SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/28/2017
9:59 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Be Committed to Fellowship
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 4:23
Message of the
verses: “23 When they had been
released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief
priests and the elders had said to them.”
It is noteworthy to see that Peter and John went to tell
their companions all that had happened to them, the things that happened to them
in the Sanhedrin. The question is to
whom did they go and see. I think that
it was not only to the other apostles that they went to, although they were a
part of whom they went to see, and it was not all of those who had been saved
for that number was over 5,000 by this time.
It was probably the same people we saw in the first part of Acts, the
ones who had met in the upper room for prayer, the core group of the church is
probably who they went to see. Peter and
John needed comfort and people who would be praying for them as this first
persecution came upon them and that is why they went to be with their close
Christian family.
John MacArthur writes “A primary benefit of persecution
is that it results in greater solidarity.
Persecuted believers naturally draw together for mutual support. Acts 4:32-35 describes the unity that
resulted from this initial outbreak of opposition. Perhaps one reason for the disunity in today’s
church is the lack of external pressure.
And the false unity being attempted through compromise and indifference
toward true doctrine only compounds the problem by moving the church every
further from the true unity that comes out of confrontation by the truth. If we confronted the world system more
aggressively, the resulting opposition would drive us closer together and
enrich our mutual dependence. That real
unity marked the early believers.”
I have to say at this point in my life that I attend a
local church that has been around for over 180 years. I first started attending this church in
August of 2010 right after the death of the church’s pastor. The church that I attended for over 32 years
had gone through a church split and was about to go through another and the
pastor was not someone that I wanted to sit under any longer. I was not the only one as many of the older
believers were seeking other churches to attend. One of the things that I first noticed was
that although the pastor had just died it seemed to me as business as usual from
the teaching of God’s Word from the pulpit.
I told many people that this experience for me was like being out in the
desert for a very long time and then coming to an oasis to find refreshing
water to drink.
I am in no way saying that this is a perfect church,
there are none, but I am saying that the Word of God is preached Sunday
mornings, and evenings and also on Wednesday evenings along with a prayer
time.
As I settled into this church and became a member and
started to get involved in things like teaching Sunday school and other things
one of the things that I began to pray about was that our church would continue
to experience unity among those who attend there and especially in the
leadership of the church which makes up the of the five pastors along with the
many deacons. One of the things that I
did was express this to the man who is the head deacon and he told me that
although there was no disunity in our church, he was praying for continued
unity which is something that I am praying for too. Our enemy never stops trying to bring
disunity to churches and from the looks of our country today he is being
successful, thus the need for prayer even though things are good with unity at
this time.
Church Swindoll has written a wonderful book on this
subject as he wrote a commentary on the book of Nehemiah entitled “Hand Me
Another Brick.” Our deacons are reading
this book at this time as they will begin to go over it in the near future and
for this I am thankful.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Egypt” (Exodus 14:8).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who were Abraham’s brothers?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/28/2017 10:25 AM
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