PT-2 Intro to Acts 2:14-21

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/18/2017 7:46 PM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  PT-2 Intro to Acts 2:14-21

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 2:14-21

            Message of the verses:  “14  But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,  and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,  and your young men shall see visions,  and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants  in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above  and signs on the earth below,  blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned to darkness  and the moon to blood,  before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (ESV).”

            We left off in our last SD by talking about preaching.  In the true church ever since it began in Acts 2 we have seen that it began with preaching and that is the central place in the life of the true church throughout the ages.  In earlier Spiritual Diaries I have mentioned that after all of the Apostles left the scene that the individual churches all would have leaders.  Pastors, preachers, Bishops, and other names have been listed as the leaders of the church.  God through the person of the Holy Spirit is the One who chooses these church leaders and then He speaks to the hearts of these men what it is He wants them to preach about.  As church leaders begin to read and study the Bible the Spirit of God will work in their hearts to show them what He wants them to use as their text to bring about their messages.  It has to be done this way or else it would be done by man who would get the glory.  Having man make up what he wants to talk about happens in a lot of churches and this is totally wrong.  I remember many years ago after a church split that the then acting pastor who by the way lost the election told me that he thought that he would preach on the sovereignty of God.  He thought, not I have prayed about this and it is my conclusion that the Lord desires me to speak on the sovereignty of God, but it was his decision.

            I have also mentioned that I believe that the seven churches in chapters two and three of Revelation are in the order of what the dominant church will be as we move through church history.  In his book Hal Lindsey writes the following on the prophetic application of the church at Sardis:  “The church of Sardis symbolized the Reformation Era.  During this period of history the church was reformed, but not revived!  Some essential doctrines were reclaimed, such as the truth that the people can be justified with God only by faith, but the changes did not shake loose the elaborate rituals and human traditions of the medieval church.  Complacency and new legalism set in, and only a few tasted the power of the Holy Spirit for Christian living.” This time period which Martin Luther was involved in set the stage of the great revivals that followed in the next church age, the Philadelphian church age where some wonderful preachers like Jonathan Edwards, D. L. Moody, George Whitefield, John and Charles Wesley came on the scene with great preaching and teaching.  I can’t forget Spurgeon who was one of the great preachers of this era.  The point is that this era had great preachers in them.  Today this is not always the case as some churches have stopped the different services that use to happen so that means less preaching. 

            John MacArthur writes “A godly man, gifted by the Spirit to preach the Word, has no equal in the presentation of God’s truth.  It is the God-ordained method for evangelism and edification.  The weakness of the contemporary church is largely due to the decline in powerful biblical preaching.  Paul set the standard in bold relief when he said,

‘1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3  I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4  and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5  so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.’

“The apostle was inspired by God to ask the question, ‘How shall they hear without a preacher?’  Then he affirmed the nobility of the preacher when he quoted from Isaiah 52:7 ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!’ (Rom. 10:14-15)”

We will look at more of this introduction, and in particular preaching in our next SD.

My SD is late because I am under the weather and will try and get tomorrows done earlier (God willing).

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Simon of Cyrene” (Matthew 27:32).”

Tomorrows Bible question:  “Who said ‘“Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone?’”

Answer in our next SD.

7/18/2017 8:19 PM