A Concern for the Lord (Philemon 4-5a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/30/2017 7:09 PM

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  A Concern for the Lord

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Philemon 4-5a

            Message of the verses:  “I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, because I hear of…the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus,”

            As we look at this verse and a half we see that Paul is praising Philemon, but this happens in many of his letters and it is not that he is trying to flatter him, rather Paul knew that legitimate praise feeds virtue and also provides an solution for sin.  MacArthur adds “The virtuous character of Philemon becomes the foundation upon which Paul bases his appeal for him to forgive Onesimus.”

            Paul was the one who led Philemon to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and so he knew about his character first hand.  When we studied Colossians we found out that the pastor of the Colossian church came to see Paul in order to tell him about the troubles that were going on there and so Paul would have had time to talk to him about Philemon and Paul would not have given Philemon praise if he did not deserve it.  Paul continues to praise Philemon as he writes “I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers.”  Once again this is typical of most of Paul’s letters as Paul begins most of his letters by praying for the one or ones he is writing to and then near the end of his letter he will ask them to pray for some specific needs that he has.  As we look at Paul praying for Philemon we see that when he did this that he knew nothing negative against Philemon and was then able to pray in this way for him.  As we go through the book of Philemon we will see that this is true, nothing negative is written about to him.

            MacArthur writes “The first characteristic of one who forgives is a concern for the Lord.  Paul had heard of ‘the faith which’ Philemon had ‘toward the Lord Jesus.’  As a genuine believer, Philemon was concerned about the Lord and desired to please Him.  Because the Lord had forgiven him Philemon could forgive others.  Conviction from the indwelling Holy Spirit and from the Word of God would also provide the impetus for Philemon to do what was right.  The present tense of echo (‘you have’) demonstrates the continuous nature of Philemon’s concern for the Lord.  His unwavering faith gave Paul confidence in his willingness to forgive.

            “Christians forgive because they are reconciled to Jesus Christ.  Unbelievers do not have that capacity.  Paul points that out in Romans 3:10-16:

‘10  as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11  THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12  ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE." 13  "THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING," "THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS"; 14  "WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS"; 15  "THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, 16  DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS.’”

“Those Controlled by bitterness will find it difficult to forgive.”

6/30/2017 7:28 PM

The Mission (Acts 1:8b)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/30/2017 8:47 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  “The Mission”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Acts 1:8b

            Message of the verse:  “you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

            We have learned that Jesus did not answer the question as to when He would return to gather His church and begin His kingdom on earth and I think this goes along with one of the parables that He taught where we read "But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into (Luke 12:39).”  Now I am not comparing believers to thieves but what I am saying that if the church (called out ones) knew the exact hour that our Lord would return then I think it would make a difference as to how they live their lives.  In my prayer list I try to put on the spiritual armor each morning and one of the pieces of the armor is what Paul calls in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 “the helmet of the hope of salvation,” and when I am putting this on I will ask the Lord for my actions in my life to be like the Lord is returning today, for indeed that is my hope.

            Now since Jesus did not answer this question He goes on to the important thing that He wants to mention and as we look at this last half of verse eight we have a pretty good outline for the book of Acts and that is begin taking the gospel to Jerusalem, then move to Judah, and to Samaria, and then to the remote parts of the world.  The book of Acts begins in Jerusalem, then moves onto Judah then to Samaria, and finally ends up in Rome.  Today the gospel is preached in all the countries of the world, however the Bible is not yet written in every known language of the world, but that will happen if the Lord tarries in the next 30-40 years, or perhaps sooner.

            I want to look at what the word “witnesses or witness” as John MacArthur writes.  “I once witnessed an attempted murder.  When I testified in court, they wanted to know three things:  what I saw, heard, and felt.  I was reminded of 1 John 1:1-2, where John writes, ‘1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life… and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you.’ A witness for Jesus Christ is simply someone who tells the truth about Him.  The apostles, as Peter points out, ‘were eyewitness of His majesty’ (2 Peter 1:16).”

            Jesus proclaims the following in the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20 “19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”

            John MacArthur writes “So many Christians sealed their witness to Christ with their blood that matures (‘witnesses’) came to mean ‘martyrs.’  Their blood, as the second-century theologian Tertullian stated, became the seed of the church.  Many were drawn to faith in Christ by observing how calmly and joyously Christians met their deaths.”

            The truth of Christians being a witness for Jesus Christ is that all believers are witnesses for Him, and the only question is how effective their witness is.  If we, the body of Christ, are to be an effective witness for Jesus Christ we must do what Peter speaks of in 1 Peter 3:15 “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”  I had a friend who is now with the Lord who wrote a book, and in that book were pictures that he took around the world as he was a great photographer and won many awards for his pictures.  He signed the book that I bought from him with his name and under that name he wrote “1 Peter 3:15.”  You see this man was a great witness for Jesus Christ as he use to go into prisons to talk to inmates and led many inmates to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  I have to say that I miss my friend Ron as even though I did not know him for long he was a great friend and a great witness for our Lord.

            If we as believers are to be effective witnesses then people around us have must know that we are different and that the Lord has changed our lives so that we desire to bring glory to His name.  We have to remember that this world is not our home that we are just passing through, and that are true home is in heaven where we will live with Christ forever, but now we are His ambassadors who represent our Lord.

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing “This beginning was to dramatically alter the course of history, and the spread of the gospel message has continued past Acts to reach all the earth.  Today believers continue to have the responsibility for being Christ’s witnesses throughout this world.  The sphere for witnessing is as extensive as the kingdom—all the world.  That was and is the mission for the church until Jesus comes.”  I have to say that that is one of the purposes for these Spiritual Diaries that go onto my blog sites.  My desire is to bring glory to my Lord Jesus Christ by having souls saved, believers grow and revival given to those believers who are in need of it.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I realize that when the Holy Spirit began the church age that He gave special gifts to the apostles, and that as a believer in the 21^st century it is my desire to live my life in a way that the Spirit of God will fill me with what I need to do the work that He planned for my life in eternity past.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to give me the lesson that I am will teach this upcoming Sunday in Sunday school.  The subject of Judas is a difficult subject to handle and therefore I desire that the Lord will give me the right preparation in order to teach this class in a way that will bring glory to His name.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Pilate” (Matthew 27:19).

Today’s Bible question:  “How many parables does the Gospel of Mark record?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/30/2017 9:39 AM

PT-2 "Introduction" (Philemon 1:1-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/29/2017 9:58 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  PT-2 “Introduction”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                  Reference:  Philemon 1:1-3

            Message of the verses:  “1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker, 2  and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: 3  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

            I am not sure if I mentioned it or not when we went over the introduction to this letter, but Philemon was a wealthy member of the Colossians church, as it meet in his house.  The Greek word for “beloved” is Agapetos and it is a familiar word of Paul’s from his writings.  Fellow worker is from sunegos, and this is a term used by Paul for those who had worked alongside him for the cause of Christ.  So we see familiar words in Paul’s introduction to this letter.  We mentioned when we were studying the book of Colossians that Paul never was at the Colossian church so this means that he and Philemon must have meet in Ephesus.  As we get into what this letter is about and we have looked at words like slavery, and also forgiveness we will see that Paul is putting his friend on the line for the sake of the spiritual principle of forgiveness and also reconciling Philemon with his slave Onesimus.  As I have been studying for some time now the 17^th chapter of John which truly could be called the “love chapter,” as we see Christ demonstrating exactly what love is throughout this chapter.  Jesus went to the cross in order to forgive us because He loved, and still loves us, and yet it is difficult at times for us to forgive someone of something that is actually small.  My friends this should not be!

            We see that the letter is also addressed to Apphia, who was probably Philemon’s wife, and to Archippus who may have been their son.  He then describes Archippus as a fellow soldier, and in 2 Timothy Paul describes Timothy as a fellow soldier. 

            Next we look at the fact that Paul also addressed the church that was in Philemon’s house as in the first century it was common for churches to meet in houses as it is still in some countries, especially those where persecution is found.  It was not until the third century that churches began to meet in their own buildings.

            Next we look at another standard part of Paul’s introduction “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  John MacArthur concludes by writing “Grace is the means of salvation, peace its result.  The linking of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as joint sources of grace and peace would be blasphemous if Jesus were a mere man or angel.  That phrase is to be understood as an affirmation of the deity of Christ, His equality with God.”  It is too bad that many people in this world do not see this truth as it is made clear in the Word of God in many places.  6/29/2017 10:19 PM

 

THe Mystery (Acts 1:6-7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/29/2017 6:21 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                            Focus:  The Mystery

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Acts 1:6-7

            Message of the verses:  “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;”

            I certainly can understand the question that the disciples asked Jesus as seen in verse six and I suppose that if I were there I would have wanted to know the answer to that question too.  We have to believe that one of the reasons that all of Jesus’ disciples came to follow Jesus was they thought that He would bring in the earthly kingdom of God that was promised in the Old Testament.  We often think of the disappointment that Judas had when he found out that Jesus was going to the cross instead of getting rid of the Romans and beginning the earthly kingdom at that time, but all of the disciples felt the same way but reacted differently.  While Jesus was on earth with His disciples He mentioned prophetically about the future.  Let us look at some verses from both Matthew and from Luke where this is seen:  “40 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41  "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.  44 "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. 47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; 48  and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. 49 “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50  and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:40-50).”  “24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away (Matthew 13:24-25).”  “36 “Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. 37 "Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. 38 “Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. 39 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 40 “You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect’ (Luke 12:36-40).”  There are two more references from the book of Luke which I will mention, but not put onto this SD because of the length of them:  Luke 17:20-37; and 21:5-36, feel free to look them up on your own.  One thing more that I want to mention here and that is that once the Pharisees said that Jesus was doing His miracles in the power of Satan Jesus began to teach in parables while out in public.  This is seen in different places of the first three gospel writings, and in Matthew we see this beginning in chapter thirteen.  So we see here that Jesus did talk about the kingdom of God that would come on the earth as promised in the Old Testament with the length revealed in the New Testament from the book of Revelation.

            John MacArthur writes the following about the answer that Jesus gave to the disciples: 

“Jesus, however, quickly brings them back to reality.  It was not for them ‘to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.’  The Scriptures teach many things about the earthly and glorious reign of Jesus Christ in His kingdom, but no the precise time of its establishment.  ‘Times’ (kairo) refers to features, characteristics of eras, and events.  God, ‘by His own authority,’ has determined all the aspects of the future and the kingdom.  But as far as men are concerned, that remains one of ‘the secret things’ that ‘belong to the Lord our God’ (Deut. 29:29).  All that believers can know is that the kingdom will be established at the second coming (Matt. 25:21-34).  The time of the second coming however, remains unrevealed (Mark 13:32).”

            There is another important thing that we can learn from this question and answer that we are looking at this morning, and that is that Jesus does not deny that He will have a kingdom on earth as some today say will not happen.  Not only does Jesus say this here but as mentioned the length of His kingdom is given in the following verses from Revelation:  “1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. 4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. 7 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison (Rev. 20:1-7).” 

            Now since we don’t know the exact hour when our Lord will return in the rapture to take His bride, (the church) back to heaven we are to live our lives as if He were to come back today, and that includes telling others about how they too can be ready to go to heaven with our Lord but telling them the truth of the gospel message, that Jesus came to earth as a man to die in their place and now they need to accept this forgiveness, admitting that they are sinners in need of His salvation.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Understanding that Jesus will be coming back to the clouds to take away His bride, and that many believe that it will happen very soon was the vehicle that the Lord used to bring me to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and even though I thought that His coming was very soon back in 1974, I am not disappointed, but still look for His return as the Bible makes it clear that He will come back someday soon.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to live my life like Jesus will come back today.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was warned by his wife not to condemn Jesus to death?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/29/2017 7:08 AM 

PT-1 Introduction (Philemon 1-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/28/2017 10:23 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-1Introduction

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Philemon 1-3

            Message of the verses:  “1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker, 2  and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: 3  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

            When letters were written when this letter was written the name of the one who wrote it was at the top of the letter unlike the way we construct a letter as we put our name at the end of the letter.  However even though it is different today than then most of the time when we get a letter in the mail today there is a return address on it to tell us who it came from.

            We know that Paul led Philemon to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but Philemon probably was excited to receive a letter from the apostle Paul, the man who turned the Roman world upside down as he helped spread the gospel to much of the Roman world.  Timothy and Titus were the only two other men who got letters from Paul that are found in the Bible.

            As we look at this first verse we see that Paul describes himself as “a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”  This is unique as no other letter he wrote that is found in the Word of God that Paul wrote begins this way.  We have written that Paul wrote Ephesians and also Colossians from prison and yet neither of those letters began by saying that he was in prison, only this one.  Many of his letters that he writes he says that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, but I think with the content of this letter he did not want to go that route for he wanted Philemon to make his decision about Onesimus on his own with putting any pressure on him.

            Paul considered himself a prisoner of Jesus Christ even though he was in prison in Rome.  It was because of his work in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ that he was in the prison, otherwise he would not have been in  prison for even before he left for Rome it was said that he had really done nothing wrong and would have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.   John MacArthur writes “By mentioning his imprisonment, Paul makes a subtle appear to Philemon.  He sets up his case by saying in effect, ‘If I can face the harder task of being in prison, can you not do the easier one that I’m going ask you.  Philemon knew all that Pau had suffered for the cause of Christ.  That knowledge was bound to have an effect on his willingness to do what Paul asked him.”

            We now move on to Timothy who was the coauthor of Philemon, but he was with Paul when he wrote the letter.  Paul’s description of Timothy was “our brother” as Timothy knew Philemon.  Paul mentions Timothy first and later mentions others.  Paul mentions Timothy at the beginning of his letters in many of them.  6/28/2017 10:46 PM

 

PT-2 "The Might" (Acts 1:4-5, 8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/28/2017 7:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-2 “The Might”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 1:4-5, 8

            Message of the verses:  “4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."  8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;”

            We are looking at the promise that the Father will give to the apostles, and not only them but for all believers, but especially for the apostles He will give the gift of the Holy Spirit in a special way, and they had heard of this promise from the Lord Jesus Christ while He was with them. 

            Now we want to look at the words from verse five “for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”  Let us look at a statement that John the Baptist said from John 1:33 “"I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ’He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’”  This promise was to be fulfilled not too many days from now as the disciples would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”  MacArthur writes “ten to be exact.  Jesus promised that after He departed, He would send the Spirit (John 16:7).”

            Now as I have been thinking over how the Holy Spirit works in lives I have come to the conclusion that the Spirit’s work in the lives of the apostles is different than it is in the lives of people today.  As I was thinking about this I read the following from MacArthur’s commentary telling me that he too believes this.  “Despite the claims of many, the apostles’ and early disciples’ experience is not the norm for believers today.  They were given unique enabling of the Holy Spirit for their special duties.  They also received the general and common baptism with the Holy Spirit in an uncommon way, subsequent to conversion.  All believers since the church began are commanded to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) and to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25).  Yet these early apostles and believers were told to wait, showing the change that came in the church age.  They were in the transitional period associated with the birth of the church.  In the present age, baptism by Christ through the agency of the Holy Spirit takes place for all believers at conversion.  At that point the Spirit also takes up His permanent residency in the converted person’s soul, so there is no such thing as a Christian who does not have the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9; cf. 1 Cor. 6:19-20).

            “The baptism with the Holy Spirit is not a special privilege for some believers, nor are believers challenged and exhorted in Scripture to seek it.  It is not even their responsibility to prepare for it by praying, pleading, tarrying, or any other means.  The passive voice of the verb translated ‘be baptized’ indicates the baptism by Jesus Christ with the Spirit is entirely a divine activity.  It comes, like salvation itself, through grace, not human effort.  Titus 3:5-6 says ‘5  He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6  whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.’  God sovereignly pours out the Holy Spirit on those He saves.

            “The Spirit’s presence, leading, and might were absolutely essential if the apostles were to be effective in continuing the Lord’s unfinished work.  They had already experienced His saving, guiding, teaching, and miracle-working power.  Soon they would ‘receive’ the ‘power’ they needed for ministry after ‘the Holy Spirit’ fell on them.

            “Power translates dunamis, from which the English word ‘dynamite’ derives.  All believers have in them the spiritual dynamite for use of gifts, service, fellowship, and witness.  They need to experience the release of that power in their lives through not grieving the Spirit by sin (Eph. 5:18).  The latter takes place as believers yield moment by moment control of their lives to Him, and is the same as yielding their minds to the Word (Col. 3:16).  The result of being filled with the Spirit is expressed by Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:16, 20 ‘that [God] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man…Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us…’”  I have to say that after our study of the letter to Philemon that I am doing in the evening that I will be taking up the challenge of studying the book of Ephesians which has much to say on this subject of the Holy Spirit.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I believe that as long as I don’t grieve the Holy Spirit that He will fill me to do the works that God has planned for me to do in eternity past as described in Ephesians 2:10.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to give me the peace needed for the things that I want to do this morning.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Bethlehem” (Micah 5:2).

Today’s Bible question:  “What are the pastoral epistles?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/28/2017 8:32 AM

 

 

PT-2 Intro to Philemon 1:1-7

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/27/2017 10:11 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 Intro to Philemon 1:1-7

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                   Reference:  Philemon 1:1-7

            Message of the verses:  “1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker, 2  and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: 3  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints; 6 and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake. 7 For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.”

            In our last SD we were talking about forgiveness and so we want to finish up that discussion in this SD, and then in our next SD from the letter to Philemon we will be looking at verses 1-3 which is actually the introduction to this letter.

            John MacArthur states that there are 75 different word pictures about forgiveness found in the Word of God and they help us grasp and understand how important the nature, and also the effects of forgiveness.  Now the following is a quote found in the commentary written by John MacArthur that he gets from John Nieder and Thomas Thompson Forgive and Love Again.

·       To forgive is to turn the key, open the cell door, and let the prisoner walk free.

·       To forgive is to write in large letters across a debt, ‘Nothing owed.’

·       To forgive is to pound the gavel in a courtroom and declare ‘Not guilty!’

·       To forgive is to shoot an arrow so high and so far that it can never be found again.

·       To forgive is to bundle up all the garbage and trash and dispose of it, leaving the house clean and fresh.

·       To forgive is to loose the moorings of a ship and release it to the open sea.

·       To forgive is to grant a full pardon to a condemned criminal.

·       To forgive is to relax a stranglehold on a wrestling opponent.

·       To forgive is to sandblast a wall of graffiti, leaving it looking new again.

·       To forgive is to smash a clay pot into a thousand pieces so it can never be pieced together again.

John MacArthur concludes this introduction by writing “Forgiveness is so important that the Holy Spirit devoted an entire book of the Bible to it.  In the brief book of Philemon, the spiritual duty to forgive emphasized, but not in principle, parable, or word picture.  Through a real life situation involving two people dear to him, Paul teaches the importance of forgiving others.  Following the introduction in verses 1-3, Paul describes the spiritual character of one who forgives in verses 4-7.  Such a person has a concern for the Lord, a concern for people , a concern for fellowship, a concern for knowledge, a concern for glory, and a concern to be a blessing.” 

6/27/2017 10:29 PM

PT-1 "The Might" (Acts 1:4-5, 8a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/27/2017 10:18 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                      Focus:  PT-1 The Might

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Acts 1:4-5, 8a

            Message of the verses:  “4  Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."  8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;”

            Now that the apostles have received the message from the Lord they may have been tempted to set out on their own to begin to spread the message, but the Lord tells them that they should “not to leave Jerusalem.”  Let us look at a similar verse from Luke 24:49 “49 "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."  Jesus tells them to wait in the city of Jerusalem and that waiting things is difficult for some people, me included.  I suppose that being a male I want to go out and solve problems right away.  I suppose that the Lord has been working in my heart about waiting for Him, and also to make sure that what I am doing is in His will, what He wants me to do to bring glory to His name.  When one goes out and does things on their own they become proud, and pride is a great sin before the Lord.  If one can do things on their own without the help and strength and “might” of the Holy Spirit of God then they will become proud, but as I have mentioned in earlier Spiritual Diaries believers are like a hose that the water flows through.  When you water your flowers it is all about the water getting to the flowers to make them grow that counts, not really about the hose that the water flows through.  We have to be willing hoses that allow the “spiritual water flow through” in order to bring glory to the Lord.  John MacArthur writes the following “To the apostles, who were no doubt fired with enthusiasm and eager to begin, that must have seemed a strange command.  Yet, it illustrates an important point:  All the preparation and training that knowledge and experience can bring are useless without the proper might.  Power had to accompany truth.”

            Next we look at the phrase “to wait for what the Father had promised.”  We mentioned that the apostles were no doubt motivated but they also need to be supernaturally empowered for their mission which is what our quote is speaking about “what the Father had promised.”  The promise that Jesus is talking about has been seen in different places in the gospels and that is the promise of the Holy Spirit.

            We have talked about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and how it was different in different dispensations as in the Old Testament the Spirit could leave a person like He left Soul and then in the verses that follow we read that the Holy Spirit came upon David.  After his sin with Bathsheba and her husband David prays in Psalm 51:11 “Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”  In the New Testament we learn that once a person become a born-again believer that the Holy Spirit comes into their life and there are different functions that the Spirit does in the life of a believer beginning with giving that person an effectual call in order for them to become a believer.  Paul tells us that we are to be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit.  The promise of the work of the Holy Spirit was given in the Old Testament “25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances (Ezekiel 36:25-27).”  MacArthur adds “There was to come a fullness of the Spirit in some way unique to the New Covenant and for all believers.  But there was also a special anointing for the apostles.”  The apostles were the first to receive this anointing from the Holy Spirit and it was special for them, but all believers receive the Holy Spirit.

            We can compare what happened to Jesus after His baptism where we learned that the Holy Spirit came upon Him as “heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove (Luke 3:21-22).”  Notice it says like a dove a simile as the Holy Spirit came upon our Lord in a similar way that a dove flutters down to land, very slowly.  Then in Luke chapter 4:1 we read “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness.”  Next we read from Luke while Jesus was teaching in the Nazareth synagogue “18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."”  When you see all caps in the NASB it is because it is a quote from the Old Testament.  One more quote from the book of Luke that has to do with the suggestion that the Lord’s healing power came from the Holy Spirit “17 One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing (Luke 5:17).”  Another reason we believe that it was through the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus did His miracles had to do with what we call the unpardonable sin where the Pharisees said that Jesus was doing miracles in the power of Satan, and Jesus then says to them:  “"Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven (Matthew 12:31).” 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Paul speaking of the Holy Spirit’s power writes “Do not quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19).”  I never want to do that.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Keep my life clean so that the Holy Spirit can work through me to bring glory to my Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Abraham” (Genesis 22:8).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did Micah say the Messiah would be born?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/27/2017 11:09 AM    

PT-1 Intro to Philemon 1-7

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/26/2017 10:57 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Philemon 1-7

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Philemon 1-7

            Message of the verses:  “1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker, 2 and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints; 6 and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake. 7 For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.”

            What Paul is writing about in this short letter to his friend in the Lord is all about forgiveness, something that our society that we live in knows little about as in most cases we are always looking out for number one, and we don’t care how that happens.  Forgiveness is foreign in our society as it is looked upon as being weak, however Christians must forgive for after all Christ has forgiven us for everything, past, present and future.  John MacArthur writes that if we fail to forgive there will be four unpleasant results.  “First, failure to forgive will imprison believers in their past.  Unforgiveness keeps the pain alive.  Unforgiveness keeps the sore open; it never allows the wound to heal.  Dwelling on the wrong done feeds anger and resentment and robs one of all the joy of living.  Forgiveness, on the other hand, opens the prison doors and sets the believer free from the past.

            “Second, Unforgiveness produces bitterness.  The longer believers dwell on offenses committed against them, the more bitter they become.  Bitterness is not just a sin; it is an infection.  The writer of Hebrews warns, ‘See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled’ (Heb. 12:15).”

            “Third, Unforgiveness gives Satan an open door.  Paul warns believers in Ephesians 4:26-27, ‘Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.’  To the Corinthians he wrote, ‘Whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes’ (2 Cor. 2:10-11).  It is no exaggeration to say that most of the ground Satan gains in our lives is due to Unforgiveness.

“Fourth, Unforgiveness hinders fellowship with God.  Our Lord solemnly warned, ‘If you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions’ (Matt. 6:14-15).  As noted in the introduction, that passage speaks not of the completed, past forgiveness of salvation, but of ongoing relational forgiveness between believers and the Father.  It is a serious matter nonetheless to know that one cannot be right with God if he is unforgiving of others.  Forgiveness restores the believer to the place of maximum blessing from God.  It restores the purity and joy of fellowship with God.”

            There is some more things we want to look at in this introduction that we will do in our next SD.

6/26/2017 11:21 PM

The Manifestation (Acts 1:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/26/2017 8:57 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  The Manifestation

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Acts 1:3

            Message of the verses:  “3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.”

            I would suppose that it is just as important for us who live in the 21^st century that is almost 2000 years after our Lord Jesus Christ raising from the dead to know for sure that He did indeed come back to life after His crucifixion, as it was important for His disciples to realize this truth.  After all we know that eventually almost everyone of His disciples would end up dying because they believed that Jesus was indeed alive, so if He had not given them convincing proof that He was indeed alive then why would they want to die for a dead Messiah.  The truth is that more people have died recently for the cause of Christ in our time than at any other time in the history of the world since Christ arose from the dead.  In our Sunday school class and also our church service yesterday we learned that between 50-100 people from the Central African Republic died for the cause of Christ, and yet by the grace of God the Pastor was spared.  The president of Baptist Mid Missions told us this story in our Sunday school class yesterday and it has not been too long ago that he visited the CAR as he was born there and raised there in his early years.  The President of the CAR attended a conference that brought many Pastors who had to walk for many miles on foot to attend this conference and it seems that since that conference that the Muslims have been attacking the believers there as on the way home one of the wives of a Pastor was killed, so things are getting worse, and yet there hope is the same as the disciples hope and our hope too and that is that Jesus arose from the dead as our verse tells us and for 40 days He spoke to His disciples about the kingdom of God.  “The most extensive summary of those appearances is found in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8.”  “5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6  After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8  and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.”

            John MacArthur writes “There have been many suggestions as to the content of the Lord’s teaching during the forty days.  The mystical religionists held that He imparted to the apostles the secret knowledge that characterized Gnosticism.  Many in the early church believed He taught them concerning church order (F. F. Bruce, The Book of Acts [Grand Rapids:  Eerdmans, 1971], 33-34).  Luke, however, shuts down all such speculations when he reveals that during this time the Lord was ‘speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.’  He taught them more truth related to the domain of divine rule over the hearts of believers.  That theme, a frequent one during the Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry (cf. Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 10:7; 13:1ff.; Mark 1:15; Luke 4:43; 9:2; 17:20ff.’; John 2:2ff.), offered further proof to the disciples that it was really He.”

            It was the Lord’s desire to reveal to His disciples that the crucifixion did not nullify the promised kingdom, which we now know as the millennial kingdom.  I think as we study and know the truths of the Scripture that speak of how the church began, and then later on the promises that are found in the book of Revelation about the future of those who live on planet earth that we tend to forget that Jesus had to reveal these truths to His apostles, including Paul as to what was going to happen after He returned to heaven as our High Priest.  The apostles of Christ got a detailed crash course on what was going to happen, and it was because of their belief in those things, including most of all the Christ was raised from the dead that they went out to proclaim the gospel to the entire known world by the time Luke ends his book we call Acts.

            John MacArthur writes:  “The ‘kingdom of God’ ( the realm where God rules, or the sphere of salvation) encompasses much more than the millennial kingdom, however.  It has two basic aspects:  the universal kingdom, and the mediatorial kingdom (for a detailed discussion on those two aspects see Alva J. McClain,  The Greatness of the Kingdom [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1959]; for a more detailed discussion of the kingdom, see Matthew 8-15, MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago:  Moody, 1987], 348-351).”  It is my hope that the Lord will give me enough time on His earth to study the book of Matthew.

            “The universal kingdom refers to God’s sovereign rule over all of His creation.  Psalm 103:19 reads, ‘The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all.’”

            “The mediatorial kingdom refers to God’s spiritual rule and authority over His people on earth through divinely chosen mediators.  Through Adam, then the patriarchs, Moses, Joshua, the judges, prophets, and the kings of Israel and Judah, God revealed His will and mediated His authority to His people.  With the end of Israel’s monarchy began the times of the Gentiles.  During that period, which will last until the second coming of Christ, God mediates His spiritual rule over the hearts of believers through the church (Acts 20:25; Rom. 14:7; Col. 1:13).  He does so by means of the Word and the living Christ (Gal. 2:20).  The final phase of the mediatorial, spiritual kingdom will dominate the earth in the form of the millennial kingdom, to be set up following Christ’s return.  During that thousand year period, the Lord Jesus Christ will personally reign on earth, exercising sovereign control over the creation and all men.  At the end of the Millennium, with the destruction of all rebels, the spiritual kingdom will be merged with the universal kingdom (1 Cor. 15:24), and they will become the same.”

            How does this work in the church age, the age we are in now?  God now mediates His kingdom rule through believers who are all indwelt by the Holy Spirit and obedient to His Word.  Peter tells us that we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9).

            I suppose that there are some people in the world who have said that they have seen the resurrected Christ as I have read about some of them in Iran, but Jesus said to Thomas “Because you have seen Me, have you believed?  Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”  Peter wrote “Though you have not seen Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of Joy” (1 Peter 1:8).  Jesus manifestation to us as His born-again children is no less real as we see from Colossians 1:29 “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”  MacArthur concludes “Such personal communion with the resurrected and exalted Savior is essential for finishing His unfinished work of ministry.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is a thrill to me to think that the Lord would use me to help advance His kingdom, and it is my prayer as I put my Spiritual Diaries onto the internet through my blogs that the Lord will use them through the work of the Holy Spirit to help advance His kingdom.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to continue to give me the words to write that will bring glory to His name and advance His kingdom.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Isaiah” (Isaiah 53:5).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘God will provide Himself a Lamb for a burnt offering’?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/26/2017 9:52 AM