SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/24/2017
7:13 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Be Aggressive in seizing
Opportunities”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 4:8-13
Message of the
verses: “8 Then Peter, filled with
the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people, 9 if we are on trial today for a benefit done
to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the
people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you
crucified, whom God raised from the dead-by this name this man stands here
before you in good health. 11 “He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE
BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. 12 “And there is salvation
in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given
among men by which we must be saved." 13 Now as they observed the
confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained
men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.”
I suppose that once a person is being lead to accept
Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior that someone will most always quote Acts
4:12 to show that He is the only way to be saved. In the context here Peter is actually
offering salvation to the Sanhedrin, the ones who were mostly behind the death
of Jesus Christ. John MacArthur writes “Saved’
is the form of the same verb (sozo)
used in verse 9 to describe the healing of the lame man. Not only was Jesus the source of physical
healing, but He is also the only source of spiritual healing. Deliverance from the devastating effects of
sin comes only through Jesus Christ.
Peter did not invent that truth; he is merely echoing is Master. In John 14:6 Jesus declared, “I am the way,
and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.’”
MacArthur writes “The exclusivism of Christianity goes
against the grain of our religiously pluralistic society. A chapel built at the North Pole in February
1959 by men of Operation Deep Freeze 4 typifies the prevalent attitude today
toward religious belief. The structure contained
an altar, over which was hung a picture of Jesus, a crucifix, a star of David,
and a lotus leaf (representing the Buddha).
On the wall of the chapel was an inscription that read ‘Now it can be
said that the earth turns on the point of faith.’”
I realize that people of the world do not like it when
they are told that Jesus is the only way to get to the Father as it goes
against their sin nature which tells them that there has to be more than one
way of salvation, but Jesus and Peter (who is really quoting Jesus) says
different, and they are right. There is
a wide road of works that leads to destruction and a narrow way which is faith
only in Jesus Christ that leads to salvation.
Even though Peter’s plea to the Sanhedrin fell on deaf
ears they were smart enough to realize that although according to their
standards these men were not educated in their ways, they did realize that they
had been with Jesus.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: My prayer is that
people will realize that I too have been with Jesus.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Trust that the Lord will be with me in
a special way as I led our Sunday School class this morning.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Breast plate, ephod, robe,
coat, mitre, girdle” (Exodus 28:4).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who sits on the right hand of
God?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/24/2017 7:35 AM
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