SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/10/2017
10:08 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Spirit of Ministry
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Colossians
1:24a
Message of the
verse: “Now I rejoice”
Now as I listened to the sermon that pertains to this
section of Colossians I remember that John MacArthur was talking about the
meaning of the word “joy” and also the attitude that Paul had when he was
ministering throughout the time he was on earth, and also I remember the
message of how at times many people who are in the ministry today do not
minister in a joyful way. I certainly
remember being in a church for 32 years and the last Pastor we had five years
before we finally left fit that category.
It was like it was a great burden for him to be a minister of the
gospel; not so with the apostle Paul.
Now the word “joy” does not necessitate being happy, but realizing that
God is in control at all times so therefore we can trust Him to do what He
deems best. Look at these verses from the
book of Hebrews: “1 Therefore, since we have
so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every
encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us, 2
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-2).”
Now the “therefore” goes back to the previous chapter which is the “faith”
chapter as the writer speaks of those he had just written about who demonstrated
great faith. I believe that the sin that
the author is speaking of is a lack of faith and then in verse two he writes
about the joy that Christ had going to the cross. This may seem a bit strange, but Jesus knew
that He had come to earth to do the will of His Father which was to go to the
cross to pay for the sins of the world, and after that was complete He would
then return to heaven sitting down at the right hand of God and this brought
joy to Him. Now when you go to the book
of 2 Corinthians and chapter eleven we read about all of the troubles that Paul
had while ministering for the Lord. We
can also look at the book of Acts which tells of Paul’s visit to Philippi and
how he and Silas were unjustly beaten and put into prison where they were put
into stocks and what they did while there was sing praises to the Lord in song and
witness the gospel message to those in prison.
Hard to think of this kind of thing bringing joy to their hearts, but it
certainly did.
John MacArthur writes “Christian joy is internal. Paul was sometimes discouraged by his
circumstances, but he maintained his joy.
He described himself as ‘afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but
not destroyed (2 Cor. 4:8-9). He knew ‘great
sorrow and unceasing grief’ (Rom. 9:2) over the plight of unbelieving
Israel. Whatever Paul’s circumstances,
he never lost his deep-seated confidence that God was in control.”
In our next SD we will continue to look at joy and how it
effects ministry. 2/10/2017 10:27 PM
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