SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/29/2018
7:59 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Growth”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
11:22-26
Message of the
verses: “22 The news about them
reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to
Antioch. 23 Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced
and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord;
24 for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And
considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. 25 And he left for Tarsus to
look for Saul; 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for
an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and
the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”
Once again I want to look at the reputation that Barnabas
had as we look the last part of verse twenty-three where we read “and began to
encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord.” What a wonderful thing to do to encourage
believers, and in this case new believers to remain true to the Lord. Every pastor desires to see spiritual growth
to young believers in the Lord, and a person may be five years old and be a
young believer or they could be 90 years old and be a young believer in the
Lord, but in either case both are new in the Lord. John MacArthur writes “The apostle John
wrote, ‘Let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides
in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father (1 John 2:24). ‘If you abide in My word,’ Jesus said, ‘then
you are truly disciples of Mine’ (John 8:31).
It is through the Word that the Holy Spirit, the resident truth teacher
(1 John 2:27), instructs believers.”
As we have been following the progress of the churches
growth throughout the book of Acts from the first day of the church we see Luke
continues to give up to date accounts of the growth of the church as seen at
the end of verse twenty-four “considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.” He does not give numbers any more but does
show his readers that the Spirit of God is working to bring about new birth in
the church. Because the harvest was
growing at a rapid pace Barnabas decided to go and find Saul so he left for
Tarsus to find him in order to help disciple these new believers in Antioch. John MacArthur writes that it was a difficult
task for Barnabas to find Saul as the Greek word Anzeteo (to look for) “suggests a laborious search on Barnabas’s
part. The Greek lexicographers Moulton
and Milligan said anazeteo is used ‘specially
of searching for human beings with an implication of difficulty.’”
We see in verse twenty-six that Barnabas did catch up
with Saul and he brought him to Antioch.
These were two gifted men who worked together well in the spread of the
gospel, especially on the first missionary trip, and also in the teaching at
Antioch. They stayed together teaching
this church for a entire year in order to meet with the church to preach and
teach them. I have to say that it is
with great pleasure that I go to a church that going on 200 years has preached
the Word of God, however there are far too many churches today that do a poor
job teaching the Word of God or perhaps don’t even bother teaching it at
all. When we studied the sixth chapter
of Acts we saw that because of the growth of the church that the first deacons
were used to wait on tables to feed widows in order for the apostles to
continue to teach the Word of God to the new believers.
At the end of this section Luke adds the historical
footnote that “the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.” John MacArthur writes “The term means ‘of the
party of Christ’ and was used in derision.
Peter encouraged those who suffered ‘as a Christian,’ to ‘not feel
ashamed, but in that name [to] glorify God’ (1 Peter 4:16). What was a term of derision, through, soon
became a badge of honor to the early church.
The historical Eusebius relates the account of the martyr Sanctus, who replied
to all his torturers’ questions simply, ‘I am a Christian’”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: One of the
reasons that I write these Spiritual Diaries is to make sure that I stay in the
Word of God each day in order to learn from His Word through the power of His
Spirit. I put them onto my blogs praying
that the Spirit of God will take what He has taught me and pass it on to those
whom He moves to look at these Spiritual Diaries. Part of my prayer each time I place these
Spiritual Diaries onto my blogs is that the Spirit will use them to glorify my
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to bring about new believers and to cause
believers to grow and also if revival is needed that the Spirit will use these
Spiritual Diaries to accomplish that too.
I continue to pray that the Spirit of God will send these Spiritual
Diaries around the world and it is my pleasure each day as I place them onto my
blogs to see the countries that the Spirit of God has sent them that day.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
I trust that the Spirit of God will
continue to use these Spiritual Diaries to bring honor and glory to the Lord
each day as people read them, and that He will receive all the glory.
Memory verse: Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do Your will, For
You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Timothy” (1 Timothy 1:1-2).
Today’s Bible question: “What new testament writer described himself
as ‘The servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James’?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/29/2018 8:38 AM
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