SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/25/2017
11:00 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 Intro to Acts 3:1-11
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 3:1-11
Message of the
verses: 1 Now Peter and John were
going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. 2 And a man who
had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to
set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in
order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. 3 When he saw Peter
and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. 4 But
Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, "Look at us!"
5 And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from
them. 6 But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do
have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene-walk!" 7 And
seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and
his ankles were strengthened. 8 With a leap he stood upright and began to walk;
and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9
And all the people saw him walking and praising God; 10 and they were taking
note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the
temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had
happened to him. 11 While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran
together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.”
In our last SD we began to look at “A biblical
understanding of the apostolic healing ministry includes the following points.” We ten looked at the first point and in today’s
SD we will continue looking at these points beginning with point number two.
“Second, Satan and his demonic hosts can produce
counterfeit healings.” These healings
that they do are not only in what we would call false religions, but also in
the guise of Christianity. The Lord
Jesus warned that this would happen in what we call his Olivet Discourse that
is actually found in three places but we will look at Mark 13:22 “for false
Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in
order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.”
In our study of the book of Revelation we saw recorded there false
miracles done by the false prophet. Let
us look at what the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Thess. 2:9 “that is, the one whose
coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and
false wonders.” Matthew 7:22-23 we
Jesus say “22 "Many will say to Me
on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name
cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will
declare to them, ’I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE
LAWLESSNESS.’” As we look at those last
two verses we can conclude that God is not involved in, nor does He approve of,
everything done in His name. We can pray
in Jesus’ name, but if we are not praying for something that is in the will of
our Lord and brings honor and glory to our Lord we cannot expect an answer. God certainly does not desire testimony from
demonic sources as we saw in our study of the gospels when we saw the demons
stating that Jesus was the Holy One of God, Jesus rebuked them and told them to
be quiet. Paul and Silas refused to
allow an demon-possessed girl even to testify to the truth that they were God’s
servants “16 It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a
slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters
much profit by fortune-telling. 17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying
out, saying, "These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are
proclaiming to you the way of salvation." 18 She continued doing this for
many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit,
"I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" And
it came out at that very moment.”
John MacArthur writes that “Believers must constantly be
aware of the danger of satanic deception.
Paul warned the Corinthians of that when he wrote regarding some of the
false teachers of his day:
‘13 For such men are false
apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No
wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it
is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of
righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.’
Satan is perhaps even more
dangerous in his subtlety as a wolf in sheep’s clothing than as a roaring lion.”
We will look at John MacArthur’s third reason in
conclusion and then try and finish up our into in our next SD. “Third, contrary to the teaching of many
today, the early church was not a miracle-working church. Rather, they were a church with
miracle-working apostles. The gift of
healing in the early church was limited to the apostles and their close
associates in ministry. When they disappeared,
so did the gift of healing.” I believe
that when MacArthur speaks of the gift of healing he is talking about people
who had that gift, for we know that God still heals people. I mentioned that my friend told me a long
time ago as we were talking about this he told me that God heals you every time
but the last time. I have to agree with
that.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Peter” (Luke 24:12).
Today’s Bible
question: “Which book sets forth the
exultation of the Edomites over Judah at the time of the fall of Jerusalem (586
B. C.)?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/25/2017 11:25 AM
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