SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/19/2018
9:28 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Submissive
Will
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
10:11-33
Message of the
verses: “11 and he saw the sky
opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four
corners to the ground, 12 and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals
and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. 13 A voice came to him,
"Get up, Peter, kill and eat!" 14 But Peter said, "By no means,
Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean." 15 Again a
voice came to him a second time, "What God has cleansed, no longer
consider unholy." 16 This happened three times, and immediately the object
was taken up into the sky. 17 Now while
Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen
might be, behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions
for Simon’s house, appeared at the gate; 18
and calling out, they were asking whether Simon, who was also called
Peter, was staying there. 19 While Peter
was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men
are looking for you. 20 “But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without
misgivings, for I have sent them Myself." 21 Peter went down to the men
and said, "Behold, I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason
for which you have come?" 22 They said, "Cornelius, a centurion, a
righteous and God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews,
was divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and
hear a message from you." 23 So he invited them in and gave them lodging.
And on the next day he got up and went away with them, and some of the brethren
from Joppa accompanied him. 24 On the following day he entered Caesarea. Now
Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close
friends. 25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet and
worshiped him. 26 But Peter raised him up, saying, "Stand up; I too am
just a man." 27 As he talked with him, he entered and found many people
assembled. 28 And he said to them, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is
for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet
God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. 29 “That is
why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask for
what reason you have sent for me." 30 Cornelius said, "Four days ago
to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour; and behold, a
man stood before me in shining garments, 31 and he said, ’Cornelius, your
prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32
’Therefore send to Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to
you; he is staying at the house of Simon the tanner by the sea.’ 33 “So I sent
for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are
all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the
Lord.’”
We have been looking into the lives of Peter and also
Cornelius as we study this 10th chapter of the book of Acts and what
we have been seeing is that both of these men are modeling the obedience that
God demands. Cornelius models it by
listening to the angel who God sent to him in order to have Peter come and
speak to him. Peter, even though it was
against the OT Law of entering the house of a Gentile, because of the vision
that he saw comes to speak to Cornelius.
John MacArthur teaches us that “The Bible repeatedly teaches that
obedience accompanies true faith.” He
then sites many examples where this can be found, but I will not take the time
to list all of them, but will look at a few to help us understand the principle
of his point. 14 ¶ What use is it, my brethren, if someone says
he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing
and in need of daily food, 16 and one of
you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you
do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? (James
2:14-16).” “3 By this we know that we
have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, "I
have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and
the truth is not in him;” “19 They went
out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they
would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that
they all are not of us (1 John 2:3-4; 19).”
Probably Peter still did not have total understanding why
he did what he did, yet he did have faith in the Spirit’s leading and so he
came to see what was going on, and perhaps became a bit surprised at what he is
seeing. One surprising thing Peter did
before they left in the morning was offer lodging for these men overnight. It was too late for them to head back to
Joppa, and so Peter invited them to stay where he was staying. Peter was offering lodging to the dreaded
Roman soldiers, something that Jews did not do.
The crack is widening a bit more.
John MacArthur states that “lodging’ is from ‘xenizo,’
which means ‘to entertain as a guest.’
It was used in Hebrews 13:2 to speak of entertaining angels. Peter gave his unexpected guests the red
carpet treatment, showing the work of God in his heart had broken down the
typical Jewish prejudice. Because of
that, he knew the difference between the Old Testament law, which was binding,
and the human traditions, which was not.
He had a hard time letting the dietary law go but had no animosity in
his heart toward Gentiles, so the hospitality was easy.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Last night I
caught a good portion of an older movie entitled “Twelve Angry Men.” These men were in a jury trying to understand
if a black man had killed his father. At
one point one of the men went on a rage, giving his true feelings which were
full of predigests against the so called killer’s ethnic background. When you are predigest you become blinded and therefore
cannot see the truth. Peter was losing
this as we find is a difficult thing to do, only accomplished through the
Spirit of God.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Always be ready to have my heart open before
the Spirit of God as He searches it.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Jesus selected the twelve
disciples” (Luke12-20).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘God and search
diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again’?”
Answer in our
next SD.
1/19/2018 10:16
AM
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