the commission of the LORD to the people saying, "’I am with you,’ declares the LORD." 14 So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.”

            What we see here is God, through Haggai speaking His word to the returning exiles to get to work on the temple, and as we will see in the SD that is what they did.  When God speaks to us by His Word then there is only one thing to do and that is to obey it.  We simply have to do what the Lord is commanding us to do.  Dr. Wiersbe quotes British preacher Geoffrey Studdert-Kennedy in his commentary:  “Faith is not believing in spite of evidence, its obeying in spite of consequence.”  This statement is so true for there are times when we will be in trouble as we following the commands of the Lord.  An example of this is found in many places in the book of Acts but I want to give one quote from Acts5:40-41 “They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. 41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.”

            What we see here is that the leaders and all the people began to follow what the Lord told them to do, they were obedient.  Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “Obedience always brings further truth (John 7:17), and the prophet assured them that God was with them in their endeavors (Hag. 1:13; see 2:4).” 

            This message was given on August 29, 520 BC and the work on the temple began three weeks later on September 21, 520 BC.  This may seem like a disobedience by these people but they had things to do before they could once again begin work on the temple, and they did not want to rush into it, but take some time to plan it and then begin the work.  We see no indication from Haggai that there was a problem with this.

            Dr. Wiersbe gives some advice to the churches today as he writes “Too often we make excuses when we ought to be making confessions and obeying the Lord…We act as though we fully understand ‘the times and the seasons’ that God has ordained for His people, but we don’t understand them (Acts 1:6-7).”  “6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;”

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes this chapter:  “An interpretation of the Bible that limits God and encourages His people to be lazy instead of busy in ministry is a false interpretation and must be abandoned.  If the Lord is to be pleased with us and glorified before an unbelieving world, we must hear His Word, believe it, and act upon it, not matter what the circumstances may be.  After all, God is with us, and ‘if God be for us, who can be against us?’ (Romans 8:31).”

3/28/2016 9:51 PM  

The False Coronation from John 6:14-15

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2016 9:57 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The False Coronation

Bible Reading & Mediation                                                              Reference:  John 6:14-15

            Message of the verses:  “14 Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."  15 So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.”

            As we look at verse fourteen we see that the people said that Jesus was “The Prophet” who came into the world.  This comes from the book of Deuteronomy:  “15 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. 16  "This is according to all that you asked of the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ’Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ 17 “The LORD said to me, ’They have spoken well. 18  ’I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19’It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him (Deut. 18:15-19).”

            Let us look at one more section from the NT “19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, 21 whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. 22  "Moses said, ’THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you (Acts. 3:19-22).”

            As we will see later on in this chapter the providing of food for all of these people reminded the people of Moses and the manna that was provided for them while in the wilderness, but we will also see that Christ will tell them that it was God the Father who gave them the food, and not Moses.

            These people know the Scripture and they correctly understood the things that the Messiah would do when He would come into the world, but as we also will see that they did not understand the spiritual things that the Messiah would do.  So right away they wanted to make Him King, and we have to realize the reason why they wanted to make Him King, and that was for physical reasons and not spiritual reasons.  They did not, as many today do not realize that Jesus had to come to earth the first time in order to care for the sin problem, while in His second coming which is what these people wanted Him to do at the first coming, He will bring about the Kingdom of God here on earth.  MacArthur writes “With Him as their provider, they would never want for food, and would have the potential to be healed of every illness.  They could march to Jerusalem, overthrow the Romans, and establish the ultimate social welfare state.  Jesus, however, refused to be forcibly made king on their selfish (and unrepentant) terms.  Therefore, He sent the disciples away by boat (Matt. 14:22; Mark 6:45), dispersed the crowd (Matt. 14:23; Mark 6:45-46), and ‘withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.’”

            Jesus was not moved by what the Jews wanted Him to do, for as stated in other Spiritual Diaries we see Jesus in the gospel of Luke when He was 12 years old in the temple teaching the scribes and Pharisees about God and then He tells His mother and father that He was about the business of His Father.  The last thing that Jesus said from the cross was “it is finished,” so being about His Father’s business was complete as He died for our sins, taking our punishment, taking the wrath of God on Himself that was due us and died.  The Greek word translated “it is finished” is a word that means “paid in full” and was stamped onto a person who was released from prison after he had paid in full for the crimes he had done.

            John MacArthur concludes this section and this chapter in his commentary by writing the following paragraph:  “Jesus does not acquiesce to whims or fancies.  He comes to no man on that man’s terms.  People cannot manipulate Him for their own selfish ends.  Some modern evangelists, in an attempt to be ‘seeker-friendly,’ present Jesus to unbelievers as a quick fix for felt needs like health, wealth, and self0esteem—superfically marketing Him as providing everything unbelievers want.  But that turns the gospel message upside down.  People do not come to Christ on their terms, so that He can heal their broken relationships, make them successful in life, and help them feel good about themselves.  Instead, they must come to Him on His terms.  Jesus graciously loves believers and grants them a rich legacy of joy (John 15:11), peace (John 14:27), and comfort (2 Cor. 1:3-7).  But at the same time, He calls sinners to mourn over their sin (Matt. 5:4), repent (Matt. 4:17), and acknowledge Him as the sovereign Lord (Rom. 10:9; cf. Phil. 2:9-11), to whom they owe complete obedience (John 14:15, 21; 1 John 5:3).  Even today,  He continues to withdraw from those who seek Him for their own self-serving ends, just as He did from the crowd that sought to make Him king on their terms.  And, as becomes clear later in chapter 6, He drives others away with the hard demands of the gospel (v. 66).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Jesus Christ is Lord, and when I accepted Him as my Savior, I also accepted Him as my Lord to use me and to do with me what He desires to bring honor and glory to Him.

My Steps of Faith For Today:  Continue to learn more about my Lord, and to learn more about how I am to love Him.

Answer to our last Bible question:  “John the Baptist” (Luke 7:19).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where was the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal?

Answer in our next SD.

3/28/2016 11:16 AM  

Happy Easter

HAPPY EASTER

            Since today is Easter I thought that I would tell you what Easter means to me.  When I look at Easter in terms of why we celebrate it I think of only one thing and that is that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead on what we call Easter morning.  Jesus Christ has spent the last three days in the grave after His death on the cross.

            Now why is His resurrection so important to us as believers?  Well His resurrection from the grave shows us that God had accepted His payment for sin when He suffered and then died on the cross.  This was the reason that He came to earth, to die in our place, to become sin for us, and then taking that penalty for our sins in His own body on the cross so that we may have eternal life and live with Him eternally serving Him and worshiping Him.

            Easter is more than bunnies and candy and new clothes, it is much more than that.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event to happen in the history of mankind, for without it we would have no hope. We could call the book of Acts the story of the Apostles telling others about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave.  That was their hope and that is our hope too.   

            As believers in Jesus Christ we have the same power living in us that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, for it was the Holy Spirit who raised up Jesus from the dead and it is the Holy Spirit who lives within all believers.  Sometimes I wonder if I use this power given to me very well.

            Paul though that the resurrection of Jesus Chris was so important to believers that He spent the entire fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians writing about it.  Let us take a look at some of the verses in this chapter and he begins this chapter by telling his readers exactly what the Gospel message is:  “1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3  For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4  and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (verses 1-4).”  He then moves on to question why some of these believers did not believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and this is important: “12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. 

            20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23  But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24  then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.”  These verses tell us of the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Paul goes on to tell the order of the resurrection as Christ is the first to be raised from the dead and at the end of the chapter He speaks of what we call the “rapture” of the church where all believers in the Church age will be raised from the dead.  Paul writes to Titus about the return of Jesus Christ to take us in the rapture and says that it is our hope, and in this case hope means it is a sure thing, not like I hope the sun will shine tomorrow type of hope. 

            Yes the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the most important thing that has ever happened on this earth.  In order for people to take part in what the Bible teaches about the rapture of the Church one has to belong to Jesus Christ.  How do we do that?  First we have to admit that we are sinners for Paul writes “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  Think about that little word “all” as it is very important.  Now that we have admitted that we have sinned we then must realize that we cannot pay for our sins without spending eternity away from God in hell.  But then we must realize that there was One who came and paid for our sins, and that one is Jesus Christ who took all of our sins upon Him while on the cross and suffered and died for them.  This is the best news ever told for not only did He die for our sins but when we confess that we are a sinner and believe in our hearts that Jesus paid for them we will receive eternal life, we will be as Jesus put it “born-again.”  Paul writes about more good news that happens to us when we become born again:  “17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21),”  This can be called the exchange that is Christ took on our sins and then gave us His righteousness.  My prayer is that anyone who reads this and is not a believer in Jesus Christ will accept the payment that He paid for you and receives Him as your Lord and Savior.  Just confess your sins to Him and invite Him into your life and you will be born again.

Honor God's Name from Haggai 1:7-8

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2016 10:11 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Honor God’s Name

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Haggai 1:7-8

            Message of the verses:  “7 Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider your ways! 8 “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified," says the LORD.”

            Dr. Wiersbe tells an interesting story as he begins this third main point that I will try and put into my own words.  He begins by telling about how the Babylonians set fire to the temple in 586 BC when they destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and the wood that burned was used to hold the massive stones in place.  Solomon bought the timbers from Tyre and Sidon when he built the temple as seen in 1 Kings 5:6-12.  When Cyrus first let the 50,000 Jews return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple according to Ezra 3:7 “Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food, drink and oil to the Sidonians and to the Tyrians, to bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according to the permission they had from Cyrus king of Persia.”  As mentioned this is the same place where Solomon bought the timbers for the first temple.  Now we read in the portion of Scripture that I highlighted that Haggai tells the men to go up to the mountains to get wood to rebuild the temple.  OK the question of the day is what happened to the wood that was first bought from Tyre and Sidon to rebuild the temple?  Perhaps some of the wood made it into some of the houses that we have been learning about in our previous SD’s.  It just seems funny that they mention two times about getting wood to rebuild the temple.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Did some clever entrepreneur profit by selling wood that had been bought with the king’s grant?  We don’t know but we wonder where the people got the wood for their paneled houses when no wood was available for God’s house.”

            We know that this kind of things goes on in the church today as people buy the best for their houses and then give “junk” sometimes to the church.  Malachi writes about this “6 "’A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ’How have we despised Your name?’ 7 “You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ’How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, ’The table of the LORD is to be despised.’ 8 “But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?" says the LORD of hosts.”   Yes there is a lot of things that we can learn from these OT prophets.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes about when we don’t give our best to the Lord:  “But when we do this, we commit two sins: (1) we displease the Lord, and (2) we disgrace His name.  The Lord told the people through Haggai, ‘Build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored’ (Hag. 1:7).  God delights in the obedient service of His people, and His name is glorified when we sacrifice for Him and serve Him.” 

            It brings honor and glory to our Lord when we follow His commandments, commandments like “Hallowed be Thy name” which the first petition in the Lord’s Prayer.  We need to follow the example of Jesus who said in John 8:29 “"And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.’”  Oh that we could say that about our lives.  We also read what Jesus says in Matthew 5:16 “"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

            We know that the Lord does not live in a temple like the one that the Jews were trying to build, but in their case they were not doing what was pleasing to the Lord and therefore that was wrong.  In the church age believers are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  We will finish with a quote from Dr. G. Campbell Morgan who is quoted in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary:  “Whereas the house of God today is no longer material but spiritual, the material is still a very real symbol of the spiritual.  When the Church of God in any place in any locality is careless about the material place of assembly, the place of its worship and its work, it is a sign and evidence that its life is at a low ebb.”  I have to say that this statement has spoken to my heart.

 3/26/2016 11:01 PM

The Fulfilling Dinner (John 6:10-13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2016 11:42 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The Fulfilling Dinner

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 6:10-13

            Message of the verses:  “10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. 12 When they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost." 13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.”

            As we look at this familiar story which as mentioned is recorded on all four gospels I think that there are times when we just kind of read over it knowing what it say and perhaps we do not picture ourselves as being there in perhaps the places of those who are being feed, or the disciples, or the young man who provided the beginnings of the food that Jesus would multiply so all 20 + thousand could eat and be satisfied.  How about thinking about what must have run through the mind or our Lord when He had done so many miracles in the presence of His disciples and the fact that they themselves had just returned from doing miracles in His power, and then not having enough faith feed these physically hungry people.  I am sure that Jesus was disappointed in their lack of faith, and also knowing that most of the people He would feed would not understand the spiritual aspect of the miracle He was doing for them.  As we look at the attributes of Jesus, the same as all Persons in the trinity, we know that love is one of them and that is what He was demonstrating as He feeds these people.  Now Jesus did not reprimand His disciples for their lack of faith, instead He put them to work.  Mark adds that Jesus told His disciples to have the people set in groups of 50 to 100 people “39 And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties (Mark 6:39-40).”  Matthews adds the following “21 There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children (Matt. 14:21).” This is how many come up with the number of those feed as somewhere between 15-25 thousand people as it is hard to determine how many wives and children were there.

            There was no fanfare in what Jesus did next as He asked God’s blessing on the food, “He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also the fish.”  MacArthur adds “The Lord id not create a vast amount of food all at once, but continually ‘broke the loaves…kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and…divided up the two fish among them all’ (Mark 6:41). The astonished crowd seated on the grassy hillside that evening witnessed the Creator God at work.”  Now we know from or study of John’s Gospel that Jesus is the One who created everything that was created, “3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (John 1:3).”  “2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world (Heb. 1:2).”  Knowing this it is not hard to believe that Jesus could create bread and fish to feed this large crowd.  This was a great miracle that Jesus did here and yet it was not at all difficult for Jesus to do this, but the main reason that Jesus did this is found in our theme verses “30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”  We will see more about how this miracle comes into play as something spiritual as we move through this chapter. 

            The other gospels show us that Jesus used the disciples to distribute the food, but He did not have to use them for He could have just had the food appear to all the people at one time.  MacArthur writes “God, however, often works through weak, fallible humans.  He used Moses, who was ‘very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth’ (Num. 12:3), to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt; He used Gideon, the youngest child in the least important family in Manasseh (Jud 6:15), to deliver Israel from the Midianites; and He used David, an unknown shepherd boy, to kill the might warrior Goliath and deliver Israel from the Philistines.  ‘God,’ Paul reminded the proud, arrogant Corinthians, ‘has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong’ (1 Cor. 1:27).”

            Philip has said to Jesus that three years worth of money could only give each a taste but we see that when Jesus was done feeding this crowd that they were all full, and that there was twelve baskets filled.  These baskets were of type used to carry food or produce, not like when Jesus feed the 4000 when what was left over were the large baskets, the kind that Paul was let down in Damascus, to escape harm right after he became a believer.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  My Lord does not do anything in half measure, He will give to me the spiritual food that I truly need to do the work that He has called me to do.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord, as I have stepped out by faith to teach a Sunday school class this coming summer, that He will help me to prepare for it a little bit each day and not allow me to get lax, but continue to trust Him to bring honor and glory to Him through the power of His Spirit as I prepare for these lessons.  It took a while for me to say yes to this, but I believe that the Lord has led me to do this, and He will see me through it.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Publicans and sinners” (Matthew 9:12).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘"Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’”

Answer in our next SD

3/26/2016 12:26 PM