SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/5/2017
12:36 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
Sharing Practically
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 4:32b,
34-35
Message of the
verses: “and not one of them claimed
that anything belonging to him was his own; but all things were common property
to them…For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of
land of houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, and lay
them at the apostles’ feet; and they would be distributed to each, as any had
need.”
John MacArthur writes “A very practical test of a
Christian’s love is how much he or she is willing to sacrifice
financially. James asks, ‘If a brother
or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to
them, ‘God in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet do not give them what is
necessary for their body, what use is
that?’ (James 2:15-16). The apostle John expressed it even more
bluntly: ‘But whoever has the world’s
goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how
does the love of God abide in him?’ (1 John 3:17).” As believers in Jesus Christ we are stewards
of what God has allowed us to have, and perhaps at times we are not good
stewards. The people in this first New
Testament church were good stewards of what they had as they knew it all
belonged to God and when someone needed something they had they were willing to
give it to them because of the shared love that they had in Christ.
Paul writes the following in 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 in order
to demonstrate the sacrificial spirit of poor believer in Macedonia:
“1 Now, brethren, we wish to
make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of
Macedonia, 2 that in a great ordeal of
affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth
of their liberality. 3 For I testify that according to
their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord,
4 begging us with much urging for the
favor of participation in the support of the saints, 5 and this, not as we had expected, but they
first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.”
Now if I remember correctly the offering that Paul is
referring to here is the offering that Paul was collecting for the poor church
in Jerusalem because of a drought that happened there.
Now as we go back to the time Luke is talking about we
see that as a result of this practical demonstration of live that took place in
Jerusalem was that “there was not a needy person among them.” When we looked at when the church began in
Acts chapter two it was mentioned that there were many pilgrims there for the
feast of Pentecost and we have to believe that many of them who were saved
stayed there in order to be under the teaching of the apostles, and so there
was much need during this time. Another
thing that must have happened was that many of the new believers in Jerusalem
who actually lived there would have lost their jobs because of their new found
faith in Jesus Christ. This kind of
thing still goes on today as in some families when a person becomes born-again
the family and the people they are working for disowns them.
Now because the church was meeting all of the needs of
these people must have been something that the community would have noticed and
perhaps could have caused them to investigate to see why this was
happening.
I have a doctor friend of mine who at this time is in the
jungles of Peru along with some other doctors and nurses giving medical aid to
those who are living in the jungle. This
lady had a good thriving practice in her home town before she decided to become
a missionary serving the Lord in different places around the world. She is doing this for the love of the Lord
and to tell others about Jesus Christ.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Peter” (Acts 12:11).
Today’s Bible
question: “Cyrenius was governor of what
country?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/5/2017 12:59 PM
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