SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/29/2017
6:39 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 “The
Reason”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 6:1-2,
4
Message
of the verses: “1 Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in
number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the
native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving
of food. 2 So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said,
"It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve
tables…4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the
word."”
We have been talking about pray and
Bible study or Prayer and the Word of God.
When unbelievers pick up a Bible and try to understand what they are reading
it is impossible for them to completely understand what they read in it because
it takes the Holy Spirit to be in a life so that He can help us understand what
He wrote, for the Word of God was written by the Holy Spirit using men to
communicate exactly what He wanted them to write. As believers we need to pray before we study
the Word of God so that the Spirit of God will open our eyes so we can
understand what He wants us to understand.
Sometimes when we pray and read the Word we will see verses that seem to
jump off the page to us even though we probably have read them many times
before. Verse four was the verse that
spoke to my heart in our study from yesterday’s Spiritual Diary and I was
convicted to make renewed effort to speak to the Lord in a more intense way
before I read His Word.
We want to look at a section from
Acts 20:18b-21 to see that Paul served as an appropriate model of the commitment
to the Word to which the ministry demands.
“"You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia,
how I was with you the whole time, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and
with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; 20
how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and
teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 solemnly testifying to both
Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” This statement could have only been made
because of Paul’s commitment to prayer and the study of God’s Word.
Now as we look at the following
verses from 1 Corinthians 9:16-17, and 26-27 we will be able to see how Paul
expressed his personal philosophy of ministry:
“16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am
under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. 17 For if I do
this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship
entrusted to me….26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in
such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my
slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be
disqualified.”
John MacArthur concludes “From his
dramatic conversation on the Damascus Road to the day a Roman executioner ended
his life, Paul gave himself totally to the ministry. There is no other way. Every minister of Jesus Christ must give heed
to Paul’s exhortation to Timothy:
“11
Prescribe and teach these things. 12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness,
but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example
of those who believe. 13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of
Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift
within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the
laying on of hands by the presbytery. 15 Take pains with these things; be
absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.”
“The
devotion that Pau demanded to his young protégé is the same devotion the Lord
Jesus Christ demands of all who serve Him.”
Answer
from yesterday’s Bible question: “God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit” (1 John 5:7).
Today’s
Bible question: “How many years did the
children of Israel sojourn in Egypt?”
Answer
in our next SD.
10/29/2017
7:05 PM
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